The sentiment surrounding Shenmue 3 beyond us

[Ghost_Messiah]

So I thought at this juncture, whilst we wait on MAGIC, this could be an interesting discussion to have.

In short: why all the Shenmue 3 hate outside of the Dojo? Surely many here must have seen it. News comes in about Shenmue 3 and however good it is when it's posted elsewhere there's a tide of negative sentiment from a large swath of people needlessly being negative about the game - for honestly a reason I can't define. Why? Shenmue 3 is the highest crowd funded game of all-time. It's a sequel that people rallied and adamantly asked for for 20 years. It crashed Kickstarter when it was announced - to initially - cries of love and adoration. And yet even in those early days back in 2015 - it felt there was this tide of negative opinion in the press and elsewhere surrounding the game that has been prevalent ever since.

Everything we've seen of the game - at least if we go with recent media - looks extremely promising. Yu Suzuki is an industry legend, has produced some of the best games of all-time, including Shenmue 1 and 2 and he's a master of the craft and has never, in his entire history as a game developer shipped a game anything less than excellent. He will have had 4 years of development time, millions in funding and all the money that he needed to produce his dream Shenmue 3 game, and all forecasts indicate even at this stage, that Shenmue 3 will be a great game and the sequel we've waited for. And yet whenever I see Shenmue 3 news posted elsewhere, external to the positivity, love and optimism seen here at the Dojo, there's just so much unwarranted negative sentiment?

And honestly I can't fathom why, for the life of me. So that's the purpose of this thread. To discuss the potential reasons addressing this.

One theory I had recently is this does seem like it's something symptomatic of Sega's IPs. Sonic has suffered this same tornado of negative opinion, and still does whenever a game or something new is announced. Even with decent Sonic games like Colors, Generations and Mania every new Sonic game is met with a similar negative sentiment that echoes that of Shenmue 3. Just look at what everyone is saying about the upcoming film for example. Dismissing it immediately. Same goes for Streets of Rage 4. There's love here for the game, but elsewhere in the wider gaming sphere there is a lot of "this game doesn't look good enough" to say the least of some of the negative opinions. Could it be that Sega's sequels have this attributed to them automatically due to Sega exiting the hardware business? Just a thought, but Sega IPs are the only avenue where I've seen this replicated across multiple series, and of course Shenmue is a Sega legacy IP.

But there must be more to this. Why do we have so much ardent love here, and yet popular opinion elsewhere, before the game has even been released, is negative?

 

[James Brown]

I agree, i'm kind of stumped by it too, despite the way the game has been funded and made, there has always been an element of hate towards it. Even way back before the kickstarter was announced, people like the guy Jeff...forgot his surname (gernstein?) who said it was a Forklift Truck Simulator for pricks or something like that...it seems unwarranted in the grand scheme of things. It never did anything to damage anything else, infact everything else damaged Shenmue when it was first released. PS2's, DVD's etc, meant that people weren't as interested in Dreamcast and so ultimately missed out on having the chance to even try Shenmue.

Like you said, there does seem to be a general hate of SEGA's old IP's, and you gave good examples...but then again there's also examples I could give that have defied that logic too, such as Yakuza, Jet Set Radio, and even games like Crazy Taxi still seem to get high praise and little negativity. So i'm really not sure. It feels somewhat like a jealousy towards the game, but i'm not quite sure why it would have caused that...Tough one to fathom, but then again I try not to let the negativity get to me, and hope that there are people out there (which has already been proven) that are willing to give the games a chance based off of how loved the games are by our core group, and fall in love with the series aswell!

In hindsight I guess it could just be a case of people trying the game and not fully understanding or appreciating it, the pacing, the gameplay, and they can't understand why so many people would love it so much to call it the greatest game of all time. I know the game was a bit like marmite when it first released even by Dreamcast die hard fan boys!

 

[Reprise]

It's been a fairly divisive game since it was first released, for whatever reason. I wasn't really aware of any initial negativity when it first came out until a short while after. Shenmue was the most hyped I had ever been for a video game, possibly more than even Final Fantasy VII, Sonic Adventure or Ocarina of Time, so I was fully expecting it to be released to universal acclaim and huge amounts of praise. I only read GamesMaster and the UK Official Dreamcast magazine at the time of its release and both magazines gave it excellent reviews.

