So is Shenmue a must buy?

[SteveGrabowski]

I have heard this game hyped for years but never got around to playing it. I have heard a lot of comparisons to Yakuza and I love the Yakuza series (I wish the 28th would hurry up and get here so I can get Kiwami 2 already). Are Shenmue I & II as good as the hype? Do they still hold up today? Or is it like going back and playing GTA III which was another huge trailblazer that was amazing at the turn of the millennium but feels so old and slow now? (strangely Vice City still feels amazing to play despite only being one year newer)

 

[zerocool84]

I have heard this game hyped for years but never got around to playing it. I have heard a lot of comparisons to Yakuza and I love the Yakuza series (I wish the 28th would hurry up and get here so I can get Kiwami 2 already). Are Shenmue I & II as good as the hype? Do they still hold up today? Or is it like going back and playing GTA III which was another huge trailblazer that was amazing at the turn of the millennium but feels so old and slow now? (strangely Vice City still feels amazing to play despite only being one year newer)

I honestly don't know if Shenmue would hold up today. I absolutely loved playing Shenmue when it was originally released and still have fond memories of playing it and how revolutionary it was and I do have the remaster pre-ordered but many older 3D games just don't hold up because of how the technology wasn't mature.

 

[sze5003]

For it's time it was something else, not sure about now. I noticed steam was selling it to me as a bundle coming out later. I played one and I loved it, never finished 2 on the Xbox. They never made 3 and left the story hanging. For a classic I say it's well worth the story but gameplay wise I don't know how well it would hold up with current games like Yakuza. Also note that I've never played any yakuza game or been able to get into one but shenmue when it came out drew me in so much.

 

[cmdrdredd]

When it released on the Dreamcast it was the first game to have every character fully voice acted even if they are rather stiff at most times. Today it may feel clumsy and it is. The movement is rather tank like and it also was one of the first if not the very first game to use QTEs in cinematic fights. It's a classic for sure but it's only worth it if you take it in on it's own merit and do not compare it too heavily to today's open world games. Shenmue paved the way with interactive arcades (with real fully functional sega arcade games), random things to spend time on (minigames), and even getting a job to earn money.

Where it really shines IMO is the martial arts combat and the story. Originally it was conceived as a Virtua Fighter adventure game so it has it's roots in the combat. The story is really well done too with great emotion. Keep an open mind and Shenmue is a real gem.

Shenmue 3 is in the works too so if you are looking forward to that then playing the first two games may be something you'll want to do.

 

[purbeast0]

It's all a matter of opinion. I didn't think it was even worth playing back in DC days so I wouldn't recommend it now either. But I'm in the minority as many people love that game.

 

[SPBHM]

being objective, in 2018 it's probably a very bad game, but when it was released it was really impressive, and the story was interesting enough, but for me the whole thing was super immersive, and that's what made it for me.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

I loved it on Dreamcast. It would not hold up today.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I'll probably end up picking it up when it goes on sale for $20 or so since it'll go in my backlog behind the three PS3 Yakuzas that I have been dying to play but have waited on so I could play Yakuza Kiwami 2 first (which comes out in two weeks). But I still really enjoy old games. I'm currently playing Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne on my PS2 after playing Persona 3 FES on it before. I know those are mid to late sixth generation games while the two Shenmues are really early sixth generation, but I missed so many great games from that era being a PC only gamer after SNES and before XBox 360.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I loved it on Dreamcast. It would not hold up today.

That would be my guess too. Although it took me awhile to really get into it. I got stuck as some part where I was in like the dojo of his father and couldn't figure out what to do, and then somehow triggered a cinematic. The quicktime events would irritate me now (I got so sick of them in the later Resident Evils) for sure.

At the time I hated fighting games (yep, didn't play Soul Calibur, and kinda surprised I was as into the Dreamcast as I was since I wasn't into fighting games and that was a huge draw of the system), well traditional ones (I liked Smash Bros, but the ones with the complex button to do moves bugged me), so I wasn't really hyped on the fighting game move dynamic. Its a wonder I beat the game because I don't remember being very good at doing moves.

I tried Shenmue II when I had an Xbox but gave up on it pretty quickly since I kinda didn't care about the story/main character any more. I'm glad to see them completing the story and everything, but I don't think its something I'd be into any more (might be wrong though). I had actually gotten into fighting games again some thanks for Dead or Alive 3.

 

[RearAdmiral]

I remember working at the docks with the forklift for like 5 hours because I didn't know how to progress lol

 

[A Casual Fitz]

I remember working at the docks with the forklift for like 5 hours because I didn't know how to progress lol

Bahaha yeah.... That was riveting. Sneak your way in to get information... and do a mundane job for a while.

 

[sze5003]

I remember working at the docks with the forklift for like 5 hours because I didn't know how to progress lol

You aren't the only one I was stuck there for a while too.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The best for me was hunting down clues and NPCs to progress the story and then Ryu saying something about needing to get home because it was late so all that was on hold since the shops were closed too.

