Playing Shenmue in Japanese for the 1st time was like a veil being lifted from my eyes, and there is no way I will ever go back to that god-awful dub.

The Japanese version is a lot more immersive and realistic, in big part because of how the cultures of Yokosuka are represented. I love how all the foreigners talk with the accents of their home countries. This aspect was completely lost in the dub and a lot of the realism was lost. Also, saying that "Shenmue isn't realistic because it has magic" is kind of a stupid thing to bring up, because that has nothing to do with the type of realism that we're discussing in regards to the dub. It's like talking about oranges when we're discussing apples.

When it comes to Shenmue 2, of course, that realistic side isn't really present, since the game is in Japanese, but takes place in China. Still, if you think that the English dub is anywhere NEAR on the same level as the original, you are severely kidding yourself. (Ren sounds like a p*ssy and even Ryo sounds more bored than he did in S1).
I mean, there's nothing wrong with liking the dub, but I'm just being real here.

When I woke up today reading that interview, I too had concerns like shenmue852 said up above. I hope again it has been poorly translated as to me the answer to that question does sound as though Yu is trying to squeeze the rest of the story into Shenmue 3. This would be a huge mistake in my eyes, as not only would the story feel rushed, but his original vision of the series would be completely crushed when say 3 or 4 more games were originally planned and all that content is completely cut just to tie the knot in the third game. I know nothing up until this one question has sounded at all like he's planning to crush the story into 1 more game, but it has been over a month since the last update and alot can change. My other concern with this, is that finally we have the media coverage, we can self market this game through loads more mediums that we previously could when the Dreamcast was around, we have youtube, twitter, facebook, all these highly sharable and self marketable avenues to spread the word about Shenmue...which is one of the reasons Shenmue 3 is actually happening. The hype around the series right now and especially when the third game is close to being released, I think Shenmue this time around could be a success, and I would hate that Yu and his team realise the potential was there in this era to return to his original plan and have a Shenmue 4, and maybe even a Shenmue 5, but everything was cut to compensate for wrapping the series up in Shenmue 3. I can understand the other side of the argument that is saying that it would be another risk not finishing the story and people don't want to have to wait another 15 years for another game that this time likely won't be returning...but I don't think it will be as hard this time around for the series to bomb when we already have the attention of millions of people from the E3 conference, we hold a couple of world records on Kickstarter now, and the game is being released on the best selling console compared to the Dreamcast which was potentially the worst selling console at the time. Things are different this time around that mean that Shenmue can live on successfully through a game or 2 more.

Again, it's just one question and one weirdly worded answer, I hope that it was just slightly mistranslated :)

Anybody that "can't suffer through it" is just being pretentious. That is the only fact that is true when discussing the dubs.

Get off of your pathetic pedestal. Stop talking down to anybody that does not prefer and like whatever choices you prefer with regards to what dubbing you play a video game in. It's not that bad. :roll:

It is 100% okay that you like one more than the other, but not okay to attack it like Three Blades just did. I prefer the English dub, and I speak fluent English. An English dub is crucial for me. Get over it.

Oh god, stop being a butthurt little baby every time someone says something you don't agree with. The dub truly is horrendous and yes, it's ok to "attack" it because it sucks, is badly directed, and we have the right to say it. The only fact regarding the dub is that if you can't tell how bad it is, your head must be stuck 5 feet deep into a certain hole.

It doesn't mean that anyone is trying to take it away from you, so stop acting like a crack addict. We know for a fact that the dub is happening, so what's your problem?

Some of us just want a better option because, after playing Shenmue games with quality voice acting, we don't want to go back to one that has the level of an elementary school drama club presentation.

It's ok for you to like the dub, but some of us have standards. Get over it and don't be so butthurt.

Incredible video! An absolute favourite video (of mine, at least). It also made me feel calm and inspired, and that means it captured the essence of Shenmue series' atmosphere and epicness. Thank you very much!

Don't have much time so I'm going to boil this down.

Shenmue is a great game. Even after all this time it's still one of the most engrossing games I've ever played. A new Shenmue is exactly what this stagnant industry needs. No idea if it'll be great again, but if there's anyone who can pull it off it's Yu Suzuki. Peace.

Yu needs these guys:

Moving from GTA 4 to GTA 5, Rockstar North wanted a story that would feel more mature. Not in terms of the violence, Morton insists (GTA has always been supremely violent), but in terms of feeling and tone. He flew to LA for recording sessions with hundreds of actors. Directors from Rockstar would have the "talent" in the booths, holding the scripts Rockstar North had produced.

"Given the fact GTA 5 was so big, it would be difficult for somebody who hasn't had a history in games of that size to just jump in and make something that big," Morton says.

"Me overseeing the dialogue for so many past GTAs, I had a better chance than most of making GTA 5's dialogue a success. I'm really pleased that came off. It's a genuine highlight of my career to have been involved in that."

