Shenmue III cover art on German Amazon

Let’s hope all the outdated models and artwork are updated soon after MAGIC’s World Premiere. If they’re serious about marketing, it will soon be time to present more representative marketing materials of what prospective consumers should expect. The longer these dated images linger, the greater likelihood they’ll mislead the greater public.
 
Media websites have begun to spread out the news in Europe.

The reception seems pretty mixed so far while I saw one journalist being underwhelmed by the "new" artwork featuring Ryo among NPCs at Choubu. The conference comes just at the right time.
 
well i think its not easy to impress people with AA graphics or design these days.
if you check one of germans biggest platforms for videogames in general - Gamestar
you can see in the comments of all S3 articles that the general view/opinion is pretty negative.
one of the articles has over 100 comments and those are not nice comments.
 
If anyone wants to politely tell any negative cynics to fuck off, that's also appreciated ;)

It really is time people stopped judging games on graphics alone, especially before the product is final. Watch Dogs looked amazing in its E3 reveal and then when it was released it didn't even look like a decent PS3 game, let alone a 'next gen' game on the PS4 and XB1 hardware. At least Shenmue 3 is looking better and better with each update, unlike other games that get downgraded beyond recognition.
 
Yep. It could look like an absolute dog's dinner if the gameplay was there (which it sounds like it is from the EDGE preview), so the fact it looks like a pretty respectable AA/triple indie title is a bonus.

Unfortunately some people are just fucking weird about graphics in games. Unless you're boundary pushing AAA, or lean really hard into sleek or unique stylisation, visuals tend to get poo-pooed depending on subjective tastes. I've seen people shit all over the visuals for the most beautiful or at least technically impressive games out there, so that should tell you everything. It's never enough for some.
 
Spaghetti said:
Yep. It could look like an absolute dog's dinner if the gameplay was there (which it sounds like it is from the EDGE preview), so the fact it looks like a pretty respectable AA/triple indie title is a bonus.

Unfortunately some people are just fucking weird about graphics in games. Unless you're boundary pushing AAA, or lean really hard into sleek or unique stylisation, visuals tend to get poo-pooed depending on subjective tastes. I've seen people shit all over the visuals for the most beautiful or at least technically impressive games out there, so that should tell you everything. It's never enough for some.
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I don't even buy physical stuff anymore, so I couldn't care less. I mean I AM getting two physical copies because of the Kickstarter, but that's the exception for me.
 
ManoTemple said:
Is AA/triple a borderline AAA game, something to the degree of Hellblade?
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No, it's kind of a wide space occupied by games that aren't traditionally indie but also aren't AAA. Triple indie is somewhat analogous to this term, but there are some distinctions that aren't totally clear.

Hellblade is a, I guess, triple indie game. Important to note one of their core pillars of development was to provide AAA level visuals on an indie budget, but you can certainly see the trade-off in how limited the game is in respect to number of characters and amount of interactions/gameplay variety.
 
Spaghetti said:
Yep. It could look like an absolute dog's dinner if the gameplay was there (which it sounds like it is from the EDGE preview), so the fact it looks like a pretty respectable AA/triple indie title is a bonus.

Unfortunately some people are just fucking weird about graphics in games. Unless you're boundary pushing AAA, or lean really hard into sleek or unique stylisation, visuals tend to get poo-pooed depending on subjective tastes. I've seen people shit all over the visuals for the most beautiful or at least technically impressive games out there, so that should tell you everything. It's never enough for some.
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When it comes to Shenmue I can understand somewhat it was a game that had graphics that were groundbreaking for their time. However as Shenmue slept, a new generation of gamers were born into this HD world with graphics that have improved leaps and bounds since 1999. Where I part ways though is knowing the circumstances surrounding Shenmue’s rebirth so expecting AAA level graphics is a fool’s errand.

In all honesty, I wish gamers cared more about the substance of the game rather than it looking pretty. As gamers we’re here to play and interact with a game not passively stare at it like a painting. Good graphics should be an afterthought after you’ve established the most important part of your game the gameplay (and making sure it runs properly).

But then again I’ve been playing games since the Atari 2600 era with games like Adventure and Pitfall so what do I know?
 
Some people do not really expect super graphics they are just looking for a reason to be negative. They use any reason that helps them to push their negative agenda. These people do not care about Shenmue, most of them were not even born back then or were to young to care.

We fans have to accept that Shenmue is not a game for everybody. Never was never will be. Even back then in 1999 when it was technically far ahead of its competitors it still could generate that much positive attention. It is foolish to asume Shenmue will make it now and get the attention it undoubtedly deserves but please thing again. Shenmue did made a big enough impact in 99 when it was brand new. state of the art. graphically and gameplay wise. Today Shenmue is nothing special. It is a open worldish game among many open world games. Today's gaming kids do not care that Shenmue was one of the grandfathers or even the grandfather that made this genre possible. They want stupid plain AAA entertainment. Shenmue is not the type o game for that people.

We fans should try to be just postive, enjoy the game and promote it as good as possible. To make S4 a reality. But we should stop to worry about the haters. They won't change. The game is just not suitable for them.
 
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Shenmue III is going to get criticized to hell and back no mater what. It could have photo realistic graphics and gamers will still find a way to call it garbage.

For me personally I think its going to shut up a lot of critics but people will still nitpick it to death. Just knowing we went from Suzuki developing smartphone games no one asked to where we are is astounding.

Its best to keep expectations in check sure. But dev costs have gotten considerably cheaper to make open world games today than 1999.

For comparison, 47 million was spent on making 2 Shenmue games for two consoles. Yu Suzuki is playing with about 20 million for Shenmue III. I'd say that the budget is about equal for III than the first two combined.
 
Everything can change with the official trailer on Saturday. Most negative comments are judging off old builds so it's whatever but come Saturday is where we will see how things are heading because the game will be mostly finalized at this point (exception of polishing/balancing).
 
Graphics... Surely it's also down to style. Like I loved Skies of Arcadia, but it is cartoonish not top notch oh my God look at that water reflection. Likewise Shenmue has it's own style and it is consistent. I don't want Shenmue in the looks of RDR2, I want Shenmue. And I'm confident Suzuki is providing that.

As for the cover... I hope they reconsider, there are better options out there already. If they don't then OK, like others here I mostly buy digital these days and will only buy one because it's Shenmue. (Fine I'm gonna buy a bunch to give away but still).
 
ManoTemple said:
Does this not look good enough?
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ask that the people who only play games like Anthem, Battlefield 5, GTA 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, Spiderman and so on.
to people who only care for the biggest AAA announcements at E3,
every game that looks less impressive as something like RDR 2 is called ugly.

most people or gamer have no idea what game budget, studio size etc is about.
their only question is: why cant every game look as good as the newest God of War game.

Shenmue 3 has no chance in the pit of those people.
 
Of course it looks good enough! I'll probably cry when I start playing. But for a cover I'm not looking for graphics really, I'm looking for creativity or even a fantasy of what might be.
 
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