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Giant Bomb are bringing back the Endurance Run... and it's Shenmue.

Dude, it's a obvious double cross. Charlie clearly wasn't just going to roll over and give up his contacts with the Chinese mafia, the intent was to ambush Ryo and shut him up.

I think the confusion here is wondering why Charlie didn't wait to ambush Ryo at the arcade at their arranged meeting time.
 

Curufinwe

Member
In episode 5 or 6 they seemed to realize the woman Ryo calls Ine-san rather than mom or mother was not his mother, then at the end of episode 7 Vinny kept calling her mom over and over.

It's definitely an Endurance Run.
 

Gestahl

Member
I think the confusion here is wondering why Charlie didn't wait to ambush Ryo at the arcade at their arranged meeting time.

*Ryo decides to stay in until 2:30 watching Ninja Turtles reruns or Hokuto no Ken or whatever*

Charlie having spent all day at the construction site: Any moment now...any moment and my master plan of harassing a small child so Ryo comes to THIS location will come to fruition!....................
 

JonCha

Member
I watched episode one which had some funny moments but I had to force myself through it. Has it improved yet? It feels like a slow burner and I'm wondering if I should skip ahead a couple of episodes.
 
Probably not remembering the game as well as I think I do but feel like once you're on Disc 2 the game picks up in pace, even with the way they've been playing it.

The forklift races are going to be hilarious.
 

Tubobutts

Member
Why is Dan using the Endurance Run as a platform to ask basic questions about how the world works? Can't he talk about the game? He's constantly trying to go off topic in the most non-organic ways possible.
Apparently no one in Dan's life would answer any of his questions until he joined Giant Bomb so he's taking advantage of it while he can.
 

Spaghetti

Member
Soon... ish.

DLAvNam.gif
 

orient

Neo Member
The game moves at a decent pace until you get the forklift job, then they kind of drip feed you cutscenes over the space of 5-6 days and it can be pretty boring if you're not 100% on board with it. Don't get me wrong, the story and action is great. There are some really cool characters to come, but the job part gets boring after a couple of days. Whether it was padding or realism they were going for, I don't know, but they could've condensed the forklift driving by 50-60%. It's still enjoyable if you're in to the experience and immersed in the world, but at the end of the day you're performing a repetitive, menial task. Which I guess could be said for a lot of games though *shrugs*
 

Atomski

Member
Why is Dan using the Endurance Run as a platform to ask basic questions about how the world works? Can't he talk about the game? He's constantly trying to go off topic in the most non-organic ways possible.
If it wasn't for this id probably stopped watching this endurance run.. watching a man child discover the world around him is fascinating lol.
 

Kimaka

Member
It is pretty amazing how they could remember the phone password, but not Charlie ambushing them. Dude even told them it was payback for the tattoo parlor, lol.
 
I see how you couldn't recognise that mob as being Charlie if you weren't paying attention because I wasn't paying much attention to the game and didn't recognise Charlie. These characters are too stupid to stick in my brain as individual people. Except for Tom of course who's amazing.
 

Jintor

Member
i have to admit that soccer ball thing was really great and if there was more of that kind of absurd kung fu hustle bullshit throughout the game i'd be way more into it.

it does seem kinda cool though honestly.
 

Kiske

Member
To be fair to the guys, someone at the Dojo made a thread once admitting they still went to the arcade at 3 pm. So they're not alone, but still.

The notebook is literally an old school notebook and every note Ryo puts in it will stay in there (unless Ryo fills up the missing part of a phrase) whatever you do in the story / sidequests. It's not a modern and evolutive "mission progress" book we now have in modern games and I like it this way. You need to get immersed in the story and follow different kind of clues and you need to think. ^_^

That said, it's been 16 years since I've done my first Shenmue playthrough and I don't remember in which part(s) I struggled to find the "next step" to do, what I remember though, is that Shenmue was one of the few games I finished.
 

Gigarator

Member
i have to admit that soccer ball thing was really great and if there was more of that kind of absurd kung fu hustle bullshit throughout the game i'd be way more into it.

it does seem kinda cool though honestly.

