Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

They ditched the English dub because they spent too much money on hiring Mark Hamill, Michael Madsen, etc. for the first game and it wasn't worth the effort, especially since Yakuza 1 was pretty much DOA in the states. I don't think the subtitles in the next games were a major issue. The most popular Yakuza game, 0, doesn't even feature an English dub.
 
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1 - Are the Npc's on the left side the original Bailu Village Gatekeepers or could they be Guards of Shenmue 4's Cliff Temple or some other ancient Chinese location !?

2 - All of the Npc's in this page seem to be wearing a more traditional Chinese style outfit; there is even one that seems to be carrying a backpack similar to that of a mountain climber !? Can someone translate the Kanji characters in the picture !?
This Npc seems to better fit the scenario of a mountainous region, like Shenmue 4's Cliff Temple área.
This could also indicate that Shenmue 4 could also take place in a more ancient and isolated area than the previous titles.

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These other two characters also seem to fit a more ancient style scenario due to the outfits that they are wearing.
The one on the left resembles a Chinese noble or a high ranked Imperial official; he also has the look of a villain.
Could he be another Chiyou Men Leader !?
The one on the right looks more like a Martial Arts master; he also has the look of a bad guy.

What do you guys think !?
I think all of these characters were probably meant for Baisha. I was searching around last night to try to find a particular Baisha that might have been Suzuki's inspiration for the name sake, and I was finding a bunch of places that are home to minority people's of China. In particular, the Bouyei people. I think the similarities in dress are pretty apparent.
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There's a township of Baisha in Qiannan Bouyei and Miao Autaunomous Prefecture, in Guizhou, which seems to be almost adjacent to Guilin. Which all kind of leads me to wonder if Baisha was actually removed from SIII due to releasing the game to the Chinese market.


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Can someone translate the Kanji characters in the picture !?
It's the typical kinds of notes on character design sketches (from top to bottom, right to left):
1: つづら - A sort of woven box, made from vines, and later bamboo, apparently.
2: 麻布 - Not sure exactly. I thought it was pointing to a mat, but the note seems to suggest that it's a type of linen.
3: 革袋 - Leather pouch.
4: 布かばん - (It's a little hard to make out, but I'm pretty sure that's right.) Cloth bag.
5: XXXXの鈴 - Some sort of bell. I can't quite make out the first few characters.
 
Shenmue should totally ditch the better quality dub for the awkward one.

It's definitely what it needs to do.
Also: Dub choice isn't only about where the serie is the most popular.

The game is made in Japan, wrote in Japanese and made in Japanese first and foremost. Hence why such a thing wouldn't work.
 
Shenmue unfortunately has been a victim of bad localization since the first title. In theory, an English dub would be optimal from both a narrative and a business standpoint. The problem, however, is that Shenmue is infamous for its unnatural dialog. So if there is a Shenmue IV, they better hire a damn good localization team, or just scrap the English dub altogether.

If Yu Suzuki wants to broaden Shenmue's appeal, then he's going to have to convince potential newcomers that the story is worth taking seriously.
 
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If Shenmue IV were to happen but the one catch was "Digital only", how would you guys feel about it?

Or Digital Only with a small Limited Games run on the side?

Would you guys still be willing? I remember there was that fuss about SIII and getting a physical copy. But I do wonder if going forward whether it would be worth it or not for Deep Silver -- let's say they keep moving forward with it --to manufacture and ship physical copies. I got to admit, I'm leaning more and more towards digital lately but I am curious.

If that were the case and the only way you could get Shenmue IV was for it to be a digital release only, would you be okay with that?
 
If Shenmue IV were to happen but the one catch was "Digital only", how would you guys feel about it?

Or Digital Only with a small Limited Games run on the side?

Would you guys still be willing? I remember there was that fuss about SIII and getting a physical copy. But I do wonder if going forward whether it would be worth it or not for Deep Silver -- let's say they keep moving forward with it --to manufacture and ship physical copies. I got to admit, I'm leaning more and more towards digital lately but I am curious.

If that were the case and the only way you could get Shenmue IV was for it to be a digital release only, would you be okay with that?

We'd have no choice but to be cool with it.

It wouldn't be that bad though. We all know at some point limited run games would pick it up for a physical release. But once that happens, it would be world war 3 trying to snag a bunch of copies.
 
If digital only I'd not mind whatsoever! Finally began to buy physical for collectionn only and rebuying most of my favs from PSN and will doing SSD upgrade to my PS4 in about a month. Even PS3 might be going SSD!
 
If Shenmue IV were to happen but the one catch was "Digital only", how would you guys feel about it?

Or Digital Only with a small Limited Games run on the side?

Would you guys still be willing? I remember there was that fuss about SIII and getting a physical copy. But I do wonder if going forward whether it would be worth it or not for Deep Silver -- let's say they keep moving forward with it --to manufacture and ship physical copies. I got to admit, I'm leaning more and more towards digital lately but I am curious.

If that were the case and the only way you could get Shenmue IV was for it to be a digital release only, would you be okay with that?
100% it's a good move something like that.
 
Shenmue unfortunately has been a victim of bad localization since the first title. In theory, an English dub would be optimal from both a narrative and business standpoint. The problem however, is that Shenmue is infamous for its unnatural dialog. So if there is a Shenmue IV, they better hire a damn good localization team, or just scrap the English dub altogether.

If Yu Suzuki wants to broaden Shenmue's appeal, then he's going to have to convince potential newcomers that the story is worth taking seriously.
I agree here. Either do it properly (which is costly) or leave it to the Japanese only. Yakuza games have done just fine without an English dub so there's no reason Shenmue couldn't do well with 1 dub.

I've said this before but it's not a slur on Corey, Lisle, Paul, Eric etc who clearly love the franchise but unless the English is better directed and localised it's always going to be a running joke in the media which, given previous press, Shenmue could do without.
 
Also, forgot to add to my last post there--digital only will also save a decent amount of money and improve proft margins! Niche games like Shenmue should be digital.
 
If Shenmue IV were to happen but the one catch was "Digital only", how would you guys feel about it?

Or Digital Only with a small Limited Games run on the side?

Would you guys still be willing? I remember there was that fuss about SIII and getting a physical copy. But I do wonder if going forward whether it would be worth it or not for Deep Silver -- let's say they keep moving forward with it --to manufacture and ship physical copies. I got to admit, I'm leaning more and more towards digital lately but I am curious.

If that were the case and the only way you could get Shenmue IV was for it to be a digital release only, would you be okay with that?
I would, and there they'd really save millions.
 
I don't think "physical or digital" is the roadblock which is hindering S4. :LOL:

S4 has different roadblocks to overcome and no going digital only will make up for lukewarm reception and slow sales of S3.
 
In my opinion there is no need to reduce mini games in Shenmue 4 since the code and gameplay of these minigames have already been made in 3's engine.

I personally just dislike the gambling mini games. Since these mini games just force me to save the game and retry until I win without losing any money. I prefer skill based mini games.
 
Don't think anyone said roadblock, simply be a bit of a help to cut costs.
Point still being that if a game didn't sell and critical reception was also not great, there's no point in discussing "digital only". This franchise has way bigger problems to overcome.
 
Uhm OK... unclear where or when anyone claimed there weren't bigger problems or digital only was a blanket solution. Innocuous discussions end here, I suppose.
 
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