That's awful, Valascaziel.

The media - both news and videogames - have some outrageously poor representatives who handle their position irresponsibly and selfishly.

But with what's currently going on in the world, I think it's important to not write off the media as a whole. Incredibly there are honest journalists with a social conscience, and we need to support those guys now more than ever.

Seeing Chai munch down on a Hong Kong ticket this stream inspired me to create this monstrosity:

Hype!

Larger image on Deep Silver's website:

Just for fun...



I did my best without staying on it for 24 hours

Hello PlayStation fans! This is Yu Suzuki, director of Shenmue III.

It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since we debuted the game at Sony’s E3 2015 press conference. Since then, the team has been extremely busy developing the game in Tokyo, but now it’s time to come up for air.

To coincide with Gamescom 2017, we are happy to share the news that we have inked a publishing partnership with Deep Silver! From the early days on the project, the team at Deep Silver really impressed me with their deep passion for the series and their desire to work with us to deliver a proper sequel that all fans will love.

To celebrate the news, I would like to share with you a teaser video built from a small slice of an in-development build of the game . As you will see, the latest chapter in Ryo and Shenhua’s journey begins with a beautiful set piece in China. You’ll also see that we’re aiming to significantly upgrade the game’s visuals , and you may also notice a new character during that quick glimpse of our new battle gameplay…

I’m pleased to be able to offer a small peek into what we’ve been building thus far, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to show you more as we get closer to our 2018 release.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all those who have supported me and the team. I will continue to work hard to deliver the best possible realization of Shenmue III.

Yu Suzuki


https://blog.us.playstation.com/2017/08/21/shenmue-iii-the-first-teaser/

http://i.imgur.com/g5yUqjb.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ufpkE9s.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/6aBGfXn.jpg

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

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

http://i.imgur.com/YLvset1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2HG6rvv.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LMB9IsH.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/aB0cIOJ.jpg

Ryo & Shenhua Character Models (High Resolutions)

http://i.imgur.com/TAjc0zl.jpg

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

Game Watch published a very interesting interview with Suzuki-san, the interview took place during Gamescom 2017 and includes some really insightful and interesting information about Shenmue III, here's a short summary of it:


⋅  The released Shenmue III teaser footage is real-time in-game graphics.
⋅  All charterers models are temporary and subject to change.
⋅  Facial animations were initially implemented but have been removed about a month ago.
⋅  The teaser was especially made for Gamescom 2017, no further plans to show more of the game at this year's Gamescom or Tokyo Game Show. However, a full-scale promotion will take place next year.
⋅  Deep Silver will publish the game internationally, and they'll provide budget and promotional support. A publisher for Japan is to be decided.
⋅  Suzuki-san would like to continue the series in Shenmue IV if possible.
⋅  Suzuki-san is not interested in forcing the Shenmue story to complete in Shenmue III.
⋅  Shenmue III will take around 30 hours of gameplay to complete.
⋅  The fighting engine in Shenmue III is being built from scratch, and unlike Shenmue II it won't use the Virtua engine.
⋅  A system that allows phone calls with characters from Shenmue and Shenmue II is planned for Shenmue III.
⋅  Suzuki-san would like to bring as many voice actors from the previous games as possible, but some are retired now, he will audition a new voice actress for Shenhua.
⋅  OST from Shenmue and Shenmue II will probably be reused in Shenmue III.
⋅  The new partnership with Deep Silver is strong and it's aimed to improve the Shenmue III experience beyond what was initially planned on the Kickstarter.

Finally, Suzuki-san asks the fans to continue their support, and promises to do his best to make a good game out of Shenmue III.

I have a very strong feeling that 2018 will be the year of Shenmue ...

Update:
Switch has kindly translated the original interview

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

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/08/game-watch-interview-with-yu-suzuki.html

http://i.imgur.com/sCek1CHl.jpg

Here's a new article translation from Game*Spark Japan, interviewing Yu Suzuki and executive producer Hideaki Morishita.

I think it contains a lot of interesting insight. They speak about the fuss surrounding the teaser trailer despite the fact that many of the characters in the trailer are nowhere near their finished form.

