Shenmue III First Gameplay Preview | IGN

RevengeTaken · Mar 14, 2019

IGN saw gameplay of the highly anticipated continuation of Ryo Hazuki's journey, and sat down with the man behind the Shenmue series, Yu Suzuki.

"Can you open drawers and closets like in the old games?" I asked Yu Suzuki, the man behind the Shenmue series.

"Of course" he said. "It's Shenmue, after all."

That was the moment I realized that Shenmue III was going to be all I could have hoped for.

"Every time I hold the controller to play the game, it feels like a dream come true," Shenmue III co-producer Cedric Biscay told me. Biscay was originally a fan of the Shenmue series himself, but as the CEO of Shibuya Productions, he was instrumental in helping Yu Suzuki's YsNet fund development of the game, long before the crowdfunding campaign had made Suzuki over $7 million.

Of course, Biscay wants to promote his game, so his comments should be taken with a grain of salt. But when I finally got to see the game, I knew exactly what he meant. With the third installment coming 18 years after the last iteration, Shenmue still isn't for everyone. But for the fans, it indeed looks to be "a dream come true".

more at link

Deleted member 36622 · Mar 14, 2019

Visuals look better, animations still janky.

Cokesouls · Mar 14, 2019

I really hope it's as bad as the old ones. Otherwise it ain't Shenmue.

ianpm31 · Mar 14, 2019

All sounds very good to me. Cant wait to see more

shinobi602 · Mar 14, 2019

Cokesouls said:
I really hope it's as bad as the old ones. Otherwise it ain't Shenmue.

'Bad' as in excellent?

Acquiescence · Mar 14, 2019

Genuinely hyped that you can open drawers.

Darkwing-Buck · Mar 14, 2019

I'm just happy Suzuki is making a game again

LookAtMeGo · Mar 14, 2019

Cant wait for this

KiLAM · Mar 14, 2019

Damn it..I thought there was a video of gameplay

Also in before Shenmue was never good commen- Oh I am already late.

Cokesouls · Mar 14, 2019

shinobi602 said:
'Bad' as in excellent?

Excellently bad yes. One of the most fun I had with friends!

ChewbieFR · Mar 14, 2019

Finally, I'll be able to open drawers in a video game.

LookAtMeGo · Mar 14, 2019

ChewbieFR said:
Finally, I'll be able to open drawers in a video game.

But have you played RDR2?

Sky87 · Mar 14, 2019

Started my playthrough of the series yesterday, having only had a taste of Shenmue 2 on an old demo disc for the original Xbox over 15 years ago.

Even though it has certainly aged, it's full of charm. Looking forward to the third game.

Vespa · Mar 14, 2019

Bah, can't talk to all the NPCs :( but I do like they're putting more 'meat' on those that you can interact with. Also nice to hear that there's a lot of recorded dialogue going into it, that claim hnnngh

Iceman · Mar 14, 2019

You tried to implement snail races? Never change, Yu!

I mean it.

Soapbox Killer · Mar 14, 2019

Ryo is still too weak to fight Lan Di and he'll probably still be too weak by the end of the game and that bothers me.

I thirst vengeance.

PachaelD · Mar 14, 2019

With this series I'm always comforted by language which describes Ryo's journey as a martial artist as repetitive and kind of boring like the snail race example.

Anthony Hopkins · Mar 14, 2019

Shenmue 3 does have quite a bit in common with RDR2.

Black Mantis · Mar 14, 2019

I loved the previous games and this article has assured me I'll love this one too.

ianpm31 · Mar 14, 2019

Soapbox Killer Returns said:
Ryo is still too weak to fight Lan Di and he'll probably still be too weak by the end of the game and that bothers me.

I thirst vengeance.

Theres 3 more Chi You Men leaders and we only know about Lan Di. The story of Shenmue goes much deeper than the Lan Di Ryo revenge tale.

TransEuropaExpress · Mar 14, 2019

I somehow completely missed the boat on this entire series despite finding it "crazy photo-realistic fucking WHAT" looking when it came out back in the day.

The actual gameplay descriptions always sound like...not my cup of tea to put it mildly but I feel like I should still give that HD edition a shot some day, hmmm.

Soapbox Killer · Mar 14, 2019

ianpm31 said:
The story of Shenmue goes much deeper than the Lan Di Ryo revenge tale.

Not for me.

AtomicShroom · Mar 14, 2019

It looks like a Shenmue game alright.

