Analysis: Examining the Physical Rewards (Part Three) | Shenmue 3

Back in July, the Shenmue 3 team sent out an update that contained in-game screenshots of various backer rewards, which we covered in earlier posts (Part One and Part Two).

In today's post we'll complete the overview (at last!) by examining photos of the physical rewards. As usual, we'll point out any details that can be extracted from the images along the way.

Shenmue Illustration Signed by Yu Suzuki

This signed illustration was part of the $300 "Signed Kickstarter Collector's Edition" reward tier (there was also an unsigned version at the $250 "Kickstarter Collector's Edition" tier).

According to the Kickstarter update, more than 5,000 have been hand-signed by Yu Suzuki himself.

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Shenmue 3 Trial Version for Second Half of September

An exciting announcement has been made with news that the Shenmue 3 trial version reward on PC will be coming out in the second half of September.

The English version of the announcements explains that it will be a stand-alone act set in Bailu village and is estimated to last for about 1 hour, but will offer additional replay value with "lots of activities to experience" even after completing the main objective. It will also come with a pdf play-guide.

For comparison, here's an extract from the message in Japanese is as follows (my translation):

"In the trial version, which will be set in the game's first area of Bailu village, you will be able to play up to the completion of a specific scenario. The expected amount of available play time will be one hour, and replay will be possible after clearing the objective. You'll be able to try all kinds of different activities until the trial comes to an end".

Update: I got in touch with the Shenmue 3 team for clarification on whether the time limit replies to a single game or the entire trial, and they provided the following additional information:

First, you can replay the game as many times as you want, and there is no expiry date per say.

The in-game cycle goes from about 8:30AM to 9:00PM which takes about one hour to complete. At 9:00PM the trial ends, at which point you will have to start over from the beginning. Although we cannot make any promises on these next points, you could, for example, still play it next year.

The trial version will not be supported in the future, however, we believe it will remain in your Epic library.

(These clarifications will be notified officially "next chance").

Read the official announcement here.

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Analysis: Examining the In-Game Rewards Screenshots (Part Two) | Shenmue 3

Welcome to the second part of our examination of the reward images that were released with the recent Kickstarter announcement.

• Link to Part One

Save Shenmue Hall Interior

There was one more screenshot of the interior of the Save Shenmue hall, showing a full-size forklift truck standing on a pedestal (stamped with #31 and YSNET), the model first seen in a screenshot in April's Famitsu interview with Yu Suzuki. Also displayed is a toy forklift driven by a chibi Ryo figure, a larger version of the one in the Shenmue 1 "Gruppa" capsule toy set.

Some more pieces of Shenmue concept art can be seen adorning the walls: one of Ren, one of as Akira (Ryo) as a high school student (interestingly, the image is horizontally flipped compared to the tweeted version) and one of Ryo next to a flowering tree. The last two illustrations were shared by Yu Suzuki on Twitter in July 2015 at the time of the Kickstarter campaign.

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Analysis: Examining the In-Game Rewards Screenshots (Part One) | Shenmue 3

A new Shenmue III update has been released, and it is packed with images of how the Kickstarter / Slacker Backer rewards will look in the game itself, as well as photos of the physical rewards.The images of the in-game rewards are worth particularly close examination as they appear to have been snapped directly from the game.

There's a lot to go over so I'll spread it across two posts.

In-Game Reward: Telecom Card

The first reward shown is the international phone card (part of the Kickstarter $80 reward tier). The original description of this reward was: "This item will unlock phone conversations and flashback scenes available only to Kickstarter Backers".

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Yu Suzuki's Attendance at Gamescom 2019 Announced

YS Net has announced that Yu Suzuki will be attending this year's Gamescom event - together with a nice VMU-style graphic of Yu above the Gamescom logo.

Gamescom is an annual event held in Cologne, Germany, and this year will run from Tuesday, Aug 20, 2019 to Saturday, Aug 24, 2019. The first day is for trade visitors & the media, with the remaining days being public days.

