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[Bartholomuse]

It was announced months ago, but the notion that I am actually looking at in-game screenshots of Shenmue 3 is still mind blowing me. I don't think I'll be convinced this game exists until the day I play it, and even then I don't think it will fully register what I'm actually playing.

 

[PdotMichael]

I feel like they should have developed Shenmue around a fictional Dreamcast on crack in a similiar way Capcom did it for Mega Man.

 

[Loudninja]

It just awesome that he is able to make another one.

 

[Neff]

Dumbest post of the thread yet.

1) They dont have to create an entire engine from scratch

2) Unreal engine 4 has procedural creation of areas made extremely easy; creating in a week what could take a month for the same visual fidelity

3) What makes games' budget of today so high is the marketing; this game will have a very small one in comparison; reason being that it s crowd funded and they already will make their money back no matter what

4) This is an adventure game; not your generic AAA open world à LA just cause. You can talk to every NPC and enter every building. It doesn't have to get the gta5 scope to be an interesting world oh

1. No but, assuming they want to create a consistent sequel, they still have an absolute shit ton of work to do.

2. Again, software only eases the speed and ease with which the game's assets can be put together and fine-tuned. It helps the director and engineers and coders, It doesn't help concept artists sketch easier, modelers model better, nor texturers draw quicker, particularly given the increased demands in fidelity over the last 15 years, unless of course they want to use pre-existing assets, which again only goes so far. Procedural generation has never been a big part of Shenmue. It's almost entirely hand-made, with few recycled assets.

3. A low AAA budget, before advertising, is 20-25m, Shenmue III has 6m that we know about.

4. The open world comparison is irrelevant. Shenmue's world is super-dense and varied, despite being relatively small. You can see from the map that it features a lot of visually distinct interiors, more than most games of today manage, at a much lower fidelity. If they can pull off even half of that with 6m, I'll be very surprised.

Sorry but your points sound like the usual self-deceiving leaps of logic people often make to convince themselves that games development is much easier and cheaper than it actually is. What we're getting, pretty much by Suzuki's own admission, is the story version of Shenmue III. The game version will be very much diluted.

There's an unknown separate budget from other funding sources such as Sony (yes I know it's reported to be not that much) and the investors sourced from YS Net and Shibuya Productions. I wouldn't be surprised if this game's true budget is double what we think it is. I'm confident it's definitely above $10 million at the very least (with all of funding sources combined that is).

I hope you're right. I trust Suzuki completely and was happy to back the project due to his talent alone, but the man can't work miracles.

 

[Shenmue]

What the heck is with people's fascination with AAA? Why does everything have to have a AAA budget? You guys all love your Michael Bay Transformers movies in the movie industry too?

AAA is no guarantee of quality.

Sorry but your points sound like the usual self-deceiving leaps of logic people often make to convince themselves that games development is much easier and cheaper than it actually is. What we're getting, pretty much by Suzuki's own admission, is the story version of Shenmue III. The game version will be very much diluted.

Is this Ben Kuchera's account on GAF?

Why are you twisting his words and flat out lying? He's said that given the budget if they take the focus away from state of the art graphics that he believes they can still make a very good game.

 

[Neff]

Why are you twisting his words and flat out lying? He's said that given the budget if they take the focus away from state of the art graphics that he believes they can still make a very good game.

I don't doubt that he'll make a good game, but he's already said that he's concentrating on the story above all else, presumably because that's the cheapest and easiest part, since he still wants more money for the project.

 

[higemaru]

It could look like the Saturn build and I'd be happy. I hope that this comes together nicely. They should get a team like Ancient to help them with development at some point down the line. Didn't they assist with Shenmue's development (maybe it was the music)

 

[Spaghetti]

What we're getting, pretty much by Suzuki's own admission, is the story version of Shenmue III. The game version will be very much diluted.

going to have to pull you up on this, but when suzuki spoke about the story focussed version of shenmue 3, that was in relation to only hitting $2 million on kickstarter. it did over triple that.

it's not fair to say the game part will be diluted when we're going to hit 5 out of 7 gameplay improvement stretch goals by the time the slacker backer campaign ends.

 

[Shadoken]

So any guesses on how this will end up as a clickbait headline for shitty journalists?

