Shenmue III is out

[Jerzy Bondov]

Shenmue III comes out today. How mad to be able to write that sentence. My copy came in the post yesterday. First impressions: it's a disc in a box.

I've been waiting half my life for this fucking game. It seemed like it would never happen, but now it has happened, and I've got it in my house. Incredible. The only problem is I've sold my PS4 so I can't actually play it.

Still. It's exciting isn't it. Has anybody 1) Got the game and 2) Got the means to play the game?

[bgmnts]

Oh yeah. I dont have a console at the moment but I hope it is somewhat good.

[Jerzy Bondov]

It's on PC as well but I'm a Switch boi now

It's also an Epic store exclusive which naturally means it's evil

[bgmnts]

Dont forget it raked in a fortune on kickstarter and then went to a Publisher, so not exactly the most ethical of foundations.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Why have you bought a game for a console you don't own? This seems dense.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I Kickstarteredered Shenmue III in 2015. I sold my PS4 this year to become full time Switch boi.

[popcorn]

I've got a PS4 but no disc.

Perhaps we could team up?

[popcorn]

Why did they let Suzuki fix the logo?

[Lemming]

£45 on Epic store! Fuck that, I'll just watch a stream of it, unplug my keyboard and press loads of keys while watching to pretend like I'm playing it.

[Jim Bob]

£45 on Epic store! Fuck that, I'll just watch a stream of it, unplug my keyboard and press loads of keys while watching to pretend like I'm playing it.

You could always do what I'll be doing and pirate it, because fuck the Epic store.

EDIT: It doesn't look like I'll be doing that either, as upon checking, my PC doesn't actually meet the minimum system requirements.  Guess I'll be playing this in around 10 years time.  Ah well, I've waiting 18 years for this, I can wait another decade.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Looks a bit shaky and unsteady, like it was done by an elderly man.

Oh...

[bgmnts]

It genuinely upsets me, it looks fucking vile and I hate it.

[popcorn]

Cave art.

[Jim Bob]

It looks like someone's uprezzed an image in Photoshop at twice its native resolution, so that it's gone all pixely.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Looks like he was mugged by Papyrus font in an alleyway and a police sketch artist made this based on the description

[PlanktonSideburns]

It looks like a new Indian takeaway place's menu has been placed on trial and a courthouse artist has tried to render the look of shame and guilt into his artwork

[popcorn]

I have taken steps towards playing this. I have got my PS4 out of a drawer and put it under my TV.

Tomorrow I will plug something in. I haven't decided if it will be the TV or the power.

[madhair60]

Now that St Eddie is gone, I can say Shenmue was always shit and nobody can correct me.

[NoSleep]

You stand corrected.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I think the S on the logo is very good. Great start, thinks Suzuki-senpai to himself. This logo is going to look mint. Then he gets stung by a bee.

[Jim Bob]

I don't think that we should be mocking Michael J Fox's newfound interest in Japanese calligraphy.

Now that St Eddie is gone...

Yeah, what ever happened to that utter prick?  Awful man.

[madhair60]

Yeah, what ever happened to that utter prick?  Awful man.

(Narrows eyes, fixes you with a stare)

Yes. What ever.

[Consignia]

Just started this. I was a backer, but it was completely off my radar until it popped up unexpectedly in my inbox.

It feels like a Dreamcast game in every single way so far. It looks like one, it sounds like one, it plays like I remember the original. It hits nostalgia buttons, but I'm unsure I'll be able to handle it's foibles to completion. And I really loved the orignials back in the day.

[Jim Bob]

It feels like a Dreamcast game in every single way so far. It looks like one, it sounds like one, it plays like I remember the original. It hits nostalgia buttons, but I'm unsure I'll be able to handle it's foibles to completion. And I really loved the orignials back in the day.

You see, to me, this sounds perfect.  I didn't want the wonky wheel to be reinvented.  I wanted the proverbial wheel to be as janky and broken as it's always been.  I'd rather a set of 3 plates with chips in them, than two janky plates and one pristine one.  Consistency is important to me.

[popcorn]

Played the first two hours of this last night.

It's a weird one... as I expected it would be. It has preserved many of the original game's foibles - the terrible voice acting and script, the weird editing, the lack of action - which I agree is good and right. But it's transplanted into an underwhelming UE4 context. Everything looks unnaturally bright (Ryo's jeans are dazzling blue), so it doesn't have the same sense of melancholy. The sort of environment that would feel rich and mysterious on Dreamcast here feels small and cheap.

They've added crap new game features too, so you find herbs to pick in fields, and you have to keep eating cabbages and potatoes to stop your health falling. It's all sub-GTA3 open-world crap. Why was this necessary?

The word for it is uncanny - recognisably Shenmue in surprising ways, but not the same.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

The having to eat thing sounds like it would dissuade you from actually wanting to explore the world, which is odd for a Shenmue game. It probably is a case of it being one man's vanity project, so there's nobody around to say, "No, don't put that in, because it's shit and adds absolutely nothing".
I'll get it in six months when it's a tenner, and hopefully all the bullshit has been patched.

[Consignia]

You don't have to eat as long as you aren't getting into any fights, as health regenerates to a certain threshold. It is quite low though, and stops you running everywhere. I guess it's supposed to be realistic, but I don't think running across a small village requires eating 10 pears to get your energy back.

[popcorn]

does Ryo die if I don't eat enough pears?

[Spiteface]

Just started this. I was a backer, but it was completely off my radar until it popped up unexpectedly in my inbox.

It feels like a Dreamcast game in every single way so far. It looks like one, it sounds like one, it plays like I remember the original. It hits nostalgia buttons, but I'm unsure I'll be able to handle it's foibles to completion. And I really loved the orignials back in the day.

I haven't bothered with it. My caring for it was an all-time low purely because it had been so long, I had accepted it wouldn't happen and Yakuza filled the gap nicely.

Then the "remasters" of I and II came out and I didn't like them. They have not aged well, and it sounds like this is more of the same.

[popcorn]

The game is shite.