Random Shenmue Thoughts

My new post in the blog of the Dojo.

In this post i reflect if Akira and Ryo are the same character, the decisions that Yu Suzuki made at that time, things in common between Akira and Ryo, the reasons about why it feels like Ryo is a younger version of Akira and much more, thank you all for the support on the blog.


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The Guardian's weekly gaming article mentions the Eurogamer Shenmue article. Nice to see a national newspaper give it coverage.


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Don't you just love discovering new conversations you've never had before? I just had one in the diner at the Yokosuka docks where a worker told me that my forklift driving was dangerous :ROFLMAO:
Yes. i call that phenomena "the unfold". Because Shenmue (specially chap. Yokosuka) is structured like an origami. The 4th wall breaks in a very unique way: rather than LucasGames or MGS "we know this is a game" stunts, Shenmue succeded at "this is beyond games, it lives and it thinks.
I love your forklift trivia XD that npc is right, 80s was previous to many health & security measues laws so indeed, your/our driving is utterly wrong (driving with the lifting horns raised is murderous :censored:)
Don't you love also gettin into same conversation options every time? example, S2 at Kowloon you and Ren asking clues for Yuan's whereabouts to that streetwise orphan... I need to answer "its a dog" many times and enjoy Ren losing it.
 
I've decided that I'm going to start reading Kenji today, it looks like this manga has a lot of things similar with Shenmue

Synopsis
Kenji is a manga that follows the life of Kenji, a japanese teenager who has been practicing the martial art of Bajiquan since childhood. During the manga and his training, he meets some real-life martial artists (like Adam Hsu and Liu Chia-Ling). This manga first introduces Bajiquan but also shows us many other martial arts such as Tanglangquan, Baguazhang, Chen Taijiquan, Piguaquan, Xingyiquan, Xinyiliuhequan, Shaolinquan, Hung Gar, Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu, Shotokan Karate and many others and numerous styles.

It looks like Kenji travel to China as well.


Kenji began being published Dec 9, 1987 till Jan 8, 1992, this is before Shenmue release so maybe Yu Suzuki got inspirations from this manga to create Shenmue as well.

This manga has 202 chapters and 21 volumes.

Looks like the protagonist will grow during the story, looks interesting, i will start today.

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I finished reading the first chapter of Kenji and this manga is wonderful, and i love the art style of this manga, it is beautiful.

Similar things with Shenmue and i was so happy while reading, i will not talk about the story here, i have plans to make a thread about Kenji because i already love this manga and the story, but in this post i want to share the cover of the first volume, the cover of the volume i can share here.

Here we can see Kenji doing the Counter Elbow Assault, and in this part of the cover we can see Kenji doing the Horse stance. 😍



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Someday i will make a thread here in the Forums to talk about this beautiful manga.

I really don't understand why Kenji doesn't have a anime version, it is so wonderful and interesting.

To end my post i want to say this... If you love Martial Arts then Kenji is the manga for you, if you want a story with similar things with Shenmue then Kenji is the manga for you. ❤️
 
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One more post in the blog. In this post i shared my thoughts about who are Shenhua's parents, what i think it happened to her parents, how Shenhua's parents died, how Yunshen Yuan is connected to Shenhua's parents story and much more.



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Yesterday i finished my second playthrough of Shenmue II, my second time finishing the game.

Shenmue I have a home feel and it is easy to remember the places of the game, Shenmue II is bigger and from the moment Ryo arrive in Hong Hong it is an adventure, sometimes i even got lost in the world of the game.

Sometimes i thought... "Where is that place again that i needed to go? i forgot " then i searched while talking to the NPCs, some NPCs try to help and accompany me to the place, i love this addition and detail in Shenmue II, Ryo is not in his hometown anymore, Ryo is in a foreign country so i love this addition of NPCs trying to help Ryo, makes the experienece of being in a foreign country even better, and we can refuse the help if we want, this is one of the beautiful details about Shenmue II.

Another beautiful detail about Shenmue II is that we can buy maps of the places, makes the experience of being in a foreign country even better.

So many wonderful and memorable moments in Shenmue II with interesting and unique characters. Ryo meeting Joy, Wong robbing Ryo, Ryo going to Man Mo temple, Ryo learning the 4 Wude with interesting and unique characters, the training with Xiuying, airing books, catching leaves, Xiuying was trying to teach Ryo to have patience in the journey, that revenge is wrong and many other things, and of course one of the main lessons the clear and serene mind as a polished mirror, Xiuying cares about Ryo.

Xiuying's story with Ziming is one of the best parts of the game, Fangmei and Hanhui Liu are interesting characters as well, Man Mo temple is one of my favorite places in the game.

The Chawan Sign, the fights with the Yellow Heads, Ryo meeting Ren, Ryo learning the Bajiquan move Counter Elbow Assault with Xiuying, saying goodbye to Fangmei, Ryo going to Kowloon. Kowloon is such a unique place, i love exploring Kowloon in the game, talking to NPCs, the street fights, exploring the rooms in the buildings and much more.

