Random Shenmue III Thoughts

orient said:
Now Yakuza 7 is a turn-based RPG and lots of fans are in meltdown mode, I'm hoping some of them will turn to Shenmue to see what it's all about ?:whistle:
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Wow this couldn't have come at a better time. Hopefully the Japanese fans are hating the changes just as much as the fans in the west, but who knows lol.

"jUsT pLAY yAKuzA InSTeaD iT's LiKE a pErFECted SHeNmUE!!!!"
 
Toua77 said:
Wow this couldn't have come at a better time. Hopefully the Japanese fans are hating the changes just as much as the fans in the west, but who knows lol.

"jUsT pLAY yAKuzA InSTeaD iT's LiKE a pErFECted SHeNmUE!!!!"
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Japanese Twitter wasn't happy about it...or at least some people weren't. I'm sure there are others out there who are interested.

I'm watching the Facebook groups spazz out about it...it's comedic gold.
 
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Turn-based Yakuza sounds interesting to me. I always thought the combat in Yakuza was a lazy mash-fest and it was one of the things that put me off playing the game.

Speaking of combat, I've been re-watching some combat gameplay for Shenmue 3 and I'm starting to like it. I was initially on the fence but I am warming to it.
 
As long as you don't compare it to Shenmue 1&2, the combat looks solid. Ordinary but solid. Just needs more in-between animations. Has Suzuki said something about that? In his preview, Peter seemed implying that it was the max YSnet can deliver because the game has budget constrains. It does have but I'm still surprised that it looks so rough. The combat lacks very few tweaks to reach a definitive convincing shape imo.
 
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This is only a tangential thought (edit: I thought it was a tangential thought but it appears not to be, as I didn't notice everyone here was already talking about it. Should have read the previous posts I guess, haha) but I wonder if reviews for Shenmue 3 will be kinder now that Yakuza is going turned based. I mean, people might be looking for action based combat that they can't get from Yakuza anymore and turn to Shenmue instead. The fighting probably won't be as good but in their eyes, they'd see it better than a turned based Yakuza. Previously I thought there'd be a lot of 4/10s but I can see those being replaced with 7s.

I call it the petty vote. Note: I'm all in for turned based yakuza. And if it makes shenmue review better, so be it. lmao
 
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Funniest thing about the Yakuza reveal is that they freaked out immediately without any real gameplay aside from a couple of seconds of leaked gameplay. Giving the game a chance? Won't even wait for TGS in a couple of weeks!
Likewise, remember when people freaked out over Shenmue 3 trailers? And now the latest one looks damn nice. I'm all for waiting to see how things turn out, you never know. For what its worth - Nagoshi and his team never steer me wrong, so I'm on board with what the new Yakuza game is doing, likewise I think Shenmue 3 will rock also. At least it might stop the "Yakuza vs Shenmue" stuff. At least for a while.
 
Now after reading through the comments on the Ryu Ga Gotoku Reddit Thread @mjqjazzbar created made me think about the division of Shenmue 3 within the gaming community. Like I stated in a previous thread about Shenmue 3 about whether Shenmue 3 will be the next Mighty No 9 or not, that numerous mistakes have been made. Looking back at it now, I have a feeling that this division was going to happen regardless of whether the Epic Game Store exclusivity deal happened. Don’t get me wrong, I think the switch was poorly communicated and fractured the community further, but the cracks were already present before the announcement.

Let’s go back to the genesis of the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter at E3 2015, where after the hype died down skepticism started to sink in. Shenmue’s name while alien to younger audiences had a lot of baggage for older audiences. Shenmue (in particular Shenmue Chapter One: Yokosuka) is a series that is either loved or despised with some believing the game’s failure is what doomed the Dreamcast and Sega’s departure from the console market. The first game was either loved for its slow methodical pace or hated for being tedious and boring. Then there was the fact that despite Shenmue II featuring improved pacing and action it flew under the radar. So for older gamers, the baggage was already there by name alone.

