As said in the other topic in which it was mentioned (and it does deserve to be front page, so glad to see it!) this should be read by anyone with a passing interest in Shenmue at all. And I will continue to share these links with everyone I can. Awesome retrospective. Brought back memories.

I agree. I'm not talking about resting on our crowdfunding laurels. I'm talking about the pervasive anger and disaffection that has taken root here and elsewhere despite things being better today than they were a year ago for Shenmue fans. People fearing that if we don't raise 10 or even 7 million we will see a Shenmue 3 that tarnishes the legacy of the series. (I actually feel a poorly conceived HD re-release of the first two games would do that more than Shenmue 3 ever could, personally, but I digress.)

I think it's safe to say everyone here and everyone in other Shenmue communities is doing everything they're financially, physically, and mentally able to do to raise awareness about this PayPal campaign. I doubt there's ever been a community of fans, collectively and individually, who have sacrificed more or expended more effort on trying to support a game series. And I agree it's not over yet.

But there's also going to be an upper limit on what we can achieve. No one knows what that limit is, but it's going to be hit (if it hasn't been already,) and all I'm saying is, if that limit is lower than we wish it was, we should still be thankful and happy with whatever we get and not feel embittered or like all is lost... especially when just a few months ago, all really was lost, and we were - to anyone's knowledge - never going to see this game happen in our lifetimes.

That's all I'm getting at.

Yeah, I sincerely doubt they are going to fork over pay, allow him intimate insight into the development process, and then publicize it, all just to stop him from releasing a (truly beautiful) fan project when they could have (or SEGA could have) simply issued a C&D, flagged his YT for copyright, and been done with it.

Could it maybe be a case of two birds one stone? Possibly. But it seems more likely they felt (given their limited budget and need to be selective with hires) the project would legitimately benefit from his presence. Which is awesome.

So much cynicism despite being a fanbase that literally achieved the impossible on a miraculous level. :/

Awesome interview DEVILLE David! Thank-you so much for securing it and sharing it with all of us! I've tweeted it and posted it in the Kickstarter comments!

I have said all I wish to or will say on the subject. Carry on.
Hey, you mind me asking you a question? It's completely fine if you don't, given that you have said all that you wanted on the subject but I'm just curious.

Do you feel Shenmue so far did have bad representation of the fairer sex? Personally I feel there's a good range in Shenmue. I mean the women are all different from each other. The only one that might possibly be a danger so far is Joy, but it's not impossible to imagine the daughter of a well to do business empire get involved with the wrong crowd. Everything about her, from her scant clothing to her over the top dyed hair, screams a desire to make an impression. I also think that some women are like that, not every one of course, but some may be. Teenagers especially can be.

What are your thoughts on Shenmue's depiction of women so far? (It's hard to talk about this new ChiYouMen leader since we haven't really seen her yet properly) But only if you don't mind me asking, of course.

Also, every time I see your avatar I want to play Skies of Arcadia again.

I don't personally mind the depiction at all. But then, I'm male, and not really the one who would be impacted by the depiction. Even among women, not everyone will mind it either. But for those who do, I advocate their right to voice concerns about it - just as I advocate Yu's right to depict his characters however he wants - I actually feel Shenmue has some decent to good depictions of women personally. But I think a lot of women would like to see characteristics other than simply "strong and beautiful" in video games.

Someone (can't remember who) once said something (poorly paraphrasing from memory) along the lines of, "Batman gets to be strong, handsome, scarred, dark, conflicted, a brilliant detective, intelligent, haunted, and arguably psychotic. But somehow just being 'strong' is considered enough when it comes to most female characters." I may not personally feel that way about Shenmue or other games, but I can totally understand some women feeling that way.