I first realised there was negativity after I received it for Christmas. I absolutely loved the game and was addicted, but my mum said afterwards she was so relieved I liked it, because when she went to buy it, apparently a customer in the queue and the shop assistant both tried to warn my mum that it wasn't very good, was just a 'walking/talking simulator' and tried to convince her to pick up something else. I mean, imagine trying to convince a random parent to not buy something their son wants for Christmas? That's pretty lame, especially when of them is a shop assistant. I was confused at the time, as I thought the game was awesome. Anyways, I later looked at some other reviews and saw that scores weren't all the 9 or 10/10s I thought it would be. It never changed or altered my opinion though.

 

[高野和泉]

Being the first on a lot of & Influential on the landscape of modern gaming breeds jealousy. I've looked @ some of the best openworld games incl. RDR2 (Supposedly the game of this generation) and there's nothing really innovative or any new grounds upon which Shenmue a 20 year old game haven't already tread. Doesn't help that Yu is a visionary and Industry Icon that debatably matches Miyamoto in strides so people just have way too high of an expectation. Press & people just can't accept Yu doing anything less than state -of-the-art-trendsetting-next-gen-games. Shenmue sitting @ the top still holding the crown in Open world game design even 20 yrs later will def be a shining target attracting haters.

 

[Peter]

From this website's role specifically, I am very black and white, and if this is a fan forum then it will be forever a safe haven for those who have love for this franchise to come and converse with other like minded people from around the world who share that love and passion.

I don't buy the whole, "oohh I love this series so much that I feel it is my duty to tell Yu Suzuki that Ryo's face is completely messed up" spiel that people come off with. If you have a valid criticism of any of the games, people can discuss them here, but there's a difference between mature criticism discussion, and typical millenital internet driveby shit posting. Eradicating that was, and will always be one of my top priorities on a daily basis with this site. There are thousands upon thousands of chat and comments sections, or other platforms for those people to get their endorphin fix of posting a cool negative comment about Shenmue for the lulz, but here will never be that place. I, the staff, and the wider community work damn hard on a daily basis to ensure that, and we will continue to do so simply out of the love of this series.

Any complaints we have ever received in the past about free speech, or censoring etc, we address specifically, but the bottom line will always be that I will never compromise the majority of visitors who come here to share and support Shenmue, with allowing mindless bashing of the games. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and if we don't offer that, then where are fans going to go? There is a purity, and nostalgic stream which runs through this site which is approaching 20 years old, and I will strive to keep it that way. There's reminants of the old days of the internet that run through this site's history, when people were actually a lot more pleasant to each other, there was a higher respect for others, and a deeper bond shared with Shenmue. This will always continue, and this will always be a Shenmue fan site and forum so long as I am here.

 

[高野和泉]

I'd also like to add that S3 is getting caught in the cross-fire between the console war fanboys as well. Cuz if shenmue becomes a fAILED project then thats more ammunition 2 fire @ Sony. The franchises legacy be damn.

 

[spud1897]

So I thought at this juncture, whilst we wait on MAGIC, this could be an interesting discussion to have.

In short: why all the Shenmue 3 hate outside of the Dojo? Surely many here must have seen it. News comes in about Shenmue 3 and however good it is when it's posted elsewhere there's a tide of negative sentiment from a large swath of people needlessly being negative about the game - for honestly a reason I can't define. Why? Shenmue 3 is the highest crowd funded game of all-time. It's a sequel that people rallied and adamantly asked for for 20 years. It crashed Kickstarter when it was announced - to initially - cries of love and adoration. And yet even in those early days back in 2015 - it felt there was this tide of negative opinion in the press and elsewhere surrounding the game that has been prevalent ever since.

