Earlier this week the long-delayed Shenmue III finally released its first in-engine trailer, and the response has been mixed (to say the least). The game’s environments looked nice, but the characters were…less attractive. The game’s facial animations weren’t just stiff, they appeared to be almost completely non-existent.
Ryo’s face never changes in the new Shenmue III trailer and I genuinely hope it’s like this the whole game pic.twitter.com/o1eqljgmDP
— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) August 21, 2017
Is this what the final game will look like? Thankfully, not. As part of the ongoing Gamescom festivities, Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki sat down for an interview with Game Watch Japan, in which he explained the wonky faces:
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“It’s a completely in-game trailer. We haven’t yet put in the facial expressions. Until a month ago, we had put in the facial animations, but for the moment, they’ve been removed.”
So, the game will have facial expressions, they just took them out…for some reason. Were the facial animations so bad having none was actually an improvement? Let’s hope not.
The full Game Watch interview hasn’t been fully translated yet, but we know Suzuki touches on a number of other interesting subjects. For instance, he promises the game will have a completely revamped fighting system, and take around 30 hours to complete. He also says he’d like to do a Shenmue IV if this game is successful.
So, when will we get to learn more about Shenmue III? Don’t hold your breath. According to Suzuki, developer Ys Net won’t be showing anything more at Gamescom, and Shenmue III will be skipping the Tokyo Game Show. That said, they are gearing up for a “full-scale promotion” sometime in 2018.
Back at E3 2015 Sony and developer Ys Net shocked the gaming world by announcing Shenmue III, which promptly broke Kickstarter records by raising over $6.3 million. Since then, fans have largely been kept in the dark. This latest 90-second trailer is the most significant thing shown to date. What are those fat stacks of fan cash are being used for? It’s hard to say.
Shenmue III is slated to hit the PC and PS4 in late 2018.
[via Kotaku & Game Watch Japan]
