Pledged 300$. Would have done more if I could have. If I had the money, I would have gone for the dinner with YS.

Congratulations, LanDC! You deserve it! Say hello to Yu for me!

I remember an Interview with Yu Suzuki, I saw that about a year ago. It took place in his kitchen and was part of some series covering legendary game designers like Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto and of course, Yu.

The interview revolved mostly around Shenmue and Yu kind of evaded the questions regarding Shenmue's future and he seemed a bitter and broken man to me through his answers. It's just great to see Yu full of life, ambition and happiness again. This is the Yu Suzuki we all know and love!

I think you've brought up something very important here. I could see myself paying like, let's say 30 or even 50$ a month for the remainder of the game's development.

I wouldn't even expect any kind of reward for that and I'm sure there's thousands of other die hard fan boys like me who'd do the same. Immagine if only a thousand people took this monthly $30 "subscription", that would enable Ys Net to pay a 30,000 $ worth of wages every month (minus tax and fees, of course).

And I'd be fine without any reward. If they'd send me a monthly newsletter by email, I'd be happy. If I didn't get anything other than the guarantee that my monthly payment is going into S3, I'd be happy.

I haven't touched a (new) video game in six or seven years, but Jesus, I've been waiting all my life for this game and I know that it's probably not gonna get a funding as big as 47 million $ this time but I want to do everything I can and I'm willing to go out of my way to make this better.

Can I throw another $1000 at this game right now? No, unfortunately not. Can I contribute $1000 over the span of 2 years? Yes, Sir!

They should definitely look into this "monthly fan contribution" thing.

I just shit my pants. -Myshtuff, Shenmue 3 Announcement June 15th, 2015

Love your signature, dude!

I seriously think they should drop those German, French, Spanish and Italian subtitles from the game. Why would we waste our money on those small language translations if we could actually spend it on things which actually make the game better. No racism accusations please, I'm German myself but I don't see the point wasting 400,000 $ on translations while we could put it into other more useful stretch goals.

There should be the Japanese original and English for the rest of the world and that's that. S1 and 2 didn't have smaller language subtitles (except for the notebook in S2 which would be in the language you set your DC in) and no one complained.

To any non-English or -Japanese speaking person in the world wanting to play S3 I say: Shenmue is giving you the best reason in the world to learn English, so start learning. Don't be lazy and ask for subtitles in your language.

It just pisses me off every time I read the stretch goals on Kickstarter knowing we wasted 400,000 $ on translations which we could have actually spent on something cool.

If there was a big demand for smaller language subtitles they could put that out as patches via the internet once the game is out. Hell, they could even think about giving out the translation and proofreading to native speakers in the Dojo. I really don't think development money should be wasted on that. What do you guys think?

Guess I'll write that to them on Kickstarter. If enough people say so, they might actually drop those languages. What do you think?

I don't have any objections whatsoever about Shenmue not taking place in Japan. In fact the prologue to Shenmue hints at that: "He shall appear from a eastern land across the sea." Meaning the hero of the saga will come from abroad and cross the sea westward into China. Shenmue 1 was only the introduction and is meant to give the audience an explanation why a Japanese small town boy embarks on this journey to China.

Remember that Shenmue 1 closes with the words "And thus the saga begins." I think Yu never meant Shenmue to have that much to do with Japan.

I've been to small villages near the city of Guilin in Guangxi Province, China like those Shenmue 3 will probably take place in and I absolutely love those places and the people there. It was one of the best holidays I've ever had and I'm happy to be able to "go back there", this time not as myself but as Ryo Hazuki. :D

I love it. It perfectly punctuates the general tone of the series, and especially which throws it right in your face. Ryo goes through a decaying, decrepit old crime filled city in order to find information on his fathers killer. Kowloon represents Ryo's inner demons as the cracks expose themselves leading to his own perdition. Xiuying tells him as much in the church and many times in Honk Kong. The analogy for Ryo's spiritual journey from Kowloon to Guilin is both figurative and literal in the scope of the games themes. Ryo, having found Zhu Yuanda, travels from a place that eats his soul and forces him to go to extremes to find vengeance that will never sate him, to a place separated from civilization, surrounded by nature in all of its wonders. It is through the nature of spirituality and friendship, which Ryo starts to embrace as seen in the Tai Chi scene at the crag, that will save Ryo and deliver him from becoming the exact person he hates.

