The idea that Kickstarter is just for indie games is just fucking ridiculous. Kickstarter is for projects that have tried and failed to secure funding. A project is put up on there, and if there is enough demand from people, and they're willing to put up money out of their own pockets to see it come to fruition, then it goes ahead. That isn't abuse, it's using it for it's intended purpose.
However...
One thing that pisses me off is when massively funded projects don't give back to the community. I mean, c'mon, show some love and pledge to another project you like. Even if it's just a couple of quid, don't be a tight-fisted twat.
As for the changes:
- Ryo was never like Akira. Spiked hair, yes. Scar, yes. Everything else? No. The original Akira's Quest or whatever was an entirely new design for Akira, one that was never trademarked or copyrighted, it was merely conceptual. The "different Ryo" look is purely down to poor modelling.
- Yu Suzuki has been granted the Shenmue license. Any other trademarked looks will be included.
- Billboards in Guilin? Doubt that pal.
- No toys or capsule machines? The people who are paying to have their face slapped on a toy will surely be disappointed with that...
- I personally never liked that "Everything is SEGA!" thing. It was nice at first, don't get me wrong, but it broke immersion slightly. And as far as Shenmue canon goes, SEGA are a Japanese arcade/toy/building company. Again, I doubt we'd see it in Guilin anyway. "Realistically speaking", that is.
- SEGA soundtracks were only available at the Tomato Convenience Store, as far as I remember. Even then you had to win them in a raffle. On top of this, the fact that you had to actually pause the damn game to listen to them (unless they were on a jukebox in a place you weren't gonna spend much time in anyway) was ridiculous. Never understood why they didn't just include headphones so you could listen to music on the go.
- Again, it's Guilin. I don't want arcades in it, personally. It just wouldn't make sense.
- Who cares about the rating?
- Never have and never will understand the "need" for a physical copy. The whole "what about when they remove it from the servers" argument is horribly flawed. What about when your disc gets used as a coaster or gets nicked?
- "HD" ports would be nice. Do we need them though? No.
I do understand that you have concerns though. Personally, I'm not exactly looking forward to the game. I was always hoping that the Guilin section of the story would just be a transitional phase to justify Ryo going from young martial arts student to kung-fu master. Y'know, like a long, drawn-out montage with some mandatory explanation about the mirrors, only for him to eventually move onto another urban setting to track down each Chi-You Men leader.
Considering the GDC post-mortem though, it's clear we're gonna be in the middle of nowhere for the rest of the series.