Shenmue III OT - I CAN believe that it's bad!

[Himu]

VULARAI RYO IS LEAVING THE CAVE

Interesting infos from interview :

- The story begins directly where Shenmue II ended
- May have arcade games (it's a kickstarter stretch goal)
- New gameplay features : retrieve fighting skills scrolls, part of fighting system, can be unlocked in mini-games, gambling, side quests. The scrolls will unlock super moves and increase Ryo's skills.
- Good relationships between Sega and Yu Suzuki. Sega gave all elements from Shenmue 1 and 2 that Yu Suzuki need for Shenmue 3
- Cédric Biscay is in charge of PC version, and to find funds
- We will get new infos february 27, at "MAGIC " convention in Monaco

[tiesto]

So now here is where I turn in my former SEGA fanboy badge... I have yet to play Shenmue 2. I own a copy for the Xbox but want to know the best way to play it.

If I played the Xbox one, it would be on the 360 since my Xbox isn't hooked up. Dunno how this game runs on 360.

I would have to procure the Euro DC one, which might be a few bucks (dunno what prices are like on this).

What do you guys think? What's the ideal way to play?

[VomKriege]

The Shenmue 2 Euro DC release was already a pain to find a few months in at the time. Prices are high, all the more since the announcement...

[studyguy]

Shenmue I&II will drop on steam or some shit in short order. Count on it.

[Himu]

So now here is where I turn in my former SEGA fanboy badge... I have yet to play Shenmue 2. I own a copy for the Xbox but want to know the best way to play it.

If I played the Xbox one, it would be on the 360 since my Xbox isn't hooked up. Dunno how this game runs on 360.

I would have to procure the Euro DC one, which might be a few bucks (dunno what prices are like on this).

What do you guys think? What's the ideal way to play?

Dreamcast is the ideal version. However, it makes file transfer near impossible now since DC online is dead so you'll be starting over with 0 capsules and default moves. However, if you play it emulated, you can file transfer.

It's still the ideal version. It has Japanese voice track on DC, and while the game takes places in China, the Japanese voice track treats the subject matter more seriously and the voice acting is much more professional and of quality. It really helps you buy into the story more despite not being the actual language that should be spoken, which leads to greater immersion.

Shenmue IIx on Xbox is meh. They added bloom lighting with greatly takes away from the more realistic architecture and lighting. It greatly dampers the visuals. They added a motion blur during fights and it looks awful. Loading and some textures are better, but not much else. The dub is awful. It's not hilarious and charming like Shenmue 1's English dub, but it lacks the quality and emotional gravitas of the Japanese voice acting. It just sucks ass. However, IIx? It's still the easiest way to play it in right now if you're American if you're not privy to emulating.

The good news? IIx looks and runs fantastic on 360. The 360 glitches the game so you don't get the stupid motion blur or shitty bloom lighting. It looks just like the DC version. So this "glitch" is a vast improvement. Sometimes the music fucks up in the 360 version but it's not that bad. If you don't mind the dub, and it's not COMPLETELY awful for the main characters, it's worth picking up if you play it on 360. It looks BEAUTIFUL on 360 on hdtv.

IIx also added a really fun mini game where you can take photos. There's a mini game where you have to fill in an album book and find every single npc that it requests and snap a photo. Get all the photos unlocks comics that tell bonus story (the ship ride over to HK, what happened with Xiuying's brother;etc). It's easily the best addition that wasn't in DC II, but it's just bonus spice.

Either way is a good route. Shenmue II is my favorite game and one of the greatest sequels I have ever played. It improves on almost every element of the original while adding its own flair to make it feel like it is it's own distinct game.

Fucking GOAT.

[Himu]

Shenmue I&II will drop on steam or some shit in short order. Count on it.

It's not a guarantee because the games have a licensed engine and this means money. Money is not something Sega is willing to spend on Shenmue. However if they license it out to YS, they have add this as a KS goal.

[studyguy]

Are they even doing goals? I don't think they are.
Anyway, whoever owns the license will get it out there. I have faith, no one's about to leave that money on the table.

