(Top 5) Why you love Shenmue II?

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(Top 5) why i love Shenmue II

A few weeks ago i did the thread 5 things i love about Shenmue, about the first game, here is the thread (Top 5) Why i love Shenmue | Shenmue Dojo

Today i will write about the top 5 things i love about Shenmue II. This top 5 is not in order to most important to least important, i just want to talk about 5 things i love the most in Shenmue II. I have plans to do this with Shenmue III also.




1. The adventure (The atmosphere and The Immersion)
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The opening scene with the boat arriving in Hong Kong is beautiful. The scene with that song make me really feel that Ryo is gonna start a epic adventure in a different country, everything about this scene is perfect to me.

The first game is in Yokosuka, Ryo’s hometown, Ine-san give money for Ryo everyday, he knows the city, he knows many people, he have friends and other people that he care about there and they care about Ryo, he have a house, Yokosuka is more calm and secure for Ryo, the vibe and feeling of the first game is a homly and calm feeling, this is the vibe and feeling of the first game to me and it is beautiful, this is how i feel when i play the first game but in the second game everything changes.

In the second game Ryo arrived in Hong Kong. When he arrived he saw many new things, he saw three people with different clothes, two of them was playing a song, we can give money to them, he saw people trying to sell things to him, he even saw one guy taking a photo of Ryo to probably sell to Ryo later.

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Jiangyu Ding said to Ryo "Be careful. Not all people are nice in Hong Kong." Ryo don’t know Hong Kong, Ryo don’t know the people, Ine-san is not there to give money to him everyday and care for him, Nozomi is not there to help Ryo and care about him, Guizhang is not there to help Ryo, Fuku-san is not there to help Ryo with money and care about him, Goro is not there to help Ryo finding a job and care for him, Tom is not there, Mark is not there, everything is different now.

From the moment i started the game i knew it was gonna have a different vibe and feeling, a feeling of discovering, a feeling of seeing new things and meeting new people, a feeling that Ryo shouldn't trust everybody, a feeling of adventure and i love that. The first game have the homly feel and the second game have the adventure feel, i love both feelings, it is like i’m there with Ryo, the immersion that i feel when i play the shenmue games are a unique and beautiful, i love this details in the Shenmue games.



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-Freedom/Mini games/side activities
Another important part of the atmosphere and adventure feeling of the game is the freedom, Mini games, side activities and more. We are free to choose what we can do in the game, in one part of the game we have to pay to stay in a hotel, we have more options about work and about earn money, it is really important to administrate our money well in the game, when we ask NPCs if they know where is a place they can accompany us to the place if we want, in my opinion was a nice addition. We have arm wrestling matches, different types of mini games, capsule toys and much more things to do.

In Kowloon we have the street fights, was a nice addition too, all this things really feel like a adventure to me and i like that.



2. The Music
In the thread about the first game i talked about how a soundtrack is a important part of a game, how the soundtrack is important for the atmosphere and vibe of the game. The soundtrack of the first game is a masterpiece in my opinion, the soundtrack of Shenmue II is a masterpiece too.

In Guilin we can hear a lot of beautiful songs. I will talk more about Guilin in another part.

This 5 beautiful songs of Guilin forest are beautiful to me and playing the Guilin part hearing this songs makes the atmosphere of Guilin perfect to me, makes me feel like i’m in Guilin, i feel emotional hearing this songs, Shenmue helps me so much, Shenmue is so special to me.

Shenmue II [OST] - Guilin Forest I - YouTube
Shenmue II [OST] - Guilin Forest II - YouTube

Shenmue II [OST] - Guilin Forest III - YouTube
Shenmue II [OST] - Guilin Forest IV - YouTube
Shenmue II [OST] - Guilin Forest V - YouTube





3. Martial Arts and The Four Wude
The Four Wude.png

Martial Arts are a very important part of the Shenmue games, the details, attention and care about martial arts in the Shenmue Games are beautiful and special.

In the second game we have something super special in my opinion, in the second game we have The Four Wude, The Wude are martial virtues, are four aspects that any Martial Artist of true virtue should know.

