Shenmue 2 chapters explained?

[Reprise]

Hi,

This might sounds like a really 'noob' question to ask, so apologies in advance, but why is Shenmue 2 labelled as being "chapters 3 - 6" here on the Dojo?

I always thought Shenmue 2 was chapters 2 - 4. Chapter 2 being Hong Kong, Chapter 3 being Kowloon and Chapter 4 being Guilin.

Am I missing something?

Even if you count Chapter 2 as being the boat scene, that was cut from the game and released as a comic strip in the XBox version, that still makes Shenmue 2 chapters 3 - 5, no?

P.S. I don't know why people count the ferry scene as chapter 2, it was cut from the game and unless I'm mistaken the game itself takes this into consideration and labels the start of Shenmue 2 as 'chapter 2'.

[Three Blades]

The common explanation is that chapter 3 is Aberdeen (the 1st disc) while chapter 4 is the 2nd disc.
It's also possible that the boat ride to Guilin counts as a chapter.
But as far as I know, neither theory has been officially confirmed. However, the boat ride to China is definitely chapter 2.

[ElephantStone]

The common explanation is that chapter 3 is Aberdeen (the 1st disc) while chapter 4 is the 2nd disc.
It's also possible that the boat ride to Guilin counts as a chapter.
But as far as I know, neither theory has been officially confirmed. However, the boat ride to China is definitely chapter 2.

That's only going by the original "16 chapters" leaked timeline though. Shenmue II clearly labels Hong Kong as chapter 2, Kowloon as chapter 3 and Gulin as chapter 4.

[Three Blades]

Perhaps the game itself only numbers the chapters shown in-game, because otherwise it would be confusing to casual players.
It's still a fact that the boat technically counts as a chapter, it was stated officially many times. Also, the first 2 discs, while they both take place in the same area, plot-wise they feel like two distinct chapters.
I guess it's all up to each individual person how they want to count them

[ElephantStone]

It's still a fact that the boat technically counts as a chapter, it was stated officially many times.

It's not though. The boat chapter was informally referred to as "chapter 2" because it was chapter 2 before it was cut, again, this is based on the 16 chapters outline from Yu's storyboard. Now chapter 2 is Hong Kong, chapter 3 is Kowloon and chapter 4 is Guilin.

[Reprise]

It's still a fact that the boat technically counts as a chapter, it was stated officially many times.

It's not though. The boat chapter was informally referred to as "chapter 2" because it was chapter 2 before it was cut, again, this is based on the 16 chapters outline from Yu's storyboard. Now chapter 2 is Hong Kong, chapter 3 is Kowloon and chapter 4 is Guilin.

That's what I think as well.

Thanks. I thought I mmight have got it all wrong (or was going crazy)

[Three Blades]

What I'm saying is that it's a chapter, whether you count it as chapter 2 or not. It's just that the game doesn't show it. It doesn't matter if you put a number or not on it, it's still a chapter, even if you wanna call it an in-between chapter.

[Reprise]

The way I see it is, if an author wrote a book that originally had 13 chapters and in the final editing etc they decided to cut chapter 11, as they thought it was too much padding and wasn't essential to the story, then no one would count it as chapter 11, even it was unofficially released or leaked later. The book would become a 12 chapter book.

The same should apply to the game. When Yu Suzuki says Shenmue is now 11 chapters, I doubt he is counting the ferry trip with the return of Chai as chapter 2 (I could be wrong though).

Also, even so, that doesn't explain where chapter 6 (or rather 5 if you're following how I view the chapters) comes from?

[MiTT3NZ]

Chapter 1: Yokosuka
Chapter 2: The Boat/Journey to Hong Kong (cut from the game but exists in comic format)
Chapter 3: Wan Chai
Chapter 4: Kowloon

Then, either Guilin is Chapter 5 or Chapter 6. Research into a Shenmue Online video by Kiyuu n someone else revealed that Guilin was supposed to be Chapter 6, and the boat ride down the Li River from Hong Kong to Guilin was supposed to be Chapter 5.

However...

There's since been mention of Li River by Suzuki during the Kickstarter, so it may have just been re-shuffled, making Guilin Chapter 5. Whether this is the case or not is unclear, so perhaps one of us should tweet him the question later to ask if Li River was a cut chapter or if it will indeed appear in Shenmue III.

[Reprise]

Chapter 1: Yokosuka
Chapter 2: The Boat/Journey to Hong Kong (cut from the game but exists in comic format)
Chapter 3: Wan Chai
Chapter 4: Kowloon

Then, either Guilin is Chapter 5 or Chapter 6. Research into a Shenmue Online video by Kiyuu n someone else revealed that Guilin was supposed to be Chapter 6, and the boat ride down the Li River from Hong Kong to Guilin was supposed to be Chapter 5.

However...

There's since been mention of Li River by Suzuki during the Kickstarter, so it may have just been re-shuffled, making Guilin Chapter 5. Whether this is the case or not is unclear, so perhaps one of us should tweet him the question later to ask if Li River was a cut chapter or if it will indeed appear in Shenmue III.

Interesting. Thanks for the information. I never knew about another chapter being cut.

[Three Blades]

The same should apply to the game. When Yu Suzuki says Shenmue is now 11 chapters, I doubt he is counting the ferry trip with the return of Chai as chapter 2 (I could be wrong though).

It's still *a* chapter though, even though it's not necessarily one of *the* chapters depicted in the game. What I mean is, there's stuff that happened on the boat that is official canon and that we know about from the comic, and from a conversation that the 2 female characters have with Ryo at the beginning of S2.
Like Mitt3nz said though, it seems that stuff gets shuffled around as the story progresses, so people shouldn't attach too much importance to the actual numbers of the chapters.

[Supa]

Chapter 1: Yokosuka
Chapter 2: The Boat/Journey to Hong Kong (cut from the game but exists in comic format)
Chapter 3: Wan Chai
Chapter 4: Kowloon

Then, either Guilin is Chapter 5 or Chapter 6. Research into a Shenmue Online video by Kiyuu n someone else revealed that Guilin was supposed to be Chapter 6, and the boat ride down the Li River from Hong Kong to Guilin was supposed to be Chapter 5.

However...

There's since been mention of Li River by Suzuki during the Kickstarter, so it may have just been re-shuffled, making Guilin Chapter 5. Whether this is the case or not is unclear, so perhaps one of us should tweet him the question later to ask if Li River was a cut chapter or if it will indeed appear in Shenmue III.

Interesting. Thanks for the information. I never knew about another chapter being cut.

Check this thread out for some discussion on it: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=43957&p=958392&hilit=future+locations#p958400