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/vr/ - Retro Games

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File: 52 KB, 401x585, shenmue.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6078291 No.6078291 [Reply] [Original]

...are the Shenmue games actually any good?

>> No.6078316

we're at the same point as when it was released, with half the people saying it's a glorified dragon's lair and the other half pretending to like it. personally i pretend to like it

>> No.6078325

>>6078291
Opening drawers and eye-balling coin slot toys doesn't interest me. So it's a big NO.

>> No.6078409

>>6078291
No, it's not good, it never was and it never will

>> No.6078435

>>6078291
Shenmue 1: Unskippable cutscenes.
Shenmue 2: I never made it that far.

>> No.6078450

>>6078291
Not really. They're charming, but that's about it.

>> No.6078464

I spent like 100 hours playing super punch out at the arcade.

>> No.6078526

They were good for their time.

>> No.6078586

Shenmue 1 was great but the Shenmue 2 was an absolute chore, the amount of work you had to do was tiring.

>> No.6078604

>>6078291
Yes. I've beaten both games, I am working on the third one. I own both games for my Dreamcast (Shenmue 1), Xbox (Shenmue 2), and PS4 (Shenmue 1 & 2 HD). I like the HD versions the best.

>> No.6078658

Basically when Shenmue was released, you had games where you controlled a character moving through an environment with limited or no interaction with that environment.
Shenmue was different because it was one of the first open world environments you could walk around, open drawers, look behind picture frames, talk to everyone with fully voiced characters, use vending machines, phones, arcade machines, etc. And the graphics were amazing for the time.
But it was so focused on details, the game play was neglected. No one noticed because back then it was a break from all the arcade-style action games.
But now it's been outdone by everything since, and has nothing to offer but tedium and boredom.

>> No.6078887

>>6078658
It lets me explore Japanese suburbs. Skyrim, BotW and GTA don’t let me do that.

>> No.6078943

they're okay

>> No.6078956

>>6078658
Tedium? Boredom? Only if you don't know what you're doing or if you're spending too much time searching through drawers. I manage to finish the game rather quickly. Luckily I own both strategy guides to Shenmue 1 & 2, which helped me gain all the trophies on my PS4.

>> No.6079005

>>6078956
>using a strategy guide
Then you didn't really beat the games, you had to cheat by looking stuff up.

>> No.6079021

Ever since I saw this greasy looking hipster fuck refer to Shenmue as a tech demo, I defend the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t945PwBwMM
Shenmue is a fantastic action adventure game that breaks new ground.

>> No.6079028

>>6078887
so does Nioh

>> No.6079032

>>6079028
The fuck’s a Nioh?

>> No.6079754

>>6078291
>not enjoying a very good simulation of 80s Japan

>> No.6079978

Shit games, but they're terrific experiences.

>> No.6080051

>>6079005
It's not really cheating unless I had a game shark. Besides I've beaten both games before owning the strategy guides. I also had to translate Dreamcast/Xbox controls to PS4 controls.

>> No.6080052

Shenmue's biggest failing was being a very Japanese game with a premise that mainly appealed to westerners. If a Japanese person wanted to feel like they were walking the streets of Yokosuka, they could get on a train. But a detective VN in realtime with arcade tournament fighter combat isn't exactly apple pie, either.

>> No.6080058

Absoulty. Beat all 3 of them and loved every second of them. Now I'm just hoping for a Shenmue 4 announcment at 2020 or 2021 E3.

>> No.6080075

Not for everyone. The immersion was the gameplay. The 3rd one acting nowadays more like fan service. Still deserves to be finished, To still plug it into a dreamcast with VGA out to see what was made back then and unmatched for years to come was quite the thing. To make basically the first open world game.

>> No.6080215

Sometimes I feel like everyone played the first one but no one touched the second.
Oh, I just remembered Shenmue 2 DC didn't make it to the US, maybe that's the reason.

>> No.6080231
File: 335 KB, 308x2039, average shenmue dialogue.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6080231

Maybe. I'll get. Another.

>> No.6080235

>>6080215
I'm one of those weirdos that prefers the first game. But I also loved 2 and 3 as well.

