Shenmue Dojo

Put the gaf thread out of its misery. It's the only way to be sure.

I really have to wonder if I was a child genius if some of the things being picked on in the GAF thread are really that hard to understand.

The original pales in comparison to the sequel in terms of clarity of story and mechanics, but good god, you'd think the game was a crazed fever dream the way things are playing out in there.

Maybe Shenmue I was made less user-friendly on purpose to weed out the unworthy.

Mr357 wrote: Maybe Shenmue I was made less user-friendly on purpose to weed out the unworthy.

Nahhhh. There are issues, and Shenmue II wouldn't have fixed them if they were intentional. Still, I wonder if modern games have made people lazy on the experimentation and exploration front.

Spaghetti wrote:[...] The original pales in comparison to the sequel in terms of clarity of story and mechanics, but good god, you'd think the game was a crazed fever dream the way things are playing out in there.

Shenmue I especially, requires patient attention (and it isn't about intelligence). Shenmue II has a more streamlined version of the F.R.E.E. formula, for sure. However, personally, the first time I played SII I got disappointed, because it felt like you are on rails; you're taken from event to event hastily. The change of pace from SI to SII makes you feel dizzy and lost. I wish I hadn't bought the maps the first time, because that altered negatively the sense of exploration. I appreciate, though, that this is a change in how you feel in a strange and threatening place (like how Ryo would feel).

For all that, this is what makes me to consider SI as a favourite compared to SII. Because, in the first, you are one with the world. The pace, atmosphere, all the audiovisual sensory, the small scale, the NPCs who are much more believable and lively etc, contribute way better to stay in the "zone", to be fully immersed in the surroundings. Let's not forget the level of deep detail, especially in the Hazuki residence (which has so much but not so fully utilized potential).

Gamers have all the rights to consider Shenmue as a bad/terrible game and the freedom to mock it, if that makes them feel better. They don't understand, then, why this series is so beloved. The easiest solution for them: consider fans as lunatics or assholes... But why they do that?



They try to find fixed and trusted game elements in Shenmue. Pure gaming elements. But Shenmue, by definition, tried to overcome the taboos and the traditional, to transcend them. It seems to me that, their gaming backgrounds favour fast paced and GTA-like games (eg) and/or ones that favour action first (frequent fighting events). Also, they need the game to tell them what to do.

In Shenmue there's a linear storyline to follow, and then the freedom to proceed when you want. It favours culture representation and interaction with the world, with a quality that makes it feel real; earthly, grounded, rudimentary and with the everyday-realities (interactive lifelike audiovisual experience). It's also pro-social; converse with anyone and be kind. And, at specific occasions, to act altruistically.

Yu Suzuki himself said (in the Project Berkley video) that he wanted to create a mind-calm, soothing gaming experience with Shenmue. To portray the romance and mystique of the cultures featured. A think-based approach, with expectations for your heart to be touched emotionally; feelings of warmth. How to explain it... a visceral/gut feeling that you are organically one with what is being shown on the screen.

We shouldn't expect to see the day when the vast majority of people will show respect for this series. It has a lot of idiosyncrasies that only certain people (but certainly not few, as it was believed some time ago) will relate to and be enchanted/entranced by.

The worst feeling, at the end of the day, when writing about Shenmue (and its acceptance or not by players), is that you haven't covered everything about all these...

Today's episode... man. Holy fucking shit.

This was the most painful thing I've ever watched.



Could physically feel the frustration through my bones.

What already makes me mad, is that dumbs and dumbers will blame the game for the GB crew actual mediocrity.

Edit: I have the feeling I should stay away from the NeoGAF thread because I'm probably going to lose it

The thread is actually kind of quiet right now, although they do occasionally chat about it in the GB community thread...

I think it's going to be a quiet one until tomorrow because this episode made GB look incompetent as fuck. It was worth it for the meltdown when they found the mysterious scroll, but good god.

Extra traffic from threads like this one should help convince them they're taking the right approach, so look forward to more of the same.

Let's Get Sweaty wrote: Extra traffic from threads like this one should help convince them they're taking the right approach, so look forward to more of the same.

I can't help but keep an eye on this run. Beside, I'm enjoying it... well, most of it. I don't think the guys play so badly on purrpose. I think they are the perfect example of the "average" modern gamer.

Modern gamers is why we can't have nice things.

Fuck, that game me an anxiety peak.

They did the same at the start of the game "looks like we missed stuff to pick up" 10 seconds later they don't pick up the photo.

It's lolzy, but fuck man, at this pace I'm not sure I (or them) will stay alive to see the ending of the game.

TBH never noticed the lack of the A promt while "investigating".

I guess this is why we have all linear and scripted games.

I think that playing while talking and trying to be funny it's also pretty distracting anyway.

Apparently the guy was hitting the zoom button while pressing A.

Never noticed it worked like that, pretty stupid scheme.

I press a and zoom all the time