Sega unveils Shen Mue

[12.23.98] » An exhibition in Japan reveals Yu Suzuki's revolutionary new Dreamcast game. We've got the full report chock-full of comprehensive coverage.

Sega's exhibition

    Up until now, Sega has kept quiet about Shen Mue, formerly known as Project Berkeley. The latest work of Virtua Fighter creator Yu Suzuki, the game was known almost solely through its mysterious advertisements, which heralded the game as an RPG that wasn't an RPG. The veil of secrecy was finally lifted with a presentation this Sunday in Yokohama, Japan, broadcast to the world over a live RealVideo netcast.

   Held in the Yokohama Exhibition Hall in Yokohama, Japan, the conference attracted approximately half of the hall's capacity of 5,000 people. The low turnout was probably directly related to the early beginning at 10 a.m. Japan time. Those who did attend, however, were well rewarded, as bags containing a T-Shirt, music CD, a figure of the game's heroine, and even a Christmas card personally from Yu Suzuki were distributed to everyone at the door. In addition, other Shen Mue merchandise, including posters, mugs, phone cards, mouse pads, character figurines, and much more was available for sale inside.

   The conference began with almost a half hour of music from the game, performed by a full orchestra. The violin-heavy music, which included the Shen Mue main theme and Shenhua's Song, resembled that of a Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy game in tone and style. After the musical beginning, Yu Suzuki himself took the stage, accompanied by his two co-hosts -- Shigeaki Seagusa, a composer for TV shows, and Reiko Chiba, a digital producer.

   Suzuki began by explaining his vision for the game -- after spending the past several years producing the Virtua Fighter series, he wanted to do something different; a game that involved more story-telling and one accessible to players of all ages and skill levels. It would be a game that created its own genre, Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment (FREE). Enter Shen Mue, originally conceived by Suzuki five years ago, but not technically possible until the advent of the Dreamcast.

Environments

   After a short video explaining how imagination is a major part of the game, Suzuki and his co-hosts went on to explain about the creation of the game's detailed environments. Back in 1994, Sega's AM2 team toured China and took detailed notes of the buildings' intricate architecture. After returning to Japan, they used their notes, along with street maps of Chinese towns, to build Shen Mue's locations. Images of some of these locations were shown to the audience and compared with photos of their real-life equivalents. The difference the two was virtually indistinguishable -- these are easily the most realistic environments ever in a game. And if that wasn't enough, they're all rendered in real-time, too, with nary a shred of FMV anywhere in the game. This allows for unprecedented detail in the animations, including flickering candle flames, spinning ceiling fans (complete with realistic ambient sound effects), and even powdered snow. Unlike many current games, the rooms are not all magically clean either -- one scene of an alley showed trash littered all over, while another laboratory had papers scattered around the table.

   In addition to incredibly realistic scenery, Shen Mue also features equally impressive weather and time effects. Although not the first game to feature changing day and night (Zelda 64 and Brave Fencer Musashi both use it), Shen Mue is the first to do it all in actual time -- no more accelerated time here; one hour of time in the game takes one hour of real-world time. And considering that the Dreamcast has an internal clock, it wouldn't be too surprising if the time in the game was synchronized to the real time -- i.e., turn on the game at 10 p.m and it's 10 p.m. in Shen Mue.

   While all this is going on, the weather changes as well. Shen Mue features a variety of weather effects -- snow was the predominant one shown in the footage at the conference, but rain, wind, and other effects are promised as well. These are by far the most impressive weather effects we've seen to date on any console system -- the rain isn't just a cheesy layer in the foreground, but actual raindrops. These weather effects aren't just for show, either. Suzuki promises they will actually affect the game.

Development

   The next segment of the show focused on more of the development process, particularly the motion-captured animations. Shen Mue uses thousands of moves motion-captured from professional actors, or, in the case of the fighting moves, professional martial artists. While this alone may not be that big of a deal, AM2 took it one step further by using a motion-capture glove to capture exact hand movements, right down to individual fingers. The character graphics themselves were created from 3-D scans of actual clay busts modelled for each character, which in turn were only sculpted after numerous preliminary sketches.

Characters

   So who are these characters that AM2 spent so much modelling? The main character is Ryo Hazuki, a young man who appears to be in his twenties. Other main characters include Rei Shenhua (the main female character), Iwao Hazuki (Ryo's father), and Ren Wuying (Ryo's rival). The game also includes a cast of nearly 500 supporting characters, from a martial arts advisor named Gorenshi to a butcher and his assistant.

