Random Shenmue III Thoughts

Just finished another playthrough of Shenmue 3 and really enjoyed it. The game does require a lot of patience (do we really need to have the same conversation everyday with the woman at the hotel desk, the guys at the sparring dojos, etc.?). However, once you give yourself in to training everyday, understand that selling herbs is the best way to earn money and try to obtain as many skill books as you can, the game flows pretty nicely. I enjoyed the fighting once I got the hang of it.

Now hopefully we can get the whole story somehow, some way!
 
japalp said:
Just finished another playthrough of Shenmue 3 and really enjoyed it. The game does require a lot of patience (do we really need to have the same conversation everyday with the woman at the hotel desk, the guys at the sparring dojos, etc.?). However, once you give yourself in to training everyday, understand that selling herbs is the best way to earn money and try to obtain as many skill books as you can, the game flows pretty nicely. I enjoyed the fighting once I got the hang of it.

Now hopefully we can get the whole story somehow, some way!
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Did you do new game plus? Much smoother experience without having to train.
 
I’ve played it twice, didn’t even realise there was new game plus. The training fills the time up nicely in my opinion, and adds to the experience, even if it is rather uninteresting, it works though.

I’m on third playthrough of S2 at the minute (I feel like I’ve written that sentence 200 times just now) but I really can’t wait to get to Niaowu.
 
SPG said:
I’ve played it twice, didn’t even realise there was new game plus. The training fills the time up nicely in my opinion, and adds to the experience, even if it is rather uninteresting, it works though.

I’m on third playthrough of S2 at the minute (I feel like I’ve written that sentence 200 times just now) but I really can’t wait to get to Niaowu.
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Maybe in S4 YS can make the training more interesting by adding a video of a hot girl like in MGS2.

Yeah after the chaos of Kowloon you deserve a nice relaxing holiday in Niaowu.
 
I never took to MGS2 - I liked the first bit on the boat but then wasn’t arsed. In fact, never been arsed about MGS really apart from the first PS1 game, but I did enjoy Snake’s Revenge on NES, even if it’s not part of the series.

I feel weird about Niaowu - on one hand it’s one of my favourite locations in the series, on the other I find it the least believable - given it’s the arse end of nowhere down the river, it’s got fancy New Paradise and the lack of any apparently residential area and the big game arcades, doesn’t seem quite in place. But maybe that’s part of the appeal. I dunno, it’s great anyway.

SPG said:


This area and this music are the most Shenmue parts of the game, if you ask me.
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Still stand by that though.
 
SPG said:
I never took to MGS2 - I liked the first bit on the boat but then wasn’t arsed. In fact, never been arsed about MGS really apart from the first PS1 game, but I did enjoy Snake’s Revenge on NES, even if it’s not part of the series.

I feel weird about Niaowu - on one hand it’s one of my favourite locations in the series, on the other I find it the least believable - given it’s the arse end of nowhere down the river, it’s got fancy New Paradise and the lack of any apparently residential area and the big game arcades, doesn’t seem quite in place. But maybe that’s part of the appeal. I dunno, it’s great anyway.


Still stand by that though.
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Niaowu is certainly the most touristy of all the Shenmue locations. Lacks the grit and grim of Hong Kong.
 
Yeah, touristy is the feeling I guess, I just don’t envisage there were places like that in 1980s China - I may be talking out of my arse though and making broad assumptions, there could well have been places like that, maybe? Wasn’t the Mao era after all.
 
SPG said:
Yeah, touristy is the feeling I guess, I just don’t envisage there were places like that in 1980s China - I may be talking out of my arse though and making broad assumptions, there could well have been places like that, maybe? Wasn’t the Mao era after all.
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When I was a child my parents would always tell me about starving people in China. But apparently not in Niaowu where every empty table is laden with food just being wasted.
 
Lately I've been thinking how many of the 60,000-70,000 thousand kickstarter backers are true fans or most of them are caught up in the moment? I've seen too many unopened backer copies on ebay over the years.

