Recent content by JCJ

And it also makes sense in a rural area, to not have so much to do at night and instead be comfy in your cozy home... Plenty of other things to fix before that.

Lots of mixed feelings after reading that interview. On one hand, I think expecting a direct continuation of the story for the fans in a "regular" game borders on delusion at this point. While the fanbase certainly exists, it's simply not big enough to finance a game in the same "genre" than...

The sad part is that, if it's real but is a pitch to potential investors, we don't have any guarantee the pitch was greenlighted. So, there's no guarantee the game is in development or we are getting a proper reveal any time.

I am half joking, but I wonder if a fully AI-generated English dub in 2024 could maybe sound more natural, or at least as good, than the English dub of Shenmue I, which we all know the circumstances it was made. (no disrespect to the actors, they did what they could).

Well, in their golden days, Sega was a company that, unlike Nintendo, didn't rely on iterations of their surefire franchises, but rather channeled their creativity into new things. If they had cared too much about their old franchises, Shenmue probably wouldn't exist, and we would have gotten...

I also don't think Sega will develop a new Shenmue game. But I don't agree the reason is them not wanting anything competing with Yakuza. They have released two Judgment games, and plenty of Yakuza spinoffs (like Ishin/Kenzan or the Hokuto No Ken themed one). I don't think they would have a...

Yeah, Shenmue III soundtrack is wonderful, hence why is a bit misfortunate that both main areas have a "main" theme that is grating after a short while (the Bailu Willy Wonka one and this one). Meanwhile, I ADORE all the Shenmue II main scenario themes. Both day and night versions.

I completely agree with your tweak. In fact, it's little tweaks like these what differentiates good writing from bad writing IMO. And I'll always say that the main beats of the Shenmue III story are perfectly fine. The problem lied on how they were delivered.

We will never know, but I don't feel there was any pride factor in the decision of not porting Shenmue to the PS2, since the same AM2 team didn't hesitate on bringing their flagship Virtua Fighter 4 game exclusively to the console soon after. I tend to think that the simplest answer is usually...

Yeah, I love speculating about how a PS2 Shenmue would have been from a technical point of view (since it would have been the best platform to host the series, market wise). I've always thought the downgrade would have been similar to what happened with Resident Evil 4. A game originally...

One random Shenmue III thought that popped into my brain a couple days ago: I wonder if the most relevant story event from the game, which IMO is the Phoenix mirror getting in the hands of Niao Sun, was also the end of the game in the original plan, and thus was moved ahead from the Baisha...

I would absolutely buy this ending, , if it was written literally like you described. It would be a bit unsurprising, but surprises are overrated anyways :-). And this would give the right amount of closure and charm to longtime followers of the story.

Well...In retrospect, I would have kind of liked for Sega to clearly cancel Shenmue 3 around 2004 or so. Instead of having it in limbo for so long. And I don't think it would have prevented the 2015 Kickstarter to happen as it did. This, too. It looks like the perfect stars alignment for...

Super interesting post, as always. While reading it and getting the tone they intended to give to the village, I felt more and more sure that cutting that part was the right decision. Despite being interesting from a cultural point of view, it would have been too much new information (new...

Yeah, great post about a super interesting topic. If Shenhua's parents were the actual emperor and empress, and supposing she was their only or elder child, wouldn't that make Shenhua the heir of the empire herself?. I have some doubts about this, because the house and clothing on that...