When the devs finally drops a clip showing great animation, everybody who bitched and moaned and laughed at Shenmue is going to be shocked, and Shenmue will stick in their minds more than it would have otherwise. They may at that point even decide to pick up a copy. Whereas if this teaser had just been the same environments but with solid animation many people may very well have thought 'meh, some boring Japanese looking game' and they would immediately forget about it. But now Shenmue has people talking. There's no such thing as bad publicity in the long-term here.

I may be wrong, but I believe in Yu Suzuki.

Even if Shenmue III were to magically gain the same production values the previous two games had. You would still have people laughing at the game because it isn't their cup of tea. YSnet needs to focus on Shenmue fanbase first and worry about the people than can't read manuscript later.

This series will never be GTA but it can survive if it maintains the fanbase that made it the number 1 KS game.

People from YSnet would probably run a mile if they read this place sometimes.

Loved the trailer. It actually calmed many worries. This is a trailer that should have been a Kickstarter update and not at a game show, however. The game show atmosphere gives it higher expectations and legitimacy, when all it really was is a sneak peek for supporters.

I thought I'd be used to the feeling of having the world trash things I heartily enjoy by now but it's still frustrating when you first see it.

After the initial backlash sting and reading through your comments here, I'm beginning to come to terms with the idea that Shenmue 3 was always going to attract some sniggering/trashing regardless. The hate has been there since the E3 reveal: from people mocking the first two games, to calling Shenmue 3 a 'weird romance game,' to wanting the game to be another Mighty No. 9 disaster for sadistic gratification to now mocking the facial animations. I guarantee when YS Net implement the facial animations the next thing on the list to be mocked will be the voice acting. Quote me on it.

I guess all that really matters now is our - the fans - enjoyment of it. As has already been said here: Suzuki should just focus primarily on pleasing the existing fans of the series as his primary objective. I personally wouldn't mind contributing to another Kickstarter for Shenmue 4 if that's what it takes. So long as he can finish his story for his fans and the outside trashing doesn't dampen his spirit to do so, I could care less what the Internet thinks.

It's still Work In Progress guys.
They will take care of the facial expressions and other issues.
They are just not there yet.

Those faces are bad. I only watched it once but there seemed to be no emotion at all. I don't recall seeing anger, sadness or happiness at any point which makes me realise that Sonic in the Mega Drive/Genesis games is more expressive.

But the facial animations haven't been included yet, so why are you even discussing the lack of them? #-o

all over the internet people are now laughing at this. they should not have released any trailer as shit as this one. gives shenmue 3 a very bad rep. I'm sure the faces will be fixed but to people and journalists watching and rating this they think this will now turn into shit. the youtube video also got a ton of downvotes.

Oi. What if YsNet never released a teaser? Don't you think there'd be people going in on the company for not showing anything related to the gameplay and body mechanics? Come on now.

Again, I think people are hating on Shenmue because they're hateful. For those extremely hateful towards it, it's obviously because they've made meme after meme about how "Shenmue III's never coming out" and "the fans are crazy", etc. They can't stand that it's becoming a reality with each passing day.

Why release a trailer?

I think backers forced them to. We did. So many months in darkness, etc. caused people to light them up over paltry updates, skippage of large events(E3), etc. I think that pressure culminated in a need to show something, however unready it may be to show the project is progressing and money didnt dissipate to nothingness(like several Kickstarters)

I think they felt obligated to show something based on that. Damned either way.

I'm sorry--I think the game looks fine in recent screens, more is needed but it's 12-16 months AWAY from release..a lot can change.

Mass Effect: Andromeda made a lot of strides in the patches they did. Apples to oranges, but goes to show you much can change in a few months time.

I was really surprised to see such a long teaser at this point, especially given the big delay that was recently announced.

Still, WIP or not, it felt pretty surreal to watch the video.
It's incredible to see new footage after 15+ years.

