Yu Suzuki will correspond to his followers on November 19. Shenmue III is a reality.
Throughout the year countless titles pass through our hands. All kinds of proposals and genres are grouped together in an editorial that critically observes what companies will transfer to the consumer. When we analyze, we do it with a different prism than we would have in normal conditions. But there are games that transcend that barrier. A barrier that influences, in this case, emotion.
"It's not too late for Shenmue III," Yu Suzuki narrated to the FreeGameTips microphone. It's never too late, not even too much, for the old glories. Shenmue made us be part of the Dobuita community, feel the icy caress of the snowflakes before the arrival of Christmas. Because, for many, Shenmue was the first time; the beginning of feeling the video game as a means to transmit beyond the screen.
There is something special in the work of the Japanese creative, now under the mantle of Deep Silver. We can question the awkwardness of their mechanics, even the delusions of their dialogues. But there is something difficult to explain that gets you hooked from the first moment, those tickles in the stomach that push you to get up every day in the virtual world. The triumph of the saga is not its playable muscle, but its ability to leave an indelible mark.
Thanks to Koch Media, we have been able to spend a few hours through the introduction of the third installment. A meeting that makes clear the intentions of the study: transfer what we live in 1999.
"I see"
Years have not passed for Yu Suzuki. Many of us have recently remastered the collection that Sega itself launched to the market last year. In it, we were able to update somehow the sensations we had at the end of the nineties with the original pair. After talking with Shenhua, we took Ryo's command 18 years later, a moment, no doubt, symbolic for everything behind it.
We recognize the same martial arts apprentice. This time the control has been adapted for the times. Hazuki moves agile, with precision, although within a range in which the evolution of the tank control can be read between the lines; keep highlighting the same base.
These initial conversations allow us to observe certain technical limitations. YS Net Inc has opted for the use of Unreal Engine 4, which allows it to offer colorful environments in a first visual scan. However, certain ballasts, perhaps incomprehensible, impact the way video sequences unfold. Between scene and scene there are black fades that load the following conversation.
So you can get an idea, a walk in which the protagonists chat becomes, instead of a single scene, three different. Like this, more times: in Shenhua's own house, barefoot to talk to her involves two cuts. These types of resources have their explanation in a hardware of two generations ago. Nor do they seem to respond to a narrative decision, since they contribute nothing; on the contrary, they hinder the whole.
Despite this, visually it maintains the type correctly. The director always tends to focus on the details, and it highlights the initial town. We can spend many moments just observing the decorative objects of the houses, the stock of the store or the kitchen of the local bar. Shenmue III is a game in which to relax, allowing us to travel to a 1987 in which there was no technology noise.
"Do you have a moment?"
What we will do, naturally, is to interact with our neighbors. Talking is the maximum of the franchise. Therefore, we wanted to maintain the spirit of the dialogues, with that special rhythm and the marked accent that characterizes it. Including Ryo's tone, detail that fans won't let go.
Perhaps we are before the Shenmue to which the most important part is given the playable part. The progress of the character has varied to not only enhance our individual abilities, but also certain traits that will raise your health, attack, agility, and so on. The dojo is the key, even more, to develop Ryo's potential. We can choose to fight with a sparring; While we fight, we will have to choose which combination of attack we want to perform so that it can level up. All progress will be represented in real time. At last.
Within that impulse we find a decision that we need to experience more to give our final judgment. Traditional spheres of health receive another state that will alter it: fatigue. Performing actions in the open world will reduce your vitality, whether running, walking or fighting. To recover it we will have to sleep or eat; The latter will be tied to the food and potions system, which we can make with native plants or buying supplies in stores.
This allows you to delve into your life simulation formula. At certain times, you eat; at a certain time, you rest until the next day. The problem is that the clock is moving slowly, we would say more than its predecessors, and on the same day we see that we have to fill the crop several times before it gets dark. We will be short of money, and perhaps it is one of the reasons why minigames play a more important role.
China 1987
The stage is full of activities that will make us deviate for a few moments of the narrative advance. Although we could not try the local fair, some mini-games made us complete small actions in exchange for money or specific objects. In the most basic of all, we had to make a stone in some of the raised cubes.
On the other hand, the most physical, so to speak, required more practice, as they are vital to what aspects. Like logging, which will allow us to save the yuan needed to buy food. The dojo will also have some of its own that will exercise Ryo's physique.
There is no place for haste in China in 1987. As we were used to, Suzuki-san wanted to impose a slow pace, marked by the hourly advance, in which you can chew every moment lived in your universe. The great moments of Shenmue III are not in combat, not even in the environment: they are the conversations with Shenhua in the heat of the fire.
That transfer of information between the couple makes the nostalgia that we kept in the trunk of memories flourish. Talk about the life that Hot Dog Tom transmitted, Fuku-san's help, about what could have been and was not with Nozomi … there are so many, so many memories that end up getting you excited.
Reciprocated love
Shenmue III is not a simple gateway for those who can take it as an introduction to the saga. To enjoy it in its full form, it is vital to have lived the previous two. There is no better time to discover (or remember) one of the mythical brands of the modern video game. However, if it is already in your heart, this delivery seems to correspond to all your desires. The wait will have been worth it. The date: next November 19 on PS4 and PC through Epic Games Store.
