-
If you have been following the news, you should be aware that the people of Lebanon have been under a violent bombardment that has recently escalated. Please consider donating to help them if you can or trying to spread word of the fundraiser.
-
Asheville and Western North Carolina at large are in crisis after Helene, please consider contributing to these local organizations and helping the people whose lives have been destroyed.
Shenmue Dojo rent a NYC billboard to push for Shenmue IV
- Thread starter Jibby
- Start date
OP
OP
It's not a popular opinion, but low key, I would be interested in seeing what a Shenmue reboot would be like. I'm not saying turn it into Yakuza, but just modernise it a bit and clean up some of the stuff that was new and revolutionary back then, but hasn't aged so well today.
A retelling of the first two games in one with more modern mechanics would make a great entry point into the series I feel. The story is solid, and the anime proves that it can be retold effectively. I just wish it's something SEGA would explore.
Well, obviously, but it could be like a fun thing, like putting a loved one up there, etc. I would have thought it would have cost far more tbh.
These things usually come in packages, literally paid a company to advertise in their magazine this morning. Can't be for one time, has to be for 3 months or 12 months, so $40 for one time would be a crazy amount haha.
Guess the NYC Billboards probs just have a sentimental one time purchase for a clip, it's minimal effort and forgotten extremely quickly, so makes sense, just gotta make sure to grab a clip of it!
The issue with more sequels is one of budget (and Yu needing an editor). IIIs issue (well, primary issue, its got a lot of issues) was that it was pretty big in terms of areas, but pretty much a ghost town that nudged the plot along barely until that final 20 minutes. But the problem is, the second half of the games plot was the same as the first half (it really is), so when you start getting all this plot revelations, its mad rushed - Id say it "feels" rushed, but considering we know a third of the game was cut, and that cut was the final third, its easy to see said cuts.
While the game ends with some new revelations, they feel badly implemented and the issue with me (and others) is that a small kickstarter budget aint gonna give people the Shenmue sequel they want. I want something more like Shenmue II: 2, but that requires a budget.
Also III is terribly written, may be the worst written game Ive played with how many confusing plot holes and pointless moments there are... It seriously needed someone to look at the script, throw it in the bin, and start again.
At this point, Id more than welcome a story/book/encyclopedia on the series... we know Yu has a series of books outlining the game in its entirety (it was talked about in an interview last month), so honestly just translate and publish those... or even just release them in Japanese and let Switch on the Phantom Riverstone blog handle it (dude is a legend). That'd give most people closure. Wont be in the form of Shenmue's IV-VI but lets be realistic, that's not happening.
Nope. It'll get Dead Space'd. It'll probably flop again, and then the series will continue to not be touched. At this point there's no point aiming for a remake, that's the worst thing to do. Sequel + material that wraps up the series or nothing at all. Im not interested in going back over parts that already exist just to absolutely watch them never get sequels again. Now THAT would be a waste of money.
Sega would want money. Shenmue sadly is money repelant lol. Meanwhile you have Yakuza 8 and even Gaiden doing well and we already know another Yakuza game is in the casting stages (at least for hostesses) so its clear that's where they'll continue to focus. And I dont blame them. Go with what makes you money.
Last edited:
I think it's more of a shame the anime didn't continue. I feel like the story being finished in game format just isn't going to happen. Shenmue 3 just flubbed it too much when even people who love 1/2 like I do, couldn't even finish the game because it was so... mediocre.
I'm still not over how they handled the PC release. They burned a whole lot of goodwill by taking Epic's deal without considering how it would affect backers.
As soon as I heard about that I was baffled. You get this one shot to do a Shenmue again, to give people closure and then you do that? Just incomprehensible.
I definitely like Shenmue III, but seeing how little (to its detriment) Suzuki progressed Ryo's story in what was presumably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where he was taking money directly from fans and promising some amount of closure left me with frustration at his judgement. This will sound hyperbolic, but it honestly felt disrespectful. I think something like this billboard is just a waste of everyone's time and energy.
Some of you guys are being super mean for no reason...holy moly...they spent $50 to put up an ad for fun...to judge them as if they were actually trying to get Sega's attention, or calling anything someone does for fun "a waste of money"...do some of you even know that some people like their games and also have happy lives...
I don't think he did promise a finale. He kept talking about the Legend of Akira book, which was the basis for Shenmue, and how it was this long saga, the story was in the middle of that outline, and not three games.
3 was never giving closure, that's expecting too much on the other end of the scale. Ryo couldnt land a hit on Xuiying at the end of II, there was literally 0% he'd take down Lan Di in III. They could certainly have focused more on his training and getting him in shape to fight him sure, but win? No chance. Also, story wise its really unlikely that Lan Di was end game in the story, considering he's only one of four general level villains, and there's at least one or two dudes above him... All that in one game would still be a mess,
100% agreed. The whole situation just feels incredibly selfish.
