So who here has played a substantial amount of Mass Effect Andromeda? I decided to fire it up today because I felt guilty for not giving it a fair shake. I wanted to see if the story would grab me anymore than its failed to do so far.

Does it get better? When? How much time am I gonna have to put in until it really takes off if ever?
Just finding it very vanilla and soulless right now in these first 4-6 hours.

I played it to 100% completion on Insanity difficulty. I'm not sure 4-6 hours will give you much story to go on but I would say that if you are done with the ice planet (Voeld) and still not liking what you are seeing then I would call it quits. I'll just say that in Andromeda the most personal stories (and most diverging branching choices) are in the side missions and not in the main story thread.

If it helps I wrote a review (not much of spoilers in it) on the forum's review topic .

Sega not giving a clear cut answer about Shenmue HD? Deja vu?
At this point, deep down I'm afraid Sega is waiting to see if Shenmue 3 will turn out to be a commercial success before deciding to firmly commit to the series once again. Of course hoping here I'm wrong, but it's not really like Sega hasn't disappointed fans before.

I guess the comparison between the two games will always come up again and again as seen through the numerous topic threads in this forum about it. And again I will say this: when you evaluate player's in-game progress when playing both series, you will realize they ultimately belong to different genres. Shenmue's world is more detailed than even Yakuza's latest entry (as admitted by the author's article) for a real specific reason, and not simply a matter of aesthetics and budget constraint.

There's nothing wrong with preferring one over another imo, but acknowledge that they are indeed different games as stated by the comments above. When you look past the Sega logo and the Asian setting, you will see they are not a substitute for each other, hopefully.

Explore realistic Japanese town, engage in fenced-in fisticuffs against single or multiple enemies, learn new moves, enter shops to buy items, play games in arcades, engage in a range of tasks for the locals, seek out the truth behind a violent, sinister plot that's dragged you in against your will and threatens to hurt more of the people you care about.

TBH a lot in that description fits a lot of games I'm aware of, like Persona 5 and The World Ends With You.
If you replaced Japanese town with Hong Kong, Shenmue 2 and Sleeping Dogs would be interchangeable games in the eyes of many then.

I don't really understand all the complaining. The truth is Ryo and Shenhua have never been given this much visual detail in an official 3D model before ever!
https://s2.postimg.org/w7p5vlc1l/New_RYO_SHENHUA.png

I just hope no one here is going to bombard Yu & Co with incessant pleading about tweaking their looks to please your own version of a perfect Ryo and Shenhua. It's most likely final and it's godamn Yu Suzuki's world to interpret as he pleases. God forbid the man will cave in to fan complaints and start spending time again on supposed wrong art direction instead of the real meat of a game, its gameplay!

Anyway, a PC version will be there for modding so everyone can have their own fan idealized Shenmue world to play with. Win-win to all.

Personally I'm okay with the complaints as long as people don't spread their distaste outside this forum. The game is not even close to hit the shelves and many are already basically trying to "review" aspects of the game beforehand, possibly bringing this doom surrounding S3 by the time it comes out and I bet it will affect the objectivity of critics when they put their hands on the game.
I do see validity in the criticism towards the look of the characters but this is simply unfair. We are talking about art direction here. WIP notwithstanding, this is the vision of the game designer alone and we don't get to partake on that. Besides, let's not forget there's already a fan (or even fans) working for Yu Suzuki, Kid Nocon, so if the problem with the models was a real thing there wouldn't be a need for the rest of us to remind the man of the fact.

The lighting effects are so unreal! The teaser one was a bit overdone IMO, but if these screenshots are actually the desired direction, then I really thank God we are getting to play Shenmue 3 during our lifetime. Look at that jacket and its dirt and wear, and Ryo's face!

PS. Who's that? Is this a Yu Suzuki cameo?
https://s3.postimg.org/gwndt52pf/Qcbflb_L.jpg

the Criteria is rather simple as far as Christian theology goes, we are all sinners therefore we all deserve the wrath of god and none deserve to enter paradise, but out of love Jesus was sent to earth to sacrifice himself to take upon himself the wrath of god and absolve us of our sins that we may be purified and enter paradise which is a place of perfection therefore no one who hasn't been cleansed by the blood of Christ may enter as they are still "dirty" by sin.

That's the short version anyway but of course you really need to study in detail both the old and new testament to understand the full picture as it's a very deep philosophical concept.