Anyway, I think Shenmue fans are understandably happy… but I question how non-fans will take it. Are gamers used to watching incomplete trailers at game shows? Will they even give enough of a shit to realize that this is very much WIP footage? (Not explicitly labeled in the actual video)
It certainly is a ballsy gamble.

Shenmue 3 is a tricky one; everyone’s trying to find their pace, place and space in this crazy KS project.
Baptism by fire.

Assuming all ends well, Shenmue 4 should basically be a breeze development-wise.

So I've probably seen the teaser trailer well over 20 times already and I keep checking my phone every 10 mins to see if any more news has creeped out of Gamescom. Feels like E3 2015 all over again. I better stop obsessively checking my phone soon though. People might start thinking I'm having an affair or something.

I'm not worried by the lack of facial animation at this point. I know it doesn't give a great first impression to new fans, but this is something they will no doubt fix as development goes on.

It looks great for a game with such a small budget compared to other Triple A titles out there.

The left side of the screen has others characters too apparently. Is the second one Chai???

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
Spoilers below - some more characters.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH_TOTcXUAAyU1Y.jpg:large

Super interesting. Zoomed in a lot on this picture. The power point presentation itself is named New Characters 22-08-17. By looking at the page scroll on the left hand side, and by counting the amount of slider also, it looks like they have around 14-15 characters already model in this presentation!

If you look at the characters from the 4th and 5th slides, It looks like they match the concept art of those found on the boards in one of the screen shots? That could confirm that YSnet are using the boards as placeholders to show where those characters should go. (I can't find the image where someone zoomed in on the boards though :sad: ?).

This interview from 4gamers.net is going to be super interesting, we are so luck to have Switch in this community! Our hero! haha!

Man are just so many pieces of new little information that it's really tough not to lose the overview of everything and go crazy about all the things the game's gonna have. Also many insights to how the teaser came to be that are yet again absolute reassuring they're going to get everything right by the game's release.

Hello guys,

2 new interviews have been posted on Japanese websites. Full translations will most likely be done by Switch I think, but I've decided to translate some stuff quickly on my free time.

Hope you'll like it !

https://s2.postimg.org/6be2u47rt/003.jpg

From Dengeki :

- Anticipated things (best 3) : 1. Continuation of the story, 2. Open World, 3. Forklifts

- Suzuki san thought at first that it'd be difficult to have something like an open world (because of the budget), but with the recent partnership with Deep Silver and development's improvements, he might be able to provide something that has the atmosphere of an open world. Volume of the 2nd area that we can see in the PV should be around 3 times bigger. That's also why they had to announce the delay, because the game's content has been improved and they need more time

- In the "Shenmue World", players can earn money through different ways like gambling, selling items (to a pawn shop for example) and purchase new moves (scrolls) to get stronger and beat a boss

- He's also talking about Shenmue's logo changes. "My father wrote Shenhua's kanji (莎花). And my mother worked on the "愛すべき友を持て" (Keep friends, those you love, close to you) calligraphy. However, I thought it'd be great if I could do it myself this time

https://s2.postimg.org/z2awk6dll/shenmue3_006_cs1w1_900x360.jpg

https://s2.postimg.org/6qty0vj2x/shenmue3_007_cs1w1_900x206.jpg

- Players who haven't played the first two games will have no problem playing the 3rd one. For Shenmue II, we added a 15 minutes movie of the first Shenmue so players could catch up, but this time we'll work on something more simple based on images and texts

https://s2.postimg.org/qmpxgf049/009.jpg

4Gamer :

Can you tell us why you decided to work with Deep Silver ?

- Suzuki san : We worked on the Kickstarter Campaign right after announcing the game and it was a success. However, it's difficult to do an open world with the budget we had, that's why we kept looking for a partner. They already worked with Sega in the past and they were a recommandation from people I trust

- About improvements, Suzuki san is providing an example. For the 2nd city we are going to visit in the game, they planned around 50 to 60 NPC, but now, this number could reach 200

- Shenmue III will start 6 hours after the end of Shenmue II

Other things are mostly stuff we already know like the phone calls etc.