Authenticity was a big part of GTA 5's design. So, for the video game gang members, voice actors who were previously real life gang members were hired. "They had turned their lives around and become actors," Morton says, "which in LA does happen.

"They'd look at the script and sometimes say, 'I wouldn't say that.' And we'd give them the freedom to make it their own."

One of GTA's more controversial - and long-standing - elements is the ability to pay for sex with prostitutes. It's been a staple of the series for years, so much so that the shock value has kind of worn off at this point.

For Craig and Will, though, it never got any easier to record a prostitute's dialogue. "There are a lot of people in the control room," Conner says. "There's the actress, being very professional, she's doing her lines and everything, and then, like, 'yeah, could you just give us a...'"

"We need something to sound very slurpy," Morton interjects.

"And now if you could just imagine you're getting - I'm thinking of a nice word to say - you're having sex with your client," Conner says. "It just goes from bad to worse. And it's so embarrassing."

Will Morton has a loftier ambition: "I would love to work on bringing Shenmue back to life," he says. "I'm genuinely a big fan of Shenmue 1 on the Dreamcast and Shenmue 2 on the Xbox. I would love be able to help re-envisage that for the next gen."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-25-the-reality-is-were-not-really-interesting

The brother of Wang from Shenmue I must not be forgotten. True cringe-worthy goodness.


Edit: the video also features Ryo sounding as excited as I've ever heard when he finds out it's Wang's brother.

This was the main reason i enjoyed the Japanese versions. The English dub is so ridiculous. It is the one thing that is haunting this game for years.

I SEE

Now i bet Yu Suzuki realises this and we will see much improvement for Shenmue III
Otherwise the game will get CRUSHED by critics for it......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64u9TUtTMa0

Seriously this video should have atleast 100k views by now, It's so awesome.

I wish it was longer(so it would be even more complete, but that's the life story of Shenmue video/reviews on Youtube, I swear), but with all things considered, omg It's awesome, possibly the best Shenmue video on Youtube

http://i.imgur.com/bl1vHrK.jpg

A fascinating look at the Shenmue franchise has been posted on Youtube by 'a.winner.is.yu', chronicling the series' most revered aspects.

The video, titled 'What Is Shenmue?', gives newcomers and veterans alike a look at why Shenmue was so ahead of its time and why HD remakes of both Shenmue 1&2 are a necessity.

The entire ten-minute video can be seen here .

Links & Hashtags: #SaveShenmueHD
What Is Shenmue? | Forum Discussion | News Archive

Yea, I posted this video on this site just yesterday my self, because it shocked me how few people have evidently seen this awesome video, infact It's possibly the best Shenmue video to date.

I was lucky to find this video the day it was actually uploaded to Youtube, and needless to say, I'm shocked it doesn't have atleast 100k views by now, seriously this video should've went viral.

Just came across this video posted yesterday by youtube user "Mo To" who has been registered on Youtube since january 2010 but never posted a video before yesterday. No information about him, no comment about the video. Nothing but this 59 minutes video called "Making Of Shenmue".

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

I don't know if this is worth a new thread or even if this video is new or not, but I've never seen those footage before and despite beeing japanese language only, it's very interesting!

Enjoy :)

I'll re-upload this video to a separate Youtube account and ask Switch to translate it. It's too risky to upload this to our main Youtube channel and then get taken down by a copyright strike. I'll also look into uploading this somewhere like Dailymotion that's less restrictive.

Ok, here is a translation for Part 1 of the Famitsu article. I hope this will minimize the pain of having to read the auto-translation from Google.

The second part will follow as soon as it is completed, although I know it's probably where the most interesting snippets of information may lie!

What will Shenmue III be like? A post-Kickstarter interview with Yu Suzuki (Part 1/2)

Shenmue 3 has drawn a lot of attention, after breaking several records on the crowd-funding site Kickstarter. We asked Yu Suzuki for his thoughts following the completion of Kickstarter, including the additional features that were reached through stretch goals.

How does Yu envision Shenmue 3?

The development of Shenmue 3 via crowd funding was announced at the Sony Computer Entertainment press conference, held the day before the opening of E3 2015. Through the crowd-funding campaign that was launched immediately on Kickstarter following the announcement, the funding milestone of $1,000,000 was achieved in record time; also a new record was set for the highest-funding for a Video Game on the platform, and total of approximately 780m yen of funding was gathered, making it the 6th most-funded project in Kickstarter history.

Famitsu.com carried out an interview with Yu Suzuki, director of the game that has been receiving all the attention: Shenmue 3. As this is the first interview after the end of the crowd funding, we also wanted to ask him about additional features achieved by the stretch goals. Check it out!

Looking back on a tumultuous month after the end of the Kickstarter project

Q: The Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3 recently finished as the most-funded Video Game on the platform. Please tell us honestly how you are feeling now.

