Does anyone remember that fight in Shenmue 2 on top of Yellow Head Building when Dou Niu is running toward Ryo with 400 lbs. of force behind him? This is the climax of the Shenmue story thus far. Ryo has one last chance and takes it. He delivers the final counter elbow assault to Dou Niu.

http://www.30onthe3rd.com/images/dounui.jpg

With that one blow the next phase of his journey can continue without interference.

We are on top of that roof right now with the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter. This campaign is our Dou Niu. In order to give Yu Suzuki the chance to make the best Shenmue 3 possible we have to deliver that blow.

As I’ve said many times before, if you’ve donated to this Kickstarter you are a Shenmue saint. If you can squeeze out a little more from your budget great! If not, no worries, you've done your part and I know Yu is grateful. But if you’re holding out for PayPal, don’t! We have one last chance to make this happen. Don’t be deceived into assuming PayPal will happen. It very well could become a reality after the Kickstarter. But we just don’t know. All we know for sure is this Kickstarter ends July 17th. It all comes down to that day: The Final Blow.

Here is our new campaign logo:
http://www.30onthe3rd.com/images/tfb_logo.jpg
So spread the word far and wide. This is a critical period at end of the campaign when decisive action is needed. Pledge or upgrade your pledge NOW! - or possibly lose your chance forever! The quality and scale of Shenmue 3 is dependent on the Kickstarter’s overall success. The fate of Shenmue is in OUR hands now. Make your dreams come true!
#SaveShenmue #TheFinalBlow

EDIT
The website http://www.30onthe3rd.com/finalblow is now live! Let me know if you have any translations or corrections. I'll try to get the various timezone times up ASAP.

Yeah, I considered that too, although the KS ends Friday at 18.51hrs Pacific Time, which for 90% of the world is plenty late as the US West Coast is behind the rest of the Americas / Europe / world (except Hawaii). In Europe it'd actually be the 18th by that time and even for the West Coast it's reasonably late to allow people to remember. But, to be safe it could be made the 16th --- and let the 17th take the spill.


Yeah, I don't think we should concentrate on a specific time to donate. We need to just push the last day or two.


I do think "$30 on the 3rd" owed a lot of its success to its specific date; it focused people. I like your idea of a guide to upping pledges, I just wonder if a "reminder" of a deadline is strong enough motivation for something called "The Final Blow" (as Himuro said, Kickstarter will be reminding people anyway).

I'm in complete agreement with you. $30 on the 3rd is only considered a huge success because of the already established day thunderclap day and with the announcement of the physical PS4 reward. So I don't take credit at all for the enormous haul the 3rd brought in. But I'm still very happy with my $30 on the 3rd campaign.

Guys, I've updated the logo. It adds the days (Thursday & Friday) and makes the title pop a little more.

i've noticed on twitter that Team Yu are setting up an event on the 15th called 'Quick Timed Event'
http://teamyu.net/Shenmue.III?action=qte

they want all shenmue fans to go that page at a certain time on that date 'and make a few clicks', doesn't go into specifics other than there will be prizes. they even mention 'final blow to the kickstarter'
http://s15.postimg.org/ctjh2ci2j/QTE.png

Weird. Definitely looks like they took the general idea and ran with it. But that's fine. I think there's been a lot of hostility since $30 on the 3rd from some of the founders of #SaveShenmue because they felt I was highjacking the established tweetathon. I've just been trying to get the ball rolling with $30 on the 3rd and Final Blow. If someone wants to do their own thing that's fine. We're all in this for Shenmue. I'm interested in what the clicks will do.

How did Joel Tess go from a pariah to an idol? He was all that was wrong with the world after the first twitch. So why is he remembered so fondly now? I don't hate the guy but I think his actions certainly hindered the campaign.

Thief wrote: Don't be posting fake nonsense news about how Shenmue III is gunna be announced at e3 or nothin'. That shit will get you banned real quick.

Get your facts straight. It's Half Life 3. That's why Yu posted the forklift. Forklifts will be necessary to move crates of Half Life 3 copies.

There are reasons yes, none of which I am personally privy to. But you can imagine our situation is is slightly more complicated than your average Kickstarter.

Somehow I think this is referring to investors. There's no reason to start a Paypal if Coca-Cola(just an example) wants to give Yu $15 million go have Coke machines spread throughout China. It would be bad practice. Kickstarter is different because it's the initial push to show interest AND raise money.

Celebrating five years of marriage with my wife today I have to say: marriage is one of the best things that's happened to me. And sure the government has its say in what happens in marriage, but I see it as me binding myself to my wife for all eternity. I love her with all my heart. Do we have arguments? Yes. Do we agree on everything? No. Go talk to someone who is 90 and celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and ask them do they regret getting married.

