First-time Shenmue players, your thoughts and impressions?

[Shan]

I have just finished Shenmue! What a first experience it was...

I had very, very few expectactions before trying it out. I thought it would be hard to enjoy and would probably be one of those product of it's time, a "you needed to be there" situation. In my case, it didn't end that way thankfully. I legitimately enjoyed the experience. The 5 hubs felt very intimate and quickly I became familiar with the environments so it didn't take me long to know where was what and who was where so, I became attached to those place relatively fast.

I'll say, I wasn't THAT big of a fan of the later part of the game, although I didn't mind the whole forklift thing (it was even fun at time) I feel the whole thing dragged on a bit too long (5 days minimum) even when you understand why I feel it could have been...shortened a bit. Still, it was a small issue, for me, in what ended up being a solid game. While it's not gonna be "the best game of all time" for me, I can safely put it up there with the great ones. By now we've had almost 20 years of great game so, although the story is nothing I haven't seen before it still caught my interest greatly.

I can see why this game is as highly regarded as it is though, even without putting myself back in 1999. The scope of the game was pretty insane and ambitious and I cannot wait to begin Shenmue II soon.

If you have any questions to ask me regarding my first time with the game, feel free to ask!

 

[JunkerXseed1013]

I have just finished Shenmue! What a first experience it was...

I had very, very few expectactions before trying it out. I thought it would be hard to enjoy and would probably be one of those product of it's time, a "you needed to be there" situation. In my case, it didn't end that way thankfully. I legitimately enjoyed the experience. The 5 hubs felt very intimate and quickly I became familiar with the environments so it didn't take me long to know where was what and who was where so, I became attached to those place relatively fast.

I'll say, I wasn't THAT big of a fan of the later part of the game, although I didn't mind the whole forklift thing (it was even fun at time) I feel the whole thing dragged on a bit too long (5 days minimum) even when you understand why I feel it could have been...shortened a bit. Still, it was a small issue, for me, in what ended up being a solid game. While it's not gonna be "the best game of all time" for me, I can safely put it up there with the great ones. By now we've had almost 20 years of great game so, although the story is nothing I haven't seen before it still caught my interest greatly.

I can see why this game is as highly regarded as it is though, even without putting myself back in 1999. The scope of the game was pretty insane and ambitious and I cannot wait to begin Shenmue II soon.

If you have any questions to ask me regarding my first time with the game, feel free to ask!

Click to shrink...

Congrats on completing the game! I'm wondering what were the things you didn't like in the game (besides the late game) and what improvements you hope to see in Shenmue II.

 

[Shan]

Congrats on completing the game! I'm wondering what were the things you didn't like in the game (besides the late game) and what improvements you hope to see in Shenmue II.

Click to shrink...

Hmmm, letting you sleep whenever would've been nice, or at least as soon as the night start at 7PM instead of around 9PM, especially when you need to come back a day later. Beside that really there isn't much I can say I didn't like beside maybe a few quirks with the combat system but again, I didn't expect a masterpiece in combat considering the age of the game.

Improvements wise well, i've been told Shenmue II pretty much improve on everything from one apparently so I wanna see for myself.

 

[ket]

Finally beat Shenmue 1! Overall, I'd say its a decent but very flawed game. There just isn't enough side activities to pass the time and the forklift job part was awful and completely unnecessary (why can't Ryo just investigate the port without having a job there? He was doing well before he got a job there!). The story started off interesting but that forklift part pretty much killed all the momentum and the emotional beats (such as anything involving Nozomi) didn't land very well.

Also, Ryo is a dumb asshole and I kinda don't like him that much lol.

 

[JunkerXseed1013]

Hmmm, letting you sleep whenever would've been nice, or at least as soon as the night start at 7PM instead of around 9PM, especially when you need to come back a day later. Beside that really there isn't much I can say I didn't like beside maybe a few quirks with the combat system but again, I didn't expect a masterpiece in combat considering the age of the game.

Improvements wise well, i've been told Shenmue II pretty much improve on everything from one apparently so I wanna see for myself.

Click to shrink...

