I think it's ok to be critical and that it's also ok to be extremely optimistic at this stage. Technophilz was just unintelligently attacking everything and acting like there was no way in hell the game would turn out ok.

I get it too. Blind fanboy-faith won't get anyone anywhere.

I may end lynched for what I'm going to say, but I don't agree on that. Not fully at least.

I personally think that, as the Shenmue fanbase, we should be a little bit fanboys.

There is more than enough people jumping on every single occasion to bash Shenmue or Yu Suzuki for many various reasons. There is more than enough people wanting Shenmue to fail for many various reasons.

I don't say we need to be blinded by our passion for the Shenmue Series but we need to be united and put things in perspective when a mere 53 seconds video update for Kickstarter backers is enough to see wagons of people use it to bash Shenmue 3 or insult Yu Suzuki's talent.

it's a crowdfunded project, we get to see steps of the development we usually never see. I can agree that the communication around the project is not good, but that doesn't mean that the game won't be good in the end.

What good can come out from joining the chorus of critics? What good can come out from telling to YsNet and Yu Suzuki that they are bad at making a game? That the artistic direction is wrong, the Ryo model is off, etc...?
They know what they are doing and are doing the best they can anyway.
Just think of the Deep Silver partnership: Suzuki San always knew he would need more budget to achieve what he has in mind for Shenmue 3 so he managed to increase the budget. For a man who never gave up on his dream to continue the Shenmue story, the least we can do is to keep our faith in him.

Until Shenmue 3 is released, the best attitude the Shenmue fan base can adopt is to be supportive of the development team efforts.

Now, let the lynching begin.

Nahovil wrote:People are fooling themselves too, if they believe this is "merely developmental", "that it's a WIP and there's still one whole year to go".

Um, that's entirely true though? Literally objectively true.

If you think the animation won't improve over a test, you're not just wrong, you're delusional.

Uh... 1, 2, and 4 are all basically derived from the same model, and have been retouched since they're all parts of promotional art.

Shouldn't the options be more like, I dunno... Dreamcast model, Passport model, Saturn model, Shenmue Online render, SIII prototype model, and SIII final model? Something like that?
Just a thought.

I wish that logo comes back...

Original logo looks better, but I can live with Yu Suzuki's new logo.

we all chip in to build an artificial island in international waters. This should lead to nearby countries trying to claim said island as a way to expand their maritime boundaries. At this point it should have garnered the attention of every international news outlet to which we reveal that we made the island in the form of Ryo's head to promote shenmue.

PM me your donations.

Doubt anyone with Bill Gates' kind of money is going to dump $50 million into a game that's of no interest or benefit to them. Would be nice in a different world.

I know. But, it's still possible and is also the best thing I could think of.

Hmm you also could think of becoming an overnight multi-millionaire yourself by ways of staking your entire house and savings on low odds gambling, winning the lottery and/or playing with derivatives on the stock market, and donating about $50 million of the winnings for the cause in the end. You can keep the rest, for you know, future or something. And not mentioning that Yu would be even more proud of your deed because you are a true fan, unlike Bill Gates. IT IS STILL POSSIBLE.

^ That's because this listing is for the retail product.

-If you want to help Shenmue 3, then pre-order a copy via the Slacker Backer
-If you want to fund Shenmue 4, then you need to buy the final (retail) product upon the game's release.

As Shenmue fans, we basically need to do both ;)

Bump, wondering if anyone heard any news about this.


They haven't made any additional announcements since the first one at E3. The only title they've announced at this point is Crimson Skies. I'm hyped about that so I've been impatiently waiting! As of now it's not even available in the Xbox Live Insider program. So it's starting to look like it'll be late fall before they roll it out.

I've been playing Shenmue II for about fourteen years, and I just noticed the poem in the Thousand White Church. I took a photo with my phone, here's the poem:

A happy new year
Today is fine
Gone with window
A happy new year
Today is fine
Gone with window
Refining the vegetables
Refining the vegetables


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

A lot of people seem to miss that you can just go there whenever you want. You can also go on the balcony through a door one floor higher. Not much to see there but still cool.

Another intesting fact about this area is that they censored the statue. In the Japanese version it's holding a baby, likely portraying Mary and Jesus.

Tweeting completed. I am now a Twit.

https://s1.postimg.cc/20592xf9dr/sshd-small.png

The monthly #SaveShenmueHD Tweetathon takes place all day Friday, inviting gamers to share the hashtag on Twitter requesting remasters of Shenmue 1 & 2.

Yu Suzuki and others involved in the making of Shenmue 3 have repeatedly expressed their desire for the saga's original chapters to be re-released in time for the new sequel, and have encouraged fans to make our feelings known to Sega.

So please join us by taking part on November 3rd (always the 3rd!), urging Sega to finally commit to restoring the first two games in this landmark series.

I'll tell you next week.

Probably not a cliffhanger, but it'll no doubt set up the next one.

Yes.

How could it NOT end on a cliffhanger? The story isn't going to be finished with 3, so no matter what they do there's going to be a cliffhanger. Even if Shenmue 2 had ended after disc 3, that's still a cliffhanger because you're waiting to go to Guilin.

The question is how long will it be until Shenmue 4 is released?

I doubt it will be as dramatic as Shenmue II. It would give us all nightmares of waiting endless years all over again.
Maybe a little bit more open than the end of Shenmue, wich was an ideal chapter closure.
I'd the way it's designed ultimately depends on how sure they are about making Shenmue IV and how to tackle the financing for that.

Well, the series cost them a lot of money and there wasn't really any proof that there was a huge demand for the series outside of hardcore fans before the Kickstarter.

I know but that was "before" the highly successful Kickstarter. After Shenmue became the highest funded Kickstarter game ever, shouldn't that have gave them more than enough of a reason to help it out? Even the teaser trailer has got more than 700K views so all of this should have shown Sega that Shenmue III is a big thing.

Can't help but to express my frustation. We are a few days away from what was the original Intended release date for this game when the Kickstarter ended and have yet to see a single glimpse of gameplay, in-detail scenario or even characters besides some random NPC.

My hype and overall expectations are reaching an all time low and I am beggining to forget about his game altogether.
Come on now. With the agile methodology, the game isn't fully polished until the final stages of development. They could show plenty now, but it would be rough and there would be plenty of placeholders, but dummies would take it for the final build. You can't exactly blame them for holding their cards close to their chest.

Nice new character! It seems that this team have worked in big projects as Uncharted 2 and Just cause 3 among others, good news!

Quite possibly the best update we could get, an expert team focused on character creation, and low cost too.

More and more Shenmue 3 is shaping up to be a "properly" developed game, instead of being limited because its funded mainly by KS.

Look at it this way, as character modeling has been outsourced to an experienced studio in India this paves the way for Suzuki and the Japan team to actually focus on other important aspects of the game. I have faith in this team especially seeing how they all communicate together on their work which shows good teamwork and trust into both teams. With only a year left unless we see a delay serious amount of work can be done with this time period. Many NPCs can be modeled and the most important ones Ryo and Shenhua can be completed with a showing near the games release. All gameplay elements might already be fantastic as Cedric has played a build of the game and reported on it. This is a win win situation, Deep Silver would help promote it and you got everything set up with all these studios helping out, it is amazing how YsNet have got more and more support as the game went on.

Probably most of the people talking crap about the models don't know a thing about Shenmue so you'd have to excuse them. They would just give an input that is laughable because the whole idea of the game being made under what is nowhere near the scale of the original games doesn't get into their heads, either that or they are delusional haters that for some reason want to see Shenmue fail and I've seen this by gaming journalists, they are already seeing negative and the game is nowhere near complete. That's people for you.

Yu Suzuki is working his damn hardest, I don't have any doubts with that legend and so is the team, Shenmue means a lot to him and his ideas for 3 are all inside his head, all he has to do is apply them, create and we get a good continuation of this series. Let the naysayers say what they want but this game is long overdue. Outsourcing is the best thing you could do as it allows more focus onto other elements seeing how this studio is helping with character production and to top it off that model looks completely fine. Not bad at all so the negative reception is just flatout inexcusable.

