My Shenmue 3 impressions (5 hours in)

Seraph87 said:
I talked a lot to Shenhua but honestly, I don‘t think it does make any difference one way or another. It is possible to talk a bit about her and Ryo‘s past but this seemed to be very superficial. It still has a nice touch to it but she is mostly just a plot device and Ryo talks with her about his current goals.

I wouldn‘t rule out that there are some hidden away conversations though which can be missed. My expectations may have been a bit too high in that regard, the telephone calls are similar, a nice touch but nothing more.
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Yea you rally can't rule it out, as it lake suppedly 20-30 playthroughs to see every option. I'm just wondering, if anyone has noticed a difference between one point from another with her, and how she reacts to Ryo.

I seriously hope her parameter system "actually" exists, and there's a decent range that has a impact, instead of the discussions being little more then flavor text(like on a MTG card).
 
Disclaimer :I have not played the game. I have jumped into viewing several lets plays at random points so I dont spoil all the story for myself yet.

But here goes! From what I have seen, Shenmue 3 isnt as good as Shenmue 2, and in Some ways Shenmue 1. Its not a bad game tho, so dont get that twisted. Its a good Shenmue game but a lot of its systems arent as fleshed out as either of the previous games. It makes sense as this is basically an indie game on a small budget, despite that it feels more substantial than most small KS projects with maybe Kingdom Come Deliverance equaling it in scope. I will say I think that the total play area of the game is probably just as big if not a tiny bit smaller than the previous games combined. Bailu is huge. Niaowu is huge. Castle Fortress area from what I have read is quite small.
But as for the systems, npcs dont really have as dense schedules as Shenmue 1 in the Bailu area, they generally have schedules but its not really as realistic. In Niaowu its even less, and main characters dont really have as much going on either. I havent seen any way to follow an npc. The time skip feature is missing a time laspe. Say what you will about Ryo standing in the same place for hours on end with Shenmue 2s "wait" feature but at least you got a nice view as he did it.

Also despite Niaowu's huge size, its nowhere near as lively as Wan Chai. Its vastness makes it feel really empty at times as npcs are much more spaced out and it seems there are way less of them. There are a few packed areas that are on the same level, such as the Vendor Avenue.Theres a lot of atmospheric sounds that really bring cadence such as crowds chattering, dogs barking, cats meowing, and croaking from frogs, unfortunately, i didnt actually see any of these animals. Just heard them.

Again, its not a bad game but its kinda lacking in some ways that made the first two so revolutionary, and its lack of animations is really felt. Going to a soda machine and not seeing Ryo open the can and gulp it down is just plain wrong.

With all that said, I think the worst offender of this game is the repetition of dialogue. It is genuinely annoying that characters repeat the same things even after the thousandth time you talk to them. Like the hotel owner makes the same exact joke every single day. Or the the martial hall master continously explains who he is and what he does and what you can do no matter how many times youve been there already.

All in all, from what I have seen Shenmue 3 is great, it has really great main cinematic cutscenes (secondary cutscenes can be janky), a huge beautiful and highly detailed world with lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Good puzzles and a few awesome character moments. But imo, it is definitely not as good as Shenmue 2. Its probably on par with Shenmue 1 but it lacks the same atmosphere due to the daily schedule of npcs not being as fleshed out.
 
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There will be people who will like this game more than the others, just like there are those who like 1 over 2.

But 2 is, IMO, the greatest game ever made (and objectively speaking, the argument for that pedestal is STRONG) and not only did I not expect 3 to be a better game, but with the budget and all the hoopla, it just couldn't be up to that level.

But that's fine :)
 
Zoltor said:
I personally don't care about the "underlined" story, because frankly the real story of Shenmue was never about that, it was about Ryo's growth, and the people he meets along the way.

With that in mind, without going into specific dialogues or whatnot, how well was the Shenhua parameter system fleshed out/ Does your relationship with her vare much, depending on what you say to her, and how you handle certain events?

