Your Complete Black Friday And Cyber Monday Shopping Strategy For 2020 The pandemic has changed everything, and Black Friday is no exception. This year, because of social distancing guidelines, there will be no pushing through in-store crowds to score the best deals and no pressure to shop on only a handful of days, as the retail event is being spread out throughout November. Some retailers, such as Walmart, are kicking off Black Friday specials as early as today. And deals likely will extend well beyond Cyber Monday. Retailers are going to be firing on all cylinders for as long as they can when it comes to holiday deal hype,? Said Kristin McGrath, editor and shopping expert at Black Friday curbside pickup ?So expect a lot of noise around deal announcements as stores try to position themselves to get as many holiday spending dollars as possible.? Sara Skir boll, shopping and trends expert at Retail Me Not, also noted an expansion of days with deals. ?Over the years we? Ve come to see Black Friday and Cyber Monday start to merge into one long event,? Skir boll said. ?We used to call this the five days of savings, but this year we see it extending even longer than that. Retailers like Walmart have already announced their Black Friday Deals and are running them even earlier, with deals hitting almost each week in November leading up to Black Friday.? How can shoppers best navigate this extended Black Friday/Cyber Monday period? GO Banking Rates assembled this guide for exactly that purpose. Read on to learn the best strategies to implement and what categories to shop for the greatest savings opportunities. Young Pretty Woman at Home, Using Laptop, Sufring the Internet, Online Shopping. More Shopping Will Be Mostly Online This Year ?According to our survey data from this year, more shoppers say they? Ll shop primarily online than in stores this holiday season,? McGrath said. A Retail Me Not survey also found that three in four shoppers prefer online shopping this holiday season. Retailers are heeding the consumer preference and offering shoppers even the most extreme doorbuster deals online. ?Some retailers, including Walmart, Macy? S, Bath & Body Works and others have announced they? Ll offer Black Friday deals online during Thanksgiving,? McGrath said. ?And that actually isn? T very different from past years. For the past several Black Fridays, it was rare to find in-store-only doorbusters on Thanksgiving. Most major retailers simply offered the same deals online. The only reason to go to a physical store was if an online deal sold out, or if you really enjoyed going to stores on Thanksgiving.? This year, the only reason some shoppers have to go to a store is for curbside pickup. A recent report from Incisiv commissioned by Manhattan Associates found that 85% of shoppers have significantly increased curbside pickup orders since the pandemic struck, and 79% said contactless store pickup is very important to them. Start Shopping Now ?Shoppers can expect Black Friday deals to appear as early as several weeks before the ?Official? Date of Black Friday,? McGrath said. ?Retailers like Home Depot, Target and Walmart have already announced early Black Friday sales, and some of those events are already going live. With potential shipping delays, early holiday shopping would be a good strategy to snag good deals and get everything on time.? Here? S a look at the categories retail experts expect to see significantly discounted for the holiday. Story continues TVs TVs long have been a recommended buy during Black Friday, and that isn?T changing this year. ?Everyone is still shopping for TVs, the tech is always improving and consumers want the latest and greatest features,? Said Julie Ram hold, consumer analyst with Deal News. ?In fact, prices get better every year. In 2020 we know Walmart will have a 55? TCL 4K Roku TV for $148 during its second Black Friday event, and Best Buy will have a 50? Samsung QLED TV for $498; we?Ll also see a TCL 75? Smart TV for only $500.? Smartphones and Tablets ?Smartphones are similar to TVs in that they? Re a piece of tech that theoretically improves every year ? And even if it?S not improving, consumers still want the latest features,? Ram hold said. ?Black Friday is a great time to shop smartphones in general, but it can also be a prime time to snag the most recent smartphone releases at a better price. This year shoppers will be able to get the latest Samsung Galaxy phones bundled with up to $500 in eGift cards, or last year? S iPhone 11 lineup with up to $450 in eGift cards.? iPads and other tablets also are expected to be discounted. ?We especially see excellent deals on iPads, and usually the latest generation at that,? Ram hold said. ?Last year we saw the latest generation of iPads drop as low as $250 and we? Re expecting the same for current-gen models this year.? Shot of a young woman using headphones while relaxing on the sofa at home. More Speakers and Headphones ?Audio is one of those areas where people upgrade when they can, so there? S always someone looking for better sound equipment,? Ram hold said. ?Fortunately, Black Friday is a good time to do it, as we tend to see discounts up to 60% off. We already know Best Buy will be knocking 50% off select speakers during its Black Friday event.? Laptops ?Like any other tech, this is a category that just improves over time. Laptops are a huge seller every Black Friday, whether consumers need them for specific purposes this year like working from home or for virtual school or they just want to get a newer and better system,? Ramhold said. ?We?Re expecting up to $500 off select laptops this year, with prices starting around $120 or so for basic models. If you?Re looking for Chromebooks, we should see even cheaper deals. Last year we saw prices as low as $89 on new models, and while we could see that again this year, we expect to see them go for at least as low as $99.? GoPro camera underwater More Cameras ?Cameras can be a pretty big investment but fortunately Black Friday continues to have decent discounts,? Ram hold said. ?While they won? T be jaw-droppingly cheap, we are expecting savings of $400 in some cases. Expect to spend at least $500 if you? Re looking for a mirrorless or DSLR camera, but things like Go Pros can be cheaper. A GoPro Hero8 bundle is set to be $300 at Best Buy this year, while the GoPro Hero9 will drop to $400.? Large Furniture and Mattresses ?Black Friday is a good time to buy furniture, but only if you? Re looking at bigger pieces,? Ram hold said. ?Mattresses and bed frames are both popular items to be found within Black Friday sales, but also sofas and dining sets. Macy? S will have Serta queen mattresses for as low as $199 this year, along with select bed frames under $400. Sofas will be under $1,000 and a 7-piece dining set will be $599.? Clothing and Accessories ?Black Friday clothing sales are still worth shopping, especially if you want autumn-appropriate pieces,? Ram hold said. ?Coats will see some sales, but odds are they ?Ll see better discounts in January when retailers start trying to clear shelves to make way for spring selections. But for Black Friday, we?Re expecting up to 80% off kids? Clothing, men? S suits for $100 or less at stores like Macy?S, and women?S boots for $20 or less at stores like Kohl?S and Target.? Ramhold added that while accessories might not top a lot of shopping lists, this category also will see some discounts for Black Friday. ?We should see watches discounted up to 70% off this year at stores like Walmart, whereas Amazon will knock up to 45% off,? Ramhold said. ?Designer handbags will be another item up for grabs, with savings around 60% off and prices even falling below $100 in some cases.? Beauty Products ?Beauty still has great sales during Black Friday, which makes it a great time to stock up,? Ramhold said. ?This year we?Ll see 50% off brands like Kiehl?S, Urban Decay, Smashbox and tarte at Macy?S, along with 50% off fragrances from Marc Jacobs and Clinique.? Household Appliances: Large and Small ?The only time consumers can really save on appliances, large and small, is around big holidays,? Ramhold said. ?Black Friday is no exception, and this year we?Ll see small appliances like waffle irons, panini grills and rocket blenders for as little as $8 each after mail-in rebates. With bigger appliances, shoppers will be able to earn gift cards with certain purchases at Best Buy this year, and everything from kitchen to laundry room appliances will be on sale.? Kitchen and Home Goods ?Home items in general are one of the more popular categories on sale during Black Friday, and they tend to have decent discounts,? Ramhold said. ?Macy?S will have a 3-piece bakeware set for $18 this year, as well as a 15-piece knife block set for $20, and the store will also take 60% off select Martha Stewart kitchen items. Home items like bedding and bath will drop to super low prices as well, with pillows between $2 and $5 at stores like Kohl?S and Macy?S, towels for as little as $3 each, and 3-piece comforter sets for $20.? Amazon Echo Clock kitchen More Smart Home Devices ?We routinely see really great price drops on smart assistant gadgets from Amazon, Google and even Apple around Black Friday,? Ram hold said. ?Apple discounts are rare, but you can typically find a Home Pod for about $200 on sale during the Black Friday season. Amazon and Google deals tend to be even more affordable ? We?Ve already seen retailers like Best Buy pick up Amazon? S Prime Day pricing on Echo products this year, including the Echo Show 5 for $45. That deal will be hitting other stores in November, as well, though. While we haven? T seen any Google deals confirmed yet, we do expect them to make an appearance as well.? Man hands and smart touch watch with home screen icons apps. More Fitness Trackers and Smartwatches ?This