General Impressions

[spud1897]

I just wanted to add, it's not beyond low budget games to have a significant patch upgrade.

Kind of Fighters XIV : SNK's first new fighter in years, new team, new engine, ironically, Deep Silver also published


Also, this game did absolutely terrible sales wise in the UK...but new ones keep coming :)

Interesting I didnt know this.

 

[david_manny]

Hello David, I think I have seen you on the Shenmue 500k group. First want to say thanks for contributing this much towards the game to make it happen, I think you were saving for a BMW at the time if I recall and used the funds towards Shenmue III.

I think a lot of the complaints you bring up are valid and that we as a community definitely acknowledge them. I think Yu Suzuki recognizes some of these issues too if you have read the latest Japanese translated interviews on phantom river stones website.

I think since you played 2 times and 100 percented the game, I am sure you have your reasons for being dissappointed.

I want to give you a more detailed response but getting ready for work so saving this for reference.

I hope that the feeling of not wanting the series to continue is something temporary, because I would feel devastated to see the series finished. I been wanting to do a playthrough from 1-2-3 and it may help. I really recommend that phantom river stone article.

I do believe many things were out of Yu Suzukis control like fangamer and being in contract with Deep Silver, we have no idea what was agreed upon.

Hey I am so surprised you remember me! That was a long time ago, and yes I did eventually get my BMW lol, but forget about the car, this isn't Msport forum, it's Shenmue Dojo! I really want to do a Shenmue 1-2-3 playthrough to see if I enjoy 3 more. Thanks for reading my post. I look forward to hearing more from you when you get back from work.

 

[david_manny]

Thank you for the post. Even though it's not overly positive it's good to see you expand upon what you're talking about, which has been lacking in some posts here. I won't reply to all of it because I will be here for ages but there's a few things I wanted to add/point you in the direction of a topic which you might find interesting based on the above.

The graphics are bad. An overall graphical improvement of the game is needed, from character animations, NPC faces (which convey no emotion and look very still) to inanimate objects. The graphics look like an early PS3/Xbox 360 game. They are not of PS4 quality. Some animations are stiff for sure that's a given. However it doesn't look that bad. Getting something of consistent PS4 quality with the amount of NPC's would have taken a ridiculous amount of resource and I suspect further watered down the game, which is already a little thin on story. I can't see this being patched in.

Ryo’s mouth doesn't move when he enters an area he shouldn't be going to and then backs away saying "maybe I should talk to a few folks around here" etc. This looks very awkward. Agreed but a little nit-picky imo.

When you enter stores and choose to shop, your current inventory amount of items should be shown in the shop game menus as to avoid overspending. Totally agree! This could be patched.

There should be an option in the game when starting a new day to return to yesterday’s exact location before Ryo returned for bed the previous day, as seen in Shenmue 2. Agreed. I missed this.

There should be a statistics page in the pause menu which keeps track of in-game statistics e.g. how many fish caught etc. I had to keep a manual count. Never really considered it until you mentioned it but I agree.

There should be more martial arts mini games other than just Horse Stance, Rooster Steps and One Inch Punch, and they should be more advanced than simple button presses. I personally enjoyed these, barring Horse Stance. I sense within the budget they would have struggled to do much else. However I would have liked a game where you practice your steps like the dude in Bailu. That would be good and be more than single presses and encourage combos etc.

An inclusion of a darts mini-game. Sega does not hold the rights to darts! YES YES YES!

I would have liked to have re-visited some of the paths Ryo and Shenhua traversed from Langiushan to Bailu as seen in Shenmue 2.
A manual time skip feature should be implemented which allows players to skip time to their desired hour of the day. Yes to both!

A return to the Virtua Fighter fighting style including throw moves is much needed. The new fighting mechanics are ok but not as good as the original 2 games. This comes down to preference I think, I liked the new system and they were wanting to implement throws but couldn't due to issues with the Mo-Cap. I prefer the older system from the first two and would love an update version but the new system is perfectly enjoyable. The physics aorund hit detection etc need brushing up but could be patched.

We should have some sort of save file transfer from our Shenmue 1 and 2 HD saves which is compatible with Shenmue 3. I can't ever see this happening, it requires too much cross platform work, I know modders are trying to get it going but given they had to focus attention elsewhere it was a necessary sacrifice I feel.

All DLC should have been included to Kickstarter backers who backed over a certain pledge tier or at the very least the DLC should have been included in the Collector’s Edition/Digital Deluxe and not have required a separate purchase. This is unacceptable. While I get your point, by backing doesn't mean we're entitled to these things. It would, however, have been a good PR move to do so.

Dialogue skip is needed. I can't see if you posted about this.

There's some points eg re Shenhua's house that while again I get your point are down to personal preference, not saying it's wrong but I don't seem them as a big issue personally.

My personal view is that, going through my second play now, Bailu is the better/more developed area. It's clear in my mind that Naiwou got cut somewhere in terms of content, given the abrupt./rushed ending. The game as a whole feels like a concept game and lays foundations for Shenmue 4. I do feel some peoples expectations were way too high (not saying yours were but a general statement) but I agree there should have been more focus on story development, something which Yu Suzuki himself admits is an issue.

