Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

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Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby sutoji » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:30 am

I also posted this thread on ResetERA! https://www.resetera.com/threads/realis ... ver.13172/


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After 16 years of waiting for this game to finally happen.. could it live up to the hype and meet expectations or do we neee to keep them in check? well first of all let's be honest ... Shenmue 3 is most likely not going to release in 2018 despite the first given release date of 2017 as it is a kickstarter (I would be very suprised if it makes 2018) so it will get another delay. This thread is for speculating what the outcome of the game will be although it may be too early indeed. Many people have already decided that it is going to fail just like the previous two games or that it won't even be as good as the previous two games whilst others understand that as a kickstarter with a small team of professional developers previously working for Sega AM2 have come together for this project that Shenmue 3 is not to compete or be the standard of a modern AAA game. Creator Yu Suzuki knows this as he has to now face the challenges of using a new engine he is unfamiliar with (Unreal Engine 4) and manage a smaller team with new and younger workers.

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The aim of Shenmue 3 is to deliver the continuation of a story that was left on a cliffhanger. One of the main reasons why fans even waited out for years for the dream is because of it's story not so much the gameplay itself (although most have their own reasons to play the game) because it couldn't just be left like the way it was.. there has to be an ending to this flow of the narrative somewhere by the means of another 2 games ending at Shenmue 5. Does Shenmue 3 have the expectations to deliver a charming experience with sales that will grant it any sequels? fans have spoken that they would even go as far to kickstart the next few games.

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From what we have seen so far (many screenshots, development reports, interviews and a teaser in August 2017 to much criticism) backers of the game... they like and don't like what they see but the matter of fact is the majority taking a dislike to the approach and progress of this game is certainly the public which is why when every public media event on this game happens there is a sense of shock and disbelief to what is being provided and to top that all off the controversial background of it being a kickstarter with past tragic titles such as Mighty No. 9 although to be fair that wasn't the original developer making the game so it was bound to meet the fate it ultimately did in the end and kickstarters like Divinty: Original Sin have proved to be worthy being amongst the most highly praised games at launch and the best in the industry. The situation is different with Shenmue 3 as Yu Suzuki has his IP now thanks to Sega but what will Sega themselves provide? A Shenmue HD Collection to cash in themselves and help the series or not have to do with it all? I guess within the next few years it will be interesting to find out with people having a close eye on the company.

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I personally think the game's reception to no doubt may end up in the 70s - 7/10 at best without much critical acclaim. It won't exactly be as technically impressive as the original Shenmue because of the nature of it's small staff and such but also because there is the consideration of what the game will entail. Aged mechanics and a QTE borefest? or something that many people especially longtime fans can appreciate? I'm thinking the general consensus will be a bit of both and it all comes down to the presentation, I have no doubt in my mind that Yu Suzuki will ensure that each and every aspect of his game is refined until he set's it for release because that is what he is best known for, what his legacy and commitment proves and he has set some expectations... will Shenmue 3 be what it is supposed to be or do series more harm?
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby gillian_seed » Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:53 am

I don't know to much about game development, but in my opinion, Yu Suzuki has been to ambitious for the game. It's obvious that the game can't target same impact as it had back in 2001, so a good plan would have been to replicate original games tech, reutilizing graphics and models, building new scenarios based on what they had, using same fighting scheme, adding content where it does need to be add, refining what needs to be refined and not changing what doesn't need to be changed. Briefly, using the original games as a template for the new one. Being to Shenmue series what Sonic Mania is to Sonic series.

We still need to wait to know the result, but if today I had to bet my money (I actually did a little bit when I backed the project) I'd bet it will fail to deliver what we expect for the game. I'm also interested to know... If the game turns to be a bad game, would you guys admit it? Would you back a Shenmue 4? (I would, but I'd demand some changes).
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby Shenmue_Legend » Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:33 am

I expect something that will blow everyone away and become something truly unique and innovative like Shenmue I and II. That's why Shenmue III should try to also add new features and other stuff that gaming has never before seen in order to give you that "wow" factor. Good thing is that's exactly what Yu Suzuki is aiming to do, judging by all the stuff he's said so far. My prediction? 10/10 absolute masterpiece.

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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby spud1897 » Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:33 am

In a nutshell it has to deliver in terms of sales or we will not see another Shenmue game.

