Managed to retrieve my old shenmuedojo profile from 2003 (pretty I was on it before then too).

Just been going through my old posts and found this from 2005 about why Shenmue was special to me... Nothing's changed!

I'd pretty much given up on shenmue 3 ever happening so the announcement warped me back to my 14/15 year old self and almost made me cry with joy!

''Postby joka » Fri Mar 18, 2005 4:00 pm

i don't care how great the graphics get or if there is a storyline that blows shenmue out of the water. no game- or for that matter any type of media will ever come close to shenmue. the reason is that shenmue was beyond an enjoyment level for me.
At the time it was released my life basically sucked and i know it sounds weird but the shenmue world was like me own haven to escape to. it helped me through that period so it's a very personal game for me.
i've got to say the dojo is part of that aswell :) i was reading the forums practically from shenmue was released in the uk and it was great to discuss shenmue (and other things) with top people like yorselves.
anyone else feel that deeply about shenmue?''

You could prob PM this message to an admin. Not make a thread

Found this at GAF.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=168899118&postcount=6043

- He noticed that fans were getting more and more despondent about the chances of a Shenmue 3 ever coming out, and being willing to settle for just about any format (novel, manga etc.) just to see the conclusion of the story, but he really wanted to make the sequel as a game even if it didn't have all the bells and whistles he'd like to put in it.
- He first learned about Kickstarter about 3 years ago through a fan who'd used it before, although it took a while before he decided that was really the way to go forward. Tried looking for a major company to partner with, but couldn't find one that met his criteria. Eventually, he decided Kickstarter was the best option.
- Sega readily allowed him to make the game, and SCE gave their support too (nothing specific here).
- It'll be out on PS4 and PC. No mention of other platforms, no mention of considering any other platforms.
- 2 million is the bare minimum for the game to exist, and if that was all they got, it would just be focused on the story. The more money it gets, the more of the things he wants to do will be possible.
- He wants to give the fans what they want as much as possible, asking for their opinions during development and incorporating those into the final game. Like if they have two ideas for a character, they might ask backers to vote on which they prefer.
- As far as money goes, he expects the game's investment will primarily come from individual backers, so he wants them all to be happy with the finished product. Doesn't sound like Sony and others are giving them all THAT much.
- The story will take place in Guilin, beginning immediately after 2's end. You'll be able to go around the town(s) in that area, back to the mountains, infiltrate the Chi You Men's Guilin branch, etc.
- Back when he made Shenmue 2, he was determined that Shenmue 3's focus would be making a deeper open world rather than a bigger one. Fewer characters means they can have more to say, they can have more complex AI, etc. The character Ryo will talk to the most in 3 is Shenhua, so he wants to develop her as much as possible, making it so that talking to her lots makes her behaviour towards him change, makes quests involving her proceed differently, etc.
- Not that any of this is to say it won't be an open world game. Stretch goals will determine how much the town(s) can be expanded (presumably this is referring to stretch goals like those we can already see, the 'other towns' in that video aren't addressed here.)
- QTEs were originally designed so that people who weren't very good at battles could still enjoy the game.
- He wants to make 'free battles' (which are likely to have their name changed) less about pressing buttons at the right time and more about making the right decisions.
- He also wants to make them less about practising and inputting commands and more centred around the Technique Scrolls, so obtaining and using those is enough to win battles. These Technique Scrolls will ideally connect a number of different elements in the game together in a natural way.
"Shenmue had a number of minigames, gambling spots etc. that you could spend time playing around in, but I wanted something that would connect all of them somehow. I mean, obviously you can obtain money through part-time jobs, use that in gambling to get more of it and then buy weapons...but not that kind of connection, a closer one. If we can meet a number of our stretch goals and make the open world elements more elaborate, I'm hoping to be able to connect these side elements together, centred around the scrolls.
- He's desperately trying to find some way to include forklifts in the game in a way that will make sense, because Shenmue fans seem to love them.
- He wanted to gather as many of the people who worked on the earlier games as possible because it'd be reassuring to fans. They're planning to publish staff comments from a number of figures working on the game, including the writer Masahiro Yoshimoto.
- He's asked about whether he has an idea in his head about what'll come after Shenmue 3's done (presumably 4, but it doesn't come out and say this). He says he does, but right now he's focused on working on Shenmue 3. Certainly doesn't sound like this game will be 'it' at any rate.
- As the Kickstarter page says, he's hoping the game will be ready to release at the end of 2017.

