On that Break Up games email, the only one that comes to mind is Always Sometimes Monsters from a couple years back. I think it runs a bit long and has issues, but pretty specific to that topic.
@shtinky: The virtual environment is pretty rich with things to do, but I would bring up that they're not just ignoring all those prompts of side objectives, but ran into gameplay roadblocks that discouraged them.
All the fights thus far have beens stomps, and gave them no indication that they need to train. They bought cat food, but didn't have a prompt to use it, or were at the wrong time and place. They attempted to translate the scrolls, but none of the Chinese speaking people they talked to hinted to it being martial arts terminology they were unfamiliar with, just that it was wierd.
A realistic virtual world is well and good, but without some game-like direction given, have to accept that some things will go unknown, like a real world it's representing.
Vinny's Ryo is only focused on avenging his father, making fun of children, and yelling at Tom.
As for the issues with waiting, I would raise a couple points:
1. This isn't a personal playthrough of the game, they're doing it for entertainment. Vinny has mentioned numerous times before he plays differently at home than he does on video, where he's conscious about talking to NPCs or exploring a place to avoid dead air (He can't start an improptu jam session over QTE excite.)
2. From just watching the ER, I think Shenmue is probably discouraging him from exploring more than it's helping. While impressive that you can ask every npc in the game about the current objective, it is also the only thing you can ask about, and is constantly directing you to the main plot. Vinny seems to want to follow the cues at every corner, only to then be told to wait.
Shenmue seems like a fascinating experiment, but if you're not able to get into it wholesale, it breaks in somewhat core ways.
@jedikv: Yeah, I get that. I just meant that it's a bit more of a known quantity for people in the situation. Would always consider that a game bought one day may need to patch through the night before getting to it.
Definitely agreed that it's lame and could be better, though. Make physical copies fill a role that digital doesn't.
As someone that lived with garbage rural internet until a few years ago, I think Vinny got a little too wrapped up in the shock idea of patches. Even a decade ago, patches were expected, and not a game ending wall.
It's something you learn to deal with in various ways; I once downloaded a 2 gig WoW expansion patch through a nearby library to bring back to my dial up home internet so it didn't take a week straight to get it.
The 2nd to final question got me wondering, does Brad have anything he's actually really into? Everyone else has at least one thing they can name lore minutiae about, but I can't remember anything for Brad... except rare diseases and conditions he's scared of.
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