Would you be happy if Shenmue 4 was the final game?

The rumours regarding CD Projekt Red working on S4 begin in earnest...

The Geralt mod elsewhere in the forums will fuel the fires lol.

I wish they would make a 'complete' journey of S1 to 3 in one seamless experience. Once you've completed the game then a NG+ feature could be to fast travel back to Yokosuka so you could clear up loose ends etc. I think it would make it more appealing as its not a disjointed experience.

Of course this is a silly dream but still...
 
Honestly at this point its been 20+ years, its not fair to drag things out to the fans when it will realistically take another what 4-5 years at least for a S4 and a totally new generation of consoles? I'd love to play them but just finish it with the next one, add more dlc for things that arent necessary outright and call it a day. Three also didnt really grow the story on the epic scale 1 and 2 did in my opiniom so its better to be short and sweet sometimes.

Granted if he wanted to release a graphic novel or even a flat out book that concluded the story now, then hell, I'll wait and support t Shenmue 8, 9, 15.
 
Shenmue ch 1 was amazing and I love it, but not epic. Set in a quiet, small town; predominantly searching for Lan Di clues with a distraction to a couple heirlooms and local grandmaster's father-son importer/exporter business, which lead to working toward a trip while looking for harbour gang boss.

Shenmue lll is very much like MGS2 to MGS--except not a meta commentary by the director. Similar structured games with a small, quiet town and a nearby harbour, running into small time thugs then looking for their leader (while searching for two kidnap victims rather than two heirlooms). Oversimplification of both games, but hope you get what I'm saying.

Kowloon was epic, Aberdeen was pretty exciting during most of disc 2. Disc 1/4 and predominantly all 3 of first game weren't any more or less wild than Shenmue 3. The roadmap has always intended Shen3 to be introspective.
 
xatruio said:
Shenmue ch 1 was amazing and I love it, but not epic. Set in a quiet, small town; predominantly searching for Lan Di clues with a distraction to a couple heirlooms and local grandmaster's father-son importer/exporter business, which lead to working toward a trip while looking for harbour gang boss.

Shenmue lll is very much like MGS2 to MGS--except not a meta commentary by the director. Similar structured games with a small, quiet town and a nearby harbour, running into small time thugs then looking for their leader (while searching for two kidnap victims rather than two heirlooms). Oversimplification of both games, but hope you get what I'm saying.

Kowloon was epic, Aberdeen was pretty exciting during most of disc 2. Disc 1/4 and predominantly all 3 of first game weren't any more or less wild than Shenmue 3. The roadmap has always intended Shen3 to be introspective.
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I can concede to that point that I'm loosely using the term epic in reference to Chapter 1 as the events are a bit more low key but for what it lacks, the mystery in it it is by far the greatest I would say as you attempt to unravel the base lines as Ryo begins delving into the underworld and learn about hsi Father's past. Also there were some really good usages of scoring and cinema like when Ryo first dreams of Lan Di after Iwao is killed and its just Lan Di on black background to that sharp music it gives me chills.

I can see what you're saying about 3 being a return to that form but the plot shouldn't really dip like that in my opinion we had the scaffold fall and Dou Niu in 2, 3 should have grown in scale as well and they could have really emphasized a few points of Iwaos past rather than the very dull "My...father....was here?"
 
....it is dull you're meeting strangers in a very remote Chinese village who know your father? Let alone discovering your father took the same trip to master martial arts with his best friend--the man he's accused of killing, which ended up getting him killed? Learning of Iwao's activities there are one of my favorite and most powerful moments from the game.

It is quite exciting in real life to meet people who knew the same circle of friend back in high school, yet never crossed paths with personally. If similar concept implicated into Shenmue's lore doesn't move you, then... I don't know what to tell ya.
 
xatruio said:
....it is dull you're meeting strangers in a very remote Chinee vollage who know your father? Let alone discovering your father took the same trip to master martial arts with his best friend--the man he's accused of killing, which ended up getting him killed? Learning of Iwao's activities there are one of my favorite and most powerful moments from the game.

It is quite exciting in real life to meet people who knew the same circle of friend back in high school, yet never crossed paths with personally. If similar concept implicated into Shenmue's lore doesn't move you, then... I don't know what to tell ya.
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I wasn't knocking that part of the game I was saying they could have emphasized it much better was all, Ive played 3 once so far and just started again I didn't see much beyond "oh yeah there was a Japanese guy here once" a few times with story of the mirrors coming later. Don't get me wrong for the faults I find in 3 I thoroughly enjoyed myself but even in Niaowu it should have started more along the lines of 2 and it just kind of stays level til youre storming a castle with a team of 5 with 2 characters actually being developed.

*EDIT*- Also I just want to add one that part of what takes away from what I can appreciate in your example of the links to Iwao is you're kind of pigeonholed pretty hard on the map until they're ready to progress the plot which fair enough they did in the others, but it felt a bit suffocating on this map for me and kills some of the exploration "I should ask more people around here"
 
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This is going to sound pretentious and quite wordy. I can feel a point coming so bear with me lol...

