Your ideas for a Shenmue Zero

spud1897

spud1897

Administrator
Joined
Jul 24, 2018
Location
England
Favourite title
Shenmue II
Currently playing
Destiny 2, Shenmue HD ;)
PSN
spud19870
This topic is shamelessly borrowed from the @Shenmue AM2 Podcast as it really piqued my interest.

What are you ideas for a Shenmue Zero? Whose back story do you want to know more about?

And for some veterans here... who remembers the fanmade Shenmue Zero?

Podcast episode here:
 
I remember the fan made Shenmue 0, thought it was really cool.

I'm interested in Iwao adventures. How and when he knew the fiddle player from Kowloon, for example. Same for Yuanda Zhu; Sunming Zhoa storyline with Iwao might be a bit too obvious and even self-derivative, though...

The man in the b/w photograph (which I always thought was the blind man on Dragon St, but now doubt--is it Shenhua's biological or adoptive father?)

Perhaps a saga unto themselves for Shenhua's parents. How Shenhua's parents lived before her birth--foreshadow their disappearance from their perspective--gradually segued to her stepfather's. While he takes care of her as family, how he became a phantom river stone carver....
 
A prequel certainly has potential to explore the lives that made Shenmue what it was. Imagine being able to experience the backstories of everyone from Iwao to Shenhua to Lan Di to Nozomi to Tom to Yuan to Ren to Shozo and others, in one weaving world. Has any other prequel in the history of the arts had this much potential to experience this many backstories? The Seeds of Shenmue could break new ground...
 
reminisce said:
A prequel certainly has potential to explore the lives that made Shenmue what it was. Imagine being able to experience the backstories of everyone from Iwao to Shenhua to Lan Di to Nozomi to Tom to Yuan to Ren to Shozo and others, in one weaving world. Has any other prequel in the history of the arts had this much potential to experience this many backstories? The Seeds of Shenmue could break new ground...
Click to expand...
Pretty much any game series with characters and an established story; Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Yakuza 0, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, Hitman: Absolution, Gears of War: Judgement, Halo: Reach, and Resident Evil 0, off the top of my head.

That's not to say a Shenmue prequel wouldn't be welcomed with open arms.
 
ShenGCH said:
Pretty much any game series with characters and an established story; Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Yakuza 0, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Batman: Arkham Origins, Hitman: Absolution, Gears of War: Judgement, Halo: Reach, and Resident Evil 0, off the top of my head.

That's not to say a Shenmue prequel wouldn't be welcomed with open arms.
Click to expand...

But has any saga allowed players to live out the backstories as in depth as Shenmue is known for?
 
Last edited:
I want to more about Lan Di.

My idea would come out before Shenmue 3. I want to know how Lan Di trained, who looked after him after Zhao died. What role did Yuanda Zhu have in this?

How does he join the Chi Yu Men, who gets him there. How was he lost to revenge. Maybe have little flashbacks to snippets of him being a child with Iwao and Sunming present and training.

Was he alive when his father died? Was he lied to? So many possibilites here!
 
reminisce said:
But has any saga allowed players to live out the backstories as in depth as Shenmue is known for?
Click to expand...
Well, you can't get more in-depth than entire games dedicated to the backstory of a character (or characters). Unless you are referring to multiple playable characters in a single game? Grand Theft Auto V, Yakuza 0, and, to a lesser extent, The Walking Dead: 400 Days do a pretty good job at that.
 
ShenGCH said:
Well, you can't get more in-depth than entire games dedicated to the backstory of a character (or characters). Unless you are referring to multiple playable characters in a single game? Grand Theft Auto V, Yakuza 0, and, to a lesser extent, The Walking Dead: 400 Days do a pretty good job at that.
Click to expand...

Those may give generic sandboxed backstories, but a Shenmue prequel has the capability to exude the subtle maturity of characters as they interact with their environments and npc’s day to day. Essentially a more realistic sense of character development closer to the human experience.

Also, imagine if the respective character decisions one makes in a Shenmue prequel affect experiences in the future, perhaps in Shenmue VI, VII, VIII, etc?
 
Last edited:
Iwao's Adventures would make an awesome game, but I imagine it's not something one game could handle as it's likely at least half as epic as Ryo's journey...
 
I would love to play through Ren's background. How he got to know everyone, from Joy to Cool Z, and how he got to be the leader of the Heavens (and Dou Nius enemy). He is pretty young, so must have been a lot happening fast. Maybe he started of like Wong.
 
I'd love to see some stuff involving Guizhang and Joy. But that could just be because I'm a sucker for Guizhang. I'd also love to see something involving Shozo Mizuki, some backstory about what brought him to the harbour. Perhaps some insight into what led to him becoming homeless. I've always found him to be one of the more compelling characters. The same goes for Zongquan Bai. I guess these would all be little side missions or things that are ultimately inconsequential within the larger story overall. But one of the things I've always loved about Shenmue as that there are so many little tragic characters scattered throughout both games.

