Recent content by JCJ

I'm not entirely joking when I say that, at the rate AI improves and Shenmue waits, there's a possibility YSNET might feed the full Shenmue novels to an AI (and maybe a couple videos or executables of the games), and the AI produces the full Shenmue IV, V and beyond in a couple hours minutes :D.

This, sadly, would be very much in line with the history of the Shenmue series :D We finish Shenmue I with a portrait of Shenhua, but we only meet her at the very ending of Shenmue II. We end Shenmue II with the letter of Shenhua's father and a tease for Niao Sun, and we only meet them at the...

It's always nice to get new tidbits of Shenmue's history and story. It was really charming to read this interview. But, at the same time, it also cemented my feeling that we will never see any new mainline Shenmue game whatsoever. I feel time has simply ran up already. The consolation prize is...

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.