Well... hoping for another Shenmue game is a very long story...
Most of us have been waiting for a decade, if not more. I have played Shenmue at the japanese release so i can admit that its been a while now. Shenmue, more than 10 years ago was way ahead of other games and even now its still surpassing some. But the mechanics are old, the camera was not that great (lets face it) and it can be improved.
If Shenmue III is not coming out somedays, i am pretty sure we will get the ending anyway. Not sure if Yu Suzuki will be allowed to speak out during a conf and give us the ending or post a japanese script on the net, release a comic book, a novel, or whatever else is possible, but somedays, its just gonna happen. I do not see him dying (it will happen somedays and sad to say it but Yu is not immortal and is not young either...) without telling us what was supposed to happen next.
Now we have to focus on what we really want, since we represent the Shenmue community :
- Just want to know the ending ? No need to build a game just for that, Yu can pretty much make a power point or like i said above, a comic book, just like the one we had when Niao Sun was talking to Ziming.
- You want the ending, but want to experience it through another game, then it will probably have to be more than Shenmue III, unless he cut many parts and unnecessary ones. To be honest, i am in that group, i'd rather have a comic book than nothing, but if i could get a game, i'd like to play it, and to be honest, its been more than a decade but i am still thinking about Shenmue everday. It might sounds crazy but thats the truth. This game left a mark on me and i cant erase it.
I do have hope for both projects, it being a comic book/novel or even Shenmue III/IV the game. But if i analyze the current situation, its unlikely that Shenmue III will come out. Its been like 10 years, no one cared and no one was there to fund it and help Yu Suzuki. Why would they help him now ? I mean, they could, they have the money so that shouldn't be an issue, but i dont know why, i feel like no one is going to back that man up and thats truly sad, especially after seeing what he has done for the gaming industry... Okay, he has been rewarded and has been recognized as blablabla, but that man has worked his whole life on Shenmue (or atleast a BIG BIG part of his life) and i am sure he'd rather get the chance to produce it than any reward or trophy to put anywhere in his appartment.
If i give up now, it will just mean that i do not believe in Yu Suzuki anymore and his will of creating it and since i am backing him up (in my own way...) i dont feel like stopping now. I want him too, to keep trying. Dreams are not easily achieved and finishing the Shenmue saga is, i bet, the dream of his life. That's all the man has left now but he's struggling with mobile games and sadly, i doubt it's going to lead him anywhere...
And for us, as fans, we will have to accept (no doubts about that) that, if Shenmue III comes out, changes will be made. Gameplay has to change in order to please not just us, but the new players that might be interested. After waiting for so long, i am pretty sure that most of us will be disappointed, somehow, by how the game will be. If they use the exact same game mechanics from Shenmue I and II, they will go bankrupt, it wont work, we all know that.
However, if they change it some without killing it, it could work. Last time i was talking about Sleeping Dogs because its like one of the game that is close to it (but far from it, dont make me say that Sleeping Dogs is as awesome as shenmue is!
), and since its open world, martial arts too, they could use the same engine in order to save some money for the project. Or they could also use the Yakuza / Ryu Ga Gotoku Engine. No need to build a new one from scratch, they'd just have to redo the models and make em work for it. Not sure if the gameplay from Yakuza would work tho... its not smooth enough.
Anyway, not sure why i've been so far to write all of this since i could answer with a short reply, but felt like giving my 2 cents.
To whoever feeling like Shenmue is not worth it anymore and feeling like he should give up, you could, i'd understand. No one should wait for such a long time, thats crazy. But yeah.... without noticing it, i think, Shenmue fans are, most likely, the most crazy ones on the internet.
May Shenmue III happens, somedays... My body is ready !