What's happened in your life in the past 14 years?

[south carmain]

Seems to be a coming out connection! Lol. I wonder if the escapism of shenmue connected with people still trying to understand themselves and not feeling like they fit in?

I'm gay myself but I've never really thought about a connection until reading this topic.... It's known that certain mediums have connected with the 'disassociated or minorities'- X Men being a good example as it is known to have a higher proportion of fans from ethnic/sexual minorities- mutants represent them in a fantasy way I guess....

Gay Shenmue fans unite! Haha. And our representation within Shenmue itself seems to be confined solely to Dou Niu and Yuan...great eh?
EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot Dory Gordie, the dancer/arm wrestler. Not explicitly stated, but COME ON.

You can't convince me terry isn't when he's wearing these shoes

And surrounds himself with guys dressed like this

[Three Blades]

I used to be a member here, but I doubt anyone remembers me. I stopped coming around 2008, I think. When I realized that Shenmue 3 would never come out (HAH).

I can definitely say that Shenmue literally changed my life, and that without it, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Shenmue is what originally made me want to talk to Japanese people online way back in 2002 (I was 16). That is when I started e-mailing the girl to whom I am now married. That was my reason for moving to Japan right after I finished college when I was 21 years old. I came here, studied Japanese for a year, then got bored of studying, so I just went and found a job. That was in 2009.

I'll be honest, when I first became a Junior High School teacher, I thought I'd quit after a couple of months, because I didn't think I had it in me to do that kind of job. But surprisingly to me, I instantly got super popular with everyone in school, so I stuck with it. Now, I have the confidence to speak in front of large groups of students and I make good money doing this.

I guess what I'm saying is that, without Shenmue, I'd probably be stuck in my home country, probably flipping burgers, still too shy to look at people in the eyes when I talk to them. I'd never have had the opportunities to improve myself and gain confidence the way that I did, the way I had to, by coming to Japan on my own.

[Kenny]

I dunno.

Busy, I guess.

[mue 26]

Terry's a proper fashionista.

[Miles Prower]

Seems to be a coming out connection! Lol. I wonder if the escapism of shenmue connected with people still trying to understand themselves and not feeling like they fit in?

I'm gay myself but I've never really thought about a connection until reading this topic.... It's known that certain mediums have connected with the 'disassociated or minorities'- X Men being a good example as it is known to have a higher proportion of fans from ethnic/sexual minorities- mutants represent them in a fantasy way I guess....

Gay Shenmue fans unite! Haha. And our representation within Shenmue itself seems to be confined solely to Dou Niu and Yuan...great eh?
EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot Dory Gordie, the dancer/arm wrestler. Not explicitly stated, but COME ON.

You can't convince me terry isn't when he's wearing these shoes

And surrounds himself with guys dressed like this

Hah! I'd forgotten about Pedro. Yeah, you could be onto something there

[NismoZZzz]

I still remember in December 2001 when I was 15. I imported Shenmue II for DC when I found out all I needed was Gameshark to let my Dreamcast play it. My mother ordered it for my birthday that past October. I was ecstatic and remember how I felt when I saw that massive cliffhanger. Being young and naive, I felt in time I'd get Shenmue III. The older we get, the wiser we get as well. My friends would laugh at me, even to this day, how much I wanted Shenmue III. In its stead, I replaced it with Yazkuza which I do enjoy. In the mean time, I collected anything Shenmue form the strategy guides, to multiple PAL copies of the games and sealed games, to his watch and even that cheap toy from Sonic & Sega All Stars.

Since then, I've gone to four different colleges. Got kicked out of my first university twice, then once from the community college. I gave up on college and worked at GameStop for the longest time until after 5 years I quit because I needed to change my life around. Lost weight, gained confidence, traveled the world and country, made friends, became heavily involved with the gym, and started dating more often. Ended up working for AT&T and through their tuition program, I gave college another try. I realized I enjoyed it, learned so much, and eventually got a Certificate which led to an Associate in Arts. That led to entering another university which I finally complete this August for my Bachelor of Arts. I've left AT&T since, bought a house and apartment overseas, am debating on law school, have a horrible student loan debt lol, have a beautiful girlfriend I love very much that I will become engaged to in the next year hopefully who continuously busts my balls for my love in video games and Shenmue, and now finally Shenmue III is coming. I don't buy games on release anymore, I wait for deals and am in no rush to jump in the front of the line anymore. I've been enjoying my back catalog.

