Thoughts on the story DLC

[Miles Prower]

Am I wrong or are the blue spiders guys from Shenmue 1. The bald guy being the tattoo artist. And the other guy being the guy from the arcade that says “WHAT IS IT PUNK?”

Because If it is, doesn’t that add to the lore in the sense that those guys are lower rung Chi You Men, and have followed us all the way from Japan?

Needless to say this should have Been part of the main game.

I also like that it makes you actually go to resteraunts more. Before this there was little reason to go to one....

They are clearly not the same people. Why would they be?! Their character names are completely different, never mind the fact the Blue Spiders are Chinese, not Japanese.

I'm getting a little tired of people noticing the slightest similarity in character design to S1 or S2 characters, and immediately leaping to conclusions like that.

Their names are mentioned as being Gao and Li by one of Zhang's contacts, I believe - but is it made clear which one is which? Unlike Yanlang you never talk to them in a conversation during gameplay, so their names don't pop up.

 

[scooterusa]

They are clearly not the same people. Why would they be?! Their character names are completely different, never mind the fact the Blue Spiders are Chinese, not Japanese.

I'm getting a little tired of people noticing the slightest similarity in character design to S1 or S2 characters, and immediately leaping to conclusions like that.

Their names are mentioned as being Gao and Li by one of Zhang's contacts, I believe - but is it made clear which one is which? Unlike Yanlang you never talk to them in a conversation during gameplay, so their names don't pop up.

Idk man. It’s pretty clear that that is the tattoo guy. I don’t think it’s some far fetched conspiracy.

Besides they could have been Chinese emigrates.

 

[Miles Prower]

Idk man. It’s pretty clear that that is the tattoo guy. I don’t think it’s some far fetched conspiracy.

Besides they could have been Chinese emigrates.

Except its not.
The tattoo parlour guy's name is Takashi Takashiro

Takashi Takashiro

Takashi Takashiro (高城 隆史 Takashiro Takashi) is the owner of his own tattoo parlor located at Okayama Heights in Dobuita. Takashi was born in Hiroshima, in middle school Takashi was heavily influenced by movies. Once he approached a punk to ask him about his tattoos, the punk got angry and beat...

shenmue.fandom.com

Not trying to be difficult, but it is not the same guy. It would not make any sense whatsoever.

 

[BlueMue]

Not sure why some of you had to advance the main story for the next event of the DLC to trigger, but I sure never had to.
Only needed to waste a few hours at most. Except for the final wait, where I had to come back the next day.
Then again, the save I used for this is pretty late in the game, where I have to go to Mr. Hsu to ask him about styles.

 

[scooterusa]

Except its not.
The tattoo parlour guy's name is Takashi Takashiro

Takashi Takashiro

Takashi Takashiro (高城 隆史 Takashiro Takashi) is the owner of his own tattoo parlor located at Okayama Heights in Dobuita. Takashi was born in Hiroshima, in middle school Takashi was heavily influenced by movies. Once he approached a punk to ask him about his tattoos, the punk got angry and beat...

shenmue.fandom.com

Not trying to be difficult, but it is not the same guy. It would not make any sense whatsoever.

And how do we know what the S3 guys name is?

 

[WuyingRen]

And how do we know what the S3 guys name is?

Their names are mentioned as being Gao and Li by one of Zhang's contacts

 

[Miles Prower]

Not sure why some of you had to advance the main story for the next event of the DLC to trigger, but I sure never had to.
Only needed to waste a few hours at most. Except for the final wait, where I had to come back the next day.
Then again, the save I used for this is pretty late in the game, where I have to go to Mr. Hsu to ask him about styles.

I used my current NG+ save, which was just after being beaten by the Red Snakes leader the first time, and had no issues or any need to advance the story either.

 

[delvec19]

No Spoilers, but after meeting with the first contact of Zhang on The Promenade. How do you trigger the next scene where you're supposed to go to the side of Hotel again? I had to sleep since it was late after the first contact, but when I went to the side of the building the next morning nothing was triggered. I should mention that I did meet with the owner of the Buddha shop where Yuan was in the photo. Should I not have done that or does that not matter?

 

[scooterusa]

Weird. Noted.

Why does he look exactly the same, AND have a spider on his hand?

 

[Kenzo130]

Until what point?

