Shenmue Dojo

As much as I don't like the thought of Shenmue concluding via a novel, anime or manga, I'm starting to think this guy's post has a point; games have changed so much in the last 13 years that Shenmue III as a game may stray too far from what we love about the series in order to meet modern gaming desires... I'd really want III in the gameplay style of I & II, but it just can't see it happening that way

http://www.theisozone.com/blogs/retro-s ... enmue-iii/

When I read arguments like that Shenmue III will have to meet modern gaming desires to be successful, automatically the following question comes to my mind: "Why? Did Shenmue I & II try to meet the mainstream gaming desires of its age (somewhere between the 90's and the new millennium)?"

In my personal view, mainstream gamers have not change a lot from that day. What they desire today, the same things they were desiring in the days when Shenmue first appeared. And I can suspect what these desires are (brutal desires, of course):
guns, gore, killing people for fun, slaughtering people in the streets, cutting heads, blood, lasers, ultra violence, zombies and all these related daemonical desires.

Do you think Yu Suzuki would think to put in a Shenmue III these elements for the shake of the brutal instincts of many (relative with these instincts) mainstream gamers?

Sega has shown some some signs where would easily do this, like e.g. with Shadow the Hedgehog holding a gun... and what else. But, I can not dare to think Yu Suzuki would ever do this. That would be disrespectful towards himself.

Yes, we have all see that a Shenmue III would have magic elements et cetera, but I would never believe that Yu, while creating Shenmue III, would stray from the spirit of the following principle: "Martial arts are used to protect people's lives".

I really don't think that Shenmue 3 is too late. Giorgio summed it up best.

Some quite interesting points there. I know most of us would settle for whatever we could get (as long it was a game version) of Shenmue 3.

Remember games can be updated and brought into the HD era all guns blazing. I feel Shenmue is one of those games, using mass effect maybe as a baseline of how to get the conversational element working well. While we all have an affection with Ryo's almost wooden responses to a conversation I don't think (in my view and only my view) that anyone would complain about introducing that kind of element. Would it require a small scale down in terms of the world and what Ryo can pick up and touch, maybe. However think in Shenmue 2 how much time was spent looking around in drawers for items or for the hell of it, not that much. So I think that can be done. S2 was much more story/action driven than 1.

We already know how good the game could look in HD, I have been informed of a topic on here of screenshots of 1080p Shenmue.

It is all there for Sega or someone else to exploit, I keep my hopes up because of the stir that we as a community keep making through Facebook and Twitter.

Essay over, and if you haven't already get involved in the tweetathon on June 3rd!

I'll never think its too late!

Games have changed, but Shenmue still holds its own even today in my honest opinion!

I would be perfectly happy with Shenmue 3 being the same quality as shenmue 2 with updated hd visuals...

they should remake shenmue as a gritty fps. no seriously. Imagine the beginning dubstep starts playing then lan di comes in all guns blazing murdering ine san with a shotgun shell to the face then shanks fuku san leaving him to bleed to death in front of the dojo, Then when ryo arrive he sees his father being executed and instead of spiritual martial arts journey ryo becomes like max payne abusing drugs and alcohol as he shoots martial artists dead all across Asia looking for lan di. and instead of gay immersive open worlds we can have corridor levels where men in black suits charge in to your line of sight endlessly, beats following children around gritty tower blocks like a pedophile in shenmue 2 anyway...

anyway I'm sure this will save the series and make it a better experience for all of us

some other games haven't been able to achieve this feel of japan and china that shenmue captured

I kinda think it's about timing too. The only thing about Shenmue is that it was always meant to be a complete story told in several games. So if 25 years after Shenmue 2 was released they decide to release 3 it wouldn't make sense to the younger generation unless they have access to the originals. And unless there's tons of hype that generation wouldn't look twice at an old game.

I think with most of the other games out there that were released 10, 15, 20+ years after the original they were standalone games that weren't finishing a story. With Shenmue it's not like we're asking for more we're asking for completion.

But financially speaking is Sega in good enough shape to make Shenmue 3 and it not be a huge risk? How much would it realistically take to make it?

Is it too late for Darkstalkers 4? Is it too late for Street Fighter 4? It was ten years in between Street fighter 3 and Street Fighter 4. Killer Instinct 3 just got announced. I can't remember how many years it has been since KI2. Is it too late for that? Gaming hasn't changed that much since Shenmue 2. In fact the quality just lowered some, so Shenmue 2 was ahead of its time. I even played through Disc 1. If anything, they would want to include more modern open world conventions, like more minigames. The game map would have to be more densely populated with activities. It would maybe have to have as many side games as Red Dead Redemption and GTA 4. Maybe.

The thing is Shenmue was so ambitious, it has some features that modern games still don't have. Like when you pick up and examine each item in a room. You go so far as to open a drawer in real time and search it's contents. That level of immersion and seemless detail is still not in most games these days. there's been so many near misses over the years (Shenmue Town , Shenmue Online) That SHenmue 3 is inevitable. Ryo Hazuki was a playable character in Sega All stars Racing. Don't count Shenmue 3 out.