Welcome back angry people to Shenmue 3 news! New Gamescom 2019 trailer: Like with E3, there is a demo only for members of the press. But it is the same 15 minute demo as E3 based on impressions that have been posted by two outlets so far. The trial version for backers in the appropriate tiers ($100 and up) goes live roughly a month from now, in the second half of September. It will take place over the span of a single in-game day, taking roughly an hour to complete. Once completed it can be replayed an unlimited number of times, but it will have an expiration date and stop working sometime prior to the final release date. The exact trial release date, expiration date and other details will be announced in the first half of September. The trial is still PC only, even if you backed for PS4. This detail (trial = PC only) was announced back in 2015 during the kickstarter and hasn't changed. Since the last time this thread was touched, it was confirmed that they will offer prorated refunds to disgruntled PC players who refuse to install the Epic games store and don't want the game anymore. Prorated meaning, if you've already filled out a survey to have stuff put into the game via a high tier, that content is already completed and they can't offer a full refund but will refund the cost of the game and physical items you don't want anymore. They'll also offer Steam keys to backers who want them after the 1 year exclusivity is up, but those will need to be requested via an updated survey due sometime before release. You'll still get an EGS key at launch if you choose to receive a Steam key later. They're going to post more about that next month as well. It was confirmed last month that although Sega's emulated arcade games won't be in Shenmue 3, they do have permission to include some characters and branding. Sega capsule toys will be returning, though it's not known how many of them. There is expected to be new gameplay footage coming out of a Gamecom interview tomorrow, but it's not known if that's just going to be of the E3 demo that we've already seen.
Nice of them to offer up the EGS code to those of us who would prefer to have the Steam copy we backed for. I won't redeem it, but it's probably the nicest gesture they could do aside from actually giving us the Steam code early. Hopefully they don't negate that with a policy that nullifies the Steam code if your assigned EGS code gets redeemed...but I'm not about to dwell on that negative train of thought. Probably safe to assume the demo will be locked to EGS, but oh well. No doubt in my mind that the wait will be well worth it.
All PC backers will be given the EGS code. They will just need to opt-in to get a Steam code a year later. Redeeming the EGS code will not remove your ability to get a Steam code in November 2020, you will basically own the game twice. Today's kickstarter update said they'll be sending the updated survey "in the coming days" which implies it will be sooner than a month from now. I believe that is where they will let PC backers pick between Refund, EGS only or EGS + Steam, but I don't know anything so this is just speculation. Likewise, they confirmed the backer trial will be distributed via EGS. This is likely how the expiration will work - it's probably not a date baked into the game, but rather the game needs to be launched via EGS so once they take the trial off of EGS you won't be able to launch it anymore without a crack. As they already confirmed, the actual trial can be replayed an unlimited number of times until they shut it down. There is no time limit enforced on the game itself, aside from the fact that the story takes place over 1 in-game day.
Yeah, I saw that in the update earlier. I rarely do trials anyway, so I'm not bothered by the exclusivity there. I do look forward to hearing impressions from anyone who does opt in to the trial. Great to see that's unlimited in duration too, I'm sure people will have a grand time digging around to see every tiny bit. I'm certainly curious as to how that survey will work. Picking the EGS only-key, even if that is your preferred platform, seems like a waste when you could end up with two keys.
Reminder that the Shemue III Limited Run Games Edition will go on sale 9/9/19 at 12PM EST/9AM PST (so while you are at work) and is limited to 5,000 copies. Good luck.
It sold out in less than an hour. In other news, (which backers have already received via the recent kickstarter updates) the updated backer survey for PC refunds and game region override will be going out this week or next week. Also, during Sega's TGS stream on Thursday morning, they have a 30 minute session scheduled about Shenmue 3. Yu Suzuki will be joined by the Japanese voice actor's for Ryo and Shenhua to discuss the game. It takes place 11:45-12:15 local time, or 10:45pm EDT Wednesday evening in US time. PhantomRiverStone has some information in English about it. Since Gamescom was only a few weeks ago I don't think they'll show another trailer, but since it was mentioned in a kickstarter update there will probably be some news coming out then. (Some clarification: Deep Silver will be publishing Shenmue 3 in Japan, but they partnered with Sega for distribution / promotion which is why the game will be appearing at Sega's booth)
I much prefer how they do preorders instead: I had no issues nabbing Celeste and got an email today saying they're now in manufacture.
I think it's more that Nintendo especially demands it, so they've had to deal with it regardless. Still seems to work out better.
One of the best looks at the game to date just dropped: A neat detail also dropped in one of the recent interviews. The stuff you move doing the forklift job in Niaowu actually changes the city sometimes - For example, in one of the previous arcade screenshots some of the cabinets had "coming soon" signs on them. Those extra games will be populated once you've transported the crates containing them via the forklift job.
I can't wait for this game to look like absolute shit on my laptop that can barely handle Overwatch... About a year later they reopened Skullgirls stock to sell the remaining supply, lmao.
So in case you haven't, go to your Fangamer link in your email to either get your PC refund or "potential" Steam key redemption. It is opt-in only. You have until Oct 3rd. Really short survey window.
Welp... it wasn't an easy decision to make, but I decided to submit my refund request. Glad they had a comment box attached to the refund process, and I sincerely hope no one leaves it blank. I left the following: "I don't support the decision to release this game via the Epic games store, as Steam was either outright stated or heavily implied to be the PC option when I backed it. At this moment in time I have no faith that it will even release on Steam, which is unfortunate. I was really looking forward to Shenmue 3."
Sorry to hear that. I've never had a problem with EGS so it doesn't bother me. I did check the box to request a Steam key, so hopefully in November 2020 I'll be playing it again for the Steam achievements. Interesting thing to note, Fangamer messed up the survey update when it came out last week. Since every survey tier is its own copy of the platform selection box for that tier, a couple of tiers were missing the new "Refund" option initially because they missed a couple when updating it. Both tiers I backed had it, but someone on one of the Shenmue discord server's posted screenshots of his surveys where one had the option and the other did not. It sounds like they fixed it though. The backer demo for higher tiers is coming sometime in the next 10 days, so there should be a lot of videos of that popping up online soon. P.S. If you backed and don't check your email, hurry up because the new survey closes October 3rd. You can switch platforms, request a refund on PC version, request Steam key 1 year later (with a disclaimer that it's not guaranteed if Valve won't let them), and the survey also lets you pick a different region for physical copies. They do warn that if you pick a region that isn't yours, your copy will probably ship from that region and take longer to arrive. Regarding physical copies - It was clarified that they do plan to ship a couple days before release so that most people have them on release date.
I mainly had problems with the whole fiasco of back-peddling on their promise of bringing the game to Steam, although I do believe Epic has become a scummy company. Even the way the survey was phrased was off-putting to me. It read as if they were trying to preemptively shift the blame on Valve if it ends up not releasing on Steam. Any problems there lie solely on the decisions Deep Silver already made. If I had a PS4, then I would have switched my option to that. Now I shall just wait and see if it comes to Steam in 2020, or if I end up buying a PS4 before then. To end this more positively, I do hope the game pleases everyone! I look forward to eventually enjoying it too.
