Giving Shenmue 1 and 2 the Kiwami Treatment

spud1897

spud1897

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This is probably a little premature given that the HD releases haven't officially hit shops but what the hell .

The question is say you're in charge of a full ground up Shenmue 1 and 2 remake what would you Do?

Would you change the arcade games? Add more in?
Change the fighting system?
Add a wait function?
What engine would you use and why?
Would you record an English dub? Would you use the original actors for the main characters? Would you have all NPC's recorded with VO's?

Just a bit of fun. Add anything to this you feel I've missed.
 
I would leave the gameplay as is, and focus more on revamping the textures and audio. The fighting system is good once you get to grips with it, and with improved controls and camera angles, I think it could be fine.

This would never happen, but how about making the games seamless? So, for instance, when you open the big wooden Hazuki Residence door in Shenmue 1, you're in Yamanose without a load screen, and when you walk down the hill in Yamanose, you're in Sakuragaoka without a load screen, and so on!

Giving some of the pointless items a meaning would be good, too, instead of having 100s of useless snacks in your inventory!
 
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I would leave the gameplay as it is. I would clean up the textures and audio. Give the water a more realistic look in shenmue 1.. . I would have no load times and allow the player to save anywhere. Definitely make the game in 4k with 16:10 aspect ratio. For the most part I like everything Sega did with shenmue HD. To get both games for only $30 is a amazing deal in my opinion.
 
Hopefully find a way to make the saves compatible with Shenmue III. Pretty much remake them with the Unreal Engine and make it like III
 
RyoHazuki84 said:
Hopefully find a way to make the saves compatible with Shenmue III. Pretty much remake them with the Unreal Engine and make it like III
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There's no technical reason Shenmue III can't read saves from Shenmue I & II - it's a legal/communication issue.

There are a number of things I'd do to improve the games, in order of priority:
1. Change the general movement to be more similar to something like GTAV; trying to make Ryo go where you want in the original games can be headache-inducing, and while it was forgivable in 1999, it's not in 2019.
2. Fix the camera during fights. The fighting engine itself still holds up and doesn't need to change particularly, but the camera needs to work with the player and not actively hinder them.
3. Add a wait function, but not as it works in Shenmue II. Instead, it would be an option to fast-forward the clock at any time.
4. Add a pawnshop to Shenmue I to reduce the cost of failed raffles and duplicate capsule toys.
5. Add more places to train in Shenmue II, and make training moves actually matter like in Shenmue I.
6. Add playable mahjong (there's a mahjong parlour in the first game, after all).
7. At the end of Shenmue I, give Ryo more time to say goodbye to everyone.
 
RyoHazuki84 said:
Hopefully find a way to make the saves compatible with Shenmue III. Pretty much remake them with the Unreal Engine and make it like III
Click to expand...

A complete remake in UE4 as a collaborative effort between YsNet and SEGA would be unreal. Let them get Shenmue III out of the way, first!
 
People have said some great ideas already, so not wanting to repeat.

I would motion capture pretty much everything, like Quantic Dream did with Detroit Become Human. So the story scenes and fights are more fluid and have more emotion. Oh and redub the game in English too with the same cast, maybe some new ones for less important characters so its less monotone in nature.
 
iyapol said:
A complete remake in UE4 as a collaborative effort between YsNet and SEGA would be unreal. Let them get Shenmue III out of the way, first!
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I think this is highly likely if they were to happen
 
Well first of all I wouldn't call it Kiwami or have it developed by anyone from the Yakuza team because I don't want it associated or playing like that garbage
 
ShenSun said:
Maybe after Shenmue 4 and 5 and when the story is tied up. All resources should go to those for now
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I couldn't agree more. I hope that Shenmue I & II and Shenmue III would be financially successful to secure more sequels, and I am optimistic that they will, especially that there are very few IPs that are nearly as iconic as Shenmue.
 
I think the basics are all pretty obvious; better graphics, smoother control, etc etc. Not the most mind-blowing of changes.

