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[Human Trashcan]

Honestly, Shenmue still has a more involved combat system than a lot of melee-focused games. I kind of hope Vinny figures out the counter stuff before the end, but I dunno.

Shenmue 1 has so few fights, and since Vinny seems wholly uninterested in the system, I doubt it. You have to really WANT to learn it, and replay the game (like I did back in the day, but I can't see myself doing that anymore either) to get into it. When I was a youngun I'd load up the

Spoiler

70 man battle

every now and then though, just for kicks, or load my Shenmue 2 save at the fight club and fight all those guys. I really love the counter system.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

They got so close to that stuff. Like within touching distance of triggering it. Oh well.

I didn't know the thing about Goro. Actually, I've recently been finding out there are more alternative progression paths/failure states in both games than I'd realised.

Like, the opening quest of Shenmue II. I knew the quest would continue/change dynamically to three paths depending on success or failure in certain parts, but I didn't realise you could fail certain parts within those paths and pick them up again another way. Sounds weird, but this video kind of explains it better.

If you mess up the QTE before the gap between Lai Lai Eatery and the Heaven's hideout, you have to find Wong hanging out with his friends. If you mess up the QTE before the Heaven's hideout he goes somewhere else. You can lose the fight at Lai Lai Eatery and it loops all over the place. It's crazy and the most open ended section of the game. I prefer messing up the Wong QTE and fighting at Lai Lai Eatery because I can get the Bronze Medal faster that way. Plus, it's cool to have the tables and stuff flying everywhere. Yeah, the lady at Lai Lai Eater will give you the Bronze Medal.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Amazon has decent prices on some used copies. It also comes with a copy of Shenmue: the Movie*.


* - under no circumstances should anyone attempt to watch this movie.

It essentially boils down to sega not saying anything since they mentioned they're interested in the ports/remakes.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

It essentially boils down to sega not saying anything since they mentioned they're interested in the ports/remakes.

It'd be nice if they'd say something one way or the other soon about any ports or re-masters. But I guess there's still probably at least a couple of years before 3 could be released to get them out.

 

[DeadlyBunny]

Amazon has decent prices on some used copies. It also comes with a copy of Shenmue: the Movie*.


* - under no circumstances should anyone attempt to watch this movie.

Was new to shenmue when 3 was announced. Ended up watching that movie.

Killed most of my interest in it.

 

[LiK]

SEGA only remakes Sonic and Yakuza these days.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Whoa, never knew about that Goro bit.

I didn't know the thing about Goro.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Was new to shenmue when 3 was announced. Ended up watching that movie.

Killed most of my interest in it.

That would certainly do it.

Edit: haha, fucking goro man

 

[Spaghetti]

Shenmue 1 has so few fights, and since Vinny seems wholly uninterested in the system, I doubt it. You have to really WANT to learn it, and replay the game (like I did back in the day, but I can't see myself doing that anymore either) to get into it. When I was a youngun I'd load up the

Spoiler

70 man battle

every now and then though, just for kicks, or load my Shenmue 2 save at the fight club and fight all those guys. I really love the counter system.

If he's gonna get it, it'll be during one of the fights leading up to the end when the enemies get harder, or that big fight. Honestly, I can see the most experimentation happening once he gets a move instruction.

It's kind of a shame that the counter system got a nerfed for II, but given the upped dodging capability and general speed/aggressiveness increase of combat, I can see why they did it. Honestly I'm chomping at the bit to see what they do for III's combat. Yu talking about adding a physics element for knocking enemies into each other sounds cool as shit, as well as giving an example of Ryo being able to do stuff like spinning wall kicks.

 

[Spaghetti]

Goro the MVP.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Goro is the MVP and still has the worst music.

 

[Spaghetti]

Goro is the MVP and still has the worst music.

Hm. I like the tune but the song probably isn't coming across too well via the Dreamcast's sound chip. We'll see if the original synthesizer version ends up on the Shenmue III soundtrack disk.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I don't even know what the rule with emulation is in this forum. If I prove I legally own a copy of the game is it fine to discuss?

