Yu Suzuki interview by Journal du Japon
http://www.journaldujapon.com/2016/03/1 ... a-shenmue/Journal Du japon : Hello Mr. Suzuki... The world has finally found out the Shenmue 3 project since the kickstarter launch by Shibuya Productions. How have you met Cédric Biscay and when the idea of that production has born?
Yu Suzuki : To be honest, I don't remember how I met him (laughs). I only remember that he was the person who loved games and mangas.Has the Shenmue 3 project been initiated by Cédric Biscay or was it already planned?
No, it's not his initiative. I've already the project in mind but Ryan Payton and Mark Cerny are the ones who advised me. They're pretty famous people in the gaming world.The Shenmue saga is famous for its gameplay innovations. Is still an objective for Shenmue 3?
Yes, I would like to bring new things. I think it's necessary to move the game forward. If I don't, my creator role makes no sense. I always want to renew everything but if I make a game where everything is different, people will be unable to follow. Shenmue 3 will keep its identity while adding new elements.
Martial arts hold an essential part in this saga. What are your references?
In 1992, I made a trip to China for Virtua Fighter 2, I studied martial arts there. I also entered Shaolin monk temples. I wanted to study blocks and the way to deal with an attack. To do so, I visited several Shaolin schools in order to study with them how to do blocks because their specificities didn't really stand out visually..note : Yu Suzuki stands up to show us how to do a block. With his gestures, he explains us that slow training was useless, and that being said, he had to practice for real to reproduce this in Shenmue II. He even harmed himself several times, he admits with laughs
Do you plan to introduce other martial arts like Bajiquan in Shenmue 3?
I would like to put Hanken and Heishunken (note : martial arts from the South of China) to do fights on a boat for instance.In an interview, you said being influenced by cinema rather than games. Your references?
No films especially influenced me but at Shenmue time, there was not really "cinematographic" games yet. What I especially took from the cinema were the staging techniques : the view angles, the way to put the dialogues forward and goes on. To make my speech clearer, at old-time Hollywood, the storyboards were long and very well written while today, they have to pack a film into two hours. That leads to action scenes and scene changes being way too fast. In games, there's no such problem, it's like the old movies (those I prefer!). It affords a better scene and character development, thus you can add depth and taste to your game. About the emotions you can perceive from the character faces, I like to watch Pixar, they're very good about that.Today a lot of games have also the purpose to be an "interactive movie" very scripted, strengthening the immersion at the cost of player freedom. What's the best balance for you ?
If a story is always telling the same thing, I don't think it will be interesting. If possible, I would like to progress in a "multi-story" with several interesting branches to play because making a game which is not funny and without branching paths, I can do it right now (laughs). But it's more difficult to make a game like this.I think the next big evolution will come up when the AIs manage to analyse the phases by themselves to create their own dialogues. A lot of new technologies like synthetic voice or voice recognition have appeared now. I said earlier that making a game with multiple paths was difficult but if we continue to get technologies and be able to put them together little by little, all of this can perfectly become possible and affordable.
About new technologies, a lot of games invent new things since Shenmue 2. What's the most significant one for you?
I already worked a lot on new technologies during Shenmue 2 and I will follow this direction. The biggest difference with today is the computing speed. This is beyond compare. Thanks to this, without going into details, I would like to do all the things I was not able to achieve in the past.
About the game localization, do you plan to include the Japanese voices?
We're thinking about it.About the release date, what could happen to change it? Apparently, the game is planned for the end of 2017, is still the case?
If Shenmue 3 is delayed, a bug will be the cause. As you read the end of 2017 as release date, I will try hard to reach that goal (laughs). However, I think we could make a better game if we can spend more time on it. Currently I have to take charge of the management besides the game, so I have less time to devote to Shenmue. If possible, I would like to devote more time to the direction, so more time to the game and lesser to the staff.
Good luck for the remaining work so!
Credits : Romain Lapi (author), Laurence Gauthier, Kenji Kojima (translator), Olivier Benoit.
![[angelito]](/images/smilies/nuevos/angelito.gif "angelito")
![[sonrisa]](/images/smilies/nuevos/risa_ani1.gif "sonrisa")
![[jaja]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/otrasonrisa.gif "otra sonrisa")
![[tadoramo]](/images/smilies/adora.gif "Adorando")
![[+risas]](/images/smilies/nuevos/risa_ani3.gif "más risas")
las comunidades son para hablar y poner lo que quieras, no es un blog para q el autor informe de todo no? ![[babas]](/images/smilies/babas.gif "Babeando")
Por cierto, el propio Yu confirma que el juego se podrá adquirir en las tiendas en versión física, algo que no estaba confirmado al 100%.![[facepalm]](/images/smilies/facepalm.gif "facepalm")
![[beer]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/brindando.gif "brindis")
![[flipa]](/images/smilies/nuevos2/flipando.gif "flipando")
![[buuuaaaa]](/images/smilies/nuevos/triste_ani3.gif "a lágrima viva")
Dejar de haceros pajas mentales anda, que si sacan las versiones HD ya nos podemos dar con un canto en los dientes.
