General Impressions

What's the point of a skill system when, thus far, the major battles I'm encountering are scripted events that I cannot win?

And why am I routinely set forth to grind for money for the sake of wasting my resources for these scripted battles?

With Snake Oil being so expensive ($270 per bottle), it's really frustrating to stock up so I can win a fight, only to discover that I can't win the fight and the grinding I did to buy more snake oil was pointless.
 
Helps with the optional fights as well as increasing stamina.
 
Not to keep rambling on (I actually might make a day-to-day Shenmue 3 blog), but at some point today I think it really dawned on me that I was playing Shenmue III. Shenmue III. Not gonna lie, it almost had me tearing up. After all this time...!
 
Thomasina said:
What's the point of a skill system when, thus far, the major battles I'm encountering are scripted events that I cannot win?

And why am I routinely set forth to grind for money for the sake of wasting my resources for these scripted battles?

With Snake Oil being so expensive ($270 per bottle), it's really frustrating to stock up so I can win a fight, only to discover that I can't win the fight and the grinding I did to buy more snake oil was pointless.
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Yeah it's a bad system. The combat and progression of it is crap compared to the first two games.
I wouldn't bother with Snake Oil, it's hardly worth it, the fights you can win you can do without it until towards the end of the game. Just buy black garlic in bulk so you can keep running.

ShinChuck said:
Not to keep rambling on (I actually might make a day-to-day Shenmue 3 blog), but at some point today I think it really dawned on me that I was playing Shenmue III. Shenmue III. Not gonna lie, it almost had me tearing up. After all this time...!
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It's a nice feeling isn't it?
 
Thomasina said:
What's the point of a skill system when, thus far, the major battles I'm encountering are scripted events that I cannot win?

And why am I routinely set forth to grind for money for the sake of wasting my resources for these scripted battles?
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Because S3 doesn't have enough meaningful content to offer so it has to bloat its playtime with pointless grinding. Take away grinding for skills and money, and all the busywork of stamina management/talking to NPCs that make you wait days to "progress" the plot and this game would be 3 hours, tops. It's a gameplay loop designed exclusively to make the game appear more content rich than it is (mobile games usually do this sort of thing to encourage players to spend money).

In S1 and 2, Ryo is also faced with battles he can't win (I know you can technically beat Chai in the arcade but it's very hard) but those games actually told a story so Ryo's progress to beating those bosses came as a natural extension of that story, not from Ryo grinding and learning a magic move.
 
iknifaugood said:
Because S3 doesn't have enough meaningful content to offer so it has to bloat its playtime with pointless grinding. Take away grinding for skills and money, and all the busywork of stamina management/talking to NPCs that make you wait days to "progress" the plot and this game would be 3 hours, tops. It's a gameplay loop designed exclusively to make the game appear more content rich than it is (mobile games usually do this sort of thing to encourage players to spend money).

In S1 and 2, Ryo is also faced with battles he can't win (I know you can technically beat Chai in the arcade but it's very hard) but those games actually told a story so Ryo's progress to beating those bosses came as a natural extension of that story, not from Ryo grinding and learning a magic move.
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I like talking to NPCs, it's one of my favourite parts about Shenmue, that and going through every drawer and exploring which sadly seems to have been reduced in S3 expect for a few story moments when you have to.

I do think S3 had a lot of repetition and too much focus on side activities. The fact that both cities had 1) a fat kung fu master who was slightly dim witted and 2) an unbeatable opponent you have to learn a move to beat, just make S3 feel unoriginal and not as exiting as the first two games.
 
Aman said:
I like talking to NPCs, it's one of my favourite parts about Shenmue
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I like it too, but I don't like endless chains of talking to NPCs and going to locations only to be told to wait around or come back tomorrow or find the one specific random NPC who has the info you need. S3 requires way too many go talk to person X, then Y then Z etc. until you get to a minor cutscene.

Look at this:
video-game-guide-walkthrough.supersoluce.com

Bustle in the village | Game of Guides

On your first visit to the village, you learn more about the thugs terrorizing the inhabitants. Discover how these events unfold in this part of Shenmue 3 walkthrough. When you start your adventure, go to the village with Shenhua and talk to the inhabitants, then try to interview Wang Wen...
video-game-guide-walkthrough.supersoluce.com video-game-guide-walkthrough.supersoluce.com

It takes 3 full pages of walkthrough and 4 in games days (doing everything perfectly) to go from the beginning of the game's objective "find the thugs in this tiny village" to finally confronting them for the first time. And then even more until you can defeat them. And that's your only objective the entire time.
 