Everything we've seen of the game - at least if we go with recent media - looks extremely promising. Yu Suzuki is an industry legend, has produced some of the best games of all-time, including Shenmue 1 and 2 and he's a master of the craft and has never, in his entire history as a game developer shipped a game anything less than excellent. He will have had 4 years of development time, millions in funding and all the money that he needed to produce his dream Shenmue 3 game, and all forecasts indicate even at this stage, that Shenmue 3 will be a great game and the sequel we've waited for. And yet whenever I see Shenmue 3 news posted elsewhere, external to the positivity, love and optimism seen here at the Dojo, there's just so much unwarranted negative sentiment?

And honestly I can't fathom why, for the life of me. So that's the purpose of this thread. To discuss the potential reasons addressing this.

One theory I had recently is this does seem like it's something symptomatic of Sega's IPs. Sonic has suffered this same tornado of negative opinion, and still does whenever a game or something new is announced. Even with decent Sonic games like Colors, Generations and Mania every new Sonic game is met with a similar negative sentiment that echoes that of Shenmue 3. Just look at what everyone is saying about the upcoming film for example. Dismissing it immediately. Same goes for Streets of Rage 4. There's love here for the game, but elsewhere in the wider gaming sphere there is a lot of "this game doesn't look good enough" to say the least of some of the negative opinions. Could it be that Sega's sequels have this attributed to them automatically due to Sega exiting the hardware business? Just a thought, but Sega IPs are the only avenue where I've seen this replicated across multiple series, and of course Shenmue is a Sega legacy IP.

But there must be more to this. Why do we have so much ardent love here, and yet popular opinion elsewhere, before the game has even been released, is negative?

It's an inetresting question and one that I think has many different answers that all relate.

Shenmue 1 and 2 was and still is groundbreaking, whether the general gaming media like to admit it or not. For years they had the whole Shenmue 3 trolling and lets be honest here it always got us talking. Then that got taken away, so they had to cook up something else to generate clicks. Negative press is much easier to write and use to generate clicks and combining this with Shenmue people have in their heads this = clicks. This is the same mainstream media who claimed RDR2 is the game of the year, yet did it do anything groundbreaking? This is the same media who ride Call of Duty etc every year. However Shenmue is not for everyone and the pacing for some is too slow, but that's their choice and i respect that. I don't respect people who bash it because it is Shenmue without any constructive points that someone can reasonably discuss.

Thankfully there has been a shift in the western market the last 18 months or so where now more Japanese origin games are hitting these shores to public and now critical acclaim. Yakuza coming west is proof as is the new Judgment game among others. The difference in the Western Media to the Japanese one is stark. IGN Japan had Shenmue 3 as its #1 most anticiapted game of 2019. Western IGN hasn't mentioned it.

Yu is judged by ridiculously high standards but that is a testiment to his work across his very distiguished career. Shenmue is at the top of that for me. SEGA as well have come in for alot of (and in some cases rightful) hate. For years they stayed silent on Shenmue and remain so on others of their older IP's e.g. JSR/JGR.

Then there is the kcikstarter element which no matter which way you look at it remains controversial in the mainstream media's eyes. Now it is made painstakingly clear that backing a KS doesn't always mean rewards etc but that is missed quite often. Also because Shenmue 3 got other backing from Deep Silver and some from Sony there is always going to be questions as to whether this has moved beyond a kickstarter. It gave a platform for Shenmue 3 and if it blows us away like I am sure it will then it gives legitamacy to the kickstarter and others going forward.

We are lucky that we have these forums (& other outlets) that promote the passion and love for these games but also allow for critical discussion done in the right way.

 

[Let's Get Sweaty]

For a comfortable decade it was the cool and safe thing to mock Shenmue fans who still pined for a game that was never, ever going to be made. Like shooting fish in a barrel, Shenmue was an easy target to make the butt of your jokes because its eternal limbo was so certain. It was the one wisecrack that couldn't come back to bite you.

Until it did.

And some people just cannot process that - much less accept it with grace and dignity.

Some have been pleased and congratulatory toward a long suffering fan base finally finding relief. Some find it inspiring and reassuring that if the ultimate holy grail of improbable sequels finally got its chance, then there's hope yet for their own forgotten favorites. But there are still those who simply don't have it in their character to feel anything but aggrieved and threatened by this chink in the armor of the status quo.

