New GDC Plot image discussion *Spoilers*

[Axm]

Thanks to Mitsuzuki for the screen grabs.





Here we have some of the biggest overall story arch and plot spoilers we've ever had since the Shenmue 2x comics.

Whats most notable in the first slide is the 3rd entry "Heroic Battle with Randi, Victory"
Randi? Randi = Lan Di. Ryo achieves victory.
It does not stay "kills Randi" or the like, rather that he simply achieved "Victory".
Victory could be in the form of even saving LanDi (or anyone else in the Chi You Men) from Ryo's own destructive power. Or it could be that Ryo simply kills Lan Di (or the leader of the ChiYouMen) and therefore becomes lost again in purpose. He isnt satisfied by the end result and he "Begins a new Journey"

In the other slides we see a basic story arch of the entire plot.
Ryo gets into many battles which would appear to be with the Chi You Men. An early concept of what appears to be Nao Sun is present. In the end, Ryo saves Shahua and then searches for a new purpose in life it seems.
This in itself leads us to the possibility for even more Shenmue games past this first story arch.
We could actually see MORE Shenmue hypothetically because Yu Suzuki has left Ryo alive and in search of new meaning to life.
That or lives happily ever after, The End.

Thoughts?

[BlueMue]

I find it very interesting how many characters were finished or next to finished in their design. The sure took a long time to get from Akira to Ryo but just look at all the other ones. I can see Ren, Shenhua and Xiuying clearly and Dou Niu, Master Chen and Guizhand well enough to know that it's them. Niao Sun seems to bee in the two bottom left pictures aswell, but with not quite that black hair yet. The phoenix mirror is especially final and really strikes me. I have never seen any art from the Akira's quest stage of the developement that showed this hugely integral part of the plot. Maybe I have forgotten them but it just hits me hard to see the mirror in an artwork like that

The map thing is also interesting as we already got similar maps in the parts, showing the various locations Ryo might be heading to. Maybe we can make it out more clear now by lining them up somehow.

Sadness and Departure really remind me a lot of the two songs with almost the exact same name on the OST btw.

[urbanveteran]

wait! heroic battle with randi (lan di) loses purpose begins new journey????

All we wanted to do was kill lan di? So we kill lan di then there's another game/journey.

am i wrong in thinking the following:

Introduction = Shenmue 1
Development = shenmue 2
Denouement (kill lan di) shenmue 3
conclusion = ???? begins a new journey? shenmue 4?

can anyone shed light on the meaning?

[Nahovil]

Edit: Never mind; misheard the translation

[Nahovil]

wait! heroic battle with randi (lan di) loses purpose begins new journey????

All we wanted to do was kill lan di? So we kill lan di then there's another game/journey.

am i wrong in thinking the following:

Introduction = Shenmue 1
Development = shenmue 2
Denouement (kill lan di) shenmue 3
conclusion = ???? begins a new journey? shenmue 4?

can anyone shed light on the meaning?

Lan Di doesn't get killed. Ryo doesn't get vengeance. The whole point of Shenmue itself, as a tale, is about being faced with the pointlessness of the vendetta.

[Yokosuka Martian]

Who can connect the Chapters to the places they look like their taking place in on the map? Is that 3rd picture going back to Japan?

[Nahovil]

Well, only the one on the right is situated over Japan, not even shown fully on the map. Yu Suzuki mentioned they are all set in China, but the one on the left looks almost placed upon Kyrgyzstan, while the topmost two, Mongolia. The second from the right is on top of or quite near Korea.

[urbanveteran]

wait! heroic battle with randi (lan di) loses purpose begins new journey????

All we wanted to do was kill lan di? So we kill lan di then there's another game/journey.

am i wrong in thinking the following:

Introduction = Shenmue 1
Development = shenmue 2
Denouement (kill lan di) shenmue 3
conclusion = ???? begins a new journey? shenmue 4?

can anyone shed light on the meaning?

Lan Di doesn't get killed. Ryo doesn't get vengeance. The whole point of Shenmue itself, as a tale, is about being faced with the pointlessness of the vendetta.

