Random Shenmue III Thoughts

I just completed s3. Gotta say i really enjoyed it. To be honest i found the start of the game very slow but as the game progressed it felt like s2. I think Ys did a great job at recapturing what makes shenmue special.
Same. For me, Niaowu captured the magic of Hong Kong in Shenmue II. I fell in love with it, wanted to check every shop and talk to everyone and soak it all in. That's always been the appeal of Shenmue to me, and Niaowu does it brilliantly.
 
Same. For me, Niaowu captured the magic of Hong Kong in Shenmue II. I fell in love with it, wanted to check every shop and talk to everyone and soak it all in. That's always been the appeal of Shenmue to me, and Niaowu does it brilliantly.

For me, it’s the fact that the serious emphasis on martial arts is still present that was its biggest saving grace. It’s the fact that it’s Virtua Fighter roots are still written all over it in spite of the fact that it doesn’t use the VF engine anymore.

From a story perspective, yeah maybe a little disappointed with how far it went or how under developed it was, but for me, it’s biggest saving grace was its continued emphasis on Martial Arts. Learning body check was still one of the coolest moments of 2019 for me. As stupid as it sounds, the simple act of training worked for me. At the end of the day, the things I always loved about Shenmue are still here. The general world building, the weird ass slice of life sim that it strives to be, the heavy emphasis on martial arts and the importance of adhering to a rigorous daily schedule of training, the strong emphasis on role playing and so forward.

There’s so much more about III that I really kind of loved that it was fairly easy for me to overlook that the story, while decent, wasn’t the home run it probably should have been.
 
I bet they ran out of time to implement the settling of snow on the ground, on the tops of buildings etc. so they left it out. I love it when it rains in Shenmue III and snow would've been an awesome addition.

I've played a lot more these past few days. First off, the whole guessing the animal moves was a bit frustrating -- a classic example of why you should be able to skip dialogue -- but I got it eventually.

I just did the fortune teller sidequest, which was funny and one of the best in the game so far, and purchased a certain super-expensive move scroll.

I really don't mind the money gating at all in this game. There are so many money-making options, and sidequests tend to pop up around these parts of the game as well, that it's just relaxing and fun to hit the $$$ goal.

Really don't think they needed to force four unique cutscenes about using a fortune teller on you, though. Jesus, I got it the first time, and gambling's a bad way of making money if you don't save-scum. I made over 4,000 with herbs alone and the rest with chopping wood and the forklift.

I saved the forklift for this part and...it's fine. Simple fun, but the best part about it is your boss and the cutscenes you get with him. I would've taken a new job over the forklift to be honest, or more arcade games, but whatever. It's still cool, I guess.

I can't believe that, with all the old music in the game, they didn't use the one track that would make the most sense to reuse, the forklift music! C'mon!
 
I think the snow weather was planned for Baisha and they used Bailu as a placeholder test. Or else, someone made the snow very early in the development before Suzuki cancels it and decides the kids are wearing t-shirts.

Nothing wrong with the forklift to me, they've got everything right.
 
There's nothing wrong with it. It's certainly more involved than chopping wood. I like that it's optional, I like moving interesting objects like arcade cabs instead of plain old crates, and I like that it doesn't take up most of the day. It's an improvement over the original forklift job in a few ways and a solid "mini-game"...but I'm not dying to do it all the time, either.
 
There's nothing wrong with it. It's certainly more involved than chopping wood. I like that it's optional, I like moving interesting objects like arcade cabs instead of plain old crates, and I like that it doesn't take up most of the day. It's an improvement over the original forklift job in a few ways and a solid "mini-game"...but I'm not dying to do it all the time, either.
At first when I played it, I thought that the forklift can fall into the river which would result in an instant game over for the mini game. Unfortunately it was not possible.(Since there is an invisible wall that's not allowing you to do that.)
 
Bummed Shenmue III from 16:00 yesterday. Been my best Christmas Day for a few years, without a doubt.

The game? Love it! I love how true to the originals that it is. Don't wanna say anything about events in the game.

I've just come off the back of going through Shenmue I and II Remastered on my new PS4 Pro, and yesterday I finished Shenmue II (got the Platinum!) and immediately launched Shenmue III.

It was almost as if my experience didn't stop. Fucking perfect. Literally continues straight from the ending of Shenmue II. You literally get control after a redo of the ending cutscene from Shenmue II, and there you are, in the cave with torch in hand and Shenhua at your side, massive stone mirrors carved into the wall of the Stone Pit.

I've played probably 5-6 hours of Shenmue III so far. Booting it up now, gonna play it all day whilst having the boxing day football on my computer.

One thing I've really liked is the new fighting system. As much as I love the originals, playing through them the past couple of weeks has really shown up the old cranky fighting system. It's not too bad when you're 1v1, but group battles aren't as good. The 70-man battle at the harbour, or the larger battles in Shenmue II are classic moments, but let's be honest the game's camera shits itself.