>> No.6080510

>>6080235

Japan simulator. Much charm.

>> No.6080526

>>6080231
Is that so...

>> No.6080528
File: 45 KB, 246x210, i see.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6080528

>>6080526

>> No.6080584

At the time, it was really interesting and unique, and you could forgive the jank because it was visually impressive for a game released literally a few months after the PS2 came out.

It was, literally, ground breaking.
QTEs were still new, the interactivity with the environment was amazing, the detail of the area was great, and every single line was fully voiced.

Even the story was somewhat interesting, especially when you read in magazines about how far Yu Suzuki wanted to go with it.

It's horribly dated now, though, and has to compete with stuff like Yakuza, so it's relic.

>> No.6080598

>>6080075
Also, when stores are closing at night, you can see shopkeepers leaving and going to their own houses everyday. This is literally insane for a 1999 game, among other impressive features.

>> No.6080614

>>6080528

The ground literally broke?

>> No.6080618

>>6080584 even.

>> No.6080671

>>6078291
shenmue is badass. you're just some young adult who is investigating shit and going on an adventure. i remember at the time being blown away by the cracks in the walls of the buildings or seeing trash on the ground. i loved the realistic grittiness in the details which no other game impressed me in the same way.

shenmue as a game has some issues for sure. the controls have aged poorly. but shenmue as an experience is phenomenal. i have 3 but have not played it yet. my backlog is insane.

>> No.6080681

>>6080671
I honestly find the semi-tank controls combined with the run trigger super satisfying. It's like steering an autistic hovercraft.

>> No.6081142

>>6078291
In short no. You kind of had to be there at the time to have the most appreciation for them. They were basically technology wanking for Sega at the time. The aging meme is highly dumb but in the case of Shenmue its sort of justifiable for people to say that about this series because the first game at least largely was made only for showing off the Dreamcast's power. Things like observing objects in real time in the games was at one point really cool to see because it was new. Today its nothing special. Most of the gameplay for these games would be seen by most as being too "dated" these days.

I like 1 and 2 a lot but I wouldn't ever recommend them to people who didn't grow up with them. It sucks because on one hand I think they games are great but I got to be honest since I know how fickle people are. Also who knows if the story will ever be finished. I doubt it will. So its best newcomers just avoid this series. Leave it only to people who can have the most appreciation for them and won't have a stupid bias who then might go laughing at these games saying how shitty they are.

>> No.6081449

For those who like to take their time and chill around while getting things on their own, sure, it is good. For those who want some fast paced game, where they dont like to wait and want everything delivered into their hands, no, the game isnt good.
This is really one of those cases where it is hit or miss, not for everyone. But if it does click you, it is one hell of a ride. If it doesnt click you, you will hate it.

>>6081142
What...? Shenmue was originally Virtua Fighter RPG, but later Yu changed certain details like Akira becoming Ryo and the name of the game. The game was supposed to be a Saturn game but it was pushed as a Dreamcast game where Yu had to restart things. Usually Yu games always pushed the hardware to its limits, it is nothing new, but in Shenmue's case he did some bullshit for these games to work with only 1gb for each disc, especially something like Kowloon with all those towers and every room being unique.

People like to say "games today also do this and that", but most open worlds dont have all npcs with dialogues, not just one line, but a lots of lines. Much less like 1 where every character had a schedule.

>> No.6081535

>>6078291

No game had ever done what Shenmue was doing in 2000. You had to be there.

Still worth playing if only because it's been two decades and game devs still haven't found a way to manage to build an environment as immersive as the one in Shenmue.

>> No.6081560

What makes Shenmue interesting is that it was the only game that gave you the sense of being both the hero and an average person who does everyday normal things between kicking ass. Most games just have you hopping from one action sequence to the next, but Shenmue blended action with the monotony of everyday life, and at the time it was novel enough that people felt charmed by the unique experience that the game offered.

