I hate this game.
Muito bom. Não diria que é melhor que o primeiro, mas sim complementar. Enquanto Shenmue I se concentrava na cidade natal de Ryo, tendo um level design pequeno mas denso, o II coloca o protagonista numa cidade grande e estrangeira, com um level design expansivo e maios orientado à ação. Algumas adições de "quality of life", como a habilidade de passar o tempo, são muito bem-vindas, entretanto.
do you want to play a game of lucky hit
Every bit as much of a one-of-a-kind experience as the first game, with just as much goofy and awkwardness, but it's just genuinely a more enjoyable experience due to a lot of improvements to the gameplay like not being forced to wait in real time for objectives, the combat feeling more refined and the cast of characters being written better and more memorable, plus the story being more compelling and the mini-games being more fun. The ending sequence was incredible and made the whole journey worth it.
I prefer the first game because japan is just so much cozier than hong kong or kowloon but I recognize the merits of the 2nd game well enough. The ability to skip to the next story event when you get to the destination is a godsend, the hong kong section (particularly the temple and learning from the wude masters) is pretty good. The final section of the game with shenhua, despite mostly just being walking around, made me feel the shenmue soul hard. However I do not like the kowloon section of the game which is a pretty big problem because it is half the game. The buildings are same-y, it's hard to navigate, it's flooded with annoying QTE segments, the entire "shadowing yuan" part sucks, the part where you have to get to the top of the building by crossing like 20 beams sucks, the 17 floor yellow head building is not fun and they have an issue with repeatedly telling you what to do "run when the lights go out" says Ren every single time. That being said Kowloon has some nice aspects too, there are some fun interactions between Ryo and Ren, the story beats are alright, and some of the martial arts challenges are fun to do like catching the acrobat or beating up the half blind guy. The boss fights also suck. Shenmue's combat isn't great to begin with but having every boss feature a QTE near the end that makes you restart the fight if you fail is terrible. Not to mention half the bosses are unbeatable and the other half require a strategy of "constantly dodge and sometimes throw a few punches". The QTEs also felt unreliable in general which leads to most of my other gripes but that may just be because my controller is a little messed up so I won't blame the game for it. It was a good experience overall but I definitely prefer shenmue 1.
This game was amazing for its time, but aged like milk. The voice acting is just terrible, but it was actually considered normal at the time. If only the story would actually meet a conclusion. Holds a special place in my heart.
one of the most impressive games I've played to this day. the insane amount of voice work put in this game, not to mention how all the npcs have their own va's and design for the most part is just astounding. Each and every corner of this game is beautifully crafted. There's always something to discover in this game.
Shenmue 2 is grand and majestic with memorable story beats.
Shenmue 2 is grand and majestic with memorable story beats.
Baba hıncını almaya geliyom
Completely drops the nice small town sim of the last game for a confusing and obtuse open world that just doesn't feel impressive anymore. Video review soon, maybe?
did u find him yet ryo
This review contains spoilers
I totally understand why people don't like Shenmue but to me it's always been a striking thing, even as I spent my (many) playthroughs of it reading gaming magazines while waiting for in-game shops to open so I could get the story moving. Shenmue is a great big ball of friction; Yu Sazuki seeing game devs turning their life experiences into "fun" games and calling them cowards for it. Shenmue is a life simulation with a little bit of martial arts added in, not the other way around. In Shenmue you grind, and it's not for anything fun like experience points or a new sword or so you can unlock the secret ninja character for your party. Instead, Shenmue is a vision of a classic revenge story where the protagonist is just a regular polite doofus. So you're skipping school, talking to people in your little podunk town, trying to find out if they saw something, anything, that could put you on the right track, until day turns night and you try to not to get home too late so that your kindly old housekeeper doesn't get mad - not because there's any gameplay reason for it but because she's kind and you don't want to disappoint her. Occasionally, you beat a dude up, and your only reward for it is a bit of information and the fact that you didn't get your ass handed to you. One more day of survival. Wake up the next day, take the bus to your boring warehouse job and do it all over again.
