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Quick Look: Shenmue III

Ryo needs to stop talking to children.

Sit back and enjoy as the Giant Bomb team takes an unedited look at the latest video games.

Nov. 21 2019

Cast: Alex, Dan, Abby

Posted by: Abby

In This Episode:

Shenmue III

194 Comments

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thepoorassgamer

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I CAN'T READ BRO

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stone_ocean6

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@knoxt: real upset that they didn't like Death Stranding huh. Death Stranding is very much its own thing but in service to ONLY Kojimas interests, even to the detriment of it's story and world-building
Shenmue is its own thing but its all in service to telling Ryos story and expressing a genuine admiration for Chinese culture

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marokazam

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Edited By marokazam

The people demand a Shenmue 2 Endurance Run! I will pay extra even on top of my premium membership!

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shtinky

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Edited By shtinky

I don't think Vinny would "suffer" through a Shenmue 2 Endurance Run, as the game, even on Dreamcast, fixed a lot of the pacing problems he had with the first game.

You can now Quick Save anywhere, so there's no need to go back to the room to hard save. And there's now a skip time option, so you don't have to wait around for a scheduled activity anymore, you can skip right to it. There's also an improved map / map marking feature, to help with getting lost.

All these features were introduced in the Dreamcast game, back in the year 2001 itself. Also, the game originally launched in Europe with Japanese only voice acting, which sounded a lot better than the terrible English VA in the 2002 XBox port released a year later.

No doubt they would play the game in English, but factually, the West first played Shenmue 2 in Japanese, and Shenmue's biggest western fanbase is in Europe.

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FruitCartBomber

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@stustap said:

So yeah, about that Shenmue 2 endurance run...

Yes yes plz Giant bomb east make it so

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mehrdadkazem87

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Shenmue 2 Endurance Run and Shenmue 3 Endurance Run. PLEAAAAAAAAAAASE!!!

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cyberspacecat

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Edited By cyberspacecat

I caught a few semi-viral clips on twitter of Shenmue III and I gotta say I did not expect it to be so unapologetically the thing it is, down to the stilted voice acting and strange disconnected writing.

It's categorically bad but it just keeps making me smile at every turn.

(Also if you haven't noticed Vinny wasn't on the latest GBE stream, he must've been on leave at the time they recorded this.)

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oboyitsmeroa

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That delivery on I CAN'T READ BRO was extremely shin chan-esque

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csl316

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Since Yakuza became what we wanted Shenmue to be, I think there's a niche for having this one just be original ass Shnemue.

I won't play it, but there's a place for it and I'm glad they made this thing for the fans.

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InStInCt666

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Endurance run Shenmue 2 with the OG Crew (Dan Alex and Vinny)
Pleeaaaase

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Nasar7

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As a Shenmue fan since 99, I’m so thankful this game finally got made. This is akin to Half-Life ep III coming out after all these years. It’s definitely not for everyone but if you’re a fan of adventure games, Japanese/Chinese culture, martial arts, and light simulators then this is the niche ass series for you. I’m personally looking forward to picking this up along with the re release of the 1-2 and reliving my childhood.

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Rocketskates

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o god this looks bad and weird

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Trilogy

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It's kind of impressive how accurate this is to original Shenmue. Boy do I hope they get back to some Beast in the East cause this looks ripe for a full playthrough.

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OurSin_360

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There was a good 5 or 6 years where I really wanted a Shenmue 3, I remember there was even a MMO in development at one point.

Now I am just amazed that this thing exists and that it looks like an upscaled dream cast game straight out of 2000.

Also two things I vaguely remember about the dialog, 1 is that they intend it to be a way for japanese people to study English so I think it's purposefully done in a stilted way. And also, I think since he's in china and doesn't speak the language well they misinterpret what he says a lot.

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Casecast

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Please please please have Vinny play shenmue 2. The endurance run of shenmue is my favorite thing this or any site has ever produced

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djredbat

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Um......about that Shenmue 2 ER

Um......please start it

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MaxxCanti

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People actually funded this...

