Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

(Chapter 7 and beyond)

Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby Kiske » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:10 am

Yu Suzuki interview by Eclypsia.com (French)

Original interview: http://www.eclypsia.com/fr/shenmue/actu ... 2017-23773

Shenmue 3: Interview with Yu Suzuki at Gamescom 2017

At Gamescom 2017, we were able to talk with Yu Suzuki about Shenmue III.
A few days ago, Yu Suzuki was present in Cologne for the Gamescom 2017. For a few minutes we were able to talk to him and ask him some questions about Shenmue III.

Here is the full report of this exchange.


Eclypsia: Before speaking about Shenmue III, is this your first time in Cologne and / or Europe?

Yu Suzuki: This is actually the second time I've been here in Cologne and as for Europe, I came here 5 to 10 times, I cannot remember exactly. As for the Gamescom itself, I do not have enough time to go for a walk in the public area, being caught by the interviews for the game. I should nevertheless be able to take a few hours to go see what it is, see what happens overall.

E: Let's get to the heart of the matter, are you satisfied so far with the direction of development of the game?

YS: Things are going very well. Recently, and thanks to the signing of our partnership with Deep Silver which will publish Shenmue III, I can devote myself fully to the development process.

E: What have been (and still are) the most complicated challenges in the development of this sequel, so long after the previous episode? Has your vision of the game (Shenmue III) changed during this time or are we going to be entitled to what you had initially in mind?

YS: As for the general concept of the game, it has never changed in my mind and I have kept the same line in mind from the beginning. At the same time, everything related to technology, gameplay as a whole and even my development team has changed. My real challenge has therefore been to adapt myself as much as possible to what had evolved drastically during all those years that separate Shenmue II from Shenmue III.

E: At the level of history itself, you have kept the original idea?

YS: Exactly. With regards to Shenmue, everything works through chapters and from the beginning, I imagined the sequel from a certain angle, which I could not change.

E: Many fans of the Shenmue franchise have been waiting for this game for many years and are probably having high expectations, are you afraid to disappoint this specific part of hardcore fans?

YS: Totally. I really have a lot of pressure, but at the same time, I attach great importance to it. I can’t necessarily do according to the desires of the players, but my goal is obviously to satisfy everyone, especially the fans of the first hour.

E: Shenmue in his time revolutionized the genre with an utterly realistic and coherent universe. Virtually 20 years later, how have you gone about offering a game of the same caliber again?

YS: I sincerely believe that the work I do is unique. My goal is not necessarily to create something fundamentally new or which is considered new, but I think that by simply following my instinct, I can create something meaningful. Generally speaking, when I share ideas with my development team, we often have big debates about how to approach things, and they sometimes have a hard time understanding my point of view. By continually exchanging our views, we come to find the perfect balance between my way of seeing things and the way they have to apply it. It is surely this complete alchemy that allows us to propose things of this sort.

E: For a few years now, Open-World games have swarmed from everywhere, even being for some, real gold mines at the level of the present characters, possible interactions and global coherence of the game. Did this force you to revise upwards the third episode realization?

YS: In reality, I do not pay much attention to it and hasn’t a lot of impact, simply because I don’t really play a lot of games myself. As you know, Shenmue III is developed on Unreal Engine 4 and if I had to do a research work, the focus was more on that side. Indeed, I gave priority to the technical aspect in order to avoid any weakness from this point of view, rather than watching what was done from the competitors to find where to position myself.

E: Have you planned some kind of system that would allow players who have never played Shenmue I and II to still enjoy the III as it should?

YS: Let's make a quick parallel by using a film saga like Spider Man. If you start watching the saga with the third episode, you will understand the movie, even if you have not watched the previous episodes before. But at the same time, you will appreciate it even more if you have followed the adventure since the beginning of the saga. It was necessary to make sure that the people who would start playing Shenmue with number III would still be able to enjoy the experience at its best. However, you will really enjoy the game to the fullest if you have played previous episodes. Because of that we have incorporated a lot of features that will link to the previous opuses, such as the ability to pass a phone call to Shenmue characters or Shenmue II.

E: Last question about music. How important is this aspect to you in developing the game?

YS: I'm really convinced that the music and the sound atmosphere have an essential role in the development of a game and this is one of my priorities. For me there are three highly important aspects to abide by: Everything that concerns the interactivity within the game, then the graphics and finally the music. These three things are an indissociable whole for me to really make a special universe.

________________________________________
Shenmue III is planned on Playstation 4 and PC at the end of 2018



Note: I've first google translated the French interview and then proof read the result and made some adjustments to ensure that no questions or answers were distorted.
Please, keep in mind that English isn't my first language and therefore, I cannot guarantee my translation is 100% accurate.
If something sounds odd in the interview, just ask and I'll double check.

