Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

Sonoshee said:
A game needs funding/budget. If YSNet didn't have that, then they are going to lose momentum.
As you said, it could be a change of publisher, deals falling through etc.
No news is good news is a saying I like to adhere to; it could be worse, we could be told by Yu himself that "Shenmue 4 is not going to happen". As long as his heart is in it, there's a chance.
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I agree, no news is good news, it could be worse.

I remember about what happened to American McGee, he is the creator of American McGee's Alice and the sequel Alice: Madness Returns.

For years he tried to make the third game in the series happen. He even did a patreon, and the design bible of the game, in the design bible we can see all the things he wanted to do for the game.

The new title would be called Alice: Asylum, and McGee wanted so badly to develop the game with EA, or at least get the rights to try to raise the money himself, either with another company or through crowdfunding, EA said no to everything.

Alice.jpg​

EA decided not to support the project, let alone sell the intellectual property, but EA also said that the IP is important for them, how can the IP be important to them when they are doing nothing with the IP? Alice: Madness Returns was released in 2011, and EA didn't even release game ports of both games for the current platforms.

This was the last update from American McGee.

American McGee: I don't have any more ideas or energy left to try to get another Alice game. Nor am I interested in pursuing other game ideas within the current game development environment.

If anyone can convince EA to make Asylum, I want to clarify that, going forward, I have no desire to be involved with this or any other Alice project.

McGee decided to retire from the game industry after what happened. I love the Alice series, i love both games and i was looking forward to the third game in the series, but EA decided to make bad decisions that even made the creator of the series retire from the game industry.

I was looking forward for the third Alice game but i respect the artists, McGee has all the rights to retire, it is sad to see this happening but i respect the decision.

Imagine Yu Suzuki making an update this way about Shenmue and then deciding to retire from the game industry, so yeah... it could be worse.

In the case of Shenmue at least SEGA let Yu-san continue Shenmue with his studio YS NET. Yu-san made it clear in the Shenmue III credits that he wants to continue and complete Shenmue, like Sonoshee said as long as his heart is in it, there's a chance.

LetsGetShenmue4 💚
 
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I highly respect American McGee for setting his own goal for getting the third game made and if that didn’t work he would walk away. He gave EA the pitch and that was the last time he would be doing that.

I just hope if Yu Suzuki can’t get S4 made by a certain point he will finish the story in some form.
 
Alice is another one that hurts because I really loved Madness Returns. EA claim it is an important part of their portfolio and won't release it to McGee, but at the same time won't fund another game. They're a horrible company, quite frankly.
On the flip side, SEGA gave Yu Suzuki the Shenmue license and their blessing and he was able to make Shenmue 3.
You have to remember that things could be so very different.
 
Lucky enough, Sega isn't EA.
EA lacks the identity, sensitivity and legacy that Sega still owns. EA has always been expansive predatory, their business model has always been massive in terms "quantity over quality" and with a record of dubious/hostile behaviour against their costumers.

The actual Sega-Sammy head executive draws a clear line which embraces their past, present and future. But they keep far more conservative profile than EA.

There's lots of chances than they repeat licensing the ip - again. Besides, nowadays Yu-san its in the company structure as supervisor (for Oasyx, that's we all know).
Who knows tomorrow? Who knows who may had approach him concerning the series or a major responsability role in the company?
 
Sonoshee said:
Alice is another one that hurts because I really loved Madness Returns. EA claim it is an important part of their portfolio and won't release it to McGee, but at the same time won't fund another game. They're a horrible company, quite frankly.
On the flip side, SEGA gave Yu Suzuki the Shenmue license and their blessing and he was able to make Shenmue 3.
You have to remember that things could be so very different.
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I’m sure they balked at making 3 with McGee at the helm because he wouldn’t fill it with micro-transactions. They’ll make more with another person instead of him. It’s too good of an IP even if the game has never sold super well. McGee just had standards for what the game needed to contain and his budget was probably too high.

I guess strangely Sega just has more respect for it’s producers like Yu and was like “You know, we’re not going to be using the IP and you’re passionate about wanting the story to continue. Have at it.”

While EA is “No money? lol, nope.”
 
Let's not forget that Sammy-Sega took some money from the kickstarter and we don't know what the deal was. They may have given Yu the license with the idea of taking a percentage of the kickstarter and possibly a percentage of sales... No one knows, it's top secret information. :) But yes, they are willing to license some of the IPs if there is any money. We are lucky for that.