None of this happens in a "cool" way by the way, the localization is a too-literal first-pass with awful voice acting, the combat is borderline non-functional, and the characters are bland and wooden. But its realization of small-town Japan is so lovingly detailed, with such a beautiful soundtrack, and you can just sit there drinking a can of soda while twilight hits the pier that you're working on as a forklift driver and chill in this moment of elegance. This was the thing that I fell in love with as a kid.
Shenmue II is more of the same with a few improvements. It's a continuation in every sense of the word, to the point where the original's budget covered some of the sequel's dev cost as well, and it basically doesn't tutorialize anything. There are a few quality of life additions; you can actually skip time instead of waiting around, you can get a little mini-map in the corner, you can save anywhere, and if you know where to look you can make money somewhat quickly. That intensely frictional gameplay is still there though; the first thing that happens in the game is that your money gets stolen, and you spend your first night scraping cash together for a room at the local hotel by manning sketchy gambling stands around the city. This delighted me.
In addition to that, you get a much more propulsive story in three shockingly different regions, a martial arts training arc, a buddy-cop investigation, a crew of dirtbags - totally undercut by the voice acting, which I usually find pretty charming - and what I can only describe as probably the first walking simulator ever made; several hours of trotting through the deep woods, talking to a single person about their life and comparing it to your own. Like the first game, Shenmue II is acutely interested in representing actual locations with no glamour. The streets of Wan Chai are dirty, and the vast buildings of Kowloon are a labyrinth of elevators, stairs under construction, and floors with nothing more than a plank of wood getting you from end to the other. It is inconvenient to get around. Few games go this far to represent a videogame space as a real place rather than a container for gameplay. At the same time, Shenmue II is heightened from the original, with more action, more kung-fu masters, and ending on a mystical note that has been hinted at since the first game. Lest you think this is an exciting videogame, I must say that it's all, essentially, boring. Most of the game is performing menial tasks and repeating the same questions to different people on the street until they can point you towards the location you're looking for.
And yet I loved every part of it to the point where it is legitimately hard for me to encapsulate it all. I can only end by saying that I loved it more than I expected, while also expecting that about 90% of people will absolutely hate it. So, basically, it's Shenmue. Thank god for that.
None of this happens in a "cool" way by the way, the localization is a too-literal first-pass with awful voice acting, the combat is borderline non-functional, and the characters are bland and wooden. But its realization of small-town Japan is so lovingly detailed, with such a beautiful soundtrack, and you can just sit there drinking a can of soda while twilight hits the pier that you're working on as a forklift driver and chill in this moment of elegance. This was the thing that I fell in love with as a kid.
Shenmue II is more of the same with a few improvements. It's a continuation in every sense of the word, to the point where the original's budget covered some of the sequel's dev cost as well, and it basically doesn't tutorialize anything. There are a few quality of life additions; you can actually skip time instead of waiting around, you can get a little mini-map in the corner, you can save anywhere, and if you know where to look you can make money somewhat quickly. That intensely frictional gameplay is still there though; the first thing that happens in the game is that your money gets stolen, and you spend your first night scraping cash together for a room at the local hotel by manning sketchy gambling stands around the city. This delighted me.
In addition to that, you get a much more propulsive story in three shockingly different regions, a martial arts training arc, a buddy-cop investigation, a crew of dirtbags - totally undercut by the voice acting, which I usually find pretty charming - and what I can only describe as probably the first walking simulator ever made; several hours of trotting through the deep woods, talking to a single person about their life and comparing it to your own. Like the first game, Shenmue II is acutely interested in representing actual locations with no glamour. The streets of Wan Chai are dirty, and the vast buildings of Kowloon are a labyrinth of elevators, stairs under construction, and floors with nothing more than a plank of wood getting you from end to the other. It is inconvenient to get around. Few games go this far to represent a videogame space as a real place rather than a container for gameplay. At the same time, Shenmue II is heightened from the original, with more action, more kung-fu masters, and ending on a mystical note that has been hinted at since the first game. Lest you think this is an exciting videogame, I must say that it's all, essentially, boring. Most of the game is performing menial tasks and repeating the same questions to different people on the street until they can point you towards the location you're looking for.
And yet I loved every part of it to the point where it is legitimately hard for me to encapsulate it all. I can only end by saying that I loved it more than I expected, while also expecting that about 90% of people will absolutely hate it. So, basically, it's Shenmue. Thank god for that.