Anyone saying negative stuff towards this should seriously back off. They are working hard and the game is not supposed to be so technically impressive like other games. It is Shenmue 3, saying "these models look like plastic" or whatever just shows your ignorance to understand what the game even is and you are just hating. The game is definitely being improved and there is no proper gameplay shown yet which doesn't even matter. You have to realise that Shenmue 3 even existing is work of a miracle because this game finally came to fruition I won't let hating little delinquents ruin and bash all over this sequel that loads of us have been waiting for years.

People will judge without thinking about the situation the team is in. If it looks bad then fine that's your perception but what they can do is still impressive in the end of the day as they put all of this together using UE4. It's not supposed to look very impressive anyway even considering this isn't the final model or anything. With whatever I see it doesn't put me off or anything, I can deal with what they offer and it is no way a scam.

The eyes were the biggest issue with the previous models, this model has great eyes that actually look Asian...That's why it looks better than what they've shown before.

It's very Shenmue-esque.

This is great news. Their resume shows an extensive line of visually pleasing titles(Bloodborne, etc.)

And let's be honest--outside of the largest developers out there, outsourcing work has been going on for many years.

One of the latest examples was CyberConnect 2 for the FFVIIR, which didn't end well but that's beside the point. The point is it exists on even the largest of games and budgets.

And there was logically no way that Yu and team could be devoted to intricately crafting 200 NPCs or more with the expanded budget without help and STILL make the late 2018 release, which I'm still on the fence about.

Kingdom Come will hit next year after over four years in development and it began as a Kickstarter as well. I think 2019 may be most reasonable for a fully fleshed Shenmue III and I'm okay with that.

Also, from my crappy phone screen the temple looks like it says 堂札社千

Tangzha Community Temple? Thousand Tangzha Building? I dunno. Haha.
That actually should be read right to left: 千社札堂 (Qian she zha tang).
...
EDIT: OK, now that I've seen that higher-res pic (thanks!), I changed my mind and now think that is a 札, after all, like ShenmueTree said.
So, Scroll Hall of a Thousand Sacrifices.*

*I'm sure there's a more elegant way to translate it. English isn't my mother tongue.
Just to add to this, this word actually also exists in Japanese (as you mentioned it refers to the tags - for wont of a better word - with the names of worshippers that are put up in temples). So a more functional translation could simply be "Hall of Name Tags".
https://i.imgur.com/gswjhdZm.jpg
Of special interest is that getting your own name tag is part of the $800 reward tier. So if you have backed at that level you should be able to enter this building and find your own tag!
https://i.imgur.com/4lpZPIsm.png

Here's a link to my commentary post on this update at the Phantom River Stone blog:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2017/12/temple-maiden-model-lakshya-digital.html

Red_Ryo wrote: I still haven’t played Shenmue 2 and haven’t seen any spoilers so I’m not afraid about getting on the internet for when Shenmue 3 releases

Play the game before you get spoiled.

In the 70s. Same as every game that doesn't have a $100 million ad campaign behind it/the reviewer isn't personal friends with the developers. Take some points off for being Japanese too.
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/weirdalfoil_2322.jpg
Oh please. To deny that the gaming media isn't massively corrupt and in bed with certain publishers is wilful ignorance.
I would love for you to bring up any evidence you have, but I'm sure you don't have any. enjoy your tinfoil hat.
Off the top of my head:

Polygon accepts $750,000 from Microsoft before they even launch: http://rebrn.com/re/polygon-accepted-from-microsoft-to-create-a-promotional-document-367703/

Polygon writer gives positive coverage to developer he is not only friends with, but supports financially via Patreon: https://archive.is/kLRaf

Kotaku claim that anyone who complains about Call of Duty is "stupid", "idiots", "obnoxious elitists" and "assholes" whilst also running an extensive Call of Duty ad campaign on their site - https://archive.is/KntqD

Kotaku and Polygon both extensively defended Diablo III's always online DRM, going as far as to attack anyone who criticised it as "ignorant" whilst also running extensive ads for the game - https://imgur.com/Rka05H1

Journalist is flown to resort by Activision, later whilst other reviewers marked the latest Call of Duty down for poor AI, linear gameplay, and uneven pacing, he praised it as the “ultimate refinement of the franchise formula” and “the best Call of Duty ever.”

