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Shenmue III review thread

Bullet Club

Bullet Club

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opencritic.com

Shenmue III Reviews

For better and worse, Shenmue III feels just like the Shenmue games that launched nearly 20 years ago.
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Shenmue III Reviews

The story begins in 1980s Yokosuka, Japan...The main character, Ryo Hazuki has his father murdered before him by Lan Di, the boss of the underground organization, Chi You Men. Ryo learns of the existence of a mysterious pair of mirrors, and makes his way to Hong Kong to unravel the mystery and...
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Shenmue III

Shenmue III for PC game reviews & Metacritic score: The story begins in 1980s Yokosuka, Japan. The main character, Ryo Hazuki has his father murdered before him by Lan Di, the boss of the underground organizat...
www.metacritic.com www.metacritic.com


Metro GameCentral - 6 / 10

A literal dream come true for fans and while most others will struggle to understand the appeal it's impossible not to admire Yu Suzuki's vision and tenacity in not only making the game but making it his way.
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Eurogamer - Martin Robinson - Recommended

A bewitching time capsule that transports us to late 80s China, and to turn-of-the-century video games.
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GamesRadar+ - Justin Towell - Unscored

This game feels like it’s trolling modernity. It’s ludicrously self-indulgent, constantly absurd, often beautiful, objectively awful and yet somehow wonderful. Personally I can’t believe what I’m playing. Somehow Shenmue III is not only real, but it feels 100% authentic after all this time and against all the odds. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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Polygon - Laura Kate Dale - Unscored

It’s not the lack of elegant dialogue or the glitches that make this game so disappointing, but the idea that a series that was so obsessed with what would be possible from gaming in the future has turned into a way for people to attempt to revisit the past.
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VG247 - Kirk McKeand - 3 / 5 stars

Despite these annoyances, despite the fact that it’s a game designed with decades-old sensibilities, I enjoyed my time with it. It doesn’t have the conclusion we’ve been waiting two decades for and it barely drives the story forward at all, but the climactic battle is as satisfying as that 70-man tussle in the first game’s harbour.
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Fextralife - Lanzen - 7.1 / 10

Beautiful to look at and live in, particularly in its second half, its charm and story mostly overcome its dated roots, except for the capsule game mechanism which spoils the overall experience.
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Gameblog - Romain Mahut - French - 7 / 10

All the ingredients are there to make of Shenmue III is a great Shenmue game : rivetting story, copius side content, beautiful backgrounds and great characters. But it's also a bit dragged down by its dated production values. Gamers who the first two Shenmue games and who can overlook technical shortcomings will have a great time. Bring on Shenmue IV!
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Hobby Consolas - Rafael Aznar - Spanish - 80 / 100

Shenmue III has some issues and it is not a game for everyone, but, if you enjoyed the two first games and you know what kind of game this is, it will satisfy you, as far as gameplay, setting and plot are quite good and remain loyal to Dreamcast era. It was worth waiting eighteen years. Now the question is: when will we be able to play Shenmue IV?
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ruvikx

ruvikx

Banned
nuttyevans said:
Nah, Shenmue is shit now and was shit then.
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I'm a polite person so I'd usually just say "Shenmue isn't my type of game, sorry", but when I read stuff like "masterpiece" I'm inclinded to say "U WOT M8?!"

They had a small vocal hardcore clique of superfans screaming Shenmue like a religious incantation for 15 years whilst the rest of us moved on & played far better games, then, now & tomorrow. Reviews for Shenmue 3 which even state it's "objectively awful" yet still somehow praise it are the ultimate piss-take. The state of "professional" reviewing these days is fucking sad.
 
Lukin1978

Lukin1978

Member
I'll buy it I bought shenmue 1 when it launched people who shit on it now probably never experienced it at the time. It hasn't aged well obviously.
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
Since when has a game needed to be a masterpiece to be good?

Sonic The Fighters said:
If you don't think that Shenmue 1 & 2 are absolute masterpieces...

Then tell me what is your video game masterpiece that can raise $ 7 millions by fans to make a comeback 20 years later ?

