Lately i've been thinking a lot about what Shenmue III could have been if Yu Suzuki and the team had more budget and maybe even more time to develop the game, i remember that Shenmue III was delayed 2 or 3 times, i will explain why i’m thinking about this.
1. In a Kickstarter video Yu Suzuki said... "Baisha will show off what Shenmue III is all about. Live out a siege game reminiscent of the Warring Kingdoms. See which strategist come out on top."
I don’t know why Baisha was cut out of the game, i can only think two options about this, the first is that maybe Yu Suzuki just decided that he will put Baisha in Shenmue IV, it is a possiblity but maybe we will never see Baisha in game format, maybe he will decide to put a location that is more important, only time will tell.
The second option is that maybe Yu Suzuki had a lot of problems in the development of Shenmue III so he had to cut Baisha out of the game, which leads to my second point.
2. In one interview someone asked Yu Suzuki this question... "In a scale of one to ten how much do you love Shenmue III? Yu Suzuki responded... " hmm... probably 7.5" after that he said in english "5, 4, 5, 4, 6" then the interviewer said.. "You're going down."
With this is clear to me that Shenmue III didn't turn out exactly the way Yu Suzuki really wanted, in my opinion Yu Suzuki seems like a perfectionist person when it comes to making games, about his art, i feel that he always gives his best and always want to do the best, if something don't turn out the way he imagined then he will not like it a lot.
I'm like this aswell with my art so i really understand.
To me Yu Suzuki really wanted to put Baisha in the game but for some reason he had to cut Baisha out of the game, i think this decision was not something that he really wanted to do, i don't think it was a decision that he liked to make, only Yu Suzuki can answer this questions but this is how i feel about it.
Let's imagine for a moment that Shenmue III is a Dreamcast game, it even feels that Shenmue III is missing disc 4, i imagine like this.
Disc 1: Bailu Village
Disc 2: Bailu Village
Disc 3: Niaowu
Disc 4: Baisha and the Cliff Temple.
Something like this, i don't know, i'm just imagining, I don't have problems with Shenmue III ending, i like the ending but i know it could have been much better, the ending is rushed, i really feel that Yu Suzuki wanted to do in a different way but i think he had a lot of problems in the development of the game, i really feel he wanted to do more with the game, again only Yu Suzuki can answer this questions.
Shenmue III to me is a peaceful and calm game, this is the vibe of the game to me, especially in Bailu Village like a second home for Ryo with one of the focuses being strengthening the bonds with Shenhua, with Ryo living a peaceful life with Shenhua in Bailu Village and i love this.
Shenmue III to me is like the calm before the storm, is a peaceful time in Ryo's Journey. I love Shenmue III but i think that with Baisha and the Cliff Temple and with more development and story for characters like Shiling Lin and Qiu Hsu the game would have been much better, maybe even a masterpiece to me.
I know imagining won't add things to the game but sometimes i like imagining the game with Baisha and the Cliff Temple, how Baisha would fit in the game, i hope someday we can at least read about Baisha and other places and characters like Ming Ming that Yu Suzuki didn't put in the games.