According to nico nico interview Baisha is where most of the new ideas Yu Suzuki has will be implemented, while the other villages will host "filler" content.

Basically we got:

1) main systems (rapport+skill tree)
2) full story events + innovative quests
3) advanced battle system
4) minimum guaranteed quantity of filler activities

Ofc not the perfect outcome, but like 65-70% of Yu's vision for the game, the only important stuff missing is the other battle improvements.

For something that was less than a dead dream 40 days ago i would say it was an amazing result.

I can tell you from experience that games start turning sour when the developers cater to what the fans say they want. Most of the time, people don't know entirely what they want, and when they realize what they want through playing the game, the impact is much greater. For example, when I first started Shenmue 1 I didn't even know that fighting was a part of the game. After I got used to it, I discovered that it was extremely satisfying, and it's now one of my favorite parts of the games. This is coming from someone who blows at Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, etc. and typically does not enjoy fighting games.

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I've been able to make out a few more items from the first floor plan, after some further squinting. ;-)

In the inner courtyard area, what I thought could be a clothes pole turns out to be labelled as a partitioning wall . And near it, I believe the round shape is a well .

The room at the far right off the dining room is probably the Kitchen (a best guess from the shape of the characters, but it would make sense).

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

Alright guys. I finished scanning in all the Shenmue info from my Official Dreamcast Magazines. I've updated the first post to have the link so you can view the scans. Sorry they aren't perfect scans but my scanner isn't top of the line. I hope you enjoy them!

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Sorry for my poorly english, I'm a shenmue fan from china.
And I just heard something about the prototype of Xiuying, from Gadio, a chinese TV-game podcast.

In Yu-san's tour to china, his tour guide Ms. Zhang told him the past of her family. Because her grandfather had worked for japanese during the WW II, her parents suffered persecution and died in the cultural revolution. And her elder sister joined the Red Guards (红卫兵, the group killed Ms. Zhang's parents) after that.
Yu-san got inspiration from Ms. Zhang, he planned to design a character named Zhang Hongyu (张红玉) for Virtua fighter 3.
Finally Zhang Hongyu became Hong Xiuying, and there is no doubt that Ms. Zhang's family story is the source of the plot of Xiuying and Ziming.

The interviews of Yu suzuki in beep MD magazines:
http://pan.baidu.com/s/1jGMuZSa

So he was gonna put that Zhang Hongyu in VF 3 or 4 but then he decided on making Vanessa for VF4 and some other character (Aoi?) for VF3 and leave Zhang Hongyu for Shenmue. Great find! =D>

Also, if some of you want to read up on the youth movement Ms. Zhang's sister joined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guards_%28China%29

Yes, and the original news source is an interview of Yu-san in one vol. of the Beep! MegaDrive magazine 1994.
The interview mainly talk about Yu-san‘s tour to china.
A friend of mine have the magazines, I'll upload the photo of the article few days later.

http://i.imgur.com/r12nTPt.png

A new video chronicling the Shenmue franchise has been posted on Youtube.

The video, titled 'Shenmue: The Past, Present and Future' looks at all aspects of Shenmue, including why the series is such a sensation and how it has built and maintained such a dedicated fan base over the past 14 years.

The video can be seen here .

Links:
Shenmue: The Past, Present and Future | Official Shenmue 3 Website | News Archive

Thank you so much guys, so many questions, I'll have to work harder than expected hehe.

I am probably going to gather everything until August 15th and will work from there.

Seems like people want to avoid spoilers etc and looking forward japanese voices being added to the game. I will work on this and tell Yu Suzuki that the demand is high and that he should definetly think about it. ;-)

I guess all these other people dont realize what this kick starter was really about: 1. Fanatic Fans putting their money where their mouth is that have waited years in silence for this announcement, turns out there was quite a few of them. 2. A ray of hope for many fans of many other series that are considered dead or dis-continued, this proving that the "impossible" is indeed possible.

I think the people dis gruntled with the Shenmue 3 kickstarter, hadnt played the original games, hadnt felt the unique feeling that the Shenmue franchise gives, and didnt understand the already rocky history behind its development costs and sales and why so many fans of these games didnt care either way how this thing got done, or who funded it, and didnt mind helping fund it regardless of anything.

Lets get one thing straight, this isnt about pointing fingers about money. This is about art, video game art, and the way this series made so many people feel, like nothing before it and nothing after it. And to quote Huber from Game Trailers: "This is about a story, and Yu Suzuki's mission to tell it"

Also, I am really questioning peoples expectations of Kickstarter anymore, I mean isnt it blatantly obvious this site exists to get projects "started"... I mean it says that right in the name. I thought the whole time there would be other backers and investors that would probably help fund this game, and I looked at the kickstarter as a way to fork over some serious cash for some serious Shenmue goodies once this game comes out, thats what I felt I was really paying for. I was even telling folks come 2017 I will be receiving something of a Shenmue care package in the mail with my copies of Shenmue 3! haha. Suzuki had to muster the numbers from the fans throught kickstarter to front to the big guys to get them on board, I just dont think they understand there was no other way this game was going to happen.

I too apologize for my part in the derailment, and will take my gripes to PM. Huge congratulations to David again, and thank you so much for doing this!

- Why did you decide to reveal Niao Sun well in advance of the release of Shenmue 1 when she doesn’t actually appear in either of the first two games? Were there ever any plans to have her appear in Shenmue 1 or 2 in some way?

