The Famitsu screens are a vast improvement over the garbage stock models they had in place during the E3 reveal. They’re definitely on the right track, IMO.
(Granted, they could’ve simply lifted Kid Nocon’s awesome model, had they opted for simplicity.)

That aside, does anyone else get the impression they’re trying to make Ryo look younger?
(ie closer to looking like a 17 year-old)

He does look younger. I mean, he is supposed to be a kid. Problem is that the established design and voice acting gives him a maturity that exceeds his years.

I dunno. He seems like an 18 year old to me. Have you ever seen highly athletic 18 year olds? Ryo fits them to a tee.

Oh my god! They're really doing it! I love how we have new info on the development status. Final phase?!

It's a fact that there are a lot of wrong things in the temple screen. Random generated mountains, no bump mapping, ugly 2D vegetation, low res texture. Even the lightning is pretty generic, like if a student played with the saturation sliders of UE4.


This feels overly critical and hyperbolic to me especially for a game that just left pre-production.

It's a fact that there are a lot of wrong things in the temple screen. Random generated mountains, no bump mapping, ugly 2D vegetation, low res texture. Even the lightning is pretty generic, like if a student played with the saturation sliders of UE4.


This feels overly critical and hyperbolic to me especially for a game that just left pre-production.

You guys should listen to the post above. This is coming from Himuro after all, who has been over critical on the project so far. ;-)


Hey, give me a break. :( I've only been critical after the psx no show.

Yes, Lost Soul is a game made by one guy and is clearly ways into production development. Shenmue III isn't and just finished pre-production.

If you understand the basics of how production works you wouldn't compare a game made by one guy which has already had a gameplay trailer with a game that's just starting production.

Pre-prod is not an excuse for me. Plenty of WIP one-student UE4 projects are looking as good, if not better than this.


Post them then.

I don't remember their names although I could mention Zelda remake or Lost Soul but I'm not sure of these ones. One of my friends is an amateur developer and I can confirm from what he has achieved, that UE4 is indeed an easy tool. So looking screens with such poor technical level has definitely something wrong.

You realize you're comparing Lost Soul, a game with actual gameplay footage, to Shenmue III, a game that just left pre-production, is just now starting mocap, and actual development right?

Do you realize how dumb this is? They haven't even started on the gameplay yet. But you're comparing this to a game that is much, much further in development.

Why?

You say pre-production isn't an excuse but do you know what pre-production even is? It's before production has started. Making these criticisms a few months before release would make sense. But right when they've started production?

I think this looks great. I feel alone but it complete fixes all of my complaints from last week and I'm liking the direction they're taking the game.

I just don't get the complaints. The art in the first pic is stunning.

The battle area shows the most potential.

The last pic has that every day Shenmue feel.

All these pics represent the core three pillars of Shenmue: exploration/immersion, battle, and every day part of life mixed in a bottle. These pics feel very Shenmue to me. Yokosuka complains about bump mapping, but I'm sorry, that screen is highly atmospheric. Imagine being in that city at night with music playing.

I don't get it.

Also, for the amount of bitching I made last week, at least it made sense. I didn't like the quiet from the developer on the status of the game. As soon as they dropped the silence and gave us an update on the development status I was satisfied. But Rikitatsu and Yokosuka are worried about some rumor or something some unknown source and lack of bump mapping. I feel like if you're gonna bitch at least bitch about something reasonable.

I had to take some time off the past week because of the negativity that goes on around here, from a few members in particular. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Yesterday we got an awesome update, ok there was a bit of photoshop business going on, but big deal. We got new images, we learned this man is living day and night in the office to make sure we have the best Shenmue 3 possible, and finally that for a change, Awesome Japan are on the ball with lining up surveys for the organisation of rewards in around 6-7 months time! How awesome is that!

Now I've just read through 14 pages of general optimism, and rightfully so, except for Yokosuka and Rikitatsu. Literally, just constant whining and picking the tiniest if holes with no substantial proof of what's going on in YSNET. Now all of a sudden, there's a mystery "source" which was private but now Yokosuka is also aware of (coincidence no?).

Either way, I don't care, but here's the bottom line right now: we value every member that comes here, and encourage all opinions for the series. But for the past year at least, I've had to sit and read various criticisms and put downs of the team and the game, constant negativity at almost EVERYTHING they do. It's due to this that I've had contact from various members throughout the community, old members from here as well as people who haven't signed up yet but refuse to because of the negativity that's spread here, and that's where I am drawing the line. I'm not having this place become a comfort zone for your negativity. So, in plain English, if you want to micro analyse this series with a raincloud over your heads, take yourself somewhere else and do it. Register http://www.negativeshenmuefans.com and moan about life there. See that sign above the door? It says Shenmue Dojo, a place for FANS of the series to chat and immerse themselves in the greatness that the series is. You don't post here daily, spurting negativity with zero balance to the positives of the series, and I've barely seen it, if anything over the past year.

Enough is enough, so from here on out, that's the end of it. If you don't like it, there's the door over there. Don't let it hit you on the way out.

Let it be known, that outside of the initial KS and Awesome Japan, I have been consistently positive about this game and this project. I have tried to help this game in my own way. Last week was an off week for me. I've never really been the type to throw Shenmue under the bus. It's my favorite game series of all time and I'm so happy this entire thing is happening.

But people are talking about not posting because of this? I hope that's not true.

I hope that anyone reading who doesn't want to post because of me knows that I'm sorry. I love Shenmue and have contributed in my own way towards getting people outside of Shenmue fans to appreciate it and at least understand it. You're free to come to the Dojo and register and post. What I did last week was not excusable, and I definitely acted like a sore ass, so I don't blame you for not wanting to post, but for the most part we're positive and while I know I contributed to such a toxic environment, it was in no way my intention.

We need to push for another AMA after the first trailer comes out.

The improvement over the course of those images is incredible.

Chances of this happening from 1-10 is a 5.

Marching along into 2017...

NEXT MAJOR UPDATE CONFIRMED FOR MARCH

SNOW SHOVELING MINI-GAME IN SHENMUE III CONFIRMED.

Anonymous81 wrote: Wait... there was also a rumored Skies of Arcadia HD!?

Don't do that to me! You don't understand! Lol. I want that ALMOST as much as Shenmue 3!

They were working on it/it was in the pipeline but was dropped due to DC hd ports bombing.

Feel like I'm surrounded by a who's who of Shenmue fans. I need to step it up so I can be a who too!

I'm having difficulty locating the interview on my phone (I have a feeling it may have been 1UP.com's "Disappearance of Yu Suzuki" series), but Yu told the story of meeting one or both of the Houser brothers and being thanked (or at least credited/acknowledged) for Shenmue paving the way for games like theirs.


Here buddy.

http://www.1up.com/features/disappearance-suzuki-part-2

But 1up seems dead. :(

What are you hoping for? What are you expecting? This is Shenmue's year! What do you want to see?

Happy New Year, Dojo!

Joel, I better be able to talk to your NPC in III.

Excited! EXCITE! EXCITE! EXCITE!

This includes me. I used to be brimming with positivity and loved games. But it feels like game discussions these days is nothing but a series of complaining endlessly and never being able to appreciate things. Maybe it has always been like that and the problem is magnified even more during these modern times but I've been using gaming forums since 1999 and I don't recall game players ever being so negative CONSTANTLY. Why is this mindset imposed on so many people including many at the Dojo? It feels like nothing satisfies people in this hobby now. What happened?

Really glad you're okay and really good advice. What game had you so enthused that you didn't get up?

Looking back, at all the people I've hurt and my attitude. Since the election I've taken a hard look at my behavior and how it effects others. I've come to realize I'm a bad person. I'm writing a list of every thing I've done to harm someone and I feel like apologizing to them. I want to get better, but each new day is so hard. I used to tell myself I was a decent person but more and more I realize how much I have taken for granted. Especially my family and friends. You know that phrase,"it's not them, it's you?" I've come to the realization that it really is me. Anyone else feel that way? Now I know why Abrahamic religion is so popular.

Found this Quora discussion and I really identify with the OP.

https://www.quora.com/I-have-realized-that-I-am-a-bad-person-What-can-I-do-about-it

I WON!!!!

Seriously though, all of them are deserved (except one but I'll expound later in the post).

I was a real asshole in 2016. And I've been a big asshole before that, too. I've been disrespectful, opinionated, mouthy. I thought only my opinion mattered. I was completely up my ass and I'm sorry for it, I truly am. I'm trying to get better. In the end, I'm this way online because I'm truly not happy in my life and need a place where I feel important. I'm trying to change and you all are such troopers for managing to deal with me this long.

How can I be biggest bully AND biggest punching bag though? Surely those are contradictions? :P you guys may have thought I was a punching bag, but my mouthing off shows otherwise and I spared no quarter of my endless mewling. I was a bully, but I was no punching bag.