The reason I don't want to talk about it further though, is because I've been through it many times and been called a "white knight" or a "social justice warrior" for my trouble. So while that may or may not happen here, I just don't have the emotional or mental energy to engage with the topic and really discuss it frankly. Online debates never result in anyone changing their views anyway (not that I want to change anyone's views) and it's such a controversial issue that my social anxiety and depression don't really allow me to brave the storm of discussion for long before I feel overwhelmed and sad, so I just don't usually.

So with that said, I will bow out of the discussion again.

P.S. I play SOA at least once every couple of years on Gamecube. :) Wish they'd release it again, in any form.

Hey, if nothing else, it will have paid for a lot of meals, tea, fanta, and coffee to keep the team working.

Exactly. And let us never forget, it's damn near miraculous as much as has been raised has been at all.

Quantic Dream are the developer of Omikron: The Nomad Soul (a game I loved back on Dreamcast,) Indigo Prophecy (known as Fahrenheit outside the U.S.,) and Heavy Rain. :) They make very unique interactive experiences which are sort of Shenmue-ish only in the sense that you either love them or hate them lol.

I made this to help promote the final weeks, as well as the monthly #SaveShenmueHD campaign. Best I could do. I'm going to be more scarce on this forum but wanted to leave this here at least. I know there are many better, but I try lol. If you think it's useful, feel free to spread it around especially on the 3rd of the month.

https://youtu.be/Gkgc7Oce59I

Just popping in to say:

That looks incredibly advanced for four months of dev time, and it seems like the legendary Yu Suzuki development pipeline efficiency and detail stickling is hard at work with this game lol. It ALREADY has a feel, an atmosphere, and a "smell" as he might put it. And this is with over two years of dev time remaining.

Yeah. He may surprise everyone despite the limited budget...

Had to pop in just to say:

It boggles my mind how evocative those locations are - still! - of the game. If you quint your eyes, a few of them could easily pass for screenshots! The sheer reality of the game, to this day, is just unparalleled if you ask me. At least outside of literal simulation projects that seek to recreate, say, real world race tracks complete with graffiti and the like. What they achieved, when they achieved it... remarkable. Still flabbergasting all these years later.

Great photos, too! Nokon Kid has a beautiful eye.

That is all. :P Oh and, if you celebrate it, happy Thanksgiving. ^_^

Ali being there is a good sign. But I'm a little crushed there was no mention of Shenmue whatsoever in the keynote. The keynote is likely to be the most watched portion of the event, and a mention to spur on the PayPal at least would have been wonderful.

Especially given how casual the keynote presentation was. They were cursing, saying off the cuff random stuff to be funny, etc. Very relaxed atmosphere. In that, someone - anyone - couldn't have said, "Back Shenmue 3!" or something? Anything. Sony has been totally silent since E3, and it's worrisome.

Le sigh.

Evidently this individual lost everything they had, and still managed to acquire a Sega Dreamcast. They are an avowed Shenmue fan.

Give this person the award for Greatest Shenmue Fan On The Planet!

https://www.facebook.com/tuan.hollaback ... 8766624109

That is all.

Basically it comes down to human nature and psychology.

Take the new Star Wars movie. One contrarian person called Rey a "Mary Sue," and now everyone (mostly people who had never heard that term before and don't even fully understand its context, since they seem to think it simply means "overpowered," which it doesn't) is parroting it in an effort to appear aligned with the hip, contrary, against the grain opinion of someone they perceive as vaguely intelligent and therefore desirable as someone to emulate so that they themselves may also appear vaguely intelligent/hip/non-mainstream, etc.

And it doesn't matter if you feel Rey is sort of a Mary Sue character - that's not my point. My point is that many people will tend to, in an almost Nietzschen "will to power" sort of way, unconsciously be attracted to the aggressor and to immitate them. Especially when the target of the aggressor is something unabashedly positive, uplifting, or "feel good," which many people see as weakness. People's unconcious desire to "not be taken in" coupled with the desire to appear "above it all" and intelligent, kicks in and overrides their empathy, ability to think in nuanced, proportional terms, and so they just knee-jerk.

