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!
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!
It breaks my heart knowing that we probably won't see the full conclusion of Ryos story...however there is magic captured in these games that no other game has ever been able to reproduce. Sure, graphically better looking games exist, but I don't think any game matches the beauty and life that Shenmue does. This game bleeds with the love of the team behind it. I first played these games in 2019 and they changed my life. Leaps and bounds ahead of it's time, and cursed to never be fully appreciated by the modern gamer. It's 2024 and I don't think a single open world game has come close to capturing the same magic that's inside these games. You either get it, or you don't...and I feel sorry for you if you don't.