Read the interview here:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/08/translation-interview-with-yu-suzuki.html

http://i.imgur.com/1xOO0HZl.jpg

Shots from Gameblog









more photos here: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1077028.html

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)

We did it!

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

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.

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.

...

Do you remember this picture of "Manabu Takimoto" Bailu concept drawing posted by Switch back in June 2016?

http://i.imgur.com/y7UhGUO.png

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1134422#p1134422

How many theories about the meaning of this scene and which characters were depicted?

Well... mystery solved I guess. :mrgreen:





















http://i.imgur.com/K1XEsce.jpg

I'm genuinely amazed by how much the WIP (!) result looks better than anything I was expecting.
Everything feels so Shenmue to me in this scene. :heart:

http://www.gameblog.fr/interview_1100_yu-suzuki-je-ne-suis-pas-encore-satisfait-du-design-actuel-m

Translation from French.

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

Gameblog: Suzuki-sensei, how are you? How do you feel here at Gamescom after you showed us this first trailer ?

Yu Suzuki: To be honest, it's more a teaser rather than a real trailer! About the Gamescom, I believe hundreds of thousands of people come here, that's truly gigantic. I only visited the business area at the moment, I don't know how things look at the other side, in the public areas. But we will go into it soon, I'm sure that will be great. I have already met a lot of fans and enthusiastic journalists. All these people give me a huge boost.

GB: So far, is the development going well? Are you pleased with your working pace and progress?

YS: We made a lot of research before we signed our partnership with Deep Silver. Since that moment, I feel we now have the full team and I'm relieved. Finally, we can focus entirely on the remaining part, I mean the production.

GB: Does Deep Silver provide you funds for the remaining production? Can you tell us something more about it?

YS: I cannot comment officially or give you precise figures. But yes, there is something...

GB: How close we are actually to the trial version?

YS: I'm currently thinking about the best way to design the demo, in order to show the game to the players. But I'm still unable to tell you when it will be available... It will be sometime!

https://i.imgur.com/9sssThK.jpg

GB: What are the main mechanics that you will take back from Shenmue 1&2 and the new ones you're currently creating for Shenmue III?

YS: I could not be really specific about Shenmue 1&2 mechanics but I can tell you that our first priority is to remain faithful to the spirit of the first episodes, the "Shenmue universe".

However, regarding Shenmue 1&2, the constituent elements such as mini-games, jobs and miscellaneous activities were not really linked together. They were simply there, and their connections were not strong enough. In Shenmue III, I want to tie the different elements really tighter, make these connections clearer. This way, the world of Shenmue will be improved. Each gameplay sequence will be included more naturally into the story, the screenplay, then the player feels more involved and focused. I believe this will be one of the strongest and most attractive features of Shenmue III.

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

GB: Can you tell us more about the new QTEs we've seen in the extended teaser?

YS: I hope you'll appreciate this new QTE system! Let me give you few examples...

(Yu Suzuki starts his PC which is connected to the television then opens a Powerpoint file with pictures and texts about every elements of the game. He goes directly into the slides about the QTEs)

The most important aspect of the new QTEs is the fun provided to the players. We would like to challenge the QTE concept with a new function called "Variable Speed Play" in order to offer a funny and entertaining experience to the players. It's a style of QTE that has never been seen before.

So far you're only seeing the Circle or Triangle buttons from the PS4 controller but more symbols are yet to come. QTEs might be based on colors seen on the controller buttons, or even on Chinese characters associated with some specific actions. Moreover, we may imagine a system based on specific sounds associated with each controller button. A color coupled with a sound. This way, we could perform QTEs only by referring to a game sound... Well, it's still experimental but I would like to offer that kind of experience to the players.

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

GB: What about the battle system?

YS: In Shenmue 1&2, I choose the Virtua Fighter system. It was more about strategy than button mashing. In Shenmue III, I would like a more friendly system and something completely new. One of the most important improvements would be the ability to attack several enemies once, during the same combo. Unlike the previous episodes - and many other games - where you had to fight only one ennemy once, if three enemies surround you, you need to fight all of them at the same time, by doing combos on each other (Suzuki mimes a triple combo with his fists: "bam - bam - bam!").

