La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Sun Aug 06, 2017 7:36 am

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 13- Chapter 1

OUTRUN

After his two previous successes, Yu Suzuki now had an opportunity to build a game around another of his passions; the Ferrari. A pattern was beginning to emerge: he would always look for the way to transfer some of his greatest interests in to a video game in the most realistic way possible and it could be, that eagerness and desire to do justice to the real product that turned those ideas into successful games. OutRun; a title that adapted to almost two dozen different platforms over the years and featured numerous renditions (some were revisions of the original title and other completely different games that held the name: OutRun 3D Battle OutRun, OutRun Europe, OutRunners, OutRun 2019 and Out Run 2006.) It was the year 1986, and in just three years in the company, Yu Suzuki had been able to return it to glory with his games claiming critical success in the international arcade scene at that time, to which its competitors were unable to match. The game was based, as we said, on the passion of the creative and not put forward by Ferrari as in reality the Italian manufacturer is at no time mentioned or the trade mark be referred to. However, the Ferrari Testarossa is easily recognisable, as was the North American lifestyle of the time, with a rich man who traveled on beach landscapes with a blonde girl in the passenger seat. OutRun made use, once again, of the technology Super Scaler of Sega, that yielded good results in its previous two appearances. However, the technical improvements that were introduced during the few years that had elapsed made OutRun stand out as the culmination of the use of this technology. And, as with Hang-On, Suzuki wanted to prepare a special machine, which although it was not an entire Ferrari did simulate a car seat: Wheel, brake, accelerator, gearshift ... The success of this intense, fun, difficult and ridiculously addictive game was such that it was even awarded the Best Game of the Year award at the Golden Joystick Awards.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Sun Aug 06, 2017 12:03 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 14- Chapter 1

AFTER BURNER

One of Yu Suzuki greatest virtues (or defects, according to the man himself) is that he never throws the towel and fights for what he believes to the bitter end. That's why the original idea of ​​Space Harrier, in which he was flying a jet in a realistic environment, never left his head, and it would not be too long before he could make it into a reality in 1987. After Burner came to the shops and triumphed among players around the world. Having players step into the roll of a commander of a F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft in a realistic aerial combat situation, which had drawn clear inspirations from the movie Top Gun. After Burner was a game that, in arcades would immediately be recognised as a Sega title; with a spectacular machine that emulated the cockpit of an aircraft (quite modestly, of course), with a realistic control system that made it a unique and somewhat complex experience, and, finally, some truly spectacular graphics, thanks once again to Sega's Super Scaler technology.

The reason why the same technology that was used Space Harrier could now do so much more visually was that it had been refined and improved at a technical level: the Sega X, which produced pseudo-3D graphics and could render sprites at a pace that was practically unheard of for the time. So much so, that After Burner won a award for its spectacular visuals at the Gamest Awards in Japan. It had became a smash hit in arcades and was a widely recognised coin operated machine, due to its fun experience and high complexity it caused many a child and adult to empty their change purse into it. Such was the success of the game that it ended up becoming one of the star franchises of Sega and they did not spare a moment for an opportunity to release a sequel.

That same year, After Burger ll arrived at the arcades and improved on numerous aspects from the previous one, with new levels, a more elaborate introduction sequence and new enemies. In addition, it added a new function to the basic controls of the original, now making it is possible to accelerate or slow the speed of the airplane, which also allowed users to carry out various advanced avoidance manoeuvres. These first two games would be launched on more than twenty platforms, some of them as recent as current smartphones, as well as several continuations for various platforms, although Suzuki would no longer be involved in them.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Sun Aug 06, 2017 2:36 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 15- Chapter 1

YEARS OF RELAXATION

In just a few short years, the young Yu Suzuki had raised the bar and had set a new benchmark for success, managing to create four renowned franchises that would give rise to the golden years of Sega, a company that thanks to him had devastated the arcade recreational market and, as we said before, was beginning to enter the domestic space quite successfully. Precisely for that reason, instead of continuing to embark on the adventure with new concepts and innovations, Sega entrusted Suzuki to dedicate himself to enhancing what was already achieved, and to finish cementing the franchises that had dazzled the world.

Thus, in 1986 Super Hang-On was launched, a game that continued the franchise of motorcycling, which improved upon multiple elements and achieved a commercial success far greater to that of its predecessor (partly thanks to the technological improvements of the time). That same year another new game would come to light; Enduro Racer, a game that was basically Hang-On in terms of mechanics and graphic design (with the exception of a "wheelie" feature), but with the concept being that of racing on a dirt track littered with obstacles. As we mentioned before, a second instalment of After Burner was also released in 1987, before launching Power Drift in 1988. This game was a more frenetic version of OutRun, with a competition rooted in impossible circuits in a tournament that many consider precursor to the current kart racing genre (although without objects). In 1989, Turbo OutRun was released, a version that, like Super Hang On, accelerated changes such as, a turbo feature for a quick burst of speed, a new route which is now from New York City to Los Angeles instead of the branching paths of the first game and with the player now driving a Ferrari F40 and their computer controlled rival driving a Porsche 959. In 1989 he participated in the development of Sword of Vermillion for Mega Drive, his first game created directly for consoles. It was a role-playing title that attempted to emulate some of the great RPG's of the time and to some extent was quite successful and was one of the earlier titles that in North America a few years later, Sega of America promoted and marketed (in the Genesis does what Nintendon't campaign) for the Sega 16-bit console. However, looking back on it from the modern era it has aged quite badly.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Sun Aug 06, 2017 5:39 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 15- Chapter 1

Another title he also participated in was G-Loc: Air Battle in 1990, a game that, is very similar to After Burner but does not share the name. Its centred on airborne dogfights and had 3 variations of arcade cabinet. Suzuki added the ability to accelerate or brake to perform various maneuvers in previous games, the next step towards realism would be to get the player to feel the maneuvers for themselves. Thus from Yu's revolutionary mind comes one of the innovative arcade machines of the time was born, which has been used to death by different companies since then: the R-360, a gyroscopic arcade machine that turns 360 degrees and mimics all of the actions and movements from the game for a greater degree of emersion. Another one of Yu's works included the Role-playing game Rent-A-Hero, a 1991 release that would be launched for Mega Drive and would once again revolutionise the genre: it would be the first Japanese RPG in history In which the combat was not turned based, but took place in real time and with a control system of a fighting game. The game was popular in Japan and even featured a remake for Dreamcast and for the original Xbox, though unfortunately none of the three versions came to see the light outside of the land of the rising sun. To this day it is considered one of the emblematic games in the history of video games and a key piece for collectors. Whilst maintaining a constant level of good quality releases over the last couple of years, Yu Suzuki was still not satisfied he had broken enough new ground as he had done in the previous years. This was not due to a crisis of creativity, but due to having exploited the maximum out of the technology available with his previous works. That situation would soon change with the arrival of the Model 1, the first arcade machine of its time capable of rendering polygonal graphics in three dimensions.

THE VIRTUA SAGA
Sega was a pioneer in the field of three-dimensional graphics, revolutionising the market when everyone thought that the graphics chips of 16-bit consoles were the pinnacle of visual evolution. In fact, many bet more on interactive video based games than on three-dimensional graphics. Sega also looked like it was going to go down the route of interactive virtual movies (technology known as FMV) with its Mega CD, but the way marked was another very different In 1992. Sega launched Virtua Racing, one of the most realistic games of the time and a production that took the genre of driving to a level never imagined. Such was the impact of Virtua Racing on arcade and on Mega Drive that magazines as prestigious as Gamespot named it one of the 15 most infuent video games of all time, as it managed to demonstrate that they could make spectacular games with polygons, more true to life and believable than the traditional ones produced with 2D sprites.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:06 am

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 16- Chapter 1

Although Virtua Racing was a great success and a turning point in the genre of driving, Virtua Fighter originated the true titan: in 1993 Yu Suzuki created the most realistic fighting game ever conceived. Far from sprites and two-dimensional environments, Virtua Fighter offered completely three-dimensional combat in environments where characters could move freely and fight on a raised platform (with a more basic outside area of the ring due of technical limitations), each fighter had a set of very specific abilities for his or her fighting style. Virtua Fighter was a technical and particularly playable spectacle, a title that left everyone in awe at the time. Ryoji Akagawa and Shigeo Maruyama confirmed on one occasion that the PlayStation was born with the idea of ​​being a platform that used the 2D as a technical base, but thanks to Virtua Fighter Sony realigned their focus on creating a 3D graphics engine for the console. Even the Smithsonian Institute awarded the Virtua Fighter franchise for its contribution to society in the field of art and entertainment.

But that Model 1 hardware was just the tip of the iceberg of what 3D could offer. With the arrival of the Model 2 hardware, the jump was spectacular. Although Suzuki had a minor stake in Daytona USA (1993), the first Sega game for Model 2, his moment of glory with that technology would arrive in 1994, the year in which Sega launched the Virtua Cop series. It was a game that was released during the mid 90's slump at amusement arcades, but Virtua cop was a breath of fresh air and made light gun games with three-dimensional graphics quite fashionable, it was from then on that Sega's rivals imitated this concept this like crazy. In that same year, 1994, Virtua Fighter 2 arrived, a game that took advantage of all the power of the new hardware and thus showed how playable and impressive technically it was over its predecessor and all other games on the market of the time. Suzuki has a very special memory of this game, which stands out as his favourite.

For a few years, the Virtua saga and its derivatives were the focus of Suzuki's work: Fighting Vipers (1995, One of the first fighting games in which the characters used armor), Virtua Cop 2 (1995), Virtua Fighter Kids (1996), Fighters Megamix (1996), Sonic the Fighters (1996), Virtua Fighter 3 (1996) and Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle (1997). However, none of these productions was he as involved as in his previous works, only exercising production work and advisory roles but still with a recognized acknowledgement in the credits of the game. However Suzuki disclaims some of these titles, as is the case of Fighters Megamix, as he considers that making games from of a mixture of pre existing franchises is a sign of lack of inspiration. But the fact that he did not have an active participation was not due to being at his wits end or being burnt out. No, on the contrary as we said before Yu Suzuki is a restless man who is always willing to do new things, so he spent a lot of the last 5 years working behind the scenes on two of his most special projects.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:57 am

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 17- Chapter 1

FERRARI F355 CHALLENGE


This was the first of his two new upcoming projects, which came to light in 1999 and became a glowing example of a driving simulator that impressed everyone in amusement arcade halls and on their subsequent home console ports to Dreamcast (2000) and PlayStation 2 (2002). A game with which Yu Suzuki got to finally realise his dream of working with the Ferrari license to create one of the most pure simulators ever seen in video game history. A title that dazzled the gaming community with its spectacular realism, with both its immersive gameplay and it's impressive graphical achievements (using the NAOMI system board). Yu Suzuki, who was always trying to capture the realism and offer an experience closer to reality than even before, took a very important step with this title, which despite the years that have passed is still remembered as one of the first photorealistic titles in gaming history.

This creative Japanese genius has always been a bit of a fanatic about the Ferrari brand and the F355 in particular (which he owned), so much so that he was also was obsessed with the idea of ​​offering a faithful recreation of the operation of said vehicle. There were many hours of testing, handling analysis and minor engine configurations, to the point of having created such a realistic beast that, according to Suzuki, even the Brazilian race car driver Rubens Barrichello had said in an interview to have considered purchasing a unit for practice with the F355. Its arcade cabinet was also very innovative because it had three screens that allowed a complete view of the track: far from just looking ahead, you could also see what was happening to your sides. The game was described by many as very difficult to control, but curiously this criticism is testimony to the extreme realism that Yu Suzuki and his team had achieved. A game ahead of its time and that today is still being imitated by major driving franchises such as Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:10 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 18- Chapter 1

THE SHENMUE DREAM... INTERRUPTED


Although F355 was the embodiment of an obsession with gaming, it was Shenmue that took up the most of Yu Suzuki's time within that five year period away from the front row. Suzuki started the project on Saturn and later moved it to Dreamcast, which took up a lot of those five years. Shenmue is a peculiar title in many aspects: it is one of the few games developed exclusively for the home console market by Yu Suzuki, it has an extremely realistic presentation (following the theme drawn by Suzuki's increased obsession with achieving absolute realism), had spectacular visuals for time and, above all, was a title that inspired many people with its creative storytelling and had a great influence on the genre of what we would now call open world games. Such is the case, that today's creative artists like David Cage recognise the great influence of Shenmue in their careers. However, Yu Suzuki's ambitious game, which was to originally expand over 16 chapters would be reduced to 11 but would remain unfinished, only having less than half of the story told (up to chapter five; the end of Shenmue II). The high budget of the project (which was also weighed down by the change of development from Saturn to Dreamcast) and the serious economic problems of Sega, who had to leave the hardware business to become a third party developer, left the project fallow and Yu Suzuki demoralised.

LAST YEARS IN SEGA

After the creation and release of both of the Shenmue titles. Yu Suzuki returned to one of his offspring with Virtua Fighter 4 (2001) as executive director, a position he would repeat in Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution (2002) but would not work on last revision; Virtua Fighter 4 Final Tuned, and would only appear as a producer for this title. Which he had done similarly with the 2001 title Propeller Arena for the Dreamcast, a game that would end up being canceled before its release despite being finished. He would also leave his mark on Virtua Cop 3 (2003) as well as on OutRun 2 (2003) performing a minor role. However, not being able to finish the Shenmue saga, had become a thorn in his side that was too much for a perfectionist such as himself to handle. However Sega could not help in fulfilling his wish and continuing the series, due to the company's precarious economic situation at the time; which prevented large scale investments or the company exploring new territory.

That is why he made the difficult decision to leave AM2 and decided to form a new R&D subsidiary studio for the publisher named Digital Rex. By doing so his intention was to satisfy his own personal desire and that of millions of gamers who longed to experience a conclusion of the Shenmue saga. To do this, he had to convince Sega that the franchise was popular and still financially viable.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:56 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 19- Chapter 1

His main focus was to get to work on Shenmue Online (2006), a project that would continue the Shenmue series in a different genre and, sought to make room in the Asian MMO market to help grow the franchise and ease the way to the third installment. Unfortunately, the development of the game had numerous problems and ended up getting canceled before trying it's hand in the Asian market. Another blow happened to the first of Yu's games developed under this new studio, Psy Phi (2005), which was was a 1-on-1 fighting game in which fighters levitated and shot projectiles at one another via inputs on the arcade cabinets built in 29'' touch screen (another innovation by this creative mind). Unfortunately this was to be commercially canceled and preview arcade units recalled as testers found the touchscreen input could cause damage to players fingers. Part of Sega's restructuring plan was to merge together numerous of their internal development studios and with Digital Rex not having successfully released a title since inception it also had some restructuring of its own with some internal alterations and a name change to AM Plus. AM Plus finally got around to releasing a game; Sega Race TV (2008), an arcade driving game which featured a whole host of souped-up convertible road cars that were fully customisable via passwords gained by racing. This release did not get a great reception in the market.

These consecutive failures caused this small subsidiary to close and all staff spread across other internal AM departments, with Suzuki to return to in-house Sega in a minor non-executive advisory role. Of course, it was rumoured heavily that his role was increasingly limited and seemed to be doing nothing. Brendan Sinclair a reporter from Gamespot who gathered information from Sega of America debunked these rumours by claiming that Suzuki was still in Sega, but was "working in a much more diminished capacity". Sega wanted to settle in to its new role as a third party developer by producing fast low-cost titles for maximum yield, as the company debt that ended with Dreamcast as a hardware manufacturer had to be recouped as soon as possible, and in that scenario Yu Suzuki's great innovations and proposals found an insurmountable wall.

LIFE AFTER SEGA

Yu Suzuki, a tireless fighter in pursuit of his dreams would eventually part ways with Sega to found his own development studio, YS.Net. Although he left Sega to work on his own projects and to give himself creative freedom, he would not break ties with them and maintains a good relationship which continues to this day. In 2010, he would again try to prove to Sega that the Shenmue franchise could have a success with Shenmue City, an online mobile game by Sunsoft for Yahoo Games. Suzuki stated in an interview with Famitsu that he wanted to explore the series without the expensive graphics or sound elements of the original game in hopes its popularity could be leveraged to make a game to conclude the Shenmue series. This would launch in Japan but not gain the momentum needed and would shut down on December 26th 2011.

After that, he would develop Cool Champ (2011) and Fewer Combo (2014), two games based on Virtua Fighter for mobile. In 2013 he would launch Bullet Pirates, also for mobile, as well as Shooting Wars for the company Premium Agency. The feeling that the later years of Suzuki's time in the industry has been one quite far removed from his days of glory, and he may have not have been treated with the respected deserved for such a visionary that has shaped video games as we know them today.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Ikuzuh » Tue Aug 08, 2017 2:17 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 20- Chapter 1

Suzuki had a great impact with the arcade machines of the 80s, that through revolutionary techniques for the time they gave the feeling of depth, immersion and movement of the player himself. Later, he led the way for the jump from 2D to 3D, with impressive titles that had a great influence even in the development of the hardware for that generation. And finally with Shenmue, something that changed the domestic market of videogames, abandoning quick arcade creations to favour deep games with absorbing universes and total immersion of the user. As he says in many of his interviews, the Japanese creative is aware and proud of everything that has contributed to the video game industry. In addition, despite his apparent dip in his career, he has been awarded twice: in March 2011 he received the "Pioneer" award from the Game Developers Conference and in 2014 he received the "Legend Award" from Gamelab Barcelona.

In the end, Yu Suzuki refuses to not have the last word. During those years of disappearance after Shenmue, when it seemed that he had already dedicated himself to making mobile games to make a living without major concerns, in fact he was machining and negotiating nonstop to finish the his beloved franchise and give it a dignified end. For a man of such perfection, to finish what is his masterpiece to date is almost obsessive, especially when he knows that millions of users are asking him incessantly. E3 2015 saw the announcement of the much-desired Shenmue Ill, with the result that all the hard work and support of the fans finally came true. And that 15 years after its European launch and 16 after its Japanese release, the franchise continued to be on the front cover of magazines and still be in the news shows that Shenmue is a different and very special game, a work of art that has changed the way most players and developers perceive video games, and we hope to do it justice in this book.

Ramon Méndez

Ikuzuh has received 2 thanks from: Switch, Yokosuka
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Scribe86 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:00 pm

I’m back with chapter 2 & using my new account, as more people will know me in the community by this handle. Enjoy!

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The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 21- Chapter 2; FIRST STEPS TOWARDS THE SHENMUE DREAM

During the introduction of the first disc, The game tells of a prophecy, which is narrated to the player by the character Shenhua, whose words may at first seem a little random and disjointed. But the meaning of her words become clear in the later acts of the sequel. At this moment, the player is not aware of the adventure that lays ahead, nor of all the secrets that these words hide. This is a sign that the adventure that follows is much larger and more complex than anything that has come before it.

More than a decade would pass without fans of the series knowing how the story would continue, but over time, through a number of leaks, lectures and interviews by Yu Suzuki, we were given a glimpse into additional content that would have made for a more complete adventure, revealing information on cut content and original storyboards. As we look back today with a broader vision and try to understand the series as a whole, it is easy to see that we have hardly scratched the surface of the game. Suzuki-san has thought up a story so complex and expansive that it can hardly be judged from what we have seen thus far, considering we haven’t even come to know half of the story as originally planned.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Scribe86 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:02 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 22

However, as Shenhua says, all stories have their beginning And Shenmue has come a long way before it’s eventual release on the Dreamcast. This is the story of an enthusiast, Yu Suzuki, who wanted to change the world of video games forever. Although he did not complete his project at the time, he leaves an indelible mark in the hearts of players and thus writes a new page in the history of video games.


THE MOST AMBITIOUS PITCH IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY

As stated in the previous chapter, from 1983 to 1994, Yu Suzuki mainly focused on the arcade market. Thanks to a clever mix of spectacular graphics, ingenious gameplay and innovative cabinets this allowed SEGA to become one of the key players in the Arcade sector. However Suzuki’s innovative nature made him want to move beyond this, leaving behind the short arcade game and dreaming of creating a more lengthy and immersive console experience. His dream, to create an innovative universe in which the player would form emotional ties to the story and the characters on screen.

This complex and demanding project, whilst huge in scope could find its opportunity at Sega. Since at that time, in the video game market, Sega was in its height of success. The company's situation changed remarkably between 1983 and 1993. From the shakey beginnings of the release of the SG-1000 home console, which was a commercial failure, not leaving its native home of Japan. To the Master System. Then, the Mega Drive (or Genesis, as it’s known in the United States) which for the company is when their success began. Threatening to challenge Nintendo for their top spot of most popular console in North America.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Scribe86 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:09 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 23

Launching in 1988 in Japan, the Mega Drive was around until 1994, before giving way to the Saturn. By the end of those six years, SEGA had sold around 40 million consoles, a modest number by today’s standards, but was an impressive amount for the time.
With the wind in its sails, and the image of the company at its best. 1994 was the ideal time for Yu Suzuki to pitch a vision so complex. The launch of the Saturn and the arrival of new technical possibilities encouraged the Japanese creator and the company itself to explore new means of game development with fresh franchises.
In this respect, a special mention should be made to the development of backing up players progress in games, saving play data and allowing for longer gaming experiences without having to memorise passwords of ten plus digits, or start again from the beginning.

In short, Yu Suzuki wanted to create a role-playing game (or RPG). As we commented in the previous chapter, the Japanese creator had a burning desire to explore new territories and jumped from one genre to the next once he felt he knew them completely. Having triumphed in the shooters, racing, and even in fight titles, he considered it was time to tell a great story in a role-playing game, a genre that at that time was the only one that went deep enough.

He analysed both conversational and traditional interactive adventures of the 1980s, in great depth. When talking about this stage of his research Yu Suzuki himself always emphasised, that titles such as Mystery House (1980), Wizardry (1981), the Ultima franchise (1981) and numerous Japanese role-playing games from the early 90’s, were all among his influences. He began to realise what was wrong with these titles and how he would change things in his own work, and it seems that what struck him most were superfluous things more than any other. For example, he observed that the animation of the main character in the adventure would not stop waking even if it was hitting a wall, when it was evident that the player could not keep moving forward, nor did he look towards a non-playable character, when approaching from a different angle. These small details that may seem minor, demonstrate Suzuki's obsession with total realism, which he found in these titles could distract the player from the plot and prevent them from completely immersing themselves in the story.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Scribe86 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:15 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 24

THE OLD MAN ANS THE PEACH TREE

This ambitious project initially begins in 1994 on the Saturn, the 32-bit console that Sega has just bought to market. The first step of Suzuki’s was to create a prototype in that he could effectively communicate what he wanted to achieve to the directors and the team of developers at Sega. This project aimed to study and experiment all that is needed to create a fully three-dimensional role-playing game. To start with priority was given to the analysis of the level of the prerequisites required, in regard to performance. The definition of each environment was fundamental (cities with walls, buildings, roads, trees, collisions, shadows, etc.) but the proper rendering of all the characters and living beings present in the production was also equally important. Humans, dogs, cats etc... For the sake of realism, all character models in the game would have to be created from a sufficient number of polygons so that they moved in a credible way and, above all, have animated facial features capable of transmitting feelings and emotions. As for the game system, the prototype enabled the character to walk, run, bend, jump and, logically, speak.

Based on his observations and analysis of video games, this prototype tried to focus on conversations, during which the player has a greater degree of freedom. Non-playable characters were able to maintain dialogue developed through artificial intelligence, better than the typical AI used in the genre at that point. This new AI was not limited to easily predictable actions, but gave them routines that would provide them with a unique and independent personality to each of the other non-playable characters. In this way, they would not be limited to being typical static character, always rooted in the same place of the scene. Another basic idea was to place the camera behind the character, in the third person. This provided the player with the ability to manoeuvre around objects without obstructing the vision of the protagonist. And finally, the game must be imbued with a realistic and cinematographic character. Significant events would happen with real-time video footage, with pre-determined cameras in set location to provide the best viewing angle.

So The Man and the Peach Tree was born, a prototype that is considered the father of Shenmue because it was the origin of everything that proceeded it. In addition to the aforementioned features the prototype placed a particular emphasis on the storyline, this being an integral part of the role playing game that Yu Suzuki wanted to develop. The story took place in Luoyang, the ancient capital of China, in the 1950s. The player embodied a young man named Taro, whose obsession was to locate a kung-fu master named Ryu. After questioning some people in the street, Taro encounters an old man sunbathing who tells him that he will answers his questions about this Grandmaster in exchange for a peach. So, the first mission is to find a peach tree to get the fruit. There would be none in sight, but the player could come across an apple tree to try and source one of those fruits instead. For this, the player would need to locate a nearby stick to be able to reach the Fruit and make it fall from the tree and then go back to the man with it in hand. However, the man would be disappointed as he wanted a peach. In this decision-making section of game, where the user has the opportunity to perform various actions, the fact would stand out that the characters would have well-defined personalities and could not be fooled by an imitation of the fruit. They could also misinterpret the actions of the player if they depart too much from their current quest.

