No Shenmue 3 Until E3 2017!!!

[Himuro]

to the lack of actual game updates

You keep saying this even though it isn't true.

It's like the updates are done only for Shenmue fans rather than communicating anything about the game to newcomers. It's like, why should anyone besides Shenmue fans buy the game? According to the updates I'm not seeing any reason at all. I find it all piss poor, being honest.

This. And that sucks hard because there will come the day we have to point out this reason for the poor sales this game will continue to have.

Indeed. There's so much they could be doing to build hype.

For example, I'd make a ten minute video once a month to give non-fans a reason to be invested. Make a ten minute video interview, Iwata Asks style, asking Yu and Oyasu about Shenmue III's themes, what will help it stand out. Or maybe do a ten minute interview with various backers of different levels to see why they're excited for Shenmue III. The next one could be about the history of Shenmue and its origins. They could why China and why Yu has such a deep connection to the country.

I would personally also do a new game item a month feature where they show a new game item each month. A new npc, a new house, a new model of Ryo's jacket. This could give some members of the team something new to strive for once a month and boost morale among the team.

There's so much they could be doing to keep backers engaged and hopefully spread hype about the game even without any footage to show. But it feels like they're just coasting.

These are things I came up with on the spot by the way. If 8-4 were doing this I promise things would far more active and interesting.

[BlackHeaven]

Even blueprints would do it. it's all about creating images in the potential buyers minds.

I for example am a SURE buyer because I imagine the fun that I will have with the game, because I know the previous ones and can link my good emotions to them.

But a newcomer has nothing in his hands but a friggin question mark.

How are battles looking? How about the models? They got a picture of Pumpkins really...

I am not complaining it is just fact. how many people lost their shit at e3 2015? An what was that?

Because we have imagined what the game will be based on fond memories newcomers don't have

[Himuro]

Fact of the matter is that just last week Spaghetti said people have completely forgotten Shenmue III exists and yet here we are.

People have forgotten about it because the team haven't given anyone a reason to give a shit. You can cite that it takes other games ages to make headway in development and that's true but they still give people a reason to give a shit. They don't just sit there all quiet saying "we're working on it" which is bloody obvious. People mention FFVII wasn't at PSX this year but we've seen FFVIIR gameplay just last year. It was like a minute long but it got people hyped. Shenmue needs that to stay relevant. But somehow pointing this fact out - yes, fact - means we're complaining when this game and this series@ future depends on it.

If it were on this games marketing team I would have made an environment trailer and showed it at PSX. People say that's not enough, but meanwhile, Red Dead Redemption 2's reveal trailer was nothing but atmospheric stuff like dogs barking and a dude climbing a horse and riding into the sunset. That's all they really need to remind people that "hey, we're still here." But then some goofballs say to delay the game so it doesn't fight with other games like RDR2. All while ignoring that Shenmue III literally has no presence at all in the media and will bomb, RDR 2 or not.

But hey, we're just complaining.

And when pressed, Cedric has no idea what's going on as much as anybody else but somehow we're supposed to trust him as a producer when it should be their priority to make this a success. Cedric seems too concerned with being a fan (being hands off with Suzuki for example) than a producer who wants a return in his investment.

[Spaghetti]

Fact of the matter is that just last week Spaghetti said people have completely forgotten Shenmue III exists and yet here we are.

And again, as you continually ignored, I said this is not actually a bad thing.

Citing Square Enix as a model to follow in this area shows just how fucking far off the deep end you've both gone.

[shredingskin]

I don't know any game that has 10 minutes updates every month, specially ones that are more than a year away (and less than a year in actual development).

But yeah, I guess that's the way to go.

It's really childish behavior, come on, we're all grown ups.

[Himuro]

I don't know any game that has 10 minutes updates every month, specially ones that are more than a year away (and less than a year in actual development).

But yeah, I guess that's the way to go.

It's really childish behavior, come on, we're all grown ups.

It's only childish to you because you are more willing to insult than discuss.

My logic is that they could use the footage after the development to make a Shenmue III documentary. But hey, so childish.

[BlackHeaven]

Yep they told us that they were testing various mocap systems and that they will tell the backers which one they chose .... but yeah I think they haven't decided yet. but that's my problem: I have to think, assume and guess just all of you

I know it's a little thing but just an example for my point.

[BlackHeaven]

*just like all of you



Sorry for my English

[shredingskin]

My logic is that they could use the footage after the development to make a Shenmue III documentary. But hey, so childish.

Ok, if you think that crying over getting a trailer (that we already had before) it's not childish, then I will call it for what it is: plainly stupid.

Yes, it's stupid to have a 10 minute update every month, the reason that no one does it it's because it's stupid, it's called consumer burnout. That's why publishers try not to show things early (and if they do, they wait it out after), that's why you just get a teaser, then a couple of trailers and a week before launch you get info, to ride the wave.

Have you seen DF adventure documentary ? it's part of why the game got out of funds, it's expensive to have a couple of cameras, an editor and a sound guy to do a semi-decent documentary (and they got the budget of the KS into account before producing it), and one cheaply done would just deter consumers (by burnout and because of quality).

Everyone fucking prefers time/resources actually spent in the fucking game and not in some fucking video.

Yes, they could do some bullshit polls, and whatnot, would be nice, no one really cares that much to be crying about it like you, so yeah, stupid and childish it's pretty fucking accurate.

Really, it's just fucking bitching about pretty much nothing.

[sand4fish]

I will try to be really thorough this time. I noticed some here took Bloodstained KS to compare and critique on that of what is being done in Shenmue 3. As I am a backer of both projects, you should know that Bloodstained has a total of three entire development studios behind the game and a playable demo already available for the backers. That's why there's much to talk about it at the moment. I have mentioned before that there was some serious outside investment on this project behind the scenes. That's just the power draw that a Castlevania title (not officially but) can command.

Unfortunately that's not the case for Shenmue. Let's not pretend the series has been a commercial success. Right now it's being developed solely by Ysnet, a company which most of their work (if not all) comprises of mobile titles (correct if I am wrong). It's seriously understaffed for a project like Shenmue 3 (they are still hiring after all if you look at their website). Basically what you are looking is: one development team versus three, one fully 3D game with the size of a small town roughly vs a 2D sidescrolling platform. What about the difference in game mechanics? That's an entire level of complexity apart from each other. Do you see the disparity on scope versus resources? You just can't have Shenmue 3 at the same speed process as that of Bloodstained (marketing or development wise). That's like trying to squeeze water from a stone. Wanna really run Yu Suzuki dry till the man loses all the remaining hair he still has? That's cruel.

But why not show some footage of some kind at PSX just to please and reassure backers that the project is on track? Sure, showcasing gameplay of of two twitchy wireframed Minecraft characters fighting each other on a background made on MS Paint or release a new trailer based on the models of that "awesome" early E3 footage could surely gain the hearts of new adopters and appease the existing fan base. But well, Yu decided not to. What are we gonna do? Complain? By the way, I didn't actually see that much of exposure from Bloodstained on the big events like you guys expect Shenmue 3 to have.

Now on the failings of Shenmue 3 campaign. Are you kidding me? What failings? All I saw was one shy dude (Yu) and his small team managing to snag a known IP from Sega and put into crowdfunding in front of one of the biggest gaming events in the world, and breaking a world record in the end with the help of a clumsy group called Awesome Japan (they were part of it after all and hired by Yu with his own money). To date, the project managed to attain most of the key staff from the original games, including the original voices (English and Japanese) of the protagonist! To top it all, it's one of the very few Kickstarters that managed to retain the original IP name and not be one of those spiritual successor bs titles. This is no short of a miracle and a great accomplishment by Yu Suzuki and his team.