Of course, if you want to focus on one enemy only, you can do so, but you will have the choice.

GB: Like Shenmue I, can we train our moves to improve Ryo's abilities, skills and techniques?

YS: Yes indeed, I would like to make this happen and I'm still thinking about it. Solo training is definitely part of Kung Fu. The skill tree system is still confirmed as well. (Suzuki opens a new Powerpoint slide named "Skill Tree").

Each blank rectangle you're seeing here represents a skill book. These books can be obtained by several manners. You can buy some books in stores while you can earn the other ones by prizes. They can also have different forms: books, scrolls or sheets...

https://i.imgur.com/PLxQ3x2.jpg

GB: Everyone was suprised by the lack of facial motion in the teaser. Can you give us an explanation? By the way, is the charadesign final?

YS: First of all, no the charadesign isn't final. Actually, no character in the teaser is finished. I'm still not pleased with the current design, even if it's way better than the characters we showed at E3 2015. About the facial motion, it was there two months ago, but the developers changed something in the face bone structure then everything started to bug. (The translator is miming with his hand the jaw entering the head). The facial motion no longer worked so we decided to remove it from the teaser.

GB: The logo has changed again too...

YS: Yes, it has been changed because I wanted to remake it myself. By the way, the ideogram you can see on the poster has been made by my father (Suzuki points at the kanji on the poster - see the red circle on the picture below).

https://i.imgur.com/CpkMb09.jpg

GB: The interview already comes to the end... Shortly, have you got any positive news about Shenmue HD?

YS: As you know, Sega still owns the licence, so I really cannot say anything about it.... but I want to tell something to Sega: please, do it! I really would like to see this happen.

ShenmueLegacy wrote:Would be neat if they open sourced it for feedback.

I can't imagine anything the devs want less than 200 bedroom coders telling them why their algorithms are poorly designed. They get it bad enough from self-assured photoshoppers.

But Peter, I have Photoshop and can squidge in one dimension a flat screenshot of a 3D model they're still working on. Surely you concede I can do a better job at making Shenmue 3?

Regardless of how much he villified or hated by the Shenmue fanbase (Peter, lol), Peter Moore did great things for Sega as a whole and if not for him making the decision he did, Sega would most-likely not even be a software dev/publisher today, which means we would've gotten:

- No Ryu ga Gotoku and the various other related titles
- No awesome arcade titles
- Nothing but Sonic, which, as we know, has been subpar for most of the 2000s
- Various IPs sold off and possibly tainted/ruined/not done anything with

Hate the guy all you want for Shenmue-related things, but:

1. It wouldn't have saved Sega if II was released in NA, thus we would still be where we are today, most-likely.
2. I'm happy with the stuff we've gotten, post-Dreamcast (well, mainly the entire Ryu ga Gotoku/Yakuza series lol and Binary Domain) and the latter DC titles, like Under Defeat, Radirgy and the like.

I'll back away now, just thought I'd give a different rationale on why PM did what he did.

https://i.imgur.com/2LwRfgP.jpg

Prior to the upcoming publishing of their interview with Yu Suzuki, Trent and Shendream from Shenmuemaster.fr have written a recap of what we learnt from the Gamescom event, divided into the following parts:

Deep Silver: The Origins and Nature of the Partnership
The Different Interviews With Yu Suzuki At Gamescom
An "Open World" Game With Enhanced Content
The Gamescom Teaser
MOCAP or Motion Capture
The Story's Main Themes
The Environment
New Characters
QTE And Fights
Mini Games And Part Time Jobs
The Current State Of The Development
The Shenmue III Staff
The Connection With The Shenmue I and Shenmue II Stories
Game Lifespan
Music And Dubbing
Start Menu And Shenmue Logo
Demo Trial And DLC
HD Remasters
Miscellaneous
Conclusion

You can read my humble translation of it here:
http://shenmuemaster.fr/page.php?cat=shenmue3&page=gamescom-2017-the-recap

A new interview with Yu Suzuki at Gamescom emerged. (9Lives.be)

Google Translation:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.9lives.be%2Fspecial%2Fportret-van-yu-suzuki-de-gamelegende-die-een-comeback-forceert-met-shenmue-iii&edit-text=&act=url