If something is an underdog and seemingly unlikely to ever happen - e.g. the resurgence of the space combat and trading sim in Star Citizen - then they clamor for it and support it. No matter how much money it makes. They exalt it as a success story. But when something is perceived to be somehow insulated or guaranteed to succeed (which, ironically, Shenmue 3 isn't and wasn't - if anything, it's the biggest big name crowdfunding underdog there is in a sense) because, say, a company like Sony introduces it at E3 and everyone erroneously assumes that means it has corporate backing in every imaginable sense... then they want to tear it down and look for conspiracy theories because their ego demands they avoid being suckered or appearing gullible.

It's ridiculous of course, makes zero sense, and is completely irrational. But welcome to human nature, sadly. A huge proportion of everything human beings do is unconscious, instinctual, and unwitting. We just... do stuff. Without thinking, without considering, without sensitivity or insight. We just react. Then we invest in the reaction, and become entrenched and egoic about it, and thus defensive of that position, such that no one can admit they were wrong and CHANGE anything. That's just how it works.

Things like Shenmue 3 finally happening, people overcoming the odds, miraculous things that we never thought would happen... those are the bright spots that make life in a world such as that bearable and at times, magical.

End ramble. Don't mind me, I'm sick and delirious.

There are still rewards for PayPal backers. They are just different than the "exclusives" offered to KS backers.

Do I agree with that? No. I wish they had interpreted the poll as yes + indifferent = majority vs no = minority, rather than yes vs no being such a slim margin they went with no, while ignoring the indifferent votes. Precisely because I know there will be people like yourself who will not back the game on PayPal now. And I want the game to get every last cent it can. That, for me, is the beginning, middle, and end of this process. Money. Funding. As much as humanly possible. From wherever they can get it. That's all I care about as far as any of these machinations go: what will net them the most funding. And clearly there are people like yourself whose money they will now miss out on.

Sure it can be argued that if they alienated those who voted "no," they might lose all that funding somehow too (even though I would assume the KS funds have by now already been withdrawn, so that should be moot.) But ultimately I feel this hurts the campaign, if only marginally.

Myself? I couldn't care less about rewards. Which makes me disagree both with those who voted "no," AND with those like yourself who will witholds backing over this. I would happily give up all the rewards in the tiers I pledged at if it would help the game. I just want the thing to get as much money as humanly possible and be the greatest possible Shenmue experience it can be. Full stop.

So, I respect your choice. But I would humbly ask that you reconsider. If not... so be it. Nothing more to be said in that case.

Take care. I hope the game ends up being something you can love upon release.

1 - My first and foremost desire for any Shenmue game - that wonderful sense of granular, intimate detail and verisimilitude.

2 - Slow paced, thoughtful gameplay and world discovery.

3 - Irrespective of how brief the actual narrative is, enough enjoyable and engrossing diversions, time sinks, and activities to make my time in this world feel worth it.

4 - Jobs

5 - Day night cycles and opening/closing businesses.

If they can nail all of that, everything else will just be gravy for me. Also I hate to say it and hope I don't offend, but as someone who's actually on the autistic spectrum, since this is something I keep seeing A LOT online these days, can we maybe try to refrain from using "autistic" as a general descriptor for anything we consider "derpy?" As a personal favor if nothing else? Much thanks.

Just saw that flyby footage. You know, this one. https://youtu.be/mY3goVYBrOA

Annnnd... I'm dead. The progress made in such a short period is unreal, and the feels are already there. It's really happening. It's really, actually happening.

I hope when the time comes, the media doesn't go into a total blitz about the trial's quality/polish as indication for the final product to bad mouth it like with mighty no. 9, but knowing the media... :-(

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

They will. We all know they will. We should all be prepared to defend the game - yet again - when that happens. Because the gaming press is subservient to its readers/viewers, and the loudest among them don't seem able to do this:

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww74/Vamphaery2/ezgif-4270045474_zpsodimmuin.gif

I wouldn't support it. Yu - or a Yu protege with profound passion for Yu's vision - are prerequisites for my support.