Also, I'd like to see a scene with young Goro where you find out that he's always been a greaser. Same music accompanies him too.
 
Jetmcfancy said:
I'd love to see some stuff involving Guizhang and Joy. But that could just be because I'm a sucker for Guizhang. I'd also love to see something involving Shozo Mizuki, some backstory about what brought him to the harbour. Perhaps some insight into what led to him becoming homeless. I've always found him to be one of the more compelling characters. The same goes for Zongquan Bai. I guess these would all be little side missions or things that are ultimately inconsequential within the larger story overall. But one of the things I've always loved about Shenmue as that there are so many little tragic characters scattered throughout both games.

Also, I'd like to see a scene with young Goro where you find out that he's always been a greaser. Same music accompanies him too.
Click to expand...

That's an excellent point; all the little tragic (by our conception) characters... Like how DID Guixiang end up in that small flat all ... old grumpy lady heckled by land sharks? I always found the Shenmue willingness to acknowledge in all these ways that life can be pretty shit quite refreshing and non black/white. People will fail and will be happy and that's just people being people. Despite the happiness (think Tomato store music) life is essentially bleak a lot of the time, but it's still life. Haven't found that so pronounced in other games, the realization that life with it's mundane tropes is often quite hard. Doing ok, but hard. Reminds me of the Chinese saying Cha Bu Duo, roughly translated as "good enough". Not amazing or magical (except magical caves heh), but just as it is.
 
Araviel said:
I would love to play through Ren's background. How he got to know everyone, from Joy to Cool Z, and how he got to be the leader of the Heavens (and Dou Nius enemy). He is pretty young, so must have been a lot happening fast. Maybe he started of like Wong.
Click to expand...
I would literally kill to see that; aside from Ryo, Ren must be my favorite character in the game. this guy proved us how amazing he was time and time again in shenmue 2, and made me want to keep playing more. A back story for Ren would be amazing!
 
Araviel said:
That's an excellent point; all the little tragic (by our conception) characters... Like how DID Guixiang end up in that small flat all ... old grumpy lady heckled by land sharks? I always found the Shenmue willingness to acknowledge in all these ways that life can be pretty shit quite refreshing and non black/white. People will fail and will be happy and that's just people being people. Despite the happiness (think Tomato store music) life is essentially bleak a lot of the time, but it's still life. Haven't found that so pronounced in other games, the realization that life with it's mundane tropes is often quite hard. Doing ok, but hard. Reminds me of the Chinese saying Cha Bu Duo, roughly translated as "good enough". Not amazing or magical (except magical caves heh), but just as it is.
Click to expand...

I think one of the things I always appreciated so much about the game is its sense of melancholy. Which I suppose is to be expected since the first game has so much grief in it. Not unlike the way that Twin Peaks depicts a whole town driven by the grief regarding the death of someone in the town. Though admittedly less bizarre. Even when asking questions at the very beginning, I can't remember the specific line but you have certain characters define the day by like "Oh, the day that it rained." or "The day that it snowed." and it's such a dour way to start a game, and the way that the passing of time forces you to wait and be patient also kind adds to the sense of restlessness that a person can feel when a loved one has passed away. The sense that you just want to keep going and keep moving forward, but the world will carry on indifferently at its own pace.

Even a character like Mark who suddenly opens up one day about a potentially dead brother. The way that Tom announces that he's leaving, the cat without a mother. It's a very depressing game but I mean that in the best way possible, probably because that's what I would most like to explore in prequels of any kind. How the sadness came to be for so many of these characters.
 
Jetmcfancy said:
I think one of the things I always appreciated so much about the game is its sense of melancholy. Which I suppose is to be expected since the first game has so much grief in it. Not unlike the way that Twin Peaks depicts a whole town driven by the grief regarding the death of someone in the town. Though admittedly less bizarre. Even when asking questions at the very beginning, I can't remember the specific line but you have certain characters define the day by like "Oh, the day that it rained." or "The day that it snowed." and it's such a dour way to start a game, and the way that the passing of time forces you to wait and be patient also kind adds to the sense of restlessness that a person can feel when a loved one has passed away. The sense that you just want to keep going and keep moving forward, but the world will carry on indifferently at its own pace.

Even a character like Mark who suddenly opens up one day about a potentially dead brother. The way that Tom announces that he's leaving, the cat without a mother. It's a very depressing game but I mean that in the best way possible, probably because that's what I would most like to explore in prequels of any kind. How the sadness came to be for so many of these characters.
Click to expand...

Indeed, a prequel could very well provide treasures in these tragedies.
 
haha, someone added Ryo as notable alumni. Although, after skipping exams and mising the last months of school, wouldn't he have been expelled or hekld back from graduating??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top