It was very surreal playing last night. I'm right at the part where the demo took place (so, the very beginning still).
This obviously doesn't have the same production value as Shenmue 2. The cuts when talking to Shenhua are a bit jarring, and I have one other complaint but don't want to post it in the non-spoiler forum, but I think I can get accustomed to this. I still need to get used to the combat, not being able to "dodge" around is frustrating since Shenmue I and II are so ingrained in me at this point. But I definitely was grinning ear to ear most of the time. I'm already looking forward to replaying and choosing alternate conversation paths with Shenhua.
I have some doubts this game will succeed commercially, but maybe it doesn't really need to. It is very clearly for the fans. I hope there's a solid plan in place for Shenmue 4., but I'm going to enjoy this - I hope everyone else does too.