How long do you think Shenmue III will be ??

[shredingskin]

Also, I don't think Shenmue fans should complain much about map assistance in modern open worlds. Not only you can disable the assistance interface in some games or not paying attention to, but Shenmue is maybe the easiest game to find your place (asking npc, automatic npc following for 80% of them). It's more a question of philosophy rather than assistance weight so I'm not worry that much, Shenmue will still be Shenmue.

That's the difference between Shenmue and map markers.

It's not that in Shenmue is easy or hard, it's that Shenmue was a little bit more than a game.
It was easy for Shenmue to just put an arrow.
It was easy for Shenmue to do meaningless subquests.

In SII you can call it a chore to do the book airing, but that was the point.

As you said it, it's that philosophy that Shenmue had, and the same fear of trying to do it "for everyone", not by design, but by following trends (Shenmue was meant for kids, kodomo mode ?).

Shenmue I is my favorite game of all time, and It feels more than SII, that's why I did this topic. Content over fluff (or mainstream grinding design).

[Yokosuka]

It would be cool if, after we booted up the game, we see a special introduction by Yu Suzuki. I would go something like this:

"Hi I'm Yu.. they want me to say Yu Suzuki because this is produced and directed by Yu Suzuki.. but my friends call me Yu and I consider you all a friend right now because you people asked for and waited to play my version of Shenmue 3. But if you hadn't asked I don't think this would have seen the light of day. I thought it would stay in the vaults of Japan and never surface again but because of all your requests and all your asking it came to be. But over the years.. much has happened.. most of all I got grey hair I didn't have one when I started... but much of my game design had been lost.. and misplaced in vaults in Japan as cancelled games happen to be and a lot of assets were ruined but through really good research and hard work every piece of this game that I had worked on was found. But some of the game you're going to play in Shenmue 3... I didn't design... Sega felt they wanted crowd funding so a lot of stretch goals weren't reached... and a lot of the game is missing but nonetheless here is Shenmue 3 with as much of my work as could be salvaged. So thank you Sega, thank all you people and thank you most of all to Sony who helped reconstruct my game as close to the original vision as I intended it to be. I just got a kick out of playing it it was quite enjoyable quite exciting... something I never thought would happen. 16 years.. I hope you all enjoy it.

Yu already said that Shenmue III will be introduced by Michael Huber exactly when the bird appears in the sky.

[Peter]

Kinda what David said. The game will be as long as you want it. I swear at midnight, I will have had my body clock set, extended leave from work booked, a case of energy drinks in the fridge, coffee jars in the cupboard, all social media and links to the Shenmue Community blocked for when this game is released.
I will play it slowly. I mean slowly! Hopefully the L trigger will still give you access to a first person view, and I will rape the life out of it, looking at every texture, near sight, draw distance, examining every object, reading every word, listening to every sound, exploring every area and option......

It baffles me that anyone who's been waiting on the game for this long, would wanna power through it. Embrace every second of the Shenmue 3 world because we will have earned and paid for every second of it. This could be a 4 hour game, and I will still make it last over 40 hours. Replays, speed runs, notebook completion, all story pathways, all collectibles, learn everything about each NCP... The list goes on and on.

You should be fine for 20 hours just to get all the collectibles

[Peter]

Exactly!!! This game will be an experience where YOU determine how long it becomes. I'm getting angry, so if I drop some language here, apologies in advance...

But I bet anyone on here any of mine, fuck it, and your prized possessions David, that there will be people on here who blaze through the story and if it lasts 2 hours, come on here and bitch about how short it was. How we didn't raise enough money. How Yu is out if touch. How the KS was a failure etc. All because they are negative dicks. They love seeing things fail.

FYI, if anyone wants to know... If you play Shenmue 2 with a new game plus (giving the ability to hit B to skip cutscenes), then the game can be completed in 2:47:00 glitchless. The world record for glitched is just under 2 hours. So is Shenmue II a short game? Never heard one person say that in 12 years, in fact, the opposite is more the opinion.

[killthesagabeforeitkillsu]

I hate map markers, it turns a open world game into: go X to further story. It would destroy the Shenmue experience.

