It's essentially a lavish piece of fan service. I agree it will flop in that I don't think it will achieve breakout success, but I think it stands a good chance of satisfying fans - who want it for nostalgia reasons and to see Ryo's story continued, rather than as a technical tour de force.
It won't becasue it done on the cheap, it will feel cheap and fan service will go out of the window .. like it did with NiGHTS sequel. Trouble is Shenmue 1 and II were done to an epic level with a huge budget and over 200 staff working on the project for years and where the game when to painstakingly detail to get even the smallest little detail right. Shenmue III is being made on a Kickstarter budget and a handful of staff
Its going to be a crushing disappointment and letdown and the very people who say they don't care about graphics, sound and just want to finish the story, will be the very ones who complain the most.
I'm pretty sure that back when the KS began they confirmed Shenmue's chapters where being stuck to and would extend to Shenmue IV, V etc if this one succeeded to there's definitely no chance of a resolution with III. The games novelty is merely its existence. Given the success of the KS and eventual sales I could certainly see Shenmue IV being made as well but I'd imagine it'd stop there with another cliff hanger that would definitely never be resolved.
Sorry, but I very much doubt that "original plan and vision" comes into it imo.
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I just saying from the very start, the game was meant to be a 4 to 5 game Saga with some 16 chapters to be told. And how much money have SONY put into the project, other than some free air time at E3 every little I'm guess.
If SONY were really funding it, they'll be no need for any sort of Kickstarter funding or even to find a Publisher.
I saw some footage of this running on twitch and the loading times when entering a building have drastically improved, I'll miss the sounds of the Dreamcast disc drive screaming bloody murder while staring at the black loading screen. It will probably load even faster on Xbox One X/PS4 Pro!
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