I remember when I first played Shenmue 2. It was at a friend's house since he had a bootlegged import copy of the game before it was feasible to import to NA properly. All of the cutscenes were fully voiced (in JP) but none of the other dialogue in the game was. I actually thought the game was supposed to be like that, I wasn't aware it was a result of the voice files not being on the bootlegged copy of the game. I initially thought maybe it was a budget decision since S2 was so much bigger, with so many more NPC's than S1. While it was initially jarring coming off the fully voiced S1 I was over it in minutes. Talking to NPC's on the street and simply reading their response was fundamentally no different to how I'd played countless RPG's before and it still had the fully voiced cutscenes which made the game feel cinematic.
I think people are placing too much importance on the technical aspects of the game which are fundamentally nice to have rather than necessities. I can't see how S4 can get by with the same budget as S3 so some concessions will inevitably have to be made. cutting VA from the game would work just fine by most people's standards if they retained it in the cutscenes.
Regarding the English v.s. Japanese voice acting, the fanbase seems divided on this. At this point it doesn't make sense to cut either of them. It would work to satisfy both camps to keep the option in for the cutscenes only reducing the amount of voice work overall and freeing up considerable budget.
It's the only compromise I personally see working.
I think people are placing too much importance on the technical aspects of the game which are fundamentally nice to have rather than necessities. I can't see how S4 can get by with the same budget as S3 so some concessions will inevitably have to be made. cutting VA from the game would work just fine by most people's standards if they retained it in the cutscenes.
Regarding the English v.s. Japanese voice acting, the fanbase seems divided on this. At this point it doesn't make sense to cut either of them. It would work to satisfy both camps to keep the option in for the cutscenes only reducing the amount of voice work overall and freeing up considerable budget.
It's the only compromise I personally see working.