I legit started tearing up

Doom_Infinite wrote: Short answer will Shenmue III contain VF style battles or not?

This is definitely the most important question at the moment if you ask me.

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Hey everyone, my brother and I decided to contribute $20,000 for the making of Shenmue III. We spent many hours thinking about whether this is a good or bad decision. We spent $10,000 in 2012 to get our school off the ground and that went a long way. Because of our initial $10,000 pledge, the school received an amazing amount of attention in China, social media and gaming websites. I'll reiterate, We are not wealthy! This was a hard decision. We could have given $20,000 directly to building the school and it's programs but we feel that this pledge will lead to more exposure and support than what we could do through other mediums.

For those who don't know our school yet. We are called The "V.E.T. Program" (Volunteer English Teacher). You can find us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/VolunteerEnglishTeacher?fref=ts&ref=br_tf We teach children and young adults English to help in their educational and career pursuits. Many of these kids come from small villages in the Guilin area and may not have an opportunity to learn elsewhere. You can go to the "about" section on the Facebook page to learn more.

We really need help in reaching our goals. We would love for you to like us on Facebook. We will eventually look outside ourselves and setup a way for donations to be made but we didn't want to distract from the Kick Starter or be overbearing donation hunters.

We decided to make the second $10,000 pledge a character in the game. We don't want to be a character attacking Ryo though. We are going to try and ask Yu Suzuki to let us have one of our Volunteer Chinese teaching assistants be a character in one of the villages. They deserve to be recognized for their hard work. They are volunteers and many of them come from poor rice farms.

We are also hoping that since we will be listed in the credits as a special sponsor that it can have our school with a logo and a website rather than our names.

I don't think any of this would be asking too much. I think it would help get attention to the school. We would love any assistance in helping us achieve this. We also would love to have Yu Suzuki come to the school some day but we won't don't want to be greedy.

Please, help our little school!
http://i.imgur.com/GS7Iwrq.jpg

were there originally 16 chapters in the shenmue saga or were there 11? please elaborate as to why some say 16 and some say 11.

Yu: It is 11 chapters, but with branched story line, it will be more than 11

Hi Yu is there any chance we can carry on Pledging after the Kickstarter date has closed?

Yu: Thanks for the question, we will look into it.

at $5 million, exactly HOW open world will Shenmue 3 be, compared to Shenmue 1/2?

Yu: I'm expecting something similar to Dobuita in terms of scale.

now that we know Shenmue 3 will not end the Story, do you have a backup plan if it won´t succeed to tell the end?

Yu: Gonna have to find a successor I think.

will Shenmue have online functionality for example Online arcade Highscores or Online 70 man fighting battles?

Yu: It will be a lot of fun, but depends on budget, so still under consideration

Will you be disappointed if the kickstarter doesn't raise $10mill for that 'open world experience'?

Yu: No I won't. I am greatful I have another chance for a new Shenmue. I will do everything I can within the budget

Will the Tiger scroll translated by Guizang in 1 be in 3?

Yu: Great idea! I will look into it.

For Ryo Hazuki's model and others, are you going to reuse models and generally assets from Shenmue 1 and Shenmue 2?

Yu: I don't plan on recycling them, but will use the good parts as an reference.

Would love to hear Mandarin voice acting alongside Japanese in Shenmue 3, could we make it stretch goal?

Yu: Thank you, it is under consideration.

Why do you think Shenmue didn't appeal to the mass audience back then? Would it need to be 'modernized' for today?

Yu: One reason may be there were so many new challenges. New challenges this time too. It's the most important thing.

Can we expect the return of lottery prize in Shenmue 3? May be the first prize can be a figure of Yu Suzuki!

Yu: Great idea. Thanks. I will need to think about something more appealing than a figure of me.

will u research latest tech in AI so u can include it in shenmue 3 to make it a pioneering game like its predecessors?

Yu: Yes. I would like to take on some new challenge in terms of technology.

is there a possibility to film a production process for example motion capture or dubbing, during development of Shenmue 3?

Yu: Yes, we have it and I would like to feature it in an update

Will CocaCola join the Party?

Yu: I'm considering collaborations with companies like Coca Cola

Do you have any idea if Sega's planning on doing a Virtua Fighter 6?

Yu: I have not heard about it from SEGA.

What can you tell me of the three blades?

Yu: Jobs using scissors, razor and knife- barber, cook, and sewer. Skills for jobs with steady demand in any era.

although a little hint is left in the video Tak Hirai, Ryo he will now be able to jump into Shenemue 3?

