O Rei do Frango Assado wrote: Sappharad wrote: First of all, I think the screenshot looks great. Their choice of outsourcing to Lakshya is fine with me.
O Rei do Frango Assado wrote:This does make me think, though... Not only does that temple, which does have Chinese architecture, have Japanese writing (albeit in kanji), and seems to be dedicated to a Japanese custom, but that girl does indeed seem to be dressed as a Shinto shrine assistant...
I mentioned here in the forums before how Shenmue 2's street and shop signs would use some Japanese kanji variants not used in China, and that I hoped that Yu Suzuki would be more meticulous in that regard, in Shenmue 3. Now, we're already seeing a temple with Japanese words, Chinese architecture and a Shinto assistant... This isn't encouraging, but best to wait until we see more. Maybe I'm just missing something, or maybe there will be a good explanation for this.
Is it possible the Japanese is for localization purposes, similar to why some signs also had English on them in Shenmue 1 & 2? At least, that seems reasonable to me. Perhaps it would be something they could change with an actual Chinese localization if they do more than just translate subtitles?
I wouldn't be surprised if the temple person was Japanese too. I mean, Izumi was also Japanese so why not add more random Japanese people in there?
I was just thinking, she could indeed be Japanese. Not only that, but what if that's actually a Shinto shrine? It doesn't look like one, but many mosques in China, for instance, have Chinese traditional architecture and don't really stand out from any other traditional-style constructions, until you go inside and see all the Islamic art, Arabic writing and prayer halls.
The thing is, there has been a sizeable Islamic community in China for hundreds of years (most notably, the Hui and, more recently, the Uyghurs), but I've never heard of Japanese people in China (that do exist, obviously) feeling the need for Shinto shrines. Shintoism is uniquely Japanese and doesn't really exist anywhere else, as far as I know, so the only people who would feel the need for a Shinto shrine would be the Japanese.
Now, I've travelled a lot around China, from the biggest cities to the most remote places and never have I've seen a Shinto shrine there. I just did a quick (definitely not thorough) Baidu search and, apparently, the only Shinto shrines built in China were built during the Japanese occupation, during the Second World War. Pretty much all of them (or even all of them) have been demolished or converted into something else. It goes without saying that such shrines didn't exactly bring happy memories to the Chinese.The area around Guilin was indeed occupied by the Japanese, but I don't really see a fully-functioning, happy-feeling Shinto shrine existing there in 1987.
So, when all's said and done, I doubt that's a Shinto shrine, but who knows? It's a videogame, liberties are always taken.
As for that sign being done for localization purposes, that's always a possibility, but I think it's unlikely. I mean, Shenmue 1 and 2 did have some English signage, because there
is English signage in Japan, what with English being today's "international language", plus, it gives out an exotic, hip feel to things (for the Japanese). Still, most things in the game are written in Japanese, just like real Japanese streets. As for Hong Kong in Shenmue 2, the presence of English writing is only natural, what with it being a British colony.
Again, I just feel that they are being careless, unfortunately. I mean, there really was no reason for them to use Japanese kanji variants in Hong Kong street signs, yet they were there.
I've said this before, in a game famous for its attention to detail, this kind of stuff becomes immersion-breaking, not to mention that it's very odd that they got careless in such a visible aspect of the game, when, for instance, they actually went to the trouble of getting real-world weather data for Yokosuka, among other things.
Anyway, let's wait and see. It's too early to jump into conclusions regarding Shenmue 3.
Changing the subject, that temple's setting kinda reminds me of Black Dragon Pool (黑龙潭) in Yunnan Province's Lijiang, in southwest China:
Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:10 am
Oh dear - I think that is mostly due to AAA games cost more than Shenmue did back in the day and the cost of entry hasn't increased much (games are still £50/$60 - hence all the DLC etc.). If you dont concentrate on the money you dont have a job pretty quickly! (Because the game doesn't sell well and consequently the studio closes).