Shenmue 2 Graphics

[FRASIER]

Hello,

Been years since I posted a thread here so go easy yeah?

But after starting S2 for the first time in years and only really playing S1 without completing a playthrough, is there any actual graphical enhancements or was it just a colour pallet change?

It just seems a lot deeper and some of the models seem much improved.

 

[Vivi-gamer]

All depends what version, I might be wrong but I believe the Xbox version may have had some enhancements.

 

[Kodama]

Some things look better, some things look worse, and there's a few different versions. Overall I'd say 2 looks better but it's really situational...

 

[DigitalDuck]

Shenmue II had some graphical enhancements over the first in a few different ways, models are generally higher-poly and textures are more detailed, there are things like fountains with particle effects, as well as the Xbox version adding some visual effects into the mix.

Of course, this in combination with the increased NPC count meant that the game played at 4fps in some areas on the Dreamcast...

 

[xatruio]

The lag was quite easily avoided by simply looking off center with the analogue stick, though :)

Only worse part were most minor NPC hands were Saturn blocky--not all, plenty were still same level of detail as Yokosuka residents. Otherwise, slight improvements to everything else overall.

 

[Kodama]

most minor NPC hands were Saturn blocky--not all, plenty were still same level of detail as Yokosuka residents.

Yeah it's very jarring seeing the one guy with the crooked sign next to the other NPCs lmfao. But even though they're more blocky, the faces seem to have better textures. It's a cool mix...

 

[xatruio]

Yeah, forgot about the trade-off you mention. I'll gladly take blocky hands for the gambling parlour patrons (there's also an in-between not blocky, yet straight/stiff for most pedestrians), because every single character except the random Kowloon apartment residents have better faces and lip syncing. Yokosuka had all nice hands and clothes but about a quarter to half of them had parrot lips and blander facial textures. Tomura and Shinkichi are great examples of Shenmue 2 level face details in Chapter 1.

 

[LemonHaze]

Shenmue 2 also has some procedurally generated areas, specifically towards the later segments of the game. Also, if you notice how the sky moves as you do in SM1, this is different in comparison to SM2 as they transferred to the now common practice of using a spherical mesh to simulate the sky. Shenmue 2 also features a pretty decent simulation of the sun and moon harmonics, alongside wind, humidity and physics simulations.

Fun fact: regardless of what Shenmue you're playing, the bottom parts of Ryo's jacket actually have some physics simulation.

 

[BlueMue]

In Shenmue II you have a vastly improved Sky thanks to it switching from a pixelated box to a huge dome with multi-layered clouds. The improvements in textures and models might not seem that big of a step up but you have to consider just how much larger the game world of Shenmue II is and keeping that in mind its graphics are leaps and bounds more impressive than the first games'.