Why? - Playing as Other Characters

(Chapter 7 and beyond)

Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby reptile » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:57 pm

Why must we play as other characters? That's a bummer because personally I believe that this is Ryo's story in which the player only takes control of him and nobody else. I really don't wanna play as Shenhua or that bastard Ren because it will just make the game less directed towards getting Lan Di beaten. We will lose direction of Ryo's journey, everything he's experienced until we have to control another character, for what Yu Suzuki? What will game reviewers think of this? Players (especially older players like most of us) will get confused with the story because we do not know of Ryo's situations. I also feel like the game will become less epic and story driven. Playing as Ryo only is much more better because it is all about him! C'mon this is Shenmue not GTA V where you can control other characters. Imagine Shenhua trying to save Ryo's ass, how ridiculous.

Who gives a shit about playing as the other characters? I seriously don't.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby Monkei » Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:17 pm

Seems unusual for a Shenmue game, doesn't it? I'll reserve judgement until I've played the game, it's still way too far away to say anything about it. We don't even really know how it's gonna work.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby murdiaries » Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:25 pm

Why not?
It brings up the perspective system so we can do more interaction / side quests with other characters of shenmue world. It may end up being much fun or even completely optional, just wait and see.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby punkmanced » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:00 pm

Yeah, I don’t care much for the idea myself, though I am curious about Suzuki’s excitement over it.
Who knows, we may just end being pleasantly surprised.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby Hyo Razuki » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:12 pm

While Ryo is meant to be the central character of the story, the prologue is already spoken from Shenhua's point of view. Beware of the narrator's perspective: "He shall appear, from a far eastern land across the sea (...) I await whilst praying (...)". This already hints at Ryo not being the only protagonist of the game. I personally have always kind of expected to play as at least Shenhua at some point in the story.

Also it's never really been told out of Ryo's perspective, but more of out of an omniscient POV. The player can see Chai watching Ryo or the pharmacist in Hong Kong making the phone call to set up Ren and Ryo, for instance. So since Shenmue has always had an omniscient POV, I don't really see playing as a different character as that much of a pivot.

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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby killthesagabeforeitkillsu » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:35 pm

Not sure about that... This is Ryo's and Shenhua's story. I always thought she would be playable post SHII.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby Spaghetti » Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:24 pm

Wait until the game comes out. We know it only happens in a very specific part of the game, and Yu's ideas of changing the game world's 'rules' to fit the different characters is intriguing enough to warrant giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby GYO6161 » Tue Jan 12, 2016 6:07 am

Hopefully it will be a optional feature. i always perceived the story of Shenmue be about the Journey of Ryo and his quest, the game starts with a very powerful scene depicting the murder of Ryo's father, right there the conflict of the main character is established. Later we learn that there was a story behind the mirror and Iwao's role its further teased developed etc, so the whole story basically revolves around Ryo and his father in a way with some teases here and there of Shehua in 1.

To take this already established plot that was expanded in 2 very long flesh out titles that can top at almost 200+ hours combined, it would feel very out of place to play as someone else all the sudden, now that we are getting closer to the truth of Iwao and the mirrors, i feel like the focus is shifting away from what it started in the beginning. I could see if Shenhua was playable since 1 or 2, the whole journey of Shenmue would have always felt like something more than Ryo's tale for revenge and the mirrors (which i believe the story will later shift into more of that different direction)
It's just that for me, after 2 very long journeys with Ryo, to all the sudden make this switch in 1 game and just be like ''here, play as Shenhua in this part, Oh! and Ren too!'' it feels forced in my opinion.

The fact that the definitive way to play these games is too do the save conversion and to have all your remaining items and moves sets transfer between titles always gave Shenmue this development feel to it, you are playing as this inexperience boy learning all about martial arts and different cultures and people, growing not only skillfully, but also as a human being. Too all the sudden take away control of you from this aspect of the game and introduce to you these other characters that you haven't played as before and don't know much about feels.... very unshenmue. I mean we all love Ren and Shenhua, but honestly, we don't know nearly as much about these characters as we know Ryo so i can't see these characters fitting that well in a playable form.

