Bailu/Dobuita/HongKong >>> Every Other Location

1. Harbor
2. Dobuita/Yamanose/Sakuragaoka
3. Kowloon
4. Bailu
5. Hong Kong
6. Niowu
 
  1. Kowloon
  2. Dobuita
  3. Sakuragaoka / Yamanose / Hazuki residence
  4. Wan Chai
  5. Bailu Village
  6. Yokosuka Harbour
  7. Niaowu
  8. Guilin
Kowloon simply blew me away on my last playthrough -- the scale (the verticality in particular), the atmosphere, gameplay variety, detail etc.

Guilin is beautiful but once you leave the dock town it becomes long, repetitive and linear, which means it loses most of what makes Shenmue's environments great to me, and the conversations with Shenhua only half make up for it.
 
I must be the only shenmue fan who doesn't find Kowloon amazing
I've seen a few people say they don't like Kowloon over the years, mostly due to the broken down, decrepit vibe of the place. It isn't as comfy and suburban as Dobuita, or as dense and colourful as Wan Chai. It isn't a "pretty" place to walk through. I'm fine with that, though, and think they nailed the feel of what they were going for, but I understand it isn't to everyone's tastes.
 
Great topic!

1. Kowloon
2. Wan Chai
3. Bailu (once opened up)
4. Guilin
5. Dobuita
6. Niawou
7. Harbor
 
1. Guilin
2. Dobuita
3. Wan Chai
4. Kowloon
5. Harbor
6. Bailu
7. Niaowu
 
1. Dobuita
2. Harbor
These areas are the reason why I can replay Shenmue 1 over and over again.

The rest is too hard to order apart from Niawou being last.
 
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Guilin/Bailu
Wan Chai
Kowloon
Niaowu
Dobuita
Aberdeen
Harbour

Actually do love wasting plenty of time training, raffling and capsule collecting in Sakuragaoka @Nigel :)

It’a definitely that bad on my PS4 Pro. I honestly can’t think of another game where that’s happened to me. Not since the 32/64 bit era at least.

For those saying streets are too empty: They definitely are not as bustling like Hong Kong in Shen2, but it is about same as Dobuita, slight bit less admittedly, but are you running a lot? Same with first two games, running thru too much gives off a barren impression, as well as not soaking the random minutia Shenmue is so famously good about.

I'm playing on PS4 Pro, Boost Mode turned on. Walking a lot, i feel there's enough people around. Perhaps I'm more susceptiable/p[ercetive to the background noise giving a fuller feel and atmosphere? Initially began playing on PS4 slim, which was a bit more laggy and pop-in whether walking or running.
 
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