Lets be honest, It wasn't the English Va that cost them , it was that they spent the budget poorly.
During development i felt bailu was a bad location and should of been cut. After finishing that section of the game , i felt my suspicions had been confirmed. The game should of started in a different location like niwao and moved on to Baisha. Bailu was a section that should of been shown as a cutscene imo. That would of saved a whole bunch of budget. Enough to make 3 what yu promised, emember his quote, 'baisha will show what Shenmue is all about' or something like that.
What actually happened in Bailu? Barely anything. The few bits of story info there could of been transplanted to another location easily.No memorable characters there either. Imagine all that time developing all the fishing etc was put int the main game. I know most people didnt fish much because of the weird rent a rod mechanic
Regarding other mistakes. Paraphrasing here but he said something like 'two different character artists had two different styles, so i just let them do their thing separately' How would that ever lead a c consistent visual style? And in the end it didn't. . He should be making them marry their styles so there is continuity in the visuals. Also, talking about no throws, he said it was due to the motion suits used. Choose different ones then. They are not crazy money.
Also, the food system. More time wasted. wasnt needed, and made the game unplayable for many. Hence the popularity of the no sprint health drain mod.
Also, the herbs. Another thing easily cut with negligible impact.
EDITED: loads lol