Hey everyone! I haven't really written my reaction to this awesome update outside of the twitch streams etc but I want to shed light as to why I am excited. This game is coming along really well and I also think these updates will slowly help to set peoples expectations onto what this game will actually be like as it heads towards its eventual release.
Before the kickstarter announcement ever happened, I expect whenever people envision a potential Shenmue 3 it was something similar to what was seen in the
Yakuza 6 trailer perhaps where it would be really grand in its budget and aiming to redefine the genre that it's in etc. And I actually feel that a more modest budget (even though it's still a decent amount!) is going to do more good for Shenmue 3 than a blank cheque was ever going to do.
Shenmue 3 from the get-go seems to have a lot more focus/vision in terms of what they want to accomplish and the new update really communicates that well. The notebook, the simple act of opening cupboards and the chair, the QTE's and (potentially) the Nightfall fade that Himuro speculated all give the impression of this being a direct sequel without any other concerns/guff based on contemporary trends. It just feels as if I can jump into the game with the same mindset as if I was 12 year old again! :-) It's so cool to see all the dev's team comeback and be willing to do it (I'm sure fans of many other franchises could say the same thing!)
Another great reason to get excited about Shenmue 3 is that this is by FAR the best generation for it to happen outside of DC/Xbox OG. Could you imagine if Shenmue 3 was made for the Xbox 360/PS3 era? Not only would it present more limitations tech-wise for the team but it would've incredibly more expensive for them to produce. The best advantage of current gen isn't necessarily in CPU+GPU but just the ease of the development environment and the tools/engine (like UE4) allowing indies to do more faster and spend much less. It doesn't surprise me at all the pace at which Peter describes was accomplished, and it's great to hear that UE4 is indeed doing wonders for them.
I want to also convince some of you guys that I don't think the budget will be too much of a concern for it's impact on quality the game, especially in terms of scope and fidelity. I think the team is making the right decision in terms of focusing on the world/game logic elements first atm, that imo is the real star of Shenmue, not how pristine Ryo's hairs looks like atm. You gotta 'feel' Shenmue as well as see it (+the audio is obviously a HUGE part of the shenmue experience, no doubt is it guaranteed to strive in this regard). Despite what we've discussed about different teams handling different assets, the world looks incredible and the attention to detail. As Spags mentions, it is often better to leave the finishing touches like the models for later especially if they're working in a small group, which often brings its own advantages especially in terms of communication. A lot of this reminds me of what I saw during the Broken Sword 5 kickstarter, especially when details such as the face sticks out to the fans, but eventually:
I'm glad YS.net have included disclaimers at the bottom of the game footage whenever they show this stuff now!
There are a lot of videogames achieving so much with so little these days, people often mention the Witcher 3 in terms of budget+output of quality but I actually want to instead bring up two other games with pretty low budgets (+ don't have the advantage of tax breaks etc in their country) which are getting their own 3rd entries after so long within the next month: Dreamfall Chapters (for consoles) and Syberia 3. The originals were point and click adventures as you can see but it doesn't mean the latest entries are lacking in their vision. For me this genre is one of the reasons why I've always like shenmue so much at the time with aspects of how the game felt like an evolution to the storytelling seen in adventure games. It still seems crazy to me what is accomplished here with so little.
Syberia 1:
Syberia 3:
The Longest Journey (Dreamfall 1):
Dreamfall 2:
Dreamfall 3:
Onto features, perhaps the notebook tabs will cover events from previous games and chapters? I think that would be really cool. I also think it would be really interesting to discuss/debate (formally! xD) what concessions fans are willing to make for this game if it comes to it (such as full voice-overs, lips sync and and fighting sequences) I can understand people's concern over time for them just because they're so challenging for any game of any budget to accomplish but we've gotta just believe and hope in this regard. And I believe the father of VF knows what's best for the game. Personally voice-over was important to me at one time but I think it's become less important for me personally (especially after the Yakuza games, funnily the lack of it at first was so jarring to me at first lol).
Apologies if this post was lengthy but as you can see, there's just so much to be happy about I couldn't keep quiet about it! I'm really excited about the direction this game is heading in, the timing and passion involved all-round. Revisiting the older game briefly, I don't it's out of question for them to achieve that Shenmue roaming experience in 2017/18 again, they've got all the ingredients to do this and imo the experience distils down to a matter of the dev's unique taste and approach I think.
(It's going to be a bit scary for when this game does get closer to it's eventual release though, I don't think I'm physically or emotionally prepared for it yet xD.)
