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[Jinko]

Seems to run worse for retail games though?

My PC should be more than enough, and yet the frame rate randomly drops causing the sound to hurt your ears.

If you have the super sampling (internal resolution) set too high it will do that, I normally go with 3 X and have no problems with it.

Agree that nullDC does work better for other games though.

 

[Phil-NeoGAF]

You can train with Jianman. Moves are also learned much quicker in II. Takes forever to learn moves in 1, but I can master moves in 15-30 minutes in II.

I mostly take issue with your claim that II is a terrible game while praising 1.

I never said that. II is an amazing game as well.

 

[kobashi100]

I just want to finish the story.

this is coming from someone who has never even played the english version and doesnt understand japanese.

I imported the japanese version of both games and loved them to bits

I will never forget the day I bought Shenmue. Import shop was heaving and everyone was looking at the TV screen amazed at what they were watching as shenmue was in full display.

 

[Retro_]

How do the recent Yakuza games shape up?

I've always regarded them as direct lineage from the Shenmue games.

Series has been getting progressively better and progressively worse at the same time with each new entry.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

BTW, dafuq's going on with that rumored SI&II HD Collection? I don't get why Sega hasn't at least thrown that at fans digitally.

 

[The One and Done™]

Just another overhyped series people remember being better than it actually was IMO. I'm not saying it's a bad game but it's not what people make it out to be.

 

[gibi]

Just another overhyped series people remember being better than it actually was IMO. I'm not saying it's a bad game but it's not what people make it out to be.

Did you not play it when it originally came out?

 

[Zafir]

If you have the super sampling (internal resolution) set too high it will do that, I normally go with 3 X and have no problems with it.

Agree that nullDC does work better for other games though.

It was doing it on 3x and 2x with the layers set to lowest. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to the random FPS drops either. Which is a shame, as it doesn't seem to have the transparency issue with Ryo's hair.

 

[Halcyon]

Just another overhyped series people remember being better than it actually was IMO. I'm not saying it's a bad game but it's not what people make it out to be.

I liked this game when I played it originally. I think because it was a new experience for me as more of a realistic sim.

I went back last year sometime and tried replaying it at a friends house and I had to stop. The game is terrible.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

I liked this game when I played it originally. I think because it was a new experience for me as more of a realistic sim.

I went back last year sometime and tried replaying it at a friends house and I had to stop. The game is terrible.

The game's always been a period-piece, but it's become doubly so (in a meta sort of way I guess) because of how its aged. It's delivering nostalgia on both fronts now: Its setting, and the time it was released in and consumed by most fans.

With that in mind, I don't think it's fair to say the game's "terrible." It's just a product of its time. (Which feels kinda ironic to state, cause its undeniable scope and ambition totally made it feel like it was ahead of its time when it hit store shelves.)

Some people here (not necessarily you) like to be dismissive of iconic, legendary games if they weren't there to experience said game during its heyday. (Like FFVII.)

All I know is, if Shenmue III proper's confirmed, I'm pre-ordering in full on day-0.

 

[Kaleinc]

Imagine it was 1999(2000) AD.
ps. But I like Ico much more.

 

[bengraven]

the atmosphere, the attention to details, the quest for martial arts, the sense of freedom and non-linearity, the combat system was also pretty good for that type of game. For me it was also a chance to learn a lot about far away cultures, seeing how daily life was in '80s Japan/HK

This right here is what I think 90% of players who loved the game got from it.

The atmosphere is UNTOUCHED in gaming.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

This right here is what I think 90% of players who loved the game got from it.

The atmosphere is UNTOUCHED in gaming.

Yup. You really felt like you were in a living, breathing community. Not just in the sense that it had (at the time) fancy features like day and night cycles, NPC's with daily routines, etc. But just, you could tell it was all a labor of love. Made to recapture the feeling or spirit of a place and have other players experience this time and place the way the creator had.

 

[Jacobi]

BTW, dafuq's going on with that rumored SI&II HD Collection? I don't get why Sega hasn't at least thrown that at fans digitally.

I don't get it either... Maybe it's about the game size? Both games were 4.5GB big... Imagine ShenMue on the Vita, that'd be awesome, and without the huge loading times it would be great to plunge in via the stand by mode.

 

[Halcyon]

The game's always been a period-piece, but it's become doubly so (in a meta sort of way I guess) because of how its aged. It's delivering nostalgia on both fronts now: Its setting, and the time it was released in and consumed by most fans.

