Shenmue III Trademark filed

If Shenmue III comes out, even if it gets horrible reviews and people say it's a mess, I'll still buy it. If it's on a system I don't own yet, I'll buy that system specifically for Shenmue III. I don't give a fuck.

 

What this guy said.

We want Shenmue 3!!!!

 

Sega could make Shenmue III without breaking the bank by tweaking the engine they use for the Yakuza Series. Those games are pretty much the spiritual successor to Shenmue anyways.

The real question though is would we want it?

 

WHERE IS MY SEGAGAGA II?

 

x

 

Shenmue 3. The previous one was on Dreamcast, which also had Half Life.

Half Life 3 confirmed.

 

It's already out, on the original Xbox

 

I call this series the mother of all timed event games.

 

I've never played Shenmue 1 or 2, but I've heard of them (if I remember rightly, Retro Gamer (British commercial retro-gaming magazine) even said that Shenmue 2 was the best ever Dreamcast game. I think they are free-roaming RPGs, first (or is it third? I think it wasn't top down, from what I remember in RG's screenshots) person viewpoint, but what are they like? What's the objective(s) in the game, where are the games set, what stands them apart from other RPGs, etc, please?

I know I could just Google and get a million reviews, but it's more interesting to get fans' opinions in a thread, I think, as you get a debate going.

 

RPG is not really the correct term; it has some RPG-like elements, but it's really in a category of its own. I would describe it as an open world story-based life simulator. Most of the game takes place in the third-person view, though it is possible to examine your surroundings from a first-person view. I'm not going to summarize the whole story, but the gist is this: it takes place in Yokosuka, Japan in 1986. The father of the main character, Ryo, is killed by a mysterious man named Lan Di, who also steals his father's mirror. Ryo vows to find Lan Di and avenge his father's death. To do so, he goes on a quest to learn more about his father's killer, his stolen mirror, and the circumstances surrounding his death.

In addition to the free-roaming and adventure sections, there are also fighting sections (it has a complete fighting engine), driving sections, minigames (which are actually complete ports of Sega arcade games), and QTE (quick time event) sections. QTE is pretty common in games today, but Shenmue was one of the first games to use it. It's a "living world" game similar to later GTA games, but it predates those games. The world of the game exists independent of the player and is constantly moving and changing around him.

Graphically, the game was very advanced for its time. The amount of detail that went into every part of the game, down to things as small as batteries and milk bottles, is pretty amazing for the time it was made. It also had the highest budget of any game produced up to that time. It was one of the first games to use motion capture for character movement. It has some very memorable music, as well as some amazingly bad, but somehow endearing, English voice-acting. Many gamers (including myself) consider it to be one of the best games of all time.

So, there you go. Obviously I haven't explained the entire game, but those are the main points. That's just the first Shenmue - the second one is similar in some ways, but it introduces many new things as well. I won't get into all of that.

 

Jumping in to say Retro Gamer magazine was wrong about shenmue 2 being the top DC game. The game had alot of slowdown when running through the streets in the dc version. This was eliminated in the xbox 1 version. Jet set radio was the best dc game but thats another topic.

I think if they get the Yakuza team behind Shenmue then they'd have a surefire hit. I don't think that team has made one bad game yet.

 

Aw man, how I wish Shenmue III were true. Sadly, everyone else is right. It wouldn't do well in this Era unless they revamp the whole game, which then, wouldn't feel like a Shenmue game anymore. I'd probably buy it anyway. Been a sucker for Shenmue since I first held that Dreamcast Controller

 

la-li-lu-le-lo, thanks for the detailed summary, that's great. The game does sound very interesting, and very ambitious, especially for it's time. From the love it still seems to get from fans, I take it the games have aged very well too, and are still worth playing? Also, since it's so old, I take it it doesn't hold your hand, and you have to think to play it (unlike modern first person shooters, where the linearity, constant onscreen prompts everytime you can do anything (open a door, pick up a weapon, press a (in-game) button, etc), and a constant onscreen pointer telling you exactly where the next objective is? I hate the way modern FPSs have been so dumbed down.

Anyway, Shenmue 1 and 2 don't sound like my sort of game, so I probably won't try them, but if I do (I might try to track down Shenmue 2 for the XBox, as I collect XBox games - I've just checked and I don't have Shenmue) is it enough to watch the video that describes the events of Shenmue 1, or should I look for a write up on the 'net, or would I really have to play Shenmue 1 to get the proper feel and atmosphere? If the latter, what machines did Shenmue 1 appear on? I don't have a Dreamcast, though I have been thinking about getting one for years (I have two Nintendo consoles, to Microsoft, and two Sony, but as yet no Sega and no Atari consoles).

 

I think that, in order to get the full experience, you need to play both games. Personally I enjoy the first one more, but they're both good games. I prefer the European Dreamcast version of Shenmue II to the Xbox version (although I have both) because the Dreamcast version is in Japanese with English subtitles. The Japanese voice acting isn't perfect, and it's a little strange considering most of the characters are Chinese - but it's still better than the English voice acting. Of course this isn't an option with the original Shenmue, but I think it's worth it to experience Shenmue II in that way. It is a little expensive at the moment. There was never an American release of Shenmue II for DC - only in Japan and Europe. The Xbox version was released in the US, though.

 

fixed

 

^No shit, Einstein. Pirating games is a lot cheaper than buying them.

 

I'm going to call it and I know it'll upset a lot of people but I reckon it'll be Shenmue 3 available on Itunes and Google Play if it ever becomes a real project. I hope I am proven wrong though.

 

Oh man, that would be the worst possible outcome if it became true. I'd rather have nothing that some mobile game.

 

Why would you think that? That would only make sense if they stopped making console and PC games entirely, which is not happening anytime soon as I see it. Why would they release Shenmue III exclusively on smartphones?

 

iTunes and Google Play would be an odd choice to put a real game with depth. If Shenmue III ever did get made it would most likely be on XBOX Live/PSN/Steam or a portable platform (not mobile).