Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

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Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby lavrentis » Thu Jun 18, 2015 4:54 pm

Yeah, some games do have devoted fans but I genuinely think the core Shenmue fans are different.

I think in some cases it has had a life changing effect on people, people go to Japan and get interested in the culture etc

The story is good but I think it is the atmosphere of the games and the look and feel that really made it stick with people. The tranquil ambient music to the well thought out subtleties that you don't consciously notice. It's hard to describe. There's just something different.

Someone summed it up saying it's like a religion to some fans and I think this is a big part of the reason Shenmue III was announced.

It's just a game but to many people for whatever reason it is more than that..
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Re: Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby ConanTheKing » Thu Jun 18, 2015 4:57 pm

My personal reasoning is that it's the same reason everyone loves Assassin's Creed in that it's a unique cultural setting. Of course games have taken place in Japan before, but not with so much culture and atmosphere, it's something different and exciting.
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Re: Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby Peter » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:01 pm

Because we know truely that this is one of the greatest games ever made. Not graphically, not from a sound point of view, not from anything specific....

It is a truely special game that, since its release, not one game has been able to recapture the collective qualities which make it great. When you truely love something in life, you love it for all its aspects. Its good points. Its bad points, And Shenmue has a lot of both. But one couldnt exist without the other, and thats what all comes together. It makes it a masterpiece, which slowly but surely, people have came to understand.

It was made in an era where games were games. Pre open world GTA. Pre kill anything that moves Modern Warfare. It was a 101 lesson in how to generate an emotional connection with a piece of coding, some art and sound, a little console and a controller.

It was the right game, for the right people at the right time, and after 14 years, people are finally waking up. Older gamers who get drunk on its nostaliga, and new gamers who have seen through the facade of a killstreak or AAA game which has just been rehashing the same krud for 5-7 years. Its a gamers game, and people are realising that.

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Re: Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby Three Blades » Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:05 pm

Because it's the best game ever. That's all that needs to be said.
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Re: Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby csmakio » Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:35 pm

At one point in my life I would say it was the best game ever, not necessarily the case now as games have evolved so much in 14 years. Shenmue obviously holds a very, very special place in my heart or I wouldn't be back at the Dojo. Shenmue was revolutionary, Shenmue was record breaking. It was the first game of it's kind and it pulled me in like nothing else I have ever experienced. The atmosphere, the characters, the story, dat fucking soundtrack. Shenmue was and is a work of art. It was an experience that us fans ate up.

I also think a lot of it for us fan's coincides with the birth of widely available internet. Solid internet access had just started becoming widely available and the community that built around Shenmue was something to behold. I remember sitting in class and study hall searching endlessly to find every nook and cranny of the Shenmue world. Soon as I found Ryos Place\ShenmueDojo I was at home. I love this community.
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Re: Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby Locke_cole » Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:04 pm

Shenmue can transport me to a certain place and time....I don't mean 80's japan, I mean my bedroom in my old house.

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Re: Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby shredingskin » Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:42 pm

On a personal level it introduced me to buddhism when I was 9 (now I'm atheist, but whatever), I did martial arts since I was 5, I was a SEGA fanboy.

But why did it stick so much ? I've never played a game like it since.
It's not Yakuza (rpg-beat them up), it's not a puzzle/inventory based adventure game, it's not a sidequest "bring me my pot that was stolen by a dragon" WRPG, it's not a dungeon crawler JRPG, it's not a "cinematic game" that tries too hard on making you "feel emotions" or that gives you a couple of options to make you interested, it wasn't the histrionic "let's be all action".

Even after studying 2 years of game design I can still say that no other game struck the chord like Shenmue did, simply it's great. Like a hug from someone from a future time, but you can feel nostalgia about it.

It had it's own pace, it was different, it's quite bold, it's Shenmue, it was what the 9 year old me thought that games were going to be and what my 9 year old still thinks that this is what games SHOULD be.
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Re: Why does Shenmue have such a devoted fanbase?

Postby OL » Fri Jun 19, 2015 3:45 am

I personally think a huge part of it is simply that so much was promised for this grand series of games, only for the rug to be pulled out from under its fans when it ended on a cliffhanger with no resolution whatsoever. It's hard to think of another series where this has happened, where we've been shown proof that a story is already prepared, but were left with that aching feeling that we may end up screwed out of it.
Sure, it's also partly the fact that the games are so great and have a feeling like nothing else, yaddah yaddah, but it's that one-two punch of fantastic games + cliffhanger which totally cemented that some people were going to end up really passionate and devoted to it.

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