Why do previewers refer to Shenmue 3's gameplay as 'old school'?

The GamesRadar piece annoyed me a bit when it made a big deal about the fact that "nothing happens in the first hour", as if that's so abnormal for open world games.

I don't mind games with a slow start, as long as you're actually playing...there are way more egregious examples of games that don't even let you play for 40-50 minutes *cough* Yakuza *cough*
 
ys. said:
That's exactly what I was getting at earlier. Confirmation bias. Sure, certain aspects like the control scheme were more common then but other things that Shenmue did weren't common then and aren't now. "Typical for Shenmue" would be a more fitting term instead of "outdated". But as you said, it's easier to confirm assumptions based on the series first release date.


Was it that typical of the time though? Many aspects of the game were ahead of their time or different. It is of course one of the more known titles from that era.

The voice acting, yeah, I don't know about that. It's very strange in a way. It seems that they were working with a professional cast and director which is surprising when you hear certain lines. For Ryo, it's not just monotone/unaffected which seems to be what they were going for. It sounded more like someone who doesn't care is reading a text due to the intonation. Maybe Corey really had to try to recreate the original style which ended up sounding forced and as a result even less natural :p
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I didn't say it was typical of its time. I mean it marked its era.
 
I hate how previewers are referring to the game as dated....

Also Holy shit at the techadvisor preview.... I had a rant about it on Resetera absolutely insane levels of bullshit.
 
Have read the techadvisor priview just now. It is the worst priview I have read about S3. Besides playing with the old Yakuza Card again :sick: they have said nothing substantial. They are masters in the art using much words without saying anything substantial.
 
9dragons said:
Have read the techadvisor priview just now. It is the worst priview I have read about S3. Besides playing with the old Yakuza Card again :sick: they have said nothing substantial. They are masters in the art using much words without saying anything substantial.
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Sigh did it ever occur to any of those Journalists, that if Yakuza could give us what Shenmue can, people wouldn't have been in such need of a Shenmue game in the first place?

If you take the story/just main plot at face value, It's nothing special, so there's no way people would be chomping at the bit, just because it ended on a cliffhanger, and the story couldn't be finished.

However you add all the things Shenmue not only pulls off ingeneral, but even does stuff no game does at all, nevermind a game that packages all these elements into a single ip as well.

I seriously think anyone bringing up Yakuza, either didn't think it through or are discounting many of Shenmue's elements as important.

I talked to a guy last week, and was just informing him of all the elements that make Shenmue so great(and he said he didn't like the 1st game, but didn't play the 2nd game), he openly discounted all the interactions with NPCs, and world building. It wasn't until I mentioned how 2 added maps, and made NPCs help you find your next objective more then 1 did, due to the bigger world, that he gave any points to Shenmue 2 at all. Infact anything to do with the pure adventure aspect was ignored.


Seriously, I think when people who "don't get it" play a Shenmue game, they only notice 2 elements of the game, the fighting system, and mini games, that's it. They're completely blind to everything else.
 
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Esppiral said:
Old schoold gameplay stands for a game that is not pointing you wehere to go at every given time and don't fills the screen with marks everyhwre poiniting you every interactive object/NPC, that is a win in my book.
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Absolutely!!! Would Ruin immersion in a game like shenmue aswell
 
SCQ said:
I didn't say it was typical of its time. I mean it marked its era.
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Oh ok, I interpreted your use of "staple" as the definition "common, regular". I agree in that case that it marked that era.
 
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ys. said:
Oh ok, I interpreted your use of "staple" as the definition "common, regular". I agree in that case that it marked that era.
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Yeah, perhaps using the word "staple" was a bit misleading on my part.
 
Esppiral said:
Old schoold gameplay stands for a game that is not pointing you wehere to go at every given time and don't fills the screen with marks everyhwre poiniting you every interactive object/NPC, that is a win in my book.
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That is a big plus in my book too. This is one of the Features I hate modern games. I might be a weird gamer but this modern day makes me more stressed then not knowing were to go and find the way by myself. I rather prefer to walk around without knowing what to do than following some blinking Icons.
 
9dragons said:
That is a big plus in my book too. This is one of the Features I hate modern games. I might be a weird gamer but this modern day makes me more stressed then not knowing were to go and find the way by myself. I rather prefer to walk around without knowing what to do than following some blinking Icons.
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I can somewhat agree. I prefer games which encourage you to find your own way and immerse yourself in the world but I don't like when you can't find your way at all. It seems like modern games rely so heavily on waypoints and mini maps that if you turn them off it becomes borderline impossible because the game world simply wasn't designed to function without them.
 
I'd also argue sometimes you do just want a game that isn't complicated and tells you where to go without any hiding of it. Its easier to say it depends on the game but theres many instances where it just leads to frustration or demotivates you from playing more. What helps shenmue's case is that its a small hub world with a decent amount of side content/triggers so figuring out where to go isnt too big an ordeal.
 
Maybe it is just me but the way Point System of your average modern game is not working properly. It does not really help to find your way. On the on the contrary it helps you to get lost. It tries to direct way to your Destination, but very often direct way is blocked by a wall, or by montains or other objects. It is way more stressful to follow the Icons than finding the ways without any help. But that is just me.
 
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