[Himu]

They are not goals yet, but it's pretty clear from Yu's own words that they are going to have more stretch goals.

Maybe this clue us in on if we will see an HD re-release:

http://kotaku.com/getting-the-rights-to-shenmue-was-easier-than-you-d-thi-1712037863

[thisismyusername]

VULARAI RYO IS LEAVING THE CAVE

Interesting infos from interview :

- The story begins directly where Shenmue II ended
- May have arcade games (it's a kickstarter stretch goal)
- New gameplay features : retrieve fighting skills scrolls, part of fighting system, can be unlocked in mini-games, gambling, side quests. The scrolls will unlock super moves and increase Ryo's skills.
- Good relationships between Sega and Yu Suzuki. Sega gave all elements from Shenmue 1 and 2 that Yu Suzuki need for Shenmue 3
- Cédric Biscay is in charge of PC version, and to find funds
- We will get new infos february 27, at "MAGIC " convention in Monaco

The only thing Sega needs to do is allow them to re-release Shenmue 1/2 on Steam/consoles. That rumored ParterNET X-box 360 port of Shenmue 1(and 2?) already means most of the work was done by Sega. Release it while the iron is hot, bbz.

[Himu]

gamers

[VomKriege]

Didn't JSR HD bomb ? Not sure new releases are worth the effort for Sega. And YS should focus on its current game instead of chasing two hares at once.

[studyguy]

They did JSR in HD?
That game needs a new title all together, not a re-release.

[Himu]

They didn't go with it precisely because re-releases like Space Channel 5 and JSR HD bombed.

[cool breeze]

how they handle arcade games should be interesting to see.  without sega it can be good and bad.  maybe they can get namco and capcom games in there now.

[Himu]

how they handle arcade games should be interesting to see.  without sega it can be good and bad.  maybe they can get namco and capcom games in there now.

Yu is saying arcade machines will be a stretch goal. Also, he says Sega are letting him use anything from 1&2 development so that may include arcade machines.

[VomKriege]

They did JSR in HD?
That game needs a new title all together, not a re-release.

Two or three years ago.
Had fun revisiting the game and discovering the US levels (bit of a nice surprise, wasn't expecting it at all) and the horrible framerate in that park section. Controls are as stiff as on the DC (i like it though) and some parts didn't age well.

[Himu]

I never had a framerate drop in JSR HD. 60 FPS JSR No frame rate drops in Explosion!

[VomKriege]

I never had a framerate drop in JSR HD. 60 FPS JSR No frame rate drops in Explosion!

Isn't the game locked ar 30fps because of the original engine ?

[Himu]

Fuck no. Steam version is 60.


Explosion! on DC a frame rate middle finger due to the amount of explosions. Shit is smooth as butter. JSR HD on Steam has not one frame rate dip.

[thisismyusername]

Have PC and all emulated consoles and not care

FTFY.

[Himu]

Yeah, so I tried out the Undub. I wanted to show my experience with it.

This is in NullDC.



A quick tour of Dobuita with the Undub version. This shows its many kinks and glitches that this undub has. The Japanese version has different code for voices, and the curator for this undub managed to combine them. For the most part, it's really good and works as intended, but there are many times when you can simply tell that the English dub doesn't match the dialogue or took liberties with the script out of necessity which creates awkward moments since this is the Japanese voices with the English script. So some characters lines stall, sometimes they really short in Japanese and this makes the English line really short in terms of duration. Occasionally, characters appear to be talking when there isn't even any dialogue. Still, for what it is, it's a suitable alternative to the dub, and wonderful practice if you are a student of the Japanese language.

[nachobro]

I guess that's fine. But I'm not sure if I'll want to buy another copy of the game after I've spent $185 on the game and extra stuff.

But I probably will anyway lol

They said there's no physical ps4 version for the Kickstarter. That doesn't mean there's no retail PS4 version, especially with Sony now backing it.

