Shenmue III is shipping now for Kickstarter backers it seems

Siresly · Mar 17, 2020

"BACKER EXCLUSIVE EDITION"
lol they just put a badly matched Wordart banner on top of the standard cover. Kind of emblematic of this whole backer experience, so in that way it's very apt.
That blue banner and it apparently being a blu-ray case (presumably because that was the format of the cover art they had) makes it look like a bootleg PS4 version.

At least the print looks good.
The capsule toys look fine too. Just hope I don't get Chai...
T-shirt looks ok-ish. Rarely a fan of text/logos or things just being too blatant. Prefer front prints, but this particular print probably does work better on the back. Black always works but is pretty boring. But it's not bad. Could've been better, could've been worse. Could've been just "BACKER EXCLUSIVE EDITION" on the front.

My guesstimate of August for delivery of all the items wasn't too far off.
Of course we have our old nemesis SARS-CoV-2 to partially thank for that.

Arkanius · Mar 17, 2020

Getting out and making Tim Sweeney pay my refund was the best thing I could have done
What a clusterfuck all together.

LiS Matt · Mar 17, 2020

I'm sure the cluster isn't over yet either

bell wood's jet cola · Mar 17, 2020

The capsule toys look neat, but they're not coming until July.

Velikost · Mar 17, 2020

Chairmanchuck said:
Wow.

Looks like one of those "self printed" bootleg stuff you can buy from China.

Wait is this the actual physical PC release? loooooooooooooooooooool

B1ggRandall · Mar 17, 2020

Chairmanchuck said:
Wow.

Looks like one of those "self printed" bootleg stuff you can buy from China.

Sheesh! 😳

GhostTrick · Mar 17, 2020

bell wood's jet cola said:
The capsule toys look neat, but they're not coming until July.

Wow, what happened in the process ? The renders looked so good. Now it looks super off:

bell wood's jet cola · Mar 17, 2020

Lol. They don't look great now that you've pointed that out...

Zafir · Mar 17, 2020

Yeah, not gonna lie, they do look poor compared to the renders.

Chairmanchuck said:
Wow.

Looks like one of those "self printed" bootleg stuff you can buy from China.

So they just shoved it into a old PS3 case lmao?

Are they not giving the sleeve any more?

Edit: Ok you do still get a sleeve, but it's as meh as the PS4 one was (which is to be expected, but still disappointing).

Someone posted this album on the Kickstarter page

Shenmue III Physical PC Backer Case & Sleeve

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

imgur.com

bell wood's jet cola · Mar 17, 2020

I have the PC version. It comes with a brown sleeve instead of a blue one.

Siresly · Mar 17, 2020

Well when you look closer at them...and especially compared to the renders...
Shenhua looks off indeed.
Ryo also looks worse than the render, but still ok I think. Less expressive, relaxed and contemplative, more River City Ransomy.

Let's hope I'll get a Ryo then, I suppose.

BoxManLocke · Mar 17, 2020

10 months for a fucking artbook.

At least it has less chances to be as shitty as the rest of the physical rewards.

Augemitbutter · Mar 17, 2020

i hope they don't pull some shit with the audio quality on the CD release. I excpect to get an ugly case as it stands, i don't believe they produced proper art that could be used for their rewards or any more marketing.

Bowl0l · May 26, 2020

KS last update on Tuesday, 17th March 2020.

Code:

April 2020 > Official T-Shirt
May 2020 > Physical CD Soundtrack, Ryo's replica jacket
June 2020 > Physical artbook
July 2020 > Gachapon toys

Is this schedule valid? They are currently spending all their effort to maintain communication with their backers.

GhostTrick said:
Wow, what happened in the process ? The renders looked so good. Now it looks super off:

I got a feeling that the end product will be worse.

BoxManLocke said:
10 months for a fucking artbook.

At least it has less chances to be as shitty as the rest of the physical rewards.

What are the contents of the physical art book? The digital art book is underwhelming

tiebreaker · May 26, 2020

Bowl0l said:
KS last update on Tuesday, 17th March 2020.

