I don't really care about any negative spin or "pressurizing" that might be going on because of this $30 on the 3rd campaign. If you feel pressurized by people who don't know you on the internet asking you to donate more money if you feel like it, you're kind of being a baby. Your personal stakes are non-existent here. If you never give the extra $30, no one will ever know.

Whenever someone tries to create something positive, there will always be detractors. That doesn't mean you should stop, though, because as I said, there will ALWAYS be detractors. Detractors don't create shit; they cause a net negative effect in any situation they're in.

I look at this $30 on the 3rd campaign in a positive light. I think, "if I skip a couple meals out this month and make my coffee at home every morning, $30 shouldn't be any problem at all." It's positive reinforcement, helping me do something I should be doing anyway. I will definitely be donating on the 3rd.

All that said, no one who doesn't donate on the 3rd should feel bad. I think we as a community will have to reinforce that in the near future, when we don't meet whatever stretch goal we fall short of and some members start pointing fingers at those who didn't give more. Let me repeat, NO ONE should feel bad if they don't donate on the 3rd.

Personally, I'm in a very transitionary position. I just got the full-time job that I've been working 2 straight years specifically to get. If this KS campaign happened a month previous I would be tapped for cash. If it would have happened two months from now I would be able to give much more. Instead it's happening right now, right in the middle of the transition. I have to be very careful about how much I give, and have been thinking a lot about it.

Each person has a certain amount they're willing to give, and they shouldn't be made to feel bad about it. On the other hand, there are surely a lot of people who could give a little more, and will respond positively to our $30 on the 3rd campaign.

I'm just going to answer this by talking about what I need to do to get my original Shenmue set-up back.

My Dreamcast is in my father's storage in California, supposedly.

The actual games are in my in-law's basement in Chicago.

The sound system I had with the game was left with friends in Hawaii.

I'm not sure at this point whether it would be easier to just buy all new stuff or actually get everything sent to my current location. The sound system stays in Hawaii, because it would be prohibitively expensive to ship.

mjq jazz bar wrote: The vendor name will be in Chinese.

From the KS page:

Once Yu Suzuki approves your name, it will become vendor's sign in Chinese and English.

You are not authorised to read this forum.

It's funny, I was going to post a thread exactly like this yesterday but didn't want to take away from the excitement of the campaign ending.

This worry is legitimate, and it doesn't help that everything we hear from Yu is a translation because a lot of what he's been saying seems to suggest he will change things based on fan input.

You can see how bad this can turn out just by looking at the Star Wars prequels. It's fairly apparent that Lucas let the outside world's perception of his work affect how he went with the prequels. He ended up emphasizing certain characters that were fan favorites, even though it really didn't make sense in the context of the story. This is the worry.

I don't think anyone wants to play a game that doesn't show us anything new. One of the reasons I love the Shenmue series is because it takes me to places I wouldn't go to based on my own thoughts. I don't want to see an echo of my own vision when playing the game, I want to see what it was supposed to be.

There's also the fact that just because a lot of fans want it doesn't mean that it's the right course of action. As a teacher, I get a lot of feedback from students, and sometimes they'll have a consensus about a suggestion that I unquestionably know would be detrimental to their education. The problem is that THEY aren't teachers, so while I still listen to and value their opinions, I also know that in some cases they simply don't know what they're talking about.

You can sort of see this when it comes to Yu's reaction to Nozomi's popularity. I think the poll question was worded poorly, and should have been more along the lines of, "which character would you like to see more of?" The way Yu talks about that poll, it makes me think that was his actual question. His response about Nozomi's popularity is basically "it doesn't really make sense to bring her back." Since he knows this, it's kind of disappointing for him to see how many people like her because he can't use that for his next game.

All that said, I don't think Yu is really the type of person to let others affect his vision to a great degree. Just to be cautious, though, I feel like maybe we should find a way to make it clear that we don't want this game warping into some sort of fanfic.

To be completely honest, I don't disagree with a lot of the youtube comments. When a friend told me that there was a Shenmue III kickstarter I immediately searched for it, found it, and donated. I didn't research a single thing except confirming that Yu Suzuki was at the helm.

Afterwards I watched the video, and cringed so hard. Between the poor animation, lack of actual information, and other general shittyness, my immediate reaction was "damn, if I had never hear of Shenmue before and THIS was what I had to go off of, I wouldn't be donating." This new video really didn't change that initial reaction.

To be completely frank, I don't think anyone would have pledged to that KS if all they had to go off of was the actual KS. Most pledges had to be from fans and the rest were likely from friends and families of fans who were moved by the fans' excitement over it. I just can't imagine anyone pledging based on the merits of the actual KS.

Anyone else picture the members of AJ slowly typing "what is paypal?" into their Bing search window as soon as the Twitch stream was over?