Ask Huber: how long did it take you to recover from your initial (and very public) response to the reveal of Shenmue 3. Because I knew it took me several weeks, meditation, mediCAtion, and the passing of a few kidney stones, before I calmed down again. (Not exaggerating.)

Yeah definitely look up all the reactions to the announcement. Sincerely, legitimately moving and reassuring on a profound level they were lol.

While perhaps not the overwhelming success we all hoped it would be, let's put things into perspective. We've raised an additional 271,687 so far via PayPal, which has added rag doll reactions to the game's combat system, and has no doubt helped pay for a lot of coffee, dinners, and just plain work hours.

I feel compelled to say a hearty THANK-YOU to my fellow Shenmue fans who have made that happen, and who continue to support the game going forward. When this thing finally exists and is in our hands... it will be because we gave a damn.

Thank-you so much for your efforts at translating these. Awesome interviews.

Nah, there's no conspiracy. Just alot of bias that doesn't get applied to other games (even other crowdsourced games.) It doesn't bother me too much, but it's definitely an ongoing thing, especially the misrepresentation of facts. But that's okay.

As for the game itself... I couldn't be more positive lol. We're getting Shenmue III! What's more positive than that?

Honestly, I don't care if all it does it buy the devs some lunches and coffees. If that's what it takes to get them through development, so be it.

As for promoting it... I feel like I did everything I could and spent every ounce of energy I had on it. Real life problems intervened and I had to spend less time on it than I would have liked. (Hence my being scarce.) But I still take the time to tell people about it on a personal basis, and continue to donate when able.

Every little bit helps. That philosophy is how we got it Kickstarted after all.

Thank-you as always Sononshee & Snoop for all your updates, passion, and observations.

^ I somehow thought you were an oldschool member from the good old Dojo days :lol:

I wish! Lol. I was always obsessively passionate about Shenmue, but somehow... I never discovered these communities for it existed until the KS happened! I guess it's because I was only introduced to the internet for the first time via the Dreamcast (my first two years online were spent typing with a controller lmao) and after the system died and Shenmue 2 went to xbox and then nothing happened... I just assumed, heartbreakingly, that it was dead. And at that time, the idea of internet fan communities were just a total non-sequitur to me. Never occurred to me. The internet was such a new experience for me.

And then once I became more net and tech savvy, it just never occurred to me to look. I figured Shenmue was just this niche thing that I and some of my real life friends adored but that most had forgotten. So I just went about replaying it every few years, along with Skies of Arcadia, and went about my life lol.

Then the KS happened and I discovered Twitter (not being on social media prior to that is likely another reason for my ignorance lol - I'm just not a willfully social individual) and through it, both this site and Team Yu. And joined up immediately. Feel like I really missed out. But at least I have the satisfaction of knowing I did literally everything I could to promote and support the campaign.

Do any of the proceeds go to S3 development?

Good interview. I think the pragmatism of all involved actually makes success more likely rather than less. And we know Yu is legendarily good at managing budgets and making the best possible use of them. The question for me is not whether a good Shenmue game will come out of development with the budget they have, but rather how it will be received in the gaming media. Like it or not, the gaming media dictates whether a game just does "okay," or breaks through and becomes a huge hit.

Fortunately, a game like Shenmue 3 doesn't need to sell millions upon millions of copies in order to be profitable, because of the structure of their budget and how funds were obtained. And because of Sony's willingness to essentially take the physical distribution hit entirely on PS4. All of that cannot be understated in terms of how important they are for what kinds of numbers the game likely has to do to be profitable.