The Four Wudes are
GON (Hànzì: 功, Pinyin: Gōng, On'yomi: Kō) - Everyday, without neglect, to keep training

DAN (Hànzì: 胆, Pinyin: Dǎn, On'yomi: Tan) - Be brave and stay calm to make the right decision

JIE (Hànzì: 戒, Pinyin: Jiè, On'yomi: Kai) - Judge yourself without conceit and do not show moves thoughtlessly

YI (Hànzì: 義, Pinyin: Yì, On'yomi: Gi) - To act without hesitation, to do what is right

The way Ryo learns the Four Wude and everything about this is really interesting and amazing. In my opinion we can have the Four Wude in real life, this way we can make the world a better place not only for us but for all the people. It is something really special and i will never forget this parts of the game.


4. The Pacing and the Mystical elements

-The pacing

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The first Shenmue have a slow pace and i love this in the first game, in my opinion the first game is just the introduction to the story, the second game is the beginning of the adventure, Wan Chai, Kowloon, Guilin, a lot of things happen in Shenmue II, we have a lot of story progression in the game.

- Mystical Elements

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I love the asian culture, we can see so many nice and wonderful things about asian culture in the games, it is beautiful.

I love the Mystical elements in the game. The mirrors that have a mystical element to it, Shenhua is a mysterious character with powers, the Shenmue tree, the floating sword and much more, it is one of the things i love about not only in the second game but in all Shenmue games. I hope we can see more about this things in Shenmue IV and V.



5. The characters and the story

-The characters

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In the first game all the characters are different and unique, i really think there is no 2 NPCs that are the same, in the second game i think all the NPCs are unique too, in the second game we have more characters so i’m not sure about that, someone correct me if i’m wrong but i think all the NPCs in the second game are different and unique too, this is one of the things i love about the Shenmue games, every character have their own story, routines, voices and much more, it is beautiful.

In Shenmue II Ryo met a lot of interesting characters. He met Wong, Joy, Xiuying, Fangmei, Ren, Jianmin Tao, Shenhua and many more. All this characters have different personalities and amazing moments in the game, Ryo made new friends that really care about him, this was really nice and beautiful to see.

-The Story

shenmue-tree-original-2.jpg

Shenmue II story for me is a journey, Ryo’s journey, a journey with discovering, new bonds, training, sadness, intense moments, learning moments, calm moments and much more. Wong robbing Ryo’s bag and then later we find out why Wong is the way he is, Joy helping Ryo and caring about him, the training with Xiuying was amazing, Xiuying’s story with her brother Ziming, everything about Xiuying is perfect to me. I always remember when Xiuying said to Ryo... "You still don’t understand, martial arts are used to protect peoples lives, if you use your fists otherwise you will walk on the path of evil... too"

I think one day Ryo will remember Xiuying’s when he finally starts to forget about revenge, Xiuying is amazing, one of my favorite characters.

In Kowloon we have intense scenes, was really nice to see Ryo and Ren together in this, nice duo. Was really nice Ryo Remembering Xiuying’s words and Ryo defeating Dou Niu, Ryo saw Lan Di but they didn’t fight, Ryo talks with Yuanda Zhu and Ryo decides to go to Guilin, i love how the Kowloon part ended.


After the chaos in Kowloon Ryo arrive in the calm Guilin, this was a sweet transition in the game in my opinion. Ryo arriving in Guilin and meeting Shenhua, Ryo walking with Shenhua, they getting to know each other more while walking, the beautiful scenarios they pass, the beautiful songs, in one part we have to collect firewood. Ryo practicing Tai chi, Shenhua singing, Ryo arriving in Shenhua’s house and seeing the Shenmue tree, Ryo seeing new things and learning more about Shenhua and China, the cave part and much more. i love everything about Guilin, Guilin is unique, sweet, special and unforgettable, i crave for more games like this in the gaming industry, i need more games like this. Guilin is one of my favorite parts in gaming of all time.

Was intense to see Ryo starting the journey, making new friends/bonds, learning the Four Wude, training with Xiuying, seeing the uniqueness and chaos in Kowloon, was emotional to see Ryo deciding to go to Guilin and saying goodbye to the new friends, we don’t know if Ryo will see them again so parts with goodbyes are always emotional to me.