I think you'll be happy with Shenmue II then :)

 

[boybrushdRED]

They've provided an alternative control option to tank controls though, no?

Click to shrink...

I switched right out of tank controls and that helped a lot. The control is still very stiff and awkward but understandable considering it's age. I found it controls better using the d-pad than the analog stick, actually. Probably because it wasn't designed with analog in mind.

I tried the first Shenmue then tried the second, liked the second a lot more, it's quite a bit more polished, so I'm playing through that one.

Click to shrink...

Can you tell me how to do that? I might enjoy the game more if tank controls can be turned off.

 

[Turnabout Sisters]

I beat Shenmue 1 today. Not the HD version but the Dreamcast version that I own. Been on my list but I guess the hype around the new version got me to finally play it. I knew basically nothing about the game beforehand.

Spoiler

Overall, this game hit me right in the heart with its charm and atmosphere, it's a glowing new favorite of mine. For whatever reason the game has an immense pull to stop and smell the roses rather than rush to the next objective. That's easily my favorite part about it. Everything seems significant because there's no huge quest markers telling you exactly what to look at. It's meandering and meditative. The stilted dialogue enhances this effect for me, the weirdness is so perfect. There's a lot of things that are "pointless" yet it all added to the enjoyment. I didn't need that much action to keep me interested. The combat did it's job in breaking up the pace, but I had no real interest in using the moves properly and mostly mashed and it was pretty easy.

Spending a cold evening in Dobuita hopping through the dimly lit bars, talking to everyone never got old for me. I'd follow people and figure out where they lived for the pure fun of it. A lot of the random NPC dialogue did get pretty repetitive and yet I know I missed a lot of small things that they do. There's a really strong sense of place

I loved the atmosphere of the harbor as well. The forklift thing didn't get boring for me. I won't easily forget going out in the wee hours in the snow looking for a way to rescue Nozomi, which happened on Christmas morning in my game.

Not sure how quick I'll get to Shenmue 2 but I don't see myself liking it as much from what very little I've read about it.

 

[JunkerXseed1013]

Can you tell me how to do that? I might enjoy the game more if tank controls can be turned off.

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure it's only tank controls. Unless they have a modern controls for the pc version.

 

[Maligna]

I beat Shenmue 1 today. Not the HD version but the Dreamcast version that I own. Been on my list but I guess the hype around the new version got me to finally play it. I knew basically nothing about the game beforehand.

Spoiler

Overall, this game hit me right in the heart with its charm and atmosphere, it's a glowing new favorite of mine. For whatever reason the game has an immense pull to stop and smell the roses rather than rush to the next objective. That's easily my favorite part about it. Everything seems significant because there's no huge quest markers telling you exactly what to look at. It's meandering and meditative. The stilted dialogue enhances this effect for me, the weirdness is so perfect. There's a lot of things that are "pointless" yet it all added to the enjoyment. I didn't need that much action to keep me interested. The combat did it's job in breaking up the pace, but I had no real interest in using the moves properly and mostly mashed and it was pretty easy.

Spending a cold evening in Dobuita hopping through the dimly lit bars, talking to everyone never got old for me. I'd follow people and figure out where they lived for the pure fun of it. A lot of the random NPC dialogue did get pretty repetitive and yet I know I missed a lot of small things that they do. There's a really strong sense of place

I loved the atmosphere of the harbor as well. The forklift thing didn't get boring for me. I won't easily forget going out in the wee hours in the snow looking for a way to rescue Nozomi, which happened on Christmas morning in my game.

Not sure how quick I'll get to Shenmue 2 but I don't see myself liking it as much from what very little I've read about it.

Click to shrink...

Sounds like it hit you exactly how it hit me. I love the pace and atmosphere. It's just a magical world. Especially back in 1999/2000.

 

[Tailzo]

Seems like a lot of newcomers are liking it. I've glt a friend who just started it too :)

 

[PCEngineGuy]

Can you tell me how to do that? I might enjoy the game more if tank controls can be turned off.

Click to shrink...