The naturalism vs urbanism dynamic in II is a natural part of the evolution of the story, and one that gives it far more emotional weight.

I don't take it as an west vs east debate. I think that pits the story at its most reduced form. After all, Hong Kong is more advanced than Yokosuka which is a small town and many people that live in these places, like Xiuying, are on the straight and narrow. It isn't about west vs east, so much as I feel it is about Ryo's spiritual transformation as he grows from boy to man. He has two options. He thinks he NEEDS revenge, but it consumes him. The secret to his sating heartache is within him all along, and that is his own natural spirit.

The spiritualism is needed.

Further, I think people's take on east vs west debate is exotifying the east and trying to find a way to say the east is better when this is never explicitly said in neither games at all.

Just beautiful words, my friend! These are things that I felt were in Shenmue all along but I couldn't have found such precise words to articulate it. =D>

I feel guilty now, Peter...

I feel like I need to explain who I am now.. I'm not a casual Shenmue fan. My brother and I are 35. We are identical twins and we help lead a school just outside Guilin in Yangshou where we teach poor kids English in helping them get scholarships to achieve better education.

This was inspired by Shenmue. My Avatar is of me laying on a raft on the Lijiang river just outside Guilin.

I've been there from the beginning like most of you. This will be a great experience in my life that I will treasure until I die.

EDIT:

You can find us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/VolunteerEnglishTeacher?fref=ts

A lot of the pictures are of my brother and I.

Here is me with the kids.
http://i.imgur.com/b8Bc9z0.jpg

Guess that's just what I'd expect of Shenmue. Shenmue is so inspiring. =D> Yangshuo and its surrounding areas are so great, I envy you guys for living there. Backpacker's mecca. :D

The prologue text which is at the beginning of the manual, in the passport and in the closing scene of Shenmue 1 already suggests that some mystical aspects will come into the story sooner or later.

He shall appear from a far eastern land across the sea.
A young man who has yet to know his full potential.
This potential is a power that can either
destroy him or realize his will.
His courage shall determine his fate.
The path he must traverse, fraught with adversity.
I await whilst praying,
For this destiny predetermined since ancient times.
Awaiting in anticipation.
A dragon emerges from the earth
as ominous clouds fill the sky.
A phoenix descends from the heavens
trailing purple from its wings.
The pitch-black night unfolds
with the morning star as its only light.
And thus, the saga begins.

That said, the ending of S2 is surprising indeed. :)

I can't even watch these videos. Just gives me goose bumps. Also, I think I'll be sitting in front of my TV cheering on every character when they first appear. It'll be like meeting old friends after many years. I'll be like: "Yeeaaaaaah! Let's go Lan Di! Great to see you again, Ren! Go, Guizhang! Go, Guizhang! Whohoooooh!". My neighbours will be like: "That dude next door needs professional help!" :rotflmao:

OK, great. I'll try to find a way to record that Friday episode of Nachtjournal then. Thanks for clearing that up! =D> Please note that I'm not quite sure how to do that right now, so I hope I won't screw up. I usually don't use my TV apart from watching DVDs and the occasional live football (soccer) match. :D

Anyways, if they mention Shenmue, I'll try to upload the Shenmue bit on Youtube with English subtitles for every one in the Dojo to see. Not sure if RTL will let me do that however. It's not unlikely they'll have YT delete the video for copyright reasons, but I'll try anyway. If that doesn't work I should at least be able to give everyone a written translation of what the programme said on Shenmue.

Well, we got our answer. The smaller languages won. It's in the FAQ already. They're even thinking about adding Portuguese and Chinese.

Shenmue 3 will be available in English and Japanese, and since the Stretch Goals have been reached, German, French, Italian and Spanish languages will be added as well. We have received many requests to add Portuguese and Chinese among other languages as well. We are hopeful that funding levels will allow for further languages. Should additional languages be added, there will be an announcement made on the Update page.