It seems like so many people discount getting married because they don't see that in their future and it's better to criticize it rather than to face their own self doubt and realize it's just not the right time.

And don't get me started on kids. My daughter hung the moon and stars. I would do anything for her. Why? Because I'm her daddy and her daddy loves her. You say having kids doesn't make sense. Of course not from a financial standpoint. But if that's your basis for everything in life, have a good life! That is the most selfish way of thinking. And I'm all about saving money. But having children shouldn't be a question answered solely on finances.

And if you're a teenager I don't want to hear your opinion about marriage and children. Grow up and I'll listen then.

I can't think of any that happened to me off the top of my head but once when my wife and I went to Disney World there was a little boy, probably around 7 years old, crying at the front turnstiles of Magic Kingdom and I thought, "Nobody cries at Disney World." So I asked him what was wrong. It was obvious he was really upset, but I guess in the hustle and bustle of people trying to enter the park, nobody noticed him. He told me he lost his dad. So I went to a cast member and told them the boy's father was lost(children aren't lost at Disney, only parents). I stayed with him until they could find his dad. Turns out, "Dad of the Year" had gone on into the park without him. I saw the kid later and he was having fun. Felt like smacking the dad though.

I live in the south though, where southern hospitality is a part of life. So it would probably take a lot for me to really notice someone going the extra mile. I still hold the door open for women and children, and if it's a guy I'll hold it until they can get it. I guess it goes back to the Golden Rule for me.

That's pretty disheartening. I think Zelda will be finished this fall but the NX won't be ready to launch. So I think they'll hold the game to put the NX over at launch. They've had ample time to make a full Zelda game. They're stalling.

Insanely hard QTE to install.

Maybe you'll have to match it to the tree it came from in a future location for some plot purpose. Iwoa already buried the mirror under the cherry tree at the dojo, maybe that's his MO and the white leaf tree has something buried under it. Hopefully a handgun to easily kill Lan Di.

I don't mind the delay at all. I want them to make a game that won't just be the third game in a trilogy that will always remain a trilogy. I want them to make a game that leads the series to a fourth installment or more if that's what it takes. If ever there was a time to get a game right it's now. So much is riding on Shenmue 3. We don't want to have another situation where we're stuck in a cave except this time it's forever.

I think the guy should pursue legal action. CNN clearly blackmailed him for exercising his right to free speech. Is he interested to learn how they got his real name. If they used those investigatory skills into political corruption on BOTH sides they could win back their credibility. But they're too busy trashing Trump at every turn and looking for a redditor who made a gif.

I think Ryo will be skilled enough to kill Lan Di but he won't. Not at the end of Shenmue 3. Probably at the end of 4 or 5. He will be the one to break the cycle of revenge. Lan Di will also have a change of heart and help Ryo take down Tentei not for revenge but for the sake of protecting the world from the Chiyoumen. Lan Di will likely die in the process. This is how I see the games progressing.

Shenmue 3: Niao Sun
Shenmue 4: Second leader
Shenmue 5: Third leader and Lan Di
Shenmue 6: Tentei

I think Deep Silver must have been very impressed with what they saw concerning the development of Shenmue 3. They see this as a big investment in their own brand and want to be a part of something as big as Shenmue 3 could be. In order to secure the publishing deal they likely offered to invest more than just publishing the game. This is all speculation of course but everything seems very, very positive for Shenmue 3 and the series as a whole.

Based on other interviews Yu has said...

Chapter 1: Shenmue 1
Chapter 2: Boat to Hong Kong(not in game)
Chapter 3-6: Shenmue 2

I think with Shenmue 2 Yu had to cut a lot from each chapter to get to where he thought that game should end. He said in another interview a couple of years ago it would take 4-5 games to finish the story. So we're looking at Shenmue 5 being the last game. He would have to cut a lot to finish in Shenmue 4.

I want him to make at the most five games. The longer this series stretches the more likely we'll never know how it ends. If he can finish it in four games and tell the story he wants to tell I would be more than happy. In a perfect world he would get five games or even six if he had enough content. But realistically I think four to five games is all we should expect.

I think at this point he's going to make four for sure. He's already talking about production of Shenmue 4 after 3 is finished. They should be able to turn a good profit from 3 because we're the ones funding the majority of it. That should lead comfortably to 4. So if the profit is good for 4 we should be golden. If Shenmue 3 is well received I see Sega pushing its way into the production. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess it would be a good thing so long as they give Yu total control.

However, if Shenmue 3 flops I just hope Yu finds some way to at least tell us the rest of the story. I don't see it coming to that though.

I look at how the studios are coming on board production like Sony and Deep Silver. Granted Sony has been there since the beginning. But whatever Yu has shown must have impressed them.

Have we seen any other franchises that have been revisited after years of being dormant and have companies eager to join production? That wasn't really a question in order to make a point. I'm honestly asking.