I do think we will get Shenmue 4, sales matter of course but given III exists and isn't a bad game (7/10 from Yu himself and that's the review average) it is amazing given the budget ($12million all in with marketing I think, check the recent IGN stuff).

I'd like to guide you to this topic here discussing the while story as a whole, it would be interesting to see your thoughts here too! https://www.shenmuedojo.com/forum/i...have-we-learned-in-shenmue-i-ii-and-iii.2566/

Finally (after an essay of my own) welcome to the forums. I do hope that given time you re-capture the Shenmue magic and join us for Shenmue 4 or even stay contributing here!

Hey thanks for your opinions. I do understand the majority of them are nitpicks and yes I did have an OVERLY INFLATED expectation for this game (considering how groundbreaking and amazing 1 and 2 were), but I honestly feel the majority of my points raised are valid complaints. Nevertheless, I too hope I will fall back in love with Shenmue 3. Let's hope the story DLC is great. And I've been a ghost on Shenmue Dojo since 2004 I think but never bothered to make an account to reply to threads.

Thanks for welcoming me.

 

[david_manny]

I'm not going to totally dismiss the post, as he did a beyond admirable job of detailing EVERYTHING lol and clearly the guy is a superfan (if he really scrapped going after a BMW for the game... incredible classy and unselfish), but as Spud alluded to in a few of the rebuttals, almost every issue he has with the game is a personal, nitpicky issue. More cats and should be able to pet them? Really?

The, "options," you alluded to are on point; there should be options for things such as the minimap, to return to the last place you were the day before (mind you, in Bailu, that was there basically), etc. With those, nobody can argue the validity as they allow for more choice and more open-ended gameplay.

But, "the catfish rally sidequest was terrible." Um, how? And no it wasn't; I got it done with 3 save reloads and in about 30 minutes, real-life time. You, who (obviously) knows Yakuza, knows that the series has always had sidequests that take up 45 minutes of real-life time, to spanning 10 chapters. Secondly, it wasn't hard to catch the fish; its not like you aren't given any direction and you just throw a lure into a void for 5 hours hoping you get each fish, the locations were given (albeit not explicitly) and by experimenting and trying things out (you know, the point of a game that involves trial and error?), you found the best method/region of the location to catch the fish.

It was one of the best setup sidequests, completely doable and not based 100% on luck; everything a sidequest needs, IMO.

And Sega's not trash; eat shit

Anyways, putting off life for helping a game to be made, again, deserves a TON of commendation and thanks a lot for helping out when the time came. Personally, I also thank you for (again), properly writing things out and not shitposting :)

Lol there was a similar issue I had with Yakuza 3 when it came to the fishing. Catch the Big Tuna on Okinawa beach. THAT SUCKED! I gave up on that trophy. And I really disliked the Catfish Rally side quest.

But overall I understand my points can come across somewhat nitpicky and down to personal preference. But still I believe there are some valid points I have made.

 

[spud1897]

Hey thanks for your opinions. I do understand the majority of them are nitpicks and yes I did have an OVERLY INFLATED expectation for this game (considering how groundbreaking and amazing 1 and 2 were), but I honestly feel the majority of my points raised are valid complaints. Nevertheless, I too hope I will fall back in love with Shenmue 3. Let's hope the story DLC is great. And I've been a ghost on Shenmue Dojo since 2004 I think but never bothered to make an account to reply to threads.

Thanks for welcoming me.

It's good to see you finally post. These posts whether you agree or disagree are the type of thing I love seeing. It creates good discussion on either side of the fence.

Hope to see you continue to post as time goes on, hopefully to Shenmue 4.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Lol there was a similar issue I had with Yakuza 3 when it came to the fishing. Catch the Big Tuna on Okinawa beach. THAT SUCKED! I gave up on that trophy. And I really disliked the Catfish Rally side quest.

But overall I understand my points can come across somewhat nitpicky and down to personal preference. But still I believe there are some valid points I have made.

100% you have; again, certain things like the, "have an option," suggestions you mentioned, are bang on; making something optional should ALWAYS be an option (lol) for game design, especially when the game itself lends itself to implement said option.

Again, can't fault your opinion because you at least explained and fleshed everything out; great on you. The majority of people with personal nitpicks simply say, "the game has no story and is shit. What a waste of money, blah blah." That's shitposting and nothing more, but you were TONS respectful and articulate!

But yeah, Sega is definitely not trash; things were rough there for a few years, but the company is definitely making a (small resurgence) and is most-definitely making better business decisions (and games) in the past 5 years or so :)

 

[jsh020]

I just wanted to add, it's not beyond low budget games to have a significant patch upgrade.

Kind of Fighters XIV : SNK's first new fighter in years, new team, new engine, ironically, Deep Silver also published


Also, this game did absolutely terrible sales wise in the UK...but new ones keep coming :)

the jokes about kof14's initial graphics being psone cgi tier were legendary, this image still cracks me up

 

[david_manny]

100% you have; again, certain things like the, "have an option," suggestions you mentioned, are bang on; making something optional should ALWAYS be an option (lol) for game design, especially when the game itself lends itself to implement said option.

Again, can't fault your opinion because you at least explained and fleshed everything out; great on you. The majority of people with personal nitpicks simply say, "the game has no story and is shit. What a waste of money, blah blah." That's shitposting and nothing more, but you were TONS respectful and articulate!

