Played Shemue 1 again and Shenmue 2 for the first time, which I had previously only played briefly on an emulator. A very decent HD conversion of both games, about which I have little to criticize. I found the second game of the series at least as strong as the first, although there were a few passages (that damned building complex where you had to fight your way through thousands of floors got on my nerves^^) that were a bit too slow in terms of pacing. Apart from that, the finale of the second game is pure magic, I can't believe how well it was realized.

Shenmue may be pretty outdated in terms of open world game standards these days, but these games were revolutionary at the time. They're vibes, I love the aesthetic, charming story and characters, and simple but fun Virtua Fighter type combat. There's nothing like exploring the world and just kinda talking to NPC's and seeing what they be doing, checking out little secrets and activities, and taking in the world around you that feels truly alive. Hell of a foundation for games like the Like a Dragon series.

Shenmue 1:
In anticipation of Shenmue 3 later in 2019 (maybe), I played through both original adventures. I really quite like the first game, and despite its many shortcomings and limited scope the story remains compelling as do the quirks that make it a genuine and fascinating adventure.

Shenmue 2:
In the continuing effort to catch up on the Shenmue series I played through the second one directly after the first. It was much larger in scope and size, and the story weaves an epic tale through the heart of the Chinese mafia while discovering the secrets that Ryo’s father left behind. The ending dragged on, but it’s still such an epic tale and makes me hyped for the third installment.

Full Review: https://neoncloudff.wordpress.com/2018/09/16/shenmue-hd-review-origins-of-revenge/

Impeccable presentation. The music, cutscenes, and locales are all excellent. There is SEGA essence oozing throughout this whole thing.

The gameplay... was just a damn slog. I don't like fighting games so that core gameplay wasn't really for me... but the adventure piece basically boils down to talking to everyone randomly and investigating the cryptic writing Ryo puts in his notebook. There are also QTE's... which I think we've all decided are bad at this point. Sometimes you just have to wait around to go to bed, which is somewhat of an interesting idea in forcing a player to really "simulate" the world... but it is much more interesting than enjoyable.

In fact, that's a great summary of how I feel about Shenmue: "much more interesting than enjoyable".

( Review do primeiro e assim que jogar o segundo voltarei para completar a review )

Após ver esse jogo em algumas lista pelo youtube a fora resolvi dar uma chance para ele, vi umas gameplays, me interessei e logo o comprei e já fui procurar um tradução e achei uma maravilhosa.
Começei a jogar sem saber o que esperar e o resultado foi: superou qualquer expectativa que eu poderia ter.
Fiquei bobo com esse jogo após finalizá-lo. Ambientação incrível, apesar dos gráficos um pouco antigos os cenários são maravilhosos, apresenta muito bem um bairro pequena de uma cidade que aparenta ser do interior ( não pesquisei ao certo se a cidade se situa no interior, mas tem uma "vibe" muito interior do Japão ) mas resumindo, a ambientação é incrivel.
A história me surpreendeu, gostei muito dela e com a tradução consegui compreender completamente toda a história e os diálogos.
O ponto mais alto desse jogo é que ele parece ser muito vivo, principalmente Dobuita, diálogos que sempre estão mudando dependendo do que fazemos e prosseguimos na história, os npcs representam muito bem como se fossem de uma cidade real, o jogo passa muito bem isso, a cidade parece bem viva ao decorrer da história, e esse pra mim foi a parte mais incrível do jogo, nunca tinha visto algo igual. O sistema de dia e noite com o tempo passando deixa mais real essa experiência
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I'm super biased because I adored these games when they first came out on the Dreamcast, but my god I love these two games!

The controls are clunky, the voice acting is a bit wooden, there's no quality of life features that are commonplace these days, but it just works. Go back to when these games originally came out and it's a miracle what the developers were able to achieve. Games that have come out since have arguably done this better, but they're standing on the shoulders of Shenmue.

At times the pace is glacial. But the whole point is to take each day as it comes and make the most of your time. Shenmue is a living, breathing world and its inhabitants all have their schedules to keep to. Need to ask at an antique shop about the old scroll you found in your basement? You can only do it when the shop is open. It can feel frustrating from a 2024 perspective that you can't just do whatever you want whenever you wish, but again, that's the point of Shenmue. The sequel does add a 'wait' feature if need to be at a certain place at a specific time you can whiz the clock forward. It's a handy implementation but does take away some of the fun of filling your day.

If you've not played these before, it's difficult to recommend them because they are showing their age now. If you're level-headed enough to appreciate that they are old games, you might be surprised at how much enjoyment you'll get out of them.

Again, I'm biased, but these are two of the best games of all time.

Also I just noticed that I finished my last play-through on 6th May and finished this time on 5th May! Spooky!

I made earlier reviews for Shenmue and Shenmue II based on the time I played them when they were released on Dreamcast and Xbox and I rated them both 5 stars. These games aren't 5 stars in 2022 but they are still great games as long as you go in knowing the gameplay and voice acting will be outdated. Still the graphics hold up well for being two decades old and overall these games are still worth the play. An awesome revenge story, fun mini-games, and great QTE. I highly recommend giving them a try.

I thought shenmue offered an interesting premise to try, but it lacks what it takes to really sell it to you. I couldn't even bear to finish 1

The progression is too slow in the beginning, and with the game pushing multiple waiting limitations without enough activities to fill it, i found myself leaving the game running on numerous occasions just to pass the time. This was a deal breaker for me ultimately.

The combat wasn't even the most interesting game element.

If i ever decide to give it another shot, i'll be skipping to 2 directly.