This is a translation of an article that was published in the September 2001 edition of the Dorimaga magazine. In it, Yu Suzuki and some of the Japanese voice actors talk about the completion of Shenmue II (released for the Dreamcast in Japan during the month this article was published) including some of the content that had to be cut from the release, and reflect back on their experiences over the previous 5 years they spent on the Shenmue project.

Part of this article (about Chapter 2) was translated by Kiyuu and discussed back in 2003. Also a short manga version of the Chapter 2 boat scenario is included as unlockable content on the Xbox version of Shenmue II.

http://i.imgur.com/FoGm3IDt.png

Special Interview: Looking Back on Shenmue

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

Yu Suzuki – Executive Producer
Masaya Matsukaze – Japanese voice & motion actor for Ryo
Hazuki Ishigaki – Japanese voice & motion actress for Shenhua
Takumi Hagiwara – Japanese voice & motion actor for Ren

Compared to the previous episode, “Chapter One - Yokosuka”, the townsfolk of Shenmue II seem friendlier. The game gives the impression that it has been made to address some of the areas that had room for improvement in the first game, as if to acknowledge that some may find it off-putting if everyone were to give you the cold shoulder like in Shenmue I. Some people may already have completed Shenmue II in its entirety, but this interview covers a range of topics, including things that people who have finished the game will also want to hear about.

TV Commercials

Q: The first topic is about the commercials for Shenmue II that are currently being shown on TV.

Shenmue II Commercial #1: "Pork"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cdJMDayC4o Shenmue II Commercial #2: "Kung Fu"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVGozf4zCRs Shenmue II Commercial #3: "Beautiful Woman"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jv1cgLsQAk
Suzuki: To film those TV commercials we went over to Shanghai, although in the near future we plan to show commercials that will feature actual screens from the game. I think showing some of the gameplay will help attract ordinary members of the public to the game.

Matsukaze: You know, Hagiwara-san and I actually appear in one of those commercials, but probably no one’s noticed. (laughs) And we're really acting, too!

http://i.imgur.com/WV2O5Qr.png
Left & bottom-right: the set of the Hong Kong street at the Shanghai Film Park. The first photo was actually taken by Yu Suzuki. In the “Beautiful Woman” version of the commercial, look for Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo), and Takumi Hagiwara (Ren), showing their “real acting" (!) in the background.
Top-right: two giant pig carcasses containing a machine gun were chopped up on location. The set crew took the innards home for dinner.



Hagiwara: Right. People who have played Shenmue II are sure to recognize that we’re acting the bit where we lie in wait for Yuan. There are several different episode variations of the commercial, and they’re fun to watch. In the one with the old man, he was pretty shaky on his feet, so we had to film using a high-speed camera to make it look as though he was standing steadily. Gee, that old man was wobbling all over the place. (laughs)


Release of Shenmue II

Q: With Shenmue II going on sale soon, how do you all feel about that? You've been involved with Shenmue for a really long period of time.

Suzuki: We’ve been through a lot to get here, but for me I think the main thing is to have created something that will be loved by the people who play the game. Recently that’s all I’ve been thinking about. So I’m extremely keen to hear everyone’s comments. Right now it’s the only thing on my mind. (laughs)

Matsukaze: For me, I started my “countdown” about a month ago. It hasn’t felt that long, but I’ve been willing it to get here faster. (laughs)

Suzuki: I think the way the game has been put together is pretty unusual these days. For example, the shop interiors have been created down to the last inch. I don’t think any other game pays such ridiculous attention to detail. “Shenmue: The Movie”, which is playing right now, has that same flavor.

Q: It really has been a long project, hasn’t it. The voice actors have also been involved for ages; how long has it been?

Matsukaze: I’ve been playing the role of Ryo since the days of the Saturn. All up, I’ve been acting the part for just over 5 years.

http://i.imgur.com/LRomR4A.png
Matsukaze has been playing as Ryo for over 5 years.

Q: Did those 5 years feel long?

Hagiwara: It felt long! For one thing, an enormous amount of time was spent on filming, but it also took a long time for it to be incorporated into the actual game. We captured an endless amount of motion footage, and even after the voice recordings had been done, the creation of the game still had to be done. It seemed like the release day would never be reached.

Suzuki: Well, the software implementation side was tough too! After writing the software there was a huge checklist to be run through – I wish I had it here to show everyone! (laughs) There was a line chart that showed the number of check items decreasing; there were more than 10,000 items to check and it seemed endless.

Q: By the way, how many times larger is Shenmue II compared to Shenmue I?

Suzuki: I don’t know exactly, but I'd say easily 3 or 4 times the size of Shenmue I. But a lot of scenes got left out, because right as we neared the end of development I added a whole lot of extra content. Even using the best compression techniques of the time, there was too much for it all to fit. Even so, at the end we increased the content by about an extra 30% of the total game, for the area of Guilin where Shenhua appears.

Matsukaze: I heard a lot about that near the end of the development. People were saying that too much had been made and it wouldn’t all fit in.


The Cutting Room Floor

Q: I’ve heard that there was going to be a “Chapter 2 – The Boat” between Shenmue I and Shenmue II, but Shenmue II starts with Ryo disembarking from the boat, doesn’t it. And the mother of a little girl makes reference to something about that. (laughs)

Suzuki: That’s right. “Chapter 2 – The Boat” from the original scenario was dropped completely.

