Did Shenmue 3 hurt the series?

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Alex bana said:
If the controversies before release caused it to fail then so be it. Video game fans are whiny entitled children on a good day. Add further entitlement with a Kickstarter, sky-high subjective nostalgia and perhaps a bit of ignorance on the sensitiveness of the fans from Yu Suzuki and it's a recipe for disaster. Quite frankly fans don't deserve the really good game that came of it.

In regards to complaints about the story-
He had to prioritise based on the budget, but the world, activities, gameplay systems and soundtrack all come before the story and always have. Yu Suzuki has said that numerous times. The ending of Shenmue 1 was a late decision in the process as an example.

Fans wanted the 'essence' of Shenmue and he gave it to them. It simply did not have the budget to appeal to everyone else and it may not get another chance to. Like a pyramid narrowing the higher it gets, this series will continue to lose fans until it has a huge budget to appeal to other fans or transforms into something completely different i.e. 2d, anime, comics.

Wishful thinking I know, but what would be amazing though is if they were waiting for 3's steam release to pass its course before announcing Shenmue 4 in order to not prevent any lost sales. The anime acting as good advertising for steam's release perhaps.
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After the Shenmue anime announcement I'd be shocked if there was no Shenmue 4. The Shenmue community is going to support this anime full force. Especially when it comes to merchandise and media sales.
 
Suzaku said:
we probably said this many many times
But thanks to Shenmue 3 we had Shenmue HD, new merchandise of all kind, a new anime in the works...

So much for hurting a series.
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We don't know how well these things will do tho.

Was Sega happy with the sales of Shenmue 1/2?
If the Anime does poorly we may only get one season.
Merchandise is just a chance for companies to cash in. I love it but what's the longevity of it?

There's a lot of things I'm excited about but all of these revivals could be a one time deal that, if not successful, could be a final nail in the coffin. I'm stoked as can be for the upcoming soundtrack this month but is that any sort of indication of Shenmue being successful? I don't know. I guess I'll remain skeptical right up until we get the final game. I'll support what I can but it's hard to gauge anything until we see some numbers and some transparency.
 
24Nathan said:
All fair questions, but the fact remains that without Shenmue III, we likely would've never gotten the anime, the rereleases, or the load of merch.
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True, but I'll go a step further and say it was because of the success of the kickstarter. The kickstarter showed everyone there's a bunch of grown men (as opposed to kids 20 years ago) who are eager to drop money (and lots of it) on shenmue products.

Printing shirts, albums and putting together collector's items aren't as high risk as developing games.

I hope that we are enough of a consumer base for the anime to be successful.
 
The bar for success is far lower for an anime than it is for a game. To be honest, unless the anime is dogshit, then I can't see this being anything less than a mild success. And if the translated interview that Switch posted the other week is anything to go by, i'm confident that they are not doing it to make a quick buck.

Let's not forget that there are people in high places allowing this stuff to happen who happen to be fans of Shenmue. We're in a strong position at the moment. Shenmue has achieved cult-dom which is something not many franchises get (I mean, there is a lot of them, but I still wager a small percentage).

Finally, let's not forget that Shenmue III is out on Steam next week. A few news sites (Eurogamer for one) have mentioned this. I can't say for sure if it will make a difference or not, but stranger things have happened.
 
I hope you're right, I just can't help but be skeptical. I feel like this could all be taken away at any moment. It would really suck if we didn't get any more games AND the anime was cancelled too. We've been through this before and we already know that the story is so in depth that it needs an extensive amount of content to see it through to completion.

I still feel like we'd get more merch tho.
 
spud1897 said:
User reviews might suggest otherwise.
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Dont need to check reviews. Just read the comments all over the internet. Including this website. I personally know many fans disappointed with 3 , severely disappointed. Yet of course, 'user reviews' overrule my personal experience right? Ok then 🙄

Spud, you may be a mod, but youre a blind fanboy.
 
General reviews by normal people who aren't rage blinded are good. The only real probelm are entitled fans who think because they were cool enough to play Shenmue before the E3 kickstarter are genius programmers and know the story best.
 
SparkThaMetal said:
Dont need to check reviews. Just read the comments all over the internet. Including this website. I personally know many fans disappointed with 3 , severely disappointed. Yet of course, 'user reviews' overrule my personal experience right? Ok then 🙄

Spud, you may be a mod, but youre a blind fanboy.
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I think you need to calm down, this website represents a small number of fans and while there are some genuine criticisms we don't represent all Shenmue fans. I don't nor do you. Also how many of those were the same people, as on here, repeating the same points time and time again? It is also a proven fact that most time people mention anything about a game/experience they go on the negative first, positive experiences tend to be left out of the public eye, unless it is truly eye catching.

Do the flaws mean people couldn't enjoy the experience? Nope. Does it mean it could ruin an experience for someone... of course it does but neither represent the whole fanbase. The metrics that are out there suggest that, despite a vocal crowd, Shenmue III was received generally OK by its fans.

Does your blanket view of yes it did represent the wider perception of the franchise? Nope. Nor does mine. If it had been hurt that much we wouldn't been seeing so much merch and an Anime.

So before slinging "fanboy" around maybe have a look at the information out there and make a constructive argument.

I'll also go on record and say if I were a "blind fanboy" why would I allow this site (as a mod and now co-owner) to have had the amount of negative spin topics that it did? Simple to promote discussion, done constructively. You can view those topics at your leisure.
 
Thomasina said:
We don't know how well these things will do tho.

