Shenmue Dojo

This is quite an interesting topic. On one hand, it could be extremely horrible to us fans because we could be put in the same situation that we were in with Shenmue II, meaning we don't get a Shenmue IV and the painful cycle repeats again, leaving the saga without a conclusion and with yet another cliffhanger! On the other hand however, if Shenmue III ends up being a legendary 10/10 game and ends with a badass cliffhanger, then holy hell, the hype level will be higher than ever before. It'll send gamers into a frenzy and will take the series to a whole new level! So yes, two completely opposite scenarios that could unfold. With one being extremely horrible, and the other being OMG WTF type amazing (OK fine, so this would be way more impactful than the horrible side!).

I'll tell you next week.

Let's Get Sweaty wrote: I'll tell you next week.

Probably not a cliffhanger, but it'll no doubt set up the next one.

Yes.

How could it NOT end on a cliffhanger? The story isn't going to be finished with 3, so no matter what they do there's going to be a cliffhanger. Even if Shenmue 2 had ended after disc 3, that's still a cliffhanger because you're waiting to go to Guilin.

The question is how long will it be until Shenmue 4 is released?

I doubt it will be as dramatic as Shenmue II. It would give us all nightmares of waiting endless years all over again.
Maybe a little bit more open than the end of Shenmue, wich was an ideal chapter closure.
I'd the way it's designed ultimately depends on how sure they are about making Shenmue IV and how to tackle the financing for that.

BlueMue wrote: I doubt it will be as dramatic as Shenmue II. It would give us all nightmares of waiting endless years all over again.
Maybe a little bit more open than the end of Shenmue, wich was an ideal chapter closure.
I'd the way it's designed ultimately depends on how sure they are about making Shenmue IV and how to tackle the financing for that.

True. I've detailed the two possibilities. One being disastrous and the other being legendary!

What if even Shenmue 6 ends with a cliffhanger?

I think there is no issue in having a cliffhanger if the game surely gets a conclusion with Shenmue IV because I think regardless of the reception of SIII the game will get funded again via kickstarter if they choose to.

The money they need is provided by die hard fans. Those people who donated in that first day weren`t persuaded by that video at the Sony conference. They knew if they get the chance to help get SIII made they would jump on board.

Right now I donated money to this kickstarter without knowing what the final product will be. If they get to make SIV we all have seen the tech and mechanics they will use and a kickstarter would actually be a glorified preorder event.

I personally really like how both games ended. But I think with SII Suzuki-San deliberately did that ending because the departure to Guilin after the Yellow-Head-Scene would have been a very similar ending to what we had in SI. I actually liked it that way because the mystery of Shenhua and Guilin is imo one of the pieces that kept Shenmue alive. But as I said it probably won`t need that again.

I am more concerned about the magic in Shenmue 3. Shenmue 2 ended with some magical and mystical bullshit, which was quite jarring considering the game was fairly realistic up tot hat point. I hope Ryo isn't regularly firing off haudokens and summoning demos by the end of Shenmue 3.

Mr. Frozen wrote: I am more concerned about the magic in Shenmue 3. Shenmue 2 ended with some magical and mystical bullshit, which was quite jarring considering the game was fairly realistic up tot hat point. I hope Ryo isn't regularly firing off haudokens and summoning demos by the end of Shenmue 3.

See, I don't get this. Why are fans so hell bent on having realism in Shenmue? Magic is only going to make it more interesting and intriguing. I mean, "realism" is boring. I want Shenmue to become even more awesome and legendary but for this to happen, it must go above and beyond normal things.

See, I DO think this one will end on a cliffhanger...and I think that's a bad thing for us. I really want a good ending to the Shenmue story. Ideally I would prefer a great series where a new game is released every few years, but I doubt we'll get that with Shenmue III. From what I've seen of game footage of the unfinished product, my feeling is that the users on this site will love this game, but yet again it won't do well enough commercially to convince a big publisher to buy it. Just my two cents.