All i hope is that Suzuki has a very good plotline and structure and that he can incorporate Shenhua and especially Ren in a playable way that doesn't detract much from the original roots of how the story started and was fleshed out. I sure don't want to see this playable multi characters as just extra cool stuff that we get because we reached a Kickstarter goal,i want this to be the best for the overall experience, but then again, this is all speculation, maybe this was all meticulously planned by Suzuki 20 year ago. Hell, for all we know Ryo could die in between the chapters that S3 starts and the end of the whole story of Shenmue and another person would be the Main central playable character. It's all speculation at the end of the day so lets hope for the best.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby Sh3ppy » Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:13 am

I would like to think Yu knows exactly what he’s doing & this was always part of the big picture, at least in his vision. I also trust that it’s implementation will enhance the epic feel of the story, not detract from it. Lastly, I reckon it will be one of these things where after having played the game, people will wonder why they were ever skeptical.

This post above aligns with my thoughts:


Hyo Razuki wrote: While Ryo is meant to be the central character of the story, the prologue is already spoken from Shenhua's point of view. Beware of the narrator's perspective: "He shall appear, from a far eastern land across the sea (...) I await whilst praying (...)". This already hints at Ryo not being the only protagonist of the game. I personally have always kind of expected to play as at least Shenhua at some point in the story.

Also it's never really been told out of Ryo's perspective, but more of out of an omniscient POV. The player can see Chai watching Ryo or the pharmacist in Hong Kong making the phone call to set up Ren and Ryo, for instance. So since Shenmue has always had an omniscient POV, I don't really see playing as a different character as that much of a pivot.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby ys » Wed Jan 13, 2016 1:10 am

reptile wrote:I really don't wanna play as Shenhua or that bastard Ren because it will just make the game less directed towards getting Lan Di beaten.
Not necessarily. Seeing things from another perspective can provide extra insight into a main character. Besides, the series is not only about fighting Lan Di judging by the previous games and Yu's comments.

We will lose direction of Ryo's journey, everything he's experienced until we have to control another character, for what Yu Suzuki?
I guess that you mean that we lose focus when we change character? It doesn't have to since it sounds like it will only be during certain parts, maybe when they get separated etc. Other games didn't make me lose track of the story when they switched perspective. The developers tend to make sure that you learn what happened in the meantime.

What will game reviewers think of this?
They might like it if it's done well? Having character thoughts and actions adapt to what you do/say as a player could be an interesting addition I guess.

Players (especially older players like most of us) will get confused with the story because we do not know of Ryo's situations.
I think that new players without deep knowledge of the earlier games are more likely to get confused than series veterans.

I also feel like the game will become less epic and story driven. Imagine Shenhua trying to save Ryo's ass, how ridiculous.
Hmm, I don't know if the ability to switch characters automatically leads to a less story driven game. What we do know is that Shenmue 3 would be more "intimate" again, more focused on internal aspects : http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewto ... ?p=1089690
About her saving or helping him. There might arise situations where it can happen. They already hinted at Shenhua's powers and her role during the previous games, Project Berkley, etc.

All in all, I'm not worried about this feature based on what we know. I assume that they will make it fit. Instead of Ren telling you about a fight he had while getting to you, it would be possible to play the fighting sequence. Along with hearing his thoughts. This could add something to the game both gameplay and story wise.

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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby Spaghetti » Wed Jan 13, 2016 3:51 am

Pretty much agree with the above.

I think that people really need to remember this system is relegated to only a very specific part of the game too, it isn't suddenly going to dilute what we've always known Shenmue as because at least two thirds of Shenmue 3 will be the same as we know it.

Everything will likely be back to normal by the end of the game, as I predict Ryo is going to end up separated from both Shenhua and Ren.
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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby SMDzero » Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:03 am

I hope it's not like MGS2..... what if we play as Ryo in Bailu Village and then all of a sudden the "real" playable character shows up...Megumi!

We're then forced to play through Choubu and Baisha as Megumi in order to avenge the death of the cat from Yamanose!

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Re: Why? - Playing as Other Characters

Postby reptile » Wed Jan 13, 2016 2:11 pm

SMDzero wrote: I hope it's not like MGS2..... what if we play as Ryo in Bailu Village and then all of a sudden the "real" playable character shows up...Megumi!

We're then forced to play through Choubu and Baisha as Megumi in order to avenge the death of the cat from Yamanose!

Or what if it's like in MGS2 when Raiden gets his gear taken and tricked by Snake forcing you to play naked raiden.

So what if Ren takes Ryo's clothes. Naked Ryo!
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