The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Well, I didn't think it was released till the 30th but it arrived this morning.
The box was slightly bashed and the first box didn't close or open properly but I couldn't care less. I had the game in my possession. Cheers Sr.
Anyway, it turns out you can load a cleared file from Shenmue 1 so that's exactly what I did.
It starts off really slow and is admittedly very boring but it soon picks up and you are dying to get to the next area.
Talking about areas, this game is HUGE!! I cannot believe how many towns there are. I've only been playing for around 2 and a half hours and already, I think the gaming area is much larger than the first game. I really haven't gotten used to the towns yet so really, whenever I need to go somewhere I just wander around and hope I either stumble across the right place or find this old guy (who always leads me where I want to go). :-D
I have gotten into a few quicktimes and free battles and so far I have noticed a few differences. The free battles don't feel quite the same as in the previous game. I'm not sure what it is, but they do feel different (not necessarily worse mind). The main difference with the QTEs is this. Where as in the first game, if you failed a QTE, you'd simply get another go. Well, it's not like that in Shenmue 2. If you fail, that's it. You must continue on your quest and find another way to do what you want to do. While this can get (very) frustrating, it is definitely an improvement in my opinion. It makes the game more realistic than ever and keeps you constantly alert to what's going on during a cut scene just in case a button symbol appears on screen.
This time, there are also a lot more ways to make money. You can stand at a stall and play people games for money, you can move crates from one area to another (this time no fork truck though, just hands) and you can gamble. Arm wrestling is all I've found so far but I can bet there are other gambling oppertunities and ways to make money. In the intro, you do see some fork trucks so maybe you do get to drive them later on. Who knows?
The graphics are very sharp and there is a vast and obvious improvement over the first game. This time, the shops and towns are very highly detailed with a huge amount of people wandering about. You can see these people from much further away than in the first game too, and they don't disappear from view until they are very far away. However, with this great improvement in graphics comes one drawback. There is quite a lot of slowdown. When you're running down a packed market street, sometimes there are huge amounts of slowdown. Thankfully though, this doesn't really affect the gameplay as it has only happened a few times and when it does happen, it's not exactly a tense situation your in (walking down a street).
One more difference is the fact that it is not English speech. It is actually Japanese (presumably anyway since I can't say I speak it) with English subtitles. This makes Ryo sound a lot tougher and not so much of a wiesel as he sounded in the first game. :-D
Overall, first impressions are very good and it looks set to be better than the original. (Still only 4 discs though with the last being similar to the passport. How they seem to have made it so much larger is beyond me. I thought it was supposed to be 6 discs this time round. Oh well.)
Come on Lan Di...show yourself.
The box was slightly bashed and the first box didn't close or open properly but I couldn't care less. I had the game in my possession. Cheers Sr.
Anyway, it turns out you can load a cleared file from Shenmue 1 so that's exactly what I did.
It starts off really slow and is admittedly very boring but it soon picks up and you are dying to get to the next area.
Talking about areas, this game is HUGE!! I cannot believe how many towns there are. I've only been playing for around 2 and a half hours and already, I think the gaming area is much larger than the first game. I really haven't gotten used to the towns yet so really, whenever I need to go somewhere I just wander around and hope I either stumble across the right place or find this old guy (who always leads me where I want to go). :-D
I have gotten into a few quicktimes and free battles and so far I have noticed a few differences. The free battles don't feel quite the same as in the previous game. I'm not sure what it is, but they do feel different (not necessarily worse mind). The main difference with the QTEs is this. Where as in the first game, if you failed a QTE, you'd simply get another go. Well, it's not like that in Shenmue 2. If you fail, that's it. You must continue on your quest and find another way to do what you want to do. While this can get (very) frustrating, it is definitely an improvement in my opinion. It makes the game more realistic than ever and keeps you constantly alert to what's going on during a cut scene just in case a button symbol appears on screen.
This time, there are also a lot more ways to make money. You can stand at a stall and play people games for money, you can move crates from one area to another (this time no fork truck though, just hands) and you can gamble. Arm wrestling is all I've found so far but I can bet there are other gambling oppertunities and ways to make money. In the intro, you do see some fork trucks so maybe you do get to drive them later on. Who knows?
The graphics are very sharp and there is a vast and obvious improvement over the first game. This time, the shops and towns are very highly detailed with a huge amount of people wandering about. You can see these people from much further away than in the first game too, and they don't disappear from view until they are very far away. However, with this great improvement in graphics comes one drawback. There is quite a lot of slowdown. When you're running down a packed market street, sometimes there are huge amounts of slowdown. Thankfully though, this doesn't really affect the gameplay as it has only happened a few times and when it does happen, it's not exactly a tense situation your in (walking down a street).
One more difference is the fact that it is not English speech. It is actually Japanese (presumably anyway since I can't say I speak it) with English subtitles. This makes Ryo sound a lot tougher and not so much of a wiesel as he sounded in the first game. :-D
Overall, first impressions are very good and it looks set to be better than the original. (Still only 4 discs though with the last being similar to the passport. How they seem to have made it so much larger is beyond me. I thought it was supposed to be 6 discs this time round. Oh well.)
Come on Lan Di...show yourself.
Page:
OLD Grey Fox. what a good nickname but you could be one of a number of old customers I have.I suspect, with the DIY comment that this fox comes from across the channel!!? It is still good to get you on board the forum express.
Hi Jon. Like the web site. Didn't know your computing skills were as good as you DIY!
i agree with you Vottanator when you say that when you miss a button on the QTEs that you hav to carry on because it shows that the game has expanded so that there is more than one route to something.....I used to have a Dreamcast and i had Shenmue on it and it was amazing for such a complex game and on so little amount of discs you get such a high quality of graphics and gaming....but i have a PS2 now and my best game has to be RED FACTION it rocks!!!
I've only got a sad $7. Guess I'm gonna have go and do some box-lifting at Fortune's Pier, then gamble it in the warehouses, and no doubt lose it all!
I lost $350 on the "big & small" game the other day!
I lost $350 on the "big & small" game the other day!
Nomad_Soul wrote:
I'm on disc 2 trying to gather together $500 in order to met a geezer
> called Ren.
Same here. I only have something like $135 though.
I'm on disc 2 trying to gather together $500 in order to met a geezer
> called Ren.
Same here. I only have something like $135 though.
The_Vottanator wrote:
>No I know where Golden Qr is, I wanted to know where about the arcade
> was in it.
And how far are you through it?
Golden Qr is basically one street. The arcade is on the front of the main street.
I'm on disc 2 trying to gather together $500 in order to met a geezer called Ren.
>No I know where Golden Qr is, I wanted to know where about the arcade
> was in it.
And how far are you through it?
Golden Qr is basically one street. The arcade is on the front of the main street.
I'm on disc 2 trying to gather together $500 in order to met a geezer called Ren.
Nomad_Soul wrote:
> It links with Wise Men Qr, Lucky Charm Qr & Green Market Qr. Exit any of
> these (from the correct exit) and you'll be on it.
No I know where Golden Qr is, I wanted to know where about the arcade was in it.
And how far are you through it?
Oh and yes, it is Japanese text whoever it was asking.
> It links with Wise Men Qr, Lucky Charm Qr & Green Market Qr. Exit any of
> these (from the correct exit) and you'll be on it.
No I know where Golden Qr is, I wanted to know where about the arcade was in it.
And how far are you through it?
Oh and yes, it is Japanese text whoever it was asking.
The Japanese voices and English subtitles don't ruin the game at all. In fact, it makes it better, as there is no dodgy voice acting - and even if there is - how are we to tell.
Page: