Shenmue Dojo

sense of exploration, discovery of culture, freedom and the sense of escapism to another reality it gives

An arcade or some type of minigame involving darts.

I'm gonna have to agree with both above, but on a bigger scale. I think every aspect of the game makes Shenmue what it is. I can't imagine not having something missing, like the capsules, arcade, FREE, storyline, weather change, hilarious voice acting, Corey's voice, the music, all of it. There is no one x-factor that I think makes the game, but a series of factors that make up the game that I love so dearly.

To elaborate a bit more on the culture side i think that a lot of people liked the fact that the games had a strong influence from east asian culture allowing them to immerse in to something completely different from their day to day life even if it was taking up the day to day life of a virtual character

MiTT3NZ wrote: What if things were inverted? What if the first game was set in Hong Kong, and the second was set in Japan? What if Iwao was out to avenge his son's death? What if the working sections weren't at a harbour, but were set in an industrial estate? What if instead of cans, you got bottles from the vending machine? And what if instead of capsule toys it was trading cards?

I'm not quite sure Dave, I think it;s a bit hard to analyze that idea on whether I would like it or not since we've already been exposed to a different vision so it's hard to say. I think if that was the original idea I would like it as well since I assume it would still be the ambitious game that Suzuki wanted it to be. Every aspect of the actual Shenmue just has so much meaning to me and I'm sure a lot of people. The game is attached to actual memories that made us feel good and that is why I'm sure alot of us cherish it as well.

For me it's the way the games have roots in reality. The story takes place in real settings that start at a real time. It gives an amazing sense of freedom but doesn't go outside of the rules of the story. Unlike what other games have done, you wouldn't have Ryo pull someone from their car, punch them in the face, take their money then run them over with their own ride as they pick themselves up. Ryo wouldn't do it in his story and neither would you in real life.

That's why it connects and resonates with us because as we play, it puts us in Ryo's shoes and makes his story our story. The whole experience starts to feel like something real which allows you to invest yourself completely.

Take all that and wrap it in all the insanely high production value that's already been touched on here and what you have is a gaming experience that simply stands alone. it's more than a game. It's Shenmue.

The amazing attention to detail, that you're given almost infinity time to explore at your own pace.
Revenge story, the atmosphere, the color-scheme, the amazing soundtrack, the different characters that you can
interact with, the weather system, i could go on for hours ... =P

It combines many things I have always loved; martial arts movies, games, virtua fighter, Japan, Asia as a whole, the 1980s, it will always be highly ambitious, it had interesting characters, and many others. I still have my receipt when I bought the Japanese version on December 31, 1999. I am not ashamed that the first thing I did when it hit midnight to mark the year 2000 I was playing Shenmue. It was one of the main reasons why I got a Dreamcast as well. I felt that Shenmue was a game that spoke to me. It was the game I was looking for my whole life. Something of a digital soul mate if you will. I love it to the point that if this series is not complete, I am not complete.

I was studying Japanese at my school and I saw it as an opportunity to simulate myself in Japan. At that point, I had been studying Japanese for about a year and a half, I only knew the basic sentence structures and had a descent vocab and the game just motivated me to study my hardest in and out of the classroom. I couldn't understand a good fraction of the dialog, but always understand when I needed to go somewhere, etc. But the cultural and environmental authenticity made me take it seriously. I liked in Yokosuka, everyone somewhat knows you and you already do feel some connection to area. But when you go to China, it is a whole new world and you are discovering it with Ryo where it is much bigger and the people are fishy, etc. I loved imitating the moves and practicing them in real life. I liked practicing the elbow, the tornado kick, the counter elbow, the double palm strike, etc.

Getting a job was kind of fun. I liked earning money and having fun making an honest living. I remember at one point, I wanted to work as a forklift operator at a harbor lol.

I loved the QTE scenes. It just brought this kind of excitement that you could control the outcome of a cutscene within mere seconds creating some results.

I honestly could go on and on but Shenmue is just something to me as if it were my true love.

Shenmue is a very personal game for me. Around the time the game came out, and I first started playing it, I was being bullied very badly at school, and home life really wasn't happy families, but Shenmue was always something that I could go back to to look after me and give me the warmth and comfort that I was otherwise not receiving from anywhere else. That, and even now, thirteen years later, Shenmue is able to do things that games haven't even come close to nowadays.

I'm not proud of very many things in my life, but I am proud to say that Shenmue changed my life and damn well made me who I am today.

xx