With that in mind, I don't think it's fair to say the game's "terrible." It's just a product of its time. (Which feels kinda ironic to state, cause its undeniable scope and ambition totally made it feel like it was ahead of its time when it hit store shelves.)

Some people here (not necessarily you) like to be dismissive of iconic, legendary games if they weren't there to experience said game during its heyday. (Like FFVII.)

All I know is, if Shenmue III proper's confirmed, I'm pre-ordering in full on day-0.

I think the thing that I couldn't get past was how the characters talked and interacted. Because of the translations everything is just...weird. It's almost like some kind of scary nightmare. I mean I used to make fun of Ryu constantly saying things like "can you tell me about.....that day??" but going back it is so much worse.

Back then I was impressed with things in 3d space alot more than everyone on the planet is now though. The fact that you could walk into a store and it looked like a grocery store was all sorts of awesome. I looked past alot.

 

[SegaManAU]

I'm currently playing through Shenmue II now. Last Christmas I played through Shenmue on the DC and this year I'm going through Shenmue II on Xbox.

They are both really great games. You get captured in the world and when these games were released they were truly breath taking. The story is excellent, the worlds are huge, the mini games are fun & the fighting is excellent (Virtua Fighter).

I really do hope they release III, this series deserves it.

 

[Arukado]

Spoiler

I loved the forklift job/racing for some reason.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

I think the thing that I couldn't get past was how the characters talked and interacted. Because of the translations everything is just...weird. It's almost like some kind of scary nightmare. I mean I used to make fun of Ryu constantly saying things like "can you tell me about.....that day??" but going back it is so much worse.

Back then I was impressed with things in 3d space alot more than everyone on the planet is now though. The fact that you could walk into a store and it looked like a grocery store was all sorts of awesome. I looked past alot.

Oh yeah, it's definitely robotic and awkward. It was to a degree back then and I'm sure it's even more so now. That's just part of its charm and nostalgia though. Games were still coming to grips with cinematic presentation and localization from Japan was not as polished.

As you mentioned though, you were impressed still cause of its scope. Even if you ignore the way the game beautifully captures the atmosphere of its setting in spite of its uncanny-valley delivery, the game's scope was hard to ignore.

It doesn't seem like much now, but I'd love to see a proper Shenmue III just to see what Suzuki would create with the same scope and ambition, and today's technology. I know it's probably a pipe-dream, but still...

 

[Pyrrhus]

I wrote a little thing a couple of years ago when someone else asked what the big deal about Shenmue was. I think I'll just repost it here, as it's still how I feel.

When I think about Shenmue, I think about gray December skies and the ache of cold in my feet. I got it for Christmas in 2000 and the December skies in the game and outside my window matched perfectly. I remember eating a chocolate orange in real life and and feeding milk to a cat in the game. It was all a very wonderful sort of experience and I'll always think back on it fondly.

Someone upthread mentioned how Shenmue was the first taste of something we ended up never quite getting. I agree. Shenmue was both extremely technically accomplished and at the same time very personal and earnest. The nostalgia and wistfulness Suzuki and presumably the other members of the dev team felt for both their youths and for the good times of the '80s economic bubble era show through very clearly. And the sense of place was absolutely incredible. You feel like you know Yokosuka not just as a level in a game but as a place you inhabited and experienced memories in by the end of it. That level of immersion is incredibly rare and was frankly more or less unique eleven years ago.

I think you can make the argument that year 2000 was a definitive end for the wildly ambitious and creative golden era that started with advent of the PS1 and Saturn. Between the failures of Shenmue and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the budding ambitions of Japan's greatest designers began to be sharply checked. It didn't all just die off at once but there definitely seems to be some kind of before and after. And while it's clear in retrospect that the kind of budgets and chances that Suzuki, Sakaguchi, and others were taking in those days were dangerous and unsustainable, it was a thing of beauty to experience just the same.

So when I think about Shenmue, I guess I think about it as a sort of beautiful headstone for a time that ended a long time ago now. Something bittersweet and very precious. Shit, I guess staying up too late makes me sentimental.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

I wrote a little thing a couple of years ago when someone else asked what the big deal about Shenmue was. I think I'll just repost it here, as it's still how I feel.

Well fuck, that's beautifully written. FWIW, I really believe that these "before and after" changes are kinda cyclical and reactionary to how things are in the previous era. I have no doubt we'll see another golden era of creative titles as opposed to lifeless, generic AAA safe titles.

