Sure ask away. Just a couple of things though, I can't really talk about the dinner much on 2 counts, 1 being that we were given a lot of trust by everyone, and 2 that other people also paid to be there and I have to respect that they may hold the occasion as an intimate meeting and want to keep it that way.

But I will do my best :)
Oh sure, you guys paid a lot of money to be there and a lot of trust was put in you all if no NDAs were signed.

I'll try and keep them kind of general, and of course, you completely reserve the right not to answer. I may have a few followup ones later, but here are a couple that I've been thinking of since I saw the pictures from the trip:

Did you guys actually get to visit the YSnet office? If so, did it seem reasonably sized?

Did you see anything that related to combat?

You've said how the game looks compared to the E3 video last year, but how does it match up to the MAGIC Monaco stuff?

Was everything you saw video, or did you get any live demonstrations?

And finally, did you see Ryo/Shenhua's new models, and if so, did they look right ?

I am pretty much a straight to the point guy, so:

1. No visit to the office. It was a day excursion to various historical sites, followed by a nice meal.

2. None that I can remember.

3. I think those videos were more showing off the weather system, and lighting techniques. We are 7 months on so I'd say to expect improvements on all aspects of the development.

4. Dot, dot, dot...

100% this is the real Shenmue. Yu Suzuki said that "the full on Shenmue experience we have been waiting for."

He wasn't lying.

What did he mean by that? Because many of you disliked Shenmue II compared to the original.

I don't know what he meant i am just giving my opinipn based on what i know. I have never disliked Shenmue 2 over Shenmue. 2 is my favourite game of all time.


I've got a friend in the OC, Peter. If you don't get a couch to sleep on I'll ask him if he can accommodate you.

Awesome! Yea, OC seems to be the airport to fly into and not LAX. I have found accommodation which is walking distance to the convention center and only need a deposit to secure. But it's telling the gf that I am away on another Shenmue trip may end up in all sorts of arguments lol.

Shenmue II <3

Yokosuka wrote:

Kiske wrote: I've the feeling the next Kickstarter update will be (at least partially) about the Kickstarter Backers dinner.

And you're right, the coming update will focus on the backers dinner.

Kiske wrote: I've the feeling the next Kickstarter update will be (at least partially) about the Kickstarter Backers dinner.

And you're right, the coming update will focus on the backers dinner.

Two interesting details:

Sorry to be a debbie downer but this is a waste of an update IMO. But I guess they have nothing else of substance to show us until the next big unveil at a gaming show.

Well, considering there are people at this dinner who spent a small fortune on the Shenmue 3 project, mainly based on the trust they have in Suszuki San and their love for the Shenmue franchise, I believe it's fair to show to every backer that they care about us and want to fulfill their commitment regarding the rewards.

There's probably a good reason why they didn't show anything else.
They probably just need more time to polish what they are working on before showing the project status.
PSX is only 2 month away. I'm okay with them withholding new stuff if that means a major "wow factor" when they'll decide to unveil them.

The latest Kickstarter update goes over the recent Dinner and Tour Yu Suzuki had with the few Kickstarter backers who pledged for the Dinner with Suzuki reward tier.

Source (Kickstarter) | Forum Discussion

Spaghetti wrote:December draws closer. *rubs hands*

Brace yourselves...



...Winter is coming.

Great photos and update, I think it's important to show they are keeping to their pledges and giving attention to fans once in a while.

Btw I don't think there was a similar update for the Monaco dinner, probably because the conference content dominated that month. Amir has written a nice article about that though, which can be found here: https://medium.com/@MoosaviAmir/a-weekend-with-yu-suzuki-6ff4d9d9edb6#.7p75qnz6y

I'd imagine it was an unspoken understanding that they wouldn't spill the beans. I mean if one of them had started reaching for their smartphone it might have occurred to him to say something, but if someone's paid ten thousand dollars to be there, he probably felt it safe enough to assume they'll respect that privilege and not give too much away during the limited time that it can remain exclusive to them (and their fellow diners, who may not appreciate that exclusivity being taken from them without their say-so).

We've waited 15 years, the next two months is gonna fly by.

I would take this to answer the above:

100% this is the real Shenmue. Yu Suzuki said that "the full on Shenmue experience we have been waiting for."

He wasn't lying.

is any of the yakuza spinoffs worth playing? Im new to this series and don't know much about it, but I have seen a zombies one in a store recently... thx!