Original links :

Dengeki

http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/580/1580312/

4Gamer

http://www.4gamer.net/games/305/G030593/20170824023/

That's it for now. Have a nice day !

Unfortunately this event does solidify the fact that developers can rarely be honest with their audience about the state of their game while in development. Smoke and mirrors forever and ever.

I find it hilarious to be honest.

Ubisoft shows footage. Internet outrage "Bullshots".
Shenmue shows real in development footage "Looks ugly as shit".

The "internet" is always gonna moan and complain about something and gamers these days in particular.
So whenever I see dumb reactions like that pop up, I find myself remembering the words of the great George Carlin.

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

Here it is, a full translation of the GAME Watch interview. Enjoy!

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/0 ... uzuki.html



(masterchan, you might like to put this link in the OP)

R.E combat.

Yu has said for a while Shenmue III's controls would be simplified-

- but before people start losing their shit, that's not synonymous with dumbing down the gameplay. In fact, Yu has talked about other complexities like strategy, physics and environment interactions, breaking up groups of enemies into more manageable pockets, etc. It seems like Yu will be asking players to fight more with their heads rather than their fingers, if you get my meaning.

He's also said before that the stretch goals for combat were basically things done in the older games but will be revised and made more sophisticated with modern technology, so it's not like an enormous departure in some respects.

Yu has elaborated on his position recently, with that maybe a fighting game engine in an adventure game is not a perfect fit, and he definitely has a point. There's room for the storytelling to come across more in the fights, feeling more like Ryo is a martial arts savant by pulling off elaborate moves and cinematic feats with simpler controls, that you don't really get when you're just cheesing Chai in the YOU Arcade with Crawl Cyclone.

And let's be real, there's a real sense of enjoyment in stuff like dodging and countering against enemies in the original games, but that's rarely ever more than two button presses. Having fun with Shenmue's combat does not exclusively rest on your ability to pull off Demon's Triangle every time.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH_FrSGVYAEQbUG.jpg:large

Where did you find this WIP "hair curler" lady Spags?



Just incase you weren't aware yet, she is a hotel owner ("so you'll be seeing her quite a lot"), as confirmed by Yu himself in an interview at Gamescom :)

Can't wait!
I'm sure she's a lovely human being :lol:

http://movies.about.com/library/graphics/kungfuhustlepubd.jpg

Great news! I messaged YSNet on Kickstarter and basically suggested to them how they should make Ryo and Shenhua look like . Here's what they said: "Thank you very much for the words of encouragement and the advice. We will be sure to pass the info along!

Best Regards,
Joel & the Shenmue III Team"

https://m.popkey.co/abf6c4/ZR90_f-maxage-0.gif

It's a complex issue. Too many cooks in the kitchen is a concern, but... the final decisions all rest with YSnet. Constructive criticism and words of encouragement can help if they're taking considered and careful notice of it and not being overly reactionary.

I trust YSnet to be smart with the feedback they're getting. There's a lot of experience in the development team so I'd like to think they know how to handle it without getting mixed messages.

I appreciate the reply man, thank you.

After reading all that it really sounds like Arkham and Sleeping Dogs like combat, yeah the combat in Sleeping Dogs is pretty but Shenmue had you feeling tense. It made you want to learn moves and practise so you can get better and utilize those moves in combat to make it easier. Catering to the Kyle Hilliard's (See Game Informer Shenmue/II Let's Play) of gamers sounds like a mistake, the people that just want to beat the bad guy instantaneously without any skill or training. Yes games should be fun but part of the thrill, part of that fun is that feeling you get when you put in the work, trained learned some combo's and use it to beat that difficult boss finally, that's all part of the fun. It gives you an amazing feeling of accomplishment and let's you feel more immersed in the world especially when it's not a retry and you have to find those bad guys again as a result of your failure and Shenmue is all about that kind of immersion.