I understand that. That doesn't mean I can't be annoyed as a backer of the kickstarter.

[Lucretius]

My gaming setup right now.
Yes, that's two copies of Shenmue II.

[Himu]

Let me buy one of those Shenmue II EU's. Seriously. I had to sell mine for cash a while back and now I'm fucked because of the price increase. Selling your favorite game because you need the dough. Please.

The JP voice acting is so good in 1.

[Lucretius]

holy crap, it's all but disappeared on eBay and Amazon marketplace now.  Looks like it's tripled in price since the KS announcement.
I'm probably going to hold onto my extra copy for now.

Have you considered burning an ISO?  I think even most unmodded Dreamcasts can play burned discs.

[Himu]

I have to get a new Cast first, but yeah, I've done it before. Still got my Gameshark Lite over here....

[nachobro]

Good lord at those prices. Glad I've already got a copy of 1 and 2. Wish I had extra now 

[Lucretius]

I might trade it for a decent copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga

[Rufus]

I think even my beat up copy of 2 is worth some serious moolah. Nice.

[nachobro]

On the plus side, 3 probably won't be out for a year or two. Plenty of time for the price to drop down

[Lucretius]

Judging by the Amazon.co.uk marketplace prices, those three copies of Shenmue I'm holding onto are worth a cool grand here in the US.

[Himu]

Yeah I checked the co.uk because that's where I originally bought it and :suicide

[nachobro]

Time to learn Japanese. All the JP copies are half or less of the price of the EU ones.

[Himu]

Yeah I'm thinking of just going with the JP versions. Playing Shenmue in Japanese with JP subs

[Lucretius]

Xbox version isn't a bad way to go. Not ideal but certainly cheaper.
Good thing about playing the Japanese dreamcast version is they didn't censor the transwoman. In the original version Yuan is a male who dresses as a woman. The European version rerecorded the Japanese dialogue to make her actually female.

[Himu]

Yeah, I've got the Xbox version sitting over here. In hindsight I should have sold that one. If I want to play II though, I don't really need a physical version. NullDC emulates it perfectly.

I upgraded my shit.



I need that trial.

[a slime appears]

lol I work with legitimately sleazy businesses, give the ********INSIDER INFO******** thing a rest.

Relax, my dude!

[nachobro]

http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/17/8798203/shenmue-kickstarter-budget-sony
In other news, Kuchera remains an idiot.

Damn people are salty as hell over this game.

[Himu]

It's amazing how Shenmue fans have taken over a decade of jokes, memes, and more but a giant bulk of the community just can't handle this.



They need laughter in their lives.

[VomKriege]

Fuck no. Steam version is 60.

Nah dawg, I just checked and apart from the menus, the game is capped at 30fps and it's hardcoded in the original engine according to all the discussions I read in the last years (it's a recurring point of contention). You can still find people moaning about it on Steam forum as recently as 4 days ago. I'm pretty confident that if you run a FPS counter ingame you'll see this.

Not that the game needs to run in 60fps anyway. Stable 30 is already an improvement from the original.

EDIT : Some guy apparently working at Blit Software which did the "HD" port says the same thing.

[milchs evil twin]

Shit, I have PAL DC versions of Shenmue I/II and the XBOX version of 2. Not really mint condition, but even then it looks like I could make some money.



Too bad I want to own them forever.

[Himu]

Thanks for the clarification on jsr. I thought it was advertised as having 60 fps.



CLIFFY

https://mobile.twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/610654059591176192

Shenmue games are now on twitch. What does this mean?

[Rufus]

Streamers lining up to do series re-caps. Happens a lot these days. There's an uptick of Fallout streams right now, too. Usually this starts closer to release, but I imagine a lot of teenagers tune in to see what this Shenmue thing is about.

[Himu]

I'm going to be doing a twitch then. How do I stream? Is it resource extensive?

[nachobro]

It's very easy to do, though you do need a semi-decent CPU on whatever PC you use.