I don’t think that’s right, because I was watching a live stream and every time the notebook entry said he will appear near hotel Niaowu and do something else, he would run right back to same spot and Wei or at the point I was at, his 2nd associate would spawn at table by side of hotel.

This isn’t happening for me. So what am I missing?

You need t

Not sure why some of you had to advance the main story for the next event of the DLC to trigger, but I sure never had to.
Only needed to waste a few hours at most. Except for the final wait, where I had to come back the next day.
Then again, the save I used for this is pretty late in the game, where I have to go to Mr. Hsu to ask him about styles.

Because you already reach the first fight with the red snake boss like i Said to unlock every quest you need to reach this fight and in tour save you already did

 

[code l name]

I can confirm for those starting a NG + to play the DLC it seems you do need to push the main story forward to trigger later events as part of the DLC side quests (Wei’s associate spawned day that I’m meant to meet Mr. Hsu) otherwise characters will not spawn in.

While in some respects it’s nice it’s integrated into main game, given the way most will consume and play this I have to say it’s a bizarre choice.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Weird. Noted.

Why does he look exactly the same, AND have a spider on his hand?

They were put in for fanservice, nothing more.

 

[scooterusa]

Date Night!!!

 

[code l name]

After a lot of confusion and frustration I finally completed the DLC today. As a reminder for those playing on New Game plus mode, you need to get up and complete the first fight with Mr. Muscles for you to be able to complete all elements of the DLC.

So here’s what I liked-

- That it’s a sidequest and integrated into the main story. Meaning in repeat playthroughs it can be completed in tandem with main story
- While there’s a lot of elements that have felt lacking with the two DLC’s to date, from an efficiency perspective they’ve intelligently been able to reuse assets and repurpose it. Whether it’s using existing environment in Bailu for Chan hunt or taking advantage of all the bars and restaurants in Niaowu that go largely unused in the main game for chawan signs
- I liked there was multiple different combinations and various cups used through the quest
- Nice to see counter elbow assault make an appearance albeit in QTE form. Very satisfying
- Costume Ryo gets is quite stylish I must say

Now for the bad-

- Poor communication on how to access and what’s required to play the DLC. Most players won’t have ideal save in Niaowu to just play the DLC straight through. Yet looking at the forums here and elsewhere, there was a lot of confusion about how to progress this story
- While I admit you could chalk this up to user error, I did find the clue from first chawan sign very confusing based on small diagram
- If you start the DLC from NG+ the Niaowu map that has yet to fully open up feels even more constrictive. There’s a lot of shuttling back and forth and with all the barriers in place it does make traveling a little tedious
- While I did temper my expectations I was hoping for a little more meat when it came the to the narrative. While I praised them earlier for smartly reusing assets and environments, the Blue Spiders did feel like the epitome of laziness.
- Hearing people who you for solicit information talk about how Blue Spiders are worse than Red Snakes and realize it’s the two jobbers from Bailu make me miss how Shenmue used to create gangs that could be seen as potentially dangerous and formidable like Mad Angels or Yellowheads. Also that had a tangible presence in the city

Finally questions-

- It was alluded to all the dialogue was recorded in 2018 and I believe the assets were found hacked when game was first released. Does anyone think originally this was part of the main story and there was going to be turf war between Blue Spiders and Red Snakes?
- Zhang talks about you saving his organization, perhaps my memory is fuzzy but I thought 5 star Corp went under. So are we to assume Yuanda Zhu started a new organization?

All in all it was below adequate but I did have adjusted expectations.

 

[scooterusa]

After a lot of confusion and frustration I finally completed the DLC today. As a reminder for those playing on New Game plus mode, you need to get up and complete the first fight with Mr. Muscles for you to be able to complete all elements of the DLC.