"FIRST Shenmue screenshots revealed - Graphics look great but could have used a bigger budget"

 

[Loudninja]

Yeah nvm

 

[Anth0ny]

Title should have been:

"Shenmue, 3 screenshots of Ryo"

ahh, the good old days of troll titles and Shenmue 3 being a pipedream.

 

[protonion]

wait, what?

Probably using the camera to capture a tv hooked to a Dreamcast!

 

[Shenmue]

So any guesses on how this will end up as a clickbait headline for shitty journalists?

"FIRST Shenmue screenshots revealed - Graphics look great but could have used a bigger budget"

Nah it'll be:

"First Shenmue screenshots revealed: Suzuki uses character models in UE4 sample environments to spite fans because we didn't give him enough money!"

 

[Spaghetti]

ehhh maybe we should ease off on the stuff about press reaction. we've got the other thread for that, and i'm more than happy to keep that contained over there so this can be a more positive thread about the game.

 

[Shadoken]

Nah it'll be:

"First Shenmue screenshots revealed: Suzuki uses character models in UE4 sample environments to spite fans because we didn't give him enough money!"

I could actually see Kuchera writing an article like this.

ehhh maybe we should ease off on the stuff about press reaction. we've got the other thread for that, and i'm more than happy to keep that contained over there so this can be a more positive thread about the game.

You're right. Sorry for the OT.

 

[Shenmue]

Yeah I'll stop as well. I can't let the negativity of morons bring me down.

Can't wait until they show off the new Shenhua model!

 

[Spaghetti]

from the little community interview with yu attached to the update:

8) Why do fans love the Shenmue series so much?

YS: By focusing on nostalgia and the ordinary, Shenmue creates a window into Japanese and Chinese culture. It’s allure is using a theme we share worldwide- family and friends- to learn about a completely different culture. I believe people from various cultures became interested because the series shows us cultural differences through the ordinary and familiar.

i think that's a pretty fair assessment of one of the reasons people love shenmue. it's probably one of the first games that really explored a sense of place. it's digital tourism, really.

 

[The Spoony Hou]

Not sure I can agree with you. I don't think the Shenmue games hold up as well as AM2's arcade games. Too many rough edges.

Thanks for the screenshot, but I've just finished Shenmue 2 a couple of weeks ago. I do prefer the old graphics, just the animations could use some updating.

 

[DieAntwoord]

I'm struggling to understand how an open world game can be great without a large budget. Is there a precedence for this? If they have to cut too many corners then I'll be extremely upset.

Because it's not really an open world. No shenmue really was. They were small areas chocked full of things to do abd everyone was scheduled. See: Yakuza.

These things were groundbreaking at one but now is pretty much standard especially with UE4 having stuff like that. With that in mind, you'd see most people just want the story finished and it's what we're getting.

Looking and playing good enough is all we need.

 

[Spaghetti]

Because it's not really an open world. No shenmue really was. They were small areas chocked full of things to do abd everyone was scheduled. See: Yakuza.

These things were groundbreaking at one but now is pretty much standard especially with UE4 having stuff like that. With that in mind, you'd see most people just want the story finished and it's what we're getting.

Looking and playing good enough is all we need.

son, i got some bad news-

shenmue 3 isn't the end.

and that's okay, actually. personally, i don't want the story that has been planned out for over 20 years to be abruptly cut short long before its natural ending point, or crammed awkwardly into the space of a single game. it also gives the capacity to expand any sequel outwards, like shenmue II did for the original game, by using shenmue 3 as a base.

 

[Pound_lb003]

I just got the email update. I knew Gaf would already be on this. Also the model of Ryu is much better than what was originally shown.

Though that doesn't make the current model good. Just a little better than bad.

In fairness the original Shenmue model looked ridiculous. And then it's hard to reinvent that face. Reminds me of Kazuma Kiryu, he will remain looking kinda like a cartoon, because he had to try to look like a stylised PS2 character in high definition,.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Looks really good already after just a short amount of time. Can't even imagine how it will look close to release...

 

[Rapscallion]

It's still an amazing thing to think that this is actually in the works. The team is hard at work, and we WILL see a shenmue 3.

Looks good, though I'm excited to see it when they update the model.

