Shenmue III: Linearity and branching ??

[shredingskin]

So we know that the new perspective system will change some of the desicions we take depending on what character we have/choose. We also know that the rapport system will make Shenhua behave differently with us depending on dialogue choices.

So how do you feel about Shenmue III having some sort of branching storyline/segments ??

Most SI and SII had very linear storyline with one objective at a time, and the most branching you could get was failing some QTE, beating chai, or asking different people "how to go to X". And most "subquests" didn't affect the maingame at all, and were mostly tme spending choices.

Would you like some deep branching ?? Like X quest is only availeable if you do certain things ? (for example picking Ren) ?? Or stuff like TWD that appears to have big impact but at the same is pretty much the same ??

Would you like to have more than one active objective at once ?? That could change the gameplay/dialogue also.

I would really like some branching in a game like Shenmue, while we know that it won't affect the story in any major way, could be something very efficient to make us feel some responsability for our choices and add some replayability.

What do you guys think ?

[Sonoshee]

In all honesty I'm still trying to get my head around playing as anyone but Ryo.

[Yokosuka]

As long as there are neither fedex missions or hud objectives assistance, I could agree with this. I don't want Shenmue looks like these boring modern AAA games.

[Anonymous81]

Branching, yes. Multiple objectives at once, I'm iffy on for a couple of reasons.

1) The whole reason the time management aspect of the game felt like it mattered, was because we had very clear, specific objectives, but had to wait for them to happen. Which meant trying to fill time in the interim. If that time is instead packed with multiple objectives at once, it could detract from that mechanic.

2) As Yokosuka said, they might feel tempted by multiple objectives to add HUD markers for them. That's something I definitely don't want to see in a Shenmue game. Shenmue is all about methodical analysis of surroundings, exploration, and carefully taking everything in. I don't want to rush toward a beacon of some kind on a HUD. I don't want to be ALLOWED to ignore my surroundings. I want to HAVE to pay attention. That's core to Shenmue for me.

Branching though, yes. That could be a great, cost effective way to add a lot of replay value to what may otherwise be a shorter game than some would like. Combined with the rapport system and character perspective system, branching dialogue and some choice and consequence could go a long way toward creating a meaty feeling game experience.

[shredingskin]

When I'm thinking about multiple objectives I mean stuff like in adventure games, where you have various "steps" to do in order to advance story and you can choose what to do first or leave it for later. In Shenmue I one example could be getting the key/sword or getting the handguard. Things like that were extremely important in adventure design because you could get hung up on a puzzle for days, so they gave you other stuff to do so you don't need to keep breaking your brain in the same puzzle, today is not as important because "puzzles are dead", but I enjoyed that part of the design.

For example in The Wolf Among Us it promts you to choose between going to X place first or to Y, and which one you choose slightly changes the conversation while storywise keeps the same dynamic (because you still have to go both places).

Another example could be while searching the wude, but they made it so that most of the time you play you''ll go jianmin or the master, then the barber and then the old lady. I understand getting to her last, but I don't find why the game expects for you to always do the things in that order (no one will tell you about the barber first for example, and it won't trigger).

Shenmue had a lot of "go to X place to advance story", it's more contextualized than in other games, but it's mechanically the same than fetchquests (well, you don't need to get back, I guess).

[Anonymous81]

^ That is true. In that sense, I wouldn't mind it. But it would have to be done very carefully.

[shenmue852]

So we know that the new perspective system will change some of the desicions we take depending on what character we have/choose. We also know that the rapport system will make Shenhua behave differently with us depending on dialogue choices.

So how do you feel about Shenmue III having some sort of branching storyline/segments ??

Most SI and SII had very linear storyline with one objective at a time, and the most branching you could get was failing some QTE, beating chai, or asking different people "how to go to X". And most "subquests" didn't affect the maingame at all, and were mostly tme spending choices.

Would you like some deep branching ?? Like X quest is only availeable if you do certain things ? (for example picking Ren) ?? Or stuff like TWD that appears to have big impact but at the same is pretty much the same ??

Would you like to have more than one active objective at once ?? That could change the gameplay/dialogue also.

I would really like some branching in a game like Shenmue, while we know that it won't affect the story in any major way, could be something very efficient to make us feel some responsability for our choices and add some replayability.

What do you guys think ?

i'm pretty sure there will be no significant variation in the outcome of the plot based on players' decisions- rather, player decisions affect character relationships and affect how certain things happen, but nothing important to the plot will have a different result as a result of decisions. That still leaves a lot that is affected though, but nothing that's decisive for the main plot.