Why did Shenmue 1 and 2 struggle to capture more of an audience?

IMO Shenmue 1&2 failed to catch on because of the mundanity of the gameplay. Depending on who you are you either love it or hate it. Most games cater to the audiences. Most gamers don't want to be told that in order to progress the story they have to wait till a specified time.

As Shenmue fans we know that having downtime between plot progressions meant exploring the maps, training/leveling up your moves, playing slots or arcades, interacting with npcs and learning about there mini stories, collecting toy capsules or obtaining raffle prizes and looking for battles or cutscenes not normally found.

One of my friends would always make fun of one element of Shenmue. He thought it was stupid that you had to get a job and go to work. This always made me laugh because thus was a minor layer of the gameplay. Shenmue has realistic gameplay elements so get a job to earn money is realistic. Shenmue is not a game were you kick over trash cans or beat up people and piles of money fallout everywhere. The world had rules and consequences.

Sadly the gameplay elements, life lessons, interactions, etc will never be appreciated because will are living in a time where everything is handed to the gamer. Most games are like beer, you chug one down and turnaround and ask for another. Shenmue is like a fine wine, you take your time and savor the flavor and aroma. I personally like Virtua Bros video "Why Shenmue was always good", I agree with every point of this video.
 
IMO Shenmue 1&2 failed to catch on because of the mundanity of the gameplay. Depending on who you are you either love it or hate it. Most games cater to the audiences. Most gamers don't want to be told that in order to progress the story they have to wait till a specified time.

As Shenmue fans we know that having downtime between plot progressions meant exploring the maps, training/leveling up your moves, playing slots or arcades, interacting with npcs and learning about there mini stories, collecting toy capsules or obtaining raffle prizes and looking for battles or cutscenes not normally found.

One of my friends would always make fun of one element of Shenmue. He thought it was stupid that you had to get a job and go to work. This always made me laugh because thus was a minor layer of the gameplay. Shenmue has realistic gameplay elements so get a job to earn money is realistic. Shenmue is not a game were you kick over trash cans or beat up people and piles of money fallout everywhere. The world had rules and consequences.

Sadly the gameplay elements, life lessons, interactions, etc will never be appreciated because will are living in a time where everything is handed to the gamer. Most games are like beer, you chug one down and turnaround and ask for another. Shenmue is like a fine wine, you take your time and savor the flavor and aroma. I personally like Virtua Bros video "Why Shenmue was always good", I agree with every point of this video.
The thing about Shenmue is people like it for these reasons...and people dislike it for those same reasons... To me, Shenmue is a game that was intended to be what it was envisioned. I came into playing Shenmue knowing you have a new sense of freedom by reading numerous articles on the internet and watching videos (yeah, downloaded on 56k back in mid-1999). I was repeatedly studying Suzuki's vision of "FREE," and thought it was going to be cool. Plus, I was already a Virtua Fighter fan.

Ultimately, Shenmue works for me not because I had an idea of what I was in for, and it catered to virtually all of my tastes. I love martial arts, Japan, Sega, etc.
 
TBH I can understand why Shenmue didn't catch on. When I first played Shenmue I played it the same way most players do. Whenever I had to wait to progress the story I would just wait around then continue to play. Luckily I liked Shenmue enough that I went to the internet to find out when Shenmue 2 would release.

When I discovered ShenmueDojo thats when my love of the series truly exploded. I learned who Yu Suzuki was, what his vision of Shenmue was and all the intricate details and nuances. Shenmue is a experience.

I remember being blown away by the smallest things like finding the Sega Saturn at Ryos house(and being more impressed that you could win Saturn games via raffle). I thought the game was just gotta be Ryo's neighboor and Dobuita. Seeing the harbor being unlocked and added to the map was a wow moment. Finding the Phoenix mirror at the Dojo really caught me off guard, I could've swore that I had been over every square inch of the property. I was pleasantly surprised that while searching for the Phoenix mirror I had unlocked the Elbow Strike flashback. It was at this point that I realized that there were so many layers to the game. For the longest time I thought Chai was unbeatable at the Arcade but later someone told me, "Nah you just suck." To make matters even better Shenmue 2 really took the series over the top.
 
TBH I can understand why Shenmue didn't catch on. When I first played Shenmue I played it the same way most players do. Whenever I had to wait to progress the story I would just wait around then continue to play. Luckily I liked Shenmue enough that I went to the internet to find out when Shenmue 2 would release.

When I discovered ShenmueDojo thats when my love of the series truly exploded. I learned who Yu Suzuki was, what his vision of Shenmue was and all the intricate details and nuances. Shenmue is a experience.

I remember being blown away by the smallest things like finding the Sega Saturn at Ryos house(and being more impressed that you could win Saturn games via raffle). I thought the game was just gotta be Ryo's neighboor and Dobuita. Seeing the harbor being unlocked and added to the map was a wow moment. Finding the Phoenix mirror at the Dojo really caught me off guard, I could've swore that I had been over every square inch of the property. I was pleasantly surprised that while searching for the Phoenix mirror I had unlocked the Elbow Strike flashback. It was at this point that I realized that there were so many layers to the game. For the longest time I thought Chai was unbeatable at the Arcade but later someone told me, "Nah you just suck." To make matters even better Shenmue 2 really took the series over the top.
Shenmue is a unique acquired taste, and I have come to terms with that a long time ago. And interacting with the community helped me with that. It's just good and bad what people love about it, people also hate about it. I'll admit, not being able to save anytime in the first game on the Dreamcast was kind of a turnoff, but glad that was introduced in 2. As I already said, Shenmue to me was just simply a game that came out at the right time. Shenmue was meant for a gamer like me, and I can't speak for everyone else.
 
I understand the frustration with Resume saves...but they are technically there....

Anywhere in 2 was way better obviously but if ya were too late or tired for something IRL and need to just quick save then Resume functions fine enough. Feel like some conveniently ignore or even don't know it is there. Embarrassed to admit I never knew what Resume even meant for my first few years of playing Shenmue way back in the day
 
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