Yu Suzuki (YS): Honestly speaking, it's "Here we go!"

Q: So you're feeling keen to get underway, rather than sitting back after a successful campaign?

YS: Yes, what I'd really like would be to make the development period longer. So it's like, "Hurry up, let's get started!"

Q: Will you move forward with development without any change to the planned release target date of the end of 2017?

YS: Yes. The budget from Kickstarter has now been confirmed, so I'm at the stage of seeing how far I can stretch the width and scale of the project within that budget.

Q: Looking back on the period from the Shenmue 3 announcement at E3 until now, what has been the most memorable thing for you?

YS: Most memorable for me while I was away at the E3 conference has to be the moment of the announcement. Right before it, while I was waiting backstage, the remake of Final Fantasy VII was announced, and I could hear the tremendous commotion. I was worrying and thinking "I hope Shenemue's going to be ok, 14 years on (from the previous game)" but when the video was shown I heard a huge cheer...

http://www.famitsu.com/images/000/087/158/l_55e03d3fd1969.jpg

Q: The cheering was really loud, wasn't it. People were getting to their feet in joy.

YS: Of the whole conference, that was the moment when the audience's reaction most sounded like screaming.

Q: Is it one you will always remember?

YS: A lot has happened since then, but that was the moment that touched me the most. Later on I watched videos of people's reactions to the Shenmue 3 announcement. There were people whose voices cracked with excitement, and others who didn't stop crying. I was really moved when I saw everyone's reactions.

Q: You have mentioned in previously that you had been considering Kickstarter for a long time. What things did you find most difficult or surprising when you actually ran the campaign?

YS: There was a lot to learn. I had heard that with Kickstarter, starting at a fast pace is important, so although I really wanted to announce something beforehand, I wasn't able to because it was to be announced at the Sony conference. So I thought about whether there was anything at all I could do, and on the morning of the conference I put up a photo of a forklift on Twitter… which got me scolded by someone from Sony (laughs).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHeMgPTUMAADEN1.jpg

Q: Fans will guess what's going on simply from seeing a forklift, you know! (laughs)

YS: But... it's just a forklift!

Q: I think it shows the extent to which forklifts have remained in everyone's hearts.

YS: That's true. In a survey of Shenmue fans, the third most popular thing people wanted to know was whether forklifts would make an appearance in Shenmue 3 (laughs).

Q: (laughs) By the way, approximately 780m yen was raised through the Kickstarter campaign; do you have plans for other ways to accept funding?

YS: I'm planning on accepting funding via PayPal. It is still being coordinated so I can't give details at the moment, but progress is being made on getting it ready.

Q: Depending on the amount of further funding, is there a possibility that stretch goals not reached during the Kickstarter campaign will be included?

YS: I would like to add them if possible. Kickstarter is a non-Japanese site and so I think it may have been hard for Japanese people to use. Even for the mailing address entry, people may have worried that making a slight mistake might result in their rewards not being delivered. So when accepting funding through PayPal, I'd like to ensure it supports Japanese language.

Q: That makes sense. With Japanese support, fans in Japan will feel relieved, won't they. Development work on Shenmue 3 will start in earnest from here, so are there any roles you are particularly looking for to help the development move forward?

YS: I would especially welcome any planners or programmers who would like to work together with us. Development will be carried out with Unreal Engine, so I'd be happy if they have experience in Unreal Engine development as well as in development for the home game market.

Appearance of new characters - and the return of some from the past, such as Nozomi

Q: Next I'd like to ask you in more detail about what kind of game Shenmue 3 will be. Firstly, there wasn't a stretch goal for "Japanese language support" in the stretch goals revealed on the Kickstarter site. But since Masaya Matsukaze has been announced as the voice actor for the lead character of Ryo Hazuki, there will be Japanese-language support, won't there?

YS: That's right. I won't be able to express subtle nuances unless I make it in Japanese first. After the Japanese version we'll make the English version, and then support for other languages will follow.

Q: So although the video for the Kickstarter project had the main character speaking in English, development of the game will be carried out with Japanese voices?

YS: Yes.

Q: I'm sure the fans are wondering who will be cast as voice actors for the Japanese version..?

YS: I haven't decided the cast of voice actors yet. Some of those who were cast for the previous games are no longer active in voice acting, so...

Q: But if you tell them "I'm making Shenmue 3!", maybe they'll come out of retirement for you!

YS: If that happened, I would be really happy. I'd love to have them return.

Q: I hope we can get everyone from the cast to read this interview. So, at the moment are you in the middle of writing the scenarios?

YS: Yes, I'm working on them now, and the main scenario is largely done. I'm discussing with Yoshimoto-san the parts I'd like to expand a bit more [Editor's note: scriptwriter Masahiro Yoshimoto, who is in charge of the scripts for the series].

