Shenmue III

[Barry the Nomad]

Yeah, I went there. I made a Shenmue III topic.

I don't want to speak for everybody, but I'm pretty sure we all want a Shenmue III. However, as years pass, it seems less and less a possibility. Sure there are the occasional references in games like All-Stars Racing and Hell Yeah, or the small spin-offs like Shenmue Online and that Shenmue social game, but these don't come close to filling that void. Some point to these cameos and spin-offs and say that they are signs of SEGA considering a third title. But I believe at best, they are much welcomed assurances that the idea of Shenmue is not dead, although the third title may very well be. Until we actually see SEGA and Yu starting up work on a third, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Of couse, many diluted fans point to games like Yakuza and (laughably) even iOS titles as taking away from the possibility of Shenmue III. This is, without a doubt, my BIGGEST pet peeve when it comes to SEGA fans. It seriously makes me wonder if they are even SEGA fans, or if they are simply bandwagon jumpers who believe that Shenmue comes before all else, and that SEGA is dead to them until a Shenmue III appears. I'd even doubt that idiots who spam SEGA's facebook wall with comments like "Ugh, just release Shenmue III" have even bought a SEGA game in the past five years, let alone played any of SEGA's recent titles. Of course, these are only a small cluster of fans, and in no way are a reflection of folks who consider themselves actual Shenmue fans. Hell, I'M a SHenmue fan. I don't act like that. So that whole rant was not an attack on Shenmue fans, but rather an attack on morons who think spamming a social media site = increasing the chance of a Shenmue III. At best, shit like that makes Shenmue fans seem like annoying parrots who repeat the same thing day after day.

Still some fans are so obsessed with the notion of a third title, that it is all they tweet about: https://twitter.com/Shenmue500K , https://twitter.com/MrBryanFigueroa
They can do what they want with their time, and I commend their commitment. But when they side with the Facebook spammers, it makes me wonder...

In any case, I am of the firm belief that pointing the blame at ANY SEGA game taking away from Shenmue's chances is a stupid thing to do. Yakuza 1&2's budget: 2.4 billion yen (21 million US dollars), Shenmue 1&2's budget: $70 million, equivalent to $95 million in 2011. Without even adjusting Yakuza to match Shenmue's budget to 2011 numbers, two Yakuza titles cost little compared to two Shenmue titles. And unlike Shenmue, Yakuza became profitable.

---

Anyway, long first post short: I really want a Shenmue III, but I GET why it's a difficult game for SEGA to commit to. Unless they can make a third at a reasonable price, it's not gonna happen for a long while (if at all).

[Randroid]

Fully agree!

I remember reading a description of the first Shenmue game before it was release. Just the description of the game seem like the holy grail of gaming (to me at the time). Avenging your father's death, open world Japanese city, full time and weather system, full voice acting RPG, practicing Martial Arts in your spare time. virtua fighter fight mechanics with an expanding move list, playing arcade versions of retro sega games!!!

Then getting a hold of a copy and actually playing it, Instant gaming nirvana. It was such a miracle of a game that I felt lucky it even existed at all. It was literally to me at the time TOO GOOD. I'm sure I lost a lot of friends (ones who didn't have a dreamcast) droning on about it.

I also remember spending $125 for an import of Shenmue 2 (the very last copy available at the EB near me at the time). While I felt the emotional impact was not the same (I find that the first game has more charm), the gameplay was more refined, the scale much larger and action dialed up, big-time. Who's heart wasn't racing landing the final QTE on Dou Niu, only to be gifted with the relaxing and surreal final chapter?

There is a lot a emotion invested with Shenmue, and with double-digit versions of Final Fantasy out there, I think the vocal cries for Shenmue 3 come from gamers who don't really understand how great the ambition and investment was and how comparatively low the return was on this series.

End of rant. Shenmue, best game ever.