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

It's just the way it sounds. You've got this atmospheric harbor music and then all of a sudden a cutscene starts with blaring rockabilly and a random dude who squats. I'm not a fan of the weird Shenmue characters. It's a big reason I prefer II. There's no weird guys with bad pomapdours and bad music or Gollum casting drop outs. If a character is supposed to be funny or whatever, I prefer Xiuying's temple assistants or Ren as better examples without coming off as cartoonish.

Tom, Chai, and Goro are weak links for me.

 

[Spaghetti]

I don't even know what the rule with emulation is in this forum. If I prove I legally own a copy of the game is it fine to discuss?

I think? If it helps, I believe you can stick your Dreamcast copy in your PC and use it via Demul. I'm not totally sure on that. I don't think anybody will be strictly policing that talk given that there's really no other way than to play Shenmue via original hardware right now.

It's just the way it sounds. You've got this atmospheric harbor music and then all of a sudden a cutscene starts with blaring rockabilly and a random dude who squats. I'm not a fan of the weird Shenmue characters. It's a big reason I prefer II. There's no weird guys with bad pomapdours and bad music or Gollum casting drop outs. If a character is supposed to be funny or whatever, I prefer Xiuying's temple assistants or Ren as better examples without coming off as cartoonish.

That's fair enough. I like the little breaks from the dry seriousness, but I do think the balance works better in II as well.

 

[Jebusman]

I don't even know what the rule with emulation is in this forum. If I prove I legally own a copy of the game is it fine to discuss?

Emulation (as it has always been) is 100% legal and you're free to discuss it in whatever depth you please.

As long as you actually own the games you're emulating (or by extension, own the system if the emulator requires a BIOS).

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Sweet. I'll find a copy. Any recommendations on whether to go with dreamcast or Xbox (?) for shenmue 2?

 

[FStop7]

The squatting pompadour stuff is a real thing. Yanki zuwari.

 

[Spaghetti]

Sweet. I'll find a copy. Any recommendations on whether to go with dreamcast or Xbox (?) for shenmue 2?

Dreamcast. Superior Japanese dub, graphical peak of the Dreamcast.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Goro is fire. I want to believe a total weirdo like him is waiting in every harbor. Also his antics being met with Ryo continuous deadpan always cracks me up.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Sweet. I'll find a copy. Any recommendations on whether to go with dreamcast or Xbox (?) for shenmue 2?

Xbox runs better, has less load times, and looks better in some ways. It also has the still had English dub. The Dreamcast version has the Japanese voice track. You're really fine either way.

 

[Human Trashcan]

I mean the entire narrative presentation of Shenmue tanks the second the intro ends so I don't really know why you'd have a problem with the goofy characters specifically. They're just the game's total lack of good voice actors or well-written characters taken to its logical extreme.

 

[LiK]

Fun fact: The Japanese dub is also bad from what native Japanese speakers have said on GAF. Altho I guess I would've preferred that cuz ignorance is bliss.

 

[APZonerunner]

I mainly hope they do Shenmue 2 for the 3 or 4 episodes they'll spend trying to catch the leaf. Holy shit.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Fun fact: The Japanese dub is also bad from what native Japanese speakers have said on GAF. Altho I guess I would've preferred that cuz ignorance is bliss.

Somehow I'm not surprised. Kind of like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I've heard the acting is kind of rough and their accents are all over the place, but I can't tell so it's fine with me.

 

[Spaghetti]

Fun fact: The Japanese dub is also bad from what native Japanese speakers have said on GAF. Altho I guess I would've preferred that cuz ignorance is bliss.

I've heard that too, but it's much more emotive than the English dub.

I mainly hope they do Shenmue 2 for the 3 or 4 episodes they'll spend trying to catch the leaf. Holy shit.

I cannot fathom it being that hard for them.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

The squatting pompadour stuff is a real thing. Yanki zuwari.

Yup.

Fun fact: The Japanese dub is also bad from what native Japanese speakers have said on GAF. Altho I guess I would've preferred that cuz ignorance is bliss.

It's not the best. I'm not native, but I do know the language and it's definitely not great. But it's still considerably better than the English version.

 

[LiK]

Somehow I'm not surprised. Kind of like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I've heard the acting is kind of rough and their accents are all over the place, but I can't tell so it's fine with me.