But yeah, Sega is definitely not trash; things were rough there for a few years, but the company is definitely making a (small resurgence) and is most-definitely making better business decisions (and games) in the past 5 years or so :)

C'mon man, Sega WAS great back in the day, loved the Mega Drive and the Dreamcast, but they haven't put out a good Sonic game since Adventure on Dreamcast/Gamecube except for Generations and Mania (which they didn't even make themselves I think I heard a fan made Sonic Mania).... oh and the Yakuza Games are fucking amazing. Long Live Toshihiro Nagoshi!

I would have liked to see him involved in Shenmue 3 somehow, I heard he was involved in Shenmue 1?

 

[chaikilla]

The one gripe that I've kept silent about until now that we're all entitled to have as backers is Baisha being cut. It was a very early tier stretch goal, presumably because it was seen as an essential part of the game. Yu even said something along the lines of 'Baisha is what will make Shenmue 3'. The replacement for this area was not up to par and we were left with a rushed ending that left a sour taste in even the most hardcore fan's mouth.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

C'mon man, Sega WAS great back in the day, loved the Mega Drive and the Dreamcast, but they haven't put out a good Sonic game since Adventure on Dreamcast/Gamecube except for Generations and Mania (which they didn't even make themselves I think I heard a fan made Sonic Mania).... oh and the Yakuza Games are fucking amazing. Long Live Toshihiro Nagoshi!

I would have liked to see him involved in Shenmue 3 somehow, I heard he was involved in Shenmue 1?

Indeed, he was involved with getting 1 finished up lol, because Suzuki was taking too long (this only came out recently and wasn't common knowledge) getting the game done. Mind you though, being that A: He's Suzuki's (second, with Naka being the first) protégé and B: He was a major staff member at AM2, he was always going to be involved.

He, Suzuki and Naka are Sega's big three, from a dev. POV (talking all-around prowess, as Naka obviously doesn't have the same, prolific output as the other two, throughout all platforms and in the arcade) and being as they both learned (more so the former than the latter) from the master, there's no surprise their games are class.

 

[code l name]

This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy some elements of the game (I have highlighted these below), and at first I was really happy with the game. It felt like a Shenmue game, a true respectable continuation from 2. It was only after the monotonous grind this game became did I realise nearing the end of my first playthrough that very little story has been or will be revealed, and that is when my opinion on Shenmue 3 changed from a relatively positive one, to a mostly negative one that I have now.

Thanks for your detailed post. When I first completed the game I was very critical of the repetition in story and lack of strong characterization. While those points haven’t dissipated, I’ve certainly come to appreciate the game more and also realize it’s really a product of compromise in almost every way.

I did want to address a few points;

11pm should be the point Ryo returns to bed for the night, not 9pm. Though I believe this decision was made to hide the fact the game is horribly short.

Well there’s a in-game rationale for it, there being little street lighting and that there are wild animals like wolves in and around Bailu. The reality was it gave us time to enjoy those night time conversations with Shenhua. What I don’t approve of was the curfew in Niaowu, where we don’t get nearly same lengthy conversations and there it feels much more constraining.

Ryo never asks Guizhang if his leg has healed following the end of Shenmue 1 when he calls him on the phone.

The whole pretense of Guizhang catching up to Ryo seems to have been dropped. Probably for good reason as you’ve already met Xuixing and track down Yuanda Zhu.

Did Niao Sun get the real of fake Phoenix Mirror? Did Ren throw the real or fake out of the window to save Ryo from Lan Di?

Niao Sun got the real mirror. It sets up interesting stakes in future games with both feuding members of the Chiyoumen each having one mirror in their possession. Random interesting tidbit we are told the Emperor is represented by Dragon and Empress by the Phoenix.

At the end of the game Ryo says to Mr Yuan he found a scroll in the cliff temple which Ren, Shenhua and Ryo are seen walking towards in the final game cutscene, but when did Ryo visit this temple to obtain a ‘scroll’? What scroll is he talking about?

I believe this has been proven to be a sloppy translation error. Ryo is referring to the scroll obtained in Bailu tower and specifically the last image which is where they are apparently heading at the end of Shenmue 3.

The game does not run at 4k 60fps on the PS4 Pro. I specifically bought a PS4 Pro and a 4K TV just for this game but it made no difference in the end.

If you watch the Digital Foundry analysis you are getting improved framerate than the base machine. I think more disappointing is instead of uncapped framerate they should have locked it at 30FPS or at least had performance mode for Pro owners. It’s a shame because playing the demo on powerful PC at 4K at 60FPS really makes the game feel incredibly fluid.

The minimap in the corner of the screen is too small. It should be larger (or there should be an option to enlarge it).

I would disagree the fact there’s no markers or obvious minimap is a positive for me. Shenmue was always about immersing yourself in the environment and getting familiar with streets and locations as you wander around. Being conscious of your environment and remembering layouts and locations. If anything I really want a ‘cinematic’ mode ala Horizon or God of War where all HUD elements are invisible until you hit touchpad for them to temporary come up.

Niaowu looks very clean. But I would have liked to have seen the buildings look more lived in, dirty and decrepit just like the buildings in Hong Kong/Kowloon.

Completely agree.