Q: Have you already started making maps and character models?

YS: No, not yet. They will be done after we've finished adjusting things like the scenario structure and the order in which each of the maps will be traveled to.

Q: Shenmue 3 will feature the three villages of Bailu, Choubu and Baisha, with gameplay differing in each of the villages - could you tell us about the characteristics of each of the villages?

YS: The village of Bailu, which you visit first, is where Ryo ended up at the end of Shenmue 2. You will be exploring the mountain village and the inner depths of the mountains of Guilin. Choubu is more developed than Bailu village, more like a town. The size of the town will be set accordingly for the funding that was achieved through Kickstarter. It looks like I will be able to make its scale slightly larger than I had originally planned. In Choubu you can buy things and carry out quests. You will be able to play minigames, and there will be food stalls, souvenir shops, lodges, temples and other buildings there.

Q: So Bailu village will feature in the story as somewhere to enjoy the scenery, while Choubu will be where you can enjoy open-world gameplay like in the previous game?

YS: Yes, although the word "open-world" may lead to misunderstanding as there are now many great open world games around…. Choubu is a place with "Shenmue-like" gameplay - what I called FREE for the earlier Shenmue games. I consider Bailu village to be a place where you can enjoy spending time with Shenhua. And for Baisha, I'm planning to make it a place where you can play in completely different way from the earlier Shenmue games. It's the place I want to focus on most.

Q: Could you give a little more detail about Baisha?

http://www.famitsu.com/images/000/087/158/l_55e03d474bf9e.jpg

YS: It has several enemy hideouts, and you can enjoy the situation of infiltrating one; protecting your friends from external attack as you battle with enemies to take it over. You will not simply be fighting, but will make full use of war tactics that resemble famous tactics from China's Three Kingdoms period, such as the Water Attack or the Fire Attack, as you fight. This may sound very difficult, but I plan to make it straight-forward when you try playing, so please don't worry about that.

Q: In a previous interview, you mentioned being able to change your player character during these operations, didn't you?

YS: That would be the stretch goal that was successfully reached during the Kickstarter, called the Character Perspective system. I'd like to allow you to be able to play not just as Ryo, but also as others like Shenhua and Ren, and clearly portray the characteristics of each of the characters. For example… Shenhua, a girl, wouldn't do something like suddenly hit someone else.

Q: She doesn't seem like the type to do that, does she.

YS: And so, if you have selected Shenhua, you won't have the option to hit. However, if it is Ren, he may well suddenly strike out (laughs). In this way, depending on the character the things you can do differ, and depending on your choice the outcome will change. I'd also like to portray the differences between men and women.

Q: Between men and women?

YS: In the places where Character Perspective occurs, there are events where you advance as a pair. At that time, if you are controlling Ren then he'll be like "Hey, I'm so cool" and try to put on an act, whereas if you control Shenhua she'll look at his posing and think "What an idiot…" - that kind of thing (laughs).

It's something that happens in real life too, right? It is said that if you talk to two people that have had an argument, they will give you completely different stories about it, although they have experienced the same thing. I'd like to express the difference in values between men and women, as well as the kind of everyday life situations that everyone can relate to. I don't think many games have delved into this kind of thing deeply, so I think it will be an attractive new aspect of Shenmue which sets it apart from other games, as well as from the previous chapters.

Q: It makes me want to try controlling various different characters. On that point, I'd like to ask about the characters. Could you tell us about Ren, once again?

YS: Ren is a character who appeared in Shenmue 2, and is the leader of a Hong Kong street gang. He's cunning, intelligent, and skillful at fighting. At first he travels with Ryo from impure motives - "I smell money involved!", but gradually starts to look up to Ryo. I haven't yet mentioned about how Ren makes this transition, but I hope you will enjoy it. Shenmue 3 contains some fun scenes with Ren.

Q: It sounds like Ren will be quite heavily involved in Shenmue 3's story...?

YS: Who knows? (laughs)

Q: We're looking forward to hearing more about that (laughs). Next, could you tell us about Niao Sun, a woman who will make her appearance in Shenmue 3?

YS: She is one of the four Chiyoumen leaders and rules over the South. Ruling over the East is the Blue Dragon ("Sōryū"), Lan Di. Niao Sun is the Flame Empress ("Entei") who rules over the South, and is a beautiful but cruel character. I'm really excited as I'm able to at last portray Niao Sun, in Shenmue 3. [Editor's note: Niao Sun was presented to the public prior to the release of the first chapter of Shenmue, and was introduced in the character introduction video but she did not appear in Shenmue or Shenmue II.]

