Shenmue 3:My Storyline Speculations [Spoilers]

[Domosuke]

If I recall correctly from the Shenmue Postmortem which you can find on You Tube (I'm writing on my phone so forgive my laziness) the story of Shenmue (or maybe the Akira RPG) has four main acts: Sadness, Departure, Fight and Starting Afresh.

Assuming Shenmue ends at the fourth game, that would mean one game would fit each act.

Shenmue 1 is about sadness. Akira/Ryo faces the death of his father and other setbacks.

Shenmue 2 is about departure. Akira/Ryo travels to China.

Shenmue 3 is the fight. Suzuki's comments regarding this act at the post-mortem were that Akira fought his enemy 'Randi' and came away victorious. This further implies that Ryo may defeat Lan Di in Shenmue 3 coupled together with other statements by Suzuki.

Shenmue 4 is about starting afresh. Akira loses his purpose in life and must rediscover a new one.

So those are hints right there of where the story might go.

Lol, I like how you call Ryo, Akira. As basically he is Akira from Virtua Fighter design wise, and that was what the series, and his character originally was called. It was supposed to originally be an open world version of Virtua Fighter lol.

As far as those four chapter things, I don't know. I myself remember around the time of hiatus after Shenmue 2 was launched, Yu Suzuki saying he wanted AT LEAST six Shenmue games. I don't know if he meant he wanted to stop the series at six games, or like make six games his quota and depending on how well the games do, make more etc. Or if he meant both? I don't know.

I do know that being realistic, that shit is probably not gonna happen, lol.

I do not think Shenmue 3 will be the end of the story. I think for the most part, most fans realize this.

As far as him and Lan Di having this epic showdown in Shenmue 3, I really don't' see that either. Unless there is this supernatural force involved, and to me that's fucked up and not fair.

if Lan Di is involved at all in Shenmue 3, I'm pretty sure it will follow my story. Maybe they will cross paths again like towards the end of Shenmue 2 they did, but I don't think there will be any battle or anything. I'm hoping more information comes out that Lan Di isn't who Ryo perceives him to be, and what happened with his fathers death, there are more answered questions too.

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

Wow, nice. Interesting.

[Enigma]

Lol, I like how you call Ryo, Akira. As basically he is Akira from Virtua Fighter design wise, and that was what the series, and his character originally was called. It was supposed to originally be an open world version of Virtua Fighter lol

Well, I mean the design treatment Suzuki had at the post-mortem was originally for the Virtua Fighter RPG featuring Akira at the time so I wasn't sure whether it applied more to the Akira character than the Ryo we know today. Decided to slap em both together!

I think there's a fairly recent quote from Suzuki where he says that while he envisioned 5 or so games, it might be a bit much to make so he'll try to finish the story at Shenmue 4. Then again it could change in the future. I wonder if having Deep Silver along now might make future sequel plans a bit more feasible? I don't know if whether game publishers think about long-term franchise investment or if it's a one-off affair: I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to how the game's industry works.

[TwiceFriedRice]

I still crack up at the corniness of the phrase "starting afresh."

[DoubleO_Ren]

The key to guess where the story is going is in Shenhua's prophecy imo:

"He shall appear from a far eastern land across the sea,
A young man who has yet to know his potential,
This potential is a power that could either destroy him or realize his will,
His courage shall determine his fate,
The path he must traverse, fraught with adversity, I await whilst praying,
For this destiny predetermined since ancient times,
A pitch black night unfolds with the morning star as its only light,
And thus the saga… Begins…"

The bolded implying that Ryo needs to find a way to unlock his potential (some chinese sage? Shenhua?), which he has because he's some sort of "chosen one" predetermined since ancient times to (pure speculation begins now) defeat the demon Chi You or stop its resurrection. Shenhua's adoptive father speech also says Ryo is the one.

Which makes sense because unlocking his hidden power is the only way a kid can reach Lan Di's level of skill.

Oooh I kinda like this, never imagined the saga of Shenmue being bigger than Lan Di, Lan Di might just be the Liquid Snake to all this, the real villain is the Patriots who ever they are.

[ShenGCH]

Oooh I kinda like this, never imagined the saga of Shenmue being bigger than Lan Di, Lan Di might just be the Liquid Snake to all this, the real villain is the Patriots who ever they are.

As far as we know, the Chi You Men is the equivalent of the Patriots, with Tentei being the equivalent of Zero, though as for whether there is someone/something above the organisation remains to be seen, even though there isn't much reason to speculate as such; the Chi You Men seem like the ultimate power in the whole affair (again, with Tentei at the very top of the tower), and perhaps, much like what eventually became of the founding members of the Patriots, there will be struggles within the organisation which lead to splinters, betrayals, and disenchantment for their goal. Lan Di isn't all that similar to Liquid as Liquid was a madman on a quest for power, as opposed to someone merely out for revenge, especially as Liquid despised his father. Lan Di is more like Venom Snake, Naomi Hunter, or Fortune.

I've said it before, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Lan Di is merely a pawn in this whole affair, being used by Tentei - who may have concocted an elaborate story and series of events in order to convince Lan Di (and, by extension, the rest of the organisation) that Iwao murdered Lan Di's father and took the Mirrors for himself without giving the full picture of the context - in order to obtain the Mirrors for his own ends. The parallels between Ryo and Lan Di are really quite striking, so Lan Di learning a harsh truth along the way might lead to him turning his back on the organisation and working with Ryo in order to thwart them, thus ending the cycle. I can see something similar happening with Ziming (who isn't a leader, but is still in a more powerful position within the organisation than other members), only with Ryo's connection to Xiuying being the deciding factor. Niao Sun is presently in a grey area as we know pretty much nothing about her, but she does appear to be more evilly aligned on the surface. As for Koutei and Gentei... well, we have nothing but names.