Yu Suzuki has provided a few comments regarding the latest Shenmue 3 trailer and the game’s new logo, on both the official PlayStation Blog and the Kickstarter page. You can read the comments below, as well as find a batch of old and new screenshots of the game. I also looked into the comments from Kickstarter backers on the latest update.
Message from Yu Suzuki on the PlayStation blog:
Hello PlayStation fans! This is Yu Suzuki, director of Shenmue III.
It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since we debuted the game at Sony’s E3 2015 press conference. Since then, the team has been extremely busy developing the game in Tokyo, but now it’s time to come up for air.
To coincide with Gamescom 2017, we are happy to share the news that we have inked a publishing partnership with Deep Silver! From the early days on the project, the team at Deep Silver really impressed me with their deep passion for the series and their desire to work with us to deliver a proper sequel that all fans will love.
To celebrate the news, I would like to share with you a teaser video built from a small slice of an in-development build of the game. As you will see, the latest chapter in Ryo and Shenhua’s journey begins with a beautiful set piece in China. You’ll also see that we’re aiming to significantly upgrade the game’s visuals, and you may also notice a new character during that quick glimpse of our new battle gameplay…
I’m pleased to be able to offer a small peek into what we’ve been building thus far, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to show you more as we get closer to our 2018 release.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all those who have supported me and the team. I will continue to work hard to deliver the best possible realization of Shenmue III.
Yu Suzuki
Regarding the logo, Yu Suzuki had this to say on Kickstarter:
I really wanted to bring home the Shenmue logo because this belongs to all of you, and I know how passionate everyone feels about it. As the result, I felt the design should come more from the heart. So, with more than a bit of trepidation, I took brush to hand. I believe we have reached a design that will please, but let me know what you think!
Needless to say, backers had a lot to say about the first teaser trailer and the new logo. Reading the reactions from the backers, what stands out is that just about everyone is asking the team to go back to the previous Shenmue 3 logo. Below you can see both the old and new logo.
Regarding the teaser video itself, most seem to agree that the environments look good, but the character models and particularly the lack of facial animation is something that many feel needs to be updated. The characters’ faces have an overly plastic look to them and their eyes don’t move, giving them an awkward doll-like appearance. That said, I’d argue that gameplay, storyline and voice acting are far more important aspects of the game. And it’s those that I’m personally more worried about, as we really haven’t seen anything from the game in that regard. Until then, it remains difficult to judge what we can really expect from Shenmue 3. Hopefully, we’ll get updates and video footage more frequently moving forward.
Below is a set of high-resolution artwork, provided with the update on the Sony blog. Again, it looks to me that they’re using a shader that is making the game look way too dark. In several of the screenshots showing the environments, a lot of detail is lost in the darker areas because of this. It’s an effect I’ve also seen in games like Mass Effect 2 (where it could be reversed on the game’s PC version by tweaking the Unreal Engine’s settings), but here it’s far more exaggerated. Hopefully this is something they’ll dial back in the future builds of the game, as it really serves no purpose.
My current wish is that the mod community is very active in the future lol, that won’t change my first Shenmue 3 experience if they don’t improve it significantly.