I have Shenmue 1 & 2 on the Dreamcast and I think I watched my sister play through most of them (actually I'm pretty sure Shemnue 2 is hers since we picked it up for her after she finished 1).
At the time they were, as far as I remember, a totally unique experience that I hadn't seen the likes of before. Yes they were slow-paced and clunky, but they immersed us in a believable world in two countries we have no first-hand experience of. Though they had a terrible cookie-cutter plot, puzzling through them still managed to be fun.
It's hard to rationalise why we sat through them in retrospect, because I only really fire up Shenmue 1 now to laugh at the utterly hilarious English spoken translations. I guess those were admittedly part of the appeal, because sitting down together and laughing at the insanity of it all was as fun as any other game.
Hey, if we could endure the relentless monotony of PSO, then Shenmue was a pretty easy sell in retrospect
Most "retro" games get a free pass because they weren't trying to be a cutting-edge cinematic, plot-driven experience and thus age well. Shenmue has aged terribly, but at the time I think it was widely considered to be unprecedented.
I'd certainly put Shenmue up there as a game I remember fondly. But I'll be damned if I can get through much of it these days. As for Shenmue 2? I can't remember a damned thing from it! Maybe I should just try playing that.
At the time they were, as far as I remember, a totally unique experience that I hadn't seen the likes of before. Yes they were slow-paced and clunky, but they immersed us in a believable world in two countries we have no first-hand experience of. Though they had a terrible cookie-cutter plot, puzzling through them still managed to be fun.
It's hard to rationalise why we sat through them in retrospect, because I only really fire up Shenmue 1 now to laugh at the utterly hilarious English spoken translations. I guess those were admittedly part of the appeal, because sitting down together and laughing at the insanity of it all was as fun as any other game.
Hey, if we could endure the relentless monotony of PSO, then Shenmue was a pretty easy sell in retrospect
Most "retro" games get a free pass because they weren't trying to be a cutting-edge cinematic, plot-driven experience and thus age well. Shenmue has aged terribly, but at the time I think it was widely considered to be unprecedented.
I'd certainly put Shenmue up there as a game I remember fondly. But I'll be damned if I can get through much of it these days. As for Shenmue 2? I can't remember a damned thing from it! Maybe I should just try playing that.
