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China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 8:29 pm
by Switch
Dojo member sshen1127 has kindly translated this recent brief but exclusive interview from Yu Suzuki's China visit.

Nov 19 interview with Yu Suzuki (Chinese)
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4168537061

English translation

Q: Master Yu, when did you first meet up with master Lui Lian Zhi - was it 1991 or 1994? On what did you two first collaborate, was it working on Virtua Fighter 1 or 2?
Yu: The first time we met was 1993. Our first time working together was for VF2.

Q. Will Shenmue 3 have Chinese subs?
Yu: We are looking into it at the moment.

Q. In the near future, do you have any plan to release a fighting game similar to VF? Or to work with Sega for the next installment of the game?
Yu: Right now Daichi Katagari is the one who is overseeing the VF games. I handed over the games to him 100%. I will not be working with Sega for another VF game. But I might develop a brand new fighting game of my own.

Q: How many more Shenmue games are there until the end of the story?
Yu: There is a total of 11 chapters. Shenmue 3 will be chapters 5 and 6.

Q: Will everyone who donated for the game have to wait until near the release date to have their address and version of the game confirmed?
Yu: When the time comes we will send out an email to everyone. Please keep an eye on your mailbox.

Q: Can you use Chinese characters for all the Chinese people who donated for the game, in the "Thank you" credits at the end of the game?
Yu: All the credits will be in Roman characters.

Q: Will Shenmue 3 follow the same formula as Shenmue 1 and 2? In your opinion, what is the biggest difference with Shenmue 3? And what is the key selling point to attract new players to the game?
Yu:
1. Shenmue 3 will follow in the footsteps of Shenmue 1 and 2. It will keep what makes Shenmue Shenmue. For example, real-time full voice acting.
2. Shenmue 3 will be a more of an "open world" game so player can explore more places.
3. Towards the later half of the game, there will be a brand new way to play the game to attract new players. But the details are a secret.

Q: Will there ever be a spin-off of Shenmue, such as Shenmue 0?
Yu: No, not at the moment... [laughs]

Q: Is there any plan to release an Outrun-like racing game in the future?
Yu: We do have plans to release such a game.

Q: Will Shenmue 3 have an online feature?
Yu: There is no plan for any online feature for Shenmue 3.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:37 am
by Switch
Update:

The English translation of the interview by sshen1127 (after minor editing) has been added above.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:48 am
by GYO6161
Woah! Full real time voice acting? So confirmed is gonna be like shen 1 and 2 where everyone is voiced? 8-[

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:57 am
by Yokosuka
Q: Can you use Chinese characters for all the Chinese people who donated for the game, in the "Thank you" credits at the end of the game?
Yu: All the credits will be in Roman characters.


What a curt answer. :lol:

He's killing me with his Three Kingdoms gameplay feature, don't hype me so much Yu.

Otherwise, they should really stop to ask him about doing sequels of old games, I can hear his sigh from here. Really good interview, thanks.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:00 am
by code l name
Is this news regarding the chapter breakdown? So after Shenmue 3 there will be 5 more chapters to conclude the story? :shock:

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:09 am
by punkmanced
Switch wrote: Yu:
Shenmue 3 will follow in the footsteps of Shenmue 1 and 2. It will keep what makes Shenmue Shenmue.
For example, real-time full voice acting.


Wait...so full voice acting confirmed?!
\:D/

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:14 am
by sshen1127
the interview translator as shenmue 3 will be chapter 5 and 6 . which me and switch is not 100% agree , i personalty thought shenmue 2 ending is chapter 5. so maybe its a miss type or miss understanding from the Chinese interviewer. or there is something we do not know.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:31 am
by Yokosuka
sshen1127 wrote: the interview translator as shenmue 3 will be chapter 5 and 6 . which me and switch is not 100% agree , i personalty thought shenmue 2 ending is chapter 5. so maybe its a miss type or miss understanding from the Chinese interviewer. or there is something we do not know.


Shenmue II disc 4 was certainly the beginning of chapter 5 and Shenmue III will include the remaining part.

What's weird is that Yu is contradicting himself with his "one region = one chapter". Two chapters for three regions seems illogical.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:33 am
by Trent
sshen1127 wrote: the interview translator as shenmue 3 will be chapter 5 and 6 . which me and switch is not 100% agree , i personalty thought shenmue 2 ending is chapter 5. so maybe its a miss type or miss understanding from the Chinese interviewer. or there is something we do not know.


Thank you very much for your translation. It might be possible that Shenmue 2 ended with the beginning of the chapter 5. Maybe the explanation is in the conference (time : 20:34) because the picture which represents the Chapter 5 is actually the meeting with Shenhua.