Quest

   With character displays complete, Suzuki moved on to what everyone had been waiting for -- the actual gameplay. The heart of Shen Mue lies with its "Quest" system. Similar to PC adventure games, you wander around, talking to people and garnering information and clues about how to complete your mission. You're free to go wherever you want and do whatever you want there -- no locations are off-limits. The player is essentially allowed to explore and interact with the world freely. You're not the only one moving about, though. Rather than stand in one place or wander back in forth, every person in the game carries on their own daily business on their own schedule. This was shown in an impressive scene in Hong Kong, where dozens of characters all walked the streets going about their daily business, while cars passed by on the streets and animals wandered around.

   The complex character interaction was demonstrated in a series of live gameplay sequences by Yu Suzuki. In one, Ryo comes across a shopkeeper outside his store, nailing a new sign over the door. The shopkeeper sees Ryo and initiates conversation, asking Ryo to help him make sure the sign is straight. Ryo then shouts instructions to the man until he gets the sign up succesfully. You then have a chance to talk to the man, asking him questions or otherwise conversing (all in actual spoken dialogue, of course). In another nod to PC adventure games, you can direct the flow of conversation, usually by answering "Yes" or "No" to questions. The dialogue sequences have all been written to sound realistic and natural, and AM2 even went so far as to rewrite most lines in several different ways -- if you forget some important information and come back to a character to hear it again, they'll phrase it slightly differently, rather than using the same canned dialogue.

   In addition to providing you with information, speaking with other characters give you the chance to earn money. Instead of inexplicably earning money by beating up helpless slimes, you earn money the way everyone does -- either through jobs or gambling. In another gameplay scene, Ryo ran across a guy loading cartons onto a truck, and the man spontaneously asked Ryo to help him out. If you agree, and complete the job succesfully, you can earn some money. You'd better get some money, too, because you need it to buy food -- yes, Ryo needs to eat food, just like any real person. Many other real-world situations like this are promised, giving Shen Mue the feel of a real "miniature world" -- although magic is also said to play a major role in the game.

QTE

   The other main part of Shen Mue's gameplay is the controversial QTE (Quick Timer Event) system, which consumes approximately 10% of the game. This system is reminiscent of the old Dragon's Lair games and other interactive movies -- when a special situation or danger pops up, a flashing white arrow will appear and point to part of the screen. You then have to quickly react to it, either by pressing the A button to perform a special action or by moving in the appropriate direction. The QTE system is demonstrated in one sequence where Ryo sees a kid he needs to talk to. However, the kid is frightened and runs off, forcing Ryo to chase after him. The QTE system then takes over as Ryo chases the kid down the street. The blinking arrow appears and points at hazards, such as barrels or passing cars, that Ryo must quickly jump or dodge. These sequences certainly look exciting, but whether or not they can include enough interactivity to be sufficiently entertaining remains to be seen.

   A spin-off of the QTE system is the QTB system, Quick Timer Battle. Whenever Ryo encounters enemies, a flashing red arrow will appear and point at his opponents. Again, you have to react by pressing A or the appropriate direction to execute various pre-programmed fighting moves. The fight scenes were all choreographed Yu Suzuki himself, and definitely resemble an actual fight -- rather than simply punching and kicking, the characters will also use their elbows and knees, and even throw objects.

Wrap-Up

   The conference ended with a visit from some of the principal actors portraying the characters in the game, and a final video of some of Shen Mue's more impressive sequences. Yu Suzuki reiterated his goal for the game -- to produce an experience enjoyable for everyone. "My children recently turned six years old, and I wanted to make a game that they could easily play," Suzuki said, explaining his decision to forego more detailed combat or action sequences in favor of the QTE system.

   The $64,000 question is, of course, whether Suzuki can pull off his amibitious vision. Skeptics may doubt the QTE system, but with the Dreamcast's future in many ways dependent on Shen Mue's success, it's hard to believe that Yu Suzuki would leave a game of this magnitude up to chance. The final word on Shen Mue's fate, of course, will be determined when the game is released next Spring in Japan. Sega of America, as always refused to comment on an American translation.

   Don't forget to check out the mounds of exhibition photos and gameplay screens we've gathered.