Is there enough enthusiasm for a Shenmue 4?

Sonoshee said:
I think you're forgetting that Shenmue 3 was shown at the biggest video game conference on earth - E3. On Sony's stage. It's a niche title. You honestly think Kickstarter crashed just from fans who wanted the game? As much as I love the franchise, I'm gonna say no. A lot of the donations would have come from people who were intrigued, wanted to help support the series etc. One of my friends backs Kickstarters just because he is bored with today's cookie cutter releases, for instants.
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Yeah, I do think the kickstarter launched primarily because of the fans. If you look through older posts, you'll most likely going to find the majority of, if not all posts regarding the success of the kickstarter to the dedication of the fans. Saying that the fans made this happen, not non fans who just wanted to support the franchise. Given how much S1 sold in addition to the status of Yu Suzuki, as well as the fans constantly bugging Sega over the years and putting Ryo in other Sega themed games as a type of tribute to the fans, I'm not surprised it was announced at E3. Even indie titles from smaller studios get a platform during e3

And regarding your friend donating to the kickstarter, I can say there is no enthusiasm for 4 based on the feedback from several people I've talked to who are extremely disappointed in the game and actually bo linger care for the series, but we know it wouldn't be true if we applied it across three entire fanbase
 
Dehone said:
Yeah, I do think the kickstarter launched primarily because of the fans. If you look through older posts, you'll most likely going to find the majority of, if not all posts regarding the success of the kickstarter to the dedication of the fans. Saying that the fans made this happen, not non fans who just wanted to support the franchise. Given how much S1 sold in addition to the status of Yu Suzuki, as well as the fans constantly bugging Sega over the years and putting Ryo in other Sega themed games as a type of tribute to the fans, I'm not surprised it was announced at E3. Even indie titles from smaller studios get a platform during e3

And regarding your friend donating to the kickstarter, I can say there is no enthusiasm for 4 based on the feedback from several people I've talked to who are extremely disappointed in the game and actually bo linger care for the series, but we know it wouldn't be true if we applied it across three entire fanbase
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We weren't talking about who made it happen (with much respect to them all). We were discussing who donated. I imagine there would have been many fans who only put $10 or $20 in, or nothing at all. Going by the state of the Kickstarter when it went live, I'd say it was a more than just the fans who donated. Which is a very good thing. Don't be so closeminded. A lot of new fans of the series may have come from that E3 reveal.
 
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Don't forget there is also new fans finding the series daily. We're only a small number of the fanbase here and it's the same people with the same complaints. Same on the 500k.

I'm not saying they're not valid but if you cast the net wider I've seen more positive responses than negative.
 
tomboz said:
I honestly think that even the people who hated the third game will return to the series if we get a more story-heavy experience in Shenmue 4.
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But how will they conclude Shenmue 4 is more story-focused without playing the game?
Shenmue 3 was already supposed to be a story-heavy experience according the Epic promotion and the nature of the series.

So many characters were showcased as if there were important in the story. A youtuber I'm following was fuming at Shenmue 3 end because he thought Lan Di could have been a good surprise if YSnet decided not to promote him.

I doubt many of these people read reviews (which weren't so insightful about the lack of story content in Shenmue 3) or Yu's interviews (I doubt Yu is going to be very informative about the rate of cutscenes in Shenmue 4).

The trailers and the reputation do everything now, and it will be difficult to regain confidence.

Moreover, we're talking about people who likely found the grind system uninteresting. I don't think Yu will get rid of this neither. Shenmue 3 was a disappointment both on story and gameplay for them so the task will be very challenging.

Anyway I think the interest will come from the suggested story content rather than the form. Put forward Niao Sun, the Chi You Men, some other charismatic characters, exciting situations, some poesy and it might click for everyone. A new game often goes with new hopes, even for the most pessimistic so why not.
 
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Dietsoap said:
That does sound pretty empirical, but have you considered the possibility that your negativity is merely rubbing off on them? You are the common element among them after all.
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No because the topic of shenmue the was brought up on other non shenmue/gaming related forums without me having to mention it. We shared our feedback regarding it and like on here, the feedback was varied. Someoved the game. Some, like me thought it was just alright, and some felt the game ruined the franchise for them.

And it sounds like your taking what I said about there being no enthusiasm literally. I was sayin if one non fan person donating to the kickstarter is proof of a bunch of outside support, then, a handful of people saying the franchise was ruined for them with S3 is proof that there is no enthusiasm. Obviously, that's not enough proof of either stance.

Do you really think I had some influence on a bunch of randoms on the internet who already played and voiced their opinions about the game? Like they went back and said "you know what? Hes right. Because Dehone felt the game was a 6.5/10, I think this game is ass cheeks. Im done with shenmue".
 
24Nathan said:
I don't know of many people, even the ones that really don't like III, that were driven away from the series. It can't be THAT bad.
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Neither do I, but I wasn't saying many people were driven away. I was saying I know of a handful of examples, but it would be incorrect to make that assessment across the entire fanbase.
 