Guess the translations can't be regarded as wasted money since the subtitles have been requested by some of the Kickers themselves.

Yeah, fine by me. I guess there is a big enough demand for other languages after all. And I'm also Ok with having to pay for it (in a way) with my Kickstarter money. If there's a big enough demand for it and Ys think the game having those subtitles will sell enough extra copies to make extra money, I'd be the last one to oppose.

Curious to see their decision about Portuguese and Chinese.

Disc 4 of S2 gives me good hope that he won't kill Lan Di. I hope he won't. It pains me every time I play Shenmue up to Disc 4 for of S2, seeing Ryo gradually turning into the hate-fueled person he despises.

How is the hate-fueled Ryo any better than Lan Di himself?

On Disc 4, luckily, it seems he begins to realize this.

The negative points I see :
- possibility of huge surprising flop (if no PS4 physic disc or no Steam pass, everything is possible)
- Sega still owns the licence and could ask for some % benefits parts that kill the plan according the sales
- Similar case : Slighty Mad Studio still ask for crowdfunding with Project Cars 2 (!).

Could be a stupid question, but what's a steam pass? I've not been into gaming anymore for quite a few years, so I don't really know what's going on.

I totally see your point. Every one of us would have preferred Sony or another big publisher to straight up foot the bill for the game without us having to go through Kickstarter. But please keep in mind that this is very likely to be our last shot. This is probably the last chance Shenmue will ever get.

A lot of Shenmue fans would also be willing to contribute like a montly $30 to Shenmue in order to at least ensure some steady influx of cash for Ys during the next two to three years, while developing S3. I think Ys will establish that option through Paypal sooner or later.

Especially since Ys probably won't be putting out any other games during that time span and don't have a lot of other sources of income, it will be a hell of an uphill battle they will have to fight. If we really want to see the saga concluded some day we will have to put in all we can. The only way to ever have a big publisher fund another Shenmue game is to make S3 the best we can and make it successful. If S3 turns out to make a good profit, Sega or Sony might very well jump in and fund number 4.

But for now, that's up to us because right now, the sad reality is that no publisher on this planet believes in the franchise enough to fully fund a game, even if Sony believes in it enough to give the Kickstarter some prime time at E3.

We'll get the 10M. After the KS, we will have about 2 and a half years time to get there through Paypal. Cheer up, every one! :) Let's just make the KS the best we can and AFTER that is done we will have enough time to discuss what to do. :)

Oh, and just in case I forgot to mention it: Shenmue 3 is coming!!! :king:

We'll get the 10M. After the KS, we will have about 2 and a half years time to get there through Paypal. Cheer up, every one! :) Let's just make the KS the best we can and AFTER that is done we will have enough time to discuss what to do. :)

Oh, and just in case I forgot to mention it: Shenmue 3 is coming!!! :king:
If the money pledged really is just for development then they'd need the majority of that $10m a hell of a lot sooner than 2 years down the line though...

We shouldn't be too worried about that. If the fans can generate an influx of, let's say, $50k per month that could be of great help with the development as a lot of the dev costs will be paid monthly (e. g., the wages). On top of that, with like 5 million from the Kickstarter in their pocket, I think it could be possible for Ys to get like a 5 million loan and pay that back monthly, using our paypal money and later, if needed, some of the money made from the sales.

But keep in mind that I'm just speculating and throwing around figures. No one of us knows how much money Ys have right now. Anyway, I'm just trying to tell people to cheer up and have a little more faith. We as the Shenmue community have fought for this moment for 14 years. We've already come a long, long way. We've made S3 a reality. Some of us have been waiting on this moment for almost their entire lifes and we won't just let this opportunity go.

This is our last shot and we will make it! Believe in ourselves, believe in Yu! :D

For Christ's sake, could you please wait for the Kickstarter to finish, first? No offence here, but the panicking over here is starting to go over the top. Pour into the KS as much as you can, wait for it to finish. Await Ys Net's statement on it.

If, after July 18 you should still think we have made too little money, I reckon you will be warmly welcome to make your monthly contribution to Ys Net via Paypal.

