Return of a masterpiece ... ?

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:17 pm

Could it possibly be true ...

http://gonintendo.com/?p=43195

Rumors have surronded this series for years ... nevertheless I am going to get my hopes up and hope for a miracle.

Post by **3DOKid** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:27 pm

Wii in cynical port shocker!

I actually enjoyed Shenmue. Sure, it was long winded, and devoid of action, but it did sort of gel with me. And let's not forget "I'm Looking for Sailors". (Oh really!?) but it was good. They timed it well. It came out on my first trip to Japan, and I spent the entire time in Japan pointing at stuff and going "cooo, it looks just like that in Shenmue". In my opinion it's the most accurate depiction of the country. The game feels just like small town Japan. So that's kind of cool.

I've got Shenmue 1 and 2 on the Dreamcast. So, I'm not going to get all wet in the pants over a Wii port.

Unless it sells in the millions and it spurs the production of Shenmue III. Which I can't see. It'll be Sega cynically trying to recoup some money they lost on the Shenmue project.

UnholyTancred · Post by **UnholyTancred** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:33 pm

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME

Part of the fun of collecting video games, for me at least, is playing original games because they're unavailable for other consoles. I loved Shenmue and I'd rather get the expensive PAL copy of Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast than play the Xbox port (which I own but haven't touched).

I only play ports when the original is unavailable. Like Final Fantasy 6 for example. I'm stuck with the abysmal PSX version because the SNES one is too expensive.

I want to beat the snot out of all these bastards. I hate everything, all that virtual console crap. People paying to download roms that are widely available on the internet for free. Ridiculous!

What really pissed me off are the news of the Sonic 2 HD remake and Super Street Fighter 2 HD remake.

Urgh!

Isn't there any creativity left in the video gaming industry today? Is it so hard to make something original?

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:56 pm

Nintendo issued an official response this morning: "GOOD CHRIST, WATCH WHERE YOU POINT THAT THING! ...uh, so yeah, keep that away from us, please. Maybe Sony wants your sock-staring simulator."

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:26 pm

Unless it sells in the millions and it spurs the production of Shenmue III.

I think this is what most of us fans are hoping for ... that it sells well enough to encourage the release of Shenmue III.

I own Shenmue on DC, & 2 copies of it's sequel (for DC & Xbox ... and I've played & beaten both) Nevertheless, I would by the Wii version in heartbeat, and not just to play the QTE's w/the wiimote ... I am that much of a fan.

Post by **3DOKid** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:35 pm

UnholyTancred wrote:LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME

Part of the fun of collecting video games, for me at least, is playing original games because they're unavailable for other consoles. I loved Shenmue and I'd rather get the expensive PAL copy of Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast than play the Xbox port (which I own but haven't touched).

I only play ports when the original is unavailable. Like Final Fantasy 6 for example. I'm stuck with the abysmal PSX version because the SNES one is too expensive.

I want to beat the snot out of all these bastards. I hate everything, all that virtual console crap. People paying to download roms that are widely available on the internet for free. Ridiculous!

What really pissed me off are the news of the Sonic 2 HD remake and Super Street Fighter 2 HD remake.

Urgh!

Isn't there any creativity left in the video gaming industry today? Is it so hard to make something original?

I think it is that hard.

Multi-millions of dollars for each and every game, no financier is going to put money behind an 'unknown' project.

That old innovation comes to us now in little farty offerings like: Every Extended Extra, Lummies, SuperStar dust. Farty little games, on big consoles, at rock bottom prices. Makes sense right?

If someone, anyone, has got to gamble money on peoples jobs and futures, or something, best to gamble on Red which is Street Fighter Remake that will sell regardless) than on 23 which is an ambitious $40Mil project that flops.

I think innovation will come from the well known brands. Or rather, buried in the well known brands.

I always point at Resident Evil 4: Resident Evil is one of my favourite games. RE4 redefined it's own genre from within itself.

You see, every financier in the world would have backed the making of yet-another-Resident Evil, and so they did. Resident Evil 4, in any form, was a dead-cert. It was inevitable.

But the makers, the developers, the technical people who really make something as opposed to those blood sucking vampires in corporate, took the opportunity to deliver something really special. and they did.

If RE4 hadn't been called RE4, but instead called: 'Let's kill Spanish peasants' or something, we wouldn't be having this conversation. We'd be saying something like: "Remember that cult classic 'Let's kill Spanish peasants' god, they sold about 10 copies didn't they? It was brilliant. I wish RE4 had been like that!"

Developers, game designers, game artists, game musicians, are still the same creative people they always were. Now, if they can't do what they did before with rogue projects like Shenmue, now they have to do it within the confines of well establish brands.

Street Fighter IV will be awesome. As will Resident Evil 5. As will MGS4 (even with it's 90minutes of cut-scenes!)

