Do you think Shenmue would have sold better if...

[the_phoenix_mirror]

Shenmue I and II weren't separate games and instead one big game like it was originally suppose to be.

 

[Mittens2317]

No. In fact, it'd lead to greater losses, as the majority of sales from the second game would be nullified.

They could have potentially saved more money due to less marketing being needed, but they'd need a lot of changes too. Either the passport disc would be cut or have to be expanded to incorporate Shenmue II content.

Additionally, the longer development time would hurt sales as the Dreamcast faded very quickly over time, and Shenmue II - by the time of its completion - was released after the console's discontinuation.

 

[code l name]

I largely agree with the post above. I think the more interesting question was would a Shenmue that was largely shown during the premiere and early development performed better? I.e a curtailed introduction of Yokosuka before Ryo goes right into HK and adventures of the 2nd game?

I think the more action orientated nature of Shenmue 2 would be more palatable to wider audiences along with increased focus on action. You would loose Shenmue 1’s slow build up and examination of the mundane but maybe greater critical and commercial success?

 

[bcdcdude]

No way. For one thing, it would mean coming out on 7 discs (8 if you include the Shenmue passport) which would be financial suicide. Had the Dreamcast been able to use DVD's, then I think it could've been more feasible (a DVD for each game).

The small gap between the two worked out quite nicely (if not commercially or financially) from a gameplay perspective as I was gagging for part two after the 1st game.

 

[jabberwok]

I'm not sure I would've liked Shenmue if they had erased or truncated the first chapter. Yokosuka is what made me fall in love with the series, as an adventure game. Maybe they could've marketed it differently, but I'm not sure that it's particularly great as an action game.

I would guess that Sega's increasingly unpopular hardware had more to do with it than how the games were divided. And S2 already seems too big by itself. I wish they had kept it confined to Hong Kong, then started a new game with Kowloon, to keep the level of detail closer to the standard of the first game. [Assuming they'd actually been able to make a third game.]