Matsukaze: Oh yeah, the boat! Actually Chai shows up there. It turns out that Chai survives being cast into Yokosuka harbor, and he shows up on the boat where Ryo fights against this unseen enemy. That was how the scenario was going to run.

Q: Were the scenes filmed?

Matsukaze: Yes, they were. They were filmed in a really over-the-top style. (laughs) Several of the people involved in the story on the boat were to then appear again in a later scenario. They would say something along the lines of “Oh, it’s you from that time on the boat...”, connecting the plot together. That was the plan for the scenario.

Suzuki: The confrontation with Chai would have made a nice situation. We had completed the designs for the boat interior, with everything detailed - from the escape routes and deck heights to the length of the handrails. The plan was that it would develop into a large-scale action scene.

Matsukaze: We completed filming of all the motion capture too. It started with opening the cabin door, and events developed spectacularly from there.

Q: So as you were working on making Shenmue II, you reluctantly had to cut it?

Suzuki: Well, it didn’t trouble me too much. I was like “It’s impossible, it won’t fit – cut it!”. (laughs)

Q: I’m guessing that there were a lot of other scenes cut from the final version, and motion capture that wasn’t included? In particular, I think Ren’s movements are really well done and I was impressed; but I kind of wish we could see more of them.

Hagiwara: Well, if the motion capture was kept for all the detailed actions, it would make a huge amount. We shot a ton of fight scenes as well. Quite a lot has been cut.

http://i.imgur.com/ppqn5We.png
On asking Yu Suzuki, “What happened to Niao Sun, who was shown at the premiere?”, he replies “I haven’t been able to use her yet, since she appears later in terms of the scenarios.” Masaya Matsukaze, who plays Ryo, hints at things to come: “When it’s time for Niao Sun to make an appearance in Shenmue, the story will have reached an amazing point!”


Q: Which was more difficult to carry out: dubbing voices to the actions, or the motion capture?

Suzuki: Firstly, these weren’t carried out by different people – the actor’s own acting is the source of the motion capture. Also, when an opponent is hit in the game he cries out; so by actually hitting him, his cry will be the cry of someone who has really been hit. (laughs) It may sound like tough work, but I think it was the perfect set-up.

There was a lot of trial and error at the beginning, but by the time we got to Shenmue II, at last we had found ways to manage things more efficiently.

Q: By the way, Shenmue is your first RPG-style game, isn’t it. Would it be correct to say that one of the main factors that sparked you to develop it is one that is commonly cited, namely the arrival of Final Fantasy VII during the era of the Saturn and PlayStation?

Suzuki: To be honest, part of it was because I found myself in a position of having “no place to go next”. The reason that the Sega Saturn lost popularity wasn't because it was beaten in terms of Sega vs Sony software titles, but because of a completely separate shift in power. And around that time I definitely had a kind of feeling of not having a place to go. As well as that, up until now I had been competing in the 3-minute world of arcade games, and I had been wanting to try my hand at creating something without such a time limit. So you can say that these two points are why I decided to move from arcades to try my hand on the home console.

http://i.imgur.com/9JQjld9.png
“At first Shenhua wears plain clothing, but I planned to have her wear various different clothes later on” says Suzuki. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds” comments Hazuki Ishigaki, who plays the role of Shenhua.



Looking Back

Q: And so, now that at last Shenmue II has been completed, how do you feel now looking back on it? After the Shenmue Premiere event (December 20, 1998), I guess that the plan was to release it within a year, but it has turned out to have taken right up until now... Is that somewhere near the mark?

Suzuki: It’s true that it didn’t turn out quite as I had initially planned. As more people became involved things grew more and more complicated, not just by a factor of a few times, but exponentially. And with everyone being a developer, if the person next to them developed something impressive, then they would feel compelled to outdo it. This resulted in a kind of chain reaction where everyone would strive to improve their output quality. But it’s hard for me to tell people not to increase quality! It was really challenging to find the right balance.

However there is one thing I think turned out well. In some ways Shenmue shares similarities with fighting-based games, but in the last half of the game in Guilin, where Shenhua appears, there’s no fighting at all. So I feel that I’ve been able to bring out the true Shenmue spirit there.

With Shenmue the graphics are all generated in real time, and ordinarily an attempt to make a game like this would be abandoned in frustration. (laughs) Game developers simply don’t go to the extremes we did. To tell you the truth, I don’t think we could go through it all again.

The Future

Q: So you won’t be making another Shenmue?

Suzuki: The first thing I want to do is take some vacation (laughs), and the staff too. I don’t think we could put ourselves through such tough times again as we did with Chapter One. However, even so, I’ve now learned a lot about how to make this type of game and so I’m confident that we’ll be able to make the next one more efficiently and with less of a burden. We’ll be able to make a similar kind of game, and it’s something I want to do. But... I feel like taking a bit of a break first. (laughs)

Q: Hypothetically speaking, if there was the possibility again in the future, what would be your choice of hardware? Ah, before asking that - is there any potential for a port?

Suzuki: Porting Shenmue I and II across to other hardware wouldn’t be impossible, but due to the sheer size it would materially be a tough job to take on. The easiest and most likely option would be the PC, in a year or two. That’s because the PC has, in a sense, the ability to handle anything and has few constraints.

Q: What thoughts do you actors have about that?