And this leads me on to why I think the Wii is a load of rubbish. Creative people want more canvas, with more colours and more flexibility. The Wii is a PS2 dressed up to look like a Macintosh. PS3/360 offer a new world of creativity. It's very simple.

As for Nintendo Wii fanboys and Sega failedcast, Sackedurn, I'm sicked to death of their raving fanboyists. Sure, they made some great games, but to be honest it's getting almost cult like out there.

I'm one of those people, if everyone ran out and painted their door red, I wouldn't paint my door at all. I'd throw acid on it to make a point. If everyone loves something, something compels me to hate it. If everyone hates something, I feel compelled to love it. I got a list of things, I'd be embarrassed to list up here. I'll make excuses for everything. You'd probably all hate me! LOL. I like things best when nobody has ever even heard of it. (Hence 3DO!)

Anyway -- F**K Sega/Nintendo.

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:26 pm

I do hate to be in the minority here, but I don't see what's worthwhile about continuing this series. Shenmue II made improvements, but I still can't LIKE the games. The first game is what would have happened in the first five minutes of a film, tops. It meanders and nothing important happens, period. Worse, the stretching out period means that five hours are spent finding random people and trading stupid phrases with them. "Do you remember... that day?" "That day? Oh. The day that it snowed!" "I am looking for a car." "Oh, I saw it. It was a ...black car!" so now you go asking people about a ...black car.

There is a name for my pain, and it is Shenmue.

But I will refrain from bitching further. You guys like it, cool. You're a lot more rational than the normal bunch who give it straight 10s on gamefaqs, most of which coincidentally are nerdy white boys who try to refer to Yu Suzuki with traditional Japanese honorifics, which tells you who this game most applies to; fetishists.

Post by **3DO Experience** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:29 pm

Not to be a tard, but wasn't Shenmue for the Dreamcast? Does this mean a new Virtual Console or just a port? Or could my SEGA hating days caused me to miss an earlier version?

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:20 am

Prototyped for the Saturn, released on the DC. Part 2 was on the DC in Europe, but Microsoft secured it exclusively for the Xbox in the States.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:04 pm

Shenmue truly is a love/hate type of game. And I totally understand why some people can't get into it. Their dislikes are understandable.

But for me, I have always been able to overlook what some people consider flaws in Shenmue. The graphics, story, characters, and especially the way the game immerses me into it's world (better than any rpg) , more than makes up for it's ocassional slowness (which I really don't even mind to begin with)

Only 2 things really bother me about certain people who dislike this game ....

1. People who call it a glorified tech demo.

I wont waste time writing about how this is not opinion but absolute nonsense, but please don't embarass yourself w/statements like this. There are plenty of valid reasons to knock Shenmue ... this is not one of them. (I remember the late 'Gamefan' magazine saying this over & over ... did they even know what a tech demo was?)

2. People who have not played the game to completion.

I honestly do beleive that many (not all) who play these games through to conclusion will have at a minimum a slight change of heart. The late chapters in these games are amazing, and really stand in contrast to the earlier slower parts.

Post by **3DOKid** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:18 pm

[quote="Trev"]Shenmue truly is a love/hate type of game. And I totally understand why some people can't get into it. Their dislikes are understandable.

But for me, I have always been able to overlook what some people consider flaws in Shenmue. The graphics, story, characters, and especially the way the game immerses me into it's world (better than any rpg) , more than makes up for it's ocassional slowness (which I really don't even mind to begin with)

Only 2 things really bother me about certain people who dislike this game ....

1. People who call it a glorified tech demo.

I wont waste time writing about how this is not opinion but absolute nonsense, but please don't embarass yourself w/statements like this. There are plenty of valid reasons to knock Shenmue ... this is not one of them. (I remember the late 'Gamefan' magazine saying this over & over ... did they even know what a tech demo was?)

2. People who have not played the game to completion.

I honestly do beleive that many (not all) who play these games through to conclusion will have at a minimum a slight change of heart. The late chapters in these games are amazing, and really stand in contrast to the earlier slower parts.[/quote]

I enjoyed the game. Twice. I played it through twice. I enjoyed it more the second time too. I rarely play anything twice.

...but having said that... The bit where you are a forklift truck driver? C'mon. I drove a forklift to pay my way through Uni, and while the real thing can fun initially, and indeed, racing them can be fun, I wouldn't consider this a highlight of gaming.

In retrospect Shenmue is some sort of a nice version of GTA4. I mean the plot is paper thin (like GTA4) the side games are pointless (like GTA4) and technically it's brilliant. (Like GTA4) Shemue is kind of sandboxy too. (Like GTA4

)

Now, I don't like GTA4, i gave up with it. Assasins Creed, in my opinion, was more fun. What for me Assassin Creed and Shenmue have that GTA4 doesn't have, is a certain charm. Which is why I liked Uncharted but won't give the technically superior Gears of War are second look either.

