Unused Asset: A Second Letter From Iwao to Ryo

[Switch]

A second alternative letter penned by Iwao to Ryo had been prepared by the development team, but was not used in the released game.

Read the advice Iwao had for his son in this second letter:
https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2022/05/unused-asset-second-letter-from-iwao-to.html

 

[the_phoenix_mirror]

Nice find. I was hoping it would've said "Ryo, don't be an idiot." That would've been funny

 

[Rakim]

That's a really cool find.

 

[code l name]

Wonderful find as usual @Switch

It is very interesting to see as you said a much more global message in the unused letter. I can understand why they reverted to a much more personal message from Iwao, although I tend to think of him having a premonition about his death tends to conjure more questions than answers.

@Sergeynest will probably love this as I recall a lot of his analysis focus on Ying and Yang and that clearly was in the story’s DNA since the beginning.

 

[Thomasina]

Great stuff. Finding unused items only makes the games more mysterious.

 

[code l name]

Finding unused items only makes the games more mysterious.

Really? For me it kind of confirms what an iterative process development was. From interviews I recall Suzuki saying he had a hard time communicating the genre and play style of Shenmue to his team and it’s clear from the unused assets and beta models and environments, they were constantly trying new things then modifying and iterating.

I feel given the games generous budget and development this type of experimentation or ability to mold, tweak and refine wouldn’t fly in today’s environment. I think that’s why Shenmue 1 in particular has all these superfluous touches.

 

[Spaghetti]

IMO, it's not a thing specific to Shenmue, but it's much more... of an era.

Games these days are so expensive and time-consuming to produce that sweeping changes and iterations on content aren't as pronounced as they used to be. There's a reason why the most interesting alphas, betas, and other "lost" gaming treasures are from before the 7th gen consoles.

 

[code l name]

Games these days are so expensive and time-consuming to produce that sweeping changes and iterations on content aren't as pronounced as they used to be.

Absolutely. I’ve been watching some interview with former Rare members talking specifically about development on some of their N64 titles and it’s crazy to imagine games being developed by team of 4-6 individuals, that was it.

Yet we’ve had long protracted development in modern era, think of Halo infinite as a recent example that was 4-5 years of pure development and you realize getting new engine and technology up and running is a hugely laborious, time consuming and expensive proposition. Instead of refining content and iterating what typically happens in these troubled games is huge swaths of content is cut, scale is reduced just so they can ship something out the door.

In a parallel universe if Sega were successful and AM2 were allowed to continue to develop, I wonder how they would have adapted to modern development. I would assume they would create an engine or middleware like Capcom RE engine they could use for their suite of titles instead of custom or bespoke engines.