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Yu Suzuki interview: Shenmue III models temporary, facial animation removed 1mo ago

I disagree. The only thing that looks early are the models and animations. The environments, the lightning, the textures, the details etc. all look great from what we saw.


They look great thanks to UE4. I mean right, modelisations and texture work is their own. But lighting and shader work looks base UE4. Which gives all of it a student work feeling.

The animations are downright terrible and there were no facial animations. But if you dont have these, dont focus on the faces that much, especially for action scenes.

You know what it reminded me ? Gmod videos like Gmod Idiot Box.
 

zeopower6

Member
And why does it have to take an outcry from the community in order to respond to this, why couldn't this be basic knowledge they posted together with the video? WHHHHHHHHHY

The response was before this and it's from a Japanese interview anyway that details what was in the teaser. I doubt they really cared about what most Westerners thought.

And it was pretty obvious they axed any facial animation from viewing the trailer.
 

Erevador

Member
No surprises there. I mean, it's a Kickstarter game in the middle of development. These guys are hard at work, and clearly haven't had a marketing department. I imagine the facial animations will be among the last things that are finished.

I'm sure the game will be great, and I expect the folks at Deep Silver will help bring some quality control to the marketing from here on out.
 
The response was before this and it's from a Japanese interview anyway that details what was in the teaser. I doubt they really cared about what most Westerners thought.

And it was pretty obvious they axed any facial animation from viewing the trailer.


Which is still why I'm puzzled: If there's no facial animation, dont show the faces during animation.

It would've been as good to show the game with characters in simple poses or limited movement to show faces, which didnt need animation for this and stay away from the faces during the action scenes.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
That gaf overreaction haha smh.
Anyone with a functioning brain could tell you the facial animation(s) or lack of was a placeholder in that teaser.
 
that's a relief



They wanted to get a trailer for the game out the door for the event, they recycled old models/animations. Pretty common for event builds to be janky.

It's common for an event demo to be janky, but a trailer is usually the opposite. Devs usually make a trailer to look much better than the actual game to grab attention. If this is the best look of Shenmu III they could possibly put together in the trailer at the moment, then it is reasonable for people to worry.
 

zeopower6

Member
Why did he remove the facial animations then?

I don't know, he probably had his reasons. The question was literally...

"The faces look a bit stiff. Why is that?"

"There was facial animation there before about a month ago but I removed it."

And that was that. I guess what the KS backers saw had the animations in it?

It's common for an event demo to be janky, but a trailer is usually the opposite. Devs usually make a trailer to look much better than the actual game to grab attention. If this is the best look of Shenmu III they could possibly put together in the trailer st the moment, then it is reasonable for people to worry.

Teaser/progress updates are NOT trailers.

Which is still why I'm puzzled: If there's no facial animation, dont show the faces during animation.

It would've been as good to show the game with characters in simple poses or limited movement to show faces, which didnt need animation for this and stay away from the faces during the action scenes.

I think it's just a KS backer update that also went for a 'big' audience. Not really sure why they did this but they never said this was the finished product or anything. It was a 'slice' of the 'work in progress'.
 
Yakuza 1 on the PS2 has better character models.

yakuza-image213718.jpg

hqdefault.jpg

These are pre-rendered.

yakuza_1a.jpg


These are what they actually look like in the game, which is the whole point of what Suzuki-San is trying to say. That they removed the rigging and animations from the pre-rendered teaser because of any number of reasons.

Talking about Shenmue 4 already, straight out the Inafune playbook.

He's been talking about 4 the entire time. At no point was this ever considered to be a one off thing, the whole point was to get funded, get developed, rebuild the brand then have something to show to publishers to get a real budget to make more.
 
He's been talking about 4 the entire time. At no point was this ever considered to be a one off thing, the whole point was to get funded, get developed, rebuild the brand then have something to show to publishers to get a real budget to make more.

Yeah Yu Suzuki has always been upfront and honest about more than one more game being needed to finish the story. This criticism is stupid.
 

zeopower6

Member
Teaser/firstlook/trailer whatever you want to call it, for me they're the same. We have companies put up a clip of nothing but the game name and call it a trailer.

Well then you have too much of a narrow view of what these clips are. They are vastly different when you consider 'teasers' vs. 'trailers'.
 
Yakuza 1 on the PS2 has better character models.

yakuza-image213718.jpg

hqdefault.jpg
Looks like Trump wasn't the only one stupid enough to blind himself by looking directly into the eclipse.

Seriously like what the fuck is it with this garbage hyperbole?!

Christ I hope this post is sarcastic commentary on other ignorant posts.

That's the problem. Even for something quick... That really feel amateurish. Why the focus on faces. They could've made something more impressive and artistic by playing on the body shapes. Which they did in the begining of the trailer in front of the mirrors.