So here’s what I liked-

- That it’s a sidequest and integrated into the main story. Meaning in repeat playthroughs it can be completed in tandem with main story
- While there’s a lot of elements that have felt lacking with the two DLC’s to date, from an efficiency perspective they’ve intelligently been able to reuse assets and repurpose it. Whether it’s using existing environment in Bailu for Chan hunt or taking advantage of all the bars and restaurants in Niaowu that go largely unused in the main game for chawan signs
- I liked there was multiple different combinations and various cups used through the quest
- Nice to see counter elbow assault make an appearance albeit in QTE form. Very satisfying
- Costume Ryo gets is quite stylish I must say

Now for the bad-

- Poor communication on how to access and what’s required to play the DLC. Most players won’t have ideal save in Niaowu to just play the DLC straight through. Yet looking at the forums here and elsewhere, there was a lot of confusion about how to progress this story
- While I admit you could chalk this up to user error, I did find the clue from first chawan sign very confusing based on small diagram
- If you start the DLC from NG+ the Niaowu map that has yet to fully open up feels even more constrictive. There’s a lot of shuttling back and forth and with all the barriers in place it does make traveling a little tedious
- While I did temper my expectations I was hoping for a little more meat when it came the to the narrative. While I praised them earlier for smartly reusing assets and environments, the Blue Spiders did feel like the epitome of laziness.
- Hearing people who you for solicit information talk about how Blue Spiders are worse than Red Snakes and realize it’s the two jobbers from Bailu make me miss how Shenmue used to create gangs that could be seen as potentially dangerous and formidable like Mad Angels or Yellowheads. Also that had a tangible presence in the city

Finally questions-

- It was alluded to all the dialogue was recorded in 2018 and I believe the assets were found hacked when game was first released. Does anyone think originally this was part of the main story and there was going to be turf war between Blue Spiders and Red Snakes?
- Zhang talks about you saving his organization, perhaps my memory is fuzzy but I thought 5 star Corp went under. So are we to assume Yuanda Zhu started a new organization?

All in all it was below adequate but I did have adjusted expectations.

He also says see you again in Hong Kong...

 

[code l name]

He also says see you again in Hong Kong...

I took that as a throwaway line but I doubt it’s the last we hear of/from Yuanda Zhu.

Before I forget did anyone else spot

Spoiler

the Sega room in the Blue Spider building. Chai plushy, Lan Di and Hang On figure, with SEGA Saturn plugged into TV. Thought it was fun Easter egg

Edit: Before I forget from the media release showed Zhang in the Red Snakes HQ tied up. Obviously he never appears there. Was that the original plan he was captured by them and the creation of Blue Spiders was after thought?

 

[Kyo_JP]

Completed. I will go back to it when a Trophie guide is available.

It is not that bad, also not really good, but to me is a cut out content sold separetely, is a good long sidequest that I could have enjoyed more if it was part of my first run instead of playing it as addtional content. Zhang is OK, last section is pretty cool and the idea of checking the chawan while doing a main run is more appealing to me than the "play this DLC" thing.

 

[code l name]

It is not that bad, also not really good, but to me is a cut out content sold separetely, is a good long sidequest that I could have enjoyed more if it was part of my first run instead of playing it as addtional content. Zhang is OK, last section is pretty cool and the idea of checking the chawan while doing a main run is more appealing to me than the "play this DLC" thing.

I tend to concur.

While it’s perhaps unrealistic to have expected a sidequest as detailed or as long as Fangmei’s birthday in Shenmue 2, the majority of side missions in Shenmue 3 were largely decorated fetch quests. The fact this spanned multiple days, had several components with different chawan signs and made use of the restaurants and bars in Niaowu, make it stand out. I could have seen this helping flesh out base game.

The fact there’s multiple instances during DLC where it encourages players to do other things before next story beat, lend credence it probably was in some form or another part of main story at some point.

 

[scooterusa]

I tend to concur.

While it’s perhaps unrealistic to have expected a sidequest as detailed or as long as Fangmei’s birthday in Shenmue 2, the majority of side missions in Shenmue 3 were largely decorated fetch quests. The fact this spanned multiple days, had several components with different chawan signs and made use of the restaurants and bars in Niaowu, make it stand out. I could have seen this helping flesh out base game.

The fact there’s multiple instances during DLC where it encourages players to do other things before next story beat, lend credence it probably was in some form or another part of main story at some point.

Exactly. Were this part of the main game, it really would have helped made if feel less thin on story. It was a nice connector to Shenmue 2.

 

[Machsi]

Unfortunately I am not impressed in the slightest by the new DLC. To be brutally honest and blunt, it’s lazy, unimaginative filler. I hope to god this isn’t the quality we would see in a hypothetical Shenmue 4.