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Night_Trekker · Jan 28, 2008

Die Squirrel Die said:
You think Shenmue still looks good? Okay I know DC nostalgia can affect some people more than others, but really? And I said RGGK, the PS3 game, not the PS2 games.

You know, some people look back at older games with a sense of perspective, with some concept of the hardware's strengths and weaknesses, and they marvel at what was done in certain games given those limitations.

And then others look back and go "LOL OLD GAME IS OLD". I'll never understand that.

Warm Machine · Jan 28, 2008

It was the most amazing looking game available at the time.

The major problem with the first was that the pacing was broken. Ryo's dad is killed, the murderer goes free and 3 minutes later we are talking about a kitten in a box. Everyone who I ever showed the game to groaned at that moment and didn't want to see more of the game. People called it a walking simulator.

Night_Trekker · Jan 28, 2008

Warm Machine said:
The major problem with the first was that the pacing was broken. Ryo's dad is killed, the murderer goes free and 3 minutes later we are talking about a kitten in a box. Everyone who I ever showed the game to groaned at that moment and didn't want to see more of the game. People called it a walking simulator.

I think I prefer Shenmue 1 very slightly to 2, but the pacing is definitely a little broken. I can remember getting into fights without a good understanding of the fighting system simply because there weren't enough opportunities to learn the controls. Sparring with Fuku-san and practicing in a vacant lot are great options, but they weren't enough.

That said, fighting is really not what Shenmue is all about, and I don't expect a majority of gamers to ever be okay with that.

Furoba · Jan 28, 2008

Die Squirrel Die said:
You think Shenmue still looks good? Okay I know DC nostalgia can affect some people more than others, but really? And I said RGGK, the PS3 game, not the PS2 games.

With some updated technology it could still look great, maybe look even better than most Wii titles.

Sixfortyfive · Jan 28, 2008

When I saw Shenmue's intro for the first time, I thought to myself right then and there that I wouldn't mind one bit if graphical detail in video games never advanced from that point onward. I still hold that opinion, personally. (That isn't to say that I don't believe developers should utilize all the resources at their disposal anyway.)

At any rate, a friend of mine picked up 2 DVDs of some old Virtua Fighter anime for cheap some time ago and we watched some of it together. I got some really strong Shenmue vibes from it. First, one of the main recurring evil guys reminds me quite a bit of Gui Zhang, which doesn't seem at all coincidental considering that Gui Zhang's character was the original design for Lan Di (and that there's another low-ranking bad guy in the VF anime that looks fairly similar to the Saturn version of Lan Di):

And then there are fight scenes that seem eerily similar to those in Shenmue II, right down to the way they display the attack names:

Appoligies for the horrible quality screencaps. Information on this show is scarce as hell, so I had to settle for Youtube screens. (The anime itself was enjoyable if unremarkable, btw.)

So yeah, Shenmue. It's one of those franchises that I can't really explain why I like it as much as I do. It was incredibly frustrating to play through to the end of Shenmue 2 and realize that I had literally witnessed nothing more than the prologue of the series.

TheGreatDave · Jan 28, 2008

Shenmue 2 is one of the most amazing gaming experiences I've had. I played it on Dreamcast and with voice acting in Japanese the game stops being terribly acted and cheesy and becomes almost credible sounding. I played the XBox version of the game and can't stand it.

I'm sure the game doesn't hold up anymore, and Shenmue 1 is probably really dull to play. But the game felt new and fresh to me when I played it, and I still think it's a shame Shenmue 3 will never happen.

Kikujiro · Jan 28, 2008

master15 said:
Absolutely. Although technically the game is showing it's age in spots, the sheer attention to detail, art-design and the way the models and characters are constructed ensure the game still looks pretty impressive today. Add the fantastic weather system and changing conditions.

<cut>

Yeah, the enviroments are simply beautiful, the richness of the details makes you feel like you are there. I just love how the game sucks you into his world, when it starts raining I automatically look up into the sky, it's beautiful.
And the story is about the philosophical way of martial arts, Ryo's journey is a journey of growing up (all the masters he encounters teach him a lesson of martial arts and life), it coul be cliched and simple, but I can feel how Yu Suzuki put his heart into this project and if you can feel that, I'm happy for you, you're going to experience something special.

sechsterangriff · Jan 28, 2008

Kikujiro said:
(..)but I can feel how Yu Suzuki put his heart into this project and if you can feel that, I'm happy for you, you're going to experience something special.