To, me this basically really sounds like: "You know, there will be a physical copy, but we want you guys to give us extra cash for it, two and a half years from now."

Watch the wording. It says, there are no plans for a physical copy REWARD. No one ever said there was not gonna be a physical copy at all.

Fair enough solution if you ask me. I'd be more than happy to go to the shop and buy my own copy of S3 on PS4 \:D/ .

What a damn mess. I'm so tired of this shit. This is the most stressed ive been about something in years when it should be a celebration. Somebody calm me down and tell me we'll be ok..

Realx. We're gonna be fine, trust me. To be fair, this Twitch... thing made us a good Dollar or two, I'm not denying. The thing that I don't like is this disturbing, almost obnoxious vibe Awesome Japan give me from time to time.

Those guys seem to have no idea who they are dealing with and what they are actually trying to get funded. It wouldn't surprise if none of them had ever actually played a minute of Shenmue. But at least to me that would seem the most basic of basic preparations to be done. Get a Dreamcast and spend one work day playing a bit of Shenmue 1 and 2 so you have an idea what you are talking about.

If I was a PR guy trying to get the Pebble Watch funded, I'd go and find out what it's all about and if I was trying to fund the third part of a video game I'd sure as heck look into the other two BEFORE starting the KS campaign.

Awesome Japan and especially that Tess guy need to understand that this is NOT about awesome Japan. Even if you don't have a lot of money you can at least get the fan questions out and read them in neutral and serious way without trying to take center stage and turn the whole thing into a third rate comedy show. And shave off that beard, get a hair cut and decent shirt while you're at it so you don't look like a clown on screen.

Sorry for getting a bit fired up but writing this somehow got me aggrevated. :D

Thanks. Great job. Kudos to Joel Tess for replying. =D>

The line about "how much voicing there will be" is remarkable indeed. I wonder if it means the game will not be fully voiced this time but maybe have voice acting for cutscenes only. Kind of Yakuza-style. Well, it would be a step down of course, but I guess I could live with it. It worked fine with Yakuza.

Or does it mean they will either drop the English or the Japanese dub? Personally, I'd be fine without the English dub, but I'm not sure if it's gonna backfire sales-wise in the long run.

@NeoShredder: Where did you get these 绸布 characters for Chobu from? These are not the characters used in the video. See for yourself. The video uses these characters: 鸟舞. They read niao wu - bird dance (WTF?!) - in Chinese (the first character here does not quite look like in the video tbh. That's because I cannot write traditional characters on my computer right now so I used simplified characters, but never mind. It is the same character.). Got no idea why they used Japanese (?) pronounciation for Chobu village and Chinese (Mandarin) pronounciation for Baisha and Bailu though.

Is there a reason in the game for Japanese pronunciation? Does it mean something? Guess, in the end it doesn't mean anything though. :D

I got that on my first ever playthrough, I think. But it took me 8 years or so to find the QTE battle with those high school girls at the harbor.

Also the "Ryo's friends stop by" scene took me 5 or 6 years to find out. Also it took just as long for me to find out that you could actually beat Chai at the Arcade. :oops: And I needed 2 or three years to find the duck race, too.

Anyway, it's amazing how Shenmue can still surprise us after so many years, right?
Yeah, I remember for the longest time thinking it was impossible to beat Chai at the arcade (and even on finding out from here, I think I've only managed it once) - it's worth doing, as you can ask everyone in Dobuita if they've seen Chai anywhere- Ryo's description of him is quite amusing, and his tone of voice is a lot more urgent than it usually is during conversations :lol:

No, since the day I found out you can beat Chai at the Arcade, it became my iron principle to always beat Chai twice on every playthrough. :D I always save before the fight and if I lose I try again until I beat him. I found out later though, that the Mud Spider move from the antique shop is very helpful in beating Chai. Train it way up and put it on R.

I guess he is. Look here for example. Alimn seems to run an Instagram for Novinworks. Just see below his avatar: http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=48132&p=1098440#p1098440

Also in the KS update, they call him Ali M. Novin = AliMN? :) Plus, Alimn mentioned he was Persian and the dude in the video certainly sounds and looks Persian. :D

Persian Shenmue legend! \:D/

Hello every one!