Q: And in Shenmue 3, Shenhua will finally become fully involved in the story, won't she.

http://www.famitsu.com/images/000/087/158/l_55e03d45d7658.jpg

YS: I took a vote on the most popular characters from Shenmue up until now and, most likely because she didn't appear much, Shenhua ranked low. Even after the announcement of the Kickstarter campaign, all I heard was "Please include Nozomi" (laughs). So I've made it possible to make a phone call to Nozomi.

Q: In this next game, it has been announced that there will be parameters that represent your relationship with Shenhua. I believe that in Shenmue 2 Fang Mei also had an affinity parameter - will it be something similar but more in-depth than that? [Editor's note: depending on how favorable her impression of Ryo was, Fang Mei would change how she called him, and special events would take place].

YS: Well, I hadn't really been thinking of Fang Mei.

Q: Are you able to give more details about the parameters for Shenhua at this point?

YS: I haven't finalised them yet, but I'm thinking of setting up around 3 parameters like level of trust, level of intimacy, friendliness toward you… something like these would be the top contenders. With a high level of friendliness, cooperation with Shenhua will go smoothly, that sort of thing. With the Character Perspective which will feature in the latter half of the game, if you choose to play as Shenhua, her true feelings will be revealed, and you may be in for a shock - "So that's what she thinks of me…!" That's something I'd like to try to do. (laughs)

Q: You might find she actually doesn't think much of you! (laughs)

YS: I think male players make up the majority, so I think it will be fun to introduce an element where they will think "Ouch!".

Q: Will the parameters be set up only for Shenhua? Do you plan to set up parameters for any other characters, such as Nozomi?

YS: It would be more enjoyable if there were parameters for other characters too, wouldn't it. For example if you get along too well with Shenhua, Nozomi may get jealous and cut your phone call short with a cool "Oh. Really….". I haven't decided the details yet, but I'll consider it.

End of Part 1

Very nice find. I've put it at the top of my translation list, after I'm done with the Famitsu article translation.

(In the meantime, playing a bit of Shenmue with Japanese voices may help tune your ear to pick up some of the video narration, like the story Yu Suzuki mentioned on the Niconico video... ;-) )

I'll update on this thread.

FR / フランス語 ：

Aujourd'hui, j'ai eu l'occasion de passer une bonne partie de la journée et de la soirée en compagnie de Yu Suzuki !

On a beaucoup discuté, de la vie de tous les jours, de nourriture et bien évidemment de Shenmue III !

L'interview ne sera pas disponible de suite, je reviendrai donc vers vous dès qu'elle sera terminée.

Je tiens également à indiquer que d'autres belles choses vont arriver, donc continuez à apporter votre soutien, y'a du lourd en route !

En dehors de Yu Suzuki, j'ai eu l'occasion de rencontrer dans les locaux où le jeu est développé, une bonne partie de l'équipe en charge. Ils travaillent tous les jours du matin au soir pour vous apporter le meilleur et de ce que j'ai vu... c'est sur la bonne voie ! Ils sont aussi super gentils, c'était génial.

La prochaine étape sera le TGS (le 17 et 18 septembre) où je reverrai peut-être Yu Suzuki mais rien de sûr. En attendant, je retourne bosser sur ce qu'il y a à traduire.

Des journées comme celles-là, j'en voudrai tous les jours !

EN / 英語 ：

Hey guys !

Today, I had the opportunity to spend most of my time with Yu Suzuki.

We've talked about many things from everyday's life to food and of course,
Shenmue III !

The interview's content won't be available right away and will get back to you once It's done.

I also ask all Shenmue fans to keep providing their support as some beautiful things are on the way, trust me !

Beside the fact that I've met Yu Suzuki, I also had the chance to meet the team in charge of Shenmue III where It's actually being developed.

They're working hard everyday to provide the best experience possible and from what I saw, It's going to be good.

The next step is Tokyo Game Show now (September 17th & 18th) where I might be able to meet Yu Suzuki again but nothing has been decided yet.

Until then, I am going back to work and will try provide another great interview !

See you soon !

David

JP / 日本語 ：

皆様、

本日、鈴木裕さんのインタビューを行わせて頂きました。

インタビューの内容を掲載するまで、時間がかかると思います。

これからも、シェンムーを応援してくださるよう皆さんのご協力をお願い致します。

次は東京ゲームショウです。１７日から２０日までセガのブースで様々なグッズが発売されるようになりますので、興味のある方は、是非、足を運んでみてください！

鈴木さん、今日は色々ありがとうございました。大変感謝しております。

今後とも、宜しくお願い致します。

デュビル・ダビッド

God, I still can't believe III is happening. Sometimes I'm having a bad day or whatever, and I forget, and then I remember anything is possible because Shenmue III exists. :D

I know. I registered as a member of this site around 2003 or 2004, and then for several years I was never logged in, although I checked the news around every E3 only to be disappointed every time. I really thought the series was dead forever. I actually forgot my old login so I just created a new one.

