I don't really understand the criticism that it is is not easy enough to change car. They have changed it in 4 so that you can literally change car at any time in like 3 or 4 button presses. In previous games you had to go back to a festival site.
The story is actually good (even as a Shenmue fan the story in the first is bad) The pacing is VASTLY improved. There are far more fights and the fights are much better. There are much better characters and Ryo actually gets a personality. There are some genuinely touching scenes. The crazy stuff they wanted starts happening. It feels much more like a Hong Kong revenge movie. There are some really "unique" gameplay elements that I'm sure they will have great reactions to :P It fixes a lot of the complaints they have such as having the ability to skip time. The translation is much better though the dub is possibly worse.
I really hope they do play through it as I think it will really help them understand why people want Shenmue 3 so much. The series really finds it's identity in 2.
@muppio: People have fond memories because it was very ambitious and we'd seen very little like it at the time, but despite people having some nostalgia feelings for it really even when it came out most people and critics agreed it was just a hot mess.
So in short, it is an /important/ game in Video Game history, because of how it helped games evolve, but it was not ever a /good/ game.
Lots of places gave it good reviews when it released. Lots of people have enjoyed the game when playing it for the first time in recent years. The game is divisive. It's ok to not like it but you shouldn't dismiss the many people that do.
Shenmue 2 fixes a ton of the issues people have though while retaining and expanding on some of the uniqueness. I could see the GB crew enjoying that game if they play it (and it has no waiting around).
One hour of Vinny not understanding you press A to examine things. It's nothing to do with the level of zoom. The only way to not examine something is to press B when looking at it instead of A.
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