Thoughts on the story DLC

Oh I'm not. I completely agree with you.

Just a shame as these dlcs were an opportunity to show they had listened to the criticism and could of shown some willing and an insight into what the writing of shenmue 4 would be like.
 
Crosshatch said:
Oh I'm not. I completely agree with you.

Just a shame as these dlcs were an opportunity to show they had listened to the criticism and could of shown some willing and an insight into what the writing of shenmue 4 would be like.
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The DLC was all written and recorded before S3 released.
 
tomboz said:
The DLC was all written and recorded before S3 released.
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I understand that. But, given the post release reviews, the fact yu said he was about 75% happy with the game, main critic being story progression. You would think they would take the opportunity to rework or add into these dlc something, anything, that moves the actual story on.

One of the main excuses is he and the team where under too much pressure to meet the deadline. And whilst I appreciate there was probably a deadline for these dlcs, we were all quite shocked initially how quickly they got released. I just think a few months of extra thought into how they implemented the dlc and some actual story elements could of put to bed some of the negative press.

I can't help feeling slightly deflated as I think we're all hoping the team is busy working away in secret on 4. But these dlcs give me the impression that they shipping them out as quickly as possible, without thought for the future and to wrap up the team and their work.
 
GhostTrick said:
The Witcher 3 for 20€ had an expansion that was a shitload of hours, an entirely new area and lot of story content.
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This is something that fans of the series need to come to terms with. Shenmue does not exist in a vacuum; other games have set standards for what to expect from things like quest structure, writing, DLC etc. If you're happy with what S3 has done so far, then all the power to you, but the number of people who have been put off by S3 should make everyone very concerned about another crowdfunding campaign.

Crosshatch said:
I understand that. But, given the post release reviews, the fact yu said he was about 75% happy with the game, main critic being story progression. You would think they would take the opportunity to rework or add into these dlc something, anything, that moves the actual story on.
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This would only have been possible if the money justified it (either from the sales of S3 or projected sales of the DLC). As it stands, they probably decided that shipping what they had budgeted for was the better business decision. DLC tends not to shift opinions of a game too much though I agree, some evidence that concerns were being addressed would have helped.
 
Crosshatch said:
I understand that. But, given the post release reviews, the fact yu said he was about 75% happy with the game, main critic being story progression. You would think they would take the opportunity to rework or add into these dlc something, anything, that moves the actual story on.

One of the main excuses is he and the team where under too much pressure to meet the deadline. And whilst I appreciate there was probably a deadline for these dlcs, we were all quite shocked initially how quickly they got released. I just think a few months of extra thought into how they implemented the dlc and some actual story elements could of put to bed some of the negative press.

I can't help feeling slightly deflated as I think we're all hoping the team is busy working away in secret on 4. But these dlcs give me the impression that they shipping them out as quickly as possible, without thought for the future and to wrap up the team and their work.
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For a game that’s so VO heavy, making these kind of changes after the actors have finished in the studio isn’t really possible.

We can see that some changes were made to the story DLC by the mismatched dialogue, but short of paying for the actors to return to the studio, I really don’t think there’s much they could have done in the way of responding to feedback.
 
GhostTrick said:
Whenever it was cut from the main game or not, I still feel like that season pass has been rather pathetic when it comes to content compared to the pricing (15€).

And while I know some people will tell me "The last DLC still has to drop" (spoiler, it'll just be another loads of mini-games that may already be in the game in other locations) or "Battle Rally has a nice replay value" (but is still a basic reuse of assets and stuff they already had in place), I cant help to remember that 15€ is the price of a game... Or a meaty content expansion in other games. The Witcher 3 for 20€ had an expansion that was a shitload of hours, an entirely new area and lot of story content.
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It's not that bad. You're comparing it to a game by CD Projekt Red, probably the most generous developer in the industry. Compared to the DLC for most games, you're getting a pretty average amount of content for $15. It's far from "pathetic." I could understand feeling that way if it was $25-$30.
 
Yeah, there are games where paying $15 will get you a couple outfits -- if that -- not to mention much worse in the form of randomised loot boxes etc. Shenmue III is not a bad offender when it comes to "overpriced" DLC -- there's a lot, lot worse out there.
 
I had heard complaints not too long ago about Kingdom Hearts III DLC being $30 and only about 3 hours of content. If that's true, I don't see what the complaints would be about the pricing for Shenmue III DLC. I put at least 8 hours into Battle Rally, and could still go back at any time to try to increase my scores, or complete tracks with Chobu-chan. I love that DLC, and it pretty much made the other two a bonus for me.