This guide is pretty helpful, the links at the bottom will show you how to get the software and how to set it up: http://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/792761-how-to-broadcast-pc-games

If you don't know anything about streaming, I recommend using Xsplit. However it does limit you to 30fps if you are using the free version. OBS is slightly harder to set up but you can stream at 60fps for free.

[Rufus]

I am the wrong person to ask, but I'm gonna blab anyway~

Since you're probably going to play on an emulator you should be fine on that end. All you need for that is screen capturing software. OBS is free and widely used. They also have a calculator online where you can see what quality you can go for depending on your CPU, type of game and your upload speed. Twitch will probably offer some advice there as well.

You definitely need to figure out how to read and interact with chat, since that's a big part of the appeal. A mic would be ideal for obvious reasons. Reading chat depends on screen real-estate. You want to avoid alt-tabbing to a browser for sure, as for how you do it is up to you. If you play in fullscreen you can put chat on your phone, but a second monitor would be ideal. Otherwise you can put the emulator window and chat side by side and only have OBS capture the emulator.

And that is the sum total of my streaming knowledge. :v

[nachobro]

If you do it with one monitor it isn't too hard. I've had to do it that way a few times. Run the emulator in a 720p window, popout twitch chat & put it next to that, use game capture to grab the emulator window (not screen capture) and you're good to go.

A mic would be best but not required. Plenty of people stream without a mic and do just fine, but it makes talking with chat easier since you don't have to stop playing to type a response.

[cool breeze]

how they handle arcade games should be interesting to see.  without sega it can be good and bad.  maybe they can get namco and capcom games in there now.

Yu is saying arcade machines will be a stretch goal. Also, he says Sega are letting him use anything from 1&2 development so that may include arcade machines.

cool.

the other thing I'm wondering about is voice acting, and I totally understand if they can't afford multiple languages.  I'll probably end up playing shenmue 2 dreamcast to hear what the Japanese voice acting is like.

[nachobro]

VF6 should be a stretch goal and it'll only be playable within Shenmue 

[Himu]

3.2 million reached. Yu I doing an AMA tomorrow on reddit.

[Himu]

I left this comment on the new update.

Tried to be as nice and reasonable as possible. The marketing for this KS sucks.

The marketing for this KS is really bad, you can do better. The video tells nobody who doesn't know what Shenmue is anything about it or why it's special. The video, rather than recapping the story of a boy driven by anger and revenge as he goes to extremes to find his fathers killer on an epic coming of age Kung fu story, is about potential village expansions. But no, Yu talks about move scrolls instead. Rather than show Shenmue's legacy and how it has impacted modern games it foolishly assumes that new players know what Shenmue is when it has had a new 20 year absence from the market.

It has been coasting on the goodwill of Shenmue fans and the interest of non-fans. It needs more than that and to articulate why such a game would make Huber act like an excited child and end up grasping his co-workers hands in tears. It needs to show WHY it's so special to us so it can be passed on to a new generation. Tell new people about the story, tell them about the innovations that can still be seen today such as the cinematic cutscenes, attention to detail, weather effects, and QTE's.

Unveil more reward tiers. There's almost nothing between $500 tier and the $10,000 tier. You need to give more reasons to make people want to upgrade their tier. Please unveal the entire list of stretch goals so we know what we are dealing with.

How come Yu isn't going to every gaming news outlet and interviewing them on Shenmue III and why it's special? How many of them are in English? Please stop with the French stuff. The game will only be at Monaco? But not TGS or GDC or PAX? I realize that some of the developers are from France but France doesn't have a monopoly on Shenmue fans. Try marketing this in China, for instance.

The marketing for this KS can be better than this. Yu doing a Reddit AMA is a good place to start but you can do better than this. Take a look at the Bloodstained Kickstarter for an example on how to communicate with the fans and potential backers in a more transparent manner.

Thank you, looking forward to III.

[Mr. Nobody]

Hm. I still have 1 but I sold 2 years ago 

Ah well. If Sega/Sony have any sense, remasters/remakes of both are in the works.