 

[R_Deckard]

I think it was one of those "had to be around at the time games". When the DC was launching and VHS videos were doing the rounds shenmue was a real, true "next gen" game not just in its amazing visuals, but in its depth of play and world.

You had pocket money, arcades (full space harrier and others) , card games, mahjong, gambling. Work, passing of time, seasons, weather.

Character development, a real story, genuine And alive NPC's a kitten, motorbikes...... Where to end. When you have the 100 v 1 fight it was one of those moments that lives with you, a real true experience from beginning to end.

Shenmue III is the hero we need but do not deserve...save us Sega, Yu Suzuki... Mark Cerny... This February....

 

[Data West]

I like the Yakuza games better than Shenmue, but Shenmue opened the door for me to finding my favorite genre of game.

Then GTA 3 came out, and I was like 'fuck Shenmue', but not really. Shenmue was like a more relaxed GTA, so I enjoyed both. But I'd rather just have Yakuza over here

 

[emalord]

The illusion of living in Japan and being a hero in the making.
Waking up in the morning, sometimes a sunny morning, sometimes an autumnal one, mutating with the season you were playin on, and doing simple, relaxing things.
But ShenMue was also a detective story caged in a daylife sandbox adventure. I was used to spend half of the day as a detective ready to kungfu some turf and then getting some relax in the arcade playing spaceHarrier just as I'd do in real life. More or less, since my father was gone just a few hours before.
But I needed money too, so I had also to find a job while being a detective AND an arcade goer AND a martial artist in the making.
Then came SM2 and the hypnotic and living Kowloon and some new almost dreamy places and people.
Wow this game was such a brilliant adventure.
My personal dream-adventure. The biggest and most emotional adventure of my 20's.
It seemed so true, so realistic, so possible yet clearly cinematographic in its inspiration and deployment. It was like being the hero in the best hong-kong detective-action movie ever.
And not forgetting my enemy and my nemesis almost absent from THE WHOLE second episode, appearing only in the final segment for a brief moment making this moment even more POWERFUL and striking and emotional, just like Sephirot, whose only name was enough to bear fear even without appearing for the most part of FFVII

 

[Sectorseven]

It also brought a ton of Japanese culture to US gamers who found it totally alien, yet fascinating.

 

[Miguel81]

The illusion of living in Japan and being a hero in the making.
Waking up in the morning, sometimes a sunny morning, sometimes an autumnal one, mutating with the season you were playin on, and doing simple, relaxing things.
ShenMue was also a detective story caged in a daylife sandbox adventure. I was used to spend half of the day as a detective ready to kungfu some turf and then getting some relax in the arcade playing spaceHarrier just as I'd do in real life. More or less, since my father's gone just a few hours before.
But i need money too, so I have also to find a job while being a detective AND an arcade goer AND a martial artist in the making.
Then came SM2 and the hypnotic and living Kowloon and some new almost dreamy places and people.
Wow this game was such a brilliant adventure.
My personal dream-adventure. The biggest and most emotional adventure of my 20's.
It seemed so true, so realistic, so possible yet clearly cinematographic in its inspiration and deployment. It was like being the hero in the best hong-kong detective-action movie ever.
And not forgetting my enemy and my nemesis almost absent from THE WHOLE second episode, appearing only in the final segment for a brief moment making this moment even more POWERFUL and striking and emotional, just like Sephirot, whose only name was enough to bear fear even without appearing for the most part of FFVII

Thanks for sharing that, as I can relate.

 

[PBalfredo]

So, what actually is Shenmue? All I every hear people talk about the game is about driving forklifts and asking about sailors. Is that it? What's the real meat of the game, or is it just the weird Kitten Petting Simulator 2000 that has been built in my head because that's the parts anyone ever talks about? It's weird that I could hear people talking about one game for so long, but not even pick up what genre it is by osmosis. I think there is something about kung fu, but I've never seen any thing about actual fighting. Is it an adventure game that's about kung fu? Seriously, I have no clue.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Well fuck, that's beautifully written. FWIW, I really believe that these "before and after" changes are kinda cyclical and reactionary to how things are in the previous era. I have no doubt we'll see another golden era of creative titles as opposed to lifeless, generic AAA safe titles.

I don't know. I don't think we're ever going to see things so big budget and so personally driven ever again. Especially from Japan. Creativity certainly still exists but it's in smaller, less technologically ambitious, less traditionally gamey games. The industry and the audience are simply too different now and the lessons from the failures high budget, high concept projects have not been forgotten by the people writing the checks. Accessibility at all costs and games as a service and a platform are the zeitgeist now.

