Blog post with some analysis of the new images at Phantom River Stone:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/0 ... shots.html

I just watched the Shenmue Master video. What's Cedric said:

"We'll unveil the new steps, images, mechanics, etc"
"I did play the game recently. It's a beautiful game. At Magic, we'll see the game in motion, as beautiful as the screens you're seeing"

http://www.gameblog.fr/dossier_1129_she ... s-en-parle

Cedric interview

So, random thought of the day :
Newcomers starting with Shenmue 3 are entering the story the same way Shenhua does.

This thought made my day as it means that, there's little risk newcomers can be lost with the game.


Let me explain myself :
In universe, Shenhua only knows the basics about Ryo and his journey up to that point.
(Ryo is following after someone. He his a bit impulsive/naive but a good guy overall...)

As I believe the story of Shenmue 3 will make sense, Shenhua will have to understand what's going on.
(I'm going with the hypothesis that Ryo is not going to hide too much to her.)

So, as it turns out, maybe it's the most corect way to see it :
Starting with SH3 is starting the story "in Shenhua's shoes",
while, old veterans are "putting back on Ryo's jacket" !


Basically, you could see this as reading "The Lord of the Ring" before reading "The Hobbit".
(Even if we're not here to compare J.R.R. Tolkien and Yu Suzuki...)

So, yes, I have faith that SH3 can connect with new players.
Not in the same way it is going to connect with old fans, but it should work anyway.

Subtitles have now been completed for the video footage of Yu Suzuki's conference taken by Peter Campbell at MAGIC 2018.

(Translations by PhantomRiverStone.com & Shenmue Forever.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGZktkL5q-I

There is also a full written transcript up on the Phantom River Stone blog:

http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/03/yu-suzukis-magic-conference-in-english.html

Greetings backers!
Today we have something very special indeed for you.
Throughout this campaign, many people have voiced their concerns that newcomers to the Shenmue series may feel alienated. Currently, there is no easy or convenient way to play Shenmue I and II without original Dreamcast/Xbox hardware and that's something we'd like to change.

We don't have the budget to fund fully fledged HD remasters of the first two games. But we're not going to let this stop us from bringing new fans a way to enjoy Shenmue I and II.

After much hard work, we proudly present to you: Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure novel!

https://i.imgur.com/G2vwAUj.png

A Story Retold:

Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure is a complete retelling of the original two games in interactive novel form. Story and progression awaits you with every page turn. Much like the original video adaptation of the game, you can directly control Ryo's decisions and effect the way in which the story plays out.

https://i.imgur.com/WrGntty.jpg

New Features:

Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure will also include extra features that were not previously available in the original games. An example of this is the ability to save anywhere in Shenmue I with the included 'Save Anywhere' bookmark!

https://i.imgur.com/mKn1IXo.png

Modding API:

And finally, here's something all you modders and hackers will love. For the first time EVER , an official modding API will be available for Shenmue I and II. With this powerful and flexible API you can do almost anything; from tweaking the story to your liking, to using our advanced 'book engine' to make something completely different. The possibilities are endless. The only limit is your imagination!

https://i.imgur.com/WqH7NS0.png


That about wraps up our special announcement. We hope that you're just as excited as we are for Shenmue HD: The Choose Your Own Adventure .
Be sure to catch us at E3 this June where we will have a playable demo available for the public to enjoy.

Many thanks for your continued support:
- The Awesome Japan Team and YS.NET



As always Dojo, have a great April!

60fps might be pie in the sky if the engine won't allow for it.
I agree.

While it's pretty easy for them to unlock the framerate, I'm pretty sure all of Shenmue's animation was done as fixed frames. Thus for example when you ran down the crowded street in front of Tomato mart the game would actually slow down instead of skipping frames. They CAN pull off 60fps if they update all of their animations to account for it (SquareEnix did it for the Kingdom Hearts HD collection) but that requires someone to review everything by hand. Interpolation will only get them some of the way there.

But if they did do it the result is very nice, as seen in the trailer I posted a few weeks back.

D3T is listed as the developer on Steam... as they don't appear to have any other credits, are they some sort of subsidiary of Sega that was formed for this project? Or does anyone know something beyond what's listed on Steam?
http://d3tltd.com/gameography/

Guys feel free to post any and all related topics in here. A new sub forum you you all to fill

Honestly, I don't think someone not able to read cursive would be interested in this game...

