By far the most soulful game ever created. The soundtrack resonates with me and the world genuinely feels better realized than most high budget games these days. Visiting Tomato convenience store and taking daily walks to the You Arcade to play Hang On offers an experience you just can't get in other games. Walking around the streets during Christmas time is pure unadulterated comfy. Surprisingly the voice acting isn't grating at all, maybe just because of the nostalgia but I feel Ryo's voice fits very well. A lot of people these days say there's no need for Shenmue in the current industry because Yakuza is just better but in my eyes they offer completely different experiences. It's refreshing how nearly everyone in town knows Ryo and can have casual conversations with him.
While the story does start on a strong note, it does drag a bit in the first half as you investigate and just go around asking questions to random NPCs. It becomes more compelling in the second half with confronting the mad angels and rescuing Nozomi as well as being littered with nice events like becoming bros with Goro and saying an emotional farewell to Tom. Having Ryo finally decide to just take a break and eat a hot dog right before Tom leaves was a great touch. Working at the docks is surprisingly comfy but I feel having to do it for 5 days (more if you miss something they want you to do on those days) in a row is a tad much. The amount of waiting around you have to do and some annoying combat encounters do drag the game down a bit but in the grand scheme of things the amount of soul poured into the game makes up for it in spades.