The new theme really does sound like it would work incredibly well as Shenmue 3's opening menu screen soundtrack. It really sort of gives off that "retelling of a centuries old legendary saga forevermore" kinda vibe:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qd4MyNqI0fo

It's things like this, memories, emotions, feelings, and the longing to want to believe in the magic of videogames again that make this series, and this project so special.

Hi guys,

First post here, but have been a fan of Shenmue since my wife introduced me to it when we first met 8 years ago.

My more geeky side involves me being a youtuber specialising in LEGO videos. A couple of years ago I created a LEGO Shenmue "Moving Crates" video as part of the tweetathon, and won a signed photo from Corey for the creativity of the tweet - the video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lopOtj5mHeY

I have now created a sequel, which is an "interview" with LEGO Ryo about Shenmue, and a thankyou from him for supporting Shenmue 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3PPFyzwQA

Enjoy, and I hope to be an active member of the community! :D

Duck

Chai: The untold story.

The game takes place just after Ryo booted him off the boat to Hong Kong. The main objective will be to climb roofs and stalk Ryo, causing minor inconveniences for him throughout his journey through China. All the while without getting caught.

Slightly alter Ryo's teacups while he sleeps during waiting period of making the Chawan sign! Steal the key for the ghost hall building elevator or even make Ryo's search for firewood slightly more inconvenient by placing most of the twigs towards the far end of the cave! A life of stalking and pettiness awaits! Buy now!

I just realised that copying and pasting has messed up the hyper link.

Which one? The one to the KS? The one to Sega's customer support works for me. Maybe it's got something to do with the region you're in. Like it would only let people in Europe go to the European site. Because I went to Sega.com initially and got redirected to the UK website.

PS: Thanks for proofreading. Used your version in my original post. Hope that's fine.

Thanks again to everyone for your endless support, passion and love. Breaking the 6 million barrier was more than i expected. At 5 million i already opened a virtual bottle of champaign (I prefer beer) because i REALLY wanted the character perspective system, i feel it will enhance replay value a lot. Now we have advanced battle mode and can be sure it will be one of the best fighting games ever, too. And with donations coming every second i have faith we reach even another goal. Thanks again to everyone for makingmy dream (and many peoples dream) come true.


Cheers!


And hell yeah, this image again... Feel like it...


http://i.imgur.com/Qs0vD72.jpg

Anyone else picture the members of AJ slowly typing "what is paypal?" into their Bing search window as soon as the Twitch stream was over?

I seriously question the fandom of those unwilling to purchase a $300 used console with two years to save for a game you've waited over a decade for. Simply put its a non issue.

I will likely play it ravenously, probably beating it in a day or two depending on its length. I've been waiting for this game so long that I can't see it being any other way

Updated 2017/06/21:

The interview with Eric Kelso is now out! Thanks to everyone on the Dojo & elsewhere who contributed great questions.

http://i.imgur.com/XpnYl3jm.jpg

Link to Full Interview:

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/06/eric-kelso-answers-community-questions.html

Bonus: an audio compilation of a selection of the questions from the interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXw3iEc4PzQ

Its been a great journey.

The Story Goes On...

I've mentioned previously that I'll be getting a custom watch made, which will be an exact replica of Ryo's. However, I'm not sure whether to add a seconds hand or not. Ryo's watch doesn't have one but the other Timex models have a red seconds hand. I don't know. Can anyone help me out here?!
You already have the answer :)

http://i67.tinypic.com/sbjymr.jpg

If a Dreamcast Mini came out I would buy one straight away. Here is my list of games I'd like to see.