And with digital distribution, we've seen games sell a few hundred thousand copies and go on to become very profitable, and even launch franchises. I have great optimism Shenmue 3 will do exactly that. Especially since I'm sure the game will be much more accessible to newcomers than Shenmue 1 & 2 (whether we want that ourselves, or not, it's essential for the future of the franchise that S3 not be a niche game with only niche appeal. They can pack it with verisimilitude and dense, rich detail and interactivity like we all demand from Shenmue, while still having more approachable controls for instance.)

I think the game will absolutely be a success. The only question will be, how large a success? I always remain optimistic though, while also being realistic about the challenges. Especially from the gaming media.

I never expected anything, to be frank, so I wasn't disappointed. I was more worried about people's reactions here and elsewhere, than about what we'd see.

As I've said before, as much as we all want to believe otherwise, I seriously doubt we will see anything before E3 2017, and maybe not even until TGS 2017. I also will not be at all surprised to see the game delayed, possibly by as much as a year or more. This is just something fairly common with Kickstarted games (and games in general these days, the more ambitious, the more likely the delay... and this is SHENMUE 3.)

And yes, I agree with others that the gaming press will eventually rip the campaign to shreds (again) because of this if it happens.

But I also fully expect that once the game is out, we will all end up with a fun game that is spiritually aligned with the Shenmue we remember, with a detailed, rich world, but with some contemporary (read: more accessible) gameplay mechanics. I expect many here and in the rest of the Shenmue community to be angry about some of that... the lack of footage before E3 or TGS, the possible delay, the press reaction to it, and even the contemporary gameplay elements added, because people want a true hardcore Shenmue experience... but, while I could always be wrong, I really do strongly suspect this is the future of Shenmue 3.

And I'm not one bit upset about any of that.

While frustration is only natural, I think we need to just remain steadfast, as we always have, and wait. It's not like Yu Suzuki of all people is going to deliver a terrible game, or cancel the game. It's going to come out. It's going to at least be fun (though I think, given my experience with other Kickstarted games, we should prepare for it to be merely "good" rather than "amazing" just given budget constraints... and we should also prepare for the gaming press to review it very poorly, or at best, as sort of average to good, high 7s basically) and we're all probably going to enjoy it.

I see no reason to doubt that. At all. As I've stated since the start of the KS campaign and its conclusion... yes, communication has been horrible. From the livestream quality during the KS, to things like saying we should tune into events and then nothing happening (likely internal conflicting information, or Sony not feeling the game was ready to show either, imho - remember, Sony is handling distribution for PS4 and like it or not, their brand is linked with Shenmue 3 and its image.) But it's not like people are going out of their way to deceive us. And it's not like the game isn't going to get made. They're not stringing us along because they want to frustrate us. It just is what it is.

I think the worst thing they could do for the game right now, is show us alpha footage or some such, or another insubstantial "test" that will only provide ammunition to the game's critics. They made a huge splash with the KS. It died down (along with all the negative press!) The worst thing they could do right now is revive all that hate, by showing something so easy to criticize. I firmly believe they will show us the game when it is finally in a state that is much harder to assail, and one that actually excites and intrigues, rather than confuses or worries.

I hate to always be the weird juxtaposition between realism and unbridled optimism but... somebody has to be. :P So that's my two cents. Come on guys, it's not the end of the world. Happy Holidays!

My concern is the absolute lack of communication on the games progress PERIOD. A delay is natural. But ZERO communication about how the game is doing in nearly two years

... we're definitely had updates on how the game is doing more recently than nearly two years ago. The last update I would consider to be pertaining to how the game is going was definitely too long ago, though. (And one of them wasn't even shown to backers, but at a different event we had to learn about here or on other dedicated sites until later.)

... besides a few measly screenshots ... there has been footage, but I don't think we're likely to see more than that until there's something substantial to show. Many games go for more than two years with zero footage and only screenshots. It's not at all uncommon. And that's with massive AAA budgets. Lets try to maintain some perspective here.

the media and people who are non-fans who backed it will have all the reason in the world to absolutely destroy this game for the inept job.

