from a guy of Sega of Germany

[Matyu]

I found that on this website : http://shenmueangel.free.fr/shenmue3/preview_shenmue3.php

Propos d'un employé de Sega of Germany

Hey there, ok, where do I start. I worked at Sega of Germany (SOE German HQ, closed now) at the localization department. we usually made plans for language localization, packaging and stuff... I got fired when they closed the German Dep.... so I guess it's ok when I talk about some stuff here... Once in a while we had visitors from Sega of America, or even Sega of Japan. About a year ago, we had a few people over from AM2&3, I think they went to London and were invited by Sega of Europe, I suppose for promotional stuff or something. However, i got to talk to one guy on the way back to the Airport. His english was fluent, quite exceptional for a Japanese software developer... lol. So, being an avid Shenmue fan, this was the topic. Of course, I wanted to know about Shenmues future after pt. II, as the Dreamcast death was on everyone's lips at that time. At first he laughed, like he can't tell, or tell ME.


However, after he understood what kind of a Shenmue freak I am, and that I know the characters, Shenmues history and stuff, he kind of warmed up, and began to talk Shenmue. He confirmed that Shenmue is supposed to have 16 Chapters, but the Story finds a rather "satisfying" (but not final) end after Chapter 9 or 10, he did not remember. And here comes the meat. He told me that the storyline, the characters, the dialogue and like 80% of the locations (I tried to get some info about Tibet, no luck) until Chapter 10 (or 9) are actually finished. Most of the stuff is already prerendered in the current engine, though it is of course not polished, it basically consists of placeholder textures/animations from Shenmue I&II. Of course he did not reveal a damn thing about how it goes on, he only smiled when i mentioned our every day discussions about Baihu, Lan Di, Ziming and so on... but still, he revealed that Suzuki had the story for Shenmue finished for years, the Saturn Shenmue would prove that, as they had progressed until Chapter 5 in pre-renderings (btw, he mentioned that it still had VF Characters back then). He got a little uncomfortable talking about Yu Suzuki, I felt he kind of said more then he had planned to. Though, he said that no one knows when, if, and on what system the following chapters would appear. He said that it depends on how the sales go, how Sega would support AM2, and how much Sega would believe in Shenmue. Although the basics are finished, the most expensive part of Shenmue is the scripting, dubbing and debugging, along with the research & creation of textures (cant remember exactly), and only a successful Sega, AM2 and Shenmue II would allow them to invest in a third installment (note: at that time, Sega was facing hard times due to the DC's death, it looks a LOT brighter now).


Finally, he told me that Suzuki, and the greater part of AM2 take Shenmue very personal, and as long as there's a possibility, they will try to tell the story of Shenmue, he laughed and said in the worst case, they will have to do (he laughed) "10 more arcade driving games" (he pretended to steer with a wheel very hysteric and waved his head, lol) before they saved enough money to continue on Shenmue. That is about it, we talked about misc. other stuff while we approached the Airport. When he checked in and said goodbye, he pointed at a Canadian counter and said "Canada is a nice country" and smiled.

[Jeff]

I read this story about 2 years ago. Who knows if its true though. He used this to support his claim that Shemue III was going to take place in Canada.

[Spokane]

Hmmmm, i didnt even know there was a Sega of Germany. And i know that canada thing is a real big joke.

[VGAce]

Sounds legit, but you never know. Plans change, people change. Since this is pretty out-of-date, I'll only take it with a grain of salt. I want to hear it from Suzuki-san himself.

[threeblades]

He confirmed that Shenmue is supposed to have 16 Chapters, but the Story finds a rather "satisfying" (but not final) end after Chapter 9 or 10, he did not remember.

That means we could get there in shenmue 3... maybe if shenmue 3 is the last game, they would drop the remaining 6 chapters and only go up to 10. They would only have 3 or 4 chapters left to do, and that's how many chapters are in shenmue 2.
YEAH that would suck, but I think it would be better than condensing the remaining 10 chapters because in that case shenmue 3 could be a crappy game.
Maybe the chapters after 10 take place in Canada though?

Most of the stuff is already prerendered in the current engine, though it is of course not polished, it basically consists of placeholder textures/animations from Shenmue I&II.

I don't know if you guys realize this means shenmue 3 is like half done... or more.

[Kenny]

I'm sure they're done with the skeleton of the game, they just need more money for the meat.

[Nesposer]

They could get to work on the 10 more driving games...lol, then they would have the money to make shenmue III.

[threeblades]

I'm sure they're done with the skeleton of the game, they just need more money for the meat.

Some of it was almost ready for shenmue 2 too... we all saw the screenshots of the village...
Also remember Ryo is supposed to get a new suit maybe. Remember the blurred picture? We all saw pictures of Shenhua with different clothes so maybe Ryo will have a new outfit too?

[Kamikaze Kenny]

We've known for ages that Shenmue 3 is probably partially done. We know of some of the places, characters etc.

Hell, LanDC and the Xbox mod guys have even played some of it (what was left on the Xbox disk).

Trouble is, there is still stuff to do. The story has probably been complete when Shenmue 1 was launched. The real trouble would be creating a new engine that does it justice, though I wouldn't mind if they kept the existing one (still looks pretty good by today's standards).

[Miles Prower]

Hell, LanDC and the Xbox mod guys have even played some of it (what was left on the Xbox disk).

Uh...no...

[Ali]

Hmmmm, i didnt even know there was a Sega of Germany. .

Sega of Germany WTF :??

[Daemos]

Yes, dumbass.

[ToL]

Finally, he told me that Suzuki, and the greater part of AM2 take Shenmue very personal

Well that is a plus If they take it personal, there is more of a chance of S3 getting a release eventually

[Kenny]

Geesh, some of you guys are really negative.

[white lotus]

There is a Sega of Germany? Shouldnt it be Sega of Europe?