Managed the motorcycle race first time by the skin of my teeth. I'd forgotten how tough it was, especially for my younger self who didn't quite grasped that braking might be important for not ramming into the sides of the road.
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Shenmue I & II HD |OT| Like a polished mirror
- Thread starter IrishNinja
- Start date
And that's Shenmue 2 plat'ed/completed. What a lovely end to the game, not sure I've played any other game that
.
Chapter 4 is so darn nice - its relaxing, got some beautiful scenery and music and is just a nice way to relax and spend an evening. That ending though... well at least we know Shenmue 3 is coming now! Cannot wait for the gameplay trailer in a few days.
As for the port of Shenmue 2, I know especially around launch it had issues, but I feel the port now is pretty darn good. Only sound issues I knowingly encountered were the darts music being a bit odd at points (meh) and the dice sound effect in "Roll on top" going silent if you quickly skip dialogue when placing a bet (easily mitigated or just ignored, not like I played that mini game lots at once). I know other people had issues with the way music sounded but honestly I didn't notice, still sounded great to me. Otherwise the port was wonderful - still looks pretty nice today (especially some of the character models) and the lack of load times really helps explore the larger areas in Hong Kong and Kowloon.
has the big epic setpiece/boss fight(s) occur 75% through the game, and then has you do a very relaxed world building part as the ending. Granted chapter 4 was basically the beginning of the next big plot point of the game, but still its not something I can recall any other game doing
Chapter 4 is so darn nice - its relaxing, got some beautiful scenery and music and is just a nice way to relax and spend an evening. That ending though... well at least we know Shenmue 3 is coming now! Cannot wait for the gameplay trailer in a few days.
As for the port of Shenmue 2, I know especially around launch it had issues, but I feel the port now is pretty darn good. Only sound issues I knowingly encountered were the darts music being a bit odd at points (meh) and the dice sound effect in "Roll on top" going silent if you quickly skip dialogue when placing a bet (easily mitigated or just ignored, not like I played that mini game lots at once). I know other people had issues with the way music sounded but honestly I didn't notice, still sounded great to me. Otherwise the port was wonderful - still looks pretty nice today (especially some of the character models) and the lack of load times really helps explore the larger areas in Hong Kong and Kowloon.
Just completed 2 for the second time since first completing it in 2003 and that ending still gets to me, even more so knowing that part three is coming out.
"The one who holds the Phoenix...."
My one gripe is, WHY DID THEY CHANGE THE MUSIC DURING THE ENDING SCENE!?
"The one who holds the Phoenix...."
My one gripe is, WHY DID THEY CHANGE THE MUSIC DURING THE ENDING SCENE!?
The games did receive several patches and are in much better state than launch. You will not notice any issues if you buy the collection now.
It's not a mess, but there are still lots of bugs that most people probably won't notice. The biggest thing I notice is that the PS4 version never completely fixed the audio for footsteps. It is not bad, but is different than the Xbox version.
The footsteps thing is such a small thing I never really cared enough to be bothered about it. Now the audio in Darts on Shenmue 2 still being weird, that was disappointing.
You'll likely need to adjust the gamma levels. That's all I can think of.
Finally got around to playing through Shenmue 2 again. I still enjoy the first game more, but I forgot just how good that last section in Kowloon is (and how weird that last part in the stone pit is). I was planning on this being my last playthrough before 3, but I think I'll go through one more time this summer.
It's a shame about the audio in Shenmue 2, it didn't make the game unplayable or anything, but there were definitely parts that sounded pretty bad and I'm not usually the most observant person. Still worth it to be able to play these on modern platforms though.
It's a shame about the audio in Shenmue 2, it didn't make the game unplayable or anything, but there were definitely parts that sounded pretty bad and I'm not usually the most observant person. Still worth it to be able to play these on modern platforms though.
For those of you with the PC version. I've been playing Shenmue with mods from early on, including some of my own custom hi res texture experiments.
About to finally play through Shenmue 2 (live on Twitch, most likely) with even more mods, like potentially fixing all the weird audio/music stuff.
About to finally play through Shenmue 2 (live on Twitch, most likely) with even more mods, like potentially fixing all the weird audio/music stuff.
I didn't even think about checking for mods before starting my playthrough, I'll have to check them out next time. Hopefully that will fix most of the issues I had.
Yeah some of the BGM is available in a fixed state, as well as the English audio taken from Dreamcast without the compression introduced in the remaster (En and Jp got this treatment as well).
Here is a clip of the intro so you can see what it looks like with proper 16:9 cinematics, some ambient occlusion, higher res textures, and a few other little effects.
Finishing up another playthrough of Shenmue II and boy do some of those QTEs near the end really bother me. The wooden planks being the absolute worst of them all - What were they thinking with that?!
