Shenmue Dojo

swimingdeer wrote: But, what if the flashback are told from another perspective than in SH1&2 ?

I read that Yu said in some interviews he would like to explore differences in perceptions.
So, alternate perspective flashbacks would not only recall event,
but also paint them in a new light for players that went through SH1&2.

This would then be something of value and wholly worth the development effort.

Spaghetti wrote:

Supa wrote: Didn't Shenhua state in Shenmue II that Bailu only had around 50 people? I can't remember if Yu has talked about the size of Bailu in any interviews.

I can't remember the interview he said it in, but I think Yu compared it to Dobuita.

Whether he means the singular Dobuita map, or the whole of that area of the game (everything except the harbour, basically) is unknown. Even in the first case, Bailu will probably feel bigger than Dobuita because of it being open plan, rather than a shopping street with some loops and branches.

In any case it looks a reasonable size from what we've seen in the prototype and pre-Alpha footage/screens from last year.

This (partial) recap from Gamescom 2017 interview gives a good idea of the size of Bailu and choubu (although it may not be about the physical size but the feeling when playing in those locations).



As of today, Baisha is still a complete mystery!

I still think there is a possibility we'll go to Meng Cun after Baisha, and they're keeping it as a surprise.
The reason I say that is because we see the Great Wall in one of the screenshots, and none of the three locations (Bailu, Chobou, Baisha) are close to the great wall, assuming they're close to their real-world counterpart locations.

Based on that "Chapter Map" from GDC, the only location illustrated that's close to the great wall is Cang Zhou, the place where Meng Cun (Meng Village) is located.

I remember Spaghetti saying there was another Great Wall in the south, but I couldn't find any pictures for it, If it resembles the great wall in the Shenmue 3 screenshot, then I guess there goes my wild theory

Rikitatsu wrote:I remember Spaghetti saying there was another Great Wall in the south, but I couldn't find any pictures for it, If it resembles the great wall in the Shenmue 3 screenshot, then I guess there goes my wild theory

It's not 1:1 with what we've seen of Shenmue III's great wall but you'll find some images of the Southern wall on this site: https://www.topchinatravel.com/china-attractions/southern-great-wall.htm.

Given how close geographically it is to Fenghuang (the IRL Choubu), I would probably put money on it being the Southern rather than Northern wall.

EDIT: Found a few photos searching with it's proper name, Miaojiang.

That might be it then... Though it says the walls are 3 meters high, which is short compared to the northern one, and the one in the Shenmue 3 screenshot.

That said, the fact that we're fighting muscles guy over there makes me think it's Chobou, since he's a "mid boss", and I'd doubt he'll follow us to the end game.

Might be a bit of artistic licence going on?

Possible.
Most locations in Shenmue were never 1:1 to their real life counterparts, I expect the same with Baisha and Chobou, too.

I keep getting Chobou mixed up with Chozo from Metroid prime.

Chobou ruins.

I wonder why they decided to name it Choubu and not just keep it as Fenghuang. I mean they didn't rename Wan Chai or Kowloon.

KidMarine wrote: I wonder why they decided to name it Choubu and not just keep it as Fenghuang. I mean they didn't rename Wan Chai or Kowloon.

I didn't know that was the original name. But if it was, they should've kept it. It sounds so much better than chobou imo

KidMarine wrote: I wonder why they decided to name it Choubu and not just keep it as Fenghuang. I mean they didn't rename Wan Chai or Kowloon.

That's a good question. Maybe if there's another opportunity to pose community questions to Yu someone will ask this.

I'm pretty sure that Choubu is simply inspired by Fenghuang (and other "water towns" in China, like Wuzhen, Suzhou etc.) and not supposed to actually be Fenghuang, which is in Hunan Province, north of Guangxi Autonomous Region, where Guilin is, so, kind of far.
They didn't rename Wan Chai, Kowloon, Hong Kong or Yokosuka, because those are actually real places, but it seems to me that Shenmue 3's towns will all be fictional.

My question regarding Choubu's name (and one which I've mentioned a couple of times before) is why on earth do they use the town's Japanese pronunciation, especially when Baisha and Bailu are both Mandarin Chinese readings of those towns names. Seems pretty inconsistent for no reason whatsoever. "Choubu" is the Japanese reading of 鳥舞 (the town's name), which is read as "Niaowu" in Mandarin Chinese.
So, it should be Bailu, Baisha and Niaowu, not Bailu, Baisha and CHOUBU. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

O Rei do Frango Assado wrote: I'm pretty sure that Choubu is simply inspired by Fenghuang (and other "water towns" in China, like Wuzhen, Suzhou etc.) and not supposed to actually be Fenghuang, which is in Hunan Province, north of Guangxi Autonomous Region, where Guilin is, so, kind of far.

You are assuming Choubu and Baisha are in Guilin, Ryo could very well be travelling across China's regions in Shenmue 3.

Rikitatsu wrote:You are assuming Choubu and Baisha are in Guilin, Ryo could very well be travelling across China's regions in Shenmue 3.

They might be assuming that because of Shenmue III's Japanese sub-title seemingly being "Chapter 3: Guilin".

That said, it's not very clear cut what the situation is right now, and IMO even despite the sub-title I think III will still be a journey from Guilin - to Hunan - to Fujian even if it's not overtly said.