Code:

April 2020 > Official T-Shirt May 2020 > Physical CD Soundtrack, Ryo's replica jacket June 2020 > Physical artbook July 2020 > Gachapon toys

Is this schedule valid? They are currently spending all their effort to maintain communication with their backers.

I got a feeling that the end product will be worse.
What are the contents of the physical art book? The digital art book is underwhelming

I'd guess no one has received anything from that list yet?

BoxManLocke · May 26, 2020

Bowl0l said:
I got a feeling that the end product will be worse.
What are the contents of the physical art book? The digital art book is underwhelming

Pretty sure they didn't say anything about it except that it was curated by Yu Suzuki.

I'll see when I get it I guess.

Windrunner · May 26, 2020

God, we got scammed hard by this one.

Clive · May 26, 2020

tiebreaker said:
I'd guess no one has received anything from that list yet?

Not me. I honestly don't understand why they don't just send it all at once to save on shipping tbh. No one is going to see it as a big deal if they get the T-shirt in August together with the toys and artbook instead of April. Might as well save the money on shipping and put it into Shenmue 4. Shipping is much more expensive than what I paid to have this delivered if they send everything separately. They need all the money they can get if they are to finish the series.

Tricky I Shadow · May 26, 2020

Windrunner said:
God, we got scammed hard by this one.

No? We're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. How about giving it a bit more time before jumping the gun?

Soapbox Killer · May 26, 2020

I never even got my copy of the game despite backing (the next day after E32015) and confirming physical.

OnionPowder · May 26, 2020

Not sad I cancelled this kickstarter and spent the money on weed

I still need to play though

Windrunner · May 26, 2020

Tricky I Shadow said:
No? We're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. How about giving it a bit more time before jumping the gun?

The game was delayed by 2 years and they still couldn't get the physical rewards dispatched in time for the game's release, which predates Covid-19.

They've had plenty of time. Please don't try to defend this mess.

Siresly · May 26, 2020

I forgot about this again.
Oh, now I remembered I told Fangamer to send all of my remaining items in a single package to avoid a smattering of customs fees.
So I won't receive any more stuff until like the end of the year or something.

Landy828 · May 26, 2020

Windrunner said:
The game was delayed by 2 years and they still couldn't get the physical rewards dispatched in time for the game's release, which predates Covid-19.

They've had plenty of time. Please don't try to defend this mess.

You do realize that it can delay things further even if it isn't the original reason for past delays. Right?

A delay from the past doesn't magically negate the current delay.

Curler · May 26, 2020

Windrunner said:
The game was delayed by 2 years and they still couldn't get the physical rewards dispatched in time for the game's release, which predates Covid-19.

They've had plenty of time. Please don't try to defend this mess.

It's a good thing you never backed anything by Sekai then :p The main thing is that the game itself DID come out. Scam? No, you got a full game, as promised, and it wasn't something like Mighty No. 9 where they just kinda of switched the original look and design of the game that people backed..

I'm not defending this at all, but some companies just suck with logistics and got waaaaay ahead of themselves with bonus goodies. Oh it's not so easy to print a variety of materials for thousands of people, while working with partners over in China (usually)? These things not only take time, but getting it altogether is NOT something these companies are good at. I get that getting the art/music was probably last minute until the game was done to have the assets, but yes, through COVID into it all, and that schedule is going to messed up once again.

Just be glad you have a finished product, the rest is just nice to be able to get... one day. I've backed things going back to summer of 2014 that I'm still waiting on the goodies for, so I am used to this :/

Lothars · May 26, 2020

Tricky I Shadow said:
No? We're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. How about giving it a bit more time before jumping the gun?

Na They have basically treated backers like an ATM and than signed exclusive deals to further screw backers so none of it jumping the gun.

GhostTrick · May 26, 2020

Lothars said:
Na They have basically treated backers like an ATM and than signed exclusive deals to further screw backers so none of it jumping the gun.

In the end, to deliver a subpar, average title that gives no fuck about the story or the characters. But hey, there's a forklift and lucky hit !