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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby Your Boy Leroy » Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:06 am

Fantastic, straight-forward interview.

Suzuki acknowledging that he can't necessarily create something according to the desires of the players (or blind fanboys) is reassuring, as is him saying he's following his instincts and striking a balance between his views and those of his team. Originality is not his goal, but rather authenticity and "realness", while he realizes he needs to adapt to the current gaming industry. The man is an artist, and that alone is enough to earn my trust and respect.
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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby Yokosuka » Fri Sep 08, 2017 11:04 am

Two interviews with Yu Suzuki by Fok! (Dutch) and Gamona (German):

http://frontpage.fok.nl/preview/774723/ ... mue-3.html
http://www.gamona.de/games/shenmue-3,in ... ticle.html

According Google Translate:

Fok!:
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... l%2F774723

- Confirmation of an international phone card (named "World of Telecom") to call Ryo's overseas friends. Yu didn't tell if it's still an exclusive backer item.

- A turtle aquarium can be seen in the extended trailer. Yu says there will be a turtle race.

- Shenmue 3 will explain the Shenmue prologue poem.

- Yu describes Shenmue 3 as " a kung-fu adventure that takes place in China."

- Shenmue 3 will have easter eggs like the previous episodes.

Gamona:
http://www.gamona.de/games/shenmue-3,in ... ticle.html

- Thanks Deep Silver, Shenmue 3 will be about 3 times bigger than initially planned. Overall, however, ambitions about the story and graphics are likely to remain the same.

- Yu laughingly refuses to answer if we get a new cliffhanger at Shenmue III end.

- As animals, there will be chickens, ducks, turtles, dogs, cats and more. Yu has yet to know if the player will be allowed to have a pet like the cat in Shenmue 1.

- The Shenmue 3 staff consists of a lot of freelancers and people who are working for other studios.

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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby KidMarine » Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:32 pm

Yokosuka wrote:Thanks Deep Silver, Shenmue 3 will be about 3 times bigger than initially planned

Nice! We're well out of Shenmue 1 territory now, I wonder how it'll compare in size to Shenmue II?
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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby punkmanced » Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:44 pm

Man this is all sounding really good.
Unreal 4 + Deep Silver's investment = we win.

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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby johnvivant » Fri Sep 08, 2017 1:06 pm

I'm glad that Suzuki is so happy about the new partnership, and he seems very confident about how much it will improve the game.

probably need spoiler warning on the:
turtle racing.
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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby Shenmue_Legend » Fri Sep 08, 2017 2:41 pm

I'm going to be begging for another cliffhanger! When done right, they'll have your heart racing and you'll have MAJOR goosebumps. It could be one of the most badass moments ever if they nail it properly. Like for example, maybe the ending sees Ryo defeated by Lan Di, bloodied and battered while Shenhua is captured by Niao Sun and then it fades to black and ends! Obviously, this is just an example I thought of quickly so I'm sure they'll have something way better than this. Not only that, but everyone would be crying for a Shenmue IV with the combination of Shenmue III being incredible and an awesome cliffhanger!
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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby KidMarine » Fri Sep 08, 2017 2:54 pm

Ren's going to get encased in Carbonite.

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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby punkmanced » Fri Sep 08, 2017 3:06 pm

I remember when the Dojo was fantasizing about reaching that $11M Kickstarter tier.
...As it turns out, we just might get all those nifty features (and more?) after all, thanks to these recent developments.

Awesome.
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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby KidMarine » Sun Sep 10, 2017 4:48 pm


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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby Spaghetti » Sun Sep 10, 2017 9:36 pm

The article seems to have been popular enough to kill the website's bandwidth.

Oops. Looking forward to reading it when it goes back up, though.
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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby Let's Get Sweaty » Mon Sep 11, 2017 1:13 am

It's back. :D

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Re: Shenmue III @Gamescom '17 Discussion - That's All, Folks

Postby Kiske » Wed Nov 22, 2017 11:22 am

A new interview with Yu Suzuki at Gamescom emerged. (9Lives.be)

Google Translation:
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... t=&act=url

Portrait of Yu Suzuki, the game legend that forces a comeback with Shenmue III

With Shenmue III, somewhere in the market next year, legendary game designer Yu Suzuki returns from the Limbo of mobile games to finally make a title with some scale. Who is this person, and why is his comeback such a big deal? A portrait.

Image

It is 1985, and a 27-year-old Yu Suzuki undertakes a car trip through Europe. The journey starts in Frankfurt, but takes him further to places like the Romantic Road in Germany, the Swiss Alps, the French Riviera, Florence, Rome, and the Trevi Fountain. The visual impressions he gains there will form the basis for Out Run (1986) for him an ode to the romantic road trip, for the audience of young people who are in luna parks around the red, pneumariate-set Ferrari shears a piece youth sentiment under construction. " A game designer has to open his eyes and ears so that he can bring up the impressions he gains in the world of the game he makes ," Suzuki says now more than thirty years later. "About eighty percent of everything I make is based on my own experiences."

