Oh, Shenmue. What a game you are.
This is a bit of a different beast for me, so I'm trying something a bit different here.
This was honestly a surprise hit for me. Ever since I knew my family had a Dreamcast, Shenmue was one of the games we had. I would keep starting it up, and stupid dumb 9-year-old me would get bored. I would then move on to play Toy Story 2. This was a blessing, however, because I only had disc 1 for a long time. This was also a blessing because Toy Story 2 was a good game. I started the game up again, now older (though not any more mature), and actually got a bit invested.
Shenmue's about Ryo Hazuki and his quest to kill a man named Lan Di as vengeance for his father's death. Moreso, however, it's about Ryo and his interactions with his world to get there. You can talk to everyone in the town, and they all have unique voice lines for many parts of the game. This was quite novel for 1999. Ryo's world looks really great for a Dreamcast game, with moderately detailed textures, and a mostly consistent framerate. Where the game both falters and absolutely ironically succeeds is the voice acting. This game's cast is not great, but it kinda adds to the charm.
My biggest gripe with the game is that it overemphasizes relationships between Ryo and certain characters that aren't really shown in-gameplay or story. This is mainly an issue near the end of the game, but it tries to make you care about the characters when they barely do anything. It's not like Shenmue doesn't have characters this would work with. The game does a decent job developing Ryo's relationship with Ine, Fuku, and some others to a lesser extent, but others that I won't get into because spoilers definitely do not deserve the "dramatic" moments.
The game plays like an adventure game, who woulda thunk it? On Dreamcast, for some reason you control Ryo with the D-pad, not the analog stick. You get used to it, but the Dreamcast D-pad isn't great. There's a solid amount of just looking for stuff, but considering I don't remember getting too frustrated over it, it's not that bad. There's also the combat, and it feels kinda slow and clunky, but pretty satisfying once you do manage to get the hang of it. It's a tad unresponsive though. Later in the game, you're introduced to EXTREME FORKLIFT ACTION, and it's surprisingly fun. The game's pretty clever with how it gets you used to the forklift. It starts you out doing a race each day on it, and you get used to the harbor that way. It also makes you learn the best and fastest ways to drive around and make tight corners, making the actual forklifting much faster and more fun. Yeah, despite being a tedious job in real life, in Shenmue I somehow had fun???? I dunno, maybe I'm just a masochist, but it didn't feel like it overstayed its welcome.
Overall, this was a fun time. Not as long as I thought, though I may have also beaten the game faster than most. The story is entertaining and has good moments, I like most of the characters, though some appear to much or too little, and I really did get invested into the game's world. However, like I said before, some character moments don't land, and unlike what i just said, it can be tedious or vague at times. I never needed to resort to a guide, though. I'd give this game an 8.1/10. It's nothing groundbreaking nowadays, but if you give it a shot you may enjoy it.
As for what version, HD is probably the way to go. The game looks stunning in 480p on an actual Dreamcast, but HD controls better, looks better, and is just waaaayyy more accessible. If you happen to have a DreamPi Dreamcast, I'd actually say go for the DC version due to the exclusive online features, but if you are dedicated enough into the Dreamcast for that, you probably already have Shenmue there, so just play it there. There isn't a bad way to play this game.
This is a bit of a different beast for me, so I'm trying something a bit different here.
This was honestly a surprise hit for me. Ever since I knew my family had a Dreamcast, Shenmue was one of the games we had. I would keep starting it up, and stupid dumb 9-year-old me would get bored. I would then move on to play Toy Story 2. This was a blessing, however, because I only had disc 1 for a long time. This was also a blessing because Toy Story 2 was a good game. I started the game up again, now older (though not any more mature), and actually got a bit invested.
Shenmue's about Ryo Hazuki and his quest to kill a man named Lan Di as vengeance for his father's death. Moreso, however, it's about Ryo and his interactions with his world to get there. You can talk to everyone in the town, and they all have unique voice lines for many parts of the game. This was quite novel for 1999. Ryo's world looks really great for a Dreamcast game, with moderately detailed textures, and a mostly consistent framerate. Where the game both falters and absolutely ironically succeeds is the voice acting. This game's cast is not great, but it kinda adds to the charm.
My biggest gripe with the game is that it overemphasizes relationships between Ryo and certain characters that aren't really shown in-gameplay or story. This is mainly an issue near the end of the game, but it tries to make you care about the characters when they barely do anything. It's not like Shenmue doesn't have characters this would work with. The game does a decent job developing Ryo's relationship with Ine, Fuku, and some others to a lesser extent, but others that I won't get into because spoilers definitely do not deserve the "dramatic" moments.
The game plays like an adventure game, who woulda thunk it? On Dreamcast, for some reason you control Ryo with the D-pad, not the analog stick. You get used to it, but the Dreamcast D-pad isn't great. There's a solid amount of just looking for stuff, but considering I don't remember getting too frustrated over it, it's not that bad. There's also the combat, and it feels kinda slow and clunky, but pretty satisfying once you do manage to get the hang of it. It's a tad unresponsive though. Later in the game, you're introduced to EXTREME FORKLIFT ACTION, and it's surprisingly fun. The game's pretty clever with how it gets you used to the forklift. It starts you out doing a race each day on it, and you get used to the harbor that way. It also makes you learn the best and fastest ways to drive around and make tight corners, making the actual forklifting much faster and more fun. Yeah, despite being a tedious job in real life, in Shenmue I somehow had fun???? I dunno, maybe I'm just a masochist, but it didn't feel like it overstayed its welcome.
Overall, this was a fun time. Not as long as I thought, though I may have also beaten the game faster than most. The story is entertaining and has good moments, I like most of the characters, though some appear to much or too little, and I really did get invested into the game's world. However, like I said before, some character moments don't land, and unlike what i just said, it can be tedious or vague at times. I never needed to resort to a guide, though. I'd give this game an 8.1/10. It's nothing groundbreaking nowadays, but if you give it a shot you may enjoy it.
As for what version, HD is probably the way to go. The game looks stunning in 480p on an actual Dreamcast, but HD controls better, looks better, and is just waaaayyy more accessible. If you happen to have a DreamPi Dreamcast, I'd actually say go for the DC version due to the exclusive online features, but if you are dedicated enough into the Dreamcast for that, you probably already have Shenmue there, so just play it there. There isn't a bad way to play this game.