The more interesting stuff they could do would mainly involve the atmosphere, I think. Obviously the Dobuita featured in the original game is greatly scaled down from the real one, so it'd be nice to see it expand in size a bit. Likewise, have a little more in the way of "flair" showing off that the game is indeed based in 1986/1987. It'd be cool to see some old movie posters, for example (maybe Robot Carnival, Fist of the North Star, Royal Space Force, that kinda stuff), or tvs in store windows showing Japanese shows or music videos of the time. Just a little bit of stuff to drive home the fact that holy shit, it's the 80s.
In the arcade, I'd add a few inclusions. Instead of just old Suzuki stuff, it'd be a bunch of general Sega works. The original Shinobi would be a must, for example, as well as Fantasy Zone (even though Yakuza already used that). I recognize the importance of Suzuki's games back then (they were true originals, for sure), but they were never really favorites; there's plenty of other stuff that I'd say is generally more fun. So y'know... the arcade would be a bit bigger.

Not that any of this is necessary, mind you; Shenmue is what it is, and I'm not the type to demand more of it. It's fantastic as it is.
But hey, if you really want to remake it, I think the atmosphere would easily be the most fun aspect to play around with.
 
Although I'm partial to sixth gen and love me the gfx engine of MGS2/TTS, MGS3 would've been better suited for PS3 (and I believe Kojima even wished for it to be an early next gen game, but when they began developing, PS3 was too far off to delay until 2006). The menu system would've been much better streamlined and camouflage would've been even more refined and detailed.

Then again, regardless of my 6th gen bias, Snake Eater is my favorite in the series for the SCENE themes and my nerd love of cold war history. Also, i rarely ever play Subsistence with the 3rd person camera. Original isometric or bust. Makes for a better challenge and requires you to harken back to some original MGS first person peaking rather than the MGS2 over-shoulder corner peaks.
 
iyapol said:
A complete remake in UE4 as a collaborative effort between YsNet and SEGA would be unreal. Let them get Shenmue III out of the way, first!
Click to expand...

I’m pretty sure that’ll have to happen first. And once people enjoy Shenmue III, then a Shenmue Kiwami with transferable saves are possible
 
I think mostly keep it as it is, maybe increase the size of the areas. Again, I don’t really want to, but would be nice.

A lot of great ideas already stated, so I’m just going to second them all ?

One I would like to see (as I never learned the combat system) is to change the combat, maybe optional (even though that would be hard) to have more of a beat them up mechanic. Like maybe more like Yakuza of Batman. Now that would be hilarious, seeing Ryo jump all around the place ?
 
Mattis said:
I think mostly keep it as it is, maybe increase the size of the areas. Again, I don’t really want to, but would be nice.

A lot of great ideas already stated, so I’m just going to second them all ?

One I would like to see (as I never learned the combat system) is to change the combat, maybe optional (even though that would be hard) to have more of a beat them up mechanic. Like maybe more like Yakuza of Batman. Now that would be hilarious, seeing Ryo jump all around the place ?
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The combat system should be a topic on it's own haha.

I played so much VF2 and upwards as a kid that when I got Shenmue it felt second nature. I'm by no means excellent at it but it was a smooth transition so id prefer to have that style of combat again .
 
  • Obviously modernized graphics and controls.
  • New English voice actors except for Ryo and a few others.
  • Increased size and detail of the world (with more emphasis on detail than size).
  • Improved AI for the NPCs to make them seem even more real.
  • Time skip option in Shenmue 1
  • The ability to eat at restaurants and buy stuff from all the stores in the game (and all items at the Tomato store).
  • Slightly polished combat. I would keep the essence of the Virtua Fighter style intact though.
:D
 
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iyapol said:
Shenmue 5? ?
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Suzuki himself has said since the days the 1st 1 came out,that he would want to wrap up the game in 5 parts. I really hope it doesn't go beyond,maybe a Shenmue zero, but that's it. While I don't want them to start releasing the shenmues at yakuzas alarming pace,I would ideally love the entire series to wrap up by 2025.
 
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