It really depends on your tastes. If a third-person shooter with zombies is the kind of game that would normally appeal to you, then throwing in the Yakuza characters and sense of humor will only make it more enjoyable. But if all you're playing it for is the Yakuza-ness, then you might struggle to stick with it. Bit of a sliding scale really, but if you can get it cheaply then I'd say it's at least worth a try.

Today (1st October) I want along to a single-day event in Yokohama for Unreal Engine put on by Epic Games, with the venue being Pacifico Yokohama, the same conference center where Yu Suzuki held the Shenmue Premiere so many years ago.

A number of talks on developing with Unreal were held through-out the day by companies such as Capcom and Square Enix, as well as exhibition booths and even a stall selling Unreal stickers and other merchandise.

But the main reason I was there was for to get my hands on this Shenmue leaflet:

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

Positions being advertised:
http://i.imgur.com/YVGIAhal.png

And I'm thinking this looks like a new image...? (Or is it recycled?)

http://i.imgur.com/P8BB4Jz.jpg

I've put up a translation of the leaflet on my blog:
http://www.phantomriverstone.com/2016/10/shenmue-dev-team-expanding-leaflet.html

They are back...

You can even lose a third time and then you'll get this:

The right model is a weird Photoshop edit. I don't think it's worth something.

A lot of people have been wanting to know what we saw on that laptop. I can safely say there were no story spoilers in there. The majority of the footage consisted of location shots. What blew us away was the quantity that was shown, however. I think most of us have had doubts as to how far they've actually gotten into development, after only seeing a few shots of Bailu Village after all this time. But when we saw Bailu Village, Baisha and Choubu, any doubts I had were put to bed. They looked very fleshed out and beautiful already (and note that the footage was 3 months old when we saw it). There were bits of cutscene material, and a QTE testing scene, but those were really early tests and not much to talk about.

As some of you may now, YsNet recently started hiring additional staff to work on "high-end cutscenes." They are working their asses off, no doubt in my mind. I'm not saying this WILL happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if we got the first official trailer by December at Playstation Experience. Hang on a little longer, it'll be worth the wait.

Hm. That's pretty interesting stuff; did Yu make a point of telling you the material was out of date or was it just something you noticed from a date/time caption on the footage?

Can we ask more detailed questions now that the cat is out of the bag about stuff you saw?

He made it a point of telling us. He wanted us to know that it looks "much better" now.

I'm reluctant to answer very many questions. I'm not sure what I should and shouldn't talk about. I felt I could tell you what I just did though, because I gave nothing secret away. We all know those areas are in the game. They told us not to take photos or video, but didn't say we couldn't discuss the video.

I think one thing thay can be said is what Yu mentioned about the look.

It was a very good conversation, that really made me feel good (this was said before we seen what was on the laptop). Yu went into a bit of detail about the colour of Shenmue, which I found very interesting. He said about how Shenmue has a specific look, which all stems from the colour pallette. He wants Shenmue colours to feel "wet", or "moist", in that you can feel the colours on the screen. Taste them even. He said that Unreal has a great colour editor but they didn't quite have the Shenmue colours he was looking for. But eventually they did crack it and in what we seen, it was completely Shenmue.

That's what I meant by when I was asked about if this game was essentially "Shenmue". It really is. This is where the brilliance and importance of Yu at the helm of this is so vital to this being a true Shenmue 3. Another director may have thought something looked well, but wasn't quite Shenmue. But it really is.


Another thing to mention is Matt is 100% completely right. He made the point of saying this was a little old. This was backed up by Yosuke who cut it. Now that means what we seen was completed around June, which is just 4 months after MAGIC where we seen a cut of Shenhuas home and the fishing pond etc which Yu confirmed was completed the day before. Now with that info, and seeing what they can do in 4 months..... I swear when you see it you will drop a bollock. Not only that, but they are now hiring more staff? Sweet Jesus this game..... I can't wait until all of this stuff is public so we can all be on this level of excited that we are.

Oh good lord, hearing Yu talk about trying to get the smallest details just right... sends chills down the spine. And to think, the footage we saw was all pre-Keiji Okayasu arrival. I'm really curious how much more Shenmue it looks now.

What I personally want to stress for my part, is what makes Shenmue, Shenmue. - Keiji Okayasu

Beautiful times we live in.

