Magic Monaco Press Conference March 9th 2019 Part 2 Discussion and Reaction

[高野和泉]

The trailer is underwhelming overall since it looks like Cedric hyped a huge blowout with all that SNS "WORLD PREMIER" stuff but we got something more akin to like the 2017 "teaser" meant for backers. Not marketing appropriate but progress for a dev diary/post 4 fans.

But I gotta admit even tho I'm disappointed at this marketing blunder, the Quality of the Fighting seem legit promising(I daresay even immersive with those crazy details on blocking/parrying & evasive manuever). Hell, I have a very good gut feeling once Yu polishes it up even more it'll surpass Tekken 7 & VF5 in substance/presentation respectively and hopefully inspire SEGA to adopt+Flesh it out for Virtua FIghter 6...that is if SEGA can notice the bone Suzuki is tossing at em.

Like I've said before, I don't envy the hard-sell any PR teams gotta do for any of Yu Suzuki's unique games. His game usually market itself by good word of mouth after the fact. Haha...he'll def need the fans who understands his games the most in the marketing push towards release. Just give us something substantial to run with...maybe the promised demo will be the big break?

 

[Yokosuka]

People keep saying that it isn’t realistic looking enough. But seriously. Look at Do Niu and tell me he doesn’t look like an anime villain? Or how about Chai? Chai is straight up Gollum. It’s not like this game doesn’t already have its fair share of anime villains as is.

Shenmue 2 had its own lot of big men but their appearance was what make them very special in the Shenmue universe. The Mongol martial artists, the exotic beast at the Beverly Hills Wharf, Dou Niou the boss of Kownloon...

From all the glimpses of Shenmue 3 we were offered so far, we saw 4 characters with extraordinary physique:
-Mr.Muscle with long hair, the one who fought Ryo on the Great Wall (first Gamescom trailer)
-the villager who was robbed at home (Ryo & Master trailer)
-the martial artist who humiliated Ryo (Ryo & Master trailer)
-the sparring partner (Ryo & Master trailer)

That's already a lot of new big men and we have yet to know the remaining 450 NPCs!
I don't think it's a coincidence. Even Lan Di looked more muscled in the screenshot. If Master Baihu ever comes back in Shenmue 3, I'm pretty sure his body would have swelled a bit too.

The art direction definitely differs from Shenmue1&2 to me but it's not a bad thing anyway. I just hope they manage to balance the charadesign between the protagonists and the secondary characters. At the moment, the art direction is still very confusing.

 

[Yokosuka]

double post

 

[iyapol]

Is it safe to come out yet?

Well. What an unusual trailer.

The positives:

• Ryo's mouth works.
• Dialogue.
• The environments.
• Shenhua and Lan Di look incredible.
• The colours.

The negatives:

• Too much random dialogue.
• No real 'in-game' footage.
• The secondary characters. Why is everyone so wide, and why do they have strange facial features and odd skin colour? If this is down to artistic style, then it needs reviewing immediately.

As a trailer for a game looking to sell copies and attract new fans, it's a bit... weird. I'm fine with it, because I'm a Shenmue fan.

As a trailer, I do prefer the Gamescom one for various reasons. However, the new trailer does show progress which is what it's all about.

As others have said, it's a tad concerning that the release date is now nowhere to be seen - we will have to wait and see what they are doing with that.

It also looks like the new logo is well and truly here to stay.

 

[LAWXIU]

I like it. Still has that dream cast feel to it.

 

[spud1897]

We're back!

That was intense. The weekend was amazing.

The trailer felt right. Yes there's some work to do but the progress each time has been awesome. Lan Di looks immense. I'd also bet that build was a couple months old. There's a mix of assests there. If the rest of the game touches that model it will be amazing.

The trailer was aimed at fans and that was it's audience. It reached that and succeeded. Now they will widen their scope. Journalists have seen extended footage and have been commenting on Twitter that it looks great.

Guys what can I say it's Shenmue 3! It's real, it's happening and if it was delayed so be it. I'll wait. I don't think it will be though.

Enjoy this moment! We've been starved of this for nearly 20 years.

Also a little note.

Bottom right of the picture what do you see?

 

[we420]

-- I love the fact that we see Ryo in serious peril for the first time and that the big guy mocks his kung fu. Also did anyone notice the stack of bodies laying on the ground in that opening scene? Shit got real!

Holy shit! I've watched the trailer about a dozen times and I'm just now noticing that.