I hope you stick around and continue to contribute to forums.

 

[register2viewspoilerforum]

This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy some elements of the game (I have highlighted these below), and at first I was really happy with the game. It felt like a Shenmue game, a true respectable continuation from 2. It was only after the monotonous grind this game became did I realise nearing the end of my first playthrough that very little story has been or will be revealed, and that is when my opinion on Shenmue 3 changed from a relatively positive one, to a mostly negative one that I have now. This is driven by the fact that the entire game’s story sees us attempting to rescue Shenhua’s father by having to beat two separate thugs (once in Bailu and again in Niaowu) by learning the same move TWICE in order to defeat them (and in order to learn these two identical moves we must submit to boring gameplay mechanics in order to make money so that we can eventually obtain the Body Check moves, even though I actually beat both of them with my default movesets on the hardest difficulty during their respective fights but was still forced to lose to both of them multiple times until I obtained the Body Check Move… twice). That is the ENTIRE STORY of the game. It repeats itself twice. This is very bad storytelling. I did not wait 18 years or give $2000.00 to the Kickstarter campaign for this to be the story of Shenmue 3. It honestly feels like a bad joke.

Overall, I am disappointed in this game and the fact that very little story was revealed throughout and that the story we have been waiting for 18 years did not conclude. I am also disappointed with all the calamitous decisions Ys Net had chosen to make during the Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3. Such decisions as the inability to divulge the level of financial support being received by Ys Net from Sony, Sega, Shibuya Productions and Deep Silver, the Epic Games Store exclusivity deal which led to the refusal to give backers refunds until pressure mounted, an overall poor marketing campaign for Shenmue 3 and falsely advertised Steam keys, and the fact that the DLC for this game was not given to Kickstarter backers who backed the project over a specific pledge tier for free or at the very least was not even included in the retail collector editions of the game or the digital deluxe and required ANOTHER separate purchase even after fans have backed this project with their own hard earned money is, quite frankly, beyond unacceptable and continues to highlight that Yu Suzuki and his team have no intention of ensuring consumers or fans are happy and that his team possesses no basic business acumen skills to operate successfully within today’s gaming industry. The Shenmue IP cannot recover from the irreversible damage that has now been done leading up to Shenmue 3’s release.

After reviewing the retail sales figures of Shenmue 3 globally, which I must say have been abysmal, along with all the critical reviews for this game which have range from mostly average to negative, I have little hope that there will be or even care if there is a Shenmue 4 anymore. I honestly feel like I have wasted $2000.00 and if I had the foresight to have known what decisions Ys Net would have made during the Kickstarter campaign and that the fact that Shenmue 3 would not reveal the important story elements that we fans have waited for 18 years to know, I would have backed the Kickstarter at a considerably lower amount, somewhere around $100.00 tier.

It is unlikely a Shenmue 4 will be produced so I now urge Yu Suzuki to release a book, novel, manga or simply his script synopsis which details the end of the Shenmue Story in so to please the fans who gave them their own money. It is a shame of what Shenmue 3 is and has become, because Shenmue 1 and 2 were and still are some of my favourite all time video games ever made and are historically and culturally significant artistic works of fiction and are masterpieces in their own right. Shenmue 3 is not.

I have separated detailed issues and improvement suggestions I have for the game into categories below:

(Heavy Spoilers so be advised):

Story issues/questions:

• At the end of Shenmue 2 and when you read the letter that Mr Yuan left for Shenhua it is implied he knows that ‘the one who holds the Phoenix’ will arrive to accompany Shenhua (being Ryo), and it is also implied he knew he would get kidnapped. How did he know this?
• There are noticeable differences to Shenhua’s house from 2 to 3. Why change it up and add the extra room?
• Why does hardly anybody know or care in Bailu that Mr Yuan, Shenhua’s father, is missing?
• 11pm should be the point Ryo returns to bed for the night, not 9pm. Though I believe this decision was made to hide the fact the game is horribly short.
• Shenhua should tag along with Ryo more when exploring Bailu, she acts as if she does not care her father is missing most of the time (further highlighted by her emotionless and terrible voice acting).
• There are many moves from the original games missing in this game, most notably the throw moves.
• The game feels very repetitive and feels like you are walking in circles (e.g. talk to this guy, then this guy). I do note this was similar to Shenmue 1 but I feel Shenmue 2 did away with the majority of such repetition. I would like to have seen more fighting and more action.
• I do not like how we are forced to lose to Yanglang, the thug in Bailu or the Red Snake’s boss.
• Grandmaster Feng doesn’t introduce himself by name yet Ryo seems to know it when he meets him in Ternary Springs and speaks with him a second time.
• Why are there only 3 thugs in Bailu, one of which causes Ryo so much trouble? Ryo beat Chai, the three elite Kowloon fighters, Master Baihu and Dou Niu, along with an army of Mad Angels, Heavens and Yellow Heads, yet he cannot beat this single thug Yanglang? It hardly seems realistic and the lack of more thugs seems rather non-threatening considering what Ryo has been through prior. This issue is again highlighted with the Red Snakes and their Boss.
• Grandmaster Feng, Shiren, Liu, Zuxiong and the Martial Hall martial artists and master should help Ryo in the Hermits Nest against the thugs, yet they don’t do anything (with Lui and Shiren showing up last minute).
• Wouldn’t the thugs in Bailu just eventually run away rather than basing up in the Hermits Nest while Ryo is wasting time grinding to learn the body check move?
• Bailu is a martial arts village but there don’t seem to be many martial artists of the calibre of Toa Lishao/Xiuying Hong there (apart from Grandmaster Feng who we never see in action).
• Ryo hardly reacts to seeing Chai again, even though he knocked him into the Yokosuka Harbour Bay and defeated him on the ferry again during the cut manga chapter 2 on the way to Hong Kong.
• How did Chai track Ryo from Hong Kong to Bailu Village?
• Did Ryo get the scroll back from Chai after climbing the bell tower and defeating him in the QTE? Because I remember Chai snatched it, got elbowed by Ryo and then runs off, we never see Ryo get that specific scroll back from Chai.
• Who arranged for Shenhua’s and Ryo’s hotel stay in Niaowu? Does Ryo pay for Shenhua’s room? It looks like he only pays for his own room, and if that is the case, who pays for Shenhua’s room? Where did she get the money? I am sure in an interaction with an NPC Ryo mentions he pays for her lodging but we don’t actually see this amount be deducted from our overall money.
• Why does Niaowu have a start time to the day of 8am and Bailu have a start time of 7am?
• Why does Ryo call Nozomi by her last name Harasaki when he calls her on the phone? By the way, the English voice actress for Nozomi in Shenmue 3 sounds nothing like the original voice actress from Shenmue 1. It is actually hilarious to listen to.
• Ryo never asks Guizhang if his leg has healed following the end of Shenmue 1 when he calls him on the phone.
• Many of the Shenmue 1 and 2 characters do not sound anything like their original English voice actors when you phone them from the hotel in Niaowu. The original voice actors should have been involved in the game. Joy however sounds good.
• How did Ren track Ryo to Niaowu? He only knew he was going to Bailu Village at the end of Shenmue 2 when Zhu Yuanda told Ryo to go there.
• Who is Trish P and why do you get a move scroll for interacting with her name in Lui Joa Shrine?
• Why is the story repeating itself when you need to learn a specific move, the body check, to beat Yanglang in Bailu, and again the reverse body check, to beat the Red Snake’s boss in Niaowu? Why repeat the exact same thing? This is VERY BAD storytelling. And the grinding involved to obtain the wine in Bailu and the move scroll in Niaowu is boring and repetitive. I expected more from a Shenmue game.
• Why even bother including that pointless fetch quest near the end of the game for the Pawn Shop owner in the old castle area who says his items were stolen by the Red Snakes?
• Every interaction we have with Chai from Bailu to Niaowu is a QTE. They should have been fully fledged fights.
• A fight against Niao Sun would have been great.
• The $10,000 dollar Kickstarter backers who got to be Lan Di’s elite guard NPCs should have been a much tougher fight. They went down easily, even on the hardest difficulty.
• The last 3 guys with Lan Di should have been difficult fights, not comically weak characters who you beat in a QTE. Why would Lan Di associate himself with such weaklings?
• There should be more threatening Chi Yo Men guards employed by Lan Di. The jokers we beat are nothing even compared to the Mad Angels or Yellow Heads.
• Lan Di sounds nothing like the original English voice actor from Shenmue 1.
• Lan Di’s fight should have been longer and even more challenging.
• Did Hsu and Grandmaster Bie not stop Niao Sun and her guards from burning the castle down? They are clearly seen walking towards it on the bridge beating guards after Ryo and Ren make their way to the castle. Why not stop her from burning the place? Why did she not send her own guards after Hsu and Bie?
• Did Niao Sun get the real of fake Phoenix Mirror? Did Ren throw the real or fake out of the window to save Ryo from Lan Di?
• At the end of the game Ryo says to Mr Yuan he found a scroll in the cliff temple which Ren, Shenhua and Ryo are seen walking towards in the final game cutscene, but when did Ryo visit this temple to obtain a ‘scroll’? What scroll is he talking about?
• Ren has very little screen time and character development. There should have been more just like Shenmue 2.
• Shenhua’s mysterious magical abilities are not elaborated on and she gets little character development overall.
• Shenhua’s English voice actress is bad and she sounds as if she suffers from a mental disability. I know the voice acting for Shenmue games is always bad in general and as a result is unintentionally funny, but Shenhua’s voice acting is just plain bad.
• The Shenmue Tree’s significance is never explained or the fact that the game itself is named after this tree is never elaborated on.
• The story is overall disappointing and feels underwhelming especially when compared to Shenmue 1 and 2. More story should have been revealed.
• The game is very, VERY, short.
• The ending is bad and doesn’t make me want to continue this story nor have any anticipation for a sequel.
• How does Ryo even interact with people in Hong Kong and Mainland China? He can’t read Chinese but can he speak Cantonese and Mandarin? They surely don’t understand or speak Japanese.

