Shenmue 2 Appreciation thread

Joined
Oct 31, 2019
Shenmue 2.

How epic of a game this is. A larger sequel that improved upon almost every aspect of the original Shenmue.

The incredibly dense and varying locales of this game. It is on a such a huge scale compared to almost every other game that released in it's generation in terms of game size. Hong Kong, Kowloon and Guilin combined is massive.

Once you beat Shenmue 2 it will "forever engulf your entire existence" (as said on the back of the Dreamcast cover art)

This is Yu Suzuki's magnum opus and is simply not appreciated enough by the gaming community. It's an incredibly important game for all the genius it is. Just take this as an opportunity to share your thoughts and history with Shenmue 2
 
I do feel conflicted whenever I try and decide which of the first two games I prefer. Even when trying to exclude influences like nostalgia I ultimately go back and forward before rationalising that they are just chapters of the same game in all but name...

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The second is undoubtedly the better "game" for the reasons you've mentioned, aside from the occasional debate on detail versus scale/pace, I don't feel it's an opinion that many would challenge.

On a personal level whenever I start a new game of Shenmue 2 I do get hit with a sense of excitement that transports me right back to that time and place a little.

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This almost ethereal feeling of nostalgia stays with me during the Aberdeen and Wan Chai chapters, even thinking on it now brings a smile to my face.
 
Definitely agree, When it comes to sequels i:d say it’s in the same vein as Empire Strikes Back where it takes the original (which is already beloved by many) and just annihilates it out of the park through both it’s sheer scope and ambition as well as storytelling (and in this instance; gameplay)
 
Shenmue II is the gold standard of the series itself. I hope Shenmue IV is more like Shenmue II in terms of pacing and action. While Shenmue I and III was more of an introspective, slower paced experience. Shenmue II striked the perfect balance.
 
I feel that Shenmue 2 was far more superior to Shenmue 1 in every way and I love Shenmue 1. I was impressed by the size of Shenmue 2. Back in 2002 it felt huge and revisiting it in 2019 it still felt impressive.
 
The whole yellow head building was amazing and leagues ahead of anything else at the time. The Don Niu fight with the wonderful sunset, music and your crew cheering you on gave me goosebumps. Then you've got the whole 'Like a Polished Mirror' part which is my favorite scene out of all three games, then bloody Lan Di finally shows up and you think, just how big and epic is this story going to be? When the main villain only has a cameo in the second game? Brilliant!

Of course I never thought at the time it'd be nearly 20 years before the 3rd part but oh well. Wonderful memories of a simpler time. I was in 6th form and my days consisted of drinking about 10 cups of tea between epic Shenmue sessions.
 
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It's the greatest game of all time. I remember being amazed by how huge Wan Chai was, not even realising that I still had Kowloon and Guilin ahead of me.

Indeed, I still deem it to be the greatest achievement in gaming.

As @Down by Law said, the entirety of the Yellowhead Building is the greatest hour and a bit of gaming, in the history of the medium; QTEs, fights, hiding in the lights, finding keys, you have every videogame trope/style/convention of 50 other genres (aside from shooters, of course), all packed into that time period and best of all, they all WORK. Flawlessly at that.

That isn't even mentioning the sheer scope and awesomeness of HK and the rest of Kowloon.

Then you have the phenomenal characters, Xiuying being the height of them all, the brilliant storytelling...

It is my favourite Sega game, my 3rd favourite game outright.
 
I've said it before and i'll say it again; I hated Shenmue II at first. I hated it, because I wanted to be back in Yokosuka which I knew...Wan Chai was too big and scary for me...then I realised "hang on...i'm getting homesick in a video game?!" As soon as I hit that realisation, I realised how *genius* it all was.

Playing it again for the first time in over a decade when it came out on the PS4, I was still astounded at the level of detail and depth. Sure, thousands of games have a bigger world, but Shenmue II was one of the densest. I would rather have a dense world (which Yakuza is also great at), than an empty open world. Playing Death Stranding recently, I thought "this is really rather boring and i'm not having much fun going from gloomy city A to gloomy city B" (I am 10 hours into it, so giving it the benefit of the doubt for now).

But my favourite thing about Shenmue II is when you finish the Don Niu fight and you see Lan Di, I thought "how can this get any better?" Then I put Disc 4 in and I was utterly baffled at the complete change of pace. Again, after a short while I thought how genius this was. How do you beat hours of fighting in a skyscraper? Without being ridiculous, it's very difficult, so you do the complete opposite. The contrast between the two scenarios is beautiful and compliment each other wonderfully. By the time I was finding wood and Shenhua was asking Ryo about his friends back home, I knew I was witnessing greatness. To this day, Disc 4 of Shenmue II is one of my happiest memories and reliving it again has not dulled it at all.

