SEGAbits Shenmue III Hype Train! Update: Funded but lets go further!

[Tad]

Told you they would. They've already shown their hand and now they're just waiting to give it a bad review.

More info from Yu Suzuki and screens: https://blog.us.playstation.com/2017/08/21/shenmue-iii-the-first-teaser/

[Team Andromeda]

Looks like fan project and still so little of the game to show off, even now ?.  It's not going to be an Epic, but Shenmue on the cheap and its starting to tell, the budget simply isn't enough imo

[Moody]

I think this is a case of pessimism over a game with expectations people need to tone down.

My only gripes with the footage are that the facial animation is lacking to the point of uncanny valley, and the rumors that this footage is a year or more old. If that's the case...why? Why show such old footage? Is it the only polished pieces they have?

To me, that says that either they're too focused on game development to focus on stuff like making up-to-date PR materials, or they're moving too slow to make PR materials. It's difficult to tell at this point which is which.

I will say, imo, the decrying of the human models is overly exaggerated. The best way I've found to put the visuals in this trailer is that it looks very Shenmue. Environments and lighting are on point, non-fighting animations look a little wonky while the fighting animations clearly have a ton of effort put in, and human models generally look a little cartoony and exaggerated. These are all things the trailer has in common with the original games. It's difficult to say whether they're just unwilling to evolve on those weakpoints or if they're trying to stay true to the originals.

Either way, I'm more than happy that this is possibly how the game looked a year ago. Can't wait to see what it looks like now!

(As a side-note, using year old footage in your first trailer in two years does nothing to dissuade your detractors. The uphill battle continues...)

[Centrale]

These environments are looking wonderful.

[Tad]

I think this is a case of pessimism over a game with expectations people need to tone down.

My only gripes with the footage are that the facial animation is lacking to the point of uncanny valley, and the rumors that this footage is a year or more old. If that's the case...why? Why show such old footage? Is it the only polished pieces they have?

To me, that says that either they're too focused on game development to focus on stuff like making up-to-date PR materials, or they're moving too slow to make PR materials. It's difficult to tell at this point which is which.

I will say, imo, the decrying of the human models is overly exaggerated. The best way I've found to put the visuals in this trailer is that it looks very Shenmue. Environments and lighting are on point, non-fighting animations look a little wonky while the fighting animations clearly have a ton of effort put in, and human models generally look a little cartoony and exaggerated. These are all things the trailer has in common with the original games. It's difficult to say whether they're just unwilling to evolve on those weakpoints or if they're trying to stay true to the originals.

Either way, I'm more than happy that this is possibly how the game looked a year ago. Can't wait to see what it looks like now!

(As a side-note, using year old footage in your first trailer in two years does nothing to dissuade your detractors. The uphill battle continues...)

They are only a small team, so I doubt PR stuff is really at the forefront of their thoughts. I wonder if they could get Sony or Sega to do that for them? I guess this is a problem with having a project in development in the public eye like this.

From what I heard, this trailer was shown ages ago to those at the Kickstater dinner. If so, that means this build is nearly a year old. I think the only real concern is around the character models which I hope we'll see updates soon.

Update: yes Centrale, those shots are incredible.

[Centrale]

MasterChan777 at shenmuedojo.com has translated a summary of a Game Watch Japan interview with Yu Suzuki earlier today that sheds some interesting light on what we've seen so far.

• The released Shenmue III teaser footage is real-time in-game graphics.
• All character models are temporary and subject to change.
• Facial animations were initially implemented but have been removed about a month ago.

He goes on to list further information from the interview, but rather than copy and paste his post, take a look for yourself: http://www.shenmuedojo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=51001

[Tad]

So, it's exactly as anyone with the ability to think thought. There's some great new bits of info there mind too. They're building a fighting system with the Unreal engine and it seems they've gotten more money. Interesting.

Great work MasterChan777 and you Centrale.

[Team Andromeda]

So, it's exactly as anyone with the ability to think thought.