Regarding how long, obviously I want a full game and not a COD 5 hours campaign. If this game is anything like the others, that shouldn't be a concern.

[shredingskin]

@Peter Hopefully you are not talking about me, because I'm saying the exact opposite.

[Peter]

It was directed at anyone who thinks negatively of the news we were given over the summer, and who doesnt have faith in what is taking place in Japan at this very moment.

[punkmanced]

Hard to gauge how long the game will be considering it’s Shenmue: a detective story that lets you find clues at your own pace. I suppose it all depends on how dense and immersive the final world/ experience ends up being.

[killthesagabeforeitkillsu]

People have the right to be negative, specially if they gave some of their hard working money into the project.

Creating a community buddle where only positivity is allowed and criticism is taken as an insult will hurt Shenmue 3 a lot more than any media BS article.

[Yokosuka]

It was directed at anyone who thinks negatively of the news we were given over the summer, and who doesnt have faith in what is taking place in Japan at this very moment.

People who tend to be negative are mostly fans who have a disproportionate love for the franchise and hardly accept any concession to the game of their life. Don't think their only will is to smash the project to pieces. It is, in fact, the polar opposite.

[Yokosuka]

Exactly!!! This game will be an experience where YOU determine how long it becomes. I'm getting angry, so if I drop some language here, apologies in advance...

Yeah but that's quite an idealist speech. Of course, the Shenmue's philosophy will be enough to enhance the experience. But you can have the most open mind, the game design limits will still be there. If a developer can't determine a precise length of play for most of us, they can with ranges so the question is worth asking. And we don't have much information about the density of Shenmue III's world. Some words from Yu about objects interactivity or scale can be worrying.

The apprehension is completely relevant, specially when you consider our upcoming waiting/playing ratio which is outstanding. Thankfully, we're waiting a video game not a 2-hour movie.

The battle to gather more money for Paypal is still on as bigger the open world is, the more quests we'll get. We should all think to find a way to promote efficiently Shenmue III in the last campaign days. Not only to gamers or unaware Shenmue fans who would live outside internet but also those who are passionate of China, those who practise martial arts and goes on. That's the deal we should treat.

Returning to our initial topic, it would be also interesting to know which pace would fit better the story flow. On the one hand, if you follow the strict straight storyline, you're sure to miss the YSnet core work and the original purpose of the game. On the other hand, if you take too much your time, you may lose the story intensity and that's a waste. It's the eternal debate about how to make the better use of your freedom when you own it.

Personally, I have no problem to complete Shenmue III in a straight fast line (if I have to). With the dreamcast versions aging year after year, I got into the habit to pay less attention to the environment and follow the strict storyline. And you know what, the game felt as good as a "normal" playthrough if not better. After all, that doesn't disallow you to discover Shenmue III afterwards. There are so many different ways to appreciate this game.

[Peter]

People have the right to be negative, specially if they gave some of their hard working money into the project.

I had a longer response typed put, but someone defending the "right to be negative" just speaks for itself.

[shredingskin]

???

So you don't have the right to post criticism or posting negative comments ? (hopefully you mean we cannot criticize something that's not even in production).

I haven't seen any real negative coments in this thread.

The point of this thread is to see what is the take of most Shenmue fans on what a reasonable playtime they would like to see or expect based on what the old games were.

Shenmue II is like 10 times bigger than SI, but it's not x10 longer, Shenmue I had a lot less locations but more detailed (or seemed that way, because how the game proposes to play). A lot of people like SII more than SI, I prefer the first one. A lot of people would like a very long game, I get bothered by games that are too long or drag too much these days.

Seems like the only response you want from people is "Yu will make the best game possible", can't we share opinions like people that like the game ??

[killthesagabeforeitkillsu]

People have the right to be negative, specially if they gave some of their hard working money into the project.

I had a longer response typed put, but someone defending the "right to be negative" just speaks for itself.

That sounds incredibly reductive. Shenmue I and II were developed in an environment were excellency was the standard. Yu Suzuki himself asked fans to not be afraid of saying something sucks, if they believe it does.
In the end, my respect for the first two games forces me to have great expectations for the next entry and remain skeptical.