Jibby wrote: I wasn't aware, but that seems to be more a matter of political discourse rather than criticism and judgement of the game itself. I don't think that it's really a relevant point when outlining negative media bias towards Shenmue III.
And whilst yes, KCD did get some flack from gaming media for going against the grain when it comes to RPGs, it also received huge amounts of praise whilst simultaneously looking like an unpolished/unfinished product (even at launch). The same outlets don't often extend that same courtesy to Shenmue III.
I definitely make no excuses regarding that, it is true there are bugs and truly the game should have probably been delayed a bit longer, even the devs expressed this and stated they wished that they had more time, they have been releasing patches and newest one should be coming next week. I cant speak for xbox but I have not had any game breaking bugs and have been enjoying the game, I usually do a lot of sidequests in between the main quests and I think long term the game will be appreciated. Arma was very disliked as was skyrim in the early release days and it wasnt until later after patches and the modding community that folks appreciated the game more so.
I don't know why some are complaining about graphics, the devs had a very hard time getting stable FPS on consoles even during development, for PC the game looks stunning and theres been significant praise regarding detail, the historical realism, etc.
However, as you mentioned, media has also been critical regarding the bugs and I would say this is a priority.
If this gives some general consensus on Shenmues development, KCD went through several delays as well.