At the end of the prototype the man is surrounded by children who admire him. When the player gets closer a video starts, in which Taro witnesses the old man skip stones across the water of the lake. With each skim across the water a stone will kill a fish which floats belly up to the surface. With 2 or 3 skims he is seen to kill multiple fish with a single stone. Seeing this spectacle Taro realises that the old man was in fact the Grandmaster Ryu he was so tenaciously looking for.
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Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Scribe86 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:18 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 25-26

FROM THE PROTOTYPE TO VIRTUA FIGHTER RPG

As can be seen, Shenmue had a modest but promising beginning; a small playable prototype in which many novel game mechanics were introduced, that surely would have caused quite a stir at the time if made public. But that was not the goal of this project, now Suzuki could take the next steps to begin to build a complete game based on these basic pillars already established. It was 1996 when Sega gave the green light to take the project forward, two years after initially working on the technical aspects of the prototype. Yu Suzuki wanted to create the best role playing game ever seen to date and, for this, he would tell the story of Akira Yuki, one of the main characters from another of his creations, Virtua Fighter. The Virtua Fighter series being a successful and innovative franchise meant that creating a role playing game attached to that series seemed the most logical move, allowing the game to have recognisable characters with an already established fan base whilst expanding the universe. With this production, Suzuki wanted to create a very broad, completely three-dimensional game in which each and every one of the in-game dialogues and interactions were very diverse to give the characters more realism, with a cinematographic touch that would help the player get emotionally involved in the situations that presented themselves. Another unique feature would also be the intense multi opponent combat in which a single character would have to face several rivals at once (unlike the Virtua Fighter franchise, in which battles are fought one-on-one). In short, a really ambitious and risky project in which Sega had their reservations in regards to budget and timeframe. However Suzuki’s track record spoke for itself and he had demonstrated on numerous occasions his gift for creating and delivering innovative and unique games. To ensure development costs were manageable the game was going to reuse many elements and assets from the Virtua Fighter series. Including characters, fighting mechanics and graphical engine already prepared for the Saturn (the platform in which several instalments of the three-dimensional fighting franchise were present).

The idea of ​​setting the game in China came to Yu Suzuki several years before, when he traveled to that country in 1993. According to the Japanese creator, his trip was a unique experience, since it allowed him to discover a mysterious and attractive culture. One that had a great influence on the history of martial arts and helped inspire the story that he wanted to tell. For the most part, this trip aimed at studying different styles of martial arts first hand, for characters in his upcoming fighting series. This is how he learned of the Bajiquan style under the careful supervision of Master Wu in a Shaolin temple. In addition to learning some of his techniques, Suzuki observed that the teacher drank a lot of saké. This image had lasting impact on him, thus in Virtua Fighter 2 he introduced Shun Di into the character lineup; an expert in the drunken master style.

The indelible mark that China left on Yu Suzuki's mind would be transferred into the game, that at that time was known internally as Virtua Fighter RPG: Akira’s Story. The story would be divided into four parts. The first of these was the introduction, in which the main theme would be sadness. In that first phase of the adventure, the player would see that after the loss of his father, everything for Akura would begin to go wrong. This accumulation of misfortunes would provoke a feeling of increasing sadness. The story develops in the second part, dealing with the theme of overcoming adversity, in which Akira channels this sadness that afflicts him and travels to China, to become a master of martial arts and to avenge the death of his father. In the third part of the game, which would be considered the climax of the adventure. The primary focus would be on a final encounter against the enemy that Akira himself had created, one which he would defeat. The conclusion came in the fourth and final part of the game: after fulfilling the goal of the revenge that so obsessed him, Akira would have to start over. Without a clear goal in mind, Akira starts a new journey that would tie in to the events of Virtua Fighter. At the beginning of the game, Akira would be only 16 years old; the objective was not so much to tell a story of the character, but rather to present the audience with a teenager, wounded by life, who would grow up through adolescence into a man of his own right.

