Good stuff. Thanks David. Points I found most interesting...
- Ziming is not a boss! We thought we had that one in the bag. That's really interesting. Makes you wonder whether that comic depicting Niao Sun and Ziming is even canon, and just how involved with the Chi You Men Ziming really is. Is he planning to double-cross them, or has he really joined them...?
- Starting point of Shenmue III; I always wondered what exact moment the game would start. I guess Suzuki's response indicates that there isn't anything else in that cave, at least not for the time being. I always wondered if there would be a time gap (a day; a week; a month) in which Ryo gets accustomed to life in Bailu Village or if we'd get to witness Ryo entering the village for the first time.
- Shenmue III wouldn't be sufficient enough to end the game. We always thought this, but figured they'd truncate the story and cram it in. I think Suzuki mentioned this earlier this year, but it's still a new-ish development. This can be seen as good and bad, Suzuki now needs to raise a budget for two games.
The most important bit: the main reason why Shenmue 3 isn’t being made has nothing to do with Sega having the license at all. Sega will apparently be more than happy to give the license to Suzuki if he wanted to do it. The main problem is that first Suzuki needs to raise a budget for the game.
I really don't think this is new information. I always felt this way - and thought that, however noble it was, the Give Yu the License thing was misguided. To me, it was always pretty clear that Sega wasn't holding Shenmue hostage, they just didn't want to fund the game. Glad we can hopefully finally lay this to rest.