• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Digital Foundry: Shenmue 3 Tech Preview

Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Banned
Feb 10, 2018
17,534


Does the Shenmue 3 demo match up to expectations? More to the point, does the Shenmue 3 demo match up to arch-fan John Linneman's expectations? Here's a detailed look at the technology, artwork and mechanics of the Shenmue 3 Backer Demo.

  • A lot less loading screens, buildings can be entered and explored without loading screen
  • A return of shenmue detail, draws and cupboards can be opened in shops
  • A proper time of day system, characters have the pre programmed daily schedule
  • Conversation system very similar shenmue 2, and can be equally awkward or charming
  • Combat system feels somewhat simplified (but this is demo)
  • Facial modelling is quite good, a modern take on the originals.
  • Animation of eyes is pretty weird like the originals
  • Face model is a lot better then E3 2015 teaser
  • Environments a re lush and detailed and the lighting is just superb
  • Lots of foliage and complex tree models not possible on the dreamcast
  • On PC i9 cpu and 2080ti 4k 60fos and 120fps is a breeze, some mild stuttering,
  • FOV slightly to wide
  • Camera work is unrefined
  • Overall happy with how the game is shaping up.
 
Last edited:
ianpm31

ianpm31

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,529
Shenmue 3 will look even better in the final build going off of game informers latest screen shots.
 
Last edited:

LelouchViBritannia

Member
Jun 12, 2018
562
The game looks and feels incredible. Shenmue fans are in for a real treat. I also think anyone jumping into the game will love it judging from the demo.

The game comes with digest movies of the first two games, so you'll be caught up to speed in no time.
 
ApeEscaper

ApeEscaper

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,720
Bangladeshi
The studio really nailed that Shenmue feeling still in their next gen game in everything from sound effects to UI to animations everything
 
Vespa

Vespa

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,850
Turtle racing! Finally a new racing game from Yu.

Dat wood chopping music.

Great video, John.
 
Mars People

Mars People

Comics Council 2020
Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,197
Oof that english dub sounds rough. I'm kinda surprised they even have one considering the low budget.
 

Imitatio

Member
Feb 19, 2018
14,560
Demo looks and sounds rough imo. Too janky for my taste, but oh well, as long as the majority is fine with it.

E: the music's great, though!
But faces, animations, voice acting... Eeeh.
 
Last edited:
EmptyWarren

EmptyWarren

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,250
MouldyK said:
Shenmue was Eurojank before Eurojank!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

No, it wasn't. Shenmue was the Sega rendition of a Rockstar tier title at the time. Massive budget and marketing campaign to with a release to overwhelming critical and fan acclaim. It just seems janky now because it is old.

It wasn't jank because there was nothing else to compare it to in terms of how it played.
 
Dead Man Typing

Dead Man Typing

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,845
I can't wait for the full game to arrive.
It'll be interesting to see if the game can retain that high level of detail in larger scale environments.

Also, Shenmue was never eurojank. It's a very specific, highly polished jank. A contradiction as is the case with many of Shenmue's systems.
 
Ænima

Ænima

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,513
Portugal
Game ended up much better than i expected when i backed it up and saw the game budget. Alot of stuff seems very faithfull to the original ones. Hopefully the game ends up selling enough to garantee a Shenmue 4.
 
master15

master15

Member
Nov 28, 2017
1,208
Was hoping Dark1x was going to make a video on the preview build. Honestly it exceeded my expectations. While there are some rough edges, what Suzuki and his team, have been able to achieve on a small budget is remarkable. It feels like a true continuation of Shenmue and I think that's the greatest compliment I can give the demo.
 
Last edited:
Shadoken

Shadoken

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,206
Last edited:
Shy

Shy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
18,520
Glad John brought up the combat.

It's feels really dumbed down, which i found very disappointing and depressing.
 
Prine

Prine

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
15,724
It's very, very painful to see the state Shenmue 3 is in after playing 1+2 back in the day. I feel it's going to be panned across the board. I hope of there is a forth version, but with a proper AAA budget. I'd rather they kept it on the shelf tbh, too many corners have been cut, its a disservice to a series that was a landmark in its day.
 
Iwao

Iwao

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,800
Prine said:
It's very, very painful to see the state Shenmue 3 is in after playing 1+2 back in the day. I feel it's going to be panned across the board. I hope of there is a forth version, but with a proper AAA budget. I'd rather they kept it on the shelf tbh, too many corners have been cut, its a disservice to a game that was a landmark in its day.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Imagine if every game had to be "landmark" and live up to expectations set almost 20 years ago. To achieve what is a Shenmue game in 2019 or what resonates with the Shenmue fanbase you don't need a AAA budget, as desirable as that might be for the gamer who is sold on cutting edge visual fidelity and the smoothest of animations alone.

First up, Shenmue I & II are available to play right now. They got pretty good reviews given how archaic some of the elements are and how they don't exactly jive with the modern gaming audience. This game is a modernised take on the classics, and strikes a good balance, which even in its demo form that is clear to see. It looks great by modern standards. I mean Yakuza 0 came out 4 years ago, and it honestly doesn't look much better than this in many areas, yet that wasn't a painful game to watch from announcement to release.

You came here to say that you hope a game gets a bigger budget, well who doesn't? What state do you feel that game is in that does it a disservice? You sound completely out of the loop here because the game is getting quite a lot of buzz in recent weeks because of how much better it looks than many people (particularly on this forum) ever thought it would, and because it's basically a pure continuation of the series.
 
Last edited:
Trace

Trace

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,691
Canada
Prine said:
It's very, very painful to see the state Shenmue 3 is in after playing 1+2 back in the day. I feel it's going to be panned across the board. I hope of there is a forth version, but with a proper AAA budget. I'd rather they kept it on the shelf tbh, too many corners have been cut, its a disservice to a series that was a landmark in its day.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'll just tell that to all the people that want to play this that the game shouldn't have been made without a budget to make it a "landmark" aka 200m+.
 
Eggiem

Eggiem

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,781
I think it looks absolutely awful and I usually dont complain about graphics in 2019 games because they are at least serviceable. But this is something else.
 
Tricky I Shadow

Tricky I Shadow

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
4,450
Australia
Eggiem said:
I think it looks absolutely awful and I usually dont complain about graphics in 2019 games because they are at least serviceable. But this is something else.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

dt02GIb.jpg


ss6xP6N.jpg


QjnqLXG.jpg


36WGLsx.jpg


iQGyfE8.jpg


Really? That's "absolutely awful" to you? The game looks great, and more importantly, the atmosphere is spectacular.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.