I'm keeping my expectations low for Shenmue 3. I honestly don't expect a masterpiece but I don't think it will flop. I think Shenmue 3 is where Yu will gain a foothold with a solid game and a substantial profit which will lead to a much more fully realized Shenmue 4 and 5.

One thing that does concern me is how the gaming media will receive the game. I fully expect the big websites to criticize the game because either 1. They have no history with the franchise or 2. They just enjoy trashing fandoms they are no part of. I wish there was a way we could get out in front of this and let these places know we expect fairness when reviewing Shenmue 3. If it's a bad game, it's a bad game. But if it's a good game after 15+ years of dormancy but it's not the AAA people expect it to be, it's done what the majority of revisited franchises have failed miserably to do.

I think whatever we do it needs to involve toy capsules just like with the third of the month campaign. Not sure what we would do. The goal would need to be creating viral buzz with some public demonstration or display. A forklift made out of toy capsules? Sending capsules to GameStops for display?

This topic needs more activity though, because we live in a viral society and if we can capture the gaming world’s attention that would help our little game immensely.

These are exciting times we live in. I hope their sources are correct.

ahh,well i guess it had been discussed,i thought i might introduce and share some news which was pretty exciting to me.and had never heard of before,i woul;d have liked to include her name(had i actually known it)and included the link if i actually knew how.but i have no inclenation of passing this elitist bar in order to post.and u all wonder why people r so quick to burn shenmue.

Don’t worry about it man. It was buried in another thread. It probably deserved it’s own thread because it was so well hidden. They had to have known what they were doing to include 1/2 if the chiyoumen leaders in the trailer.

I don't know. Shenmue and Shenmue 2 were both technically commercial failures and they might not have wanted to risk it. But sega back then was different and they might've just said "f*** it. Let's just do it." They did make Shenmue 2, after all. That was a risk.

Wasn’t Shenmue only a commercial failure because the Dreamcast was a commercial failure? I saw a figure somewhere about the number of Shenmue copies sold being a pretty high percentage of the number of consoles sold. Had the Dreamcast sold better naturally Shenmue would have also. And the cost to develop the sequels would have been much cheaper than Shenmue 1.

I guess I’m not a real Shenmue fan because I never took the time to follow people and observe their daily routines. But if It’s between all NPCs having routines and full voice acting I’ll choose voice acting.

I hope it stays grounded in reality until the last possible moment. I think about Berserk before the egg thing was used by Griffith. That made such an impact because it was low fantasy until that and then it became high fantasy.

MiTT3NZ wrote: Finally finished HIMYM around the same time. Never felt so heartbroken in my life.

My wife and I hated how HIMYM ended. The saving grace was Barney’s final storyline. As the father of a little girl it made me tear up when he was in the hospital. Ted’s ending suuuuucked.

The question is how long will it be until Shenmue 4 is released?

I know this opinion isn't very popular, but I would like to see the series conclusion with the fourth game. At the very least, have the Ryo vs Lan Di vengeance story arc complete. If they want to branch off into something else, fine, but I want the original main story to be done so that I can have closure after 20 years of waiting.

I came here to say pretty much this. I want some degree of closure in Shenmue 3. Mainly with Lan Di. We all know by now Ryo won’t kill him. I hope 3 settles the score somehow. I don’t think that will happen but I don’t want it to be a Shenmue 2 scenario all over where we wait indefinitely for a sequel. If Shenmue 3 isn’t successful we’ll never get a fourth. Period. The prologue to the first game set up Lan Di as the villain. I want Ryo to defeat that villain in whatever way Yu envisions. In my mind that is the only resolution I care about. Anything else is icing on the cake. I know the story will continue with Tentei but I really only care about Lan Di right now.

Nobody wants to buy a new game and play the old game bundled with it first. That’s the reason ports HD remakes are so important before Shenmue 3 is released. I honestly don’t expect HD remakes. Ports make more sense from a financial standpoint. I can understand a game like Shadow of the Colossus being completely remade but Shenmue is so much more complicated. A remake would be best but I can’t see SEGA ponying up the money for it.

There’s no way Ryo can defeat Lan Di in Shenmue 3. I just feel like there’s way too much story left for the Lan Di arc to end. I imagine this is the outline of what will happen...

Shenmue 3
Ryo will fight muscle man and win
Ryo will fight Niao Sun and win
Ryo will fight Lan Di but lose

Shenmue 4
Ryo will fight the last chiyomen leader and win
Ryo will fight Lan Di and win but he won’t kill Lan Di
Ten Tei will be introduced
Lan Di and Ryo fight Ten Tei, Ren intervenes and dies, Ten Tei is killed by Lan Di or Ryo. Everyone walks off into the sunset

If Shenmue 3 sells really well I could see them stretching the story to Shenmue 5.