Wow! My experience of this was a sweet culmination of an amazing day. I took my family to a remote mountaintop to watch the total eclipse. Seeing a total eclipse is one of the few things I've waited for longer than Shenmue III! And it was well worth the wait. Then, after a long drive home, as I was getting ready for bed, I decided to check my email, which had nothing of interest... but then a moment later the Kickstarter update appeared in my inbox! There were so many synchronistic little events like that throughout the day, it's hard to describe. But the overall effect was just a magical experience.

Holy smokes, look at this. Whatever else your eyeballs are doing, grab them and make them look at this.

I don't expect another trailer as such this year. Definitely some screenshots here and there and maybe a few short glimpses of video within future updates, but I don't think there will be a new trailer until next year.

But I and many other fans have a theory it's possibly Lan Di's father, or twin brother or someone who is very close to him that Ryo's father either accidentally or purposefully killed for no good reason.

I also believe Ryo's father is not Japanese and he's actually Chinese and an is a ex member of Lan Di's Mafia/Cartel group.

...

He knows his father is just as equally evil as Lan Di is and there will be some type of truce.

So what do you guys think?

Hmm, that's an interesting theory but it goes against everything I've observed about Iwao Hazuki. Admittedly not much is shown of him, but what is shown demonstates the importance he places on teaching Ryo about integrity. Also, if he had somehow gotten out of the criminal life after having been involved deeply enough to be a killer, I doubt he would draw attention to himself by establishing a dojo.

Also some talk about realism, and how while that was a pursuit for the first two games; it's now kind of switched into an exaggerated naturalism for III. Curious what this means exactly. I mean, it sounds like the realism is still there to an extent. You can get a job and stuff after all.

I think it's referring to the art direction. The characters are supposed to be somewhat exaggerated/stylized in appearance rather than photorealistic.

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.

Consider this remark in the Dengeki Online interview (thanks to Switch for the translation):

YS: The skill tree won't be overly complex, but one is planned. If it's complicated it could be hard to get to grips with, so it will fill itself in automatically as you do various things. However, checking the tree and deliberately building it up I think will be even more enjoyable.

Of course, even if you don't fill the skill tree the game will move forward. Achieving an impressive victory by performing a series of special moves, or barely scraping in with a win - I would like to implement this kind of level of distinction.

It doesn't really describe the method of input but it is reassuring that it will be possible to perform a series of special moves if you play well.

If the cursive style is indeed the problem (I personally don't have any trouble reading it, but we did learn cursive in school when I was a kid), then why not just use some classy serif font and keep the strong brushwork of the Japanese version. Yu Suzuki's brushwork in Japanese is strong and assured, whereas his version with roman letters is not (imo). So, something like this would be my suggestion:

http://www.zoonbats.com/s3/s3_logo.jpg

If you're seriously going to be upset that the story continues through Shenmue III into IV and possibly others, then you can simply avoid playing them and then after a number of years you can read about what happened after the cave on a wiki. YS has already stated the story is not ending in III.

Seriously, the types of Photoshop "improvements" being posted are so minute, subjective, and arbitrary. And some of them are presented with an almost comical air of certainty that their fan art is the superior, ideal visualization. Is this what this forum is going to be like for the next year? I guess it's fine as a hobby, but does anyone believe YsNet staffers are over there saying, "We haven't got it quite right... we'd better trawl the fan forums for guides." Maybe NoConKid getting hired has given people false expectations? But NoConKid has professional-level skill as a 3D artist. YsNet isn't hiring Photoshop hobbyists.

Peter Moore has recently clarified that his statement that he "made the call" to discontinue the Dreamcast and have Sega transition into a third party developer has been misconstrued. He didn't make the decision; he literally had to set up the conference call between the various divisions of Sega to receive the word of the decision, which came from Sega of Japan.

If he hadn't brokered the deal to get Shenmue II ported to the Xbox, it likely would not have been published by Sega for the Dreamcast in North America at all. Take a look at Sega's logic-defying decisions ever since leaving the hardware business about what gets localized and what doesn't. It was Sega's chosen strategy at the start of the third party era to provide console exclusives for each console.

I don't really see it as a viable strategy for hardcore Shenmue fans to commit to buying multiple copies of SIII. If that's what you want to do, that's cool, but the game will have to be a success on its own for the series to continue moving forward. It now seems to be in the best possible position to be a fully-realized, high-quality game, so in my eyes that's what's going to give it the best shot at commercial success.

Animations are a bit stiff but it's better than blank stares.

