Dory Gordie, being the strongest arm wrestler in the game, goes up to $100. He gives up after you beat him for that. So yeah $100 is as high as it get's.

I once manage to beat him in a match for $100 in the Xbox version running on my 360 with a turbo controller that has 3 different speeds. The turbo controllers for Dreamcast are all to fast for the game and it won't register the inputs.
It's virtually impossible to actually do this for real and even turbo is sometimes not enough to handle this guy...

Riku Rose wrote: I don't care how much Sony is funding the game I want to know how much Awesome Japan is getting for this fuck up.

HOW MUCH????

They better not be getting paid!!! This could have been done better and for free by Shenmue fans!

i think sony will support the game but the degree to which they will do so is dependent on how well the kick starter does.

the kick starter is SUPER SUPER important. negotiations with other funders is by no means complete, so if the kickstarter does super well it will give potential investors more confidence to commit further funding.

In all honesty we need to keep donating what we can.

This is the only chance that we are going to get. It's time to put our money where our mouth is. If we raise a lot then I'm sure it will give a lot of confidence to Sony and the other backers.

I have been trying for the last 2 days to try and make some awareness that Sony's funding is not as big as people think.
I created a thread on the Shenmue Subreddit, and luckily the Mod over there Bert306, contacted me and asked if he could sticky the post.

From this point on, I think we need to focus on getting the words Directly out of Yu's mouth. He has said in the Famistu interview that he expects the main funding to come from the Kickstarter, so we need to make he re-iterate that in today's Reddit AMA. More specifically, we know that he cannot comment on the amount of funding that he has secured from outside sources, but I feel that we might be able to get a number of out him that HE WANTS the kickstater to hit. If we can get that number, we can quote him and spread that news like wildfire. Even news sites like IGN, Kotaku etc will be interested in that.

We need to get this info and then need to get it out there. If Shenmue fans see that Yu wants (for example 12 Million), then we will get Yu 12 Million :P.

Today's AMA Goal:
Ask Yu Suzuki "Where does Yu-san expect most of the Funding to come from for Shenmue 3? And more importantly, how much does Yu-san want the Kickstater to reach in order for him to make the FULL vision for Shenmue 3?"

If we know the above information by the end of the day, we can flood news outlets with this and intern remove a lot of the miss-information regarding the outside funding.

The post on the Reddit that I talked about:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Shenmue/comments/3abv69/the_sony_funding_is_not_that_much_famistu_article/

I am going to be posting the thread on the kickstater every couple of hours. If people have accounts on Neogaf, or on Shenmue500k facebook, then please help spread the word so we can get these questions answered. Thank you!

I'd really like an online mode strictly for minigames. I'd like to have an online mode where you can choose a character and fight against them Virtua Fighter style. Or if you choose, you can play against them in Darts like you do in II with those NPCs and challenge each other for score.

A stamina bar would be great. Nothing annoying that you would be bothered with it constantly, but maybe just having to eat 1 meal every now and then to keep your stamina up. It would be cool if it tied in to your strength and endurance. Like if your stamina was low you would deal less damage and take more damage in fights.

Also a bicycle, or even better, a motorcycle to travel on would be awesome. We all know Yu Suzuki loves his bikes, how cool would it be if we could ride on a bike with Ryo?

I, too, liked the loading screens (even though I diskike the actual loading). But I think there's a way to keep those screens even if we get rid of the loading.

Maybe you could have the info screen show up as usual (with the date and such), but instead of being pure black with white letters, they could be a kind of transparent black, so that you could see the game (and control Ryo), while still being able to see the "loading screen" at the same time.

That way, you could have the screen to show up when entering an area, but you'd be able to be continue playing at the same time. Then after a few seconds the info screen would just fade away and you can continue playing as normal.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well enough for you guys to understand what I mean.

I'd like for more ways to have conversations. I wish there were a way to pick what you wanted to say with npc's, for instance. Sometimes I want to talk to an NPC about what they're doing today and Ryo just asks a question about what to do next or the next plot point. To be fair, Shenmue II expanded this and allowed for wider npc interaction, but at the same time I want more! :D :lol:

I am pretty amazed about all the negativity here. Sure, there are a number of questions. The game was announced just a few days ago, and it's a Kickstarter project at this point. But please, we are getting Shenmue III after waiting for 14 freaking years! Try to be a little positive about this! Isn't this what you've been waiting for after all? An announcement at E3? How many times haven't we dreamed about it and always being let down?

According to Adam Boyles Sony will help market the game, so that's not a concern. How much money they'll put into the development we don't know. But they know you can't make a true Shenmue game with just a few million.