It would be simple if not for the fact that in order to be saved you have to accept Jesus in your life and we are talking about a just God. Wouldn't it be unfair for those who never even heard of Jesus or have been dead before his sacrifice took place? Are Adam and Eve forever doomed because of an Angel created by God?
Are our salvation a matter of luck in meeting a missionary to learn and accept the Bible and Jesus during our lifespan?

There are 2 views on this, one that implies that Christ can save people without them knowing and the second that any person that unconsciously wants to be saved like the Centurion Cornelius, god will send them the message.
I'm aware that there's an allure to inclusivism perspective. But I find that view invalidating the need of practicing Christian values and faith during our stay on Earth, when the chance to repent and accept Jesus would come to us anyway eventually (even after death) in that case. After all I'm pretty sure everyone would unconsciously want to be saved, specially by the time they are aware of the existence of a spiritual realm.


No one has actually been judged now so those who followed God until the coming of the Messiah will be saved on judgement day I believe

People are not in hell or heaven yet, but the path for those who never heard of God seems certain if inclusivism does not apply. I'm saying this because there are other views which exclude those who didn't practice Christian faith when alive, as I remember a bible passage that cites that those who shout for God's name will be saved, but how would they call on him if they did not believe in him? And then it goes to how would they believe in him if they never heard of him and someone preaching it to them. Faith comes from hearing through the word of Christ in Christianity.


In the Christian faith nothing actually happens out of luck so it depends what perspective you look at it from. If you're a non-believer then yeah it seems completely irrational and unfair but from a biblical perspective it's much more controlled.

If it's not luck, it has to do with God choosing whom to give the chance to be saved. As an example East Asia would be doomed to hell as Christianity only started being spread there probably centuries after Christ's death. And no amount of missionaries could cover such a large continent even back then (and even now with the likes of the Chinese government basically prohibiting any religious gathering practice and access to information). And could God really blame these people if in their death bed they were praying to other gods when they never heard of Jesus during their lifetime?

Hard to get nice screenshots with games cluttered with onscreen info, but I really wanted to give a shout out to a game I might like even more than the Souls series (neck to neck tbh)... Dragon's Dogma

https://s1.postimg.org/11vz9927ov/Dragon_s_Dogma_Char.png
https://s1.postimg.org/8e05gz98r3/Dragon_s_Dogma_Screen.png
https://s1.postimg.org/7rzp4ieslb/Dragon_s_Dogma_Hydra_1.png
https://s1.postimg.org/13carr5d5r/Dragon_s_Dogma_Hydra.png

Doubt anyone with Bill Gates' kind of money is going to dump $50 million into a game that's of no interest or benefit to them. Would be nice in a different world.

I know. But, it's still possible and is also the best thing I could think of.

Hmm you also could think of becoming an overnight multi-millionaire yourself by ways of staking your entire house and savings on low odds gambling, winning the lottery and/or playing with derivatives on the stock market, and donating about $50 million of the winnings for the cause in the end. You can keep the rest, for you know, future or something. And not mentioning that Yu would be even more proud of your deed because you are a true fan, unlike Bill Gates. IT IS STILL POSSIBLE.

I finally took the courage to start doing martial arts again (Jiujitsu). I did a lot of Karate and Kickboxing before entering college, but after so many years in the workforce I felt a bit uncoordinated and too old to go for it again. What really got me to do it is the fact that I started to show symptoms of depression over the years and I don't often exercise as much as I used to.
Sure, I hit the gym here and then but it was not enough to instill a sense of discipline and motivation in me.

Holy crap, I've got great news. I contacted a company sometime ago and asked them for a donation and they now contacted me back saying they are closely looking into the request. Then I had a live chat with one of the guys, and it went really well. Oh damn, if it happens then WOW! It's gonna be crazy!

Great news! So you managed to talk yourself to Microsoft after all. When are you finally gonna meet Bill Gates himself? Keep us posted on the $50 mil donation!

Why would bill gates donate? What would he even get out of it?

Well, instead of ending world hunger or building schools for the poorest he will get the official title of Shenmue Legend. And when he does, all Shenmue fanboys around the globe can't help but endorse the new XBone X (even though there will be no Shenmue 3 on it).That alone should be worth more than $50M, right? Gates is all business man. He's got no time for world problems.

https://gematsu.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Kowloon-VR_10-03-17.jpg

This VR game gives you a glimpse of what the ultimate Shenmue experience could be like on the exploration side (as in Shenmue 2's Kowloon segment), though this particular game leans towards the thriller horror.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny4y1a7svTk
https://youtu.be/5ppgC2-CtwU?t=51

Like Shenmue 3, Kowloon's Gate VR: Suzaku is a totally crowdfunded game, stemming from a cult classic PS1 game.
Available on the Japanese PS Store, it's too bad we won't likely see it in the west.