Yu: Yes. I am researching the new technology to have more natural motions in Shenmue 3

My ten year old daughter wants to know if she'll be able to use the phone at will in Shenmue 3 like she does in Shenmue 1

Yu: Look forward to it. There will be many nostalgic scenes. Maybe a tin can telephone as well?

If future installments of Shenmue become a possibility will we have the option to bring over save data from 3?

Yu: I have not decided it yet.

Can we expect epic fights like in Kowloon in Shenmue 2 and a similar battle fight system?

Yu: There is "Battle System Expanded" Stretch Goal. It will enhance the battles, better than Shenmue 2

Will we start Shenmue 3 with some items/skills/scrolls from Shenmue 1+2?

Yu: The platform is different, so unfortunately we can't do it.

Should we expect any Sega related stuff in Shenmue 3 like arcade games or toy capsules?

Yu: There is a possibility.

Were there any gameplay elements for Shenmue 1 and 2 that had to be cut due to budget constraints?

Yu: Yes. I wanted the ramen noodles to get soggy and yucky, but couldn't. I wanted to get that real.

Will the "Shenmue Trial" be used for feedback to improve the game like Square Enix have with the FF15 demo?

Yu: I would definitely want to get feedback, so I'm looking into how to put a system like that in place.

Will there be official kickstarter/Shenmue 3 forums to discuss and give feedback throughout the development process?

Yu: I of course would like that and am looking into it.

Will everything be voice acted the same way as 1 and 2? or will budget constraints not allow 100% VO all the time?

Yu: Full voice will be possible if we have enough funding.

What's the I.Q. score of Fukuhara-san?

Yu: Maybe something like 86?

I was wondering did you get Ryo Hazuki name from Ryudo Uzaki that was a Japanese musician?

Yu: Nope

My question is why is not possible to use (Shenmue Passport) models for the Shenmue 3?

Yu: I'm considering about adding some functions from Shenmue Passport.

can we expect custom clothing for Ryo Hazuki it would be great feature to able to style Ryo Hazuki as we want

Yu: There's a feature on the $250 tier and up to change Ryo's jacket. Other customizing under consideration

Why the Dragon Mirror was hidden under a cherry tree, a not so safe place like the basement?

Yu: Iwao thought the place under Cherry blossom tree was safer.

Why Iwao Hazuki loves the carrots so much?

Yu: Yes! Iwao's most favorite food is carrots! *jokingly*

Where did Ryo got his band aid?

Yu: It didn't appear in Chp.1, but there was a martial arts event. The scar is from the final match

what is your favorite movie?

Yu: My favorite 3 are: The Hustler, Casablanca, Roman Holiday. I love Billiards, and I still play it sometimes.

Will Shenmue 3 be compatible with the project Morpheus VR headset for the ultimate second life experience?

Yu: I feel that VR offers great possibilities.

Will in Shenmue 3 be a dog to pet call look and feed?

Yu: Depends on the budget.

Shenmue's core plot is basically Hamlet - are you a Shakespeare fan & has that been an influence?

Yu: Sorry, but I have not read Hamlet. I know Hamtaro though.

I always wondered how ryo , being Japanese, could communicate so easy in China. Can ryo speak Chinese?

Yu: Let's not go there...

will there be any more dinners offered for the $10,000 tier?

Yu: We just added them today!

How was your day?

Yu: It is Shenmue Day, so on Twitter with everyone. So many participating, I couldn't be happier. Rewards sold out! Thanks all!!!

What did YU name the kitten?

Yu: I think I named her with dog names, like Pochi or Gontaro.

will we see a shenmue soda (can be just a can) and what would it taste like?

Yu: If there is any interested beverage firm out there, please contact YSNET

Suzuki-san, can you please tell us some little info about Shenhua that the fans don't already know yet?

Yu: The Shenmue tree's flower is named Shenhua. She is named after that flower.

Will Ryo learn the value of forgiveness in Shenmue 3?

Yu: Please play Shenmue 3 for that answer!

do you have a rough idea how many people will be in the development team for Shenmue 3?

Yu: It will vary depending on the KS budget.

Since relationships between characters will be more prominent, will we see something like a multiple choice conversation system?

Yu: I am thinking about a dialogue selection system.

Please confirm that guns will never be a part of Shenmue gameplay, not for Ryo or any other playable character

Yu: I am not thinking about including guns as a weapon at the moment.

will ryo finally eat and do other bodly functions?

Yu: I don't have plan on implementing it for S3.

Why does Ryo have a Saturn under his tv in Shenmue 1 but no games? Was Iwao using the promise of a game for it to focus Ryo?

Yu: That sounds about right. Let's go with that.