Portrait of Yu Suzuki, the game legend that forces a comeback with Shenmue III

With Shenmue III, somewhere in the market next year, legendary game designer Yu Suzuki returns from the Limbo of mobile games to finally make a title with some scale. Who is this person, and why is his comeback such a big deal? A portrait.

https://www.9lives.be/sites/default/files/styles/main/public/content/shenm.jpg?itok=Y6sYY2hz

It is 1985, and a 27-year-old Yu Suzuki undertakes a car trip through Europe. The journey starts in Frankfurt, but takes him further to places like the Romantic Road in Germany, the Swiss Alps, the French Riviera, Florence, Rome, and the Trevi Fountain. The visual impressions he gains there will form the basis for Out Run (1986) for him an ode to the romantic road trip, for the audience of young people who are in luna parks around the red, pneumariate-set Ferrari shears a piece youth sentiment under construction. " A game designer has to open his eyes and ears so that he can bring up the impressions he gains in the world of the game he makes ," Suzuki says now more than thirty years later. "About eighty percent of everything I make is based on my own experiences."

Continuation

Patches from that life of the now 59-year-old game designer will be encountered again in Shenmue III, a third episode of the kung fu-eighties-rpg epic that Suzuki started on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, especially after the second game. from 2001 became a culthit. A lot of fans stayed until today, sixteen years later, waiting for a successor, Suzuki says. "That is also the main reason why I did not just put my shoulders under something completely new: the many fans who are still there for Shenmue, and who asked me in online forums to finish this story. And so I did the latter . "

Despite the more than sixteen years between the releases of Shenmue III and the previous episode, the game picks up the events of Suzuki's saga almost immediately in 1987. Ryo Hazuki, the late teen from the previous games who is looking for the his father's murderer, migrates to the mountains of Guilin, China. Where he meets Ling Shenhua, the mysterious girl that appears in his dreams. His quest proves to be in touch with hers: a legend from her village already predicted that their paths of life would intersect. In the meantime, he keeps in touch with characters from the previous games via the telephone, who are still in Japan.

Shenmue III is a continuation of a multi-game spanning story that Suzuki already had in his head twenty years ago, he says: it was only because of circumstances that it never went beyond two episodes. Even the themes of Shenmue III remain more or less the same, says Suzuki: " Romance, friendship, adventure. And kung fu. The usual combinations of a Shenmue story. "

Comeback

Yu Suzuki's star started a decade ago within the ranks of Sega, the video gamer in which he grew up. But his influence on the video game medium as we know it is undeniable. We already talked about Out Run, but in the late 80's and early 90's his name featured more big games from the luna park: with the graphically powerful internal hardware that Suzuki designed for those games, and the system of hydraulic pumps that caused the arcades to move, he gave Hang-On, Out Run, Space Harrier and After Burner a completely new élan to the category of arcade cabinets that was already waning. A few years later, he again pioneered, this time in 3D graphics, with games such as Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing for the Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast and the luna carpets from the Japanese manufacturer.

"A game designer has to open his eyes and ears."

When Sega gave him carte blanche at the end of the 90s to develop a big title for the Dreamcast, Suzuki seized the opportunity to start his magnum opus with the first Shenmue. But the market conditions decided differently: the Dreamcast became almost Sega's Titanic, and Suzuki was put on less ambitious projects. At the beginning of the decade he made some worthwhile sequels on games that he himself had helped launch, including Virtua Fighter 4 (2001) and Out Run 2: Coast 2 Coast (2003), but the time of big new things was over. Suzuki's and Sega's roads separated from each other in 2011, and Suzuki went into a sort of subcontracting deal from his own company Ys Net to make mobile versions of Segatitels until he announced the production of Shenmue III two years ago through a Kickstart campaign.

The grandmaster started back at the bottom of the ladder. " I have researched various opportunities to finance Shenmue III, " says Suzuki. " But a Kickstart campaign seemed like the best. It was also hard for us to find a good partner. And we saw the enormous momentum of fans who were still interested in the game. Then I decided to use that power to get the project going again. "

Much changed

In the meantime, the project also found shelter with a new publisher, the German Koch Media. Everything is ready to put the game on the market in 2018. During that very turbulent period, Suzuki also discovered how firmly the medium has changed. Not only the landscape of video game companies looks very different than just a decade ago, when he recorded his last small successes under the Sega flag: the way in which games are made is also very different.

