Balance

Joined
Sep 3, 2018
Favourite title
Shenmue
Currently playing
Strider (2014)
As we all know in a recent IGN interview Yu Suzuki has stated that he wants to make Shenmue IV more accessible to a wider audience. The question becomes how does he balance bringing in new fans while keeping the current fanbase happy. If Yu were to go the casual route, there's the risk of losing what makes Shenmue unique. On top of that, it might drive away your more hardcore fans while not appealing to casual audiences anyway. If this scenario plays out, then the franchise is essentially dead.

However, the opposite approach is just as risky. If Suzuki plays it safe, then Shenmue is not going to appeal to a wider audience like the Ryu Ga Gotoku games. The series will become stagnant for which no future publisher would want to invest their money in. Which unfortunately means Suzuki would have to go down the crowd funding route again. There's also the middling reception Shenmue III received when it tried to appeal to the contemporary fanbase.

So how should a potential Shenmue IV play out? How should Suzuki balance the needs of the fans with a larger potential audience? Also if Shenmue IV does go down a more casual route will you still support the series? Personally, I will standby this series to the end, but I can only speak for myself.
 
I think that BALANCE is the perfect word when it comes to how Shenmue IV must play out.
The game must be designed with both casual gamers and fans of the series in mind.
I believe that any design change made to the game with more casual gamers in mind must also take into account how it may affect the general fan base and if it turns out to change or conflict too much with the way how they like to play the game, then it must definitely have an option to change it.
If it turns out to have many changes then I think the game should have an option where the player could change the gameplay on the fly, something like a Shenmue mode with the fans of the series and a normal mode for casual gamers.
But from what Yu Suzuki suggested in his recent interview, it seems that he will try to apply the middle term with some sort of semi-automatic design in mind, one that will satisfy both the fans and the casual gamer.

My opinion is that in order for Shenmue 4 to be successfull it must definitely excel in two departments that are Story and Gameplay.
The story must be captivating and must contain a big Wow factor, but in order to have a great story it must have also a great cast of Characters and for those characters to able to transmit emotional moments to the player, the writting and the dialogue must also be great.

As for gameplay what needs to sell is the martial arts aspect of the game. The combat must be refined, the movement of the characters must be fluid and the blows that are delivered must feel like they connect. The AI must also be improved in order to provide a more challenging experience and not just feel like its just leveled based combat.
Martial arts training and progression must feel more engaging and less simplistic. The mini games must feel challenging but not overkill and there must be enough variety to keep the player engaged throughout the entire playthrough.

All the other aspects of the gameplay like the food system, minigames, jobs, the grinding must be well balanced and not feel too much of a burden; they must allow the player to explore the gameworld a little bit more freely but not to the point that makes them feel irrelevent to the game world.
 
I think, if we're being frank, Shenmue 4 doesn't have a realistic chance of bringing in a lot of new blood no matter what QoL additions or changes Suzuki makes to the formula.

Shenmue 3 was the best chance to bring in a new audience with the hype but it wasn't able to do that. I'm not here to fault the game, I honestly don't think with it being a crowdfunding game that it would have realistically had a chance to do so.

Adding quest markers isn't going to make more people like Shenmue, making the best possible game is. Having a good fighting system, quality voice acting, decent graphics, a good story, and just less filler overall. Even then the name Shenmue isn't synonymous with quality among most people so it will be a hard sell. Hopefully if the game is good enough word of mouth will carry it the rest of the way.

Keep in mind I'm not saying eschew the QoL additions in favour of the "formula". I think modernization's and improvements should be made regardless, it will make the game better overall.

Unfortunately if the game doesn't sell well enough then Shenmue is toast. I'm concerned TBH going forward that no matter what is done it won't be a success. Either way he should just make the best Shenmue game possible anyway and not listen to what the fans want, do it his way, and let the chips lay where they fall.
 
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