... and what are we supposed to do about that? It's not as if we can force them to change their approach, overcome language or cultural (by that I mean development culture, mind you) barriers, magically produce footage that doesn't exist yet, or stop other people from perceiving this the way they perceive it. All of those things are beyond our control. Only Ys and company can change those things, and it's quite possible they're either unable to, or unwilling to until they feel they have something strong to show. As I said, I get the frustration. I even share it to some degree... but this is unproductive IMO.

You haven't properly thought about this.

How would you prefer me to think? Panic? Start loudly making demands? Threaten to pull my money (not possible at this juncture anyway)? Demand refunds? (Also probably not possible at this juncture.)

That's neither my nature nor my choice.I have to accept the things I cannot change, and deal with what is, not what I wish was so. What everyone else does is their prerogative, but that's where I stand. That, and I truly do believe it's better to show something strong than to show something that is guaranteed to provoke scorn. Granted, as you say, silence could do the same... but so far, S3 has slipped off the gaming press's radar. Perhaps best to keep it that way until there's something to show. Again, feel free to disagree, but that's my position and it isn't changing until I see concrete reasons for greater concern.

1 year and 6 months ago, we all still thought there might never be a Shenmue 3. Some may have forgotten the (to me, literal) miracle that this game being developed at all, haphazard PR and all, is. I haven't, though. I'm not at all faded or jaded about it. Not one bit. I'm still the excited, hopeful, amazed fan that still can scarcely believe this is happening, and who doesn't let bumps in the road deter him. People can call that naive or blind optimism if they like. Or get angry or demand refunds or... whatever they want to do, frankly. It's everyone's individual call. But since I can't change it... I choose to remain hopeful and patient. There's literally nothing else I can do... besides get upset, producing nothing other than my own upset-ness.

But to each their own. Carry on.

It would be a pleasant surprise. But until we see otherwise, I'm sticking with my cautious optimism that we'll see something spectacular but not until E3 or even TGS.

I figured since things have been just a touch tense lately, it might do all our hearts a bit of good to see this. Care of Team Yu: https://teamyu.net/Shenmue.III?action=timeline

The history of the game and the struggle to bring it back to life has been a long and winding one I hope everyone can take some inspiration and encouragement from.

https://twitter.com/NovinWorksPlus/status/807767200727633920

Just so we don't get ahead of ourselves, nothing we've seen even in the tease Tweet is 100% what we're going to see in the update.

Yep. This should be a mantra on this forum, a lens through which to view ALL expectations imo: "Plans can evolve @ any second. Nothing is official ahead it's time." As the tweet above says.

I've been regularly donating $30 every month I'm able to (which isn't as often as I'd like due to medical bills and increased living expenses in the last year) for what it's worth, on top of my KS backing. I'm sure many here do similarly, or even more. Sadly, it's the huge mass of the rest of the backers that would have to participate to make this happen.

Still, I firmly believe the game can and will be awesome - if not EVERYTHING we hoped for SIII to be - without reaching that sum. If anyone knows how to frugally micromanage a budget, it's Yu.

Like many other things on the internet, this isn't worth getting all angry about.

We're not going to get every backer to back more than they already have. And the game won't be terrible if we don't reach 10 million. It's a Shenmue game. There will be a lot to do, and a lot of immersion that takes a long time to work through, even if it's in a small area (and we already know it's probably larger than Shenmue 1.) We will live. It's not the end of the world.

We should be united rather than at each other's throats. Everyone seems so angry lately, and it's unfortunate and not cool. However passionate we may be... this is a video game. A great game we've waited forever for and which touched and changed many of our lives... but a video game, nonetheless. Let's not lose perspective.

OP you had a laudable idea on the face of it, but it's not going to happen in all likelihood, and it's not worth raging at people who disagree with your vision for the direction we should take. Just be thankful the game exists at all I say. But to each their own feelings/thoughts.

