Last night Yu Suzuki held a Reddit AMA, revealing even more Shenmue 3 details for fans. While the event itself was initially confusing, failing to mention if the event was 9:30 AM or PM, what time zone it was in, and where on Reddit it could be found, eventually everything was sorted and the AMA took place at /r/IAMA. Suzuki answered several questions pertaining to the length of the game, how many chapters the entire Shenmue saga would cover, potential gameplay elements, and more. Most interestingly, he laid out the exact numbers he hopes the Kickstarter will hit to make the game not only a reality, but as close to his vision as possible:
I will say this: if we reach the $5 mil mark, one of the things I really want to do with Shenmue 3 will become a reality. At $10 million, it will truly have the features of an open world.
After the break, check out a full breakdown of what Suzuki revealed about Shenmue 3!
The following comes from the SEGAbits Forums Shenmue 3 topic and was written by forum member crackdude:
- Yu Suzuki is considering accepting PayPal donations after the project is funded.
- Apparently Shenmue is now down to eleven chapters.
- The story will span 4-5 games.
- The day/night/weather cycles from the previous games will of course be in the new one.
- Ryo’s face from the trailer is not what we’ll see in the final version. Yu Suzuki isn’t happy it with it yet.
- Shenmue III will feature a more user friendly interface.
- No decision has been made on what the capsule toys will be.
- There will be a Japanese dub for Shenmue III.
- Yu Suzuki didn’t tell the story of Shenmue in book form so that it wouldn’t ruin the story if he were ever able to complete the game. However, he did consider it.
- Shenmue’s story was inspired by Yu Suzuki’s trips to China when he was location hunting when designing Virtua
- Fighter. Our first mention of a retro game this AMA.
- Practicing moves and the FREE battle system will return in Shenmue III.
- Yu Suzuki is considering allowing players to have access to both English and Japanese voice overs in the game, but he hasn’t decided.
- Yu Suzuki is considering putting a special option in the game where Ryo’s face bandage could be removed.
- Yu Suzuki would like to bring the journal back and will look into it.
- Yu Suzuki believes that the popularity of mobile games in the Japanese market is causing game budgets to decrease, making it harder for designers to express their vision. His hope is that the console and PC markets will gain in popularity to reverse this trend.
- Shenmue III might contain something like a 1 horsepower bike. Perhaps an actual horse?
- The essence of an arcade game is that there is only a 3 minute window to express what the game is.
- Something resembling a co-op or vs. mode is being considered for Shenmue III.
- In Shenmue III the “Rapport System” will govern changes in Shenhua’s actions depending on your conversations with or actions towards her. The “Character Perspective System” will highlight different characters personalities as they go through the story.
- Shenmue III will contain part time jobs. It’s hinted at the stretch goals may include the forklift job. Edit: Now confirmed.
It looks we’ll get the most complete version of Shenmue III if the $10 million mark is hit. - Akira would defeat Ryo in a fight.
- Possible return of duck racing.
- Yu Suzuki declines to reveal whether or not Ryo will ever use a sword.
- Yu Suzuki answers one of my questions. “I had fun making all the games I worked on, and can’t say one was better than another.”
- Shenmue is set in the 80s instead of the present day to “put forward the differences in culture and values between the two periods.”
- Yu Suzuki’s favorite song from Shenmue is the Tomato Mart theme.
- Expect more funding tiers for the Kickstarter, in particular between the $500 and $3000 mark.
- Shenmue IV is contingent on fans liking Shenmue III. “If the fans are not happy with 3 there will not be a 4. So I please hope we can together make this game the best it can be.”
- Dreamcast is Yu Suzuki’s favorite console.
- When directly asked if arcade games will return in Shenmue III, Yu Suzuki responds, “I plan on making plans.” Very ambiguous. Possible yes?
- Why does Yu Suzuki create? “Why does one climb the mountain? The shark cannot breath when it does not swim.”
- Yu Suzuki has three Yorkshire terriers and a turtle as pets.
- Sega would be responsible for any remasters and re-releases of Shenmue I and II.
- Details about Chobu and Bailu villages.
- The villages mentioned in the stretch goal are already in the game. The stretch goals are to add extras to them. Not to add the villages.
- Ryo may one day return to Japan, but it won’t be in Shenmue III.
Related posts:
Yu Suzuki will be on Reddit tomorrow answering all fan questions
Yu Suzuki reflects on one year since the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was funded
New Shenmue 3 developer update gives us a peek at the game in action
Yu Suzuki announces Shenmue 3 release date delayed to second half of 2018
Shenmue 3 introduces new character and new production team
I would like a HD version of shemue 1+ 2 that will make my life complete!
11 chapters? It was meant to be 16, seems like he’s cut 5 of them out, the boat on the way to Shenmue 2 was one of them likely.
If he’s considering Paypal after funding, I wonder if the merchandise will still be used as incentive.
Wow, haven’t felt this excited since the Dreamcast when they were still making Shenmue chapter 1.
I hope that the Kickstarter picks up again soon, they should add a paypal option, it’s likely pick up again, not everybody has these cards they are asking for.
Shenmue is developed by YS-Net, YS-Net has chosen to source funding from other companies as well as from fans via Kickstarter. The game is not fully funded. Sony, like other investors is throwing in an undisclosed amount of money in (possibly to secure exclusivity on PS4). To be clear, it is not a fully budgeted game to the level that Yu Suzuki truly wants to make for the fans. Yu Suzuki mentioned that for the Kickstarter part of his funding campaign, he needs $10 million (from Kickstarter funding) to ensure he can make a totally open world game for Shenmue 3. It’s super annoying that some media information has been twisted to assume some kind of conspiracy that Sony are just using Kickstarter as a pre-order. Also, annoying and false is the assumption that only $2 million is needed and that the remainder is funded exclusively by Sony. Everyone needs to get behind Kickstarter and contribute even as low as US$29 for a digital copy of either PS4 or PC when the game is released. If you’ve never played Shenmue (14 years is a long time since Shenmue 2) – don’t be too worried – I have a good feeling that SEGA will release HD version of the last two games before Shenmue 3 releases. New to Shenmue..? There is a reason why it’s going gangbusters just check out Gamerankings averages are 89.34% for Shenmue (48 critic reviews) and 89.63% for Shenmue 2 (19 critic reviews).
