Shenmue Dojo

I don't know I guess I just really loved the atmosphere it gave out while working at night at the lucky hit stand in the south carmain qr

Shenmue II on the Dreamcast with a VGA adaptor on a LCD TV.


Total experience with headphones on. Not bashing Shenmue, but comparing the dull grey, green and blue colours to the vibrant colour pallette of all the various locations in Shenmue II easily make it the more visually appealing. Plus the sheer size of the game compared to the original. I mean the Kowloon building raid topic that was done when the game was released truely was fantastic.

For Shenmue II, the QTE setpieces also had their ante upped, with the memorable one against Yuan and her henchmen being a memorable event.

Just feel the sequel is a stellar game. Absolutely fantastic.

It does look amazing via VGA, it's the only way I prefer to play.

Though Shenmue IIx also looked great via X-Box's HD component cables on a native 4:3 HD CRT. I miss mine so much.

Ahh, the good ol' days...

I would come out and say Shenmue II straight away. It's greater scale makes the atmosphere more impressive than the first, imo. Also, the sequel refines the gameplay (skipping time, dialouge options) and has more to do.

However of course it would have to be the DC PAL version, simply because of voice acting.

Not to dimish the first game by any means, I just think the sequel does things a step further for me.

Shenmue I.

Shenmue II, to me, felt like one foot forward and one step back, still one of the best sequels I've ever played though. My issues with SII stem with the lack of interaction with the environment compared to SI; no telephones, not as many objects to pick up, less fight QTEs and more chase QTEs, carrying crates by hand was WAY more tedious than by forklift, less unique NPCs (most of them were nameless, which helped with the player feeling like Ryo; being in a foreign land and all), I also prefered SI's music. I also feel that SI was more realistic, whilst SII was more "cinematic", maybe due to its epic scope? Having replayed the games a couple of months back after a long time of not playing, II felt weaker to me. Disc 1 and the first half of Disc 2 dragged harder for me than I recalled. Like other people are saying, I think it ultimately comes down to which game's atmosphere you prefer, I personally prefer SI's, since it did feel so "homely" or maybe it was just because I played SI first? Either way, I love both games, but SI is still, to this day, one of the best games I've ever played. I still remember being late to school many times, waking up at 6AM and playing until 8.50AM when school started at 9AM, just so I could play more Shenmue.

And I'll always remember how excited I was for SII, in fact, there's only MGS2 where there was a game sequel I just as excited for. That excitement was rewarded, since it wasn't just more of the same, SII delivered in a big way. Best Christmas, ever (well, since I got SI for Christmas)!

Good times.

Would have to give it to II. Just bigger and better IMO and disc 3 was just epic in so many ways and i loved disc 4 as well.

1 was probably more character focused on the whole and had a much better job and its very close for me but yeah II just!

1 also had the better VA for Shenhua.

Got a quick question to the ones who said they played Shenmue II first. Why didn't you play it in chronological order? Was it just a game you stumbled upon ,or was it a matter of availability or something else? and FYI I never played Shenmue II on the dreamcast and I was sad to hear that Shenmue II was only a Euro import, so I was ecstatic to hear that Shenmue II was on the Xbox . I'm also probably more fond of Ryo's English voice. It'd seem foreign to me to hear it in Japanese.

shenmuekidsx wrote:Got a quick question to the ones who said they played Shenmue II first. Why didn't you play it in chronological order? Was it just a game you stumbled upon ,or was it a matter of availability or something else? and FYI I never played Shenmue II on the dreamcast and I was sad to hear that Shenmue II was only a Euro import, so I was ecstatic to hear that Shenmue II was on the Xbox . I'm also probably more fond of Ryo's English voice. It'd seem foreign to me to hear it in Japanese.

I never owned a Dreamcast when it was still on the market and at the time Shenmue II came out I'd not had an Xbox very long. To think for years I was contempt just watching Shenmue: The Movie..

I think I got mine when it was dying haha. Prolly around early 2001, late 2000. I actually found out about Shenmue when my relative brought it over and he showed me it. My 10 year old brain near had a mind explosion when I first saw it. He never wanted it back so I kept it. Been a huge fan ever since.

Almost bought mine near the end because it was cheaper than the Xbox. Imagine having to choose between an Xbox and Dreamcast because of a Shenmue game..

shenmuekidsx wrote:He never wanted it back

I don't know what to say, well lucky for you anyway

Crimson Ryan wrote:I never owned a Dreamcast when it was still on the market and at the time Shenmue II came out I'd not had an Xbox very long. To think for years I was contempt just watching Shenmue: The Movie.

You are dead to me!

Shenmue 2.

[*]The music is better, which is a big deal to me
[*]The fighting is better, and there's more of it.
[*]The environments are bigger- there's more to explore and more cool things to find.
[*]I prefer the characters. Ren and Xiuying in particular.
[*] The story is more exciting and engaging
[*]I love the sense of adventure Shenmue 2 has
[*]There's something about China and Hong Kong that's always interested me, and I love the visuals of the game.

I can't really put it into words, but some aspect of China (HK in particular) draws me in. The traditional fashion, architecture, food, writing and culture appeals to me. It's history fascinates me and I've read a lot about it in recent years. It blew my mind when I first discovered the real history of the Walled City after having played Shenmue 2 about a dozen times. I visited for 6 nights in February and felt like I sort of identified with the place already. Hong Kong holds a sort of mystique for me that nowhere else in the world does, and Shenmue 2 visually and musically embodies that

If they ever rebooted Shenmue i would love them to add a couple more areas to Shenmue 1 with a new area on the way to the harbor or something.