Regarding Yu's activities at the event, the update confirms that:

• Yu will be hosting a meet & greet in the public area, and
• He will be holding media interviews in the business (non-public) area

While further details on plans for Shenmue III at the event are not known, Gamescom was the event at which The Prophecy trailer was released last year, and with Yu Suzuki's presence confirmed at this year's event it will be a good opportunity for promotion of the game as we come up to 3 months before its release date on November 19th.

Source: link to announcement

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Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Update: PC Version Options & "Greater than Shenmue 2" Scale

A new Kickstarter Update has been released by YS Net containing two main topics which we will summarize in this post. One is regarding the PC versions of the game, and the other is an overview of features that have been included in the final game.

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Shenmue III Participation at E3 | Kickstarter Update #101

Hot on the heels of the previous Kickstarter Update regarding Shenmue III's revised release date comes Kickstarter Update #101, announcing that Yu Suzuki will be attending E3 2019 (June 12 - June 14). The news reads as follows:

E3 is just days away and we are planning to be in attendance. Together with Deep Silver we are now finalizing all the details.

S3 at E3

Shenmue III is scheduled to have a room in the business area open to the media. Expect to see S3 info from media around the world! (Yu Suzuki is not planned to participate in the exhibit hall events.)

E3 2019 Official Site

Thank you always for your support!

This confirms the news leaked via Twitter by a member of the press last month that Shenmue III would be playable by the press at E3.

As per today's announcement, although the game will be exhibited only in the event's business area (which is not accessible by the general public), we can look forward to reports on the gameplay by the global media attending.

Link to announcement: Kickstarter Update #101

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Shenmue III Release Date Revised to 19th November | Kickstarter Update #100

YS Net and Deep Silver yesterday released an announcement regarding a revision to the release date of Shenmue III. The revised release date is 19th November. The full text is as follows:

04 June 2019

A Message from Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver

Hello Everyone,

Today Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver would like to give a message concerning the release date.

Shenmue III will now release on 19th November 2019.

[before] August 27, 2019

[new] November 19, 2019

Whilst almost ready, the game simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished.

We feel that the extra time we have will help us deliver the true Shenmue experience players around the world deserve!

We thank you for your patience and understanding,

Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver

This delay will no doubt come as a disappointment to fans who have been counting down the days to the previous release date since being decided in August of last year.

A complicating factor is is how this change in release period may effect Shenmue III sales and general awareness among players, in a release period where other, big-name releases may steal the limelight and headlines (Death Stranding, for example, is currently scheduled earlier in the month on November 8th).

However, out-weighing this in my eyes is that if extra work is required on the game, then spending the extra time is the right decision. The alternative - releasing before the critical eye of the public a game that lacks polish, or worse, one that suffers from obvious bugs from the outset - could seriously damage its reputation. After such a long wait for this game, it would be a shame for it to be compromised for the sake of a few months and I trust that Yu Suzuki has our best interests in mind.

As a side-note, when the original release of Shenmue in Japan was delayed in 1999, the What's Shenmue demo was distributed on the originally-scheduled release date to people who had pre-ordered. I would love to see something similar done for the timing of the "Shenmue III demo" reward for backers, but this would of course depend on developer resources.

No mention was made in the announcement of plans for next week's E3 (June 11 - 13), although we know that Shenmue III will be playable by members of the press. The change of date will no doubt affect the way in which Shenmue III gets marketed at Gamescom 2019 (August 21-24), and other later events also now come into the picture such as Paris Games Week (October 30).

Link to announcement: Shenmue III Kickstarter Update #100

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Shenmue Documentary Update: Interview Translations Completed

Work continues on the Shenmue Documentary, and last week Adam Sipione, the project's originator, released a Kickstarter Update to keep everyone informed on the current state.