I can agree that saying Shenmue III's left a little to be desired, but I think we're painting a bit of a rosy picture here of the first two games. I love all three games, but the dialogue chain is very indicative of Shenmue I, down to the forced waiting. Tattoo parlor anyone? Also, reduced drawer searching? You don't have to search through drawers at all in Shenmue II except in Five Stars Corp., the Yellow Head Bldg.'s watchman room, and Huang's room (more like room searching). And off the top of my head, you can't search through as many optional drawers as you can in III.
 
24Nathan said:
I can agree that saying Shenmue III's left a little to be desired, but I think we're painting a bit of a rosy picture here of the first two games.
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The difference is that the first 2 games are 20 years old. I for one did not consider grinding for money to be "core" to the Shenmue experience. Resident Evil 2 and FF7 were fixed camera games but when they we re-released they updated the formula. I don't see why we couldn't have had more Yellowhead building, less gambling to meet Ren.

24Nathan said:
I love all three games, but the dialogue chain is very indicative of Shenmue I, down to the forced waiting. Tattoo parlor anyone?
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I had a problem with it then and time has not sweetened it. Should've been the first thing on the chopping block.
 
Aman said:
I like talking to NPCs, it's one of my favourite parts about Shenmue, that and going through every drawer and exploring which sadly seems to have been reduced in S3 expect for a few story moments when you have to.
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I loved talking to NPCs in the first 2 games as well. There were so many interesting and mysterious characters, and their dialogue regularly updated with your progress. Some people were just plain hilarious to talk to because they had something ridiculous to say, or their voice actor was over the top or goofy, but in a fun way.

In Shenmue 3 I've yet to find anyone interesting to talk to. The dialogue is boring in S3, and none of the cooky characters are roaming around. There's bad voice work, but it's not fun in any way.
 
Thomasina said:
I loved talking to NPCs in the first 2 games as well. There were so many interesting and mysterious characters, and their dialogue regularly updated with your progress. Some people were just plain hilarious to talk to because they had something ridiculous to say, or their voice actor was over the top or goofy, but in a fun way.

In Shenmue 3 I've yet to find anyone interesting to talk to. The dialogue is boring in S3, and none of the cooky characters are roaming around. There's bad voice work, but it's not fun in any way.
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All subjective here. I remember hearing a few lines that made me chuckle and weren't at all necessary to the story. Can't remember where, but I've also had twenty years of playing the first two games to know their dialogue better.

I'm not saying positive or negative things about Shenmue III can't be discussed....just don't let this devolve into another "Shenmue III sucks because it didn't do what I would've done" thread.
 
Little things like not being able to casually speak to Shenhua while she's travelling with you irked me. For example, you get off the boat to Niaowu and you can't even interact with her. It's her first time in a different city, her father is a prisoner somewhere in this place, I'd like to know how she's feeling about this. She's meant to be one of the main characters.

It's at times like these that you can't help but draw comparisons to the first two games. Let's use the start of disc 3 in Shenmue 2 as an example. On your way to great view herbs you can pepper Ren with questions before getting to the building. When you reach Bailu village in disc 4, you can grill Shenhua as you're walking to her house. Just little things like this in the FREE quest makes a world of difference. It breathes life into the characters.
 
Playing the game over coronatime, and I finally made it to the Castle area. I enjoyed Niaowu despite it's flaws, like Fortlift minigame not being anywhere near as cool as 1's, some non-interactable NPCs and characters not as memorable as the first two, and for the most part, I do enjoy the game. But I had to put the controller down at this final boss right now, the leader of the Red Snakes. I beat damn near everything else like the Golden Dragon, but this guy is the only one that's a pain in the ass, It doesn't help that when the camera turns around to the scenery the PS4 framerate fucking tanks, and when you get a game over you have to climb all the goddamn way back up instead of an instant retry.
I'm honestly tempted to wait until the game launches on steam and play the game on my SSD. It's reminding me why I'm getting tired of consoles. But I'll keep trying.
 
He's much easier if you have your Kung Fu levelled up 🤪
 
ComfyBeats said:
I think my attack is level 11 or so and my kungfu is somewhere in the 20s
hope i'm not screwed
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I mean if you are playing on lower difficulty it shouldn’t be an issue. Some basic advice;

- invest and buy a few bottles of snake tonic
- keep distance and dodge (double tap left thumbstick in desired location) before he launches a powerful attack. There’s usually wind up animation so you can telegraph an attack
- use short combos and immediately hold block afterwards to defend yourself before creating distance
 
ComfyBeats said:
I think my attack is level 11 or so and my kungfu is somewhere in the 20s
hope i'm not screwed
Click to expand...
You can just circle/strafe to an extent, wait for the character’s combo to finish, then immediately hit them with a move off your AT. Keep in mind you will want to cycle through them because they will start to block repeated moves.
 
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