 

[Spaghetti]

Though that doesn't make the current model good. Just a little better than bad.

In fairness the original Shenmue model looked ridiculous. And then it's hard to reinvent that face. Reminds me of Kazuma Kiryu, he will remain looking kinda like a cartoon, because he had to try to look like a stylised PS2 character in high definition,.

there's something to be said about stylised realism in games. i think it's definitely a more interesting pursuit than full on realism anyway, even if it's an easy way out of not succumbing to overblown poly-budgets and heavy effects.

it'll be interesting to see the final game though. even if the graphics aren't super amazing, the settings and general aesthetic will do a lot for the game's overall look.

 

[HalfwayOrb]

The graphics actually look really good.

This. I like it.

 

[PdotMichael]

Thanks for the screenshot, but I've just finished Shenmue 2 a couple of weeks ago. I do prefer the old graphics, just the animations could use some updating.

Well, the two original titles had a consistent art direction. Something I'm not sure Shenmue 3 will deliever on the same level.

 

[Spaghetti]

Well, the two original titles had a consistent art direction. Something I'm not sure Shenmue 3 will deliever on the same level.

consistent to the first two games, or consistent within itself?

 

[Elfforkusu]

Though that doesn't make the current model good. Just a little better than bad.

In fairness the original Shenmue model looked ridiculous. And then it's hard to reinvent that face. Reminds me of Kazuma Kiryu, he will remain looking kinda like a cartoon, because he had to try to look like a stylised PS2 character in high definition,.

They have the Shenmue passport models to base it off of, though. And those are high fidelity.

They'll get it right. It's one of the easier challenges they have to surmount...

 

[PdotMichael]

consistent to the first two games, or consistent within itself?

Consistent within itself. Most of the technical aspects of the first two games aged quite badly but there is still something timeless in the aesthetics of the first two Shenmue games.

 

[Heypoppy]

The problem I have with UE4 is that it looks so plastic, so shiny, so... generic. If they could modify the colour palette somehow, add some personality, some "stranger than life" feel to the world, I think it would look a lot more interesting and less cheap. Well, at least good music will help them to create the Shenmue mood

 

[ShenmueDojo]

“Get up… I’ll allow you to die like a warrior…” ~Lan Di

Lan Di pre-orders go live on next Tuesday, 3rd November! We will be doing something different this time round. We will have the exclusive edition size as a TBD for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, we will cut off all pre-orders and immediately put it to wait-list. This will mean far far smaller editions sizes for the exclusives as there is only a 2 week window to order. This is a new strategy to bring the number of exclusives down to better match the real demand, and not just some random edition size. This is how we will be doing all our launches in the future.

Please share and comment - thanks for your support!

https://www.facebook.com/First4Figu...153234464161732/?type=3&__mref=message_bubble

 

[qcf x2]

I'm struggling to understand how an open world game can be great without a large budget. Is there a precedence for this? If they have to cut too many corners then I'll be extremely upset.

It's Yu Suzuki using UE4. I have zero reason to believe this game won't look good, play good and sound good.

For 3 mos and using placeholders in it looks great! I'm surprised nobody did a side by side w/ the reveal "footage" yet. I can't wait to see how Suzuki uses lightning; sunset/sunrise at a harbor will be a thing to behold!

 

[Spaghetti]

Consistent within itself. Most of the technical aspects of the first two games aged quite badly but there is still something timeless in the aesthetics of the first two Shenmue games.

it's a little early to say that, no? we've only got two screens in actual shenmue 3 environments.

 

[Danlord]

it's a little early to say that, no? we've only got two screens in actual shenmue 3 environments.

Is it never too early to be concerned with regards to Shenmue III.

 

[PdotMichael]

it's a little early to say that, no? we've only got two screens in actual shenmue 3 environments.

Well, so long the provided material doesn't look better and less off so long is it absolutly okay to have mixed feelings.

 

[Spaghetti]

Is it never too early to be concerned with regards to Shenmue III.

hah. on point.

i could understand being slightly bothered by inconsistent look between shenmue/shenmue II and shenmue 3, but even then, it's been 14 years and technology has changed so much that you probably couldn't replicate that look even if you tried.

but based on two shots, that i personally think look consistent enough for this point of development, i don't see what there is to be worried about with the art design.