Some screenshots would definitely be welcome. I'm still actively going to keep my expectations limited, however. That's how I've remained undisappointed all this time. We know Awesome Japan can get things wrong, and we also know those not directly involved can as well. (As happened with the PSX hype.)

Still, this is a promising development (that tweet combined with those responses.)

(Also, in before once the update is shown, everyone complains that it's only one or two screenshots and no trailer, and nitpick every polygon. :p)

Maybe I'm blind and seeing through rose colored glasses but... Can anyone else see the "smell" of the color contrast Yu talked about before, if you catch my drift, beginning to take shape more fully? The sunset hues, the INCREDIBLY lush grass, the feeling of night time and evening in the "air" ? Yes, some of these shots are heavily edited to be sure. But if that's what they're AIMING for, I'm very happy with what I'm seeing personally.

I still don't think we'll see anything major until the footage is shown sometime next year personally (though I could be wrong, as always I try to keep my hopes minimal and to not get hyped.)

But you know... we clamor for an update, and then in the space of a few days we find out new footage may be shown early next year and then get an update saying they're moving forward with more practical tests and preparing for actual content development, and ... everyone's like, "Meh this isn't what we wanted." That's everyone's prerogative, but this made me really happy after a really crappy day yesterday, so I'm choosing to be joyful rather than pessimistic personally. :) To each their own reaction.

To me, the photoshopped face is definitely an indication of proof of concept and intended direction. They're clearly focusing on graphical touches last. Including the character models. I know that's what we all want to see because the characters are so beloved and them feeling right is so very important to us as fans. But in practical reality, imho at least, that's the last thing they should be focusing on if they're only now exiting R&D and testing as they said in this update.

I followed Dreamfall Chapters' development as well, and Zoe's character model and face and hair were super controversial and took forever to be finalized. Everyone nitpicked just like they have been here (which is everyone's prerogative and totally understandable - I'm not telling anyone not to) but... it really does take a lower priority at this stage than getting systems and mechanics and the design doc right. That's what will ensure they are on track to hitting their milestones and getting the product they envision out the door eventually.

Graphics are important to us because they are the only thing we can see that isn't just an abstraction - they are in many respects, for us, what the game IS. But to Ys, there are more important things to tackle right now. I really don't think they're going to photoshop a face on there... and then release something that doesn't measure up to that vision. They're not stupid, or intentionally disingenuous imo.

But again, to each their own reaction.

Let's be honest here. There *will* be disappointment at some juncture. We'll wish it looked better, we'll wish it had more substance from goals we didn't/don't reach.

If it gets delayed, it gets delayed. No high-profile Kickstarter game has ever made date with their preliminary release window. MN9, Yooka Laylee, Amplitude, Bloodstained; they all got pushed, so we should expect SIII also..kind of an unspoken conclusion now.

At the end of the day, here's what matters--you *will* get it, with all of its celebrations and shortcomings, which is more than we could say for the past 15 years.

This

I used to rail against publishers who called customers self-entitled (I refuse to call it entitled, which is this weird shortened version of self-entitled everyone has adopted lately :P) but I am starting to change my mind lately based on some of the post-release and pre-release backlash many games get these days. People are so used to their demands being met - which from a consumer rights standpoint is great, but - they seem to consider anything less than their precise idealized version of what a product should be so woefully insufficient as to render it "a dumpster fire," as the now popular term seems to be.

Thankfully no one has yet referred to Shenmue III by that nomenclature... but seriously... the game has just now exited pre-production, and I don't personally factor in comparisons to other dev cycles for other games with fewer people involved, because this is Shenmue, and it's Yu Suzuki, and while people may not LIKE this... the dev plan chart lays out pretty explicitly where they are and what they've focused on so far and haven't. That's just the way it is. This is the way they are proceeding. Expecting better visual design at this stage is in direct logical conflict with what they've publicly told us their plan is, and when the different stages of development are going to happen.