Same, used to participate here before Shenmue Dojo was a part of Gamespy. Also forgot my details. In anycase, for long time fans who used to dream of a continuation to the baffling Shenmue 2 ending, we are finally getting it. Despite all the negative nannies, there's only one great future that awaits us, Shenmue 3. For that I will always be happy about.

What I would like to know is the reason for the delayed paypal. At first I thought that YsNet, Sony and Sega perhaps were working on finalizing a deal to make Shenmue HD and to coincide the announcement with the paypal support, perhaps even as part of the rewards. The fact that paypal was going to be announced at the 17th and that Yu Suzuki, Cedric and Shibuya were going to TGS made me think it was possible that HD ports would be announced there. Now that TGS is over we know that's not the case.
Another possibility I though of was that they were simply preparing attractive new rewards with a variety of reward tiers and that was the reason for the delay. Now we can see that's not really the case either, the reward tiers are basically the same as in the kickstarter campaign, at least for now. Anyone who has a reasonable theory for the delay?

The best theory I've heard - and the one I find most reasonable personally, although I still don't know the specifics at all - though we'll likely never know for certain, is that there are different legal realities in different regions and countries when it comes to how PayPal functions. Not from a user standpoint obviously, but from a legal standpoint in terms of accepting donations for an unfinished product versus simply transferring funds or buying an existing product.

That, and the fact that in the past PayPal has frozen donated funds for crowdfunded projects because they felt there was not sufficient guarantee of product delivery to their customers. Straightening all of that out, at least to a degree YsNet would find safe and secure so they could rely on any donated funds without such unknowns, may have taken longer to figure out in an authoritative way than we might imagine.

We also know from responses by Awesome Japan that there were things going on they weren't privy to necessarily, which means we weren't either, contributing to the delay. So I think getting all of the i's and t's dotted and crossed legally and in other ways is a good theory as to the reasons. But even failing that, clearly something was going on that we lack any insight into which demanded considerable time and effort to straighten out. What that could be specifically? Your guess is as good as mine.

We will probably never know with any certainty. I'm just glad it's finally functional. It would have been great to have it immediately after the KS and I do feel we lost momentum (understatement,) but what's done is done. Must move forward.

I see they had even built a bike shed in Dobuita where Ryo could leave his bike.
http://i.imgur.com/u7cMLMQ.png

By the way, listening to Yu's words in the GDC video, he says "I wanted to put it (the bicycle) into Shenmue, but we ran into various problems and gave up on it". So he was just a touch more specific than the interpreter's version.

A quick update on the English subtitles: progressing well, and currently at 40%.

Although sometimes catching what Yu is saying to his staff is quite challenging.

I like Shenmue I's overall soundtrack more but I do so with the caveat that I realize just how hard or impossible it'd be for II to have as good a soundtrack due to the sheer increase of size and scope. At the same time, II has some of the best songs on the series. Morning Fog's Wave, and all of Guilin. I'd say that Guilin is actually on par with I. So it's close. II is a challenge because it's just so much bigger.

I's atmospheric FREE tracks are some of my favorites.

As long as they have the quality to make it feel real , then I am satisfied. And by such quality, I can refer to the graphics of Shenmue 1 and 2 . Indeed, I am satisfied with those. Because, they have a quality to make it feel real, even though they are rendered through a >17 years old technology.

http://i.imgur.com/C2FZ9m4.png

Today is the 15th anniversary since Shenmue was released in North America on the Sega Dreamcast. (December in Europe) To commemorate this day we are sharing a special video that goes behind the scenes in the making of Shenmue. Back in the late 90's NHK aired a TV program on the development of Shenmue at SEGA. They spent 6 months with Yu Suzuki as he was developing Shenmue on what would be Sega's last home game console. English translation provided by Switch .

Making of Shenmue: Youtube | DailyMotion | Vimeo

Available Captions/Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

The guy at the back looks familiar though. Just can't put my finger on it.

Yes, that one. It appears to be interesting to see how are the characters linked.
http://shenmuedojo.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/shenmuecharactertree.jpg

Not particularly large or high-res, but this is the one I found in the Dojo's art archive.

Interestingly enough I also found an illustration of Ren using grenades. I wonder if that'll happen in Shenmue III? It'll certainly be... explosive. :lol:

As far as I remember the faces ( at least the passport ones and I bet some others too) Are digital scans from some handmade busts.

http://i.gyazo.com/c62a23b466991608f65476ce66b93542.png
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIOojzDPnjbl_Xm9XhFLdziPUOmaYl9d2d7z0M3ZNOxOYDSiPbuw


Those busts were used not only in the passport but in the Shenmue online trailer and official artwork.

