Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

(Chapter 7 and beyond)

Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby LanDC » Sat Mar 22, 2014 12:24 pm

http://cdn.escapistmagazine.com/media/g ... 698943.jpg

So, how about these concept artworks? I haven't been this interested nor pissed off in a long time. I'm vehemently against spoilers, yet hungry for even a shard of new Shenmue information. It's a shame we have to see such major spoilers before playing the game (IF we ever do see it in action), but it's oh so intriguing. On the bright side however, these concepts may slightly differ from the final version. Even if they don't, they're vague enough that much is still left to be discovered.


On to the topic at hand... I posted about this on the 500K Facebook page as well, but I figured it was time to reappear on the Dojo because this theory is worth spreading. My theory is that a deceased Ren is being carried off by Akira (Ryo) in the 10th concept image. More importantly, Ren has been killed by the hands of his friend, Akira. Firstly, at the top left corner of image 9, that's an alternately dressed Ren. In the background, a horde of people appear to be charging after Akira for an epic battle. Is Ren leading these people into battle, or is he there for Akira? Remember the concept art of Ren on a horse? It's possible that the Chiyoumen could entice Ren with promises of riches if he joins them. I would say he's there to support Akira, but who knows. They succeed in this battle apparently, defeating Lan Di as Yu Suzuki so wonderfully spoiled for us. That's assuming Lan Di didn't already meet his demise long before this scene.

http://cdn.escapistmagazine.com/media/g ... 698955.jpg

So what next? As you can see by the map, this epic battle depicted in image 9 occurs somewhere in Western China. In concept image 10, Akira is holding someone's apparent lifeless body. I'm convinced by the clothing that it's Ren as seen in image 9, minus the bandana. If you'll notice, Akira is now ironically wearing a white headband (to honor his former friend?). What happened? If the epic battle is over and Ren didn't perish there, what killed him in the following chapter 10 that appears to take place far away near Beijing (?). I'm thinking after Lan Di's defeat, Ren and Ryo now have access to both mirrors, and Ren's desire to unlock the treasures of the Qing Dynasty overcomes him. According to Master Chen, there will be trouble if those two mirrors come together. Whether that's in the form of a mythical beast resurrecting on Earth, or that's simply a metaphor for something else very grim, I think it's something that needs to be avoided. Akira may have no choice but to stop Ren, which is why he's still honoring his friend with the headband, and the fact that he's clasping his body doesn't signify a hate-filled battle.

If you'll remember, there's a flashback scene in Shenmue I where little Ryo gets into a fight with a friend at school. Iwao tells him, "A friend you can trust is a true friend indeed." I believe this flashback has a lot of significance, since everyone warns Ryo that Ren isn't exactly trustworthy. It shows in his incessant talk of money, and his giddiness towards the Qing Dynasty treasure. It's obvious that Ryo and Ren have grown closer by the end of Shenmue II, but Ren still may not be the most honest and loyal friend in the world. Thoughts?

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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Yokosuka Martian » Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:17 pm

For me I hope that this is not the completely final story arc, despite it looking like it is. Its interesting to me that Suzuki revealed the pictures clearly to the public like that. As for your theory, I think its definitely plausible. If the concept art is true, I wish I would have figured it out through the game haha
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby LanDC » Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:34 pm

I hope it doesn't go down like this at all. Maybe it won't. It's confusing me that image number 5 appears to be the Guilin chapter we play in disc 4 of Shenmue II, but it's placed much later in sequence than what it should be, going by the game we all know. Also, that image is not even linked to Guilin on that map.

Edit: Actually wait, I think it is. I think the two to the right are meant for Macau and Guangzhou.
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Yokosuka Martian » Sat Mar 22, 2014 2:58 pm

If we go by those sequence of pictures, wouldn't that make it chapter 5 which is what disc 4 of shenmue 2 narrates? Obviously the pictures before it dont seem to match up with the previous chapters in shenmue 2 ... Perhaps it is just a beta version
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby LanDC » Sat Mar 22, 2014 3:01 pm

Yeah, and that's why I'm saying I hope all this isn't a total spoiler, since maybe some has been altered. It's meant to be in sequence I'm sure, judging by the placement of 1,2 and 11.

I also want to shoot out the idea that Ren could get "possessed", if you will. Maybe Chiyou takes control of him. :o What if that's Ren with white eyes in image 3?
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby BlueMue » Sat Mar 22, 2014 4:37 pm

Awesome to see you in action here and a great theory!
Ren looked so strikingly similar to his final appearence in picture 2 and 3 that I didn't recognize him in the other ones because the outfits are so different. Maybe it' someone else but the bandana is a solid similarity and it somehow makes sense. Come to think of it, as we know it's still Akira in the pictures and this story arc actually explains where Akira got his trademark bandana from.