If you look at the bottom of this MobyGames list (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dreamcast/shenmue/credits) it actually gives us the answer to this, albeit not descriptive who does what but I recall looking into it a few years back and seeing some links between the developers, the staff within SEGA Japan do move around a lot (there's been so many division merges and renames it becomes really confusing trying to keep up with it all). I think that ultimately, it all comes down to the project leads that matter since there's so much shuffling around, so I agree that the link between Yakuza and Shenmue isn't as big as it's made out to be, just shares some of the same staff (Nagoshi supposedly when in the pre-production stages went around SEGA divisions showing off the Yakuza concept to all staff and whoever showed interest joined him to make it).

The other thing I found when looking into Shenmue's credits through MobyGames was that a lot of the staff just frankly disappeared from game development without a trace. So either they went freelance/contracting after this and went to work at somewhere like TOSE (a company renowned for never getting credit despite helping create some of the most popular Japanese video games of all time and having really talented staff) or they just left game development entirely. Always found that aspect of the development kinda fascinating.
Can't believe I was nuts enough to do it, but I've basically sat and gone through the credits for most of the staffers on Shenmue II.

You're right that a lot of developers just disappeared after these games, moved to a different division of SEGA (a lot appear to have worked on Sonic stuff), or just stayed at AM2 (surprising amount have worked on Miku games). Although others seem to have moved to Nintendo, Namco, Capcom, Sony, Konami, Square Enix, Mistwalker, Koei-Tecmo, etc.

That is, if they're actually the same person and not another developer that shares the same name. Yu Suzuki, for example, is weirdly credited on Mobygames as a designer on a Kingdom Hearts game from 2016 when we know that obviously wasn't the case.

Potential inaccuracies aside, the Yakuza links are still pretty tentative from what I can see. A few animators, sound designers, 3D artists, and support staff of various disciplines. They also seem to mainly be contributors from the PS3-era games onward, although some have dropped in and out over the years.

Myth busted, I guess?

I can't remember for sure so don't quote me on this, but if I recall correctly it was actually handled by Microsoft who rushed it so that there would be an English dub in time for the Xbox release in the US. That's probably the reason why it's so poor.

Wasn't there an interview years ago with one of the voice actors who, speaking anonymously, said that there was a very strong direction to deliver some of the lines in ways which wouldn't be natural-sounding (to put it mildly) to Westerners? They said that the actors told the director this but the director insisted. It wasn't made clear who the director was, however.

Oh boy that sparked some memories and made me fire up a search:

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42218

Bit of a weird one that Yama brought to us when he took over. We had to find footage of specific NPCs in Shenmue 2 in exchange for an unidentified voice actors interview on working on Shenmue. Originally I thought it was Eric Kelso, but when you read it, you can see pretty quickly it's definitely not. Who it is became a mystery. To this day we still don't know who it was, but here's the interview link:

http://shenmuedojo.net/new/extras/2010/behindthemic.html

Finally, it's possible to preorder Shenmue HD on Amazon Italy since today. And guess what? "il #1 più venduto in Giochi per PlayStation 4". I bet you understood what it means.

Hey guys, I was asked to post these animated VMU characters here by Ziming.



More can be seen in the link below.

https://imgur.com/a/8eSAkJC

The video clip of the Shenmue 3 segment from the presentation has been added to the OP. Thanks to Spaghetti for the editing!

Seemingly the same build, just different lighting conditions

https://i.imgur.com/ZutFCBk.gif


EDIT:

interestingly enough, only the part where Ryo and Shenhua walk together is from a new build.
The scene where they're looking at each other, and the one where Shenhua is pointing at Bailu village, is straight up taken from the Gamescom trailer (Old models 'n all)

https://i.imgur.com/lN8tKnB.gif
https://i.imgur.com/eGAJpC2.gif

An analysis post on this update is now up at Phantom River Stone.

With help from the community (thanks Spaghetti!) we've been able to translate the script cover page that Matsukaze-san was holding - and even a little snippet of the actual script itself.

https://i.imgur.com/ImJqMbam.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/7c0peCLm.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KTX00f2l.jpg

Link to article:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/06/commentary-shenhuas-new-voice-actress.html

P.S. Ideas welcome on what "SHE" stands for!

Shenhua's voice actor has updated her blog - https://ameblo.jp/palblog37/entry-12383933163.html

It's not much, but there's another little image of Shenmue III on the screen

https://i.imgur.com/xz5MmOV.jpg

I've posted up a translation of an interview Yu Suzuki held with the media on 18th January 1999, soon after the successful Shenmue premiere events. Shenmue was still somewhat shrouded in mystery, so the "15 Secrets" this article refers to - while not representing special in-game secrets or the like - are an interesting reflection on both expectations from the media/public as well as Yu Suzuki's mindset almost a year before its actual release.

