I'm not sure what's the big deal with these cutscenes being widescreen or not. Wasn't the whole Shenmue HD thing a mean to generate serious interest outside the core fanbase towards the third game and revitalize the brand? It's not like most here never played a HD version of these games already. Newcomers will likely see this game for what it really is, straight forward HD ports of almost 20 years old games, $15 per game... just a little bit more than having a port of GTA: San Andreas on your smartphone. Not having widescreen for cutscenes might even work in favor for the modern gamer as it can work as a visual cue for putting the controller down. There are already talks about skipping time in Shenmue 1 and having a side map on screen, so it's not much of a stretch imo.

And unfortunately, Shenmue is not Metal Gear or Uncharted. Those franchises actually turn a profit for their publishers. If Sega was really serious about dumping money on Shenmue HD, we wouldn't have had to wait two decades for the company to start doing something with the series after throwing the franchise's future to the whims of crowdfunding. Let's be thankful we are having something right now. Down the road, if Shenmue HD turns out great sales wise from gamers in general, Sega might be convinced to hire someone like the folks at Bluepoint and have an actual remake a la SOTC. When you think about that prospect, stuff like widescreened cutscenes on HD ports are such minor issues to be worried about. Well, at least that's my two cents on the issue.

^ Can't blame them. People tend to be mesmerized on graphics and plot over anything else, trying hard to tie games' cinematic value as close to film, and so validating their hobby as art.

Haven't played it yet, but the vibes I'm getting from the game are the same ones I got from playing Horizon Zero Dawn, terrific on presentation but only okay everywhere else.

Just came across a very old tv show focused on videogames (and recently uploaded on Youtube) with a Shenmue segment on it. There's a small interview with Yu Suzuki and even a snippet of him doing martial arts choreography for the game! The show refers Yu as Game Guru for Sega Japan! :D Gold.

https://youtu.be/m_DegC2vwFA?t=293

^^^ oh wow that is alot of papers for a day of work. I can't really wait for a story trailer and gameplay footage. How long does the voice work last for a video game?

It will depend on how much dialogue said character will have, but apparently according to a professional an hour worth of finished recorded dialogue averages 5 hours of work for the voice actor plus 2 hours of editing per finished hourly dialogue. That is, if it's done professionally. Amateur or heavily budget constrained work will take way less time as the director might only opt for one take per line and be done with it.

Hum, all of this make me curious :
How much time worth of dialog will there be stored in the game ?
How much was it for SH1 and SH2 ?

I did a little digging around and found out that for the first game the script had about 42,000 lines of dialogue and a count of 330,000 English words, according to this community gaming database . If you take the average reading speed of 180 words per minute, the entire Shenmue 1 would have roughly over 30.5 hours of recorded dialogue audio. More surprisingly, the script was bigger than RPGs like the first Mass Effect and Tales of Vesperia!

Hopefully Shenmue 3's budget will hold and we can have once again a fully voiced game.

It seems to be impossible to find any pictures of the Dorikore version.
Does the cover it even look different, like the rest of this rerelease lineup?

It's just the standard edition with a sticker slapped onto it, labeled Dorikore and maybe an extra spine. I have it and would take a pic of it but I just moved, so that discounted version is buried somewhere among other piles of stuff. I will post a pic whenever I find it, but it is really nothing to write home about. I guess it's uncommon because like the limited edition the sticker was on top of a shrink wrap, so it is hard to locate a mint condition one nowadays.

Edit: Found a pic while browsing...
http://i57.tinypic.com/wsaesl.jpg

In the grand scheme of things, Shenmue was one of those wish scenarios of what if a talented game designer was given basically a blank cheque to do whatever he wanted for as long as he deemed necessary for a sole game project. Thus came Shenmue, a dream come true for any young videogame enthusiast like myself at the time looking for the most immersive gaming experience they could get their hands on. That itself is special because looking forward, how many more insanely high budget and ahead of its time games like Shenmue was in 1999 will we even have from now on, specially without the strings of having to inflate them with live service and microtransactions?

Previously banned member, alt account and the usual shitposting which will not be part of the site.

I can understand you are trying to keep excessive trolling out of the site, but may I ask what is exactly the level of shitposting acceptable in here from now on? The Haruto guy might have been a previous offender but the way I see it now his posts are pretty harmless specially when stacked with his contribution to the gaming section with new trailers and news. So once members are banned, will they be lockout for life? Do we get any warnings? Shouldnt the forum have some kind of guideline for tone and humour acceptable while posting? I don't get why even old time regulars Himuro and Bluecast were banned (or remain so). I'm asking because I'm kinda wary of attempting any lame jokes or even engage on any controversial discussions at the chance of being misunderstood as trolling or creating drama, when there were no such restrictions a year or so ago.

