My Shenmue 3 impressions (5 hours in)

Joined
Aug 19, 2018
As some folks may have seen after a lot of wrangling and paying more than I am willing to admit a kind user on another forum I frequent was able to ship me a copy of Shenmue 3 early, which I received and started today.

I know a lot of fans are on edge right now with the release imminent but I wanted to share my general thoughts which I will keep broad and then discuss some specific elements which will contain some spoilers but I will try and avoid discussing story specifics.

So after 18 years of waiting does Shenmue 3 live up to lofty expectations and hopes of us fans? Well I am far too early in the game to make any definitive statements but in short fans of the series will find a lot to love and enjoy about the games opening.

I was giddy in anticipation as latest patch downloaded and the game started. I actually watched the recap video, which in my opinion is serviceable in getting new players up to date with the games essential story but as many will attest Shenmue needs to be experienced not merely watched. As the opening cinematic started it was hard not to realize I was entering uncharted waters and didn't quite know what to expect.

After a well directed opening cinematic, the games opening handful of minutes are pretty uneven. Those that have seen the latest previews probably know what I'm referring to but the game tries to get a lot of exposition out of the way in a relatively cumbersome manner. I just know there was a better way to block and edit conversations together, making them feel much more seamless. Perhaps a product of lack of budget but it certainly feels a lot less refined and cinematic than it's two predecessors.

Thankfully things get better from that point on (Outside a brief occurrence of the aforementioned issue on day 2). The core elements of what made us fall in love with Shenmue return and with some tweaks and additions. The game feels like a worthy successor to the Dreamcast games and after a few minutes it felt familiar stepping back into Ryo's shoes. So here's some stray observations with my time so far;

- First thing everyone should do before starting game is going into page 2 of the settings and under Zoom option turning it to 'off'. This will remove picture frame when going into First Person mode

- Speaking of, you can now walk and explore entire game in First Person, simply press and hold L2 trigger while free roaming

- I am playing this on a PS4 Pro but having looked through menu extensively I do not believe it has Pro support. I am sure John at Digital Foundry will give us a great analysis but this appears to be 1080p with stable framerate and very occasional hitches

- In setting menu there is space to enter your Backer Code (Where or what email do we get this from?) I presume this is to enable all the backer perks

- Game now auto-saves after next story beat or clue is listed in your notebook

- In opening cinematic there is a relatively signifcant retcon
regarding the sword which now Yuan gives to Shenhua and no longer floating or in an alter

- The game really looks beautiful. The colours are vibrant, the environments are of course the star but a few hours in and I was totally drawn into the world

- I am playing this on hard and trust me you will need to diligently train and spend considerable time with wooden dummies along with sparing

- I am totally addicted to herb collecting. Every time I venture out I am going to corners or behind objects trying to find my next herb!

- Now at various points if you press triangle it will fast travel you to next story objective or main location. Unfortunately I don't think you can disable this but I of course was going to stick of Suzuki's advice of taking my time with the game and promptly ignored this

- You now have a curfew of
9pm when games warps you to Shenhua's house
. I believe you can go back out but if you loved the dialogue options in Disk 4, those two hours before your bed time have some really neat conversations and do much to flesh out the characters of Ryo and Shenhua

- I am still coming to grips with abundant of reused music. We've been trained for 18 years to associate certain music pieces with events or scenes from the original games so when they are placed in a completely different scenario it can take a while to acclimatize

- From what I've seen, Bailu is huge! It's so refreshing to get lost in a Shenmue game again!

- In first few days I've seen 3-4 large rain downpours. It's really beautiful seeing Ryo's jacket glistening, the heavy noise of rain and the paths become muddy

- I am putting this down to user error but I absolutely suck at pail toss.

- QTE title in this is absolutely brutal. First the noise from button prompts and rapid cuts make this somewhat jarring but then
certain pads come up but are fake outs if there's no corresponding button prompts

I've got a million other things to say but last few hours have been a blur finally getting to play this. I am happy to answer any questions others may have. In summary as I start to slowly progress mainline story it's heading in a very interesting direction and outside a few technical and odd choices, I think fans will overwhelming enjoy this as much as I have. This is Shenmue through and through and that's the best compliment I can give it.
 
Thanks for the impressions, I have two questions though.