It was in the options menu. I don't remember what it calls it exactly but it was easy enough to find.

 

[GobHoblin]

Nothing on my xbox version that I can see

 

[Maligna]

Can you tell me how to do that? I might enjoy the game more if tank controls can be turned off.

Click to shrink...

It was in the options menu. I don't remember what it calls it exactly but it was easy enough to find.

Click to shrink...

Nothing on my xbox version that I can see

Click to shrink...

Ryo controls how he controls. All they did in this release was allow you to use the left stick to move him while using the right stick to look around. On the Dreamcast controller you were forced to control Ryo with the D-Pad and since the analogue stick was directly above that, you couldn't really walk and look around at the same time. Unless you used R (or L if you prefer) trigger to walk while you look around with the analogue stick, but then you couldn't turn left or right because you can't use the d-pad and analogue stick at the same time...

Anyways... in this new release you have the more modern option of using dual analogue sticks. But that's really unwieldy for me. I find I lose control of him really easy. So I choose to control Ryo the way I used to control him on the Dreamcast. R trigger (or L, your choice) to make him move forward, D-Pad for directional adjustments left and right. If I have to turn around a full 180, I just tap down on the D-pad. The bonus with this release is that now while I'm doing that, I can enjoy the view by controlling the camera with the right stick.

 

[Erevador]

I beat Shenmue 1 today. Not the HD version but the Dreamcast version that I own. Been on my list but I guess the hype around the new version got me to finally play it. I knew basically nothing about the game beforehand.

Spoiler

Overall, this game hit me right in the heart with its charm and atmosphere, it's a glowing new favorite of mine. For whatever reason the game has an immense pull to stop and smell the roses rather than rush to the next objective. That's easily my favorite part about it. Everything seems significant because there's no huge quest markers telling you exactly what to look at. It's meandering and meditative. The stilted dialogue enhances this effect for me, the weirdness is so perfect. There's a lot of things that are "pointless" yet it all added to the enjoyment. I didn't need that much action to keep me interested. The combat did it's job in breaking up the pace, but I had no real interest in using the moves properly and mostly mashed and it was pretty easy.

Spending a cold evening in Dobuita hopping through the dimly lit bars, talking to everyone never got old for me. I'd follow people and figure out where they lived for the pure fun of it. A lot of the random NPC dialogue did get pretty repetitive and yet I know I missed a lot of small things that they do. There's a really strong sense of place

I loved the atmosphere of the harbor as well. The forklift thing didn't get boring for me. I won't easily forget going out in the wee hours in the snow looking for a way to rescue Nozomi, which happened on Christmas morning in my game.

Not sure how quick I'll get to Shenmue 2 but I don't see myself liking it as much from what very little I've read about it.

Click to shrink...

Great post. The atmosphere has such a unique charm to it. It definitely asks you to get on its own singular wavelength, but once you do, the experience is a joy.

 

[Openrob]

I interviewed my friend on his first ever hour of Shenmue:
https://youtu.be/7_t8J7iVWVc

As such a big fan, this is going to great fun for me haha.

 

[Blunoise]

I interviewed my friend on his first ever hour of Shenmue:
https://youtu.be/7_t8J7iVWVc

As such a big fan, this is going to great fun for me haha.

Click to shrink...

Nice will check it.

FYI last week to help fund Shenmue 3 guys

https://shenmue.link/order/?en

 

[Shan]

To me, Shemue II started relatively uneventful, if only for the fact you needed to get a part time job for money and such but I ended up selling some Gacha set for a decent price through one of the many pawnshop and then made some money playing Big and Small so now the story's picked up pretty well. Last thing I did is catching some leaves and am now ready to see what lies beyond!

As I've said in the OT, I'm astonished by the scope of Shenmue II and that's without seeing everything yet. So far, I love it.

 

[JunkerXseed1013]

To me, Shemue II started relatively uneventful, if only for the fact you needed to get a part time job for money and such but I ended up selling some Gacha set for a decent price through one of the many pawnshop and then made some money playing Big and Small so now the story's picked up pretty well. Last thing I did is catching some leaves and am now ready to see what lies beyond!