RevengeTaken · Mar 14, 2019

Harald23 said:
Visuals look better, animations still janky.

Yeah, Facial animations are PS2 era!

Acquiescence · Mar 14, 2019

It's a very good preview actually. Doesn't sugarcoat things, isn't afraid of pointing out the game's shortcomings due to its budgetary constraints and generally does a good job of setting expectations for what's to come.

Hasney · Mar 14, 2019

"I haven't done proper research, so maybe I shouldn't say this, but Shenmue III might just have more voiced dialogue than any other game to date," he said. "When we brought the script to the translation agency, they were astonished by its volume."

"The game's world has increased a lot in size," Suzuki told me. "Bailu and Niaowu are now approximately the same size as Shenmue II's Hong Kong. We originally planned to have about 50 inhabitants for these towns, but now Shenmue III has a total of about four or five hundred NPCs."

Hnnnng

LelouchViBritannia · Mar 14, 2019

Great preview. Very well balanced article. Looking forward to this game.

Spaghetti · Mar 14, 2019

All good to me. Sensible compromises where needed, but keeps the spirit of the series alive - while still bringing new ideas to the table. The kind of balancing act possibly only Yu Suzuki & team could achieve, being the absolute master of his craft that he is.

Graven · Mar 14, 2019

Very good read, very happy with the way things are shaping up. You can feel the passion from Yu.

Sectorseven · Mar 14, 2019

Disappointed about no throw moves or eating animations.

shaneo632 · Mar 14, 2019

I'm just keeping my expectations super low and hoping it's a 7-8/10.

IronicSonic · Mar 14, 2019

Love what I read. Hope my physical versions arrive day and date with official release

GhostTrick · Mar 14, 2019

Sectorseven said:
Disappointed about no throw moves or eating animations.

No eating animations is fine. I didn't expect it considering the budget. No throws is so sad. I can understand why they couldn't but I would've been in for at least 3 or 4 throws move such as Demon Drop :/

SharpX68K · Mar 14, 2019

Here are some of IGN's first articles on what would become Shenmue.

http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/09/19/virtua-fighter-rpg-the-story-so-far

Virtua Fighter RPG: The Story so Far

Some juicy tidbits emerge about this classic-in-the-making
by IGN Staff SEPTEMBER 18, 1998

This much-anticipated title is very, very early in development at the moment, and the gossip that it will ship at launch is totally unfounded. According to IGNDC's deep undercover operatives, the game is currently being shown to developers in video format, and features a young Shun (the drunken old guy from VF2 and 3) wandering about a basic environment.

Right now, it's not known if any of the established characters are in there (presumably the game is set before any of the others are born), but the video has revealed the Tower of Babel (the one from the demo) is one of the stages.

https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/10/06/virtua-fighter-rpg-the-official-story

Virtua Fighter RPG -- The Official Story
AM2's chief confirms the game once known as "VF RPG," but much is still under wraps
by IGN Staff

October 6, 1998 - "Project Berkely" is the odd working title for the game that Sega's top brass have proclaimed will revolutionize gaming as we know it. In development for the better part of three years, and formerly referred to as "Virtua Fighter RPG," the game has an unlimited budget and Sega's top game designer behind it.
Its creator, AM2 division head Yu "Mr Virtua Fighter" Suzuki says he just likes the name, but as excited as he appears about what lies behind it, he's not willing to spill the beans just yet. Unwilling to categorize the project as either an adventure or role-playing game, he did open up just a little on a few points.

First of all, the game will indeed complete its development cycle early in the New Year, in order to make a spring launch in Japan. However, Suzuki-san has devoted the past three years of his life to the project, and we'd be hard pressed to think that he wouldn't take any extra time necessary to get it just right. He's calling this his landmark game, and a complete departure from what he's done in the past. In short, his career's crowning achievement.

Secondly come game details, few as they may be. Berkely is obviously some form of hybrid adventure/role-playing experience, and Suzuki has confirmed that it will feature no less than five hundred characters that may be interacted with. His goal all along has been to create a massive game world (the largest ever conceived, by his account), and a realistic one to boot. There was talk of people-packed streets, frolicking animals, and even airplanes. In essence, a living, breathing game world. Not much to go on yet, but intriguing nonetheless.

Questioned on the game's theme, Suzuki called it a universal one that he believes will appeal to players in all countries Dreamcast reaches. As for difficulty, he likened it to Super Mario 64. And as for scope? Final Fantasy evidently doesn't stand a chance.