I'm from Germany and have been a die hard Shenmue Fan since early 2002, when I first played S1 and S2 on DC.

I have a lot of respect and feel deep gratitude towards the Dojo communitiy and what it has done for Shenmue. Especially people like LanDC, Hellraiser, Kiyuu and many more.

In my real life I have already travelled Guilin and Hong Kong because I wanted to see the real places where Shenmue is set. I've even been to the Man Mo Temple which looks almost exactly the way it looks in S2, at least inside the temple. The coutyard is not like in Shenmue however and if my memory serves me right, the real temple is on Hollywood Road, which is actually Kowloon, not Wan Chai. I'm planning to go to Yokosuka before S3 comes out, if I have the money.

So anyways, I'm glad our dream will come true. Have a great day!

Hyo Razuki

Shenmue 3's KS campaign will finish today (tomorrow for Europe, Africa and Asia). It will be the most-funded video game ever on Kickstarter, perhaps even the first video game to surpass the $6 million mark and for that reason Shenmue 3 will be all over the headlines of world wide gaming media once again.

So here's what I thought. With this hype around Shenmue 3 in our sails, now is the perfect time to let Sega know, we want those Shenmue 1 and 2 ports! I've written up a text which I have sent to Sega. If you don't want to write your own email to Sega about S1 and 2 HD, please take the time to copy and paste my text and send it to them. It just takes 3 steps which can be done in less than a minute:

1. Go to Sega's customer support form: https://support.sega.co.uk/hc/en-us/requests/new
(Since I am in Europe, I went through Sega's UK branch website which is in charge of European markets, but it let's you choose the region you are in, even North America, South America, Asia and so on)

2. Fill in your email address, the platform (PC or PS4), etc.

3. Copy and paste the text below into it (or write your own) and send it off to Sega.


Dear Sir or Madam,

Today, Shenmue 3 broke the all-time funding record in the video game category on Kickstarter. See the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3/

Many Sega fans, to this day, consider Shenmue not only the greatest Sega franchise ever to be created but the greatest franchise ever. Shenmue 3 is scheduled to come to PS4 and PC in 2017.

Your CEO, Mr. Hajime Satomi talked about "trying to win back back fans' trust" in last week's Famitsu interview. Starting with HD ports of Shenmue 1 and Shenmue 2 for PS4 and PC would be a great way to do that. The games' resolution would just have to be uspscaled and made widescreen. Other than that, not much would have to be done. Maybe some minor additions like a waiting option for Shenmue 1. Keeping in touch with YS Net who are currently developing Shenmue 3 and making the Shenmue 1 and 2 HD port's save state compatible with Shenmue 3 would be the icing on the cake.

Tens of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of old fans would come running back to Sega for that port. The strength of the Kickstarter for Shenmue 3 has shown that the appetite for Shenmue games is stronger than ever. This can also be seen on eBay where Shenmue merchandise and games are fetching above their original retail value! Creating HD ports would be not only a popular decision with the fans it would also be highly profitable as well.

Moreover, Shenmue 3, even though it is not going to be a Sega game, is still Sega's IP which they licensed to YS Net. Throughout the last four weeks, Shenmue 3 has repeatedly been making headlines in gaming media all over the world and even made it into the Guiness Book of Records. I think it would be a big image boost for Sega to make those Shenmue 1 and 2 ports and have their name associated with Yu Suzuki's Shenmue 3 and the sensation it has stirred. Making those ports would get Sega positive headlines all over the world and it would be seen as something they have done for their fans.

Please, ladies and gentlemen, seize this chance and bring back Sega's old glory!

Sincerely,


Please note: I am not a native speaker of English. Thanks to Benwah for proofreading! Also it might help if you take the time to write your own text as they might see it as some kind of spam if everybody uses the same text. If you don't have time for that, you are of course very welcome to use the above text.

And yeah, I got a bit sentimental with the text, but don't blame me. It's Shenmue. :D

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.