Whoo, first off, hey everybody. I've been lurking for years. I think the last time I actually posted was when I was in high school. Anyway.
While I love the story of Shenmue, my favorite aspect is exploration. I can seriously start up my Dreamcast and spend hours taking in the scenery, staring at the detail and love put into some of the most mundane objects. I absolutely love the opportunity to explore suburbia: the grassy plains and forests of other games bore me. Certainly someone else agrees?
So would a project like this be possible? A story-free, fan-made Shenmue game, with a completely original city to explore? Surely a large undertaking but I think TRYING would be fun at least. I would absolutely love building a detailed city. You could even use existing Shenmue resources. It'd be great to have some new area to explore. I've seen some cool fan games made in all kinds of engines, like a Silent Hill game made in the Unreal engine...why haven't any Shenmue fans attempted this?
What do you think of such an idea?