>> No.6082219

>>6080584
I don't see it like that, even today there's no games like Shenmue. Maybe Deadly Premonition was the closest.
I think Shenmue 3 proves Yu Suzuki just wanted to do that kind of game with that kind of pace and mechanics, it didn't matter it was 1999, we wouldn't have done a GTA in 2005 or a Yakuza in 2010 because he was trying to do his own thing. He doesn't even play videogames that aren't their own.

I don't like the word "dated" because basically means "it doesn't follow modern trends" like if it was a bad thing or something.

>> No.6082267

>>6078586

just bet all your money and save right before.

>> No.6082270

>>6082219
>I don't like the word "dated" because basically means "it doesn't follow modern trends" like if it was a bad thing or something.
Then antiquated? I mean, let's compare Soul Blade with Soulcalibur VI, I'm a fan since the beginning, but the gameplay of the first game is very dated/janky, Soulcalibur I for Dreamcast is horribly balanced (Taki can destroy your ass faster than Siegfried, but Rock and Astaroth can make both their bitches), it's balanced... Until a point, without mention it that the menu interface is the same pretty much as Soul Blade, it's bad? And considering the time of release? it's fantastic, but it' still a relic from the time.

>> No.6082386

>>6082270
I don't see many differences between most games in the last 20 years. For me they play similar and they look similar. The biggest difference is the really lazy design we see sometimes in modern games. Now a game from 1999 and a game from 1979 were completely different, even conceptually. And playing certain genres like old RPG's or strategic stuff could be a lot harder because things could change drastically in five or little more years.
Going from d-pad to analogic is not a big change in comparison.

>> No.6082813

>>6078586
What work?

>> No.6083030

>>6082813
Moving boxes with that fat retard and/or attending a lucky hit stand.

>> No.6083034

So, I've been recently playing Shenmue on the Xbox gaypass and I'm on/off with it (obviously I did not grow up with the series).

For me the positives are: the ambience (setting), music, the corny voice acting, ambiguous story, and how almost everything can be touched.

Negatives: the fighting controls (worst part desu), tank controls even though I'm used to it, the corny voice acting, the slow story building.

Just defended Mark from some Mad Angels, that Chinese dude taught me a new kick, and the homeless guy taught me how to dodge. Every time I decide to play Shenmue I really have to put my mind into it because I've realized the game progresses very slowly, I apologize for the blog.

>> No.6083053

>>6083034
>fighting controls (worst part desu)
Better shape up or tomato girl in S2 is going to rip your fucking heart out.

>> No.6083059

>>6083030
>Moving boxes with that fat retard
Dejing is all muscle you twink cunt.

>> No.6083192

>>6078291
I liked them. They're somehow boring in every aspect, but still fun to fuck around and play through

>> No.6083554

I have not played any of the Yakuza games, but for what I know, Shenmue is a very different game. It's been quite a long time since I played them, but I remember having quite a slow pace and a strong atmosphere. Somewhow, the games encourage you to "waste time" and just walk around the streets, talk to people, buy things, play games, etc. That idea of wasting time makes Shenmue feel very realistic, because that happens a lot in our lives: we don't always follow a linear path, and sometimes we just wander around mindlessly. As some anon said here, the hero feels like a regular guy with a regular life, and that feeling of normal life makes the games very unique, especially the first one. I believe there's very few games like that, and probably not a single one before Shenmue.

Shenmue games are probably no the best "videogames" ever done, but are quite interesting experiences if you understand thier uniqueness.

>> No.6083610

>>6083554
>and probably not a single one before Shenmue.

Mizzurna Falls maybe? I haven't played it though.

Also another thing that makes Shenmue so different is how you're meant to play with an schedule.
Let's say you need 5000 yen for something, the wrong way to play is to grind the money by doing the same boring shit over and over, since you will end tired. You're supposed to work a little, train a little, investigate and have some fun, day by day, not thinking about going to the next thing, but just living.

>> No.6083617

>>6078291
Yes. But they are not for everyone though. You gotta really allow yourself to immerse into the world (which 1 does a really good job doing, 3 does too somewhat) and not be an idiot and literally wait outside the destination you are supposed to go to next when you have to wait a certain amount of in-game time to progress like a lot of these zoomers I saw did with the ps4 version. No wonder so many of them complain about not being able to do anything and are bored.