I want to laugh a bit.
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The games aren't everyone's cup of tea. They honestly aren't my cup of tea, either.

But the notion a game has to be a masterpiece to be good is straight up dumb and lazy. I've enjoyed some "B-tier" games more than most AAA master-class releases, tbqh. They usually tend to have a charm to them in their imperfections that a lot of "masterpieces" lack. And also usually have more creative takes on certain things like game mechanics, character designs, music etc. since they already know they're appealing to a smaller demographic.

I'm speaking about a lot of Japanese "B-tier" games in particular, especially going back to the 5th and 6th gen of consoles.
 
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Northeastmonk

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Lukin1978 said:
I'll buy it I bought shenmue 1 when it launched people who shit on it now probably never experienced it at the time. It hasn't aged well obviously.
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At the time, we relied on 56k and magazines to see these numbers. I was still a kid, but I imported it. I wanted it before the US got it. It was the 'age of wonder". Now its all about over analyzing everything and pointing out every single flaw. No wonder it scored what it did.
 
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TeamGhobad

TeamGhobad

Banned
a thing that sounds good at a show but the reality of it nobody wants. ya the original had some great ideas that have become standard in games today but its time to let it go.
 
MiguelItUp

MiguelItUp

Member
You do you Shenmue fans, I can't help but assume it'll be enjoyable, especially if you enjoyed the first two. I was hoping the numbers would be higher for them because of all the flack its development got. But I'm sure it'll still be successful enough.

I never played 2, but I thought 1 was incredible on the Dreamcast, especially at the time. But even then I remember it having a certain amount of jank here and there. Still loved it, but it was hard to ignore. Wish I got around to playing 2 though. 🤷‍♂️
 
JLB

JLB

Banned
Sonic The Fighters said:
If you don't think that Shenmue 1 & 2 are masterpieces, then i will advise you to stop video games and also to not share your ignorance at the same time.
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Wont do 1) nor 2) grandpa.
Funny thing is that Im old enough to remember my japanese hardcode gamer friends completely hating Shenmue 1. I mean, I recall some of them telling me that sales were a disaster then in Japan, although I havent actually checked that.
On the other hand, those who actually owned a DC at the time know that the real masterpieces were JSR and PSO, and by far.
 
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TylersProphecy4.0

TylersProphecy4.0

Banned
Sonic The Fighters said:
If you don't think that Shenmue 1 & 2 are absolute masterpieces...

Then tell me what is your video game masterpiece that can raise $ 7 millions by fans to make a comeback 20 years later ?

I want to laugh a bit.
Click to expand...
You could probably raise 7 million bucks through crowd-funding to bring back Jolt cola, too. A positive public opinion doesnt necessarily mean something is a masterpiece.

I say this as a diehard fan of shenmue but even I can admit there are huge portions of the game that will appeal to few.
Full of heart and unique gameplay, sure, but masterpiece it is not. Maybe the first game just for what they were able to technically pull off. The magic city shit in 2 was pretty revolutionary too but yeah, now I'm back to "just because i think something is cool doesn't make it a masterpiece" line of thinking.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
Sounds about right.
The one thing Shenmue had going for it was how advanced and original several of its systems felt. Take the innovation away and it's a pretty mediocre game.

But this was always presented as a project for the fans and I'm sure they'll have a blast with it, so I'm happy for them :D


Samsomite said:
Thread title: Shenmue III review thread

Replies: Are the previous games masterpieces

Me: 🤡
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Sort of makes sense for this game though. Most reviews for this seem to basically come down to "it's same old Shenmue...for better or worse". Which obviously brings into question if "same old Shenmue" was ever really good.

To which I'd say No. It was definitely influential and it was ahead of its time in some ways, but from what I played back in the day I always found it rather boring and the argument from most fans I talked to was basically "yeah but that's because it's so advanced and realistic. It's boring because several aspects of real life are boring!!!".
 
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JLB

JLB

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Fbh said:
Sounds about right.
The one thing Shenmue had going for it was how advanced and original several of its systems felt. Take the innovation away and it's a pretty mediocre game.