Ummm..... what to say....

Meh, to be honest.... I know there's been a lot of discussion about character models over the past year and again, to be honest, I don't really care right now? Its not on my list of top priorities in the grand scheme of things at this point in time when I think about this game as a whole. They will look fine by the time the game is released, of that I have no doubts. I can say there is a lot of progress made, but that's about it. But it's not a concern I have at all. I think they are still in mocap stage and once that's all captured then I feel the pressure will be on to really focus on the models, but until then, they are all still in "testing", so I am not concerned with what models they use on websites, leaflets etc. We are not even halfway through production yet so, for me, I am not even thinking about models.

Just my 2 cents.

I think it's still the old model. They looked like the same old models in the footage we saw too. I should also note that Shenmue I and II characters were walking around in Choubu. Obviously placeholders, so the models just haven't been the priority yet. I'm assuming they wanted to flesh out the environments and work on gameplay mechanics first.

Thinking back, they've probably been working on Baisha from the start if we think back to that early screenshot with Ryo facing off against a guy in a suit in what looked like a tulou. I think Choubu is the only area where we haven't seen any footage publicly.

The concern i always had was whether or not they would be able to capture the spirit of the original games. When I eventually play Shenmue 3 i want it to feel like i'm authentically re-entering the world of 1&2, as opposed to just playing a generic Unreal 4 game with a shenmue skin, albeit with good graphics but still at some level an imperfect imitation. Unfortunately that original Ryo model didn't inspire confidence, but as we all know, making a judgment at such an early stage of development was completely unjustified.

I feel reassured when Peter says that, from what he has seen, this will be 'the full-on shenmue experience'.
I am glad that Suzuki is giving so much attention and taking such care in delivering to us the authentic Shenmue experience. :heart:

Just so you know, Cédric Biscay has confirmed once again that:
"There is no plan (today) for surprise or big update before december."

https://twitter.com/CedricBiscay/status ... 6037637120

BEFORE December...

Strangely enough, the lack of Shenmue III's had a massive impact on my life. Not in a "omg, I got like sooooo spiritual n deep n aware coz of this game" way, but in certain events transpiring as a direct result. In some respects, shit would've turned out for the better if it came out on the Dreamcast or Xbox or what the fuck ever, but I also wouldn't be the person I am today. I'd probably be equally as awesome, but things defo woulda been different.

This.

Also that Yu said there were far too many people working on Shenmue by the end of 2, plus I wouldn't have lived my life on here like a sad twat. Or had the opportunity to go to Japan in the scenario i did, meet Yu etc.

Plus the game itself.... Shenmue 3 by YSNET in Unreal hands down.

That was what I was hoping for. As long as I can make at least one fan feel better with the privelidged position I was in, then that was a success for me. I certainly don't want to be that guy who is like, "yea I seen stuff but I can't speak about it" for an ego boost or out of satisfaction. I'm not that way inclined. LanDC more or less covered what we seen. But at the same time, Harry and Yu said to please keep it to ourselves so it's a hard position for us to be in.

That's one side of the coin, like I said I don't like being a secretive guy, but on the other side, we know what's coming in terms of what each scene details, so our surprise is ruined. It's a situation where you make a sacrifice either way. So I just played the fence by trying my best to get you guys reassured and excited. That's what I took away from the entire experience, and not just a few minutes of non finished footage. Not what was on the screen, but the sheer fact that this really is a proper Shenmue game. Not a 15 year later interpretation, or a watered down Kickstarter game. This is as if you got the Dreamcast game in 2006 and it's just been made with a better engine. I cannot emphasise that enough, and I am counting down the days to December when I am sure we will all feel the same way.

https://s10.postimg.cc/6uozm06q1/IMG_20161014_130755_775.jpg

French fan site Shenmue Master has published its new interview with Shenmue III co-producer Cédric Biscay, which can be read in English at this link .

Cédric speaks of his role in the revival of the series, and again stresses the importance of Sega releasing new versions of Shenmue 1 & 2 on modern systems.

The campaign to #SaveShenmueHD in time for Shenmue III continues every 3rd of the month with the traditional Tweetathon. You can pre-load a message for automatic participation on the day at TeamYu.net/HD

I have to wonder sometimes; who exactly are the people keeping the Slacker Backer funding pulling in $1000+ per week on average? Surely it can't be dedicated fans doing a monthly funding drop.

