Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

Yes I agree I have much confidence IV will improve a ton of what III lacked. I hope they just cut the VA for localization's and just subtitle the Japanese for all regions next go round, it would save a lot of money and give more dialog to the characters that need it.

That's insane. More of the world plays with the English than Japanese at the point. Corey Marshall IS Ryo Hazuki. Part of the charm of this game is that it reads like an 80s American Kung Fu flick like "Big Trouble in little china". Without that slight awkwardness its just a humble little game. Which there is nothing wrong with.

I played all the Yakuza/Judgement games. Similarly I have played with the English VA and its terrible. The Japanese VA is much better. It depends on the game/characters.

Ryo in Japanese just seems very ho-hum. I love the Japanese language, and speak a little (scochi haha), but I can't get on board with that.
 
Yes I agree I have much confidence IV will improve a ton of what III lacked. I hope they just cut the VA for localization's and just subtitle the Japanese for all regions next go round, it would save a lot of money and give more dialog to the characters that need it.
I paid for English dub, others did too. With all that was wrong with VA in 1&2 once it got it in English, I still liked it better than hearing Japanese in the British copy of 2. Just because you guys like this or that, doesn't mean all should, sorry. Shenmue was all about speech, for realism. He talked about it comparing it to FF8. I hope he doesn't cut that very important aspect personally in the next one. Many arcades in the 3rd... Those he could have had, or not have. Pail toss I enjoyed a lot though, and wood chopping.
 
If it makes the overall experience better then cut it. English VA is far less important that the Arcade and Mini-Games, the English director did a shitty job anyways they made it sound like the old games on purpose even though the had access to professional voice actors. It probably cost nearly a million dollars to produce all of these extra languages, just cut them and keep it Japanese. If they do have English next go around fire the people who did it this time and get people who actually care about the audio quality of the product. I've heard how badly it was ran and the directors were incompetent to say the least.
 
I think we need to be careful about saying how badly the VA was run for the Eng dub for III.

If Jingens source is who I think it is then they also commented on how the director took a pay cut to do Shenmue III and how people put in free overtime to get the dub done. It was done cheap that's for sure and I think they were hamstrung by time, money and a deliberate direction they took the dub.

It undoubtedly cost a lot of money, which if Shenmue 4 exists needs to be carefully thought out.

Shenmue II didnt turn people off because it was JP dub with subs only. While some may express dissatisfaction at no Eng dub I personally dont think it's pivotal to the experience.

EDIT: I will say that the likes of Corey, Eric, Paul and Lisle have been amazing for the community and their contributions go above and beyond the VO.
 
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See thats the thing, i think the English dub is essential and adds to the experience, at least for me and some others.

The silly and somewhat hilarious dub dialogue make some of the npcs stand out more. It gives them character and makes them more memorable. I think this is lost in the jap dub because its objectively better and everyone sounds proper.

Id still play the h£ll out of Shenmue 4 with a jap dub only, but it would dampen the experience for me. Here's hoping the issue of cutting dubs doesn't even come up during shenmue 4s development. Hopefully they can accommodate both.
 
Shenmue II didnt turn people off because it was JP dub with subs only. While some may express dissatisfaction at no Eng dub I personally dont think it's pivotal to the experience.

This!

Infact I found the English dub mostly hideous, especially in S2, with the exception of Corey.
Don't even get me started on how awful Ren sounded in comparison to the Japanese dub.
Japanese, even when used in a Chinese setting, just feels more fitting.
 
This!

Infact I found the English dub mostly hideous, especially in S2, with the exception of Corey.
Don't even get me started on how awful Ren sounded in comparison to the Japanese dub.
Japanese, even when used in a Chinese setting, just feels more fitting.
Oh yeah. You can't even compare the ENG dub from Shenmue1 to Shenmue2.
I think Shenmue1's dub is really good. (minding those funny kids dialogue, wich adds to the charm btw, at leats for me)

But all the rest sounded great to me.
Even when Ryo is in the arcade, the way he speaks , you can tell he's relaxed and just having a good time.
Lip sinc, is also much better in shenmue1
 
The English script is pretty bad. The writing needs an upgrade more than anything. I still believe spending money on two complete dubs is a pretty poor use of resources given the limited budget, and we all know how well received the English dub has generally been outside the hardcore fan base.

That said, I'd play it in English, Japanese or with no VA at all.
 
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I loved Ren in Shenmue II. Eric did a fantastic job, in my opinion.

It was probably because I played the Dreamcast version before the Xbox version.
After hearing a pretty gruff, serious sounding Ren, to what we got in Shenmue 2's english dub... yeah lol
 
Agree with Sonoshee; Kelso does a good job; he's probably the most-professional and seasoned VA of all the English VAs (both now and when the recordings were done), but Japanese Ren is... on another level.

The new VA they got is not bad at all.
 
I loved Ren in Shenmue II. Eric did a fantastic job, in my opinion.
Yes Eric Kelso was easily the best English VA for Shenmue, but he was already a seasoned professional by the time he did Shenmue. Not to diss on the other primary cast either especially Corey Marshall as he made Ryo sound authentic.
 
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