Rate the Shenmue trilogy

Completely agree. Think some people can't quite see the woods for the trees with Shenmue III because of the areas it lacked polish, and don't really recognise that it brought back (and improved) some of the everyday life vibes of the original game that were lost in the sequel. It's Shenmue I: 2, when people expected Shenmue II: 2.
Yeah that's mostly my thought too. Shenmue III feels like it was trying to be the best of both worlds with Bailu being Yokosuka redux and Niaowu being Hong Kong redux. I think Bailu is utterly fantastic in that game and does feel like Shenmue 1 (but better in almost every regard -- okay, bar the fighting system) but Niaowu is where the game always fell short for me...just because it couldn't hold a candle to Shenmue II.

Still, I will always stand by Shenmue III...warts and all...I still really like that game to pieces. The good always outweighed the bad for me with it. And I think, with great expectations thrown aside, it got better for me. Bailu is still magical in that game and is the closest so far it has come to capturing that Yokosuka magic. I think everything about the free time is refined...I loved making that journey down the hill every morning from Shenhua's house and stopping at the Martial Arts hall to train. It captured the essence of "train every day without fail" for me.

I think the first game is the one that in some ways has aged the worst for me just because there isn't really enough variety to its FREE sections.
 
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I don't agree that Shenmue aged poorly and things like that.

A game will only be good and amazing at the time of release? after that the game will lose its value?

Shenmue was released in 1999 and made a revolution, now in 2021 the game lost its value? games don't resist the passage of time? i don't agree with this things.

I never say that a game aged poorly, nothing like that. I don't compare old games with new games and say that the old games aged poorly. I even want to buy RPG Maker to make an RPG in a old style.

I never played The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time when it was released in 1998, i didn't had a N64 at that time, i have plans to play this game someday, people even say that this game is one of the best games of all time, i will probably enjoy when i decide to play this game.

I love old games, i love the styles of the gameplay, i love even the graphics of old games, i can see beauty even in the old graphics, for example to me Donkey Kong Country is a beautiful game, to me ICO is a beautiful game.

I love the RE classic trilogy for PS1, i love even the style of gameplay of the old RE games, if one day a RE fan create a game with this style of gameplay i know i will enjoy, i can see beauty in old games, in my opinion beauty really is on the eye of its beholder, there are so many old games that i want to play for the first time and i will probably enjoy just like what happened with Shenmue, my mindset is that i just want to play and have a good time with the game.


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The game won't change, it will always be the same so a good game will always be a good game to me.

I played the first game from beginning to the end for the first time in 2015, this game was released in 1999 and i played in 2015 and i had a amazing experience, now i'm a Shenmue fan. My best friend played Shenmue for the first time in 2020 and said it was a beautiful and amazing experience.


While i was playing i never compared Shenmue to the newer games of that time, nothing like that, i knew it was an old game and i love old games.

I'm trying to make 100% of the first game and now i love even more this game. The first Shenmue game is one of the most calm, peaceful and relaxing games i ever played, even feels like a therapy to me. Really feels like home, i love that the entire game is in Yokosuka, i love the ZEN/Calm vibe of this game.


Talking to NPCs is part of the FREE aspect as well and when we get new clues the dialogues change so it feels fresh talking with NPCs, talking with NPCs is one of my favorite things in this game.

i finished the first game 3 or 4 times and i'm still seeing new dialogues, notebook entries, new casette tapes, new capsule toys, new prizes, i'm training all the moves to the max and much more, the first game is not boring to me and it is not stressfull at all, it is wonderful to me experience the life in Japan in the 80s, like a simulation of life in Japan.


It is beautiful and amazing what Yu Suzuki and the team did at that time and this to me will never change.

This is one of the many reasons why Shenmue Chapter 1 Yokosuka will always be 10/10 to me, what they did at that time will never lose value to me, Shenmue will always be a masterpiece to me.

I decided to play all Shenmue games again, when i complete playing maybe i will come back in this thread to explain in detail why i rate the games like this.


Shenmue Chapter 1: Yokosuka 10/10
Shenmue II 10/10
Shenmue III 8.5/10

I need to replay to have more thoughts about it but this do not mean that Shenmue III is my least favorite

I don't look at old games with 2021 lens, Shenmue III have the same style of gameplay of Shenmue I and II and there is nothing wrong doing a game with this gameplay style, is just another style of gameplay, like i said other times to me diversity and different styles are good for the game industry.

I view games as a form of art that can resist the passage of time and that don't have a expiration date, and artists have different styles as well.

In other words to me a good game will always be a good game, time will not change how i feel about the games i love.

Just to be clear i respect all opinions here, i'm just reflecting why i don't agree with this things about the first game, thank you.
 
Gameplay wise

Shenmue I 8/10
Shenmue II 10/10
Shenmue III 9/10

Story wise

Shenmue I 9/10
Shenmue II 10/10
Shenmue III 7/10

overall

Shenmue I 9/10
Shenmue II 10/10
Shenmue III 8/10
 
Shenmue I: 9.9
Shenmue II: 10.0
Shenmue III: 8.9
 
Shenmue I: 8/10 - An amazing game unlike anything else. I love the cosy vibes I get from playing this one, especially if I play during the Winter to parallel when the game takes place. Loses points for being too slow of a burn at times and indulging a little too much in repetition.