I was on my couch playing Yakuza 4, skipping the Sony conference since the others felt lackluster, when my phone blew up. I check my texts and my friends are saying Shenmue III announced. I laugh thinking it's a joke. I eventually got to my computer and BOOM. Without hesitation I went and donated. I ran around my house like a kid who just got Sega Dreamcast for his birthday. My family looked at me weird, my friends laugh, and my GF thought I was a child who needed to grow up. I'm now 28, I'll be 30 when this game releases. I cannot wait and am so excited.

[Xieldos]

It's been a long time since Shenmue II on the Dreamcast. Since then I've worked my way through school and college, got a full-time job, moved in with my partner and I have a five year old son.

Perhaps one of the blessings of having to wait so long for Shenmue III is that in a few years time when he's a bit older I can introduce my son to Shenmue and see if it catches him the same way that it did me.

[Birty]

I love how this topic has brought some people together and feel like they can open up to how their lives have changed and also been changed by Shenmue. Fantastic!

[murdiaries]

Shenmue got alot of fans here in Italy too

Anyhow, since Shenmue was out:

-Got a fiancee
-Been learing chinese with a old cassette player
-Raised enough money to go to China alone and figure out what to do in my life
-6 months in Tianjin and understood my life's path
-Fiancee made me come back to italy
-Found 2 jobs unrelated with chinese language
-Got hired by the chinese airline in italy since 2007, still working on up today
-Married
-Got a lovely daughter now 3 and half year old

Now waiting to play Shenmue 3 with my wife!!

[bikingjehuty]

I beat Shenmue back in 2003 and Shenmue II in 2004.

Since then I graduated high school (2005) and college (2010), have switched careers, have been in about 10 relationships, and have moved about 6-times. So yeah, a lot lol

[James Brown]

I find it quite strange how the majority of us all seem to be the same age of 28 lol...well I guess to be dedicated to a game for 14 years, you have to be around double that age to have fallen in love with a game like Shenmue.

I still feel young though, and can't believe how the years are suddenly flying by now, it's scary, but now it's a good thing since 2 years until Shenmue 3 won't actually feel that bad ...but deep inside, somewhere in my heart and soul, there's a part of me that literally hasn't aged and has just been on hiatus waiting 14 years for the next game!

In real life though, many of you know I met Yunny on this forum, and she moved to England with me for 2 great years, however because of her visa and she was missing her family she moved back to Canada, and after a few months of not seeing her, the pain was quite hard to take for us both, and I decided that things would be easier if we moved on. Those were honestly 2 of the greatest years of my life though, and I often think back to that time, and it feels like it was a dream that that actually happened. Anyways, I decided to go back to Uni to study Computer Science, and I stayed there for 2 years before dropping out, in the mean time meeting someone and falling in love with them, been with her for around 10 years now, had a dog together, moved into our own home 3 years ago, the dog stayed with my parents, got a new dog, and last November finally got married ...I'm also a postman haha, and been in that current job for over 5 years now, and it's great, keeps me fit and healthy and it's not as boring a job as you'd think, because you chat to people whilst you're out, the weather keeps changing, I listen to music and podcasts whilst working, start pretty early, but then get home early and feel like i've got most of the day to enjoy!

Really great speaking with you all again, Shenmue is the greatest thing i've ever experienced and the dedication of us all proves that. The news of Shenmue 3 brought tears to my eyes, and I struggle to get emotional at stuff, something truely is embedded inside me from this game, I have such a strong emotional attachment to it, and right now I couldn't be happier!

[Locke_cole]

I find it quite strange how the majority of us all seem to be the same age of 28 lol...well I guess to be dedicated to a game for 14 years, you have to be around double that age to have fallen in love with a game like Shenmue.

I still feel young though, and can't believe how the years are suddenly flying by now, it's scary, but now it's a good thing since 2 years until Shenmue 3 won't actually feel that bad ...but deep inside, somewhere in my heart and soul, there's a part of me that literally hasn't aged and has just been on hiatus waiting 14 years for the next game!