When will we see it? Sega's official lineup has Project Berkely (it'll change, trust us) for April 1999 in Japan. Our money's on it being a US launch title next September. Early Dreamcast adopters may even get a sneak peek at some of the game's conceptual art and character designs thanks to the Virtua Fighter Team Battle disc due at launch.

Yu Suzuki has produced some of Sega's top games, and those who have seen his odd-named (and officially home-only) project say that it's light years beyond anything he's done before, and any videogame they're ever seen. Enough to get your hopes up, isn't it?

http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/12/02/virtua-fighter-rpg-evolves

Virtua Fighter RPG Evolves
Sega's Yu Suzuki explains the genesis of Shien Mu, AKA Project Berkley, AKA Virtua Fighter RPG

by IGN Staff DECEMBER 1, 1998

Included with Virtua Fighter 3tb is a demo disc of Shien Mu, the game previously known as Project Berkley and ¿ previously to that ¿ Virtua Fighter RPG. The disc features a longish interview with Sega guru Yu Suzuki, and he's obviously a man with a mission.

Speaking of old games such as Harrier and G-LOC, he ruefully notes that they were fun, but hardly realistic, in terms of physics. Now, he says, reality is a key component for games: the more realistic, the better. Virtua Fighter, for him, heralded a new kind of gaming. Once, seeing someone playing the game actually shout out "OW!" when struck by one of the game's characters, Suzuki-san realized that achieving realism could take gaming to new ground. So, on to Project Berkley, or Shien Mu, as it is now called.

What is the game? Well, it's not an RPG and not a fighting game. It is, as the man Yu Suzuki says, a game that is what you make it, giving the player real freedom to choose his in-game destiny. It is a game with a story, with a message. The man doesn't like the trivializing of games; he does, after all, describe Outrun as a "driving game, not a racing game." Eschewing the RPG moniker (the letters "RPG" are most emphatically crossed out on the demo, using a bold, splashy red paint effect), Shien Mu is a game with a purpose and instead dubs itself a "FREE" game. Not free as in no-cash-needed, but FREE, as in "freedom", and as in "Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment" (Sega's name to describe this allegedly new genre. Elucidating this odd-sounding acronym, Suzuki-san says "full"; as in "full-scale", reactive as in "fully responsive to the player" and "eyes" meaning "a visual feast", but also that it's sensitive, dedicated ¿ a true full-reaction arcade-type game.

In making the game, the very first thing he did was to give the production team the musical score. Then, he asked them to listen to it and draw from what they visualized. This, then is a product of the imagination in very real terms. Shien Mu's story is a period epic, intended to be one of love, sadness, romance and humanity, reflective real-life behavior and values.

It's certainly an incredible premise, and one that, if it delivers, will certainly be a very different kind of game to anything we've seen before. That's a like a very tall order, but judging by what we've seen on the demo, there's no evidence yet that this game is going to fall short of what has been promised.

Descendant · Mar 14, 2019

I can see people being disappointed in there being no throw moves, but personally I never really used them that often. Hopefully removing that option can somehow improve the overall combat.

Vanta Aurelius · Mar 14, 2019

I would love to see what Suzuki-san would be capable of creating with a modern AAA budget. I know this game will be the proving grounds to get larger publishers interested in bankrolling Shenmue IV, but it's hard for me to think that this game will sell enough for that to happen. Shenmue is such a niche franchise when viewed under a modern lens. It requires a level of patience and an acuity for the mundane that likely won't gel with the instant gratification needs of today's gamers. I hope I'm wrong though, just like publishers were with Demon's Souls. I really want this series to be as mind blowing as it was during its initial release. Hopefully, Shenmue 3 will do well critically and financially. I really want this franchise to have a much wider audience than those like me who backed it.

On another note, I'm really happy to see that Suzuki-san has been able to get this game together within a mid-tier budget. To see what his team was able to accomplish makes my head hurt even more when it comes to the utter disaster Keji Inafune went through with Mighty No.9.

I need to play through Shenmue 2 though. I have the HD remasters, but funny enough, I've never actually played Shenmue 2 since I never personally owned an Xbox.