Was Sega happy with the sales of Shenmue 1/2?
If the Anime does poorly we may only get one season.
Merchandise is just a chance for companies to cash in. I love it but what's the longevity of it?

There's a lot of things I'm excited about but all of these revivals could be a one time deal that, if not successful, could be a final nail in the coffin. I'm stoked as can be for the upcoming soundtrack this month but is that any sort of indication of Shenmue being successful? I don't know. I guess I'll remain skeptical right up until we get the final game. I'll support what I can but it's hard to gauge anything until we see some numbers and some transparency.
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If I remember correctly their official financial reports, Sega Sammy were happy with Shenmue HD sales.
For the anime let's hope for the best.

I understand the fear that everything can disappear again, but let's stay positive.
We are in the best position ever since the release of Shenmue 1, but yes we still need to fight to not lose our achievements, that's for sure.
 
SparkThaMetal said:
Dont need to check reviews. Just read the comments all over the internet. Including this website. I personally know many fans disappointed with 3 , severely disappointed. Yet of course, 'user reviews' overrule my personal experience right? Ok then 🙄

Spud, you may be a mod, but youre a blind fanboy.
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I disagree with you. There are also a lot of positive comments on the internet. Not only here. And if you look at the general grades people gave the game on multiple websites it varies between 6.5 to 7.5 average.

Also, I can't let you tell anyone here that he/she is a blind fan. I am not part of the people who thinks Shenmue 3 is a great game. I personally think it is an okay game with some really good things but also alot of flaws. Everytime I exposed my take on Shenmue 3 and critized it, it was always welcome in the discussion even with differents opinions and I do believe that this game somehow hurts the series in the long term. The difference is that I wasn't ever saying "the game sucks. You're all dumb to love it". People acknowledge the flaws the game has. They just don't think it is that big a deal or that game breaking compared to me who thinks the game is average or someone who thinks the game is catastrophically bad.

I've always been respectful of people who loved this game, so of course they were respectful of my opinion and point of view. It all comes down to politeness really.
 
Let's see here: the game is about to be released on Steam - the "front page" of gaming, where it is almost certain that those, who spoke ill about the whole Epic Games exclusivity fiasco might end up reconsidering about purchasing a copy and giving it a go anyway to see what it has in store for them.
Next, Suzuki-san announced an official anime is in the works, which will give us an insight on what truly happened to Ryo's father Iwao-san on that ill-fated night at the Hazuki dojo.
Next, there's a kickstarter project about a monthly magazine discussing various topics on the Shenmue franchise as a whole, which has just been successfully funded. The first issue will hopefully be out by January and it will have a whooping 160+ pages of fan- created content, which will catch the attention of both hardcore and new fans of the franchise (such as myself).
Lastly, Suzuki-san told the media that he'll keep working on the franchise, as long as there are people, who are willing to see it finish - this is where our voice needs to be heard.

And now we're asking ourselves the question about whether, or not the third installment "hurt" the series. The answer is no. Surely that fiasco with Epic Games was deemed unnecessary by many short-tempered "fans", but Ys Net and Deep Silver managed to deliver us something true fans like us were craving to happen, even if it lasted for 18 long years. As wise men say: "only fools rush in", so sometimes it's best to wait, even if it lasts for like... years.

But yeah, stay respectful to one another, nobody wants to be victimized.
 
Shansun95 said:
Let's see here: the game is about to be released on Steam - the "front page" of gaming, where it is almost certain that those, who spoke ill about the whole Epic Games exclusivity fiasco might end up reconsidering about purchasing a copy and giving it a go anyway to see what it has in store for them.
Next, Suzuki-san announced an official anime is in the works, which will give us an insight on what truly happened to Ryo's father Iwao-san on that ill-fated night at the Hazuki dojo.
Next, there's a kickstarter project about a monthly magazine discussing various topics on the Shenmue franchise as a whole, which has just been successfully funded. The first issue will hopefully be out by January and it will have a whooping 160+ pages of fan- created content, which will catch the attention of both hardcore and new fans of the franchise (such as myself).
Lastly, Suzuki-san told the media that he'll keep working on the franchise, as long as there are people, who are willing to see it finish - this is where our voice needs to be heard.

And now we're asking ourselves the question about whether, or not the third installment "hurt" the series. The answer is no. Surely that fiasco with Epic Games was deemed unnecessary by many short-tempered "fans", but Ys Net and Deep Silver managed to deliver us something true fans like us were craving to happen, even if it lasted for 18 long years. As wise men say: "only fools rush in", so sometimes it's best to wait, even if it lasts for like... years.

But yeah, stay respectful to one another, nobody wants to be victimized.
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Yep totally. We're in the best place Shenmue-wise we've been in years.

But I'm afraid that with the heavy backlash, it'll ultimately make it harder for Suzuki to make Shenmue 4.
 
Guy-ManAfterAll said:
Yep totally. We're in the best place Shenmue-wise we've been in years.

But I'm afraid that with the heavy backlash, it'll ultimately make it harder for Suzuki to make Shenmue 4.
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Not 4; 4 will be made without a doubt in my mind.

Beyond 4, however, will be a sticky sitch; if the anime buys well, 4 has modest sales and some more money is pumped in to make the experience as polished and top-notch as can be, we may get 5.

But if even one of those fails to meet expectations, IMO, we will be at the same point we were after 2.

In my heart, I know we won't be at that same point, but in my head, I don't have enough knowledge/foresight/wisdom to know how things will turn out; it's 50/50.

All we can do is wait it out and see and I will do so with an open mind and ready for anything :)
 
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