Will Shenmue 3 ever be released?!

izzyfoshizzy

I gave up looking out for any signs that Shenmue 3 will possibly be released a long time ago. But some of you may have seen this, Yu Suzuki expressed optimism that it still might be made.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/33329/GDC_2011_Yu_Suzuki_Sega_Will_Probably_Let_Me_Make_Shenmue_3.php

“Probably Sega will let me make it. I think. It's simply a problem of budget.”

Will this game ever be released?

I remember when I was deciding between getting an Xbox or Gamecube and the only reason I went the xbox route was for Shenmue II. I'm definitely not as big a gamer as I used to be, but if Shenmue 3 was finally released, I'd buy whatever system it was on solely to complete the storyline.

POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN

I'm looking for some sailors

TetraNitroCubane

Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. Yu Suzuki kind of shocked me when he said he thought Sega would let him make Shenmue 3. I recall in the past he's said there would be no way he could conclude the series. I'd love to see the story finished, because I loved the first two, but I'm not going to hold my breath over it. Shenmue always was a pretty niche title. Shenmue will never sell as well as other triple-A type franchise properties (even among lifelong gamers, there's still a great number who found the original game boring), but in the past it has required a comparable budget to the wider-appeal blockbusters. That's not a great payoff for the people writing the checks, so not much incentive to fund it. Still, I hope I'm wrong, because we left Ryo at a fairly interesting turning point, and I want to see where the story goes from there.

In the meantime: Would you like to play a game of Lucky Hit?

DarkPrimus

It will be made for mobile phones and will never be available outside of Japan.

Nocren

I wouldn't go that far... we did get the FF4 sequel and PE3.
Eventually.

With some changes.

On a completely different platform.

At a much higher price.

cloudeagle

Considering the huge amount of money the Shenmue series lost Sega at a time when they were already struggling (it could be considered a contributing factor to the death of the Dreamcast), I think Yu's kidding himself.

Casually Hardcore

IIRC, the original vision for the game was insane. Something like 13 chapters and a few hundred hours of gameplay.

The first one was alright, but the combat system was a PITA.

jclast

If they released Shenmue on XBLA I would buy the hell out of it. Never played II, but if it's back-compat I might look for it (or download it, but I don't think it's an Xbox GoD) since I loved the first one.

randombattle

I've always felt the Yakuza series is a lot like Shenmue. I would think with the success of the recent Yakuza games they would be more receptive about bringing Shenmue back.

HadjiQuest

I wish they would do Shenmue I and II as a dreamcast downloadable HD collection in the near future.

Shenmue II is 360 Compatible, jclast. I used to give used copies out as Christmas presents to try and convert people to the cause.

I have had a copy of Yakuza 1 since 2007, and I still have yet to play it. I should get around to it.

izzyfoshizzy

it seemed to me that all the people who were really into shenmue were video game enthusiasts who were active online, blogged, posted on forums etc. it's a shame that these people are such passionate fans of the game but can't make it go "viral" and spread the word through the interwebs. i feel like much less deserving things have gotten huge attention online (i.e. Snakes on a Plane, etc).

cloudeagle

izzyfoshizzy wrote: »

it seemed to me that all the people who were really into shenmue were video game enthusiasts who were active online, blogged, posted on forums etc. it's a shame that these people are such passionate fans of the game but can't make it go "viral" and spread the word through the interwebs. i feel like much less deserving things have gotten huge attention online (i.e. Snakes on a Plane, etc).

Snakes on a Plane did horribly at the box office.

Just because something gets huge attention from enthusiasts online doesn't mean it'll be a hit. The members of this site represent the actual video game buying trends about as well as a rutabaga.

mntorankusu

Casually Hardcore wrote: »

The first one was alright, but the combat system was a PITA.

The battle system is great.

The problem with it is that it's a really deep system for a game that isn't based entirely around fighting, but you're never given a single reason to even try to learn it. The battles are so few and far between, and none of them are particularly difficult, to the point where I didn't feel the need to put any effort into learning how to fight properly until the final battle of Shenmue II. That's the only fight that was too hard to beat just button mashing.

FrontalMonk

HadjiQuest wrote: »

I wish they would do Shenmue I and II as a dreamcast downloadable HD collection in the near future.

Shenmue II is 360 Compatible, jclast. I used to give used copies out as Christmas presents to try and convert people to the cause.

I have had a copy of Yakuza 1 since 2007, and I still have yet to play it. I should get around to it.

You really should. Yakuza 1 was ridiculously fun IMO.

izzyfoshizzy

mntorankusu wrote: »

Casually Hardcore wrote: »

The first one was alright, but the combat system was a PITA.

The battle system is great.

The problem with it is that it's a really deep system for a game that isn't based entirely around fighting, but you're never given a single reason to even try to learn it. The battles are so few and far between, and none of them are particularly difficult, to the point where I didn't feel the need to put any effort into learning how to fight properly until the final battle of Shenmue II. That's the only fight that was too hard to beat just button mashing.

i absolutely agree with that. i definitely remember button mashing my way through the majority of both games

at this point, i just hope theres a really wealthy shenmue fan who decides to just fund the project.

that or i hope i become extremely wealthy so i can be that guy :winky:

Nocren

Hey, it's on my ToDo list as well.

Nocren's To Do list wrote:

Step 1: Get rich
Step 2: Get cosmetic surgery done
Step 3: Move back into my own place
Step 4: Fund Shenmue 3
Step 5: Book Amazing Jonathon to perform at next birthday party

See?

izzyfoshizzy

haha lmao! I think the funding of shenmue 3 should move up to step 2 tho

Kuratosu

I don't think it ever will be, sadly. I would settle for an Shenmue I&II double pack or an XBLA/PSN release though.