Shenmue II: 10/10 - I don't think anything Shenmue related will ever quite top Shenmue II. It's a wild ride filled with action, strong characters, solid story progression and multiple massive playable areas. Shenmue II is Shenmue at its absolute peak.

Shenmue III: 6/10 - Playing a brand new Shenmue game for the first time in over a decade was a surreal experience. One of the things I really liked about Shenmue III is that it still felt exactly like playing a Shenmue game. But that's a blessing and a curse. Whilst it was nice to play something that was so unapologetically Shenmue in nature, part of me wishes that they did more to overhaul the experience too. This combined with the weak story progression after such a long wait makes the game lose a lot of points for me unfortunately. That's not to say it's a bad game though. Bailu Village and Niaowu for instance were really well crafted locations and the game excelled at smaller details such as interactions with Shenhua. I loved seeing additions to side activities such as fishing as well. But in the grand scheme of things, it's probably the weakest one in the trilogy.
 
This is how the format should be.

Shenmue I #/10
Shenmue II #/10
Shenmue III #/10
I rate them together as 10/10. Back in my days as a teacher I learned to start at 10 and then work my way backwards. I have no reason to deduct marks from the series as it's beautiful and makes my heart beat heavily every time.

To me the series is up there with my other favourite adventure games (e.g. Dreamfall, Gabriel Knight, Broken Sword, King's Quest, Monkey Island and Landstalker). They're games that I treasure and regularly revisit as I enjoy 'living' in the worlds they provide.

Hard to say which one's my favourite. However, right now it's Shenmue 3. Why?
- It's fresh on my mind as I only just played it for the first time.

- Your interactions with people are less superficial. In particular... you travel with Shenhua (who is a really beautiful character) and share your day with her. While you talk to Ine, Fuku, Nozomi, Joy, Ren...etc. I dunno! I think the way that your day ties in with Shenhua's is kinda neat. Also, she's got more substance than the others IMO. Ren comes closest (and I love the continuation of that relationship in Shenmue III - doesn't EVERYBODY have a 'friend' like Ren?) but I like how you're tied to Shenhua.

- I think it's the most dense world yet. TBH I was skeptic about enjoying 'China' (okay, China with Japanese language all over the place). However, it's a magical Yu Suzuki version of China with all the good stuff (and none of the politics). It's vast and beautiful! 1980's China through the lens of Yu Suzuki REALLY is refreshing given where the world's at today.

- Shenmue III's possibly had more financial constraints, but in terms of storage & CPU/GPU grunt they're not restricted to three GD-ROMs and a Dreamcast running at 480p. The graphics and sound are mint. Again... based on what all the trolls were saying I thought you'd just be chopping wood and chasing chickens in a small corner of bailu to impress the Village People (which... seriously? If people spent more than about 5-10 minutes doing this, they weren't playing the game properly!) So OMG... I was like 'SHUT UP!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!!' When I landed in Niaowu and realised how massive/beautiful it is. It's a work of art and it's greatly enhanced by modern day technology. Reminds me of Dreamfall Chapters kinda art/beauty... except (for followers of that game), Suzuki got access to the Unreal 4 engine, which is a MASSIVE game changer in terms of performance & capability (when compared with using a free / indie-built engine).
 
Shenmue I: 8.5
Shenmue II: 9.5
Shenmue III: 7.0

Regardless of the game quality, too much time has passed between II and III.
I can't seem to enjoy videogames nearly as much as I did in my teenage years.
Especially when it comes to "open-world" kind of games.

Shenmue3 - Haven't played it yet.
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;)
 
Shenmue 1 9/10. A couple of years ago I would have given it a 7, but I've played through it a load of times since then and it has grown on me a lot.
Shenmue 2 10/10. A flawless game. The Wan Chai section is the most perfectly executed part of the whole saga, in my view.
Shenmue 3 8/10. I think the Bailu section is excellent. The Niaowu section feels unfinished and doesn't have enough NPC's, resulting in the city having a hollow feel to it. I think Yu Suzuki ran out of money/time in order to flesh out Niaowu. That said, I still enjoy it. It's better with the DLC installed, and there is still loads to do. And I love a bit of Smart Ball.
 
Shenmue 1 - 8/10 - I was one of those people that didn’t get Shenmue when I first played it. I started it, put it down for a long time, and then picked it up much later and finished it. I think the finish is strong but there are a lot of points from start to finish that are very slow. Not necessarily a problem but I felt like they really stretched the first game a lot and I wasn’t crazy about the ending

Shenmue 2 - 10/10 - one of my favorite games of all time. Great pace, excitement, challenge and story. Plus the added stuff at the end with meeting Shenhua, etc.

Shenmue 3 - 8/10 - tempted to give it a higher score than the 1st game but the lack of story hurt after waiting 20 years. Bailu village was just beautiful. Niawou felt too empty but still good. Ending felt rushed but, maybe because I am much older now, I really enjoyed this game. The QTEs destroyed me also.
 
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Personal Enjoyment
Shenmue: 10
Shenmue II: 8
Shenmue III: 🤷‍♂️

Objective Take
Shenmue: 6
Shenmue II: 7
Shenmue III: 🤷‍♂️
 
Shenmue 10/10
Shenmue II 10/10
Shenmue III 9/10
 
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