Shenmue I is my favourite game, but Shenmue II is the better game if that makes sense?
 
Both Shenmue I & II was and still is the best games I've ever played and Shenmue II is a masterpiece.
Nothing to this day can replace it. I've had my dreamcast for 20 years and it's not going anywhere. It's still breathing.

I loved that Japanese culture in the 1st game but at the same time Hong Kong, Kowloon and Guilin had its own charm that cannot be compared. But what an adventure Shenmue II was! I mean nothing can top it.
Still to this day I am impressed by every aspect of it.
As mentioned above Disc 4 is something magical. It gives me so much feelings. That scene when Ryo saw Shenhua for the first time at the other side of the river is amazing. I feel it in my heart every time.
Same when Ryo sat and talked to Shenhua at the campfire. When you could show pictures of your friends and talk about them. I mean who makes these kind of games today? It's only violence and gore these days. Shenmue has that magical spirit to it and I still try to figure out exactly why I feel that way. It's just deep, and the music was made with love and soul. It has the best soudtracks ever.

The only thing I remeber missing from Shenmue II was: Parking lot training, telephone calls, and the Japanese culture.

Maybe a little off topic but I think that the "blocky" yet sharp and colorful DC graphics was amazing. The textures was charming too. It should've lived on as an artform just the same way as pixel-art became a thing. But that's just me.

Shenmue 1 felt more nostalgic to me. Not just because it was the first Shemmue I played but also because they managed to make it feel like you were living in the 80's. I wish for more of an 80's feeling for Shenmue IV, and that also mean ´bring back the cassette tapes´ -and let me pick them right off the shelf, are you with me?
 
Playing the Shenmue II import on Dreamcast was my favorite gaming experience of all time. They did improve the game over S1 in almost every way, and it had such a great mix of set pieces and interesting moments that I still don't think any other game has managed to recreate. I also enjoy looking back and seeing how the vibe of S1 and S2 compliment each other very well. In the first game, you're in your hometown where most people know you by name, and you get to become familiar with every inch of space in the small but dense town. In the second, you're a stranger in a foreign country, overwhelmed by the scope and unfamiliarity of everything. You continue to go farther, gather clues, and keep pushing on to new areas to find new information.

As much as I do love S1, it's kind of tough to accept that many people are missing out on S2 because of some of the poorly aged and tedious elements in 1 turned them off from finishing the game. There's part of me that wants to recommend most folks to just watch a story summary of Shenmue I, then start with Shenmue II and then go back to 1 if they enjoyed it. This might sound like I'm knocking S1, but to me it almost feels like it's a tech demo when compared to S2.
 
Playing the Shenmue II import on Dreamcast was my favorite gaming experience of all time. They did improve the game over S1 in almost every way, and it had such a great mix of set pieces and interesting moments that I still don't think any other game has managed to recreate. I also enjoy looking back and seeing how the vibe of S1 and S2 compliment each other very well. In the first game, you're in your hometown where most people know you by name, and you get to become familiar with every inch of space in the small but dense town. In the second, you're a stranger in a foreign country, overwhelmed by the scope and unfamiliarity of everything. You continue to go farther, gather clues, and keep pushing on to new areas to find new information.

As much as I do love S1, it's kind of tough to accept that many people are missing out on S2 because of some of the poorly aged and tedious elements in 1 turned them off from finishing the game. There's part of me that wants to recommend most folks to just watch a story summary of Shenmue I, then start with Shenmue II and then go back to 1 if they enjoyed it. This might sound like I'm knocking S1, but to me it almost feels like it's a tech demo when compared to S2.

Shenmue 1 is a great game but it does feel like a demo version of Shenmue 2. Shenmue 2 was everything you want a sequel to be. In a perfect world it makes you think about what Shenmue 3 would've actually been.
 
Shenmue 1 is a great game but it does feel like a demo version of Shenmue 2. Shenmue 2 was everything you want a sequel to be. In a perfect world it makes you think about what Shenmue 3 would've actually been.

Yeah, in some ways Bailu Village had a bit of that Shenmue 1 vibe, while Niaowu's layout had more of a Shenmue 2 vibe (but gameplay-wise didn't quite get there, but I still liked it). Here's hoping Shenmue 4 can get a bit closer to 2!
 
Shenmue 2 is thee single greatest game ever made. To date, it still has the top 2 most realistic characters ever created, they you have the way everything the player is doing, correlates to whay Ryo is suppose to be going through, both physically, and mentally. Then you have the truly epic wuxia styled story telling. Lets not forget how organically everything is ingeneral, ect, ect, ect.

It's such a high end Great, Shenmue 2 created a whole new scoring bracket above/outside the scale, inwhich only two other games ever made, have even reached. Even then, I still give the edge to Shenmue 2, over the other games in this special league.
 
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