Hello Backers!

The long wait for the surveys is now over and we are happy to announce that surveys begin today.

You will receive an email from Fangamer at the email address you have registered with Kickstarter for Kickstarter backers, or either your PayPal or Shenmue.link registered email for Slacker Backers. The email contains a link to your survey with the questions needed for your rewards. Here you will confirm your preferred game platform and other rewards, write your guestbook message, credit name etc., and get to us all of your info that will be in the game and to get ready for release and delivery!

https://ksr-video.imgix.net/assets/021/726/535/e4620f2e7d7ef5c99b70dfb8b613430e_h264_high.mp4
　　

Who Gets a Survey?

Surveys will go out to all backers who pledged on Kickstarter and those who pledge on the Slacker Backer up through August 13, 2018 at 11:59PM JST (7:59AM PDT).

*Backers will receive an email with instructions for the survey once preparations are complete. Surveys from Fangamer will be sent within 10 business days from the date of your pledge.

　　

When will Surveys close?

Surveys will close Septempber 30, 2018 at 11:59PM JST (7:59AM PDT). We please ask that everyone respond by this time. We need your responses for game production and reward manufacturing, so make sure to respond within the survey period.

　　

Can I Upgrade My Reward?

Reward upgrades (and add-ons!) will be available through the Fangamer survey site. We have received many requests asking about possible reward tier upgrades and add-ons, and now is the chance! *Please note that upgrades are available up to the $250 tier level.

For more information on the available upgrades and add-ons, please visit Shenmue 3 on Fangamer .

　

Which Reward Tiers can be Upgraded?

Reward tiers differ between the Kickstarter and Slacker Backer campaigns, so please see below which reward tiers can be upgraded.

*Backers who selected "No Reward" during the Kickstarter are also eligible for this service.

　

Kickstarter Reward Tiers that can be Upgraded

US$5 Shenmue Lives

US$29 Digital Copy

US$39 Save Shenmue Digital Upgrade

US$60 Physical Copy - PC

US$60 Physical Copy - PS4

US$80 S3 World Telecom

US$100 Shenmue 3 Trial Version

US$120 Toy Capsules "I Should Buy One"

US$160 Bonus Pack

US$175 Printed Art Book

US$250 Kickstarter Collector's Edition

　　

Slacker Backer Reward Tiers that can be Upgraded

US$13 Digital Soundtrack

US$29 Digital Copy for PC or PS4

US$30 Shenmue 3 T-shirt

US$60 Physical Copy for PC or PS4

US$100 Shenmue 3 Trial Version

US$120 Toy Capsules "I should buy one."

US$160 Bonus Pack

US$175 Printed Art Book

US$250 Shenmue Collector's Edition

　　

$7M Stretch Goal in Reach!

The Kickstarter and Slacker Backer campaigns combined currently stand at $6.9M. We are almost at the $7M stretch goal for the AI Battling battle system expansion! This is the last chance for stretch goals and we ask for your continued support!

*The Slacker Backer campaign and upgrades & add-ons through Fangamer will end on August 13th.

　

Battle System Expanded: AI Battling

This control system lets you automatically unleash the perfect technique in response to the opponent's positioning and distance. R&D for this system is based on Yu Suzuki's concept for players who are not used to fighting games or for those who want a full immersion battle experience. This battle system is highly compatible with the current battle system, and will be implemented upon reaching the stretch goal.

We would like to thank everyone for your patience and the inquiries you sent in anticipation of the survey roll out!

Once we have your responses in, we will continue to move forward with in-game implementation and manufacture ordering. This is a wonderful moment with the dev team and backers taking the project forward together! We'll be looking forward to your responses!!

　　

　　

---------- General Information ----------

Shenmue 3 Backer Survey

Backer surveys are now underway. For information on your survey, please see the email sent to you by Fangamer. Shenmue 3 can only be completed with your responses! Thank you for your cooperation!!

Please complete or make any necessary changes to your survey by these dates.

・August 13 (MON) 2018: Last day of Slacker Backer campaign, reward upgrades and add-ons

・September 30 (SUN) 2018: Surveys close

For further information, please visit:

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We have a few notes to consider when choosing your platform. Also, if there would be any major changes in the requirements for either the PC or PS4 versions, the platform selection question of the survey is scheduled to remain open.

