Shenmue Dojo Interviews Michael Huber

spud1897

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Jul 24, 2018
Location
England
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Shenmue II
Currently playing
Destiny 2, Shenmue HD ;)
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spud19870
Great interview! Gotta love his enthusiasm.

I think he's right, that it was a combination of mind-blowing visuals and a simple yet emotional story that really drew a lot of people into Shenmue back in the day.

Definitely agree with his views on the EGS situation, and the S3 combat. I'm not so sure about QTE-only combat, though. It might’ve worked, but I think the combat we got was probably more fun than just doing QTEs in every battle.

The only thing I don't really agree with is the visuals of S3 having a negative impact. I realise the series was known for "realistic" graphics, and the fan base was built around that to a certain extent, but I find the environments in S3 to be stunningly beautiful most of the time. Some of the characters look a little cartoony, so I get people not liking that choice, but overall I think they're quite detailed compared to your average JRPG/adventure game NPC.
 
I understand where he is coming from with the QTE only battles comment. In some ways, I can't help but feel just how much more epic the Lan Di show down could have been had it been a QTE event as opposed to the free-flow fighting with its simplistic animations. Even Shenmue II's fight engine would have made that battle look better with its true counters and parrys.

But on the other hand, I didn't hate the battle engine in SIII, I just think it needed more resources thrown at it that it sadly didn't get. The foundations were there and with further development, it could be bettered if the series keeps going.

But I do understand kind of where he is coming from. Visually speaking, a QTE fight would have looked a lot more impressive in that instance.

I think visually the game is a mixed bag and I've always thought that. Environments are lovely in that game and even some of the NPC's aren't that bad looking. What hurts it the most is animation. Everything is just a little too robotic. A little too stiff. The animations were really what hurt it the most for me visually. Especially if you compare to modern day games which is hard not to do. But I thought the game generally looked pretty good for the budget it was working with. It was somewhere between capturing the Dreamcast aesthetic and modern. Plus, I think if you attempted a "realistic" Shenmue III it would just look weirder in comparison to the Dreamcast games...so I kind of always liked the look that it looked like it was trying to remain consistent with the other games to some degree.

I understand where he is coming from with the visual comment as Shenmue was once upon a time "the future of video gaming" and now everything else has surpassed it massively in visual quality. But again, it's not like SIII had an open cheque book to work from.

But yeah, the interview was great to listen to. 90 minutes came and went very quickly while listening to it. Also, his prediction of Ryo and Lan Di and an uneasy alliance is one that I still have to see to believe. But who knows where IV is going at this point other than Yu?

The Dojo doing good work once again...keep at it! I'm liking these interviews/geek out sessions.
 
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I don't know how many of these you have planned, but once you've covered all the "big names" in the community, maybe you could chat with regular community members, their history with Shenmue, etc. even if they're shorter bite-sized episodes :unsure: Just an idea.
 
I don't know how many of these you have planned, but once you've covered all the "big names" in the community, maybe you could chat with regular community members, their history with Shenmue, etc. even if they're shorter bite-sized episodes :unsure: Just an idea.
There's 1 more which I recorded last night, though it's more of a throwback one.

I've got 1 more that I really want to get which is proving tricky.

I do have a list of community people I want to talk to :) and would certainly be happy to do bite sized episodes
 
That would be pretty cool; sort of like "fan of the month!" or something; maybe like a 10 minute short interview with pre-determined questions or something?
 
I don't know how many of these you have planned, but once you've covered all the "big names" in the community, maybe you could chat with regular community members, their history with Shenmue, etc. even if they're shorter bite-sized episodes :unsure: Just an idea.
I was about to propose the same thing! Hahaha
It would be interesting too to hear stories from "ordinary" fans! And compare our experiences to theirs.

I haven't listen to the full interview yet, but the part I've listen to is great!

Thank you again for this hard work! =)
 
There's 1 more which I recorded last night, though it's more of a throwback one.

I've got 1 more that I really want to get which is proving tricky.

I do have a list of community people I want to talk to :) and would certainly be happy to do bite sized episodes
I would love to do one but I'm no one special. just a regular joe! Keep up the good work!
 
I would love to do one but I'm no one special. just a regular joe! Keep up the good work!
I think most of us would all love to be interviewed because I think most of us could talk about Shenmue for hours, but we don't necessarily have the occasion to talk about Shenmue that much, since it ain't mainstream, it's hard to get the occasion to talk about it. xD

Which makes Shenmue Dojo even more precious to us! So I'll take this moment to thank everyone who's working for Shenmue Dojo, every staff, administrator, anyone <3

I was thinking of launching a Shenmue dedicated YouTube channel, just so I could talk about Shenmue related stuff when I want and how I want. But sadly, I don't think I have enough time for that 😭
 
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