Like this one even more than the first. Way better characters and cooler locations. Story is more action packed.
Peaks and Valleys: The Video Game is the most mechanically boring but conceptually interesting game I've played since the last Shenmue. Yet again, I have a lot to say about this one. If you want the short version: Shenmue II fixes several things about the first game, creating an overall better experience, but it also doesn't fix enough and I don't like it very much.
Ryo has finally arrived in Hong Kong and spends much of the game haunting the connected districts of Aberdeen and Wan Chai. And I mean that literally, later in the game you're able to listen to a news report about Ryo being responsible for a rash of violent attacks and the police want him for questioning. Hong Kong is massive and it's very easy to get turned around and lost, though it's not as much of a navigational nightmare as Kowloon, which Ryo relocates to later in the game. Shenmue II is a big game. There's a lot to do if you just want to slow down and enjoy things, be that gambling, seeking out one of the four different arcade games, getting more gacha toys, or learning about Hong Kong and its customs. However, unlike Shenmue, you're never required to interact with these side activities if you don't want to.
The biggest improvement over Shenmue is its pacing. In that game, if you needed to wait around for a story event to open up you either had to kill time around town or just stand around and like, go wash dishes or something. Thankfully, Shenmue II gives you the option to fast forward time, which is a godsend. In general, the pacing of Shenmue II feels significantly better, with story events hitting at a more rapid clip, and each beat feeling more impactful. The early parts of the game in Wan Chai are perhaps the slowest, but they're more character focused and actually provide Ryo with some much needed development. Once you meet Ren of Heavens, who is essentially a Han Solo type scoundrel who sees money in Ryo's quest, the game starts to become more action focused and provides context for the death of Ryo's father and motivation for Lan Di. In my review of Shenmue, I said the game felt more like a prologue and speculated that the story would get far more interesting from there. For the most part, I think my prediction was accurate.
This all seems positive, so what's my problem?
All of this sounds good when your point of reference is Shenmue. The bar was never set very high to begin with. Of course it feels better, you could give me just the option to skip ahead to story events instead of playing Hang On for three real world hours and I'd be like "yeah, shit, I guess that is technically better!" The core gameplay of Shenmue II is still crappy. It's still using the same janky Virtua Fighter system for its combat, it still suffers from the same camera issues, Ryo still controls like a car, and you still have to spend a significant amount of the game just walking up to NPCs and asking where to go.
Shenmue II is a game that will earn good will and then burn it immediately after. Nowhere is this felt more than Kowloon, which as I previously said is the most action-packed stretch of the game. That action is infuriatingly bookended by far too many excursions into Kowloon's many inter-connected apartments, each of which are labyrinthine and require you to make use of elevators and stairwells that only deposit you onto certain floors. You may, for example, have to take an elevator up to the sixth floor, run to the opposite end of the building and take the stairs down to the third floor, then take an elevator there to the fifth floor so you can take another stairwell up to the tenth floor, and then all of this is to, like, talk to a kid about a bird. "You should try asking around bird shops." That's great. Good advice kid. Now I get to do all of that in reverse.
I love Ren, he's my favorite character in all of Shenmue besides Tom, but I hate when the game forces you to travel with him because he has to provide color commentary every time you make an extremely minor mistake. Put the wrong key in the wrong hole? Better take 30 seconds to listen to Ren scold you and Ryo to formulate some lame excuse. Oh, it's a dead end? Are you sure? Are you telling me this wall here - which is a stationary object that cannot be scaled or passed through - has impeded our journey? Well shit, I never would have known I took a wrong turn if not for your valuable insight! Thank you, game!
These might all seem like minor things, but they just keep piling on and weighing down the experience, which already isn't anything particularly special given how dire the core gameplay is. Often Shenmue II falls back on its story, which is quite good, and as I reached the climactic fight with Don Niu high above Kowloon I actually thought, damn, this game is at least going to end strong...
Act III:Drug-- Uh I mean, Guilin.