Chapter 1 Yokosuka
Chapter 2 The boat
Chapter 3 Hong Kong
Chapter 4 Kowloon
Chapter 5 Guilin : Bailu village
Chapter 6 Choubu / Baisha

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:42 am
by sshen1127
@Trent you are correct. i watch the conference again at 20:34 . shenmue 2 is only a part of chapter 5. and shenmue 3 will pickup where it left off.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:55 am
by SMDzero
Trent wrote:
sshen1127 wrote: the interview translator as shenmue 3 will be chapter 5 and 6 . which me and switch is not 100% agree , i personalty thought shenmue 2 ending is chapter 5. so maybe its a miss type or miss understanding from the Chinese interviewer. or there is something we do not know.


Thank you very much for your translation. It might be possible that Shenmue 2 ended with the beginning of the chapter 5. Maybe the explanation is in the conference (time : 20:34) because the picture which represents the Chapter 5 is actually the meeting with Shenhua.

Chapter 1 Yokosuka
Chapter 2 The boat
Chapter 3 Hong Kong
Chapter 4 Kowloon
Chapter 5 Guilin : Bailu village
Chapter 6 Choubu / Baisha


So Shenmue 3 will basically only be 1.5 chapters? (The other half of chapter 5 and chapter 6)? Dang. I was hoping that Shenmue 3 would take us thru chapter 8.

I have a feeling that when Shenmue 3 ends there will STILL be a sense of 'this is just the beginning'.

I'm okay with this as long as Shenmue 4 (and 5) is a sure thing.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:04 am
by Zoltor
This interview is weird, it was mine, as well as everyone's understading, that each area in Shenmue 3, would be a chapter, which =three chapters.

He is also now saying that it will be more of a open waorld(I don't know, Shenmue 2 was pretty open), then the previous games, which is not very possible if Shenmue 3 is only about the size of Shenmue 1.

Did Yu condense 3 chapters into two, in order to create a bigger game world, it certainly sounds like that, but I really wish Yu would stop be so vague, because it just makes it look like his statements are always contradicting with one another, for no reasons.

On the upside of things, this would lead credence to the statement that Choubu is likely going to be the size of Kowloon now, instead of Dobuita.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:57 am
by johnvivant
it seems like Suzuki has raised his expectations about the potential scale of the game. Right through the kickstarter it was implied that the majority of the game might not even be open-world, yet now he saying its going to be even more open than the previous games.
as zoltor says, how can it get more open than Kowloon was? - i'm wondering whether what he means is that it will now be possible to travel to each of the villages at any point in the game, to go back and forth between them, maybe even with real time travel distances. that is something not possible in shen2 because of the disc exchange system.

'full real time voice acting' - does he mean for every character? if so, then this is great news.

i'm guessing that shenmue 3 is more modest in terms of the story coverage because yu suzuki is hoping that if 3 is successful he can make a huge shenmue 4 - (comparable to S2) that might complete the story, or that at least takes it to the final few chapters. i agree with this decision because shenmue is about a gentle pace, and not rushing.

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 4:32 am
by Zoltor
johnvivant wrote: it seems like Suzuki has raised his expectations about the potential scale of the game. Right through the kickstarter it was implied that the majority of the game might not even be open-world, yet now he saying its going to be even more open than the previous games.
as zoltor says, how can it get more open than Kowloon was? - i'm wondering whether what he means is that it will now be possible to travel to each of the villages at any point in the game, to go back and forth between them, maybe even with real time travel distances. that is something not possible in shen2 because of the disc exchange system.

'full real time voice acting' - does he mean for every character? if so, then this is great news.

i'm guessing that shenmue 3 is more modest in terms of the story coverage because yu suzuki is hoping that if 3 is successful he can make a huge shenmue 4 - (comparable to S2) that might complete the story, or that at least takes it to the final few chapters. i agree with this decision because shenmue is about a gentle pace, and not rushing.


It would be awesome if we could travel back, and fourth to areas, but if that's what he meant, I hope he also adds reasons to "want" to do such. In the previous interviews, he has stated that most of the side quests, and such would be in choubu. If that is what he meant by saying "more" of a open world, I hope he gives the other areas a major side quest or two, so we'll have a real reason to travel the world, outside of normal story progression reasons)

Re: China interview with Yu Suzuki (Nov 19)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 5:13 am
by KidMarine
Switch wrote: Q: Is there any plan to release an Outrun-like racing game in the future?
Yu: We do have plans to release such a game.

Wow, that came out of nowhere!

If there's one series I might love even more than Shenmue, it's Out Run.