Shenmue 3 - Not a Typical Open World Game

[Silver]

@TechRaptor Shenmue 3 is not in the same market space as other open world RPGs according to Yu Suzuki.

Shenmue 3 Won't Compete Against Other Open-World Games

The current-generation of consoles is currently filled with huge sprawling open-world games, but the developers behind Shenmue 3 said its game won't directly compete against those titles.

Aside from being the most expensive video game developed during its time, Shenmue was the most ambitious, revolutionizing the open-world genre with a living, breathing world. Non-playable characters would have their own daily routines based on the game's day-and-night system, and the open-world environments were filled with activities to partake in.

Speaking to GamesCentral, director Yu Suzuki believes Shenmue 3 remains a ‘unique' game in a time where gamers are not accustomed to playing story-focused games with few action elements.. Due to the team's budget constraints, Shenmue 3 won't compete against huge open-world games and will instead focus on other elements that aren't money-hungry on resources. "I believe the open-world of Shenmue is very different from the other open-world games that exist," said Suzuki. "Although Shenmue was the first open-world title it is still very unique and so we can focus on other things that do not depend solely on money. So I think there is a lot of playable and very unique elements in the open world that mean I don't need to compete against other big open worlds."
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More information.

 

[Dave Allen]

Although Shenmue was the first open-world title it is still very unique and so we can focus on other things that do not depend solely on money.

I'm sure something got lost in the translation

 

[joxer]

Definetly. It might have been first openworld on whatever Sega gameboy clone, but maybe they ment day-night cycles with NPC schedules.
They're definetly not about 3D openworld as the first one that did that IIRC was Hunter from 1991 (yes, it wasn't Krondor from 1993!):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_(video_game)

History aside, nostalgia too. It's year 2017 and we still don't have a separate thread about openworlds and designs that appear in openworlds that should matter in this decade.