Jump to content
passwords have all been force reset. please recover password to reset ×
MFGamers

Shenmue 1 & 2


radiofloyd
 Share

Recommended Posts

Seems like I have to go work in the docks now so I guess I’m gonna experience the game’s famous forklift driving.

 

I was eating a sandwich (in real life) while waiting for time to pass (in game) and while I wasn’t looking a cut scene started. I just caught the end of the cut scene, and then a fight started. I lost the fight but the game continued, I guess the outcome doesn’t change if you win the fight.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you played any of the Arcade games yet @radiofloyd? I usually spent the ‘waiting’ time playing in the Arcade on Space Harrier, Hang On etc. And pottering about Dobuita street. 

 

Also, you probably know this already but you can train your fighting abilities around town with various trainers, I think they’re only there at certain times of day though.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve played the arcade games. I didn’t know that about the trainers, I’ve never encountered one. I’ve trained at the dojo a few times but obviously there’s no opponent. I’m happy to wait really. I’ve reached my limit with doing stuff in game to pass the time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think if you stand still time goes faster. People say it does but I don't know if they are the same people that said they triggered the naked Lara cheat as well. I'm sure that aspect of the game is much better now that we can all look at porn on our phones while we wait but it was hellacious back when I were a lad. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s hilarious alright. Came to the harbour at 9am. Told to come back at noon tomorrow lol. I admire the dedication to telling a story and the artistic side of the game (the dream sequences are lovely) but from a design point of view...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers, I didn’t know that.

 

By the way, I’ve just seen a terrible translation for a word in the game. The guy who gets you the job at the harbor, he starts taking the piss out of the girl who really got you the job and she calls him “baka”. Baka must be one of the most used words in the Japanese language and it means “idiot” or “stupid”, but the translation said “geek” lol. So random. Must have been crunch time in the translator’s office...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never had an issue with the waiting but I also played these games when I was still going to school and had more than enough time on my hands.

 

I'm planning on going though the remasters in autumn before the third one comes out, maybe I'll have a different opinion in 2019.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had my first forklift race and and my first day working at the harbour today. This game is so random. The fighting is so sporadic that when it does happen I’ve just resorted to kicking everyone over and over. It’s quick and it works and there doesn’t seem to be much reason or need to do anything else, other than the other moves looking cooler.

 

I will say the game is pretty generous with achievements. I’m up to 25% now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright, finished. I said in the Discord chat that the game was at about a 5/10 for me (on day three of working in the harbour) and that the score could go up or down depending on how the game ended. Well, from a gameplay point of view, the game continued to suck, with more forklift nonsense, more fighting, culminating in that horrible marathon brawl that I managed to squeak through on my first attempt (I think I would have thrown my controller through the window if I had died), and then, even after the final save point, another useless move to learn and one last fight... But I’m gonna push my score up to a 6/10 anyway, because in spite of all the bad gameplay, the game has a big heart, and the last couple of days in the game had some lovely cut scenes, and did make me way to play the sequel immediately. (But I’ll do the sensible thing and take a break.)

 

I fell asleep in the middle of typing this last night. I wanted to talk about what I did and didn’t like about the game but it would become a very long post (maybe another time). In short, I really enjoyed the opening hours of the game walking around Dobuita, when there was plenty to do each day. But once the pace of the game started to slow to a crawl, and the jankier gameplay elements reared their head, the game went downhill fast. I don’t normally get angry at games but I started to feel angry at Yu Suzuki for putting me through that mindless forklift crap (once would have been fine).

 

Anyway, still looking forward to Shenmue 2 and I’m glad I cleared another major game off my backlog.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice, you should definitely expand on your thoughts when you get the chance since it was an interesting game back then and fresh takes on the game now are always interesting. I never finished the first game, a couple of cracks at the marathon brawl and I was like nah, fuck ya then. They can do whatever they like to Nozomi. Her fault for getting kidnapped or whatever the fuck actually happened that I have completely forgotten about. The sequel on Xbox came with a DVD of the first game though so I just watched from that point to catch up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

After Fire Emblem took three months, I finally started Shenmue 2 today. I played as far as having to go to bed at night time and I noticed one improvement (the option to continue from where you were the previous day). I enjoyed the opening couple of hours, Shenmue is at its best when you’re just walking around talking to people like this. There’s some cool new stuff (like you can take screenshots of characters) that I don’t remember being in the first game. 
 