As I've said in the OT, I'm astonished by the scope of Shenmue II and that's without seeing everything yet. So far, I love it.

Click to shrink...

Yea the scope was incredible for it's time. Not sure where you are now but there are some good surprises in the second half of the game.

 

[Shan]

Yea the scope was incredible for it's time. Not sure where you are now but there are some good surprises in the second half of the game.

Click to shrink...

I'm scouting bird shops to find someone.

 

[Chaserjoey]

I played Shenmue I for the first time the other day, and got the platinum as well.

I can 100% see how advanced for its time. The systems in place must have been mind blowing, and it is inspiring seeing how games today have taken inspiration from what Shenmue did. I was impressed by how I could see people go to their work and open up the store, how people at the harbour would go to the bus after a shift so they can get home.

But there was also a downside to being one of the first, if not the first, games to have a system like this. Having to wait around until specific times was a complete pain, even more was if you missed that time. I understand how it is a life simulator type of game, but waking up at 8:30am and having nothing to do until a meeting at 4pm is a joke. I heard that you can time skip in the sequel, which I am very grateful for, as so much of my play time in Shenmue I was just waiting.

I was a bit taken back by the Gollum rip off character. He was so over the top and weird and really took me out of the experience. As did the voice acting. Someone made a comment in a Shenmue thread about wishing they were a voice actor back when the quality of your work didn't matter because holy crap that's so true. I would have loved to have gotten a pay check for just poorly reading lines. The whole scene before the Forklift races every morning was especially bad.

I also wasn't big on the fighting. There weren't really any prompts when learning or practising so battles were just me mashing buttons in the hopes that I'd hit people. The final battle was just me holding down R2 while mashing X and doing a three kick combo.

Despite that, and the many bugs I encountered, there was a charm to the game and I can see why it has had such a strong cult following for so many years.

 

[Resilient]

:)

 

[Carlius]

uninstalled and refunded immediately.

 

[It’s Time To Go]

I think this is the biggest load of old cobblers I've ever played in my whole life.

 

[billysea]

When I first played it almost 20 years ago I had little tough time getting into it, but after an hour or so the story get me hooked and want to know more.

Exact same thing when I played Shenmue 2. Not easy to get into in the first hour, but once it grabs you you don't want to stop.

I imagine this feeling would be even more extreme to the current-day players.

 

[Rurmelly]

I love it. It's easily become one of my favourite series of all time.

I've been wanting to play Shenmue for years but never got around to it.

I love the simple story of revenge and how Ryo get's embroiled into it. I got used to the slow pace and took my time going through the game. The small village of Japan represented in the game is so well realised, I've never seen or played anything like it.

As for Shenmue 2, I love the fish out of water vibe compared to the first game. Kowloon is intimidating, the world building in Shenmue is so damn good, and really is one of the most amazing parts of this series, being engrossed and overwhelmed by the world. The final battle was epic, the combat really shines through, each encounter feels intense. Never played a game with such a strong emphasis on martial arts, it really is so well realised.

I cant wait to see how the saga continues in Shenmue 3.

 

[Blunoise]

I love it. It's easily become one of my favourite series of all time.

I've been wanting to play Shenmue for years but never got around to it.

I love the simple story of revenge and how Ryo get's embroiled into it. I got used to the slow pace and took my time going through the game. The small village of Japan represented in the game is so well realised, I've never seen or played anything like it.

As for Shenmue 2, I love the fish out of water vibe compared to the first game. Kowloon is intimidating, the world building in Shenmue is so damn good, and really is one of the most amazing parts of this series, being engrossed and overwhelmed by the world. The final battle was epic, the combat really shines through, each encounter feels intense. Never played a game with such a strong emphasis on martial arts, it really is so well realised.

I cant wait to see how the saga continues in Shenmue 3.

Click to shrink...

Nice to hear, with no spoilers I wonder what's your thoughts after the shenmue 2 ending because it's way more than a simple story of revenge now

 

[Bioshocker]

The Shenmue III reveal legit brought a part of myself back to life that had long been dead and buried under a pile of cynicism and apathy. I used to roll my eyes and tell people to get on with their lives when they brought the game up.