Curler · May 26, 2020

Lothars said:
Na They have basically treated backers like an ATM and than signed exclusive deals to further screw backers so none of it jumping the gun.

I mean, that's also kind of the point of crowdfunders in general. Despite what people think about the deal with Epic, I actually heard some inside that the deal actually put A LOT more money into the final product. So had that not had happened, and the final product might have been.... lacking.

Lothars · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
I mean, that's also kind of the point of crowdfunders in general. Despite what people think about the deal with Epic, I actually heard some inside that the deal actually put A LOT more money into the final product. So had that not had happened, and the final product might have been.... lacking.

Well in some ways I guess but i've had tons of crowdfunding projects that ended up fantastic and I was more than happy how backers were treated. Not in this case, They treated backers terrible and just shrugged it off as some defended them.

GhostTrick said:
In the end, to deliver a subpar, average title that gives no fuck about the story or the characters. But hey, there's a forklift and lucky hit !

Agreed.

GhostTrick · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
I mean, that's also kind of the point of crowdfunders in general. Despite what people think about the deal with Epic, I actually heard some inside that the deal actually put A LOT more money into the final product. So had that not had happened, and the final product might have been.... lacking.

What's been said is actually quite the opposite. Deep Silver pocketed the money.
Not only the game didn't benefit from it... but the final product was still lacking.
And no, there's quite a few crowdfunding campaigns that manages to not fuck over their backers.

Curler · May 26, 2020

GhostTrick said:
What's been said is actually quite the opposite. Deep Silver pocketed the money.
Not only the game didn't benefit from it... but the final product was still lacking.
And no, there's quite a few crowdfunding campaigns that manages to not fuck over their backers.

It was supposed insider stuff I heard from a good source, but I can imagine that some stuff was inflated to that person too to make things sound not as bad.

Yeah, crowdfunding is ALWAYS a risk, and like I said, some companies just suck at it. This still wasn't an outright scam, like those poor people that helped fund Project Phoenix and got Tiny Metal instead :p THOSE are the real scams. I have had a handful of Kickstarters that went super smooth, got the main item and all goodies in a timely matter (even within their estimated timeframe), but sometimes those are the rarities, I feel.

GhostTrick · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
It was supposed insider stuff I heard from a good source, but I can imagine that some stuff was inflated to that person too to make things sound not as bad.

Yeah, crowdfunding is ALWAYS a risk, and like I said, some companies just suck at it. This still wasn't an outright scam, like those poor people that helped fund Project Phoenix and got Tiny Metal instead :p THOSE are the real scams. I have had a handful of Kickstarters that went super smooth, got the main item and all goodies in a timely matter (even within their estimated timeframe), but sometimes those are the rarities, I feel.

I mean, that came from Cedric Biscay... who's the CEO of the company producing the game. So yeah.

And while it wasn't a scam of course, let's be real: It's been a greedy shit train. Backers got the worse deal. The rewards were LAUGHABLE. Have you seen the artbook or the soundtrack ?

ss_lemonade · May 26, 2020

Can't say I'm not disappointed for choosing the $60 tier for that special backer's PC physical copy. All we got was a generic case, a cheap slip cover and a disc installer for the Epic store lmao. Seeing stuff like the retail steelbook PS4 version makes me sad.

JaseC64 · May 26, 2020

So when are the signed copies being sent out? I def feel like I got scammed here. Never again.

srtrestre · May 26, 2020

The quality of those rewards is oof.

Bowl0l · May 26, 2020

GhostTrick said:
And while it wasn't a scam of course, let's be real: It's been a greedy shit train. Backers got the worse deal. The rewards were LAUGHABLE. Have you seen the artbook or the soundtrack ?

The digital download is the final product, right?
(Digital content = Physical content)

JaseC64 said:
So when are the signed copies being sent out? I def feel like I got scammed here. Never again.

I think only the illustration is signed.

Curler · May 26, 2020

GhostTrick said:
Have you seen the artbook or the soundtrack ?