The best way to cater to the Kyle Hilliards is scaling difficulty. If you suck, the game drops down in difficulty and button mashing can work. If you're awesome the game will level up and more complex combinations and dodging will be required. The "cinematic and smooth" fighting is your reward for the time you put into the game. That was a perfect system so anyone can play. I don't want Uncharted cinematic predetermined animations, this is what's killing gaming. Older games may not have looked very cinematic but they made you feel like you were doing things yourself, using your own skill rather than "Press A to win".

For the love of all good in the world. Please, let the man do his work lol Someone kill me. Don't you think that they have looked at like every Ryo, Shenhua, Lan Di etc picture ever made... ?? For hours and hours they have tried to come to something that is a natural progression of how these 16 year old characters look, but something that also works within the engine. You have to remember that it needs to be rigged correctly for movement of the face/muscles/lips eyes??? No offence to anyone, but they have a TEAM of people who do this FOR A LIVING, they know what they are doing, and they have, one, if not the greatest game producers, directors, programmers of all time at the helm.

This is getting crazy, people need to leave him to do what he does best, create amazing fucking games. Please, have some faith in the man, he did create your 2 favourite games of all time remember!

You're not wrong, SheepheadCG.

Obsessive fans we might be, but at some point we have to hold our hands up and admit that we don't really know best, and ultimately there are quite a lot of us pulling and pushing in different directions. Nothing gets made that way.

There's still value in cheering YSnet on and making suggestions but we probably should acknowledge that there's not really a unified fan opinion on anything (e.g, I like the manga-style approach to the models, Yokosuka said in another topic it deeply disappointed him), and even if there was they're not obliged to listen to us. YSnet are making the game, we're not. They call the shots.

Although I loved the teaser, I still didn't like neither Ryo's nor Shenhua's model. They need a step in the right direction so I'm just encouraging them to use the perfect models. The ones I posted are the top two Ryo models so once they pinpoint the best one, we will have that other Shenhua model and one of the two Ryos. How cool would that be?!

It's just a never ending spiral though lol. As Spaghetti said, You linked them 2 pictures that YOU like, but other people might not like them. In the end, it will always come down to personal preference. I think it is just better for Yu to do what he thinks is best (and this is what will ultimately probably happen). You also have to remember that we do not know the whole picture. We've seen the unfinished, un-animated, dry facial expression models within a 90 second video. Yu and his team have seen the models in every location that is currently created in the game, with every lighting scenario, at every angle and with facial tech implemented. To put it straight, we know nothing and they know a hell of a lot more. Please remember this. People on here see one image from 1 angle with 1 light source and they start flipping out. They know more than us, have more experience than us, and can therefore make a much better call on what is and what is not good.

If we get to E3 next year or even Gamescom and then as a majority, people are still not happy with Ryo and Shenhua, then it makes sense to raise our opinions. Currently, as I have said over and over for the last 3 days, it is a work in progress.

Couldn't agree with Spaghetti's post more. Cheering the team on, defending the game and helping keep the moral up is very important, but trying to change how Yu wants to make the game is something that we should (and something that we should want to) stay away from. Just because we gave our financial support to the Kickstarter does not mean that we have the right to steer development. It is Yu's gift to the fans, and it should stay that way.

At the end of the day, maybe being obsessive fans is kind of a weakness. We're too fragile and freak out too easily.

Like for example, the fact that Ryo and Shenhua's models aren't done. I've seen people say "WHAT?! AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS THEY'RE NOT DONEEEEE?!?!?!", but if I was in the position of making a game with a limited budget and limited time, and a modeler came to me with something improved but unfinished with another another load of characters to be created, I'd probably say "good enough, we'll get back to it later, start working on the next thing" too. That's not even accounting for the fact other areas need to be focused on to make a game.

We did it!