 

[Space Lion]

People keep saying that it isn’t realistic looking enough. But seriously. Look at Do Niu and tell me he doesn’t look like an anime villain? Or how about Chai? Chai is straight up Gollum. It’s not like this game doesn’t already have its fair share of anime villains as is.

View attachment 2272View attachment 2273

This makes no sense. They’re more stylized but they’re very realistic and fit within the game world. Shenmue III balances between realistic looking characters to outright caricatures and it makes no sense.

 

[9dragons]

Think for a second why that might be.

If we as fans notice these shortcomings, what do you think will happen when gaming publications get ahold of review copies and shit all over Shenmue 3.

Do you not want to see the story finished in a part 4?

A polished game will lead to better reviews and ultimately to better sales which then secures Shenmue 4.

I can get your point but we have to realistic. The game will be trashed by the gaming publications anyway. It is not that type of game that is getting hyped today. No polishing in the world could prevent that. So a delay is pointless it brings the game in the realm of future titles that look even better than the stuff that we have today. So the graphics freaks will trash it even more.

Shenmue is unique. It lives from the atmosphere not from the graphics. And the atmosphere in all Trailers is superb.

I can understand your wish for improvements but with the limited budget improvements are heard to archive. to extent to really please the mass market. Every Trailer improved a lot already but this is apparently not enough..

 

[Space Lion]

For the first time in a long time a game has managed to make me say,”what’s that? I want to go exploring.”

Beautiful game. The art style is amazing, some npcs aside.

 

[Space Lion]

Double post due to post load

 

[Amir]

I put together a very short supercut from the past three trailers in a couple of hours on iMovie:

 

[LAWXIU]

Many years ago there was many people in this community asking for shenmue 3 to come to us as a book or a comic. They even sent the request to Yu Suzuki.

Today people are picking holes in the imperfections of a game that isn't even finished.

I'd be extremely happy with Dreamcast graphics and glitches. I'd pay a lot of money to have it on Dreamcast rather than ps4.

 

[Sailor-San]

So after watching it several times and having a good night sleep and watching it again, i can finally say:

The good:

-The Shenmue Vibe: It is inspiring to feel an almost two decades old vibe breathing through every pixel on screen. I mean if you take a look at the new star wars movies ( i certainly dont want to start a discussion about them ) that have the look but for me not the feel, it is quite impressive to see and feel the vibe of the originals on a new generation console.

-Scenes, Scenes, Scenes: I love the night visit scene with the villager so much. It is by far my favorite. A small little scene with so much raw intensity. I almost could hear the crickets chirping outside! The nightmare scene was awesome as well. Lan-Di is spot on and with that extra lighting effects it is breathtaking.

-Charakter Models: Shenhua, Lan-Di, the Villagers, the Master. They are all unique, well-crafted and look awesome to good. The model for Ryo is not quite there yet (maybe) but maybe it is because i am used to the english voice-over. I dont know.

-The Fighting: It is AWESOME! The animation and style is just pure gaming beauty.

The bad:

-Lip Sync: As a musician and a video artist i think this was the big one that made me a little bit disappointed at first. I know from experience that a video with slightly off lip-sync (even if it has gorgeous photography) is off putting (Pun intended). But i know that this was probably the last thing they chipped in and that it will be fixed.

-Trailer Style: As mentioned before i am not quite sure about the trailer style. I think when they reveal the whole footage of the trailer it will be more transparent that some frames were missing or something to that extent as they took just a portion of the big trailer and showed us that. But i am complaining about minor details.

Resume:

-Shenmue 3 will be exactly what i was hoping for. Maybe even more. The trailer and the details from the conference ensured me that Yu and Team will deliver a unique and satisfying Shenmue Experience. I always had a little doubt in my head that it would feel like the Godfather Part III to I and II, because of the look. But they nailed that so elegantly that i can't wait till August.

 

[Space Lion]

The inconsistent art style is my only issue right now. Take the guy teaching Ryo and compare it to Jianmin.

The teacher has a big red nose and so does Jianmin. Jianmin looks far better despite the aged model.

Most of the npcs we are seeing have big, cartoony noses, caricatured, cartoony faces.

They don’t even look like they belong in the same world.

Within seconds we go from this:

To this:

It feels like Shenmue III exists in a world where people are only buff, morbidly obese, old, or a realistic looking cute girl.

While the main characters look like this:

By contrast, look at the originals and their variety. While it’s true there were the occasional funny looking character like Cool Z, they were exceptions. Here, it feels they’re the norm.

