Is there enough enthusiasm for a Shenmue 4?

S

stillsense

Joined
Oct 31, 2019
Don't get me wrong I absolutely want Shenmue 4 but after 3's negative reception from many fans alone in the story department is there the same amount as energy as before for more Shenmue? I feel like after the mass media's attempt to defame Suzuki as a shady developer (which he is absolutely not) has really hurt the idea to pitch Shenmue 4. It would be really interesting to see how another Kickstarter would perform.
 
stillsense said:
Don't get me wrong I absolutely want Shenmue 4 but after 3's negative reception from many fans alone in the story department is there the same amount as energy as before for more Shenmue? I feel like after the mass media's attempt to defame Suzuki as a shady developer (which he is absolutely not) has really hurt the idea to pitch Shenmue 4. It would be really interesting to see how another Kickstarter would perform.
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Given the responses to the first tweetathon I think there's a good appetite for Shenmue 4.
 
C'mon buddy, SM3 sales made fine profits thanks to its loyal fanbase. There isn't any point for another KS and all the crap that binds development on pointless extras.

The writer of SM3 used heavy drugs, they'll change it and take note of our feedback.
 
I think any potential investors know better than to take the press’s attempts to defame and discredit Yu Suzuki seriously. The series has shown that it’s capable of generating a profit (albeit a slender one) which will likely be the key consideration when coming to any decision.

What might hurt Shenmue 4’s chances though is the huge amount of negative press that seems to surround S3. I noticed that there seemed to be something of a disconnect between what was written in the Embracer quarterly report and the comments made during the presentation (specifically the tone of the comments) and couldn’t figure out why. Then it occurred to me that Shenmue 3 has probably yielded more bad press for the Embracer group than any of its other properties. Admittedly, much of that bad press came as direct result of the actions of Deep Silver, but all the same, I can see why other potential publishers might be keen to avoid that shit show.

For a niche, AA title, the gaming press sure do love talking about Shenmue.
 
murdiaries said:
C'mon buddy, SM3 sales made fine profits thanks to its loyal fanbase. There isn't any point for another KS and all the crap that binds development on pointless extras.

The writer of SM3 used heavy drugs, they'll change it and take note of our feedback.
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Did it? Most recent reports say that S3 is performing poorly, also coming straight from deep silver and their parent company that it performed less than expect and had to adjust their earnings projections. They didn't sound to confident
 
I would say around the same or slightly less than there was for 3. I've seen a fair amount of people not too happy with the game, from, "eh, it was decent" to "I'm done with this series". Depending on how much people enjoyed the game may impact sales of a future release, at least right out the gate. The fans who were disappointed but havent given up may not rush out to buy the game on day one and just wait for a price drop. Some might not even follow it enough know a release date. I've seen quite a lot of people on various forums and Facebook groups who didnt even know the game was out, including a recently as last week. So promotion is also going to be a factor
 
Dehone said:
Did it? Most recent reports say that S3 is performing poorly, also coming straight from deep silver and their parent company that it performed less than expect and had to adjust their earnings projections. They didn't sound to confident
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This is absolute nonsense. They literally said that S3 was in line with expectations and was doing fine just a few days ago.

The report you’re referring to was carried out by an independent company without any access to stats and figures. They used a figure from a website which is clearly wrong (even the creator of the site has admitted that his figure for S3 is off and that he cant come up with a reasonable estimate elsewhere on the web) and took a wild shot at guessing what DS’s expectations for the game were which also appear to be wrong.
 
What's this about the press trying to defame Yu Suzuki? I know there's some journalists who have an utter loathing for the series, but I've never seen anything from respectable, mainstream outlets denigrating the man himself…
 
Dehone said:
Did it? Most recent reports say that S3 is performing poorly, also coming straight from deep silver and their parent company that it performed less than expect and had to adjust their earnings projections. They didn't sound to confident
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Yeah, not to be too harsh, but this is utter rubbish mate.
 