From my experience, those are always the things in Kickstarters that take FOREVER to get :/

Virtua King · May 26, 2020

I honestly don't care if I never get my stuff, and I gave up around $200. Backers were treated poorly, and the game itself was a letdown for non-budgetary reasons, so even if there was no pandemic, they'd probably screw this up too. I'm also sure the extras, like the art book and figures, are going to be as cheap and tacky as the lame paper slip cover anyway.

GhostTrick · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
From my experience, those are always the things in Kickstarters that take FOREVER to get :/

Not talking about the delivery. The content itself. The artbook is like 40 pages. The soundtrack has 21 tracks in mp3 format.

40 pages for the artbook.

Curler · May 26, 2020

GhostTrick said:
Not talking about the delivery. The content itself. The artbook is like 40 pages. The soundtrack has 21 tracks in mp3 format.

40 pages for the artbook.

Oh yeah, that's normal too. I think people just need to keep their expectations in check with what they are backing. Not everything will be full-sized, or premium, etc., despite the premium prices spent, it's not going to be the same as a retail release. Artbooks will not necessarily be 200 pages (even if it's like $30 for it), soundtracks won't be full/FLAC always (one thing I Kickstarted came in .OGG format... I dunno what that even is...), and the game case won't always be made with premium materials either (I saw reviews on people who backed In Search of Darkness doc, and complained that the blu rays were just regular blu rays with no special artwork etc on it, despite paying a premium). Many Kickstarter goodies come with great disappointment if you equate the costs of them to a retail release of something equivalent, and that's sadly just not often the case, unless it specifically specifies as much :/

GhostTrick · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
Oh yeah, that's normal too. I think people just need to keep their expectations in check with what they are backing. Not everything will be full-sized, or premium, etc., despite the premium prices spent, it's not going to be the same as a retail release. Artbooks will not necessarily be 200 pages (even if it's like $30 for it), soundtracks won't be full/FLAC always (one thing I Kickstarted came in .OGG format... I dunno what that even is...), and the game case won't always be made with premium materials either (I saw reviews on people who backed In Search of Darkness doc, and complained that the blu rays were just regular blu rays with no special artwork etc on it, despite paying a premium). Many Kickstarter goodies come with great disappointment if you equate the costs of them to a retail release of something equivalent, and that's sadly just not often the case, unless it specifically specifies as much :/

That's not normal. Also, the download for the soundtrack expire this month. In fact, it might have expired already. The artbook tier is at 160 dollars for digital. It's not about expectations. It's about some companies playing fair and others being greedy fucks. There's nothing to defend here.

BoxManLocke · May 26, 2020

Virtua King said:
I honestly don't care if I never get my stuff, and I gave up around $200. Backers were treated poorly, and the game itself was a letdown for non-budgetary reasons, so even if there was no pandemic, they'd probably screw this up too. I'm also sure the extras, like the art book and figures, are going to be as cheap and tacky as the lame paper slip cover anyway.

Yeah I had actually forgotten about my reward until I was quoted in this thread.

I sold the ugly ass "exclusive" physical copy and I'm preparing to do the same for the artbook. I'll be very surprised if the quality ends up being up to par.

Bradford · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
soundtracks won't be full/FLAC always (one thing I Kickstarted came in .OGG format... I dunno what that even is...)

OGG is an industry standard open source format used for a lot of games and supported by many devices. It's not weird that you got a soundtrack in OGG format even if it's not FLAC quality. Most games actually utilize OGG for their in-engine playback as well.

Curler · May 26, 2020

GhostTrick said:
That's not normal. Also, the download for the soundtrack expire this month. In fact, it might have expired already. The artbook tier is at 160 dollars for digital. It's not about expectations. It's about some companies playing fair and others being greedy fucks. There's nothing to defend here.