Shenmue 1+2
Jet Set Radio
Crazy Taxi
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2
Sonic Adventure 1+2
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Space Channel 5
Skies of Arcadia
Soul Caliber 2
Super Monkey Ball
Chu Chu Rocket
Grandia 2

Panzer Dragoon Saga was a Saturn game.

August 28th!

Must be the quickest Japanese to English localisation turnaround so far since Kiwami 2 was announced for Japan late last year?

I beat it two nights ago and finished off the last two (achievable, for me) trophies, last night.

This is far and away the grindiest game in the series and it WILL take you over 150 hours to platinum it, not to mention there are a couple of early missable things to watch out over.

Thankfully, you will need to beat the game twice to collect everything, so anything missed can be done again the second time 'round.

Music is great, voice acting is incredible and the story is damn good as well, though I feel many will be unhappy with yet another, "underwhelming final boss," that has been thrown around quite a bit in the series, lately. . One thing that some people may find odd, is that there aren't ANY weapons in the game (just the "Hidebu," which don't count lol), which lacks a bit of variety, however that leads me to say...

... the fighting is the best thing about this game, as they've really captured the spirit and essence of HNK even if the fighting animations constantly get repeated .

But yeah, the sheer amount of things to do + difficulty, this is the toughest Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza game thus far and you need to spend a ton of time grinding for things and repeating things.

A few more spoilers, for those that want to know:

[spoiler]
- Amon returns and he's the toughest he's ever been, by far, ESPECIALLY since you can't use weapons.
- This is a completely new story, with returning characters. So this won't be a callback to the HNK you know and love, as they change things up a bit, story-wise.
- Komaki is in this game as well!

Its a great game, I'd give it a 9/10 and place it after Kiwami 2, as best in the series. It runs on the old engine, so its still in the style of Kiwami, 0 and before.

I also bumped my $160 package to the $250. I could raise a little bit more by the end..

^ Would you by any chance be happy to be able to play in Japanese with English subtitles?

In reference to the logo on page 6 of the comments, I'm hoping for the return of the original logo. I still really don't like the Yu Suzuki drawn logo.

Nice to see everybody is so positive. I saw the IGN video and they said it will be delayed as a negative.


IGN paints every delay as a negative. It doesn't matter which game it is. They value not impeding on their impatience more than the quality of the product.


Granted more development time does not always equate to a better game, however YSNet had received a substantial injection of funds midway through development (which is rare in game development as the budget is established upon the initiation of the publishing deal - however Shenmue 3 was without one until August 2017) which allowed Yu to broaden the game beyond was initially envisioned.

When you look at the average game development cycle, 36-48 months is typically the norm. If anything, it was premature of Yu to target a 2017 release.

An example of various game development periods:

Shenmue I - 48 Months
The Last of Us - 44 Months
Until Dawn - 42 Months
Ico - 44 Months
Uncharted 4 - 42 Months
Heavy Rain - 48 Months
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) - 49 Months
Resident Evil 5 - 50 Months
Max Payne 3 - 58 Months
Killzone 2 - 51 Months
Beyond: Two Souls - 43 Months
Resident Evil 6 - 43 Months



It's likely that Shenmue 3 will fall between a 46-48 month cycle for a May - July 2019 release. Contrary to the popular opinion of IGN editors this shouldn't be a cause for concern.

Edit: Added additional game titles.

$400 on the KS. Multiple "$30 on the 3rd" donations thereafter for the Slacker Backer (which, hilariously, means I'm getting a ridiculous number of T-shirts since it counts every individual donation LOL.) That was all I could spend. I was literally finding change laying around to give everything I could, without hurting myself. Would have given more if not for medical expenses. It's Shenmue 3. I mean... it's SHENMUE 3. Lol.