The Shenmue III Font

[Lawtowler]

I believe this is the first time AJ/YS have commented on the new Shenmue III font.

https://twitter.com/CedricBiscay/status ... 9094587393

I'm surprised to hear that tbh - I had assumed it was a legal issue with SEGA.

[Yokosuka]

Cédric Biscay : "This font is a YS decision."

Sega greedy again...

Anyway, I think we'll get the original font back for the release as YSnet got it for the E3 announcement. YSnet is using the Papyrus font just to save some precious money.

[johnvivant]

when i first saw it i didn't like it very much, but over time its grown on me. however if they come up with something better or revert to the classic font i wouldn't complain.

it was strange to change it now seeing as the first 2 games shared the same font.

[MiTT3NZ]

I thought it was a case of AJ throwin together some shite-lookin graphics for the campaign. Actually looks fan-made.

[Giorgio]

This is the normal Shenmue III and official font for the logo:



However, from what I guess, they are not using here and there, because of licensing agreements with SEGA.

[Amir]

Cedric seems to make it pretty clear in that tweet that it's Suzuki's choice; there was a pretty crappy font for the Shenmue: The Movie title screen, too, as talented as he is I guess he just doesn't really know what fonts appeal to Western audiences.

[Lawtowler]

Cedric seems to make it pretty clear in that tweet that it's Suzuki's choice; there was a pretty crappy font for the Shenmue: The Movie title screen, too, as talented as he is I guess he just doesn't really know what fonts appeal to Western audiences.

That's the way I interpreted it. I don't get why anyone would consider it a smart move to change it anyway

[Giorgio]

Cedric seems to make it pretty clear in that tweet that it's Suzuki's choice; there was a pretty crappy font for the Shenmue: The Movie title screen, too, as talented as he is I guess he just doesn't really know what fonts appeal to Western audiences.

I think it depends on how Cedric's tweet is being interpreted, especially based on past experiences (e.g. the font from Shenmue: The Movie). What decision? Stylistic? Legal? Something else? That is not clear; Cedric's words could also be evasive on an explanation or he doesn't really know.

Furthermore, the normal logo was used in the Shenmue 3 trailer at Sony's E3 2015 press conference. Considering the normal logo is present in the assets of their website, it could be indicative there is some reason (other than stylistic) that Ys Net has decided to not use it for the moment.

Even SD user "Jibby" had to replace the normal logo with the papyrus font one, as well as put copyright symbols of SEGA in his fan made explanatory Shenmue III Kickstarter video.

Personally, I believe the reason the normal logo is not used is because it is copyrighted by SEGA. And, thus, Ys Net needs special permission/permit/approval by SEGA to use it every time they want to. That's a hassle to get into and it requires time.

Therefore, to avoid the cumbersome requesting, they made and use a replacement that it will allow them to use it freely anywhere, without they need to ask SEGA every time.

[punkmanced]

Changes fonts…yet keeps Awesome Japan on board.
Sounds like our main man needs a sit down

[Jibby]

I often wonder if Yu plans on bringing back the little touches in Shenmue eg. the subtitles font with the blue and brown outlines, the same QTE sounds, and the same inventory/menu screen as the previous two games.
I think this new logo suggests that this may not be a case which is sad as I always thought it was these little things made Shenmue feel so familiar. (That is, if it's a personal decision by YS and not one a legal one as outlined by Giorgio.)

[Master Mo]

I thought I was the only one having a massive issue with the font they are currently often using. I love consistency and I would have loved them to keep the tradition of changing the color of the logo but not change its style.

As others stated though they did use the great original logo font in the announcement video (which looks great!):



So it is very weird that they don`t use it at all since then...

Also it would be very hard for me to understand that SEGA would let YS use Shenmue as a property with all its characters and such but would have an issue if they use this particular font.

[belinho]

I really don't want to defend AJ, because i think they really should have done a better job all around (man, those typos in every update), but once again it's proven that some things people pin on them is just a YS decision, like this one. Time and time again people here and other places blamed AJ for the use of the font, just like the paypal delay debacle, which we also got info saying it wasn't AJs fault.

Same thing is happening regarding the poll results that just came out. I really don't understand how someone can think that everything Shenmue3 mustn't go through Yu himself... Maybe it's a defence mechanism or something. Maybe next time we shouldn't jump the gun on them...

[Kiske]

There's an ongoing poll on Twitter about the Shenmue vs Shenmue 3 font:
https://twitter.com/ShenmueForever/stat ... 5096943616

[Yokosuka]

There's an ongoing poll on Twitter about the Shenmue vs Shenmue 3 font:
https://twitter.com/ShenmueForever/stat ... 5096943616

Anyway, if YS ever wants to get rid of the old logo, they would hire a professional graphic designer to make a new one instead using the Papyrus font.

[Spaghetti]

Cedric seems to make it pretty clear in that tweet that it's Suzuki's choice; there was a pretty crappy font for the Shenmue: The Movie title screen, too, as talented as he is I guess he just doesn't really know what fonts appeal to Western audiences.

I think it depends on how Cedric's tweet is being interpreted, especially based on past experiences (e.g. the font from Shenmue: The Movie). What decision? Stylistic? Legal? Something else? That is not clear; Cedric's words could also be evasive on an explanation or he doesn't really know.

Furthermore, the normal logo was used in the Shenmue 3 trailer at Sony's E3 2015 press conference. Considering the normal logo is present in the assets of their website, it could be indicative there is some reason (other than stylistic) that Ys Net has decided to not use it for the moment.

Even SD user "Jibby" had to replace the normal logo with the papyrus font one, as well as put copyright symbols of SEGA in his fan made explanatory Shenmue III Kickstarter video.

Personally, I believe the reason the normal logo is not used is because it is copyrighted by SEGA. And, thus, Ys Net needs special permission/permit/approval by SEGA to use it every time they want to. That's a hassle to get into and it requires time.

Therefore, to avoid the cumbersome requesting, they made and use a replacement that it will allow them to use it freely anywhere, without they need to ask SEGA every time.

This all seems a likely explanation, but I don't expect to know the full story unless someone directly asks Yu. Anybody going to Monaco might want to bring this up (politely, of course).

EDIT: It could also just be they had the papyrus font mocked up early on before they'd fully agreed the ins and outs of what they can do with materials with Sega and have yet to retire it. It's not like the old logo didn't show up recently either, it was down in the bottom left corner of Yu's slides at the Chinese event he was at.