Shenmue story theories and stuff

[Bluecast]

I still think Lan-Di isn't a villain or this cold hearted person the games make him out to be. I'm more interested in his story than Ryo's.

Fixed My guess was always the old guy in the Berkley vid would end up as the main villian

And anyone whos against magic in Shenmue should have stopped playing about an hour into the first game as it was always clear the series would go down that route.

No I meant fans not games. People on this forum for years talk how evil he is or want to see the final battle of him and Ryo. Then want to vote him gaming best villain.

[shredingskin]

I think there will be a confrontation between Ryo and Lan Di in chapter 9 (were both realise they are not really enemies, but guys that had passed some similar shit). I don't think that the old guy will be a chi yu men, probably a teacher for ryo in some sort.

Also I think the mirrors have to do with finding the lost tomb of qin shi huang.

[Who Really Cares?]

I still think Lan-Di isn't a villain or this cold hearted person the games make him out to be. I'm more interested in his story than Ryo's.

Fixed My guess was always the old guy in the Berkley vid would end up as the main villian

And anyone whos against magic in Shenmue should have stopped playing about an hour into the first game as it was always clear the series would go down that route.

No I meant fans not games. People on this forum for years talk how evil he is or want to see the final battle of him and Ryo. Then want to vote him gaming best villain.

Well he was pretty cold in the intro and he works for an orginzation that strtikes fear/concern in everyone who hears it so yes he may have had the same revenge story as Ryo but his also a villian. And yes a fight between the 2 is needed.

[Bluecast]

NO because he tells Iwao he will allow him to die like a Warrior. For all we know Iwao was some dickhead.
Iwao supposedly killed someone dear to him. For all we know he is a puppet. Wanting out but feeling his hand is forced. Be a boring story if all it was Lan-Di is evil prick and the series just want to lead up to them have a fight. Not worth several games if that's the case. It's not good writing. We also don't know for sure Shenhuas father is dead. He was just gone. Ziming is part of the same stable. Ziming & Lan Di bith set out for revenge and ended up there. I think they are trying to stop Ryo from doing the same. Maybe Ryo is supposed to save one or both of them from the Chyu. Maybe Ryo becomes one. Just to have them fight is the most boring lame thing you can do.

[Who Really Cares?]

He was willing to Kill Ryo in front of Iwao if he had not given up the mirrors location and Ryo is innocent. Yes he also has his reason for killing Iwao[beliving atleast he killed his dad] but Lan Di is a villain.
And in both bad endings he kills Ryo and goes after Shenhua in II's bad ending.

[Bluecast]

He was willing to Kill Ryo in front of Iwao if he had not given up the mirrors location and Ryo is innocent. Yes he also has his reason for killing Iwao[beliving atleast he killed his dad] but Lan Di is a villain.
And in both bad endings he kills Ryo and goes after Shenhua in II's bad ending.

He made a threat. He could have easily done it and still got what he wanted. I still no evidence. Unless Shenmue really has that bad of cliche writing

[south carmain]

If its anything like kung fu movies then ten tei killed iwao's friend, made lan di believe it was iwao and sent him to kill him and recover the mirrors, ryo learns this and tries to tell lan di, lan di refuses to listen and fights ryo and loses, he then tells ryo to finish him and give him a warriors death, ryo doesnt and breaks the cycle of revenge, lan di magically sees the errors of his ways and helps ryo fight ten tei who has now the power of the mirrors which were taken shortly after shenmue 2, at this point the story has completely evolved from the first 2 games and the main enemy is some mad badass ancient chinese powerful shit ready to fuck shit up that can only be defeated if ryo and lan di team up and release their inner anciemts powers of the phoenix and dragon

[TigerFist]

I just read that "Baihu translates as White Tiger." Which could easily be his code name. Didn't someone on the forum say Lan Di translates as Blue Dragon? If so that is also a code name since Lan Di's real name is Longsun Zhao. So I'm not sure but isn't Niao Sun's code name Red Phoenix?

Do you guys remember the secret tiger swollow move scroll in Hazuki dojo that Ryo never got translated? Wouldn't it be safe to assume that, that scroll's meaning is going to be taught to Ryo by Ziming at some point. Call me crazy but I think this is going to be the move that stops Lan Di or maybe even the forth unknown leader.

