'Shenmue 3': Ys Net Shares Development Vol. 2
Ys Net, the developer of the anticipated "Shenmue 3" game, released a development update on Thursday, March 16, where fans were treated to a quick-time event showing a number of brief gameplay scenes. In addition, several game designers as well as series creator Yu Suzuki made appearances in the "Development Vol. 2" update.
The team also apologized for failing to give constant updates as promised, but the company assures fans that they will try to at least provide an update once a month.
The game preview shown in the development report is clarified as tentative and it is stated that the scenes and characters may still change upon the game's official release.
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The brief scene, however, showed the game's main protagonist, Ryo Hazuki. It had been also noted that Suzuki visited China in 2015 just to research for location and techniques that Ryo could use in "Shenmue 3." The game's premise is focused on Ryo's mission to track down his father's killer.
Many fans are still divided about the game's inclusion of yet another QTE technique. Some would agree that this should be retained since this is part of the nostalgic factor that adds to the game's charm, while some disdain the QTE for being such a waste of time, even in the previous installments of the game.
As of the moment, however, most signs point out that "Shenmue 3" will still be using QTEs, but fans can also expect that Suzuki will try to revolutionize this aspect of the game to fit with contemporary players and consoles.
Despite being a successful and critically acclaimed franchise, "Shenmue" is not known to have that many players or a widely commercial video game success for that matter. For this reason, "Shenmue 3" took the crowdfunding route in able to turn the anticipated installment into reality.
In its Kickstarter campaign, "Shenmue 3" gathered over $6,333,295 with over 69,320 backers for the project. The game was also petitioned to be released for Nintendo Switch consoles, as some fans believe that the new hybrid console is similar to SEGA's Dreamcast, and that this could be a match made in heaven between the game and the console.
The petition is lodged at Change.org which currently has 235 supporters and needs to get up to 500 before it will be forwarded to Ys Net.
"Shenmue 3" is slated for a December 2017 release date.