If there is a new kickstarter now, will there be as many people again without the Sony E3 press conference and the hype?

It's clear that most of the money came from the real fans, but how much do you think "not so big" fans (like eye patched wolf) made? Can we gather decent money from kickstarter again without some big hype from the media?
 
thedemon1238 said:
Lately I've been thinking how many of the 60,000-70,000 thousand kickstarter backers are true fans or most of them are caught up in the moment? I've seen too many unopened backer copies on ebay over the years.

If there is a new kickstarter now, will there be as many people again without the Sony E3 press conference and the hype?

It's clear that most of the money came from the real fans, but how much do you think "not so big" fans (like eye patched wolf) made? Can we gather decent money from kickstarter again without some big hype from the media?
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This is a very good observation, as Shenmue is a niche property nowadays. I can only speculate that in 2015, people bought into the hype due to Shenmue's reputation and dormancy. Now that gamers are more aware of Shenmue, I doubt the same miracle will occur again. My hypothesis is that circumstances have changed since 1999, and that Shenmue III was not handled in the best way.

Shenmue (1999) was revolutionary for its time as it introduced and/or popularized many elements we take for granted in video games today. It is something that is hard to appreciate if you were not alive in 1999, or never played the game back then. Shenmue II greatly expanded the world, narrative, gameplay, and characters, leaving us with a compelling cliffhanger. Unfortunately, financial woes doomed the franchise to dormancy. During this time, the gaming ecosystem drastically changed.

Shenmue is no longer the only video game with intricate open worlds, cinematic storytelling, and impressive graphics, et cetera. This is why Shenmue on the Dreamcast received much higher review scores than its high-definition re-release. Secondly, the mishandling of the Kickstarter campaign and Shenmue III's reputation has soured the mythical status it once held in some players' eyes.

With that said, the real fans are those who know the cold reality in front of them, but refuse to give up anyway. The ones who will do insane things like getting an advertisement in Times Square. The ones who will not let companies and social media forget that they want the saga completed through campaigning. People may come and go, but as long as the fans never give up on Shenmue, it will live on to some degree.
 
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And how many of those ~70000 people would participate again in a new kickstarter? Roughly how many of them are caught up in the hype and are not really familiar with the series?

Surely some of the old backers will not participate in a possible new kickstarter. However, there may be new fans to replace them. Is it really impossible to gather 70,000 thousand people again or even more?

I really wish we had a chance to participate in another kickstarter. I feel the series is wasting precious time.
 
thedemon1238 said:
And how many of those ~70000 people would participate again in a new kickstarter? Roughly how many of them are caught up in the hype and are not really familiar with the series?

Surely some of the old backers will not participate in a possible new kickstarter. However, there may be new fans to replace them. Is it really impossible to gather 70,000 thousand people again or even more?

I really wish we had a chance to participate in another kickstarter. I feel the series is wasting precious time.
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I honestly could not tell you, as I cannot predict the future. Your questions would require surveying those 70,000+ people and assuming they are being honest. As stated in my previous post, the mishandling of the Kickstarter campaign and Shenmue III's mediocre reception no doubt turned some people away.

I am an older fan, and I will donate to a Shenmue IV; I am sure most people on this forum would too. In either case, all we can do until then is to keep making our voices heard and supporting this franchise because no one else will.
 
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thedemon1238 said:
I really wish we had a chance to participate in another kickstarter. I feel the series is wasting precious time.
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Shenmue 3 wasn't funded entirely by the Kickstarter and had a lot of outside help even during the KS campaign. A Shenmue 4 funded entirely by KS at a lower amount than the previous one (let's be generous and say $5M) will not result in a game that can approach even S3's level of quality. The total budget for S3 was around $20M and that still resulted in a heavily compromised game; imagine what 1/4 of that would get you. To say nothing of the development time.

Shenmue needs to be totally reworked/reimagined for the audience it has imo.
 
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