The ending of the game is intense and mysterious, everything about the cave part is perfect in my opinion. Shenmue II is the beginning of Ryo’s journey, a beautiful journey where Ryo meets new people, make new friends/bonds, learns with them and grow along the way,

For me Shenmue is not just about Ryo wanting to kill Lan Di, it is much more than this, for me Shenmue is about Ryo’s journey, it is about the people he meet and what he learns from them, it is about Ryo growing as a martial artist and as a character, what is the most important thing is not the destination but the journey, and one day i think Ryo will forget about revenge.

Ryo’s grow as a character is a slow grow but the speed doesn't matter, what is important is that Ryo is learning with the people he is meeting along the way, in my opinion one day Ryo will be similar to Akira and this will be wonderful to see. 😊

Shenmue II for me is special, unique, beautiful, touching, sad, intense, sweet, calm and much more. Shenmue II is a beauty work of art, a masterpiece that touched my heart.


End of Shenmue II.jpg
 
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One of the best games of all time.

So good that it will forever fuel my desire for more Shenmue games, as good or bad (or mixed) they end up being.
I agree that Shenmue II is one of the best games of all time, thanks for the comment. 😊
 
Ah, and I want to highlight how much I agree with you about Shenmue II Guilin being one of the best moments in gaming.

I'd say it even transcends the game itself, because real life circumstances made that section really special at its time. Being based in Europe, I played that section for the first time in early 2002, after having being teased with the Shenhua character for around 4 years. She not only had been the cover face for Shenmue, but also for the Dreamcast itself in a lot of magazines (as some kind of tech-demo material).

At that time, it was also known that Sega had left the hardware race, and the feeling that Shenmue's future was uncertain was already there. And, in general, Sega keeping making games with that ambition and scope was really in doubt. So that ending felt like more than the ending of a regular game, but of an era.

Years later, Yu Suzuki explicitly confirmed they went all out on that Guilin segment because they kind of wanted to gauge interest in future installments and, thus, fight the possibility of that being the very end. But that explanation wasn't really needed, it was fully felt when playing. That THE STORY GOES ON text after the finale carried so much weight!.
 
Ah, and I want to highlight how much I agree with you about Shenmue II Guilin being one of the best moments in gaming.

I'd say it even transcends the game itself, because real life circumstances made that section really special at its time. Being based in Europe, I played that section for the first time in early 2002, after having being teased with the Shenhua character for around 4 years. She not only had been the cover face for Shenmue, but also for the Dreamcast itself in a lot of magazines (as some kind of tech-demo material).

At that time, it was also known that Sega had left the hardware race, and the feeling that Shenmue's future was uncertain was already there. And, in general, Sega keeping making games with that ambition and scope was really in doubt. So that ending felt like more than the ending of a regular game, but of an era.

Years later, Yu Suzuki explicitly confirmed they went all out on that Guilin segment because they kind of wanted to gauge interest in future installments and, thus, fight the possibility of that being the very end. But that explanation wasn't really needed, it was fully felt when playing. That THE STORY GOES ON text after the finale carried so much weight!.
Nice to read about your experiences with Shenmue II at that time, really interesting.

Yeah, i read somewhere that Yu Suzuki wanted to end Shenmue II in a amazing part because he didn't know if he was gonna have a chance to continue Shenmue so he did that, something like this.

He also said that the meeting with Shenhua is on chapter 5, he changed just that and put in Shenmue II, in my opinion was the right choice, Guilin is amazing and unforgetabble..😊
 
All I would add to your wonderful post is that this game expands your move list thus increasing your combat potential. There's also an increase in the minigames you can play and the number of baubles and trinkets you can attain from Virtua Fighter 2 to After Burner.


 
All I would add to your wonderful post is that this game expands your move list thus increasing your combat potential. There's also an increase in the minigames you can play and the number of baubles and trinkets you can attain from Virtua Fighter 2 to After Burner.


i'm glad you think my post is wonderful, thanks. What you said is really interesting, thanks for adding more to the post.😊
 
Shenmue 2 is my fave. I'm in midst of almost beating it again. I'm in my feels bout it. I'm on the 40th floor of the yellowhead.
 
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