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cyborgx7

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Abby's reaction to this makes me think she would enjoy a little piece of content called shenmue endurance run.

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steveurkel

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Someone in 2019 just compared Shenmue 3 to Half Life 3 coming out.

This is the world we live in.

This is more like Pepsi reveals that they're bringing back Crystal Pepsi but you get an ulcer every time you drink it. Enjoy your nostalgia.

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andrew2696

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Abby hates baby voices but still says sorry like that?

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MonsieurDuvel

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The full gang needs to endurance run the hell out of this game. Please.

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NameRedacted

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Holy Hot Garbage, Batman! People actually Kickstarted this game???

Shenmue 3 looks like someone made a game for the original Playstation, in modern times, and still didn't stick the landing.

In a world where the Yakuza franchise exists, this doesn't need to. At all.

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cosi83

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Shenmue! Classic! Go Ryo!

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gaggle64

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I may dare suggest this would be the ideal time for a BEast play-through of Shemnue II.

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alwaysbeclothing

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Fnert_Bjerglen

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This game seems like it was made by people who have been living in a cave since 2002 with nothing to do but play Shenmue. Also they're not allowed to speak to each other to learn how that works. Somehow that's what people wanted?

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onkel

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The look of this game reminds me of that hideous Fable remaster.

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function404

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"I don't want to play it but I'm into it" is exactly what watching the Endurance Run of Shenmue feels like.

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superjoe

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I traded this game in at Funcoland for $24 store credit.

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binarygod

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For the most part, no one gave a shit about this game/series - but gen-X'ers and some older millennial's on YouTube have spent a lot of video-hours trying to convince people younger (and older) that some unpopular thing from their childhood is actually great and something that everyone should love too (they want to rewrite their childhood, basically).

It's more than a little pathetic, and the fact that is KIND OF works (mostly not with any sales success, and usually not some score success either) is possibly more than a little strange.

Many of these games were niche for a reason, and time is not going to change that or many other things you wish it would.

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Liquidsolidus

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Edited By Liquidsolidus

As a Shenmue fan, so far 3 has been everything I could have wanted from a sequel. I was worried about the low budget, but it's still so Shenmue down to the details that you can tell Yu Suzuki really put his heart into bringing it together.

I don't really agree with the whole idea of "You have to play it from the perspective of when it came out or else it's just an inferior Yakuza" - I first got into the series in 2015 after the Kickstarter was announced and unironically fell in love. Plus I'm not a fan of Yakuza's setting

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Max_Cherry

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I don’t know about the east, but there haven’t been stonemasons here in 150 years.

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DocHaus

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Yakuza do what Shenmue don't. Shenmue was great at the time, but that time has passed, just let it die!

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ConVox

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dagas

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I was a huge Shenmue fan back in the day. It felt like playing a game from the future. Going from the PS1 to getting a DC with Shenmue was mind blowing in a way that you just don't get these days with new games just being slightly better looking versions of older games when you get a new generation of consoles. Seeing this is so true to the original makes me want to play it. But I will take out my DC and Shenmue 2 and replay that first since GB didn't do a Shenmue 2 playthrough. I just don't know if I should play Shenmue 3 in English like the first game or in Japanese like the second game (They never dubbed it to English on DC just when it came to XBOX). I never got the HD release of the first games since I heard that had so many issues but I still have the original Dreamcast games.

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Humanity

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Fuck that animation priority and slow animations in Red Dead 2 but hey give me some of that Shenmue 3 am I right?

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sebmal

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please release a film & 40s of shenmue the movie so you're all recapped on the events of the first game and then start the shenmue 2 endurance run. thank you

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Undeadpool

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I have to admire the devs', and Yu Suzuki's, dedication to continuing to be sincere and totally awkward rather than trying for a Birdemic 2/Sharknado "let's do all the stupid shit on purpose, hahahaha"-tone.