• Currently work is continuing on editing the story, following which it will undergo refinement.
• Translations of the Japanese video interviews which were held during the team's visit to Tokyo at the end of last year, have now been completed - and in fact these are what I have been working on in recent months. (Thanks to Adam for the shout-out to PRS!)
• Planning has been carried out for integrating some highly-stylized and cinematic pieces into the documentary to help set the mood: reference was made to the documentary's Kickstarter video teaser that can be viewed on the campaign page as an example of the kind of pieces we can look forward to.
• Backers are also reminded to submit your photos and videos for your rewards tiers.

Note: in case you missed the message in February's update, the release date for the documentary has been adjusted to be after Shenmue III comes out (exact date to be confirmed).

Go here to read the official update on Kickstarter

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Part Two: Observations on "Ryo & Master" Shenmue 3 Trailer

Welcome to Part Two of our close-up examination of the Shenmue 3 "Ryo & Master" trailer that was released at MAGIC 2019 earlier this month.

In the previous part, we saw a defeated Ryo being taunted by a character wearing the distinctive costume of a Mongolian wrestler: "Did you really think you could beat me with kung fu like that?"

• Part One of the analysis can be found here.

Now let's continue with the next part of the trailer.

"Bad Ending" Scene

With a dramatic crashing sound effect and a flash of white, the scene changes and we see Shenhua standing in a black void, with the pink petals of the Shenmue tree falling around her. The camera pulls back to reveal the ominous figure of a man in green silk robes adorned with the motif of a dragon clutching a blue crystal ball: Lan Di. He moves towards Shenhua as she draws in her breath. 

Shenhua faces Lan Di

Behind him, he holds a mirror in his hands, and as the light catches it we see a red stone in the center that identifies it as the Phoenix mirror.

Lan Di has managed to get hold of the Phoenix mirror

There are strong similarities between this clip and part of the "bad ending" cut scene in Shenmue II that plays out if Ryo has taken too long (specifically, after he goes to sleep on the night of July 31st). This cut scene consists of two parts: first, Ryo is holding the Phoenix mirror as it glows and cracks in front of his eyes, after which he is attacked by Lan Di; then Shenhua is approached by Lan Di who snarls, "I shall take your power for the Chi You".

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Observations on "Ryo & Master" Shenmue 3 Trailer | Part One

A new Shenmue 3 trailer was shown at MAGIC Monaco, giving us the chance to see Ryo interacting in several different situations around Bailu village. In this post, we'll highlight some of the details, especially the smaller, easy-to-miss ones, with an assumption that the reader has already watched the trailer through (if not, the link follows).

• Link to the trailer: New Shenmue 3 Trailer: "Ryo and Master" From MAGIC Monaco

The observations will be spread over a series of posts, this being the first.

Note: some of the images in this post have been upscaled / filtered.

Sound and Music

Two main pieces of music play in the trailer, both from the original games' soundtrack. The video initially opens to the majestic crash of cymbals from the opening notes of the original Shenmue main theme, which accompanies the scenes. When the action turns to fighting, the music changes to the well-known piece known in English among fans as "Earth and Sea" (and officially as "Continent and Sea" as Sega Japan recently clarified).

Track name confirmation from Sega: "Continent and Sea" rather than "Earth and Sea"

Finally, the main theme reprises with an erhu solo at the end.

Sound effects also can be heard: the chirping of birds, the scrape of a sliding door being pulled open, the tread of boots on ground as well as various whooshes and swishes during the fighting sequences. Not forgetting the anxious cluck of the chickens as they dash out of the way.

"Cluuuuck!*

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New Shenmue 3 Trailer: "Ryo and Master" From MAGIC Monaco | Kickstarter Update #98

A new Shenmue 3 trailer was shown during the Crazy Time session at MAGIC Monaco yesterday, which has been named "Ryo and Master".

The scenes appear to take place entirely Bailu village and its surroundings. The video, which is just over two-and-a-half minutes long, shows Ryo interacting in various ways with characters, including a training scene with the titular master, snippets of conversations and combat. There is also a dream sequence showing Lan Di and a frightened Shenhua. The characters are voiced in Japanese, with English subtitles.