It is pretty normal, compared to stuff I've backed over the years and the price points for even digital goods. The artbook wasn't just $160, from the $120 tier, it was $40 more for a digital artbook and soundtrack ($15 more gets you a physical artbook), along with a tshirt, which is usually around $20 anyways. Digital soundtracks/artbooks on Steam aren't cheap either. I never find any of those "worth it" for the price points, which is why I go physical for goods I want. But if something says "artbook" and "soundtrack" without specifying how big it is, I mean, Japanese industry standards I've always been used to getting smaller things in limited edition games, so I never expected anything full or huge. Those are rarities, especially with Japanese games (who charge $40 for a full artbook or soundtrack just on their own). The only real BS would be if the digital soundtrack expired really quickly, but most limited edition games give you a couple years before the expire, as well.

Not even trying to defend it, but this is stuff I have seen with many other Kickstarters I have backed in general, so to me it makes sense and I know what's in store. I also backed this at the $250 tier, so I mean, yeah I'm also waiting for stuff.

Matesamo · May 26, 2020

I have been waiting three years for a Kickstarter for a freaking Pinball book to ship, lol. Originally due to ship May 2017, man how time flies. I backed Shenmue and am happy to have helped get the game made, it may not have been the next big thing but it was great to see that world again.

GhostTrick · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
It is pretty normal, compared to stuff I've backed over the years and the price points for even digital goods. The artbook wasn't just $160, from the $120 tier, it was $40 more for a digital artbook and soundtrack ($15 more gets you a physical artbook), along with a tshirt, which is usually around $20 anyways. Digital soundtracks/artbooks on Steam aren't cheap either. I never find any of those "worth it" for the price points, which is why I go physical for goods I want. But if something says "artbook" and "soundtrack" without specifying how big it is, I mean, Japanese industry standards I've always been used to getting smaller things in limited edition games, so I never expected anything full or huge. Those are rarities, especially with Japanese games (who charge $40 for a full artbook or soundtrack just on their own).

Not even trying to defend it, but this is stuff I have seen with many other Kickstarters I have backed in general, so to me it makes sense and I know what's in store. I also backed this at the $250 tier, so I mean, yeah I'm also waiting for stuff.

Muv-Luv got a 400 pages complete artbook. It's sold for 35 bucks.
Shenmue III is filled with screenshots too lol. Promotional screenshots or screenshots taken by the dev team. Also, it's 39 pages. Yes, some have been bad. But that's not an excuse. It's a premium price for really low effort rewards.

SpitztheGreat · May 26, 2020

I donated $100, and in general I'm fine. Do I feel that I got a good value for my $100? No. But I donated knowing that. I donated knowing that 15 year-old me would not have forgiven myself for not donating since I had the means. For as disappointed as I am with the game and Suzuki, I don't miss the $100 that I donated.

That said, I feel like the return on investment for the tiers above $100 are an example of diminishing returns. From what I've seen, the extras look like junk that I wouldn't know what to do with.

My frustration with this project continues to be in its repeated failures to deliver anything in a timely manner that is also quality. Everything has been slow, and the quality has been junk. Even the game itself, delayed two years, didn't meet even the basic requirements I had for the game. Can you imagine if they had released it as originally intended???? All of this is just further proof of how poorly managed this entire project has been, nothing has gone smoothly, nothing has worked out well, and no one should be pleased with the results.

PeakPointMatrix · May 26, 2020

Windrunner said:
God, we got scammed hard by this one.

Is the word you're looking for "disappointed?" People love throwing the word scam around for every little thing, like implying Ys took people's cash and ran. We funded a product, it got made, everyone received it who still wanted it, with rewards and niknaks getting delayed is all.

Also why give them so much shit for delaying the game? Naughty Dog does it and people swoon and say "take your time". Shenmue III on a shoestring budget is delayed and people hold it against them until the end of time. Shit is frustrating regardless of the end product's quality, as if a delay is supposed to automatically guarantee a 9/10 in the first place.

Windrunner · May 26, 2020

Curler said:
It's a good thing you never backed anything by Sekai then :p The main thing is that the game itself DID come out. Scam? No, you got a full game, as promised, and it wasn't something like Mighty No. 9 where they just kinda of switched the original look and design of the game that people backed..

