We're not long back from an exhausting week at Gamescom in Cologne, and look forward to sharing with you all the fruits of our labor in the coming days and weeks. There's certainly however been no shortage of content to keep fans occupied, and our one regret is not having the time to adequately address the Shenmue 3 teaser video that Ys Net released just as Gamescom was about to get under way.
The footage contains a detailed look at some gorgeous environments along with a variety of scenes - both action and story - featuring character models that have been updated significantly since the prototypes used when the game was announced at E3 2015.
There is clear evidence in the visuals that the game is not finished, which should come as no surprise with a year or more of development scheduled until its release. Yet this was apparently all it took to instigate some kind of backlash against the same unpolished, behind-the-curtain footage that fans had been begging to see for months.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't?
Casual observers can be forgiven for mistaking the teaser for a full-fledged trailer, showcasing a finished product that appeared to have been rushed. However those who are paid to observe more than casually, paid to do their research, paid to be relied upon for their nous and informed judgment as professional reporters, have no excuse for publishing statements like "the game's first proper trailer, released today, looks like ass" (Kotaku).
Journalists who attempt to understand what their eyes fall upon before leading their trusting readers in a campaign of ill-informed mockery were at Gamescom discussing the teaser with Yu Suzuki himself. The characters in the teaser "are still provisional data," he explained to GAME Watch, "We haven't yet put in their expressions. We had them in a month ago, but have temporarily removed them."
It is, after all, a work in progress.
"Shenhua, Ryo and the other characters are almost all provisional," he told Game*Spark, "We still have a lot of work to do on Shenhua."
It's believed that the Kickstarter backers who last year attended the Tokyo dinner with Suzuki were shown some clips that were quite similar to what we've seen this week. If so, it could suggest that assets used in the teaser footage have been continuously worked on since September 2016, and perhaps even earlier. Suzuki even told Gamekult that they "may create an improved and longer version of the video for the end of the year. A true promotional trailer." So the parts are always moving, the detail always evolving.
The most "liked" post on our Facebook page remains the news in October 2015 that Ys Net had hired South Korean superfan NoconKid, who had gained a following with his stunning homemade HD recreations of Dobuita from the original Shenmue. He has recently confirmed that some of his work can be seen in the teaser video, including the dragon and phoenix mirrors.
With the talent on board for Shenmue 3, and the extended production time provided by the support of a new publisher, there is every reason to believe that the aspects of the game seen to require improvement will eventually catch up with the more impressive elements showcased thus far.
"With Deep Silver to become our partner, I realized that we would be able to aim even higher than our initial goals," Suzuki told Famitsu, "It has enabled us to enrich the content of the game."
Stay tuned for more interviews emerging from Gamescom and, from what's being said, more teaser footage in the not too distant future.
On the other hand, following the mixed feedback to this week's video, Ys Net seem to have reached the conclusion that showing unfinished assets in public may have been premature, so we wonder if there's now a chance we'll have to wait a little longer before fans' requests for a peek at the game's ongoing development are granted again.