Passport
http://i.imgur.com/l5OzfC9.jpg

Shenmue online
http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/081c121996067879e2804bfc7024dcd01233201400_full.jpg

Artwork
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100104004206/halofanon/images/b/b3/Shen2-ryo-hazuki2.jpg


Passport Face ( tweaked +Into a new model)
http://i.imgur.com/1Yt7ryo.jpg


And as some of you may know I have used those passport faces as base for new models, they are fully rigged

Left original artwork, right reconstruction using the ripped face from the game.
http://i.imgur.com/HTguH99.png


http://i.imgur.com/rFJaTAf.jpg http://i.imgur.com/aWkSTOH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/R84fSTY.jpg http://i.imgur.com/nq5piLz.jpg




http://i.imgur.com/4JaLmwX.jpg

http://www.shenmue500k.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Esppiral-nozomi-flower-shop.png


http://i.imgur.com/gSvTeSf.png http://i.imgur.com/5O1DYlz.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/78IiaW5.jpg


Every single model uses the passport faces as a base.

Sorry for the overload of images, I know it seems I always try to post my pics when this topic surfaces....

Bu t my point is, the excuse of old models and new tech incompatible is... well... BS.

So the real reason why they aren't using faces close to the originals is beyond my comprenhension...

I don't have problems with 30 fps cap on old ports since that's how the games were designed to run.

Yeah, Shenmue was also designed for 640 x 480 resolution 4:3 aspect ratio, but it would be nice to have widescreen, better resolution and some updated textures.
Widescreen, better textures, better models are things the community has already done. Those are pretty easy to do.

60fps is less likely though, for the same reason as ports of other games from that era such as Final Fantasy X. If the motion capture data for the cutscenes only exists at 30fps, that presents a problem because they won't have the "positions" for movement of characters on those extra frames. There are ways you can try to deal with it, such as taking the average between the next and previous frame to account for the one in between, but that won't be correct if something is accelerating for example. Looking at additional frames could be used to try and pick up those trends, but that isn't always going to work either since movement isn't always supposed to be fluid. We don't know what they have, but 30fps motion capture was common back then, so if they want 60fps there's a lot of work to do there. Square Enix recently did that for their Kingdom Hearts PS4 remasters, and the Digital Foundry video on those talked about it a bit. Apparently some of the cutscenes in the Japanese version had movement issues as a result of them doing interpolation, which had to be manually cleaned up before the US release.

I'm saying they can do it, but it's more difficult than other things they could do. I'm okay with 30fps, since they're probably targeting 30 for Shenmue 3 and it'll be consistent.

Also Shenhua in my profile picture was on the official Shenmue 3 website which I hope they'll use her instead.

That Shenhua looks like a white girl at a Cosplay convention. Certainly nothing like she appeared in SII.

Like the Ryo model, I'm hoping they get Shenhua's appearance to remain true to the previous games (there were some changes between 1 & 2... but mostly minor).

Yeah. Given how variable the Ryo model has looked at different angles and in different lighting conditions, I could totally believe that the renders that appeared during Yu's China trip in 2015 are just the same model.

When you get information from Yu and the producer himself about Shenmue related content appearing at a gaming event, and it turns out not to happen, you learn the hard way not to take anyone's word about when or where footage of this game will appear. Plans change, and it can be upsetting. Frustrating even. At the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinion. But at the same time, everyone should realise this is going to come out at some stage, and that will be a glorious time, so until then, all i can ask is to try and see positives whenever you can, and also try to remain patient. This is a long process, and none of us are going anywhere.

As for the video, i just shrugged my shoulders. It is what it is, and there are positives there. As the person said, they were testing for polygon dents and movements. Thats what i want from them. Thorough testing of all movement variations. He wont be doing jumping jacks in the game for gods sake. I thought it was great, watching the characters various muscle elements flex and expand with the relevant movements. Theres going to be fighting in this after all. As for the look, hes just a made up skeleton with a prototype shell essentially. There will be lots more detail added so im not concerned about that. His clothes looked cool too, as Switch pointed out in his update.

One thing to think/hope for is that since a delay announcement is inevitable now, they will need to counter that announcement with something to give us some positivity along with it, so a trailer may be included then. Perhaps Gio told them that was a better plan, or perhaps he wanted Shenmue at E3 and YSNET said no. Either way, im over E3 now, and looking forward to what the summer has in store overall for Shenmue.
As i always resort back to... one day we will finish Shenmue 3, and be praying to go back to the exciting times of monthly updates when we didnt have a clue what was coming. Its hard in life to stop and take stock of the now, but try to with the Shenmue 3 development process, because, one day in the blink of an eye, it will all be over and life will be very different.

How do we know this character was designed by Miyawaki? Not saying it wasn't but the drawings don't look like his style at all.

Indeed, Amir (who had talks with some Shenmue III devs) said that several charadesigners are working on the project, I believe he meant 2d charadesigners. Althought that doesn't alter the initial argument.

How do we know this character was designed by Miyawaki? Not saying it wasn't but the drawings don't look like his style at all.