Not only that, but Suzuki mentions themes that he still holds with importance today with development of Shenmue III, such as "reality vs realism".

Link to the interview:

Part 1/2:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/06/part-12-15-secrets-of-shenmue-1999.html

Part 2/2:
https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/06/part-22-15-secrets-of-shenmue-1999.html

Updates since my last post:

25/06/2018: Miscellaneous changes and updated the slacker backer pledge total

23/04/2018: Updated with information from previous interviews and talks, and separated information about characters into its own section

18/04/2018: Updated with information from a 2016 DualShockers interview

15/04/2018: Updated with new information from SEGASaturno's MAGIC interview

https://i.imgur.com/y5zyDMp.jpg

The Shenmue Dojo streams are back! For fans and viewers of the Shenmue Lounge, it's Peter that will be firing up his Dreamcast for one last ride with the original Shenmue before Shenmue I & II hit modern systems!

Tune in weekly - Thursday 26th July @ 9pm BST / 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 5am Japan :)

You can catch the stream on your platform of choice -

Twitch: https://bit.ly/2hLEfFt
YouTube: https://bit.ly/2KkVPuP

See you on Thursday! :king:

After 24 hours of conflicting rumors, Sega Europe confirmed on Twitter that Shenmue 1 & 2 HD will be released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on August 21st!

https://i.imgur.com/IHj8Nto.png

The digital version is now available for pre-order from the relevant stores based on your region.

https://i.imgur.com/BYO0sqh.png
https://i.imgur.com/xNvd3hn.png
[img]blob:https://imgur.com/26f15150-85a9-439b-a733-3e8764f5c354[/img]

You can watch the trailer below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc_2D4GsWME

Sega have also released an updated FAQ:

Sega have released an updated FAQ:

Which version of Shenmue II did we port?
For technical reasons we started with the Xbox source code and data. This has the advantage of some additional features missing from the Dreamcast version:

Snapshots system
Filters
Texture mip-maps to improve anti-aliasing
As some community members will know, the Xbox does have some graphical differences to the DC version which will also be present in our version.

What features have we added?
As well as the herculean effort of porting the code to the new platforms, there is a huge number of things we have added:

Choice of Japanese or English speech in both games
Saves can be carried over from Shenmue into Shenmue II on all platforms
Saving anywhere in both games
HD resolution rendering
Updated UI
New post processing effects for both games
Full controller support and configurable mouse and keyboard for PC users
Full Achievement support for both games on all platforms

What does Modern control scheme mean?
Modern control scheme means we have enabled use of the analogue stick instead of the D-Pad for movement of Ryo, as well as adding full mouse and keyboard support for PC users.

Will the games run at 60Hz?
Throughout the engine, game code and scripts there are hard coded assumptions about a fixed 30Hz frame update rate, so the game needs to run at 30Hz.

Is the game 4:3 or widescreen?
Gameplay where the player can control the camera is 16:9.

Cutscenes are letterboxed in their original formats.

Can the emulated arcade games be played?
We are pleased to announce that all the arcade games in the original are fully playable in the new release!

Who do we have to thank for this incredible work?
The amazing team at d3t.

Thank you to Sega and the community for helping with all of this. ;-)

Locking this thread as the question has now been answered.

FYI - if anybody wants to gripe about it and go through the "pre-order cancelled!" motions, do it elsewhere. By which I mean off-site.

Thanks.

Bloom can be turned off confirmed by Sega Europe
https://twitter.com/SEGA_Europe/status/ ... 1229370368

Ok, I was curious and did some analysis using the stream uploaded on youtube, timelines are in the pictures and you can check yourselfs too.

Window in Dojo isn't rendered, it's passable I guess but noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/2r8u8T1.png

Camera inside Ryo's arm, noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/cuIxDZA.png

Camera inside lights, not very noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/a7JqhoP.png

Kid stuck in the back, very noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/NaHs1Ne.png

Camera inside Ryo's head, very noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/ftKwcSu.png

Fisherman stuck in the back, very noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/NLUKtAf.png

Camera inside Hisaka-san arm, noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/v2rK3KE.png

Camera inside Ryo's arm, noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/hPa5Q4L.png

Camera inside Ryo's head, very noticeable:
https://i.imgur.com/AmRSgAS.png

Actually it's kind what I was expecting, keep in mind that this is what I noticed (could be more) and I only did it until reaching the beginning of disc 2, didn't feel like continuing.
As you can see there's a lot of problems just for this portion of the game alone.

