Random Shenmue III Thoughts

Revan said:
Yeah, 19th November on Steam and GOG.

Anyone else noticed on GOG that a Standard Edition for Shenmue 3 is listed? It seems to indicate that more than one version will be released. I expect we'll get the base game in the standard, and perhaps all DLC and (maybe) some extra goodies in an 'Ultimate Edition' of sorts.

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Probably just a deluxe edition with the season pass - as was the case on PSN and EGS.
 
Why do all the shenmue wikis say you can spar with feng?
 
24Nathan said:
You can. I've sparred with him. Can't remember exactly when but it's nothing special.
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Wow interesting, weird how there's no footage anywhere of sparring with him
 
ShenSun said:
Go up to him and press square. I think it unlocks when you get beaten by Yanlang

You can also spar with that dude who fancies Shenhua
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Hmmm...not for sure I remember that. Is it when he's at the Man Yuan Temple?
 
24Nathan said:
Hmmm...not for sure I remember that. Is it when he's at the Man Yuan Temple?
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Yep

tomboz said:
Wow. This I didn’t know.
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There's a lot in Shenmue 3 i think many missed. You really have to take your time with that game. More so than Shenmue 1

code l name said:
Had a random urge to boot up Shenmue 3 this evening and played for a few hours. It definitely has something about it, does anyone appreciate the game even more as we approach one year anniversary?
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Shenmue 3 is a good game but you have to play it at its pace. If you rush it, it will punish you hard. I think people who are enjoying their second playthrough more are playing more casually, whereas the first playthrough was more rushed

I dont agree with this design decision as it will turn away a good portion of your audience. Ideally it should cater to both types like Shenmue 2.

I know the ones who enjoyed Shenmue 3 spent an extraordinary amount of time in the game on their first playthrough. I did this, spaghetti did this and Down by law did the same. I clocked in about 50 hrs on my first playthrough and set the difficulty to very hard from the get go. Had an amazing time
 
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ShenSun said:
I know the ones who enjoyed Shenmue 3 spent an extraordinary amount of time in the game on their first playthrough. I did this, spaghetti did this and Down by law did the same. I clocked in about 50 hrs on my first playthrough and set the difficulty to very hard from the get go. Had an amazing time
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It does seem to be a bit of a common thread. I spent about 80 hours on my first playthrough (with a mix of hard and hardest difficulty).
 
ShenSun said:
I know the ones who enjoyed Shenmue 3 spent an extraordinary amount of time in the game on their first playthrough. I did this, spaghetti did this and Down by law did the same. I clocked in about 50 hrs on my first playthrough and set the difficulty to very hard from the get go. Had an amazing time
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Rydeen said:
It does seem to be a bit of a common thread. I spent about 80 hours on my first playthrough (with a mix of hard and hardest difficulty).
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Yeah, there definitely seems to at least be a correlation there. Despite the game's flaws, I absolutely loved my time with it and I spent 70 hours on my first playthrough (if the PlayStation 2019 wrap-up stats were to be believed).

And even during those 70 hours, there were tons of things in the game that I missed and would love to experience and/or devote more time to in future playthroughs.
 
I don't remember right now how many hours i played Shenmue III on my first playtrough, all i know is that i played a lot, i stayed for a loooong time in Bailu Village, and in Niaowu i was even afraid of the bad ending because many days i did not advance the story, i did other things and it was an awesome experience for me.

One of my favorite things about the game is the conversations between Ryo and Shenhua in Bailu Village, and in Niaowu too, Some nights in Niaowu Ryo have conversations with Shenhua, is not like in Bailu Village where we can choose options but they have really nice conversations in Niaowu too.

For me Shenmue III really is about Ryo and Shenhua, Ryo bonding with Shenhua, getting more closer to her, is about Ryo training everyday, GON - Everyday, without neglect, to keep training. Shenmue III is a more peaceful time in Ryo's journey and i like that. 😊 I love the final scene in Bailu Village where we see Ryo training at night, and i remember we see a beautiful moon, this was a beautiful Shenmue moment, and it really shows to me that this part of the story really is about Ryo training everyday. Bailu Village is one of my favorite places in the Shenmue world.

For me if the story of Shenmue was a one big game then Shenmue III is the training phase, and the phase to get to know Shenhua more, playing this game was a good experience for me, i played on my own pace and it was really nice.

For me Shenmue III is similar to Shenmue One in the pacing and other things, and i think Shenmue IV will be similar to Shenmue II, i think Shenmue IV will have more action, big moments, revelations and much more.
 
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Hiki said:
I don't remember right now how many hours i played Shenmue III on my first playtrough, all i know is that i played a lot, i stayed for a loooong time in Bailu Village, and in Niaowu i was even afraid of the bad ending because many days i did not advance the story, i did other things and it was an awesome experience for me.

One of my favorite things about the game is the conversations between Ryo and Shenhua in Bailu Village, and in Niaowu too, Some nights in Niaowu Ryo have conversations with Shenhua, is not like in Bailu Village where we can choose options but they have really nice conversations in Niaowu too.