The case of American McGee is slightly different...maybe. Initially, he wanted budget to develop the game. If a kickstarter was actually considered and EA backed out... then it's possible that the two parties didn't agree on the money from the kickstarter. Perhaps the only difference between Sammy-Sega and EA is that the first tends to play even with "little money" and the second does not do business with small amount of money. Sammy-SEGA also licenses other of its IPs to small companies.

The best scenario for making Shenmue 4 is together with Sammy-SEGA. If they are at least one of the partners, the initial payment they require will be omitted. In Shenmue case, there is no more kickstarter money. Who will give them? Fingers crossed that this is the case. :)
 
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There's lots of differences, Sega won't cancel user accounts due to criticism and they seem more friendly towards the fair use of their content. Its not a company known by sending C&Ds by default, which its a good point because if your brand sets as pop culture it stays long in time.
Bruce Lee Media/Foundation seems to be learning this recently, Moulinsart/Tintin copyright holders hasn't so the character is practically unknown as of today.
Sega brought Virtua Racing and Outrun to Nintendo Switch, not remakes but the originals, a nice demostration of awaraness about not making those to compete in such a saturated genre as racing but -like mjqjazzbar said- preserving their legacy. And that without asking emulation sites to take down roms. Sega is cool.
 
Seaman said:
Sega brought Virtua Racing and Outrun to Nintendo Switch, not remakes but the originals, a nice demostration of awaraness about not making those to compete in such a saturated genre as racing but -like mjqjazzbar said- preserving their legacy. And that without asking emulation sites to take down roms. Sega is cool.
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Virtua Racing (switch version).... Love it! :love: My most played switch racer. You are absolutely right about these games. You just can't stop playing them. :smilecat:

I guess Sammy-SEGA are cool in some way... But for me Sega nowadays do almost everything a little bit half-baked. At least i feel it that way. :) They do Virtua Racing and then you start dreaming about similar versions for Daytona, Scud Racer, Sega Rally.... And they just stop releasing more games. :tongueclosed: They do Shenmue I and II, sales are good... and after that nothing game related! They tease us a little and run away.😁
 
shadowreaper said:
I’m sure they balked at making 3 with McGee at the helm because he wouldn’t fill it with micro-transactions
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In the Design Bible McGee even consider DLCs for the game. The design bible is 207 pages of wonderful content, i didn't read everything yet, but so far i can see how much love McGee put into trying to make the game a reality, McGee probably tried everything... 😢

Captura de tela 2023-08-26 140404.png​

About Shenmue... if one day Yu-san decides he doesn't want to try to continue Shenmue anymore in game form, i think he will probably make an update to let the Shenmue community know.

I believe in Yu's words, and i believe someday we will get an update about the Shenmue Series, if the Shenmue Series will continue or not, how will be everything going forward.

This year will be the fourth anniversary of Shenmue III, yes... not having news about the future of the Shenmue Series is really sad, everyday i think about what will happen to the Shenmue Series, but i believe that our support is important.

In my opinion continue the LetsGetShenmue4 is important, showing on social media to the companies how much we want Shenmue to continue is important, supporting Yu Suzuki/YS NET is important.
 
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I mean---I've said many times that the Dojo itself isn't the only place where there were big fans of Shenmue.

They've existed all over and it's readily apparent that fandom CAN bring series' back from the grave.

The campaign has been consistent and usually engaging. They don't always work, but there's countless examples where it has.

I recall a similar campaign resulted in Lucifer being saved by Netflix a few years ago.
 
I'm looking at the map image of VF RPG, and now i'm wondering how many locations Shenmue IV will have if we get the game, 2 locations like Shenmue III? 3 locations? or maybe more than 3 but it will not be big locations.

These are the locations in the map image

1) Yokosuka
2) Hong Kong
3) Train
4) Shanghai & Suzhou
5) Guilin
6) Xian
7) Luoyang
8) Cangzhou
9) Inner Mongolia (possibly rural)
10) Beijing (note the map says END, possibly denoting the end of the story)
11) Xinjiang

037.jpg​

The locations of Shenmue I to Shenmue III

1) Yokosuka - Shenmue
2) Hong Kong/Kowloon - Shenmue II
5) Guilin - Shenmue II and Shenmue III
6) I think in the case of Xian Yu-san decided to change this location to Niaowu but i'm not sure about that.

