Is it me or is playing the first two Shenmue games just unsettling?

I don’t know about unsettling but there were moments where they was under current of tension. As someone that loved the fixed camera of Resident Evil titles I vividly recall thinking when running back home late at night something might appear out of the bushes connecting Doubita to Sakuragaoka.
 
Maybe it's because people just silently roam the streets like soulless husks until you interact with them, only to find out they have been completely drained of anything resembling human emotion.

Shenmue is a zombie game where the flesh-eating creatures are too depressed to attack you or sustain their non-life by feeding on your brains.
 
When you are walking around town with the creepy FREE music & the drunks stumbling around town & the people walking & stopping like robots & the people talking like robots.
 
Catchanysailorshere? said:
When you are walking around town with the creepy FREE music & the drunks stumbling around town & the people walking & stopping like robots & the people talking like robots.
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I couldn't possibly disagree with this any more. It's almost as if you're put off by what attracts most people to Shenmue. Not to mention, you seem to completely disregard when the games were made and how much of achievement the open world and NPC's were.
 
FlyBoyNights said:
I couldn't possibly disagree with this any more. It's almost as if you're put off by what attracts most people to Shenmue. Not to mention, you seem to completely disregard when the games were made and how much of achievement the open world and NPC's were.
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I love Shenmue & I understand its achivements. That doesn't mean it's still outdated.
 
Never thought of it as unsettling. I more so think the game gives off a warm and nostalgic vibe. The streets dimly lit, you pass through a sleepy neighborhood where everyone knows you and goes about their lives. It's a place you can almost smell, it's just that well portrayed. I kind of get what you mean with the music, but to me it's more of an atmosphere thing. The FREE music changes to fit the mood of the story. If Ryo is nervous of an event coming the next day, it'll play something unsettling. Just my take! 🤷‍♂️
 
Catchanysailorshere? said:
I love Shenmue & I understand its achivements. That doesn't mean it's still outdated.
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Which modern game is better with simulating a living town urban environment? Can you specify your criticism a bit more?

The Shenmue is outdated moniker is used so often and always when people say that they cannot explain why. The npcs in Shenmue are more lively then the NPCs in the latest modern spiderman games for example. They are more lifely than the npcs in GTA that do nothing. They are just walking punching bags if want to play really bad as a maniac.

Or lets take a look at Ghost of Tsushima. A great game with good atmosphere if the music and story telling is concerned. But the npc are killing the atmosphere. They are doing abslutely nothing.

To me Shenmue is the only open world game I can take serious when the living enviroment is concerned.

It i not perfect but it is still impressive for 1999 game. Modern games focus on graphics and scale only and completely ignore little details that makes a game really immersive.
 
No, I don't get an unsettling feeling. I may have when I first played it through certain events in the game when it first came out, but at this point, no.
 
GTA isnt going to have characters with individual names and there zero reason to when there are an unlimited number of NPCs. It's not supposed to be anything like Shenmue in that respect, because GTA's only similarity is open world. But if you ask enough people who grew up on GTA when it first went 3d, you'll come to find a lot of people felt completely immersed in those worlds, feeling like they were actually in New York or wherever.

When San Andreas came out, I felt like I was back in LA visiting my family listening to Snoop Dogg while an airplane flies just overheard into LAX under a dirty, orange, pollution filled sky like I did in real life in the 90s. I felt like I was in San Francisco, walking up those annoying 45 degree angle streets on a cold and foggy day like I have in real life. I felt like I was in Vegas on those 100+ degree days. The pedestrians may not have names, but they have hilarious quotable for days that are more interesting than the "Excuuuuse meeeee, no nooooooow" guy at the harbor

I didnt need NPCs with a last name and bed time to build the atmosphere. Atmosphere isn't solely based on how much detail you can cram into something. Sam Lake was able to create max payne with an almost perfect dark and gritty New York atmosphere with a paper thin budget. The music, some run down subway and building design, comic book panel cutscenes(because full cutscenes weren't in the budget), James McCaffrey's performance as Max and a handful of rough, scummy sounding mobsters is all that was needed to accomplish that.

I think you're putting way to much focus on quantity and countless detail.
 
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Well Well tastes are different after all. Modern day game design and I will be going to be friends I am afraid. Details are important for me to enjoy a game. And I fully agree that you do need npcs with names. But if you want to simulate a real world it helps. It is possible of course to make great atmospheric games with a smaller scale. But modern day game design does not want to do that. Their attempts of making game worlds are half baked.

They make big but empty worlds that are sparely populated. If they are populated the npcs are lifeless. They absolety nothing and do not contribute to gameplay at all. In a post apocalyptic game that emptyness is great and contributes to the atmosphere but in a game with a modern day setting that is just off putting. The npcs in Shenmue have a purpose. You need them to progress or they can give u a hint or even bringing you to the loacation you need to go (Shenmue). That is way more immersive than fast travel.

Story telling and the average open world game is never going to work for me. You spend way too much time with travelling and then you forget what you need to do. I prefer more atmospheric smaller scalled games.

But that is just me. Nothing wrong with your opinion Dehone.
 
Catchanysailorshere? said:
the people walking & stopping like robots & the people talking like robots
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Funny how I'd probably agree with you more if you were talking about Shenmue 3 which felt like a downgrade to me in all aspects besides maybe the graphics. NPCs there felt to me like robots a lot more than in the original two games despite the game coming out 20 years later
 
Shenmue 2 pedestrian NPCs are literally on a loop within a map or a guide to locations. Occassionally they'll answer a door. They were already robotic then; Niaowu only has shop keepers speak along with scaled back pedestrian NPCs whom won't talk nor guide IIRC (obvious budget limit and an easy decision to cut). Bailu they were somewhat reminiscent of Yokosuka NPCs due to being a small village easy to set daily routines.
 
banenes said:
I feel immersed in Shenmue and to this day I feel like I've been in Japan even though I actually never have been.
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Shenmue is indeed one of the few open world games ( the only game I know but hat does not meant that are others I just do not know, open world and I will be friends it one my least liked genres ever) where you really have the feeling to be part of the world you are in. in other open world games you are just a foreign object that has nothing to with the world. The npcs are part of the gameplay. In other games they are just decoration. The game would be the same without these npc. They have no proper function. The npcs in Shenmue serve a purpose. You cannot say that about many other npc in many other games.

That is still amazing. Sure thing gaming tech has advanced in the years after Shenmue but more believable npcs were not among these advancements.
 
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For me, the game made an excellent job in this regard, because I only felt a little unsettled at night in the harbor area. When activity ceased and you could see the staff taking the bus to the town and only thugs and that tramp remained there.

But, in the Dobuita, Sakuragaoka and Yamanose areas, even at night, I felt just like I felt when I visited real life Japan and was wandering its streets at night...really cozy and safe.

On the other hand, I did feel unsettled in Bailu Village at night in Shenmue III, but I guess that's also a merit of the game, since there are supposed to be wolves and other dangers there.
 
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