Mini-Interview with Yu Suzuki at MAGIC Kyoto 2019

We are now just over a week until the release of Shenmue III on November 19th, and to keep the hype building we have something special to share in this post - a brand new interview with Yu Suzuki.

In recent weeks, it was announced that Yu Suzuki would be present at the MAGIC Kyoto event, appearing on stage to talk about the game as well as meeting fans at an autograph signing session. I thought that this could be the last opportunity to speak to the legendary creator prior to its release.

Although no media interviews were officially planned, thanks to the kind arrangements and permission from Shibuya Productions, Koch Media and YS Net I was able to snatch some of Yu Suzuki's precious time at the event.

The interview transcript begins below, translated into English.

• A Spanish version of the interview is now also available from our friends at SEGA Saturno.

Yu's Feeling with the Approaching Release

Phantom River Stone: Thank you for your time today. Please tell us how you feel now that you have finished making Shenmue 3?

Yu Suzuki: I can't wait to release it. There are about two weeks to go now, aren't there. I'm a little nervous thinking about how it will go. However, there's no use feeling nervous. I just want it to be released already! [laughs] I'd like it to be in everyone's hands as soon as possible.

PRS: People's reactions to the Shenmue 3 backer demo have been really positive.

YS: I'm glad to hear that.

PRS: What are you most looking forward to after Shenmue 3's release?

YS: The thing I'm most looking forward to after the release is hearing everyone's impressions, and watching videos uploaded to the web where players comment as they play through.

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Phantom River Stone's Interview with Yu Suzuki on Shenmue 3 | Tokyo Game Show 2019

While Yu Suzuki gave many interviews to the press and media at Tokyo Game Show, I had the honor of interviewing Yu Suzuki as a representative of the Shenmue fan community. Within the strictly-regulated time slot of 20 minutes, my goal was to hopefully uncover one or two little facts or anecdotes about the game that may not have been covered in other interviews, and especially to communicate to Yu-san the appreciation we have as fans for the very fact that the game has been brought into existence.

• If you have not yet seen it, here's my account of playing the Shenmue III demo.

And now, onto the interview!

Phantom River Stone: Thank you for your time today. To start with, could you please update us on where the development is at now? I believe you have mentioned play testing, for example.

Yu Suzuki: Right now we're working on tuning, brush-ups and bug fixes. That's the focus at the moment. We're doing that while play testing as well as tuning parameters.

PRS: Could you talk about the background of the rather unique owner of the hotel in Niaowu?

The rather distinctive Niaowu hotel owner introduced in Kickstarter Update #69

YS: In Shenmue 3 I've created these kind of characters "as is" with those kind of personalities. They don't have the kind of detailed backgrounds that we made in Shenmue 1.

PRS: I see. How would you describe her in terms of her personality?

YS: She's quite blunt. Not exactly rough, but not subtle. However she's a good person at heart. It's just that her actions are a bit crazy.

PRS: I look forward to seeing Ryo's reaction!

YS: Ryo's a bit taken aback by her. [smiles]

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[Pinned] Announcement: Phantom River Stone is on Patreon!

It is hard to believe that over two years have passed since the Phantom River Stone blog launched. We've made more than 200 posts on our favorite subject: translations of community interviews, magazine articles and design documents, notes about everyday items and culture reflected in the game, photos of real locations around Yokosuka... just celebrating the awesomeness that is Shenmue.

In order to sustain this rate of output, and dedicate the time needed for the translations and posts, I wanted to offer a way for blog readers who wish to help contribute to do so.

And so, I am excited to announce our new Patreon page for Phantom River Stone!

If you're not familiar with Patreon, it’s an easy way to give those who find the blog of interest, a way to support it directly.

Plus, you will receive some great rewards in return, such as exclusive "behind the scenes" content, early access to blog posts before anyone else, and monthly voting on a future blog topic. We also have a Discord channel for chatting about Shenmue and blog posts & I look forward to chatting with you there.

There are several different reward tiers, which you can check out in detail on the new Patreon page.

Thank you for considering becoming a patron of the blog, and regardless of whether you are in a position to offer financial support, thank you for being a reader of the blog!

Click to open the Phantom River Stone page on Patreon!

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Patron's Choice Blog Topic for June

Every month we run a poll and ask the blog's patrons to help decide a Shenmue-related topic they would like to see covered on the blog the following month. Topics can be anything from translations of early Japanese magazine articles, to explaining cultural customs seen during the game, or even "hacks" of the game that reveal hidden animations or locations.

The topic voted for May was a translation of a Japanese Dreamcast magazine article from early 1999 entitled "15 Secrets of Shenmue", based on a press interview with Yu Suzuki. (Early-access patrons of the blog can read Part One here).

And for this month of June, the topic that has been selected by the patrons is a translation of the floorplans of a Choubu inn in Shenmue III.

You may recall that Yu Suzuki shared several images on his Twitter feed back in 2015, including the plans for a two-storied inn / hostel. The images have labels and notes in Japanese sprinkled throughout them. At the time I made translations available to the Shenmue community (this was before Phantom River Stone existed), but it will make for an interesting exercise to revisit and analyze the plans three years on.

Watch out for our post on this topic in the near future!

Thank you as always to our blog patrons for their input on the blog content, and if you would like to take part in future polls & support the blog, check out our page on Patreon by clicking on the button below.

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Yu Suzuki MAGIC Conference in English | Progress Update

Over the past weeks we have been working, together with others in the community, to put together a full English translation of Yu Suzuki's one-hour conference at MAGIC 2018. Thank you for your patience!

The translation work is now complete, and the final task of adding subtitles to the video footage is now in progress.

A subtitled conference video and a written transcript of the conference session will be posted up tomorrow (Thursday).

P.S. We will also be making another exciting announcement tomorrow on a separate topic relating to the Phantom River Stone blog!

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