" The arrival of game engines, which are central to development today, has changed a lot, " says Suzuki. "And that is for the most part good: you can analyze everything you want in terms of gameplay much better, quickly create a prototype in which you try small details. But for someone who has been working for a while, it is quite a change: I have to retrain myself to learn to think in that new way. At the time of the first two Shenmue's I wrote all the code myself, and I could quickly check things myself. With the advent of engines, the programming work can be done by a whole team, but that also means that I have to stop a whole process when something does not quite suit me. It has its advantages and disadvantages. But especially advantages. "

With these modern means, a game is still being made that takes place in the 1980s, an era that was deep in the past at the time of the first Shenmue, in 1999. But for Suzuki, himself a late twenties to a young man in the Eighties, the last important stories were told at the time. " With the Shenmue games, I wanted to tell a story about the older eras, when the character of people was even more important than anything else," says Suzuki. "The 80s were the last years of that old time with which today's players still have points of contact. Everything changed afterwards: before the arrival of the modern technology that is waving today, everyone was still largely the same, because we all got the same information. The charm of that era, its innocence in a sense, is for me a never-ending source of inspiration. "

I had a weird S3 dream a few days ago.

There was a major update on the official Shenmue website. It was a video of Yu saying he finally wanted to give the fans a substantial update about S3 and that was why he was gonna give the fans a glimpse at S3's story. So then Yu presented an org-chart of the Chiyoumen. It was a regular org-chart, just as if the Chiyoumen were a corporation. There were about a hundred names on it all in all with a picture of each character under their name and it had reporting lines too.

I recognized a lot of people, like Lan Di's henchmen who were at the Hazuki Dojo and also some of the bouncers from the street fighting venues in Hong Kong. There were all four leaders of the Chiyoumen with their names and pictures (I forgot the names of the two leaders we don't know yet) on there including the supreme leader of the Chiyoumen, the still unknown character known to the Shenmue fans as Tian Di (Tentei).

But actually the supreme leader of the Chiyoumen's name was not Tian Di as we had been thinking throughout all the years and he was not a human either. He was a snake-like extraterrestrian creature. He had a snake head and a body with two arms and two legs but his body was more like a mixture between human, snake and alien. His name was Vapor X ( :lol: ).

Vapor X was sitting way on top of the org-chart and below him there was Lan Di and some underworld leaders from other organizations which were like "subsidiaries" of the Chiyoumen. Not all four leaders of the Chiyoumen were on the same level though. Yu emphasized that Lan Di was the most powerful one of them and the org-chart showed it. Lan Di was the only one who reported to Vapor X directly. Niao Sun and the other two, the leaders of the West and the North (whose names were on there, but I forgot them) all reported to Lan Di in fact. On Lan Di's level there were the leaders of the "subsidiaries", reporting directly to "Group CEO" Vapor X.

Then Yu said we were gonna fight all four "lower" leaders of the Chiyoumen, including Lan Di in S3 and fans should look forward to S4 to see if Ryo would eventually overcome the snake-like creature Vapor X.

I think Yama or Ziming were the first to take a screenshot of the org-chart from the video and post it on here. The forum exploded once again, just like in 2015 and there were hundreds of people posting on here and theorizing about the screenshot of the org-chart and what it was gonna mean for the story.

I was sitting at home, looking at the screenshot together with my girlfriend and I studied all the names and reporting lines on there and explained it to her. Then I was following the discussion thread about the org-chart here on the forums and got into a heated debate with LanDC, Peter and Adam Koralik and a bunch of other people. Everybody was trying to get some clues about how the story would go on from the organisation chart and everybody was drawing different conclusions. We all couldn't wait for S3 to finally come out.

Centrale wrote: 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)

how dare you!

An English translation of the interview is now up at the Phantom River Stone blog.

