What a disappointment

Budgiecat said:
Hey

I found something again:

In the Golden Goose off New Paradise, in their VIP room downstairs, if you head back behind the stairs, there's a golden mirror table in the corner. It not only reflects the brick wall next to it as well as the wooden wall on its other side, but will also reflect Ryo's image if you position him close enough to it. It does not reflect the ceiling however.

The other tables in the VIP room in its main area are of a pink translucent color but also reflective, just not nearly as much because they are see through.

So then this shows that there is flat surface reflection in this game, not just the Rose Garden Buddha. Which means they could and did do it, just not in more obvious areas like bathroom mirrors or hotel room mirrors (which were non existent), or water reflection.
Click to expand...
I haven't checked it, but without even looking into it, I can already 99% guarantee you that it's not real reflection. It's most likely a screenspace reflection. That only works well in areas where errors are not so obvious, such as when the reflection area is small and blurry.
 
Xanatus said:
I haven't checked it, but without even looking into it, I can already 99% guarantee you that it's not real reflection. It's most likely a screenspace reflection. That only works well in areas where errors are not so obvious, such as when the reflection area is small and blurry.
Click to expand...


But the reflection moves as I move. It shows Ryo moving where I move Ryo.
 
Budgiecat said:
But the reflection moves as I move. It shows Ryo moving where I move Ryo.
Click to expand...
Dunno if you play on PC and there are higher gfx settings, but I checked on PS4 and couldn't find anything but fake screenspace reflections.
Made a small clip to demonstrate (it just mirrors the screen, can't reflect anything that's not on screen - hence no mirroring):
 
I for one dont I came out of the game mostly satisfied I had issues with the 2nd halfe and the ending but I overall do feel like I playd a shenmue game even if it felt like a somewhat compromised shenmue game it hasn't done anything this far to destroy the shenmue legacy by doing any thing of the equivalent of introducing midichlorians I give it a 8/10

1&2 are both 10 lol

But judging by alot of the comments on here it seams like evaryone hates the game I would be nice to here some positives but if you really didnt like it feel free to share

What was your rating out of 10 for shenmue 3 and why
 
It's sad and a real shame what some people expect from games these days. I totally agree that Shenmue 3 could have been better but the game was so good for the most part. It feels like some gamers only like a game if it's the way they want it, not for what it is.

It's doing well on Metacritic from the users score so hopefully Yu can finish the series one day. All the best for Shenmue. Regards.
 
I would give a 5/10. And write a book with the things I dislike. But is pretty much everything.
 
I give it a 7/10. I love the game it is, barring a couple mechanics like hunger, and how hard it is to get cash/tokens. It feels like Shenmue and that's all i asked for.

The lack of story progression, information, and structure of the game (find thugs-get beat-pay silly money to learn move-beat thug via QTE...twice) drag it down.
 
7/10 for me. Besides the lack of story and polish, a lot of the Shenmue feel was there. I'm happy the game came out and I tried to temper my expectations that it's not going to reach the heights of Shenmue 2, but exists to tread water until we get a proper Shenmue 4. It exceeded my expectations in some areas and disappointed in others.

Likes:
  • Environments are fantastic. These felt close to par with big budget open world games.The lack of NPCs in Niaowu didn't bother me as much as others. I think I explored more in Shenmue 3 than 1 and 2.
  • Nightly recaps with Shenhua were great and to me, the heart of the game.
  • Chatting with the folks in Bailu village and trying to take it all in.
  • Being able to spar and train at anytime is a good addition.
  • I liked collecting items more than I thought I would and spent a decent chunk of time doing this (herbs, Chobu-chan, item sets, etc). It also provided more reason to check out all the different shops.
  • Minigames having simple controls and instant feedback (wood chopping, one-inch punch)
Dislikes:
  • Cartoony NPC designs. The semi-realistic ones (vendors and such) were more than acceptable to me given the circumstances, so I wonder if those were the ones that were outsourced.
  • Animation in general felt unpolished.
  • Underdeveloped story and set-pieces.
  • The last hour - underdeveloped and tonally off with too much intentional comedy, and that pawn shop quest in the beginning.
  • Stamina system, or at least its current implementation. (Maybe remove stamina from running in a patch?)
  • Music implementation - way too many music cuts and changes during exploration.

Indifferent:
  • I got used to the fighting system as I went on but can't say I particularly enjoyed it. However, I'm not sure how you abandon it at this point so it's probably best to polish it up a bit for Shenmue 4.
  • The "RPGization" of the game. It felt that the ideas are good, but the tuning needs to be better. It was easy to outlevel my opponents through training. The collection mechanics go a bit overboard in Niaowu.
People have a right to dislike the game, but I really hope they don't go on a crusade against the game because they're upset or feel "wronged". That would be shitty given everything that had to happen to make this game. I would say try to stay as positive as possible and hope Shenmue 4 improves.
 
