- Joined
- Feb 7, 2019
Shenmue III budget was 12 millions. Of course, it's not as much as I and II. But on the other hand, making a Shenmue title today is also a less expensive task than it was 20 years ago. Everything was to be built. Every systems were to be made. From engines to game systems and such. Hence why Shenmue III was possible today with 12 millions.
As for "romanticising the past", that's totally wrong. I mean, no offense but your entire argument is silly and doesn't hold up a second. You're basing the entire premise of "there's little story in Shenmue I and II because Shenhua who's on the cover appears only in CD4 of 2, therefore, Shenmue I and II are slow af".
Sorry, but have you ever heard of world building ? Character developpement ? There's a lot of things that happens in I. And even more that happens in II. I introduced a lot of people to the serie in preparation of III. From 15 to 23. From different genders too. All of them loved I and II. None of them enjoyed III.
Why ? That's pretty simple but for this you need to analyse what made Shenmue I and II so special. The genius of those two games comes from those main point:
- Taking time to introduce their universe and characters:
Shenmue games are slow. But they ultimately ALWAYS have a pay-off. That pay-off is, while the game can be tedious at times, it's always meaningful because not only it makes sense story wise, it also always build up an interesting world and character cast. Both feels really alive. The player grows up with Ryo and feels attached to that world that unfold before them. Everything is linked altogether, everything feels alive and believable. Those NPCs feels like actual characters and it feels as such because even if you dont pay attention, the developpers actually made a background for every single of them, even those who had those generic lines to tell you they're busy.
Shenmue III on the other hand feels really artificial. In fact, it feels more like a game than its predecessor. You never get attached to the NPCs because they don't feel like characters belonging in a world, they feel like video game NPCs. Characters only meant to serve a gameplay purpose, never to make that world feel alive.
Speaking of the world, it's another problem where Shenmue III feels like it was meant as a game before anything else.
In I and II, the world was created to feel natural and alive. In III it feels like every other generic AAA game world in the way it's built. And the perfect exemple for this is... Bailu. The way Bailu was designed, or re-designed, was to accomodate for the gameplay mechanics. As such, Bailu feels more modern that it should be. It has an arcade, because you need mini-games, it has a lot of gambling games, because the game requires you to make money later on, it has training spots and a dojo, because the game requires that. The way the map was conceived was to serve the mechanics and not the world itself. Which is why it's badly designed for Shenmue, which leads to the other important part of Shenmue:
- It manages to integrate gameplay and narration altogether.
In Shenmue III, training feels like a gameplay mechanic. Not a good one though because it doesn't make sense. It is one that comes through repetition of tedious task. One would say "like martial art !" And I'd say yes. But it's missing one key component: Time. Thing is, you can farm that training. Which means in a few ingame days, Ryo can max out his level. I never seen any martial artist becoming perfect in two sparring session and 3 days of horse stance. In Shenmue I and II, training were important narrative bits. Especially in II. The wude learning for exemple. But it goes even further than that because Shenmue also manage to integrate game design elements in the cutscenes and narration. For exemple, that Xiuying cutscene, where you fight her and you cant hit her. It serve the purpose to make a great scene but also show the player, both in term of visuals but also gameplay, how wide the gap is between them. In the CD4, conversations and interactions between Shenhua are meant both optional but also interactive for the player, to make it engaging and personnal. For exemple, the campfire discussion, which is not only a well crafted but also involves the player. The Shenhua singing scene too, where the player can either listen and see the beautiful cutscene, or interrupt her. The barber QTE too.
Let's say that Shenmue III has none of those great elements.
And that's why I dont think III will ever be a cult classic, or even a classic. I actually think time wont be kind to it. We'll remember it because it was wanted and had a successful Kickstarter. But because III decided to flex its muscles in area where it doesn't even shine instead of being meaningful... It'll never reach the same status.
