Famitsu article on 2021 Japanese game developer aspirations, featuring Yu Suzuki

mjqjazzbar said:

Looks like Yu Suzuki's game of the year is Ghost of Tsushima. It has one of the best overworlds/least intrusive way finding systems I've experienced in an open world game. I;m glad he's taken notice.
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Glad Yu Suzuki's game of the year was Ghost of Tsushima because it was also mine. Hope he analised some of the games features because some of them would fit in Shenmue 4 very well.
 
Valascaziel said:
I'd like to add more thoughts:

Another game of this generation that was a(decidedly) niche title and ended up doing well was Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It also has a sequel that has been greenlit, despite it not setting the world on fire.

Nostalgia is at an all-time high. One might argue that Shenmue is still an appeal to the way games used to be. When done correctly, it has massive reverberations with everyone who holds something dear. Some examples of this are Cobra Kai and Ghostbusters: Afterlife in the movie world. In the gaming world, Eiyuden Chronicle and Bloodstained.


One game that was subsequently trashed years ago was Duke Nukem Forever. It was lambasted because it "played like a 20 year old basic shooter". Technical issues aside, that was the whole point of it.

It's a way for folks to see just how many things, such as QTEs, day and night cycles, NPCs with routines, became mainstream from one series and are taken for granted as commonplace now.


YsNet now has experience under their belt from making Shenmue III. They aren't under a constant deluge of pressure to "show something" or "get it out" and have a lot more knowledge of the engine being used. So I expect Shenmue IV to have a lot more going for it when it comes to detail when it is shown.

In addition, they know what fans liked, what they didn't like. I would expect IV to address things like the battle system, the Stamina system, etc.
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Kingdom Come Deliverance sold over 3 million copies and 1,5 million Dlc's.
If only Shenmue 3 had these kind of sales numbers; we would be 100% sure Shenmue 4 would be a reality.
This is an example of how game that was inspired by Shenmue can be successfull. Its game director is a fan of Shenmue and his career was inspired by Yu Suzuki when he was working on the Mafia series.
 
Sergeynest said:
Kingdom Come Deliverance sold over 3 million copies and 1,5 million Dlc's.
If only Shenmue 3 had these kind of sales numbers; we would be 100% sure Shenmue 4 would be a reality.
This is an example of how game that was inspired by Shenmue can be successfull. Its game director is a fan of Shenmue and his career was inspired by Yu Suzuki when he was working on the Mafia series.
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This makes a lot of sense now lol! I remember the whole Kickstarter surrounding KCD, and how they were sharing some tech (I believe it was NPC AI and clothing tech) with Star Citizen. Although I was interested at the time, I only bought it and started playing a week ago (about 18 hours in. Perfect no-life over Xmas break game lol).

As I play through it, the more I feel that Shenmue vibe. There are a lot of similarities to Shenmue, and a lot of things that feel like natural advances to the systems in Shenmue. The world building also gives a great sense of immersion unlike, in my opinion, a lot of the "bigger" open world games these days. Really liking it so far, and the lack of handholding that the game gives the player is refreshing!

Pretty crazy when you think about how similar the funding/development of KCD and Shenmue III are. Both started as Kickstarters, both got delayed multiple times, both picked up by the same publisher etc. Great to see that a sequel has been greenlit too! The game could use a little more funding/polish, but the groundwork is there, so very excited to see what they improve on!
 
Sheephead said:
This makes a lot of sense now lol! I remember the whole Kickstarter surrounding KCD, and how they were sharing some tech (I believe it was NPC AI and clothing tech) with Star Citizen. Although I was interested at the time, I only bought it and started playing a week ago (about 18 hours in. Perfect no-life over Xmas break game lol).

As I play through it, the more I feel that Shenmue vibe. There are a lot of similarities to Shenmue, and a lot of things that feel like natural advances to the systems in Shenmue. The world building also gives a great sense of immersion unlike, in my opinion, a lot of the "bigger" open world games these days. Really liking it so far, and the lack of handholding that the game gives the player is refreshing!