They are slow-paced games (2 has the fastest pacing since it kinda expects you to move along with the story since you are kinda passing by). If you want a game to relax and chill too, then it might be worth a shot.

>>6080235
Same. I liked 2, but since it didnt really allow me to immerse into the world as much due to how fast the game was moving, I didnt quite like it as much as the first for that same reason. Nothing bad about it. It's like Half-Life 2 where you go from survival horror trying to escape aliens in the first to a Orweillian-like world where everyone is oppressed and the only survival horror aspects are Ravenholm. Still a fine game, but a change of pace and a little bit of culture-shock compared to both first entries.

>> No.6083675

>>6083617
>Yes. But they are not for everyone though.
Pretty much my take, but I still recommend anyone into games to play them. This is a game that you really can't know if you'll like it or not just going off youtube footage and word or mouth descriptions. Yes maybe most won't like it in the end, but they're amazing games and those who do find it clicks absolutely love them.

>> No.6083679

>>6083675
*word of mouth

>> No.6083829

It's probably just the nostalgia talking, but I played through Shenmue I and II when the HD port came out on PC and I still loved playing them. Played them back to back for a few hours every night until I finished them.

Unfortunately Shenmue III was kind of a let down. Not a bad game by any means, just not as good as I and II.

>> No.6083931

>>6081142
>They were basically technology wanking for Sega at the time.

if you don't consider the artistic merits of the game then sure i guess. not just the graphics technically speaking, but the art direction and music. the personalities and story-driven narrative. what i'm trying to say here is that you're a philistine to say such a thing.

>> No.6083982

Shenmue isn't a game it could appear today because when you do a sandbox you need to go by the book since you have to minimize risks since you're spending too much money.
That means your game is going to be quite similar to other games, if most of those games sold well you can't try something different that could make players uncomfortable.
Now in 1999 open world games were a novelty and you had to try something new because you didn't know what could work or not. So it was possible to have games like Outcast, Gothic or Shenmue, games that were inspired in reality, more than in other games.

>> No.6084026

>>6078291
Kind of. I adore these games but I'm not gonna lie you have to be part of a very small specific niche audience with video games who get a boner for being able to interact with the most minute stuff to find it enthralling. The perfect litmus test for if you'll love or hate Shenmue is if the very first thing you did once you gained full control of Ryo was rummage through all the crap in his house.

>> No.6084280

>>6083829
My only gripe with III is the general endgame, how much recycling there is of story beats and music from the first half, and how everything feels sort of half-baked by comparison to the start. Bailou Village is great. Niaowu, not so much. I rather like the new battle system, though. It's very novel yet comes together naturally as you play with it, much like a proper fighting game-inspired system, without directly imitating any.

>> No.6084290

>>6084280
I agree with you, though from a gameplay and visual perspective Niaowu was an absolute blast. The ending was clearly rushed/incomplete as fuck, but even that still had parts I liked.

>> No.6084336
File: 59 KB, 1280x720, niaosun.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6084336

>>6084290
Really? If it hadn't been for smart ball parlors, I probably would've put the game down. I was just dumbstruck that the game reused the exact same quest beats from the first half, to the letter (find gang, fight gang, they're too strong, find martial arts master to learn how to beat their technique, learn new move after saving a bunch of money). It was nice having so many prizes to hunt down for learning new moves, though. As for the ending, given the card at the end is "the story continues" rather than "to be continued," and there's supposedly two story DLCs planned, I don't think they're quite at the end of it, themselves.

The new villain chick is a complete fuckin' babe though, so at least there's that going for it.

>> No.6084356

>>6084336
I got weirdly addicted to making money in the game, so all the prizes, pawn, jobs, minigames, fights, etc intertwined in Niaowu was like heaven for me. And I loved walking around and just looking at shit (finding Choubu-Chan was also fun and played into this nicely). That kind of crap is where most my time went in the later half of the game, I went long stretched of time between story events. But yeah, that fact it was almost tit for tat the same story-beats as Bailu was bizarre.