year shoppers can expect to save up to $50 on select Fitbit models, including the Versa 2, Charge 4 and Sense. Even the newer Versa 3 will be discounted, but only $30 or so,? Ram hold said. ?Consumers can also expect Samsung Galaxy Watches to be on sale, with Best Buy taking $70 off select models. Additionally, Fossil smartwatches will be on sale with savings of $100, and Apple Watch Series 5 will see discounts of at least $75 at Best Buy.? Here's How Stores Are Changing Black Friday For The Pandemic The shopping spectacular is getting a pandemic-induced makeover, with many major retailers starting their sales earlier than ever and ending them later. Companies are hoping to avoid the crush of customers that crowd stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving by giving them more buying, pickup and delivery options. This year, the Black Friday deals that are usually reserved for in-store shopping will appear online during the month. Nearly 51% of shoppers feel anxious about shopping in-store during the holidays and 64% of their budget is expected to be spent online, according to a new shopping survey from Deloitte. "Black Friday has definitely transitioned more into a digital affair in the past five years," said Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at Globa lData Retail, previously told CNN Business. "The focal point is not that single day anymore. It's an event spread out over several days." And those who are brave (or crazy) enough to hit the stores on Black Friday will notice enhanced safety protocols and capacity controls. Here's how major US retailers changed their Black Friday plans this year: Best Buy "As we've said, Black Friday isn't just one day this year — it's months long," Best Buy said in a statement. That's true: Some Best Buy deals became available online in October with more deals going live in stores on November 1. On select days, Best Buy (BBY) shoppers can get deeper discounts from its Black Friday ad early via its website, with the first event beginning November 5. Stores will open at 5 am on Black Friday with the retailer still requiring shoppers to wear face coverings. It's also enforcing capacity controls and there will be a "dedicated customer experience host" to help direct shoppers and answer questions. Contactless curbside pickup and expanded same-day delivery will also be available. Home Depot Home Depot will offer discounts online and in stores from November 6 through December 2. The retailer recently said it decided to "reinvent" Black Friday this year to reduce stress for consumers who typically rush to stores in droves to grab the best deals. Given the pandemic, the company indicated that maintaining safety was also a factor in its decision. Home Depot (HD) gave its app users advance access earlier this week to some of the discounts. Lowe's Loyal customers will see an expanded selection of items, with the company selling more home goods, exercise equipment and other items people wouldn't normally associate with the home improvement retailer. Lowe's (LOW) "Season of Savings" already began last week — its earliest start date ever. The Black Friday-like event includes "competitive deals in-store and online" through December. One notable addition this year: Free delivery of fresh-cut trees and wreaths on orders more than $45. Macy's Black Friday sales at the department store will begin online and in stores beginning November 4. On the day after Thanksgiving itself, Macy's said shoppers can "expect to shop those same deals safely in-store" with additional cleaning, employees wearing personal protection equipment and "occupancy checks with an emphasis on traffic flow to anticipate and mitigate crowds." Macy's (M) is also promoting curbside pickup, buy-online-pick-up in store and same-day delivery through Door Dash. Target Deals will be sold online and in stores for the entire month of November in a promotion called "Black Friday Now." Target will offer "weeklong discounts and digital deals every day" beginning on November 1. It's also extending its price-match policy from two weeks after the purchase date to two months. Target (TGT) is also bolstering its safety features at its stores — including contactless payment in its app, reducing lines by having employees rove the store to let customers pay and letting shoppers make reservations. Walmart America's largest retailer is spreading Black Friday sales over three weekends, which will begin on its website before hitting stores a few days later. "Black Friday Deals for Days" encompasses the first, second and fourth weekends of November, with the deals appearing online Wednesdays. Although it's pushing people to shop online and use its curbside pickup option, shoppers that go to its stores won't experience the pandemonium of the past. Instead, they will form single-file lines at the entrance and be given sanitized shopping carts. "Health Ambassadors" will be stationed at entrances to remind people to put on their masks. Social distancing will be enforced inside with capacity controls and one-way lanes. Walmart (WMT) said the changes at its stores "will be safer and more manageable for both our customers and our associates."
Managing Your Finances While Planning to Exit (For Minors)
About a month ago, I made a post on this subreddit here about managing your finances as a new exJW. After talking to more people on here, I've realized that my first post inadvertently has 2 critical flaws - 1. It assumes you're over 18, and 2. It assumes you have a job. I know many that are planning to leave are under 18 so I decided to make a quick guide targeted at that audience. The organization holds us back financially in many ways, the most prevalent of them being a lack of a financial education. The extent of the financial education we receive from the borg is "spend less donate more". Unfortunately that's not going to cut it in the real world. If you're under 18 and planning your exit, this is the post for you. If you don't have money, exiting will be much harder and you could be more inclined to go back to the Borg. Let's make sure that doesn't happen and get you ready to step out in to the real world! Believe it or not, you can take steps right now to ensure you will be ready as soon after your 18th birthday as possible! Just to show you its possible, I started working at 15, moved out at 17, and fully left the cult at 18. Today I live with my beautiful POMO girlfriend in our own home living life on our own terms. You can do it too! This isn't a comprehensive guide by any means, but hopefully it will move you in the right direction financially and give you some help when planning how to leave the cult. But first, legal disclaimer time - don't sue me bro. I'm not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice. Do your own research. Let's dive in! 1. Open a bank account! (For Minors) This is the very first step in your journey to financial freedom. You may be currently relying on your parents to manage your money or have a joint account with your parents, but that needs to change now! You need to be the one in control of your money so your parents can't take it away "for your own good". Most large national banks won't open an account for you as a minor without your parents being a co-owner on the account. For now, your best bet is going to a small local or regional bank. If it is in your area, I would recommend using First Convenience Bank. They are typically located inside of Walmarts or other grocery stores, they are only closed 3 days a year, and they will open a bank account for you at 16 without your parents. If they are not in your city, look on google for local banks and give them a call to see how old you have to be to open an account with them. Depending on your situation, try to keep this account under wraps. Get paperless statements, try going to the bank alone, hide or uninstall the app from your phone, etc. However, if that is not an option then you will need a way to justify this for your parents. "I want to start saving money so that I can pioneego to bethel when I graduate" is a response that will invoke glee in most witness parents, but you know your parents better than anyone. Prepare for that conversation. The single best thing you can do right now is build up a pile of money in a bank account to support yourself after you leave. Use this bank account to save every penny you can and keep it out of the hands of "caring" witness parents. Your parents aren't trying to hurt you, they have just been taught that controlling you with an iron fist and giving you no breathing room is the best way to parent. 2. Get a job! To save money, you gotta have an income! At this point in your life, just about any job can help you out since your expenses are likely very low. On top of that, any job you can get will serve as experience on your resume for future jobs. Even a job at McDonald's can help your resume get you your next job. This job which is often looked down upon can still give you plenty of employable skills like money handling and cash drawer experience, sales experience, team work experience, high pressure environment experience, customer service experience, food preparation experience, and much more. Even better, you get paid! Personally, I had some knowledge about computers from a young age, so I used that to get an IT job with a local company at 15. It wasn't a high paying job, but it paid better than minimum wage. I still do some work for the same company now years later, at a much better pay rate of course. My girlfriend got her first job at Freddies (fast food restaurant) at 17, then after a year used her money handling and customer service experience to get a job at Wells Fargo which pays her almost double! If you have any type of knowledge or experience, try using that to get a job! Get any job you can! Many witness parents might be hesitant about letting you get a job, I know my mother was when I got my first job. But there's a few ways you can get around this by playing in to the witness mentally. You could say that you want to contribute more to the organization but since you're still too young to go to bethel or be a missionary, you can only contribute monetarily. You could say that you are planning on being a pioneer or trying to preach more, but in order to do that you need to be able to - buy a car, buy gas, buy food, buy service clothes, buy service tools, etc. Again, you know your parents best, you know what they want to hear from you, so give them that. I mean we've all lied about wanting to go to bethel at some point or another in our lives, right? While living with your parents, your expenses are likely very low. Let's keep it that way! Enjoy that free rent and free food as long as possible! Expenses will quickly rise as soon as you become independent so saving up as much money as you can right now will help you deal with that when it comes. 