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/0 ... iscay.html

It would be cool if the facts thread contained citations and links to sources.
I agree, this would be very useful - although a big job to go in now and apply them retroactively.
It was an oversight at first, but the bigger and bigger the OP became, the more it became a case of laziness on my part. I'll work on this at the weekend, hopefully, now I know it's something people would like :)

Three new screenshots were just revealed at the MAGIC Monaco conference, one showcasing Ryo and Shenhua with facial expressions. Check them out below, and stay tuned for the actual MAGIC expo next month!

Screenshots: 1 | 2 | 3

Before anyone gets their hopes up, no, Shenmue III will not be at the Magic Pre-Conference today. How do I know? Well, I don't "know", but I know. Wait until late Feburary. We will finally see what Shenhua's hat looks like.

Yes, you know.

http://i.cubeupload.com/GKq9Gq.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/sX4nKr.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/zz4PGm.jpg

MAGIC 2018 Press conference, filmed by Shenmue Master:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f5M6u51wpo

Mod Edit:

They are official and are from the Magic Monaco pre-conference, details below:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/magic-monaco-2018-24-feb-new-screenshots-gameplay-for-shenmue-3-live-demo-of-vampyr.16808/

- New screenshots and gameplay details on Shenmue III are expected at Magic Monaco 2018

Blog post with some analysis of the new images at Phantom River Stone:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/0 ... shots.html

I just watched the Shenmue Master video. What's Cedric said:

"We'll unveil the new steps, images, mechanics, etc"
"I did play the game recently. It's a beautiful game. At Magic, we'll see the game in motion, as beautiful as the screens you're seeing"

http://www.gameblog.fr/dossier_1129_she ... s-en-parle

Cedric interview

So, random thought of the day :
Newcomers starting with Shenmue 3 are entering the story the same way Shenhua does.

This thought made my day as it means that, there's little risk newcomers can be lost with the game.


Let me explain myself :
In universe, Shenhua only knows the basics about Ryo and his journey up to that point.
(Ryo is following after someone. He his a bit impulsive/naive but a good guy overall...)

As I believe the story of Shenmue 3 will make sense, Shenhua will have to understand what's going on.
(I'm going with the hypothesis that Ryo is not going to hide too much to her.)

So, as it turns out, maybe it's the most corect way to see it :
Starting with SH3 is starting the story "in Shenhua's shoes",
while, old veterans are "putting back on Ryo's jacket" !


Basically, you could see this as reading "The Lord of the Ring" before reading "The Hobbit".
(Even if we're not here to compare J.R.R. Tolkien and Yu Suzuki...)

So, yes, I have faith that SH3 can connect with new players.
Not in the same way it is going to connect with old fans, but it should work anyway.

Subtitles have now been completed for the video footage of Yu Suzuki's conference taken by Peter Campbell at MAGIC 2018.

(Translations by PhantomRiverStone.com & Shenmue Forever.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGZktkL5q-I

There is also a full written transcript up on the Phantom River Stone blog:

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/03/yu-suzukis-magic-conference-in-english.html

Greetings backers!
Today we have something very special indeed for you.
Throughout this campaign, many people have voiced their concerns that newcomers to the Shenmue series may feel alienated. Currently, there is no easy or convenient way to play Shenmue I and II without original Dreamcast/Xbox hardware and that's something we'd like to change.

We don't have the budget to fund fully fledged HD remasters of the first two games. But we're not going to let this stop us from bringing new fans a way to enjoy Shenmue I and II.

After much hard work, we proudly present to you: Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure novel!

https://i.imgur.com/G2vwAUj.png

A Story Retold:

Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure is a complete retelling of the original two games in interactive novel form. Story and progression awaits you with every page turn. Much like the original video adaptation of the game, you can directly control Ryo's decisions and effect the way in which the story plays out.

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

New Features:

Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure will also include extra features that were not previously available in the original games. An example of this is the ability to save anywhere in Shenmue I with the included 'Save Anywhere' bookmark!

https://i.imgur.com/mKn1IXo.png

Modding API:

And finally, here's something all you modders and hackers will love. For the first time EVER , an official modding API will be available for Shenmue I and II. With this powerful and flexible API you can do almost anything; from tweaking the story to your liking, to using our advanced 'book engine' to make something completely different. The possibilities are endless. The only limit is your imagination!

https://i.imgur.com/WqH7NS0.png


That about wraps up our special announcement. We hope that you're just as excited as we are for Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure .
Be sure to catch us at E3 this June where we will have a playable demo available for the public to enjoy.

