SIII Character Model Discussion

Out of the three main characters I think Ryo is looking most like I´d imagine him to look in Shenmue III. I think making his jacket a little darker and making his face a tiny bit longer would improve his model though.

Shenhua finally has long hair again and I love that. But I am very much oppose to the decision of her having a different outfit in the cave. When they go outside and she changes it at home or somewhere else I'm ok with it. But otherwise it would massively break the immersion for me. Her face, even though cute, doesn`t look like Shenhua at all unfortunately. I think making her face wider would improve it. She looks a little bit like a doll.

Lan Di I completely dislike. He just doesn`t look menacing. What I think should be changed is the following:

-eyes and especially eyebrows bigger
-wider jawline
-less M hairline
-wider face
-flatter head (what I mean by that is when you tie your hair like he does it looks unnatural if your hair looks puffy on top)

These characters should be updated but the essence should be the same and Shenhua and Lan Di for me at least don´t look like their older counter parts at all unfortunately or, if I am optimistic, as of yet.

I agree with people in the forum giving the Yakuza Kiwami remakes as an example. Those do look like a natural progression of the same characters rather then newly imagined characters.
 
I think the biggest problem in the trailer's characters was how much plasticky and detailless their shaders and textures looked (combined with some stiff or inconsistent facial and body animations).
Yeah, I agree with this.
Additionally, there's a very "glossy" look to the skin of some characters. It seems inconsistent though - I've noticed this especially on the old man that Ryo fights in this trailer, and the muscly dude from the last one. However, Ryo and Shenhua don't look as shiney.
Weird.
 
I have a feeling that no one will complain about Niao Sun's model. The reason being that we didn't get to know the charachter in the first 2 games. We've only seen a little bit of her from mediums outside of the game. Therefore there's less attachment and less emotional investment in the charachter.
 
We have footage and evidence that more advance models exist along with facial expressions and eye movement

Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't see any eye movement in the THQ footage. The whites of their eyes, either side of the pupils, stays exactly the same throughout. As yet, I don't believe we've seen any footage that features eye movement on any characters.
 
I don't want to complain about looks but I gotta complain about looks haha. I made a decent contribution to the kickstarter and even if it came out looking a bit odd I don't mind, but it is looking a bit odd. Some may say there's a hint of stylization in the dreamcast versions but I believe that was necessary at the time due to how the limitations of the technology, there weren't that many games aiming for photorealism in Power VR2 level hardware, even though I would argue in some ways Ryo, Lan di and Shenhua looked more realistic in the first Shenmue if you look at the passport model and even some game models. In unreal 4 this style isn't suitable at all, they could make them look better with a bit of tweaking in the shaders and proportions for some characters and I hope they do. As far as animations there's a lot of work to be done, that's not a matter of stylization obviously it's a matter of having a budget that allows them to have quality animations.

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These look like signs of a work in progress rig.
 
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Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't see any eye movement in the THQ footage. The whites of their eyes, either side of the pupils, stays exactly the same throughout. As yet, I don't believe we've seen any footage that features eye movement on any characters.
Nah, Ryo's eyes definitely move to his right to look at Shenhua. You can see the white of eyes on that side almost disappear completely. At least it looks that way to me anyway.
 
This is a fantastic topic, and the original post really reassured any doubts I had about the game's progress as indicated in the trailer.

The lighting in the scene between Ryo and the old man was terrible, and it gave the character models this really sharp, unappealing look. It reminded me of some of the NPCs from Batman: Arkham Asylum.
 
Nah, Ryo's eyes definitely move to his right to look at Shenhua. You can see the white of eyes on that side almost disappear completely. At least it looks that way to me anyway.

I keep watching the gif, but I don't see the white of his eyes (next to Shenhua) disappearing. But hopefully I'm wrong, as I really want to see those eyeballs moving in the next trailer!
 
Seriously, someone needs to forward this topic off to Cedric at the very least. Does anyone have his contact or perhaps is friends with him on Twitter to send a PM?
 
Why exactly?

Because we still have time and opportunity on our side. Once Shenmue 3 has been released, then our voices are good as falling on deaf ears. We still have an opportunity to influence the direction of the game - just as much we had the opportunity to bring about the game - just as we had the opportunity to ensure features were added to the game through achieving the stretch goals. Through our efforts we enacted change.

