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It’s 7:30 p.m. in Tokyo, and the weather is sweltering. We’re stuck in traffic on the way from Ys Net’s offices in Shinagawa City to a dinner reservation in Yokahoma’s Chinatown. Tokyo’s traffic system is still reeling from the typhoon, and our 30-minute commute has turned into a 2.5-hour crawl across the Yokohama Bay Bridge. Hot and frustrated, Yu Suzuki pulls out his phone and begins watching an episode of the NBC crime thriller The Blacklist. Suzuki is a big fan; he thinks the show is incredibly well made. Later on, we all watch the first episode of Fuller House and laugh about the absurdity of being trapped in a car with a legendary Japanese developer while watching American sitcoms. “Full House is the foundation of Shenmue,” jokes Suzuki. The car ride is surreal, but it’s another opportunity to pick Suzuki’s brain.
Suzuki finds a lot of inspiration for his games while watching television and movies. During the creation of the original Shenmue, Suzuki watched one movie a day, on average, for over two years. He cites films like Casablanca and My Neighbor Totoro as inspirations, not specifically for their story, but for what they taught him about storytelling and character development. Shenmue III is – after all – largely a character study.
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“To be honest I don't play many other games,” confides Suzuki before dinner. “If you say you like Chinese food, you probably mean that you like to eat Chinese food, but what I like is the cooking of the food, not the eating. In most cases in the gaming industry, the guys who create the games also like playing games. But in my case, I really just love to create, so the way I develop is very different from ordinary game developers.”
Suzuki is referring to his attention to mundane details. Shenmue’s specialty is its focus on the minutia of daily life. Players are free to get lost in Ryo’s artificial world – to collect meaningless figurines and chug soda. Fans appreciate these unusual aspects of Shenmue, not because they fill some arbitrary in-game checklist or bring them closer to the game’s credits, but because these tiny details conjure a deeper sense of verisimilitude.
Shenmue’s world isn’t real, but it feels real.
“For Shenmue III, I wanted to create images so strong that you could smell the colors in the countryside,” says Suzuki. “For me, it’s very important to create those images where you can feel the moisture or humidity. If possible, I wanted to create a sense of smell in the game.”
... Yu Suzuki isn’t a conventional game designer. Several times during our trip, Suzuki admitted that he doesn’t enjoy playing video games. In fact, before working at Sega, Suzuki had never played a video game. Better still, the designer only accepted Sega’s job offer because the company offered more vacation time than his other prospects. Orthodox or not, Suzuki is still a game designer who knows what he wants. He doesn’t care how other developers make their games; he knows what kind of game he wants to make. And Shenmue is unflinching in that vision to give players a window into the life of Ryo Hazuki – both the action-packed highlights and the quiet, simple moments.
“I think Yu Suzuki was at peak auteur status when he built the original Shenmue,” says Payton. “You could see him trying to innovate in so many areas – I think successfully in many of those areas. Whether it’s the kind of open-world nature of the game, or the need to plot out your day, or the ability to interact with the world in unique ways, they all added to the overall feeling of simulation. I think it was a little bit confusing for players and for critics, but like a lot of great art, as time goes on, we're able to look back and recognize just how special Shenmue was.”
With a relatively small budget, Suzuki looks to deliver another game that fits the mold he established 20 years ago. Shenmue III features a more refined graphics engine and some welcome improvements to the combat system, but the core experience remains full of the idiocrasies and daily distractions that Shenmue fans love. Yu Suzuki doesn’t care how the industry has evolved over the last 20 years. He knows what he wants. Moreover, he knows what Shenmue fans want.
Near the end of our trip, after we’d trudged through Japan’s Chinatown, Suzuki takes us to one of his favorite restaurants. We point at a picture of delicious-looking gyoza, but Suzuki waves us off and takes control of the menu. He’s going to order for us. After all, Yu Suzuki is a man who knows what he wants. We don’t eat gyoza that night, but the meal is incredible.
So the early verdict from people with copies is that this game rules and Yu Suzuki managed a small miracle in spite of how shitty it looked like it was gonna be. I also saw an editor from Push Square on Resetera say the game is great. I am so ready for tomorrow...
I’m about an hour and a half in. It rules. There are definitely some surprisingly basic polish issues, especially with walking conversations (you’ll see what I mean immediately) but the heart is the same and I’m really enjoying it.
I hear the two towns are absolutely massive and dense compared to the first two games. I love that it came in a box with the Shenmue logo stamped on it.
I got over the whole “I can’t believe I’m playing Shenmue 3!” thing really quickly and was just back to playing Shenmue, but it’s new Shenmue. it’s a nice feeling.
by mortimer » Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:11 am 
it’s a nice feeling.