But this was always presented as a project for the fans and I'm sure they'll have a blast with it, so I'm happy for them :D




Sort of makes sense for this game though. Most reviews for this seem to basically come down to "it's same old Shenmue...for better or worse". Which obviously brings into question if "same old Shenmue" was ever really good.

To which I'd say No. It was definitely influential and it was ahead of its time in some ways, but from what I played back in the day I always found it rather boring and the argument from most fans I talked to was basically "yeah but that's because it's so advanced and realistic. It's boring because several aspects of real life are boring!!!".
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Indeed. I had that perception, and corroborated that the game was not good at all after playing it again on Xbox One (not sure why it appeared there, I guess it was added in GP). But yeah, wont make this a national cause, if theres people that loves the game, good for them. I like other games like FIFA that most people hate, so to each its own.
 
ethomaz

ethomaz

Banned
Sad but the reviews.

But it is Shenmue so I can't wait to my copy arrive.

The previous games still play wonderful.
 
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rubhen925

rubhen925

Member
The problem with the game is that it moves the story barely forward. I put up with the archaic gameplay because I wanted to see some resolution in the story and yet you get a total of 10 mins of story stretched into 20 hours which is padding at its worst. Also you can't skip dialogue at all even if you have exhausted all dialogue options.

It's annoying to go a shop to collect hp items and you have to spend a minute to listen to the shopkeeper yap before you get to the item screen.

The game also has severe walls. Twice on the game you are expected to get huge amounts of money. 2000 at once and 5000 in the end. I literally spent 2 hours each time to farm that cash. This is clearly just to pad the game and the kind of nonsense that doesn't need to be in games now.

The new combat system is imo worse than the previous ones. Also the target lock in the game is the worst. Always randomly locks onto someone else in mid combo. A lot of fixes need to happen.

Out of my 20 hours I enjoyed maybe 7 hours. The rest felt like a mundane chore imo. Also sequel baiting on the 3rd installment after 18 years feels cheap and this is not what the fans deserve imo. If there is a shenmue 4 they better advance the story a ton or its pointless.
 
Tiamat2san

Tiamat2san

Member
JLB said:
Wont do 1) nor 2) grandpa.
Funny thing is that Im old enough to remember my japanese hardcode gamer friends completely hating Shenmue 1. I mean, I recall some of them telling me that sales were a disaster then in Japan, although I havent actually checked that.
On the other hand, those who actually owned a DC at the time know that the real masterpieces were JSR and PSO, and by far.
Click to expand...
Opinions...
For me shenmue 1&2 are just absolute cult games.
3 is for people like me.
And I am good with that.

sales are not indicative of quality.
And any media.
Avengers endgame is not the better movie ever created.
Reality tv show are not the best of tv.
And so on.

shenmue was ahead of his time.
Are they any flaws in the games?
Sure, nothing is perfect.
But the game touched some people (like me) In a way it can’t be explained.
It’s a part of who I am.

again it’s a matter of opinion.
 
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rubhen925

rubhen925

Member
Mobile Suit Gooch said:
So basically, critics were meh about it while fans liked it.
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Its not that critics are meh about it and that fans love it. The game is released in 2019, so we have to look at it as a 2019 game and not with nostalgia. If you remove your bias and subjective opinions on the matter, the game is average a whole, and some of the mechanics and stuff are outdated. Also the game overall by the end seems like it's really not pushing the series forward.

Nostalgia is great, but it doesn't help push the series anywhere. if you wanted to live in the past, the other two games were there. This really didn't need to be made as the 3rd game when it doesn't do much more than add a couple new mechanics which are more bothersome and grindy.

Don't get me wrong, i loved the series as a whole, but compared to other games that released this year, and without any of my love for the series, and looking at it objectively, this is an average game and deserves the scores it gets.
 
Azelover

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
rubhen925 said:
Its not that critics are meh about it and that fans love it. The game is released in 2019, so we have to look at it as a 2019 game and not with nostalgia. If you remove your bias and subjective opinions on the matter, the game is average a whole, and some of the mechanics and stuff are outdated. Also the game overall by the end seems like it's really not pushing the series forward.

