Ingram85 Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 Despite the rough graphics, rough controls and absolutely terrible voice acting I’m having a blast so far. It definitely hasn’t aged well at all but it’s a piece of gaming history that has to be played through at least once and for all it’s terrible design decisions I’m genuinely enjoying it. Although if I hear “Yo, Bro” again I’ll likely explode into a rage filled murder spree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 (edited) Just watched the latest Digital Foundry Shenmue video. Upon starting the game you don’t realise just how much work has gone into it and it looks like a piss poor effort. However, the video has made me appreciate the work gone into the game a lot more. Edited August 21, 2018 by Ingram85 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 (edited) Side by side it looks a hell of a lot different but perhaps worth remembering that 99% of people playing the original would have been doing so on a CRT screen that will have masked many of the graphical issues shown in the digital foundry video, I have finished them both on DC well over 20 times so can pretty much run through them both blindfolded but great to play through agian looking this good. Playing with Japanese audio as it was always much better quality and think i know most of the conversations without the subtitles anyway. Not a great deal they can do about the controls i guess without having to completely remake the game but you get used to them after a while, Just feel really clunky by todays standards. The almost instant load times & save anywhere option more than compensate for some of the niggles though Same as with some of the old original xbox games MS has tarted up for the xbox one x. Amazing what they can do to 20 year old games without actually doing an awful lot to the original fies. Edited August 22, 2018 by LakotaDakota 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 Absolutely loving my play through of Shenmue, I last played this game 18 years ago and I can't believe I am playing it now in 4K. I was nervous that playing the game again in 2018 would show me that it wasn't as good as I thought it was, but if anything playing again 18 years on shows me that my lasting impressions were spot on. I love this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 Ahhh, gonna have to download this! Always wanted to play it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-R Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 Part of me wants to get it again, had it way back on the Dreamcast and loved it. Shenmue to me felt that by the time I had finished the game because of the ending, I felt like it was an achievement. Never played shenmue 2 though, but bet it's just as good as the first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-R Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 2 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said: Ahhh, gonna have to download this! Always wanted to play it. You won't be disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 It's 2 full games for £25. Can't go wrong really. They could easily have charged £40 and doubt anyone would have moaned as the DC versions will set you back way more than that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I was already excited for Shenmue 3, but replaying Shenmue 1 and 2 has reminded me just how much I loved this series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 Just got around to buying this. Pretty cool to play a game that I've wanted to play for nearly 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted November 18, 2019 Author Share Posted November 18, 2019 Currently patiently waiting for my download code from the kickstarter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted November 19, 2019 Author Share Posted November 19, 2019 I'm actually playing Shenmue 3. Staggering. Not the game, just that statement. There has been absolutely no effort to improve the voice acting work. I'm very pleased by this carefully considering design choice (???) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) Finished this now & well, it's Shenume nobody can deny that but it's Shenume with the good, the bad & the ugly that comes with it. It's great to be back in the Shenmue world but this really isn't a fun game to play, environments look good if not great, characters look much the same as the recent remasters. Have noticed quite a few graphical glitches, Not on a wwe 2k20 level but there are plenty of people floating around, weird clipping, sitting down on imaginary chairs. The basic gameplay hasn't changed much and involves mostly walking/running around talking to quite literally everyone until you find the person that actualy tells you something useful, Half of the answers they give do not even correspond to the question you asked them which is just crap in this day & age. "Can you help me, I'm looking for someone?.. No i didn't / No i haven't is often the response right from the start of the game... If they tell you something useful find a room/crime scene and you pretty much spend 15 minutes opening & closing 20 odd drawers/cupboards inspecting every single item for clues, rinse & repeat. Along with this you are constantly doing jobs to get money for food or you'll run out of energy for running around & fighting. you are going to be spending an awful lot of time chopping wood which is as fun as it sounds. Mini-games/Qte's are ok although the reaction time on a couple of them seems to be very quick, fighting is ok, everything is just ok really but the selection of toys available seems a bit light & rather paltry, guess they are saving the environment by not making loads of different plastic toys.... If it had been released 16 years