They were impossible dotcom era vanity projects, Shenmue and Spirits Within, and nobody's going to greenlight that sort of thing anymore. Again, certainly not in Japan, the land of mobile phone games and lowered expectations. It's just a different, more calculating era. I mean, seriously, what demographics were they shooting for? Were they shooting for demographics or were they just trying to make something they themselves would find creative and interesting? That's no way to run a business.

 

[Sectorseven]

So, what actually is Shenmue? All I every hear people talk about the game is about driving forklifts and asking about sailors. Is that it? What's the real meat of the game, or is it just the weird Kitten Petting Simulator 2000 that has been built in my head because that's the parts anyone ever talks about? It's weird that I could hear people talking about one game for so long, but not even pick up what genre it is by osmosis. I think there is something about kung fu, but I've never seen any thing about actual fighting. Is it an adventure game that's about kung fu? Seriously, I have no clue.

It's everything. It's an adventure. A mystery. A simulator. A point n click game. A fighter. A racing game.

I could go on and on.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Is it an adventure game that's about kung fu? Seriously, I have no clue.

Yes. On a literal level, it's an adventure game where you spend the majority of your time exploring urban environments, talking to people, and following leads with the goal of tracking down the killer of your father to exact your revenge. You know a kind of karate that was taught by your father before he was murdered and you can use that and other techniques you learn along the way to have martial arts battles in a style highly reminiscent of Virtua Fighter at points in the story.

But most often, you're embodying a high school student in an archetypical 1980s Japanese suburb and encountering the things a youth of that era would encounter. Buying toys, snacks and cassette tapes, having awkward conversations with girls, and so on. The game is about immersion and a cinematic feeling. It was a technological marvel in its day and was stupidly ambitious.

 

[PlumCantaloupe]

Some of the sentiments within this thread are both beautiful and potent. I never had a chance to experience Shenmue but this thread has convinced me to give it a shot, as it sounds like such a unique experience.

Does anyone know which emulator is best for both Shenmue 1 and 2? And is there a version that has the Japanese language but also english sub-titles?

 

[metalmachine]

Shenmue 2 didn't really work for me. I couldn't get into it. Maybe it was because if the time between when j played the first one to the 2nd. But Shenmue 1 for me was an incredible, amazing experience I won't ever forget. The game brought many new ideas and gameplay that was not not to be found in any other game. It waS the first time I really experienced a nonlinear, experice with so much detail and emotion.

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

So, what actually is Shenmue? All I every hear people talk about the game is about driving forklifts and asking about sailors. Is that it? What's the real meat of the game, or is it just the weird Kitten Petting Simulator 2000 that has been built in my head because that's the parts anyone ever talks about? It's weird that I could hear people talking about one game for so long, but not even pick up what genre it is by osmosis. I think there is something about kung fu, but I've never seen any thing about actual fighting. Is it an adventure game that's about kung fu? Seriously, I have no clue.

The answer was right above you...

THIS!

The illusion of living in Japan and being a hero in the making.
Waking up in the morning, sometimes a sunny morning, sometimes an autumnal one, mutating with the season you were playin on, and doing simple, relaxing things.
But ShenMue was also a detective story caged in a daylife sandbox adventure. I was used to spend half of the day as a detective ready to kungfu some turf and then getting some relax in the arcade playing spaceHarrier just as I'd do in real life. More or less, since my father was gone just a few hours before.
But I needed money too, so I had also to find a job while being a detective AND an arcade goer AND a martial artist in the making.
Then came SM2 and the hypnotic and living Kowloon and some new almost dreamy places and people.
Wow this game was such a brilliant adventure.
My personal dream-adventure. The biggest and most emotional adventure of my 20's.
It seemed so true, so realistic, so possible yet clearly cinematographic in its inspiration and deployment. It was like being the hero in the best hong-kong detective-action movie ever.
And not forgetting my enemy and my nemesis almost absent from THE WHOLE second episode, appearing only in the final segment for a brief moment making this moment even more POWERFUL and striking and emotional, just like Sephirot, whose only name was enough to bear fear even without appearing for the most part of FFVII

you weren't simply controlling a character thru an action game resembling a movie. You are the character living his life just after he witnessed his father's death.

It was like the prototype (great great great great great grandfather version) of the Holodeck in Star Trek

 

[metalmachine]

Some of the sentiments within this thread are both beautiful and potent. I never had a chance to experience Shenmue but this thread has convinced me to give it a shot, as it sounds like such a unique experience.