Yeah I got the moral of the story. But my thought here was in the first screenshot.

Is it supposed to be like a kind of a blueprint for the series. A step-by-step. shenmue 1-2-3 or was it a metaphorical 'new journey'. Or did suzuki write that down for the purpose of keeping the series open after the originally planned shenmue 3?

As I see it from the screenshot Ryo wins lan di in a 1 on 1 fight. Whether or not he dies from the injuries is subject to speculation.

[Ziming]

Remember Suzuki said the story of Shenmue consists of 11 scenarios. 11 images and 11 different locations.

XBN: Ok, three projects rumoured to be development at AM2: yes or no answers please. Shen Mue III?

Suzuki: Not at the moment. That depends on how well Shen Mue II is received. I've written the series myself up to chapter 11. [Picks up phone again and asks for someone to bring in his original Shen Mue manuscripts]. See here, chapters 1, 2, 3 -- and in this big book are chapters 5-11.

[urbanveteran]

Remember Suzuki said the story of Shenmue consists of 11 scenarios. 11 images and 11 different locations.

XBN: Ok, three projects rumoured to be development at AM2: yes or no answers please. Shen Mue III?

Suzuki: Not at the moment. That depends on how well Shen Mue II is received. I've written the series myself up to chapter 11. [Picks up phone again and asks for someone to bring in his original Shen Mue manuscripts]. See here, chapters 1, 2, 3 -- and in this big book are chapters 5-11.

So that begs the question, How many games would this span over. Would the remaining chapters have been squeezed into shenmue 3? Or was the original idea to have a 4, 5 etc. I'm now beginning to wonder if pirated copies of shenmue is what killed it I don't know if this has been discussed on here before? maybe make a new topic on it.

[ShenSun]

Pirating was a big reason why some titles failed on the dreamcast. But Shenmue was doomed from the get go. Every dreamcast owner had to buy the game twice in order for it to make a profit. Brilliant idea Sega.

[KiD]

I love those art pieces, wish I could get some blown up high quality versions of them or obtain an "Art of Shenmue" artbook that covers the entire series. What's more, those pieces seem so epic, especially the parts we have yet to play, the locales like what appears to be a castle, the mountains, etc. Ahhhh, I feel this way every time I see something about Shenmue, it'd be so great if the series continues to see where the journey takes us, how Ryo grows both in his training but also his thinking

[Supa]

I still don't understand...if Suzuki has 11 chapters in mind, then why did Shin Ishikawa write down 16?

And WHY did SEGA Europe announce Shenmue III was in development way back when? Something has to be deep inside SEGA...even if it's very, very early in development life. Not current, but started back after Shenmue II was released.

[KiD]

At some point I would like the remainder of the story unveiled. If not in game form, a manga or anime would be okay with me

[Axm]

I still don't understand...if Suzuki has 11 chapters in mind, then why did Shin Ishikawa write down 16?

And WHY did SEGA Europe announce Shenmue III was in development way back when? Something has to be deep inside SEGA...even if it's very, very early in development life. Not current, but started back after Shenmue II was released.

From 2010:

In the Famitsu.com interview, Suzuki explained what he means by "chapters." Suzuki uses the style of novelizing his scenarios before converting them into a game script. He takes this approach because he feels the story and emotional impact can be more deeply expressed through novelizations. It's not necessarily the case that these novelizations are converted directly into game form, but they are made with the idea of being converted into games, inserting quick timer events in one area, inserting gameplay systems in other areas, and so-forth.

Just because there are eleven chapters, it doesn't seem that Suzuki actually plans on having eleven Shenmue games at some point. Thinking about how to put those eleven chapters into the form of a game is something Suzuki feels he'll have to consider if given the chance to make a new Shenmue. "It would be possible to finish the entire story in a single game if we were to show just the highlights and skip over parts," said Suzuki. Joking that the game would probably never reach the end if they made one title every five years, he said, "If given the chance, I'd have to think about the scale and the time frame. The Shenmue essence is, of course, in the scenarios I've made. I'd have to think how to make something from them."