That brings up the question if they already ditched this element, when they changed the main character to Ryo.
I wouldn't mind if they actually intend to keep this story element. It would more or less be spoiled by know but it would be a bold move that really benefits the plot, no matter how he actually dies. He could simply try to help Akira/Ryo in the fight against Lan Di and die at his hands wich enrages Akira/Ryo so much, that he's willing to pull of the Fierce Tiger or whatever to actually defeat Lan Di. This is all pretty vague of course but the pictures leave a lot of room for imagination. Notice how none of them seem to depict the fight against Lan Di.
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Yokosuka Martian » Sat Mar 22, 2014 4:50 pm

Maybe he's not dead but just injured :-p
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby elfshadowreaper » Sat Mar 22, 2014 5:25 pm

I think you're right LanDC. We know Ren is susceptible to greed and I think the power of the two mirrors probably corrupts him. He isn't a bad person, he's just weak. I think Ryo probably kills Lan Di during the eighth image. Somehow Ren gets control of both mirrors and Chi You is resurrected like Master Chen said. But perhaps it possesses Ren(edit: I think this could be apparent because of his Qing period style clothes) and Ryo is forced to kill him. I can't see Ryo killing Ren unless he absolutely has to. It could be that he still has to defeat Lan Di because of the ominous face in the sky on the 10th picture. I'm still kinda surprised at the absence of Guizhang throughout the other pictures. I thought he would be more important to the story.

This gives us so much to speculate over. I wish an eagle-eyed photographer could have snapped closer shots of the individual pictures.
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Peter » Sat Mar 22, 2014 6:40 pm

Bloody good to see ya again Lan!
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Wude-Tang Clan » Sat Mar 22, 2014 9:44 pm

An excellent theory on behalf of LanDC; it's almost too logical.

I never imagined that Akira's / Ryo's headband would actually be actually Ren's bandana.
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby LanDC » Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:32 pm

BlueMue wrote:That brings up the question if they already ditched this element, when they changed the main character to Ryo.


The protagonist was intended to be Akira long into development. Ryo's filename in Shenmue I is still "AKIR". There's also character models of Akira left in the discs with simply a white shirt and arm bands, like in the Saturn version. This makes me believe everything will occur as these concepts depict in the Shenmue we know. However...

Image

Here's some of the areas we were going to visit in Shenmue Online. They said these same areas would be visited in the actual game. Xi'an, Suzhou, Macau (mentioned in Shenmue Online news but not in this picture) are also seen in the original concept map that Yu showed at GDC, but I don't see Korea listed in that GDC map. This would indicate that something major has been altered since that GDC concept map, because I can tell you we're going to Korea if we ever see Shenmue III. Not only did they confirm this with Shenmue Online, but that little piece of art in the Hazuki Basement with a warrior on a horse? That's Korean. How do I know this? In What's Shenmue's files, you can find that item in Ryo's inventory, even though they don't let you take it with you in the final game. The text is in Japanese, but the name translates to "Photo of Jongno-gu" or something like that. Jongno-gu is a district of Seoul, South Korea. I actually made that discovery not too long ago, but I didn't find it that important to post about, since I figured everyone knew Korea was a future area thanks to Shenmue Online. But I'm baffled because I don't see Korea in this map Yu showed at GDC. :?:


P.S. I'm too lazy to go find my What's Shenmue disc right now, but I will look for it shortly and prove that Jongno-gu part. I doubt anyone disbelieves me but still.

LanDC has received a thanks from: Giorgio
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Axm » Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:50 pm

Great theory LanDC. Jezz it just makes alot of sense actually.
Also great to see you back. As I said last time, you'll find this place much improved.
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby elfshadowreaper » Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:26 pm

That Korea bit gives me hope that yu didn't just show us the whole story on those picture. Maybe if we get a shenmue 2 postmortem yu will tell us they changed some key plot points. The postmortem seemed to focus on the early/experimental part of the first game's development. They really should have allotted at least two hours for the postmortem.
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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Wude-Tang Clan » Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:13 pm

^ Maybe at next GDC? Hopefully sooner than that.

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Re: Ren, killed by Ryo's hands?

Postby Crimson Ryan » Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:15 pm

Wude-Tang Clan wrote: ^ Maybe at next GDC? Hopefully sooner than that.

Image

So in other words.. The story goes on?
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