Shenmue 3 Kickstarter

[ElkinFencer10]

Whatever the case, it is Shenmue. I will wait as long as it takes.

Preach, brother. We've been waiting so long, what's another year or two for a masterpiece in the making?

[Betagam7]

I'm happy about the delay...more time to save up for the exorbitant amount I threw at the Kickstarter... and buy a PS4 to play it on.

[Michi]

The first teaser has been released.

[PartridgeSenpai]

The first teaser has been released.

Ahhh, I guess it might be old news, but it does make sense that they actually got a publisher. There are certainly worse ones than Deep Silver to get saddled with.

The visual style looks a bit... off? Like, they almost look like they're 80's action figures. The weird sheen on their skin. I couldn't really solid down what it looks like to me. And speaking of odd-looking presentation, perhaps I'm too used to Yakuza, but the fighting in the cutscenes they showed looked really weightless and slow. Having never made it far enough into the other games to witness that, I wouldn't know if that's just how the Virtua Fighter (another series I have never played) -based combat system generally goes.

[Segata]

I know it's an indie project and all but that looks like month old ass. This game seems so amateur even form an indie game perspective. Meh, screw the game. It's the last game I ever KS. I regret backing it.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I know it's an indie project and all but that looks like month old ass. This game seems so amateur even form an indie game perspective. Meh, screw the game. It's the last game I ever KS. I regret backing it.

I think the bigger lesson from KS the past few years is that the multi-million dollar ones do not play out well more often than not.

At least out of my memory, high profile gaming-related million+ $ kickstarters that ended:

Well
-Torment: Tides of Numenera (I think? Pretty sure people like that. Hadn't had a chance to play it yet, meself)
-Pillars of Eternity

Meh
-Occulus Rift (it's alright, but kinda made redundant by the Vive in terms of high-end VR. It kicked off the VR bandwagon, which is still on the fence, so I won't condemn it one way or the other)
-Yooka-Laylee (A lot of people have mixed feeling about it, but it DID effecitively deliver what it promised, so I give it a middling grade for this list)

Badly
- Mighty No. 9
- The Ouya
- Yogventures (not technically a million $+ adventure, but notable enough to mention here, I figure)
- Star Citizen (it's been a pretty bad development purgatory for this one)
- Godus

Where will Shenmue III fall on the list? Only time can tell. Perhaps it will be the next Yooka-Laylee, for better or worse. (I'd be willing to know if there's others I missed, but these were the ones I could recollect quickly).

I think Kickstarter will continue to be a place where small games with weird premises will get off the ground and turn into something fun. Games like Dropsy, games like Shovel Knight (even though that's Yogventures-ish territory of funding), games Death Road to Canada, (hopefully *crosses fingers*) games like La-Mulana 2. I'm fine with that being the case, tbh.

[MrPopo]

Well
-Torment: Tides of Numenera (I think? Pretty sure people like that. Hadn't had a chance to play it yet, meself)
-Pillars of Eternity

Torment's reception comes down to just how much the person reviewing it was expecting this to be the second coming of PS:T vs. just getting a quality CRPG with a new rule set (since it's not on AD&D).

I've actually had a bunch of video game KS's turn out well:

Wasteland 2
The Banner Saga
FTL
Shadowrun Returns
Planetary Annihilation
Pillars of Eternity
Strike Suit Zero
Elite Dangerous
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Cosmic Star Heroine
Ninja Pizza Girl
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Strafe

All of these I enjoyed unequivocally. I'd argue Might No. 9 delivered a finished game that probably would have been better with a smaller budget keeping things grounded. There's a couple that delivered that I just haven't played yet (only so much time in the day) and one game that has neat ideas and promise but killed a save midway through thanks to a major bug and some bad balance that ruins the experience. The ones that have fizzled out are pretty much from when I was super into the concept right after I heard about Broken Age doing well and getting in on Wasteland 2, and those were from indie groups that I didn't vet beyond the concept of the pitch.

[Gunstar Green]

I know it's an indie project and all but that looks like month old ass. This game seems so amateur even form an indie game perspective. Meh, screw the game. It's the last game I ever KS. I regret backing it.

I don't even like Shenmue and I think that's harsh. It's a minor miracle the story is getting continued at all.

Kickstarter is still a solid platform for small projects, just be leery of people promising you the world.

You've got to take the good with the bad as crowd funding has produced a lot of flops but it's also produced most of the best indie games of the decade. The only thing crowd funding has done has taken the risk that publishers have traditionally had to take and put it in the hands of consumers, except instead of investing for a profit you're investing because you want the game to exist. Sometimes you'll end up with something great, sometimes you'll end up holding a turd. It'll never be a sure thing since the games need to be funded before they can be made.

Personally I usually decide it's not worth the risk for me and I rarely bother with Kickstarter, but I'm glad the platform exists or a lot of games wouldn't.

[Segata]

I just don't like the series anymore. I never thought I would dislike Shenmue but I do now. So I wish I didn't back it. I don't want the copy of the game they will be mailing me next year.

[MrPopo]

The only thing crowd funding has done has taken the risk that publishers have traditionally had to take and put it in the hands of consumers, except instead of investing for a profit you're investing because you want the game to exist. Sometimes you'll end up with something great, sometimes you'll end up holding a turd. It'll never be a sure thing since the games need to be funded before they can be made.

With Fig you can invest for profit AND to see the game exist.