I dropped like $300 on that Kickstarter right away lol.

And I'm already expecting Lan Di to evade justice for another 18 years when it's all said and done. W/e idc, I'm all on board.

Click to shrink...

Me too - both the first part about cynicism and apathy and not believing that Shenmue III would ever see the light of day and about donating $300. It was what I could afford at the time.

 

[Rurmelly]

Nice to hear, with no spoilers I wonder what's your thoughts after the shenmue 2 ending because it's way more than a simple story of revenge now

Click to shrink...

Very excited. I can't believe it would have ended like that in 2001 and we are only just getting the third game!

It makes that fated encounter very interesting, I'm looking forward to seeing Ryo develop, and hope we learn more about his father.

 

[julian]

I played Shenmue I for the first time the other day, and got the platinum as well.

I can 100% see how advanced for its time. The systems in place must have been mind blowing, and it is inspiring seeing how games today have taken inspiration from what Shenmue did. I was impressed by how I could see people go to their work and open up the store, how people at the harbour would go to the bus after a shift so they can get home.

But there was also a downside to being one of the first, if not the first, games to have a system like this. Having to wait around until specific times was a complete pain, even more was if you missed that time. I understand how it is a life simulator type of game, but waking up at 8:30am and having nothing to do until a meeting at 4pm is a joke. I heard that you can time skip in the sequel, which I am very grateful for, as so much of my play time in Shenmue I was just waiting.

I was a bit taken back by the Gollum rip off character. He was so over the top and weird and really took me out of the experience. As did the voice acting. Someone made a comment in a Shenmue thread about wishing they were a voice actor back when the quality of your work didn't matter because holy crap that's so true. I would have loved to have gotten a pay check for just poorly reading lines. The whole scene before the Forklift races every morning was especially bad.

I also wasn't big on the fighting. There weren't really any prompts when learning or practising so battles were just me mashing buttons in the hopes that I'd hit people. The final battle was just me holding down R2 while mashing X and doing a three kick combo.

Despite that, and the many bugs I encountered, there was a charm to the game and I can see why it has had such a strong cult following for so many years.

Click to shrink...

Always found that guy a bit out of place, but the Lord of the Rings movies came out years after Shenmue. Hard to call him a Gollum rip-off (and yes, I'm aware the books are older, but the similarities are in how he looks, sounds and to some extent moves, not the characterization).

 

[ULTROS!]

It was my first time to finish Shenmue I (played the OG on DC but never finished it, couldn't beat the 70-man battle) and first time to play Shenmue II.

I found Shenmue I charming but it felt incredibly clunky. Camera is terrible

Shenmue II on the other hand, I was not a fan of the latter half of the game because it was too long (Kowloon buildings ya'll) and the last part was just... Beautiful filler. I really hate the freeze QTEs that occur after long, hard battles.

I got both platinums though.

 

[TheWooniestWoona]

I'm so close to the end of Shenmue 1, but the forklift section has really sucked the wind out of my sails. I just finished the 3rd work day, so I really just need to push through and knock out the last bit, but I have such a hard time getting in the mood to play now. It's a bummer cause I really enjoyed everything up to this point.

 

[Deleted member 25712]

I'm so close to the end of Shenmue 1, but the forklift section has really sucked the wind out of my sails. I just finished the 3rd work day, so I really just need to push through and knock out the last bit, but I have such a hard time getting in the mood to play now. It's a bummer cause I really enjoyed everything up to this point.

Click to shrink...

It's really worth sticking it out. The game ends on a high note and Shenmue II pretty much runs with it from there

 

[bell wood's jet cola]

So now that we've all lived with this remaster for a couple months and the remasters are patched to a reasonable level, I'd like to know how the 'first time Shenmue players' are feeling about Shenmue III, particularly if they backed Shenmue III without having first played the original games. Are you excited, or are you considerably less excited now that you know what Shenmue is all about?