But still, absolutely incredible game. A masterpiece! Seeing the ending now and knowing there is more on the way this time gives me feelings I seriously cannot describe. The last act was always kind of depressing for me because it felt like such a sad and sudden conclusion to something that was otherwise just getting started.
Also, I have played fighting games all of my life, but in recent years I have taken it a lot more seriously and holy cow I can actually feel that imact in some of the later fights in Shenmue II! When I was much younger some of these scenes felt too hard but now I know how to react to just about every type of encounter. It really is an incredible feeling.
But still, absolutely incredible game. A masterpiece! Seeing the ending now and knowing there is more on the way this time gives me feelings I seriously cannot describe. The last act was always kind of depressing for me because it felt like such a sad and sudden conclusion to something that was otherwise just getting started.
Also, I have played fighting games all of my life, but in recent years I have taken it a lot more seriously and holy cow I can actually feel that imact in some of the later fights in Shenmue II! When I was much younger some of these scenes felt too hard but now I know how to react to just about every type of encounter. It really is an incredible feeling.
I've started playing the PS4 version of Shenmue II and would like to know - were the audio screw ups ever resolved in the end? I remember people posting clips of how messed up some of the compositions were around release time, one example being the apartment block in Hong Kong and how distorted it was compared to the original.
The main reason I ask is that the music is incredibly low in the mix, and I genuinely don't know if it's intentional and was like that in the Dreamcast version or if it's a legitimate fault. The music playing when I open the notebook on the other hand is VERY LOUD. Maybe I should dig out my Dreamcast copy and compare them.
The main reason I ask is that the music is incredibly low in the mix, and I genuinely don't know if it's intentional and was like that in the Dreamcast version or if it's a legitimate fault. The music playing when I open the notebook on the other hand is VERY LOUD. Maybe I should dig out my Dreamcast copy and compare them.
Most, but not all. Currently it is significantly better than release, however.
There must be just some innate difficulty/poor documentation in how the music was originally handled on Dreamcast hardware. Even AM2 had issues judging by the few tracks in Shenmue IIx that are missing instruments compared to the Dreamcast release of II.
Thanks for the response. Shenmue 2 still to this day has one of the greatest OSTs I've ever heard in this medium, so it's a genuine shame that the soundtrack didn't make a seamless transition during the remaster process.
Also, I recall having a similar problem with Shenmue 1 HD when I played through it last year - that the music was just too damn quiet compared to the SFX and speech. It's driving me nuts lol.
I just started Shenmue II and the sound mix is much improved over the first game in my opinion. In Shenmue I had the voices turned down to 25%, with music and SFX set to 75%, but there was still some volume issues that were impossible to correct with the menu sliders.
Straight away the levels in Shenmue II seemed more correct to me -- I could hear the ambient SFX as well as the background music, the notebook music wasn't ridiculously loud, the "picked up item" sound wasn't painfully blown out etc. All of these things were annoying in the first game. That's to say nothing of the VO quality which is a 1000% better and makes a huge difference (I can't play Shenmue II in English anymore, the VO is just too bad).
Got my copy of Shenmue I & II on Xbox One and I'm finally going to play Shenmue II! :D
I'm gonna go straight to II because I already played and enjoyed I back when it first came out on Dreamcast. Always meant to play II one day, I still own it on PAL DC and the original Xbox version (would have been my preferred version as I like the dub!) but just never got round to it.
Now I shall!
I'm gonna go straight to II because I already played and enjoyed I back when it first came out on Dreamcast. Always meant to play II one day, I still own it on PAL DC and the original Xbox version (would have been my preferred version as I like the dub!) but just never got round to it.
Now I shall!
Enjoy! Shenmue II is definitely one of the best games of 2001, which is saying something considering how crazily stacked that year was.
So it seems like the PC version of this collection (with mods) is a great way to play these games. I still need to play through these. I remember picking up the original Shenmue used from EB about 6 months after launch and being absolutely floored by it. I played through Shenmue 1 many times and then imported the PAL version of Shenmue 2. I later got Shenmue 2 on Xbox. I never beat Shenmue 2 as there's a lot of tedious aspects to that game but I would really like to rectify that.
EDIT:
I think I'm going to pull the trigger on this collection now that it's on sale. Is Shenmue Dojo the best resource for mods?
EDIT:
I think I'm going to pull the trigger on this collection now that it's on sale. Is Shenmue Dojo the best resource for mods?
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I played both 20 years ago, but this is the first time I'm enjoying the first one in such a long time.
Maybe is the japanese environment, but to me the first one is just magic. I love the slow pace, everything develops so well.