I won a $10 arm wrestling match but then my thumb got tired during a $20 match so I couldn’t tap at a high enough tempo to win, it was a stalemate for ages and then I gave up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Played as far as learning the first Wude, I’m really enjoying this so far. I remember being impressed with Shenmue 1 visually but Shenmue 2 is a serious technical achievement. There’s a lot going on on the screen (Fire Emblem Three Houses really should not have had a 3D exploration element when it feels technically less advanced than a 20 year old Dreamcast game). For example the temple where all the students are performing exercises in the yard, it’s very impressive. The music is lovely again, the violin theme (or is it cello, I have no idea) that plays when you open the notebook is gorgeous. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Kowloon now, I’m loving this game. The music is stunning. There’s something magical about these old games. 
 

One thing that bugs me, in a game that covers every detail, is the mysterious disappearance of Ryo’s green backpack. Before leaving Hong Kong, I went back to the hostel to see if I could collect it, but I couldn’t. So I guess Ryo just carries the invaluable mirror in his pocket now. I liked that green backpack...

 

I like the game’s complete commitment to telling a story. For example, when the game asks you to say goodbye to the people who helped you in Hong Kong. I can hardly think of any other game that shows a commitment to its story, world and characters like this.


At one stage, in a chase scene, the game prompts you to put in a button sequence which needless to say, I didn’t catch the first time, and even expecting it, couldn’t catch it the next two times either. So I watched a YouTube video and noticed a couple of things. Number one, the button prompts look far cleaner on whichever version of Shenmue 2 the YouTuber was playing (compared to the version on Steam I’m playing), in particular those flashing button sequences where you have to press three buttons in a row and have a split second to react.


And the second thing is the English voices. The English voices are totally different to the Japanese voices. I can hardly think of a game that is more serious in its tone than Shenmue 2 but the English voices immediately turn it into some kind of comedy. In particular Ryo’s voice. Ryo speaks in complete seriousness in Japanese but in English he sounds like a parody of himself.

 

One other point. In both games the instructions when a characters teaches Ryo a new move are hilariously bad. I’m curiously to see if they will be equally impossible to interpret in Shenmue 3.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Made more progress. 
 

Spoiler

I rescued the guy that Yuan was holding captive and he gave me the serpent tortoise thing. Off to the Ghost Building now.


There seems to be some disparity between Yuan in the Japanese and English versions. In Japanese he’s clearly a cross-dresser or what the Japanese would call an “okama” and in the dialogue there are several references to his feminine way of talking, but in the English subtitles they say his voice is “loud”.

 

I loved the scene that went all Day of the Jackal, that was cool. 
 

Spoiler

Not really a spoiler but I felt like a mini Poirot for finding Yuan by going to the bird shops, since you can hear a parrot in the tapes.


One more thing. Joy chastises you for not saying goodbye to her in Hong Kong, but I actually did go to say goodbye to her at the pier. The game doesn’t allow you. Don’t blame me Joy, blame the writers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spoiler

I found Yuanda Zhu but unfortunately didn’t get a chance to talk to him...


That section crossing all the wooden beams was terrible. And the original version didn’t have a save anywhere function right? So you would have hard to start from the bottom floor if you failed? That must have led to a few broken controllers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, radiofloyd said:

That section crossing all the wooden beams was terrible. And the original version didn’t have a save anywhere function right? So you would have hard to start from the bottom floor if you failed? That must have led to a few broken controllers.

 

Yeah that section was a total bitch. In the end I wrote down the correct sequence for each floor, often a couple of prompts at a time before I managed it. And that was on an old SDTV without the input lag. I only got a few hours into Shenmue HD again when it came out and that section was one of the reasons why. I just thought man, if this is bad now, imagine having to do that bit again! That's a phat no from me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...