Yu Suzuki expresses interest in obtaining Shenmue license from Sega

@sammo21 Sega could easily let him develop it as long as they publish. It's not uncommon.

@sammo21 I don't think Sega have actually ever made any money out of Shenmue. In fact, if I recall, they've made nothing but massive loss after massive loss out of the series.

@sammo21

last I checked, and correct me if im wrong, I dont thing selling a license and selling an IP are the same.

@TheHyphenator I played Shenmue 2 just last year and even as dated as it feels I still enjoyed it and want desperately to see how it all unfolds in the end.

@TheHyphenator I'd buy another Shenmue. You honestly think it's subpar now. Compared ot what? Shenmue was pretty rich in story line. There aren't that many games that are. By some standards, at least. Shenmue was nothing like GTA.

@30yearGamer

I think it hasn't aged very well. It was really impressive at the time because it did so much that no other game had really tried up to that point, but Shenmue was always, in my opinion, a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. It wasn't particularly good at any one thing that it did. The combat was impressively deep in terms of its movelist, but always felt stiff to me. The job system was cool, but the mini-games involved definitely didn't appeal to me (I hated the forklift controls, in particular). And while the variety of side activities was impressive, none of them appealed to me for all that long, and the recurring ones (like the kitten) started to feel like chores.

I can't really speak to the story, because I was never that wild about it to begin with. I didn't hate or love it; it was just kind of...there. It gave structure to the sprawling variety of stuff in the game, but I didn't find it especially compelling, and the voice acting was too stiff to help it along. If you loved the story I can definitely understand wanting to see the end. But as far as gameplay goes, it was innovative, but I don't think it holds up today. And that's not me bashing the game; most games don't hold up well a decade after they were released. Hell, most films and novels and albums don't hold up that well 10 years later.

I'll always remember Shenmue as an amazingly innovative game for its time; I can't think of many titles that have had their mechanics borrowed or copied by as many titles as Shenmue has. But, it's not a game I can pick up and dive right into anymore.

@TheHyphenator

If it was made today there would be improvements, of course. Every property makes changes after some time had past. GTA isn't 2D anymore.

@TheHyphenator

I have to disagree.

While you're right that none of the side activities hold up under scrutiny, I don't think they need to. They're side activities, after all. Driving the forklift can be annoying, but it never last long enough to be awful.

My point is, I think Shenmue and Shenmue 2 are amazing point and click adventure games, only the pointing and clicking are done through controlling Ryo's head and hands.

So few games have tried to bring the investigation and exploration of adventure games in to 3D environments, and I think your complaints about Shenmue speak to why-- people tend to expect more, unless you're very clear about what you're offering

I think that's why people look fondly on a distilled experience like Heavy Rain despite it's similarly awful localization and its weird narrative gaps. When you're given a fighting or driving mechanic, or an in game economy, you expect it to be a key feature of a 3D action game and not something you'll come back to randomly every few hours.

Shenmue 2 improved on that a lot. The combat was tighter, and you got to take part in it often enough to really get the hang of it. Plus, no forklifts.

@spekkio
same here. I love both games. I bought the limited edition Japan release when it came out and fumbled my way through it. And RIGHT about the time I did, I found it was coming to the US. Bought that one as well as shenmue 2 on release day. I think its a about god damn time I get to see how the story ends. Plus I haven't driven a fork lift in a long time :)

@Harrishun

Wait, was that Cliffy B keepin' the beat in that sick drum circle?

@Chareth Cutestory: Yep. I believe he also showed up in the YouTube cut of their GDC video with Kojima.

@jpmwright

I think I have a pretty good guess for how you'll react when a mysterious martial artist kills your father right in front of you.

@ShadowXIII YES THIS RIGHT HERE^^^^^^^