 

[sze5003]

The best for me was hunting down clues and NPCs to progress the story and then Ryu saying something about needing to get home because it was late so all that was on hold since the shops were closed too.

Yup this game had a lot of moments like this that were new to us at the time. Making you feel for the character and as if you were actually in the game. The story was very good for the first one. The second one wasn't as intriguing. Had they remastered the first two I would play them over again as I never finished the second one.

 

[Zenoth]

I remember renting the original on the Dreamcast. I was impressed by a lot of the attention to details (of course, at the time it was pretty good). But as far as gameplay goes, story, voice acting and just the general 'feel' of it (setting / time period, overall main subject and themes) it just wasn't good for me; wasn't for my tastes (especially not during those years, when "RPGs" for me was enough of a term to turn me off from miles away).

I essentially just rented it to check it out in motion because the pictures I saw in game magazine previews looked good, and because Shenmue was - from what I can recall - one of the few Dreamcast games that pushed the console to its limits enough to be compared to PS2 games at the time when we had those debates, fights and comparisons between both consoles and how games looked like on (and against) each others (it was nothing compared to SNES Vs Genesis, obviously, but DC Vs PS2 definitely was a thing for a couple of months especially just prior to the PS2's release). I actually remember Shenmue more because of that aspect ("console war" of that time) then I do because of its gameplay.

However, despite the fact that it just wasn't my cup of tea, I couldn't deny that it was impressive on a technical level. It's sort of funny to think about this now but at the time I found that it was mind blowing to have a 'weather system', and a day and night system with real time based on your console's clock (from what I can recall anyway; I.E. if it was night time for you, it'd be night time in the game, or something like that). I don't think that anyone at the time (except the ignorant hard core DC haters) could deny that it was indeed a very ambitious game with a lot of details thrown left and right that really pushed the console to its limits.

 

[zerocool84]

I pre-ordered and got this yesterday but probably won't play it for a while. I absolutely loved Shenmue when it first came out but mainly got it for nostalgia reasons. I'll eventually pop it in but have a HUUUUGE backlog as it is. I've read reviews of it and they mostly say combat still holds up but of course the graphics don't and the normal walking around controls don't.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Jim Sterling is not a fan, gave the game his lowest possible score.

 

[sze5003]

Jim Sterling is not a fan, gave the game his lowest possible score.

I usually watch acg reviews for games. But having played it before it really can't be everyone's cup of tea.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Jim Sterling is not a fan, gave the game his lowest possible score.

This is taking the game out of context and disregarding the time it was released in. Can’t agree with this so called review at all.

As I said you have to remember the time this game released and how revolutionary it was for it’s time. Trying to compare it to games of today is unfair. I understand you may do that but I think it’s unfair.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

This is taking the game out of context and disregarding the time it was released in. Can’t agree with this so called review at all.

As I said you have to remember the time this game released and how revolutionary it was for it’s time. Trying to compare it to games of today is unfair. I understand you may do that but I think it’s unfair.

Nah I just thought it was a funny review. I'll probably still buy the game. I still enjoy a lot of old games I missed when they were new. Some very old games I have played for the first time this last couple of years and loved include Half Life 1, Fallout 2, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Persona 3 FES, and NiGHTS Into Dreams so I don't mind the aged graphics. The English voices sound horrible though both in sound quality and in the voice acting itself, so I will definitely play it with Japanese voices and English subtitles.

 

[XSoldier77X]

I have heard this game hyped for years but never got around to playing it. I have heard a lot of comparisons to Yakuza and I love the Yakuza series (I wish the 28th would hurry up and get here so I can get Kiwami 2 already). Are Shenmue I & II as good as the hype? Do they still hold up today? Or is it like going back and playing GTA III which was another huge trailblazer that was amazing at the turn of the millennium but feels so old and slow now? (strangely Vice City still feels amazing to play despite only being one year newer)

I loved Vice City myself but not a lot of gamers liked that game. Now San Andreas, that changed everything. With that said, you have so much to catch up if you go with Yakuza and you haven't played all of the installments.The good news is, Shenmue 3 is also in production, so while it may not seem as crisp as a game from, say, 2012 maybe, I'd still go so far as to say once you get a hang of it, the obsolescence wouldn't matter much. Kind of like MGS on PSone.

 

[darkswordsman17]

The thing is, if you stripped away the story (well most of it, beyond a general overarching aspect), ditched the fighting, and then added more menial tasks, this could be like a 3D Harvest Moon type of game, and I bet it'd be the darling of gaming. It'd be popular with streamers too.

It is funny looking back and how they'd hype things and I remember thinking it was amazing but now I'm like "that's just dumb". Like for Shenmue I recall they were talking about some huge building (castle?) and said they could have 1000 rooms and let you go into all of them. And it was like "whoa" but now I'd be like "oh, so 1000 mostly similar rooms with little to really do, sounds like a blast..." while rolling my eyes.