- The teleport feature, does it teleport you to a location even if you haven't visited it before? Or is it like Shenmue 2?

- You are playing at Hard, right? Have you noticed a difference in Stamina depletion rate when running compared to the Trial Version?
 
As some folks may have seen after a lot of wrangling and paying more than I am willing to admit a kind user on another forum I frequent was able to ship me a copy of Shenmue 3 early, which I received and started today.

I know a lot of fans are on edge right now with the release imminent but I wanted to share my general thoughts which I will keep broad and then discuss some specific elements which will contain some spoilers but I will try and avoid discussing story specifics.

So after 18 years of waiting does Shenmue 3 live up to lofty expectations and hopes of us fans? Well I am far too early in the game to make any definitive statements but in short fans of the series will find a lot to love and enjoy about the games opening.

I was giddy in anticipation as latest patch downloaded and the game started. I actually watched the recap video, which in my opinion is serviceable in getting new players up to date with the games essential story but as many will attest Shenmue needs to be experienced not merely watched. As the opening cinematic started it was hard not to realize I was entering uncharted waters and didn't quite know what to expect.

After a well directed opening cinematic, the games opening handful of minutes are pretty uneven. Those that have seen the latest previews probably know what I'm referring to but the game tries to get a lot of exposition out of the way in a relatively cumbersome manner. I just know there was a better way to block and edit conversations together, making them feel much more seamless. Perhaps a product of lack of budget but it certainly feels a lot less refined and cinematic than it's two predecessors.

Thankfully things get better from that point on (Outside a brief occurrence of the aforementioned issue on day 2). The core elements of what made us fall in love with Shenmue return and with some tweaks and additions. The game feels like a worthy successor to the Dreamcast games and after a few minutes it felt familiar stepping back into Ryo's shoes. So here's some stray observations with my time so far;

- First thing everyone should do before starting game is going into page 2 of the settings and under Zoom option turning it to 'off'. This will remove picture frame when going into First Person mode

- Speaking of, you can now walk and explore entire game in First Person, simply press and hold L2 trigger while free roaming

- I am playing this on a PS4 Pro but having looked through menu extensively I do not believe it has Pro support. I am sure John at Digital Foundry will give us a great analysis but this appears to be 1080p with stable framerate and very occasional hitches

- In setting menu there is space to enter your Backer Code (Where or what email do we get this from?) I presume this is to enable all the backer perks

- Game now auto-saves after next story beat or clue is listed in your notebook

- In opening cinematic there is a relatively signifcant retcon
regarding the sword which now Yuan gives to Shenhua and no longer floating or in an alter

- The game really looks beautiful. The colours are vibrant, the environments are of course the star but a few hours in and I was totally drawn into the world

- I am playing this on hard and trust me you will need to diligently train and spend considerable time with wooden dummies along with sparing

- I am totally addicted to herb collecting. Every time I venture out I am going to corners or behind objects trying to find my next herb!

- Now at various points if you press triangle it will fast travel you to next story objective or main location. Unfortunately I don't think you can disable this but I of course was going to stick of Suzuki's advice of taking my time with the game and promptly ignored this

- You now have a curfew of
9pm when games warps you to Shenhua's house
. I believe you can go back out but if you loved the dialogue options in Disk 4, those two hours before your bed time have some really neat conversations and do much to flesh out the characters of Ryo and Shenhua

- I am still coming to grips with abundant of reused music. We've been trained for 18 years to associate certain music pieces with events or scenes from the original games so when they are placed in a completely different scenario it can take a while to acclimatize

- From what I've seen, Bailu is huge! It's so refreshing to get lost in a Shenmue game again!

- In first few days I've seen 3-4 large rain downpours. It's really beautiful seeing Ryo's jacket glistening, the heavy noise of rain and the paths become muddy

- I am putting this down to user error but I absolutely suck at pail toss.

- QTE title in this is absolutely brutal. First the noise from button prompts and rapid cuts make this somewhat jarring but then
certain pads come up but are fake outs if there's no corresponding button prompts

I've got a million other things to say but last few hours have been a blur finally getting to play this. I am happy to answer any questions others may have. In summary as I start to slowly progress mainline story it's heading in a very interesting direction and outside a few technical and odd choices, I think fans will overwhelming enjoy this as much as I have. This is Shenmue through and through and that's the best compliment I can give it.

