About the buildings in Baisha village

[O Rei do Frango Assado]

Hi, everybody!
I never thought that I'd be posting here again after all these years, as I had already accepted that Shenmue 3 would simply never happen and I tried to move on (though I never really managed to forget about Shenmue.)
And yet, here we are, Shenmue 3 is coming out and this is all pretty exciting. In fact, this is probably the most exciting time in videogames in my life and I'm on my way to being 30 already and I never really get that excited about videogames anymore. Or so I thought!

Anyway, I noticed the artwork for Baisha village.
http://operationrainfall.com/wp-content ... -goals.png

Now, those round buildings are quite famous in China, they're called "tulou (土楼)", which literally means "earth building". They're communal residences, which, as far as I know, are only found in Fujian Province, in Southeast China. They're communal residences, which, nowadays, are more and more of a tourist attraction, really.

I doubt that Shenmue 3 will take Ryo to Fujian Province, but rather will be entirely (or mostly) set in Guangxi, which is where Guilin is situated. So I'm guessing that Yu Suzuki knew about tulou, maybe he visited them when he went to China, and he really wanted to incorporate them in Shenmue, even if that meant that accuracy would have to be thrown out of the window, in this case (which is fine by me. Fun should always come first in a videogame). Unless I'm wrong and tulou can also be found in Guangxi, but I've never heard about it and a quick Baidu search came up empty too.

Check out the Wikipedia article about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_Tulou

Pretty cool, huh? I'm looking forward to seeing them in Shenmue 3's Baisha.

[JaySw34]

Hmmm... very interesting. Good post

[Peter]

This is the first topic I've read since the announcement that's gotten me genuinely excited! Thinking about the game design, architecture, culture, music, layout....

I can't stop looking at those images in that stretch goal picture. I've seen the picture before but never really closely looked at it before

[O Rei do Frango Assado]

Thanks, guys!

[JaySw34]

I'm most excited about Choubu village. Did you read the Suzuki interview? He described it as a very cultural place with all kinds of shops, restaurants, and hotels. Seems at this point to be the busiest location the game will have

[Peter]

I believe we will get all 3 locations in Shenmue 3. No doubts. It's just gonna be such an unreal game, and a proper Shenmue game too! I glanced over the interview but I am trying to avoid as much detail as I can about the game. I want to experience it.

[JaySw34]

Oh, sorry if I spoiled something for you Peter

[O Rei do Frango Assado]

Yeah, I got the feeling that Choubu will be the game's main area.
The structures seen in the artwork, by the way, are called "paifang (牌坊)" or "pailou (牌楼)", but those can be found all over China (and other places in Asia), so the tulou in Baisha's artwork really caught my eye.

EDIT: Here's the Wikipedia article about paifang, by the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paifang

Another thing... Baisha (白沙) (White Sand) and Bailu (白鹿) (White Deer) are both the pronunciation in Chinese Mandarin of those characters. However, Choubu (鳥舞) (Bird Dance, literally) is the Japanese pronunciation. In Mandarin, it would be called Niaowu.
I don't understand the reason for this inconsistency.

[Rakim]

Nice Chinese tidbits bro!

[BayStone]

I'm most excited about Choubu village. Did you read the Suzuki interview?

What interview is that?

Also, on topic, there is that train ride in both Project Berkley and the GDC post-mortem. I wonder if and when that's going on.

[JaySw34]

I'm most excited about Choubu village. Did you read the Suzuki interview?

What interview is that?

Also, on topic, there is that train ride in both Project Berkley and the GDC post-mortem. I wonder if and when that's going on.

I don't remember exactly which one.. But he detailed a few of the games locations and what to expect. It was one of his recent interviews in the last 2 or 3 days. Maybe someone can help me out. It could of been the Game Informer interview but I'm not too sure.

[Peter]

I recon that will happen at the end of Shenmue 3, taking Ryo to the Great Wall of China and onto another Chiyoumen stronghold.

Oh and Jay you are ok lol. I already knew about that. It's gonna be hard for me to avoid spoilers since I need to be on here and can't exactly go awol from the Dojo

[colacube]

I noticed the Baisha buildings were Tulous as well! I posted it to reddit yesterday, but no one seemed to care :(

Here's another wikipedia article about them:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_walled_village

Apparently they're designed to be easily defensible, which would make sense, as Baisha village features an 'infiltration mission' into the Chi You Men's Guilin branch. I imagine we'll be sneaking into one of these Tuluos somehow.

For Choubu, we know it's a "riverside village with lots of shops, souvenir stores, hotels and temples", and that Yu Suzuki travelled to Suzhou in 1993 (as revealed in his Shenmue post-mortem). I hope he'll use it as inspiration, as it's very beautiful, being known as 'the Venice of China':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou

[BayStone]

I'm most excited about Choubu village. Did you read the Suzuki interview?

What interview is that?

Also, on topic, there is that train ride in both Project Berkley and the GDC post-mortem. I wonder if and when that's going on.

I don't remember exactly which one.. But he detailed a few of the games locations and what to expect. It was one of his recent interviews in the last 2 or 3 days. Maybe someone can help me out. It could of been the Game Informer interview but I'm not too sure.

Found the right google magic spell.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2015/06/20/ ... -and-more/

[Sonoshee]

Those Fujian Tulou images on the Wikipedia are most intriguing! Thank you for sharing