>> No.6084359

>>6084356
*long stretches
*the fact it was

>> No.6084982

>>6083030
What... you are only forced to play one morning. You have multiple ways to get money, from selling your collections to pawnshops, playing darts, or just gamble in one of those warehouses in the port(just savescum if you have no patience)

>>6083034
Play with dpad and think of it as fighter with inputs. Next step is realizing you shouldnt smash buttons, but dodge until you find an opening or just counter. You should also train to shape your moves, your moves will become stronger and will change into different forms at advanced levels, some may combo into other inputs. There is a place to train at launch break in the harbour, it's inside either warehouse number 4 or 5

When you finish 1 you will realize before the credits why 1 is extremely islowpaced

>> No.6085003

>>6084982
Isn't the reason 1 is so slow because it's only one chapter of the overarching narrative? Meanwhile, 2 is something like chapters 3-4 or 5, with chapter 2 being relegated to events on the boat that had to be cut and adapted to a manga instead. No idea what chapters Shenmue 3 includes.

>> No.6085249

>>6085003
1 was the prologue, the saga only begins when he departes from Yokosuka. For some reason Yu wanted Shenmue 1 to be 1+2 but Sega decided to sell as 2 games
The start of Guilin in 2 was always just a tiny bit of chapter 5 where 3 picks up. 3 seems to end at chapter 6

>> No.6085373
File: 850 KB, 1500x1500, Shenmue Aliens.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6085373

>>6081142
I wouldn't put off showing Shenmue to people, hell even as a joke. You never know where it might lead. Just because it may never have a finished story doesn't mean that people won't enjoy 1 and 2, and in some cases they may even fall in love with the game.

A few years back I was showing my friends Shenmue as a joke, I loved it a lot but I could easily laugh with others at the terrible voice acting and how autistic Ryo was, on top of showing the immense detail and dumb things like Capsule toys and Arcade machines. I only played it for like 20 minutes before I switched to something else, but when I was going back home with them, one of my friends just said "Yo, that game you were playing in Japan looked cool, what was it" and he got into it from there. Him playing it also got around 4 other people into the game and they all finished it and even bought Shenmue 3 to play as well.

The guy who asked me about it originally puts Shenmue on his 3x3 and he would've never done that without me showing it to him.

>> No.6085381

>>6078887
The series going to Hong Kong was a mistake.

>> No.6085382

>>6078291
Trash

>> No.6085441

>>6079754
This.
Imagine being this gay.

>> No.6085603

>>6085373
Fucking this. Yes maybe most won't like it, but many others will and that makes it worthwhile. Shenmue fans being such pessimistic defeatist cunts is a part of why (admittedly small part) the series has to struggle the way it does to begin with. When all we do is focus on all the reasons we don't think anyone else will ever be able to enjoy the games ever again, well then of fucking course people won't pick it up and try it.

>> No.6086465

I've been replaying 1, for the first time since '99, after finishing 3. I'm very, very much enjoying it. Beyond the technological showcase, the original game is a divergent approach to game storytelling. It's more like a workaround to the sorts of people who say, "Video games are like books that keep you from turning past a certain page without doing something first." The game itself is sorta this whole world inside it, and your agency as the player determines how and when the story inside of it unfolds. You might look at your notebook and think, "There's a few bread crumbs I have to follow here, but what about this other person or place I met before? The game isn't telling me to go there, but it would make sense." Then when you go to visit them, all of a sudden you find a fight, or a cutscene, or something that develops Ryo's relationship with another character. It's a very genre-progressive take that defies the normal pass/fail conditions that normally dictate someone's progress in a game.

>> No.6088473

>>6085603
Shenmue fans pessimists? They are the ones carrying the series for all of this hiatus believing there would be a 3rd game. If Sega, or Yu, or now Deepsilver dont market well the game or show what the pros are, that's their problem

Saying "Shenmue isnt for everyone, but just give it a go because if it sparks in you it will be a unique experience" is one of the most honest things you can say about the game first 2 games.

>> No.6089492

>>6078291
They interesting as experiments but as actual games that fun to play?
No.