Indeed, Amir (who had talks with some Shenmue III devs) said that several charadesigners are working on the project, I believe he meant 2d charadesigners. Althought that doesn't alter the initial argument.

Just to clarify, this is from the Monaco dinner in Feb 2016. We saw some concept hand-drawn sketches for new characters, and I noticed that the style was different from Miyawaki's. I asked Suzuki if it was by Miyawaki and he said that it was not, but would not say who the other artist(s) were. The concepts ranged from "quirky" (though not fantastical) to realistic, and I was encouraged by what I saw. I pointed out one bearded character I thought was particularly cool and Suzuki laughed and said "Maybe Shenmue IV" so that they would have the graphical power to properly render the beard :P

I don't remember seeing the guy in this concept video in those sketches, but this was more than a year ago.

I am actually excited as hell about this. Now it feels like a full on proper development schedule, and not a rushed indie schedule. Great decision!

Staying totally Zen tonight.

There's smoke, but there's no guarantee we'll see the fire just yet.

Here's my little contribution to stir some hype in the final hours before things get serious.
Also just about enough time to watch this before the Dojo stream starts.

Honestly, I don't think timeskipping really has a place in Shenmue I. The features I'd like to see make the leap to Shenmue I is the button interface from II, saving anywhere, and enemy health meters.

“We’ve tried to stay as close to the original feature sets in each game as possible, so Shenmue 1 will not have the time skip feature,”
This is actually very admirable. That they don't want to change things too much in order to honor the legacy.
Makes it sound like we won't be getting a save anywhere option either, though nothing definitive yet of course.

It think that feature is definaltey more important for newcomers. The system where the resume file deletes itself is really confusing in this day and age. If you can read it's not a big deal of course but I know of people that tried the game on emulators and didn't bother to read and they were baffled why the files were gone.

Hope they change at least this up a bit. The fact that they are redoing the controls shows that they know about the new player problems.

iyapol wrote: Shenhua could be cross-eyed for all I care - we're getting Shenmue HD!

are you sure m8

Some of the music also took a bit of a hit. Namely the opening of Shenmue and the rooftop cutscene after Dou Niu's defeat in Shenmue II.

Unlike the majority of the music, with is sample based and generated on the fly these are prerecorded.
But there is no big problem with them, just a bit scratchy and only noticeable when you compare it to a "clean" version.
The credits themes are also streaming audio but those are at full quality. Not sure why they decided to dial the settings back a bit for these cutscenes but they are of course overlapped by sound effects and voices so either that was limiting or they decided to take the saveable space because it isn't just the music alone.

In any way these are pretty much the easiest things to fix. Shenmue's opening is on the Orchestra Soundtrack and the rooftop music already has high quality in the Xbox version.

An example of what an improved track audio may sound


The recorder does sound way cooler than the compressed one!

Gamefront.de, one of the best video game news outlets in Germany have a short summary of the Famitsu article. I'll give you guys a quick translation of it.

Shenmue I & II mit moderner und klassischer Steuerung / Gameplay-Szenen 16:9
18.04.18 - Der Fertigungsstand von Shenmue I & II (PS4, Xbox One) bei Sega und d3t beträgt 70 Prozent. Das schreibt die neueste Famitsu.

Weiter heißt es, dass das Spiel eine moderne und klassische Steuerung besitzen wird. Bei der modernen Steuerung bewegt sich Held Ryo mittels linkem Analogstick, bei der klassischen Steuerung bewegt er sich mit dem Digitalkreuz.

In normalen Gameplay-Sequenzen wird das Bild beim Spielen im 16:9 Verhältnis gezeigt. Event-Szenen werden hingegen weiterhin im Original 4:3 Verhältnis dargestellt, heißt es in dem Bericht werden. Release: 2018 (Europa)

Shenmue 1 & 2 with modern and classic controls/gameplay scenes 16:9

Shenmue 1 & 2, at Sega and D3t is about 70% complete, says the latest Famitsu issue.

Furthermore, the article says the game will have a modern and a classic control scheme. In the modern control scheme, the hero Ryo will be moved by the left analog stick, whereas in the classic control scheme he will be moved by the d-pad.

In regular gameplay sequences, the picture will be displayed in 16:9. Event scenes (cutscenes) however, will be kept in the original 4:3 proportions.

Just a quick translation of a translation by myself. Hope I could help you guys out.

Shenmue 1 & 2, at Sega and D3t is about 70% complete, says the latest Famitsu issue.

I got my hands on the Famitsu magazine today, and can confirm that it has "Development Status: 70%" in the same information box as the name of a PR official at SEGA, implying it is sourced officially.

Edit: I'm planning to put up a translation of the article up on Phantom River Stone in the near future.

And now we can't blame Awesome Japan for the bad communication, that was the best part !!!