Shenmue Dojo

MiTT3NZ wrote: Really? So ending a game following an epic fight in which you defeat a major crime syndicate, complete the objective set at the end of the first game, find out (one of) the true purpose(s) behind the mirror, miss catching Lan Di by mere minutes (possibly even seconds), and get a true "it's only just beginning" line from Ren, that wouldn't get you amped as fuck for the next instalment?

I find that slightly strange tbh.

I too would find that strange, if that had been what I said. The final scenes of Disc 3 were perfect and of course it would have got me amped even had it ended there.

But there would have been some dissatisfaction - and a different kind of dissatisfaction that I naturally feel after the unresolved Disc 4 cliffhanger. There would have been very little indication as to where the story was headed other than Ryo's next stop (Guilin) and it would be hard to even come up with predictions and theories as to what would happen next.

The Guilin segment blew the top off the scope of the story and while it proposed about a hundred new questions and answered very few (if any), it presented so many possibilites as to what it all might have meant; tangible ideas that fans still discuss and base theories off of even after all these years. If the game ended in Kowloon there would have been a lot less to mull over other than the epic-ness of the rooftop battle - those scenes are remarkable but the way Suzuki and AM2 managed to gut the entire series and turn its on its head in those final 2 hours of gameplay is what makes Shenmue so unforgettable. The fact that less than an hour into Guilin portion and I already feel so far removed from the climax at the Yellowhead building amazes me - though I realized this is part of your point that it feels like a different game and would fit better at the start of Shenmue III. I totally understand that opinion and respect that belief but I am just sharing some of the reasons why I think Guilin was perfect as is.

Wow! Great Discussion everyone.

I am consolidating some of these points for part 3.

Thanks for watching!

/james

Part 3 is out.

This is the first half of part 3.

Myself and another admin from Shenmue500k talk more about Shenmue 3.