I want the true Shenmue experience. Not GTA or whatever. But Yu Suzuki knows what the fans want. My only concern is that big parts of the original story will be left out. But we know parts were already left out in Shenmue II, and that was still a great game. We can't get everything they way we want it.

I just want the game. I want to continue the journey and find out about the mirrors, about the past of Ryo's father and I want to fight Lan Di.

Yikes, now this is amateur hour. A good marketing team would've contacted reddit in advance, gotten him on the calendar and had the mods set up the thread. I've been through these before. I'm pretty disappointed by what's happening tonight. I also feel bad for Yu, as I know he has no part in this.

Some people wasting their time asking "where can I find sailors?" and "would you like to try a game of lucky hit?" lol. I would love to see his responses for these but why would you do that when you get real informative answers from him?

Well this is a little bit of a crap shoot - all the relevant questions we compiled (ie. will the original Virtua Fighter battle mechanic still be used, explain the stretch goals) are more or less completely dispersed or are not even present on the new AMA and Suzuki is more or less rifling through all the new questions to find easy ones to answer - most of which are mainly irrelevant.
Maybe we could email them some questions in the name of the dojo or 500k now that they recognise us as official shenmue communities to get decent answers.

For people new to reddit, you can check what questions Suzuki-san has answered quickly by looking at his user profile: http://www.reddit.com/user/Yu_Suzuki

Click "context" below each response to see the question to which he is responding.

I asked again if he still practices martial arts and what made him choose jujitsu as the Hazuki art, awaiting response, please upvote :) http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3ahcwf/i_am_yu_suzuki_new_posting/cscnx9x

We need to stress the incredible turn out for this AMA. Over 730 comments.

How long will the AMA be, I wonder?

It's been going on for two hours now. Yu needs to be really patted on the back here for being such a trooper. Most AMA's are only a mere hour long but here Yu is still going on like a soldier. It truly shows you how much he loves this fanbase. =D> =D> =D>

Guys, can you stop debating that in this thread? This is for the AMA.

Wanderin' wrote: 10 million's the target, boys and girls.

Have to push this kickstarter into overdrive.

I'm upping my initial backing to $500 next week.

I'm getting very close to the final product here! I think I'd like to add in some fighting scenes during the black screen text. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, please post ASAP as I'd like to call the next version final. Thanks

I seriously think they should drop those German, French, Spanish and Italian subtitles from the game.

And while we're at it, drop the English subtitles too.

Too much of a waste. It should all go to game development. We'll all have to buy our own Japanese translation books or software to trek through it.

I seriously think they should drop those German, French, Spanish and Italian subtitles from the game. Why would we waste our money on those small language translations

Do you realize, that Spanish for example, is spoken by more people than english? Why alienate a huge portion of potential targets?

Also your post is so selfish...

As for native speakers, yes, Spanish has more. As for people having a good command of the language and therefor being able to play a video game in it, no. English is much bigger.

Then again, how is my post selfish? I don't get it. I want them to kick out my own language as well. :)
Because you don't bother to consider those who don't speak English. Driving out your own language doesn't mean much when you speak the language it will be released in anyway.

If you remove European subtitles, I see a lot of donors leaving the kickstarter. Bad idea considering the fanbase in Europe is huge.

Hyo Razuki wrote: There will be an English voice over, so yeah. I'd be fine without subtitles. :-)

Drop the dub too.

Too much money to hire two sets of VAs. It should all be in its native language. It should all go to game development.

Get rid of all text and VAs.

Too much money. It should all go to game development.

I seriously think they should drop those German, French, Spanish and Italian subtitles from the game.

And while we're at it, drop the English subtitles too.

Too much of a waste. It should all go to game development. We'll all have to buy our own Japanese translation books or software to trek through it.
Nah, let's get rid of the Japanese language option instead. :lol:
Let's get rid of language all together. Why bother getting people to understand the story when money can go in to other things.

Edit:
Get rid of all text and VAs.

Too much money. It should all go to game development.
hah beat me to it.

So basically whatever suits your needs, keep.

Not literally. As in take your opinion on dropping the languages seriously.

But by all means go ahead and suggest it. Tell them to give up valuable markets and damage the success of their game for an extra stretchgoal.

Then they should go after Sony, not Yu Suzuki and Shenmue 3. They know how much the fans have wanted it. They can fuck right off.

They're just trolling/generating clickbait. Some godawful Gizmodo article comes up in Google News for Shenmue which honestly reads like it was written by a barely literate 12-year-old. I get why some people dislike Shenmue, and I've seen well-articulated pieces expressing such thoughts, but this was just awful, obviously got pass editorial since they knew it would make people angry, which is always good for revenue.