 

[Deleted member 13155]

I'm so close to the end of Shenmue 1, but the forklift section has really sucked the wind out of my sails. I just finished the 3rd work day, so I really just need to push through and knock out the last bit, but I have such a hard time getting in the mood to play now. It's a bummer cause I really enjoyed everything up to this point.

Click to shrink...

I liked the minigame tbh. But it does take a day too long. I think the 4th is the last anyway. There is quite some stuff going on during breaks and after work hours. But Dobuita does take a back seat which is kind of a shame.

 

[bell wood's jet cola]

The music during forklifting makes it v. enjoyable for me. The race music, however...

 

[Sixfortyfive]

The music during forklifting makes it v. enjoyable for me. The race music, however...

Click to shrink...

I still don't understand why you can't use the cassette player while you're doing other things.

 

[bell wood's jet cola]

The worst thing about the forklift racing music is it's like a 10-second loop.

By the way, why does the FREE music restart every time you enter a new area? That's kinda weak. I'm sure it's to do with 1999 DC's hardware limitations, but it kind of irked me on my last play-through.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

I'm still debating on whether I actually want to or should play it. Part of me doesn't want to miss the classics, or cult classics, but I've heard they've aged poorly and they're a lot longer than expected, combined.

I have a copy held at the library but there's no way I'd be able to play 50 hours of them right now.

 

[Ultimadrago]

A few hours into the first and IS NOZOMI RYO's TRUE LOVE?

In other news, I'm finding an alright time with it so far. If I played this side-by-side with Sonic Adventure (which I also loved btw), I would have been floored. So, in some sense, I can respect the scope of a breathing neighborhood with differently voiced NPCs on the Dreamcast. Movement is taking some getting used to though.

P.S. Also, the stupid fridge won't open, so I can't feed the cat I guess.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

A few hours into the first and IS NOZOMI RYO's TRUE LOVE?

In other news, I'm finding an alright time with it so far. If I played this side-by-side with Sonic Adventure (which I also loved btw), I would have been floored. So, in some sense, I can respect the scope of a breathing neighborhood with differently voiced NPCs on the Dreamcast. Movement is taking some getting used to though.

P.S. Also, the stupid fridge won't open, so I can't feed the cat I guess.

Click to shrink...

You can buy milk from either the store in Sakuragaoka or from the shop in Dobuita, I think.

 

[Maligna]

A few hours into the first and IS NOZOMI RYO's TRUE LOVE?

In other news, I'm finding an alright time with it so far. If I played this side-by-side with Sonic Adventure (which I also loved btw), I would have been floored. So, in some sense, I can respect the scope of a breathing neighborhood with differently voiced NPCs on the Dreamcast. Movement is taking some getting used to though.

P.S. Also, the stupid fridge won't open, so I can't feed the cat I guess.

Click to shrink...

Make sure you use the trigger button to zoom in on the fridge handle. Zooming in and focusing on things is how you can most easily interact with objects.

 

[Ultimadrago]

You can buy milk from either the store in Sakuragaoka or from the shop in Dobuita, I think.

Click to shrink...

Make sure you use the trigger button to zoom in on the fridge handle. Zooming in and focusing on things is how you can most easily interact with objects.

Click to shrink...

I guess you need to zoom in stores as well? Shop keeps usually just talk.

Just found out about zoom for the telephone the book too. Yikes! I probably didnt read. Thanks.

 

[Maligna]

I guess you need to zoom in stores as well? Shop keeps usually just talk.

Just found out about zoom for the telephone the book too. Yikes! I probably didnt read. Thanks.

Click to shrink...

Yup. Zoom let's you interact with all sorts of things in the Hazuki home. For instance, drawers, closets, things hanging on the walls, light fixtures etc.

A silly thing I do to get more immersed as Ryo is, I always go around the home and turn off all the lights before I go to bed.

And yes, you have to zoom in the shops too. Once you're zoomed in on something, whether it's at home or in a shop, try pressing each of the four directions on the d-pad. If there's something next to what you're looking at, the camera will shift to it. That way you don't have to zoom out, reorient yourself and zoom again.