Hagiwara: I’m already raring to go! (laughs) Bring it on!

http://i.imgur.com/CrmKdVM.png
We really hope to see more acting from Takumi Hagiwara, who plays Ren. “Just say the word and I definitely will!” he says.


Q: I would have liked to have seen Ren take part in more scenes, to be honest!

Hagiwara: I know, right? There are still heaps of interesting stories connected to the scenarios made so far. Things like “Why is Ren present?” and “Why did Shenhua make an appearance?” It all gets explained later on.

Ishigaki: My wish for a port is that it starts properly from the very first disk of the series (laughs).

Matsukaze: Yeah, I agree.

Q: Yu-san, going back to the point you mentioned about the feeling you had of “nowhere to go”, have you satisfied this to some extent for the future?

Suzuki: In a way... not completely though. Conversely, now things have turned into a kind of hardware war, so it has become kind of pointless, right? Life is full of variety, for better or worse. But for me, the creation process is enjoyable, and therefore I want to create a product that people will enjoy. I think that’s been the lesson I’ve learned.

Matsukaze: A lot of female characters appear in Shenmue II, but actually people like Fangmei have some really detailed parameters associated with them such as her level of intimacy. And to reflect these parameters, her spoken lines were all recorded with various tones of voice! I hope everyone can appreciate the amazing attention to detail that fills every corner of the game.

Suzuki: For me, I don’t consider that “Shenmue” came to an end with the demise of the Dreamcast. I have an emotional attachment to the game. And so, I hope to meet up with you all again one day.

Matsukaze: Let’s meet next time for “Shenmue Returns”. (laughs)

Hagiwara: Absolutely. I hope we can.

http://i.imgur.com/Xn9zNAj.png
Matsukaze, Ishigaki, Suzuki and Hagiwara. For now, the long long project that was Shenmue has come to an end. Will we meet everyone again in the next episode? Or perhaps in a different project... if one is in the works? We’ll be watching for the next release from Yu Suzuki!

I guess that they'll manage. He has some experienced people there and hired new ones who know C++ (works with Unreal Engine 4) as well as higher level languages. Also, Yu himself will likely not have huge problems since I read before that he sometimes codes a few things to "keep in shape". I get the feeling that he is competent enough.

YS : There was also one more problem: dedicated 3D processors didn’t exist yet, and so I had to manually write a 3D graphics engine that would compress and process things faster. Just using assembly language. Now, of course, everyone writes in C++, but back then there was no other choice than machine code, otherwise we wouldn't be able to make everything fast enough.
YS : From my personal standpoint, though, I don't have much need to write final production code any longer; instead I can concentrate on logic and algorithms and other things like that. As a result, I never feel constrained by changes in language.

http://i.imgur.com/C2FZ9m4.png

Today is the 15th anniversary since Shenmue was released in North America on the Sega Dreamcast. (December in Europe) To commemorate this day we are sharing a special video that goes behind the scenes in the making of Shenmue. Back in the late 90's NHK aired a TV program on the development of Shenmue at SEGA. They spent 6 months with Yu Suzuki as he was developing Shenmue on what would be Sega's last home game console. English translation provided by Switch .

Making of Shenmue: Youtube | DailyMotion | Vimeo

Available Captions/Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHwxjwISgKo

Most interesting parts :

(5:10) About MAGIC 2016 in February
There will be a progress statement. Normally, we have the ambition to show a trailer... well rather a teaser I'd like to clarify, with the first true reliable images so we're ambitious. At least, we'll see new things like images, explanations about the game, story, etc.

(16:29) About Yu Suzuki
He's very nice, infact we are basically great pals, that's the reason we work together as well and he's a very humble person ( note : Cédric stresses this point during the video because not all the creators he knows are friendly in the gaming/anime universe and sometimes act like divas ). I think he is humble because he did everything that was possible to do in the sector of gaming. I was always fascinated when he showed me photos of him with Spielberg or Mickael Jackson but with calm, not as someone like a stalker. And you know what, it was those people who were happy to be pictured with Suzuki because his games provided them a lot of fun and they wanted to collaborate with him. So he doesn't boast at all about it, he's really supercool, we get on very well, and above all, we often drink good wine together. He likes wine, so I do. It's generally the common lot of our discussions (laughs).
Question : Which wine is his favorite ?
Cédric : Well it's a bit of expansive wine (laughs). He enjoys the really great wines, the Château Margaux, etc.
Q : And Romanée-Conti, and goes on...
C : So, yeah I admit we didn't reach this level together yet but we drunk some Château Margaux from his own wine cellar.
Q : His Tokyo-based wine cellar, isn't it ?
C : Yeah, a mini wine cellar in his office at his home but I will say nothing because I own a wine cellar in my office too so I refuse to make fun of him (laughs).


(18:35)
C : The production is progressing well, we're not late at all, it's still planned for Christmas 2017 as we decided. You know, a big interest is there, it's a traditional month for the players. Ok there are other moments in the year but it's usually better to release a game at Christmas.

Q : Since when you're working on Shenmue III before the announcement exactly ?
C : I admit we're not talking a lot about things like that, I don't want to be already impolite but (laughs) it's kind of confidential.

(19:51)
Sega is the IP owner. So for us, making Shenmue III is a huge risk because we don't own the IP. If you own the IP, that means you make a big return on investment. In our case for example, our return on investment will only be from the sales, period. We will not see the money generated by the goodies for example.

