Well, there's a point in the game where that prophecy will send a shiver down your spine, trust me!
I played with Japanese because I found the eng dub to be... bad but in a fun way. But Japanese felt so right for this. Other than that all I can advice you on is take your time and enjoy it. Turn off the warp thing that lets you warp from your house because if you use it you will spend more time waiting around and also miss out on some side content / scenes.Got Shenmue I & II during the EU January sale. I'm about to start playing them now. Any tips and other stuff I should know/think about?
English or japanese voices?
Got Shenmue I & II during the EU January sale. I'm about to start playing them now. Any tips and other stuff I should know/think about?
English or japanese voices?
Without getting into spoilers, things will start picking up for you a little bit further on. Shenmue's climax ramps up pretty quickly past a certain point, and you'll be getting into a lot more fights. Try to figure out the timing of the dodge/parry/counter system before you reach the end, it's very helpful and rewardingly satisfying.
IMO the English dub of the original game is endearing, if awkward. Most of the main cast are alright, even if the NPCs don't get to the same standard. It's cheesy in a good way, but if that's not your bag you can always switch to Japanese.
So after backing without a good reason SM3 I decided to buy the HD collection because I never played this series.
This weekend I started SM1 and arrived at the harbour, now I will have to infiltrate in the Warehouse n°8.
Until now it was quite easy to understand how to go on with the story (thats good), but it does not looks much interesting overall, even the characters for now are not particularly well written...
Sure the whole gameplay is something that must have looked impressive back in the days when it released, it really feels like following Ryo lifes in this little city! And its fun to find every time something new to look at or to do.
I'm really curious to see how the story goes on, because after everything I read I expect that something interesting starts to happen sooner or later.
The fighting looks promising but until now there are really a few of chances to fight someone, so I don't even have time to really master it... sparring is ok, but I would prefer more "action".
EDIT:
I forgot one thing. Playing on PS4 Pro the audio is totally messed up. Voices are too loud and looks like recorded in a closed room, music sounds...strange? I dont know how the original sounded, but I dont believe it was THAT bad... something is wrong here...
Sadly in Shenmue 1 the story isn't going to advance that much, is in the second game where things start to get real. (Although the final 2 hours of the game are amazing)
Shenmue 1 feels better if you consider it as the first half of 1 big game, that kinda works like a tutorial (albeit a large one) for the combat system and the kind of things that you can do in the game, while also working as the introduction for the motivations of Ryo and making his journey feel more "personal" showing us what he has to leave behind in order to purchase his vengeance.
Also, there are lots of terrible gameplay decisions that thankfully were fixed in the second game, which feels more like a focused game than the first game where at times it feels like they just put lots of things together because the devs thoughts that they were cool without thinking if they were going to make the game better.
I just got a work in the harbor (well almost, I need to wait 1 day...), I heard this is one boring part but i should also be not far to the end!
I'm pretty curious about 2
Nice!The harbor part was my favorite part of the game when I was a child, but as I grew older I realized that is terrible (not for the forklifts mind you, but rather because of the restrictions that the game imposes you in your free time) but the good news is that you probably have like 4-5 hours left before finishing the game, so enjoy the good parts from this section
Nice!
One question... I found in the house the Saturn... is there a way to play it or its just for show?
Depending on how receptive you are to the forklift stuff, it could be a drag, but outside of that there are fights/action scenes/martial arts move tutorials pretty much every in-game day while you're progressing the story. People calling that part outright boring are kind of mischaracterising it as just forklifts.
Most people I've seen who dislike this part of the game do so because of the lack of stuff to do at lunch and after shifts, not the forklift job itself. I think it's exacerbated by the fact that so many people do extra days without meaning to, or get stuck completely, due to the poor event flagging in this section.Depending on how receptive you are to the forklift stuff, it could be a drag, but outside of that there are fights/action scenes/martial arts move tutorials pretty much every in-game day while you're progressing the story. People calling that part outright boring are kind of mischaracterising it as just forklifts.
I feel this hinges on whether they like move training and the activities/shop in the Harbor Lounge (which isn't hard to spot, I would be surprised if players didn't know it was there). There's definitely stuff to do, but obviously if it doesn't tickle their fancy I could get how the downtime would be boring.Most people I've seen who dislike this part of the game do so because of the lack of stuff to do at lunch and after shifts, not the forklift job itself. I think it's exacerbated by the fact that so many people do extra days without meaning to, or get stuck completely, due to the poor event flagging in this section.
People who are familiar with the game know of fun and interesting ways to fill the time, but some of these things can be easily missed. Then if you add repeated days on top of that it can become a real drag.
Yeah, it's really punishing because if you miss one tiny thing for whatever reason then you have to do the entire day again before you can try and figure out what you did wrong, and even then you may not find it so you'll have to do another day again for another attempt.1. It's unclear that the 'wrong' route will lock you into a continuous loop where you can never progress the story. This happened to me the first time and it aggravated me to no end. It appears it still happens to people, as I see tons of "when does this damn thing end?" comments.
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Yeah, I mean, if Mark just said something like, "You went the wrong way, Ryo!" at the end of the day... would've helped.Yeah, it's really punishing because if you miss one tiny thing for whatever reason then you have to do the entire day again before you can try and figure out what you did wrong, and even then you may not find it so you'll have to do another day again for another attempt.
I guess at least there's walkthroughs these days so a cursory look at those would probably tell you what you missed but stil you're absolutely right that I can see a lot of people not realising that they're missing something.
