Hello there, after all these years...

[Axm]

(I have been browsing and searching for something like a "New Member" board, but since I couldn't find any I figured this the best place to introduce myself.)

Hi and hello, dear Shenmue Dojo!

I am CodingGenesis, I am 26 years old and I live in Vienna. I've been following this community since 2002 and it quickly became my most important Shenmue resource. I always appreciated the efforts of this community and the fact that it still exists and that there are still so many members keeping it alive is just great.

I have always read the topics of this board and the main site's news with quite a share of mixed feelings over the years. On the one hand this board shows how many Shenmue fans there are and how much they love it, on the other hand it is kinda like a mirror of all the hope, disappointment, anger and dreams we all share.

I was 14 years old when I played Shenmue for the first time. To think that today I am 26, still playing Shenmue and still wanting the story to come to an end feels a bit strange. Sometimes I feel like that teenager again who was so engrossed in those games, playing them again and again, each time discovering something new. Today it feels like an old memory, even if I just finished Shenmue II again, it instantly feels like an old memory and I can't deny that sometimes I feel a little sad, too.

I am a student at the University of Vienna, studying Japanology / Japan Studies and Sinology / China Studies. I am hugely interested in languages and in translating texts. Some of my hobbies include programming, books, music and video games.

So, why have I registered now of all times and after all these years? Well, the truth is, I can't really explain it myself. I just kinda have the feeling that now I should do it. That from now on it is a good time to be able to take part in discussions.

Well, that's it for the time being. If you have questions feel free to ask. I feel happy to finally be an "official" member of this community!

[Bluecast]

No pants allowed and welcome.

[CodingGenesis]

Thank you.

I am at home so right now I don't need pants

[Brothaman]

Welcome to the SD.

[Axm]

As The Great Yusuke would say,leave your wallet at the door.

Welcome.

[Sonikku]

Welcome to the Dojo. I will hold onto your pants for you. Among other things.

[Axm]

Hello there! Lovely introduction thread. I've been telling folks around these parts that having an introduction thread or subforum would be nice, for ages!

I know completely how you feel about Shenmue, it's a strange game, and an inherently nostalgic one. A wistful longing for the past (as well as an appreciation for the journey towards the future) is pre built into the game's DNA. Obviously there's the fact that the game was set a couple decades into the past on it's release, but there's also the fact that Ryo loses his father at the beginning of the game, and while this doesn't quite immediately strip him of all his small town stability and comfort -he initially still his has curfews, pocket money and childhood friends amongst other things- it does set him on a speeding course towards adulthood, and eventually forces him to say goodbye to ALL of those things, leaving them to be nothing but warm cuddly memories while we're on the streets of Kowloon.

But at the same time, the game always left us all with an intense desire to drive into Ryo's ultimate destiny, leaving every creature comfort and friend in our dust as we moved towards an almost familiar yet unfamiliar looking fate. The game's intense relationship between nostalgia and a desire to move forwards towards one's destiny, is no doubt only strengthened by the fact that the games are quite old now (reminding many of us of our childhoods or younger years), yet nearly all of us here still feel a prolonged and unsatisfied desire to move forward in Ryo's abruptly curtailed journey.

Oh dear..it's 6am and I'm getting bloody poetic about Shenmue again...sorry, this tends to happen every 6 months or so.

[Axm]

Welcome to the Dojo. I think just like you, many of us lurked for awhile before joining. I did too, now ive been here like 9 years.. Just make sure you actually post regularly enough to make up for your epic lurking history. The more Shenmue fans we can get in here the better. At this point in the Shenmue fan base time continuum, we need all the fans we can get.

[CodingGenesis]

Thank you, everyone! This is such a nice welcome.

mue 26, you've just hit the nail. It's so true (and don't mind over getting poetic ). Again, thanks everybody for this welcome. I will try to "make up" for my lurking, honestly. Furthermore, I highly doubt that it will be necessary but I can offer to help translate Japanese (preferably written text) into English should this be required.

Oh yeah, since I just realized that I totally forgot to mention what makes me hopefully a "worthy dojo member", here is my Shenmue collection - which has kept the Shenmue part of my soul alive over the past decade:

-Shenmue (pal, DC)
-Shenmue II (pal, DC)
-Shenmue (jap, DC)
-Shenmue II Limited Edition (jap, DC)
-Virtua Fighter 3tb (jap, DC, including a disc about Project Berkley)
-What's Shenmue
-Shenmue Official Soundtrack
-the official guides to Shenmue (us, DC) and Shenmue II (us, XBOX)
-Yu Suzuki's "Game Works vol.1" (jap, including a DC disc with five arcade games)

I think that's all.

[south carmain]

what makes me hopefully a "worthy dojo member"]

what will make you a "worthy dojo member" is your attitude and contributions to the board

nice collection nonetheless

[CodingGenesis]

Thanks!

[Mitsuzuki]

I'm a little late, but welcome to the Dojo.

Your university major sounds very interesting. Must be fun! Do you plan on visiting/living in Japan or China?

Although there's been disappointment with such a long wait after SII, you can't help but feel that surely at some point SIII (or at least, HD versions of SI+II) are inevitable.

[RyoHazuki84]

Since you are studying Japanese,

シェンムー道場にようこそ。

[Stocke]

-Shenmue (pal, DC)
-Shenmue II (pal, DC)
-Shenmue (jap, DC)
-Shenmue II Limited Edition (jap, DC)
-Virtua Fighter 3tb (jap, DC, including a disc about Project Berkley)
-What's Shenmue
-Shenmue Official Soundtrack
-the official guides to Shenmue (us, DC) and Shenmue II (us, XBOX)
-Yu Suzuki's "Game Works vol.1" (jap, including a DC disc with five arcade games)

Read through the collection thread on here not too long ago. I'm dead jealous of what you guys have managed to collect over the years.

Hope you enjoy chatting with us CodingGenesis ;)

[ThyDarkAngel]

The Dojo welcomes you.
Be sure to become a part of the disfuncional family.