I think there are 200 000 big fans.

About AAA status
(Shenmue III) will not be Call of Duty but it will be a really good PS4 game and will easily meet the current PS4 standards.

My hidden goal was $5 million (for kickstarter).

(23:45)
What I anticipate is that Sega releases Shenmue I & II HD. Of course I must make clear that's not official but just what I wish. For me, it's the only viable way for selling well Shenmue III, so beyond the fans network. We also thought about doing a little manga or animation based on Shenmue I & II story but that's nothing compared to remake Shenmue in HD version. About the question you ask me about the hype, while it did not influence us, I think it can for others. I have the feeling that now everybody is interested in Shenmue, for example, at the companies level, to release related goodies.

Q : When was your first encounter with Yu Suzuki, how, and around which wine you seduced him ?
C : Basically, I was interested to meet him. I met him in Tokyo thanks a common friend. Then we talked about a lot of things, firstly Shenmue of course as a fan but I'm also fan of Virtua Fighter so we had a lot of common things to talk. I also bring him to an event in the south of France, then the Anime Game Show at Monaco in 2013 where the official discussion about Shenmue seriously started out because before this moment, it was really impossible as Sega didn't want to let the IP at all. So we're become real friends and we met again several times at San Francisco. We also did together the GDC , the Napa Valley as you mentionned wine. So we indeed drunk all the great American wines while discussing about how to find fundings for Shenmue III. Well it looks quite simple but you know, I do my business since almost 15 years in Japan, you can't meet Yu Suzuki so easily but thanks my job, the doors open a little more easily.

Q : Indeed, a bit like the Jet Set. The hardest part is to get in, and you did it.
C : I would say rather the Jet Set of Gaming (laughs)


(40:08)
Q : How many people are working on Shenmue III development, currently and actively ?
C : Well, our friend Suzuki didn't allow me to talk. He said to me "Don't talk about it, they will discuss again, etc". So sorry I can't answer your question (laughs).

Q : But it's a lot of people, isn't it ?
C : Yes of course, it's a video game so there is a minimum. Moreover, since the annoucement in June, we received so many requests from people who want to participate in the developement, that never stops ! There are even developers who want to work FOR FREE, it's insane. Then it smoothed down a little. For the Shibuya Production mail, I receive personally only 3 or 4 emails per week while in June, it was crazy, they were dozens and dozens of people per day, phone calls with "We want to participate in Shenmue III". [...] There were Australians, Japaneses, Ukrainians... they weren't random guys in their garages but true studios !

Q : Can we suppose that the team, although mainly Japanese, is pretty international ?
C : The team is essentially Japanese but with indeed some foreigners who live in Japan, who speak Japanese. You know that if you don't speak Japanese, it's very complicated... well I'm saying but I don't speak Japanese (laughs), but if you're working among a team, it's difficult.


(41:57)
Q : Will the PC version be optimized compared to the PS4 version ?
C : Good question, I would say "Yes".

(56:15)
Q : Outside the kickstarter, will a physical version be available ?
C : Yes absolutely.

(59:10)
Q : Will the PS4 and PC versions cost a different price ?
C : No at the moment but it's something that can change for multiple reasons. But at the moment, no.

That he knows that weren't "right" or something like that. And he'll make Shenhua better.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/PeterC2005/fpBZJq9_zpshovs0qau.jpg




GameFAQ Online Guide - HERE






Microsoft Word Download - Shenmue II 100% COMPLETE NOTEBOOK GUIDE.doc






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STORY COMPLETION
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MONEY INFORMATION COMPLETION
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TOTAL COMPLETION - 100%

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTRODUCTION
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Many have tried, all have failed. Since its release, the Shenmue community has STILL to get a full 100% complete notebook guide for Shenmue II. All we have had so far are failed attempts, disappearing acts and a very incomplete notebook with no guide how to complete the entries by Julian McKenzie, which was attempted over 10 years ago. I cannot believe that no one has followed through with completing this project and over the past months I've been itching for a new Shenmue Project to work on. I chatted with Yama briefly, trying to come up with ideas, and whilst some are really good and may be seen in the future, with my technical limitations as well as my time limitations, this seemed fitting for this point in time. I've been researching all attempts gone before for the past month now, and also chatting to some people to gather resources to make sure the necessary ground work has been done before even firing up the game. To ensure the finished document will be absolutely verified, i attained the binary files of the notebook entries, both to aid me fill the notebook, and also to make sure nothing is missing or out of place. So, with that out of the way, lets start the path to completing this!




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100% COMPLETION?
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OK, lets get something out of the way to begin with. Firstly i have never been 100% sure on this but since starting this project i have gotten my answer. The question i have always wondered is:

"Can the Shenmue II notebook be 100% filled?".

Well, it depends what way you look at it. If you mean a notebook with every page filled and no missing entries in your story, then YES it can be 100% filled. You can get entries which skip and block other entries if you are just casually playing through the story-mode, but if you follow my guide you will not miss an entry. However, in terms of EVERY notebook entry being activated then the answer is NO, it cannot be 100% completed. The simple reason for that is because there are instances where there is more than one way to get to a story point. I have called these instances, "VARIABLES", and they occur around 4 or 5 times throughout the game. So, if this is the case, then how can i call this a 100% COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH? Well, that's because i have spent hours and hours of taking notes, and testing out every variable to get their total entries. It may not seem like a big consumption of time that's needed for them, but it is. From failing each button in a QTE sequence to see where it leads, passing a QTE sequence, visiting locations in order to get a complete set of entries, meeting requirements before an event, and not having met those requirments...Its a hugely painstaking process.