3. Make Some Friends Outside the Borg! I know, this goes against everything we've ever been taught. But really, the people in the world aren't all that bad. There are a lot of really nice friendly people that will genuinely care about you. Great places to start are at school or at work. Get to know some people, get their phone numbers, and become friendly with them. Any type of support network you can start to set up outside the borg will go a long ways once you leave. We all have to come to terms with the fact that everyone we know will shun us once we leave, so it really helps to have people outside that we can talk to. This also comes in handy for Section 5 of this post, getting roommates. You might be more comfortable getting a new place with someone you already know. When you leave, everyone in the borg will think that you are suddenly suffering or miserable. Anytime they contact you it will be to give you a hand to come back to the borg and "help" you because you are suffering so much. Don't give them the satisfaction of being right! 4. Find Transportation! Once you leave, you are going to need a way to get yourself around. If your city has good public transportation, learn how to use it! This is typically the lowest cost way to get around town which is very useful for getting to and from work. By using transportation, you don't have to pay for gas, maintenance, or insurance which can be a huge plus especially when you are trying to save money. However, if that is not an option or if you are able to buy a car, that could be a better and more flexible option. A car can get you from point A to B directly and often quicker than public transportation. Unfortunately, you will have to pay for gas, maintenance, and insurance. If you are doing this under 18 you may need to get an insurance policy under your parents. Again, figure out what your parents want to hear from you to let you get a car, you know them best. "I need a car for service!" 5. Plan Your Exit! (Housing Expenses) While you are under 18, you can't really do much on your own. Take advantage of this time to research and plan your exit. hats the only way you will know how much money you need to save and when you will be ready to move out. You need to know how much its all going to cost! The key expenses that you need to think about are housing, food. Lets start with living arrangements. The rule of thumb is that you should never spend more than 1/3 of your income on rent, and most apartment complexes have that as a rule. If you are making $1,000 per month, you shouldn't be paying more than $300 a month in rent. If you are young and still earning a low income, that may be pretty limiting in your options. The easiest way to afford rent at a low income is to get roommates! If you get a place with one other person, suddenly you can afford a $600 a month place! If you get a place with two others, now you can afford a $900 a month place! Living with roommates may be awkward or weird at first. But this is your best way to afford a living space when you are first getting started, and you might even make a friend or two! If you live in a college town, you may even be able to find low cost housing arrangements made for students. Also think about utilities. Look at the typical utility usage and cost for your area to get a sense of how much you will need every month. For one person this shouldn't be too much, especially if you are sharing the expense with roommates. When you first rent a place, you will need to make an up front deposit. This can be up to one month rent, so you will need to have at least that much money saved up. You will also need to get some basic furniture. Maybe your parents will be nice enough to let you keep some of your furniture, but if not, you can start shopping around to get an idea of what you need. In my opinion, the only absolutely necessary piece of furniture is a mattress, after all you need a good nights sleep to keep your body functioning well. For any furniture, don't go to a furniture store! Everything at a furniture store is marked up many times higher than its worth. Instead, look on Amazon or other online stores! Your mattress is the one thing I would say you want to buy new as opposed to used. That's just because you never know the history of a mattress, and since you spend about half of your life on it you're better off having your own. On Amazon, you can find twin mattresses for under $100, and queen mattresses for around $200. For any other furniture, use craigslist, facebook marketplace, or any peer to peer selling marketplace to find them. You can get amazing deals on these things, and sometimes even get them for free! You know your lifestyle better than I do, but some other pieces of furniture that can make your home more comfortable are a bed frame, chairs, a table, a couch. Remember, these aren't the pieces of furniture you are going to own forever so you don't need the nicest stuff. You also don't need to buy everything at the same time. You just need furniture to get you started. Start planning a budget for what you are going to need when you move out. 6. Plan Your Exit! (Food) After putting a roof over your head, food is your next biggest concern. The absolute biggest way to save in this department is to do your own cooking. A $10 plate of pasta from a restaurant can be recreated at home for under $3. Even if you have no experience cooking, give it a shot! Start easy with pasta or rice and work your way up from there. There are an uncountable amount of videos on YouTube teaching you how to cook, and needless to say YouTube is free. Try learning to cook at home with your parents so you can get the hang of it and start learning your favorite recipes. The most basic things you need to cook are a pot, a cooking spoon, a bowl, a fork, and Tupperware. All of these things can be acquired inexpensively at a thrift shop, or if you want to splash a bit more cash you can get them new online or in store. My advice is to get a decent pot for cooking instead of the cheapest piece of junk. I've made that mistake before and the food never turned out good, it was usually unevenly cooked. With a nice set of pots, your food will come out much better. Some pantry essentials should be salt, Pasta, Pasta Sauce, Rice, Beans, cans of vegetables, and anything else you like and eat regularly such as cereal, mac & cheese, tortillas, cheese, and spices. To reduce your cost even more, buy store brands or generic brands. They are the exact same thing as the name brand but at a fraction of the cost. If done right, you can keep your cost per serving under $1. When you make your own food, you can make extra to end up with leftovers to take to work for lunch or have another dinner. 1 box of pasta and 1/2 a jar of sauce will make 3-4 servings at a cost of less than $1 each. Realistically, your food expenses should only be a couple of hundred dollars a month. Think about what you like eating and plan a budget for that. 7. Plan Your Exit! (Other Expenses) Living on your own and maintaining yourself, you will have many expenses. There's phone, internet, insurance, entertainment, and discretionary spending. Take some time to think about what you consider essentials and plan for those expenses. Do a bit of research to see if you can find things cheaper. All that money saved will add up in the long run. My advice for new ExJWs is to budget some discretionary spending. You have lived your whole life sheltered and unable to do things for yourself. Use a bit of money every month to experience the world around you and to do something that you want to do. More important than anything else, you need to take care of yourself and your emotional and mental well being. If watching movies is your thing, treat yourself to a movie night at a theater. If getting a manicure or pedicure is your thing, then treat yourself to a spa day. Think about what makes you happy, and budget that in. Closing Remarks I'm not going to lie to you, leaving the borg is going to be one of the hardest things you do, but it will also be one of the best things you ever do. If you have already made your decision but are under 18, that gives you an advantage over the borg, it gives you time to plan and prepare. Use this time wisely while you can to save up money and prepare yourself mentally and financially for this huge step in your life. So many of us have been in your shoes and know how it feels. I promise you life will get better! The world is a beautiful place and not as scary as the borg wants you to think. This entire subreddit is here to help you in this process, use that support network! Throw the borg the finger on your way out and never look back! I wish you all the best!
How I furnished my apartment and sell everything when I moved to save money.