In real life though, many of you know I met Yunny on this forum, and she moved to England with me for 2 great years, however because of her visa and she was missing her family she moved back to Canada, and after a few months of not seeing her, the pain was quite hard to take for us both, and I decided that things would be easier if we moved on. Those were honestly 2 of the greatest years of my life though, and I often think back to that time, and it feels like it was a dream that that actually happened. Anyways, I decided to go back to Uni to study Computer Science, and I stayed there for 2 years before dropping out, in the mean time meeting someone and falling in love with them, been with her for around 10 years now, had a dog together, moved into our own home 3 years ago, the dog stayed with my parents, got a new dog, and last November finally got married ...I'm also a postman haha, and been in that current job for over 5 years now, and it's great, keeps me fit and healthy and it's not as boring a job as you'd think, because you chat to people whilst you're out, the weather keeps changing, I listen to music and podcasts whilst working, start pretty early, but then get home early and feel like i've got most of the day to enjoy!

Really great speaking with you all again, Shenmue is the greatest thing i've ever experienced and the dedication of us all proves that. The news of Shenmue 3 brought tears to my eyes, and I struggle to get emotional at stuff, something truely is embedded inside me from this game, I have such a strong emotional attachment to it, and right now I couldn't be happier!

I remember yunny, didnt know you guys were close like that. Still in touch at all?

[James Brown]

I find it quite strange how the majority of us all seem to be the same age of 28 lol...well I guess to be dedicated to a game for 14 years, you have to be around double that age to have fallen in love with a game like Shenmue.

I still feel young though, and can't believe how the years are suddenly flying by now, it's scary, but now it's a good thing since 2 years until Shenmue 3 won't actually feel that bad ...but deep inside, somewhere in my heart and soul, there's a part of me that literally hasn't aged and has just been on hiatus waiting 14 years for the next game!

In real life though, many of you know I met Yunny on this forum, and she moved to England with me for 2 great years, however because of her visa and she was missing her family she moved back to Canada, and after a few months of not seeing her, the pain was quite hard to take for us both, and I decided that things would be easier if we moved on. Those were honestly 2 of the greatest years of my life though, and I often think back to that time, and it feels like it was a dream that that actually happened. Anyways, I decided to go back to Uni to study Computer Science, and I stayed there for 2 years before dropping out, in the mean time meeting someone and falling in love with them, been with her for around 10 years now, had a dog together, moved into our own home 3 years ago, the dog stayed with my parents, got a new dog, and last November finally got married ...I'm also a postman haha, and been in that current job for over 5 years now, and it's great, keeps me fit and healthy and it's not as boring a job as you'd think, because you chat to people whilst you're out, the weather keeps changing, I listen to music and podcasts whilst working, start pretty early, but then get home early and feel like i've got most of the day to enjoy!

Really great speaking with you all again, Shenmue is the greatest thing i've ever experienced and the dedication of us all proves that. The news of Shenmue 3 brought tears to my eyes, and I struggle to get emotional at stuff, something truely is embedded inside me from this game, I have such a strong emotional attachment to it, and right now I couldn't be happier!

I remember yunny, didnt know you guys were close like that. Still in touch at all?

Nah Locke, haven't spoke to her for maybe 8 yearsish? Hope she's still a Shenmue fan and loving the news aswell, sure she is

[James Brown]

I posted here wayyy back at the beginning, on gamespy or something similar. I don't remember my username from when I was a kid and have long since retired the linked email, so I made this account a year or two ago.

I remember two people from back in the day, a user called Shenmue 2 - who was my first and hilarious encounter with a troll. I still remember him faking doctors credentials to back up his claim he was a doctor. The second was someone called Jeff, who I recall was not well liked to funny results.

I also have good memories of Andy, Ryudo, James Brown, Miles Prower and many more.

In the past 14 years, I moved to Japan, started my own company and trawled around Akihabara looking for Shenmue Merch.

It's good to be back!

[ys]

Perhaps one of the blessings of having to wait so long for Shenmue III is that in a few years time when he's a bit older I can introduce my son to Shenmue and see if it catches him the same way that it did me.

If it doesn't, there's only one right course of action here : disown him.

I still feel young though, and can't believe how the years are suddenly flying by now, it's scary, but now it's a good thing since 2 years until Shenmue 3 won't actually feel that bad ...but deep inside, somewhere in my heart and soul, there's a part of me that literally hasn't aged and has just been on hiatus waiting 14 years for the next game!

I'm also a postman haha, and been in that current job for over 5 years now, and it's great, keeps me fit and healthy and it's not as boring a job as you'd think, because you chat to people whilst you're out, the weather keeps changing, I listen to music and podcasts whilst working, start pretty early, but then get home early and feel like i've got most of the day to enjoy!

Now I want to be a postman too. And 28 again But it's good to have that little part that doesn't "grow up". It's usually what keeps people curious and/or creative in different fields.