Endurance Run: Shenmue - Part 11

"Try doing that in GTA."

Yeah, you can't do that in GTA. But you know what you can do in GTA that you can't in Shenmue? Have fun.

Alright, I'm just going to stand here and not ask any questions or say anything while this mysterious man in a black suit, who seems to know a lot about the guy who killed my father, is talking to me. Good writing.

Also, notice how when the game prompted Vinny to press Y, he pressed Y? Why doesn't the game do that for everything you can interact with? Why was it just this one occasion that the game decides to guide the player?

ALSO, it turns out disc 2 is just disc 1. It tricked us there for a second bringing us to a new area, but nope, back to the city looking for shops again.

Guys, I don't think this is a very good game.

It's too bad the ghost of Ryo's dad didn't actually appear, though. That would have REALLY shown them.

It blows my mind that the developers modeled all that stuff. Crazy impressive for 1999

He looked at the letter in his father's room and then just decided he couldn't read it.

Ahhhhhhhh

I came across this excellent review of Shenmue on YouTube. I wish Vinny had watched something like this prior to playing the game, as this review really highlights some of the misconceptions and expectations people have about Shenmue, and where the appeal of the game lies.

You can check out his part 1 as well, which is more of a personal reflection of the game.

Being able to take pictures of the wall is a weird little feature I wouldn't have expected initially. The opening drawers stuff is very reminiscent of something like L.A. Noire.

You're right on the money. The manual frequently emphasizes taking your time to do whatevs and not to rush the main story.

Shenmue's the ER Giant Bomb deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

Still loving this! Still enjoying the hell out of watching the game, too. Hope the comments don't upset the guys too much, I think they're doing just fine and I've been a fan of Shenmue ever since playing it on the Dreamcast.

@squirrelnacho: Why doesn't it at least prompt you to press A or Y or whatever button it is when you're zoomed in on things like the the note on the table? That would be enough.

A "use the zoom button to interact with objects" blurb at the beginning of the game would have been helpful too. Give me a break. I'm not going to give a game a pass just because it came out at a different time; and I don't believe these expectations are out of the question at all for a game big budget game from 1999/2000.

Can't wait to see people defending the endless forklift driving.

Really loving this series too! Shenmue was always a game I heard quiet praise for and wanted to get around to playing one day, but man oh man is this game absolutely terrible. Thankfully, Vinny, Dan, and Alex keep it interesting. Keep it up guys! And I'm sorry you have to play this crap. :D

What's there to defend? You either enjoy it or you don't, much like the game as a whole.

Unless you can imagine the times or were there back then you cannot get it. This game is such a product of the time.

-bad voice acting which was generally accepted

-one of the very first open world games, remember that this is before gta3 released

- no handholding. Back then we figured out stuff on our own without a giant indicator somewhere.

-Controls weren't streamlined, this is basically between tank controls and the movement we know today.

It's hard to convey that the first time I played Shenmue, I didn't once think about the voice acting.

You don't have to "get" the fan base. Hey, I don't "get" the Final Fantasy 7 fan base to this day, because my main platform was PC and I had played the previous installments, so it wasn't my first RPG and all of the technical advancements for consoles were yesterday's news. Some things only click when multiple variables are in alignment.

Why do some people love Dynasty Warriors games? Who knows? X, Y, and Z clicked a long time ago and now it gives them good feelings. Am I gonna get hung up about it? Nah.

Is this just to frustrating to watch these guys play Shenmue or not seriously get with it. Dreading when i actually is slightly harder. This part so far literally simple and the loss of direction is sickening. I never needed a map in this area it's tiny and all connected!

I remember I didn't get the key in disc one, then tried to open the sword like they are. I looked up a gamefaq, went to the location of the key and it wasn't there. It disappeared from the game and I couldn't advance. So I started a new file just to make sure I wasn't crazy and lo and behold there was the key I missed.

That glitch wasted hours.

I hope this glitch doesn't come up for them.

"I guess she's the housekeeper, that's gotta be it."

"Really?"

Yes, finally this thing can stop. Oh, nope, still calling her mom.

The notebook being all over the place, because of the supposed order you are supposed to do/find things is the worst design decision on this game so far.

Also, Tom is such a bastard.

Those are all the moves from Virtua Fighter.

Adventure games where you can open ALL THE DRAWERS: all the Tex Murphy games starting with Under A Killing Moon. (1994)

Adventure game with a real-time clock structure, and using that to weave an incredibly well-written and intriguing narrative: Last Express. (1997)

I feel more and more that this game was only really impressive even back in the day when you weren't playing adventure games on PC at the time. The Goldeneye effect basically.

@thaquoth: Those are 2D/fmv point and clicks and not fully 3D with advanced (at the time) AI routines. Don't be disingenuous, duder.

@squirrelnacho: I was like 20 when this game came out and I never liked it then, either. I rented it once or twice and always found it pretty lackluster. People really only liked it because of the graphics, I think (which were incredible then).

@thaquoth: Totally. Tons of people were all about how this game had a day/night cycle with characters following daily routines. Ultima VII came out in 1992.

I feel like this game was indeed ahead of its time, doing things no other games had done yet when it released.

But that was then, and this is now and Shenmue seems to have become one of the worst aging games ever, its pretty damn horrible now. Bogged down by monotonous, vague, confusing tedium and having essentially no actual gameplay to speak of given how shallow its mechanics and overall design is. And none of the characters are especially unique or interesting, just qwerky and weird at times with the Resident Evil 1 style of super awkward voice acting that makes for unintended hilarity.

I think anyone defending it with any kind of intensity has some absolutely extremely thick rose tinted nostalgia goggles going on, because their are a lot of games from my youth that were "special" to me too, but only a handful managed to remain genuinely great. And their is nothing wrong with accepting that some of the things you liked at one point in your life are now bad. And shenmue is bad, very bad, hilarious, but bad.

@lazyaza: I don't know, I played Resident Evil Director's Cut for the first time within the last 5 or 6 years and still go that kind of stuff. I think I'm just not quick to reject old jank no matter when I was introduced to it.

Bitter Vinny is rapidly catching up on Bored Vinny for Best Vinny.

I'm actually kinda jealous about that. I have never played Shenmue, but from watching it here (and certain other playthrough) I find it really charming. But still, I just know I would never be able to play this myself without going insane. Same goes for most old games really.

It's great to watch them play through this since I don't have the time or patience to do it myself. Let's keep it rollin'.

Why would your Dad be in cahoots with the warehouse people?

I mean, that's how you found the warehouse people in the first place.

Aren't slippers just really tiny pants, though?

British Dan: "Just a block o' bloody wood!"

Loving the new marathon feature on the site.

In this episode, Gollum shows up for some reason?

Looking through drawers and cupboards: Just as annoying in 1999 as it was in 2018!