Nostalgia is great, but it doesn't help push the series anywhere. if you wanted to live in the past, the other two games were there. This really didn't need to be made as the 3rd game when it doesn't do much more than add a couple new mechanics which are more bothersome and grindy.

Don't get me wrong, i loved the series as a whole, but compared to other games that released this year, and without any of my love for the series, and looking at it objectively, this is an average game and deserves the scores it gets.
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Have you played the game?

Tell me exactly. What mechanic is outdated?

The new battle system? Walking around and talking to NPCs? Training and leveling up like an RPG? What mechanic is so oudated?

Seriously, the only thing outdated, is the facial animations. It's not even the graphics, because they're good. It's the voice acting, the animations and the story. And they're dragging the whole game down in a sort of hive-mind. Like, "ooohh, it's like the old games". And it isn't so in my opinion. If you don't like the game, and the direction it goes, then by all means criticize that. Instead of saying it's just old. That doesn't make any sense to me.
 
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Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
After having played the game for about 5 hours, the reviews are actually better than i expected them to be to be honest.
The best compliment i can give the game is that if you like Shenmue 1 and 2, you will like Shenmue 3.
 
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rubhen925

rubhen925

Member
Azelover said:
Have you played the game?

Tell me exactly. What mechanic is outdated?
Click to expand...

Played and beaten the story. The combat in particular could use fixing. Especially the detection and target lock. This game has the most frustrating target lock in a while. Once you knock someone down, instead of getting out of target lock it locks onto a random enemy. Not someone that is directly close to you but can be off screen as well.

the grinding for money, which essentially is padding and a wall. Atleast in the previous game, you could directly gamble for money. In this one, you have to get tokens and then walk all the way to a whole new shop to get those tokens traded, and then take those things to sell them in order to get the funds you need. Can you see the problem, why do i need to do 7 things to get 1 thing that many other games can do without the back and forth.

Also the story if you've beaten it, you will know that it really doesn't add much. They have essentially taken a 10-20 minute story, and stretched it across 20 hours of going and talking to npcs who by the way you cannot skip the dialogue, even after talking to them for the 10th time. So essentially if that npc has a minute long yapping start, well guess what you'll have to listen to that every time. Some npcs you'll go back to a dozen times to get items, or clues, so this becomes tedious. Tedious is a word that shouldnt be associated with any game, much less this one.

I'm pretty sure the people who beat the game didn't quite enjoy the 2k and 5k cash grind that is mandatory to get through the story only to be letdown by a cliffhanger ending and a pointless sequel bait. They could have removed the padding and ended the story nicely in this 3rd part. but hey, looks like we got to wait another decade or 2 for the next one

Edit: I for one don't give too much regards to graphics. They are serviceable and fine. Animations are stiff but i'm used to shenmue stiffness lol. For me it's the gameplay and story that matters so yea
 
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Azelover

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
rubhen925 said:
Played and beaten the story. The combat in particular could use fixing. Especially the detection and target lock. This game has the most frustrating target lock in a while. Once you knock someone down, instead of getting out of target lock it locks onto a random enemy. Not someone that is directly close to you but can be off screen as well.

the grinding for money, which essentially is padding and a wall. Atleast in the previous game, you could directly gamble for money. In this one, you have to get tokens and then walk all the way to a whole new shop to get those tokens traded, and then take those things to sell them in order to get the funds you need. Can you see the problem, why do i need to do 7 things to get 1 thing that many other games can do without the back and forth.

Also the story if you've beaten it, you will know that it really doesn't add much. They have essentially taken a 10-20 minute story, and stretched it across 20 hours of going and talking to npcs who by the way you cannot skip the dialogue, even after talking to them for the 10th time. So essentially if that npc has a minute long yapping start, well guess what you'll have to listen to that every time. Some npcs you'll go back to a dozen times to get items, or clues, so this becomes tedious. Tedious is a word that shouldnt be associated with any game, much less this one.