Shenmue has always placed an emphasis on realism. It’s completely mental that we have fans telling us that Shenmue has always had weird looking characters. In what world? I’m pretty sure realism is a major reason a lot of us love Shenmue to begin with. So for people to say,”Shenmue has always been like this” makes me feel like I’m being gaslit.

The character designs in III are considerably worse than I and II. I don’t expect it to be as good but given it has some of the same staff I expected at least most npcs to continue the tradition of npcs that look like they all belong in the same game.

As a Shenmue fan this is potentially immersion breaking and is the most bizarre direction in the game thus far. I’m starting to think over 300 npcs was too much. Seems there’s tons of filler. The art styles are anything but cohesive and organic. Considering the amazing art direction in the rest of the game this is one giant WTF.

 

[danielmann861]

This makes no sense. They’re more stylized but they’re very realistic and fit within the game world. Shenmue III balances between realistic looking characters to outright caricatures and it makes no sense.

Yeah, because Shenmue II never had caricatures next to realistic looking people. Chai is a caricature next to realistic people. Dou Niu is a caricature next to realistic. Some of the street fighters were caricatures next to realistic people.

I don't see a difference between this and what Shenmue III is doing to some degree.

 

[Space Lion]

Are you blind? All of those characters are realistic looking and fit in the world. You’ve also picked out two examples out of two games while we’ve seen one short trailer and npcs that are far more out of place. The street fighter you posted in a beast man. He looks bizarre but he’s hardly a caricature. His model is very realistic.

Please look up the definition for caricature.

 

[iyapol]

The inconsistent art style is my only issue right now. Take the guy teaching Ryo and compare it to Jianmin.

The teacher has a big red nose and so does Jianmin. Jianmin looks far better despite the aged model.

Most of the npcs we are seeing have big, cartoony noses, caricatured, cartoony faces.

They don’t even look like they belong in the same world.

Within seconds we go from this:

To this:

It feels like Shenmue III exists in a world where people are only buff, morbidly obese, old, or a realistic looking cute girl.

While the main characters look like this:

By contrast, look at the originals and their variety. While it’s true there were the occasional funny looking character like Cool Z, they were exceptions. Here, it feels they’re the norm.

Shenmue has always placed an emphasis on realism. It’s completely mental that we have fans telling us that Shenmue has always had weird looking characters. In what world? I’m pretty sure realism is a major reason a lot of us love Shenmue to begin with. So for people to say,”Shenmue has always been like this” makes me feel like I’m being gaslit.

The character designs in III are considerably worse than I and II. I don’t expect it to be as good but given it has some of the same staff I expected at least most npcs to continue the tradition of npcs that look like they all belong in the same game.

As a Shenmue fan this is potentially immersion breaking and is the most bizarre direction in the game thus far. I’m starting to think over 300 npcs was too much. Seems there’s tons of filler. The art styles are anything but cohesive and organic. Considering the amazing art direction in the rest of the game this is one giant WTF.

Great post.

This is also the biggest issue for me - stunning main characters and environments mixed with odd-looking NPCs with disproportionate bodies, huge heads, big noses, massive lips and plastic skin.

I really hope this is down to artistic preference (which should definitely be reviewed before release) and not quantity - now over 500 NPCs - over quality.

Sort the NPCs out and we're going to get a visually stunning game from what I've seen.

 

[Space Lion]

Are you blind? All of those characters are realistic looking and fit in the world. You’ve also picked out two examples out of two games while we’ve seen one short trailer and npcs that are far more out of place. The street fighter you posted in a beast man. He looks bizarre but he’s hardly a caricature. His model is very realistic.

Please look up the definition for caricature.

 

[danielmann861]

Are you blind? All of those characters are realistic looking and fit in the world. You’ve also picked out two examples out of two games while we’ve seen one short trailer and npcs that are far more out of place. The street fighter you posted in a beast man. He looks bizarre but he’s hardly a caricature. His model is very realistic.

Please look up the definition for caricature.

Yeah, but this game never had caricatures....it was all super realistic you guys.

Look, I love Shenmue and all, but maybe it's time to pull your head out of the sand and actually look at some of these characters. The one above is straight up caricature. The caricature of an Italian man that looks and speaks like Mario (borderline racist if you want to go there, but I don't because I'm willing to forgive since I don't think it intends harm)

But don't act like caricatures didn't exist in Shenmue, because they did. You don't have to like the character models, but to act like caricatures didn't already exist in these games is to put your head in the sand.