harris_t wrote: It's a chronological game. This isn't Final Fantasy.
Might as well recommend people to download and watch Breaking Bad on shuffle.
How about saying "Buy a beat up sega dreamcast from the internet or craigslist and the games."
I'm not saying that it wouldn't be ideal to play the first two games before Shenmue III. All I'm saying is that from a commercial standpoint it makes sense to advertise your game as one that doesn't require anything else to be enjoyable. He's not going to say "I'm pleased to announce Shenmue 3, but please make sure you find yourself a Sega Dreamcast and play Shenmue 1 and 2 first, otherwise you just aren't going to enjoy this new game."
Regardless, saying that it's best to play Shenmue 1 and 2 first is something nobody can actually claim. Quality of experience is largely biased and you cannot have one other than your own. I played Shenmue 1 on Dreamcast and then Shenmue 2 on Xbox, and I
believe my experience to be best because it is the one I experienced. But is it truly better than the experience had by someone who played both on Dreamcast? Or someone who played 2 before 1? That cannot be answered. All I can say for certain is that the experiences would be different but I cannot say which would be better.