by chris1986 » Tue Jul 07, 2015 4:24 pm
Nice topic, and some cool replies! I like everything in shenmue, it's a game that takes you completely by surprise, for example, I didn't even realise you could open all the draws and stuff in the house a good while after getting into the game, and once I realised you could go into first-person to 'lock on' to things and interact with them I had a field day! I was trying to zoom in on all sorts of stuff to see what Ryo could do something with. What seemed like a boring old building became alive and filled with secrets and neat stuff, the basement was such a cool place to explore.
I thought the graphics were incredible, but one thing after the other this game becomes more amazing, just talking to people, looking for this muderer in a world waiting to be explored, the fighting! I was like 'wow, you can actually beat the shit out of people?! Yeah!!' Ryo takes down the bullies like a don and you realise the character youre controlling isn't no wimp, he owns, I actually felt a bit for those poor weaklings when Ryo grabs them after beating them up to get information of them.
The relationship with Nozomi is another great thing and keeps you hooked to see what may become of them, and all their scenes are awesome, also the music in the game is just exceptional, second to none, just the kind I like.
Everything that made the game stand out back then still sticks with me today, even though it's the norm in most games in the present, things like the day to night cycle, the weather effects, free roaming in an open world, Shenmue did it first and so I first experienced it in Shenmue and remember the reactions to those situations, it seemed like something special, even the music changing for the night to add to the mood, it just doesn't seem special in other games!
The sense of adventure is just a dream come true, I didn't think you'd find this Lan Di so easily, this guy who no ones knows shows up from no where, kills your Father, steals an item from your house and vanishes, and somehow you have to track him down, and just by asking around and piecing stuff together the story takes you on one heck of a ride, from a quiet little mountain village to a small town right through the to ghetto Kowloon and China's Guilin up high in the mountains, you really can't get better than that.
The list could go on, everything in this game is incredible.