Just let it slide, guys, if you get angry then you've let them win.

DON'T VISIT THESE SITES. You'll only be encouraging them.

Hi everyone, with Corey's permission, I dubbed the kickstarter video with his voice.

Enjoy!

Look what's rendering!
https://i.gyazo.com/24f26d69d49eaf180d6b2f8f757fa63c.png
It's 2:30am here, so once this has finished rendering, it will be uploaded tomorrow as a public video.
I'm going to make a new thread for it as this one has become quite cluttered with the production process. I really hope it makes a difference to the campaign.
Also, thank you Raunchy for the epic voiceover!

I don't at all mean to downplay your hard work, but the real challenge is yet to come. We need all of the help we can get in order to get YS.net to actually use this video, even if it is definitively better. Excellent job though Jibby; I really hope it pays off.

http://i.imgur.com/R9dPCjn.jpg

Dear Members,

As many of you know, last week was a week that will go down in history for our community. After 14 years of waiting and hoping, it was revealed by Yu Suzuki himself that he is finally in a position to move forward with the creation of Shenmue 3, albeit with a bit of a caveat. Through the announcement of a Kickstarter campaign , Suzuki-San as asked us the fans to help bring his dream, as well as ours, to life by backing and supporting a campaign to help fund the development of the project. While there are various entities supporting this project, Suzuki-san himself has stated that that the fate of Shenmue 3 now rests in our hands and that our actions as a community will dictate the capabilities his team will have in creating the game and to ideally meet its full creative potential.

If you have not already done so, please visit the campaign website and take some time to consider the extent to which you would be willing and able to support this project; note that there are a range of pledge levels with corresponding reward tiers for every single level of backing. As the campaign progresses, there will also be added levels of support to coincide with stretch funding goals as they are introduced. All of the funds that are pledged will be allocated to and utilized SOLELY by YSNET to develop the game.

Contrary to a lot of the dubiously sourced misinformation that has been circulating in recent days, Sony will NOT be funding the entire budget for the game nor will they subsidizing the development costs for YSNET. While Sony will provide various technical investments in conjunction with marketing and promotional support, this project will remain firmly in the directorial hands of Yu Suzuki and his staff. While it is true that there are a number of backers for Shenmue 3, we at this time do not know the scope of how these other entities are involved with the project. All that we can establish for now is that we as a community are in fact the primary patrons for the development of the game and that the responsibility of making Shenmue 3 the strongest game it can be ultimately resides with us.

Over the next few weeks leading up to the conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign, we will be introducing two specific social-media based initiatives to promote the backing of the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter and the series as a whole. The first initiative, #30onthe3rd , is a continuation of our monthly tweetathon #SaveShenmue but with a twist. On 7/3/2015, we encourage everyone to who is able to increase their pledge amount by $30 and post a corresponding tweet as a sign of solidarity within the community. The 2nd initiative, #10MillionToShenmue3 , is a hashtag campaign to be disseminated across all social media platforms to highlight the need for additional funding for Shenmue 3 in order have it be the project that Yu Suzuki has dreamed of creating. In a recent interview, Suzuki-san stated that at a $10 million funding level Shenmue 3 would feature a truly open world that would follow in the lineage of the previous installments.

The time has finally come for us in the Shenmue community to support the series that has given us so much over years. We are now in a position where we can directly impact and influence the creation of Shenmue 3 and give Suzuki-san our direct input While the task at hand may seem daunting, if we come together and collaborate our efforts we will attain the game that we have wanted and deserved for so long. Thank you all very much for your support and we would not be in the position we are in now if it was not for your perseverance and dedication for the series against all odds. We have truly made it.

Keep friends,

The Shenmue Dojo Staff

We all know that Shenmue is rife with mini-games, but my favourite (yes even more so than lucky hit or betting) is without a doubt the Arm wrestling! But, don't ask me if I'm any good at it 8)

So, how far were you able to get? Some of those guys are just brutal, especially the area with the long line up of wrestlers. I even struggle at the very first wrestler you come across in the Worker's Pier. I can manage $40 but my fingers feel like they are about to snap off :P :oops: The $50 bet makes me feel like I'm going to have heart palpitations :-&

I think because, for me anyway, it's the toughest of the mini-games it makes it more addictive. That rush of adrenaline you get during the harder tiers is something that has endured all these years.

I hope it makes a return to Shenmue 3 \:D/

Original Post
If a mod or news poster could feature this video on the homepage, it would really help!