Pretty crazy when you think about how similar the funding/development of KCD and Shenmue III are. Both started as Kickstarters, both got delayed multiple times, both picked up by the same publisher etc. Great to see that a sequel has been greenlit too! The game could use a little more funding/polish, but the groundwork is there, so very excited to see what they improve on!
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For KCD is one if not the best rpg I played recently; I enjoyed it much more than Skyrim and Witcher 3.
Like I've pointed out it feels like a present version of what a Shenmue game would feel like.
I feel like Shenmue 4 could benefit a lot if it were to have gameplay mechanics similar to KCD.
 
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i like kingdom come deliverance. But my god, is it a buggy mess. Some parts are straight up unplayable or glitches to the point where if you don't have a previous save file, you're screwed.

Nice game though
 
ShenSun said:
i like kingdom come deliverance. But my god, is it a buggy mess. Some parts are straight up unplayable or glitches to the point where if you don't have a previous save file, you're screwed.

Nice game though
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Runs a good bit better on the PS5, I hear.
 
ShenSun said:
i like kingdom come deliverance. But my god, is it a buggy mess. Some parts are straight up unplayable or glitches to the point where if you don't have a previous save file, you're screwed.

Nice game though
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Oh I hope that the PC version doesn't get buggy lol. Worst case scenario is to install the save whenever mod I guess, which I will do if the game starts to get buggy. Just worked out how to create the saviour snaps potion which material wise is extremely easy/cheap to get, so just going to stock up on those for the meantime. Pretty cool hardcore mechanic to avoid save scumming/making choices matter more, but you're right, it all falls apart if the games buggy. Fingers crossed :D
 
Anyone else find the similarity between these two images a bit striking?

Shenmue-Sega_John-Sweeney-full.0.0.1436354457.0.jpg


EqkyQh9W8AMQJ84


I'm sure this is a coincidence, but still kind of interesting to me.
 
Good question. I am also curious about the origins of both images. Never have seen them yet.

edit. To slow. Thanks for the answer @mjqjazzbar
 
is the VF image actually new?

anyway, more than anything just found it a funny coincidence. not trying to suggest anything beyond that.
 
mjqjazzbar said:
Where is that first image from?

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

probably a huge coincidence, but that image immediately flashed into my head when I saw the VF tweet
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Shenmue Netflix.jpg
Looks like the Ideal cover for a Shenmue Netflix series. Can you imagine if that came true 🤩
 
Oh man, I forgot about that! What a guy!
 
Valascaziel said:
TLoU2 felt heavy handed and smelled of favoritism because it pushed "social issues", which is fine and great, but doesn't make it GoTY, imo, since the gameplay wasn't much different than the original, so how it won Best Action/Adventure over Ghost doesn't make any sense.
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There's an inferiority complex in general raging through both certain game developers and games journalists that it is a medium that is still looked down upon. It's a medium that is still seen by most in the entertainment industry as inferior. That it isn't capable of being art or being taken as seriously as film. I think the inferiority complex is strong with these people. Never mind the fact that the industry is a billion dollar industry. Never mind the fact that it's a premier entertainment industry. It's still frowned upon by some and that's the problem. They want to be taken seriously by the people who frown upon it.

Hence you get something like TLOU2. A preachy suck fest that is so determined to show how grown up the medium is that it completely ignores the years of fascinating and interesting story telling that the medium has already explored just because it's an angle for them to clutch onto to show the world how grown up gaming is. Or how much of an artform gaming can be and how gaming is just as good as film. Even though TLOU2 sucks as a game. Has one of the shittiest unfocused stories I've seen in a game and largely just comes across as pure awards bait.

Man, I got to stop with TLOU2 hate.,..it's really not good for the soul...but what can I say? I feel like it's a shining example everything that is wrong with the industry right now. And I say that as someone who enjoyed the first game so it's not a unwarranted hate. But I do get tired of these people treating it like it's an example of gaming growing up when gaming has been telling wonderful and interesting stories for years on end before it came along.

If it were a film, I would have called it a preachy muddled suck fest. As a game, I call it much the same. Anyways, I think that's why the unwarranted love fest for that game. Because it makes these people feel like the industry grew up and gives them further stake to claim that statement.
 