Well, the "grandma" in particular isn't showing animations. It's a video of the animator manually moving some of the animation controls to demonstrate some of the possible facial expressions. So moving the controls individually produces these sorts of linear motions, but when they actually animate the character it should be fluid and natural.

lol at the AJ bashing :D
the middling, casual fans (where the money will be made, IMO) are already pissed off and they may never lay down the cash, if this is delayed another year on top of the current delay.

I don't agree... I doubt the casual, more mainstream gamers have much awareness of Shenmue III yet. When the official marketing begins, they'll start to become aware and interested. The ones who are pissed off are a small sub-section of the people who spend a lot of time reading gaming news sites. They have their own little echo chamber but are not the mass market.

Bump, wondering if anyone heard any news about this.


They haven't made any additional announcements since the first one at E3. The only title they've announced at this point is Crimson Skies. I'm hyped about that so I've been impatiently waiting! As of now it's not even available in the Xbox Live Insider program. So it's starting to look like it'll be late fall before they roll it out.

This is a great sign! The company that I asked to donate $50M refuse to answer whether they've donated or not. You know what this means? Ys Net obviously asked them to keep the information classified or something like that. Big things are going to happen, I'm sure!

Actually, this is kind of worrying. By now, I'm sure so many people you've asked have donated so much money that the budget is certainly ballooning far beyond even Star Citizen levels. I expect they're approaching half a billion dollars, and climbing fast. Feature creep is going to set in and the exponentially-expanded version of Shenmue III won't release until 2024.

What? No! Damn, if only Isao Okawa was still alive. I bet he would have funded Shenmue III which would obviously be amazing! Too bad there aren't more people like him in the world :sad:

What's more, S1 and 2, in fact Dreamcast as a whole were funded by a billionaire patron with too much money in his account, who didn't expect anything back. We can only guess why he did it. Maybe he had a soft spot for quality video games?

Isao Okawa wasn't just some random billionaire art patron who liked video games. He was involved with Sega (first via CSK Holdings) starting in 1984, ultimately becoming Sega's president in 1999. He invested his own money to keep Sega from going bankrupt.

There's a setting in your preferences to turn off all signatures. Unfortunately it hides the tasteful, well-designed signatures as well as the annoying ones. Fortunately no one on here has a tasteful, well-designed signature, so I'm missing nothing. (ducks)

Great interview with a lot of very thoughtful questions. In particular I appreciate the information on how Yu Suzuki will handle the pacing and the balance between elements that advance the story, and additional aspects that are more like side activities that won't move the story along but will enhance the atmosphere. I'm also more and more curious about the new free battle system as it sounds intriguing to think of fighting in all directions. I almost wonder if there will be some kind of slow-motion aspect to it, but that's purely my own imagining and not based on anything specific Yu Suzuki said.

https://i.imgur.com/m2FttyX.jpg

something looks off about her face shape. it look more rounded compared to the rest plus i don't like her lips.

Well, truth be told the S2 Shenhua face looks more like a 6-year-old than a 16-year-old. If I didn't already know it was Shenhua and I looked at that S2 image of her face, I'd think... little kid.

I seem to remember yu saying he wanted it changed from cursive because he was afraid a younger audience wouldnt be able to read it

It seems that is a big concern for him. Someone better tell these guys...

http://www.coca-cola.com/content/dam/GO/CokeZone/Common/global/logo/logodesktop/coca-cola-logo-260x260.png

https://ceblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/cadillac-logo.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/b8/c9/a3b8c9e5523c1fd9e3dff7b6197aa186.png

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K0GC3z2RsP4/U6iHyPZl6wI/AAAAAAAAA1g/JkT-27aEpX8/s1600/johnson-and-johnson-logo.jpg

https://l93r834irft3s9f0a3lsa6e1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Ford-Logo.jpg

http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server200/3v073y/products/911/images/4677/GE_2_inch__02680.1392237486.386.513.jpg?c=2

https://imjustcreative.co.uk/logostack/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CBS-Era-Fender-logo-design.jpg

https://acimg.auctivacommerce.com/imgdata/0/2/0/4/2/7/webimg/2728406.jpg

I don't know if this has already been mentioned elsewhere, but I just noticed that Shenmue III was included in the Unreal Engine blog's list of UE4 games to look forward to in 2018. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/the-gaming-industry-gets-set-for-an-unreal-2018 The blog entry itself is an aggregate of lists from IGN, Gamespot and Polygon. No new information, but it's nice to see that Epic has confidence in Shenmue III being a good representation of UE4.

I can understand with the long and challenging history of this game that there are fears surrounding the possibility of anything undermining it as we apparently near the finish line. However, it's not really a well-founded fear to think that one company would acquire another in order to cancel, de-fund or otherwise disrupt one of the valuable properties that made acquisition appealing to begin with.