It's probably a mix. I've seen people in the 500K group talk about donating on top of their KS pledge, but also people backing for the first time.

Shenmue ~ Sedge Tree (Game Version)

It's a great, in-depth article and should be a fairly great resource for those wondering what our friends at YS Net are going through and why updates are so slow.

http://www.vice.com/read/why-its-so-har ... video-game

Amazing new Shenmue video from the very talented "Dreamcaster's Tube"!

Yes there are items in the cache and an update is imminent, but they are not in the public domain so it would be wrong to post them. Everyone should see the update at the same time when it's released.
I don't expect a big update, I would say the less unimpressive the better to maximise the wow effect the following month. December is going to change the entire complexion and opinion of Shenmue 3.

Peter wrote: December is going to change the entire complexion and opinion of Shenmue 3.

Holy shit

Looks like update 61 will be up on monday. http://imgur.com/4gtkHrR.jpg
That's a surprise. Usually if it's in the cache it's due to go live the day after.

Hm. Bailu Village shots did show a pumpkin patch after all...

http://imgur.com/j3ibPg6.jpg
We may finally know what's on the other side of these pumpkins...

Kiske wrote: Don't worry Spaghetti, I'm not spoiling anything... just joking because it's Halloween on monday

Wow I guess you would be the perfect fortuneteller because, indeed, it's likely to happen Monday considering the content lol.

Can you say me what will be the trailer for December?

Don't worry Spaghetti, I'm not spoiling anything... just joking because it's Halloween on monday

What I mean by changing the complexion and opinion of Shenmue 3 is the general mellow relaxed, sometimes agtitated feelings of the fans considering we are 15 months since the Kickstarter finished, and all we have had is a very ropey tech demo from the announcement trailer, a few testing screens and some sweeping shots of Shenhuas home, and Bailu Village. Nothing major or over the top.

The trailer that will be shown will be a polished cut (I don't understand why people doubt what we have been told directly from the team) of what we were shown and I can only give my opinion on my own personal interpretation of it. Compared to having zero Shenmue 3 for 14 years and then a few teasing shots and videos since the Kickstarter, this video blew me away. Not just graphically that it actually looked like a quality design compared to what we have had, but also because somehow with a new engine and team, it still looked absolutely Shenmue. It looked like Shenmue on the Dreamcast with better graphics. There's a sort of trailer spoiler I can't reveal whatsoever which is right at the start, and when you see that right from the beginning, you will completely understand what I mean. This trailer will generate nothing but love from the fans because of these points alone. at least from a true Shenmue fan I hope.

But these are my opinions only. Whatever could be released next month and everyone hates it. That's completely possible, but as I've said from the start all I could do is assume a lot of Shenmue fans are like me and really know and love this series. All I could to is just try and reassure you all that this game is going to impress. For all I know E3 could happen all over, and they pull out of PSX last minute, but I very much doubt that. What we seen could have been released as we seen it! But Yu said he wasn't happy with some aspects. just one more month to go so please, be patient for a little while longer, and you will have buckets of info to micro analyse.

My face after Peter's post.



(Basically my face for the whole week-end )

Not really Spags....

See it's a shit position to be in, in a way. We were told not to say anything really, hence why I've just stuck to hinting. Now the reason we will have just been told not to say anything, as compared to signing an NDA, I assume was to not spoil the surprises. Thats also the same reason I don't want to reveal too much. I don't want to bust your excitement bubble and you know what's coming in a months time. It severely damages the impact of it when you see it.

This is a full trailer. LanDC has already said it's a reveal of all areas. Each so different than the last. The atmosphere, weather, scenery all so varied and absolutely nailed for the environment it represents. Also, there are some extras in there, not just demonstrations of the area's, but other aspects of a game. It's a very juicy trailer that will satisfy, and one you will replay over and over and over again.

I might even do a live recording of the event because I know my reaction will be the exact same as it was the first time I seen it. Just spectacular, and you will really value how much Yu is still at the helm of Shenmue, and that it wasn't passed onto another studio. Think back to the example I gave about the colour pallette. You will completely understand that when you see it.

I'm in the same boat. I want to fast forward through November also!

There's absolutely zero doubt in my mind the game being released on Steam was there from the very beginning. It's pretty much impossible it won't be on there.