TLDR: I furnished new apartment for $1k. When moving back, I sold everything for $800, plus I got a free new mattress as a plus. When I first got there, I ordered a king memory foam mattress online for $330, it was one of the best bed I've lay on. I bought wood and stain to build my bed for $100 worth of materials and 1 Saturday building. I had a place to lay my head, next up is to find a dining table. Found a wood high chair dining table with 4 chairs listed on facebook marketplace for $200, I haggled it down to $120. Luckily it fit in the back of my crossover. Not the cheapest, but it's a nice table. I later hated the wood chairs, as it hurts my butt. Found a moving sale that were selling 8 cushion faux leather chairs for $25 for all 8, since they just want to get rid of it to move in time. I bought a futon from walmart website for $90. TV stand from walmart for $20. Marble coffee table for $50 on market place (it was freaking heavy). 2 months later, I bought a queen mattress online for $185 and bed frame for $85. I sub-leased that room to temporary workers for $1000 a month for like 2 months out of the year. They had a stipend of $2k for living expenses so $1k was normal for them. (Oh I have a 2 beds 2 baths apartment for $850 a month) My parents gave me items from home such as pot, pan, dishes, utensils, and 2 of their comforter sets for the beds (lucky me). Saved probably $200 here. After 3 years, I was able to get a job back in my home state. I moved there in a crossover, but now I have too much stuff to take back, and renting a truck for these items that not worth anything wasn't worth it. I listed everything on the marketplace for sale. During this step, I found there is a rip on the bottom of my foam mattress, it was under warranty for 5 years, I made a claim, after exchanging information for a few days they finally agreed to send me a new mattress, I told them I was moving and see if they can send it to my new address, they agreed. Got a free mattress. I listed the mattress on sale for $150, the bed (hand made and can be taken apart and reassemble) for $200. Sold both for $250. Mistake here, I sold it 2 weeks before my moving day, I was sleeping on a camping floor mattress for 2 weeks. Sold the dining table for $100, sold the 8 cushion chairs for $150! I had so many requests for the chairs, not sure why they were so popular. Sold futon for $50, Coffee table $50. TV stand $10. Sold queen mattress and bed frame for $200. Total I spent furnishing was about $1k, and I sold everything for about $800. I was in negative $200. But that's like renting those furniture for 3 years for $200, still worth it in my opinion. But I got a brand new mattress so that evens it out. I was able to move back the same way I moved there, without renting a big truck which costs like several hundreds for one way trip.
[Spoilers+Rant] 25 detailed reasons why I don't agree with players & critics about Shenmue III being "faithful" to the previous games.
This is very long, but detailed. I typed it over a few days and exceeded the 40k character limit so I'll finish it up in the comments. Enjoy.
INTRODUCTION:
Shenmue III is almost two months old now. I really liked Shenmue I and II, but in discussions I try to be as objective as possible with the strengths and faults of the gameplay. With Shenmue III it's a shame how things are turning out with fan reception and sales. Me personally, I'm not too hung up on the game doing poorly in most player & critic reviews and it not selling well. The first two games had the same problems. I also have no problem with the game being $59.99 when it should be more like $30. I have only some problems with the game being far from a "quality product" despite raising $7.17million with additional funding & support by Sony, Shibuya, Deep Silver, Epic, and reportedly Sega. But what I REALLY have a problem with are "fans" and "game critics" defending this game's shortcomings by repeatedly saying things like this:"Shenmue III is theflawedbutfaithfulShenmue game that the fans have wanted for 18 years." Absolute bullshit on it being "faithful". There's no way in hell THIS was the game that the fans wanted even if they say it was. Now if all the fans wanted was a game with the words "Shenmue III" printed across the box then I guess they got what they asked for, but this horseshit like "Shenmue 3 isfaithfulto its Dreamcast roots in both itsgameplay and mechanics"...are they nuts? We can't be playing the same games. It's either the Shenmue fanbase has gone batshit or it's some new epidemic of fandom denial. This gets under my skin because Shenmue III is a game that I think needs an honest quality check (especially from the players) if Shenmue IV has ANY chance of being a better game (assuming it will even exist after this). Shenmue historically isn't very popular, has not sold well, is the butt of many (bad) jokes, and it is embraced by a niche, dedicated, driven community. This matches Shenmue III's current position, but my argument is that even a "traditional" Shenmue game doesn't play half as poorly as Shenmue III did, have as many technical quirks, or offers so little in combat, story, memorable events or characters.
QUOTES FROM "GAME CRITICS" BEGGING FOR CLICKS:
"Afaithfulsequel. Fans will enjoy."
"Shenmue III is asfaithfula sequel as could be made."
"Afaithfulfollow-up to an all-time classic; it feels as if this was made soon after Shenmue 2's release back in 2001 then placed in a vault."
"They wanted to continue Ryo’s story and experience it in a way that wasfaithfulto the original games. From that standpoint, they got exactly what they paid for. Shenmue III is asfaithfula sequel as could be made."
"Faithfulto a fault, Shenmue 3 feels like a time capsule of a game, flooding me with nostalgia while also reminding me just how far games have come since the original two Shenmue games"
"in staying sofaithfulto that once groundbreaking formula, it principally serves as a reminder of just how far games have come since [then]."
"Exactly what I expected it to be,based on the original two gamesin the series."
"Shenmue III Is a PureThrowback,for Better or Worse."
Anybody who stands up for Shenmue III's faults by saying it was at the expense of being a "Throwback" I honestly have to question if they played Shenmue I or II at all. The same goes for anyone saying it "looks, plays, and feels" like the original games. It's not a throwback, it's a step back. In my mind I imagine this whole "faithful" comment parade started with the very first guy to review Shenmue III that quickly pushed out a mediocre review by posting the buzzword "faithful" all over it. Then other "critics" saw his review before posting their own, took his take of the game in full and used his as the template for their own reviews, and the result was 1,000 nitwits making sure to constantly plug the word "faithful" in their reviews because that's what the first jackass said. It's like an idiot train that nobody bothered to think about getting off of.
QUOTES FROM SUSPECT "FANS":
"Shenmue 3 is brilliant atbeing Shenmue."
"the game was fun, and it played looked and felt like a Shenmue game."
"I did enjoy it in the sense that it wasmore of what ive wanted for 18 freaking years"
"Sure it is rough graphically and clunky in partsbut it plays just like a shenmue game."
"Not sure how you could enjoy the first two and not this one considering they all share the same general design."
"I'm a backer, and personally speaking, it's pretty much what I expected it to be"
"Shenmue III is exactly what it was meant to be.People who complain that it doesn't innovate didn't follow the kickstarter and didn't read the interviews, it was Suzuki's promise at that time to keep Shenmue as it was, and that the theme of the game was going to be nostalgia (in this case, for Shenmue itself)."
"The game wasn't made for you."
"If anything, the only thing that has ruined the romantic memory is your own expectations."
"This is about completing a personal vision and frankly, f\** all the idiot millennials who don't get it. This is not for you.* You don't get it and you never will."
I can't imagine anyone being further from reason when they tell you that a sequel is "for them" or "what they waited for" but the game in question is clearly missing gameplay features from the previous games, introduces brand new gameplay frustations that didn't even exist before, and offers much less in plot and events. More on those points below.
THE 25 REASONS WHY SHENMUE III WAS NOT "FAITHFUL".....
Well, here we go. I'll try to list these in the order they occur while playing the game.
UNFAITHFULNESS #1: Shenhua's new banana outfit.
Right off the bat the devs say "Let's change the outfit Shenhua has worn since the Shenmue 1 opening movie. We won't even have her transition to it, just have her magically have it on while still in the cave". I shouldn't have to say too much about it because everyone seemed to be on the same page about this. It was a stupid move and a stupid look. Her dumb yellow hat and genie pants make her look the china doll of the Mushroom Kingdom. Shenmue III couldn't even be "faithful" enough to maintain the image we've had of Shenhua for two decades.
UNFAITHFULNESS #2: The Stone Pit (a.k.a. "The Cave Scene"), the retcon "we always wanted" according to these fans.
