The good folks at Ys Net posted a new video today, featuring a conversation among Shenmue III Director Yu Susuki and Animation Producer Hiroaki Takeuchi.

Both developers mention that the graphics have reached a level beyond their initial expectations, but Suzuki-san admitted that there will be elements that won't be comparable with triple-A games. Yet, they're still better than originally planned, and they're "starting to come into their own."

Suzuki-san also explained that for him it has been hard to use Unreal Engine 4 as is because he is used to write everything directly from code, and that's not possible with Epic's middleware.

He also feels happy about Shenhua, as her model is now at a level that he can approve of. From now on it's a matter of getting her expressions and animations right.

We learn that the game will have about a hundred characters and that he wants to do something different from his previous games for the combat system.

It won't be based on timing like in Virtua Fighter, but it'll feel "like a puzzle game that everyone can enjoy, with a strong emphasis on choreography." This includes having puzzle-type elements blended into the fights, influenced by the items you pick up, and a "different kind" of quick time events.

That being said, we shouldn't expect to see those features "too soon."

Voice actors for most parts have been decided, and the voice of Shenhua has been selected just recently. Voice recording will start in 2018.

In the coming year, Suzuki-san pans to "breath life into the characters," as their daily life is a very important theme for the game.

You can watch a full video below. If you want to see more, you can check out a recently-revealed new character, a recent video about facial animation, morescreenshots featuring protagonist Ryo Hazuki, the first trailer and more screenshots, another batch, and the announcement of the publishing partnership with Deep Silver.

Shenmue III has been recently delayed to the second half of 2018 to make it “bigger and more beautiful.” The game will launch for PS4 and PC.