The biggest problem I've noted with Shenmue is the fact it was split up in the way it was. The 'splits' have, for me, affected the story, the scope, certain nuances, among other factors.

I don't want to get too much away from the original subject but think about the up/downs of a long journey. The positive times, the quiet times, excitement, the mundane. When you go through something sour and then you experience the sweet it makes the sweet much sweeter. When you put effort into something and it pays off, the pay off feels better. If you go through a journey of effort or attrition and then you see something beautiful then you appreciate the beauty all the more.

I don't think Shenmue was split well. You needed the quaint sensibilities and flashbacks in S1 to make S2 so special. Imagine if the process from S1 to S2 was seamless and you experienced all the drama on the boatride. I think it would make the events within the first hour of S2 less frustrating.

The arguments about limited story content in S3 are reasonably valid if you don't have a feel about the pacing of 1 and 2. The journey pacing slows dramatically in the first part of S3 because it's a rural area with dramatic scenery and history in every building and scene. How many times have you gone on holiday to a another country and savoured the landscapes and monuments? Taken photographs? Imagine running through your holiday, getting annoyed that you haven't experienced 'the real' place, then spending time doing the same thing over and over?

My biggest dream is that either officially or otherwise someone somehow brings the whole saga together in one type of media. Such as a game with all the transitions in it, backtracking and all the good stuff.

It hurts me a bit when people criticise Shenmue because all three individual games flaws are more tangible because the pacing is basically broken because of the way it's been chopped up.

I pray for the tortured souls who just played S3 only and just watched the digest movie. If you've never experienced the journey then everything in S3 will be slow, disjointed and perhaps a little frustrating.

It's never just about the destination. The journey makes the destination all the more impressive.

If S4 is the last game it needs something special to unify the journey. Strong story arc. It needs to be special basically. But I guess that's obvious...
 
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xatruio said:
....it is dull you're meeting strangers in a very remote Chinese village who know your father? Let alone discovering your father took the same trip to master martial arts with his best friend--the man he's accused of killing, which ended up getting him killed? Learning of Iwao's activities there are one of my favorite and most powerful moments from the game.

It is quite exciting in real life to meet people who knew the same circle of friend back in high school, yet never crossed paths with personally. If similar concept implicated into Shenmue's lore doesn't move you, then... I don't know what to tell ya.
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This. Agree wholeheartedly, it was touching and exciting to learn about Iwaos doings in Bailu, could picture him there like Ryo would have done.

We're too far off a conclusion, Shenmue is a long haul coming of age story. Ryo has loads of growing to do yet and I would hate to see it rushed. Hope we'll find out about Sunmings demise in IV, what went down. And more about Shenhua and all that's going on with her. Why her? Why Ryo? Why now?
 
Araviel said:
This. Agree wholeheartedly, it was touching and exciting to learn about Iwaos doings in Bailu, could picture him there like Ryo would have done.

We're too far off a conclusion, Shenmue is a long haul coming of age story. Ryo has loads of growing to do yet and I would hate to see it rushed. Hope we'll find out about Sunmings demise in IV, what went down. And more about Shenhua and all that's going on with her. Why her? Why Ryo? Why now?
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Yes Shenmue is a long story and in an ideal world Id much rather 5-6 games and each one be fully fleshed out, it's not that I don't appreciate the things you guys do my opinion is coming solely from the realism that this isn't a "popular" franchise and cuts are going to have to be made to conclude things which is what's most important to me, which is also why I wish they'd make a graphic novel or something because outside of kickstarter and the initial surge of this I don't expect the saes to get much higher, and if they move now the iron might just be hot enough with another crowdfunding campaign to get us one more game.
 
Araviel said:
This. Agree wholeheartedly, it was touching and exciting to learn about Iwaos doings in Bailu, could picture him there like Ryo would have done.

We're too far off a conclusion, Shenmue is a long haul coming of age story. Ryo has loads of growing to do yet and I would hate to see it rushed. Hope we'll find out about Sunmings demise in IV, what went down. And more about Shenhua and all that's going on with her. Why her? Why Ryo? Why now?
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I'm confident Suzuki will know how to do it. At 2 games, he rearranged and cut so Guilin and Shenhua could be introduced before Dreamcast died (I suspect she wasn't going to be revealed until late Shenmue 3 or Shenmue 4 on original timeline prior to Sega's demise). Still, though, it wasn't rushed.

Train might be repurposed, but i feel it was a shorter chapter like Kowloon--which isn't really all too long--so whatever if never seen in a game; same goes for boat. If he need to get to Shanghai or Beijing earlier and rearrange so they're sooner after Baisha in Shen4, so be it. Leaves plenty of time for Forbidden City and Tibet(?) in Shen 5.
 