Mr. Suzuki, what is your favorite music to listen to?

Yu: I like Jazz and Rock.

Hey guys! Most of you probably don't remember me but I made a few post on my travels in Guilin back in 2011.

Since this kickstarter started, I kept thinking Baisha rings a bell, but it took me until today to realize that I was there on that same trip I made when I was in Guilin. And the biggest coincidence of it all, is that I went there straight after Guilin, so I took the same path as Ryo without knowing it! By the way, the train ride from Guilin to Lijiang (Baisha is located near here) took me 30 hours! Which means that Ryo will probably have to take the train, so maybe that explains that train he was hanging on in the Berkely demo....

I wrote an article on Baisha in my blog back in 2011. It's in Japanese, so most of you might not be able to read it but there's some pictures on there too so I'll post the link anyway. The second half of the pictures are from Baisha (starting with the old farmer standing near his crops)
[url]
http://world3languages.blogspot.jp/2011/12/december-16-2011.html[/url]

I remember Baisha as a small, picturesque town in the countryside with a really peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. The people very friendly. Like that old farmer, he gave me and my companions some of his carrots for free.
The old man in the white doctor suit was some Chinese herb specialist that's supposed to be worldwide famous. Apparently he cured himself of some disease that was incurable at the time, and has helped other people with the same disease. He gave us some free "healthy tea" that was bitter as hell. The man was 89 when we visited but still looked healthy and energetic. I wonder if he's still alive, he would be 93 now. He seems to be the main reason Baisha is visited by foreigners, so maybe he has something to do with the story? Who knows...
We also went for some noodles at this eatery that all the locals recommended, but I remember they were not so good as the noodles were overcooked, ha! Maybe Yu-san will finally be able to make his dream come true of showing the difference in noodles depending on how long they were cooked at this eatery.
:D
Anyway, don't know if this was of any help, but it's a magical feeling to realize that I've been there, especially since I also visited Luoyang and the Shaolin Temple which are highly suspected to appear in the future of Shenmue's story!

Hey there, I’ve been a member here, since I was about 13years old. Never really posted however, Today I just finished creating a new video, to get people hyped about Shenmue 3
I can’t even explain how happy I am about Shenmue 3 finally coming.
As you all know, there’s only a few days left, so be sure to make your last contributions to the kickstarter

shenmuedojo.com can feel free to request the video, I’ll send high-quality 1080P link for their channel on youtube If they want

This is a revenge/spiritual enlightenment tribute video hope you like it & spread it around: D

http://youtu.be/WXtCjJaiKfA

thanks!

Edit:video improved

So as many of you may know by now, one of our community's greatest contributors Wude has been missing for a year. Due to the relatively high frequency of his activity, and in the face of the Shenmue III Kickstarter, this is clearly uncharacteristic of our fellow member, and many of us have come to fear the worst.

However, whether he is active or not, Wude remains one of the most well-revered and highly respected of us here at the Shenmue Dojo, becoming a pioneer in the modding community along with the likes of Master Kyodai and Dotsona, playing just as vital a role as LanDC had during the previous generation.

In his absence, myself and others have banded together to ensure his name is forever immortalised in the credits of Shenmue III, as there are few who are as deserving to receive such an honour. However, many of us feel that being lost amongst thousands of other names does not do him justice, and are therefore launching a last-minute minute campaign of our own to make sure that happens.

Out aim is to get Wude's name in the Choubu Inn guestbook, at a pricely $600.

We enter this campaign at the $100 mark, meaning we need another $500 to snare the SHENMUE GUESTBOOK reward tier. All finances are being handled by site administrator Yama and YouTube channel manager Ziming via the Shenmue Dojo's PayPal account.

All you have to do is donate to the Dojo the usual way using PayPal and include your username and the message "FOR WUDE!".

"But why should I pay money for a guy I don't even know?" I hear you ask... Well, simple really. This is a campaign for Shenmue III's Kickstarter, and what would a KS campaign be without reward tiers?


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Please note that all Reward Tiers are subject to hitting the relevant Reward Tiers for the Shenmue III Kickstarter Campaign. In the event of reaching a higher Shenmue III KS Reward Tier, extra rewards shall be held by the Dojo staff and used for future competitions.

Some of Wude's work can be found on his now inactive blog:

http://ichi-3dstuff.blogspot.co.uk/

Again, all you have to do is donate to the Dojo via PayPal and leave the message "FOR WUDE!" along with your username.

WE ARE STREAMING NOW!!!!

We will be streaming from now until late night and ALL of tomorrow until the Twitch stream.

We will be playing Shenmue 1 AND 2!