[semmie]

when talking about shenmue 3. i wouls even buy it with the same graphics like shenmue 2. all i want is that the story goes on. sometimes i just get back to that shenmue site for the fool that i am hoping ittl be updated somehow

[MadeManG74]

I used to believe it would happen, but with the way Sega is now, it's never ever coming out.
Which is a crying shame.

Maybe one day Yu Suzuki will manage to make a manga or something, but i doubt it.

[Aki-at]

I used to believe it would happen, but with the way Sega is now, it's never ever coming out.
Which is a crying shame.

+ budget for current games.

Halo 4 is easily over $100 million in terms of its budget (And CoD's and GTAV are easily in that price bracket, if not more)

For us to get the Shenmue that would interest ALL Shenmure fans + fans of general video games, SEGA need to spend an excessively obscene amount of money that would be insane in this day and age. Profits from the next Sonic game, Yakuza game, Football Manager and maybe a few digital titles would have to go just for one title... Which would probably not making any sort of return, especially with the amount of people who would need to buy this game.

So yeah, unlikely.

[semmie]

+ budget for current games.

Halo 4 is easily over $100 million in terms of its budget (And CoD's and GTAV are easily in that price bracket, if not more)

For us to get the Shenmue that would interest ALL Shenmure fans + fans of general video games, SEGA need to spend an excessively obscene amount of money that would be insane in this day and age. Profits from the next Sonic game, Yakuza game, Football Manager and maybe a few digital titles would have to go just for one title... Which would probably not making any sort of return, especially with the amount of people who would need to buy this game.

So yeah, unlikely.

i know you are realistic. but i want to talk against this even tho it may be true.
there are many gamepublishers in their start who would beg to make a game.
just to take example from the phenomenon killzone. they started to make this game at home. and we have seen the result how good that game was and the commotion was great.

since the shenmue sega is so expensive as they claim it to be. but there were no possibilities considered to look at the other side. a fresh publisher doesnt mean a bad game publisher. plus there is no real deadline made in this game. they could adapt all the previous shenmue into the next shenmue plus some major extras and a new graphic engine such as the one of the yakuza 5.

this is so sad.

we have seen this happening with little big adventure back in the days. so this is not the expenses per say.
duke nukem forever took more then a decade and it was almost not happening. but when it came out people kinda forgot about duke nukem.
and i fear this for shenmue

[Barry the Nomad]

At best, and I believe I went into this more in an old podcast, SEGA could make a game with elements and features that is equal to that of the Yakuza series combined with what was presented in Shenmue II running on some sort of enhanced Virtua Fighter 4 engine. Perhaps an enhanced Yakuza engine with VF4 fighting? I'll admit, knowing the ins and outs of game engines is not a strength of mine, so I might be wrong on this working well.

In any case, I think the BIG problem is that at the time, Shenmue I and II were jaw dropping. The features were, as Randroid mentioned, "Instant gaming nirvana" and it truly was the holy grail for gamers.

For Shenmue III to match those levels in todays world would call for a game that would blow just about every Read Dead Redemption, Sleeping Dogs and Watch Dogs and even Yakuza title out of the water. But to do that would mean an obscene budget.

So in the end, I think a Shenmue III that has the potential to exist would fall well below what was expected, and was eventually delivered, in the first two. At least, I don't think it would be a step up, but rather a step sideways and would be more of the same and an extension of the first two titles.

But is this a bad thing? I'm going to say no. While a Shenmue III produced on a reasonable budget, using existing engines and bringing more of the same gameplay features found in the first title would not be a step up, it would certainly be an actual Shenmue III and really, thats all I want. Even if it does not expand on F.R.E.E. (full reactive eyes entertainment) gameplay, I think SEGA and Yu could easily balance that out with story.

