We're all hoping that, someday, Shenmue 3 will come to life. I don't have much hope, to be honest, but since we never got any confirmation that the game will never be, I still have a little bit of hope.
If, someday, we get confirmation that the game will come out, it will be very joyous news for all of us, Shenmue fans.
Or will it?
We must remember that Shenmue was supposed to have 16 chapters and I'm pretty sure that Shenmue 3 wasn't supposed to be the last in the series. If Shenmue 3 ever comes out, I have the feeling that will be a rushed job just to shut us up and so that they can say that the story wasn't left unfinished.
Think about it; Shenmue 3 doesn't even seem likely, so if it does come out, it'll probably end the series. Just imagine how much of what Yu Suzuki had originally planned for the series would be cut out... Brrr!
I mean, they couldn't possibly fit all of the remaining chapters into a single game. Not if they wanted to do all that was planned originally.
Also, I sure hope that Kikizo article isn't true. A game that has been ready for ages and which is waiting to be ported into some undefined console can't be good. At least, it certainly can't be special. How many special games do you know that were left finished for ages (while technology and games evolved, by the way), waiting to be ported into some console?
You see, Shenmue is a very special game. I bought a Dreamcast just for that game and I bought it even before the game was released, because, just reading the previews, I could see it'd be great. I wasn't disappointed. When Shenmue 2 came out, once more, I wasn't disappointed. I liked it even more than the first.
Knowing that those first excellent games were just the first 2 of a whole bunch of them with a continuous epic story left me really excited. Unfortunately, SEGA isn't what it used to be and a lot has changed.
The question is: is it better to get a rushed Shenmue 3 with the rest of the entire story in it, which, of course, would mean that a lot of stuff (and I mean A LOT), both story and gameplay-wise, would be missing, or is it better that Shenmue 3 doesn't come out at all and, at least, it wouldn't ruin the series, leaving us with just 2 very special games and, thus, with nothing but good memories about the series? Of course, I'm not even taking Shenmue Online into consideration, since, as far as I'm concerned, that's not even Shenmue and it'll probably only come out in Asia.
Of course, the best thing would be SEGA continuing what was supposed to do initially and launch Shenmue 3, 4, 5, etc., each one of them a very special game, like the first 2. However, if even Shenmue 3 seems unlikely, the scenario described above seems nearly impossible.
Things don't look good...
Well, life goes on, I guess.