Many thanks for your continued support:
- The Awesome Japan Team and YS.NET



As always Dojo, have a great April!

60fps might be pie in the sky if the engine won't allow for it.
I agree.

While it's pretty easy for them to unlock the framerate, I'm pretty sure all of Shenmue's animation was done as fixed frames. Thus for example when you ran down the crowded street in front of Tomato mart the game would actually slow down instead of skipping frames. They CAN pull off 60fps if they update all of their animations to account for it (SquareEnix did it for the Kingdom Hearts HD collection) but that requires someone to review everything by hand. Interpolation will only get them some of the way there.

But if they did do it the result is very nice, as seen in the trailer I posted a few weeks back.

D3T is listed as the developer on Steam... as they don't appear to have any other credits, are they some sort of subsidiary of Sega that was formed for this project? Or does anyone know something beyond what's listed on Steam?
http://d3tltd.com/gameography/

Guys feel free to post any and all related topics in here. A new sub forum you you all to fill

Honestly, I don't think someone not able to read cursive would be interested in this game...

If you look at the bottom of this MobyGames list (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dreamcast/shenmue/credits) it actually gives us the answer to this, albeit not descriptive who does what but I recall looking into it a few years back and seeing some links between the developers, the staff within SEGA Japan do move around a lot (there's been so many division merges and renames it becomes really confusing trying to keep up with it all). I think that ultimately, it all comes down to the project leads that matter since there's so much shuffling around, so I agree that the link between Yakuza and Shenmue isn't as big as it's made out to be, just shares some of the same staff (Nagoshi supposedly when in the pre-production stages went around SEGA divisions showing off the Yakuza concept to all staff and whoever showed interest joined him to make it).

The other thing I found when looking into Shenmue's credits through MobyGames was that a lot of the staff just frankly disappeared from game development without a trace. So either they went freelance/contracting after this and went to work at somewhere like TOSE (a company renowned for never getting credit despite helping create some of the most popular Japanese video games of all time and having really talented staff) or they just left game development entirely. Always found that aspect of the development kinda fascinating.
Can't believe I was nuts enough to do it, but I've basically sat and gone through the credits for most of the staffers on Shenmue II.

You're right that a lot of developers just disappeared after these games, moved to a different division of SEGA (a lot appear to have worked on Sonic stuff), or just stayed at AM2 (surprising amount have worked on Miku games). Although others seem to have moved to Nintendo, Namco, Capcom, Sony, Konami, Square Enix, Mistwalker, Koei-Tecmo, etc.

That is, if they're actually the same person and not another developer that shares the same name. Yu Suzuki, for example, is weirdly credited on Mobygames as a designer on a Kingdom Hearts game from 2016 when we know that obviously wasn't the case.

Potential inaccuracies aside, the Yakuza links are still pretty tentative from what I can see. A few animators, sound designers, 3D artists, and support staff of various disciplines. They also seem to mainly be contributors from the PS3-era games onward, although some have dropped in and out over the years.

Myth busted, I guess?

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.

Oh boy that sparked some memories and made me fire up a search:

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42218

Bit of a weird one that Yama brought to us when he took over. We had to find footage of specific NPCs in Shenmue 2 in exchange for an unidentified voice actors interview on working on Shenmue. Originally I thought it was Eric Kelso, but when you read it, you can see pretty quickly it's definitely not. Who it is became a mystery. To this day we still don't know who it was, but here's the interview link:

http://shenmuedojo.net/new/extras/2010/behindthemic.html

Finally, it's possible to preorder Shenmue HD on Amazon Italy since today. And guess what? "il #1 più venduto in Giochi per PlayStation 4". I bet you understood what it means.

Hey guys, I was asked to post these animated VMU characters here by Ziming.



More can be seen in the link below.

https://imgur.com/a/8eSAkJC

The video clip of the Shenmue 3 segment from the presentation has been added to the OP. Thanks to Spaghetti for the editing!