So rather than admit they were wrong to deride the passion and commitment of the Shenmue fans they'd been assured would never have the right of reply, they pray for and actively encourage a disastrous release for this long-awaited game, so that they can steal back the last laugh and claim "I told you so."

Because we all know, especially online, that winning the argument is more important than being right.

 

[orient]

It all stems from the series' history — the most expensive game ever made, doomed to commercial failure due to the premature death of the Dreamcast. Shenmue is seen by some as a symbol of Yu Suzuki's over-indulgence, and perceive SEGA's reckless spending as one of the main reasons why they exited the hardware business. We now know this isn't true; SEGA were running on fumes even before the Dreamcast launched due to a string of disappointing hardware endeavors (Mega CD, 32X and Saturn) and simply didn't have the capital to support another piece of hardware long-term.

Many see Shenmue as a game that puts realism and simulation before "fun" which, back in 1999/2000, was a deadly sin. Nowadays our view of the medium has expanded and experiential, slower-paced games are accepted as meaningful entertainment. So in a way, the market has finally caught up to Shenmue, and it gives me hope that Shenmue III will be received on its own terms, as something that doesn't need to be another Yakuza.

 

[Van Joel Sandwich]

I definitely agree with many things said here.

There are people who just like to put things down. Specialy if those things are very much loved by other people.

As Shenmue fans we know how much of tough love it is sometimes, to be a shenmue fan.
But normally those who hate the game are the ones who never played it or never gave it a real chance.

Even being missunderstood sometimes, we should be happy about ourselves and what we acomplish for this game.
Shenmue was resurected from the ashes thanks to us, the fans.
Hate is hate. But hate never trumps Love!

And Love for this game is what we got!

 

[Kodama]

In short: why all the Shenmue 3 hate outside of the Dojo?

Quite a few reasons, and it's almost like it comes in different levels depending on which media you consume...

Criticism here in the dojo is usually met with hostility, so you don't see much more than straight gushing here. Some people think anything other than blind praise is "negativity" and that kinda makes this place seem more smiles, in a strange stepford wives kinda way...

Then you have places like facebook groups and other forums, full of fans, but there is certainly a level of critique and concerns being posted. We all share a love and passion for this series, but we understand it isn't perfect and like to pick apart things, while maintaining a generally positive look on everything involved.

Then you have other forums that aren't Shenmue focused, and here's where you start to see the hate. Some of it is from trolls of course, but we have to realize as fans that Shenmue just isn't a mass appeal kind of game. It takes a certain type to player to really enjoy it, it's not something universal like all the great classics of gaming that are generally loved by most gamers. Most people also only played the first game and it's incredibly slow pace turned them off. Usually when you hear a lot of criticisms about how boring a game it is, it's because they never even made it to the 2nd game and they just assume it's more of the same...

Then you have mainstream media, which knows nothing about video games, and just reports nonsense in either direction, either praising or bashing the game blindly...

Then you just have trolls... straight trolls that know topics like this will exist and people's panties will get twisted if they make fun of the game. For example, Jim Sterling falls somewhere between this catagory and those that never played the 2nd game lmfao...

 

[9dragons]

I have to agree that Shenmue is not for everyone and I am not surprised that it is not universally critically claimed. But I still wonder why Games like GTA are so well received among the mainstream gamers. GTA 3 was inspired for sure. And to me GTA is the most overated and most boring franchise ever. But still people like it a lot. Although you are a random criminal in a random world without soul. Shenmue on the other hand has soul and the main character and so the player is fully immersed into that world. The rockstar games never did that. But maybe it is cooler for some people to play a gangster instead of a school boy. Or they like doing shitty stuff in the world of GTA. Creating chaos in the GTA world is fun I have to admit. The only thing i did when playing them. The story mode itself was always boring.

Shenmue on on the other hand has a great storyline. But in the end tastes are different and the Rockstar games have something to attract the masses that S1 and 2 never could. I have no clue what that "something" is, GTA was and will be always boring for me, but never mind. Tastes are different.

 

[Jigen]

I've never understood the sentiment of people viewing it as a boring walking simulator. I absolutely HATE walking simulator/story games e.g. Walking Dead, Life Is Strange, Firewatch ect.