Being a rabid fanboy is a double-edged sword. On one side it's thanks to fanboyism that we got as far as $6 million for a crowdfunded project. But in the other end of the spectrum unrealistic expectations sets in pretty hard for them to the point that fans will criticize anything that does not look like an exact copy/paste from the past games, like even a freaking new logo that the own creator spent hours designing by hand! There are some that would even go as far as threaten the team if their demands of receiving solid updates are not met. Entitlement as its best.

I'm not sure what is the idealized story every fan has for the series, but if they are really worried about that kind of stuff just watch the Shenmue Postmortem 2014 GDC video. A lot can be inferred from that presentation on a closer inspection and I find the concept story arc to be quite poignant and it should have a strong emotional weight by the end of the journey, specially for the players who have stuck with Ryo since the very first game. If the plan is still to stick to that very initial concept I would find the story to be quite epic and satisfying.

Anyway, 14 years of constant outcry for a sequel and now that is a reality, doubts and criticism about the game development suddenly sets in? Well, we had 14 YEARS to make up our fucking mind for that. Even if it fails miserably, we had our wish granted and always the first two games to look up to as masterpieces. Nothing is going to change that.

^ Damn. With your talent for headhunting investors left and right, Shenmue 4 & 5 should be already a guaranteed green-lit project given time. Have you thought of applying for a position in YsNet or even better, Awesome Japan, as you have this knack of bringing investors in? I'm sure they'd love you over there. TBH your skills are kinda wasted here on the forum with just winning a couple of awards, but congratz anyway!

No, it's because Ys Net take a while to reply back. Unfortunately, that's why it's taking so long but can't blame them since they're busy with development. Will keep everyone posted!

That's unfortunate. If only someone could hand to you Yu's personal phone number... I'm sure only good things could come out of it. Too bad... Back to tweet millionaires I guess.

Lately I've been reminiscing about gaming and pondered about why after so many years of gaming (including skipping a couple of console generations) I still regard Shenmue as my personal greatest of all time. I managed to tie down the reasons to my fondest gaming experiences. As a kid my favorite genres were beat'em ups and fighting. The first game I ever owned and played was Streets of Rage and back then even though I was already aware the game didn't have the complex mechanics of a Street Fighter 2, it had instead that extra layer of immersion to it as my avatar could traverse its world while beating up people. It was like living in a martial arts world from those Hong Kong action flicks.

Later in the 90's I discovered and fell in love with LucasArts' games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Full Throttle and The Dig. And beyond I found the eye-popping semi-realistic worlds of Gabriel Knight, Broken Sword, The Last Express and Phantasmagoria. The adventure genre was king to me because the visuals and immersion were above anything else in other genres, with your character interacting with animated npcs with more than 1 liners and manipulating objects in the background or the scenery itself to advance the game.

And then came Shenmue, adding all what I came to love in games and scale the meshing elements to a 3D space, what at the time it looked to me to be an one-to-one digital replica of a real town. Back then I thought this game was just made for me and still today, that feeling has never left as I couldn't find anything quite like it.

MAGIC 2018 Participation Info
Posted by Ys Net (Creator)
日本語はこちら

Hello Everyone,

As some fans may already know, MAGIC (Monaco Anime Game International Conferences) is coming up to be held on February 24th. We are happy to announce director Yu Suzuki will once again be making an appearance!

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/019/876/363/3c3ba0e51eec7426698933efead38322_original.png?w=639&fit=max&v=1516065722&auto=format&lossless=true&s=211508898e93497af828b7886b2a2cf0

MAGIC is organized by Shibuya Productions who’s CEO, Cédric Biscay, is co-producer of Shenmue III. The event hosts conferences for manga artists and game creators as well as gaming, cosplay and manga contests.

A conference with Yu Suzuki is planned for the day. Once details have been worked out with participating partners, we will have an update to follow up.

Please see the official MAGIC site for more information on the day’s schedule.

Thank you as always for your continued support!