Is it so hard to understand that it makes no sense as fans to suggest to Yu Suzuki how Ryo, Shenhua and the other characters should look?
What if every single Shenmue fan gives advices on how the characters should look? Or the colors, the artistic direction, the story?

How could this be of any help to Yu Suzuki and his team?

Yu knows what he has to do and more importantly, he knows what he wants to do. It's his creation, his story, his vision.
Not ours. We loved and love the Shenmue Series because of the vision he sticked to.

If our opinion is asked (like for the "new" logo) I'll say, fine, give your opinion.
In any other case, can we just support the Team and leave them create Shenmue 3 in the best possible conditions?
Isn't it enough to know that +74'000 backers will feel sooner or later that Yu Suzuki owns them a say on the artistic, technical or whatever choice he has to make because it's my money he is using for creating the game?

Damn! Where is this "Leave Britney alone!!!" when you need it...!?!

Sleeping Dogs fighting looks cool, especially the over the top enviromental attacks, but it's way to automated and routine. The slow motion is also too "oooh look" and breaks the flow a bit. In Shenmue there were always certain types of fighting styles the enemies would have but it was still much more diverse and natural feeling there.

The old fighting system isn't perfect either. There could definately be some improvement in the targeting and camera system. It's very reminiscent of a fighting game, wich is good in a challenging way, but it's sometimes a bit annoying to pull of some of the moves because you just need to find the right time to let an enemy let you do it.
So maybe just make things easier to pull of without making the enemies cannon fodder and give more control and feedback over who Ryo targets without "gamey" visual clues like arrows, glows or outlines.

If they don't make Ryo or Shenhua look anywhere close to the models I've posted, I will be disappointed. You see, it's quite apparent that those are exactly what they should be aiming for.

If you are fluent in Japanese, you may apply to become the art director... otherwise yours is one opinion among thousands. All you can do is politely make your suggestion and then sit back and see what happens. Kickstarter is a platform for donations, not investments. Follow the cue of the real investors, who are allowing Yu Suzuki to pursue his vision.

This Deep Silver thing is sounding pretty good to me. Glad to hear they're finding other sources of money to make this game the best game possible.

https://www.gamekult.com/actualite/yu-suzuki-le-plus-difficile-est-de-creer-de-bons-personnages-3050797909.html

Interview context: Gamekult is shown an extended version of the trailer with additional scenes and QTEs with "work in progress" mark. Then the interview begins with Suzuki and his English translator.

https://i.imgur.com/jseQm8Q.jpg

Gamekult: First of all, I would like to know why you decided to publicly publish a short version of what you just showed us privately? Is it for marketing purpose or a future backer exclusivity?

(Suzuki begins to talk to his translator who is also in charge of the business side of YSnet. The latter takes the floor.)

YSnet businessman: That's a good question! Honestly, there's no specific reason but some people think showing the extended version is too early. The idea behind the trailer was to announce our partnership with Deep Silver. We aimed to reveal that we got a better financial support. We have been silent for too long so it was important to show something at Gamescom while it's not a real marketing strategy.

Yu Suzuki: We may create an improved and longer version of the video for the end of the year. A true promotional trailer.

GK: After watching the video, I now wonder how you proceed with animation in Shenmue 3. Do you use motion capture, handmade animation or both? Are you working with an outsourcing studio or do you have your own motion capture studio?

YS: We use motion capture as working base then we make adjustments. Everything is captured internally although we do not have a true motion capture studio. We're using a magnetic capture tool because it needs less space to work so we can easily proceed in an open space. However, we are certainly going to use a real motion capture studio for the most important action scenes.

GK: Are you working with outsourcing studios? For instance, TOSE or Virtuous.

YS: We have our own team where people from various companies are working. In general, everything is made internally. The goal is to avoid outsourcing.

GK: How many people are working in the team?

YS: Sorry but I can't tell you any figure.

GK: How will your partnership with Deep Silver benefit Shenmue III? Is the original project going to evolve?