I view Shenmue as a game with a lot of different systems Investigation, combat, gambling, exploration. Not only that, but you need to put in the effort to build up Ryo throughout his journey and you do that in the game, he has to train everyday to improve his moves and the player must in tune with Ryo master using them. Shenmue II has an absolutely brilliant system where by it teaches the player the virtues Ryo must learn through the gameplay. It is excellent. Oddly the most similar game recently I think is Kingdom Come Deliverance where you have to build Henry of Skalitz into a swordmaster with your own determination and mastery of the mechanics.

The player called The Kenjito Master shows us where Ryo can be taken if you out in the time and the amazing depht if the in game fighting system, which obviously no mainstream critic could understand. Of course it was beyond them.

As for why it is so villified, I guess we'll never quite know the true answer. Although, I'm sick of fans being criticized for liking a different video game than the common gamer. It's OK to like something else.

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

So I thought at this juncture, whilst we wait on MAGIC, this could be an interesting discussion to have.

In short: why all the Shenmue 3 hate outside of the Dojo? Surely many here must have seen it. News comes in about Shenmue 3 and however good it is when it's posted elsewhere there's a tide of negative sentiment from a large swath of people needlessly being negative about the game - for honestly a reason I can't define. Why? Shenmue 3 is the highest crowd funded game of all-time. It's a sequel that people rallied and adamantly asked for for 20 years. It crashed Kickstarter when it was announced - to initially - cries of love and adoration. And yet even in those early days back in 2015 - it felt there was this tide of negative opinion in the press and elsewhere surrounding the game that has been prevalent ever since.

Everything we've seen of the game - at least if we go with recent media - looks extremely promising. Yu Suzuki is an industry legend, has produced some of the best games of all-time, including Shenmue 1 and 2 and he's a master of the craft and has never, in his entire history as a game developer shipped a game anything less than excellent. He will have had 4 years of development time, millions in funding and all the money that he needed to produce his dream Shenmue 3 game, and all forecasts indicate even at this stage, that Shenmue 3 will be a great game and the sequel we've waited for. And yet whenever I see Shenmue 3 news posted elsewhere, external to the positivity, love and optimism seen here at the Dojo, there's just so much unwarranted negative sentiment?

And honestly I can't fathom why, for the life of me. So that's the purpose of this thread. To discuss the potential reasons addressing this.

One theory I had recently is this does seem like it's something symptomatic of Sega's IPs. Sonic has suffered this same tornado of negative opinion, and still does whenever a game or something new is announced. Even with decent Sonic games like Colors, Generations and Mania every new Sonic game is met with a similar negative sentiment that echoes that of Shenmue 3. Just look at what everyone is saying about the upcoming film for example. Dismissing it immediately. Same goes for Streets of Rage 4. There's love here for the game, but elsewhere in the wider gaming sphere there is a lot of "this game doesn't look good enough" to say the least of some of the negative opinions. Could it be that Sega's sequels have this attributed to them automatically due to Sega exiting the hardware business? Just a thought, but Sega IPs are the only avenue where I've seen this replicated across multiple series, and of course Shenmue is a Sega legacy IP.

But there must be more to this. Why do we have so much ardent love here, and yet popular opinion elsewhere, before the game has even been released, is negative?

Like I've said before the more promising something is the more satisfying it is for someone who dislikes it to see it fail. Where there is hype there will be hype backlash as well. Someone who dislikes Shenmue will end up annoyed by all the praise the game gets or that Yu Suzuki gets regardless of whether its deserved or not. All art is subjective to a degree after all. The hardcore Shenmue fans who analyze every detail buy all the merchandise and eagerly consume every tidbit of information that's released are a minority at the end of the day.

There are people out there who still think that Shenmue 3 looks like that teaser from 2017. First impressions are important after all and when you present something in its alpha/beta footage to a group of people who are used to polished AAA graphics it leaves a sour taste in their mouths.

Then they're those who see this game in the same way that they see Mighty No 9. A high profile Kickstarter with a legendary game producer promising people something they've wanted for years. They see how Mighty No 9 turned out and fear the same for Shenmue 3. Despite the fact that while some circumstances are similar there's also significant differences also.

