The cliff temple may not be the final location, even if it leads back to the gates of the treasure's domain following the scroll, the final battle could be near the Shenmue tree, or war comes home, but I can see the temple playing a great part in developing the climax, it should be a place of revelation.Nobody said that you didn’t care. I’m not sure why you’re getting so worked up about people having different opinions than yours.
I am genuinely curious, how exactly do you think that cutting 40%+ out of a story to get to the ending faster could ever be considered natural? The idea that the cliff temple could somehow serve as a logical end point doesn’t make much sense either, as the cliff temple is where the mirrors were originally kept, not where the treasure that they lead to is hidden.
I’d rather we never got an ending than get another game with a weak story that’s had large chunks of its narrative stripped away for budgetary reasons. If that’s the only option, Yu may as well just give up now and start from scratch with a new IP. Lord knows it would be a lot easier.
I mean when we look at the amount of story progression of the 3 games thus far, I'd say Shenmue 1 covered about 20%, Shenmue 2 about 65% and Shenmue 3 about 15%. My line of thinking is i'd rather get another 65% game than another 20% game with no guarantee of it ever being completed.Whilst I can totally see where people are coming from with this line of thinking, I can’t help but feel that it would be the equivalent of giving up. Sure, it would be nice not to have to deal with the uncertainty anymore, but a strong Shenmue 4 could have the exact same effect without Yu needing to make compromises on the story.
The way I see it, one big Shenmue 4 is a much bigger risk to a publisher than a smaller Shenmue 4 and a Shenmue 5 (and potentially a sixth game) if that does well. The only reason I could see a publisher agreeing to or pushing for Shenmue 4 being the final game when they know that Yu would like to make 5 or 6 is that they don’t believe that a fourth Shenmue game could or would do well enough to warrant a sequel. If that’s the case, why would they even bother to drop $20m+ to make it happen?
This isn't the reason. Shenmue II was one of the best games ever made but quality is no guarantee of sequelsIf you don’t believe that Shenmue 4 will be good enough to warrant a sequel, then why do you even care?
Your estimates probably aren’t too far off, so if we pair them with Yu’s assertion that we’re about 40% done, it stands to reason that Shenmue 2 accounts for about 26% of the total story. Another game of that scale would take us to 66%, meaning that we’d be missing out on about one third of the full story if said game proves to be the last. That’s a huge loss no matter how you slice it.I mean when we look at the amount of story progression of the 3 games thus far, I'd say Shenmue 1 covered about 20%, Shenmue 2 about 65% and Shenmue 3 about 15%. My line of thinking is i'd rather get another 65% game than another 20% game with no guarantee of it ever being completed.
This isn't the reason. Shenmue II was one of the best games ever made but quality is no guarantee of sequels
I'm personally not that bothered about the vision being realized 100%, it never was, it adapted since game 1. I think Yu Suzuki is talented enough, that he could envision an admirable conclusion with IV that doesn't need to be 1.1 with what the legend of Akira or whatever 20 year+ outlines may have said, the sanctity of the vision.Your estimates probably aren’t too far off, so if we pair them with Yu’s assertion that we’re about 40% done, it stands to reason that Shenmue 2 accounts for about 26% of the total story. Another game of that scale would take us to 66%, meaning that we’d be missing out on about one third of the full story if said game proves to be the last. That’s a huge loss no matter how you slice it.
Of course, if we only get one more game and it only covers half or even one third of what’s left then we’d obviously end up missing out on more, but this also needs to be looked at from a business sense. A bigger game is a bigger risk, while one big-budget game is likely to make considerably less than two or three smaller ones given that a lot of the sales will probably come from the pre-existing fan base.
As I said before, I can see why some fans might want to see everything get wrapped up with just one more game, but the idea of Yu having to compromise his vision by cutting a third of the story makes me a little sad.
I mean… sure, I’ve no doubt he could cobble something together by cutting out the other two ChiYou men leaders and Tentei and skipping out on the events in Meng Cun. Of course, by the same logic, he could have wrapped things up with Shenmue 3 by just having Ryo beat Lan Di at the old castle. Would you have been happy with that?I'm personally not that bothered about the vision being realized 100%, it never was, it adapted since game 1. I think Yu Suzuki is talented enough, that he could envision an admirable conclusion with IV that doesn't need to be 1.1 with what the legend of Akira or whatever 20+ outlines may have said, the sanctity the vision.