What about promoting the game? Well, if the initial E3 in US was not enough, how about MAGIC Monaco and China's Chuapp Conference? That's basically worldwide reach, and a stroke of a genius (reaching out for an untapped huge market). Do you guys really know that many crowdfunding projects that had that much success? I sure don't.

[Xandui]

I think a lot of folks underestimate how much time/effort it takes to push out content like everyone is suggesting. I'd personally rather get these half assed updates knowing the team is focusing on dev effort rather than really elaborate updates that distract them from the important stuff.

And lets be real, some artwork/blueprints/interviews isn't exactly gonna set the press on fire (shenmue never got it easy from the press anyways) or remind anyone beyond ourselves about this project's existence. And to all the folks stressing about them raising more money, they've clearly never been serious about that paypal option and seemed to only do it to appease fan demands. Yu was pretty clear that they set out to make a game that fits the budget they finished the kickstarter with so I'm not surprised to see they aren't aggressively marketing in hopes of more contributions.

Also like many folks have pointed out YsNet is basically a new studio that has published nothing of note and clearly has no marketing chops whatsoever. I dont know why folks are holding them to such high standards with these updates when we know this studio basically didnt exist before the kickstarter and all the big hires seem pretty development-centric (as i'd like them to be).

I do think we'll see something before e3, feels like a super long stretch to get nothing. If we're post-e3 and either havent seen anything substantial or what we've seen is lackluster, it's probably time to freak out, but right now just feels so premature.

[LanDC]

We're not going to have to wait till E3. Unless something drastically changes, the next Kickstarter update will include the footage Peter and I saw on the bus. After Yu showed us the footage, he said everyone would be seeing it (and more) "in December." He never specified PSX, but Peter and myself clearly thought that's what he meant. The last $10,000 dinner was already confirmed for San Francisco on the week of PSX, so it seemed like a no-brainer. But this goes to show that we should never expect anything until we have 100% official facts, no matter how logical what we're expecting may seem. Let's keep a cool head and wait a few more weeks! We'll see this month's update sooner than usual, I'd imagine. The team should be afforded a good holiday break, so they won't even be there to update on the very last day again.

[ShenGCH]

We're not going to have to wait till E3. Unless something drastically changes, the next Kickstarter update will include the footage Peter and I saw on the bus. After Yu showed us the footage, he said everyone would be seeing it (and more) "in December." He never specified PSX, but Peter and myself clearly thought that's what he meant. The last $10,000 dinner was already confirmed for San Francisco on the week of PSX, so it seemed like a no-brainer. But this goes to show that we should never expect anything until we have 100% official facts, no matter how logical what we're expecting may seem. Let's keep a cool head and wait a few more weeks! We'll see this month's update sooner than usual, I'd imagine. The team should be afforded a good holiday break, so they won't even be there to update on the very last day again.

What a fantastic Christmas present that would be

[Rikitatsu]

We're not going to have to wait till E3. Unless something drastically changes, the next Kickstarter update will include the footage Peter and I saw on the bus. After Yu showed us the footage, he said everyone would be seeing it (and more) "in December." He never specified PSX, but Peter and myself clearly thought that's what he meant. The last $10,000 dinner was already confirmed for San Francisco on the week of PSX, so it seemed like a no-brainer. But this goes to show that we should never expect anything until we have 100% official facts, no matter how logical what we're expecting may seem. Let's keep a cool head and wait a few more weeks! We'll see this month's update sooner than usual, I'd imagine. The team should be afforded a good holiday break, so they won't even be there to update on the very last day again.

MUST.

NOT.

BOARD.

THE.

HYPE.

TRAIN.

FUUUUUUUCK... I'm hyped

[LanDC]

Don't get too hyped. We don't want a repeat of PSX disappointment. I'm not going to say anything is for certain, because nothing is certain. But they do (or at least did in mid September) intend to publicly show new footage in December. According to Gio Corsi, they never planned to showcase it at PSX, and Yu wants backers to see it first. So, Kickstarter update it is.