Kowloon is such an intense part of the story of Shenmue II with a lot of action and a lot of floors and rooms to explore in the buildings, Xiuying saving Ryo, the climax of the Kowloon part in the Yellow Head building is wonderful. Ryo and Ren going up to evey floor while fighting the members of the Yellow Head, i love exploring the rooms in the game. Ryo remembering Xiuying and defeating Dou Niu with the Counter Elbow Assault, Ryo and Lan Di looking at each other, the talk with Yuanda Zhu, so many amazing moments in Kowloon.

Ryo saying goodbye to Xiuying and Ryo receiving the scroll of the Demon's Triangle move, i didn't remember that Demon's Triangle is a Bajiquan move, beautiful detail.

After the chaos and action in Kowloon Ryo go to Guilin and the game becomes calm and peaceful, a beautiiful decision by Yu Suzuki and team.

To me everything about Guilin is beautiful, Ryo and Shenhua walking while getting to know each other, Ryo ask about Bailu Village for Shenhua and Shenhua ask about Japan for Ryo. With this conversations we can learn many things about Shenhua, Bailu Village and Guilin.

I love that Shenhua talked about fishing, gathering herbs and much more, things that now we see in Shenmue III in Bailu Village. At night Shenhua asking about Ryo's friends, Ryo talking about Tom, Guizhang, Nozomi and Goro is such a sweet moment, such a sweet moment, Ryo training Tai Chi, Shenhua singing and much more, to see Ryo and Shenhua getting to know each other and starting a bond it is sweet and wonderful.

The soundtrack in the journey to Bailu Village is so sweet and calm, it is beautiful.

The places that Ryo pass with Shenhua are unique and beautiful, the QTEs in this part are fun, i enjoy this part. Ryo arriving in Shenhua's house and seeing the Shenmue tree, the flashback of Shenhua's parents and when Shenhua was little, Ryo and Shenhua eating and talking more.

Before playing this time I didn't remember that Shenhua confirms in Shenmue II that the city in the tapestry is Luoyang, it is really nice that Shenhua confirmed that in the game. The cave part is mysterious and beautiful, Shenmue II ended in a beautiful way

The Guilin part in Shenmue II is one of my favorite moments of all time in gaming.

Hong Kong, Kowloon and Guilin. so many wonderful, interesting, unique and sweet characters, things and moments in this places, Shenmue II is wonderful.

I wish we could train alone in Shenmue II just like we can in Shenmue I and Shenmue III, in Shenmue II we can just train with Jianmin Tao, it is something limited, just one time per day, it is not something that bother me but i wished i could train in Shenmue II when i want, not just one time per day.

Shenmue II is such an intense, beautiful, unforgettable, unique and sweet journey and adventure, a masterpiece that touched my heart. one of my favorite games of all time, Shenmue games really are more than games to me, Shenmue games are unique and unforgettable experiences.

Now i will start my second playtrough of Shenmue III
💚🌿🧄🪵🎣🥋
 
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Neat little video, despite the fact that it's on Tik Tok, an app I absolutely despise:


Nice to see Shenmue is included as a milestone on their history wall.

Nice to watch, but there's a sort of post-irony that I can't get on with. I don't like TikTok either, because it makes me feel old. *walks back to room of vinyl and blu-ray to remind myself of the relentless march of time* :hmm:
 
Nice to watch, but there's a sort of post-irony that I can't get on with. I don't like TikTok either, because it makes me feel old. *walks back to room of vinyl and blu-ray to remind myself of the relentless march of time* :hmm:
It does make me feel old, but I also hate seeing tweens doing awful interpretations of lame dances stapled all over Instagram, and they are almost all TikTok trends. Plus, being in education and living through "devious licks", made me wish terrible things.
 
Tiktok is a terrible app. Like many things in life on the internet, maybe 10% is used for useful/informative purposes and 90% for absolute trash/entertainment/useless shit... and the overwhelming majority of it comes from the US <_<
 
My new post on the blog of the forums. In this post i share my thoughts on whether Miao Village is the home village of Ziming and Xiuying, if Ziming and Xiuying were born in Miao Village and many other things, thank you.

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I was just thinking about Shenmue 2, mainly the music in the forest, but then it made me think about the entire game. Disc 4 is so peaceful but coming off the back of the Kowloon chapter, where the tension cranked up significantly, it feels even more peaceful by contrast.

Then it got me thinking, the whole game is like one see-saw ride. We immediately get pulled into trouble at the start of disc 1 but then there are some really tranquil moments mid-way through the game, with Ryo having to catch leaves, air out books and practice patience to learn the secrets of the Wude. Just as he seems to gain some sense of inner calm, he gets dragged into conflict with the Yellow Heads in Wan Chai and then the Heavens. If disc 4 lasted a little bit longer, Ryo would have been pulled back into conflict again after experiencing some peace. Our boy can never catch a break. :LOL:
 
I was looking at Shenmue related things as usual and I noticed this demo disc that I've never seen before.

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Anyone know what's in this demo?

I think it's this, and that it came with Fighting Vipers 2:



Sad to hear the uncompressed audio in that video and to think that it's most likely all been lost :/
 
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