Interesting how Suzuki says that Shenmue 3 will roughly cover chapters 5 and 6 of the saga. I thought Shenmue II covered chapters 3, 4 and 5?

I always thought it was like this:

Shenmue 1 = Chapter 1 (Yokosuka)
Shenmue 2 = Chapter 2, 3, and 4. (Wan Chai, Kowloon, and Guilin)

Now Suzuki says Shenmue 3 will cover 5 and 6.


I'm guessing the boat chapter is completely excluded from this count, as well as the discarded Li River chapter, so this new timeline takes into account only what we have seen so far.

Big thanks to Switch and sshen1127 for their invaluable translation work.

If Chinese subtitles weren't already on the cards, I certainly hope they are now. Chinese Shenmue fans should be rewarded for their efforts.

Here's an English translation from the Japanese (so hopefully it retains most of the original meaning!)

Hello Master Suzuki,

We are big fans of the Shenmue series. You have come to Shanghai this time to tell the young people of China about your experience with game development. On behalf of everyone, I would like to welcome you and express our thanks.

Most of us were part of the Dreamcast era, and so we have deep feelings for your creation, Shenmue. We experienced this wonderful game and Ryo’s adventures. It would not be going far to say this was a part of our life experience. In Shenmue we have seen many experiences of loneliness, growth, love and strength, and they won’t be forgotten as long as we live. It was such a shame that the story of Shenmue did not continue at that time. We felt as sad as if we had lost part of our family, or a girlfriend/boyfriend. We thought this regret would stay with us for the rest of our lives.

In the 14 years that followed, we avidly followed all news about Shenmue. Although occasionally we could not bear to see the reports, as our raised hopes would always be dashed. Little by little, we tucked Shenmue away deep in our hearts. As the Chinese poet Guo Moruo once wrote, “Disappointed year after year, Year after year, my hope's still fierce”.

At last, there was a turning point. At the 2015 E3 conference, you announced the Shenmue III Kickstarter project. At that moment, tears overflowed from everyone’s eyes, and we smiled with joy. We have a saying in China, “A man cannot cry easily. But when he can, it is true sadness”. Actually we have already turned 30, and have not cried for many years – some of us probably have not cried for 10 years. However this time we cried plainly. Tears of emotion, tears of happiness. We are really grateful to you for your efforts. Without these we would not believe we would ever cry so much again.

From the time of the Kickstarter project announcement, we have gathered together again and have continued to support Shenmue III. Everyone is putting in maximum effort, I am happy to say. The funds gathered in China may not be great compared to elsewhere, but it represents the hearts of the Shenmue fans across China. We will never leave the Number 1 Shenmue club. Thanks to Shenmue, we have all become friends, which has made us happy. We are grateful to you for this also.

We have one request for you, which is that we would like Shenmue III in Chinese. Naturally this will require budget but please consider it. It will please all the players who speak Chinese. We are also hoping for HD versions of Shenmue I and II.

Finally, we celebrate the smooth development of Shenmue III, and pray that it will be a big hit. We pray for great happiness and health to you, your staff and families from the bottom of our hearts.

Shenmue Fan Club of China

Yu Suzuki : Lan Di (Rantei-Souryu/藍帝(蒼龍)) is the east leader. His name also means Blue Dragon. About Niao Sun, she also has another name : 炎帝 (Entei), and rules over the South part and is represented by a Phoenix.

Now, regarding the last 2 bosses, no one has seen them yet. One of them is Koutei (昊帝) and leads the West part and is represented by a Tiger. The last one is Gentei (玄帝), covers the North part and is represented by a Turtle.

Oh and, Ziming Hong is not one of the 4th leaders.


http://shenmuedojo.net/new/extras/interview1114.html

Yeah that was from my first interview. I'm sure you'll love the last leaders. ;-)

Is this Bailu? Can't wait to explore...

Hear me out.

You're Nozomi, and you're childhood friends with Ryo. Suddenly, his father dies, not only that, he's murdered. You try to comfort him but the more you try, the more you're pushed away. You try to understand him but he's obsessed on exacting a lone revenge mission, you notice this guy start making more dangerous and careless decisions as the days go by, dragging himself down into a world of trouble. You tell him that soon you'll be leaving for another country, in the extraordinary small chance you can get through to him and have your feelings requited but again, he has his own agenda, he doesn't have time for an old friend who's in love with him for the most part... and then one day you're fucking kidnapped. Because of his dumb careless actions.... but that's not all.

Ryo goes to Hong Kong and immediately upon arriving there he meets some biker who is all over him, making all kinds of innuendo and sexual invitations. Ryo doesn't recuperate these invitations, sure but he does stay in the ComeOver Guest House on her suggestion.

Not long after, he meets his teacher, and sleeps in her apartment.... in the very same room no less! He then enables some kids crush on him by trying to make her happy and debatably even flirting with her, that's insane. why is he even putting thoughts into this poor girls head?

And after that? At in the end of Shenmue 2, he's met some mysterious girl and begins to tell her about his whole life, family, friends, even Nozomi. Opening up and pour his heart out to at total stranger, and then she's making him dinner and imo cooking is a very intimate thing to do so, if you're Nozomi you see this as being very affectionate and you're wondering just why the fuck this guy wouldn't open up to you when he was in Japan, and pissed because in Shenmue 3 he's presumably even living with this girl.

I mean, when Ryo calls Nozomi and tells her what he's been doing in China I think she has a right to be upset. Ryo is kind of an asshole.

I'm of the opinion that Shenmue II's big cliffhanger is part of the reason why we've clamoured so hard for a sequel all these years. It's a script-flipping moment of huge mystery with an emotional crescendo, but would Yu Suzuki dare to do it all over again for 3?

I think, yes- but in a very different way. Yu has been very open about Shenmue 3 being a launch pad for the final instalments of the series, and how he intends to get a publisher on-board instead of returning to Kickstarter. Stirring up the same frothing clamour we had after II would help do that. Where II's ending was an attempt to at least indicate where the series may have gone in the future, we now know the development team were aware it may have been the last Shenmue game ever and wrapped up the story a little neater than they would otherwise.

3's ending could be an even bigger cliffhanger as an attempt to ensure the series' survival through continued high demand. The worst thing that could happen to Shenmue after 3 would be nobody wanting to know where the series went next. That's why I think Shenmue 3 will effectively be the 'Empire Strikes Back' of Shenmue, with earth-shattering revelations and wide-reaching consequences for the characters.

Of course nobody knows what happens at the end of the game, but if I had to guess...

After a resounding defeat by Lan Di, Ryo escapes with his life, but in the process loses the Phoenix Mirror, and is separated from Shenhua. Stranded and alone, Ryo then embarks on a journey to catch up to the Chi You Men that will take him even deeper into the heart of China.

But how does everybody else feel about the idea of another cliffhanger?

It looks like Ryo is fighting that muscly man in at the center of the bridge, inside the walled section. http://i.imgur.com/KDyTJ6K.jpg
https://my.mixtape.moe/rohwlt.gif
In addition to the walls, the door ways have the same arches, and the cobblestone floor is the same

I think Ryo will be skilled enough to kill Lan Di but he won't. Not at the end of Shenmue 3. Probably at the end of 4 or 5. He will be the one to break the cycle of revenge. Lan Di will also have a change of heart and help Ryo take down Tentei not for revenge but for the sake of protecting the world from the Chiyoumen. Lan Di will likely die in the process. This is how I see the games progressing.

Shenmue 3: Niao Sun
Shenmue 4: Second leader
Shenmue 5: Third leader and Lan Di
Shenmue 6: Tentei