YS: To be honest, we just signed the contract. We have yet to know what Deep Silver can bring us exactly but we hope it's significant (laughs). From a business point of view, we should take advantage of their international network and their communication expertise since they have a great record with Japanese studios.

GK: How will you proceed to make the game interesting for the fans as much for the newcomers? Can we start Shenmue III without having played the previous episodes?

YS: We plan to insert images and videos from previous episodes in ingame situations, something like memories. One of the ideas consists of inserting visuals when you're phoning characters from Shenmue I & II.

GK: Yakuza 3 proceeded differently with cinematic buildups to summarize the story of Yakuza 1&2. I wonder if Shenmue 3 can proceed the same way but the visual contrast between cinematics and the gameplay would be obviously significant.

YS: I still don't know how it may look on screen but it's a possibility. Anyway, we'll decide our own way to proceed.

GK: What will the Shenmue III main themes be? Storywise, is there any particular event or topic you're willing to set up?

YS: It's faster to show you. (Suzuki starts his PC and launches a slideshow) Here we go, the three key points of the game are romance, characters' life and martial arts. Then my main goal is to use the latest advancements in technologies to express feelings through gaming situation. Today there are even more ways of expression but also more challenge with the modern tools. With Unreal Engine 4, the most challenging part is to create good characters.

GK: You mean, using your own engine when you're working on Shenmue I&II was easier than using a foreign third-party engine?

YS: Yes, absolutely!

GK: So far, have you programmed with your own hands?

YS: I created some algorithms and little prototypes but I'm not working at the heart of coding. I worked on an artist's AI who appears in the game, NPC behaviors and some combat scenes. But my main job is research. The final code is written by people who are more skilled than me.

GK: About visuals, how far do you think you are from the final state?

YS: First of all, I confirm that everything related to the characters is temporary. Then I would like to say that, in order to reach the best possible result from a technical point of view, we need a lot of resources, way more than we currently have today. That's why I'm trying to find a balance between visual quality and the other key points of the game, especially what makes the gameplay singular and different from the other productions.

GK: About environment size and interaction volume, how would you rate Shenmue 3 compared to the Dreamcast episodes?

YS: I would say that the game is as wide and dense as Shenmue 1&2... On further consideration, it will even be richer. The time of play is more difficult to estimate since each player has his own pace and may progress differently with all the side quests available. I think more than 20 hours will be needed.

GK: In order to make Shenmue 1&2, you traveled several times in China. Did you travel again for Shenmue III or are you using mainly archives and memories?

YS: I went back to China two years ago, when the project did start. (Suzuki is searching his PC folders to find photos of mountain landscapes, old buildings and busy streets) As you can see, we reproduced some roofs of tiles in the last video. I really would like to display as much characters as those you can see in these photos! (laughs)

GK: If you were going to leave Japan to live in another country, would you choose China?

YS: Not China, no. (laughs)

END OF INTERVIEW

VG24/7 Yu Suzuki interview:

https://www.vg247.com/2017/08/25/shenmue-3-open-world-dead-eyed-characters-shenmue-4/

A big part of Shenmue 3 for fans is nostalgia. How do you bridge the gap between nostalgic nods and new stuff? The first two games are quite unique in that you really have an all-new cast in each game, but that isn’t so good for nostalgia…

Yeah, this time we will see a lot of new people in the game. But at the same time, you can make a phone call to the characters of Shenmue 1 and 2. When you call those older characters, all of the images come up as your flashback, your memory.

In the form of original screenshots, or new recreations of those scenes?

Movie, a movie from the original.

The environments look fantastic, but there’s been a lot of chatter about the character models this week. What do you have to say to that? Are improvements coming?

You know, to be honest… the faces, they’ve not been properly deployed yet. This is a behind-the-scenes story, but up until a point 2 months ago the face motion has been removed. The developer changed some structure to the bones of the character model, and this caused a problem. Because of the problem, we decided to stop working on face animation for now.