What locations we will see in Shenmue IV?

Baisha

Baisha was cut out of Shenmue III but i think there is a chance that maybe we can see in Shenmue IV, only time will tell.

3) Train

Maybe Yu-san will put Ryo, Shenhua and Ren travelling by Train to the locations in Shenmue IV, i would love to see the train chapter in the game, this have the potential to be really good, and i will explain in detail why i feel this way in a blog post.


Train.jpg​

4) Shanghai & Suzhou

I remember a Shenmue IV rumor saying that Shenmue IV will be in Shanghai, that rumor is probably fake but i would love to see Shanghai in Shenmue IV. Suzhou is also a interesting and beautiful city, would be nice to see Suzhou in the game.


shanghai-china-SHANGHAITG0721-c8b6b61c10204de891d5535fd607d243.jpgsuzhou.jpg​



7) Luoyang


Luoyang-old-city-china-800x533.jpgLuoyang_0.jpg
​

Luoyang is the location i want to see the most in Shenmue IV and i have many reasons for that, i will explain in detail why i feel this way about Luoyang in a blog post.
​

The other locations i think we will see in Shenmue V, and i think Shenmue V will be the last game of the Shenmue series.

8) Cangzhou
9) Inner Mongolia (possibly rural)
10) Beijing (note the map says END, possibly denoting the end of the story)
11) Xinjiang

How Yu-san is planning to do everything is a mystery, all i know is... LetsGetShenmue4.💕
 
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~ ヒキ ~ said:
6) I think in the case of Xian Yu-san decided to change this location to Niaowu but i'm not sure about that.
Click to expand...

Niaowu was originally Choubu - but both are fictional areas.
Many believe they were based on the real location of Fenghuang ancient town, though.

R.3e0ba03ef128e14ae41bef0ab0d3beb6
 
~ ヒキ ~ said:
I'm looking at the map image of VF RPG, and now i'm wondering how many locations Shenmue IV will have if we get the game, 2 locations like Shenmue III? 3 locations? or maybe more than 3 but it will not be big locations.

These are the locations in the map image

1) Yokosuka
2) Hong Kong
3) Train
4) Shanghai & Suzhou
5) Guilin
6) Xian
7) Luoyang
8) Cangzhou
9) Inner Mongolia (possibly rural)
10) Beijing (note the map says END, possibly denoting the end of the story)
11) Xinjiang


The locations of Shenmue I to Shenmue III

1) Yokosuka - Shenmue
2) Hong Kong/Kowloon - Shenmue II
5) Guilin - Shenmue II and Shenmue III
6) I think in the case of Xian Yu-san decided to change this location to Niaowu but i'm not sure about that.

What locations we will see in Shenmue IV?

Baisha

Baisha was cut out of Shenmue III but i think there is a chance that maybe we can see in Shenmue IV, only time will tell.

3) Train

Maybe Yu-san will put Ryo, Shenhua and Ren travelling by Train to the locations in Shenmue IV, i would love to see the train chapter in the game, this have the potential to be really good, and i will explain in detail why i feel this way in a blog post.



4) Shanghai & Suzhou

I remember a Shenmue IV rumor saying that Shenmue IV will be in Shanghai, that rumor is probably fake but i would love to see Shanghai in Shenmue IV. Suzhou is also a interesting and beautiful city, would be nice to see Suzhou in the game.





7) Luoyang



Luoyang is the location i want to see the most in Shenmue IV and i have many reasons for that, i will explain in detail why i feel this way about Luoyang in a blog post.
​

The other locations i think we will see in Shenmue V, and i think Shenmue V will be the last game of the Shenmue series.

8) Cangzhou
9) Inner Mongolia (possibly rural)
10) Beijing (note the map says END, possibly denoting the end of the story)
11) Xinjiang

How Yu-san is planning to do everything is a mystery, all i know is... LetsGetShenmue4.💕
Click to expand...
In my opinion, Xinjiang(Loulan) and Luoyang is relate to Tang Dynasty. Luoyang is the first place that Ryo starts the story about Tang Dynasty, and Xinjiang(Loulan) will means the story about Tang Dynasty ends.
 
Sonoshee said:
Niaowu was originally Choubu - but both are fictional areas.
Click to expand...

As far as i know Choubu is how Niaowu is called in Japan, i don't know why it is only different in Japan. i don't remember right now but in japanese i think in the cutscenes the characters say Choubu, plus in the game we can find Chobu-chan.