[thisismyusername]

Hm. I still have 1 but I sold 2 years ago 

Ah well. If Sega/Sony have any sense, remasters/remakes of both are in the works.

There's always... piracy and emulation.

[Himu]

Hm. I still have 1 but I sold 2 years ago 

Ah well. If Sega/Sony have any sense, remasters/remakes of both are in the works.

No excuse.

[nachobro]

There's always... piracy and emulation.

[VomKriege]

I left this comment on the new update.

Tried to be as nice and reasonable as possible. The marketing for this KS sucks.

I thought the same while watching some interview to a French outlet. The KS presention, on a whole, is not up to snuff for such an expensive and ambitious game, I find it vague and not professional enough. I worry that Yu is pandering too much to his devoted but sparse fans (in the grand scheme of things) which only will make harder to sell to non "hardcore gamer of the Dreamcast generation" an estranged, long-removed sequel reliant on former opuses. While Yu Suzuki is a formidable game designer, I'm not sure he can manage a company and a production with the same talent. I wouldn't be too surprised at that point that the production will be laborious or that the game could bomb hard. Not what I hope for, but possibilities nonetheless...

[Himu]

I left this comment on the new update.

Tried to be as nice and reasonable as possible. The marketing for this KS sucks.

I thought the same while watching some interview to a French outlet. The KS presention, on a whole, is not up to snuff for such an expensive and ambitious game, I find it vague and not professional enough. I worry that Yu is pandering too much to his devoted but sparse fans (in the grand scheme of things) which only will make harder to sell to non "hardcore gamer of the Dreamcast generation" an estranged, long-removed sequel reliant on former opuses. While Yu Suzuki is a formidable game designer, I'm not sure he can manage a company and a production with the same talent. I wouldn't be too surprised at that point that the production will be laborious or that the game could bomb hard. Not what I hope for, but possibilities nonetheless...

They need to fire Awesome Japan and hire the people that did Bloodstained. Apparently, Awesome Japan is the one handling the KS.

[Himu]

Ryo's updated model in the latest Famitsu



That's my stoic modern samurai

The fact they were able to do all of this with a prototype bodes well. I'm really hoping we get a hyper updated version of this in the end:

[VomKriege]

Why would you film Yu Suzuki from the back ?
French gaming press 

[Himu]

I know that some of the developers are French, but what's with all the French wank?

I left this comment on the new update.

Tried to be as nice and reasonable as possible. The marketing for this KS sucks.

I thought the same while watching some interview to a French outlet. The KS presention, on a whole, is not up to snuff for such an expensive and ambitious game, I find it vague and not professional enough. I worry that Yu is pandering too much to his devoted but sparse fans (in the grand scheme of things) which only will make harder to sell to non "hardcore gamer of the Dreamcast generation" an estranged, long-removed sequel reliant on former opuses. While Yu Suzuki is a formidable game designer, I'm not sure he can manage a company and a production with the same talent. I wouldn't be too surprised at that point that the production will be laborious or that the game could bomb hard. Not what I hope for, but possibilities nonetheless...

I don't think it'll be laborious. I think they'll get maybe half the budget of Shenmue II, so about 20 million. What made Shenmue so expensive back then was that they were among the first to do it and were learning how to implement it. Never mind scrapping development on the Saturn, changing systems, and creating a new engine. When Shenmue 1 and 2 came out, there weren't really games similar to it. Now, there's an entire genre dedicated to it and almost everyone has an open-world now. This makes development a lot easier because the industry has now over a decade of resources and experience making these types of games. Never mind that they're using Unreal 4, which if I'm reading right, makes a lot of the things that made Shenmue 1 and 2 so hard to make easy and a natural part of the engine. It also helps that Yu has talked about the game being much smaller in scale to Shenmue II and closer to 1. Given that it is in rural China, expect there to be less npcs as well. Yu has flat out said that he is not sacrificing detail for size and scope like so many modern open-world games. He's trying to craft an intimate, smaller experience. I'd say if things go as planned, the game should be ready for release in summer or christmas 2017. There's no reason for this to be laborious given today's resources and game development, and since the story and all that is already done, all they have to do is just make it. Whether or not it will be a success is different, but I think a lot of gamers are looking for something different these days, and a lot of titles like The Walking Dead, Gone Home, Papers Please, Stanley Parable, and more have shown there is a large interest in alternative gaming, for which Shenmue constitutes. If anything, now is the right time for a new Shenmue due to today's gaming environment more thn it was in 1999. If they pull their cards right, this can be a big success. Not a CoD or GTA success, but do pretty good and fund Shenmue IV.