This is what makes Shenmue so special and so unattractive to most gamers. It's definitively not a game for everyone. But if you do get immersed in the Shenmue world you'll definitively have the best gaming experience ever.

Like the back of the game case said "not a game but an experience that will change your life". And this is not an overstatement for many who played it, the "this reminds me of Shenmue" kind of feeling many fans have is proof of this.

How many games touch a gamers heart like this to the point of still having fond memories of playing it and still anxiously waiting and devouring every bit of information about it? That makes gamers constantly do campaigns for a sequel even after all these years?

It really is something special.

WrikaWrek · Jan 28, 2008

Sixfortyfive said:
When I saw Shenmue's intro for the first time, I thought to myself right then and there that I wouldn't mind one bit if graphical detail in video games never advanced from that point onward. I still hold that opinion, personally. (That isn't to say that I don't believe developers should utilize all the resources at their disposal anyway.)

At any rate, a friend of mine picked up 2 DVDs of some old Virtua Fighter anime for cheap some time ago and we watched some of it together. I got some really strong Shenmue vibes from it. First, one of the main recurring evil guys reminds me quite a bit of Gui Zhang, which doesn't seem at all coincidental considering that Gui Zhang's character was the original design for Lan Di (and that there's another low-ranking bad guy in the VF anime that looks fairly similar to the Saturn version of Lan Di):

And then there are fight scenes that seem eerily similar to those in Shenmue II, right down to the way they display the attack names:

Appoligies for the horrible quality screencaps. Information on this show is scarce as hell, so I had to settle for Youtube screens. (The anime itself was enjoyable if unremarkable, btw.)

So yeah, Shenmue. It's one of those franchises that I can't really explain why I like it as much as I do. It was incredibly frustrating to play through to the end of Shenmue 2 and realize that I had literally witnessed nothing more than the prologue of the series.

Awesome, never saw that. Just further goes to prove that Shenmue was indeed supposed to be a Virtua Fighter RPG, with AKira as the main character.

Shig · Jan 28, 2008

I'm as bummed as anyone Shenmue's been left hanging, but Yakuza is a pretty sweet consolation prize.

master15 · Jan 29, 2008

WrikaWrek said:
Shenmue only looks really dated in the animation department. The rest holds up pretty well.

Except for the black dude at the beginning of shenmue 2, the one who does the arm thing, and is shirtless.

Yeah the NPC character models in Shenmue 2 clearly aren't as detailed as those in Shenmue, mainly because there's just so many of them and they are everywhere.

The arm-wrestlers character model and skinning was pretty awful as you said. For a game that has such attention to detail having him crop up right at the start is a pretty suprising over-sight.

Kikujiro said:
Yeah, the enviroments are simply beautiful, the richness of the details makes you feel like you are there. I just love how the game sucks you into his world, when it starts raining I automatically look up into the sky, it's beautiful.
And the story is about the philosophical way of martial arts, Ryo's journey is a journey of growing up (all the masters he encounters teach him a lesson of martial arts and life), it coul be cliched and simple, but I can feel how Yu Suzuki put his heart into this project and if you can feel that, I'm happy for you, you're going to experience something special.

Yeah well put.

temjin · May 28, 2008

Amazing thread. I've bookmarked it.

Shenmue story > all.

mysticstylez · May 28, 2008

temjin said:
Amazing thread. I've bookmarked it.

Shenmue story > all.

All > Shenmue's gamplay

Tom_Cody · May 28, 2008

mysticstylez said:
All > Shenmue's gamplay

Shenmue's combat system was fantastic at least.

I loved Shenmue. It's a shame it wasn't more successful.

klee123 · May 28, 2008

Shenmue 1 was ok. I personally thought the pacing was horrible, especially with disc 1, but it eventually picked up pace and I had a blast overall.

Shenmue 2 was much better in terms of pacing and a lot of problems I had with the first games were largely fixed in the sequal. I thought the characters were much more interesting too.

Sadly tho, the series haven't aged very well, especially the controls during exploration.

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