Mini-Interview with Yu Suzuki at MAGIC 2019 | Museo Dreamcast

A short fan-community interview with Yu Suzuki has been newly released by Spanish-language site Museo Dreamcast (=Dreamcast Museum). The interview was held in March at MAGIC 2019 and was apparently arranged on the spot.

The questions asked were:

• Which of the SEGA systems is your favorite? Why?
• Do you have good memories of the development of Ferrari F355 Challenge?
• Given the technical limitations of the Saturn, did you benefit from from a bigger creative freedom when Shenmue was moved to the Dreamcast?
• Were you worried before Shenmue 3 was presented at E3 (2015)?
• Will you start developing Shenmue 4 right after releasing Shenmue 3?

Yu's positive answer to this final question points reflects his undiminished enthusiasm for the series and his desire to continue on with Shenmue 4 and beyond.

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SEGA Saturno Interview with Yu Suzuki | Shenmue 3

The MAGIC 2019 event in March featured a stage presentation by Yu Suzuki, and an exciting new Shenmue 3 trailer was released called Ryo & Master (see our commentary/analysis posts: Part One, Part Two, Chinese Writing Analysis).

Representatives from the Shenmue fan community were also busy behind the scenes carrying out interviews with Yu Suzuki at Monaco. Several fan interviews have now been released:

• Interview with Yu Suzuki by the Shenmue Dojo and Team Yu
• Interview with Yu Suzuki by Shenmue Forever and Shenmue 500K
• Shenmue Master has also published their Sixth Interview with Yu Suzuki (in French).

Now our friends at the Spanish site SEGA Saturno have released their own interview held with Yu Suzuki. Phantom River Stone is very happy to have helped prepare the English translation from the interview audio source.

The questions are interesting and detailed, as befitting true fans of the games. Yu did, however, want to keep a few cards up his sleeves in terms of the topics to be discussed: the location of Baisha was one such topic for which a polite request was received to skip to the next question.

One of the highlights of this interview for me was a question asking about whether Yu had any funny Shenmue 3 development anecdotes to share. It turns out that there was one that caused all the NPCs in the area to gather together in a most unusual location:

"The number of characters around was extremely small - they were nowhere to be found. I wondered where they could be."

Read the interview in English at Sega Saturno to find out more!

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Analysis of Writing on the Chinese Building | Ryo and Master Trailer

Today's post is a guest post contributed by Shenmue Dojo’s yuc02 and Araviel (Chao Yu and Hanna). Read on as they explain the meaning of the Chinese writing that can be seen decorating a building in the recent "Ryo and Master" trailer.

Note: upscaling & noise reduction has been applied to some of the images, to aid readability.


As this blog continues to showcase, the recent “Ryo and Master” MAGIC 2019 trailer has given us a bunch of fascinating aspects to explore and discuss!

• Related posts: Observations on "Ryo & Master" Shenmue 3 Trailer Part One and Part Two.

In one of the segments with the old, drunken Master himself, Ryo is training outside in front of the entrance to a traditional Chinese building. Above the door frame we can see horizontally-written characters on a sign as well as writing running vertically down the central pillars. These form a very commonly-used decoration for traditional Chinese buildings.

Writing can be seen above the entrance and on the front pillars.

The left and right vertical lines are called a 对联 Duilian, which is an Antithetical Couplet, and the placard across the top is called a 横批 Hengpi with an inscription is in the form of a 成语 Chengyu: an idiomatic expression usually consisting of 4 characters.

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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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Shenmue 500K and Shenmue Forever Interview with Yu Suzuki | Shenmue 3

Another new fan community Shenmue 3 interview write-up with Yu Suzuki is out, brought to you by Shenmue 500K and Shenmue Forever! The interview with Yu took place in Monaco on the day before the MAGIC 2019 event. Phantom River Stone is pleased to have been able to help with the translation of Yu's responses into English.

The article is a top-quality read, and it is exciting to hear Suzuki explain that enhancements have been made to the Shenmue world in Shenmue 3 through tighter overall cohesiveness of it elements. He also notes the effect of play guides and the like being so readily available these days, and indicates that Shenmue 3 has been designed to minimize such impact.

>> Read the interview here at the Shenmue 500K website.

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Community Interview with Yu Suzuki on Shenmue 3 | Shenmue Dojo and Team Yu

A great fan community Shenmue 3 interview with Yu Suzuki has been released. The interview was carried out by Team Yu & Shenmue Dojo at the recent MAGIC 2019 event. Phantom River Stone was involved in a small way too by providing an English translation of the interview.

The article is informative and entertaining and provides useful context to Yu's answers, with reference to previous answers he has given. Yu also reveals a "nod" to the feel of the previous games in the upcoming game which should bring a smile to fans' lips.