It's so crucial that Shenmue 3 get the characters right because I can't think of any other game, ever, where the character/player connection is so paramount. And a certain part of that connection is imparted through the look of Ryo and the way he conveys his emotions.

So if you are able reach out to anyone, please make our thoughts heard.
 
Ok so:

Why do you think you have any right to be influential in this game?

A Shenmue 3 petition of over 60,000 signatures was not enough to get it made, so why should 30 messages on a small message board make any sort of difference?

Why do you assume you speak for every person on this planet? That they agree with the current criticisms, and that absolutely everyone wants to see such changes made?
 
Ok so:

Why do you think you have any right to be influential in this game?

A Shenmue 3 petition of over 60,000 signatures was not enough to get it made, so why should 30 messages on a small message board make any sort of difference?

Why do you assume you speak for every person on this planet? That they agree with the current criticisms, and that absolutely everyone wants to see such changes made?

Although I don't think contacting Ys Net with concerns will lead to anything, I do think every Shenmue fan would agree that the characters should be able to express emotion. We all have our fingers crossed that the models used in the last trailer are simply old and lacking face rigs. But you have to admit it's a little odd that they're using the same models (or incredibly similar ones) that drew such ridicule a year ago. As others have said, they're probably concentrating on other areas of the game, so I'm still optimistic.
 
There should be a Dojo section in which explains that contributing to a Kickstarter game project doesn't buy them a pass at being part of the creative process, or pressuring developers to cave in to fans because of an artistic view disagreement. If it's not an artistic one, then to me it's clear the developers are aware of the technical shortcomings from the development. What's the point of fans pointing fingers back to them at those clear as day flaws? It's not like Yu and his team started making games yesterday. Making our thoughts heard? Since when designing and developing games is a democratic process?
 
From what I remember, the THQ trailer received a mostly negative reception from non-fans, mainly due to the dead, unmoving eyes of the characters. It was a ‘clear as day flaw’ 12 months ago. They’re still not fixed, so I disagree that Ys Net see it as an important issue. The reaction to the latest trailer outside Shenmue Dojo tells me it definitely is a problem though, and I think it’s turning potential players away. They’re not going to hear the theories of ‘agile development’ (which still doesn’t explain why they couldn’t add a few keyframes to characters eyes).

But I agree it’s not a good idea to try and contact them. Whatever will be will be.
 
. The reaction to the latest trailer outside Shenmue Dojo tells me it definitely is a problem though, and I think it’s turning potential players away.

From what I can see the reception to the latest trailer has been very positive... nearly 98,000 views, 2.1k thumbs up and only 87 thumbs down on Youtube as of tonight, for example. I think that's more likely to be a representative sample of the general public's perception of the game than any specialist gaming forum.
 
From what I can see the reception to the latest trailer has been very positive... nearly 98,000 views, 2.1k thumbs up and only 87 thumbs down on Youtube as of tonight, for example. I think that's more likely to be a representative sample of the general public's perception of the game than any specialist gaming forum.

I really hope so.
 
Ok, have you watched the trailers for DMC or RE2 Remake for example? Announced and showed barely 9 month before release, no confirmation of development or previews trailers years ahead, but this is a Kickstarter game. I am pretty sure that the final product will be better, but it looks better than last year. Should YS Net had worked on every scene to look more polished? Yes, but that took time and money away.
 
Seriously, someone needs to forward this topic off to Cedric at the very least. Does anyone have his contact or perhaps is friends with him on Twitter to send a PM?

Hi. This has to be the third or fourth message from you I've seen in the space of 1-2 days where you're demanding others send emails of complaint on your behalf because you personally don't like the size of Ryo's pupils in a trailer for a WIP product.

From 'UP YOUR PLEDGES!' to now stuff like this, I hate to break it to you, but you don't have the authority to order everyone on here around. Also, as shocking as this news might be: not everyone you encounter in life shares your same opinion.
 
It's so crucial that Shenmue 3 get the characters right because I can't think of any other game, ever, where the character/player connection is so paramount. And a certain part of that connection is imparted through the look of Ryo and the way he conveys his emotions.

So if you are able reach out to anyone, please make our thoughts heard.

I don't know man. The models aren't perfect but it's the gameplay that matters to me. That's much more important to retaining the connection I had with the originals than the models not looking exactly how we imagine. If say the characters' looks are final, they're still at a point close enough for me to buy that it's Ryo or Lan Di, especially if the gameplay retains the same essence as S1 and S2.
 
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