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Oct 30, 2017
3,147
This is borrowed from a thread at the SHenmue Dojo. I really can't believe how much they've managed to pack into this game. There is certainly lots of controversy business surrounding the game, but I think we're going to be very impressed by the fruits of their labor. Best of all, new arcade games from Yu Suzuki!!!!


  • The arcade machines you bring into the harbour with the forklift are Sega's Astro City machines, which really existed in the past. However, the games themselves are new original games
  • The arcade games won't just be games like whack a mole or QTE Title but there are some actual video games in there as well.
  • Arcades in Shenmue are called "High-Tech Land", an homage to Sega because their arcades were called like that in Japan in the old days and some still are to this day.
  • In regards the telephone conversations Ryo can make, non-backers can make calls too, but backers get more variations. You can buy a telephone card for 5 yuan, and will be fully voiced with flashbacks playing from those characters while playing.
  • Takahiro Sakurai will reprise his role as the voice of Lan-Di (and Goro!) for the Japanese version of the release.
  • You can buy and drink juices from vending machines just as you could in the old games, however there will be no lifting or drinking animation.
  • Yu Suzuki thinks there are over 1500 items within the game.
  • You can examine each object that you have in your inventory, just as you could do in the old games, but you cannot zoom in.
  • There will be DLC in the future, and they will offer the player new rewards such as costumes etc.
    Yu Suzuki mentioned 3 DLC he is preparing: one action-oriented, one story DLC, and one that is "like a casino".
  • There will be fishing tournaments, with prizes such as t-shirts with the face of the fishing shop owner on it.
  • There's also a stamp paper for fishing and you can get new stamps by fishing new fish at different locations, and there are many different types of fishing rods you can obtain/purchase. Some can be cheap, but others can be expensive, such as a "carbon rod".
  • The small character we have seen in previous Kickstarter Updates, as well as on the phone card is called "Choubu-chan", and there is one of these characters hidden in each of the 140+ stores in Niaowu. If you find one, you get an original card from the store, offering a collection of over 140 cards to obtain. The Choubu-can will sometimes be difficult to find, changing in size, colour etc.
  • Around 50% of the stores and shops will have items you can purchase, with prices varying on items as time goes on.
  • Shenmue 3 has a very long script, of which a huge part consists of conversations with Shenhua. Talking with Shenhua can lead to some funny situations, for example, Ryo saying something inappropriate. Just like in Shenmue II, there will be many multiple-choice questions for the player to ask Shenhua, or answer questions from her. Depending on all of the choices you make, your relationship with Shenhua will evolve in different ways. To hear every conversation, you would probably need to play the game 20-30 times.
  • The different outcomes of conversations with Shenhua are not big, but small differences so it won't affect the main story in any big way or anything. Yu Suzuki just wants you to enjoy the small differences.
  • He names the lady from the guest house as his favourite NPC, saying that she's very rough and careless, but actually has a nice heart.
  • Older characters were easier to make look realistic compared to younger people with better skin. He also says that he's added more beautiful women and kids in this game because Shenmue was always called a game with only old people.
  • Shenmue III will have its own "Magic Weather" with rain that affects Ryo's jacket, puddles that reflect the sunlight, you can see footprints on the ground, rain dripping from stones and roofs etc. The moon is also a physical object in the game that changes its shape in real time.
  • Ryo sleeps at Shenhua's house while staying in Bailu Village, in Shenhua's father's room. Her house has been faithfully recreated to what it was like in Shenmue II, while tweaking some parts to make it more interesting.
  • In Shenmue 3, Ryo gets send back to Shenhua's house or the Niaowu at 9PM. He can enjoy conversations with Shenhua until around 11.
  • A seasoned Shenmue fan would perhaps have the best fighting experience whilst playing the game on "hard" mode, and difficulty settings will not affect the story. However, the difficulty setting a player selects, will affect not just battles, but also how easy or hard it is to obtain money in game.
  • The battle system is centralised around obtaining new moves scrolls. Yu Suzuki believes that the battle system matches the story telling better.
  • Besides training, Yu Suzuki thinks that fights are more common in Shenmue 3 than the previous two titles as the story is "more dense". However, no random encounters or whatsoever.
  • As for the locations, Yu Suzuki originally planned to make Bailu a rather closed area, but it has become much bigger than he originally planned, and so has Niaowu. He believes that together they are bigger than Shenmue 2.
  • QTE works basically the same, but new variations have created for different situations, and timing isn't as severe as before. Depending on how many times you fail, it gets easier as well.
  • Tomato Convenience store is back, with the same nostalgic music, although you won't be able to hear it outside near the store this time. As an example of what they sell, Yu Suzuki mentions a travel magazine called the "Niaowu Walker".
  • The Mysterious scroll from the original game is still in Ryo's inventory, but Yu Suzuki says that players won't find out it's meaning in Shenmue 3.
 
