RAM_Burglar

Christian Shepard?

Describe your typical clients, if there's such thing as typical. I'm guessing since you're "high-end" that weeds out some of the nasties. Mostly businessmen?

You seem to mention Japan being a location in Shenmue III in this article: http://kotaku.com/getting-the-rights-to-shenmue-was-easier-than-you-d-thi-1712037863

“In Shenmue III, we will have places like Japan and China, of course. Shenmue III paints the pictures of the culture and ideas you can find in eastern Asia."

I guess I just wanted confirm that? The locations on the Kickstarter all appear to be in China.

Real? The time said 9:30pm... now my questions are probably redundant. Sigh. I'll post them anyway.

Hi Yu. I'm a huge fan, I even named by dog Ryo and have the license plate SEGA AM2 (SHENMUE was already taken). Anyway…

1 - Assuming the Shenmue story is wrapped up in this game, cut down from an original 16 chapters, on a personal/creator level, do you feel the story is dramatically hurt by being so truncated? It would appear to be two games worth of story gone. And obviously, structurally, those chapters would fall at points where stories would typically add heft and feature several plot altering twists. (obviously Ryo wasn't just playing AfterBurner in a cave for two games to pad out the story then - bam - Shenmue V).

Shenmue III looks as though it would have fallen around the middle of the storyline. Now it's (most likely) the end. Without getting into specifics (though I would be fine if you did), is there anything in particular you regret being cut from the story? Is it possible we'll get to see it in some form some day? (comic, DLC)

2 - You have a history of working with cutting edge, expensive technology and large budgets. Shenmue III would seem to be the opposite. How do you adjust from "blank check Suzuki" to a budget that seems like it wouldn't go very far at all? How hard is it to separate your "dream Shenmue III" from the realistic Shenmue III that the Kickstarter + Sony backing will afford?

3 - You seem to mention Japan being a location in Shenmue III in this article: http://kotaku.com/getting-the-rights-to-shenmue-was-easier-than-you-d-thi-1712037863

“In Shenmue III, we will have places like Japan and China, of course. Shenmue III paints the pictures of the culture and ideas you can find in eastern Asia."

I guess I just wanted confirm that? The locations on the Kickstarter all appear to be in China.

4 - A non Shenmue question. If you had another chance to revisit Psy-Phi or Propeller Arena, which would you pick, which platform would you develop it for and what would you do differently?

Not a question, but as far as adding stuff to Kickstarter. It would be great, somehow, to get a closer look at the Saturn version, any discarded / early graphics from Dreamcast versions, etc. Basically, stuff we might not have seen before. I know there's a lot out there already. Basically, maybe some sort of "Lost Shenmue" featurette.

In any case, you're my favorite game creator and the Shenmue series will always be some of my best gaming memories. I'm so glad you finally have a chance to finish this.

PS - it would be the troll of the century if you ended Shenmue III on a cliffhanger. (Please don't, though)

EDIT: seems to be a weird formatting error with my numbering. hopefully I fixed it.

Haha, yes it is actually.