Oh boy, stop me if you've heard this one already. Here are some quick visuals of the original and the Shenmue III version. For 18 years we mulled over that goddamn flying sword, Shenhua's abilities and the red light. Shenmue III "pays off" by just omitting the involvement of the Sword of Seven Stars entirely (since the device that Ryo inserts the Phoenix Mirror into is ALREADY raised when they arrive at the pit) and the red light is now a regular-ass light. So how faithful is this so far? It's gotta make you wonder if they'll ever acknowledge this scene too because we sure as hell didn't hear much about it in Shenmue III. Also if you watch this scene in the Shenmue III digest video they cut from it RIGHT BEFORE the seven lights appear in the smoke. It's all pretty damn criminal. And to top it all off: Later on we even discover that Shenhua's sword now looks like The Shiv of Seven Stars since it's been reduced to looking like a celestial butter knife. More stupid quotes from the people telling you how "faithful" the game was:
"I'm glad they toned down the magic. Shenmue 1 and 2 was a hard-hitting emotional action drama. To change the tone like that at the end of 2 was weird."
"To be honest,that is one thingI am totally fine with them retconningif that is the case, Shenmue isn’t Dragonball or Street Fighter"
"I was a bit annoyed at the magicfrom the end of shenmue 2.The whole game felt like a real world till the end of Shenmue 2.I wouldn't mind people believing in magic, like old chinese myth, but i don't like that there is actual magic in game"
"TbhI don't think the story in Shenmue was ever that good.I'm not sure why people pretend it had any real story.Yes I love the grand scale of the adventure and the different locations are cool, the presentation is what's great, not the story and its inconsistencies."
Shitheads, all of you. The events of the cave scene was in the Top 3 of the Shenmue fandom's list of "Things We Can't Wait to See Addressed", and you respond to Shenmue III's deflation of it all with "Oh, well we didn't like that shit anyway." What kinda copout is this? Here's a much better quote that responds to this issue: "We had two ultra realistic slice of life games,it was time for the story to start going somewhere.Itwas revealed very smartly at the end of Shenmue 2, and I never thought that Shenhua would start casting spells or anything in Shenmue 3. Just the ki and "power from everything" Shenhua referenced by being so in tune with the earth was a really great theme they introduced and made me really want to find out what happened next.Well we didn't find out shit." ^Couldn't have put it better myself. I can understand if players had a major concern that the magical elements could hijack the entire setting if they ever became amped up to Shenmue Online levels of magic use. But this was just a first step, and for the writer of the story to take that step back sucked all of the air out of the room when we had so much time to dwell on it. You'd think people would have a bit more leeway with the mysticism in Shenmue since the VERY FIRST SCENE of Shenmue I is the opening movie of Shenhua speaking of a prophecy which gets repeated several times throughout the series. Who plays a game with a prophetic premise and doesn't expect to eventually see some wild stuff? "Faithful" my ass.
UNFAITHFULNESS #3: Walking & Talking with Shenhua, The Rise of the Blackouts.
Yikes, did THIS make the game look goofy (*sound warning*). Hey "fans", remember the delightful and endearing pace of the Guilin portion in Shenmue II and how much we liked walking & talking with Shenhua in what felt like a smooth, seamless flow of conversations strung together with simple button presses? In Shenmue III we now get: auto-talk, blackout, auto-talk, blackout. Why does the screen keep blacking out? Either this game was coded by morons or I'm suffering a neurological condition after playing this game for only 3 minutes. It blacks out like three times in that first scene. Hell, we don't even get a button-prompt to continue talking with Shenhua, it's just fully automated. So after that video Ryo & Shenhua go to the bridge, meet the first unimportant NPC in the game (Johnny Yong "Yes, I Still Do Voiceovers For Dirt Cheap" Bosch) and right after that is more walking & talking with THREE MORE blackouts! Jesus, when it was over I thought I needed to check myself for syncope. There are more weird blackout occurrences throughout the game but the ones with Shenhua painfully stand out early on. The point is: this game wasn't even "faithful" enough to properly capture one of the most enjoyable things in Shenmue II. So I gotta call out the fans chanting "This is the Shenmue we wanted" on this one. Side rant: it was also really stupid that they didn't cinematically show Ryo walking out of that goddamn cave and out into the beautiful sunlight alongside some movie-like opening credits, which is what the fans REALLY wanted to see and cheer for after 18 long years. Damn shame.
UNFAITHFULNESS #4: No compass on Ryo's watch display in the corner of the screen.
REVISED SHENMUE III KICKSTARTER GOALS:
$2.50million for Shenmue 1 & 2 cinema shorts.
$2.90million for subtitles in various languages that will probably mistranslate an important plot point about a scroll or something.
$3.20million for a "Rapport System" you'll never see.
$3.50million for a "Skill Tree System" you thought you were getting.
$4.00million for a mini game where you toss a fuckin' rock into a bucket to win pineapples.
$5.00million for a revolutionary food system where Ryo runs too much and then complains about eating.
$6.00million for rendering Niao Sun's new hair bleaching, new wardrobe, and her third boob job.
$7.00million for rendering five out-of-place dweebs, whom were dumb enough to donate the most kickstarter money, in kung fu uniforms near the climax of the game (very appropriate for my Shenmue experience, btw).
$7.20million for the letter "N" to be displayed on Ryo's watch that he's had in the game since 1999.
Aw damn, we almost made it! I'm at the point in the game where I can (somewhat) freely move around only to find out Shenmue III wasn't even "faithful" enough to give us a compass. It's the little things that count in a series where we had PLENTY of time to appreciate the little things. Also, if the compass had been displayed on Ryo's map instead of his watch I would've been fine with that...but these bum devs couldn't even toss us that. Money well spent.
UNFAITHFULNESS #5: No navigation marks for the map display.
Although it was only in Shenmue II the navigation marks were a GREAT feature, good lord. How the hell could they leave this out in Shenmue III??? Markers made a lot of the monotonous things a bit easier to deal with when you could mark precisely where things are. How much did you guys love using markers on your first Shenmue II playthrough? I used BLUE markers for all gambling & activities, YELLOW for all purchase locations like shops & capsule toy machines, and RED (or GREEN in the HD version) for the important NPCs, any stray animals possibly up for adoption, and single moms. Having said all that: I find the lack of faithfulness throughout Shenmue III pretty damn disturbing and I can't be the only one who thinks this way.
UNFAITHFULNESS #6: No controller options for Ryo's Movement or Look/Run.
Every version of Shenmue I or II (Dreamcast, Xbox, HD versions) has allowed you to #1.) Move Ryo with the D-Pad, and #2.) Swap the Look & Run buttons. The D-Pad issue I got over, but not letting us swap Look/Run is a pure screwup because EVERY game until III gave us that option. Shenmue I's Dreamcast default setup was L-Trigger to run and R-Trigger to look, so that setup always felt the most comfortable to me. With that setup you could pretty much run & move Ryo just by using your left hand while you freely used your right hand to do taxes and make stupid GameFAQs posts about sailor jokes. It was perfect! In Shenmue II for Dreamcast and in I & II ports onward the new default became L-Trigger to look and R-Trigger to run, but in those games you still had the OPTION to swap the functions. Shenmue III wasn't even "faithful" enough to give us the controller options to move, look, and run like we did in previous games. Pretty ironic that this game gets praised for not being "modernized" but I can't think of anything more modern than an adventure game where you try to move with the D-Pad but the game is like "SORRY, Analog Stick only! Our game is meant for conventional GTA and Call of Duty-playing drones that have delicate lady fingers."
UNFAITHFULNESS #7: The food "mechanic"; who in the hell asked for this?
"This is a game for Shenmue fans, it's what we asked for and we got it." Geez, really? You asked for a Shenmue game where instead of being able to freely run for exploring, activities, and objectives...you asked for a game where Ryo starves and whines? Jesus, running is also slower. In the classics Ryo would charge forward like a bat outta hell the moment your finger graced the trigger, but in Shenmue III he's gotta get his fatass to do a light jog before he gets anywhere near the full-on "adventuring protagonist sprint" he's known for. This food mechanic didn't feel immersive, innovative, and it was FAR from creative. It was just a pain, and it often made me say "Screw going into that giant grass field to pick flowers out of the ground; I got only one banana left." It doesn't seem too "faithful" to implement a mechanic that makes Ryo's basic running function feel like a chore to maintain when it was never like that in previous games. Of course dealing with it gets easier as you get loaded with money but it shouldn't have been an issue to begin with. Furthermore, linking your food to your Free Battle health was a stupid call as well. What I DO think was a clever idea was to have it affect your training in a positive way. Eating food to speed up practice & sparring progression is a decent idea, hell we could've used that feature to speed-up training in Shenmue I & II. But food negatively affecting Ryo's traditional movement and his health? Dumb as hell; what'll they make up next? A sneaker mechanic where after walking & running with Ryo's shoes over a certain amount of time (or getting them wet/damaged from rain) he has to buy new ones or else he winces around town?