I'm still sure that the Tiger on Ryo's jacket is kind of a symbol of sorts for when Ryo maybe takes Ziming's place in the Che You Men some sort of way. I'm also gonna guess that all four leaders operate separately.

[Master Kyodai]

Lan Di is clearly a villain as it can be assumed it was the black car that did overrun the kittens mother. Speeding in sakuragaoka is what makes a good villain.

[Bluecast]

Lan Di is clearly a villain as it can be assumed it was the black car that did overrun the kittens mother. Speeding in sakuragaoka is what makes a good villain.

[Luvly KM]

For me it has always been about Ryo and the classical heroes journey... The signs have been there with I & II, composing about one half of the cycle.

From this i would say that there isnt going to be many twists as many theorise (perhaps from expectatios of typical games amd media), Shenmue has always been a very straigtforward story yet with very warm and humanist themes...

In all Ryo is just going to be on this journey and learn a lot about himself, In a way that other games just couldn't portray. As suzuki hinted, Ryo may not even commit his revenge after becoming a great, better person.

All this talk of chi yu men and hidden agendas is tertiary: satellites to the ever more important Ryo

[KiBa]

It is obvious (which is not to say bad) that Lan Di, Zhao Longsun, is Ryo Hazuki gone bad, in the sense that Lan Di was also avenging the killing of his father, Zhao Sunming by Iwao Hazuki. Whereas Lan Di has the permanent scar, signifying his hatred, in his left cheek, Ryo still has only a bandage, and we are supposed to wait and see whether he will become like Lan Di or choose a better path, revealing no scar remaining of the wound. They are mirror images of one another, hence the stone mirrors central to the story. They are also opposites, containing the seed of each inside, like the Yin Yang. Still, Lan Di choose the worse half. And, of course, Ryo will choose the better path because he is the hero.

[johnvivant]

don't forget that yu suzuki said that 'choice' would be a new component in the sequel so it could well be possible that there will be multiple endings which are dependent on your actions throughout the game.

good ending where Ryo vanquishes the dragon/chiyou
or bad ending where he joins the chiyoumen and hadoukens shenhua in the face

maybe a UFO ending too.. lol

the mass effect ending uproar would be nothing compared to this...

[mue 26]

don't forget that yu suzuki said that 'choice' would be a new component in the sequel so it could well be possible that there will be multiple endings which are dependent on your actions throughout the game.

good ending where Ryo vanquishes the dragon/chiyou
or bad ending where he joins the chiyoumen and hadoukens shenhua in the face

maybe a UFO ending too.. lol

the mass effect ending uproar would be nothing compared to this...

Didn't the first two games already have "bad" endings(if you took too long to reach the end)? Though if they do, no spoils please as I haven't had them yet lol.
But yeah, Yu did mention he wanted to add "choices" and multiple paths into the third game in an interview not too long ago. It also seemed like a bit of a personality assessor kind of thing, judging by the somewhat iffy examples Yu gave in the article. A Shenmue game with with choice and consequence sounds interesting on paper, but in reality I'm really not sure how keen on it I would actually be. I mean, the choice thing has been done to death this generation, and I'm just not sure that Yu could do it any better, and I'm also unsure as to how much the game would really benefit from it. Shenmue 1and 2 had the occasional relatively minor braching paths in them, and I wouldn't mind seeing that sort of thing expanded on, but by going full scale Mass Effect style it could run risk of the game losing some of it's focus and simplicity. It will be interesting to see just how Yu handles it, if he ever gets the chance.

As for the ending, I really don't think the ending can go too far wrong to be honest. As Luvly km mentioned, it's a pretty classical sort of coming of age tale (albiet a well told one), and I highly doubt there will be any truly mind blowing twists, nor would it need any. The only way I could see it going slightly awry, is if the multiple choice idea is taken too far and some end up with the sort of ending johnvivant described.

[Bluecast]

Bad endings are not really spoilers. Just basically saying you suck ass game over journey over. Not canon. Shenhua and Ryo get split apart as a big tree falls. (debate about the blood which was comical as hell as it was the very definition of Shenmue fans looking far to much into something and giving it more credit than it deserves..was jut s a shitty brown texture of the tree.)