- Joined
- Aug 19, 2018
As some folks may have seen after a lot of wrangling and paying more than I am willing to admit a kind user on another forum I frequent was able to ship me a copy of Shenmue 3 early, which I received and started today.
I know a lot of fans are on edge right now with the release imminent but I wanted to share my general thoughts which I will keep broad and then discuss some specific elements which will contain some spoilers but I will try and avoid discussing story specifics.
So after 18 years of waiting does Shenmue 3 live up to lofty expectations and hopes of us fans? Well I am far too early in the game to make any definitive statements but in short fans of the series will find a lot to love and enjoy about the games opening.
I was giddy in anticipation as latest patch downloaded and the game started. I actually watched the recap video, which in my opinion is serviceable in getting new players up to date with the games essential story but as many will attest Shenmue needs to be experienced not merely watched. As the opening cinematic started it was hard not to realize I was entering uncharted waters and didn't quite know what to expect.
After a well directed opening cinematic, the games opening handful of minutes are pretty uneven. Those that have seen the latest previews probably know what I'm referring to but the game tries to get a lot of exposition out of the way in a relatively cumbersome manner. I just know there was a better way to block and edit conversations together, making them feel much more seamless. Perhaps a product of lack of budget but it certainly feels a lot less refined and cinematic than it's two predecessors.
Thankfully things get better from that point on (Outside a brief occurrence of the aforementioned issue on day 2). The core elements of what made us fall in love with Shenmue return and with some tweaks and additions. The game feels like a worthy successor to the Dreamcast games and after a few minutes it felt familiar stepping back into Ryo's shoes. So here's some stray observations with my time so far;
- First thing everyone should do before starting game is going into page 2 of the settings and under Zoom option turning it to 'off'. This will remove picture frame when going into First Person mode
- Speaking of, you can now walk and explore entire game in First Person, simply press and hold L2 trigger while free roaming
- I am playing this on a PS4 Pro but having looked through menu extensively I do not believe it has Pro support. I am sure John at Digital Foundry will give us a great analysis but this appears to be 1080p with stable framerate and very occasional hitches
- In setting menu there is space to enter your Backer Code (Where or what email do we get this from?) I presume this is to enable all the backer perks
- Game now auto-saves after next story beat or clue is listed in your notebook
- In opening cinematic there is a relatively signifcant retcon
- The game really looks beautiful. The colours are vibrant, the environments are of course the star but a few hours in and I was totally drawn into the world
- I am playing this on hard and trust me you will need to diligently train and spend considerable time with wooden dummies along with sparing
- I am totally addicted to herb collecting. Every time I venture out I am going to corners or behind objects trying to find my next herb!
- Now at various points if you press triangle it will fast travel you to next story objective or main location. Unfortunately I don't think you can disable this but I of course was going to stick of Suzuki's advice of taking my time with the game and promptly ignored this
- You now have a curfew of
. I believe you can go back out but if you loved the dialogue options in Disk 4, those two hours before your bed time have some really neat conversations and do much to flesh out the characters of Ryo and Shenhua
- I am still coming to grips with abundant of reused music. We've been trained for 18 years to associate certain music pieces with events or scenes from the original games so when they are placed in a completely different scenario it can take a while to acclimatize
- From what I've seen, Bailu is huge! It's so refreshing to get lost in a Shenmue game again!
- In first few days I've seen 3-4 large rain downpours. It's really beautiful seeing Ryo's jacket glistening, the heavy noise of rain and the paths become muddy
- I am putting this down to user error but I absolutely suck at pail toss.
- QTE title in this is absolutely brutal. First the noise from button prompts and rapid cuts make this somewhat jarring but then
I've got a million other things to say but last few hours have been a blur finally getting to play this. I am happy to answer any questions others may have. In summary as I start to slowly progress mainline story it's heading in a very interesting direction and outside a few technical and odd choices, I think fans will overwhelming enjoy this as much as I have. This is Shenmue through and through and that's the best compliment I can give it.
I know a lot of fans are on edge right now with the release imminent but I wanted to share my general thoughts which I will keep broad and then discuss some specific elements which will contain some spoilers but I will try and avoid discussing story specifics.
So after 18 years of waiting does Shenmue 3 live up to lofty expectations and hopes of us fans? Well I am far too early in the game to make any definitive statements but in short fans of the series will find a lot to love and enjoy about the games opening.
I was giddy in anticipation as latest patch downloaded and the game started. I actually watched the recap video, which in my opinion is serviceable in getting new players up to date with the games essential story but as many will attest Shenmue needs to be experienced not merely watched. As the opening cinematic started it was hard not to realize I was entering uncharted waters and didn't quite know what to expect.
After a well directed opening cinematic, the games opening handful of minutes are pretty uneven. Those that have seen the latest previews probably know what I'm referring to but the game tries to get a lot of exposition out of the way in a relatively cumbersome manner. I just know there was a better way to block and edit conversations together, making them feel much more seamless. Perhaps a product of lack of budget but it certainly feels a lot less refined and cinematic than it's two predecessors.
Thankfully things get better from that point on (Outside a brief occurrence of the aforementioned issue on day 2). The core elements of what made us fall in love with Shenmue return and with some tweaks and additions. The game feels like a worthy successor to the Dreamcast games and after a few minutes it felt familiar stepping back into Ryo's shoes. So here's some stray observations with my time so far;
- First thing everyone should do before starting game is going into page 2 of the settings and under Zoom option turning it to 'off'. This will remove picture frame when going into First Person mode
- Speaking of, you can now walk and explore entire game in First Person, simply press and hold L2 trigger while free roaming
- I am playing this on a PS4 Pro but having looked through menu extensively I do not believe it has Pro support. I am sure John at Digital Foundry will give us a great analysis but this appears to be 1080p with stable framerate and very occasional hitches
- In setting menu there is space to enter your Backer Code (Where or what email do we get this from?) I presume this is to enable all the backer perks
- Game now auto-saves after next story beat or clue is listed in your notebook
- In opening cinematic there is a relatively signifcant retcon
regarding the sword which now Yuan gives to Shenhua and no longer floating or in an alter
- The game really looks beautiful. The colours are vibrant, the environments are of course the star but a few hours in and I was totally drawn into the world
- I am playing this on hard and trust me you will need to diligently train and spend considerable time with wooden dummies along with sparing
- I am totally addicted to herb collecting. Every time I venture out I am going to corners or behind objects trying to find my next herb!
- Now at various points if you press triangle it will fast travel you to next story objective or main location. Unfortunately I don't think you can disable this but I of course was going to stick of Suzuki's advice of taking my time with the game and promptly ignored this
- You now have a curfew of
9pm when games warps you to Shenhua's house
- I am still coming to grips with abundant of reused music. We've been trained for 18 years to associate certain music pieces with events or scenes from the original games so when they are placed in a completely different scenario it can take a while to acclimatize
- From what I've seen, Bailu is huge! It's so refreshing to get lost in a Shenmue game again!
- In first few days I've seen 3-4 large rain downpours. It's really beautiful seeing Ryo's jacket glistening, the heavy noise of rain and the paths become muddy
- I am putting this down to user error but I absolutely suck at pail toss.
- QTE title in this is absolutely brutal. First the noise from button prompts and rapid cuts make this somewhat jarring but then
certain pads come up but are fake outs if there's no corresponding button prompts
I've got a million other things to say but last few hours have been a blur finally getting to play this. I am happy to answer any questions others may have. In summary as I start to slowly progress mainline story it's heading in a very interesting direction and outside a few technical and odd choices, I think fans will overwhelming enjoy this as much as I have. This is Shenmue through and through and that's the best compliment I can give it.