Does anyone know which emulator is best for both Shenmue 1 and 2? And is there a version that has the Japanese language but also english sub-titles?

Be prepared to be disappointed. I don't think the game has aged well. For me it was what Shenmue offered at the time, an experience like no other

 

[The Boat]

I'm sick of waiting for an HD remake, as soon as I have time I'm replaying these games. Would like to play I undubbed.

 

[Deified Data]

Nothing the Yakuza series hasn't done better since.

 

[Hibiki Rush]

Nothing the Yakuza series hasn't done better since.

lol. Completely different styles of games, it's obvious you haven't played Shenmue.

 

[Sectorseven]

Some of the sentiments within this thread are both beautiful and potent. I never had a chance to experience Shenmue but this thread has convinced me to give it a shot, as it sounds like such a unique experience.

Does anyone know which emulator is best for both Shenmue 1 and 2? And is there a version that has the Japanese language but also english sub-titles?

Nulldc gets the job done for the first game. I can't speak for part two as I haven't played the emulated version.

The UK release of shenmue ii on DC has sub's.

 

[Tain]

So, what actually is Shenmue? All I every hear people talk about the game is about driving forklifts and asking about sailors. Is that it? What's the real meat of the game, or is it just the weird Kitten Petting Simulator 2000 that has been built in my head because that's the parts anyone ever talks about? It's weird that I could hear people talking about one game for so long, but not even pick up what genre it is by osmosis. I think there is something about kung fu, but I've never seen any thing about actual fighting. Is it an adventure game that's about kung fu? Seriously, I have no clue.

To play it straight with you: it is a third person adventure game set in a very detailed chunk of 1980s Yokosuka where you try to get to the bottom of the murder of the main character's father. The game occasionally has QTE sequences and 3D beat 'em up sequences between all the adventure stuff (talking to people, inspecting things).

 

[Smokey]

i remember being blown away by shenmue as a kid. never got around to part 2 though. also not sure how well it holds up nowadays?

 

[metalmachine]

The games have aged perfectly fine. They still both combine to form my favorite game of all time.

I havent played them in a long time but given what we are used to now, I think the Shenmue shows its age. And I'm in no way talking about visuals.

 

[Deified Data]

lol. Completely different styles of games, it's obvious you haven't played Shenmue.

I don't think the similarities are entirely negligible. Yakuza is the natural evolution of a game like Shenmue.

 

[Tain]

"How well does it hold up" is a really, really tough question to answer. How often do you play late 90s/early 2000s games?

A killer for many would be tank controls. If you're okay with that and if you are okay with a game's plot being pretty slow-paced, you'll probably be fine.

Yakuza is pretty much entirely superior to Shenmue mechanically (I think that's hard to deny), but Shenmue is practically about its Yokosuka/Kowloon and inhabitants where Yakuza is a way more balanced game. Shenmue's an adventure game with some other stuff tossed in, Yakuza is mostly about the combat. They're both great. Not sure which I'd say is better at this instant.

 

[Shadoken]

If they do ever make a Shenmue HD collection , I hope to god they give the option to play the first one with the changes Shenmue II introduced. Honestly Shenmue II is a much much better game thanks to those changes.

There were some really annoying things with the first one and while I get some people liked that , They need to give the option to make the game playable to a bigger audience in this day and age.

 

[Sectorseven]

I havent played them in a long time but given what we are used to now, I think the Shenmue shows its age. And I'm in no way talking about visuals.

Part one's controls are somewhat clunky by today's standards, and there's definitely a lot of waiting around - it's not too bad really, but the stereotypical COD junkie would probably have a hard time with it.

Part Two remedied a lot of those issues. Unfortunately you have to get through the first game to appreciate them, which could be somewhat of a hurdle for modern gamers or those who consider themselves impatient.

An HD release of the first two games with some minor enhancements would go a long way.

 

[IrishNinja]

lotta great answers so far! it should be said, i totally get people who don't dig it, as it's very much not for everyone...the more i think about it, the more it's almost entirely antithetical to modern gaming design, especially AAA.

• A ton of detail is put into things you may never even notice. Objects in houses & shops you may never even pass through! Entire flashbacks and game scenes you may only see by just happening to be at a certain place & time! These things never happen now, because many devs consider it wasted money, but to me, even knowing these things can happen adds so much more life to the world around you.
  
