Where exactly are we in the story?

[Sonoshee]

I understand it's necessary to remove certain chapters, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to play them.

The boat chapter between Yokosuka and Hong Kong for instants. It would have been a blast to whup Chai's ass again.

It was sadly just a sign of the times. Were the DC far more successful or the franchise appeared on the PS, we may not have even seen scenes like that omitted at all.

[Hanzumon]

Well, I"d be fine with finishing the Shenmue saga in 2021, to be honest. S3 will come out in late 2017 at best. Possibly even at some point in 2018. We'll see.

The truth is, beyond S3, we have no clue whatsoever how things will progress. Does Ys Net have the licence to make just S3, or did Sega licence the entire Shenmue franchise to them? Will it take 4 or 5 games to finish the story? Yu has ruled out a 6th game and we know S3 won't be the end of the last one.

If S3 does well, Sega might even ask Yu to come back and let him make S4 as an official Sega game.

One worry we need not have is Yu's age, however. Making games is not physical labour and since Yu is self-employed now, retirement age does not really play a role. His mental capabilities also do not seem to be deteriorating anytime soon. I can easily see Yu making games till he's 70.

I understand Yu Suzukis staments so:

1. If Shenmue 3 is a success, then Sega will produce Shenmue 4 and maybe Shenmue 5. Yu said, that he only gets the rights for Shenmue 3 and not for the entire story ...

But if Shenmue 3 makes a lot of money, then Sega will be interested in making another Shenmue game.

2. If Shenmue 3 is not a success, then Yu could do one last crowd-funding on kickstarter to produce Shenmue 4 and finish the story. But that means also, that Suzuki must cut some story-content again :(

3. Is Shenmue 3 a financial disaster, then Yu will finish the story in another way. Maybe as a CGI-Movie or as a comic.

4. Suzuki said in one of the last interviews in Monaco, that a Shenmue 6 would be too much ...

In my opinion "five games" would be perfect. I don´t have a problem with more Shenmue-Games, but we fans had to wait over 15 years to get the third game. I don´t want to wait another 15 years for the next game ...

[Hyo Razuki]

^ Well said. That's how I understood it, too.

[mrandyk]

The concept art of the original 11 chapters is twenty years old guys. If Yu drew up the 11 chapters today there is no way they would match the original 11 chapters, it's only natural that things would be reworked over time. I wouldn't worry about missing any parts of the saga unless the series ends on S3 or S4 (whether by cliffhanger or full resolution).

[Tigrr]

I think a big problem is that we know too much. Because we know that there was supposed to be 11 chapters but some were cut, we're disappointed. Had we not known about them, then we would be none the wiser and would be perfectly happy with the story as it is.

[SMDzero]

I think chapter 11 is where the story reaches a "fairly satisfying conclusion".

Wouldn't it be chapter 16 where the true end of Shenmue is??

Let's not forget the many years Suzuki stated the game was originally 16 chapters.

[Spaghetti]

I think chapter 11 is where the story reaches a "fairly satisfying conclusion".

Wouldn't it be chapter 16 where the true end of Shenmue is??

Let's not forget the many years Suzuki stated the game was originally 16 chapters.

If I remember right, those extra five chapters were already axed before production of the first game.

[Henry Spencer]

^Hmmm, not too sure about that, I remember the other members of the development team drawing out the timeline with Shenmue 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc on a whiteboard with Chapters up to 16 included on it around the time of Shenmue 2 Xbox. Correct me if I'm wrong about that though, it's been so long.

[Hanzumon]

^Hmmm, not too sure about that, I remember the other members of the development team drawing out the timeline with Shenmue 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc on a whiteboard with Chapters up to 16 included on it around the time of Shenmue 2 Xbox. Correct me if I'm wrong about that though, it's been so long.

Do you mean this picture?

[Spaghetti]

Ahhhh. Well we know that board is inaccurate anyway, seeing how it lists Shenmue II going up to chapter 6.

[SMDzero]

It's funny that from 1999- 2013 Yu Suzuki had been saying time and time again that the complete story was 16 chapters but that the story reached a "satisfying conclusion" a few chapters before that (probably chapter 11).

Now it's revisionist history that it's just 11 chapters all along.

I think that chapters 12-16 would have dealt with Ryo's life after defeating Lan Di, going back to Japan, visiting his friends in Canada and the US, and his choices about his future. It would have been an extended denouement. That's my idea.

[shredingskin]

I vaguely remember him saying that chapter 9 was the satisfying ending.

[SMDzero]

I hope ALL the effort and money goes toward fully enriching the game up until the "satisfying ending"

Any content after that I would be fine with just a 90 minute epilogue cutscene just like in MGS4.

With Shenmue 1 we basically had an interactive prologue (the entire game's story could have been an opening cutscene) but we just don't have the time nor money anymore to go with an interactive epilogue for the last Shenmue game.

[Yokosuka]

Here the theory I'm finding the most consistent so far (mainly based on precious sshen1127's and Chinese fans community researches) :

16 chapters = 11 main chapters + 5 transition chapters (including the cancelled boat chapter and the cancelled train chapter)

Chapter 1 : Yokosuka
Chapter 2 : Hong Kong (downtown+Kowloon)
Chapter 3 : Su Zhou (cancelled)
Chapter 4 : Shanghai (cancelled)
Chapter 5 : Bailu Village and the forest surroundings (including the maybe-recent invention of Choubu, an authentic Shenmue-like fantasy city to fill the gap of 14 years of waiting)
Chapter 6 : Baisha

[Hanzumon]

Here the theory I'm finding the most consistent so far (mainly based on precious sshen1127's and Chinese fans community researches) :

16 chapters = 11 main chapters + 5 transition chapters (including the cancelled boat chapter and the cancelled train chapter)

Chapter 1 : Yokosuka
Chapter 2 : Hong Kong (downtown+Kowloon)
Chapter 3 : Su Zhou (cancelled)
Chapter 4 : Shanghai (cancelled)
Chapter 5 : Bailu Village and the forest surroundings (including the maybe-recent invention of Choubu, an authentic Shenmue-like fantasy city to fill the gap of 14 years of waiting)
Chapter 6 : Baisha

If that is true, then it is very sad, that we had lost two main chapters with No. 3 and No. 4 ...