People have the right to feel that way and to demand whatever they want... but it's just not what they're doing. If he's not ready to pull the trigger on better art assets yet... it's not happening, whether we're impatient for it to or not. Even if they exist, we're not going to see them until they feel it's worth showing. The new screenshots are meant to show a combination of what they have, and what they're aiming for. That's why they're explicitly called WIP. WIP means what it means... work in progress.

And as Valascaziel said, a potentially less than perfect Shenmue III that nonetheless does all it can to feel like Shenmue, with less than ideal marketing and less than immediate response to exactly what we want when we want it... is at least infinitely preferable to the 15 year period during which we all thought we might NEVER see a third Shenmue installment. How quickly we forget the excitement and miracle that was the announcement of this game, and its successful funding. How quickly we start to nitpick every little thing and forget how Yu works and what they've already told us about the development stages and their clearly laid out plans.

Or maybe people just don't like said plan. I get that. That's the thing though... we don't get to affect or dictate that plan. We paid for Yu and company to implement their vision, in the way they best think will accomplish a game that feels like Shenmue. Not to take the reigns and directly influence said plan and how and when things happen. We get to give them feedback... not demand things. Just my opinion. I respect everybody's opinion and I'm not telling people what to think or feel. But this is the reality, and I for one remain very excited and hopeful.

https://scontent.fgig4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15338883_10154907756512682_244348003811205156_n.jpg?oh=36811be6e9bf02185a4c6156cd1adf0e&oe=58E6C6BD
( source )

I really, really want to play this game !
Oh wow, this collage highlights how the game has actually improved, visually. It's definitely several magnitudes more vibrant.

Right? They seem to be really honing in on the palette and contrast. It's never going to be as vibrant as a Dreamcast (much less one through SCART or something lol - I know RGB might be less overly contrasty and therefore more 'accurate' to many, but SCART was insanely colorful at least.) But they're going to get as close as they can I think to DC's colors.

I think games have been washed out so long many devs don't even remember how colorful things used to be. Some of it was because of lesser color depth. As we've pursued greater and great color depth we've tried to emulate reality, which is never as strikingly colorful as lower depth, higher contrast color modes used to be in games imo. So it's almost like they have to unlearn the status quo and go backwards to get it right lol.

I loved Sonic Generations and continue to love many Nintendo games for that reason.

It's still cool to me that a dude at a forklift dealership loves Shenmue and decided to do this lol. That made me smile.

We Shenmue fans are everywhere.

Whatever you may celebrate (or nothing at all) I hope you're warm, healthy, safe, happy, and - unless you want to be - not alone. Take care!

I bought very few games in 2016.

For me, those I loved were (and I know one on this list will provoke enormous criticism but... I can't change what I like no matter how weird it makes me lol):

5. Dreamfall Chapters. I refused to play it until all chapters were complete. It had its issues, but as the likely final entry in a series I have always loved, it was worth the wait for me.

4. Stardew Valley. Best Harvest Moon game that isn't a Harvest Moon game since the original Harvest Moon game imo. :P

3. Earth Defense Force 4.1 on PC. I am hopelessly addicted to the EDF series, and while nothing will ever match the first time I 100%ed EDF 2017, this game is just oodles of endless EDF content and I adore it.

2. Doom 2016. Most fun I've had in a single player first person shooter since Serious Sam. Absolutely loved it, played just the campaign alone for 80+ hours.

1. No Man's Sky. (Yeah, I know.) I won't expound on this other than to say I'm 115 hours into it and still loving it so... just chalk it up to me being bizarre lol.

Honorable mention: Trillion: God of Destruction.

*Eats but a single square of Christmas peppermint bark, so as not to create more kidney stones, but appreciates it deeply... almost as deeply as this community which helped resurrect a dream I feared was dead.* ^_^