In terms of quality purposes what we saw in August was a trailer that was intended (if the rumours are true) for the PSX back in Dec 2016/Magic 2017. We then saw the delay not long after this. In terms of graphical presentation there's no way it can match the triple A titles we see today. It hasn't got the budget, however I would expect the game to be polished and have good tight mechanics.

Think originally this started out as a Kickstarter game backed by Shibuya productions, with some Sony involvement. Now it has eveolved into quite a large project with Deep Silver and now Layksha (excuse the spelling) doing the models. This will allow time to be diverted into the game by Yu and the team. What concerns me slightly is that Yu is caught between keeping us original fans happy, not changing too much and sticking to the routes, and attracting new players. Changes will have to happen but what I don't want is a game that tries to please all, fails and displeases all of us. It needs to be excellent in its own right and then marketing/promotion attracts new players. What woudl help is if SEGA decided to release the HD remasters to bring in new people or even old players who have forgotten about the game.

I firmly believe we will get a quality game given time and constructive feedback. Everyone knows this is last chance saloon here. Shenmue 3 has to deliver or the series is done. Yu is pulling out all the stops in terms of getting a competent team around him and knows the game has to deliver. I worry about the fighting as I'd love it to remain as free as the first 2 games but this is to be seen. I'd also take a delay into 2019 to ensure we get a quality product.

Also as a side note this raises the issue around the use of Kickstarter. Previously we have seen games riase money and be developed by said team and then released with varying quality. Say Shenmue 3 comes out and does well, does this change the view of kickstarter from developers eyes? Does it then say to them lets use this to get the game off the gorund and then seek backing from other sources. This might need to be another topic!

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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby Hyo Razuki » Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:03 am

Spud is right, in the end S3 wil have to deliver sales-wise. It will have to do well enough to convince Sega or a third party publisher (Deep Silver may be your best bet) to fund and publish the fourth game.

Fans' expectations are important, yes, but ultimately Yu needs to deliver a quality game which convinces a broader audience to buy. Just catering to what hardcore fans expect won't be enough.

As of now, it seems Yu has gotten all the funds he had envisioned for the project, with Deep Silver on board. He has hinted at Deep Silver funding the remaining stretch goals quite a few times already, like he did here:
http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/28/shenmue-iii-yu-suzuki-interview-dont-worry-i-can-make-the-whole-game-you-imagined-6885083/

With that said, I'm not really expecting that much. It won't be a groundbreaking "AAA" title like the first two games were but still, I hope we'll get a polished and refined product at the end. We can expect a very solid mid-budget game.

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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby MiTT3NZ » Fri Dec 29, 2017 9:29 am

I'm expecting nice looking environments (easily done nowadays with photogrammetry), piss poor character models, and an overwhelming feeling of regret over "what could have been".

No doubt a lot of people on here will love it, whereas the rest - and many more "beyond" - will see it as nothing more than what's to be expected from a Kickstarted adventure game aiming for the Steam market.

I've said many times though that this portion of the story probably isn't for me anyway, as the setting is far removed from what made me fall in love with the series.

Obviously I hope it's good and can revitalise the series, based on what I've seen though it just doesn't look all that great. Then again it won't look as it's supposed to for a good while, and we still haven't seen any gameplay, so I could just be talkin utter shite as per.

EDIT: The new logo still looks shite btw. Why haven't they changed it back yet?

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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby Shenmue_Legend » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:08 am

MiTT3NZ wrote: I'm expecting nice looking environments (easily done nowadays with photogrammetry), piss poor character models, and an overwhelming feeling of regret over "what could have been".

No doubt a lot of people on here will love it, whereas the rest - and many more "beyond" - will see it as nothing more than what's to be expected from a Kickstarted adventure game aiming for the Steam market.

I've said many times though that this portion of the story probably isn't for me anyway, as the setting is far removed from what made me fall in love with the series.

Obviously I hope it's good and can revitalise the series, based on what I've seen though it just doesn't look all that great. Then again it won't look as it's supposed to for a good while, and we still haven't seen any gameplay, so I could just be talkin utter shite as per.

EDIT: The new logo still looks shite btw. Why haven't they changed it back yet?