The current Kickstarter video for Shenmue III is quite bad. It doesn't outline the achievements of Shenmue or have any real Shenmue feel to it. It only appeals to a a very small audience and does very little to attract new people to the franchise. That is why me and some other members of the Dojo have collaborated and put our ideas together to create what we believe the Kickstarter video should have been.

Here is the most popular version with no dub (and a slightly different logo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzJcBqS1fDY
Some really awesome people on YouTube have made subtitles in Dutch, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish too! You can find them if desired by enabling the closed captions.

There is also a dubbed version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWgDKkwR6SI
(Thanks to Raunchy for the voiceover!)
Please share this around. Tweet it out to people, embed it in forums, reupload it to your own Youtube if you like - you don't need to credit me. This video clears up misconceptions about the Kickstarter (eg where the funding comes from), advertises the stretch goals and markets Shenmue to new audiences. It could be VERY beneficial to the campaign.

Some people in the production thread even suggested trying to get it seen by Yu Suzuki in the hope he will replace the current Kickstarter video with this one. It's a very long shot, but it's worth a try. Shenmue III recently got an official Twitter if people would like to tweet it to them. https://twitter.com/Shenmue_3

We can make a difference if we advertise this campaign properly. This, combined with $30 on the 3rd could just be our ticket to 10mil. Please help in spreading the word by showing this to people who are misinformed, unconvinced, or might be interested in getting into Shenmue. Let's do this!

"The fate of Shenmue is in your hands now"

Thank you!
My alternative Kickstarter has now been featured on the Kickstarter project under the "What's Shenmue" heading! Yu Suzuki saw my video and wanted to use it and as a result I have been working with Awesome Japan to create a version that SEGA deem acceptable which has now been completed.
Take a look here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=178&v=eoAII3iHXOM

These were all tweeted between 9 and 4 hours ago 8)

リワードの追加ですが、ただいま準備中、 少々お待ちを！#saveshenmue
"Additional rewards are currently under preparation, a little wait! #saveshenmue"

"ストレッチゴール近日公開！"
"Stretch goal coming soon!"

S3イメージ 涼&シェンファ@白鹿村
"S3 image cool & Sheng FA @ pengzhou village"

http://i.imgur.com/8WEpHaM.png

Pretty awesome if you ask me. I think it's on a few more boards too.

oh hi

thanks, I really wanted a screen grab of it !

I have paid for another 200k adserves for the duration of the campaign on /vg /vr and /jp

the stats for this separate campaign so far

Code: Select all

41,904 Impressions    153 Clicks    0.37% CTR

We've seriously been begging for Shenmue 3 for 14-years and now that we are finally getting the game for sure at this point, I cannot believe that people are seriously complaining!

I am not even talking about the management of the KS page or the campaign in general, but people being like "oh, yeah I want Shenmue 3, but won't support it unless they announce a physical PS4 version." Or, "this game will suck if we don't reach 10-million!"

I have way more faith in Suzuki San than to think he'd only ask for 2-million just so he could give us a crap game just to finally shut us up. Apparently some people in the community think this is what he is doing :roll:

I know this is a fraction of the overall community, but it just blows my mind that some people are really complaining at this point. We are getting the game! Be happy! God damn! ](*,)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3/posts/1273833

There have been many questions concerning Shenmue 3’s budget and what outside sources will be added to the money collected through Kickstarter. I apologize for not having been more forthright in this area and would like to take this opportunity to help clarify the situation.

Ys Net and I have been putting in many long years trying to find a way to bring back a sequel that so many fans have waited so long for. After learning of Kickstarter, I knew it would be possible to get Shenmue 3 started. Wanting to make the best game possible, I also knew that I would have to look to more traditional means to obtain all the funds that would be needed to create the game I had envisioned.

Sony and Shibuya Productions have been wonderful partners because they believe in Shenmue and want to see the best for the fans and the game. Their investment in (and support of) Shenmue have helped to realize a sequel that will stand proud with its predecessors. While it is not business practice to discuss the specific details of such arrangements, I can say that with their assistance on the production and marketing end, and in Sony’s case with some publishing support as well, Ys Net is able to use more of the money we collect through Kickstarter purely for Shenmue 3’s development. It is also important to note that your funds are going strictly to Ys Net for development of Shenmue 3 – Sony and Shibuya Productions are not seeing a cent of your Kickstarter dollars.

The outpouring of support from all of you, the backers, has been so inspirational. I cannot thank you enough. Having reached our funding goal, I am excited to say that the Shenmue story will go on, and our journey with Ryo and Shenhua will continue. Fans will be able to enjoy the sequel they have waited so long for, and newcomers to the series will be introduced to a unique gaming experience.