Here, take a look:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/PeterC2005/Mobile%20Uploads/20150522_011528_zpshiuvkxiy.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/PeterC2005/Mobile%20Uploads/20150522_011603_zpsp5prj050.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/PeterC2005/Mobile%20Uploads/20150522_011659_zpscmggyo5o_edit_1432175892191_zpsvpvvk4pz_edit_1432175932260_zpsnzri1uzz.jpg

Not only do i have scrap pages of notes, i have an enlarged replica diary to capture every detail i can. Any time there has been a variable in the storyline, ive had to get the scrap paper out and begin the flow charts. What leads to where, what happens if you do this, what happens in this order or that order, what happens if you have spoken to this person or not.... you get the picture. From the scrap notes, then i have fully written out notes on each variable and what to do if you want to take one path or the other. The notebook entries that appear are usually the same size in terms of their entries to their counterpart variable. What i mean by that, if you take one route that covers 4 lines on one page, then the other will also take up the same page with 4 lines filled. It doesnt affect the overall storyline, but you do get to see some different cutscenes, which may be of interest to some of you who havent experienced all that Shenmue II has to offer.
Another reason that its a painstaking task is because there is one event ive encountered so far where there is a variable within a variable!! So the possibilities that i had to figure out were multiplied. I completed all of those tonight so thankfully thats out of the way. Thats the main piece of information i wanted to address from the beginning, and as the project goes on, i will be adding more notes to this section.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT TYPE OF GUIDE WILL THIS BE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


This is NOT a complete Shenmue II guide. There are plenty of those out there. There will be no walkthroughs to unlock Fagmeis birthday, or how to get up to the 3rd floor of the Pine Arcade etc. This is a no BS, straight to the point completion of the notebook. Where to go, who to speak to, what to do, and here is the entry. This will be very much like Force Vectors original Shenmue notebook walkthrough which you can check out HERE , but i should point out that i will not name EVERY person who will reveal a notebook entry like he did. There are just far too many NCPs in Shenmue II, and to be honest, you are just grateful to find the right person to speak to in the first place. As i mentioned above, when it comes to a variable, i will outline each option, and what to do when you have chosen the path you want to take.
Some entries may appear in the notebook ahead of where you are, but thats not something to worry about. You just move onto the next entry and follow its instruction unless i will have told you otherwise.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMPLETION TIMEFRAME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


With the foundations laid with the prep work, things have been going smoothly as they can for 2 weeks. I work 2 jobs so its been mostly a few hours late at night and documenting everything in my physical notebook. The pace was picked up on Monday just gone, when i had a minor operation and now have a full 2 weeks off both jobs to recover. That means bored days sitting on the sofa day and night, not even allowed to leave the house since it rains constantly in Ireland and i cant get my dressings wet. That was another reason the timing of the project was perfect. This will stop me going crazy! I am cleared next Wednesday and head to a weekend festival next weekend (29th-31st May) so my aim is to have the project completed, tested and typed up before then. I am putting in 16 hour shifts in on this, and i hope it will come through in time. I cam currently playing 3 save files on the Dreamcast version of Shenmue II, and once i have reached 100%, i will be doing a full speed test run on the Xbox version to make sure everything checks out. I also want to check and make sure the entries are unlocked on a person/location based action, and not amounts of negative comments received beforehand etc. Just basic QA to make sure everything checks out ok on a separate walkthrough, but also as well as on the Xbox.

-------------------------------------------------------------


And thats it folks! I appreciate any comments, and feel free to discuss anything you have wondered about Shenmue II because i feel like i have seen everything so far, that the game has to offer. Its awesomeness was already at high levels, but with doing this project and seeing how much effort that the development team have put into this game has made it reach favourite game ever levels. I am off to get a few hours sleep before diving back into Kowloon in the morning :P

Found this image of some Dreamcast controller concept art and the motion controller prototype, was wondering if there was any cool info on there? Thanks

Found this image of some Dreamcast controller concept art and the motion controller prototype, was wondering if there was any cool info on there? Thanks :)

http://gamewalker.link/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/pZ7A4.jpg
Here's a quick summary of what it talks about. Interesting they had also been thinking about a "Wii Remote" kind of design.

⋅ The controller designers had originally been designing the controller with six action buttons, assuming they would be necessary. But the opinion of the more far-sighted game creators within SEGA and also outside the company was that players would find less buttons easier to get used to, and that games should be designed to use fewer buttons. Eventually a decision was made to go with just four buttons, meaning the designs they had been working on until that point had to be redone.
⋅ Prototypes were initially built in clay or polystyrene to keep costs low. Buttons were often just drawn on paper and stuck on.
⋅ The design for the final controller was refined numerous times, with hundreds of revisions made through a trial-and-error process.
⋅ The vertical-shaped controller shown at the bottom of the page was the result of the design team's desire to try designing something completely different from the typical controller shape, something which would have impact. It was to be held with one hand above the other, with trigger buttons on the underside. It was to have two extension slots, one at each end. The design went as far as having a colored mock-up model created, but it did not go to production.

The latest interview with the legendary Yu Suzuki published in the latest issue of Retro Gamer Magazine.

