Tarnishing my fond memories for the original Shenmue

[Shenmue 2 - Sega Dreamcast]

First I tried to find the Phoenix Bldg or Pellow Bldg (or similar) where Hang On and After Burner II are. While doing so I happened upon a gambling spot, and after much betting all my money and resetting my dreamcast I eventually walked away with 3,000 yen from 500 yen I started with. Now with loads of money I set out again to find either of the bldgs, but I had no luck. I aimlessly ran from place to place, whilst putting up with endless loading screens. Enough was enough, so I thought let’s get on with the story!

And you’d think it’d get better. But no, you ask one person where is Yuan, you follow them to the next place, ask another person, follow them to yet another place. This turns into a very long, drawn out, un-involving part of the game. For instance you’ll ask some walker passing by “where is the — bldg?” and they’ll  say “what a coincidence I was going that way, follow me.” And follow them you do at a snails pace, and sometimes even through loading screens. I guess they want you to appreciate the scenery while you walk, as you can use the left analogue stick to look about. But 7 years from it’s release for the most part the graphics ain’t pretty. I even tried to get the locals to speed in guiding me to my next location by using the talk button and they say “Oh yes I do know where I’m going even though I’m old!” and keep waddling onwards… Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Anyway once I’d survived through all the endless rambling I had arrived at the bldg/shopping centre/block of flats containing a talking bird shop where Yuan (some woman who is a gangster, I’m not sure why I’m after her) was likely to be. But it got worse. Firstly on the 1st floor they say these talking bird shops are on next floor, you go to the next floor and they say they’re on some other floor and so on. But it’s not as simple as that, as there are two lifts, both only going to certain floors. So you have to keep to-ing and fro-ing between the lifts. Thankfully there aren’t loading times between lifts.

After all this you end up on the roof. And Ren turns up as well, Ryo and Ren decide to follow Yuan. And I keep thinking, oh we’ll follow Yuan for a bit and then beat her up, get some info and then the story will progress a bit. But that’s not for a while yet. First you get stuck into a very long section where you can’t save. You have to follow her but from a distance, if you get caught the game starts again from a couple of scenes ago (which is a long time ago) and you have to repeat the section all over again. The bit that really pisses me off though is the fact that the repeated scenes are UN-SKIPPABLE!!! And then if you miss the bloody QTE’s you have to start again from several minutes ago again!!! It’s safe to say this whole section tarnished my fond memories for The Original Shenmue.

So when you finally finish following Yaun you end up at her flat and it gets better. There’s cool cut-scene where Ryo and Ren find some guy dying, handcuffed behind a desk. Dou Niu (Sumo-wrestler looking guy who Yaun works for) is on his way to the flat, so you hide, lock him in the wardrobe with a QTE and escape with the handcuffed guy.

Back at Ren’s Hideout, in the old handcuffed guy’s last words tells you to go to “10F of the Ghost Hall Bldg” and gives you a key, which Ryo calls a “snake tortoise.”

It seems to me like things may be hotting up, or it may be wishful thinking. Either way I’ve decided to keep slog it out and complete this game over the next few days, so I can move onto the next one. Any suggestions on my next game from The List Of Games will be much appreciated.

[ Posted by Robert Langley-Jones ]