In the meantime, Yu Suzuki was kind enough to let us know just how the rest of the story would go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0KojxIvmQ

Linespider5

Weren't there supposed to be six Shenmue games in total? Or was that just the Sega talking?

mntorankusu

Linespider5 wrote: »

Weren't there supposed to be six Shenmue games in total? Or was that just the Sega talking?

Well, apparently the story was supposed to be told in something like 16 chapters. The first game was only the first chapter, so it would follow that there would be 16 games. The second game picked up the pace, though. Chapter 2 (the boat trip) was skipped and chapters 3-6 were included. By this point, Shenmue III was planned to finish the story.

Who knows how many games were actually planned from the start, though.

apotheos

I remember the one time I played Shenmue II and it was terribly dull so I stopped.

It came with a DVD of the first games cutscenes, so I watched it. It was worse.

So...maybe? But I think Sega has stopped flushing money down sinkholes so I doubt it.

Grombar

If I understand it right, the original Shenmue went so far over budget that, for it to have made a profit, every single Dreamcast owner would have had to buy it twice.

mntorankusu

Grombar wrote: »

If I understand it right, the original Shenmue went so far over budget that, for it to have made a profit, every single Dreamcast owner would have had to buy it twice.

This isn't really true, because a ton of that money went to developing things that weren't yet used in the first game, and things that were going to be reused for the rest of the series. It didn't work out that way, but the big budget makes more sense when you look at it like this.

Edit: The DVD, "Shenmue The Movie" is horrible. I tried to watch it once, and I was bored to tears. I wanted to die. I love the game, but those cutscenes were not designed to be watched in sequence like that.

mxmarks

Clearly you weren't drunk.

I watched it once drunk and it was fantastic.

stevemarks44

Every few months I will be lying in bed and I will be falling asleep and all the sudden I'll be like, "fuck there won't ever be a Shenmue III" and then I get sad and I go to bed.

Shenmue III will probably never happen, but if it did it would be the happiest I've ever been in terms of gaming.

At the very least I want, like, an actual answer as to how it would've ended.

PunkBoy

I make an annual tradition to play through Shenmue II. For some reason I just love the game. I'll probably start playing it when I'm done with Yakuza 4.

stevemarks44

PunkBoy wrote: »

I make an annual tradition to play through Shenmue II. For some reason I just love the game. I'll probably start playing it when I'm done with Yakuza 4.

I honestly could tell you zero about the story or the progression aside from

having to make $1500 or something in order to get into that fighting tournament

but all I can remember is that I literally was so satisfied through 100% of the game.

Grimthwacker

If any titles deserve to be released on XBLA or PSN, it would be the Shenmue titles, especially since you could actually go through with transferring all of your learned moves and collectibles from the first to the second unlike with the original releases (what with the original being on DC in the majority of the West and the sequel being released on the XBox - unless you were in Europe, in which case I hate you so much). Still, Shenmue was darn good stuff. Wandering the streets asking vague and uncomfortable questions to everybody you meet, taking time off to train and spar, playing Space Harrier from noon to night (which I did frequently). . . Suzuki deserved better than what happened to Sega in general and Shenmue in particular.

Also, do you anything about the Four Wudu?

PunkBoy

Actually, I remember why I love the game. I was a huge martial arts nerd when I was a kid, and I loved that II's story was all about martial arts and philosophy. Also, Xiuying owns. One of my favorite characters of all time.

stevemarks44

JOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Best opening of a song in any game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_FCvWAU024

PunkBoy

Speaking of Joy, does anyone know what she tells Ryo when she first picks him up to go to work? It's something in Chinese.

cj iwakura

Shenmue 1 is fantastic, Shenmue 2 is okay-good, and I really don't like Yakuza. It's Shenmue without the soul.

Ranced

No, it's never coming out. I can't imagine who a sequel would sell to other than the two dozen of us still maybe, kinda interested.

Zek

Shenmue was a ridiculous game, it was incredibly ambitious to the point that anyone with any sense should have known that the game as they envisioned it was an impossible pipe dream. You have to give them credit for trying, and a lot of the stuff they did was a pretty big deal at the time IIRC, but man it was just never going to work.

cj iwakura

Shenmue still holds up visually, even(if not especially) compared to Yakuza 4.

Ranced

I've never played Yakuza 4 but I can't imagine it looking as bad as Shenmue 2. I still have the game and was surprised at how terribly it aged.

Played the Xbox version (has improved texture quality) at 480p, btw.

PunkBoy

Yeah, gonna have to disagree with cj here. I love Shenmue's art style, and there are some beautiful moments (e.g. the end location of 2, and some of the wide panning shots of Kowloon) but it doesn't hold up to the later Yakuza games. In any case, 4 is an excellent game, but that's for the Yakuza thread.

EDIT: And I'm going to stand by the the ridiculous belief that if Sega was able to make Yakuza 3 and 4 successful in the US after botching promoting 1 and 2, they can revive the Shenmue series. (Yeah, the logic makes no sense, but I gotta believe )

Gold Sting

If the game gets enough support from fans, I'm sure Sega would make it. In the mean time though you could go buy the next crappy sonic game...

Vegan

When you guys play Shenmue, do you go with random weather or historical weather? Discuss.

Tommatt

Shenmue would be amazing on today's consoles. Loved one, beat it so many times. Have 2 for xbox but never played it. Is it 360 compatible?

DaveTheWave

You know what was awesome?

Not having to listen to the shitty American dub while playing Shenmue II.

Loved both games though, even with I's terrible VA.