Shenmue III Release Topic

[pierrot]

Yeah, there have been a couple updates basically pointing out that all the Fangamer rewards aren't ready for shipment, but most of the stuff they had been working on at YSNet (calligraphy of backer names in various forms that showed up in the game, signed artwork from Yu, etc) were ready for shipping maybe a month ago. I'm sure they're trying to balance getting rewards out with not having to spend too much on multiple rounds of shipping, by waiting to send out the signed artworks for the lower tiers. I'm a little baffled by the delay, because it seems like YSNet had all of the designs for the rewards done maybe more than six months ago. Maybe it's the largest production Fangamer has ever had to do, but still. I'm not really in any rush, but it's just kind of vexing that they could be so, seemingly, unprepared.


About the difficulty, from what I have heard, it affects almost everything, not even just combat; Potentially things like vendor prices, QTE windows, job payouts, etc. I haven't been able to verify any of that, though. I started on Hardest difficulty, and rode that up to the last fight in Bailu, where I was just super stuck on Gold Tiger, and the boss in the Hermit Nest. So, at that point I dropped the difficulty down to Hard, which made things pretty easy. I was maxed in stats, with some pretty wild techniques, fairly early on in Niaowu, so I mopped the floor with pretty much everything there. Hardest fight after dropping the difficulty to Hard was the last of the Rose Garden fights, which is all three 10th Dan fighters at once. Fortunately, they put part of the rails down for those three-on-one fights, for ring-outs.

[Reprise]

Should I have received the illustration by now then? I haven't heard anything.

[pierrot]

I probably didn't word that very well. I meant that since the signed artwork was delivered with the flower calligraphy for that one backer (the twitter post you linked to earlier), they seem to be sending out what they have on hand to those backers who were at the higher tiers, but since there's still so much left in production, they're probably holding on to the signed artwork for the other tiers so that they don't end up spending too much on shipping for a bunch of different rounds of packages for everyone. I mean, I payed $10 for shipping, and even if they had sent all of it in one package, at the release, I feel like they could have lost money on shipping my rewards to me.

Anyway, I really just meant to say, in a very long-winded way, that I'm not surprised that I haven't at least received the signed artwork yet.

[Reprise]

Oh yeah, that makes sense. I just hope they don't take too long or give you the opportunity to update address if they do. I'm planning to move at some point this year.

[Reprise]

Stuff about Shenmue 4 maybe happening in this thread: https://www.shenmuedojo.com/forum/index ... -why.2626/

What caught my eye unrelated to Shenmue 4 though was this:

There is a ton of cut content from Shenmue 3, mainly Baisha



In the "A Gamer's Journey" Shenmue teaser trailer, we see Ryo running around a circular building similar to the ones in Baisha. Notice the design of the building and placement of the door in the game, and then compare it to the concept art.

[pierrot]

Yeah, I was always kind of concerned about my address with Shenmue III, even back at the beginning of the kickstarter, because I've always moved around so much. I guess they'd just expect people to put in a forwarding address with their post office at this point. Maybe you would be able to contact Fangamer or something about updating the mailing address.

Stuff about Shenmue 4 maybe happening in this thread: https://www.shenmuedojo.com/forum/index ... -why.2626/

I appreciate the optimism, but I don't think that anything there actually points strongly to Shenmue IV actually being greenlit yet. The in-game stuff just feels like keeping the hope alive, and trying to keep fans invested. It's great to see that Yu was already back in China doing research, but it basically tells me that he's potentially just continuing with prep work on his own dime, while on vacation. The interview answers are a nice indication that he's motivated to continue the project, but that's all I'm comfortable about reading into on that. Cedric's obviously going to be looking to help get the next chapter made. The Lakshya post on Facebook feels to me like highlighting their work on the project while giving thanks to Yu for bringing them in, and a final, 'Please keep us in mind for any more work in the immediate future.' The Koch Media post could literally be anything related to Shenmue. The Epic deal is pure speculation, and not really worth commenting on.

I am sure that there's plenty of content that's already been produced, that could be pushed forward into the next game.

What caught my eye unrelated to Shenmue 4 though was this:

That's certainly part of Baisha. I kind of remember that from one of the update videos, but I don't remember which one it would have been, and how far into the process that was. It looks like maybe the outside walls weren't fully textured, though. Even if they had a start on Baisha, and it was still relevent to the continuation of the story, it's good to have a head start.

I don't mean to say that it's unrealistic to say that Shenmue IV is coming, but it's just reading tea leaves at this point. I would guess that Yu probably already has some funding in place, but probably wants to give it a little bit of time to see what sort of partnerships he might still be able to put together, what sort of scope would be reasonable, etx.

speaking of stuff already being somewhat in place, I came across some potential early screens of Bailu again, from way back:

Feels like the bell tower, the training space in the center of the village, near elder Yo's house, and thee abandoned temple where we learned Tetsuzankou. Looks awfully familiar.


