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Shenmue chapters (Debatable)

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:09 pm
by FeelinLuckyPUNK
We all know that Shenmue is believed to be 16 chapters long with chapter 1 being Shenmue 1.
However a lot of dojo members, (and myself originally) believe that Shenmue 2 contains chapters 3-6 in the saga and that chapter 2 is unreleased. You may be WRONG. 'Chapter 2' is a comic book entry just like all the others but this one takes place after Shenmue 1. THe others you could say could then be reliable for a unreleased chapter etc.
Where is the proof? Load uo Shenmue 2 and look in the notebook. It clearly states ' Yokosuka' and underneath '~1~'. I am assuming that this means chapters. It goes on to say 'Hong Kong, ~2~, Kowloon, ~3~ and Guilin ~4~. To me this suggests that we are currently at chapter 5 (Shenmue 3). The thing is, the Shenmue timeline shows a gap between Shenmue 1 and 2 with chapter 2 there. However, Yu may have decided that this was a unneccesary part of the story thus not including it in the actual game but as a comic strip. Just like a deleted scene etc. We were totally unaware of this 'chapter' until Shenmue allowed you to look at the strips. (bad move cos it shows Ziming, Naio-sun connection to Chiyoumen. It would have been a great suprise.) Also the fact that the timeline is old suggests Yu had a change of heart and thats why Hong Kong is chapter 2. As it states in the actual game which is proof enough.
You see there are plently of stuff in beta shenmue that never made the game and dont forget the timeline suggest Shenmue to go over more than 3 games. Pretty unlikely at this present moment.

SHENMUE RULEZ...

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:47 pm
by Kamikaze Kenny
Hmm... chapter 2 was supposed to be the boat thing, but with that not being on perhaps, as you say, Yu Suzuki decided to rename the following chapters for continuity sake.

Also, perhaps Hong Kong (Wan Chai, Aberdeen) really is two chapters. Again, perhaps edited for continuity sake, so to make each location a different chapter (since Wan Chai and Aberdeen were easily accessible from each other, making them more or less the same location).

Perhaps this would shorten the amount of chapters?

So far it stands -

1 1 Shenmue 1
- 2 boat
2 3 Aberdeen
2 4 Wan Chai
3 5 Kowloon
4 6 Guilin

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:58 pm
by Shenmue Master
Interesting Topic :o

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:38 am
by Kiyuu
Yu Suzuki did write a 16-chapter saga. It's proven by Shin Ishikawa as you see:

Image

http://planetxbox.com/shenmuedojo/shenm ... view.shtml

According to Yu-san, all the necessary designs for Chapter 2 was done and he really
wanted to include it in Shenmue II. But, he had to give it up because it's physically
impossible to include that volume. Masaya Matsukaze, the voice and motion actor
of Ryo says he did all the motions for that chapter and it's so dramatic.
(These're from the interview of Dori-maga, Dreadcast Magazine, issued in Sept. 2001)

We miss that chapter, don't we? :(

Likewise, they say there was some scenario between Kowloon and Guilin. And I assume
those screenshots of a mysterious old man and the unknown village belong there. ;)

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:43 am
by Ódinn
I really hope Yu suzuki will make a shenmue IV :)

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:30 am
by Bluecast
Kiyuu wrote:Yu Suzuki did write a 16-chapter saga. It's proven by Shin Ishikawa as you see:

Image

http://planetxbox.com/shenmuedojo/shenm ... view.shtml

According to Yu-san, all the necessary designs for Chapter 2 was done and he really
wanted to include it in Shenmue II. But, he had to give it up because it's physically
impossible to include that volume. Masaya Matsukaze, the voice and motion actor
of Ryo says he did all the motions for that chapter and it's so dramatic.
(These're from the interview of Dori-maga, Dreadcast Magazine, issued in Sept. 2001)

We miss that chapter, don't we? :(

Likewise, they say there was some scenario between Kowloon and Guilin. And I assume
those screenshots of a mysterious old man and the unknown village belong there. ;)


Sadly since Shenmue did not take off like Yu had hoped I wonder if it would be possible to finsh the series on shenmue III and then have a passport disc where we could download little cgi movies to watch as the missing chapters.
Not sure how it could be done but it might be kinda cool.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:59 am
by KiD
this is wishful thinking, but it could happen: if yu suzuki and co made shenmue 3 as the last installment, but realized they could split it into two to have shenmue 3 and shenmue 4, and made each installment as long as the original shenmue or somewhere in between shenmue 1 and 2... if they did that, they'd have spent the money thinking they'd sell one game, but then they realized they could split it into two and now they've almost doubled their profits... it'll be like selling the rest of the installment for a 100 dollars each... if they are at least 500,000 copies of each sold, that'd still be a lot of money they could get back (if they keep the same graphics as shenmue 1 and 2... which i wouldn't mind since they're still fantastic)

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:19 am
by FeelinLuckyPUNK
I know about the timeline showing us but why does it say Hong Kong ~2~ in shenmue 2. The timeline also shows Shenmue continiung past Shenmue 4. Something which will never happen. Yu knew this and decided to cut the story and make it less chapters...