Yea, my folks hated Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh's Mandarin cuz they're not native speakers. They're native Cantonese speakers trying hard to speak Mandarin so that took them outta the film.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Sooooooo does the story in Shenmue......uhm....start at some point? So far, basically nothing has happened. The most exciting thing after the first cutscene was some guy eating a ticket to prevent something possibly exciting to happen.
I get that there are probably dozens of microstories if you talk to all NPCs all the time but the main story so far was kinda....not really existant?

 

[LiK]

Sooooooo does the story in Shenmue......uhm....start at some point? So far, basically nothing has happened. The most exciting thing after the first cutscene was some guy eating a ticket to prevent something possibly exciting to happen.
I get that there are probably dozens of microstories if you talk to all NPCs all the time but the main story so far was kinda....not really existant?

This is pretty much the story.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Sooooooo does the story in Shenmue......uhm....start at some point? So far, basically nothing has happened. The most exciting thing after the first cutscene was some guy eating a ticket to prevent something possibly exciting to happen.
I get that there are probably dozens of microstories if you talk to all NPCs all the time but the main story so far was kinda....not really existant?

Let's just say that Shenmue 1's subtitle could be: Play Shenmue II instead.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Sooooooo does the story in Shenmue......uhm....start at some point? So far, basically nothing has happened. The most exciting thing after the first cutscene was some guy eating a ticket to prevent something possibly exciting to happen.
I get that there are probably dozens of microstories if you talk to all NPCs all the time but the main story so far was kinda....not really existant?

The whole game is kind of a prologue to the series, so yeah the main story is a bit lacking in it. It is about to pick up a lot compared to what has come before, but the story doesn't start really going until Shenmue 2.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

The whole game is kind of a prologue to the series, so yeah the main story is a bit lacking in it. It is about to pick up a lot compared to what has come before, but the story doesn't start really going until Shenmue 2.

Oh right, I forgot Shenmue was supposed to be a 16 (?) part series.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Oh right, I forgot Shenmue was supposed to be a 16 (?) part series.

Right, and this is just part one. Originally I think the plan was for Shenmue 1 and at least a good part of two to be one release, but that changed somewhere along the way. So that's why some of this feels really dragged out. Shenmue 2 has three or four parts.

 

[LiK]

Oh right, I forgot Shenmue was supposed to be a 16 (?) part series.

something like that. Dan telling them it's a prologue isn't wrong cuz the entire first game is a prologue, lawl. i await the reaction at the end.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

something like that. Dan telling them it's a prologue isn't wrong cuz the entire first game is a prologue, lawl. i await the reaction at the end.

I hope it's as epic as the ending of Disc 2

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

1 and 2 were supposed to be one game. But due to time constraints and probably Sega needing the game out immediately, they released 1. 1 originally wasn't supposed to go on as long as it did, hence why it feels stretched out, for better or for worse.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I hope it's as epic as the ending of Disc 2

However else you may feel about it, I can at least guarantee you it will be better than that.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Oh right, I forgot Shenmue was supposed to be a 16 (?) part series.

Not necessarily. It was supposed to have 16 chapters.

Shenmue 1 is one entire chapter. The part between 1 and 2 could be seen as a chapter but it's skipped in the games and told by in-game comic in Shenmue II Xbox. By many accounts it could not even count as a chapter. Shenmue II has three chapters. Shenmue III starts on the fifth (sixth?) chapter or is a continuation of chapter 4 (5?).

So far at least, you could consider every in-game location its own chapter.

 

[LiK]

After Shenmue 3, they should just do a graphic novel.

 

[Spaghetti]

Oh right, I forgot Shenmue was supposed to be a 16 (?) part series.

Not exactly. I believe it started as 16 written chapters, paired down to 11, and at some point in the transition to a game, Yu Suzuki decided to do it like a manga and do two "volumes". Shenmue originally would have been first 4-5 chapters, and a second game covering 5 through to the end.

He plays pretty fast and loose with it though, chapters get rearranged and rewritten to fit game structure. Happened with the original, happened with the sequel, happened again with III. We never got Chapter 3 as it was planned (Ryo and

Spoiler

Ren

on a train), but Yu has said recently he may include it in a future game, if one happens. He's flexible with it, for the most part.