Famitsu article summary

- He noticed that fans were getting more and more despondent about the chances of a Shenmue 3 ever coming out, and being willing to settle for just about any format (novel, manga etc.) just to see the conclusion of the story, but he really wanted to make the sequel as a game even if it didn't have all the bells and whistles he'd like to put in it.
- He first learned about Kickstarter about 3 years ago through a fan who'd used it before, although it took a while before he decided that was really the way to go forward. Tried looking for a major company to partner with, but couldn't find one that met his criteria. Eventually, he decided Kickstarter was the best option.
- Sega readily allowed him to make the game, and SCE gave their support too (nothing specific here).
- It'll be out on PS4 and PC. No mention of other platforms, no mention of considering any other platforms.
- 2 million is the bare minimum for the game to exist, and if that was all they got, it would just be focused on the story. The more money it gets, the more of the things he wants to do will be possible.
- He wants to give the fans what they want as much as possible, asking for their opinions during development and incorporating those into the final game. Like if they have two ideas for a character, they might ask backers to vote on which they prefer.
- As far as money goes, he expects the game's investment will primarily come from individual backers, so he wants them all to be happy with the finished product. Doesn't sound like Sony and others are giving them all THAT much.
- The story will take place in Guilin, beginning immediately after 2's end. You'll be able to go around the town(s) in that area, back to the mountains, infiltrate the Chi You Men's Guilin branch, etc.
- Back when he made Shenmue 2, he was determined that Shenmue 3's focus would be making a deeper open world rather than a bigger one. Fewer characters means they can have more to say, they can have more complex AI, etc. The character Ryo will talk to the most in 3 is Shenhua, so he wants to develop her as much as possible, making it so that talking to her lots makes her behaviour towards him change, makes quests involving her proceed differently, etc.
- Not that any of this is to say it won't be an open world game. Stretch goals will determine how much the town(s) can be expanded (presumably this is referring to stretch goals like those we can already see, the 'other towns' in that video aren't addressed here.)
- QTEs were originally designed so that people who weren't very good at battles could still enjoy the game.
- He wants to make 'free battles' (which are likely to have their name changed) less about pressing buttons at the right time and more about making the right decisions.
- He also wants to make them less about practising and inputting commands and more centred around the Technique Scrolls, so obtaining and using those is enough to win battles. These Technique Scrolls will ideally connect a number of different elements in the game together in a natural way.
"Shenmue had a number of minigames, gambling spots etc. that you could spend time playing around in, but I wanted something that would connect all of them somehow. I mean, obviously you can obtain money through part-time jobs, use that in gambling to get more of it and then buy weapons...but not that kind of connection, a closer one. If we can meet a number of our stretch goals and make the open world elements more elaborate, I'm hoping to be able to connect these side elements together, centred around the scrolls.
- He's desperately trying to find some way to include forklifts in the game in a way that will make sense, because Shenmue fans seem to love them.
- He wanted to gather as many of the people who worked on the earlier games as possible because it'd be reassuring to fans. They're planning to publish staff comments from a number of figures working on the game, including the writer Masahiro Yoshimoto.
- He's asked about whether he has an idea in his head about what'll come after Shenmue 3's done (presumably 4, but it doesn't come out and say this). He says he does, but right now he's focused on working on Shenmue 3. Certainly doesn't sound like this game will be 'it' at any rate.
- As the Kickstarter page says, he's hoping the game will be ready to release at the end of 2017.