Im not debating the truth of the timeline im just confused about that Hong Kong thing. shouldnt that be labelled as ~3~.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:37 am
by Kiyuu
Steven wrote:I know about the timeline showing us but why does it say Hong Kong ~2~ in shenmue 2. The timeline also shows Shenmue continiung past Shenmue 4. Something which will never happen. Yu knew this and decided to cut the story and make it less chapters...

Im not debating the truth of the timeline im just confused about that Hong Kong thing. shouldnt that be labelled as ~3~.


In Yu-san's plan, it consisted of 16 chapters. But, that's nothing but a plan!
Now that he's given up some scenarios and re-organized the story, it's quite natural
to re-number the chapters. So, in the final version, Hong Kong slid into Chapter 2.
Is there any confusion there? :?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:42 am
by FeelinLuckyPUNK
So is it safe to say that 'chapter 2' does not exist in the shenmue story as it has been taken out (just like the other things that we didnt get to play). Its just a comic. That what my argument is about...

1 Yokosuka
2 Hong Kong
3 Kowloon
4 Guilin

So the Chai thing is not chapter 2 then but was meant to originally...

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:55 am
by Kiyuu
Sorry, I doubled the posts... :oops:

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:06 pm
by Kiyuu
Kiyuu wrote:
Steven wrote:So is it safe to say that 'chapter 2' does not exist in the shenmue story as it has been taken out (just like the other things that we didnt get to play). Its just a comic. That what my argument is about...

1 Yokosuka
2 Hong Kong
3 Kowloon
4 Guilin

So the Chai thing is not chapter 2 then but was meant to originally...


That's right, there's no chapter on the boat in the products. But, that story did exist
in Yu-san's plans. As many people want him to revive that story, they refer to it
as "visionary Chapter 2" or something. ;)

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 1:15 pm
by Virtua
As a lot of you already know, my site is based on the 16 chapters theory. I kept to Yu's original plan where Chapter 2 would have existed for those who dont know about this missing chapter.
The sidestory comic, I believe, is only a small part of the events aboard the ship. It is possible some of the unused characters people like LanDC found on the Shenmue 2 discs (not the Miao village ones) are people Ryo would have met on the ship :?

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:58 pm
by Silas
First of all, I'd like to start a petition: a petition for SEGA to get Kiyuu to translate every news item and interview ever posted on Shenmue.com, post it on the English site, and above all, to pay her for it!

Kiyuu, you are a wonder and a resource. I never really believed that "The Boat" was ever a separate playable chapter until you posted that interview with the vo/mocap guy.

Steven, stop being so obsessed. When originally planned, Shenmue II was going to be released worldwide on the Dreamcast (this was before there was an XBox). They planned out a Boat sequence, but realised that it would make the game too big, so they cut it. So that players wouldn't be completely puzzled about reading "~3~ Hong Kong" or whatever, they renmumbered what is written in the notebooks. Adding the cartoon strip for XBox was an idea which came later. Also, what is written in the notebook is not necessarily the actual "Chapter" divisions.

Final word: Who says that extending the game past Shenmue IV won't happen? If they make Shenmue III, and they don't finish the saga, they may well extend the game beyond IV (assuming it finally becomes the blockbuster success Shenmue has always deserved).

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:56 pm
by FeelinLuckyPUNK
Silas wrote:First of all, I'd like to start a petition: a petition for SEGA to get Kiyuu to translate every news item and interview ever posted on Shenmue.com, post it on the English site, and above all, to pay her for it!

Kiyuu, you are a wonder and a resource. I never really believed that "The Boat" was ever a separate playable chapter until you posted that interview with the vo/mocap guy.

Steven, stop being so obsessed. When originally planned, Shenmue II was going to be released worldwide on the Dreamcast (this was before there was an XBox). They planned out a Boat sequence, but realised that it would make the game too big, so they cut it. So that players wouldn't be completely puzzled about reading "~3~ Hong Kong" or whatever, they renmumbered what is written in the notebooks. Adding the cartoon strip for XBox was an idea which came later. Also, what is written in the notebook is not necessarily the actual "Chapter" divisions.

Final word: Who says that extending the game past Shenmue IV won't happen? If they make Shenmue III, and they don't finish the saga, they may well extend the game beyond IV (assuming it finally becomes the blockbuster success Shenmue has always deserved).


You are right... in a way. Im not too obsessed mind its just that i assumed that these meant chapters. It is plausible that they arent chapters just the number of places Ryo has visited. Shenmue 4, to me :( will not exist if the shenmue saga doesnt take off. Personally i want Shenmue 3 to be announced for Xbox 2 using the graphical capabilities of the machine and making it a launch game that will go through the roof. But then again if the saga aint finished after 3 hes gotta make 4. Maybe microsoft could pay for it.