Also are new key characters complex in how they are connected to Ryo after meeting(for example, I suspect Lin to be the most important new char you meet, providing this to be true as her char art implies, after you get past her introduction event+move on, do you have any other events main or otherwise, tied to her? ).

I really hope you don't just meet a key character, get what you need from them, and then move on, never warranting seeing them ever again.
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Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unless there are a ton of side quests and hidden events NONE of the characters get fleshed out. Not in the main story at least. I also dont think the Shenhua system made it into this game. not on the scale that Yu implied for sure. So we have a lack of significant/fleshed out plot and characters that are not developed.
 
kaliskonig91 said:
Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unless there are a ton of side quests and hidden events NONE of the characters get fleshed out. Not in the main story at least. I also dont think the Shenhua system made it into this game. not on the scale that Yu implied for sure. So we have a lack of significant/fleshed out plot and characters that are not developed.
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That's not a big deal, IMO.

Haven't read any of the spoilers in regards to the end, but this was supposed to be Niao Sun's introduction; no idea what happens, but I would think she'll take significantly more prominence in the next game.
 
If the game is able to be compared to the first two and come away favorably, then it’s more than good enough for me.
 
kaliskonig91 said:
Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unless there are a ton of side quests and hidden events NONE of the characters get fleshed out. Not in the main story at least. I also dont think the Shenhua system made it into this game. not on the scale that Yu implied for sure. So we have a lack of significant/fleshed out plot and characters that are not developed.
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Does Ren at least gets significant screen time similar to Shenhua?
 
Think a 'Shenmue 3 user reviews' thread would be cool, if you guys are up for writing a blurb or two on the game...

I am kind of inured to the idea of repetitive NPCs. That's something most of us grew up with in the 8 and 16-bit RPG days. It'd be cool if they had a bunch of lines, but I won't lose much sleep over it.
 
kaliskonig91 said:
Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unless there are a ton of side quests and hidden events NONE of the characters get fleshed out. Not in the main story at least. I also dont think the Shenhua system made it into this game. not on the scale that Yu implied for sure. So we have a lack of significant/fleshed out plot and characters that are not developed.
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When I say fleshed out, I mean complex in a realistic way, and with developed back stories, in the context of the actual char(s) in question.

I don't mean fleshed out in a way a "stand alone" movie would have to(hell those movie characters tend to not be very complex anyway, as you have to fit their stories in a 2-3h time span)

Ouch that would suck, I hope you're wrong about that.
 
ValoniMahoni said:
Shenmue 3 is fun to play, BUT it indeed is a filler Episode. Nothing happens to advance the plot even a tad. That dissapoints me.
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I think people are overlooking something. The part of the story is probally meant to "come off as" s filler episode.

This is the pinnacle spot for such, in this kind of story.. However it technically Isn't, as this is the train til you drop phase of wuxia story telling, so that, and the masters you meet that help you, "are" the story.
 
Which, as I've mentioned above, is fine with me personally; if he could've made all 11 games as chapters, I feel everything would be fleshed to death, but with this borrowing of chapter 4 and mainly chapter 5 and borrowing a bit of chapter 6, etc., I feel this was bound to happen and 4 will be HUGE.
 
mjqjazzbar said:
If the game is following the original story outline, then it must've always been a stopgap entry in the series. Kind of sucks after 18 years, but what can you do? Dude doesn't want to deviate from his outline...
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Yea exactly, this was never meant to be a entry focused on the underlined story, KS, funding, and missteps have nothing to do with it.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Which, as I've mentioned above, is fine with me personally; if he could've made all 11 games as chapters, I feel everything would be fleshed to death, but with this borrowing of chapter 4 and mainly chapter 5 and borrowing a bit of chapter 6, etc., I feel this was bound to happen and 4 will be HUGE.
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Yea 4 is going to be a very big deal as far as the underlined story goes(hell it will be a be deal as far as Ryo development as well).
 
Indeed; if one follows the GDC cards, chapters 4, 5 and 6 give the impression that its fighting and training, with characters being repeated (Lan Di and the Big Brute, along with Shenhua) and the only new person being Niao Sun, who also is in the next chapter card and more prominent.
 
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