Shenmue Dojo

This topic probably has been done before, but, I mean, do you guys have a clear picture of what you want Shenmue III to look like? Would any of you be disappointed at the final product if it ever comes out when it doesn't live up to your expectations? something nearly 15 years in the making has A LOT of fans figuring out scenarios in their head on how they think it would look like, what the new game mechanics would be, etc. Post yer thoughts.

I have a feeling that it may not meet the expectations. A lot of years have passed and Shenmue had a rough time.
Yu Suzuki already explained that he had condensed the missing chapters and Shenmue III probably won't be as high in quality as it would've been if they continued on the Dreamcast. Of course it can look better now, but would it have the same production value?

As for my personal thoughts. I think that the game will be more walking through the chinese outback, just like at the end of Shenmue II. I think that Ryo will generally travel a lot more and the towns may not have as many characters, shops, arcades and whatnot like Dobuita and Wan-Chai. I said before that I'd find this kinda sad, since the first game put such a large emphasis on an extremely realistic town but the story seems to be heading away from that and into the mythical and spiritual.

I've always valued the slow and lumbering pace of Shenmue 1 and 2 and would be pretty disappointed if we got an "abridged" action-packed Shenmue 3 just because they wanna end the series. I'd rather have one more good Shenmue game even if it ends on a cliff hanger and we have to wait 10 more years...

That's one of my worst "fears". I would rather never get the game than get some condensed shitty version they made just to finally end it. At least if its never made we can always have hope and wonder "what if?". But if its released and it doesn't stay true to or follow the natural progression of the original games it will leave in my mouth the sourest taste imaginable. Even worse than drinking iced tea right after brushing your teeth.

Big fear for me aswell that it could turn out to be shitty. But id take a shitty Shenmue 3 any day over no Shenmue 3. If atleast the story comes from Yu Suzuki we can still call it Shenmue.

Axm wrote: Big fear for me aswell that it could turn out to be shitty. But id take a shitty Shenmue 3 any day over no Shenmue 3. If atleast the story comes from Yu Suzuki we can still call it Shenmue.

This pretty much. Even if it did suck (which would still be a massive disappointment) At least the series would be finished, we'd get to know the ending to the story, and a lot of people could move on.

I feel like this forum wouldn't have survived as long as it has without this constant campaigning and searching for the fabled Shenmue 3. If they were all released 10 years ago, I think this site wouldn't be what it is today. Just my opinion

If they managed to make it look as good, as let's say, the PS3 Yakuza games (and with the same sort of character models/visual style), I'd be happy. On the story side of things, I don't think the fantasy aspect would annoy me as it would have if they immediately followed II up with III and it went that route. I just want III, regardless of how "shitty" the storyline is, because Shenmue is so much more than that to me.

It would have to include as much interaction as the previous games and take its time, no rushing. I'm fine with a similar pacing to II, in an ideal world, I'd love for the "plodding" pace of the first game where every event/scenario is planned out so carefully and you have lots of time to get to know every character you come into contact with, but I can get over that if it means we get III and close the series, hopefully on a high.

I think the other issue i'm facing is that Shenmue was originally supposed to be like 6 games (kinda like Yakuza with all its sequels), so to try and roll up 4 potential sequels into one game seems a bit disheartening. I'd rather have Suzuki's full vision than just an abridged version of it. Why is it that Yakuza somehow spins out so many sequels but Shenmue only got one? Wrong place and time?

We should make a a Shenmue IV sub-forum. For ironic purposes

Yakuza isn't really similar to Shenmue aside from both being developed by teams within SEGA...Yakuza actually didn't start out as being popular anyway, it's only built its name over time. Yakuza is more of an action adventure with beat 'em up combat whilst Shenmue is more interactive based (similar to point and click adventure games) adventure game. Yakuza had the added bonus of releasing on the most popular consoles in Japan (PS2, PS3) which is the territory that Yakuza sells the best; whereas with Shenmue, it was released on a console that sold like shit (Dreamcast) and it appeals more to people outside its home country where it was developed, so yeah, very different series once you look at them in that way.

Unfortunately for us, Shenmue no doubt got part of the blame for the Dreamcast's demise, since SEGA bet a lot on it, hoping it would be the killer app for them...and Suzuki fell into obscurity for a loooong time.

I can think of a few video games that ended on a cliffhanger; Advent Rising, Psychonauts, Anachronox, Beyond Good and Evil, Tactics Ogre (well, at least until the PSP remake resolved it), Vagrant Story...the list goes on

I believe that in shenmue III ryo discovers the chinese manufacturing plants in charge of making the equipment necessary for the US government to build huge FEMA camps across the USA to enslave and exterminate the local population. he also discovers that lan di is the middle man between china and the US government and that he is in fact a reptilian humanoid that is looking for the mirrors to open the cave where his people hid their spaceship so that he can finally return home after taking complete control over humanity. Iwao had managed to defeat his father and take the mirrors to prevent this as you discover in shenmue 2.

I believe this is also the reason why Shenmue 3 was never made as it contained too much information about the illuminati, their reptilian nature and their world domination plans. This is why yu suzuki always appears traumatised and we never see him with his family as the reptilians have kidnapped his family and told him that they would murder them if he ever raised any suspicions about them. Finally to be able to recover his family he rewrote shenmue 3 recently (using the excuse that he was recompiling everything in to one game) and releasing it through one of the illuminati's minions (sony) so that he can prove that he is no longer a threat to them.