We need to talk about Shenhua, AKA That Girl on the Cover. If you've never played a Shenmue game a day in your life, first of all let me congratulate you. Stay the path, brother. You still probably know who this is, though. She's featured prominently in key art for both games despite only showing up in Ryo's dreams and reciting an oddly prophetic poem during the first game's closing moments. Surely, she's important to the overall narrative of Shenmue given how much presence she has despite not actually appearing in the story. I have to admit, Shenhua is part of what kept me going. She's such an unknown factor and I felt like I've been teased with her grand reveal for so long that I couldn't possibly put Shenmue (as a series!) down until I had a better understanding of who she is and the role she has to play.
Anyway you meet her and spend like two hours talking to her about the drinking water in her village.
The only takes on Shenmue II I've seen have been the very broad and baseline ones. The game is good, it's better than the first. I haven't sought out anything more pointed than that, so I'm not sure what people think of the Guilin chapter. If I had to guess, Shenmue heads probably ate it up. After Kowloon, you're placed on a much more linear track, walking the mountains of Guilin with Shenhua and just spending time getting to know her. Your conversations at times go nowhere, they're about matters that are completely unimportant, and yet they give you a feel for who each character is. Ryo is able to pull back for a moment, so far from civilization, and just reflect on everything he's experienced. There's almost something therapeutic about talking to this girl, it gives him perspective about the path he's been walking and permits him a moment to feel nostalgic about his father and his friends in Japan.
It also just does not need to be in this game at all.
Much of these conversations Ryo has that recaps his quest feels better suited for the start of a game, catching players up on everything that happened before diving fully into the next chapter of Ryo's adventure. Even the more gameplay-centric parts of this chapter feel more like an introduction to Shenmue's mechanics, and the sound effect for quick time event prompts is noticeably different. At best it feels like DLC, at worst it seems like Yu had some sense that whatever work was done for a third game might not be fully realized, so he stitched it onto the end of II. Tonally, it just doesn't work. It wastes Kowloon's momentum and feels at odds with the rest of the game. Even the cliffhanger ending with the gigantic copies of the dragon and phoenix mirrors feels like a late title shot.
I don't know, maybe this is an unfair assessment. I did just play like, 30 hours of this game that I was not really into, and draining another two into this extremely slow finale just kept me thinking "shut up, I want to play Signalis" over and over again. Who gives a crap about Shenhua, Joy is my wife anyway. Just let me get to the credits already so I can see the names of those responsible and add them to my list of enemies.
The highlight of this entire experience is that someone finally said "Shenmue" in a Shenmue game, and after 60 combined hours of this crap, it's the most leo_pointing_at_tv.jpeg I've ever been about something in my entire life. I still have Shenmue III to play, but I am not touching that for at least a few months, because I've already ingested a nearly lethal amount of Shenmue and I would like to just stop thinking about these games and play something fun.
Ryo has finally arrived in Hong Kong and spends much of the game haunting the connected districts of Aberdeen and Wan Chai. And I mean that literally, later in the game you're able to listen to a news report about Ryo being responsible for a rash of violent attacks and the police want him for questioning. Hong Kong is massive and it's very easy to get turned around and lost, though it's not as much of a navigational nightmare as Kowloon, which Ryo relocates to later in the game. Shenmue II is a big game. There's a lot to do if you just want to slow down and enjoy things, be that gambling, seeking out one of the four different arcade games, getting more gacha toys, or learning about Hong Kong and its customs. However, unlike Shenmue, you're never required to interact with these side activities if you don't want to.
The biggest improvement over Shenmue is its pacing. In that game, if you needed to wait around for a story event to open up you either had to kill time around town or just stand around and like, go wash dishes or something. Thankfully, Shenmue II gives you the option to fast forward time, which is a godsend. In general, the pacing of Shenmue II feels significantly better, with story events hitting at a more rapid clip, and each beat feeling more impactful. The early parts of the game in Wan Chai are perhaps the slowest, but they're more character focused and actually provide Ryo with some much needed development. Once you meet Ren of Heavens, who is essentially a Han Solo type scoundrel who sees money in Ryo's quest, the game starts to become more action focused and provides context for the death of Ryo's father and motivation for Lan Di. In my review of Shenmue, I said the game felt more like a prologue and speculated that the story would get far more interesting from there. For the most part, I think my prediction was accurate.
This all seems positive, so what's my problem?
