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Can We Discuss the Possibility of Shenmue 3?

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Sure.

 

It is "possible", however, the money it'd take would far outstrip anything that has ever been raised on Kickstarter, and I would guess that the popularity of Shenmue does not compare favorably to Kickstarters that have earned less money than Yu would need to make the kind of game that Shenmue is.

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As much as I hold the series in high regard, the first game began with a painstaking depiction of the Kanagawa prefecture and the second game ended with a floating sword.

 

I do not want whatever Shenmue 3 will entail.

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I'm kind of an outside observer to both, but am i wrong in feeling like the Yakuza series ended up being the thing Shenmue would have built towards?

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A totally fair assessment. I've only played Y4, but that really improved the quality of mini-game. Y4 is a tremendous amount of game for the money. 

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Can we discuss the possibility of renaming this thread? :)

 

Everyone's euphoric at the moment, and even I have a grin on my face. And I thought Shenmue was pretty laborious when I played it a few years back. I have the sequel but couldn't stomach it straight after bludgeoning my way through the original. Now I'm feeling the desire to hook up the old Dreamcast and go for it. HOWEVER,...

 

Definitely not wanting to poop on the party/piss on the parade, but the Kickstarter page seems a bit...sketchy on specifics. I'm assuming there's other funding to compliment the Kickstarter, but there's a long list of contributors and 2 million is going to disappear extremely quickly. Even if it matches Bloodstained and manages $5m, and assuming there's private investment enough to double that, I don't think that's going to go far. I think the fans will forgive plenty of jank here, for nostalgia's sake, but competence is expensive and this must be competent at the very least. Anybody care to reassure me?

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Also there used to be this thread from like 10 years ago with the appropriate title already, but those old threads are locked so I suppose renaming this new one would be easier.

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Ha, just saw that thread linked in the E3 thread! Though we can do better than 'Shenmue 3', can't we? Needs to have a Yu Suzuki/kickstarter pun at the very least.

ShenYu Suzuthree. Yu Shenmue3. Yenshu...

 

:getmecoat

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Frankly, I'd rather have more Yakuza games than Shenmue III. 

 

I remember that Shenmue was supposed to be several chapters, if Shenmue III is supposed to end the whole Saga, I'd be likely to look forward to it.

 

How would Shenmue III even work? Now that we have search engines, digital maps and GPS in our pocket, how would the game be now? Wasn't Shenmue mostly about asking around for directions and information you could now find online?

 

I suppose the game could be set in the era it was initially created in, but I don't see modern gamers having to ask directions and do all the mapping manually.

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Definitely not wanting to poop on the party/piss on the parade, but the Kickstarter page seems a bit...sketchy on specifics. I'm assuming there's other funding to compliment the Kickstarter, but there's a long list of contributors and 2 million is going to disappear extremely quickly. Even if it matches Bloodstained and manages $5m, and assuming there's private investment enough to double that, I don't think that's going to go far. I think the fans will forgive plenty of jank here, for nostalgia's sake, but competence is expensive and this must be competent at the very least. Anybody care to reassure me?

 

Ya I definitely found it sketchy. The original Shenmue took approximately $70 million to make and came out in 1998. Adjusted for inflation, that's roughly $100 million today. And given that the game footage in the Kickstarter video was so laughably abysmal, it doesn't seem like a situation where they've assembled a rough but passable demo and are in talks with a publisher who just wants some confirmation of marketability through crowdfunding / a little help defraying development costs, or something like that.

That said, I doubt Sony had them on stage just to do them a favor (edit: or maybe they did, just hoping to get a bump off the nostalgia without having to commit any resources to the notoriously money-losing franchise?). I'd bet they're helping out somehow. So... who knows. I'm definitely not dropping $10k to get the jacket.

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Frankly, I'd rather have more Yakuza games than Shenmue III. 

 

Whu? They are. Yakuza 5 is meant to be coming to western shores this year, and Yakuza 0 is in development for the PS4. (but whether we'll see that is a different matter entirely)

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I'm kind of an outside observer to both, but am i wrong in feeling like the Yakuza series ended up being the thing Shenmue would have built towards?

 

 

Frankly, I'd rather have more Yakuza games than Shenmue III. 

 

I remember that Shenmue was supposed to be several chapters, if Shenmue III is supposed to end the whole Saga, I'd be likely to look forward to it.

 

How would Shenmue III even work? Now that we have search engines, digital maps and GPS in our pocket, how would the game be now? Wasn't Shenmue mostly about asking around for directions and information you could now find online?

 

I suppose the game could be set in the era it was initially created in, but I don't see modern gamers having to ask directions and do all the mapping manually.

 

Having played a few hours of Yakuza 4 (and really liking it) I actually think Deadly Premonition is the continuation of Shenmue. I loved Shenmue when I was 14, but it has turned into just fondness as I've gotten older and recognized all its failings.

 

I don't think Shenmue needs a follow up because I feel a lot of that game's charm comes from the specificity of being a game about Japan in the 80's, which I get plenty of from that game already. I'm fine not knowing what's up with the demon mirror or why they call it a mirror even though it doesn't seem to reflect anything.

 

That said, it's getting made apparently (2.5 million on the KS as I'm writing this) and I would love to see something with the same amount of character.

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So if one wanted to figure out what this Shenmue thing was first hand, is it possible to play the original without tricky emulation or is there some suitable let's play that would show it off?

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I'd sit tight if I were you. No doubt Sega will take the opportunity to bosh the originals on Steam over the next year. To get the authentic Dreamcast aural experience you'll need to pour broken glass into your disc drive too.

Alternatively a Let's Play wouldn't be the worst idea. Still, over 2 years to go, so no rush.

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Funny that the jacket and the dinner pledges went immediately.

 

Would be maybe fun to be filthy rich and pour money in to stuff like that so casually.

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Man, looking at that old thread is weird. Hi, 16 year old me!

 

I bought the original when I bought a used Dreamcast and am now considering trying it again. That game was already HARD to play in 2007 when I got the DC though. I can't imagine it's any better now...

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