Thief, good Reddit thread on how I feel.

https://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/com ... ou_behind/

[color="orange"]Part of me kind of hates the attention though; I've seen videos now of reviewers and gaming press folks lavishing it with praise and having dorky fun with karaoke and whatnot, laughing and having a good time... when, I swear to god, these are the same kinds of people who turned their noses up at that kind of stuff in earlier games. The same kinds of people who scoffed at earlier games for having "stiff animations," groaned because the side-stories aren't fully-voiced, or who flipped the first two games the bird just because of fixed camera angles during exploration. The same kinds of people who always point the finger and criticize series like this for being yearly, for only making incremental changes from game to game.
Now all these people are saying "Great game, we should all play it!" when I already know and fully expect it to basically be more of the same. With some incremental changes.
Not that it'll diminish my enjoyment of it, it's just irritating to see such a vast amount of hypocrites in the gaming/online press.[/color]

I feel similarly. I've been there since Yakuza 1 and all this hype for 0 makes me happy for the series but at the same time, I'm really bitter. If any of you posted on Neogaf when the first game came out, you'd know that I made the OT for both the first and second games there and hyped them as much as I could. Yakuza 1 bombed spectacularly and we had to wait years for Yakuza 2 because the first game bombed. And now all of these people who turned their noses at the series this entire time are interested? I dunno. I know I should be really happy for the series, and I really am, but I can't help but feel bitter about it.

I mean, look at this shit.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117662

Gamespot gave it a 7.4

I really tried to do my part and help the series. My posts were deleted but you can see the quoted posts. Love the shout out Irish Ninja gave me in the Yakuza 0 OT. :P

This will be my first Kazuma Kiryu Simulator since 4. Looking forward to it.

Fuku. The goal of the game is to get him laid.

Adam Koralik.

I think most youtubers of note will get it because a lot of them might have backed it.

All they had to do was do it REmake style. Follow the original game plan and make it better with newer features (job system, new materia features, new story sections, rearrange some of the game to make the game feels fresh for old players, add new content that wasn't in the original, FFX-2 esque ATB battle system). This would have taken two to three years to make.

Instead they have to remake a 1997 game for "modern audiences" with an entirely new battle system, a third person perspective and no pre rendered bgs. Which is clearly more work.

Remaking a game shouldn't have all this vision and stuff put into it. Just take the original and make it better. REMake is the template for game remakes because it's the highest standard for a remade game.

Instead, they pull a Versus XV on it.

Nomura honestly shouldn't be allowed to direct another FF after this.

Is World War 3 such a bad thing though?

Considering 70 million people died in WW2, I'm not sure how you could possibly ask this with a straight face.

Well like I said, I am from the UK so it doesn't affect me, but I definitely don't agree with all of his stuff. Society being more "free" (abortions, gay marriage, better medicare, etc.) under Hilary would definitely have been something I'd have taken notice of and been in favour of. But as before, that doesn't affect me, and wars do.


I'm not entirely quite convinced it doesn't affect you, especially in light of Brexit and Le Pen. If the USA rolls back on those things, while the type of rhetoric is being popularized, those things could also come to Europe.

Fair enough regarding the other points. I voted for Stein in 2012. The problem with Stein is that she believes in conspiracy theories. She thinks wi-fi gives people cancer and that vaccinations causes autism.

Fucking phones and auto correct.

http://i.imgur.com/DV62vIc.gif

Yeah it looks underwhelming to me so far because it looks too familiar? It doesn't help that Psychonauts HQ is right by the camp, so naturally it'll have a similar environment. My hope is that you'll be able to control multiple characters in this one to spice things up. Playing as Milla Vodello who was always a favorite would be awesome.

Betsy DeVos. Whyyyyy.

Keeping expectations low but interested in what happens.

^^I've actually just gotten the urge recently to finally tackle the Valkyrie Profile series. Played a few hours of the first a ways back (enough to have an affection for it), but never finished of course.
There's just the roadblock of so much amazing shit coming out at the moment that I can't really start in on it. But I've got that urge. Good to hear the second game is something great, as I've literally looked up nothing about it previously.

I'm a complete stan for Valkyrie Profile series.

The first one has a better story but the sequel has by far better gameplay. I think VP2 is the better game while VP1 is the better experience. IMO, VP2 is the best RPG of the ps2 generation as well as being the most underrated. People talk about Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter more than VP2 even. Ten years later, barely anyone mentions it because it didn't meet peoples expectations from the first one (again, great story). The story and characters aren't as good but boy oh boy, that sweet, sweet gameplay.

