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Is the sequel any better?

@skullpanda1 said:

It has way less waiting and it's a bit more fun to play. Story and VO is still pretty much as "good" as it was on the first one though.

@vierastalo: Sold!

The first one was so boring even though the GBeast crew tried their best to entertain...

I really, really hope they get around to doing Shenmue 2 this year.

Yeah I think it's really quite an improvement in a lot of areas.

Watching Vinny and the gang play through Shenmue was such a good experience for me. I played the game as a wee lad and loved it. Seeing someone play through it for the first time and watching them stumble in the same places I did was really enjoyable for me. Probably more enjoyable for me than it was for them. I really want this to happen. Fire-Boilt.

Shenmue II has way more action, crazier characters, and a more engaging story from the start... but maybe that will make for a less entertaining endurance run? I mean you still have to move boxes, catch leaves and fight people but there's less pure mundanity which was such a good foil for the beast guys to just go off on mad tangents.

@gerrid: Keep in mind Alex and Vinny also hated Shenmue 1 so I think that them not hating it would be nice. They always have time to riff and make jokes even in a faster moving game then one of the slowest ever. I also loved the Shenmue 1 ER but I think this should be better to watch because 2 is a lot more entertaining.

Loved the come back tomorrow moments late in 1 and Vinny's reaction though.

They need to bang that one out so that they're ready for the Persona 5 Endurance Run which will definitely happen. It will have the old dog veteran Vinny at the helm, with Dan being all confused as to the goings on, while Alex will identify with the teens and be all sad. It'll be great!

I think Shenmue is done as a feature series around here. The first one is infamous and thus interesting even at ist worst, but the second one just "exists". And, let is be BRUTALLY honest Austin is what made that series work on GBEast. He is what made most of the more touchy-feely games Vinny and Alex would not have touched work.

I think only Vinny and Alex can choose what to play, because ins the end they have to have "buy in" to whatever they are doing. Just like most people you have to "want to" on some level, be that want to play something great or play something you know will suck. If you don't want to it turns out poorly because they ain't doing it for themselves.

@jacksukeru: I don't want a Persona endurance run without Vinny and Jeff. I'd rather no Persona 5 ER then have one without them. And there's no way they're doing that with a game that long at this point anyway. Persona 5 ER will not happen ever

I loved the Shenmue endurance run.

But I don't think the second one is gonna happen.

@jay_ray: And contrary to you, I'm fine with just Vinny being there along with Dan experiencing it for the first time. Not stuck up on the old format.

This and persona 5 er are all I want from GB this year!!

Austin made what series work?

You misspelled Mass Effect 2 (Alex must pay for his sins!)

Dan and Alex are doing playthroughs of every Yakuza game starting with 0. There will definitely be no Shenmue 2 endurance run, at least for the foreseeable future.

I'm hyped for the Yakuza 0 Not-Endurance Run that Alex confirmed is going to happen this year. I wonder if Film Major Dan Ryckert is going to chafe at all the subtitles, he was bored to tears by Yakuza 3 and gave it a bad review many years ago.

They explicitly said they are taking their time with that feature and it's not really a ER at all. So I don't think that should be seen as cutting off the possibility of any other content.

I think I remember them saying at some point that they would do Shenmue II. Regardless, I definitely want them to.

Yeah, I suppose, but in what world do you think Alex is gonna want to play 6-7 spiritual successors to the Shenmue series, back to back, and then play Shenmue 2 every day until it's done? Because even I wouldn't do that and I like Shenmue a LOT. Even if they spread Yakuza out thats is an illegal amount of Shenmue.

@planetfunksquad: I definitely do not think they are going to play through all of Yakuza personally. That's too much and yeah they've dabbled in the games before (in fact Dan played, reviewed, and didn't like one of them). But this is all speculation so we will see. I think there will absolutely be a Shenmue II ER though. Dan wants it to happen and I think it will.

It must happen or my soul will never be complete.

I can't wait. The first one reminded me of the best Super Replay's from Game Informer.

For what it's worth, the Super Replay that Game Informer did of Shenmue was really good, and unlike Giant Bom they really enjoyed the game, and they're doing the 2nd one right now, I'll definitely be curious how Vinny would feel about Shenmue 2 since the waiting and killing time aspect of the first game is no longer a factor, and that was BY FAR the thing he hated most about the game, I also generally think the storyline and characters are better written in 2, even if Ryo is still stoic to a fault, we shall see.

Eh, ide be alright with another series. Had fun watch the ER, but that's all I really need. It was for sure my least favorite of the 5 they have done by a wide margin. Would much rather see something new than part 2 of a thing that they didn't really enjoy all that much the first time.

With Shenmue 3 coming out soon here's hoping for a Shenmue 2 endurance run!