[Suzuki opens his laptop and brings up an internal, unreleased development video showing facial animation tests for Ryo and Shenhua. The animations look fairly decent, and certainly avoid the dead-eyed stares seen in the recent Shenmue footage or Andromeda-style exaggeration.]

This is still the sample model, the older one, but… this is a test. We’re going to make this even better. We’re incorporating about 11 different types of face motion, and we’re working towards that. That will be improved a lot.

...

I think the old fighting system would age Shenmue 3 terribly.
I'd welcome a new system, look at the Batman Arkham games, the way you chain, block and counter attack is stunning to watch and flows beautifully.
It would be perfect for a martial arts themed game.

What? No, no, no, NO! They should stay as far away as possible from that awful system. One button to attack and one button to counter? It is beyond terrible. Shenmue I and II still have the best fighting system out of any adventure type game, it is definetly better than the Batman Arkham series. Having said that though, it seems like no game has quite got the art of combat down quite right. They're still far away from reaching the pinnacle.

I'd say Yakuza was the best.
And Shenmues fighting the best?.. come on.. I love Shenmue but it was horrible and clunky even back then.

I appreciate the reply man, thank you.

After reading all that it really sounds like Arkham and Sleeping Dogs like combat, yeah the combat in Sleeping Dogs is pretty but Shenmue had you feeling tense. It made you want to learn moves and practise so you can get better and utilize those moves in combat to make it easier. Catering to the Kyle Hilliard's (See Game Informer Shenmue/II Let's Play) of gamers sounds like a mistake, the people that just want to beat the bad guy instantaneously without any skill or training. Yes games should be fun but part of the thrill, part of that fun is that feeling you get when you put in the work, trained learned some combo's and use it to beat that difficult boss finally, that's all part of the fun. It gives you an amazing feeling of accomplishment and let's you feel more immersed in the world especially when it's not a retry and you have to find those bad guys again as a result of your failure and Shenmue is all about that kind of immersion.

I felt Arkham combat to be far more tactical than Shenmue, it was simple (which I feel is right up Yu's alley) but was all about mastering timing.
Shenmue combat was just button mashing, I don't think I've ever had to repeat a battle maybe with the exception of a couple in Shenmue 2.
Training was never really important and since you never knew when a battle was going to take place (unless your 2nd playthrough) you never had to focus on getting better.. you just kept repeating the same battle but finding 1 move to exploit.

Didn't see a dedicated thread for this so...

Full interview:

https://www.vg247.com/2017/08/25/shenmue-3-open-world-dead-eyed-characters-shenmue-4/

The bit we've all come for:

The environments look fantastic, but there’s been a lot of chatter about the character models this week. What do you have to say to that? Are improvements coming?

You know, to be honest… the faces, they’ve not been properly deployed yet. [b]This is a behind-the-scenes story, but up until a point 2 months ago the face motion has been removed. The developer changed some structure to the bones of the character model, and this caused a problem. Because of the problem, we decided to stop working on face animation for now.

[Suzuki opens his laptop and brings up an internal, unreleased development video showing facial animation tests for Ryo and Shenhua. The animations look fairly decent, and certainly avoid the dead-eyed stares seen in the recent Shenmue footage or Andromeda-style exaggeration.]

This is still the sample model, the older one, but… this is a test. We’re going to make this even better. We’re incorporating about 11 different types of face motion, and we’re working towards that. That will be improved a lot.

Alright, big day for Yakuza (related) announcements. The best parts of the live stream have now been posted on the official Yakuza YouTube page.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 we already know about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpXgE8Iqgho

But also, Yakuza Online, something for smartphones and PC apparently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9xn1PNNK_Q

The suprise though is a Fist of the North Star game running on the Yakuza 6 engine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBRkpUvWc2Y

Well, that gave a reason for the change to cartoony characters (that some people thought it wasn't a design choice).