At this point knowing that there are 12 chapters of this story is a curse. If no one knew of this before 3 came out, there would be less negativity from fans. Not only that, but we know LITERALLY nothing apart from seeing some tiny pictures shown in a presentation. So, I'm not quite sure why people think that the remaining story cannot be put into 1 final game. The remaining chapters could be small or chapters may have become completely irrelevant to the published game's story as characters have been removed, places changed etc, so it may not even be that hard to achieve.

Also, as the story isn't even finished, instead of criticizing Yu Suzuki for 3's story, why not wait until it's all over to decide whether it was drawn out or too slow? It's like criticizing the 2nd Lord of the rings film for a bad ending. It wasn't the end of the story!!
 
Alex bana said:
At this point knowing that there are 12 chapters of this story is a curse. If no one knew of this before 3 came out, there would be less negativity from fans. Not only that, but we know LITERALLY nothing apart from seeing some tiny pictures shown in a presentation. So, I'm not quite sure why people think that the remaining story cannot be put into 1 final game. The remaining chapters could be small or chapters may have become completely irrelevant to the published game's story as characters have been removed, places changed etc, so it may not even be that hard to achieve.

Also, as the story isn't even finished, instead of criticizing Yu Suzuki for 3's story, why not wait until it's all over to decide whether it was drawn out or too slow? It's like criticizing the 2nd Lord of the rings film for a bad ending. It wasn't the end of the story!!
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Even if there was 6 more Shenmue games, what happens in 3 wont change.
 
Yes it's taken a long time for the 3rd one to come out, almost 20 years (properly to do with Sega not having the money to make the 3rd), the story needs finishing, I am looking forward to Ryo beating Lan Di.. :) but that will not happen until Shenmue 6 or 7 cause 1,2 and 3 only cover only 40% of Ryo story.
This was the first 3rd person game,it was before GTA 3,RE 4.The first 2 Shenmue games have very bad voice acting on them(well Shenmue 2 was only had english voices on the Xbox version.Why I don't know,but the 3rd game sound like some of the actors are American now not all Japanese/Chinese.I love the games still even now.I played Shenmue 2 on the Dreamcast and had to read all the dilog.I was glad the Xbox version came out,it was very tiring.. :) This game made people like 3rd person view.. :) Oh and "Shenmue" means "Spirit Tree", The first Mirror was under the tree in the garden.
 
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Given the amount of story left it was never going to be finsihed in 3 games. I know we all agree theres a general lack of story in Shenmue III and the ending felt rushed but had they put it all in this game that would have been magnified imo.

Plus that would have meant modelling more areas etc and that costs money.
 
Alex bana said:
Also, as the story isn't even finished, instead of criticizing Yu Suzuki for 3's story, why not wait until it's all over to decide whether it was drawn out or too slow? It's like criticizing the 2nd Lord of the rings film for a bad ending. It wasn't the end of the story!!
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The Lord of the Rings had all three parts published in the same year and when the films came out there was a set schedule for one movie for each book over the span of three years, and then three movies in three years for one book with the Hobbit but we don't talk about that...

It's taken 21 years plus development time of the first game to attain 3 games and the majority of the story is still shrouded in mystery. Honestly, I think it's a better bet for him to release the story now because it gives people more to talk about and changes the motivation from wanting to finish the story, to seeing it actualized.
 
GhostTrick said:
Even if there was 6 more Shenmue games, what happens in 3 wont change.
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True, but it's put into perspective and that changes it's perception. If Yu Suzuki decides to completely change the story and there isn't much in Shenmue 4 either, but it's the end, then 3 wouldn't be so devoid of story and may have been essential to 4's conclusion. Why judge the meal if you haven't even finished it yet? If 4 never comes out then I would agree with 3's criticism, but until we know that I think it's unfair to write off the story of 3.
 
I'm pretty sure he will make Shenmue 4.(Even if he has to turn 4's cutscenes into static pictures with voice acting.)
 
Alex bana said:
True, but it's put into perspective and that changes it's perception. If Yu Suzuki decides to completely change the story and there isn't much in Shenmue 4 either, but it's the end, then 3 wouldn't be so devoid of story and may have been essential to 4's conclusion. Why judge the meal if you haven't even finished it yet? If 4 never comes out then I would agree with 3's criticism, but until we know that I think it's unfair to write off the story of 3.
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It's not unfair as long as you dont judge the entire dinner.
Sorry, the dessert sucked. Shenmue 3 entirety can totally be judged. It doesn't mean the whole story can. It just mean what is shown in Shenmue 3 can be. And anything that'll be shown later will be redeemed in the game in question. Not Shenmue 3.

No matter what : Shenmue 3 will always be light on story aspects. Shenmue 3 will always have a subpar cutscene direction and very little character developpement.
 
If we are using the meal analogy then S1 has some bones that got in your teeth and S2 needed a slightly smaller plate with more food on it.

If S3 is the dessert. Then the coffee and cheese courses better be tasty...
 
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