A great idea for Shenmue 3(a tournament system)

[Zoltor]

There's a lot of reasons Ryo could have to join a tournament, that wouldn't go against what he had been taught.

Frankly I don't know why people are making a big deal out of the supposed morality that Ryo is suppose to have. If it leads to him improving his martial arts abilities, which inturn will help him beable to defeat Lan Di when he finds him, how is that against Ryo's character at all.

Also just because someone joins a tournament, doesn't mean they're doing such to show off. Fighting against other strong martial artists, can help one grow greatly as a martial artist, plus I don't see why such has to only take place in a do or die situation(A tournament is a nice controlled environment, fair, and clean, no to the death or anything).

[Yokosuka]

OL made an interesting point here but I also believe a tournament system would not be a contradiction. Do not consider the things you win as rewards but gifts from the Ryo's point of view as he's only interested to improve his abilities in order to reach his goals (practice everyday, be stronger to save people).
Anyway I think even among the most experimented martial artists, there are still several debates of interpretation.

[Shin Pan Tzee]

Anyway I think even among the most experimented martial artists, there are still several debates of interpretation.

Yeah. People from older and more traditional martial arts usually have a more negative view towards tournaments, with some forbidding any type of display. From the 80's to today though, many younger fighters opened their minds to it and started testing themselves and competing against other arts. Happened a lot in Japan.

Personally, i agree that it's not a contradiction. Ryo is told in the past games he's still not ready and all, training and testing himself to grow as a fighter should be part of his journey until the end.

[amiga1200]

fair point on the subject, but i'm with op on this.
to expand:
there's clearly a line visible, and it already got stated ryo HAS to improve to the level matching that of a human terminator, anything less and he's dead if he faces his nemesis.
another point, is the tournament itself, i get the impression it's far from private, and could be used as part of the story, to draw out ryos enemies, and remind lan-di it aint over.
a crime boss getting wind that a child of a past target training and appearing in public tests of skill, is bound to have an effect, and possibly anger lan-di to the point of visibility, or maybe some daft move on lan-dis part. (though the latter is unlikely since the crime boss has a level head on his shoulders.)
...
my piece.

[shenmue852]

Anyway I think even among the most experimented martial artists, there are still several debates of interpretation.

Yeah. People from older and more traditional martial arts usually have a more negative view towards tournaments, with some forbidding any type of display. From the 80's to today though, many younger fighters opened their minds to it and started testing themselves and competing against other arts. Happened a lot in Japan.

Personally, i agree that it's not a contradiction. Ryo is told in the past games he's still not ready and all, training and testing himself to grow as a fighter should be part of his journey until the end.

Those older fighters would still fight against each other to test the strength and merits of their own styles.

It really depends on the tournament. If it's a freakshow to make money, no. If it's a genuine challenge between masters of different styles organized by reputable people, then it's not wrong to hold tournaments.

For example, Masahiko Kimua was a universally renowned Judoka and he was willing to fight Helio Gracie to test which of their styles were better.