　

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Your PS4 region will be decided with your "Country" selection. Please note, if the disc region differs from PS4 system region, the unit itself, PlayStation™Network online services or DLC may not function properly.

　

System Requirements for PC Version

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7x64, Windows 8x64, Windows 10x64 (64-bit OS Required)

Processor: Intel Core i5-4460 (3.40 GHz) or better; Quad-core or better

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti or better (DirectX 11 card & VRAM 2GB

Required)

DirectX: Version 11

Network: Broadband internet connection

Storage: 100 GB available space

Sound card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

Additional Info: Requires Steam Client to activate.

*Game is currently in development so system requirements may change without notice. We thank you for your understanding.

　

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^ I don't think you have to worry about it. I've had many Kickstarter purchases prior to Shenmue 3, including some handled by Fangamer itself, sent to Canada where I currently live and not a single custom charge was given. Kickstarter is basically a donation site before anything else.

*If that wasn't the case I'd feel sorry for Peter and others who put 10K into it.

Just a matter of perspective. Maybe they could have done 4k, but would it matter much? Personally do I want to see how muddy some of the textures are and exacerbate how old this game really is graphically speaking in even finer detail? Not really as it's not a remake, just a HD enhancement as it is being advertised.

Is this a lazy port by d3t? I can't tell because I don't know the budget d3t was working with like AG mentioned. But I don't really think so, as they could just have used emulation and be done with it.

About the 4:3 cutscenes, those are Yu's cinematography at play. Others have pointed out before how old films originally 4:3 scanned to widescreen ended up showing stuff not meant to be seen like camera crews and out of place objects, in the end changing the original intended atmosphere of the scene. Well, the same can be said here as npcs shown in the 16:9 emulation, not meant to be seen in the original frame shot, are frozen in place as example. Even worse as the draw of extra geometry already shows distracting artifacts in the emulation, who is to say that in the engine d3t worked with it won't break the game? Either way, changing the original ratio of the constructed shot cutscenes is the same as changing Yu's original artistic vision imo.

Another thing I see it being complained about in other forums is the 30 fps. Well, besides being hard coded I believe it's tied to the time system in the game and it would mess with its mechanics and probably break the physics in the game. I'd imagine Shenmue HD 60 fps looking like this in execution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agl6eoJ84jk

Anyway, I'm stocked for the release of Shenmue 1 & 2 HD not because of me playing it, but it is finally the chance the franchise ever had to draw in new fans towards Shenmue 3 and beyond. And I'm confident the newcomers won't nitpick these games that are nearly as old as they probably are.

It makes sense that this is a Wonder Festival item as most never heard of these figures before. To clarify, Wonder Festival is the biggest toy figure convention in Japan. The event hosts official figure releases and also sale of amateur work. It appears that these figures fall in the latter case, as I don't see a Sega mention or reference. If so they are likely not an official licensed Sega product (garage kit).

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/021/987/714/72ca8373a797ad46bd2a4a87a6529b12_original.jpg?w=639&fit=max&v=1532329681&auto=format&q=92&s=d118ecd2b624e0a620ca15f7e5d8eddc

Okay, now if you tell you are not excited about Shenmue 3 after looking at that pic you must be dead inside.

However... where are the hidden gems of this generation? I see a lot of indie games but these have a tendency to look and feel quite similar between themselves as they adhere strongly to the "retro-inspired" trope. I haven't been able to otherwise identify too many, especially made in Japan games, and my "shopping list" right now has only two: Polybius and Dangerous Golf (none of which are japanese of course). I would definitely add Hollow Knight to that list as well, which I already have. Which others can you recommend? What am I missing?

Yeah, not sure what exactly criteria you are using but there are plenty either way... I've only completed a very few of these titles as for most of them I've only played to a certain extent, but I'm very confident they are gems: Planetary Annihilation (RTS and one of the best ever), Divinity Origin Sin 1 & 2 (probably the most faithful representation of pen and paper RPGs), Talos Principle (puzzle adventure not unlike the Portal series, but way better IMO). Rust (online survival FPS... you will not see the brilliance of this game with just a few hours of gameplay) and Wonderful 101 (such an underrated PlatinumGames title. Most see it as just an action brawler, but this game is more akin to a fighting game in its mechanics if you know what you are doing. Play Vanquish too while you are at it if you haven't).

If the budget must be rubbish like most in the indie scene and it has to be Japanese, then try this mobile shmup made by an ex-Cave employee, Aka to Blue. Though not Japanese, I also recommend Pathologic and Factorio.