To be fair I haven't had more than a 1v1 fight on Shenmue III, yet. So maybe it'll be just as bad. Overall it seems that the fighting is improved though, which is nice.

I love being able to snoop around opening draws and stuff just like on Dreamcast.

Just everything about it, so far.

Going in with no expectations and having seen next to nothing may have helped me enjoy it, but honestly.

I started Shenmue I the day I got my PS4 a few weeks ago, finished Shenmue II on Christmas Day and started Shenmue III immediately afterward. It doesn't get any better than this.
 
Bummed Shenmue III from 16:00 yesterday. Been my best Christmas Day for a few years, without a doubt.

The game? Love it! I love how true to the originals that it is. Don't wanna say anything about events in the game.

I've just come off the back of going through Shenmue I and II Remastered on my new PS4 Pro, and yesterday I finished Shenmue II (got the Platinum!) and immediately launched Shenmue III.

It was almost as if my experience didn't stop. Fucking perfect. Literally continues straight from the ending of Shenmue II. You literally get control after a redo of the ending cutscene from Shenmue II, and there you are, in the cave with torch in hand and Shenhua at your side, massive stone mirrors carved into the wall of the Stone Pit.

I've played probably 5-6 hours of Shenmue III so far. Booting it up now, gonna play it all day whilst having the boxing day football on my computer.

One thing I've really liked is the new fighting system. As much as I love the originals, playing through them the past couple of weeks has really shown up the old cranky fighting system. It's not too bad when you're 1v1, but group battles aren't as good. The 70-man battle at the harbour, or the larger battles in Shenmue II are classic moments, but let's be honest the game's camera shits itself.

To be fair I haven't had more than a 1v1 fight on Shenmue III, yet. So maybe it'll be just as bad. Overall it seems that the fighting is improved though, which is nice.

I love being able to snoop around opening draws and stuff just like on Dreamcast.

Just everything about it, so far.

Going in with no expectations and having seen next to nothing may have helped me enjoy it, but honestly.

I started Shenmue I the day I got my PS4 a few weeks ago, finished Shenmue II on Christmas Day and started Shenmue III immediately afterward. It doesn't get any better than this.
Glad you like it so far! The combat system has really grown on me as I've played, and I think the group battles work really well.

If they stuck with this same system for Shenmue IV and just refined it a bit (and added throws/holds/counters) it'd be pretty much perfect.

Wee word of advice for the rest of your Shenmue III experience: take it easy and don't worry about maxing stuff out as soon as possible (maxing moves, buying all shop items etc.) because that way madness lies. I've seen a few folk here and on the subreddit complain about the game being rubbish even though they've admitted playing it with that completionist mindset. I took my time with Shenmue 3 and did what I wanted when I wanted, and I genuinely think it's the best game of the year.
 
Wee word of advice for the rest of your Shenmue III experience: take it easy and don't worry about maxing stuff out as soon as possible (maxing moves, buying all shop items etc.) because that way madness lies. I've seen a few folk here and on the subreddit complain about the game being rubbish even though they've admitted playing it with that completionist mindset. I took my time with Shenmue 3 and did what I wanted when I wanted, and I genuinely think it's the best game of the year.
Completely agree about taking your time. I also found that keeping Ryo to a realistic schedule enhanced my play through a lot.

For example in Bailu I would typically have a day like this:
  • walking to Martial Hall
  • Training on the dummies/sparring once or twice
  • Do one real dojo fight. Win or lose, that was it. I made Ryo take the rest of the day to recover.
  • Eat breakfast
  • Earn money for food/moves (can't just mooch off of Shenhua!)
  • Eat lunch/dinner if needed
  • Story and side quest stuff at my leisure. All while talking to villagers I pass on the way.
  • Back to Shenhua's house
Playing it like this just made the game world feel so alive to me.
 
Completely agree about taking your time. I also found that keeping Ryo to a realistic schedule enhanced my play through a lot.

For example in Bailu I would typically have a day like this:
  • walking to Martial Hall
  • Training on the dummies/sparring once or twice
  • Do one real dojo fight. Win or lose, that was it. I made Ryo take the rest of the day to recover.
  • Eat breakfast
  • Earn money for food/moves (can't just mooch off of Shenhua!)
  • Eat lunch/dinner if needed
  • Story and side quest stuff at my leisure. All while talking to villagers I pass on the way.
  • Back to Shenhua's house
Playing it like this just made the game world feel so alive to me.
I'm sitting here, nostrils flaring, sagely nodding in agreement.
 
20191226_201156.jpg

20191226_201217.jpg

Shenmue III on sale in a mall in Kuwait. For some reason it's more expensive than every other PS4 game???
 
Back
Top