spud1897 wrote: I think "proper" younger gamers will get beyond the look of it. They will appreciate the story and how well it is told rather than the above flaws.
I'd have to disagree. I think it takes a certain level of perseverance to get to a point in the game where the story really becomes captivating. I was hooked from the beginning when I first played the game because the graphics were revolutionary; but the quality of the game's visuals aren't anything special by today's standards. With that in mind I really don't see new players willing to give the game enough time for it to get good.
As you say - the wait feature would have to be added to an HD port; but I worry that would make the game incredibly short and also rather disjointed. If you consider the actual gameplay involved in the original Shenmue - my guess would be that the game would be completable within two hours if the wait function is added. In this day and age that just isn't long enough (nor has it been since the days of the SNES).
Perhaps if Shenmue 1 and 2 were released as a continuous game that would address the issue; but I don't see Sega doing that as it will halve the money generated through the re-releases. It would also require the first game to be reworked to match the style of Shenmue 2 (IE, they'd have to improve the gameplay a little, alter the controls, add conversation options, gambling, the wait function, etc).
I read a post on here not too long ago regarding the format of any future Shenmue game(s) and can't help but feel that a complete title is the only way to go for the above reason(s). HD ports of the games wouldn't do too much in terms of bringing in new fans to the series because of how dated they've become and poor sales/reviews of the ports would be damaging to the future of the series.