Random Shenmue Thoughts

My new post on the blog of the forums, in this post i reflect if Lan Di is a bad person or if he is a victim in the Shenmue Story.

Lan Di killed Iwao because of revenge, he thought Iwao killed Sunming Zhao (Lan Di's Father) and now Ryo wants the same thing, revenge, so is interesting to think about all the possibilities that we can see in the Shenmue Story.

Probably Lan Di is not the real villain of this story, probably other character is the real villain of the Shenmue story, the one pulling the strings, probably Tentei, that probably the real villain twisted with Lan Di's mind since he was a kid, i shared my opinion about these things and much more on this blog post, thank you all for the support on the blog.

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A random thought i had now about Lan Di. Lan Di killed Iwao because of revenge, he killed Iwao and took the Dragon mirror with him, Lan Di also want the Phoenix mirror, but why Lan Di want both mirrors? Lan Di really want to do bad things with the mirrors? maybe someone said to him that with the mirrors he can revive his father, maybe this is why Lan Di wants both mirrors so much, because probably the real villain twisted with Lan Di's mind since he was a kid.

Iwao Hazuki (Ryo's father) and Sunming Zhao (Lan Di's father) were friends, friendship is one of the themes in the Shenmue story, so i really hope in one part of the story Ryo and Lan Di understand each other, and maybe Lan Di will even have a heroic death.

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All i know is that if Shenmue IV happen i hope we can see more revelations about these things, Shenmue III is like the first game and i love that, especially in Bailu Village like a second home for Ryo, now for Shenmue IV i think Yu Suzuki will focus a lot in relation to the story, i think Shenmue IV will progess the story a lot, and that will be really intense about the story, intense with a lot of action/fights, revelations, training, maybe important characters dying and much more.
 
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A random, but earnest thought after a long flight: I'm glad Shenmue I and II came out right when they did, despite the resulting development hell of III.

I try to keep abreast of gaming developments/happenings, and in so doing, I've noticed that so many contemporary games (not all, of course) seem especially bogged down by the effort to fit in with current trends. Even most indie/retro games feel that way to me these days (remember Metroid and RPGs? In fact I do! I may in fact be older than you, new developer intern!)

More positively, Shenmue stands out to me as a monument to that era of gaming-- when 3D was between a clunky 5th gen. mess and a 6th-7th gen. order (all too orderly thereafter), and long before some of the bad developments in gaming. I really doubt I'd have appreciated the series as much if it came out for any other generation of consoles. S1 and 2 wowed for the era they were in, and that has yet to be trumped for me.

So too, maybe it's my nostalgia both for and against nostalgia, but the 80s of Shenmue feels closer to the mark than the tired attempts these days. Synthwave, Vice City pastels, Buddy cop vibes, and the like-- we get it, Stranger Things.
By contrast, Suzuki's attention to detail (perhaps it helps that he lived in the 80s around the age many of us are now ad noticed the right things) makes the era feel more realistic-- I don't mean just that it's set in Japan vs. the West, but the dingy, gritty, realistic feel of the decade that didn't have to do with synthpop.

I won't bang on, but I'm so glad those games came out when they did and presented things as they did. Lightning in a bottle, methinks!
 
Does anyone know of any differences between the PC and modern console ports? Earlier today I started a playthrough of Shenmue 1 on the PC and I noticed just how off the steps sounded in Ryo's bedroom. I know sound effects in general are bugged in the modern port but I had never noticed them being so off before, so I took out any mods just in case and compared with the PS4 version and there is definitely a big difference. The PS4 version sounds pretty much just like the dreamcast’s while the PC's are completely different, almost sounding like a drum. I'm not at my house to make a comparison right now but if you watch playthroughs online you'd hear the difference. I was wondering if anyone knows of any other differences between the two? Until now I thought they were exactly the same just with some options stripped out of the console.
 
BruceWayne911 said:
IMO one of the biggest downfalls of Shenmue is it was ahead of its time. I believe Shenmue would be more digestible in this era.
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When I first played it in Dreamcast I was like 14 and swear it required a whole in-game day to pass to me start to understand the huge experience that was about to unfold. Of course I had previous experience with open world games more or less linear like FFVII or Daggerfall which also melted my brain at first playthroughs but, you figure, there was no point in comparison. I think when Ryo auto spawned to home and the next day started, my pre-Shenmue gameplay mind crashed and everything was re-arranged. "Whoa wha wait.." something like that.
I was very excited with MGS2 and Silent Hill 2 but for a game to hit me like Shenmue did it took to GTA:SA.
To sum up,😅 yes way ahead of its time and in some aspects stills.
 
A question came to mind: has any character featured in the series died/been killed besides Iwao?

I know there are rumors of people being killed (e.g., Mark's brother) and bad ending situations (Yellow Head Bldg.), but are there any other canonical deaths?
The only one that comes close, to my mind, is the stock character used in the Kowloon fights. (So too, is that one character with different outfits? Perhaps you can help @Miles Prower).
Even then, I suppose it's possible (but unlikely) the fighter could survive those circumstances (broken back, dropped into the abyss, etc.)

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Nigel said:
A question came to mind: has any character featured in the series died/been killed besides Iwao?

I know there are rumors of people being killed (e.g., Mark's brother) and bad ending situations (Yellow Head Bldg.), but are there any other canonical deaths?
The only one that comes close, to my mind, is the stock character used in the Kowloon fights. (So too, is that one character with different outfits? Perhaps you can help @Miles Prower).
Even then, I suppose it's possible (but unlikely) the fighter could survive those circumstances (broken back, dropped into the abyss, etc.)

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I'm sure the Chunyan guy died. The Rod guy...doubt he did. I wouldn't even argue that he broke his back. But who knows.
 
Nigel said:
A question came to mind: has any character featured in the series died/been killed besides Iwao?

I know there are rumors of people being killed (e.g., Mark's brother) and bad ending situations (Yellow Head Bldg.), but are there any other canonical deaths?
The only one that comes close, to my mind, is the stock character used in the Kowloon fights. (So too, is that one character with different outfits? Perhaps you can help @Miles Prower).
Even then, I suppose it's possible (but unlikely) the fighter could survive those circumstances (broken back, dropped into the abyss, etc.)

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It's a good question!
As far as these two guys go, it seems they might be brothers - their names are Rong Yu (white vest) and Rong Rong (blue vest) - see this screenshot from my character database below (they are both listed as Yellow Head members)
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As for Rong Lu - there's actually something amusing in the Game Jam prototype related to this topic! In the Game Jam prototype, the guy fighting Baihu before Ryo does is Rong Yu:
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...do you see the issue here? This is the same guy who Chunyan seemingly kills by throwing him off the edge, before Ryo gets to Baihu's arena in the Big Ox Bldg....whoops!

It seems they realised their error as in the final game, he's replaced with Rong Lu :p
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Per usual, excellent and helpful clarification @Miles Prower! I didn't mean to give you work to do, but I know you're the character database god, so I appreciate it.

As to the character swaps, that makes sense; I wondered if all of this could be something handled a bit haphazardly (akin to the dentists in Game Jam).
 
I personally hope that Shenmue 5 gets Kickstarted just get it out and over with. Shenmue 5 would get funded because its the last one everyone would unite to give it a proper ending.
 
I've always dreamed of playing Shenmue 1 & 2 on the Nintendo Switch.
Now that dream as sort of come true.
Got my Gamesir X2 controller and now I can play Shenmue 1 & 2 on my Samsung A72 Switch Style. 😃
Playing on Redream emulator for Android.


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