Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

Hi guys ive been around the shenmue community for a while but only just joined the dojo today, a real treat to meet even more fanatics as big as myself or bigger and discuss theories, plot points and developments. Thank you for having me and genuinely nice to meet you all 👍 well didn't Yu tease last year when questioned by the very same people regarding a new year resolution for 2021 his reply was "a sequel to...' but nothing came to fruition. Maybe the covid situation pushed it back...but seeing again this year for 22 that he "hopes to announce something" seems very intriguing especially since the anime will be done and out. There's a perfect opportunity there to announce part 4 to capitalise on any hype the anime gains and stirs up... definitely looks to be an exciting year.
 
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Jobi14119 said:
Hi guys ive been around the shenmue community for a while but only just joined the dojo today, a real treat to meet even more fanatics as big as myself or bigger and discuss theories, plot points and developments. Thank you for having me and genuinely nice to meet you all 👍 well didn't Yu tease last year when questioned by the very same people regarding a new year resolution for 2021 his reply was "a sequel to...' but nothing came to fruition. Maybe the covid situation pushed it back...but seeing again this year for 22 that he "hopes to announce something" seems very intriguing especially since the anime will be done and out. There's a perfect opportunity there to announce part 4 to capitalise on any hype the anime gains and stirs up... definitely looks to be an exciting year.
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I hope to see Shenmue IV running on the PS6 at 120fps auto HDR, would be a blast to see.
 
Jobi14119 said:
Hi guys ive been around the shenmue community for a while but only just joined the dojo today, a real treat to meet even more fanatics as big as myself or bigger and discuss theories, plot points and developments. Thank you for having me and genuinely nice to meet you all 👍 well didn't Yu tease last year when questioned by the very same people regarding a new year resolution for 2021 his reply was "a sequel to...' but nothing came to fruition. Maybe the covid situation pushed it back...but seeing again this year for 22 that he "hopes to announce something" seems very intriguing especially since the anime will be done and out. There's a perfect opportunity there to announce part 4 to capitalise on any hype the anime gains and stirs up... definitely looks to be an exciting year.
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Welcome to the forums!
 
Jobi14119 said:
Thank you spud! Very nice to meet you my friend. :) I've just been reading some of your posts here got to say very thought provoking and intriguing...makes me wish I signed up sooner lol
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Anytime is a good time to sign up to this place.

There's plenty of awesome members here who post a large range of really detailed and insightful posts.

Hopefully you've found the Dojo YouTube page. We've got our podcast/ interview series on there which we started around this time last year.

Plenty of Shenmue content to sink your teeth into and more to come!
 
spud1897 said:
Anytime is a good time to sign up to this place.

There's plenty of awesome members here who post a large range of really detailed and insightful posts.

Hopefully you've found the Dojo YouTube page. We've got our podcast/ interview series on there which we started around this time last year.

Plenty of Shenmue content to sink your teeth into and more to come!
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Yeah there's been many fascinating threads, posts and forums that I've browsed and read through some things I've never even thought that make me think that makes a ton of sense it's awesome already no regrets. I think ive met a few members already via facebook and also twitter during the tweetathons but here provides another opportunity to meet more. :) I watched the youtube channel quite often especially when it's exchanging theories and personal proposals/points of where this masterpiece is going. Genuinely looking forward to more of your content coming but like you said plenty to read here, digest and reply to here. Thank you for having me!
 

Here is my take in Yu Suzuki's aspirations for the year 2022.​

keywords for 2022​

MIX, ENGLISH AND "MIX"

2022 aspirations​

work with people from different industries, such as movies and musicians.

i want to breathe a different wind into making games.

i hope to know something in 2022.

status report​

i'm playing the game without a pattern. if you don't know about trends, you can't talk to people around you. i was happy to have so many unique games.

what to look out for in 2022​

Of course, it is"Shenmue the Animation"scheduled to be released in 2022! You can enjoy the world of "Shenmue"much easier than the game. Please look forward to "Shenmue" that anyone can enjoy.

My take on Yu Suzuki's aspirations for 2022 is that he is doing the field work to make Shenmue IV happen.
The keyword MIX seems to imply that he wants to "work as much as possible with people from other industries ranging from movies and music just like he mentioned."
"My guess is that this may possibly imply that he wants to work with the people that are working on the Shenmue Anime for the development of Shenmue IV or at least apply things that he learned in this process in the development of the game; this goes in tune with him stating that "he wants to breath a different wind into making games."
As for the hope of "knowing something in 2022" is for me the confirmation if he will be able to develop Shenmue IV or not.
I guess this may be implied with the fact of the Shenmue Anime being a success or not.

