Shenmue 3

[SuitUp]

Now it's official, Sony is funding it, KS was just to gauge fan reactions

[Klashikari]

The streaming was a bit puzzling for one thing: Suzuki implied you don't need to have played I and II to enjoy Shenmue III... That's like telling me you can enjoy MGS4 without 1-2-3.

[Dextro]

Ok I think I should hit ebay and finally get that Dreamcast I've always dreamed of. I only played the second game on the XBox because I never actually owned the DC but hot damn am I hyped about this.

[AnimeFangirl]

$2.7 million in 2 days has got to be some kind of record. And it's still rising though not as fast. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended with over 5 million.

And yeah, nobody dreamed the Kickstarter alone was going to cut it. I bet even Square-Enix's smartphone games cost more than 2 mil to develop.

[kenjiharima]

damn I need to endure long cheesy cut scenes and very slow qte's again. Miss those days. lol

[MrTerrorist]

So since there's a PC version, will the PC version be DRM-Free?

[Chaos2Frozen]

Alright so new word is out, according to Yu Suzuki himself majority of the funding for this game still relies on Kickstarter donation from fans. Sony's monetary support on this doesn't seem to be as extensive as people originally assumed, possibly only covering publishing and marketing and some extra.

Spoiler for size for info:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...#post168899118

- He noticed that fans were getting more and more despondent about the chances of a Shenmue 3 ever coming out, and being willing to settle for just about any format (novel, manga etc.) just to see the conclusion of the story, but he really wanted to make the sequel as a game even if it didn't have all the bells and whistles he'd like to put in it.

- He first learned about Kickstarter about 3 years ago through a fan who'd used it before, although it took a while before he decided that was really the way to go forward. Tried looking for a major company to partner with, but couldn't find one that met his criteria. Eventually, he decided Kickstarter was the best option.

- Sega readily allowed him to make the game, and SCE gave their support too (nothing specific here).

- It'll be out on PS4 and PC. No mention of other platforms, no mention of considering any other platforms.

- 2 million is the bare minimum for the game to exist, and if that was all they got, it would just be focused on the story. The more money it gets, the more of the things he wants to do will be possible.

- He wants to give the fans what they want as much as possible, asking for their opinions during development and incorporating those into the final game. Like if they have two ideas for a character, they might ask backers to vote on which they prefer.

- As far as money goes, he expects the game's investment will primarily come from individual backers, so he wants them all to be happy with the finished product. Doesn't sound like Sony and others are giving them all THAT much.
- The story will take place in Guilin, beginning immediately after 2's end. You'll be able to go around the town(s) in that area, back to the mountains, infiltrate the Chi You Men's Guilin branch, etc.

- Back when he made Shenmue 2, he was determined that Shenmue 3's focus would be making a deeper open world rather than a bigger one. Fewer characters means they can have more to say, they can have more complex AI, etc. The character Ryo will talk to the most in 3 is Shenhua, so he wants to develop her as much as possible, making it so that talking to her lots makes her behaviour towards him change, makes quests involving her proceed differently, etc.

- Not that any of this is to say it won't be an open world game. Stretch goals will determine how much the town(s) can be expanded (presumably this is referring to stretch goals like those we can already see, the 'other towns' in that video aren't addressed here.)

- QTEs were originally designed so that people who weren't very good at battles could still enjoy the game.

- He wants to make 'free battles' (which are likely to have their name changed) less about pressing buttons at the right time and more about making the right decisions.

- He also wants to make them less about practising and inputting commands and more centred around the Technique Scrolls, so obtaining and using those is enough to win battles. These Technique Scrolls will ideally connect a number of different elements in the game together in a natural way.

"Shenmue had a number of minigames, gambling spots etc. that you could spend time playing around in, but I wanted something that would connect all of them somehow. I mean, obviously you can obtain money through part-time jobs, use that in gambling to get more of it and then buy weapons...but not that kind of connection, a closer one. If we can meet a number of our stretch goals and make the open world elements more elaborate, I'm hoping to be able to connect these side elements together, centred around the scrolls.