Dehone said:
Did it? Most recent reports say that S3 is performing poorly, also coming straight from deep silver and their parent company that it performed less than expect and had to adjust their earnings projections. They didn't sound to confident
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It did. The pre-presentation report did indeed paint a very bleak picture.

However once the actual report was released it said it met expectations. Hell even the Embracer CEO said it's fine financially. Can't argue with that. Longer term for the series who knows but the fact remains Shenmue III has met targets, by hook or crook.
 
I still want S4 but let me put it this way : after S3, I would maybe throw 60 or 100 bucks at a S4 Kickstarter but not anywhere near as much as I contributed to S3.

Also I'm not going to support S4 as much as buying at least one copy of each version from each region. I'll probably just get a PAL copy and a JAP copy and that's it.

S3 being only an ok game overall, because of its weak storytelling and characters, definitely diminished my enthusiasm for the franchise. The reason I am still interested in S4 is mainly because of S1 and 2. I still hope some questions raised in the first two games will get answered in future entries.

With all that said, S4 would still be a day one purchase for me and I would even still support another Kickstarter if it must be.
 
I personally feel like if Yu Suzuki does an interview and tells the fans directly that he is going to conclude the story in Shenmue 4 and focus mainly on only story telling elements(with slim to none(none preferred, unless it directly ties to a storyline objective) on the forklifts, gambling, fishing and other BS distractions)I believe those that are disappointed in Shenmue 3 will push for Shenmue 4 with similar enthusiasm, perhaps with very few exceptions of those that are completely disgusted and said there's no going back for them. It's time to wrap up the Shenmue story, waiting 21 years is long enough. For those that enjoyed toy capsule machines, forklifts, gambling and the other lesser parts of Shenmue 1 and 2 they got their fix with Shenmue 3 while the rest of us that wanted heavy story progression got maybe 5% story progress from the start to the end of Shenmue 3. I have no issue with the ending of S3 personally either, unless it doesn't flesh out completely in Shenmue 4. If Shenmue 3 had released 10 years ago, and Shenmue 4 in 2019 I wouldn't have minded a Shenmue 5, but at this point I want to see it completed. From what I've personally seen online, most fans who haven't fully walked away want two things out of Shenmue 4: the franchise to be completed with this release(or bare minimal massive story progression)and they don't want to wait 18 years for it to release!(2-3 tops is reasonable).
 
otbr87 said:
I personally feel like if Yu Suzuki does an interview and tells the fans directly that he is going to conclude the story in Shenmue 4 and focus mainly on only story telling elements(with slim to none(none preferred, unless it directly ties to a storyline objective) on the forklifts, gambling, fishing and other BS distractions)I believe those that are disappointed in Shenmue 3 will push for Shenmue 4 with similar enthusiasm, perhaps with very few exceptions of those that are completely disgusted and said there's no going back for them. It's time to wrap up the Shenmue story, waiting 21 years is long enough. For those that enjoyed toy capsule machines, forklifts, gambling and the other lesser parts of Shenmue 1 and 2 they got their fix with Shenmue 3 while the rest of us that wanted heavy story progression got maybe 5% story progress from the start to the end of Shenmue 3. I have no issue with the ending of S3 personally either, unless it doesn't flesh out completely in Shenmue 4. If Shenmue 3 had released 10 years ago, and Shenmue 4 in 2019 I wouldn't have minded a Shenmue 5, but at this point I want to see it completed. From what I've personally seen online, most fans who haven't fully walked away want two things out of Shenmue 4: the franchise to be completed with this release(or bare minimal massive story progression)and they don't want to wait 18 years for it to release!(2-3 tops is reasonable).
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I agree for the most part. I want to finally finish the story but at the same time, I dont want the last 50 percent of the story to be crammed into one game, especially when the days of a massive Sega bidget are long gone. I feel like concluding with 4 will have a lot of stuff cut out. We found out 3 had a lot of stuff retroactively changed on just eliminated/ ignored