Story, I think, should be the star of Shenmue III, and I'd think a good story and a CONCLUSION to the Shenmue series is far more important than finding new mini-games and real time weather features. Other games like Rockstar's titles and SEGA's Yakuza titles already have shown us these sorts of features, and I don't think Shenmue could ever expand on that. Given the story seemed to be moving into nature and into small villages and enemy hideouts, I don't see a lot of stuff from the first two games fitting in anyway. Why would toy capsules and odd jobs come into play when Ryo is so close to encountering Lan Di?

[segaismysavior]

Part of me would be satisfied with episodic releases similiar to Sonic 4 and Telltale's games: Walking Dead, Back to the Future, and Wallace and Gromit. That obviously comes from the "something is better than nothing" mentality, but I would hate for them to only release a single episode and then stop if that release didn't meet expectations. The benefit though is having clear goals of what each episode should provide, executing it, and then having existing toolsets to build the rest of the releases.

A full release would heavily rely on the Yakuza technology and toolsets that they've already evolved over the years, cutting costs significantly. I agree that focusing more on story and focused gameplay is the way to do it, omitting many of the distractions. The problem with that though is the so called "Shenmue fans" will bitch about not having capsule toys, and any other feature from the previous games, enough to boycott the release.

[Barry the Nomad]

I wonder if SEGA would have the balls to fund a Shenmue III via kickstarter? I mean, I'm sure it would net a ton of money, the problem is that it pretty much would fuel the "SEGA is broke and is dead" mentality. Plus it's not how they function as a company, it's more of a indie game method.

Also, if they had donation levels, would they give the game out as a reward? Can't imagine that. However, if a kickstarter campaign DID fund Shenmue III, I would gladly give $150 even if it meant I wasn't getting the copy of the game as a reward. If it meant I'd just have my name in the credits, I'd love it. Food for thought.

[Randroid]

At best, and I believe I went into this more in an old podcast, SEGA could make a game with elements and features that is equal to that of the Yakuza series combined with what was presented in Shenmue II running on some sort of enhanced Virtua Fighter 4 engine. Perhaps an enhanced Yakuza engine with VF4 fighting? I'll admit, knowing the ins and outs of game engines is not a strength of mine, so I might be wrong on this working well.

In any case, I think the BIG problem is that at the time, Shenmue I and II were jaw dropping. The features were, as Randroid mentioned, "Instant gaming nirvana" and it truly was the holy grail for gamers.

For Shenmue III to match those levels in todays world would call for a game that would blow just about every Read Dead Redemption, Sleeping Dogs and Watch Dogs and even Yakuza title out of the water. But to do that would mean an obscene budget.

So in the end, I think a Shenmue III that has the potential to exist would fall well below what was expected, and was eventually delivered, in the first two. At least, I don't think it would be a step up, but rather a step sideways and would be more of the same and an extension of the first two titles.

But is this a bad thing? I'm going to say no. While a Shenmue III produced on a reasonable budget, using existing engines and bringing more of the same gameplay features found in the first title would not be a step up, it would certainly be an actual Shenmue III and really, thats all I want. Even if it does not expand on F.R.E.E. (full reactive eyes entertainment) gameplay, I think SEGA and Yu could easily balance that out with story.

Story, I think, should be the star of Shenmue III, and I'd think a good story and a CONCLUSION to the Shenmue series is far more important than finding new mini-games and real time weather features. Other games like Rockstar's titles and SEGA's Yakuza titles already have shown us these sorts of features, and I don't think Shenmue could ever expand on that. Given the story seemed to be moving into nature and into small villages and enemy hideouts, I don't see a lot of stuff from the first two games fitting in anyway. Why would toy capsules and odd jobs come into play when Ryo is so close to encountering Lan Di?

After reading this and I'll start with saying that I totally agree that it only needs to match the current generations gaming standards for people to accept it as Shenmue 3, BUT again, after reading your post, if, IF they were to really attempt the next holy grail of gaming as Shenmue 3 as the first one was for its time..... ooooh goosebumps.

