I'd largely agree with his final point as to why Shenmue didn't catch on. Hence why I think you get the constant "Yakuza is Shenmue but better" comments. Because Yakuza is more action based. If anything, Yakuza is and always has been the RPG that maybe people thought Shenmue was meant to be. I know some would disagree with me but Yakuza has always had its foot in the RPG territory at least mechanically speaking.
It's an action RPG at heart. You are constantly gaining XP. Constantly levelling up and unlocking new moves. There are long stretches of dungeon type level design within every Yakuza game. The open world is far more of a hub world for Yakuza. The numerous side quests. Everything about Yakuza has always screamed action RPG and I think that is why people make the comparison that "Yakuza is Shenmue but better"...because in some ways, I think that is the game people expected from Shenmue but didn't get.
Instead they got something that was out of the box. Something that took its time. Something that was less concerned with asking the player to grind levels and instead more concerned with asking the player to simply live, breathe and observe its world.
Although, it is strange because there are still a mish mash of elements that make up an action RPG within Shenmue and especially Shenmue II. I mean, most of the ascent to the top of the Yellow Head building in Shenmue II might as well be your typical RPG dungeon design but rethought. Not to mention leveling up and evolving individual moves through practice in the original game.
I think the thing with Shenmue has always been that people expected one thing and got something that was actively trying to think outside the box. They expected your typical Action RPG. And instead they got something that was at its core an Adventure game with all of these separate elements mashed in to create something almost new and outside of the box. And like most things new, I don't think people were ready to embrace it because it wasn't what they expected it to be.
Maybe a lot like Shenmue III among the fanbase in that sense
Anyways, I think I agree with his take on why Shenmue never caught on in the mainstream.
Also, I'd love to hear more on his perspective as to the mid life crisis of the Japanese gaming industry. To me, the PS3 and 360 generation was really not kind to Japanese developers as the West seemingly took over. I still think there were good things coming from Japan in that era but I do largely agree, that era was not kind to Japanese development as it seemingly hit a wall.
I'd agree with his take on GTA 3 changing the landscape of things. For both better and worse in some regards. Better in the sense that it pioneered the open world game, worse in the sense that it's still the template we adhere to this very day and the sense that the open world game is kind of stagnant as they continue to focus on size over depth of world.
That and I think in the 360/PS3 era, online and more importantly the FPS or Third Person Shooter sensation took off in the West and Japan just couldn't compete. Nor do I really think they were ready for the impact of console online gaming. See how far Sony lagged behind Microsoft on that front.
Japan went through that awkward phase where it tried to copy formulas such as Gears of War to both some success (Vanquish) to decent but still seen as inferior by the broad public (Binary Domain) attempts. Or worse, Resident Evil 6 (I didn't like RE6 but that's just me). I feel like those were the two big instances where Japan went through an identity crisis in trying to keep up but not being able to.
Which makes the somewhat resurgence of Japanese games kind of interesting to me. It's like they kinda embraced their roots a little and went back to doing things their own way and people finally caught on. It's funny to me, Yakuza 0 was the entry point for so many and yet if you really break down that game, it's not that much different to Yakuza games released post Yakuza 3. Maybe just more refined around the edges. It's interesting to me. But to me, it seems the more Japan stops trying to chase the West and embrace their own ideas while maybe taking some influence from the West then the better off they are with the audience.
Certainly Japan is in a better place now than it has been. Just look at Capcom. They were verge of being bought out and now they're almost back in top form.
It's a topic that fascinates me.