Depending on what you want out of rpgs (for me it's mostly gameplay) VP2 is a top-tier game. For me it's one of the top 5 best RPGs I've ever played.

Here's a sample of the battle system. My favorite RPG battle system of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pdNw8tb2tc

And here's the first boss fight that really puts the battle system to its full potential. Amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQj3cBF3L4

This is without mentioning the amazing dungeon design.

I would kill for VP2 HD.

EA please make SSX Tricky/SSX3 HD.

GameStop is falling victim to the same forces that allowed them to swallow up and kill every game shop. I don't feel sorry for the company because fuck em. I feel sorry for the workers tied to that company and gymnastics they'll have to do in order to eat. But GameStop as a company, kind of deserves it.

Holy moly too many!

Shenmue 1/2, Valkyrie Profile 1/2, SSX Tricky and 3, Killer 7! Those make the top!

In terms of full remakes, Suikoden I-V.

Apparently Rodger Swan was a youtuber who loved Shenmue. The dedication is really heart warming. :(

Verticality and a means of transportation.

Broken clocks, Spags.

Preparing to do this



but...YOLO. Get hype.

^^Can't help with the first game, but they do have Ape Escape 2 for PS4 on the Playstation store, which means it is upscaled to an extent. Not quite a full remaster, but it looks better than the PS2 version all the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAfDB6A4c6o

I've never played an Ape Escape game (outside of a short demo many, many years ago) but I've been tempted by this.

Ape Escape games were some of my favorite 3d platformers. Highly suggested, full of love and charm. 3 is probably the best one.

Would kill for a Goemon collection. The SFC games that weren't released in English need to be available in other languages. 4 in particular is a classic.

Every time this thread is bumped.

http://i.imgur.com/FZ02C1Y.jpg

EA plz. :(

SSX 3 is my favorite sports games of all time and easily in my top 10 and Tricky is up there as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAl2a5YDQ0I

I swear to God.

EA.

http://i.imgur.com/lj3Aiiv.jpg?1

plz EA!

http://i.imgur.com/ZsrBsTb.gif

At least Shenmue HD is being talked about. SSX is d-e-a-d. :(

Also, Suikoden never stops hurting. My favorite rpg series.

http://i.imgur.com/bvweJ9W.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AAX2gw4.jpg

Konami, plz.

So, I made a thread a few months ago about how I feel like I'm a bad person.

I've been an atheist for nearly ten years now, and a lot has happened to make me realize the ethical poverty that is secularism. I'm not saying you need to be religious to be a good person or anything, but pretty much all the atheists I know (including me) are misanthropic and just not pleasant to be around. I've also been the type of atheist who believes the atheism absence philosophy is dire and hollow. The older I got, the more my anti-theism crumbled into a mockery of its former self and by the time I turned 30 I realized how important religion is to people's lives and its value to humanity.

For a long time, I have seeked truth. I've explored various religions and philosophies and nothing ever really stuck. But in the past few months or so I've been desperately missing the faith of my birth: Christianity. For a solid 19 years of my life Christianity was a big part of it and I missed it. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't leave the church because I had a bad experience.

So again, the past few months I've been working on righting my wrongs and trying to become a better person - someone that people would like to be around and is pleasant to talk to. I've been slowly undoing my negative outlook on life and started to open my heart again to the possibility of finding religion again.

Something happened the other day though. You could call it a coincidence but it felt too on the nose to be a coincidence, so after hours and hours of thinking I deduced that it was destiny. Ever since, I've been researching Christianity and trying to find intellectual rebuttals to my atheistic claims and questions. I'm starting to find that they don't really stand to scrutiny. I went to the church yesterday and talked to a priest. I prayed for God to place himself into my heart and that my heart was finally open for him again. I wasn't sure what I believed but I figured that it was worth a shot. If God doesn't exist, then I live my life as I did previously. But if God exists, then I could gain joy and spiritual fulfillment. In the end, it didn't matter and I had nothing to lose. I recall crying tears (joy? sadness?) while I prayed. It felt like something open a salve in my spiritual heart and love just pored through. Today I went to mass and cried twice. Once during a song and once during a prayer. I distinctly remember thinking that no philosophy that I've read could explain that feeling.

Right now I'm standing here not sure if I'm an atheist anymore and will be taking classes to become Catholic starting next month. I have so many questions about God/Jesus and I fully plan on having them answered sufficiently. I still have doubts, misgivings. But the doubts and misgivings don't outweigh the feeling I have when I pray in that chapel.