How much do you like the Shenmue series?

[Silverfleet]

I got a Dreamcast back when they were clearing them out of Gamestop stores for $19.99 each, probably around 2002 or 2003. One of the first games I picked up was Shenmue. Back then, I really liked it. The exploration was a ton of fun, and the story was interesting. Even though it seemed like I spent 3 actual days trying to find where I could "find some sailors", I had fun with the game overall. I probably spent the most time in the arcade, drinking weird soda, and collecting capsule figurines.

 

But, I have Video Game ADD. I always start games and never finish them. Shenmue was one of those.

 

I have the 2nd one for the Xbox, but have never played it due to not finishing the 1st. Honestly, with the amazing open world games we have now, I don't know how they would hold up. I'll have to revisit them soon with the new one coming out.

[MrMaddog]

I played Shenmue on my DC and though it was fun for a while exploring a virtual town it wasn't perfect.

 

But I can forgive the quirks cause it really was early days of gaming and this was like a prototype of open world games where now you can do way more exciting stuff like in the GTA series. That's why Sega came up with the Yakuza series I suppose.

 

I'll get the remakes and hopefully I'll have time to finish them to play the 3rd episode when it comes out...just to see how the whole thing will end after all these years. (Now how about doing the same for Mega Man Legends...)

[Eltigro]

I have Shenmue, but haven't played it in years. I don't remember it as being particularly exciting, but it was interesting. Now I feel like it might be on the games tracker this week... lol

[Zoyous]

Shenmue is a game that expanded many people's notions of what a game could be... both game players, and game developers. I don't think you'll find even the superfans of Shenmue trying to argue that it's a perfect game, or even a game that everyone should play and expect to like it. Its initial hook is that it's got a robust fighting game engine derived from Virtua Fighter, but with added RPG/story elements - in fact, in its earliest days of development it was called Virtua Fighter RPG. But it's also a game with a deliberately slow pace. It's a period piece that is a study of the Showa period in Japan, and then later shifts to Hong Kong and mainland China. It's a game that has a philosophical message about martial arts in general and some of the tedious and mundane activities in the game relay this message in certain ways. Not everyone relates to that, but it really resonates with people who do. As everyone has heard, it paved the way for GTA 3 and other open world games, but I think these days in particular its influence can be felt in games like Life is Strange, Firewatch, Gone Home, and other story-driven games like the ones Telltale Games makes.

 

So ultimately I think it has rightfully made a name for itself as a game that laid the foundation for video games to expand both as a technical form and an artform. That might have happened anyway later on with some other games if Shenmue had never happened, but Shenmue did it first and that's why people appreciate it even if it doesn't suit their gameplay tastes. It's also an exciting time for people who are fans, because of the long wait for the continuation of the series. The only other equivalent I can imagine would be if the Half Life series were to be continued.

[DJ Clae]

I would say they haven't aged very well. They are sort of a product of their time. Which makes me concerned for the success of the third game. There will hopefully be enough fans, new and old, to buy it, but I wonder what the reception will be.

[RugglesTx]

Its was a game changer to me in the world of video games. So relaxing and yet so intense at the same time. Brought out anger, joy, concern as well as angst in me while playing unlike anything before or since. It was magical.

 

Most likely its was just OK to most but to me it was the video game experience of my life. It was everything this art form can be.

[Tanooki]

 

If anything, though, this poll is showing me that having a negative opinion of Shenmue is actually a legitimate thing to have, so I'm kind of enjoying letting it rip a bit too much. I know opinions can't technically be wrong, but when it seems like the whole world loves Shenmue as if it's family, you start to wonder about yourself.

In a way Shenmue is Sega's wet dream version of Earthbound. Years of fanboy rousing grousing, loving, blindly ignoring things, getting mad and entitled when stuff doesn't go right, finding ways to steal and translate or convert this or that, overkill levels of joy over any nod to it popped up in another game. In the end, both of them are damned well mediocre that you can take it or leave it, but that vocal minority makes you at the surface look like some lepper or parasite to dare challenge the awesomeness of said game they've personally puffed up for decades. At least Earthbound games aren't boring, but they fall right in with Shenmue of being so called questionable at best in their being overrated as the best to look up to.