As for Yu Suzuki playing games; I guess he is researching on how he can modernize Shenmue IV enough to captivate new players into the franchise and at the same time keep some of essence intact for older more hardcore fans of the series.

If my guess is wrong and this has nothing to do with the development of Shenmue IV; then i really don't want to know nothing about it.
I really hope that the Anime isn't just an excuse to wrap up the series and make us slowly give up on Shenmue ending in a video game format.
 
After the events of Shenmue III what if now in shenhuas poem/prophecy Lan Di is infact the dragon and Niao Sun is the pheonix the battle between the 2 heavenly beasts is infact the rift we see within the chi you men...and by the time IV comes around (if it does) the end sets up the collision course between dragon/pheonix and the morning star that glistens alone in the aftermath is ryo.
 
It is good that Yu-san is playing modern games in order to understand what the mainstream plays these days. I just hope he can keep the essence of Shenmue alive even with modernising. The optimal way to do that is a modern gta mode and a retro mode. I am daydreaming now of course because it would be way too much work to make 2 games in one.

But modern gameplay elements would kill Shenmue. The essence of Shenmue is everything modern games cannot do or do not want to do.

But if anyone can do that task to make both player types hype it is Yu-San. I trust him completely.
 
I feel that "Mix" can also mean a mix of old style and new style for Shenmue IV, if Yu Suzuki thought of Shenmue IV when he said that.

Old style = Shenmue Style/Experience from previous games
New style = Trying different things, new things

Let's imagine for a moment that Shenmue IV will be in the same style of the previous games, specially the same style as Shenmue III that kept 100% the Shenmue essence, style and experience of the previous games but add new things like fishing, herb gathering, change clothes and much more.

If Shenmue IV have the same style of gameplay as the previous games i would be completely okay with this because to me this is not dated and aged poorly, Shenmue III is not dated, it is just a different style of game.

It is just a different style but the game industry and other people view this as bad and dated that aged poorly, sadly it is what it is and i don't understand this things in the game industry right now.

A similar thing happened with Kojima, he made Death Stranding with a different style and some people even said that it is a bad game, that it is a walking simulator, that it is boring and much more, i still need to play Death Stranding but i feel that i will enjoy this game, and this is what the game industry needs in my opinion, different styles and diversity, i really don't want all the games series in the game industry to be the same thing.

For Shenmue III i remember Yu Suzuki saying that 70% is the same style as the previous games and 30% trying new things, at the time he said that he was making Shenmue III and he said that he always came up with new concepts and ideas for the game, something like this.

Changing a game series can be good depending on the series but depending on how this is done maybe it will be bad and a lot of people will complain. I remember what happen to Resident Evil when CAPCOM decided to make RE with more action, some people complained a lot and said that this is not RE, CAPCOM heard the fans and made RE Revelations 1 and 2 that is a mix of the old survivor horror and action, and with RE 7 and 8 CAPCOM decided to drastically change RE again, now RE is a first person game.

But back to Shenmue... If Shenmue IV happen i really feel that will be a mix, maybe this time 50% the same style as the previous games and 50% new things.

I feel that many things of the style of the previous games will be in Shenmue IV, the essence of Shenmue will be in the game for example Ryo having to ask the NPCs for informations/clues and after that writing on the notebook, this is one of the parts of the essence of Shenmue to me and i hope that it will continue this way in Shenmue IV.

But the execution of some things will probably be different, depending on how this will be made i will enjoy, but if Yu Suzuki remove 100% of the things that makes Shenmue so unique then i will not enjoy, but let's see what will happen.

But it is clear to me that he wants to bring a different style this time, so we will probably see a lot of new things but without changing the essence and the Shenmue experience drastically.
 
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Honestly, steering Shenmue fairly toward modern expectations,
in regard to interface or some gameplay schemes,
may improve the game, or at least its accessibility to Shen-newbies.

As long as the universe stays in-character, it's great, for me.
(So, I'm ok with some leaning toward "Yakuza-conversion",
but, no dark-cofee Shenmue, please. -need some tea and milk still-)


Also, the mix/duality of this thread's post contents.
Striking balance between the all-out joke and stern arguments,
this is somewhat an allegory of what Shenmue may be questing to.

nshcof10.jpg
 
I remember seeing fans handwringing about "modernisation" through Shenmue III's development, and in the end we got something incredibly authentic to the experience of the originals to the chagrin of mainstream audiences.

This time around YsNet should feel free to branch out and experiment with the formula without worries of reprisals from fans, IMO. As long as "modernisation" isn't a byword for braindead gameplay, it's all good.
 