Ubisoft hands out free $200 Tablets to reviewers at Watch_Dogs event. Coincidentally it's critical score is almost double the user score on Metacritic - https://wolfsgamingblog.com/2014/04/15/ubisoft-handed-out-free-nexus-7-tablets-to-watch-dogs-preview-event-attendees/

Oh and remember when review copies of Dante's Inferno came with $200 in cash? There's something to be said for bluntness - https://www.engadget.com/2009/09/09/ea-marketers-send-joystiq-a-200-check-and-we-save-their-souls/

And let's not even get into the big ones like the Driv3r debacle. Or the Kane & Lynch controversy. Or DoritoGate.

The idea that games journalism isn't massively corrupt and incompetent is just insanity. All journalism is rotten, I've worked in 2 different fields of journalism, but games journalism is the worst of the worst. I cannot fathom why anyone would ever defend it (unless they're a games journalist).

https://s31.postimg.cc/sei91pfuz/psblog2017-logo.png

Shenmue III is nominated for "Most Anticipated PS4 Title" in the official PlayStation.Blog Game of the Year awards! To quickly cast your vote, visit this link and scroll down to the relevant category - you don't have to vote in each one.

It amazes me the attention to detail that they have put in everything, it oozes that 90's Sega feeling every game had. It's a handcrafted work.

Hi again everyone,

Our Shenmue film SHENMUE: YOKOSUKA BLUES is now online!

Vimeo:


YouTube:


Behind-the-Scenes video:


Thanks again so much for watching!

ShenmueTree wrote: People should accept that Shenmue HD is not happening.

Well, it won't ever happen if you have a negative attitude like this.

You're just now starting to feel silly about yourself? pheew
I’m a lot more confident about Shenmue HD happening right now, than I ever was about Shenmue 3 coning out before it was announced. Shenmue 3 happened and I’m pretty sure HD will happen too.

There’s a lot of evidence suggesting it will happen, again, far more evidence than we had for Shenmue 3.

All these long years I've hoped for a rerelease of Shenmue 1 and 2 just as much, if not more so, than getting Shenmue 3. Not being able to share this game with others has been so frustrating. I always felt like so many people would love Shenmue if only given a chance to play it. Regardless of how Shenmue 3 turns out, I'm just grateful these masterpieces will be immortalized and accessible for years to come without needing a dreamcast emulator.

Thank you to all the Shenmue fans who've relentlessly pestered Sega about this for so many years!

Can't believe it! Wish that they marked this new properly at E3 or something so other people could have live reactions ^-^
I'm getting it on PC, Xbox and PS4 just to support the game. I don't even have an Xbox

d3t. Now I know why the remaster has errors like wrong eye movement and aspect ratio. Somebody needs to reach out them and explain a few things they're doing improperly before the console versions are baked.

I'm pretty much done with your toxicity and constant negative attitude. This is your last..... Last warning. It's not 2012 anymore, and the toxic place this once was, isn't what it's like anymore. Not as long as I own it. Change the attitude or find another site to visit.

d3t. Now I know why the remaster has errors like wrong eye movement and aspect ratio. Somebody needs to reach out them and explain a few things they're doing improperly before the console versions are baked.

I'm pretty much done with your toxicity and constant negative attitude. This is your last..... Last warning. It's not 2012 anymore, and the toxic place this once was, isn't what it's like anymore. Not as long as I own it. Change the attitude or find another site to visit.
The aspect ratio and eye movement are WRONG. Does your hate blind you so much to deny objective facts noticed by others on this board the very first day the trailer was made public?

Have you read the line on the video? It's WIP. We cannot know if it's an error yet.