Of course, like with any Kickstarter, additional funding will only help us make a better game. On top of everything Shenmue 3 will already bring, the Stretch Goals that I have laid out will add extra quests, events, and new gameplay systems that will make the game even more immersive and take the series to the next level. At the $5 million mark, there will be an all new gameplay feature I would be excited to be able to add to the Shenmue legacy. If we should make the $10 million Stretch Goal, a much larger, completely open world will be yours to explore.

Even if these Stretch Goals are not reached, Shenmue 3 will already be a sequel true to its name, and one we can all be proud of. It is my hope though, that together we can make this Shenmue just as revolutionary as the first two were.

I understand this statement may by late in coming. Going forward, we wish to be as open as possible concerning the game’s development. I would like to again ask for your cooperation and support in helping make Shenmue 3 the best that it can be.

Sincerely, Yu Suzuki

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/036/218/c7ba6548e283e00f70eb46302562a5b6_original.png?v=1435149812&w=639&fit=max&auto=format&lossless=true&s=5013791507492c7e4d4ae08881bd63cf

Sounds like the clarification many have been asking for since the Kickstarter opened and all of the other funding sources started talking. Maybe this will shut up some of the negative press. What do you think?

Update #13 from Shenmue 3
Jun 24 2015
Shenmue 3 Funding and Budget Statement

There have been many questions concerning Shenmue 3’s budget and what outside sources will be added to the money collected through Kickstarter. I apologize for not having been more forthright in this area and would like to take this opportunity to help clarify the situation.

Ys Net and I have been putting in many long years trying to find a way to bring back a sequel that so many fans have waited so long for. After learning of Kickstarter, I knew it would be possible to get Shenmue 3 started. Wanting to make the best game possible, I also knew that I would have to look to more traditional means to obtain all the funds that would be needed to create the game I had envisioned.

Sony and Shibuya Productions have been wonderful partners because they believe in Shenmue and want to see the best for the fans and the game. Their investment in (and support of) Shenmue have helped to realize a sequel that will stand proud with its predecessors. While it is not business practice to discuss the specific details of such arrangements, I can say that with their assistance on the production and marketing end, and in Sony’s case with some publishing support as well, Ys Net is able to use more of the money we collect through Kickstarter purely for Shenmue 3’s development. It is also important to note that your funds are going strictly to Ys Net for development of Shenmue 3 – Sony and Shibuya Productions are not seeing a cent of your Kickstarter dollars.

The outpouring of support from all of you, the backers, has been so inspirational. I cannot thank you enough. Having reached our funding goal, I am excited to say that the Shenmue story will go on, and our journey with Ryo and Shenhua will continue. Fans will be able to enjoy the sequel they have waited so long for, and newcomers to the series will be introduced to a unique gaming experience.

Of course, like with any Kickstarter, additional funding will only help us make a better game. On top of everything Shenmue 3 will already bring, the Stretch Goals that I have laid out will add extra quests, events, and new gameplay systems that will make the game even more immersive and take the series to the next level. At the $5 million mark, there will be an all new gameplay feature I would be excited to be able to add to the Shenmue legacy. If we should make the $10 million Stretch Goal, a much larger, completely open world will be yours to explore.

Even if these Stretch Goals are not reached, Shenmue 3 will already be a sequel true to its name, and one we can all be proud of. It is my hope though, that together we can make this Shenmue just as revolutionary as the first two were.

I understand this statement may by late in coming. Going forward, we wish to be as open as possible concerning the game’s development. I would like to again ask for your cooperation and support in helping make Shenmue 3 the best that it can be.

Sincerely, Yu Suzuki

https://www.kickstarter.com/activity?ref=nav

http://i.imgur.com/hCsNPsI.jpg

In a new Kickstarter update post, it was revealed that Yu Suzuki will go live on Twitch on Friday to talk about Shenmue, although a link to the Twitch stream wasn't posted yet, the team revealed the time it will go live, and that would be Friday, June 26 at 7:00PM PDT (Saturday, June 27 2:00AM GMT).

Links: Twitch Q&A Video | Fan Translation | Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Page

Each to their own, I think he is one of the better senior managers in the industry... definitely a gamer as well - he gained a lot of my respect while running SEGA at the end (unlike some of their current management).

Being European I got Shenmue 2 (and it is better with subtitles), plus it allowed Shenmue 2 to expand it's audience on a new console. If it hadnt been re-released it would have been one of the last games on a dead system and would have been mostly ignored (or atleast more so). There was no guaranty that Sega would have released it on the xbox, PS2, Gamecube without his involvement.... We can't have our cake and eat it..