UNFAITHFULNESS #8: Missing Key Items from previous games.
Key Items that were taken from us:
Fangmei's Amulet (do they know what we went through to get this damn thing???)
Letter to Father (this contained the last true translation of the "Father's Heaven" password which is now forever lost and explains why everyone is saying the wrong shit these days)
Photo of Wong and Photo of Rod Stunt (never forget your friends)
Hang-On and Space Harrier for Sega Saturn (would've sold these in Bailu Village for an easy $10,000)
Racer Duck (YOU MOTHERFUCKERS)
The Demon's Triangle move scroll (what the hell were they thinking? Ryo JUST got this!)
Nothing puts Shenmue III's faithfulness more into question than depriving Ryo of the most precious item that he got during his time getting to know the beautiful people of Aberdeen: our goddamn duck. The $7.50million Kickstarter for that should be up sometime in Q2 2020.
UNFAITHFULNESS #9: The conversation system and how it's the worst in the series.
The screwups here are un-fuckin'-acceptable. Of all the basic functions that this game could botch. TL;DR WARNING!!!!! Strap yourselves in; I'm gonna go into detail because I'm pretty pissed over it.
PART 1, INABILITY TO SKIP INITIAL CONVERSATIONS.
I'll start with this: This is Lei Mingyang. He is a moron, and they've purposefully trained him wrong as a joke. I think he's voiced by Yuri "If You Have a Shithead I'll Voice Him" Lowenthal, and Lei is already popular in Shenmue III fandom for being the dork who says "No, I haven't" when asked if he knows Yuan because that's one of the first dumb things he says at the start of the game. So upon interacting with someone like Lei it's important to note that you cannot skip through the first conversation with an NPC. So if you find out within 1/3 of a conversation that the person you're speaking with is a waste of time, well...too bad, you have to sit through the remaining 2/3. You definitely feel the pain of this whenever you ACCIDENTALLY speak to an NPC because you're forced to sit through the whole convo (more on how that happens later). In Shenmue I & II you could, at any time while having a typical conversation/inquiry with an NPC, just mash the cancel-button to either skip through or (if prompted) stop the conversation completely. In Shenmue III you only get prompts to continue conversations, NEVER any prompts to CANCEL them, which is dumb as hell and sometimes I feel like I'm being held hostage by a moron NPC who won't stop talking. Not being able to skip the first interaction also applies to when you're doing any activity that causes Ryo to speak to himself, like interacting with capsule toy machines, training equipment, or even knocking on the door of a house. If it's your first time doing the interaction then odds are you CANNOT skip through it. For example: You knock on a door, Ryo says: "Is anyone there? ... I guess nobody's home." You then go to another door, knock, and you get another unskippable "Is anyone there? ... I guess nobody's home." How dumb is that? Each door is a "new" unskippable interaction despite it leading to the same result. Furthermore, there are often times where when an NPC suddenly changes their "NPC routine" (ex. they go from walking around to sitting down, training to walking around, or simply standing around somewhere else) and this can result in more unskippable dialogue. If you're lucky the new dialogue will be a brief interaction like "Oh, it's you again" but sometimes it's NOT brief. Lei himself has like three or four unskippable "I have nothing to say to a stranger" moments depending on what NPC activity he's transitioning into, like when he sits down to yank it. I hate this guy. And it gets better: at nighttime an NPC may have a new unskippable conversation. And by "new" I mean they say the EXACT SAME SHIT that they say during the daytime...but they may have one more line that causes the entire conversation to become unskippable. For example: Lei gives you the usual dickhead routine of "What do you want? I have nothing to say to a stranger"...and then at the very end he adds on "I've got to eat first." THAT is why you can't skip the convo; are they for real with this shit? And just when you thought the mess was over: some NPCs have two unskippable conversations back-to-back. Mo Guangming, the drunk old guy with stupid gray hair, possesses this special torture. His first unskippable convo is the "You talkin' to me? Wanna have a drink? I'm drunk, blah blah blah" and then if you immediately speak to him again, my god...it's the convo where he grossly hiccups for what feels like 10 seconds, followed by two more lines of drunk rambling, then talking slowly about playing Flower Bird Wind & Moon, and then he nearly cries at the end about how much of a goddamn bum he is. He just doesn't shut the hell up, and he's not the only NPC who'll do this to you. And now, for the BEST PART in this whole ordeal: Anytime Ryo gets a significant clue or when his line of questioning changes...EVERY townsperson, shopkeeper, lucky hit stand, capsule toy machine, or any activity that you previously interacted with...is now once again UNSKIPPABLE, even if the NPC says the exact same thing that they said before Ryo got a new lead. Combine this fact with the issues above and it is all PURE DREAD that wastes several in-game minutes of your day, especially whenever you have to do another round of talking to NPCs for information. You speak to someone thinking they'll say something new, but instead they spew their usual garbage dialogue, and unfortunately you gotta sit through it all again because it has once again become unskippable. To conclude Part 1: Gameplay issues like this make you barely want to talk to anyone in a game where talking to NPCs is supposed to be as painless as possible and may even positively contribute to your unique Shenmue experience as you learn more about townsfolk. In Shenmue I, after any major or minor event, I used to always take the time to interact with the less important NPCs in Dobuita just to see if anyone said something different, and doing that fleshed out a lot of characters like Kurita & Yuriko (their relationship with eacother), Miki, Saijo, Yohei Kondo, Minako, Yamagishi, Tamura...the list goes on and on. There's only a little bit of that deep NPC interaction in Shenmue II, but in that game I'd still take the time to interact with NPCs even when I didn't think they had much to say because it was all SKIPPABLE. However, in Shenmue III, because I gotta sit through these same time-consuming conversations over and over, I mostly just wanted to ignore the little people of Guilin and stick to only talking with main characters or quest-related NPCs. That's terrible for a Shenmue game.
PART 2, UNINTENTIONALLY INTERACTING WITH NPCs.
There are two MAJOR things that contribute to how this happens. #1.) Ryo's "range" of being able to interact with people is pretty far & wide, so you may interact with an NPC that you didn't even know you were in range of. And #2.) There is some stupid-ass delay that occurs immediately after you finish speaking with an NPC where you're not able to interact with them again for about half-a-second. It's like some weird kinda "NPC cooldown". So when an NPC finishes talking, if you quickly press the "X" button intending to talk to them again, it may screw you over. Below is an example of how. In the following video I try to talk to Lei more than once, but when he finishes speaking the first time I pressed the "X" button too soon before his "NPC cooldown" finished, so this causes me to unintentionally interact with the nearby fat pieca crap sitting beside him...another NPC whom I think is also voiced by Yuri Lowenthal. So look at how it plays out. (*sound warning*) In that vid, because I pressed "X" too soon trying to re-interact with Skinny Yuri Lowenthal, I instead get sucked into a convo with Fat Yuri Lowenthal, which puts in me in an UNSKIPPABLE CONVERSATION THAT GETS NOWHERE. This, happens, SO many damn times during Shenmue III, especially in Niaowu where the streets gets crowded with walking NPCs and vendors constantly moving in and out of your range without you realizing it. There are many times when I was quickly pressing the Square button to skip through an NPCs second convo...but I pressed Square one too many times which caused me to interact with a nearby vendor. "Why hello there! Want to buy some of my shit? It's the best shit in Niaowu!" I immediately select CANCEL..."What's wrong? You don't like my shit? My shit comes directly from finest shits in Shitsburg!" For FUCK'S SAKE, stop talking! This right here was the absolute worst (*sound warning*) because it was my first time seeing Shenhua walking around Niaowu and I wanted to hear what she had to say. So I interact with her once, I quickly press "X" again to continue our convo, but because of the "NPC cooldown" that I mentioned earlier I instead get caught in a convo with this OFF-SCREEN drag queen. In the video if you look in the background during the convo you can see Shenhua walk away, so not only was I stuck in a convo that I DID NOT WANT but I was gonna have to catch-up with Shenhua afterwards. So the fat bitch finally stops talking, I run to catch up with Shenhua...but before I reached her I triggered the scene with the skinny Red Snake guy harassing store vendors. So I never even got to fully talk with Shenhua because of this stupid, unskippable, wide-range, NPC-cooldown convo design. This game sucks. After everything above, if you're still telling people "Shenmue 3 isfaithfulto its Dreamcast roots in both itsgameplay and mechanics"...then man, eat shit and die. Shenmue III somehow managed to take Shenmue I & II's most BASIC function that could be the difference between an "okay" Shenmue experience and a "deep" Shenmue experience...and instead it created the first "bad" experience of the series that discourages you from wanting to interact with numerous NPCs at different times like in the old games. The issues I described here range from being time-consuming inconveniences to feeling more like a stress test from God.