There aren’t many designers that could claim to have done it all, but Yu
Suzuki just might be able to. We caught up with him to look back
over his career and find out what's on the horizon…

Bonus : Q&A: with Dojo’s George Melita and Anatomy of Ryo Hazuki from the latest issue of Play Magazine.

Read all about it here

Enjoy ...

A new and short (Japanese) interview of Yu Suzuki has emerged!
http://www.4gamer.net/games/000/G000000 ... #ys_suzuki

Giorgio wrote: A new and short (Japanese) interview of Yu Suzuki has emerged!
http://www.4gamer.net/games/000/G000000 ... #ys_suzuki

Thanks for this! Translation posted up here.

Although this 30-minute VHS video of Shenmue beta footage was released by SEGA back in 1999, as far as I know English subtitles have not been available.

Happily this is no longer the case as I have now completed adding in English subtitles. Even if you have watched it before you may like to enjoy it again!

https://youtu.be/Ju7b5EeZkYU

Giorgio wrote: Just struck me that the following video has not been translated. Any chance?

Translated subtitles for the Shenmue beta video are now complete.

I've posted it here in the Shenmue forum.

Last Yu's thought about open world : http://otakumode.com/news/55c62e97887d92a516b043ae/Interview-with-Yu-Suzuki-Producer-of-the-%E2%80%9CShenmue%E2%80%9D-Series?page=3
When Shenmue was released, we didn’t use the term “open world.” At the time, digging deep into multiple subjects at the same time would have caused imbalances in the budget, so delving into one subject at a time was mostly common sense. The reason for that is that if you divide 10 resources for 10 subjects, you can only get a performance ratio of one. However, if you put 10 resources to one subject, you can dig 10 times deeper, achieving an accordingly higher performance, and this is why games at the time shared the theory of delving deeper into just a few themes. However, by applying the above-mentioned automatic programming method, you can raise the performance per subject above one, which disproves this theory.

Otaku Mode journalist : This way, the program covers for human costs.

S: Exactly. For instance, even if it’s made with few resources, if you can get good performance by making free use of the program, you can make it possible to enjoy a taste of 10 different themes in one game. Taking the army knife used on mountains as an example, there was a theory stating that since all of its available functions are crude, you would be better off having just one knife. But the improvement of technology caused all the qualities of the knife to improve, thus prompting a change in our sense of value. This is a similar situation. Shenmue was the first in the game industry to have crossed that boundary of values.

At that time, I said, “Let’s improve the degree of freedom and increase the number of options,” and I often used the word “free” as opposed to “open world.” At some point, “free” became “open world,” and putting aside whether it’s the same thing with what I had in mind, the genre for which Shenmue had first set in motion expanded, and games such as the Grand Theft Auto series appeared on the world market. I was told by many game creators, “We were able to create an open world game thanks to Shenmue,” and, “It influenced me, thank you,” so not only I am happy to have made it, I am also immensely grateful to everyone who helped in expanding the concept of Shenmue.

Reminder about Dobuita size (keep in mind that Choubu will have vertical places like Kowloon-like buildings)
http://i.imgur.com/9HdnTAH.png
http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/28/27950/thumb_620x2000/15.jpg

Yakuza 4 map :
https://i.imgur.com/WFguNf1.jpg

The aesthetic of Choubu (a mix of Kowloon and Fenghuang) :
https://i.imgur.com/FZGw3ps.jpg

Pictures from real life Guilin (you can even see pictures of the Shenmue II cave) :
https://500px.com/search?tag=Guilin&type=photos

Google maps to visualize what 2km x 2km could mean lol, by observing a familiar place :
https://www.google.com/maps/ (right click on the map and click on "measure distance" to draw a line)

Not sure if it's readable but what is written about Steven Spielberg and multi CPU usage on the powerpoint ?
https://i.imgur.com/cH2ms7H.jpg
Quite a few words were too blurred to be legible but here's a summary based on what I could make out or guess.

As you said, it looks like this slide was part of the talk event by Yu (& Takeuchi) in March 2015 on the topic of being a game developer.

"Open World: breaking new ground / Steven Spielberg"

Steven Spielberg once visited Sega and AM2, around the period when he was preparing to launch GameWorks. During the visit, Spielberg asked me for his autograph since his son Max was a fan of Virtua Fighter. One thing Spielberg said, rather sheepishly, that particularly left an impression on me was, "Kids prefer games to movies!".

Games should be designed so that children can play them time and again without growing bored. Interactivity plays an important part in this. Having characters/monsters moving in predictable patterns should be avoided.

Recently, games have much larger game fields through the use of external servers and databases. This will greatly expand the potential of open-world games even further. They will allow a huge number of people to be supported, even more than with MMOs, and who can participate from anywhere, at anytime. It will allow for more realistic worlds to be created. It will open up a new world of entertainment. If there are 100,000 players participating then effectively you have a 100,000 multi-CPU game.

The strong connection with the new Skill Tree System might have led the original Scroll System to be slightly revamped. I think Yu is using a new term to make clear to his YSnet employees that they need to start from scratch. On their side, the players won't see significant changes imo.

http://otakumode.com/news/55c62e97887d92a516b043ae/Interview-with-Yu-Suzuki-Producer-of-the-%E2%80%9CShenmue%E2%80%9D-Series?page=1
Another thing is “technique scrolls.” Although I haven’t decided on how to include them yet, ordinary move scrolls could be available at weapon shops, players could get them as a gift, pick them up, get them as a prize for completing a quest, or receive them in the end after an event, it doesn’t matter. Players would get their hands on them in various ways, and I intend to make them in a way that the techniques could be pulled off in a video animation without practicing, except for the master techniques which will require a certain amount of practice.

