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After Shenmue what did you envision games becoming?

PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 8:45 pm
by Jesse
I was wondering after you first played Shenmue back in 2000. What did you think games would become in the future?

I remember thinking when I was 12 that the majority of games would have a day/night/season cycles and they would feature all kinds of different real world locales and characters. What were some of yours?

Re: After Shenmue what did you envision games becoming?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 3:11 am
by ShenGCH
I think I was too young (nine at the time I first played/completed Shenmue) for any real hopes for the future of games to begin to bubble and formulate in my mind, but I certainly remember feeling pretty damn bummed the adventure was over and that there was nothing else quite like it out there. This was at a time before the internet really became mainstream, so I was completely clueless as to whether there would even be a sequel. The game certainly changed my entire perception of what video games could be, both as an art form and technical achievement, so instead of envisioning what video games would hopefully become, I simply wanted more games to be as 'magical', captivating, and real as Shenmue.

Nothing has come close, at least to me, but we've had some bloody excellent games since.

Re: After Shenmue what did you envision games becoming?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 3:49 am
by Let's Get Sweaty
I didn't get to play Shenmue until a few years later, but the way it was sold to me on release was as the first game that let you "go anywhere, do anything," with the ability to pick up and examine any object, buy realistic items in any store, and converse with any character, just because - and that's very much what I hoped and expected the industry would be aiming for; a virtual world that you could absorb yourself in without artificial constraints.

Even with games like GTA V that share those ambitions however, it's happening far more slowly than I was anticipating.