Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

Disney tried to do too much with Star Wars and oversaturated what once was a more rare experience.

The only thing that's been done, to my knowledge, which has been good and faithful to the series was EA's Fallen Order game series.

Something about showing just how powerful Vader was is something really cool. Your first encounter with him in Fallen Order is amazing.
 
I find the Disney Star Wars comparison to an RGG produced Shenmue sequel an odd one to put it mildly.

It's not just that RGG / Shenmue are relatively niche while Disney / Star Wars are absolute behemoths, there is also very little overlap in terms of content types both companies produce.

But even if we're going with the apples to oranges comparison for a second; RGG's projects are well-received by both gamers and critics, while Disney's Star Wars projects have been a bit of a mixed bag. With Disney's track record it's understandable how some people wouldn't have faith in any upcoming Star Wars projects, but I just don't see how the same applies to RGG creating a Shenmue game (which at this point is a hypothetical at best).

Even for those who don't like RGG's games, you'd have to be in denial not to see how an RGG developed Shenmue project would be a much more polished product than Shenmue III was - and I say that as a fan.

Nobody here has been throwing Yu Suzuki under the bus as pretty much everybody has mentioned his involvement as a criterium, regardless of which developer takes on the project. It's his creation; of course he'd have to be involved.

With all of that said, while it's true that Disney has produced some Star Wars content that was not well received, some people (mostly grifters, really) like to act as if they haven't also produced some of the best Star Wars content ever created, both in terms of fan reception and critical acclaim.
 
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hyo_razuki said:
was George Lucas involved in any way creatively with Disney Star Wars? Again, I'm not a Star Wars guy at all, so I have no clue.
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I believe his only creative contributions was for an island location, a female lead and Han Solo's son falling to the Dark Side which Disney repurposed from his original VII, VIII and IX story treatments before binning the rest and doing their own inferior stories. Other than that, he wasn't involved.
 
You Arcade Clerk said:
Even for those who don't like RGG's games, you'd have to be in denial not to see how an RGG developed Shenmue project would be a much more polished product than Shenmue III was - and I say that as a fan.
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Oh no, no one is disputing this, of course an RGG developed Shenmue will be more polished compared to Shenmue 3, it will have high production values, the Voice Acting will be professional, etc...

What worries me if they will understand the spirit of Shenmue... Are they going to leave their trademark style unto Shenmue? Or will they adopt Shenmue's style instead? So far we don't know, the only contemporary games from that studio aside from Yakuza were Judgement and Binary Domain, both had Yakuza's style permeates them, from cutscene direction to storytelling, Judgement was practically a Yakuza spin off.

We will see how VF plays out.
 
Even without Nagoshi at RGG anymore I'm pretty confident they still got a good grasp on what makes Shenmue, well, Shenmue.

I don't think anyone has to fear a palette-swapped Yakuza template with the Shenmue name slapped on.

Of course we'd still see RGG's design philosophies shine through, but to me that translates into better writing and story progression.
 
Maybe they’ll let us play Shenmue 1 and 2 in a future RGG as a meta game, kind of a Segagaga for the new generation. Make it super meta. Let’s do this RGG.

Really, if RGG is gonna do anything I’d like to see a really surreal, wacky third person adventure through all sorts of Sega games.
 
You can't force RGG to make games they don't want.

RGG is making Virtua Fighter 6 because they do love the franchise and they patiently paved the way by introducing VF5 and VF2 into the Yakuza franchise.

If someday RGG has to take charge of Shenmue, that would be because they deeply appreciate the original games and start the project by their own initiative. They would definitely try to respect the DNA as they just promised for VF6.

And you can't find a better studio than RGG to fill the blanks. Shenmue 3 biggest weaknesses were the story and the narrative, the very strengths of RGG (when they are motivated to).

RGG is also careful to use the right engine for each game. We know Virtua Fighter 6 will not run on Dragon Engine like VF5US, and they did experiment Unreal Engine in the past.

At the moment, their staff didn't show interest enough to feed the hypothesis. Maybe a day comes when they find Shenmue appealing again in the modern context or undergo staff movements in favour of Shenmue nostalgia.

Quality of Shenmue guesting in VF6 should give us more insight of what they think of Shenmue. I don't think we will ever see Ryo playable in VF but if we get his costumes unlockable in the vanilla game, that means they take Shenmue rather seriously.

Tbh, RGG ending the saga is a bold bet. RGG remaking the games in some distant future is a more realistic one.
 
Idea for S4 minigame - Shenmue pinball. You could have character voice clips shouting throughout from the series, like Tom shouting 'keep on jammin', Ryo shouting 'I will avenge my father' after you hit a lan di barrier or something. You could have different tables for different games in the series, with friends, enemies, the cat, chickens, a racing duck. Would be awesome.
 
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I cannot speak for any other Shenmue fan, but I am fine with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios bringing the Shenmue saga to a close. All I want is for them to implement the latest Virtua Fighter combat system and have Suzuki as a consultant. Shenmue III taught me that Shenmue is at its best as a AAA title, and we all know how popular Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios is nowadays. I am just tired of seeing this franchise have to struggle for everything while anything Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios produces sells like hotcakes.

As for minigames, I would want games that are appropriate for the setting. Mahjong, Go, and Chinese Chess come to mind. If Ryo visits the Xiaolin temples in Shenmue IV or V, then water slapping, the Yijinjing, the "Iron Shirt," and Ryo holding a bell in a horse stance while wearing a weight vest could be interesting. You could have a "Three Kingdoms" strategy minigame to make up for the loss of the siege game in Shenmue III. They could also expand the herb collecting with the depth of an Atelier title.

But honestly, I am just tired at this point and want to see Shenmue conclude with the justice it deserves before either I or Suzuki-sama passes away.
 
I'd be down for it with Suzuki as a director for sure.

However, when SEGA don't even recognise Shenmue turning 25 I'd suggest they're miles off RGG touching Shenmue or any sequel.

ININ Games seem like the current hope and they need time to sort what they're doing too.
 
My uneducated guess would be that If ININ is involved in S4, that it would only take the role that Shibuya Productions had for S3, at least based on their current lineup, which are all basically overpriced 2D side scrollers.
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I wonder if that Deep Silver door has been completely rammed shut? Or if they are willing to partner up with ININ and others?

Furthermore, I wonder what it would take for SEGA to gamble on developing S4? I mean, they seem to be talking like the swashbuckling SEGA of years gone by, why not take that last step?
 
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