 

[kiuo]

Looks great! Can't wait for the day when it releases

 

[Shadoken]

Is it never too early to be concerned with regards to Shenmue III.

lmao

 

[Blue_Moon]

I still cant beleive this is happening (**TEARS**)

 

[DOWN]

Why would this get an AAA budget lmao

Because the first one had a massive budget that is still one of the top ten highest of all time, so it got a successful sequel that had an even bigger budget?

 

[Spaghetti]

Well, so long the provided material doesn't look better and less off so long is it absolutly okay to have mixed feelings.

i don't think it's far enough along to have those mixed feelings. it's month 3 of development out of an estimated 29. if we were seeing shots like this in like early 2017 then you might have a point, y'know? context is everything. if shenmue 3 released like this i'd be displeased, but i'm well aware this is still very early days and adjusting my expectations accordingly.

you've gotta remember we're seeing shenmue 3 a lot earlier than we see other, bigger games. we usually don't see those games until they're much further along, and as a result they look more competent, but in reality they probably didn't much better at the same phase of development as shenmue 3 is. game development is a marathon, not a sprint.

these things, they take time.

 

[PdotMichael]

i don't think it's far enough along to have those mixed feelings. it's month 3 of development out of an estimated 29. if we were seeing shots like this in like early 2017 then you might have a point, y'know? context is everything. if shenmue 3 released like this i'd be displeased, but i'm well aware this is still very early days and adjusting my expectations accordingly.

you've gotta remember we're seeing shenmue 3 a lot earlier than we see other, bigger games. we usually don't see those games until they're much further along, and as a result they look more competent, but in reality they probably didn't much better at the same phase of development as shenmue 3 is. game development is a marathon, not a sprint.

these things, they take time.

That's the reason you aren't bashing the game as being ugly as sin or whatever.

You can stop people of having and voicing concerns about something, just because you don't like it.
Right now the screenshots look like more or less well designed content within the standard Unreal Engine settings.

 

[qa_engineer]

Was not expecting an update so soon and the game to look as good as it does. 8 thumbs up!

 

[Spaghetti]

That's the reason you aren't bashing the game as being ugly as sin or whatever.

You can stop people of having and voicing concerns about something, just because you don't like it.
Right now the screenshots look like more or less well designed content within the standard Unreal Engine settings.

i'm not censoring you, but i'm explaining, pretty rationally i believe, that any concern at this point about how it looks is pointless. it's early development. it looks like early development. i'm calling a spade a spade. i'm not getting disappointed that the spade isn't a porsche.

 

[PdotMichael]

i'm not censoring you, but i'm explaining, pretty rationally i believe, that any concern at this point about how it looks is pointless. it's early development. it looks like early development. i'm calling a spade a spade. i'm not getting disappointed that the spade isn't a porsche.

Saying that the screenshots look off etc. is exactly calling a spade a spade.

 

[AmyS]

Looks excellent, I love how it looks.

 

[Spaghetti]

Saying that the screenshots look off etc. is exactly calling a spade a spade.

not necessarily. general reaction in this thread is that it looks better than it should at this point of development. if you were calling a spade a spade, you wouldn't be in the minority.

you being concerned about the art direction in month 3 of development, based on two screens, is jumping the gun enormously. all i'm saying is, don't ignore the very important context that this is very early days.

don't sweat it, this is still the starting point of a two and a half year development cycle. things aren't going to stand still from here.

 

[PdotMichael]

not necessarily. general reaction in this thread is that it looks better than it should at this point of development. if you were calling a spade a spade, you wouldn't be in the minority.

you being concerned about the art direction in month 3 of development, based on two screens, is jumping the gun enormously. all i'm saying is, don't ignore the very important context that this is very early days.

don't sweat it, this is still the starting point of a two and a half year development cycle. things aren't going to stand still from here.

heh

You can see the same concerns on every page by different users. Not sure why you are fighting this fight if it exactly just a thread about early screenshots.

 

[AstroNut325]

Looking great so far.

Is there a game in development this doesn't apply to?

Gran Turismo 7!

 

[Soriku]

Because the first one had a massive budget that is still one of the top ten highest of all time, so it got a successful sequel that had an even bigger budget?

This is irrelevant in 2016.