All of this sounds good when your point of reference is Shenmue. The bar was never set very high to begin with. Of course it feels better, you could give me just the option to skip ahead to story events instead of playing Hang On for three real world hours and I'd be like "yeah, shit, I guess that is technically better!" The core gameplay of Shenmue II is still crappy. It's still using the same janky Virtua Fighter system for its combat, it still suffers from the same camera issues, Ryo still controls like a car, and you still have to spend a significant amount of the game just walking up to NPCs and asking where to go.
Shenmue II is a game that will earn good will and then burn it immediately after. Nowhere is this felt more than Kowloon, which as I previously said is the most action-packed stretch of the game. That action is infuriatingly bookended by far too many excursions into Kowloon's many inter-connected apartments, each of which are labyrinthine and require you to make use of elevators and stairwells that only deposit you onto certain floors. You may, for example, have to take an elevator up to the sixth floor, run to the opposite end of the building and take the stairs down to the third floor, then take an elevator there to the fifth floor so you can take another stairwell up to the tenth floor, and then all of this is to, like, talk to a kid about a bird. "You should try asking around bird shops." That's great. Good advice kid. Now I get to do all of that in reverse.
I love Ren, he's my favorite character in all of Shenmue besides Tom, but I hate when the game forces you to travel with him because he has to provide color commentary every time you make an extremely minor mistake. Put the wrong key in the wrong hole? Better take 30 seconds to listen to Ren scold you and Ryo to formulate some lame excuse. Oh, it's a dead end? Are you sure? Are you telling me this wall here - which is a stationary object that cannot be scaled or passed through - has impeded our journey? Well shit, I never would have known I took a wrong turn if not for your valuable insight! Thank you, game!
These might all seem like minor things, but they just keep piling on and weighing down the experience, which already isn't anything particularly special given how dire the core gameplay is. Often Shenmue II falls back on its story, which is quite good, and as I reached the climactic fight with Don Niu high above Kowloon I actually thought, damn, this game is at least going to end strong...
Act III:
We need to talk about Shenhua, AKA That Girl on the Cover. If you've never played a Shenmue game a day in your life, first of all let me congratulate you. Stay the path, brother. You still probably know who this is, though. She's featured prominently in key art for both games despite only showing up in Ryo's dreams and reciting an oddly prophetic poem during the first game's closing moments. Surely, she's important to the overall narrative of Shenmue given how much presence she has despite not actually appearing in the story. I have to admit, Shenhua is part of what kept me going. She's such an unknown factor and I felt like I've been teased with her grand reveal for so long that I couldn't possibly put Shenmue (as a series!) down until I had a better understanding of who she is and the role she has to play.
Anyway you meet her and spend like two hours talking to her about the drinking water in her village.
The only takes on Shenmue II I've seen have been the very broad and baseline ones. The game is good, it's better than the first. I haven't sought out anything more pointed than that, so I'm not sure what people think of the Guilin chapter. If I had to guess, Shenmue heads probably ate it up. After Kowloon, you're placed on a much more linear track, walking the mountains of Guilin with Shenhua and just spending time getting to know her. Your conversations at times go nowhere, they're about matters that are completely unimportant, and yet they give you a feel for who each character is. Ryo is able to pull back for a moment, so far from civilization, and just reflect on everything he's experienced. There's almost something therapeutic about talking to this girl, it gives him perspective about the path he's been walking and permits him a moment to feel nostalgic about his father and his friends in Japan.
It also just does not need to be in this game at all.
Much of these conversations Ryo has that recaps his quest feels better suited for the start of a game, catching players up on everything that happened before diving fully into the next chapter of Ryo's adventure. Even the more gameplay-centric parts of this chapter feel more like an introduction to Shenmue's mechanics, and the sound effect for quick time event prompts is noticeably different. At best it feels like DLC, at worst it seems like Yu had some sense that whatever work was done for a third game might not be fully realized, so he stitched it onto the end of II. Tonally, it just doesn't work. It wastes Kowloon's momentum and feels at odds with the rest of the game. Even the cliffhanger ending with the gigantic copies of the dragon and phoenix mirrors feels like a late title shot.
