BlueCreeperBoy12 wrote: Jibby wrote: Whilst it does lack that cosy, familiar feel (something I feel was an intentional decision), Shenmue II is definitely the better game to me. It improves on every aspect of the first game and really kicks the story into gear.
And if I'm being honest, I'm not even sure that the world in Shenmue II has any less detail than Shenmue I's world; every corner is absolutely packed with little touches.
I haven't looked at the first game's world in much detail, as i only played it once. I just heard from others that it was less detailed from others on the dojo.
The world is equally as detailed (hell, even more in some wayss), the thing that is less detailed is the worldbuilding/npcs, in SI you can ask almost everyone about your current goal and they'll have specific lines, even when you have some free time you can have random talks with most of them, getting to know them and so on. In SII most of the NPCs are set decorations/tour guides, and there's a lot less interaction with them (there are some random NPCs with specific dialogue, but not many, and not evolving as in the original).
Also it seems that the world is more detailed because you have a lot of free time, and in some ways you have to "investigate more" on a more confined area, so you'll basically know every place like the palm of your hand, in SII I doubt most of the players would visit even half of the places it has (not even counting the random rooms).
I think that SII is a better game, specially by today standards, I don't think I could play a game that basically says to me "hey wait 30 minutes of real time", there's more to do, it's a lot bigger, and expands over the original in almost every aspect, and also adds a lot.
I do still prefer the orignal because of it's atmosphere, it feels like a detective noir in some ways (and SII like a kung fu movie), the world seemed more drab and the story more realistic, the bad people seem actually threatening in the way neither Ren or dou niu felt, and I think the ending of the third disk of Shenmue was better than the whole yellowhead climax.
Also the story felt a lot more personal, the relationships with friends, with Nozomi, Ine-san, it's the type of stuff that I appreciate more.
So there's that.