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shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,009
As I said in the other thread, I'm surprised that Yu was so forthcoming on confirming Shenmue 1's mysterious scroll remains an item for 3 but won't have its secrets revealed in this game. Time to start waiting for Shenmue 4 then!

Reading through the other info and it basically sounds, unsurprisingly like a true sequel to Shenmue 2. Which makes me super happy. Really can't wait to see just where the story goes (they've kept this aspect quiet, which I can't really complain about as it'd be more to surprise me with once I play the game).
 

maximumzero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,927
New Orleans, LA
Sad that I'll be missing out on this. Shenmue felt like such a "lived in" world back on the Dreamcast, which is impressive considering the available tech at the time.
 

Ryo Hazuki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,507
Yu Suzki has gone in to quite some detail on the most recent previews and honestly some if it is kinda spoilery. Not sure I wanted to know that we don't find out the meaning of the scroll and other story elements like that.

The gameplay details sound awesome though, especially the arcade delivery system. Can't wait to play it but I think it's time to stop reading interviews and previews now as I feel like I know too much.
 

Acquiescence

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,257
Lake Titicaca
Ryo sleeps at Shenhua's house while staying in Bailu Village, in Shenhua's father's room. Her house has been faithfully recreated to what it was like in Shenmue II, while tweaking some parts to make it more interesting.

This has me weirdly giddy. Just the fact that that same room has been recreated from Shenmue 2.

It'll be like those 18 years never passed! Kinda.

Takahiro Sakurai will reprise his role as the voice of Lan-Di (and Goro!) for the Japanese version of the release.

Japanese VA it is. As if there was ever any doubt.
 
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bell wood's jet cola
Oct 30, 2017
3,147
It's spoilery, but it's the same kind of spoilery that got 12-year-old me excited in 1998. We still barely know anything about the story and that's great.

He's basically confirmed, mechanically, this game IS Shenmue evolved. I'm also happy there are no random battles. That's one of my least aspects of the Yakuza series.
 

Ryo Hazuki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,507
Everything does sound amazing though, especially that we have confirmation of nightfall cutscenes returning from a hands-on. It really does sound like a true Shenmue sequel.

When is this coming out again? Is it still November 19th? Aren't we supposed to be getting the demo soon?

Should be out in the next two weeks.


Yeah this hurts. I guess sacrifices have to be made somewhere. Bring it back in a post-game update, Yu.
 

Ryo Hazuki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,507
Goro is back?! I guess you can phone him?

We should have saw this coming when the Bro Edition was announced.

Cy00EOk.png
 
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bell wood's jet cola
Oct 30, 2017
3,147
I feel like this is inevitable for the storyline, but will we live to see it is the question.


Then there's no point in doing it right? In the old games I bought drinks just to enjoy that little moment, that animation, to feel immersed in the world. No animation, no immersion.
Sounds like you actually need to eat and drink now to keep Roy healthy.
 

master15

Member
Nov 28, 2017
1,208
Suzuki is pretty good at avoiding revealing spoilers so I was caught off guard by comment on mysterious scroll. Perhaps you can spoiler tag that? I love the way the man thinks, take for example his recent 4Gamer interview-

4Gamer: When one brings up the name 'Yu Suzuki,' it usually conjures up an image of an individual unwilling to compromise his artistic intent and creative vision. Would this be a fair assessment?

Yu Suzuki: Is that what people really think? (Laughs) I feel like I'm always compromising to some degree or another.

What I usually think about is how best to maintain my vision to be as pure as possible by not mixing it with other sources. What to protect and where to change usually depends on the game in question, but I always do my best to stay true to my conceptual ideals wherever possible.

Still, at the end of the day, this is ultimately a business. There is still a deadline to meet and there is no such thing as inexhaustible funding. So there will always be many components unwillingly changed in the process to adhere to the budget at hand.

4Gamer: Understandable. Speaking of which, can you tell us of one such compromise you had to make?

Yu Suzuki: For Shenmue III we added the ability to eat food in order to replenish Ryo's stamina. But one of my initial ideas for Shenmue III was to explore and incorporate the relationship between food and martial arts into the game.