Wait I don't get it. Why are you expecting "piss poor character models"? The Lakshya Digital update showed a character model that is pretty great. On par with the CG promo models and basically the same art style (the ideal one, yes!) as them. In time I'm sure we'll be amazed by the final looks of Ryo and Shenhua, just you wait!

I'm also sure they'll change the new logo back to the previous one sometime in the future. Yu Suzuki is probably aware of what the fans want, so it's only a matter of time.

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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby punkmanced » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:39 am

MiTT3NZ wrote: I'm expecting nice looking environments (easily done nowadays with photogrammetry), piss poor character models, and an overwhelming feeling of regret over "what could have been".

No doubt a lot of people on here will love it, whereas the rest - and many more "beyond" - will see it as nothing more than what's to be expected from a Kickstarted adventure game aiming for the Steam market.

I've said many times though that this portion of the story probably isn't for me anyway, as the setting is far removed from what made me fall in love with the series.

Obviously I hope it's good and can revitalise the series, based on what I've seen though it just doesn't look all that great. Then again it won't look as it's supposed to for a good while, and we still haven't seen any gameplay, so I could just be talkin utter shite as per.

EDIT: The new logo still looks shite btw. Why haven't they changed it back yet?


An unfortunate, but realistic possibility.
In any case, I'm definitely looking forward to the game, and plan on going in with as neutral a mindset as possible, hoping to have a wonderful time.

Shenmue_Legend wrote:Wait I don't get it. Why are you expecting "piss poor character models"? The Lakshya Digital update showed a character model that is pretty great. On par with the CG promo models and basically the same art style (the ideal one, yes!) as them. In time I'm sure we'll be amazed by the final looks of Ryo and Shenhua, just you wait!

I'm also sure they'll change the new logo back to the previous one sometime in the future. Yu Suzuki is probably aware of what the fans want, so it's only a matter of time.


Re: the Lakshya model- It looks OK.
WIP as frack, but going in the right direction (her wig needs to be fixed desperately)

The logo is another matter entirely. I would love for them to just keep things simple, and use both the original Japanese (perfect, IMO) with the original international one. The new one is just ___
I do trust YS and his team, mostly, but we've all seen what happened to Star Wars when unnecessary things started to be "fixed". In this case, one could make the same case with the new logo/ character models/ art direction/ etc. etc.

We can only hope all the puzzle pieces fit together in the end.
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby Shenmue_Legend » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:59 am

punkmanced wrote:
MiTT3NZ wrote: I'm expecting nice looking environments (easily done nowadays with photogrammetry), piss poor character models, and an overwhelming feeling of regret over "what could have been".

No doubt a lot of people on here will love it, whereas the rest - and many more "beyond" - will see it as nothing more than what's to be expected from a Kickstarted adventure game aiming for the Steam market.

I've said many times though that this portion of the story probably isn't for me anyway, as the setting is far removed from what made me fall in love with the series.

Obviously I hope it's good and can revitalise the series, based on what I've seen though it just doesn't look all that great. Then again it won't look as it's supposed to for a good while, and we still haven't seen any gameplay, so I could just be talkin utter shite as per.

EDIT: The new logo still looks shite btw. Why haven't they changed it back yet?


An unfortunate, but realistic possibility.
In any case, I'm definitely looking forward to the game, and plan on going in with as neutral a mindset as possible, hoping to have a wonderful time.

Shenmue_Legend wrote:Wait I don't get it. Why are you expecting "piss poor character models"? The Lakshya Digital update showed a character model that is pretty great. On par with the CG promo models and basically the same art style (the ideal one, yes!) as them. In time I'm sure we'll be amazed by the final looks of Ryo and Shenhua, just you wait!

I'm also sure they'll change the new logo back to the previous one sometime in the future. Yu Suzuki is probably aware of what the fans want, so it's only a matter of time.


Re: the Lakshya model- It looks OK.
WIP as frack, but going in the right direction (her wig needs to be fixed desperately)

The logo is another matter entirely. I would love for them to just keep things simple, and use both the original Japanese (perfect, IMO) with the original international one. The new one is just ___
I do trust YS and his team, mostly, but we've all seen what happened to Star Wars when unnecessary things started to be "fixed". In this case, one could make the same case with the new logo/ character models/ art direction/ etc. etc.