I don't know, maybe this is an unfair assessment. I did just play like, 30 hours of this game that I was not really into, and draining another two into this extremely slow finale just kept me thinking "shut up, I want to play Signalis" over and over again. Who gives a crap about Shenhua, Joy is my wife anyway. Just let me get to the credits already so I can see the names of those responsible and add them to my list of enemies.
The highlight of this entire experience is that someone finally said "Shenmue" in a Shenmue game, and after 60 combined hours of this crap, it's the most leo_pointing_at_tv.jpeg I've ever been about something in my entire life. I still have Shenmue III to play, but I am not touching that for at least a few months, because I've already ingested a nearly lethal amount of Shenmue and I would like to just stop thinking about these games and play something fun.
Shenmue II pegou o primeiro e melhorou cada aspecto mecânico um por um. A encheção de linguiça é bem mais dinâmica e opcional, finalmente tem a porra de um mapa então o dinamismo de locomoção é bem melhor, passar o tempo é BEM MAIS PRÁTICO.
Se Shenmue já era um jogo extremamente ousado pra sua época, Shenmue II consegue ter um escopo AINDA MAIOR. Praticamente tem 3 cidades, a longividade do jogo é bem maior, visualmente é um absurdo de lindo pra época e a história é bem mais "action-packed".
O universo em si é bem maior, introduz uma quantia numerosa de personagens extremamente cativantes que tiram o Ryo da sua bolha de conforto que era Yokosuka, o jogo está cada vez mais ensinando o Ryo os mil significados do que é ser um artista marcial, é lindo.
Mas é meio que óbvio, Shenmue 1 cobria um capítulo da história de Shenmue, enquanto o 2 COBRE FUCKING 4 CAPÍTULOS. E posso dizer que fez um ÓTIMO trabalho, por que em nenhum momento eu senti que o jogo era rushado, de forma alguma, ele é "confortável" como sempre.
Em questão de combate aparenta não ter mudado... mas mudou. O combate meio que reflete a natureza mais "grandiosa" do jogo, foca bem mais em movimento, a esquiva do jogo é tem um alcance bem maior e parrys no geral foram desfocados a favor de counters e rolamentos. Em suma, o combate é menos técnico e menos punitivo que o anterior, é bem "solto" e mais convidativo para aqueles que não querem esquentar muito a cabeça com um sistema complexo e "preciso" como o do primeiro jogo. Eu prefiro o sistema anterior, mas tenho carinho por esse.
Agora pra crítica, é mais uma afirmação de preferência. Acho que o tom do primeiro jogo me agrada mais, esse é épico demais, me vejo muito mais preso ao Ryo na narrativa suave, relaxante e até melancólica do primeiro. Era bem mais humano, se isso faz algum sentido. Mas não posso ignorar que isso é um passo a ser dado na história, Ryo saiu da sua zona de conforto, foi pra uma aventura, na jornada de auto-conhecimento buscar o sentido do que é ser forte, do que é ser um lutador, e é simplesmente emocionante e lindo de ver.
Tl;dr é um jogo com um escopo muito maior e épico e com inumeras melhorias no game design, mas eu prefiro o primeiro por questões pessoais.
Enfim, eu gosto de agrupar os dois primeiros jogos como uma experiência única, pois, no fim, não existe nenhum outro jogo como ele. Shenmue é uma experiência única.
Shenmue, sempre será Shenmue.
Se Shenmue já era um jogo extremamente ousado pra sua época, Shenmue II consegue ter um escopo AINDA MAIOR. Praticamente tem 3 cidades, a longividade do jogo é bem maior, visualmente é um absurdo de lindo pra época e a história é bem mais "action-packed".
O universo em si é bem maior, introduz uma quantia numerosa de personagens extremamente cativantes que tiram o Ryo da sua bolha de conforto que era Yokosuka, o jogo está cada vez mais ensinando o Ryo os mil significados do que é ser um artista marcial, é lindo.
Mas é meio que óbvio, Shenmue 1 cobria um capítulo da história de Shenmue, enquanto o 2 COBRE FUCKING 4 CAPÍTULOS. E posso dizer que fez um ÓTIMO trabalho, por que em nenhum momento eu senti que o jogo era rushado, de forma alguma, ele é "confortável" como sempre.