Have the models and visuals upgraded any from the backer trial at all?
 
Thanks so much for the impressions. What was the day 2 jank you refered to?

You are welcome. It’s just the way the scene is blocked between Shenhua and Ryo as they are walking. The editing is a little cumbersome with multiple fades to black and some loading screens breaking the flow of the scene.

I’ve discussed how UI elements and use of font are not uniform before and I think small elements like this unfortunately have been after thoughts.

Still a lot of NPC’s look really great, the Japanese voice acting is on point and the lip synching seems relatively good with original voice acting.

Thanks for the impressions, I have two questions though.

- The teleport feature, does it teleport you to a location even if you haven't visited it before? Or is it like Shenmue 2?

- You are playing at Hard, right? Have you noticed a difference in Stamina depletion rate when running compared to the Trial Version?

No problems.

1. Think of the teleport feature like original game, when you would leave front door of Hazuki Dojo you were given where you would like to teleport too. Functions exactly same unfortunately you can’t turn it off but you have option to walk there on your own, which I obviously choose to do every time so I can soak in all the details.

2. Yes playing on hard, initially endurance I felt depleted faster than the trial. First few days I walked everywhere. As my Kung Fu and endurance level was raised due to training I believe I could run for longer stretches before needing to feed myself.

Have the models and visuals upgraded any from the backer trial at all?

Ryo and Shenhua models look pretty much the same from the trial. I noticed a few minor changes to a few NPC models but that’s about it. Lightening plays huge role in this. Sometimes under direct sunlight Ryo model lacks proper shaders and can look flat, I think that’s why game looks so special during night scenes or golden hour.

I’ll post a lot more observations and answer more questions tomorrow.
 
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You are welcome. It’s just the way the scene is blocked between Shenhua and Ryo as they are walking. The editing is a little cumbersome with multiple fades to black and some loading screens breaking the flow of the scene.

I’ve discussed how UI elements and use of font are not uniform before and I think small elements like this unfortunately have been after thoughts.

Still a lot of NPC’s look really great, the Japanese voice acting is on point and the lip synching seems relatively good with original voice acting.



No problems.

1. Think of the teleport feature like original game, when you would leave front door of Hazuki Dojo you were given where you would like to teleport too. Functions exactly same unfortunately you can’t turn it off but you have option to walk there on your own, which I obviously choose to do every time so I can soak in all the details.

2. Yes playing on hard, initially endurance I felt depleted faster than the trial. First few days I walked everywhere. As my Kung Fu and endurance level was raised due to training I believe I could run for longer stretches before needing to feed myself.



Ryo and Shenhua models look pretty much the same from the trial. I noticed a few minor changes to a few NPC models but that’s about it. Lightening plays huge role in this. Sometimes under direct sunlight Ryo model lacks proper shaders and can look flat, I think that’s why game looks so special during night scenes or golden hour.

I’ll post a lot more observations and answer more questions tomorrow.
Yes, but does it offer you to teleport to a place you haven't been to before? Like for example your objective is to ask Mr.X about something, you never been to Mr.X's house though or even talked to him, does the game teleport you there regardless?

This is very important as it could compromise the investigative part of the game, the crux of Shenmue.
 
You are welcome. It’s just the way the scene is blocked between Shenhua and Ryo as they are walking. The editing is a little cumbersome with multiple fades to black and some loading screens breaking the flow of the scene.
I also got the game early and I agree 100%. There are a few times where you are exploring with Shenhua and they do this. It's very jarring and I'm not a fan of it at all.

In my opinion, the game gets so much better once you leave Bailu and go to Choubu. If you get bored during the game, just keep this piece in mind and push through.

When you arrive in Choubu, go to the terminal next to the dock in the day time. You'll find the a brother of a certain character.
 
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Well, did you?
There's a point where I felt like all I was doing was training and trying to make money. I would wake up, train, eat, work/gamble, eat, train, work/gamble and then sleep. At first I was getting a bit bored by this, but then I kinda realized what they were going for. It was basically simulating life right here and had I not been training in the game, I wouldn't have gotten better at Kung Fu. Once I began to see the progress, it hit me that the training actually really was paying off.

So in a way, yeah I was getting a bit bored for a bit but it wasn't enough to detract me from the game.
 
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