Just some random Shenmue thoughts:

YS (or maybe just someone at AM2) must have been a fan of the manga, Kenji. It's a manga that began in 1988, about a boy named Kenji (拳児) who learns Hakkyokuken (Baiji Quan) from his grandfather. A few weeks ago I was looking into proper form for Rimon Chouchuu and Gaimon Chouchuu, and saw a page from that manga, where Kenji was learning Rimon Chouchuu from his grandfather.

It seems a lot like the flashback Ryo has under the cherry tree in front of the Hadzuki Dojo. Unfortunately I also realized that in that flashback Ryo is doing Rimon Chouchuu, but Iwao's demonstration is some other Baho Chouchuu--his forearm on the striking elbow is in front of his chest, like Gaimon Chouchuu, but his other arm is bent like Rimon Chouchuu.


I understand why it couldn't be, but I do wish Shenhua's ethnicity had remained Tibetan. I feel like that would have fit a little more with the reincarnation aspect of her character. Although, Guilin isn't terribly far off the mark.


I've been thinking a little bit more about the symbolism presented in Shenmue III, after remembering that Lan Di is represented by (within the Chiyou Men) Seiryuu, or the eastern dragon, and Niao Sun is represented by Suzaku, the southern phoenix. There's a bit of a duality between Lan Di/Ryo, and Niao Sun/Shenhua that's presented. Even in the first scene in the cave, the giant mirrors behind Ryo and Shenhua are acting as direct links to their characters. I thought it was a little silly the way they turned and posed, but it's effective in illustrating Ryo as the dragon, and Shenhua as the Phoenix.

So, of course, it would also make sense that by the end of the game, Lan Di is liable to be in possession of the dragon mirror, while Niao Sun holds the phoenix mirror.

I was also thinking about the end of Bailu, and Ryo going through a Baijiquan form under the moonlight. It's obviously meant to be reminiscent of Xiuying, but it makes me feel like he's still working through her teachings, as well. He still may not have internalized it all, but it's potentially on his mind.

[Reprise]

Oh I know it's doubtful Shenmue 4 has been greenlit (yet), I was just sharing the source. My point was I was interested in the early shot of Baisha, which I never knew was Baisha until it was pointed out. It looks like an interesting area, so it's a shame it has been cut from Shenmue 3.

Yeah, I remember those Shenmue 2 shots. Bailu was ultimately cut from Shenmue 2. In fact, the whole Guilin area was going to be removed and it was supposed to end at the Yellow Head building climax, but Yu Suzuki was desperate to get to the point of meeting Shenhua and seeing the mirrors in the cave, knowing the Dreamcast was on its last legs and he might not get the chance to continue the series for a long time if ever.

[pierrot]

Yeah, I was just reacting to that thread in a broad sense, not necessarily attributing it to your personal thoughts. I still think it's really likely for Baisha to be a part of Shenmue IV, even more so if the area has actually already been rendered in UE. Also, with Yu visiting Shanghai, it seems like he could be trying to work the other cut village into the next game, since that was supposed to take place near Shanghai: https://youtu.be/Amu0_EunHmM?t=1006. The only thing that would worry me about possibly having all these cut areas worked back in at this point is, unless he's going to be combining things, there potentially won't be much movement in the story, and I'm not sure how we would get a conclusion to this first Shenmue story in only five games, even. That is unless, maybe, he's just committed to not really adding anything in terms of open world, and just focusing on creating the environments to facilitate the story aspects. Most of the areas that are supposed to be left aren't necessarily all that rural, though. Bailu was supposed to be the most rural of all, and that ended up being fairly built up. It's not even really clear where NIaowu fits in, either. It seems like it could have taken the place of Xian, at least partially, in terms of story, but they still are going to be headed to the Great Wall, anyway, so--. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.


Looks like they're going to be sending out the backer rewards individually as they wrap up production on each item, though. That's not at all what I would have expected, and seems kind of crazy, but if they've worked it out, so be it. I was noticing a comment that said that having all the rewards out to backers by the end of march would actually be really fast for physical kickstarter rewards. Did all the other video game kickstarters take longer to get the physical rewards out to backers?

[Cafeman]

The road up to Lan Di's castle was like 70 man battle, but I was disappointed how easy it was. Then I realized there is a difficulty setting and I had been playing on Normal. I will have to search for info on what changes when you bump up the challenge. What difficulty did you guys use?

I reloaded the game at this point, but changed difficulty from Normal to Hard. Absolutely no difference in this sequence. I still took down everybody easily. Even Lan Di's 3 bosses were still QTE requiring only 1 button press each. I had hoped Hard difficulty might add some segments to these QTEs. Nope.

From what I read, it seems like the difficulty might make you consume energy more quickly and make it so money is harder to come by. Those are the wrong aspects to make harder, if so. Then again, I didn't play the whole game on Hard and my Kung is very high, it was 38 last I checked. Maybe I'm maxed out so much that all the normal fights won't be too challenging.

[Sload Soap]

Hard mode should be retitled patience mode. It just stretches out all the mundane tasks. The combat isn't really good enough to warrant a bump in difficulty either IMO.