I didn't want Shenmue 3 to end the series, because they just introduced Shenhua and I felt they had to develop a more thorough relationship with Ryo. My feelings are not the same with IV, I feel the story is in a much climactic spot, with the CYM war breaking out, the trio united and headed to the place that could reveal a lot of revelations earlier on in the game.I mean… sure, I’ve no doubt he could cobble something together by cutting out the other two ChiYou men leaders and Tentei and skipping out on the events in Meng Cun. Of course, by the same logic, he could have wrapped things up with Shenmue 3 by just having Ryo beat Lan Di at the old castle. Would you have been happy with that?
Kind of like how they’ve only just introduced Niao Sun, no? Does she not need to be developed and explored in the same way as Shenhua? Are we just supposed to forget about Zimming? Is Ryo just going to magically be able to beat Lan Di despite not being able to lay a finger on him at the end of Shenmue 3? As you point out, Ryo and co are already en route to the Cliff Temple, so it’s not like he’s going to improve much on the way there. Then there’s Shenhua’s power, Meng Cun, Zu’s involvement and a bunch of other things that still need to be addressed.I didn't want Shenmue 3 to end the series, because they just introduced Shenhua and I felt they had to develop a more thorough relationship with Ryo. My feelings are not the same with IV, I feel the story is in a much climactic spot, with the CYM war breaking out, the trio united and headed to the place that could reveal a lot of revelations earlier on in the game.
I wonder if this is why Yu Sukuzi wrote it so unspecifically in III about what the map scroll's purpose is in relation to the mirrors, and how many leaders they are 'the Chi You Men belong to me now' ? (suggest there may be just two) I guess it could be because if IV has to be pitched as the conclusion, to sell it to a publisher, (which may bring the publisher a bit of good will publicly in the media) then he has the ambiguity and leeway to adapt the story.
@bell wood's jet cola could you put this post in the OP?
Wow. Thanks for finding and sharing this information.i wonder where 110 industries will be getting their funding from now that more and more russian oligarchs/companies are getting sanctioned
https://tadviser.com/index.php/Company:110_Industries
this is a good article, apparently they have 8 (!) games in development
30 million in funding mainly came from abramovich's company, an international investment company with offices in moscow/zurich and a russian company.
founders are russian.
Click to shrink...
Thought Deep Silver would've been a bad potential partner for 4, which for Shenmue 3 intervened to suck up some Epic money and screwed backers over and is owned by Embracer of deeming it acceptable that its executives, Philipp Brock and Reinhard Pollice of THQ Nordic, pal around with pedoNaziterrorists fame. But now Shenmue 4 is instead apparently associated with (guess I should say potentially, as I don't know the founders or if Abramovich can receive or access anything) financially supporting pedoNaziterrorists comitting war crimes and genocide.
Sad and tragic if Suzuki and peeps are out there wanting to complete the series, which is like at least half a lifework, and this is the situation they're in...
If this is true, I hope they're able to find a way out of this. I'd much prefer if Shenmue was allowed to die with dignity.
Nioa Sun is a secondary antagonist, she doesn't need as much time to develop as Shenhua, making that comparison.Kind of like how they’ve only just introduced Niao Sun, no? Does she not need to be developed and explored in the same way as Shenhua? Are we just supposed to forget about Zimming? Is Ryo just going to magically be able to beat Lan Di despite not being able to lay a finger on him at the end of Shenmue 3? As you point out, Ryo and co are already en route to the Cliff Temple, so it’s not like he’s going to improve much on the way there. Then there’s Shenhua’s power, Meng Cun, Zu’s involvement and a bunch of other things that still need to be addressed.
Most fans were disappointed with Shenmue 3’s story. By all accounts, its disjointed nature was largely down to Yu having to make cuts to the story, so I really can’t see him having to cut an even bigger section of the story having a better outcome. What’s more, I can’t see a publisher splashing out on a big-budget Shenmue game that wraps up the story (especially knowing that it will be an abridged version of said story).