>> No.6089526
File: 24 KB, 500x388, 1569180306211.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6089526

>>6078291
Yes, it is good, but it's mostly hurt by SEGA/Yu Suzuki insisting in marketing it as a mainstream action game, which means people will get into it expecting an action game. Unsurprisingly people keep comparing Yakuza to it as if it had anything in common besides "walk character in large map". Shenmue is more in line with older adventure games and I feel that if Sierra was the publisher of the first game in some weird parallel dimension most of the irrational second hand hatred of it would never exist.

Saying "Yakuza did it better" is the equivalent of people saying Yakuza is a "Japanese GTA", which is pretty ironic considering that's also why Yakuza tanked hard for a long fucking time in the west until le quirky eyepatch man became popular with redditors who think only Yakuza 0 exists.

Don't be a faggot and at least try the game with an open mind yourself, most of the memes and comparisons are either laughably wrong or are valid but very minor (like the famous "hurr you have to wait for the day to pass to proceed" which happens 2 times total in the first game only). If you're not braindead most of the first game will be a breeze, you may not like it but at least you'll come to understand it better, instead of repeating what someone who never even played the game told you.

>> No.6089545

It may not be a flattering comparison but it's basically the prototypical movie-game. I'd argue it does it right, though, what with the sheer variety of things you can stumble upon, optional vignettes for characterization, fleshed-out NPCs, etc. Helps that it has the VF engine as a backbone for the fights, too, so that you're both playing a "fight scene" and a fighting game at the same time. If you ever played a David Cage game and thought it needed more "video game," play Shenmue. It's basically the game he's been trying to make since it first came out.

>> No.6089570

Obligatory
>HURRRR YAKUZA IS BETTER EVEN THOUGH THERE CLEAR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM AND I NEVER PLAYED SHENMUE
>>6078586
>the game that cuts down on waiting and has multiple ways to make money is bad
Trash taste kys
>>6089526
>Unsurprisingly people keep comparing Yakuza to it as if it had anything in common besides "walk character in large map".
Fucking this. Anytime you hear some fucktard invoking the YAKUZA IS SHENMUE BUT BETTER meme is a certified bold faced liar who never played Shenmue and usually neither game for that matter.

>> No.6089582

>>6089570
I remember months ago before the first Yakuza came out everyone was comparing it with Shenmue for some reason, all this in the middle of the long wait for Shenmue III or anything remotely related. I bought the game and after just some hours I got disappointed it had little to do with it (also the plot being dumb). Thanks God I could get into the series and appreciate it for what it is.

>> No.6089592

>>6078291
>Now that the dust has etc

leave these canned phrases in /v/

>> No.6089601

>>6089592
can't believe it took this long for someone to complain about this

>> No.6089702

>>6080051
>It's not really cheating unless I had a game shark.

I've never played Shenmue but that seems like a retarded thing to say, one that only a retard would say.

>> No.6089706

>>6080075

What is your first language?

>> No.6089763

>>6089526
Yu never marketed this as action game, he marketed it as FREE, a new vision he had for a new genre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu86tlnFLVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5pGviO-8qY

If you dont want to watch fully, just look at some parts where they show RYO WALKING AROUND AND WASTING TIME ASKING PEOPLE STUFF and the part in the first video where he talks about rpg and adventure games. This is what Yu did for marketting the game in China and Japan. Even western magazines of back then did explained this FREE genre Yu was trying to pull, it was only around the e-celeb era, mostly around Yakuza 3, that Shenmue was memed as a worse Yakuza

The problem here is that westerns are retards that dont have the attention span to read, watch and inform themselves about stuff, then they spread words out of their mouths without having any knowledge. And this is how myths are born

>> No.6089770

>>6078887
At least the boredom aspect in BotW is similar. But BotW really wins this fight: it's the most boring game i've ever played.

At least Shenmue is immersive and chill.

>> No.6090474

>>6078291
>...are the Shenmue games actually any good?
It's a tween game, it's good for tweens, just like Rayman 2 is a great game for kids.
It has historical value as being on of the only life simulators in existence.

>> No.6090475

>>6089763
Shenmue is almost retro Death Stranding.