Sega needs to just fire the poor guy already so he go somewhere and prove them to be the idiots they are. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6207395.html
Yu Suzuki produced some genuinely revolutionary titles in a fifteen-year run few in the games industry ever get to sample, yet in recent times he's become reliant on his past... much like Sega as a whole, in fact. I'm sure he's got plenty of great ideas left, but lately this once prolific genius been reduced to answering the occasional question about Shenmue III and - presumably - keeping a distant eye on franchises he created, such as OutRun and Virtua Fighter. Even if he did make a worthy comeback (and we got a decent Sonic game for once!), does the majority care anymore? Shenmue didn't exactly set the gaming world alight in ways Sega hoped, and now only the die-hard fans would rush out to buy a remake or continuation. Of course, I'll be the first to admit that I fit into the "hardcore supporter" category, though it's disheartening to see a once loyal company realising it doesn't need personnel who no longer provide best-seller material. Suzuki missed his opportunity to leave at a dignified moment, even if he did briefly attempt to found his own group with DigitalRex after management within Sega lost faith in Shenmue as a profitable series. Now, unlike fellow producers such as Tetsuya Mizuguchi and more recently Yuji Naka, poor old Yu Suzuki will remain forever associated with Sega as the mere shadow of its former self it is today instead of abandoning the mothership before it was too late. Of course, there's nothing to say he can't still redeem himself...
Of Sega's high-quality products, I don't think knowledgeable gamers or journalists disagree. In particular, I think Shenmue could have occupied the mental space in the zeitgeist that Grand Theft Auto presently does. The main reason that the majority doesn't care is because Sega can't do marketing or promotion. They're uniquely humble (in that bizarre, Asian way) and want to be recognized based on merit only and not based on how loud they shout. As we all know now, that bit of idealistic behavior doesn't work in the real world. We see the same result in the Yakuza and Shining products out right now, in that they're excellent games that nobody's heard of. I'm not as disillusioned with Sega as the rest of the gaming world is. The Sonic games they put out are making money by way of kids and their parents, so the disappointment of the hardcore gamers is a secondary concern. Publishing items by From, Obsidian and Creative Assembly has led to all kinds of mutual benefit (not the least of which is greatness by association in both directions.) And not having to fund R&D on hardware means their margin is a lot wider than they're used to operating with, even five years later. I'm pretty confident that they'll bounce back and be relevant again.
The first was mediocre at best. The fight engine was clunky, the characters horribly cliche', and story, while not bad, was nothing to get excited about. Latter installments seem to alleviate the clunky fight engine (although the demo of Kenzan I played was boring) the story & characters are still straight out of some lame Japanese TV show. I've not put enough time into the the 3D shinings, but they hit me as meh. The 2D one which looked really good (Wind?), sucked massive ass. Bad enough that I didn't bother w/ the sequel, and I'm a 2D whore. There is very little that sets these franchises apart from other "modern" games. Shenmue had a little cheese in there, and while it was not everyone's cup of tea, it was unique -- something you'd expect from Suzuki at any time, and Sega up until about the time they got out of the hardware biness. I need to translate some of the articles out of Sega Arcade History. Some great bits of info in there. One of the recurring themes from the old-timers was that Sega let them do what they wanted to an extent. And that was pretty much Sega's golden age, I would say.
You should go back and check out Shining Force EXA if you get a chance. It recycles the dungeon and world areas from SF Neo, but it adds an extra bit of urgency to what would otherwise be a garden variety Diablo clone. Your troops are always split into two parties of three, and if your team in the field takes too long to finish a mission then your base gets attacked and you have to fight off a random monster horde. Having that clock counting down all the time was pretty exciting, and the only problem I had with EXA was that the last dungeon ratcheted up the difficulty too high. Wind is the third game in the series (sixth if you count the two Soul games and Tears) and didn't hit the States for lack of interest. A shame, as it was the prettiest as far as art concepts go.
I hope no member at the Shenmue Dojo commits suicides or starts an online patent to force Yu Suzuki to continue working on Shenmue III.
Not really surprising, it's not like Sega has, bar a few exceptions, cared about making good or innovative games since they went out of the hardware business. They didn't have room for someone who has made some of the best games of all time.
I'll say it again... Shenmue was not the result of one man's work. A third game in the series is still possible without Yu Suzuki. There are all sorts of talented programmers, artists, and producers in the industry who currently work for Sega or have worked with Sega before who could be involved in such a project, were it to be initiated. Let's not make him out to be like George Lucas or something; Sega owns the Shenmue property, and not any one individual.
If the rumours from a few years ago are true, AM2 had a standalone version of Yu Suzuki's entire Shenmue saga complete as far back as 2003 with the only thing left to do choosing what platform the end result should be ported to. This wouldn't really need Suzuki's involvement, and I'm sure Sega would respect its fans by at least getting the original mastermind back on board - even if it's just in a supervisory role to allow his name on the final product somewhere. Those familiar with the Virtua Fighter franchise will known that Suzuki's tight reign first started slipping with its fourth installment, yet the series hasn't exactly turned out too bad. Sure, instead of evolving from VF3 we've seen a refinement of the (admittedly) more popular VF2 mould, with each new release since giving only minor graphical improvements in contrast with earlier titles. Maybe the reason for Sega's hesitance to "finish" Shenmue or commit to a remake/update announcement is because of fears that it will disappoint unless the resulting game is absolutely perfect and worthy of such a hyped wait? After all, even the Sega of today must have learned from recent critical and commercial failures starring once reliable characters such as Sonic or perhaps NiGHTS to a lesser extent... despite the fact it's still intent on destroying the former's reputation for good!