I have a video on the subject here:


If you're expecting to get "likes" and "subscribes" by trolling the Shenmue community, I think that ship has sailed. Not only is it not going to happen on Youtube anymore for any joe schmoe to have a viral hit channel just by ranting about nonsense, but also simply because there's only going to be more and more legit information on Shenmue III in the coming months. In years past when the project was in doubt you'd get some views just because people were starved for Shenmue content but that's all over now.

I found it interesting that they plan to use the old assets for flashback scenes. ... Also, if Sega does remaster the first two and they do look better, it would be odd then if 3 has un-updated asserts for the flashbacks. I wouldn't mind seeing the first two games rebuilt to match 3, but that's not really feasible if they want to release them in order.

"Assets" is a general term, so we don't know for sure what Yu Suzuki was referring to. He might have meant the old models as you're imagining, but he might have also meant the mocap/character animation data that could be applied to newer models. Assuming they still have the files with the character rigs from the older games then it would be relatively easy to bind them to new character models.

Just to save anyone else the trouble, I looked at his channel and all the featured videos are insults toward various popular franchises... all with fewer than 100 views. His dis of Crash Bandicoot seems to be the most popular with 78 views. :roll: Just another wannabe Youtuber trying to use trolling strategies that stopped working three or more years ago.

That's an Unreal Engine thing, isn't it?

Not really... it's art direction, not the engine. Games running on UE4, Unity, or any other modern engine can look as realistic or as stylized as the developers choose.

With regard to Shenmue, I guess it goes back to the discussion we had previously wherein it was revealed that many people in 1999 apparently thought Shenmue was the most realistic game they'd ever seen, even though almost all the textures are painted and many of the characters are stylized. Personally I prefer stylized art direction (Jet Set Radio being my favorite) and it seems to hold up over the years better than attempts at photorealism. But I also appreciate the drive for photorealism because it continues to push the technology.

ShenSun wrote: I did say if Shenmue HD gets announced, i'd run through the street naked. Off i go...........

Yi - To act without hesitation, to do what is right

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Years and years of campaigning all paid off. Also, what was said about skies of arcadia?

It's my understanding that Skies of Arcadia was shown in a countdown of the most requested games. So, basically Sega acknowledged that they get a lot of fan requests for Skies, but nothing more than that at this point.

I don't think they would have shared any information about exclusivity or Sega's potential future involvement in the series with Youtubers. I would expect the mystery information to be more about things like adding the requested time-skip feature to S1, and reducing or altogether removing loading times between areas.

I believe altering things like resolution and control scheme to coincide with today's standards doesn't make something a remaster.

Yakuza Kiwami is a remaster, built from scratch on a new engine with additional story and gameplay content, enhanced audio (re-recorded I believe) and graphics.

I think you have personal definitions of the terms remaster and remake which aren't standard. Yakuza Kiwami is a remake. As you said, it's "built from scratch." Remade. If it's not a remake, then what qualifies as a remake to you?

Edit to add: Having said that, the terms "remaster" and "remake" are not really very rigidly defined so it's understandable that there is some disagreement in how they are applied. But at this point I think there are some generally accepted definitions.

Adding some online leaderboard functionality to the arcade games would help players pass the time.

I'm ecstatic that we're getting a physical release of Shenmue 1+2 on modern consoles. Just don't give Sega any credit for merely hopping on the gravy train. The fans and YS resurrected the series. Now Sega will cash in with a minimal effort.

Sega has already sunk anywhere from $40-70 million into this. Now they're investing more for these releases.

Even in scenes where removing the bars is impossible because there's no animation available for the additional screen space, they could always adjust the camera angles. Doing a straight port of a game is easy, but I expect a little more than that. Shenmue is an important piece of gaming history and it's essential they do everything in their power to ensure the legacy stays alive and the game is presented in the best possible way achievable in 2018.

I can't imagine Yu Suzuki would want anyone messing around with the camera angles. As much as any game (series) in history, Shenmue embodies the concept of the auteur, a singular vision of an artist. Many interviews over the years with people who worked on the series have included mentions of how involved Yu Suzuki was in every element of the design. Additionally, as I recall, a lot of the cinematics don't have simple static shots... there are a lot of sweeping, dramatic camera movements that would be no simple matter to change while somehow preserving their beauty.