Fan Treatment issues:

• All DLC should have been included to Kickstarter backers who backed over a certain pledge tier or at the very least the DLC should have been included in the Collector’s Edition/Digital Deluxe and not have required a separate purchase. This is unacceptable.
• Why did Sega refuse to include original arcade games within Shenmue 3 such as Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier, Hang On, Afterburner or Outrun? I would have also liked to have seen a return of Sega IPs in the form of capsule toys e.g. Sonic. However I am assuming Sega refused to do this. Sega really are trash and deserve the harsh exit they suffered from the gaming hardware market and all their financial failures. The only good game they make now are the Yakuza Series.
• Some of the capsule toy sets in the game are terrible e.g. shoes set or chairs and tables set. These are crappy capsule toys.
• Some of the PS4 trophies are unacceptably long and require too much grinding e.g. catch 1000 fish/find all herbs. Further, getting the high score across all arcade cabinets and collecting all the herbs should have been reduced to: get the high score on each type of arcade cabinet, not all of them, and collect 1 of each available herb in the game, again, not all of them. These were really boring/frustrating trophies I had to achieve, especially the fish one.
• The Catfish Rally sidequest is terrible.
• The 10,000 Yuan and 500,000 Tokens related trophies for PS4 should be cumulative.
• Some of the in-game items cost too much e.g. prize exchange clothing items. It required too much grinding to obtain.
• The Kickstarter capsule toys in the Save Shenmue temple should be listed in the in-game menu as separate capsule toy collections so that we know what we need to collect and what is missing.

Technical issues (I do however understand this is a Kickstarter project and thus lacked the funds to polish the game to desired Triple AAA game standards but many of the issues highlighted below should be rectified in a patch in my opinion):

• The graphics are bad. An overall graphical improvement of the game is needed, from character animations, NPC faces (which convey no emotion and look very still) to inanimate objects. The graphics look like an early PS3/Xbox 360 game. They are not of PS4 quality.
• The cartoony graphical style chosen for NPCs in this game is not good, and the graphics of NPCs should resemble realism just like the original games did.
• There are some minor glitches in the finished product such as getting stuck on stairs, the inability to return to your room/hotel at 9pm and the game crashing, leading the player to reload a previous save.
• The Options button on the PS4 controller should pause the game, not R1.
• We should be able to skip and pause cutscenes during our first playthrough (you can only skip cutscenes during your second playthrough if you loaded your completed save to begin a new game +).
• Skipping dialogue should be an option. It is beyond unacceptable that it isn’t.
• There should be an option to check the overall game map, place markers and it should be accessible from the main start menu, not in the notebook section of maps.
• Pressing the PS home button should pause everything in-game including cutscenes until the application is re-selected like most other games have implemented.
• The game does not run at 4k 60fps on the PS4 Pro. I specifically bought a PS4 Pro and a 4K TV just for this game but it made no difference in the end.
• Ryo’s mouth doesn't move when he enters an area he shouldn't be going to and then backs away saying "maybe I should talk to a few folks around here" etc. This looks very awkward.
• There are parts of the game which play no background music. The ambient music should remain on loop as it did in the original games and not fade out and repeat again in areas where ambient music actually plays.
• The walking and running animations are extremely awkward.
• The stamina system which always requires you to eat food is horrible. Stamina should either last longer or be removed entirely from the game. Or a separate stamina bar should be implemented into the game which is refilled via eating e.g. Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater’s two separate bars, one for health and another for stamina.
• Certain animations for picking herbs do not exist and instead the game cuts to black e.g. the Trifoliate Orange. Why couldn’t there be an animation for this?
• The minimap in the corner of the screen is too small. It should be larger (or there should be an option to enlarge it).
• The animal animations look terrible e.g. the cows and chickens.
• The rain in the game is barely visible. Changing weather was implemented better in the first game which came out in 1999, 20 years ago.
• Some side quests disappear after the main story is advanced only slightly. E.g. The Biggest Catch, the fishing side quest in Bailu disappeared on me completely and required a second playthrough to complete. This was really annoying.
• The fishing mechanic is simplistic and very boring. Red Dead Redemption 2 for example had a much more fun and interactive fishing mechanic.
• QTEs are way too fast and sometimes unachievable. They need to be slowed down.
• Shenhua cannot follow Ryo properly. She lags behind and sometimes gets stuck behind things (which is actually funny to see).
• The RNG and grinding involved in completing all the capsule toy sets is boring and unacceptable. And when it comes to getting the rare capsule toys, it is just downright frustrating. It feels like modern gaming loot boxes and they should have made it easier to obtain the rare capsule toys.
• The side quest for Mr Su’s tales... he is sometimes not in the Sunflower Grove for me.
• Some of the NPCs in the Verdant Bridge 1910 flashback are reused NPCs with clothing that does not look like 1910s rural China clothing.
• Niaowu feels like a ghost town. There should be more NPCs walking around.
• The fade to black seen in many cutscenes in annoying and is clearly hiding the fact that animations are missing from this game.
• There is too much late pop-in for NPCs on screen. This is especially noticeable in Niaowu.
• The framerate in this game is inconsistent.
• Some of the English dub does not match the English subtitles in rare instances.
• There is no collision animations or mechanics implemented into this game e.g. walking accidently into a wall or chair or table. Ryo robotically stops moving. Other games such as the Yakuza Series have improved on such a mechanic to resemble realism and so should have Shenmue 3.
• A lot of female NPCs look the same in Niaowu.
• The time skip feature is not implemented enough in some events of the game where it should have been implemented.
• I’ve noticed time pauses and doesn’t seem to pass when engaged in a fight/sparring.
• There is an annoying invisible wall when fighting in many of the fights. Enemies can go past this invisible wall (usually near the edge of the game area) but Ryo cannot, forcing the player to back up until the enemy comes back into interactable range.
• Random kids and NPCs wave to Ryo in Niaowu. Why?
• You are unable to run during fights like you could in the original games and therefore unable to perform running moves.
• The time of day change from day to night occurs at 6.15pm feels overall rushed and the game should have implemented a more gradual day to night time shift.
• Too many loading screens.
• The general artistic direction taken for the in-game cutscenes and dialogue exposition between characters feels bad and stiff, whereas the original games had a more natural feel amongst the characters in the cutscenes. There was also no fade to black in the original games during cutscenes.
• In the end fight against the Chi Yo Men on the bridge with Ren you cannot even turn around to defeat enemies behind you. You are forced to move forward. Movement feels very stiff and unrefined.

