Theory: The Boat Chapter - The new What's Shenmue?

mjqjazzbar

mjqjazzbar

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Shenmue IIx
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Ghost of Tsushima
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So I posted about this in another thread, but I saw a comment on the Facebook group that started turning the few gears that are left in my brain.

We all know and love 'What's Shenmue?' It was a brilliant way of introducing people to Shenmue without spoiling Shenmue.

Yu Suzuki and co. recently revealed that we'd see Chai and the boat chapter, although he seemed to be very mischievous or leading in his remarks. Here is the actual text:

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2019/01/shenmue-3-to-include-previously-cut.html

Q: But you did use the name in the game somewhat, as the ship that took Ryo to Hong Kong was named Genpūmaru*.
* Genpūmaru (玄風丸) = The Mysterious Wind ("maru" is a suffix commonly signifying the name of a boat).​
YS: Indeed. As the first chapter was structured as an open world, in the ensuing chapter on this ship we had a rich variety of different content prepared, including story and other elements. However due to many objective reasons we had to cut out most of this content, but I don’t want to say too much, because in the upcoming game perhaps the players can experience this for themselves.

Q: So you mean the deleted “Chapter 2 content” that many people still wonder about will be present in Shenmue 3?

YS: (laughs) Yes, please wait in anticipation!
Click to expand...

The 'please wait in anticipation/standby' comment is what makes me feel like this is where we're headed. I mean we WERE promised a demo. Besides, how would they shoehorn Chapter 2 into the main game? A flashback? I guess so. I think a standalone chapter/demo that's released prior to Shenmue 3 would be much cooler, however.

Obviously this is all conjecture, but I think it'd be a brilliant way of introducing people to Shenmue 3 without spoiling Shenmue 3. Seems like a totally Yu Suzuki thing to do. Now you might say why would he spend time & money on something like this, but why not? A nice 30-minute scenario that introduces us to QTEs and combat and limits our environment to a very controlled environment makes sense to me.

Anyway, I have no evidence to back any of this up, so I apologize for wasting your time. But it seems... somewhat plausible, right?

*Please don't QTE me off the ship's deck if I'm completely incorrect. Just having some fun, for the most part*
 
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It's possible, another scenario would be that they repurposed the tasks and the encounter with chai to another boat (the one from the prophecy trailer), perhaps also with some flashbacks, connecting it to the previous games in that way.
 
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That would be so awesome. I assumed we were going to see the content from chapter 2 repurposed into the boat ride from Bailu to Choubu, but this would be amazing.
 
I took this to mean that Ryo's journey to Choubu via boat (as seen in the trailers) would be playable in the final game, just like how Chapter 2 was originally meant to be.

I recall some people on here used their eagle vision to spot things inside the ship's windows like NPCs and objects which Ryo could potentially interact with.

Although, perhaps this could still be used as a What's Shenmue? demo with some tweaking, especially if this part of the game is relatively self-contained.
 
I'm obviously just making stuff up, but I still think it'd be cool!
 
Im thinking either they remake and chop up select sections of 1 & 2 plus the boat chapter in between to serve as a quick prologue section to get everyone up to speed a little bit, or they make the boat chapter the backer demo. I don't see any other way they could make it fit more naturally and honestly Id say don't even bother if they're just gonna throw it in at a spot that doesn't make much sense.
 
I don't think it will be Chapter 2...rather I think it will be Chapter 2 reworked to fit in Shenmue 3. The prophecy trailer shows us Ryo coming off a boat. I wouldn't be surprised if it's been completely reworked and re-purposed to fit the context of Shenmue 3 more so than a flash back or something of that nature.
 
I think it's a brilliant idea. I tend to prefer What's Shenmue in this location rather than Guilin tbh. But if YSnet decide to make the demo available for non-backers on Steam (very probable in my opinion), people in general may not understand the key charm of the game...
 
Sounds like a great idea if it were to happen.

Most of the comments above have covered what I'd say around the boat being worked into Shenmue 3 rather than being a total flashback, as much as that would be awesome. It does beg the question of what the demo might be if it wasn't the boat for example. I could see a small bit in Gulin, similar QTE's to the end of Shenmue 2 and maybe a brief shot of the village
 
I can see the reworking concept happening as well, sort of like a ret con of Chapter 2 since 95% of Shenmue players won’t have read the comic.

Should be interesting. I like my theory because it wouldn’t really spoil the game at all. I can see why it’d be a bit odd to newcomers or impractical for the team, but a man can dream.
 
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I imagine most backers to be longtime Shenmue fans. That combined with the recent re-releases essentially bringing the series back from the dead makes me think that they could pull off this 'boat chapter' quite well as a demo. I hope they do; "What's Shenmue" is still one of the coolest ideas out there. Brilliant.
 
it's a neat idea indeed but i don't think that they will waste original assets just for the demo.
 
Speaking of underused assets, here's an alternative theory. We know that Shenmue III begins the day after leaving the cave. But what if, in addition to a flashback in the game itself recapping the discovery of the sword and giant mirrors, they used this location for the trial version? Newcomers won't care, but what could be more apt for the most avid fans than the chance to walk Ryo out of that cave before the full game arrives?

In fact, haven't we caught a glimpse of a scene on a monitor that looked suspiciously like that?
 

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I can see this going either way, for me personally (assuming it's the actual chapter 2 on the way to Hong Kong as originally intended and not just the ideas and concepts being re-purposed for the present story), I'd like it to be either a flashback or a memory/dream sequence in III similarly to how MGS 4 had that dream sequence where Snake has to infiltrate Shadow Moses in the PS1 style before cutting away to the present. Sure we didn't get to play chapter 2 as originally intended like we did with the aforementioned MGS 4 sequence but, in theory this idea could work, for example perhaps the actual details of Ryo's boat trip to Hong Kong could come up during one of his conversations with Shenhua which reminds him of his encounter with Chai on the boat, this could in turn could serve as a segue into the sequence and it would still make sense in the context of Shenmue III, at least that's how I'd handle this if I was the one doing it. The idea of using chapter 2 for the demo makes sense as well but honestly, I'm not sure if that'd be the best idea since chapter 2 will feel completely out of place in context compared to the rest of III if they were to go down that route, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
 
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