shenmue852 wrote:Ren either sacrifices himself or betrays Ryo in a way that he's forced to kill him.
I kind of think that with Yu Suzuki's statements about Ryo not being driven by revenge later in the story, and how much the theme of the games themselves seems against the idea of Ryo killing Lan Di to avenge his father, that Ryo will defeat Lan Di and stop his Chi You plot without killing him, and soon afterwards there's a twist where Ren betrays and ambushes him and Ryo is forced to counter in a way that's fatal, despite not having wanted to kill, and this has a deep effect on him afterwards. Ryo has never killed, is probably unlikely to kill anyone in Shenmue III, and I think there's strong indications that he won't deliberately kill Lan Di, so it would be a pretty strong twist.
One of the biggest reasons I think this is the case is because in the final chapter card, Ryo wanders off into the desert in Northwest China, presumably leaving Shenhua and Xiuying behind. To me that suggests a kind of bittersweet or not entirely happy ending.
Before I saw the chapter cards I kind of assumed the final chapter would end with Ryo returning to Yokosuka and taking over the Hazuki dojo, and that all the good guys back in Hong Kong and China also lives happily ever after, but I guess the story is more complex and interesting than a standard RPG.
Ren may be driven by material greed, but would he really be so petty as to betray Ryo for whatever 'reward' is up for grabs, even after everything they've been through? I wouldn't be surprised if Ren even considered Ryo a friend after their ordeal; the latter having proven himself as being
much more than the "stupid kid" he was originally viewed as. Is Ren even that skilled of a fighter either? He's a scrapper, that's for sure, but going up against Ryo? He'd be stupid for even trying, especially after the amount of skill and knowledge Ryo would have gained by that point in the story.
Ren sacrificing himself seems the more likely scenario, but perhaps I'm being too optimistic and the dude really is just a black-and-white scumbag.
shenmue852 wrote:Xiuying is alive in the final chapter card. It's not proof that she's alive at the end of the story, but there's certainly nothing to suggest that she dies either. Whereas with Ren it's more than suggested that he dies, and that Ryo wears his bandana as a headband afterwards.
Ah, of course; Xiuying's right there in the last card. Stupid me. Nice catch regarding Ryo wearing Ren's do-rag as a bandanna, too, though I'm a little sceptical that he would be wearing it so soon after Ren's death. Had he been wearing it in the final card alone, I would be 100% convinced, but perhaps their intention was to highlight, and be somewhat poetic about, it. You're good at this