Niaowu.jpg
​
Sonoshee said:
Many believe they were based on the real location of Fenghuang ancient town, though.
Click to expand...

I also believe that Niaowu was based on Fenghuang, but maybe it was also based on Xian, and Xian is also a real location in China.

I said that about Xian because this chapter art is the chapter art of Xian. Everytime i look at this chapter art i immediately remember about what happened in Shenmue III, and Xian in the art reminds me of Niaowu, but maybe i'm wrong and we will see Xian in Shenmue IV.

Chapter6.jpg​


8) Cangzhou

The important location Meng Cun is in Cangzhou.

I think would be really nice if Shenmue IV ends with Ryo arriving in Cangzhou

Maybe Ryo saying...

Ryo: Cangzhou... Mengcun is in here... the place where Lan Di says my father killed his father, i don't believe my father killed someone. The time has come... i will finally learn the truth about my father.

Longsun Zhao... wait for me, i want to fight with you again. I will come back to destroy The Chi You Men organization, and i will settled our battle once and for all.


And then Ryo walking maybe with Shenhua and Ren while we see the beautiful visuals of Cangzhou and hear the epic Shenmue main theme.

To be continued...

The story ends in Shenmue V.


If Yu-san decides to end in Shenmue IV i think we will probably see everything about Cangzhou in the game, but if Yu-san decides to end in Shenmue V maybe we will see Cangzhou in the ending of Shenmue IV to build up for the final Shenmue game.


Cang Zhou.jpg

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308493647_109008868640691_3166334830696578437_n.jpg


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~ ヒキ ~ said:
As far as i know Choubu is how Niaowu is called in Japan, i don't know why it is only different in Japan. i don't remember right now but in japanese i think in the cutscenes the characters say Choubu, plus in the game we can find Chobu-chan.




I also believe that Niaowu was based on Fenghuang, but maybe it was also based on Xian, and Xian is also a real location in China.

I said that about Xian because this chapter art is the chapter art of Xian. Everytime i look at this chapter art i immediately remember about what happened in Shenmue III, and Xian in the art reminds me of Niaowu, but maybe i'm wrong and we will see Xian in Shenmue IV.



8) Cangzhou

The important location Meng Cun is in Cangzhou.

I think would be really nice if Shenmue IV ends with Ryo arriving in Cangzhou

Maybe Ryo saying...

Ryo: Cangzhou... Mengcun is in here... the place where Lan Di says my father killed his father, i don't believe my father killed someone. The time has come... i will finally learn the truth about my father.

Longsun Zhao... wait for me, i want to fight with you again. I will come back to destroy The Chi You Men organization, and i will settled our battle once and for all.


And then Ryo walking maybe with Shenhua and Ren while we see the beautiful visuals of Cangzhou and hear the epic Shenmue main theme.

To be continued...

The story ends in Shenmue V.


If Yu-san decides to end in Shenmue IV i think we will probably see everything about Cangzhou in the game, but if Yu-san decides to end in Shenmue V maybe we will see Cangzhou in the ending of Shenmue IV to build up for the final Shenmue game.


Click to expand...
Tang dynasty have two capitals. One is Xian(formerly known as Changan on Tang dynasty), the other is Luoyang.
 
Where did you find the high res version of the postmortem art? Do the others exist? I’ve only ever seen screenshots from the presentation.

Edit: Nevermind. I found them on Phantom River Stone.
 
One more thing i would like to add about Cangzhou Mengcun.

Cangzhou Mengcun is consider to be the birthplace of Bajiquan.

I think Cangzhou Mengcun will be where Ryo will train with his final master in the journey, probably a Bajiquan master, so i think ending Shenmue IV the way i said in my previous post would be really beautiful.

The ending showing that Ryo will finally learn the truth about his father in Mengcun, that Ryo will train with a Bajiquan Master and have his final battle to destroy The Chi You Men Organization.

Then in Shenmue V would be really nice to see Ryo training, to see how Ryo will change about martial arts, maybe even with a new outfit, and then ready to the final battle against The Chi You Men.

Cangzhou.jpg
​


This photos is Yu-san in Shanghai after Shenmue III release, i think is possible that Yu-san was there taking photos thinking about the development of Shenmue IV, i think would be really nice Shanghai in Shenmue IV.



51JP72u.jpg
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bqXkurP.jpg




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