Also, yes they did prepare something since we knew 2 months or so before Gamescom that theynd show something.

My problem is that everything look early but also amateurish.
You don't know anything. If we had any guess, this was likely a trailer cobbled together at the 11th hour by almost no one because they simply don't have the manpower to spare for a bullshit vertical slice trailer. They could have known a year in advance they had to show something, it wouldn't change anything since they simply wouldn't know where the state of development would be at a certain point and had the go off the latest build captures they could muster.

Yes game development is that chaotic and unpredictable for a AAA developer let alone a low-budget indie project.
 

J2 Cool

Member
Well I'm satisfied. The goal of 30 hours, and Deep Silver adding additional budgeting eases some concerns. Curious to see how the fighting system develops. Honestly though, I'm content to let the game submerge for 8-12 months, and see where they're at. Kickstarter doesn't need to know shit.
 

zeopower6

Member
Looks like Trump wasn't the only one stupid enough to blind himself by looking directly into the eclipse.

Seriously like what the fuck is it with this garbage hyperbole?!

Christ I hope this post is sarcastic commentary on other ignorant posts.


You don't know anything. If we had any guess, this was likely a trailer cobbled together at the 11th hour by almost no one because they simply don't have the manpower to spare for a bullshit vertical slice trailer. They could have known a year in advance they had to show something, it wouldn't change anything since they simply wouldn't know where the state of development would be at a certain point and had the go off the latest build captures they could muster.

Yes game development is that chaotic and unpredictable for a AAA developer let alone a low-budget indie project.

I don't understand the doom and gloom comments. It looks great for placeholder stuff and no facial animations. Will be even better when it's all refined. As a backer, I am pleased with where they are and excited about what else they'll be able to show starting in 2018.
 
Looks like Trump wasn't the only one stupid enough to blind himself by looking directly into the eclipse.

Seriously like what the fuck is it with this garbage hyperbole?!

Christ I hope this post is sarcastic commentary on other ignorant posts.


You don't know anything. If we had any guess, this was likely a trailer cobbled together at the 11th hour by almost no one because they simply don't have the manpower to spare for a bullshit vertical slice trailer. They could have known a year in advance they had to show something, it wouldn't change anything since they simply wouldn't know where the state of development would be at a certain point and had the go off the latest build captures they could muster.

Yes game development is that chaotic and unpredictable for a AAA developer let alone a low-budget indie project.



As I said, even if it was put at the last minute, it's not like having a better logo transition and use the June logo would've take time. Maybe 10 minutes ?
It's also not like it would've take time to remove some part of that teaser. The parts that look weird and bad.
 

Kevin

Member
I would absolutely love a Shenmue III to come out but man I just don't see this game coming out. I hate to be negative but I just never had a good feeling about this one. The older Shenmue games took many years to complete and now they are trying to make one with much more advanced tech on a much smaller budget. I just don't have faith in this one. ;(
 

Erevador

Member
"Fans" : Show us your progress! Prove this isn't a scam!

Developers: Here's our work in progress.

"Fans" : This doesn't look done! MIGHTY NO 9 ALL OVER AGAIN.
 

Mugen08

Member
A bit of a shame not having the virtua engine, was very good in Shenmue II. I'm happy that they showed something at least, been hard to estimate where they are at from the KS updates. Had they not shown anything more people would soon worry the game was dead. So in a way lose-lose for YS Net it seems, considering they were not happy with certain parts and thus removed features such as face anims completely. Still there are things in the trailer to make fans hopeful. The logo flipping is just annoying and confusing though.
 

zeopower6

Member
I would absolutely love a Shenmue III to come out but man I just don't see this game coming out. I hate to be negative but I just never had a good feeling about this one. The older Shenmue games took many years to complete and now they are trying to make one with much more advanced tech on a much smaller budget. I just don't have faith in this one. ;(

Well, game tech is also in a very different place than it was back then. You don't need as large of a budget to produce similar results. It will come out. As far as we know by the way, most of the footage here is a year old and was shown to KS backers during the dinner.

"Fans" : Show us your progress! Prove this isn't a scam!

Developers: Here's our work in progress.

"Fans" : This doesn't look done! MIGHTY NO 9 ALL OVER AGAIN.

I feel it was destined for this to happen. If it's not finished, it's not good... even if they tell you from the get go that it's not done.
 
"Fans" : Show us your progress! Prove this isn't a scam!

Developers: Here's our work in progress.

"Fans" : This doesn't look done! MIGHTY NO 9 ALL OVER AGAIN.



This doesnt make it immune to criticism. Isnt that the point of Kickstarter ? Show progress and tell wgat's wrong to change it ?