>> Read the interview here at the Shenmue Dojo forums.

Ryo's new ability to change his wardrobe

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[Video | English Captions] Yu Suzuki's Shenmue 3 Talk at MAGIC 2019

Earlier this month on March 9th at the MAGIC event in Monaco, Yu Suzuki gave a stage presentation about Shenmue III during which he revealed fresh information about the game. While we posted a summary of highlights at the time, a video of the presentation with English subtitles is now ready.

The video can be viewed below, and a written transcript of the presentation follows the video.

The moderator of the presentation was David De Ville and the interpreter was Kenji Kojima. We would like to thank them both for the excellent job they did on stage, as well as all their many hours of unseen efforts behind the scenes.

Shenmue Master kindly provided the video footage. Thank you to Yokosuka from the Shenmue Dojo for the question translations. Yu Suzuki's responses were translated by Switch.

Transcript of the Presentation

Shenmue 3 Kickstarter and Announcement at E3 2015

Q: First of all, I would like to return to a key element, since Shenmue 3 was born on the Kickstarter platform. Kickstarter is what allowed us to see Shenmue 3 as it is today. It's good to remind ourselves of the two Kickstarter records that Shenmue 3 broke. The first one is the fastest $1 million pledged for a Kickstarter video game, in just 1 hour 44 minutes. The second is the most-funded Kickstarter video game ever. Let's applaud this great achievement!

[Applause]

YS: Thank you.

Q: I am curious to know what you thought about the Kickstarter campaign. What are your memories?

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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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Yu Suzuki's Shenmue 3 Talk Highlights | Magic Monaco 2019

Image credit: Koch Media UK via Twitter

Yu Suzuki held an on-stage talk on Shenmue 3 at today's MAGIC Monaco event, and revealed some new details about the game. Long-time blog contributor yuc02 was at the event, tweeting live updates and images from the talk for Phantom River Stone.

Here is a collection of the tweets, summarizing highlights from the talk.

The start of the talk was slightly delayed due to the previous session running on, but it was then time for Yu and team to get set up!

Preparing...#Shenmue3 #Magic2019 pic.twitter.com/1TJjaqsTfn

— Phantom River Stone (@phantom_river) March 9, 2019

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Exclusive Shenmue III T-Shirt at MAGIC 2019

Images have been revealed of the limited-edition Shenmue III T-shirt to be made available exclusively at the MAGIC 2019 event in Monaco on March 9th where Yu Suzuki will be holding a Shenmue 3 presentation. The announcement was made by Shenmue III co-producer Cédric Biscay, who is also president and CEO of Shibuya Productions, the company behind the annual MAGIC Monaco event.

The T-shirt has a black base, with a small white MAGIC logo on the front, and a large illustration also in white on the back, showing Ryo Hazuki with his back to the viewer, the tiger motif on his jacket visible. Overlaid at the bottom of the illustration is the Shenmue III logo, with some copyright text beneath.

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Shenmue III New Images: Lan Di, Ren and a Riverboat | MAGIC Monaco Local Press Conference

Yesterday three new Shenmue III images were shared by the game's co-producer. Cédric Biscay, as part of a local press conference for MAGIC Monaco 2019. This was separate from the earlier global press conference on February 8th at which new images were also shared (see Yu Suzuki Confirmed for MAGIC 2019 + Two New Shenmue 3 Images)

We will recap the images in this post, commenting on some of the smaller details.

First Image: Lan Di

First image: Lan Di (tap to enlarge)

The detail, lighting and textures in this image are exquisite, from the fine patterning in his silk sleeves to the ornate surroundings. The ceiling decorations, wall scroll and lanterns match those of the room in which Lan Di was standing in the Gamescom 2018 trailer (see Shenmue III Trailer "The Prophecy" Dissection [Part Two]).

Finely-detailed patterning on Lan Di's sleeves.

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Yu Suzuki Confirmed for MAGIC 2019 + Two New Shenmue 3 Images

Some exciting information on Shenmue III was revealed at yesterday's press conference for the upcoming MAGIC 2019 event in Monaco on March 9th. And we were even treated to two new images from the game!

In this post we recap what was shared by Shenmue III's co-producer, Cédric Biscay.

Cédric Biscay at the MAGIC Monaco press conference. Photo credit: Raptoror via Twitter

Yu Suzuki's Attendance Confirmed for MAGIC

First and foremost: Yu Suzuki's presence at the event is confirmed with a presentation on Shenmue III. This will be a fantastic opportunity to hear Yu speak more about the game and the latest progress, Autograph signing sessions are also promised.

Yu Suzuki will be at MAGIC Monaco! Photo credit: Pascal Parol via Twitter

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