How Do You Feel About Shenmue III Becoming More Spiritual?

[Latin King]

I have to admit that I loved the down-to-earth, realistic feel of the first two games. However, it's obvious from the end of II that the series is going in a "supernatural" direction. I have faith that Yu will handle this tastefully and will ease us into it so that it doesn't seem odd or too "out there".

[Nahovil]

Like it would subvert all but everything I hold dear about my favourite game.

[ShinChuck]

Maybe it's because I've always been spiritual, and I've never had a problem finding myself immersed in relatively real-world settings like in Indiana Jones or Street Fighter (let alone more fantasy-oriented things like Narnia, Lord of the Rings, or Prydain), and so I don't think I'll mind once Shenmue gets there provided it's done well.

[Hyo Razuki]

I love it. It perfectly punctuates the general tone of the series, and especially which throws it right in your face. Ryo goes through a decaying, decrepit old crime filled city in order to find information on his fathers killer. Kowloon represents Ryo's inner demons as the cracks expose themselves leading to his own perdition. Xiuying tells him as much in the church and many times in Honk Kong. The analogy for Ryo's spiritual journey from Kowloon to Guilin is both figurative and literal in the scope of the games themes. Ryo, having found Zhu Yuanda, travels from a place that eats his soul and forces him to go to extremes to find vengeance that will never sate him, to a place separated from civilization, surrounded by nature in all of its wonders. It is through the nature of spirituality and friendship, which Ryo starts to embrace as seen in the Tai Chi scene at the crag, that will save Ryo and deliver him from becoming the exact person he hates.

The naturalism vs urbanism dynamic in II is a natural part of the evolution of the story, and one that gives it far more emotional weight.

I don't take it as an west vs east debate. I think that pits the story at its most reduced form. After all, Hong Kong is more advanced than Yokosuka which is a small town and many people that live in these places, like Xiuying, are on the straight and narrow. It isn't about west vs east, so much as I feel it is about Ryo's spiritual transformation as he grows from boy to man. He has two options. He thinks he NEEDS revenge, but it consumes him. The secret to his sating heartache is within him all along, and that is his own natural spirit.

The spiritualism is needed.

Further, I think people's take on east vs west debate is exotifying the east and trying to find a way to say the east is better when this is never explicitly said in neither games at all.

Just beautiful words, my friend! These are things that I felt were in Shenmue all along but I couldn't have found such precise words to articulate it.

[Hazuki_san]

I like it as realistic as it can be.

[BlueMue]

I hope they keep the magic stuff at a minimum. Shenmue was so realistic and focused on actual martial arts all the time and then with the start of the Guilin chapter the strange stuff started to build up. Going from the dandelion to the sword in a short amount of time... If it continues at that rate it won't take long until we get some big nasty monsters.

If only Shenhua and maybe some other people in Bailu Village have powers I'm fine with it. All cool, as long as they don't all start throwing Kamehameha's like in the Shenmue Online Trailer...

[BayStone]

Hmm... I wouldn't call it spiritual, but supernatural surely. Has Hadoken Hazuki said, it's always been that way, or understones of it. Not sure yet if it's going to go the fireball scale yet, but surely something out of the ordinary is about to happen. Sort of, slightly exaggerated martial arts Ki... thing. Maybe air pulses, etc.

That said, looking at Shenmue Online, I don't know. Some of that could be because MMO. Flashier stuff is more ok, when it comes to those. Not sure if it works as well in actual Shenmue.

[joka]

I think it needs to stay fairly grounded as martial arts is such an important element.
There was some cut s2 or early s3 scenes of a Shenhua fight where's she's like power palming (or air pulsing like baystone put better!) 2 chiyoumen punks away (can't find the image online currently) and that 'enhanced' element is fine by me but I don't want to be seeing fireballs coming out of their hands like that awful online trailer!

[BayStone]

I think it needs to stay fairly grounded as martial arts is such an important element.
There was some cut s2 or early s3 scenes of a Shenhua fight where's she's like power palming (or air pulsing like baystone put better!) 2 chiyoumen punks away (can't find the image online currently) and that 'enhanced' element is fine by me but I don't want to be seeing fireballs coming out of their hands like that awful online trailer!

True, and thanks, but those 2 chiyoumen punks... I think it might actually be Ryo and Ziming.

[joka]

I think it needs to stay fairly grounded as martial arts is such an important element.
There was some cut s2 or early s3 scenes of a Shenhua fight where's she's like power palming (or air pulsing like baystone put better!) 2 chiyoumen punks away (can't find the image online currently) and that 'enhanced' element is fine by me but I don't want to be seeing fireballs coming out of their hands like that awful online trailer!

True, and thanks, but those 2 chiyoumen punks... I think it might actually be Ryo and Ziming.

No there was definitely a shot of Shenhua 'dispersing' them as it were!

So annoying I can't find it anywhere but I remember it vividly... I'll check my old posts on here to see if I can find it but I'm sure someone else will help me out

EDIT- scene I'm on about is actually from the project berkley footage... 52 seconds in the below.

phpBB [video]

[Hyo Razuki]

If it continues at that rate it won't take long until we get some big nasty monsters.

Like Chi You? That would be no surprise at all. Old Chen talked about it way back in S1.

[BayStone]

I think it needs to stay fairly grounded as martial arts is such an important element.
There was some cut s2 or early s3 scenes of a Shenhua fight where's she's like power palming (or air pulsing like baystone put better!) 2 chiyoumen punks away (can't find the image online currently) and that 'enhanced' element is fine by me but I don't want to be seeing fireballs coming out of their hands like that awful online trailer!

True, and thanks, but those 2 chiyoumen punks... I think it might actually be Ryo and Ziming.

No there was definitely a shot of Shenhua 'dispersing' them as it were!

Yep yep, exactly. Those two shouldn't be fighting so she stops them.

[joka]

Oh I see what you mean... Possibly I guess. Still definitely not something a normal martial artist could do... And if you went a certain way with Shenhua you saw her raise all the dandelions didn't you so we know she has this mythical power already

[BlueMue]

Like Chi You? That would be no surprise at all. Old Chen talked about it way back in S1.

I know and I've seen the Gang Edition too. Maybe Master Chen was just telling some old tell. I think the mirrors could just be the key to a treasure, like Yuanda Zhu stated. It's still mystifying that we have two different answers of what the mirrors do. Has been speculated in the past already.

I'm more concerned that monsters will appear as regular enemies or something. Yu Suzuki said he can't answer if Ryo will use the sword to fight. Imagine Shenmue heading towards Ninja Gaiden style gameplay. No, I'm not serious.

[Hyo Razuki]

Like Chi You? That would be no surprise at all. Old Chen talked about it way back in S1.

I'm more concerned that monsters will appear as regular enemies or something. Yu Suzuki said he can't answer if Ryo will use the sword to fight. Imagine Shenmue heading towards Ninja Gaiden style gameplay. No, I'm not serious.

Hmmmm... Ryo Hazuki... Ryu Haybusa... Merge into something like Ryo Hayazuki!