- He's desperately trying to find some way to include forklifts in the game in a way that will make sense, because Shenmue fans seem to love them.

- He wanted to gather as many of the people who worked on the earlier games as possible because it'd be reassuring to fans. They're planning to publish staff comments from a number of figures working on the game, including the writer Masahiro Yoshimoto.

- He's asked about whether he has an idea in his head about what'll come after Shenmue 3's done (presumably 4, but it doesn't come out and say this). He says he does, but right now he's focused on working on Shenmue 3. Certainly doesn't sound like this game will be 'it' at any rate.

- As the Kickstarter page says, he's hoping the game will be ready to release at the end of 2017.

Long story short, 2 million is the bare minimum to get the main story. In truth to realize his true vision it would take 10 million, which is impossible for a kickstarter. Most people estimate 5 million would be what we end up with.

Essentially, the fight isn't over yet.

[Freeter]

What he should have done was ask for $4 million right off the bat. The initial surge would have met that goal, then all the stragglers would tack on an extra million and the basic stretch goals would be achieved. As it stands now, it'll be lucky to even rub up against Bloodstained's total by the end.

- He's asked about whether he has an idea in his head about what'll come after Shenmue 3's done (presumably 4, but it doesn't come out and say this). He says he does, but right now he's focused on working on Shenmue 3. Certainly doesn't sound like this game will be 'it' at any rate.

No, this has to be it. He's not going to get another opportunity like this again without major outside funding. The fanbase has waited long enough, they deserve closure.

[com_gwp]

Originally Posted by Freeter

What he should have done was ask for $4 million right off the bat. The initial surge would have met that goal, then all the stragglers would tack on an extra million and the basic stretch goals would be achieved. As it stands now, it'll be lucky to even rub up against Bloodstained's total by the end.

Isn't too early to count the chickens at this point? There's still a good 20+ days until the Kickstarter ends and it's already sitting at 3.5mil. These things tend to slow down around the middle of the funding period and pick up steam towards the end as more people make their last minute decisions.

[Dextro]

On a new update Ys Net has shed some light on how the game is being handled. It's still rather opaque but they claim that Shibuya Productions is handling "the production and marketing end, and in Sony’s case with some publishing support as well". Doesn't really clear much of anything up but we can probably guess that Sony and Shibuya are financing marketing and Sony is handling console publishing. Those at least are fair to say.

[Freeter]

New stretch goal update posted, it's official: Yu Suzuki is absolutely insane.

Maybe the hidden stretch goal is the infamous forklift race

[Freeter]

Oh god, this stream. I can't breathe.

Seriously, go watch it now. Comedy goldmine.

[ChuckE]

All those stretch goals give me a feeling that Sony announced S3 just for show

But it would be good if it just fake goals - Sony will fund them anyway. But I doubt.

[JohnNiles]

The stream's volume was so low I couldn't watch it- I don't dare turn up my volume for fear of a stupid ad coming on. A lot of people vented about the host, but I couldn't really tell what was going on.

[Yu Ominae]

This is making the rounds:

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...-in-china.aspx

----

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/vie...hp?f=5&t=48235

One of them is a member here.

[Ultragunner]

The kickstarter has ended, man time sure flies I still vividly remember the moment Shenmue 3 was announced at E3

$6.3m is not so bad, eh?

[videoman190]

Here's the petition for the I and II remasters.
https://www.change.org/p/sega-remast...enmue-i-and-ii

[Dextro]

So here's an interesting bit of rumor/potential news:

Shenmue HD Remaster coming in 2017

A trusted source close to Atlus USA, today revealed to me that Shenmue HD Remaster will be released this year. Both games, Episodes 1 & 2, may be released together rather than separately. They are presumably being geared up for launch to precede Shenmue 3, which could possibly slip into 2018.