I also don't like the way some people are declaring that this or that aspect of game development is "easy" or the absence of some feature is due to a developer being "lazy." Or even the notion that, if something has been achieved by a talented modder in the community working with an emulator, then it should be no problem to implement that in a consumer product that has to undergo rigorous approvals with the console platform holders. The approvals processes are notoriously meticulous. If any subsequent patches become necessary due to bugs that are discovered after release, the same extensive approvals process have to be undertaken again. They are time-consuming and expensive. If there is some feature that is theoretically technically possible, but it isn't being implemented, it could be due to a variety of reasons - not the least of which is the budget. "Laziness" isn't something that you will ever observe among game developers. In truth they are incredibly hard-working, to an unhealthy degree in many studios.

Thanks for bringing this up and posting that link aries. Some of those texture changes too are just such a shame.

It's not just cut and dried in favor of the DC version, though. In some instances the DC version is better. But many of those Xbox examples in the link are improvements over the DC version. Fixing the Out Run texture and the Rockola badge on the jukebox, for example. Others are kind of a wash either way.

With all this hand-wringing, you would think Shenmue isn't a fun game. It found its audience when it came out and it'll find its audience this time, too. A bigger audience, I expect.

Like most of us suspected, Sega is a company which puts profits before anything else ( ie not interested in making sHD, Until seeing the interest for s3).

I suppose the only other kind of company would be one that is out of business. Sega has to make money to survive. That said, I think that Sega has done more creative, unique, risky, wildly artistic games and products than any other game company.

I'm looking forward to sharing the part in Shenmue II where Ryo and Shenhua are traveling together through Guilin with my 6 year old daughter. I've shown her videos of some parts of that sequence and she's really interested in Shenhua. It also seems to be her main wish to talk to the characters when I've shared other games with her... usually older games, like Ecco the Dolphin - but of course the conversations in those games are usually limited to one or two sentences. Chatting with Shenhua at length and seeing the fireflies and the color-changing river will probably delight her.

Capsule toys can be chalked up to SEGA branding. Without including toys from Sonic , Virtua Fighter , NiGHTS , and the like, capsule toys would have been sparse and boring.

So basically you're saying that everything that has already been in the games yet was outside of the game's timeline is justified... yet any other ideas to include games or other items outside of the game's timeline is not acceptable.

D3T Allen mentioned that he thought development had progressed a bit more than the 70% quoted in the Famitsu article, so I'm inclined to think the release date will be closer to E3 than to the end of the year. Of course that aligns quite well with my own wishful thinking, as I'd love to be playing this all summer.

I can't remember for sure so don't quote me on this, but if I recall correctly it was actually handled by Microsoft who rushed it so that there would be an English dub in time for the Xbox release in the US. That's probably the reason why it's so poor.

Wasn't there an interview years ago with one of the voice actors who, speaking anonymously, said that there was a very strong direction to deliver some of the lines in ways which wouldn't be natural-sounding (to put it mildly) to Westerners? They said that the actors told the director this but the director insisted. It wasn't made clear who the director was, however.

This could be a big indicator for how strong nostalgia really is, especially as an indicator for how well III could do in the market. We could very well see this collection surpass the sales of the original, taking into account all platforms available .

Agreed, but I also think it goes beyond nostalgia. Shenmue was conceptually ahead of its time, and now there's more of an established market for this game. There's still nothing else quite like it, but there are other games that have some similarities in pacing and atmosphere. Usually when Shenmue's influence on the game industry is discussed, one of the first things that's mentioned is how it predated GTA III in the open world genre. Then the David Cage games are mentioned. But I think perhaps even more importantly it has also paved the way for quieter story-based games with detailed worlds. Firewatch, Gone Home, Life is Strange, Edith Finch, maybe even to some degree Telltale Games. Those types of games have been big hits in recent years and I think fans of those games will be some of the new players who check out Shenmue.

Just a coincidence I've been playing OutRun online arcade less than a week ago, with the 360 analog stick, it was legit pain.

I love Outrun 2, Coast to Coast, and Online Arcade. Pretty much the only games where I've been able to get into the top 30 in the world leaderboards. Try this when using a controller: Instead of letting the analog stick re-center and pushing it left and right to steer, try holding the analog stick up to the 12 o'clock position constantly and just use small clockwise and anticlockwise movements to turn (11:00 to 1:00, for example).

With the daily average being over $300, that is covering the annual salaries of at least two employees at over $50,000 per year. Hell yes it makes sense to keep it open when it's generating that kind of income!

Whilst having a more thorough look through the Official Playstation UK magazine, I noticed a second article, mainly more about Shenmue 3 though.

Well, I don't begrudge the tone of the article, but I think Yu Suzuki is still thinking in terms of innovative gameplay, particularly since this isn't a project with a AAA budget. However, I do take exception to the author saying that Sonic Mania didn't bring anything new to that series, because it had numerous clever innovations and it also simply would not have been graphically possible on old hardware in spite of its pixel art styling.