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3/description
I’m also looking forwards to this, it feels like the traditional real Sega again, even if they aren’t directly hands on with it like the first two games, though I have to say, I’m disappointed with the slow and sluggish pledges the past three days, especially after the initial funding shot through expectations and broke records for fastest game funded ever, and even broke the entire Kickstarter site, it was an excellent start but it’s decreased rapidly in comparison to the start as of the way the campaign is presented and the some what unprofessional look of the official page on Kickstarter, it could have been down a lot better and handled better with a Paypal option from the start with more stretch goals and a higher starting stretch goal.
By the way, who exactly is in YS Net? and What other works have they done? Many people are only now aware of them because of Shenmue III. If they are not a Sega in-house studio, then what about AM2? Or is YS Net the new AM2?
And if everyone only does £29, then there wont be enough to reach 10million at this rate, 42,000 backers only is pretty shocking, yes, that doesn’t mean the game wont sell far more when it comes out to the public eventually but for a game like this that we’ve waited 14 years for, that so far only represents like 3.8% of the original sales of the first game, and the ideal cash minimal would be something like 15million to 20million, to keep it revolutionary like the past two games and above titles like Skyrim and Witcher 3 ect.
shenmue 3 must have: multiplayer support for fights and vehicle racing(forklift,motorbike,car e.t.c.)!
vr headset support.
d.l.c.
shenmue 1 and 2 included (vr support for these games as well)
fast load times.
cheats such as: invincibility,scene/level skip,fast running,moon/gravity jump and more on shenmue 1,2&3.
in the old shenmue pt1,there was an arcade, in shenmue 3 there must be an arcade with more games in it than the original and all those games can be in multiplayer as well.
m.m.o support.I REALLY WANT THIS GAME TO COME OUT ON PS4.
3.5 mil its official. Skill tree
Ignore the 10.000 dollar troll. And keep following
Yu Suzuki is a £10$ Million troll?
@lord We still need more than that to get the proper game, 2 mill was the very bare bones version, just enough to get the story of the next chapter in SIII revealed and less on the game play elements, we need to at least get it past 5 mill to get the full experience with no cut down version with key bits missing. It seems to have slowed down as people are thinking that 2mill is all it will take to get everything but it’s only enough to get the very basics, it still needs more funding, a lot more to get the standards the same as the Dreamcast originals at least.
@lord,
The Yakuza budget was at least 10 million – Witcher 2 was as well. 10 million is generally the minimum for open district or open world games. if it’s less than 10 million we get smaller games that are more like sports or fighting games, and might get something like Wolf Among Us or The Walking Dead style for Shemue III. Trust me we need at least 15 million or similar to Witcher 3’s budget to see something as good as Witcher 3. (Speaking of open world games) – Fact is making games in Japan is more expensive than Poland, so even 15 million is still a bit low. 20 million would give us the best Shenmue III in my opinion and keep it as revolutionary as when it first came out relative to it’s time.
Yu Suzuki On Shenmue 3 KickStarter: At $10 Million, It Will Be Truly “Open World;” Talks About Forklift And More ~
http://gearnuke.com/yu-suzuki-shenmue-3-ks-10-million-will-truly-open-world-talks-forklift/
I already hinted in the forums that a Kickstarter campaign might put Sega on the right. And it seems I was right.
But in no way Playstation should have exclusivity! Sony try to ran Sega out of business and now wants to fund them?! What gives?
Microsoft was always fan of Sega. Even released Shenmue II on the Xbox.
There have been Sega exclusives on Playstation for 13 or 14 years now.
Put Sega in the right in what way?
Is that picture with Yu Suzuki standing in the middle of Tokyo a genuine picture with real Shenmue posters and showings on the screens across the buildings?
I doubt they’d fake these for a one of photo shoot, so yes, must be real some how, but it’s hard to believe, as it’s marketing and Shenmue III’s budget and marketing remains to be seen.
Definitely fake.
Given that some of the “Posters” are big Screens and not to mention how much money it’d take to plaster the whole Shibuyastation area with ads.
C’mon ,
@ Joon : i clearly meant on the right track
@ Centrale: i wasn’t living under a rock . The exclusivity i’m talking is clearly related to this article. All other exclusives for the PS, they can have it, it is just to make money.
@Salsatuna
I figured that’s what you meant, but how can it put Sega on the right track when Sega have no involvement with it other than for allowing Yu Suzuki the licensing agreements to independently fund it?
I just love shenmue make the game lets play
I well buy a ps4 to that
I dont even have a high end pc. Yet i chose the physical pc copy.
Come on seriously stop whining guys. The important thing is the fpundation atm for shenmue3
@Lord : just expressing our discontent with Sony trying to secure an undeserved exclusivity…again. Let’s not forget that Xbox boss already said in 2004 that Shenmue was the number 1 request he receives.
But it seems my guardian angel has been listening!
–> Shenmue 3 Kickstarter update suggests Xbox One version could be added as a reward (http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/shenmue_3/news/shenmue_3_kickstarter_update_suggests_xbox_one_version_could_be_added_as_a_reward.html)
Huzahh! This made my day! 🙂