Well, I was never one of those people and never understood those who said such things. Shenmue 1 and 2 were masterpieces and I expect it to keep that way. I'd rather have nothing at all, than having a manga, a novel or a shitty game just to say they finished the story.
Obviously, it sometimes still feels like a dream that Shenmue 3 is a reality. I had lost all hope many years ago and, as a gamer, Shenmue 3's announcement was the best videogame news I've ever had in my life. So I am grateful for it. Now, does this mean that I should be happy about everything they show us? No, if it looks like shit, it looks like shit.
Again, I'll hold my judgement until I see a more final version of the game and that too in motion. I know this is just work in progress material, not to mention they just did a simple photoshop of the characters on top of the background, with no lighting, shadows, or anything. That's why I'm not too worried yet, because this is simply not enough to know how the game will actually look like and I'm still optimistic that it will look great, so don't get me wrong about that.
Having said that, this is what we have now and this thread is about these pics that they just released, so we are talking about what we think about these pics. And Ryo and Shenhua look like shit in that pic. At least to me, they do. Again, they're certainly an improvement over the KS pitch video (especially Ryo), but that's not saying much. They still have a very long way to go. And I find it odd that, after all this time, they still haven't managed to make a better-looking Ryo than some stuff already made by fans at their homes.
Anyway, in just a few days, we'll have a much better idea of what the game, and, namely, the characters, will actually look like (though that too will still be work in progress).
Well said. After all these years, the Shenmue saga deserves better than this.