Atmosphere in the first game is still unmatched to me in any other game. The way its got that small town vibe, everyone knows everyone else etc. Blew me away 20 odd years ago and still I can't think of any game that does it quite like Shenmue does. Its also really cool how the sequel manages to flip that all on its head with the feeling of solidarity - no friends or family to help you here, everyone is a stranger, and no one seems particularly trustworthy. Makes me really excited to experience Shenmue 3, as after the latest trailer I'm quite confident it'll have a great atmosphere like the first two.
Yes that's true. The whole project sums up perfectly the theme of "Journey". Suzuki's vision is so large and with the next chapter in the saga, the story is complete just at 40%! (As he said).
That's why the first one is still my favourite, and even thought it's not in Japan, I'm really looking forward to the return to a small town in Shenmue III.
I recently finished a playthrough of both and enjoyed Shenmue II more than I remembered, but it's not the same.
What's the current state of Shenmue on Steam? Bugs, etc.
Also, is there any easy way to implement Japanese text (i.e. interface and subtitles) in it? I know there is some out there, but I'm wondering if it's compatible with both games, and if it still works as of the latest patch?
Also, is there any easy way to implement Japanese text (i.e. interface and subtitles) in it? I know there is some out there, but I'm wondering if it's compatible with both games, and if it still works as of the latest patch?
Seems they stopped patching it quite a while ago.
Someone has been working on porting the entire Shenmue 1 Passport and is three days away from releasing it:
Someone has been working on porting the entire Shenmue 1 Passport and is three days away from releasing it:
Great news! Thank you very much for sharing.
This game is such a joy to play..well more than a game, it is an "experience". So glad that thanks to the remaster everybody can enjoy it 20 years later.
This is pretty incredible, love the passion from the fans. It's crazy to think there are legitimately people who love Shenmue more than I do. I remember when Shenmue 1 & 2 released on Dreamcast & Xbox, and I was the only one in my circle that gave a damn about the series.
holy cow. someone at SoJ found the original scripts for 'The Legend of Akira' AKA Virtua Fighter RPG, and they've got the Guilin script.
Downloaded, extremely cool to have. Gave it 5 stars. Thanks for the heads up.
I made a backup of Suka pass on my pc. How many memories! Looking forward next updates.
Hope SEGA doesn't put it down! (cause it includes a large number of tracks from soundtrack)
Hope SEGA doesn't put it down! (cause it includes a large number of tracks from soundtrack)
I don't know why I didn't consider this until now but Sega was incredibly stupid to not just delay this game until today, right? I mean, 9/9/2019. The 20th anniversary of the Dreamcast. That's basically built in marketing. On top of that the devs for this collection would've had more time to clean the game up so maybe it would not have been a total disaster at launch.
Their goal was to get the game out before Shenmue 3 to capitalize upon the renewed interest in the series with the third game coming out. Development started back when Shenmue 3 was still planned for release in 2018 and I & II was announced when that was still the expected release date. Sega is not directly involved with Shenmue 3 and the delay to 2019 was not announced until the day that Shenmue I & II was released.
I was browsing through my Watched Threads list and took a quick glance at this "dead" thread before deleting it and am I glad I did. That Suka Pass is amazing. I'll be sure to browse through it for nostalgia purposes before the third game hits!
I love how it details elements or back stories of a lot of NPCs which are hinted at but no overtly mentioned in main plot.
Shenmue's attention to detail in its characters and environment are quite staggering. Speaking of NPCs, while doing my pre Shenmue 3 playthrough I've been speaking to a few different NPCs and the amount of little details you get from them is really cool, just filling in minor NPC backstories as you progress through the game, some really funny dialogue to be seen as well. Plus, even though I've played through the games many times, I'm still seeing brand new cutscenes even now (I saw a completely different scene when the kitten's injury healed).
This is definitely my favourite chill out game, its just so nice to relax and slowly play through a day or two of the game story. Maybe do some darts or Hang On while progressing the main story. I'm just up to the Phoenix Mirror stuff, which has some awesome optional cutscenes if you speak to certain people before going to see Master Chen.
This is definitely my favourite chill out game, its just so nice to relax and slowly play through a day or two of the game story. Maybe do some darts or Hang On while progressing the main story. I'm just up to the Phoenix Mirror stuff, which has some awesome optional cutscenes if you speak to certain people before going to see Master Chen.
Hi-res enables a resolution bump, bringing the visuals to HD. Bloom I believe is the light bloom effect that was added to the OG Xbox version of Shenmue 2. I used hi-res ON and bloom OFF because I prefer a clearer (cleaner?) image quality.
High-resolution increases resolution to 1080p and ensures there's no shimmering as a lot of the first two games use mitmaps. I would enable this. I found the bloom effect overdone but it helped some night scenes in Shenmue 2. I personally disabled this to ensure a more authentic look.
Okies seems like it won't hurt ta see what its like in hi-res with bloom being a no-go for the first one. Sounds like a plan!