Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

Reprise said:
Why doesn't it? Everything we create under contract to our employers belongs to our employers, unless there is an exception in our contract or they decide we can take without charge.

Hypothetically, Yu Suzuki might be able to negotiate that he can use the work he does on a new Virtua Fighter game and use that to aid development in another game, like Shenmue 4, if they did contact him. Realistically though, unless there is a financial insensitive for them, they aren't necessarily going to be like "oh yeah, sure, do what you like".

It's all hypothetical though. I seriously doubt Sega would bring him back to make a new Virtua Fighter. If Sega does work on something VF related, it'll probably just be some collection of the original games or enhanced port.
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Well it’s legally right but not morally right. Sega should do the right thing and allow Suzuki to use the engine he created for Shenmue. Why is Sega being so petty?
 
YS is a living legend and my favorite developer, so don’t take this the wrong way. He didn’t work on VF5. How much of the engine in VF5 was brand new vs built on the prior 4 games? I imagine VF6 will be even farther removed from YS’s oversight. I don’t see how you can make a claim Sega’s obligated to let him use the engine. I think it’d be a great honor and I would give them endless credit for doing it, but this is a business not a philanthropic organization dedicated to the conclusion of the Shenmue series. They’ve had 20 years to “hook up” YS and help him conclude Shenmue and the best they did was let him use the license for an indie game.

On the topic of VF6. Hasn’t YS expressed boredom over the idea of creating so many sequels? I sort of remember him talking about how he prefers to work on new games. I think Shenmue is the exception since it’s all been outlined and there’s such a fan desire for more. While I’m sure he’d be honored to work for Sega or on VF6, beyond advisory roles, I doubt he’s that interested in the series at this point.
 
Remember he did meet the series director in March for dinner. They could easily have chatted VF
 
mjqjazzbar said:
YS is a living legend and my favorite developer, so don’t take this the wrong way. He didn’t work on VF5. How much of the engine in VF5 was brand new vs built on the prior 4 games? I imagine VF6 will be even farther removed from YS’s oversight. I don’t see how you can make a claim Sega’s obligated to let him use the engine. I think it’d be a great honor and I would give them endless credit for doing it, but this is a business not a philanthropic organization dedicated to the conclusion of the Shenmue series. They’ve had 20 years to “hook up” YS and help him conclude Shenmue and the best they did was let him use the license for an indie game.

On the topic of VF6. Hasn’t YS expressed boredom over the idea of creating so many sequels? I sort of remember him talking about how he prefers to work on new games. I think Shenmue is the exception since it’s all been outlined and there’s such a fan desire for more. While I’m sure he’d be honored to work for Sega or on VF6, beyond advisory roles, I doubt he’s that interested in the series at this point.
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He designed the core VF engine that they merely iterated on.
 
SMDzero said:
He designed the core VF engine that they merely iterated on.
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I think they did more than merely iterate on it. VF5 appears to be the favorite VF game these days and I’m not sure what’s original and what’s new. Obviously he created the franchise and they’ve maintained his vision with the most balanced fighting game in existence, but I’m curious if the engine is based on something he programmed himself. You have to credit the AM2 team, which Sega still owns.
 
spud1897 said:
With that point of view it is.

We did it once we will do it again
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But it’s been 4 years and they haven’t even started S4 yet.

What event will be the catalyst for S4 to be announced? The whole Kickstarter fad was a once in a lifetime thing and won’t be repeated.

What will be the new hot set of circumstances that will result in S4?

Why would S4 get a publisher without relying on the fans to pay for nearly 1/2 the budget when S3 failed to get even that?

And how many more years do we need to wait? Perhaps another 5 years for the game to be announced and another 4 years of development time so another decade?

Maybe we’ll finally play the end of Shenmue in 20 years when YS has passed and we are all senior citizens? We will have wasted our lives waiting?

I say we’re done.

Let’s just petition YS to tell us the story and we can move on and get on with our lives.
 
SMDzero said:
But it’s been 4 years and they haven’t even started S4 yet.

What event will be the catalyst for S4 to be announced? The whole Kickstarter fad was a once in a lifetime thing and won’t be repeated.

What will be the new hot set of circumstances that will result in S4?

Why would S4 get a publisher without relying on the fans to pay for nearly 1/2 the budget when S3 failed to get even that?

And how many more years do we need to wait? Perhaps another 5 years for the game to be announced and another 4 years of development time so another decade?

Maybe we’ll finally play the end of Shenmue in 20 years when YS has passed and we are all senior citizens? We will have wasted our lives waiting?

I say we’re done.

Let’s just petition YS to tell us the story and we can move on and get on with our lives.
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If you want to give up then by all means but we won't be.

Yu Suzuki won't tell the story unless it is really over.

Lastly Cedric has not made comment on those 110 rumours etc. Who says he's involved in the current state of play? I'm not saying 4 is in development because I'm pretty sure it isn't but there's always more than meets the eye.

This is exactly what happened between 2 and 3 and we got 3. Keep the faith.
 
spud1897 said:
If you want to give up then by all means but we won't be.

Yu Suzuki won't tell the story unless it is really over.

Lastly Cedric has not made comment on those 110 rumours etc. Who says he's involved in the current state of play? I'm not saying 4 is in development because I'm pretty sure it isn't but there's always more than meets the eye.

This is exactly what happened between 2 and 3 and we got 3. Keep the faith.
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I was looking through the old S3 thread. Everyone was so optimistic someone even predicted that we would get Shenmue 5 by 2023 😭.


We only got Shenmue 3 after waiting 20 years and we had to foot the bill for the game.

Are you willing to wait another 20 years to see this series through?

I’m all for being an optimist but we are now at the point where we have run out of time.

I mean at this point maybe we just petition YS to do another Kickstarter.