I'm not defending this at all, but some companies just suck with logistics and got waaaaay ahead of themselves with bonus goodies. Oh it's not so easy to print a variety of materials for thousands of people, while working with partners over in China (usually)? These things not only take time, but getting it altogether is NOT something these companies are good at. I get that getting the art/music was probably last minute until the game was done to have the assets, but yes, through COVID into it all, and that schedule is going to messed up once again.

Just be glad you have a finished product, the rest is just nice to be able to get... one day. I've backed things going back to summer of 2014 that I'm still waiting on the goodies for, so I am used to this :/

I got the game after people who pre-ordered it on Amazon or PSN did, in a cheap card slipcase, without any pre-order DLC and with none of the physical rewards as part of the $250 pledge tier. I had been looking forward to finally having Shenmue 3 for the best part of 20 years and had put my money where my mouth was as regards support and instead of having a plethora of Shenmue 3 goodies on release day I had nothing except some vague promises.

Had I known how this would pan out, I would have only backed the $30 digital tier.

PeakPointMatrix said:
Is the word you're looking for "disappointed?" People love throwing the word scam around for every little thing, like implying Ys took people's cash and ran. We funded a product, it got made, everyone received it who still wanted it, with rewards and niknaks getting delayed is all.

Also why give them so much shit for delaying the game? Naughty Dog does it and people swoon and say "take your time". Shenmue III on a shoestring budget is delayed and people hold it against them until the end of time. Shit is frustrating regardless of the end product's quality, as if a delay is supposed to automatically guarantee a 9/10 in the first place.

I don't care that they delayed the game, they could have delayed it another year and I would have understood. I care that the fulfilment of the physical rewards has been a mess.

Curler · May 26, 2020

GhostTrick said:
Muv-Luv got a 400 pages complete artbook. It's sold for 35 bucks.
Shenmue III is filled with screenshots too lol. Promotional screenshots or screenshots taken by the dev team. Also, it's 39 pages. Yes, some have been bad. But that's not an excuse. It's a premium price for really low effort rewards.

$35 for a digital artbook is REALLY high, and the price of a physical full-sized artbook that Udon or Dark Horse would put out. Given that this wasn't even an artbook necessarily, but an outright compendium full of lots of text and information, was a whole other beast. Physically, that thing costed me an extra $80. MUV-LUV wasn't flawless either, and despite some awesome freebies (the Figma), it still had issues with bad communication, changing company ownership in the middle of it, and I'm still waiting on the extra side-story VN that was included with it (Photon Melodies). So, it's not complete as a KS, either. I track all of the stuff that I'm supposed to get with Kickstarters and still waiting on... a lot of artbooks, soundtracks, and other things.

I don't disagree that the goods have been lacking quality. Lots complained of Bloodstained taking forever (and lots also called out "scam" too), but the goods that came out were pretty good in the end! Slip cover too. Yes this did come with a free slip cover. Does it suck? Well, yeah, but it came with one, as promised :/ But if you saw the size of the artbooks most Japanese Kickstarters gave out, for the pricepoints I paid, and yeah, for many would say would be lacking for sure.

Windrunner said:
I got the game after people who pre-ordered it on Amazon or PSN did, in a cheap card slipcase, without any pre-order DLC and with none of the physical rewards as part of the $250 pledge tier. I had been looking forward to finally having Shenmue 3 for the best part of 20 years and had put my money where my mouth was as regards support and instead of having a plethora of Shenmue 3 goodies on release day I had nothing except some vague promises.

Had I known how this would pan out, I would have only backed the $30 digital tier.

I don't care that they delayed the game, they could have delayed it another year and I would have understood. I care that the fulfilment of the physical rewards has been a mess.

The physical rewards are the biggest mess in any Kickstarter. Thing is, I think you would be in the minority of "delay it further so we can get the game AND all the goods all at once". Unless it's an established company, it RARELY pans out that way, and 9/10 Kickstarters, the goodies come separate, later on. I'm still waiting on physical goods in 21 Kickstarters (out of 42 projects over the years, mostly niche Japanese stuff), so I am very, very used to this and it is not uncommon at all.

Shenmue III is shipping now for Kickstarter backers it seems

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