It's not worth reading into very deeply.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

After Shenmue 3, they should just do a graphic novel.

If Shenmue III is successful and sells at least a million units (a real possibility given the wider platform base and hype), there will more than likely be a Shenmue IV, which is where the story will end, assuming Yu makes compromises, or make V.

When you talk about epic games, a lot of them aren't really that epic. But Shenmue series, woo. It truly is an epic. A large reason you're not getting the story here is that it's a part of a larger series that connects. It's not the best written in terms of plot advancement but it's all setting up an epic journey. A lot of people use that word epic to describe games, but I think Shenmue saga is one of the few occasions where it warrants being used. It may not feel like like it now, but I feel it adds to the story as a whole, although it could have certainly been done better.

I personally wouldn't like Shenmue to be a graphic novel. As said before, the story is nothing special within the context of traditional media like film or a comic book. But within the video game medium, I think it does a lot of special things. Shenmue at its best works as a game that you experience. If within a film or a comic book, it loses its luster. The game medium is very beneficiary to making it work.

 

[Spaghetti]

After Shenmue 3, they should just do a graphic novel.

Nah. After last year, it proved that the series is sustainable as a video game in one way or another. Unless there is something catastrophic like Yu kicking the bucket after production on III ends, the series will probably close out as a video game even if they have to do another Kickstarter*.

*I should mention here Shenmue III's producer Cedric Biscay has said this is NOT their plan, and will seek more traditional funding means for further games.

I think Shenmue is probably best enjoyed as a video game, even if it certainly isn't for everyone.

 

[BobTheFork]

Disc 3. Wow, uncharted territory for me, I could never make it that far.

This is really compelling to see a first time player have such shitty experience like many of us had. Glad they are playing pure like it just came out for Vinny without hints or complainers getting in there.

 

[LiK]

FYI, I backed Shenmue 3.

 

[gelf]

Honestly, Shenmue still has a more involved combat system than a lot of melee-focused games. I kind of hope Vinny figures out the counter stuff before the end, but I dunno.

I'd still put it ahead of the vast majority of melee combat in modern games, especially if you limit to the slightly more grounded ones. It's far more fun to me then the boring Batman style combat you tend to get now and I even prefer it to the system in Yakuza. Virtua Fighter crossed with a beat em up is what I always wanted.

I think the first game would have been better with more fights in place of QTEs. The early game especially needs more.

 

[Spaghetti]

FYI, I backed Shenmue 3.

Look at it like this- getting Shenmue III off the ground was the uphill struggle. The series has a more solid future now than it ever did in the 15 years previous, if they didn't resort to a graphic novel for III, they probably won't use it to close out the series after III releases either.

Unless, like I said, something terrible happens; like Yu Suzuki dying.


Speaking of III; it's update week so we can expect something new to take a look at on Friday, even if we've been pre-warned that nothing extensive is planned until December, or after.

A few privileged backers got to see the game last week, actually. They're likely under some hardcore NDA, but they seem very positive about what they saw, judging from passing comments.

I guess they're an easy audience, though.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

but they seem very positive about what they saw, judging from passing comments.

Uhhh. Link.

 

[Spaghetti]

I'd still put it ahead of the vast majority of melee combat in modern games, especially if you limit to the slightly more grounded ones. It's far more fun to me then the boring Batman style combat you tend to get now, I even prefer it to the system in Yakuza. Virtua Fighter crossed with a beat em up is what I always wanted.

I think the first game would have been better with more fights in place of QTEs. The early game especially needs more.

I don't think it's hugely dissimilar from the Batman combat (the counter system is like, proto-Batmanish), but it's certainly more involved, dynamic, and fighter-like than mostly rhythmic X+Y combos from the Arkham and Arkham-alike games.

And yeah, I prefer it over Yakuza's combat too.

 

[Dineren]

I hope they manage to put out as many games as they need to finish the story. Sure, if III ends up being a disaster and they can't justify any more games even with crowd funding I would want the story in some other manner, but only as a last resort.