I just found out about the Fatal Frame movie. Has anyone here seen it? Is worth watching?

From what I remember it was actually not bad. It's a coming of age lesbian drama with a horror mystery theme to it. The movie is way too slow for my liking and the acting lackluster, but I did like the rite of passage theme and the ending which I think it was the best one from all the movies based on a videogame. Though I have never really played a Fatal Frame game, I believe it's only loosely based on the franchise and so, said that I'd rather recommend better movies like The Wailing or A Tale of Two Sisters than this one for a similar Asian eerie horror type of experience.

When a project that 'claimed to be set up and determined by a kickstarter campaign decides to hide information, lie and ignore the said donors then I feel scam is the only word to describe it. Nice to see an ad hominem attack thrown in as an after thought or in the absence of thought entirely.

Hiding information, lie? What are you talking about? And what donors? This is no charity. Most of us if not all are not giving money away for free out of kindness. People are basically purchasing a tee or digital copy of the game at the very least. It's very far fetched to call the project a scam when names like Sony, which are getting an exclusive console release out of the deal, and Deep Silver, which very recently published a very commercially successful Kickstarter game, are attached to Shenmue 3.

In fact your "complaint" posts seem more likely a scam, a trick, dishonest attempt at discord when you are actually trying to fish for views and subscribers for your channel. This is clear when you keep asking us to watch your video in order for us to counter or agree with your supposed in-depth arguments at every post of yours. If you want to be part of this community and have something to say just straight up type your points right here. We can read. And yes, we noticed you posting your same video in multiple topics btw.

http://c-6rtwjumjzx7877x24anlsjyyjx2ebnpnfx2esthttpnjx2esjy.g00.wikia.com/g00/3_c-6zshmfwyji.bnpnf.htr_/c-6RTWJUMJZX77x24myyux78x3ax2fx2fanlsjyyj.bnpnf.sthttpnj.sjyx2fzshmfwyjix2fnrfljx78x2f3x2f34x2fItzlmszy_Iwfpj_ozrunsl_tajw_htajw.OULx2fwjanx78ntsx2fqfyjx78yx2fx78hfqj-yt-bniym-itbsx2f355x3fhgx3d75665457568977_$/$/$/$/$/$/$/$/$/$?i10c.ua=1
Doughnut Drake. It seriously enhanced the experience playing the games with it. His voice changes as well lol.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/residentevil/images/4/40/0314_-_Resident_Evil_-_Deadly_Silence_33_18830.png/revision/latest/zoom-crop/width/480/height/480?cb=20141020103528&format=webp
Resident Evil Chris Original Playstation Costume. Just 'cause leather jackets can't go wrong in a survival horror setting. Ask Leon about it.

https://cdn.capcom-unity.com/capcom-unity.com/user/strumslinger/large/41726be31180c073461090ba6aaf21bf.jpg?v=201600
Interpol Agent Chun-li Costume. Something I'd expect a real life Chun-li would wear in a fight or mission, and it's not a mod.

Deadly Premonition's director Swery just launched a new Kickstarter project, The Good Life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrWOdfs8QDQ

And here is the prototype trailer presented at PAX WEST for his then failed Fig campaign last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MzVVp-aqUs

For more details go to the Kickstarter campaign main page.

EDIT: I just noticed that the creator of the Panzer Dragoon trilogy is the creative director for this game!

Also the ammount asked is crazy high (well, less than a half of what he originally asked for, and even less of what the other ammounted), for a game that seems kinda hit or miss, with no real name behind it (really, sweary just hit gold with DP, the kind of B movie turned cult classic kind of gold).

You have no idea how many people out there thought the same about the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter back then and still up to today. Btw Yukio Futatsugi, creator of the Panzer Dragoon trilogy, is a beloved name and he is the creative director for this game. Besides, not many people may know it but SWERY worked on one of the best 2D fighting games ever, The Last Blade.

Most of the money gets done in the first and last days, it's high because it's a big ammount for a game in general (specially for one lowpoly made on unity), and it looks scammy that they're now asking the same ammount of money they got in the old crowdfounding.


Isn't ironic Shenmue 3 fans getting to call other Kickstarter games a scam but when it's the other way around it is a sacrilege :D ?

EDIT: Also wasn't him working on another project ? Or relaunching a kickstarter was the "secret project" ?

Still happening, but that seems to be a game developed by Arc System Works rather than Swery's studio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16QsRYKMdhU