The game being on Kickstarter was the second crack even though this was no fault of Shenmue’s own. Crowdfunding is always met with a degree of skepticism since there’s the possibility that you’re donating to a scam. However, Shenmue 3 at the time was still riding high from the E3 2015 hype so it broke records quite easily. However, the next crack came immediately after Sony said they would offer some “scratch” to back Shenmue 3. Without clarifying what this “scratch” was for lead to assumptions that Sony would be funding the game. However once this misconception was corrected, things died down, but it should’ve served as a lesson of being forthright with your audience.

Things didn’t flare up again until the beta teaser in 2017 which divided gamers even further. In this industry, you only have one chance to make a good first impression with some potential gamers. Without communicating that Shenmue 3 was in its beta phase, once again, misled gamers to assume that this was what the final product was going to look like. You combine that with the two points made above and you have created a negative first impression that affirmed the skeptic's doubts of whether this game would be good or not. Because from this point on, despite every other trailer containing “Work in Progress” listed at the bottom of the video, comments were always aiming at the game’s graphics and/or animations. Something to this day people still won’t let go despite numerous improvements.

Keep in mind that by 2017, Shenmue had lied dormant for so long that the current generation of gamers has grown up with different expectations from the previous generation. Also, most contemporary gamers were introduced to Ryu Ga Gotoku Zero first which solidified what type of expectations gamers want from modern games. They want extremely high-quality character models and animations, fast-paced action, and a super deep story. So when they look at Shenmue 3 and see that it doesn’t have the same pacing, graphical, and/or animation quality due to budget reasons, they hold it as an inferior Ryu Ga Gotoku. This is ironic because the exact opposite was true in 2001.

So when the Epic Exclusivity deal was announced it just divided already present even worse. This time between console gamers (who were for the most part unaffected) and PC gamers. The move burned some bridges with some PC gamers due to the abrupt nature of the move and the lack of communication beforehand which could’ve mitigated some of the backlashes. Once again, poor communication with the audience hurt Shenmue 3 even further which will no doubt hurt sales to some degree. This is why now every move Y’s Net and Deep Silver makes here on out is met with suspicion. Though the recent trailer did generate some goodwill.

I don’t want this post to be interpreted as being negative for the sake of being negative. Like many of you, I want to experience this masterpiece firsthand as I too have been waiting for such a long time. However, it’s important to do some self-reflection and see the faults that have been made so they can be improved upon. In other words, this post was made as a labor of love, and because I want to see this franchise thrive. It would be heartbreaking if this game is Shenmue’s final swan song. On the other hand, one day we could look back at this in amusement as it was the greatest comeback story in all of gaming.

In conclusion, I think the division was inevitable and was only exacerbated by the many blunders that have been made. I think the game will probably sell best on console since console gamers were mostly unaffected by the Epic controversy. Also if it’s true that Epic paid for timed exclusivity for a minimum amount of sales and Metro Exodus sold well despite its controversy there’s still hope for it doing well on PC.
 
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Since Epic guarantees[based on reports] that breaking even on the PC build is the minimum for exchange of exclusivity, then Any sale on PC is pure profit(Minus epics 12% platform fees). Even when it comes to steam down the line(The 65% after steam+UE fees would still be pure profits as well). Recouping the pc builds is no longer a burden anymore.

Ys Net only needs to recoup the console version's expenses. Which is a def smaller bar to cross over for SIV.
 
高野和泉 said:
Since Epic guarantees[based on reports] that breaking even on the PC build is the minimum for exchange of exclusivity, then Any sale on PC is pure profit(Minus epics 12% platform fees). Even when it comes to steam down the line(The 65% after steam+UE fees would still be pure profits as well). Recouping the pc builds is no longer a burden anymore.

Ys Net only needs to recoup the console version's expenses. Which is a def smaller bar to cross over for SIV.
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Any sale on Epic Store makes no money for YsNet.
Basically, Epic gives advance payment for X copies.
If they bought 100 000 copies, that means on the first 100 000 copies, YsNet and Deep Silver receives a total of... 0 dollars.
Epic is basically getting 100% of revenue on the copies they bought already. It will become pure profit once the game sell over the number of copies Epic guaranteed.
 
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