I hope they can nail the animations, the great thing about cartoons is that they can have a very wide range of emotions and still be emphatic, but they'll have to nail it.

Nah.

The logo poll was allowed because Yu solicited opinions, and it'll be a helpful metric to pass on.

This thread is sufficient if you want to talk models. There's even a separate thread for edits. Beyond that, anything else is basically redundant.

Survey about Ryu Ga Gotoku's Team's upcoming projects asking international audiences how interested they are in each (Kiwami 2, Fist of the North Star and Yakuza Online), show your interest here (it's the quickest survey ever, seriously, took 2 seconds for me to fill it in).

http://yakuza.sega.com/RGGStudioAnnouncementSurvey/

Nice little note afterwards, that sounds a bit positive to me.
Everybody fill it in!

I have no idea what YS is thinking. He might has well think youngsters can't read manuscript or memorize a combo with more than two inputs. Until we see footage of the free battle system, it's anyone's guess.

Personally, there is a level of continuity in terms of mechanics and design I would love to be kept intact, instead of trying to catch lighting in a bottle twice.

Somehow ended up watching active ragdoll in UE4 videos.

I tell you what; throwing enemies into walls/other enemies/objects, stuff like leg-sweeps, and other forceful moves, are going to look cool as fuck.

I like that the head of Deep Silver is asking and involved. They have tons to gain from being fully committed to a big franchise like Shenmue.

Those screenshots are gorgeous, I really like how Ryo looks now and would be completely fine if that was his final model and looked like that in the game. I'm very satisfied with how he looks

Get out of here

I hate to be really negative but If he looks like that in the final game which I know he wont then I wont be playing it. I'm actually serious, he straight up looks like someone else. There are models used in spin off games featuring Ryo Hazuki that look more like him and were even probably easier to make. No need to worry though because its definitely not final.

Wow. You won't play a game that you have waited for for 16 years? Because the main character model doesn't look how you want it to look... lol true fan right here boys. Jesus fuck... They could literally replace Ryo with the model from the Shenmue Zero fan game, and you wouldn't be able to hold me back from playing it.

Very happy with everything to be honest. I have the same feelings/thoughts as Peter really. Looks far beyond my original expectations and is getting better every time we see more material. With another year+ to go I am so excited to see how far Yu can push his vision for the game. Still blows my mind that we will be playing Shenmue 3!! Going to explore every single hex of the game lol

As I have said multiple times since June 2015, people really need to remember who is creating this game. Yu has one (if not the best) track record in the entire gaming industry. Yes, he is now confined by a much smaller budget, and a tiny team, but he is going to be able to squeeze everything he possibly can out of it/them and has said himself that "I can make the whole game you imagined!’

Yu ain't a punk bitch remember...Have some faith :twisted:

Those screenshots are gorgeous, I really like how Ryo looks now and would be completely fine if that was his final model and looked like that in the game. I'm very satisfied with how he looks

Get out of here

I hate to be really negative but If he looks like that in the final game which I know he wont then I wont be playing it. I'm actually serious, he straight up looks like someone else. There are models used in spin off games featuring Ryo Hazuki that look more like him and were even probably easier to make. No need to worry though because its definitely not final.

Some people need to get real.

This is actually what you get when you play Shenmue. Not talking about emulators, VGA cables or who knows.
You hook up your Dreamcast (if you are lucky enough to still have one working) to your TV and that is what you get.

http://i.imgur.com/vq3lK6u.jpg

Now, if you think this modern Ryo isn't good enough to make you play Shenmue 3, you should probably forget about Shenmue and move on to something else.

https://i.imgur.com/pGxSuj6.jpg

Credit to LelouchViBritannia over on NeoGaf for the comparison shots with Yakuza 0.

http://i.imgur.com/fX5zn4t.png

http://i.imgur.com/pm9jT2e.png

If this is where the model design is right now, at this stage of the development process, then I am over the moon. Throw in touch ups, lighting, facial animation and voice acting......

Definitely good times.