Improvement suggestions through a possible patch/for Shenmue 4:

• When moving the right analogue stick camera, Ryo’s head should tilt in the direction you are looking. This is achieved in other games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 for example. His overall character animation remains stiff even though Ryo tilting his head in response to camera movement was an option in Shenmue 2.
• The original Shenmue 1 and 2 menu interaction sound effects should return, along with the overall layout of the old Shenmue 1 and 2 main menus.
• There is no animation when eating food. This is especially annoying when you purchase a drink from a vending machine and do not see the original iconic animation of Ryo drinking the drink along with the awkward sounds he makes as he unrealistically finishes the drink in 2 gulps.
• A return to the Virtua Fighter fighting style including throw moves is much needed. The new fighting mechanics are ok but not as good as the original 2 games.
• When receiving the same capsule toy, Ryo should say “this again?” or something along those lines just as he did in 1 and 2. Instead he will ignore the fact he has received the same capsule toy and sometimes even say “this is great”. This is not great Ryo.
• Ryo should read street and shop signs allowed when zooming in on them just like he did in Shenmue 2.
• You should be able to strike up random conversation with Shenhua like you could in Shenmue 2 when walking the trails to her home during the end game segment.
• When you enter stores and choose to shop, your current inventory amount of items should be shown in the shop game menus as to avoid overspending.
• You should be able to walk away from NPC conversations by pressing O/B like you could in Shenmue 1/2, ending the conversation early midway.
• During fighting sequences, Y/Triangle should be the dodge button just as it was in the original games.
• The ability to pause during fights is needed.
• Niaowu should be larger and expanded upon with more shops and areas to explore just like Shenmue 2’s Hong Kong was. Yu Suzuki said this game would have a larger open world than 2 but it does not.
• We should have some sort of save file transfer from our Shenmue 1 and 2 HD saves which is compatible with Shenmue 3.
• Side quest NPCs should be highlighted or marked on some sort of mini map.
• There should be more martial arts mini games other than just Horse Stance, Rooster Steps and One Inch Punch, and they should be more advanced than simple button presses.
• QTE title should include the original voice over it did from the arcade cabinets from the previous games.
• Why do the herbs picked not re-grow?
• I would have liked more inanimate objects to be zoomed in on by the player and interacted with along with Ryo’s comments on the item/object being inspected. There were only few instances of this during Shenmue 3 and the majority of store items could not be zoomed in on and interacted with and examined via thumb stick rotation like they could in Shenmue 1 and 2.
• More wandering NPCs to interact with.
• Some NPCs should guide you to a destination you are searching for just like they could in Shenmue 2.
• I would have liked to hear more new original music. As well more re-used tracks from Shenmue 1 and 2.
• I feel Ryo’s skin colour is too pale and white in Shenmue 3, looking more Caucasian as opposed to Japanese. In Shenmue 1 and 2 Ryo had a skin pigmentation tone which resembled actual Japanese people (though his overall look was still non-Japanese looking).
• Older moves from the previous games such as pitblow and double blow should have their own move scrolls and be able to be assigned to R2 just like the other move scrolls.
• I would have liked to have seen a restaurant eating feature, as seen in the Yakuza games.
• There should be an option in the game when starting a new day to return to yesterday’s exact location before Ryo returned for bed the previous day, as seen in Shenmue 2.
• Niaowu looks very clean. But I would have liked to have seen the buildings look more lived in, dirty and decrepit just like the buildings in Hong Kong/Kowloon.
• An inclusion of a darts mini-game. Sega does not hold the rights to darts!
• More cats, and the ability to interact with them i.e. feed them, pet them.
• There should be a statistics page in the pause menu which keeps track of in-game statistics e.g. how many fish caught etc. I had to keep a manual count.
• You should be able to assign more than just 5 moves to the move scroll editor.
• Ryo should be able to interact with his watch like in the original games from the pause menu with a backlight button being available.
• You should not have to return your fish rod at the end of each fishing spot. You should return it at the end of the day instead. This is very annoying.
• I would have liked to have re-visited some of the paths Ryo and Shenhua traversed from Langiushan to Bailu as seen in Shenmue 2.
• A manual time skip feature should be implemented which allows players to skip time to their desired hour of the day.
• NPCs do not carry umbrellas when it rains. They did in the original games.
• The training for endurance, Horse Stance, One Inch Punch etc. is boring and repetitive. They should be made to be more fun.