We can only hope all the puzzle pieces fit together in the end.


I just looked at it again and it's amazing. Apart from the hair (yeah I agree on the "wig" part!), I don't see any other issues.
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby elfshadowreaper » Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:29 am

I think reviews will put it in the 60s-70s. 80s if we’re lucky. One thing I’m eager to see is how Yu innovates. Yu seems to be very good at lateral thinking when it comes to new gaming designs. Love them or hate them we have quicktime events because of Yu. So I’m very hopeful he will bring about some new way of playing video games with Shenmue 3.
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby Shenmue_Legend » Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:36 am

elfshadowreaper wrote: I think reviews will put it in the 60s-70s. 80s if we’re lucky. One thing I’m eager to see is how Yu innovates. Yu seems to be very good at lateral thinking when it comes to new gaming designs. Love them or hate them we have quicktime events because of Yu. So I’m very hopeful he will bring about some new way of playing video games with Shenmue 3.


That's exactly what he's trying to do I think. It's probably why he's changing the combat system and building a new QTE system. Who knows what else he will have in store for us!
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby sand4fish » Fri Dec 29, 2017 2:39 pm

Will it deliver for the fans? Yes to one at least. All I asked for was a sequel and I'm getting it.

Let's be real. Even if Yu got $100 million funding for Shenmue 3, fans would still bitch about some aspect of the development because it didn't match their perfect view of what Shenmue 3 should really be like. In the only ideal world scenario, probably each fanboy would have preferred having their own individual idealized made Kickstarter funded Shenmue 3 game and just ask Yu Suzuki and Sega to stamp their names onto each fan made game. I already can picture the process... Hey Yu, do the story how you originally intended, but scrap the magic bullshit just because...and it's been 14 years, in a cave, so... shouldn't Shenhua's assets be a bit more... endowed? And while you are at it, make her older than 16 just because... you know, I'm a bearded man nowadays so I sure don't want that jailbait shit around me please. After all, Shenmue 3 is all about what the fans want I heard. But you know that right? I paid you and shit. Have a happy New Year.

Seriously now, on the sales side seeing that Shenmue 3 is a niche title belonging to a niche genre, it will not sell enough to become a mainstay series for Sega no matter how many praises the critics give to the game, if they do. Even if it does extremely well sales wise, it will remain a Kickstarter series exactly because of the success of that format with the lesser financial risks and all the bell and whistles for the investors.


Shenmue_Legend wrote: I'm also sure they'll change the new logo back to the previous one sometime in the future. Yu Suzuki is probably aware of what the fans want, so it's only a matter of time.


Why would Yu Suzuki change to the old logo when he designed the new one himself? It's like he admitting to himself of having shitty handwriting and poor taste. Besides if he is just going to do what the fans want instead of what he wants, wouldn't that make Shenmue 3 basically a fan made game with Yu Suzuki's name just slapped on the cover?
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby Esppiral » Fri Dec 29, 2017 2:49 pm

O don't know If It Will deliver, I know It Will bomb.
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby gillian_seed » Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:21 pm

sand4fish wrote:

Why would Yu Suzuki change to the old logo when he designed the new one himself? It's like he admitting to himself of having shitty handwriting and poor taste. Besides if he is just going to do what the fans want instead of what he wants, wouldn't that make Shenmue 3 basically a fan made game with Yu Suzuki's name just slapped on the cover?


He should admit it, actually.

What's the role of the backers then?, just to put the money and wait? Just a reminder, the headline of Shenmue 3's website is:

Shenmue 3
will be for the fans,
by the fans
- yu suzuki


Besides, every single tier from KS campaign included, as a reward: "Be able to participate in surveys and vote in polls for the ideas you want to see in the game.". As far as I remember, the only survey we have taken part is that one for deciding to keep or not the exclusive rewards for Kickstarter backers. Nothing else. That's definitely not keeping their promises, and unilaterally changing the classic logo to that shitty one that 9 out of 10 people dislike means that they give a shit about the fans.
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Re: Realistic expectations for Shenmue 3, will it deliver?

Postby The_Intruder » Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:39 pm

Im expecting Shenmue 3 to be better and more fun than the first two games. I think
It would the best best game to come out in more than a decade. I can't wait to immerse myself in the world of Shenmue once again.
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