I'm pretty sure the people who beat the game didn't quite enjoy the 2k and 5k cash grind that is mandatory to get through the story only to be letdown by a cliffhanger ending and a pointless sequel bait. They could have removed the padding and ended the story nicely in this 3rd part. but hey, looks like we got to wait another decade or 2 for the next one

Edit: I for one don't give too much regards to graphics. They are serviceable and fine. Animations are stiff but i'm used to shenmue stiffness lol. For me it's the gameplay and story that matters so yea
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Okay. Now that's more like it. Yeah, I think I agree with you. The game could have used more polishing. But it is a budget game like we all know. The story and setting were created a long time ago. It spans two cities and the castle. So it probably covers about three chapters, which is the same as Shenmue 2. My theory is that they thinned the story for money reasons. It's very expensive to make a lot of fully animated cutscenes like that.

That's probably why it is the way it is. But I don't think the "old" thing really applies. It's a story and world that was originally very ambitious, done with a very tight budget and small team. I'm convinced it's probably the best it could have been.
 
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rubhen925

rubhen925

Member
Azelover said:
Okay. Now that's more like it. Yeah, I think I agree with you. The game could have used more polishing. But it is a budget game like we all know. The story and setting were created a long time ago. It spans two cities and the castle. So it probably covers about three chapters, which is the same as Shenmue 2. My theory is that they thinned the story for money reasons. It's very expensive to make a lot of fully animated cutscenes like that.

That's probably why it is the way it is. But I don't think the "old" thing really applies. It's a story and world that was originally very ambitious, done with a very tight budget and small team. I'm convinced it's probably the best it could have been.
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Yea i guess. Still the story left me with a complete blue balls moment in the end. Was so disappointed lol. Sad thing is if this doesn't sell well Shenmue 4 might not happen soon enough....
 
lachesis

lachesis

Member
If OKBoomer thing ever applies to any video game - I guess it would be Shenmue series.
And the sad thing is... I am the one who gets to be called "OkBoomer" by others in this case - by liking & supporting the game.
I'm just tired of all the critics and intentional (?) mis-information surrounding this game in general... like everyone calling Link as Zelda, and Shenmue 3 was supposed to be the end of the saga? Yikes..

I think of it as a life simulator like Animal Crossing with martial art theme. The whole concept, even in the beginning of project Berkely - he mentioned wanting to make "gentle" game for every age...

GTA is like spiced up Kung-Pao Chicken from a restaurant with 100 cooks, and Yakuza being super fatty Tonkotsu ramen with a dozen workers - I find Shenmue being the rice bowl with Miso soup & tsuke-monos made by mom.
Yes, I like all of above in varying degress - but if you eat Miso & Tsuke-mono and saying why it's not as spicy as Kung Pao Chicken... or why it's not as fatty and rich like Tonkotsu... I just don't know what to say.
 
Polygonal_Sprite

Polygonal_Sprite

Gold Member
ruvikx said:
I'm a polite person so I'd usually just say "Shenmue isn't my type of game, sorry", but when I read stuff like "masterpiece" I'm inclinded to say "U WOT M8?!"

They had a small vocal hardcore clique of superfans screaming Shenmue like a religious incantation for 15 years whilst the rest of us moved on & played far better games, then, now & tomorrow. Reviews for Shenmue 3 which even state it's "objectively awful" yet still somehow praise it are the ultimate piss-take. The state of "professional" reviewing these days is fucking sad.
Click to expand...

When did the fake insider LKD start reviewing games for Polygon? LMAO.
 
New Yorks Finest

New Yorks Finest

Banned
ruvikx said:
I'm a polite person so I'd usually just say "Shenmue isn't my type of game, sorry", but when I read stuff like "masterpiece" I'm inclinded to say "U WOT M8?!"

They had a small vocal hardcore clique of superfans screaming Shenmue like a religious incantation for 15 years whilst the rest of us moved on & played far better games, then, now & tomorrow. Reviews for Shenmue 3 which even state it's "objectively awful" yet still somehow praise it are the ultimate piss-take. The state of "professional" reviewing these days is fucking sad.
Click to expand...


It's a looong awaited turd 💩 to the fans (Shenmue 3) it screams low budget indie project all over..with the dou $ was donated this game definitely was not made with passion and love.
 
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