There are probably a multitude of other reasons I am not thinking of like the Ryu Ga Gotoku crowd who thinks it does everything Shenmue does but better and so on. However these are the reasons that come off the top of my head.

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

It's been a fairly divisive game since it was first released, for whatever reason. I wasn't really aware of any initial negativity when it first came out until a short while after. Shenmue was the most hyped I had ever been for a video game, possibly more than even Final Fantasy VII, Sonic Adventure or Ocarina of Time, so I was fully expecting it to be released to universal acclaim and huge amounts of praise. I only read GamesMaster and the UK Official Dreamcast magazine at the time of its release and both magazines gave it excellent reviews.

I first realised there was negativity after I received it for Christmas. I absolutely loved the game and was addicted, but my mum said afterwards she was so relieved I liked it, because when she went to buy it, apparently a customer in the queue and the shop assistant both tried to warn my mum that it wasn't very good, was just a 'walking/talking simulator' and tried to convince her to pick up something else. I mean, imagine trying to convince a random parent to not buy something their son wants for Christmas? That's pretty lame, especially when of them is a shop assistant. I was confused at the time, as I thought the game was awesome. Anyways, I later looked at some other reviews and saw that scores weren't all the 9 or 10/10s I thought it would be. It never changed or altered my opinion though.

This might sound spiteful but I hope that employee was reprimanded for that. It's not their job to tell people what to play it's their job to sell games.

 

[mjqjazzbar]

It'll be interesting to see how people react to the final product. We've all been pretty much spinning our wheels, guessing what Shenmue 3 is really gonna be like since the E3 announcement.

You definitely can't win, though. Anytime I post about Shenmue 3 on Resetera, 50% of the responses are negative. Doesn't matter what the news is. The latest uproar is that they're over-promising a long game; if it'd been the opposite, imagine the reaction. "Shenmue 3 is shorter than Shenmue 1 and 2? I knew they couldn't make a worthy follow-up with such a pathetic budget."

I've even seen a few people claim the Shenmue 1 & 2 re-release made people lose interest in Shenmue 3. I have no idea where some of this stuff even comes from.

Then there are the "Yakuza makes Shenmue" obsolete folks. Well, as one of the few people who bought the first Yakuza when it came out, I beg to differ...

Blah, blah, fuckin' blah.

 

[Yokosuka]

Disinformation and gratuitous criticism are never easy to handle but I believe that claiming there's "Hate" is an exaggeration powered by our fan's protective views. Or an attempt to auto-discredit criticism because it's only "hate"?

1) There's no real hate but mostly disappointment and anger that Shenmue 3 will not live up to the initial popular dream of a big-budget title. Shenmue 3 is an indy game made with mid resources and a lot of love, Shenmue 1 & 2 were war machines, the most ambitious games Sega ever aimed to create. Since Sony associated its name with it, people expected that Shenmue 3 joins the party of AAA titles with some explicit new gameplay features and exemplary hardware usage like Unchared, Horizon and even Yakuza for its human faces. Originality, quality and tech ambition are the three reasons why Shenmue has gained an iconic status in the gaming culture despite having being effectively beaten by a limited amount of players - the Blade Runner of games I would say. At the moment, none of these three points have been reflected in Shenmue 3. If hate there is, it's more towards Sony or the whole industry for having given up Private Shenmue, the iconic legend.

That disappointment never really hits the core fan community because fans who followed the Shenmue 3's back story over the years know how hard the project has been to raise. Fans are just happy that Shenmue 3 is now a real thing and not a pointless comic. Even the Yu Suzuki's presence in the dev team can be viewed as a blessing. Other people don't care about that. They beat the games on Dreamcast, enjoyed it and moved on. They learnt about Shenmue 3 in 2015 and made their own expectations based on their memories of the game, end of story.

2) From a non-backer point of view, the trailers shown so far have been catastrophic. No facial animation (the "bug" explanation about the 2017 Gamescom trailer changes nothing as it may imply that YSnet is not qualified), amateurish cinematography, unusual cartoon charadesign, not so good technique. Reminder, these trailers has been published on official channels (Playstation for the first GC trailer, Deep Silver for the second) implying that the right holders are proud of their product. Beyond that, gameplay is still yet to be revealed and the production is expected to end in 4-5 months + 1 month for debugging, disc pressing and distribution. No wonder some reactions have turned wild following this. At least, it helped to make memorable memes and I'm not even ironical. Bad or good publicity, it's still publicity for the game.