The trailer was also announced as Kickstarter Update #98, with a brief message to backers indicating there will be more information to follow:

"We know we have not put up a development report for a while, but please rest assured that production is steadily moving forward, and we hope to share more info with you very soon!"

We will be putting up an analysis of some of the finer details of the trailer on the blog soon.

Watch the new trailer below:

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Commentary on "English Voice Recording Report" | Kickstarter Update #96

A new update (officially Kickstarter Update #96) has been released by the Shenmue III project team, introducing the English voice actors for two of the lead characters in the game. The update contains several photographs from the studio and a "behind the scenes" video clip in which cut scenes from the game can be briefly seen.

In this post, we'll recap the update and pick out some points of interest, particularly the game images that appear on the screens in the video.

Earlier posts relating to voice actors for the Japanese version of the game:

• Image of a Day's Worth of Shenmue 3 Script
• Commentary: Shenhua's new voice actress | Kickstarter Update #82

Note: minor spoilers, in the form of a small number of lines of script from the game.

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Shenmue Documentary: Japan Visit Production Stills

Last week the team behind the Shenmue Documentary (officially title: "A Gamer's Journey: The Definitive History of Shenmue") posted a Kickstarter update displaying some production stills from footage and interviews captured during their December visit to Japan which really conjure up a taste of how the documentary will feel.

This first image shows Eigo Kasahara, who was planning director on the original Shenmue games, being interviewed at the SEGA head office. Kasahara also worked on the Japan localisation of the re-released Shenmue I & II, and has participated in several Shenmue related events including last month's Shenmue fan meeting that was held in Yokosuka.

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Season's Greeting Illustrations | Shenmue 3

Over the past couple of weeks the Shenmue III team has sent out a number of new greeting illustrations to all backers.

The following illustration was sent as part of a short Christmas update that confirmed that Shenmue III will be partnering with Tencent and Oasis Games for distribution in China.

Fans will recognize Fang Mei holding her broom, Shenhua looking optimistic, Ryo riding a "Yu Suzuki Reindeer" #5 forklift truck (!), Xuiying looking as serious as ever, and Joy riding a motorbike that is based on the Super Hang On cabinet bike - right down to the number 7 on its side. Joy also has a passenger who we will talk about later on.

Koch Media, the parent company of their publishing arm Deep Silver, sent out Shenmue season's greetings of their own.

The design is rather straight-forward, with just Ryo and Shenhua sitting inside a loop of Christmas decorative lights. Again we see a little yellow guest flying next to Shenhua!

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Comments on Kickstarter Update #93: Final Campaign Tallies

Comments on Kickstarter Update #93: Final Campaign Tallies

With less than 10 months to go until the Shenmue III release on 27th August 2019, a new Kickstarter update for Shenmue III was released today. It has been a while since the last one - around two months - which is not surprising as the development team is hard at work, with Yu Suzuki even sleeping over at the office, as he revealed during September's Tokyo Game Show.

The final totals for backer funding across the Kickstarter and Slacker Backer campaigns has now been confirmed:

Backers: 81,087
Funding Total: $7,179,510

The team expresses their thanks to all backers, saying: "Seeing the final numbers, all of us here can't help but feel all over again the immensity of the support everyone has given to make this project come true! Thank you!"

Also shared were photographs of some of the rewards being prepared. Here is our quick breakdown of the images presented.

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Kickstarter Update #92: Survey Reminder & Thanks from Chibi Yu-chan

YS Net has released a brief update following the end of the Slacker Backer campaign last month. Yu Suzuki, in the form of an animated chibi "Yu-chan," thanks backers for their support and sends a reminder to everyone that backer surveys will be closing at the end of this month. Make sure to respond (or make any final adjustments) at the Fangamer site this week if you have not already!