ago it would have been fine really but everything just feels clunky & dated, If you are already a fan you will like it but be annoyed playing it, if you have never played it before you will probably hate it & wonder why the hel anyone would make a game like this in 2019. Worst of all... After waiting 18 years for a conclusion to the trilogy, Well there is no conclusion... After finally getting the money to complete the series after 18 years they decided to not bother finishing the story at all and just leave things with a set up for Shenmue 4 Arse Edited November 21, 2019 by LakotaDakota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 I think people need to know this is Shenmue as you remember it but prettier. The graphics are a massive step up so I dont agree the characters look the same as the HD remasters of 1 and 2 but all your other points are valid. My only concern is game length and variety of locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 that's all well and good.....but can you race a forklift? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 8 hours ago, LakotaDakota said: Finished this now & well, it's Shenume nobody can deny that but it's Shenume with the good, the bad & the ugly that comes with it. It's great to be back in the Shenmue world but this really isn't a fun game to play, environments look good if not great, characters look much the same as the recent remasters. Have noticed quite a few graphical glitches, Not on a wwe 2k20 level but there are plenty of people floating around, weird clipping, sitting down on imaginary chairs. The basic gameplay hasn't changed much and involves mostly walking/running around talking to quite literally everyone until you find the person that actualy tells you something useful, Half of the answers they give do not even correspond to the question you asked them which is just crap in this day & age. "Can you help me, I'm looking for someone?.. No i didn't / No i haven't is often the response right from the start of the game... If they tell you something useful find a room/crime scene and you pretty much spend 15 minutes opening & closing 20 odd drawers/cupboards inspecting every single item for clues, rinse & repeat. Along with this you are constantly doing jobs to get money for food or you'll run out of energy for running around & fighting. you are going to be spending an awful lot of time chopping wood which is as fun as it sounds. Mini-games/Qte's are ok although the reaction time on a couple of them seems to be very quick, fighting is ok, everything is just ok really but the selection of toys available seems a bit light & rather paltry, guess they are saving the environment by not making loads of different plastic toys.... If it had been released 16 years ago it would have been fine really but everything just feels clunky & dated, If you are already a fan you will like it but be annoyed playing it, if you have never played it before you will probably hate it & wonder why the hel anyone would make a game like this in 2019. Worst of all... Reveal hidden contents After waiting 18 years for a conclusion to the trilogy, Well there is no conclusion... After finally getting the money to complete the series after 18 years they decided to not bother finishing the story at all and just leave things with a set up for Shenmue 4 Arse I don't think anyone who was looking forward to this seriously expected this third game to finish the story. Yu Suzuki has made lots of noises about wanting to carry on the story way before the release date arrived. I think for Shenmue fans it's probably a 7 or 8 out of ten. For anyone else it's incredibly hard to recommend, the pace of the game alone is obscenely slow, even for modern walking sims, you'd give it probably a 3/10 for anyone who hasn't played Shenmue before. What I find, mad, and utterly brilliant, is that graphics aside, this exact same game could have come out a couple of years after the second one, of history had taken a significantly different path. Perhaps plus some proper Sega arcade cabinets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Shenmue is comprised of 11 chapters (unless Yu Suzuki changed his mind again); Shenmue 1 was chapter 1 A manga set released in 2000 was chapter 2 (not mandatory) Shenmue 2 was chapters 3, 4 and 5 Shenmue 3 is chapters 6, 7 and 8 (apparently) Yu Suzuki wants there to be 5 games in the series so we'll have to wait and see what comes next. I haven't gotten around to playing Shenmue 3 yet, but when I find a bit of time to just sit down and soak it all in I definitely will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethRDR Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 Picked up I and II at the weekend, gonna get started once I've finished 100%ing Control. Never played 'em before, had a mate at school who had a Dreamcast and was constantly bragging about Shenmue and Code Veronica. Well the joke's on you now Steve, I won't have to wait ~2 decades to play the next installment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 Never played a Shenmue title before but does it play similarly to the Yakuza? games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted November 26, 2019 Author Share Posted November 26, 2019 2 hours ago, Wainy316 said: Never played a Shenmue title before but does it play similarly to the Yakuza? games In short, no. It is incredibly slow paced and clunky. There aren't fights all the time. There isn't an interesting central narrative offset with mad side quests. Shenmue's gameplay is far closer to a walking simulator. That said, Yakuza definitely is a spiritual successor to Shenmue, its what drew me to the original game on PS2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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