LelouchViBritannia · Mar 14, 2019

DudleyBoi said:
I would love to see what Suzuki-san would be capable of creating with a modern AAA budget. I know this game will be the proving grounds to get larger publishers interested in bankrolling Shenmue IV, but it's hard for me to think that this game will sell enough for that to happen. Shenmue is such a niche franchise when viewed under a modern lens. It requires a level of patience and an acuity for the mundane that likely won't gel with the instant gratification needs of today's gamers. I hope I'm wrong though, just like publishers were with Demon's Souls. I really want this series to be as mind blowing as it was during its initial release. Hopefully, Shenmue 3 will do well critically and financially. I really want this franchise to have a much wider audience than those like me who backed it.

On another note, I'm really happy to see that Suzuki-san has been able to get this game together within a mid-tier budget. To see what his team was able to accomplish makes my head hurt even more when it comes to the utter disaster Keji Inafune went through with Mighty No.9.

I need to play through Shenmue 2 though. I have the HD remasters, but funny enough, I've never actually played Shenmue 2 since I never personally owned an Xbox.

Shenmue 2 is x1000000000 better than 1. Get on it asap.

nachum00 · Mar 14, 2019

LookAtMeGo said:
But have you played RDR2?

I actually think RDR2 is very similar to Shenmue in a lot of ways.

Sprat · Mar 14, 2019

DudleyBoi said:
I would love to see what Suzuki-san would be capable of creating with a modern AAA budget. I know this game will be the proving grounds to get larger publishers interested in bankrolling Shenmue IV, but it's hard for me to think that this game will sell enough for that to happen. Shenmue is such a niche franchise when viewed under a modern lens. It requires a level of patience and an acuity for the mundane that likely won't gel with the instant gratification needs of today's gamers. I hope I'm wrong though, just like publishers were with Demon's Souls. I really want this series to be as mind blowing as it was during its initial release. Hopefully, Shenmue 3 will do well critically and financially. I really want this franchise to have a much wider audience than those like me who backed it.

On another note, I'm really happy to see that Suzuki-san has been able to get this game together within a mid-tier budget. To see what his team was able to accomplish makes my head hurt even more when it comes to the utter disaster Keji Inafune went through with Mighty No.9.

I need to play through Shenmue 2 though. I have the HD remasters, but funny enough, I've never actually played Shenmue 2 since I never personally owned an Xbox.

I played it on dc and more recently in the collection. I can't stand the majority of that game.

It loses all the charm of the first.

I get what they were going for but it just isn't as good imho.

I play truth the original every year since release but I've only finished the second one twice.

Sectorseven · Mar 14, 2019

Thinking more about the throw moves, aren't all the moves from the original games supposed to return?

How is that going to work?

breakYODAy · Mar 14, 2019

Sectorseven said:
Thinking more about the throw moves, aren't all the moves from the original games supposed to return?

How is that going to work?

I confirmed with the writer of the IGN article that he did indeed mean zero throw moves would be the game:

It's unfortunate, but I do understand that some concessions have to be made to make a game true to the essence of Shenmue on a lower budget. I'm hopeful the kicking and striking systems will be deep enough to compensate. As someone who took Chinese martial arts for a few years, I can say with some confidence that throws and ground work are not the emphasis, so those moves not being there shouldn't have much impact on newer techniques Ryo will be learning.

ApeEscaper · Mar 14, 2019

This is a game that shouldn't be rushed I want them to take the longest time and bigger budget just so everything to the smallest detail is touched

Tricky I Shadow · Mar 14, 2019

IGN said:
Suzuki told me that at the entrance of the dojo, you will be able to see a board with all the names of the students together with their ranks. Ryo's name won't be on there at first, but as you challenge students in fights you will see his name pop up at a higher rank each time, creating a sense of community and Ryo existing within it.

I love this!

AllMight1 · Mar 14, 2019

Its funny, a lot of fans have mentioned that they would content with Shenmue 3 looking and playing exactly like Shenmue 1 and 2, and from the looks of it, it looks like we're getting exactly just that.

About Throws not being on Shenmue 3, well that kinda blows, but we're still getting around 100 martial arts moves and that compensates!
Most likely when Shenmue 4 releases, we'll get throw moves then.

Border · Mar 14, 2019

I've rarely read a preview with so much backhanded praise. It feels like the writer's main objective was "try to manage expectations".

AwareSnake · Mar 14, 2019

"Shenmue III might just have more voiced dialogue than any other game to date"
Metal Gear: laughs

Jobbs · Mar 15, 2019

Speaking as someone who's not a fan of the old ones I think it looks rather bad visually, but I hope it's what people want it to be

Shenmue III First Gameplay Preview | IGN

User requested account closure

One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer

Tools & Automation

One Winged Slayer

Weekend Planner

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account