I wonder if Sega will lend a hand into helping with the fourth entry, based on their surprise at how well the HD versions sold and overall fervor of the fanbase.
 
Spaghetti said:
I remember seeing fans handwringing about "modernisation" through Shenmue III's development, and in the end we got something incredibly authentic to the experience of the originals to the chagrin of mainstream audiences.

This time around YsNet should feel free to branch out and experiment with the formula without worries of reprisals from fans, IMO. As long as "modernisation" isn't a byword for braindead gameplay, it's all good.
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I agree that YsNet should feel free to branch out and experiment with the formula, depending on the changes and how YSNet do this i will enjoy, changes and new ideas can be good and i'm not against that, but like i said in my other post if they remove everything that make Shenmue so special, different and unique then i will not enjoy.

I think in Shenmue IV Yu Suzuki will evolve the Shenmue experience, he will improve a lot of things, change and add some things, but i don't think he will change Shenmue drastically, i just know that Shenmue needs to stay like Shenmue.

Of course YSNet can experiment with the formula and try new ideas, change some things and things like that, but Shenmue is not Yakuza, Shenmue is not GTA, Shenmue is not Watch Dogs, Shenmue is not Tomb Raider, Shenmue is Shenmue and this is why i love so much this games series, it is the different, special and unique things about Shenmue that it is one of the reasons why i love Shenmue so much.

Even if Yu Suzuki decide to change a lot of things i just hope that Shenmue will continue to have its own essence and identity.
 
In terms of gameplay, I struggle to think about what was outdated about Shenmue 3...
Presentation wise you could make the case for animations being below 2019 standards...

But gameplay? The Shenmue formula hasn't been attempted by other devs, let alone surpassed. It logically cannot be outdated.
 
I think to be honest to the casual gamer of the present Shenmue III was very slow story wise and pacing wise. The character interactions were awkward, the voice acting at some points were just meh, designs were often critiqued as last gen and so on. What enchanted us and what we adored about this masterpeice series simply might not appeal to the majority of the current audience... they want fast paced and action packed titles think the reason also other devs won't attempt the same formula as shenmue is because shenmue is forever tied to the demise of the dreamcast even though we know different about that whole ordeal they probably don't want to repeat a mistake that could affect their own respective studios it's sad really you actually have a beautiful story driven game that pieces itself together as you go along but people just rush into one part and immediately judge as something less when infact its something more...shenmue is a title that needs to be experienced from the start to its current point to truly grasp it's greatness.
 
I think that Shenmue IV would fair very well with a cause and effect system of gameplay; something a bit similar to Zelda Breath of the Wild.
I would like to see Ryo interact more with the world of Shenmue IV and the world also interact more with Ryo.
Per example everytime Ryo would perform an activity such as training or working a job to make money; Ryo would lose gradually a portion of his stamina depending on how hard and how much time he would spend performing that activity.
This could be felt and seen by the player through per example the vibration on the controller and in Ryo's body animations; wich would also imply that the task he would perform would also be more dificult for the player in terms of performing it with the controller.
To counter this effect Ryo would have to take a break from time to time to replenish his stamina either by drinking an energy drink if the loss of stamina was low or if he would lose a lot of stamina he would have to take longer break and eat a meal to recover from a greater loss of stamina.
Non of this should be forced upon the player like what happened with Ryo in Shenmue 3 where he would lose health just by simply exploring the world.

Everyting should be a consequense of the players actions and decisions he makes when playing with Ryo.
When fighting everything that I mentioned before should also be applied with the addition that Ryo might get injured and might have seek medical help or buy medicine to fully recover his health and not to forget that resting and meditating should also be an important factor to consider in Ryo's recovery; either from performing activities or fighting.

From the description that i'm giving you guys might think that i want Shenmue IV to become a simulator game; but that is not the case; that's why I gave Breath of the Wild's system as an example that could be followed by Shenmue.
This system would have to be simple and very natural with an arcade feel to it; going in tune with the essence of the Shenmue series.

For me one of the highlights of Shenmue 3 was how Ryo had to interact much more with the world around him than in the previous titles of the series and feel that if this feature is evolved and expanded upon in Shenmue IV that it can become one of its highlights.
 
I'm trying hard not to let my expectations run wild, but I admit I'm getting pretty excited after Yu-san's tease.

The announcement could be for a completely different project separate from Shenmue, but with 2022 also being the year of the anime and knowing that YS Net were pitching Shenmue 4 to publishers last year, I can't help but wonder. Could this be it?🤞
 
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