Like I mentioned above with my example I still got a scene in the evening after I'd missed an important scene so it almost made it seem like I was still progressing. Obviously when I saw the same crate route again I realised what had happened, but anyone who hadn't played before could have just been "Oh they lazily repeated routes lol?" and still thought they were on the right track.
This assumes they made the game that way on purpose. I think some of the event triggers in this part of the game -- like having to approach a warehouse from a particular direction -- is just sloppy game design. I don't think they wanted to punish players for not following the routes because that makes no sense. They just didn't account for people taking alternate routes when setting up the event triggers.Yeah, I mean, if Mark just said something like, "You went the wrong way, Ryo!" at the end of the day... would've helped.
You're totally right. I think that's the honest truth, and something some Yu Suzuki/AM2 fanboys don't want to acknowledge (I count myself part of that group). They weren't demigods, just normal folks like the rest of us. I also think it would've added another half-decade of development to account for all the problems we saw in hindsight. At a certain point you've just got to release your damn game. It would've been great to eat sushi and change your outfits, but how much time would that have added to the game, especially one that was pushing a console like the Dreamcast (or even the Saturn)?This assumes they made the game that way on purpose. I think some of the event triggers in this part of the game -- like having to approach a warehouse from a particular direction -- is just sloppy game design. I don't think they wanted to punish players for not following the routes because that makes no sense. They just didn't account for people taking alternate routes when setting up the event triggers.
It's an interesting question. There are lots of open-world games that dabble in investigative gameplay and mystery solving, but hardly any that make it the core of the game. I think the simple answer is developers/publishers are afraid to create open worlds where the player isn't constantly engaged in, or preparing for, combat.Like why not have more open world mystery games? Seems like a fun twist on the genre and you could interweave it into other gameplay aspects with modern open worlds.
It's an interesting question. There are lots of open-world games that dabble in investigative gameplay and mystery solving, but hardly any that make it the core of the game. I think the simple answer is developers/publishers are afraid to create open worlds where the player isn't constantly engaged in, or preparing for, combat.
The closest thing, off the top of my head, is Deadly Premonition. Yakuza constantly gets compared to Shenmue but on a fundamental, minute-to-minute basis it's completely different. You can't talk to 99% of NPCs, there is no real exploration to be had, and you fight all the time. For more apt comparisons you really have to look at other genres like adventure games, but none really have the depth of interaction that Shenmue is known for.
Ah that's true deadly premominitiom is close though I must admit the "guilty pleasure" parts of that game annoy me more than most. I do love the quirky characters and liveliness of the world though (I did platinum it so stuck with it). I think a smaller open world of about Batman Arkham city size but with interactions with citizens would be cool. In fact Spider-Man 2 if it comes on PS5 could add some cool interaction with local citizens and mystery solving but again it wouldn't be the main part of the game and it would probably just be an excuse to go from one battle to the nextIt's an interesting question. There are lots of open-world games that dabble in investigative gameplay and mystery solving, but hardly any that make it the core of the game. I think the simple answer is developers/publishers are afraid to create open worlds where the player isn't constantly engaged in, or preparing for, combat.
The closest thing, off the top of my head, is Deadly Premonition. Yakuza constantly gets compared to Shenmue but on a fundamental, minute-to-minute basis it's completely different. You can't talk to 99% of NPCs, there is no real exploration to be had, and you fight all the time. For more apt comparisons you really have to look at other genres like adventure games, but none really have the depth of interaction that Shenmue is known for.
Yeah I thought I remembered that game having no point to it's open world. I always had my partner drive and just jumped to missions to get trophies and such. I think you had to go around to landmarks or something? Still though no citizen interaction or side questsYeah, LA Noire was the other mainstream game I was thinking of. The crime scene investigations bear some resemblance -- the way you can pick up and examine objects in detail, and interrogating people is a core element -- but yes, in practice, it's nothing like Shenmue. The open-world in LA Noire is absolutely pointless, for starters. Traversing that game is just busy work.
Yeah, LA Noire was the other mainstream game I was thinking of. The crime scene investigations bear some resemblance -- the way you can pick up and examine objects in detail, and interrogating people is a core element -- but yes, in practice, it's nothing like Shenmue. The open-world in LA Noire is absolutely pointless, for starters. Traversing that game is just busy work.
Roughly halfway probably.Oh also I'm sneaking into warehouse 8 now. About how far am I through the game?
but if he gets as good as her at fighting...she might be impressed
I think it's just the old-school arcade design mentality of "the end-game has to be hard and unforgiving". This sort of thinking was still commonplace in 2001.The first part of Shenmue II is my favorite part of the series but starting with the wooden plank QTE section it takes a severe downward turn. The last bossfight if you fail a QTE you restart it! Why do they triple down on that element so much late in the game? Holy cow did I get tired of it.
Yeah true and honestly the fight itself wasn't difficult i just got annoyed by having to restart with 4 separate QTEsI think it's just the old-school arcade design mentality of "the end-game has to be hard and unforgiving". This sort of thinking was still commonplace in 2001.
(Yes, technically it's not the end of the game, but the final chapter isn't supposed to be challenging.)
I kept looking for QTE guides and totally would have cheated if I could have found one lolI confess, I cheated during the wooden plank QTEs,
I was looking at a decade old FAQ about the QTE order while playing the wooden plank QTEs
Games in the '90s/early 2000s were generally unfair. Regenerating health and checkpoints every 30 seconds are a fairly modern thing. Anyone remember the INSANELY difficult Shinobi for PS2? Not a single checkpoint...