Notable positives that I enjoyed about the Game:

• Voice acting is generally bad. Which in turn is good. Just like the original games. It is funny when it is not trying to be funny, which makes it funnier.
• The conversations with Shenhua at her home at night are the best part of the game and gives much needed character relationship building and exploration.
• The overall music is great.
• General Shenmue feel in the clunky outdated gameplay is somewhat endearing.
• Bailu village is good. But I wish it was bigger.
• Fully voice acted NPCs with multiple lines of dialogue. Impressive.
• Inclusion of difficulty options is good.
• Inclusion of a New game + is good.
• Phone calls with old characters is amazing. I just wish they sounded more like the original voice acting cast and had more dialogue options.
• I like the training your moves mechanic via sparring. Much faster and simpler than Shenmue 1, and a mechanic which was sorely missing from Shenmue 2.
• I like how Ren saves Ryo from Lan Di at the end of the game. This should allow for an interesting character development between the two of them, but it is unfortunate we did not see this sooner in Shenmue 3 as the game abruptly ends and is very short.

Thank you for reading.

Fantastic post. Unfortunate to see much of this being classified by some as nitpicking considering the sheer amount of items here would equate to a much better game overall.

It was always the myriad of little things that made Shenmue what it was.

Anyway, glad to see a backer at this tier voice your concerns. Not that it should matter though, all criticisms regardless of length or level of fan one is should be welcomed.

 

[spud1897]

People are free to express opinions on both side of the fence and are doing so constructively.

To say people have resorted to calling it nitpicking is completely unfair to those generally thoughtful replies to a well constructed topic starter.

 

[register2viewspoilerforum]

People are free to express opinions on both side of the fence and are doing so constructively.

To say people have resorted to calling it nitpicking is completely unfair to those generally thoughtful replies to a well constructed topic starter.

The term was used twice in this thread (by you in reference to a concern and by another to classify the majority of the concerns). I stand by my post. It's accurate - thanks.

EDIT: And I agree with OP in that I would like to see more interaction with animals. Aside from the optional kindness in Shenmue I and story element in Shenmue II, it fits in with the Shenhua motif (whether cats, deer, or otherwise).

 

[murdiaries]

To OP:
As a Ren fanboy, I forgot to write down a couple of things that felt extremely out of character, and hope you can add to your list:

1) Ren is smart, how comes he didn't even question a suspicious lady sitting in the middle of thugs hideout?

2) There is no point to introduce Ren at a random spaghetti stand before Mr.Muscles beat Ryo. It would had been more of an impact for him to follow Ryo in the shadows, then once Ryo is beaten up to reveal himself and set up a diversive to escape.

3) Ren isn't the type without a backup plan, why didn't he bring any support from HK? Cool Z / Sam&Larry would had been great

 

[spud1897]

The term was used twice in this thread (by you in reference to a concern and by another to classify the majority of the concerns). I stand by my post. It's accurate - thanks.

EDIT: And I agree with OP in that I would like to see more interaction with animals. Aside from the optional kindness in Shenmue I and story element in Shenmue II, it fits in with the Shenhua motif (whether cats, deer, or otherwise).

Yes but two/three nitpicks doesn't generalise an entire topic, especially in my comments, seeing as your touting that specifically I disagreed with the post. You will see I've agreed with a few and stated others were down to preference rather than nitpicks ands that's fine. We all have different preferences.

Your comments clearly generalised everyone's replies and is thus inaccurate so don't even try that passive aggressive rubbish because you've been corrected.

Merry Christmas

 

[Heartbeats]

Lmfao

 

[david_manny]

To OP:
As a Ren fanboy, I forgot to write down a couple of things that felt extremely out of character, and hope you can add to your list:

1) Ren is smart, how comes he didn't even question a suspicious lady sitting in the middle of thugs hideout?

2) There is no point to introduce Ren at a random spaghetti stand before Mr.Muscles beat Ryo. It would had been more of an impact for him to follow Ryo in the shadows, then once Ryo is beaten up to reveal himself and set up a diversive to escape.

3) Ren isn't the type without a backup plan, why didn't he bring any support from HK? Cool Z / Sam&Larry would had been great

Ren is the only smart and relatable character in the entire franchise and the only one with great voice acting. Ren rules.

 

[mjqjazzbar]

Ryo’s mouth doesn't move when he enters an area he shouldn't be going to and then backs away saying "maybe I should talk to a few folks around here" etc. This looks very awkward

I assumed he was just thinking this in his head. Why would he need to open and close his mouth and talk to himself?

 

[Reprise]

I don't necessarily agree with a lot of your points (or some are reasonably valid, but it's just not a huge issue to me), but I do think you really hit the nail on the head in regards to the story.

I really enjoyed Bailu, although found it somewhat flawed for similar reasons you mentioned, but Niaowu was mostly a huge drag and it was mostly because the story was like a complete retread of what happened in Bailu. It was like the same story being told twice, but the pacing felt even slower and more padded. Then the final act seemingly came out of no where and was rushed.

That said, I honestly really enjoyed my time with the game and hope Shenmue 4 picks up the pace again like Shenmue 2 did after Shenmue 1's slow introduction.