3) Don't know what social networks you were wandering but Shenmue hate is really a 2017's thing now. Since then water has flowed under the bridge, people who had high exceptions are no longer awaiting it and no more "scandal" has been raised since YSnet is quietly developing their baby.
On my side, I'm even surprised to see how much Shenmue 3 is a respected project now. The Deep Silver's involvement announcement has really been the best news since the $6 million pledge achievement. The pretty screenshots that came along probably helped to calm everyone down too.

4) Sometimes, I'm telling myself that the Shenmue community is far more sensitive than other similar communities I know (great games but underrated). I think it's tied with the stake that YSnet is holding now. Since we know that the story ends in Shenmue 4-5, it's crucial that Shenmue 3 becomes a success. Shenmue 3 HAS to be a success, and that is stressing all of us out. Some youtubers love that and play with our nerves to increase their views. Then we got the so-called "negative" people. When the old forum was still alive, I was told some people were not motivated to come back to the Dojo because of "negative" people like me but I also read people who were reluctant to came here because they felt free talking is not easy as you may instantly be labelled as negative or biased if you keep arguing something against the doxa - when mass likes are not there to make you certain you're wrong. I myself had to mute some of my severest thoughts over the last year. Some points about how YSnet is handling the project still irritates me and sometimes I feel the need to express it but I will not because I respect what Peter is trying to do there and because I'm careful not to demotivate neither the YSnet developers that might wander around nor the fans which the enthusiasm is essential to maintain the energy. The game of our lives is coming. Waiting the release is now my only and unique concern.

 

[KiddMarine]

It's just the Internet bro.

If Internet comments meant anything at all, pretty much every video game ever would have flopped. Every new episode of Star Trek would be the worst episode ever and kill the franchise (seriously, look back at Usenet posts from when The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine first aired), every movie is a bomb etc. etc.

 

[9dragons]

Yes you really should not take the internet too serious. There are many different type of gamers out there. In the internet you find more the graphics nerds, who cherish graphics above everything. That is not target audience for Shenmue anyway. It should be suited more for the indy gamers out there that look for different gaming experience out there . A gaming experience that has nothing to the with the main stream stuff.

And you guys might call me crazy but I am happy that S3 won't look like a plain AAA title with these generic pseudo Realistic look. The more comic style look suits Shenmue way better. It also makes the game stick out. For the tech freaks it will stick out in a negative way no doubt about it, but it can also have some positive effects to. Some gamers might like the different look S3 has to offer.

 

[bcdcdude]

I don't know if it's just me, but it just seems so much easier to be vociferous and negative than to be positive. I mean, this is nothing new; in the old days, you'd have magazines of Sega VS Nintendo where you would get drawings from readers of Sonic beheading Mario (or vice versa). It seems somewhat more innocent (and childish) compared to the stuff you get nowadays.

One of the major problems recently is the shift to instant gratification; I think Shenmue III is getting a lot of stick, because it's not playing by "the rules" of showing as much as possible as frequent as possible. If I didn't have faith in Yu-san's abilities, perhaps i'd feel the same, but there's something good about not showing much. Of course, if it's because the end result isn't good, that's a different story, but I don't believe this to be the case.

I'm excited for the Resident Evil 2 remake for example, but I wouldn't be surprised if half the game has been revealed already. That approach for Shenmue III would be a disaster. So what can YouTubers, commenters etc do? Shenmue isn't playing by the rules, so they criticise it. Also, what gets more views? Negativity. Controversy. Jim Sterling's video is a good example (which is a shame, because the Shenmue video aside, he's usually on the ball with things).

The other thing as well is that with a daily stream of negative news, twitter "controversies" etc, it's easier than ever for people to get angry. I daresay that spills over into stuff like gaming too.

Sorry if i'm all over the place (I haven't really been on a forum for years, so a little rusty with my commenting skills)