We could raise a good $2 Million and get a basic Shenmue 4 telltale like game and that will be the story.
 
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spud1897 said:
With that point of view it is.

We did it once we will do it again
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We did do it once, but the number of voices that lent themselves to that campaign were much larger then. I just don't think there is that same lust or fire that there was. A lot of casual voices lent themselves to the number requesting Shenmue 3. It had become almost symbolic or something, it was like Half Life 3 and other unreleased sequels, with there being a mystique to it. There was a snowball effect, where a bunch of casuals (or even just people who played one or both games back in the day but weren't necessarily huge fans) jumped on board. I remember on forums back in the day "we want Shenmue 3", "Sega, release Shenmue 3" was practically a meme. All sorts of casual gamers would namedrop it as a game they wanted.

If I sound negative, it's because I am. To me, the path to securing the franchises future was laid upon us when the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was announced. That was Yu Suzuki's moment and our moment. That was the time to save Shenmue. They and we needed to prove the demand and then prove that a Shenmue game can be a success, so that a publisher then comes on board to ensure the franchise continues. So yes, the fact that they/we failed on that does depress me. The fact that we have to fight for a Shenmue 4 depresses me. Even more so now that "we" basically amounts to a meagre number of fans left on a few social media groups and forums like this. It's not like there's an army of fans clamouring for the 4th game. If no publisher cared in 2020, or 2021, or 2022, or 2023, then realistically I don't really know what people expect to change in 2024 or beyond that will make one suddenly jump on board.
 
Revan said:
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Uh, that one hurt! Yes, it's more likely that S4 is not in development at all and that the odds are not in our favor (as it was way back then).

Just for funs sake and to refresh the keep the faith attitude a bit. Isn't it bizarre, that Cedric is making this rather insightful comment one day before the Game Awards? Makes you wonder... 🤓🔍Could be the coldest troll move ever or more likely the hard truth.
 
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Reprise said:
We did do it once, but the number of voices that lent themselves to that campaign were much larger then. I just don't think there is that same lust or fire that there was. A lot of casual voices lent themselves to the number requesting Shenmue 3. It had become almost symbolic or something, it was like Half Life 3 and other unreleased sequels, with there being a mystique to it. There was a snowball effect, where a bunch of casuals (or even just people who played one or both games back in the day but weren't necessarily huge fans) jumped on board. I remember on forums back in the day "we want Shenmue 3", "Sega, release Shenmue 3" was practically a meme. All sorts of casual gamers would namedrop it as a game they wanted.

If I sound negative, it's because I am. To me, the path to securing the franchises future was laid upon us when the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was announced. That was Yu Suzuki's moment and our moment. That was the time to save Shenmue. They and we needed to prove the demand and then prove that a Shenmue game can be a success, so that a publisher then comes on board to ensure the franchise continues. So yes, the fact that they/we failed on that does depress me. The fact that we have to fight for a Shenmue 4 depresses me. Even more so now that "we" basically amounts to a meagre number of fans left on a few social media groups and forums like this. It's not like there's an army of fans clamouring for the 4th game. If no publisher cared in 2020, or 2021, or 2022, or 2023, then realistically I don't really know what people expect to change in 2024 or beyond that will make one suddenly jump on board.
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The Kickstarter was about Shenmue 3 on its surface but it’s underlying goal was Saving Shenmue and that failed.

You are right. We shouldn’t have to fight for every damn installment we don’t have the time or energy. Another fight for S4, then a fight for S5 decades down the road….we are on track to do this for the rest of our lives at this rate.
 
Wow, I am really happy actually. Firstly, it is an update on the status of Shenmue 4. We have waited for so long and finally we know they are still pitching it.
I know, people were hoping it was in development, however I am just happy that they haven't given up. So why should we?

Secondly, I do consider the kickstarter a valid option, honestly. Will we reach 11 million or whatever it was again? Who knows.
On the other hand, there is always that core of diehard fans that continued to exist for ~15 years until Shenmue 3 was announced. Even if another kickstarter campaign ended with say 2 million. Shenmue would continue and I would be happy with that.


Look at it this way: After Shenmue 3 got (in my opinion unfairly) bombarded with negative reviews, it still led to a successful anime. Keeping the ip alive in amy form might always lead to more content. So I for one am positive about these news.
 
SMDzero said:
Another fight for S4, a fight for S5 decades down the road….we are on track to do this for the rest of our lives at this rate.
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And that is a problem... why exactly?

I mean, yes I totally understand that it is from time to time very exhausting. On the other hand it was very (VERY) rewarding when we got the kickstarter and S3. And since the release it was most of the time a lot of fun here in the forum to anticipate, interact and go for the goodies of the rumor talk (Think: Bananas and Apples :) )

That being said, just imagine we can get another Shenmue by mere patient endurance and dedication (AGAIN). Isn't that a real life Shenmue Experience of some sort? Art mimics Life, Life mimics Art.

Does it take time? Yes. Does it take effort? Yes. Isn't it a lot of fun? Most likely so.

It's all about the journey. I prefer that experience any day of the week than the current times of cheap, soulless entertainment products and toxic fandom.
 
SMDzero said:
I was looking through the old S3 thread. Everyone was so optimistic someone even predicted that we would get Shenmue 5 by 2023 😭.


We only got Shenmue 3 after waiting 20 years and we had to foot the bill for the game.

Are you willing to wait another 20 years to see this series through?

I’m all for being an optimist but we are now at the point where we have run out of time.

I mean at this point maybe we just petition YS to do another Kickstarter.

We could raise a good $2 Million and get a basic Shenmue 4 telltale like game and that will be the story.
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I'll wait as long as it takes. As life goes on things change sure but I will always want and wait for a Shenmue 4.
 
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