• You are not a badass, and the world does not revolve around you. Sure, if you work on Ryo's martial arts, you'll have a grueling 100-man fight towards the game's end, but you absolutely don't start ready for it, and it takes practice to get moves down (for both you & Ryo). Likewise, the citizens of Dobuita will sometimes help if they can, but they all have their own things to do & don't rightly care about your plight anyway. This is still impressive to me; in the fall of '00 it was mind-blowing.
  
• Gratification is delayed, if at all. It's important to remember that you are playing a purposely slow-paced prologue, so you are not going to advance the plot a great deal even if you were so inclined. Much of part 2 moves at nearly a breakneck speed in comparison, but if you're not prepared to constantly be following up on leads (several carry across a few days) or working on the docks to continue your search, you're not going to have a good time. The same way I complain about JRPG's padding their overall length with high encounter rates & a barely-interactive combat engine, others might feel that a game actively engaging them (for stretches of time) to not do something like fight bosses or something otherwise more common isn't what they signed up for. If life seems a bit meandering (or like treading water) while working forklifts for a little bit, that's likely how that life is, and you're just passing through it. If a current JRPG/adventure/etc title forced you to slow down & do something more mundane, I tend to think it'd take a beating for that.

Nothing. Terrible, boring game that has been blown up into cult status. If Sega made a third everyone would hate it because it can never capture the rose tinted quality of what they thought the others were like.

i'm just grateful bad posts like this weren't the first one~

Nostalgia.

Let's shut this shit down right now: this has been a tired meme here on gaming side & rightfully called out in recent times. you're making a reductive non-argument here, and doing the OP a disservice. given the unique nature of the title, it's even more hollow.

This question may have been asked already but if it was such an outstanding game, why was it a financial flop?

That said circa 1998/99 it was the Dreamcast it was the system's "killer app" but still couldn't save the system from sinking..

this question is larger than the topic at hand, but:
a) Sega was in really big trouble at the point of this game's release, financially; it could be argued that nothing was going to save them having to exit the hardware game, sadly.
b) you're asking why quality doesn't = sales? are you a Clover/Platinum/etc fan?

I'm sick of waiting for an HD remake, as soon as I have time I'm replaying these games. Would like to play I undubbed.

have I got a treat for you: Shenmue 1 undub was recently released on iso zone, not sure if i can link but it's easy to find!

Nothing the Yakuza series hasn't done better since.

I don't think the similarities are entirely negligible. Yakuza is the natural evolution of a game like Shenmue.

Don't do this; as a huge fan of both series, you're comparing apples to oranges and really just turning off potential fans of both. It's not necessary.

i remember being blown away by shenmue as a kid. never got around to part 2 though. also not sure how well it holds up nowadays?

2 can easily be played for Dreamcast (PAL import - no boot disc needed as i recall!), or dubbed for xbox, both cheap options. And if you liked 1, 2 improved on nearly everything! plus the scope is amazing, i swear there's areas of 2 that feel larger than the whole of Dobuita.

How could it be way ahead of its time when it's the same generation that gave us GTA3 and other open world games?

you mean the game that showed up like 2 years later? i get that the world didn't envelop you for whatever reason, but this was not a good angle to take

 

[metalmachine]

Shenmue holds up fine, provided you go in with patience and restraint to label it as a game it isn't. II, I feel, is much better than 1 and is my favorite game of all time.



Given to what we are used to? Shenmue was different from other games even when it was released. I disagree.

And that's partly what made it so special. Since then, nonlinear games with deep stories and emotional sequences are pretty much common.

 

[SteveWinwood]

man this looked way better in my mind

 

[metalmachine]

Part one's controls are somewhat clunky by today's standards, and there's definitely a lot of waiting around - it's not too bad really, but the stereotypical COD junkie would probably have a hard time with it.

Part Two remedied a lot of those issues. Unfortunately you have to get through the first game to appreciate them, which could be somewhat of a hurdle for modern gamers or those who consider themselves impatient.

An HD release of the first two games with some minor enhancements would go a long way.

I agree with most of this. But really I think your still giving the CoD junky too much credit. Lol

And yes an HD remake with some enhancements would be phenomenal!

 

[ArisenDragon]

First reply nails it, game was incredible when it came out.

 

[BONKERS]

Everything. It's non-linear, WITH PURPOSE.

Most non linear games feel empty with no soul or purpose to the madness.



The only thing wrong with Shenmue really, was the dialogue writing. It was not great no matter what language you play the game in.