After laying down the basic aspects of the game, Yu Suzuki put himself to work on one of the most fundamental aspects of all role playing games, the plot. He worried that the developers may not be able to adequately capture the script or did not know how to understand the nuances of the game. So he hired screenwriters, filmmakers, playwrights and other specialists to help perfect the plot.
They held small meetings every week, which soon became a constant tug-of-war between developers and writers; a classic dispute in which it is about finding the middle ground between what the creatives want to do and the programmers can achieve. These meetings would favor the understanding between both sides and, together, they would write the script consisting of eleven chapters. However, things got a bit out of hand and they found that they were creating a much more complicated title than initially expected, so they decided to temporarily put aside the technical aspect and focus on writing as if it were a novel, highlighting the most dramatic aspects and emphasise the sensations that the story would transmit. Subsequently eleven illustrations were created, which would accompany each of the chapters of the novel.
In this way, the game development team had a complete visual representation of the final product, both in terms of timeline and artistic and environmental point of view.
Above all, it was expected that each of the eleven chapters was going to be linked to a specific location in China and would have its own environments, true to real life.
Scribe86
Asia Travel Representative
Asia Travel Representative
 
Joined: July 2015

Re: La Odisea De Shenmue - English Translation

Postby Scribe86 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:22 pm

The Shenmue Odyssey - Page 27-28

SHENMUE SATURN VERSION

Although at the time there were many rumours about a role playing game based on the Virtua Fighter franchise, little to nothing was revealed about this title for years. It wasn’t the only title for the Saturn that seemed to be victim of development hell syndrome, as other productions such as Sonic X-Treme, Resident Evil 2 and Tomb Raider 2 would also begin their development on the 32-bit Sega console, but they would eventually fall into ostracism for their respective reasons. However while these other titles were occasionally shown to the public, even though they didn’t see a Saturn retail release, Virtua Fighter RPG did not, it was one of Sega's best kept secrets. So much so that we did not see anything of this title until Shenmue II was released, in which a small bonus video was unlocked upon completion that showed several moments of the production in its first year. What was shown of this first “Saturn Version” of Shenmue was something simply spectacular. At a technical level, it showed a graphical and sound demonstration to a degree that no other had accomplished in the 32 bit generation. Many people even today see the images or watch the video and disbelieve that this was possible on the Saturn. Shenmue was going to be one of the few games that made use of the Saturn SDK 2.0 development kit, which allowed developers to increase graphical potential of the console and remained unknown to most users and devs. It was to be, along with Virtua Fighter 3, one of the latest and greatest 32-bit console releases, and both promised to raise the bar and prove that Sega's console could continue to contend with the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. It is true that the differences in comparison to the Dreamcast version are astonishing, since the power of the new machine was 128 bits. However regardless of the generational jump the Saturn version was a remarkable feat as in its own right, as most details on screen remained the same as its eventual Dreamcast counterpart, and graphically it outshone most titles released to the market during that generation. It was evident that Yu Suzuki had managed to create something that from a technical standpoint was light years ahead of the competition.

The video showed off several scenes from Shenmue Chapter 1 Yokosuka, such as: Iwao training Ryo and Fukuhara, the introduction sequence with Lan Di, Ryo's encounter with Chen Gui Zhang (which takes place on the street instead of at the harbour), Ryo’s search of for the mirror at the Hazuki residence (although he uses a simple trapdoor in the floor of the external garden, instead of a false door in the dojo) and the confrontation against Chai. It also showed off of many scenes from Shenmue 2; Ryo's first encounter with Ren Wu Ying and the Heavens, the scene where Ryo and Ren return to the hideout with a bunch of cassette tapes to find clues, when the two traverse through the buildings of Kowloon together, the Man Mo Temple scene with Xuying Hong (however she is wearing her maroon outfit instead of the blue variant) and finally various shots with Shenhua in the forest of Guilin and her home in Bailu Village. The particularly curious and interesting thing about the video of the “Saturn Version” lies in the events that we are shown. In the short time of development that the game had (after the preparation of the script, the graphic engine and other things), it had already reached at least chapter five of the 11 planned, and got as far as the end of what we now know as the finale of Shenmue II. This has led many to hypothesise if the development video stopped at that chapter to prevent spoilers and not reveal more of the potential third game, and in fact the development of the Saturn Version was more advanced and much further along than previously thought. If we take into account the numerous images of characters and locations not seen in a game to date, it is clear to see why this theory holds some merit. There is also the original release schedule to consider; was it the intention of Sega to annually release shorter games, each containing a single chapter? Or was it meant to be a single incredibly lengthy title? There are so many questions we can ponder over, but we may never know the answers. Sega has always been quite secretive about Shenmue, and not even Yu Suzuki has provided much more information on this first version, beyond which relates directly to the retail releases we know.
Last edited by Scribe86 on Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Scribe86
Asia Travel Representative
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Joined: July 2015

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