I mean, fans are very patient in the case of Shenmue 3. We got this early amateurish footage 2 years after the KS. Models look decent. Animations and facial animations are a joke. Environnements looks gorgeous.

But there's still no gameplay, it's really early and it feels amateurish at times.

I mean if anything, Shenmue 3 backers are really patient and forgiving. Myself including. If this was'nt Shenmue 3, no one would be as forgiving.
 

zeopower6

Member
This doesnt make it immune to criticism. Isnt that the point of Kickstarter ? Show progress and tell wgat's wrong to change it ?

It's fairly obvious though that they had some placeholder models and no facial animation. What use is there in complaining about stuff like that when they are already aware of it and will place it in when ready? Like this interview is literally him saying "Yes, we know about these things, don't worry about it." when faced with the questions about models/faces.

"The models look so ugly!"

Yu's response: Oh they're all temporary.

"The faces look stiff!"

Yu's response: I took out the animation.

Now that there's an explanation, what is there to really complain about?
 
As I said, even if it was put at the last minute, it's not like having a better logo transition and use the June logo would've take time. Maybe 10 minutes ?
It's also not like it would've take time to remove some part of that teaser. The parts that look weird and bad.
You know how I know you've never edited a fucking video and your life, or know shit about game development? Because you think this shit is easy, and would take "maybe 10 minutes".

That's armchair devs for you folks!
 

Kevin

Member
Well, game tech is also in a very different place than it was back then. You don't need as large of a budget to produce similar results. It will come out. As far as we know by the way, most of the footage here is a year old and was shown to KS backers during the dinner.



I feel it was destined for this to happen. If it's not finished, it's not good... even if they tell you from the get go that it's not done.

You bring up some good points and I didn't realize we were still seeing old footage. I do wonder why that is. Either way thanks for these notes.
 

zeopower6

Member
You bring up some good points and I didn't realize we were still seeing old footage. I do wonder why that is. Either way thanks for these notes.

Yeah, I don't know either but one of the people that saw it back then told us that about 90% of what we saw was in that exclusive KS backer dinner 'reveal', so who knows where development is now.
 

ajim

Member
Yakuza 1 on the PS2 has better character models.

yakuza-image213718.jpg

hqdefault.jpg

This is definitely not true lol

The models arent too bad in Shenmue 3 with the exception of Shenhua looking horrible and the big bad dude looking a bit waxy lol.

Im surprised about the virtua fighting engine not being used. Its one of my favourite ones and to this day still stands the test of time. Interested to see what rhey can do.
 

Erevador

Member
This doesnt make it immune to criticism. Isnt that the point of Kickstarter ? Show progress and tell wgat's wrong to change it ?
I agree with you on constructive criticism (even harsh constructive criticism), but not the driveby over the top doom crying and accusations of Inafune shenanigans.
 
You know how I know you've never edited a fucking video and your life, or know shit about game development? Because you think this shit is easy, and would take "maybe 10 minutes".

That's armchair devs for you folks!



Because you really think making a logo transition takes long ? I mean, the logo transition in the trailer is movie maker grade. Dont tell me they had no time or money for a better logo transition. Yes, I stand by that, 10 minutes.

I didnt say the whole edit would take 10 minutes, I said removing/cutting unnecessary scenes from the actual video would.

As for game developpement, you're right, I'm not a developper. Do I need to be a developper to see it looks like stock UE4 effects, which you can see in many amateurs videos ? Do I need to be a developper to have noticed there were no facial animations or that the animations are janky ?

Now, I get it, this isnt ready yet. But if it's not ready, why focus on the stuff that isnt ready ? If there's no facial.animations, why focus on the faces during action, which would clearly show there's no facial animations ?
 
Yeah that trailer was awful... I'm not optimistic and that was true even before this trailer.

I hope I am wrong and it turns out to be great though, franchise deserves that.
 

zeopower6

Member
The models arent too bad in Shenmue 3 with the exception of Shenhua looking horrible and the big bad dude looking a bit waxy lol.

Honestly, I don't get why her temporary model had to be so... questionable, but hopefully she looks more like herself come the 'real' model.
 
It's fairly obvious though that they had some placeholder models and no facial animation. What use is there in complaining about stuff like that when they are already aware of it and will place it in when ready? Like this interview is literally him saying "Yes, we know about these things, don't worry about it." when faced with the questions about models/faces.

"The models look so ugly!"

Yu's response: Oh they're all temporary.

"The faces look stiff!"

Yu's response: I took out the animation.

Now that there's an explanation, what is there to really complain about?




Same as I said before: If these elements arent ready, why focus on them ?
You know why half of this trailer is good ? Because half of it focus on the environnements, which clearly are more advanced. You know why half of it is bad ? Because it zoom on faces, with no facial animations.
 