The Yu-chan chibi shows a range of facial expressions as he chats (and changes his pose from kneeling to standing), and a static image of the Bailu village house we have seen in a previous video has been used as the background image, with a light "pencil effect" applied.

Here is his video message:

For more details, see the official update at Shenmue.link

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Shenmue 3 Announcement & Video Tomorrow at Gamescom

A short but exciting Kickstarter update, entitled "Gamescom 2018 Update #1", has been released announcing the news that a Shenmue 3 announcement is planned for the opening day of the Gamescom event tomorrow. Furthermore, a video is also being prepared for the announcement.

Key details:

• Shenmue III announcement/video planned for Tuesday the 21st, at 11:00~13:00 CEST (17:00~19:00 JST) Correction: the time in JST converts to 18:00~20:00 JST.
• Livestreaming available at the Gamescom official website

Below is a high-resolution version of the image that accompanied the update. In the background we see the Shenhua character model at the left (with her hair in plaits), and on the main monitor is a night scene of what looks to be a ferry at the Choubu habor, with a full moon and star-studded sky behind. An identification number, M06_S0006, appears in the top-right corner; similar to the ones seen in previous cut-scene stills.

Although it is hard to see clearly, it appears there may be figures standing on the wharf... No doubt this will become clear in tomorrow's video!

Source: link to official update

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Examining the Warehouse Battle Scene | Kickstarter Update #85

A Brief Recap of Kickstarter Update #85

Accompanying Kickstarter Update #85 was a brand new battle scene image, and in this post we will be polishing up our spectacles to see what details it contains.

But just before we dive into it, here's a quick recap of some of the main points the recent Kickstarter Update brought us:

• A $450 Toy Capsule Box Set reward is now available as an upgrade or add-on via the Shenmue 3 page on the Fangamer site. With this reward, you get all four capsule toys that will actually appear in the game: Ryo, Shenhua, Chai and Forklift. The $250 reward is included.
  
  (July 28th update: Fangamer has indicated to a backer that the illustration in this $450 upgrade / add-in will be signed by Yu Suzuki, as was the case with the Kickstarter campaign reward. See this post on the Shenmue Dojo forums).
  
  
• Regarding the content of the PC & PS4 physical disc versions of the game, the following information was given: "Development is moving forward to have all necessary data to play the game contained on the disc. Please rest assured that the disc will not be just a prompt for an internet download." It was noted that an internet connection will be needed for game updates and reward activation.
• Over $7 million in pledges have now been received. The total pledged amount through Kickstarter and Slacker Backer combined is now $7,063,329 (as of July 20th). This means that the stretch goal of "AI Battling" has officially been reached. To read more about what this goal entails, see our post The AI Battling Stretch Goal.

For the full text of Kickstarter Update #85, visit the official page.

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Clouds, Smoke & Street Lights: an Examination of the Kickstarter Update #84 Video

The recent Shenmue III video, with its message for backers from the little girl at Bailu village, was full of animation and small details. Phantom River Stone goes through the video with a fine-toothed comb.

A new video clip set in Bailu village was included with the recent Kickstarter Update on the Backer surveys. It features the little girl we have seen in a few previous updates, most recently talking with Ryo in the THQ Nordic presentation - but now we are able to hear her voice for the first time, and there is even an Easter egg in the background! In this post we comb through the clip to examine the small details it contains.

Related posts:

• Shenmue III Backer Survey Information: Distilled
• Examining the New Shenmue 3 Images in the THQ Nordic Presentation

The New Video Clip

First, here is the clip, which has a play time of around 40 seconds.

A Peaceful Scene at Bailu Village

The opening shot shows fluffy white clouds set against a brilliant blue sky. In the foreground we see the wooden pole of a street light with heavy electric cables running from it, and metal foot-holds running up it for repair workmen. The apex of a tiled house roof is visible, and at the bottom left, the tip of a rocky Guilin mountain in the far distance.

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