The skill tree system will also be connected to the technique scroll system. Just like a tree spreading its roots and branches, if you master every technique in Category A, the tree will be completed to the last leaf, and you will finally be able to learn the master move. However, in Category B, where you didn’t master the general techniques, the tree won’t grow, which means you won’t be able to learn the master technique. This is the way this system works.

Also, the "surprise" next to Astroboy and Shenmue III is likely to be an animation.

Recent photos shared by Peter from Monaco.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCQHbn_mbaU ... enmue_dojo

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCQKwF4mbQ- ... enmue_dojo

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCQSY9TGbRT ... enmue_dojo

Thanks Zim. I'm trying my best to keep up, but if anyone could find my legs, please return them to me thanks lol.

There's a lot of walking here, to and from the hotel. Checked out the Grimaldi Forum today and got the bearings of the area. Trying to take as many photos as I can and upload them on the go. Today was just a few, tomorrow there will hopefully be more. I swear, time is going by in the blink of an eye!

Just back at the hotel at the moment, recharging the batteries. Have some preparation to do here, then I think later, it will be meeting up with the shenmuemaster guys, which will be awesome!

Also, the "surprise" next to Astroboy and Shenmue III is likely to be an animation.

May it be the "Samurai lone wolf (and cub)" anime Yu did retweet the kickstarter page yesterday ? Run by the mighty Awesome Japan... :-k

That's the other news. Awesome Japan is planning to buy YSnet very soon. Stay tuned ;-)

haha, You dragged the family to see Yu Suzuki too? Awesome! :mrgreen:

If I'm not wrong, the "Family Guy" in the picture is Shenmue Dojo user "rdk_nl" :mrgreen:

Yes, correct; I'm the "Family Guy".

Arrived today from AMS to NCE. Stay in Beaulieu-sur-Mer; a nice little town, only some minutes by public transport to Monaco.

Was present at 2013 MAGS (Monaco Anime Game Show) alone.
Went back in 2014 with my own Family and Parents, unfortunately no show that year.
2015 Magic-IP was planned, but I had to cancel because of chickenpox within the family.
2016 Was planned immediately after the 2015 cancelation, but I never thought SIII release was upcoming.

Glad to be here for the 2nd time during Mags/Magic Show.

I had to take some time off the past week because of the negativity that goes on around here, from a few members in particular. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Yesterday we got an awesome update, ok there was a bit of photoshop business going on, but big deal. We got new images, we learned this man is living day and night in the office to make sure we have the best Shenmue 3 possible, and finally that for a change, Awesome Japan are on the ball with lining up surveys for the organisation of rewards in around 6-7 months time! How awesome is that!

Now I've just read through 14 pages of general optimism, and rightfully so, except for Yokosuka and Rikitatsu. Literally, just constant whining and picking the tiniest if holes with no substantial proof of what's going on in YSNET. Now all of a sudden, there's a mystery "source" which was private but now Yokosuka is also aware of (coincidence no?).

Either way, I don't care, but here's the bottom line right now: we value every member that comes here, and encourage all opinions for the series. But for the past year at least, I've had to sit and read various criticisms and put downs of the team and the game, constant negativity at almost EVERYTHING they do. It's due to this that I've had contact from various members throughout the community, old members from here as well as people who haven't signed up yet but refuse to because of the negativity that's spread here, and that's where I am drawing the line. I'm not having this place become a comfort zone for your negativity. So, in plain English, if you want to micro analyse this series with a raincloud over your heads, take yourself somewhere else and do it. Register http://www.negativeshenmuefans.com and moan about life there. See that sign above the door? It says Shenmue Dojo, a place for FANS of the series to chat and immerse themselves in the greatness that the series is. You don't post here daily, spurting negativity with zero balance to the positives of the series, and I've barely seen it, if anything over the past year.

Enough is enough, so from here on out, that's the end of it. If you don't like it, there's the door over there. Don't let it hit you on the way out.

I think we need to let Yu work on the game the fuck alone xD

(source)

I really, really want to play this game !

https://scontent.fgig4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15338883_10154907756512682_244348003811205156_n.jpg?oh=36811be6e9bf02185a4c6156cd1adf0e&oe=58E6C6BD
( source )

I really, really want to play this game !
Oh wow, this collage highlights how the game has actually improved, visually. It's definitely several magnitudes more vibrant.

Right? They seem to be really honing in on the palette and contrast. It's never going to be as vibrant as a Dreamcast (much less one through SCART or something lol - I know RGB might be less overly contrasty and therefore more 'accurate' to many, but SCART was insanely colorful at least.) But they're going to get as close as they can I think to DC's colors.

I think games have been washed out so long many devs don't even remember how colorful things used to be. Some of it was because of lesser color depth. As we've pursued greater and great color depth we've tried to emulate reality, which is never as strikingly colorful as lower depth, higher contrast color modes used to be in games imo. So it's almost like they have to unlearn the status quo and go backwards to get it right lol.

I loved Sonic Generations and continue to love many Nintendo games for that reason.