For me Shenmue III really is about Ryo and Shenhua, Ryo bonding with Shenhua, getting more closer to her, is about Ryo training everyday, GON - Everyday, without neglect, to keep training. Shenmue III is a more peaceful time in Ryo's journey and i like that. 😊 I love the final scene in Bailu Village where we see Ryo training at night, and i remember we see a beautiful moon, this was a beautiful Shenmue moment, and it really shows to me that this part of the story really is about Ryo training everyday. Bailu Village is one of my favorite places in the Shenmue world.

For me if the story of Shenmue was a one big game then Shenmue III is the training phase, and the phase to get to know Shenhua more, playing this game was a good experience for me, i played on my own pace and it was really nice.

For me Shenmue III is similar to Shenmue One in the pacing and other things, and i think Shenmue IV will be similar to Shenmue II, i think Shenmue IV will have more action, big moments, revelations and much more.
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Same for me. I tried looking up the date for the bad ending at one point because I would be going entire in-game days forgetting to do anything to progress the main story. Eventually I made sort of a pact with myself to get at least one notebook entry for Niaowu each day.

I really liked how Shenmue III broached building the relationship between Ryo and Shenhua beyond the end of Shenmue II. Partly because it's so antithetical to how most media handles things, outside of novels. It's pretty uncommon to have the story slow down in the middle to just focus on the relationship between two characters. I can think of a couple examples where it's not done especially well (FFVI and Grandia, just to name a couple), but it's probably never done to the same extent and as realistically interpersonal.

I can't help but love hearing Shenhua tell Ryo toward the end of the Niaowu section that she's determined to get work to help Ryo with their finances. I truly believe that sentiment from her because of the bond they've developed to that point. If the illustration for the Luoyang area is an actual indication, I imagine it will tear me up inside when Ryo rushes into self-destruction, and Shenhua can't alter his path.
 
Rydeen said:
Same for me. I tried looking up the date for the bad ending at one point because I would be going entire in-game days forgetting to do anything to progress the main story. Eventually I made sort of a pact with myself to get at least one notebook entry for Niaowu each day.

I really liked how Shenmue III broached building the relationship between Ryo and Shenhua beyond the end of Shenmue II. Partly because it's so antithetical to how most media handles things, outside of novels. It's pretty uncommon to have the story slow down in the middle to just focus on the relationship between two characters. I can think of a couple examples where it's not done especially well (FFVI and Grandia, just to name a couple), but it's probably never done to the same extent and as realistically interpersonal.

I can't help but love hearing Shenhua tell Ryo toward the end of the Niaowu section that she's determined to get work to help Ryo with their finances. I truly believe that sentiment from her because of the bond they've developed to that point. If the illustration for the Luoyang area is an actual indication, I imagine it will tear me up inside when Ryo rushes into self-destruction, and Shenhua can't alter his path.
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Illustration for the Luoyang area? can you show me this illustration? I don't think I ever saw this illustration, I don't remember.

Yeah, It's pretty uncommon but this is one of the reasons why Shenmue is so different and special for me, Shenmue games have a charm that i can't find in any other game, i liked a lot the relatioship between Ryo and Shenhua in Shenmue III, and i think in Shenmue IV Ryo will have conversations like this with Ren and Shenhua, we will know more about them, i hope so.
 
Hiki said:
Illustration for the Luoyang area? can you show me this illustration? I don't think I ever saw this illustration, I don't remember.
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The "chapter concept art" from the GDC postmortem. The one with Ryo fighting the monk. To me it seems like Shenhua is crying out from a sense of loss, and I imagine it to be Ryo kind of losing his way a little.

EDIT: Wasn't sure where the higher resolution shot was at, but I found it again, finally.
index.php
 
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Rydeen said:
The "chapter concept art" from the GDC postmortem. The one with Ryo fighting the monk. To me it seems like Shenhua is crying out from a sense of loss, and I imagine it to be Ryo kind of losing his way a little.

EDIT: Wasn't sure where the higher resolution shot was at, but I found it again, finally.
index.php
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I thought it was another illustration, i know the "chapter concept art"

Shenhua like this remind me of this art. Shenhua.png

I agree with you, maybe what you wrote will happen. In my opinion a lot of scenes from the Project Berkley will appear in Shenmue IV.
 
Hiki said:
Shenhua like this remind me of this art. View attachment 9139

I agree with you, maybe what you wrote will happen. In my opinion a lot of scenes from the Project Berkley will appear in Shenmue IV.
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Oh, that's right! I had forgotten about this sketch from the Project Berkley video. Yeah, I feel like the next chapter(s) will be pretty emotional and suspenseful.
 

Microsoft have been killing it with backwards compatibility and improvements to older games. I immediately thought of Shenmue 3 on PS5. Let’s hope it’s one of the 99% of the library which is compatible with the new system.

More excitingly if Series X is any indication Shenmue 3’s uncapped framerate could be a blessing in disguise and finally let us play at 60FPS on consoles and maybe even a boost in resolution. But a locked framerate at bare minimum would be a massive improvement. Here’s hoping.
 
Rydeen said:
I can't help but love hearing Shenhua tell Ryo toward the end of the Niaowu section that she's determined to get work to help Ryo with their finances.
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I was actually pretty sad when I heard Shenhua say this. Shenhua has no workplace skills whatsoever..... she's basically unemployable.
 
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