Recent content by vfXander

Seeing both locations and people 20 years apart would be truly amazing. It could tell the story about Iwao in a more organic way, not everything via flashbacks. Also, we could finally meet Akane, Ryo's mother! Yeah, Shenmue Zero with Ryo wouldn't be as appealing, he would be either too young or...

Yes, and both Nanite and Lumen can work on PS5 hardware, so there's no reason to not use them to speed the process up. I would start with the first one and use the profits to finance the rest. Hong Kong and Kowloon could also be separated chapters. Same for Guilin that could be merged with...

If a PS5 can run a Matrix Demo using UE5 Early Access, then a Shenmue remake would definitely run as well, using whatever version would be out once the game is released (in 2-3 years time). The high vegetation part is in Shenmue II, so it's 4-6 years away, with an even more advanced version of...

Yeah! It was an interesting period, especially since there was the Vietnam Was so close and Yokosuka had an US Naval Base, which is something Shenmue only briefly touched with the "sailors" thing. It feels like a wasted opportunity. Also, the 60s were close to the end of WWII, so there might...

That, ironically, would cost more as you'd have to make ANY asset in that style. 3D games are cheaper to make than 2D games, nowadays.

Sega didn't invest any money in Shenmue III (as far as we know), so there are no chances it would invest in Shenmue IV, which has even less hype.

Example of how UE5 got better in time: Also, the Matrix Demo ran on PS5 and it was way more complicated than anything we've seen in any Shenmue. And with today's version it would run MUCH better, likely even hitting 60fps.

1. Not really, you can use them for console as well, especially in an urban environment like the first Shenmue. Vegetation is what kills performance at the moment (my game is a racing game in a forest, so I know a thing of two about that). Also, the engine keeps getting better with each release...

You clearly haven't see how charming Yokosuka in the 60s was! https://flickr.com/photos/a_schiassi/galleries/72157722380270048/ I might or might not have put that album together...

You can slice the cost substantially. If Shenmue III were announced today, it would either cost much less and finished in less time. Or have a bigger scope. MetaHumans for the characters is an example. You can literally animate the face with just in iPhone. Mocap is also extremely cheap...

An Iwao's story set in the mid-60s, following the same locations (to also save money), and following his story sounds like a much better idea. It could also run in parallel with Shenmue's main story and show many elements without necessarily being flashbacks.

Yeah, you can't use any of the existing assets in a full remake. Even that attempt shown by Digital Foundry wasn't that impressive, but it was also pre-UE5 era, so there's that.

That's nowhere near what a Shenmue next-gen would look like. But, at the same time, I can see it doable if you use the right tools and the right budget to hire the right people.

There are TONS of features, tools, and libraries today that would bring cost down DRASTICALLY for a Shenmue next-gen remake. I'd like to cover this part in a video at some point. I already talked about this a few times in the Discord. I'm an UE5 dev myself so I follow its development very closely.

Great interview! A few things I noticed: Suzuki-san seems very impressed about Unreal Engine 5 and he'd clearly picturing how the original Shenmue games would look with next-gen graphics... maybe I can help with that 😎😉 A bit disappointing hearing about his plan for a hypothetical Shenmue...