[MadeManG74]

I wonder if SEGA would have the balls to fund a Shenmue III via kickstarter? I mean, I'm sure it would net a ton of money, the problem is that it pretty much would fuel the "SEGA is broke and is dead" mentality. Plus it's not how they function as a company, it's more of a indie game method.

Also, if they had donation levels, would they give the game out as a reward? Can't imagine that. However, if a kickstarter campaign DID fund Shenmue III, I would gladly give $150 even if it meant I wasn't getting the copy of the game as a reward. If it meant I'd just have my name in the credits, I'd love it. Food for thought.

I was going t say it would be interesting to see a Kickstarter made for Shenners 3. Even so, it wouldn't meet the requirements for anything but a really tiny game, how much did Double Fine's game end up earning? It was something like 4 mil I think, but that's not much at all for Shenmue. It would still be enough to do SOMETHING though, which is better than we've got right now.

And fuck yeah, if it had an awesome backer's exclusive collectible and something like my name in the credits, I would even cough up $1k to fund the game. I'm not even joking, Shenmue is legendary amongst games now, I would certainly put up some serious dosh to be a part of it and see it come to fruition.

[semmie]

I was going t say it would be interesting to see a Kickstarter made for Shenners 3. Even so, it wouldn't meet the requirements for anything but a really tiny game, how much did Double Fine's game end up earning? It was something like 4 mil I think, but that's not much at all for Shenmue. It would still be enough to do SOMETHING though, which is better than we've got right now.

And fuck yeah, if it had an awesome backer's exclusive collectible and something like my name in the credits, I would even cough up $1k to fund the game. I'm not even joking, Shenmue is legendary amongst games now, I would certainly put up some serious dosh to be a part of it and see it come to fruition.

im not a fan of nothing. cause i think being fan of something is gay. i have my religion and that is enough to grasp on. as for the shenmue 3 being called the holy grail and i completely agree with this term as a equivalent of panzer dragoon saga. i think there should be another pd saga as well. just to stay on topic i dnt like the idea of shenmue becoming a ios game unless it be a spinoff of a game yet to make another part on the console in the future.

shenmue is being raped regardless at the moment.
if it dont come out on time it will be forgotten soon. if it comes on ios only and the crappy online purchase games it will be considered a degradation of a game that had the best graphics and gameplay and environment of all time.

sometimes i just wonder what is sega thinking? we all just kinda talk of what we read and the research we have at hand. but that is just not enough to even talk and say what sega thinks. sega doesnt think as one body anymore. i mentioned before that there are more chiefs then workers.
so when talking about shenmue combining this with the shattered pyramid of sega plus the dumb negotiations about makin or not making games.

to move it up a little bit i stay on the opinion that sega needs to bring out shenmue3 i really dictate. THEY HAVE TO
because it cant go on like this to keep good games away and the shizzle they bring out. i call them one day flies. we all kinda hyped up about wrath of the rabbit or whatever. but wtf. it aint gonna be that big.
shenmue 3 is a must
just like resonance fate 2
skies of arcadia 2
those games are so epic and they actually a success. even skies / eternal arcadia did reaaaaally well on gamecube. and yeah even on the Dreamcast.

shenmue was that kinda game that even pirates bought original. and by now people still play it. and some just found out it existed and started to play it. this best yet an underdog game became world famous by sega and non sega hillbilly nerds. if it would come out it would mos def sell.
but who are we to talk?

at the end we dont even know what sega really thinks. cause sega is more then one person.
yes or no?

[Barry the Nomad]

im not a fan of nothing. cause i think being fan of something is gay. i have my religion and that is enough to grasp on.

What the hell?

[semmie]

What the hell?

more in a sense of someone being fan of justin bieber
thats gay aint it?

i like sega the best more in a way yo dude we homies.

being a fan is like being an idolworshippers.


btw ryo hazuki is down with i forgot her name.

[MadeManG74]

Can someone please ban semmie, he's obviously dropped a hot dose of LSD.