How far is the 3rd entry from I&II?

Nemesis

Nemesis

Nozomi Amore
Joined
Mar 17, 2019
The major opinion is that 3 is not as good as the first ones. The truth is that even being something to finally experience the budget couldn't be at the level of the ambitious idea of YS.

In a TOP favorite videogames of all time, where would go I & II and which number would 3 be?
 
I don’t know. Too hard to give an answer to this kind of question.
 
Shenmue 3 would not make my list while 2 makes my top 10 and 1 would be in the top 50

Not saying Shenmue 3 as a game is terrible, it's good considering that it was a kickstarter title...

But after beating it, there wasn't anything that left an impression on me aside from the long awaited Lan Di confrontation which lasted like 5 minutes

Edit by mod: Spoiler shown and now hidden. No spoilers to be shared here!

Re-Edit post mod: The character is all over the trailers and I was as vague as possible about the circumstances surrounding the "confrontation" but apparently by these standards even saying that "Ryo has a conversation with Shenhua" can be taken as spoilers. But hey, Down by Law & mods be sure to also grab your pitchforks for the game itself spoiling THAT character's presence within the first minute of booting Shenmue 3 up.. because if you just let the game sit on the title screen then the trailer revealing that character automatically starts playing.
 
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I think it is dramatically worse than Shenmue 1 and 2, and I think a large part of that is just how not much seems to happen in the game as a whole, none of the new characters stand out and it really never feels like you build a history with any of the locations like the first game you sort of just pass on through.

In a weird way the game id say actually has the best gameplay, or rather gameplay loop persay cause it constantly has content for you to do and it never grinds to a total halt to do something tedious like the first games did. But id say that in the overall package that doesnt really make up for the things that 1 and 2 just absolutely defeat it in, personality, atmosphere, combat, characters especially character interaction, story progression, boss fights, and so on just feel way weaker in 3 than they do the first 2 games and I dont think budget is the reason for that, alot of it feels like there were just misteps in development.

I've kind of grown to the point where I think what 3 needed, was to scale things back and polish them up, maybe it would of been better if the game was just bailu, make it bigger and more detailed, add a bunch of optional cutscenes and the like of actually interacting with the town in way thats not just asking about stuff, and make the plot of that section just have more stakes. As it is now, I think shenmue 3 is just an enjoyable by ultimately kind of not super memorable game that happens to be tied to the legacy of a franchise that keeps it in memory more than the actual game itself does.
 
Personally as a 'game' I think it's the best of the 3. The day up day activities are really fun and well implemented. The way all the economies tie together make for a really rewarding experience. Ive spent ages with the combat system and its very enjoyable too. As far as story and presentation goes however it doesn't come close to 2 which is a very special game indeed.
 
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I think that the game itself is mostly on par with the old ones (in some parts better in some a little flatter).
It's kinda difficult to asses "how far" though, maybe if there were a couple of extra cutscenes that tie up the narrative better or had some punch the game would feel a lot more polished.
It's sad because I think they got almost everything right (or at least a very big part).
 
Imo it's better than 1 and 2.

-No loading screens when going from one area to another.
-More ways to make money compare to previous games.
-Much better controls.
-Better graphics.
-Difficulty setting which wasn't available in Shenmue 1 and 2.
-More mini games compare to previous games. It also has more side quests.
-New game plus which wasn't available for 1 and 2.

The only think in Shenmue 3 that I didn't like was combat. But even then Shenmue 1 and 2 didn't have a good combat.(I beat the final boss of S 2 by spamming Ryo's elbow move in the whole fight.)
 
For the record, Shenmue I-II is 3 in my top 10 of best video games ever
Full top 10 being:
1. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
2. Muv-Luv Alternative
3. Shenmue I-II
4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
5. Nier Automata
6. Kid Icarus Uprising
7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
8. Shadow of the Colossus
9. Super Mario 64
10. Umineko When They Cry

How far is Shenmue III from that top ?

Well, I don't think it'll break into the top 50 of my favorite games ever.
Top 100 now ? Maybe.
 
Shenmue 2 is in my top ten while the other two games are top 20-30. I might actually prefer S3 to S1 though.
 
Dg1995 said:
Imo it's better than 1 and 2.

-No loading screens when going from one area to another.
-More ways to make money compare to previous games.
-Much better controls.
-Better graphics.
-Difficulty setting which wasn't available in Shenmue 1 and 2.
-More mini games compare to previous games. It also has more side quests.
-New game plus which wasn't available for 1 and 2.

