What do you like most about Shenmue ?

[Gavan]

1) The living, detailed, immersive world.
2) The story and characters.
3) The gameplay (investigating, fighting, QTEs)
4) The music.

[Wude-Tang Clan]

Being a degenerate gambler.

[mindcrime]

Shenmue was just so full of detail - so incredibly immersive - like nothing I had ever experienced. I've mentioned this before but I only used to play games like Quake, Unreal and Half-Life until I was introduced to Shenmue, and it was like a door leading to another dimension. I'm definitely not knocking those games in any way - I absolutely loved them - but Shenmue brought something very different to the table.

In Shenmue things and people had a purpose - they mattered. I was talking to people instead of just filling them with hot lead. Going for a walk around town wasn't boring or unnecessary - it was a pleasure. I was driven by an urge to discover interesting places (even if they didn't "do" anything) and find more cool and/or weird people to interact with.

- It didn't feel like I was "playing a videogame" -- I was living someone's day-to-day life
- The (almost) complete freedom in a detailed, living and believable world
- Playing darts in the arcade (I was really into darts back then)
- The music... oh my god... THE MUSIC
- Always had a soft spot for Nozomi. Sweet girl. Too bad Ryo had other things on his mind.

I could go on... of course.

[Retroberra]

The music.

[Riku Rose]

I honestly don't know. When I think about it I think the story is quite poor when compared to many others in entertainment, I'm not a fan of fighting games so the battle system doesn't do it for me and I think the voice acting sucks. I thought for awhile that I just loved the atmosphere but I wasn't one who would just spend their time walking around doing nothing just like how I don't play Grand Theft Auto outside of the missions. I really don't know why I like Shenmue and it bugs me but when I have the controller in my hand I love playing it.

[sand4fish]

I honestly don't know. When I think about it I think the story is quite poor when compared to many others in entertainment, I'm not a fan of fighting games so the battle system doesn't do it for me and I think the voice acting sucks. I thought for awhile that I just loved the atmosphere but I wasn't one who would just spend their time walking around doing nothing just like how I don't play Grand Theft Auto outside of the missions. I really don't know why I like Shenmue and it bugs me but when I have the controller in my hand I love playing it.

So basically to you this game is so bad that is actually good? lol

[chris1986]

Nice topic, and some cool replies! I like everything in shenmue, it's a game that takes you completely by surprise, for example, I didn't even realise you could open all the draws and stuff in the house a good while after getting into the game, and once I realised you could go into first-person to 'lock on' to things and interact with them I had a field day! I was trying to zoom in on all sorts of stuff to see what Ryo could do something with. What seemed like a boring old building became alive and filled with secrets and neat stuff, the basement was such a cool place to explore.

I thought the graphics were incredible, but one thing after the other this game becomes more amazing, just talking to people, looking for this muderer in a world waiting to be explored, the fighting! I was like 'wow, you can actually beat the shit out of people?! Yeah!!' Ryo takes down the bullies like a don and you realise the character youre controlling isn't no wimp, he owns, I actually felt a bit for those poor weaklings when Ryo grabs them after beating them up to get information of them.

The relationship with Nozomi is another great thing and keeps you hooked to see what may become of them, and all their scenes are awesome, also the music in the game is just exceptional, second to none, just the kind I like.

Everything that made the game stand out back then still sticks with me today, even though it's the norm in most games in the present, things like the day to night cycle, the weather effects, free roaming in an open world, Shenmue did it first and so I first experienced it in Shenmue and remember the reactions to those situations, it seemed like something special, even the music changing for the night to add to the mood, it just doesn't seem special in other games!

The sense of adventure is just a dream come true, I didn't think you'd find this Lan Di so easily, this guy who no ones knows shows up from no where, kills your Father, steals an item from your house and vanishes, and somehow you have to track him down, and just by asking around and piecing stuff together the story takes you on one heck of a ride, from a quiet little mountain village to a small town right through the to ghetto Kowloon and China's Guilin up high in the mountains, you really can't get better than that.

The list could go on, everything in this game is incredible.

[Yokosuka]

There are so many different reasons but I liked the Hiroaki Takeuchi's quote from Yu Suzuki : "What if you reborn into a different life ?".

[Jackie Fhan]

I liked the feeling of it feeling real. Even though today, think I'd hate the saving and back tracking home. I didn't mind that much at all then but I today's word and market I think it would drive me crazy a little more.

[Mr357]

The overall atmosphere

[ElephantStone]

The fighting, the QTEs, the martial arts and how it's all woven into the story.

[Snakiest]

Yeah, I liked the martial arts philosophy behind the game. It is like an old kung fu movie.

In Yu we trust.

[Johnmiceter]

Does anyone have any doubts about Shenmue 3 being as good as the first 2 games and also Yu being able to incorporate new things into this game that can wow us again ?

I have some doubts, as much as I loved playing Shenmue when it first came out (As soon as i finished it, i immediately restarted a new game, never done that to a game again to this day) I'm not sure if this game will be as fun as the Original 2.

The first two games had so many things in them that i had never experienced in a game before, nowadays, lots of games do this, so I really hope Yu can bring back alive that Shenmue Universe and add new things as well to suck us all back in as well as new fans.

I also hope before it releases that Sega release a HD remake of the first to games again, that would be awesome.

[zach]

1) The living, detailed, immersive world.
2) The story and characters.
3) The gameplay (investigating, fighting, QTEs)
4) The music.

This mostly! Shenmue is not realism for me, but a rich and immersive world unlike any other game out there.
I tried other open-world games but the NPc characters are often just bland, really bland.
The concept of Virtua Fighter RPG really speaks to me. I like fighting games, but I would like to step out of the ring and explore a world of martial arts. Shenmue gave me a taste of that.