SPREAD THE WORD!

http://www.twitch.tv/shenmuedojo

Threw in the small amount needed to hit $600, we've capped! Any further donations will go to the server, so this event is over! Great job everyone!

I was just pondering this a bit, and I thought it might be fun to look at all the borderline-miraculous circumstances that coalesced to bring us the success we just had on Kickstarter and the resurrection of this franchise from seeming oblivion. In all seriousness, some pretty remarkable things had to happen to get us to this day. And some pretty amazing coincidences as well.

Firstly, and most importantly of all of course, the undying passion that the fans have kept alight for far longer than most would have for any other IP. I mean when you really look at it: 14 years. That's the difference between being 16 years old and 30 years old. That's the difference between high school and being a 30-something adult with children. How many people hold on to the love of something that long? Especially something that wasn't exactly a raving mainstream success?

It's not like it's a mainstream, popular thing to be a Shenmue fan in 2015 (well... it might become one now of course!) It's not like we're constantly reminded of it or get it reinforced by the media or our peers (except in communities like this one.) No, it has been entirely up to us to grit our teeth and slog through the years, carrying a seemingly futile torch for this video game. That we did that is remarkable!

Secondly, the length of time itself. How many other examples are there of ANYTHING this old in entertainment years (entertainment properties age fast) that get resurrected? I can think of only a rare handful, all of which were far more popular than Shenmue. Star Trek. Star Wars. X-Files. And those all had corporate backing. They weren't independent affairs, and they had massive media exposure and vast audiences. That people are even still TALKING about Shenmue, let alone planning to bring it back today is just astounding.

Thirdly, the many, many times Yu tried to get the game - or something Shenmue related (Shenmue Online, Shenmue City, etc.) - made, but couldn't get things off the ground. Normally when a creative force of his caliber and renown tries so many times to do something and they can't, they go on to something else. They don't doggedly hold onto a single-minded determination to get that one thing made for over a decade. Granted he did some mobile stuff, but by and large, his focus has been Shenmue. That he finally succeeded is miraculous in its own right.

Fourthly, fans petitioning Sony at just the right time. Sony's "building the list" initiative led to people speaking up and seizing the opportunity to try to get Shenmue noticed by a big company again, in some way, shape, or form. That in and of itself isn't that surprising. But what's amazing is that Yu had been considering Kickstarter for a few years, and seriously investigating the possibility of getting the game done that way. He said repeatedly that the game needed "the right opportunity" for it to work out. It was the timing of fans petitioning Sony, Sony reaching out to him, and E3 allowing him a soap box, that FINALLY provided that "right opportunity" and the rallying cry that could finally give the game a real chance of securing the funding it needed.

Fifthly, Sega allowing Yu the right to make Shenmue 3. They didn't have to do this. There are other examples of companies asking IP holders to let them do something like this, and them saying no, and sitting on said IPs and doing nothing with them. Sega has been pretty lax about letting people at least try, though. Sega's not perfect and hasn't exactly ingratiated themselves to gamers in recent years, but this one aspect of their behavior is really cool and should be applauded. Especially since, other than any potential good PR or future Shenmue related releases they can use this as a springboard for, they have no financial stake in doing it that we know if.

Sixthly, the PS4 physical copies through Kickstarter. Another example of a big company doing something they didn't have to do. Sony isn't going to see a dime for those physical copies, and we know they're the ones handling publishing (presumably PS4 porting) so in short, they're throwing money away with each of those physical copies. Just to help the Kickstarter out. Again, yes, admittedly, this gives them good PR, and the more successful the game is the more money they theoretically stand to make once its released on PS4, but it's still a risk and something they didn't have to do. It's pretty respectable.

Penultimately, breaking the record for most funded game precisely when we did. We broke the record just before dawn on the west coast of the U.S., where many major gaming sites and companies have their headquarters. Arguably, this is what gave us a huge final wave of publicity that launched the surge we witnessed throughout the final day. We were always going to exceed what we had made the previous day, but over 900K? That's publicity in my opinion. That it worked out precisely when it did is amazing indeed.

And last but not least... we finished on 6.333 I mean... REALLY? Seriously! Shenmue 3. 3rd of the month #SaveShenmue campaign. 30 on the 3rd. And we finish on 6.333? Tell me that's not the least bit improbable! Lol.

In short... the journey to Shenmue 3's Kickstarter success has been amazing, especially considering all the obstacles it had to overcome. I consider it a literal miracle, and a once in a lifetime event that I will remember forever. Seriously, this is the stuff of legends. Things simply don't ever work out this way in life. That they did for Shenmue 3, is kismet.