Continuation

Patches from that life of the now 59-year-old game designer will be encountered again in Shenmue III, a third episode of the kung fu-eighties-rpg epic that Suzuki started on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, especially after the second game. from 2001 became a culthit. A lot of fans stayed until today, sixteen years later, waiting for a successor, Suzuki says. "That is also the main reason why I did not just put my shoulders under something completely new: the many fans who are still there for Shenmue, and who asked me in online forums to finish this story. And so I did the latter . "

Despite the more than sixteen years between the releases of Shenmue III and the previous episode, the game picks up the events of Suzuki's saga almost immediately in 1987. Ryo Hazuki, the late teen from the previous games who is looking for the his father's murderer, migrates to the mountains of Guilin, China. Where he meets Ling Shenhua, the mysterious girl that appears in his dreams. His quest proves to be in touch with hers: a legend from her village already predicted that their paths of life would intersect. In the meantime, he keeps in touch with characters from the previous games via the telephone, who are still in Japan.

Shenmue III is a continuation of a multi-game spanning story that Suzuki already had in his head twenty years ago, he says: it was only because of circumstances that it never went beyond two episodes. Even the themes of Shenmue III remain more or less the same, says Suzuki: " Romance, friendship, adventure. And kung fu. The usual combinations of a Shenmue story. "

Comeback

Yu Suzuki's star started a decade ago within the ranks of Sega, the video gamer in which he grew up. But his influence on the video game medium as we know it is undeniable. We already talked about Out Run, but in the late 80's and early 90's his name featured more big games from the luna park: with the graphically powerful internal hardware that Suzuki designed for those games, and the system of hydraulic pumps that caused the arcades to move, he gave Hang-On, Out Run, Space Harrier and After Burner a completely new élan to the category of arcade cabinets that was already waning. A few years later, he again pioneered, this time in 3D graphics, with games such as Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing for the Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast and the luna carpets from the Japanese manufacturer.

"A game designer has to open his eyes and ears."

When Sega gave him carte blanche at the end of the 90s to develop a big title for the Dreamcast, Suzuki seized the opportunity to start his magnum opus with the first Shenmue. But the market conditions decided differently: the Dreamcast became almost Sega's Titanic, and Suzuki was put on less ambitious projects. At the beginning of the decade he made some worthwhile sequels on games that he himself had helped launch, including Virtua Fighter 4 (2001) and Out Run 2: Coast 2 Coast (2003), but the time of big new things was over. Suzuki's and Sega's roads separated from each other in 2011, and Suzuki went into a sort of subcontracting deal from his own company Ys Net to make mobile versions of Segatitels until he announced the production of Shenmue III two years ago through a Kickstart campaign.

The grandmaster started back at the bottom of the ladder.
" I have researched various opportunities to finance Shenmue III, " says Suzuki. " But a Kickstart campaign seemed like the best. It was also hard for us to find a good partner. And we saw the enormous momentum of fans who were still interested in the game. Then I decided to use that power to get the project going again. "

Much changed

In the meantime, the project also found shelter with a new publisher, the German Koch Media. Everything is ready to put the game on the market in 2018. During that very turbulent period, Suzuki also discovered how firmly the medium has changed. Not only the landscape of video game companies looks very different than just a decade ago, when he recorded his last small successes under the Sega flag: the way in which games are made is also very different.

" The arrival of game engines, which are central to development today, has changed a lot, " says Suzuki. "And that is for the most part good: you can analyze everything you want in terms of gameplay much better, quickly create a prototype in which you try small details. But for someone who has been working for a while, it is quite a change: I have to retrain myself to learn to think in that new way. At the time of the first two Shenmue's I wrote all the code myself, and I could quickly check things myself. With the advent of engines, the programming work can be done by a whole team, but that also means that I have to stop a whole process when something does not quite suit me. It has its advantages and disadvantages. But especially advantages. "

With these modern means, a game is still being made that takes place in the 1980s, an era that was deep in the past at the time of the first Shenmue, in 1999. But for Suzuki, himself a late twenties to a young man in the Eighties, the last important stories were told at the time. " With the Shenmue games, I wanted to tell a story about the older eras, when the character of people was even more important than anything else," says Suzuki. "The 80s were the last years of that old time with which today's players still have points of contact. Everything changed afterwards: before the arrival of the modern technology that is waving today, everyone was still largely the same, because we all got the same information. The charm of that era, its innocence in a sense, is for me a never-ending source of inspiration. "

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