As for Shenmue 2 I didn't try looking at it yet but its a mixed bag, one would expect to be the best game to support 16:9 because of the letterbox already implemented but the game just keeps jumping from 19:6 to 4:3 in cut scenes with QTEs. Probably would be very jarring, everything would need to be cropped I guess...

Probably disc 4 would be passable since there's almost no QTEs there. I'm curious what they will do with this game actually...

https://i.imgur.com/nik42aSm.jpg

The "AI Battling" stretch goal coming up at $7m was highlighted in the last Kickstarter Update. I don't think it's a topic that has come up very much to date, so I wrote a short post if anyone needs a reminder about what it is.

I also clarify in the post the following sentence about AI Battling, taken from the English version of the Kickstarter update:
R&D for this system is based on Yu Suzuki's concept for players who are not used to fighting games or for those who want a full immersion battle experience.
I was a bit puzzled about the intended meaning, so I translated it again from the Japanese version to get the finer nuances:
It's a feature for which basic research has been carried out since early on in the development, based on Yu Suzuki's wish for even players who aren't used to fighting games to experience a feeling of immersion in the battles
Link to blog post:
https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/07/the-ai-battling-stretch-goal-shenmue-iii.html

Adam produced a new video; expands on aspect ratio and technical talk with Shengoro86:

Ok... I agree with Adam in his new video that the guys that took the time to go back into the source code to get us the game on modern systems and in full 1080p deserve massive credit. It sounds like a very frustrating undertaking and I would shake the hand of every single one of the coders that did that. As I can't do that, the least I can do is buy the game right?

As for all the negativity surrounding the Shenmue HD Collection, I don't understand why people would show any kind of negativity towards this that were real fans. Is it a remake like Resident Evil 2... no. Is it 4K and/or 60fps like many modern releases... no. It doesn't matter. We are getting both games in an HD collection on modern systems. That in and of itself is enough to be excited over.

I think some may be forgetting that Shenmue fans right now are in the midst of an incredibly rare moment. The experience that we all love was cut short due to various reasons. 17 years after the last game released we are getting a full source code remaster of one of our favorite games/stories. Not only that but we are expecting it to finally continue with the third game releasing next year. Remember people... 4 years ago, the series was essentially dead. There was no reason to ever believe that we would get a remaster collection let alone a continuation to the story. We are getting both and from the success we're seeing, we could very well see Shenmue continue to completion. I don't believe I've ever seen or heard of another fanbase getting this kind of reboot to a favorite series.

Don't let the negative people online get you down. As a Shenmue fan... it's time to celebrate :!:

https://youtu.be/0PaNgpSks3U

Some really beautiful shots of Dobuita here alongside some new gameplay clips showing us more of the new ingame UI such as the Yen counter and the subtitles font. Game looking really sharp and clean.

Also the clown on Tom's Hot Dog truck has been colour corrected back to how it was in the original game! :O

P.S. 100 Yen soda drinks in Shenmue are priced at 130 Yen irl, the inflation is real! :O :D

P.S. 100 Yen soda drinks in Shenmue are priced at 130 Yen irl, the inflation is real! :O :D
Yup, that's true. But there's actually one particular machine further along on Dobuita Street that still sells Coke cans at 100 yen which is perfect for recreating the Ryo drinking experience. I like to think the owner's paying tribute to the game by leaving it at that price. :)

Such a well done video. just curious, whats in tom and jack?
Jack is a small bar which even has an electronic darts machine (although it was broken when I went there). The Tom door leads upstairs to a karaoke bar, I believe.

King John Blaze wrote:probably will play old too and because of that

If you looked into it a bit more before instantly writing off the re-release for its graphics, you’d probably find out that they’re implementing features like a revamped modern control scheme to circumvent this very thing.

the individual kanjis mean - strike, open.
but according to jisho.org when combined it means
だかい - dakai - 'break in the deadlock​'

so maybe this is an indication of a successful counter attack. ie. the opponent grappled Ryo and he successfully executed a strike reversal.
Great theory!
best to wait for the switch translation.
Haha, well you guys have already nailed the meaning of the characters. I did manage to discover a couple more links with Bajiquan which you may find interesting. The research took longer than I expected, there wasn't a lot of easily-available information on it.

Link to post: http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2018/07/examining-warehouse-battle-scene.html
https://i.imgur.com/IYO7mKFl.jpg