Yeah I'd probably make the CYM leader Tentei, secretly Yuanda Zhu, since he was leading Ryo from the start, has this secret network, and was even sending Zhang to keeps taps on Ryo in in 3, but we will probably never know.
OP
OP
Maybe they liked it. I don't see what is wrong with that. Everyone has their own taste.
As a massive Shenmue fan, I think the only way I could get hyped for Shenmue 4 is Sega backing up the development big time. "Indie Shenmue" doesn't make the cut (at least, not in the way YS did Shenmue 3)
I still think Zhu is shifty. He's just... I dont know there's definitely something off about him. Plus its one of the things Yu's confirmed, that he's not being truthful/honest. Dude definitely has a bigger part to play.
Ok, first off, that's false. Because I still want IV despite not being a big fan on how III handled plot (atmosphere is a different story). But your post is somewhat silly because what it boils down to is "no one should want IV because III wasnt good". Which is laughable when it comes to video game sequels. Imagine Capcom looking at critical response to RE6 and saying "gee this got mixed to bad reviews, lets never make RE7 because of it". Its silly, if one can make a better sequel, they should.
Heck, there's games (especially back in the day) that were mixed at best which still got several sequels despite their critical receptions, why is it seemingly only Shenmue that brings out posts like this? You dont see people going into Deadspace threads and saying "3 was shit, all of you should never want 4 because of it". Or "ME Andromeda was a mess, never ask for another one". Or "Yakuza Dead Souls killed the series over here, stop asking for games to be localised/made".
Not only it barely progressed, what was told was not good (on top of rewriting some major elements).
No big reveal and by the end of the game, you learn what you learned with Shenmue 2... Except Ryo sounds surprised.
Which makes things even more difficult for 4 and 5 (if they were to happen... Which I don't think so).
Not going to say Shenmue 4 shouldn't happen, since a lot of people want it. But yeah... I'm afraid the result might be even worse than 3.
No fan not even its creator is letting it go, Shenmue 4 is happening as much as Shenmue 3 did when everyone thought it dead.
I still don't get how Shenmue got a third shot and, instead of taking it and wrapping things up, they just blew it.
I'd be up for another kickstarter, but I doubt it'll happen. Yu Suzuki seems lukewarm on the subject, too.
Since neither is capable of doing it on their own, I propose the following:
Have George R.R. Martin finish Shenmue.
Have Yu Suzuki finish ASoIaF.
Have George R.R. Martin finish Shenmue.
Have Yu Suzuki finish ASoIaF.
I never saw anything re: promising a finale, but making a long-form game, you have control over how much you're able to progress it. You're the writer/director/planner. Given that it was an exceptional set of circumstances that even allowed Shenmue 3 to be made (and otherwise, a new game was long considered an impossibility), the idea that he chose to make minimal progression (I don't think that's overstating it) in that new part of the story is the problem. And the fundraising materials made tons of references to Shenmue being left unfinished as its "call to action," and that the new game was made in response to that.
Storytelling in general has myriad ways to convey the passage of time, or a wealth of experience taking place that's not shown laboriously. If Suzuki can only conceive of the Shenmue story in terms of having tons of game entries, then that's a problem in itself. If this only exists as a "treadmill" story and he doesn't have what I consider a "real" narrative, then I guess I was tricked pretty well.
Last edited:
You're free to believe it should have ended with 3 but I don't think you were "tricked" either when Suzuki expressed he imagined it as a grand saga across China and they only dipicted Hong Kong. There is a repeated poem in the first two games "The saga begins", "He shall appear from an Eastern Land across the sea" which is what happened. I think they contextualised it in-game that 3 wasn't meant to be the journey's end straight after.
I'm gonna say this more simply for you because you keep talking past what I actually say: I'm not saying it should necessarily have been a finale or completed the story. I'm just saying not a ton happened, thematically or narratively, in Shenmue 3. And that's what I'm criticizing; A missed opportunity for seemingly no reason.
Exactly. I'd be fine if it concluded via an anime, manga, or something.
Always weird to see folks hating on a passionate fanbase for doing something other fanbases have already done. Playing with the silly Times Square screen has been used for a lot of sillier, more pointless video game nonsense than "we want another game."
Still, I really do wish the anime's second season wasn't cancelled by WB executive meddling. Would've been an easier way to finish the story than a game, and the second season had already started production before it and dozens of other projects were suddenly killed. The series really does feel like it's cursed or something.
Still, I really do wish the anime's second season wasn't cancelled by WB executive meddling. Would've been an easier way to finish the story than a game, and the second season had already started production before it and dozens of other projects were suddenly killed. The series really does feel like it's cursed or something.
Unless they can hand the fourth game off to a more competent developer? No thank you. The third game had some truly baffling decisions made that ruined it. All those years waiting, and I couldn't even be assed to finish it. Meanwhile, I can replay the first two every year, love it.