Em questão de combate aparenta não ter mudado... mas mudou. O combate meio que reflete a natureza mais "grandiosa" do jogo, foca bem mais em movimento, a esquiva do jogo é tem um alcance bem maior e parrys no geral foram desfocados a favor de counters e rolamentos. Em suma, o combate é menos técnico e menos punitivo que o anterior, é bem "solto" e mais convidativo para aqueles que não querem esquentar muito a cabeça com um sistema complexo e "preciso" como o do primeiro jogo. Eu prefiro o sistema anterior, mas tenho carinho por esse.
Agora pra crítica, é mais uma afirmação de preferência. Acho que o tom do primeiro jogo me agrada mais, esse é épico demais, me vejo muito mais preso ao Ryo na narrativa suave, relaxante e até melancólica do primeiro. Era bem mais humano, se isso faz algum sentido. Mas não posso ignorar que isso é um passo a ser dado na história, Ryo saiu da sua zona de conforto, foi pra uma aventura, na jornada de auto-conhecimento buscar o sentido do que é ser forte, do que é ser um lutador, e é simplesmente emocionante e lindo de ver.
Tl;dr é um jogo com um escopo muito maior e épico e com inumeras melhorias no game design, mas eu prefiro o primeiro por questões pessoais.
Enfim, eu gosto de agrupar os dois primeiros jogos como uma experiência única, pois, no fim, não existe nenhum outro jogo como ele. Shenmue é uma experiência única.
Shenmue, sempre será Shenmue.
I miss the forklift now
A game that I love and hate at the same time. Really great atmosphere, Hong Kong was a really good city to explore, I loved the fact that there were so much possibles activites (contrary to the first one), the game has a good narrative even though it's not the strongest point of the game. But the QTE made me rage at times on ps4 version, and there are too many of them. Still a great game regardless.
I didn't like jim sterling until they said shenmue is bad
Totalmente continuista a la segunda entrega, pero mejorando fallos menores y expandiendo varias virtudes. Sus mayores problemas son los mismos, eso sí, me cago en los muertos de los quick time events. La historia te deja con ganas de la tercera parte.
The gameplay is definitely more refined, with more options to make money and being able to fast-forward certain moments instead of waiting. I'm not a fan of the gambling mini-games, though. When the best way to make money is by save scumming, it's counterproductive from the immersive gameplay.
The story is epic and gripping, retaining that sense of mystery and discovery. The supporting cast is just as strong. Ren is a great ally, Xiuying is wise and bitter, and Joy is... well, a joy to be around. The Guilin chapter at the end is also a nice breather and ends with an intriguing cliffhanger.
It's hard to say whether I prefer this to the first one. This is more refined, but I also liked how relaxing the first one was. I'd say they're equal for the time being.
The story is epic and gripping, retaining that sense of mystery and discovery. The supporting cast is just as strong. Ren is a great ally, Xiuying is wise and bitter, and Joy is... well, a joy to be around. The Guilin chapter at the end is also a nice breather and ends with an intriguing cliffhanger.
It's hard to say whether I prefer this to the first one. This is more refined, but I also liked how relaxing the first one was. I'd say they're equal for the time being.
Loses a lot of what I loved about Shenmue in service of continuing Ryu's story, but in such an intentional manner that I respect. Miserable pacing in some parts mires the whole experience, even if it ends hella strong.
CD4 > all
Better than the first game in about every way, but I kind of prefer the simplicity of the original tho. Gorgeous world
Honestly, I'm not really sure what to think of Shenmue 2. On one hand, automatic waiting is a vast improvement over what was there before, but at the same time I feel giving Ryo more things to do with his time would have been another viable solution, but there really isn't so all he can really do is wait. On another, I still don't like how Ryo controls, but at least the fights this time felt fair and the like 5 actual bosses were a fair challenge, even if mobs could be cleared by mashing.
The Hong Kong part of the story is the best part with its map and strong set-up of the story. Lifting Boxes isn't as fun as a forklift but you only have to do it like 3 times. I do miss the flow you could get into while doing a forklift though, as odd as that sounds.
Ren is a highlight, someone who acts out of his own self interest unrelated to Ryo while still accompanying him made him a treat and is easily Ryo's best companion. Unfortunately Kowloon is a garbage map that is far too easy to get lost in and has all the worst missions, especially the Yellow Head Building that went on for too long. A lot of the game actually has pacing issues like this but the Yellow Head Building is the highlight. At least you get your prototype Yakuza final boss fight on a major rooftop, complete with Lan Di Date in a Helicopter!