UNFAITHFULNESS #10: The load times, before and after you load your game file.
Dear lord, I hate the Unreal Engine. I'll explain: nearly every time UE gets used outside of a typical shooting game that any moron can play like Gears of Duty: Black Ghost Vegas Warfighter or whatever, there's ALWAYS a glaring issue. The models may look like trash, the load times are PS1-era awful, or BOTH. Street Fighter V, Aliens Colonial Marines, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, I Am Alive, DmC, Fable The Journey. Even Soul Calibur VI and Tekken 7 have you install like 50GB of hard drive space just so the games can have dogshit loading times that rival the PS1 port of Street Fighter Alpha 1. But Unreal Engine is ESPECIALLY crappy whenever it gets used for a retro sequel or revival. Mighty No. 9, Flashback, Karateka, Rush'n Attack Ex-Patriot, TMNT, Tony Hawk HD, Ninja Gaiden Z, Bloodstained, Fighting EX Layer. It's always amateur-hour with this damn engine but scrubby devs love it because it's easy to use. Well, now you can add Shenmue III to the list.
Time it takes to load a Shenmue 1 game file (Dreamcast, USA) = around 16secs; tested on Disc 1 and on Disc 3.
Time it takes to load a Shenmue 2 game file (Dreamcast, PAL) = around 16secs when I loaded a save with Ryo in a populated section in Wise Men's Qr., and around 22secs when I loaded a file with Ryo in a populated section in Kowloon.
Time it takes to load a Shenmue 3 game file (PS4, USA) = around 42secs when I loaded a save in Bailu, and around 1minute and 12secs when I loaded a save in Niaowu.
And I know what the apologists are thinking with me listing Shenmue III's longer load times compared to Dreamcast: "But in Shenmue III once your game loads the entire world is available." Oh is it now? If that's true, then what is this crap? Or this right here? Or...okay this one was actually kinda funny when it first happened but not the 10 times afterward. This game is seriously a bad test of patience. And those clips aren't me speed-running the environment just so I could get a bad capture, this is me just playing the game running from point A to B. I make a natural beeline to my objectives but the Ease of Use Engine 4 can't keep up. 90% of Shenmue is being able to interact with NPCs to get things done, so being forced to WAIT for them to materialize just wastes time and looks bad. Oh and even better, the unspawned NPCs are not only invisible but they can also be physically bumped into, even on the streets. It looks so bad and happens so much. These loading issues are probably why Shenmue III has these goofy-ass outdoor forced walking sections. All of this looks like the craftsmanship of an amateur team using the laziest set of tools. The loading issues, both major and minor, are just hard to ignore sometimes. Like even when getting capsule toys or Ren's eyebrows, the poor bastard. Oh but hey, the water all throughout the game looks nice and it is ALWAYS there properly loaded and waiting for me before I arrive. That's a positive! So before taking shots at Shenmue III's loading, I made sure to play Shenmue II again on the Dreamcast and run around crowded sections of Wise Men's Qr. and Kowloon, and man...was it rough to revisit this after getting addicted to the smoothness of the PS4 HD port. BUT, at least on Dreamcast when I ran downtown to a store the NPC was ALWAYS there in time for me to interact with them. It actually impressed me with the Dreamcast version a bit more despite the slowdown as you run around crowded streets. Shenmue I on Dreamcast definitely had moments where NPCs would "materialize" as you ran through the city but I NEVER had an issue where I stood at the exact same spot as where an NPC was supposed to be and I wasn't able to interact with them. They were ALWAYS available unlike the situation in Shenmue III. Shenmue III, powered by the Unmotivated Engine 4, is busting my balls so hard that I don't think the game is "faithful" enough to even have shopkeeper NPCs show up to their jobs on time.
UNFAITHFULNESS #11: The reduced amount of time you get to enjoy the "nightlife".
Here's a breakdown of how long you get to explore during the night in ALL Shenmue games (feel free to check my info & math here):
Shenmue I = 1 in-game hour is 4 real-life minutes. Nighttime is 7pm to 11:30pm, and then Ryo is forced to bed. That's 18 total real-life minutes of nightlife that you get to explore.
Shenmue II = 1 in-game hour is 6 real-life minutes. Nighttime is 7pm to 11pm, and then Ryo is forced to bed. That's 24 total real-life minutes of nightlife that you get to explore.
Shenmue III = 1 in-game hour is 4 real-life minutes. Nighttime is 7pm to 9pm, then you're forced home. That's ONLY 8 total real-life minutes of nightlife that you get to explore, a BIG reduction.
You see this shit? We only get EIGHT minutes to enjoy the nighttlife of the game. What're they STUPID? In Shenmue I it takes at least 10 minutes just for Akemi's poly-cleavage to start looking attractive, and NONE of the female NPCs in Guilin look nearly as openly trashy. What a gyp! But in all seriousness, the whole "house arrest at 9pm" thing REALLY screws with trying to get things done in your quest. Nightfall at 7pm used to be "Wow, how nice. I guess I'll do a few more story-related things" but in Shenmue III it becomes "HURRY UP AND FINISH YOUR SHIT FOR THE DAY!".This reduction in nighttime combined with the unskippable NPC interaction issues AND the loading issues of the Unreliable Engine 4 are all a shitstorm of issues that hurt the game. One bad NPC interaction can fee like a waste of precious seconds as nighttime exploration is quickly coming to an end. What kind of Shenmue game isn't even "faithful" enough to let us stay out after 9pm? Not even Ine-san had us on a leash this tight.
UNFAITHFULNESS #12: Shopping, a tale of modernization.
I'm going to be REAL thorough about this, so...TL;DR WARNING!!! I'll start with more bonehead quotes:
"Diverting from the original game to make itmore modernwould have taken away from the unique experience that is Shenmue."
"This game’s lack of concern formodernizationis unique to it, and that’s what people find most interesting."
