New Shenmue 3 Images from GameInformer - Warning: POSSIBLE DLC STORY SPOILERS

[Tosh]

I wonder if Niao Sun is in disguise or undercover at one point, maybe she tries to seduce Ryo to find out about the Phoenix Mirror (jokes on her, you can't seduce an asexual) and then later on we see her looking more like she does in the old promo images.

that would be cool. i just think that for example the concept art that you can see on the KS page,
the one with the hat and the long sleeves, looks way better. more interesting.
it makes her look important. the newer design is just a woman in a chinese red dress and the gloves + shoes
make her look like a good looking model. good looking is fine but i think its a bit boring because its just pretty and nothing else.
you can find this type of dress in every Yakuza host minigame and in every asian character creator game, its not unique at all.

 

[Zoyous]

Yeah, but it makes sense if she is a character who has seductive charisma, one's first impression of her would not be that she's seriously dangerous. That would only be revealed later on. Citation: my prior relationships...

 

[Tosh]

Yeah, but it makes sense if she is a character who has seductive charisma, one's first impression of her would not be that she's seriously dangerous. That would only be revealed later on. Citation: my prior relationships...

if its really part of the story and there is a surprise later on i'm totally fine with it, no problem.
but if that design "is all" ... bit disappointing.

 

[Dietsoap]

Maybe I'm in the minority but I always found her original hair to look kinda weird and unnatural

You aren't wrong, but I feel like that's part of what gave her such a menacing and larger than life presence. For the record, it's not that I dislike the new design, just that I don't know that I like it more than the old design just yet.

Still, I also agree with Spaghetti that changing up a character that never actually debuted in-game is more fair than someone who did, and with Revan in that I think the hair is probably still black and the red accentuation is more down to the stylized lighting for the picture.

 

[ShenGCH]

I wonder if Niao Sun is in disguise or undercover at one point, maybe she tries to seduce Ryo to find out about the Phoenix Mirror (jokes on her, you can't seduce an asexual) and then later on we see her looking more like she does in the old promo images.

Seems a bit pointless. Ryo is completely unaware of her existence; what use would a disguise be? Plus, she's not exactly going to be able to blend in with the crowd the way she is dressed in that image. She looks more like a cabaret dancer now, compared to her original look. It's lost the magic.

EDIT:

Check out Takayuki Yagami chilling out in the background of the casino image:

 

[Alexey]

I believe we will see original look of Niao Sun. What if the image demonstrates her regular outfit? Maybe there will be similar story like it was with Lishao Tao when Ryo met her for the first time.

 

[You Arcade]

It's worth mentioning that the date on that Niao Sun character art is July 2018. Who knows what's changed since then. The GameInformer gallery had a complete mish-mash of images all dated over numerous years without any real consistency. I've not seen the print edition but a lot of these images aren't in the digital "article" so to speak so they probably just got given a bunch by YS Net.

I do find the Niao Sun comments funny though. This is technically a character that doesn't even exist yet as she's not in the previous games. Concept art is just that and doesn't mean jack shit when it comes to actually creating the character in-game. I know some became attached to the various images we've seen of her in promo and concept art but until she appears in the game Yu Suzuki can do what the fuck he wants and change her as much as he likes in my opinion.

Can't help but feel if we saw her with red hair for 20 years in promos and then she had black hair in this image we'd all be disappointed at that too.

 

[ShenmueTree]

Am i the only one who likes ALL the new designs?
Both Shenhua and Niao Sun (if it is indeed her) look amazing to me! Man...November can't get here sooner....

I like all the new designs of the main characters more than the original versions. The only character I actively dislike is Zu Zixiong and the muscly guy.

 

[Araviel]

Going to go a little nitpicky; Ren's mouth/jaw area. Hope they sharp it up a bit, more cheek bones, slimmer jaw. But maybe that'd push his features too much into Lan Di territory. Apart from that, it's perfect.

I also quite like Niao Sun, she is gorgeous. The hair suits her. But agree on the costume, maybe she has an evening/day kind of costume thing, maybe she fights wearing something different (she uses a Kung fu fan right? Hope so!).

 

[*KENSHIN HIMURA*]

Those shots look fantastic! Ryo's model is looking hella modern Dreamcast-Esque. I'm lovin it. Shenhua is looking so good, as well as everyone else. Wow Zhang is back!! The mystery continues....

I hope Guizhang and Nozomi make an Appearance in SIII.

Btw Niao-Sun looks so much better with black hair, but then again why not make her have more personality with red. Her model gives me BoA Hancock vibes from One Piece.

 

[ShenmueTree]

I really wish I could read the article, ?

 

[Revan]

A sweet, gentle, loving reminder that this isn't the first time we've seen Niao Sun rocking some red hair...



So it looks as though her final 2019 design has taken inspiration from her concept art during The Legend of Akira RPG days.

 

[高野和泉]

So uh, is there a way to buy single issues of Game Informer digitally?

I don't think so digitally. But in store you can grab individual copies, but they're like 15 bucks a pop. Or you can subscribe for physical copies to be mailed out to you but I think it's US based only. I used to be a subscriber for a few years, but I stopped because genres/nor interesting gaming stories I could cared about rarely get covered anymore.

 

[Tosh]

I thought her style would be more like this ... kind of ... maybe

 

[Lan Di-sama]

I was looking forward to perhaps NOT seeing Niao Sun until the game, but am relieved that she a) is indeed in the game and not cut for whatever reason and b) looks great. Obviously, a bit different from her original model but that is to be expected at this point. And as others have stated, she technically hasn't appeared yet. Her inclusion in all the promotional material has had me yearning to meet her since I first started diving into Shenmue lore after completing the games in '03.

Back in 2001, Masaya Matsukaze said: “When it's time for Niao Sun to make an appearance in Shenmue, the story will have reached an amazing point!”

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Hmm... the shoes are Japanese (IIRC), so not sure if that would fit (she's always been depicted with heels, right?), but that hat is spot on; that's like the hat she's worn in all the promotional materials and the comic.

 

[Spaghetti]

I don't think so digitally. But in store you can grab individual copies, but they're like 15 bucks a pop. Or you can subscribe for physical copies to be mailed out to you but I think it's US based only. I used to be a subscriber for a few years, but I stopped because genres/nor interesting gaming stories I could cared about rarely get covered anymore.

I'm UK-based so I can't find it in a newsagents unfortunately. Ah well.

 

[高野和泉]

I'm UK-based so I can't find it in a newsagents unfortunately. Ah well.

If I didn't have to budget and need to manage money for expenses, I'd buy out the stacks of copies in store and gift em out for the Dojo.

 

[Valascaziel]

They are NOT $15 a piece. I worked there--there is an individual price SKU(I think $3.95 or $4.95) in their system when I was there. If it even is still there.

Most nice folks will let you have one. If you pay $15, sorry to say you got roped into a PowerUp Pro card and they put bogus information in the system to give it to you in order to bolster their numbers.

 

[Tosh]

Hmm... the shoes are Japanese (IIRC), so not sure if that would fit (she's always been depicted with heels, right?), but that hat is spot on; that's like the hat she's worn in all the promotional materials and the comic.

yes, those are japanese shoes. i just photoshopped different parts of kimonos and dresses together
but all the modern designer shoes looked stupid