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Valascaziel said:
I'd like to add more thoughts:

Another game of this generation that was a(decidedly) niche title and ended up doing well was Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It also has a sequel that has been greenlit, despite it not setting the world on fire.

Nostalgia is at an all-time high. One might argue that Shenmue is still an appeal to the way games used to be. When done correctly, it has massive reverberations with everyone who holds something dear. Some examples of this are Cobra Kai and Ghostbusters: Afterlife in the movie world. In the gaming world, Eiyuden Chronicle and Bloodstained.


One game that was subsequently trashed years ago was Duke Nukem Forever. It was lambasted because it "played like a 20 year old basic shooter". Technical issues aside, that was the whole point of it.

It's a way for folks to see just how many things, such as QTEs, day and night cycles, NPCs with routines, became mainstream from one series and are taken for granted as commonplace now.


YsNet now has experience under their belt from making Shenmue III. They aren't under a constant deluge of pressure to "show something" or "get it out" and have a lot more knowledge of the engine being used. So I expect Shenmue IV to have a lot more going for it when it comes to detail when it is shown.

In addition, they know what fans liked, what they didn't like. I would expect IV to address things like the battle system, the Stamina system, etc.
Click to expand...


Duke Nukem Forever was an enjoyable experience for me. I'm not sure what people were expecting or how high their expectations were, but I got exactly what I thought I was going to get from DNF and I wasn't disappointed at all.
 
Duke Nukem Forever was lambasted because it was in development for YEARS, like twenty years, and when it did finally come out it played and looked like something that should've cost $15. I was in middle school when it first started getting featured in PC Gamer as the game that would change FPSes forever, and I think it came out two or three years after I graduated COLLEGE with two degrees. Let's also not forget that what some of us found funny when we were 11 wasn't so funny in our late 20s or 30s (or beyond)... I think it got the reception it deserved.

The Shenmue II to Shenmue III jump is probably bigger at this point, but at least it wasn't in active development until a few years ago...
 
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DNF had many different versions it took ages until it was released. So people had enough time to get too high expectations for it.

First Trailer



Later Trailer from 2001


The best build in my opinion.

and the final version




it was not a bad game but it come years too late.
 
mjqjazzbar said:
Duke Nukem Forever was lambasted because it was in development for YEARS, like twenty years, and when it did finally come out it played and looked like something that should've cost $15. I was in middle school when it first started getting featured in PC Gamer as the game that would change FPSes forever, and I think it came out two or three years after I graduated COLLEGE with two degrees. Let's also not forget that what some of us found funny when we were 11 wasn't so funny in our late 20s or 30s (or beyond)... I think it got the reception it deserved.

The Shenmue II to Shenmue III jump is probably bigger at this point, but at least it wasn't in active development until a few years ago...
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Humour wise I had no problem with it. Duke is always gonna be Duke. He's a parody of one line cliché action heroes. That was the least of DNF's problems. Other than it was maybe just lazily written. It probably could have been a little better written. Low brow can be smart when you want it to be. But again, Duke being Duke was never my problem with that game. That was for the pearl clutchers to whine about.

For me, DNF's problems were simply in the gameplay. It was muddled and suffered from a bit of an identity crisis. It felt, thanks to the prolonged development, that it took inspiration from so many different sources that it never ended up feeling like its own thing. Maybe if it had pulled a Doom 2016 and stayed true to its classic FPS gameplay roots then it might have worked in an era of linear shooters such as COD...but that was the thing, it felt like a mish mash of ideas taken from other popular FPS games of the time and it ultimately felt muddled as to what it wanted to be.

Didn't hate it, but yeah, was definitely a victim of its prolonged development. It felt like a game that had no direction over its many cycles of development.

Shenmue III at the very least felt like it had direction. It knew what it was aiming to be. More Shenmue. But that of course still leads to the inevitable "it's outdated" claims because its continuing on from where it left 20 years ago and feels and plays like something that could have been a direct sequel to what was released 20 years ago. I don't really care though, Shenmue III gave me more of what I wanted and that's all I really ever wanted from it.
 
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