He REALLY believes in this strange, terrible tale and I salute him for that, at least. That having been said: sincerity alone is not enough.

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geirr

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I'm so happy this is out and seemingly sticking to the formula.
Can't wait to play it and just chill out.

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helicopterrides

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This really makes me wish for a Shenmue 2 (& 3) Endurance Run.

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thisoldtophat

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Onemanarmyy

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Edited By Onemanarmyy

lmao, it was like they were playing The Smiths - Meat is Murder during that conversation near the cows. That were some INTENSE sounds :D I laughed so hard.

and man, what a crazy game this is. Like it's EXACTLY what you would want as a die-hard Shenmue fan. I think i remember the first Shenmue's english voice acting basically being done by anyone that spoke english around the place it was made? Like it would be a stretch to call them professional voice actors? We're over a decade further and it still has that quality. Ryo even seems to be voiced by the same guy to me. That's pretty amazing.

I bet this game would be a pain to review. Like you can't sit through this dialog and come away with the idea that the moment-to-moment writing is good or captivating. The voice acting sounds extremely unnatural. It's a slog how lines keep repeating over and over untill you trigger new dialog. It sucks how you have to restart conversations to pick the other conversation option. The 'quests' (find this place, find these children, etc) is nothing to write home about. The weird fades to black & loading screens between animations are rediculous. On a technical level, this game looks graphically like a PS3 game at times. Apparently the fighting is bad too.

Yet..... i totally understand why people would love this. While the graphics are not all that impressive on a technical level, the amount of colour & the amazing art direction on screen is a sight to behold. Even something simple as that field with sunflowers is gorgeous. the movement of the girls earring seemed quite well done too. The music is exactly what you want. I can see how playing this game is one of the most relaxing thinjgs you could do on a console right now. Shenmue 1 had me totally captivated in a similar way. Like how do you put a score on something like this? I'd put this game in a similar box as games like Quiet Man, Deadly Premonition & Death Stranding.

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darkjester74

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MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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Gregalor

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I love Yakuza.

I also love Shenmue.

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quasiconundrum

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Edited By quasiconundrum

@humanity: Yeah...Dan's take on Shenmue III really de-legitimizes his stance on RDR 2 even further. This kind of makes it crystal clear that he was just bummed because it wasn't GTA with horses.

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savamutt

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Give me that fork lift truck mini game!

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cooljammer00

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Shenmue 2 Endurance Run, you cowards!

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ice_queen

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i love that this game seems pretty much exactly like the old ones

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vibratingdonkey

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Edited By vibratingdonkey

Shenmue 3 didn't have a budget even remotely comparable to the originals, so it of course couldn't match them in the sense of being ambitious and revolutionary, or making a technological impact, but it certainly does a good job continuing along the path set out by them. Which I think is about all you could ask or hope for. So far this game has been extremely Shenmue. I contend that this is a good thing.

Pro Tip: You can turn off the inexplicable camera rectangle thing that shows up when you go into first person, by changing the option that is inexplicably called "Zoom" in the settings, which you inexplicably get to by pressing R1.

@nemuel said:

I didnt even know this was out allready.. they really just dumped it out huh.

Backers effectively subsidized the majority of the budget for Deep Silver, the publisher, which later screwed backers by making an exclusive distribution deal with Epic, which may have already gotten them back what they invested. So perhaps if the marketing is lacking, it's to do with sales not mattering too much to Deep Silver's profits in this case.

Or, probably they were never going to spend much on marketing for this game, but after the Epic deal they're extra not.

@dochaus said:

Yakuza do what Shenmue don't. Shenmue was great at the time, but that time has passed, just let it die!

I don't understand pointless negativity like this. Yakuza indeed do what Shenmue don't, and vice versa, which is why it's great that they both get to do their thing.

Also, the time for being trolly and telling people to let Shenmue die was four years ago when the crowdfunding campaign was active. That time has passed. Shenmue is now alive. And I think it's great.

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Jutturna

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excuse me