Shenmue Dojo

We had some mixed info.

Choubu been "as big" as doubita, the forest being 2km^2 (now 4km^2), and that it has three areas...

I really hope that Shenmue III will be around 10 hours at a steady speed. With room for discoveries on a second playthrough.

I don't really care about fluffing up content for the sake of hours.

My favourite game is the first one, and if you don't take in filler (wasting hours, or the forklift job) can be done in around 8 hours.

Do you have any expectations/guesses ?

At 0:51:35 in the Nico Nico interview, from Yu himself:
"Now at this point I don't know whether Shenmue III will have 30 hours of playtime or 60 hours".

Please be aware that there are some huge spoilers in this video if you haven't seen it yet, so view at your own discretion.

shredingskin wrote: We had some mixed info.

Choubu been "as big" as doubita, the forest being 2km^2 (now 4km^2), and that it has three areas...

I really hope that Shenmue III will be around 10 hours at a steady speed. With room for discoveries on a second playthrough.

I don't really care about fluffing up content for the sake of hours.

My favourite game is the first one, and if you don't take in filler (wasting hours, or the forklift job) can be done in around 8 hours.

Do you have any expectations/guesses ?

10 hours would be terrible. shenmue 1 was 20 hours? shenmue 2 nearly double?

Probably as long as you want it, until you get the bad end. It's hard to pin down how long these games are on average because of the capacity to waste hours just enjoying the world.

Ultimately though, I wouldn't say it ends up much shorter than the original if you bee-line through the story, but it depends. We really don't know how long sections of the game are yet.

The rapport system might contribute to make it quite long, possibly even longer than Shenmue II.

On the strict story plan, now we know that it will up to Shenmue II at least :

Shenmue I = one chapter (1)
Shenmue II = one and a half chapters (2, 5)
Shenmue III = one and a half chapters (5, 6)

Yokosuka wrote: On the strict story plan, now we know that it will up to Shenmue II at least :

Shenmue I = one chapter (1)
Shenmue II = one and a half chapters (2, 5)
Shenmue III = one and a half chapters (5, 6)

Your chapter breakdown is slightly off here's how it really goes if we're going by Yu Suzuki's plans.

Shenmue I = 1 chapter (Yokosuka) Introduction/Sadness
Shenmue II = 2 1/2 chapters (3 Hong Kong, 4 Kawloon, first half of 5 Guilin) Development/Departure
Shenmue III = 1 1/2 chapters (second half of 5 Guilin, 6 Bailu Village/Lan Di fight) Development/Fight
Shenmue IV 5 Chapters (7, 8, 9, 10, 11) Conclusion/Starting Afresh

Its relevant to the scripting and pacing of the plot primarily. The size of the sandbox is just an extension of that. Take a movie script, and write lines based on the people you ask a question to. That's what makes up the Shenmue notebook. You could run between 2 NCPs asking questions in 2 different gaming areas for 60 hours and it will be classed as a long game. But Shenmue has a lot of variety, so it all depends on the plot and scenario.

I don't even wanna think about it. Rarely participating on the forums these days due to spoilers which are already coming thick and fast.

I don't mind how long it is... I'll probably end up exploring the world and spending time in it with out mainly progressing the story... Im going to savour this game lol

Personally I want quality over quantity. If it took me 4-6 hours to finish it probably wouldn't bother me. In a perfect world I would want it to be like 20 or 40 hours on the first play through. If its length and depth of content is similar to Shenmue 1 then I'll be satisfied.

I'm just gonna have Ryo stand there in Bailu Village for a good 5 minutes just taking the enormity of it all in. We're here and we did it at long last, dreams have become a reality.

Tuet0ne wrote: I don't mind how long it is... I'll probably end up exploring the world and spending time in it with out mainly progressing the story... Im going to savour this game lol

Because of the attention Yu Suzuki and his team put in the first 2 Shenmue, that was an important part of the experience. I just hope they will be able to put as much detail in Shenmue 3. Just saying.

I just hope it's at least a similar length to the first or second game.

30 - 60 hours is an interestingly wide estimate from Yu Suzuki though. I wonder what the implications of 60 hours would be and I wonder why it's either 30 or 60, but nothing in between? Perhaps it's a minor mistranslation.

Shenmue I is considerably shorter than 2.

If you take out the waiting and the mandatory 5 day forklift job is around 8 hours at a steady pace (knowing the game).

I just don't want a game with a lot of filler, I prefer a 10/12 hour game, than a 60 hour game with meaningless subquests (I don't think YS will ever go that route).

Reprise wrote:30 - 60 hours is an interestingly wide estimate from Yu Suzuki though. I wonder what the implications of 60 hours would be and I wonder why it's either 30 or 60, but nothing in between? Perhaps it's a minor mistranslation.

My sense from the way Yu spoke was that he wasn't giving estimates, but was just putting out a couple of examples to illustrate that he wasn't yet sure (back in July) how much gameplay they would be able to achieve - although they can possibly be taken as a hint at the kind of range he had in mind.