Was Kowloon TOO BIG?

[Vivi-gamer]

Hi,

Upon my last playthrough of Shenmue II, I was excited to arrive at Kowloon - as I had very little memory of it. Upon playing though I found that while impressive in scale, I didn't find myself exploring it in the same pace. The interactions within the streets seemed to be limited than before with Street Fights seeming to be the main focus - Which to be honest, I didn't participate in other than the ones mandatory within the story (Which I did enjoy I should add!). But In Aberdeen, I found myself exploring much more, getting involved with all the Pawn Broker Shops, Lucky Hit, Training in the Park, Arm Wrestling, Working at the Pier and much more. As soon as I arrived in Kowloon, I just didn't feel that sense of variety.

Also, I get why they had such large interior flats and the sequences when you have to find the right door work well, but was it really necessary to have the flats otherwise - I Don't see why that moment couldn't have been isolated to the story segment when needed. Like how when you also have to follow Yuan, I liked seeing the detail of her interaction and extortion of the local shops, but I still don't feel the endless floors of empty rooms was needed.

I like Shenmue II a lot, of course! But I just feel the Kowloon part of the game was significantly weaker (Not talking from a narrative perspective!) than Aberdeen before and was curious on other peoples thoughts on the environment.

 

[FRASIER]

Nice little (BIG) observation.

I think we're in the same boat my friend. I too am back in S2 with very little recollection of the order of events and events in general ... and I'm loving it. I'm a ways off from Kowloon but will message back when I'm there. I'm still wandering around the first few streets in Hong Kong and I know what you mean. It's all very intimate and I want to speak to everyone and visit everywhere. If my memory is correct I do recall Kowloon being extremely vast in scale.

Nice post!

 

[Nigel]

It's curious: in a sense, Aberdeen+Wan Chai feels larger to me in the sense of interactive content. Kowloon gives the impression of being labyrinthian and vast but when one looks at its offerings, I actually find it somewhat smaller.
The buildings are vast prima facie, but it ultimately ends up being six buildings (A-F) with little content in them. So too, the quarters really don't have much "to do" within them: fighting and gambling tend to be sequestered in little pockets accessed by a stairwell. It may be because the Kowloon shops tend to be open rather than stores entered by door, but it feels less intricate than the streets of Wan Chai.

 

[9dragons]

From the Point off Story development I like the Kowloon part a lot. The best next to Guilin but yes from the presentation and the Things to do Kowloon is inferior to Hongkong. It is also quite bothersome to navigate due to the layout. It is no big deal if you just follow the story and ask the NPC for help. But if you want to explore stuff on yourself it is not so nice. At least I didn't enjoyed it as much as my explorations in Hong Kong.

 

[Mittens2317]

I do feel that Kowloon had the potential to be so much more, and in hindsight, yeah the “go into any and every flat” thing was utterly pointless.

However, if there was a constant sense of danger as the story suggested, it would’ve been great to bring in an additional stealth element where you had to hide from roaming Yellow Heads (a la AC), possibly utilising the flats. With that early tech though it would’ve been extraordinarily difficult to make fun.

It’s defo jarring how prior to Kowloon, every door you knock on is greeted by a voice or a head popping out, whereas here you just freely roam about hundreds of unoccupied rooms.

If the stakes were raised even higher than the Ryo & Ren setpieces and integrated them into the FREE roaming sections, then Kowloon would’ve definitely been the undisputed high-point if the series.

As it all stands though, it’s clearly Yokosuka, and whoever says Guilin is factually wrong. Go have a nap.

 

[Kodama]

It's not really that kowloon was too big IMO, it's that it had a problem where it was either too claustrophobic and full of shit, or completely empty. Both of which were great in keeping the player feel uneasy, but ultimately led to an environment that never really clicked with me like many of the other areas. It definitely felt like unmet potential. All the quarters were rather boring to me and nothing really stood out, unlike Hong Kong where every quarter felt different...

But the environment did a great job doing what it had to do IMO so it was all worth it. It gave us lots of stuff to play with, and lots of scary situations. All great...

 

[xatruio]

However, if there was a constant sense of danger as the story suggested, it would’ve been great to bring in an additional stealth element where you had to hide from roaming Yellow Heads (a la AC), possibly utilising the flats. With that early tech though it would’ve been extraordinarily difficult to make fun.

It’s defo jarring how prior to Kowloon, every door you knock on is greeted by a voice or a head popping out, whereas here you just freely roam about hundreds of unoccupied rooms.

Agreed; do wish the old warehouse stealth were mixed with other floors before and/or after the blinking lights in Yellow Head.

Also, there's about the same ratio/percentage of door answers in Kowloon as apartments in Yokosuka. Now, though, they're not disembodied, but low poly using one of a half dozen or so recycled excuses to leave them alone.

 

[BlueMue]

I think that Kowloon is actually too small and that is what kinda hinders the exploration aspect.
Don't get me wrong there are still tons and tons of stores in the buildings but the street area that goes around the Yellow Head always felt pretty condensed coming from Hong Kong.

Going around the buildings and finding all the stuff that they have to offer requires quite a lot more work and time. That being said it is a nice change of pace and Kowloon's design was definately meant to be cramped and cluttered, reflecting the Walled City quite well after all.