To give an example, when practicing a certain technique, it would be preferable to eat lamb instead of pork. Or for another technique, it would be ideal to exercise while practicing the Art of Qigong.

(Translator's Note: Qigong is a heavy breathing exercise for the cultivation of both mind and spirit.)

In fact, there is a rather deep relationship between food and martial arts, and I initially set out to explore this idea in Shenmue III. But for the time being, we had to settle for "I can't run when I'm hungry." I could go on and on with these minute details. (Laughs)

 

Ænima

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,513
Portugal
Did i read it well that thers more than 140 shops in the game? And you can purchase stuff from around 50% of the shops?
 
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bell wood's jet cola
Oct 30, 2017
3,147
Suzuki is pretty good at avoiding revealing spoilers so I was caught off guard by comment on mysterious scroll. Perhaps you can spoiler tag that? I love the way the man thinks, take for example his recent 4Gamer interview-
Something else I really like about that interview is that he wants to make a fantasy game, which he also mentioned a few years ago. Sounds like he was actually in the process of making it, and it sounded absolutely amazing based on his aesthetic inspiration, which sounds very similar to the Panzer Dragoon art style:

Actually, I'm making what I want right now. I took all the best that was in Shenmue, all that "know-how", dropped everything that I didn't like and was not interesting for me, and I'm making a new project. It will be a fantasy. Not China and not Japan, but a new fantasy world.

Here, I've already drawn characters for the game. I've drawn them myself. There are the protagonists, there is the sea, and there is a mountain and on the very top of it is a castle. It stands so high, to be able to see far away and watch for pirate ships that could attack the city. I like an artist Alphonse Mucha, and I decided to work in his style. Usually, designers are making all the illustrations for me, but this time I decided to draw them myself. This game already has a script, even the music

It's a shame we've missed out on nearly two decades of Yu Suzuki. I can't see how he ever gets around to anything else if he's this committed to Shenmue.
 

Dineren

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,483
It's pretty incredible what they have managed to do. When the KS campaign finished I expected to get a game that answered some questions and was enjoyable, but only superficially resembled a Shenmue game. Instead it seems like we're getting a full blown successor with very few compromises. Only two months to go!
 
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bell wood's jet cola
Oct 30, 2017
3,147
A Japanese interview alluded to some kind of "cute" Virtua Fighter game. You may recall an older screenshot of the arcade where there's a cabinet that's got a marquee that looks like it's got the VF font.

Don't blow that out of proportion! Could be a mechanical VF for all I know.
 
Apr 24, 2018
3,609
I've only played halfway through the original Shenmue on the PS4 port. I promised myself outside of B2G1 at the end of the year, I'd try not to buy any more games and play through what I have. I likely won't get around to Shenmue 3 until very late next year at the earliest.

....and yet I still wanna pre-order this because of the awesome looking Best Buy steelcase. Help me.
 

Tohsaka

Member
Nov 17, 2017
6,796
Have they said whether or not this will be 60FPS on PS4 (Pro)? I backed it for PS4 but haven't really kept up on the more recent updates since I'm trying to go in relatively spoiler-free.
 
Jun 12, 2018
562
I've only played halfway through the original Shenmue on the PS4 port. I promised myself outside of B2G1 at the end of the year, I'd try not to buy any more games and play through what I have. I likely won't get around to Shenmue 3 until very late next year at the earliest.

....and yet I still wanna pre-order this because of the awesome looking Best Buy steelcase. Help me.

Buy it.
 

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,009
Have they said whether or not this will be 60FPS on PS4 (Pro)? I backed it for PS4 but haven't really kept up on the more recent updates since I'm trying to go in relatively spoiler-free.
Previews have been 30FPS, I wouldn't hold your breath on 60FPS on PS4 (though previews have stated it at least runs at 60FPS on PC)
 

Ryuman

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,596
Wow I'm surprised they got Takahiro Sakurai back. That's awesome. I love his work but he seemed a little high-profile for the game lol.
Also interesting about the DLC. Glad to know the season pass actually has some meaning.
 
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bell wood's jet cola
Oct 30, 2017
3,147
Damn, I wonder why.

That can't be just a budget issue.
It doesn't really add anything to the game to have a repetitive animation associated with a common action. Drinking didn't make a difference in the first two games, but now you are actually required to eat and drink.

It's the same way in Yakuza and I'm ok with that. I think RDR2 had animations for eating and drinking—it's been a while and that game scarred me—and they were really aggravating after a while.
 

hermit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,919
can you import your save from shenmue 2 to 3? i got a lotta collectibles i need to send over