Sonoshee said:
We weren't talking about who made it happen (with much respect to them all). We were discussing who donated. I imagine there would have been many fans who only put $10 or $20 in, or nothing at all. Going by the state of the Kickstarter when it went live, I'd say it was a more than just the fans who donated. Which is a very good thing. Don't be so closeminded. A lot of new fans of the series may have come from that E3 reveal.
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Like you mentioned, it was shown at e3, the largest platform for upcoming games in the world. The fans made that happen. If their voice was powerful enough to make Sony give up 5 minutes for their stage time, their dollars are likely are made the kickstarter the success it was.

Also, new fans do necessarily equal financial backing. Yes, a lot of fans more than likely donated 10-30 dollars. Most people don't have the luxury to donate anymore, but the people who simply intrigued likely donated around the same amount too on average. How you see the non fans donating more than the fans and making a significant chunk of the backing is beyond me. I dont consider it closed minded. I consider it realistic and some of the fanbase seems to have had unrealistic expectations for this game, including sales
 
Dehone said:
Like you mentioned, it was shown at e3, the largest platform for upcoming games in the world. The fans made that happen. If their voice was powerful enough to make Sony give up 5 minutes for their stage time, their dollars are likely are made the kickstarter the success it was.

Also, new fans do necessarily equal financial backing. Yes, a lot of fans more than likely donated 10-30 dollars. Most people don't have the luxury to donate anymore, but the people who simply intrigued likely donated around the same amount too on average. How you see the non fans donating more than the fans and making a significant chunk of the backing is beyond me. I dont consider it closed minded. I consider it realistic and some of the fanbase seems to have had unrealistic expectations for this game, including sales
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The fans made the Kickstarter happen. I think that's obvious. And nowhere did I claim that non fans had donated more than fans, now you are just putting words into my mouth.
But I think it's delusional to assume that people who didn't know about the series up until E3 didn't put any money in either, or very little. When, again, this was shown at "the largest platform" on Earth for games, with millions watching. Many people would have seen the franchise for the first time. Many would have been intrigued. Many would have helped out for various reasons. And many wouldn't - including fans. This could have been because of financial difficulties etc. $7 million is a shit ton of money. It wouldn't have just come from the existing fans' pockets, I'm sorry. If the Kickstarter was launched out of nowhere on, say, the YSNet website and not at E3, we wouldn't have seen anywhere near that $7 million. That's why E3 was chosen.
Many of Shenmue's existing fans were from the Dreamcast days. That's a long time ago and some would have either given up, feeling the push for Shenmue 3 was a waste of time, or ya know, real life kinda happened. Heck, some fans didn't even know Shenmue 3 was a thing until it was nearly released.
It's okay for the series to have new fans - and to donate, especially from an E3 reveal.

I'm not here trying to belittle the achievements of the fans. Far from it and I'm sorry to anyone if it comes across that way.
All I'm trying to say is, yes, fans made the Kickstarter happen. Many more made Shenmue 3 a reality. And that's good. Because we were always striving to get new fans interested in the series, like with the releases of Shenmue HD.
 
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For the last 19 years, since completing Shenmue II, I've had enthusiasm. After completing Shenmue III, I have interest.

I'm confident a fourth game will be made, and I'll be there day one though.
 
Is it just me or has there been a small uptake in people discovering the series as a whole in the last week? I've seen a few people posting about finishing Shenmue III and wanting a 4th game.
 
My personal opinion about "enthusiasm for Shenmue IV being enough or not" is that there better has to be enthusiasm left within the fans. Because that's all we have to support Yu Suzuki in his journey.
He already clearly stated that he will do all he can to complete the Shenmue series in his lifetime, granted there is still interest for the series of course.

I really really hope Shenmue fans will keep their support and passion alive, because the biggest challenge beside us staying vocal about the continuation of the Shenmue experience, is definitely finding a budget to make the next game.
While this is in Yu Suzuki's hands, it will only makes sense if we don't give up.
 
Agreed. While S3 has definitely diminished the enthusiasm for part of the fanbase, there are others whose enthusiasm is as strong as before. We will see if it proves to be enough.

Deep Silver's holding company stating that S3 did fine "financially" probably means it didn't create a splash in the market and was certainly not a surprise success, however it also certainly wasn't a commercial disaster. So DS may or may not be interested in S4.

It's probably going to boil down to the fans' demand once again.
 
hyo_razuki said:
Agreed. While S3 has definitely diminished the enthusiasm for part of the fanbase, there are others whose enthusiasm is as strong as before. We will see if it proves to be enough.

Deep Silver's holding company stating that S3 did fine "financially" probably means it didn't create a splash in the market and was certainly not a surprise success, however it also certainly wasn't a commercial disaster. So DS may or may not be interested in S4.

It's probably going to boil down to the fans' demand once again.
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I’m still convinced that the money from the Epic deal and the money generated through sales of the game is sufficient to cover the cost of a fourth game and that it’s already being developed. If this is the case, fan enthusiasm will only come into play after the release of Shenmue 4 (assuming that Yu doesn’t decide to wrap things up with the fourth game to eliminate the risk of the series never being concluded).
 
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