The final area of the game was a treat at first but the novelty wears off after 20 minutes. I also think the game could have ended like 3 times. It just wore away its welcome after a while. I'm not sure which of the two games I prefer, in all honesty.
The Hong Kong part of the story is the best part with its map and strong set-up of the story. Lifting Boxes isn't as fun as a forklift but you only have to do it like 3 times. I do miss the flow you could get into while doing a forklift though, as odd as that sounds.
Ren is a highlight, someone who acts out of his own self interest unrelated to Ryo while still accompanying him made him a treat and is easily Ryo's best companion. Unfortunately Kowloon is a garbage map that is far too easy to get lost in and has all the worst missions, especially the Yellow Head Building that went on for too long. A lot of the game actually has pacing issues like this but the Yellow Head Building is the highlight. At least you get your prototype Yakuza final boss fight on a major rooftop, complete with Lan Di Date in a Helicopter!
The final area of the game was a treat at first but the novelty wears off after 20 minutes. I also think the game could have ended like 3 times. It just wore away its welcome after a while. I'm not sure which of the two games I prefer, in all honesty.
Shenmue II is far grander in scope than its predecessor, for better or worse.
By better I mean it takes the story to the next level, introduces fantastic characters, and features massive gameplay areas and dope action setpieces. By worse I mean you don’t really get to immerse yourself in any of the locations quite as well as you did Yokosuka. In some ways that lack of connection to each area parallels Ryo’s journey, but that still made them less engaging for me as a player.
They also effed up the tank controls (you can’t just rotate, now Ryo walks forward a bit when he turns) and made the notebook music loud and annoying. But this is still a ballin’ game, which I can highly recommend, especially if you just beat the first game and want to bring over your save file.
By better I mean it takes the story to the next level, introduces fantastic characters, and features massive gameplay areas and dope action setpieces. By worse I mean you don’t really get to immerse yourself in any of the locations quite as well as you did Yokosuka. In some ways that lack of connection to each area parallels Ryo’s journey, but that still made them less engaging for me as a player.
They also effed up the tank controls (you can’t just rotate, now Ryo walks forward a bit when he turns) and made the notebook music loud and annoying. But this is still a ballin’ game, which I can highly recommend, especially if you just beat the first game and want to bring over your save file.
Seeking to be bigger, bolder and better than its predecessor, Shenmue 2 comes out another solid entry in Ryo's journey to avenge his father. While my heart will likely forever lie with the homely atmosphere of the OG, a still lovable cast, huge scope, and QOL changes make for another entry few can compete with the uniqueness of.
Having said that, I hope those responsible for the leaf catching game, the section where the game forces you to wait in a single area with no option to either fast forward time or leave to do anything else, and the final section of the game being near exclusively QTEs and cutscenes, think about what they did.
Having said that, I hope those responsible for the leaf catching game, the section where the game forces you to wait in a single area with no option to either fast forward time or leave to do anything else, and the final section of the game being near exclusively QTEs and cutscenes, think about what they did.
Like its predecessor, a masterpiece of virtual tourism and grandiose storytelling, but now with way more combat scenarios and less drawer opening. And it's last three hours or so are so damn ballsy.
an incredibly immersive and unforgettable experience, and also a dickish cliffhanger that I will never recover from
Shenmue II took everything Shenmue did well and did it better, and more. It was a bigger game with much more to do. As I said in my Shenmue 1 review this game is definitely outdated and wouldn't be 5 stars in 2022 but it absolutely was for its time and I would recommend playing this great revenge story.
2001. An unforgettable year. In 2001 we were blessed with three magical events: Two of which being Shrek and...
SHENMUE II.
It was a great privilege to play the original Shenmue, and I am pleased to inform any and all reading this review, that its successor is even better.
SHENMUE II.
It was a great privilege to play the original Shenmue, and I am pleased to inform any and all reading this review, that its successor is even better.
a lot bigger than the first game, and as a result a lot less comfy and small-feeling. but that's not necessarily a bad thing.