He drop kicks a dude off of a moving motorcycle at one point, trust me there are plenty of fun scenes like that yet to come. Then Shenmue 2 goes crazy with them.

I dread them doing Shenmue 2 though, they still haven't got their heads around the layouts of Sakuragaoka or Dobuita, they've got no chance in the 10 or so areas that make up Wan Chai, maps or no maps.
 
Why is Dan using the Endurance Run as a platform to ask basic questions about how the world works? Can't he talk about the game? He's constantly trying to go off topic in the most non-organic ways possible.

It's likely partially due to the company Dan kept prior to Giant Bomb, but he also deserves some credit for his whole "New Dan" approach that he's dedicated himself to in the last year.

We're talking about a guy who clearly had a very sheltered life (For whatever the reason), and he seems to be making a genuine effort to expand his horizons. It's a weird thing to hear, but I give him credit. A lot of people are very happy to keep their blinders on.
 

Phu

Banned
To be fair to the guys, someone at the Dojo made a thread once admitting they still went to the arcade at 3 pm. So they're not alone, but still.

In addition, they checked the notebook after the ambush and there was still a blank spot after the arcade@3 note and it's not like they got new info from Charlie at that moment. Some people are acting like it's a waste to check and it's not like the guys were adamant about sticking around trying to trigger a cutscene or anything.
 

Spaghetti

Member
i have to admit that soccer ball thing was really great and if there was more of that kind of absurd kung fu hustle bullshit throughout the game i'd be way more into it.

it does seem kinda cool though honestly.
Like Gigarator said, Shenmue II leans into that stuff way more heavily than this game.
 

abundant

Member
In addition, they checked the notebook after the ambush and there was still a blank spot after the arcade@3 note and it's not like they got new info from Charlie at that moment. Some people are acting like it's a waste to check and it's not like the guys were adamant about sticking around trying to trigger a cutscene or anything.

I don't think people are saying that it was a waste of time checking the Arcade @ 3, more that they were shocked at the lack of common sense. They knew that they had to go to the Arcade to meet Charlie. Along the way there, Charlie and his gang ambush them. Even if you don't remember Charlie (I know I didn't), he clearly states that the ambush was payback for what happened at the tattoo parlor, so unless you weren't paying attention, it should be obvious that the whole thing was a set up.
 

Fantastapotamus

Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
I don't think people are saying that it was a waste of time checking the Arcade @ 3, more that they were shocked at the lack of common sense. They knew that they had to go to the Arcade to meet Charlie. Along the way there, Charlie and his gang ambush them. Even if you don't remember Charlie (I know I didn't), he clearly states that the ambush was payback for what happened at the tattoo parlor, so unless you weren't paying attention, it should be obvious that the whole thing was a set up.

I mean...come on.
In the game you have a letter written in chinese, find a chinese boy during a cutscene and then have to find him again immediately after that cutscene ends to ask him if he can translate the letter.
You ask a dude where a tattoo shop is and he says he'll only tell you if you join his gang but to do so you need a tattoo first so he sends you to the tattoo parlour.

Would it REALLY be that strange that the game still expects you to go to the arcade? Really? It would be pretty weird if this was real life but in this game, would it really be so out of the question?
 
I mean...come on.
In the game you have a letter written in chinese, find a chinese boy during a cutscene and then have to find him again immediately after that cutscene ends to ask him if he can translate the letter.
You ask a dude where a tattoo shop is and he says he'll only tell you if you join his gang but to do so you need a tattoo first so he sends you to the tattoo parlour.

Would it REALLY be that strange that the game still expects you to go to the arcade? Really? It would be pretty weird if this was real life but in this game, would it really be so out of the question?

Yeah, it kinda would be weird.
 
And considering how long you already have to spend just waiting for shit in the game, you bet your ass I would play it safe and check out the arcade anyway if it's 3:00.
 

Spaghetti

Member
Yeah, it kinda would be weird.
I mean, the notepad does explicitly say the letter is the only lead now. I think the average player would probably realise it was Charlie who just doubled crossed them too.

There are obtuse moments in Shenmue, but this aint' one of them.
 

Spaghetti

Member
Triple post, but I'm praying to the Virtua Fighter gods that Vinny figures out the counter system.

OC7MjsE.gif


Bonus combat gifs (sorry for the size, I'm a novice running these out of Adobe Premiere. Minor endgame spoilers)

6bPbAHf.gif


aaUyFdp.gif


jeLo7aT.gif
 

Zomba13

Member
I don't think people are saying that it was a waste of time checking the Arcade @ 3, more that they were shocked at the lack of common sense. They knew that they had to go to the Arcade to meet Charlie. Along the way there, Charlie and his gang ambush them. Even if you don't remember Charlie (I know I didn't), he clearly states that the ambush was payback for what happened at the tattoo parlor, so unless you weren't paying attention, it should be obvious that the whole thing was a set up.

Well... They weren't... So...
 
The whole "I can't read this, the characters are strange" thing, where NPCs assume that it's just written oddly until the old woman notices that they're mirrored, is another example of a cultural context thing that doesn't really make sense if you aren't aware of it. They got it sorta right when they were talking about second generation versus first (that barber did mention earlier in the ER that he was second generation), but the thing is that there are tens of thousands of Chinese characters/kanji (the Japanified version of Chinese characters) - including incredibly rare or obscure ones - while the average person will only be familiar with several thousand, and they actually do get really weird and different with all the ways you can read them.
 

Clockwork5

Member
Why is Dan using the Endurance Run as a platform to ask basic questions about how the world works? Can't he talk about the game? He's constantly trying to go off topic in the most non-organic ways possible.
Dan can only learn when he asks a very specific question about some insignificant factoid on a video feature.

It appears to be quite debilitating.

"Is a bird a mammal?"
 
We're talking about a guy who clearly had a very sheltered life (For whatever the reason), and he seems to be making a genuine effort to expand his horizons. It's a weird thing to hear, but I give him credit. A lot of people are very happy to keep their blinders on.

Anxiety eventually leading to full blown panic attacks, undiagnosed for a good chunk of time while experiencing them, and still dealing with them to this day (albeit something he's gotten much better at handling). You can read more about his experiences in Anxiety As An Ally.
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Why is Dan using the Endurance Run as a platform to ask basic questions about how the world works? Can't he talk about the game? He's constantly trying to go off topic in the most non-organic ways possible.

Maybe because he saw all the comments that liked the MGS5 endurance run basically being a podcast, or maybe he was just in the habit of it after MGS5.

Some people really do just want a podcast with a game attached to it and MGS5 was perfect for that with how repetitive and slow a lot of that game was. It clearly doesn't work for a lot of people with a game like Shenmue though. I'm guessing he'll adjust for the next one after seeing this feedback.
 

Spaghetti

Member
SENDSPACE - Build it, beautiful!

I couldn't remember what the new ads are.

I would like a fake ad for Tom's hotdogs on the first Beastcast Dan gets on next, please and thank you.
 

kiguel182

Member
Given the dumb stuff this game has, them going to the arcade wouldn't be that surprising. That ambush also made no sense. But people will complain about them playing one way or another even when they keep making progress.

They sound so defeated. The game is draining them down.
 

orient

Neo Member
He's either going to be a savant or outright terrible. There will be no in-between when it comes to the vehicles.

8igAmkk.gif

We saw how he played Hang On...

I only just figured out how to drive that damn bike properly. Turns out, you need to take your foot off the accelerator instead of breaking because it gives you much tighter steering. That may seem obvious to people that play racing games but I do not.
 

orient

Neo Member
It kinda matters from an execution standpoint yeah.

If you consider Charlie probably knows where you live and knows where you're going, it's not inconceivable that he would cut you off on the way there, especially since it's the only route to take. Sure, there's some game logic involved thanks to the in-game clock being what it is, but it really isn't outside the realm of believability.
 
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