Definitely agreed on cutting out the extra fan servicey stuff. I dont feel like capsule toys and especially forklifts are necessary anymore because by S4, it will just feel like some lame callback reminiscent of the 06 Sony conference at e3. "RIIIIIIIDGE RACER! Remember that one?" *crickets*
 
Funny Bear Burger said:
What's this about the press trying to defame Yu Suzuki? I know there's some journalists who have an utter loathing for the series, but I've never seen anything from respectable, mainstream outlets denigrating the man himself…
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I've seen a lot of really nasty comments about Yu Suzuki on social media (and the Kickstarter page), calling him a scumbag, scammer, hack, con artist, etc. It's quite odd. Up until a couple years ago he was pretty much a saint to most people, up there next to all the legends of the industry. There's even a Sega Saturn fanboy with a large following on Twitter that's been trying to spin some narrative about how Yu Suzuki has always been overrated (WTF?)., This project really did a number on his reputation. They really need to try to pick up new PR people if they make another game. There are much better companies than Awesome Japan out there. The continued silence and poor communication during the Kickstarter are pretty unacceptable. What's sad is there are tons of people in the community who'd probably do this job for free and do it with passion.
 
One thing I’ve noticed about Kickstarter is that, no matter the project, the creators tend to get substantial abuse in the comments section. Seems to be par for the course on KS. S3 does seem to be a bit extreme at points though.
 
It's mainly the, "pooplicker," guy (believe he's going by the name, "Armpit Cut Trees," or some crap now).

All before release, there were the same half a dozen guys that were causing a ton of shit and trolling to death, then there was the odd one here or there giving their piece and that's it.

After release, the only things were people who didn't get their game and overreacting to ridiculous degrees and ALL of the aforementioned went away... but the popplicker guy returned about a month ago and has been beating the shit out of everyone involved yet again.

He's a complete asshole too, calling out Dojo people (Peter, in particular) and threatening them, insulting the fanbase and backers, etc.,etc.,.

Surely, if he lived in the States and someone was willing to spend a bit of money (he definitely lives in Europe, but who knows where), they would absolutely be within their rights to sue him for defamation or threatening or something.

Scum of the Earth like that deserve a swift kick to the balls every day for their entire lives, just so they can be reminded that they are shitty people.

So while there has been abuse in the KS, the majority in 2020 has been done by that idiot and few others.
 
Oh yeah, the comments from the great unwashed masses are horrible, but unfortunately that's just how these things go these days— Kickstarter brings out the worst, most entitled attitudes from gamers, and social media trades in outrage and amplifies the loudest voices. Some jackasses on Twitter calling Suzuki a conman, or dropping the Hot Take that "let's face it— Yu Suzuki was never good!" are frustrating, but not necessarily representative of anything beyond… some jackasses on Twitter.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
It's mainly the, "pooplicker," guy (believe he's going by the name, "Armpit Cut Trees," or some crap now).

All before release, there were the same half a dozen guys that were causing a ton of shit and trolling to death, then there was the odd one here or there giving their piece and that's it.

After release, the only things were people who didn't get their game and overreacting to ridiculous degrees and ALL of the aforementioned went away... but the popplicker guy returned about a month ago and has been beating the shit out of everyone involved yet again.

He's a complete asshole too, calling out Dojo people (Peter, in particular) and threatening them, insulting the fanbase and backers, etc.,etc.,.

Surely, if he lived in the States and someone was willing to spend a bit of money (he definitely lives in Europe, but who knows where), they would absolutely be within their rights to sue him for defamation or threatening or something.

Scum of the Earth like that deserve a swift kick to the balls every day for their entire lives, just so they can be reminded that they are shitty people.

So while there has been abuse in the KS, the majority in 2020 has been done by that idiot and few others.
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That guy is a grade A twat. He was saying the game was a flop and then when I politely quoted some sources around Gamestat being shit and some known sales figures he/she turned around and said he doesn't believe me because I'm clearly biased to Shenmue III. I am biased, 100%, but when you quote known sources you'd think people would listen.

Not this guy lol. In the end I questioned where he left his brain and he got upset.
 
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