"Shenmue IIIForgoes Modern Game Designand Is Better Because of It"
"Shenmue 3 wasfaithfulby it's unwillingness tomodernizeitself." Is that a fact? Well if this game refused to be "modernized" then why did the shopping in Shenmue go from THIS to a generic-ass Walmart self checkout? In Shenmue III it's become a modern, dime-a-dozen, lifeless display of little thumbnails with a "Click what you want, press Triangle, and then get the FUCK out" purchasing system. Also, the technical direction of Shenmue III overall feels pretty "modern" since the whole game was developed using the Unoriginal Engine 4. Shenmue II didn't get enough credit for slightly "speeding up" what was unique & interactive about Shenmue I because admittedly in the first game things took up TOO much time for the sake of being real-worldly (purchasing items, interacting with doors and capsule machines). Shenmue III just didn't give a crap about "improving" any of that. The devs didn't have the balls to match nor improve the iconic Shenmue shopping process where you can physically SEE the item that you want to buy on a shelf, lock-on to it, press the X button to make Ryo awkwardly pick it up with the tip of his fingers like he thinks he's holding a used condom, have us firmly CONFIRM the purchase of said item, then witnessing Ryo appear at the clerk's counter to smack the item down and declare "THIS!" to complete that sweet golden purchase. This was such a life-like slice of a flourishing economy, one that everyone in real life should be a part of, and it should always be a part of Shenmue. But nope, not in Shenmue III. So despite Shenmue III's "modern" approach to purchases, let's take some time to examine what gameplay experience the game tries to offer with its VAST amount of store items. I'm a bit of a completionist (yeah I know that's an oxymoron, shut up) and that's my own fault. I like to purchase 2 of every item I come across as long as I can afford it. So let's look at a few of Shenmue III's items. I come across a lady selling jewelry like "Pearl Ring", so I'll buy 2 of each and be done with it. Later on in the game, when I've forgotten all about whichever jewels I purchased, I'll come across ANOTHER lady selling jewelry including "Pearl Ring" as well as a few other jewels that I'm pretty sure I haven't bought yet. Unfortunately, since a lot of these item thumbnail images lack detail and Ryo's item management is so friggin' disorganized I'm having trouble eyeballing which jewels I may have already bought from the previous jewel lady...so I keep having to hop back & forth between Ryo's inventory and the store items. Gee, I sure wish this game would "modernize" itself enough to add a goddamn "# Owned" display so that I can immediately tell which items I already bought. What happens next is REALLY dumb. It turns out that the "Pearl Ring" in this second jewely store is NOT the same Pearl Ring that I purchased back at the first store...this one is actually "Ring (Pearl)". So yeah, that means there are two DIFFERENT items in the game called "Pearl Ring" and "Ring (Pearl)".....alright, game. Whatever you say. On top of that, if you view Ryo's inventory the two Pearl Rings are on different pages and they look EXACTLY the same, so it makes it slightly harder to "item check" things visually. Brilliant work, dev team...ya dipshits. Jewelry isn't the only set of items that make you second-guess if you're buying duplicates when visiting multiple stores. The statues are visually ridiculous too. Copper Bodhisattva Standing? Brass Bodhisattva Standing? Gold Bodhisattva Standing or Sitting? Wooden Bodhisattva Slumping? Wooden Saint Statue Standing Sitting? Wooden Sage Statue Sitting Taking a Dump Standing? And the liqueur items...5-Year-Old Lao Jiu? 10-Year-Old Lao Jiu? 10-Year-Old Plum Liqueur? 20-Year-Old Liq Jiu? And urns! Blue & White Ceramic Urn? Blue & White Ceramic Gourd? Blue & White Ceramic Wide? This is OBNOXIOUS. And look here, a whole bunch of blue books being sold by some kid who can't afford chapstick. Or how about anytime you came across a white shirt and weren't sure which ones you already bought? I don't really have a good snarky "faithful" comment to conclude this section with, so I'll just say: none of this stuff ever happened in Shenmue I or II. Screw you, game. [***to be continued later in comments***]
[Walmart] Black Friday Starts Tonight at 9PM PST - Philips 55" 4K UHD Smart HDTV $298, Samsung UN60KU6270 60" 4K Smart HDTV $648, Samsung 11.6" Chromebook 3 $119, Fitbit Flex 2 "Waterproof" $69, PS4 Slim 500GB w/ Uncharted 4 Bundle + $30 Gift Card, Video Games & Consoles & more (Check Inside)
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Category
Item Name
Price
Apparel >> Accessories
Boys Slipper Socks
$3
Apparel >> Accessories
Character Backpack (Assorted Styles)
$5.50
Apparel >> Accessories
Emoji Beanies (Assorted Styles)
$3
Apparel >> Accessories
Girls Character Underwear (3-pk.)
$3
Apparel >> Accessories
Girls No-Show Socks (10-pk.)
$3
Apparel >> Accessories
Girls Slipper Socks
$3
Apparel >> Jewelry
Sterling Silver 1-cttw. Diamond Pendant & Earrings 3-pc. Set
$139
Apparel >> Kids'
Boys 1-pc. Character Sleepwear (Assorted Styles)
$8.50
Apparel >> Kids'
Boys 2-pc. Character Sleep Set (Assorted Styles)
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Boys Character Underwear (3-pk.)
$3
Apparel >> Kids'
Boys No-Show Socks (10-pk.)
$3
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Boys Black 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Boys Blue 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Boys Green 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Boys Orange 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Girls Black 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Girls Blue 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Girls Gray 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Girls Orange 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Faded Glory Girls Pink 1/4-Zip Fleece Hoodie
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Girls 2-pc. Character Sleep Set (Assorted)
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Girls Character 1-pc. Sleepwear (Assorted)
$8.50
Apparel >> Kids'
Infant/Toddler 2-pc. Character Cotton Sleepwear Set (Assorted)
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Infant/Toddler 2-pc. Character Fleece Sleepwear Set (Assorted)
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Kids Character Slippers (Assorted)
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Kids Healthtex 2-pc. Fleece Sleapwear Set (Assorted)
$4.75
Apparel >> Kids'
Mossy Oak Kids Performance Fabric Hoodie
$10
Apparel >> Kids'
Realtree Kids Performance Fabric Hoodie
$10
Apparel >> Kids'
Wrangler Boys Advanced Comfort Slim Straight Jeans
$8.50
Apparel >> Kids'
Wrangler Boys Bootcut Jeans
$8.50
Apparel >> Kids'
Wrangler Boys Straight Jeans
$8.50
Apparel >> Men's
And1 Mens Backetball Shorts (2-pk.)
$8.50
Apparel >> Men's
Dickies Mens Genuine Work Socks (5-pk.)
$4
Apparel >> Men's
Faded Glory Mens Flannel Shirt (Assorted)
$6.50
Apparel >> Men's
Fruit Of The Loom Mens Fleece Pants (Assorted Colors)
$4
Apparel >> Men's
Fruit Of The Loom Mens Sleep Pants (Assorted Designs)
$4
Apparel >> Men's
Fruit Of The Loom Mens Sweatshirt (Assorted Colors)
$4
Apparel >> Men's
Hanes Mens T-Shirt Bonus Pack (Assorted)
$10
Apparel >> Men's
Hanes Mens X-Temp Boxer Briefs (Assorted)
$10
Apparel >> Men's
Mens Character Fleece Sleep Pants (Assorted Designs)
$6.50
Apparel >> Men's
Mossy Oak Mens Performance Fabric Hoodie
$10
Apparel >> Men's
Realtree Mens Performance Fabric Hoodie
$10
Apparel >> Men's
Russel Mens Hooded Tech Jacket (Assorted Colors)
$10
Apparel >> Men's
Wrangler Mens Jeans (Assorted)
$10
Apparel >> Men's
Wrangler Mens Twill Shirt (Assorted Colors)
$8.50
Apparel >> Shoes
Sharper Image Adult Slippers (Assorted Colors)
$6.50
Apparel >> Women's
Cuddl Duds Womens Climate Right 2-pc. Thermal Set (Assorted Colors)
$9
Apparel >> Women's
Danskin Ladies Now Sweater Fleece Jacket (Assorted Colors)
$9
Apparel >> Women's
Danskin Now Tech Womens Fleece Hoodie (Assorted Colors)
$7
Apparel >> Women's
Mossy Oak Womens Performance Fabric Hoodie
$10
Apparel >> Women's
Realtree Womens Performance Fabric Hoodie
$10
Apparel >> Women's
Riders by Lee Womens Fleece-Lined Shirt (Assorted Colors)
$9
Apparel >> Women's
Riders by Lee Womens Jeggings (Assorted Colors)
$9
Apparel >> Women's
Union Suit Womens Sleepwear (Assorted Colors)
$9
Apparel >> Women's
Womens 2-pc. Character Sleep Set (Assorted Colors)
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