It's unfortunate that the story pack wasn't as good, but I kind of suspected that would be the case. It doesn't seem like it was really meant to be played as a story expansion, anyway.
iknifaugood said:
So Zhang asks you to investigate the CYM and then immediately gets kidnapped, then you spend the rest of the DLC looking for him and never learn anything about the CYM?
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There is that, and I was a little disappointed by it not tying directly into the Shitennou, but it seems heavily implied that the Red Snakes are under Niao Sun's purview, thus affiliated with the CYM. The real problem is that by the end of the DLC, Gi is ticked off with Ryo for ruining his plans by getting involved, but he was the one who asked Ryo to find Zhang when he went missing in the first place.

I did enjoy a lot of the actual story segments, like the scenes with Shenhua, and raiding the headquarters (which at least felt quintessentially Shenmue, to me). I also really liked the scene that foreshadows Gi's turn, because it reminded me of the exquisitely edited scene in SII where Ryo is introduced to the guy in the Come Over Guest House. Unfortunately, if the premise doesn't hold water, I have a hard time overlooking it. I was happy enough with just having the couple of moments Ryo and Shenhua shared, as well as the extra outfit for Shenhua, though.
 
Taarabt said:
HELP i completed shenmue now when i start in niaouw i cant play this dlc. any tips???
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Are you looking for the boat, or for Zhang? If you're looking for Zhang, he won't be outside the hotel until you've finished asking about the photo of Shenhua's father, found in the docks.
 
freezetime said:
So what is the general consensus about all of the DLC? Is it worth the money? Should I only buy certain ones?
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I look at this in two ways. First I would encourage every Shenmue fan to purchase DLC. Why? Because it provides money and support to the developers that ultimately may nudge the needle towards getting Shenmue 4 green lit.

In terms of the actual quality, I had low expectations, especially when I heard assets and voice recording was complete prior to release of base game. With that said I had a lot of fun with Battle Rally and the Chobu hunt around Bailu, helped me appreciate the environment even more. I posted more detailed impressions of the story DLC which clearly feels something that was part of the main game at some point. The last DLC was something I was least looking forward to but it was a fun little distractions and was surprisingly funny.

Like I said if you go in with sensible expectations there’s fun to be had and most importantly you will be supporting Shenmue.
 
freezetime said:
So what is the general consensus about all of the DLC? Is it worth the money? Should I only buy certain ones?
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I didn't enjoy it. The pictures of it made the boat area look much larger, it's the same minigames you could play all along. I played them just to get the big wheel tickets which felt like a chore. Most of the prizes are clothes which I'm not interested in Shenmue. If you like playing the minigames and collecting clothes you'll enjoy it though.

I was hoping the rooms on the boat would be fully investigateable (word?) like Shenmue 1 where you could open every drawer, turn light switches on and off, etc but they're not.

Also when you step on the boat why does it say "Sailing Venture" on the black loading screen when the boat is called "Big Merry" in the dlc and the outside of the boat it says something about "Chobu"?
 
freezetime said:
So what is the general consensus about all of the DLC? Is it worth the money? Should I only buy certain ones?
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I pretty much agree completely with code I name. I thought Battle Rally was absolutely great, the story DLC was sort of all right, but mostly served as a means to get an extra outfit for Shenhua, and the cruise ship was fun for me, but doesn't offer a tremendous amount of content (tons of clothing options for Ryo from it, though). I think most people seem to agree that the side quests in the Merry Cruise were highlights of the DLCs, but it's hard to recommend it just for that, if you happen to not be a fan of the gambling or arcade mini games. All together, I feel they're worth the $15 for all three of them, but YMMV, of course.


Aman said:
Also when you step on the boat why does it say "Sailing Venture" on the black loading screen when the boat is called "Big Merry" in the dlc and the outside of the boat it says something about "Chobu"?
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I don't think I saw this "Sailing Venture" on the loading screen. Can't really comment about that. The boat isn't technically called "Big Merry." It's just sort of a mis-translation of the style of boat, "Dai Yuugi-sen." "Dai" being 'big,' or 'great,' "Yuugi-sen" being sort of like a 'party boat.' Also, "Choubu" is the name of the city in Japanese. Niaowu is the Chinese pronunciation of the written characters. Choubu-chan is a bird because the first character, "Chou" (JP), "Niao" (CH) is literally "bird." ("Bu/Wu" being 'dance,' or 'performance.')
 
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