I'm also a miserable swine too

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:50 pm

...but having said that... The bit where you are a forklift truck driver? C'mon. I drove a forklift to pay my way through Uni, and while the real thing can fun initially, and indeed, racing them can be fun, I wouldn't consider this a highlight of gaming.

Hmmm ... I'd take drivng the forklift in Shenmue over carrying stacks of books in Shenmue II

I mean the plot is paper thin

Well, maybe at the start ... It certanly gets much deeper as you advance. Shenmue II especially.

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:14 pm

Trev wrote: 1. People who call it a glorified tech demo.

I wont waste time writing about how this is not opinion but absolute nonsense, but please don't embarass yourself w/statements like this. There are plenty of valid reasons to knock Shenmue ... this is not one of them. (I remember the late 'Gamefan' magazine saying this over & over ... did they even know what a tech demo was?)

I don't think the accusation is entirely unfair, but I think it could be phrased better. Such as calling it the Nothing Simulator. The thing about the first Shenmue is that NOTHING HAPPENED. In fragmenting the story from one part to two, then four, then six if I remember correctly (although they condensed chapters two and three into Shenmue 2) they apparently decided that a bunch of inconsequential shit made the beginning of an epic.

As a result, I spent twenty hours trying to get a ticket for a damn boat ride after the ten hours discerning that I needed a ticket for a damn boat ride, padded out with wonky forklift driving and petting kittens. Jack in the Dark managed to show off Alone in the Dark 2's engine, contained roughly the same amount of story, and didn't cost me squat. Plus it had the courtesy of only lasting about ten minutes.

2. People who have not played the game to completion.

I honestly do beleive that many (not all) who play these games through to conclusion will have at a minimum a slight change of heart. The late chapters in these games are amazing, and really stand in contrast to the earlier slower parts.

In films, the first fifteen minutes is known as the contract with the audience. You set up what the movie is about, what the tone is, everything they need to know to mentally adjust or decide if this is worth their time. A bad film with a great ending is still a bad film. Hell, my main problem with Chasing Amy is that it had a hilarious twenty minute start and then devolved into f-bomb laden relationship melodrama, which tossed me from the speeding car and into a camp of hungry bums.

I played both games all the way through. What's funny is that they were opposites. Shenmue 1 was boring as hell and had an amazing action sequence near the end, which failed to save it. Because basically you're still just getting on the boat and ending the game where it should have begun. Shenmue 2 was much more engaging throughout, but the end was roughly five years of walking and running through the forest and listening to a girl that any sane person would have strangled and left in a cave.

Vance · Post by **Vance** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:18 pm

Trev wrote:
I mean the plot is paper thin
Well, maybe at the start ... It certanly gets much deeper as you advance. Shenmue II especially.

It actually doesn't get much better. It's all hokey 70s and 80s kung fu film mysticism set to a decently epic score. I'd feel more comfortable if people appreciated it in that way instead of defending it as some kind of artsy masterpiece, because I haven't seen much in it that goes even two steps above that movie where the dude catches the bullet in his teeth to the accompaniment of neon lightning.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:36 pm

The thing about the first Shenmue is that NOTHING HAPPENED.

Well, up to this point I heard you even if I disagreed, but you kinda lost me here. PLENTY HAPPENED in Shenmue besides the slow bits that are routinely hammered upon. I guess it depends on what your focus is. Also, what type of games you enjoy. Ex - I love point n' click games which to some extent are privy to the same accusations.

In films, the first fifteen minutes is known as the contract with the audience. You set up what the movie is about, what the tone is, everything they need to know to mentally adjust or decide if this is worth their time.

Maybe true for movies ... not always for games. If I suscribed to this thinking I never would have beaten Immercenary, Guardian War, and a handful of other great 3do games.

It actually doesn't get much better. It's all hokey 70s and 80s kung fu film mysticism set to a decently epic score. I'd feel more comfortable if people appreciated it in that way

Big awkward pause ... Guess I'm not very good at making people comfortable ....

nocturne · Post by **nocturne** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:51 am

I think a re-release of these 2 would be excellent, It's hard to say whether there is a big or small fan base for Shenmue given the sales of the DC to begin with, which wasnt spectacular. I've heard alot of good and bad comment s on shenmue.

Love or hate it, It's one of the few titles that lives up to it's pre-release hype. It's easy to sink into the world of shenmue, Just brilliant stuff

NikeX · Post by **NikeX** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:27 pm

You can see the best available SHENMUE trailer here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XWK05CWD0PI&feature=related

and one of the best songs / lyrics...

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:36 pm

Darn you NikeX ... now I'm gonna have that song stuck in my head all week!