If an author put up a short excert of their upcoming book and it had a bunch of typos and a big <will fix later> inserted in the middle, like obviously that's getting fixed, but also isn't exactly ideal either, nor a great look. It's perfectly fine to judge what a creator presents, WIP or not.

Environments looked great, but character models and animations were meh.
 

zeopower6

Member
The demo disc of Whats Shenmue features better character models than this and that was back in 1998.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE2gPFEXIvA

This is Shenmue done on the cheap and its showing. I can't see it being anything other than a crushing disappointment myself

I don't think so. This is Shenmue with temporary assets that will be replaced and it's very obvious.

Like that Shenmue Passport is literally finished models from the finished game. You can bet the temporary ones they had used at that time probably looked like ass.
 

zeopower6

Member
Why release that garbage? It looks like shit. If I had donated, I'd feel stupid.

Like most Kickstarters, it is/was presented as a progress update to backers. I imagine the reason was that they 'had' to put something out because people were getting worried the game was 'dead'.

Backing things on KS means sometimes seeing things with placeholder assets and so on, something you would be used to if you actually donated.
 

noobie

Banned
  • The new partnership with Deep Silver is strong and it's aimed to improve the Shenmue III experience beyond what was initially planned on the Kickstarter.
  • Deep Silver will publish the game internationally, and they'll provide budget and promotional support. A publisher for Japan is to be decided.
Good stuff.

Wasnt the game supposed to be published by Sony? and then what type of support Sony has provided if they are not even publishing/promoting it?
 

zeopower6

Member
Wasnt the game supposed to be published by Sony? and then what type of support Sony has provided if they are not even publishing/promoting it?

It was never supposed to be published by Sony.

Sony helped out with funding and marketing IIRC. Sony will still be the ones printing the PS4 copies but it will be done through Deep Silver I believe outside of Japan. On the publishing end, I think they were to help facilitate a deal to find Shenmue a publisher though.

"Sony is providing various supports, including marketing and investment, to YSNet. However, SONY is just one of many backers of #Shenmue3." Further clarifying, Biscay wrote "SONY will not get any money from the KS, they will help to finance the PS4 version and will also help for advertisement."
 
The demo disc of Whats Shenmue features better character models than this and that was back in 1998.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE2gPFEXIvA

This is Shenmue done on the cheap and its showing. I can't see it being anything other than a crushing disappointment myself
You know that "what's Shenmue" was something completed AFTER the main game's principal production right, on bleeding edge technology, with the world's largest videogame budget at the time, right?

Of course you knew that.

Hey but real sound conparison there, real good job thinking that totally through.
Because you really think making a logo transition takes long ? I mean, the logo transition in the trailer is movie maker grade. Dont tell me they had no time or money for a better logo transition. Yes, I stand by that, 10 minutes.

I didnt say the whole edit would take 10 minutes, I said removing/cutting unnecessary scenes from the actual video would.

As for game developpement, you're right, I'm not a developper. Do I need to be a developper to see it looks like stock UE4 effects, which you can see in many amateurs videos ? Do I need to be a developper to have noticed there were no facial animations or that the animations are janky ?

Now, I get it, this isnt ready yet. But if it's not ready, why focus on the stuff that isnt ready ? If there's no facial.animations, why focus on the faces during action, which would clearly show there's no facial animations ?
Ah doubling down on your own ignorance, delicious.

You know what they spent that that extra "10 minutes" on that they could have fixed a logo transition that no one will give a shit about on a trailer no one will remember when the game comes out? Developing the fucking game.

That precious time was actually spent on developing something in the game that someone like yourself would have likely complained about as well had they not taken the "10 minutes" to develop it instead. Now tell me, which would you rather have; a polished trailer logo transition? Or a polished text menu transition in the game's UI?
Why release that garbage? It looks like shit. If I had donated, I'd feel stupid.
Here's a tip, never enter game development. Or any development of any kind of media. Because it looks like shit almost the entirety of production. You might die for feeling too stupid.
 

Mik317

Member
like i forgot this was kickstarted and I still knew it was a work in progress.

y'kno for a board full of so called hardcore gamers a lot of yall know very little about the process. Games tend to look rough as hell for long stretches of time because thats apart of the polishing phase that tends to happen near the very end...and yet everytime many go apeshit over things (see KOFXIV). bu-but then don't show it....and then people would be mad that they haven't shown anything and calls of scam would start.
This is why we aren't often privy to the process....too many knee jerk reactions instead of thinking for a bit before.
 

Rafus

Member
I hope that everything goes well at the end, because he is planning the story for a Shenmue 4, and I don't want another Shenmue 2 sequel situation...
He should just make this a trilogy, and do a new story for 4.
 
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