Bailu is a 7/10
Niaowu is a 4.5/10

Bailu captures the feel of Shenmue 1. A small, intimate environment where the pace is leisurely but the world is immersive. The chats with Shenhua at night are a lovely touch and the NPCs reactions to your heroism really left me with a warm feeling. It's nice how some NPCs initially treat you with suspicion, one lady in particular is frightened of you because there's thugs in the village who've come in to contact with her husband and because you're foreign to the village, she just shuts you down when you try to speak with her. These little details go a long way. I love the sidequest where you have a shit talking old man who claims to own the entire village and claims to have butchered every single bandit that ventured through Bailu in the olden days with a butcher knife. If the side quests were more like this and less fetch and carry, I could have learned to love them. I also loved the interrogation scene with Yanglang and how it wasn't reduced to a cutscene but rather we were able to choose from a selection of options. I didn't like the retcon of the floating sword or how the magical elements in general were set aside. A beam did shoot out of the mirror though, just like in the ending of the second game but it was never spoken about. In fact, the only vaguely mystical element in this game aside from that was Shenhua talking about her ability to talk to animals but even then that could be passed off as nonsense. I read some of Yu's interviews and he said 'Shenmue 3 will be very realistic!' when questioned about the Shenmue online trailer and if characters are going to start firing hadoukens. I certainly think pulled back on the magical elements because of fans and their mixed reactions to it. After all, this is a game for the fans. But honestly, while I don't want full on magic in the game, a little mysticism would have been interesting. Much was made of Shenhua never setting foot outside of the village so I thought there'd be an opportunity to say goodbye to everyone and perhaps an emotional leaving scene.

Niaowu is where I expected the pace to pick up. The one spoilery thing I read before playing this game was someone on the dojo saying 'don't worry guys, once you get to Niaowu the game really heats up!'. When I discovered that the plot for Niaowu was 'Lose twice, seek out master to defeat the boss, earn x amount of money to learn the secret technique' I got pissed because the formula from Bailu village got completely recycled. Our talks full of dialogue trees with Shenhua came to an end and she just faded into the background. Her purpose was reduced to a balcony cut scene where she'd mainly give us hints and tips. Ren didn't have anything interesting to say, no explanation as to why he was in Niaowu, no unique conversations with him that flesh out what happened to the yellow heads, Zhu or his heavens gang. Most of the time he'd just spout the same line about the treasure and then he'd tell me to go away. Niao Sun's reveal had zero impact because she wasn't fleshed out enough, the castle was extremely short and rushed, 20% of it is actually taken up by a random sidequest. Comedic relief is fine but in Lan Di's room? Nah, way to kill the tension. Not to mention Lan Di's bodyguards, with unique character models, were only worth a quick QTE. There's quite a few immersion-killing moments in Niaowu, like the random store situated conveniently under red snake/chiyoumen HQ, the broom girl and the fat guy effortlessly swatting dangerous foes away. Not to mention the backer chiyoumen/red snakes, just before Lan Di I'm greeted by a white dude with glasses and a man bun (among others) in the most ridiculous outfits. The castle was an absolute mess from top to bottom and I think it really soured my experience of the game. It probably amplifies my dislike for Niaowu if I'm being honest. The yellow head building will always be the benchmark for how most of us will judge the castle and it's just awful.

The combat is a downgrade on 1 and 2, which is fine and was expected but the story didn't compensate for that. I could say many more things but I'll just be repeating myself. I would have taken half the stores away, along with 80% of the side quests (which, like I said were mostly fetch and carry anyway) for more of an investment into the story. It's sad because the story is the one aspect of the game that I didn't expect to be let down on. I think there was huge potential here, I really do, but there wasn't a fine balance between the investment in gameplay and story elements.
 
I completely agree about niaowu and the final I would of much rather they didn't bother with it and just beefed up story aspects and side quests bailu I think that would of given us a far more consistently toned game they could of saved niaowu for 4 and they would of had more time to flesh it out more
 
I've got to say that after 17 years I did enjoy this game as a novelty but I think my taste and care has simply elevated to bigger and better things. Even if the production value of this game was off the charts and it had a huge budget I can't see myself caring anymore. After playing Death Stranding and then this it's just shocking how dated and irrelevant this series feels now especially in such close proximity to something else which is lofty in its goals and targets a tedium niche.

I'm not even necessarily disappointed in it as a whole even though there are many disappointing aspects to the game, it's more that even when it was 'good' I still found myself wandering and mentally distracted wanting it to be over. It's different and tries some new things but many are not great, and it tries to be intentionally archaic to a fault and self limiting to target dated function and mechanics.

The game feels like fanservice, and while fanservice can be nice as a "Oh cool look at this" kind of moment; when nearly the entire game is leveraged as it and intentionally limiting itself to pander as fanservice you know it had already reached its apex. I see this as a valiant effort to give people a somewhat Shenmue experience again and as a means to an end rather than a stepping stone for more.

After beating it I actually gained my closure, I feel that I gained the ability to move on from it out of my own free will rather than being left in the dark due to the lack of another game.

I view this like getting back together with an ex-girlfriend from long in the past which there was no closure to your breakup so you're left wanting. Not until you enter the situation again do you come to realize it's not something you want anymore. You were in love with the idea, the prospect of it all but reality had different results. That's where I'm at, ready to move on being done with Shenmue.

For context I'd give Shenmue a 9/10, Shenmue 2 a 9.5 out of 10 and Shenmue 3 a 6.5/10.

Where do you all stand?
 
Last edited:
I would rank them:
Shenmue 1: 7/10
Shenmue 2: 9.5/10
Shenmue 3: 6/10 based on 1 play through. My opinion may change (likely for the better) on subsequent play throughs.

For what its worth, technical limitations like graphics, the fighting system, and polish etc. don't factor into my opinion at all.
 
The main attraction to shenmue for me has been the story. 1 &,2 had a good story with compelling characters. This is the area S3 dropped the ball on.

Gameplay had the shenmue feel but if I wasnt already invested in the story I wouldn't have finished it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top