The only think in Shenmue 3 that I didn't like was combat. But even then Shenmue 1 and 2 didn't have a good combat.(I beat the final boss of S 2 by spamming Ryo's elbow move in the whole fight.)
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That's some heavy revisionism going on here.
First of all, I didn't knew Shenmue I and II were about QoL stuff. Because if "loading screens", more ways to make money, more mini games, difficulty settings and new game plus is what make it or break it, I don't think we enjoyed these games for the same reason (and that's fair).
Better controls, well, Shenmue I and II were released on a platform without a second analog stick. Better graphics, well, 20 years happened since then.

As for the combat system, S1-2 had a good combat system. Even today it still old up. Sure, it has camera issues, but it's far deeper than most action games, even today.
 
GhostTrick said:
That's some heavy revisionism going on here.
First of all, I didn't knew Shenmue I and II were about QoL stuff. Because if "loading screens", more ways to make money, more mini games, difficulty settings and new game plus is what make it or break it, I don't think we enjoyed these games for the same reason (and that's fair).
Better controls, well, Shenmue I and II were released on a platform without a second analog stick. Better graphics, well, 20 years happened since then.

As for the combat system, S1-2 had a good combat system. Even today it still old up. Sure, it has camera issues, but it's far deeper than most action games, even today.
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That’s his personal opinion, so just because you don’t agree, it doesn’t mean it’s incorrect or subject to heavy revisionism.

personally it’s too soon after the release of 3 to make a definitive statement, but I would currently say that in many ways the gameplay in 3 is better than 1 and even 2 in some aspects (even though 2 is the pinnacle for me). Engaging narrative-wise it doesn’t live up to S2 especially

but overall I would list them in order as:

1: S2
2: S3
3: S1

I reserve the right to change my mind.
 
Sh3ppy said:
That’s his personal opinion, so just because you don’t agree, it doesn’t mean it’s incorrect or subject to heavy revisionism.

personally it’s too soon after the release of 3 to make a definitive statement, but I would currently say that in many ways the gameplay in 3 is better than 1 and even 2 in some aspects (even though 2 is the pinnacle for me). Engaging narrative-wise it doesn’t live up to S2 especially

but overall I would list them in order as:

1: S2
2: S3
3: S1

I reserve the right to change my mind.
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Saying that Shenmue I and II had a bad combat system is.
 
GhostTrick said:
Saying that Shenmue I and II had a bad combat system is.
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They had bad combat. It was too button mashy. It's a big issue when you can beat the final boss of shenmue 2 by just spamming one move over and over again.

-God Hand with much less budget had far better combat compare to Shenmue 1 and 2.
-Devil May Cry 1 which came at the same year as Shenmue 2 had better combat.
 
Shenmue is my favourite game of all time.
Shenmue II is my second-favourite game of all time.
Shenmue III is probably somewhere in my Top 15.

I love the Shenmue series because of the atmosphere and character relationships. III only really had one of those things, but it provided something the original two games didn't have: an engaging loop that made me really enjoy planning my day and setting goals for myself. Does it make up for the lack of character building? For me, no, but it made for a game that I really enjoyed playing.

Even if III nailed the story and characters, for some it'd never live up to the originals. A lot of us played those games during our formative years, and have spent years dreaming of an idealised Shenmue III. Given this, and the whole development situation, it isn't exactly apples-to-apples when comparing I and II to III.

Also, the original combat engine is far from perfect -- its flaws have been discussed on here many, many times over. The fact some people don't like it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.
 
Dg1995 said:
They had bad combat. It was too button mashy. It's a big issue when you can beat the final boss of shenmue 2 by just spamming one move over and over again.

-God Hand with much less budget had far better combat compare to Shenmue 1 and 2.
-Devil May Cry 1 which came at the same year as Shenmue 2 had better combat.
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It wasn't button mashy. It was if you wanted it to be.
Also, bad luck for you: I'm a HUGE God Hand fan.
And God Hand can be button mashy. Heck, you can totally exploit the patterns and such. The reason it's less visible than Shenmue I and II comes from the difficulty. It's a difficult game. But you can totally make your way by making broken combo strings.
In fact, Angra might be one of the less difficult boss in God Hand.

So no, Shenmue I and II had great combat. Why ? Because just like God Hand, just like DMC, even if you can make your way through button mashing (even moreso in Shenmue because of difficulty setting), they also have a great learning curve and you can do crazy stuff in the game.
But Shenmue I and II aren't beat em up like those two games. They have an actual fighting game combat system. And the animation work was top notch.
 
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