What other than thinking and acting like a complete fanboy? The simple fact is the very 1st Real time shot we saw of the Dreamcast Shenmue characters looked better than the current ones The characters demo's in What's Shenmue  show eye's, hair and facial detail much better than what we have now and that was a demo back in 1998.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE2gPFEXIvA


And for all this talk of environments I've seen little that wasn't used in Shenmue II and how bad looking Unreal 4 games has anyway one seen ? Even fan demo's of Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil Mario look stunning in Unreal 4 and this is what one person can do in a day in Unreal 4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzoY062kY1s


The game characters look poor and even now little of the game is being shown off. Its not going to be the Epic Shenmue that fans deserve or want, but Shenmue done on the cheap and you can get it get ripped apart when it ships, unless we see Huge improvements  And no SEGA or SONY don't want to go near this game at all . Horrible to see Yu GOD Suzuki being used by SONY and dumped on by SEGA

[Tad]

"What other than thinking and acting like a complete fanboy?"

Nope. That's just passive-aggressive behavior to shut down an argument.

The game hasn't been in production that long and so far you've picked fault with everything. Literally everything. While it's true unreal can make a lot of things look amazing, that's the same for any game developer who puts the time and effort in. Those Shenmue screenshots alone show custom models, custom textures and so on. So, yes, while they probably did use the same process as that unreal video shows, it doesn't make it a good argument to attack the project with.

Just to clarify, I'm not a fanboy at all. I do however know how game development works and how it eventually all clicks together and I'm hoping further down the line, this will happen. From what we've seen, the character models and animations still look very rough, but intill we're actually close to release, I don't see why anyone should worry. Come a few months before it's release and let's say it still looks like this, then I'll criticise it.


"The simple fact is the very 1st Real time shot we saw of the Dreamcast Shenmue characters looked better than the current ones The characters demo's in What's Shenmue  show eye's, hair and facial detail much better than what we have now and that was a demo back in 1998."

Yes, and do you know what the difference is between this project and publisher/first party ones are?

First party/publishers spend days, weeks even, setting up a seperate build of their project for a public demo or press events. Yu Suzuki doesn't have that money to waste.

[Betwixt Thieves]

I still think what people were expecting based on the amount raised is a little out of touch. People think that a few million dollars somehow can afford a top notch team for years of work?

[Tad]

I still think what people were expecting based on the amount raised is a little out of touch. People think that a few million dollars somehow can afford a top notch team for years of work?

It probably wouldn't have gone down well, but I would have been happy if the game continued with the look of Shenmue 1 & 2 in HD and just some touch up work to correct texture stretching or Z axis fighting etc. That way less money would have been spent getting AO, Lighting, more detail and so on correct and more spent on overall content. Maybe it would have been okay if clearly stated in the kickstarter that they're going for the retro look, but who knows.

[Team Andromeda]

Nope. That's just passive-aggressive behavior to shut down an argument.
 

The new faces are terrible and we all know it and can see it. Like I said the old 1998 What Shenmue head demos look better and that's on the DC and in 1998. Shenmue real time screens shots shown for the 1st time didn't look any lesser than the final game. Why didn't SEGA just give Suzuki-san the original Shenmue head maquettes to laser scan in, I don't know
Looking over that, almost anyone in the industry can make nice looking environments in Unreal 4, even people in their spare time and less than a day, one has to think hard of a bad looking Unreal 4 game even ones made by fans.

Its clear as day, the game is lacking funds and manpower and Yu Suzuki and the amazing IP its self-deserve so much better. Can only see this being another NiGHTS Journey of Dreams  let down a game done on the cheap and disappoints the fans and the IP

[Team Andromeda]

I still think what people were expecting based on the amount raised is a little out of touch. People think that a few million dollars somehow can afford a top notch team for years of work?

Well said.

[pirovash88]

Not sure what people were expecting here, it's a budget title. Its got the Shenmue name, but it's still a budget title.

Either way, we're more than a year away from release date, no doubt there will be improvements made to each character's face. I'm not too worried as the work that has been done on the environments looks fantastic. I'm sure everything will come together quite nicely, closer to the release date.

[max_cady]

It's also WIP footage. Stuff is subject to change. That's standard operation procedure. I also don't think Yu's team wants to pull a Aliens: Colonial Marines on us. They've been consistent with updates, there's work being done and we are going to get this game. And if we get a fourth game after this... so much the better.

Now, having said that, as a crowdfunding tool, Kickstarter has lost all it's steam, methinks. Hence why there's more skepticism about it. Shenmue 3 is likely the last major game to have KS as a tool for funding.