Shenmue was a Product of its Time and an Experience Worth Having

The Experience Begins

-A massive and highly detailed 3D world unlike anything ever seen
-Real-time fighting with moves learned throughout the game – motion capture with real budo experts
-Interact with a huge cast of characters with movements as intricate as a twitch of a finger
-“Magic Weather” and “Time Control” technologies bring this world to life in real-time by dramatically effecting changes to environments

From GameFAQS

This was one childhood series that really impacted me. I remember being so wowed by it considering all I’d played was PS1 games, tho very good in CG’s, it was nowhere as gorgeous this game was (and still is!!!) so I’d play it just for the beauty. That strange, otherworld city that looked like nothing I’d ever seen or met. I’d play it without a memory card till the end of the first CD, until my mom bought me for me and I could finally play it.

Shenmue is not a game, it is an experience. I don’t know if it’s for today’s gamers, but it was for me when I was 10. Even with limited knowledge of English, I was still engrossed by it.

I can’t explain why it was so, it wasn’t just the mindblowing graphics, the amazing OST, how pretty the characters looked or the plot, it was an amalgamation of it all. Shenmue let me become another person, inside a real town, doing real things that was exhilarating for me.

I still remember the crush I had on Shen Hua, and the menu song, if you haven’t you really need to hear all the ost! And see Shen Hua’s pics, she’s an adorable bean, which we never get to meet in the first game, but do so on the second.

The second game was even more wild than the first, in terms of locations and all the new characters, and how pretty they’re <333

Joy and Ryo’s master all looked gorgeous, tho I was always wishing we could see Nozomi again, and get to meet Shen Hua, which when it happened I was super stoked and so happy…

Of course then the game ended, in the biggest climax of my life, and for decades I haven’t had a closure with this series.

I’m still shocked Shenmue 3 is going to happen tbh

This and some other series, like X/1999, were what funneled my hate for ongoing anything, series, manga, games, whatever. Too many times burned to be able to withstand another hurt like this.

I can’t tell you this game is great today as it was then for me, even I don’t know since I haven’t been able to re-experience it. But I promise the OST is worth a look, and so is the movie-like sequences.

The game has a lot of flaws, I still remember the frustration of the QTE scenes because I didn’t understand how it was it wanted me to press. But all those in the end, were not bigger than my utter rapture with this masterpiece of a series. And what is a masterpiece without flaws?

All games, books, series, anything, will always flaws. What makes them unique and standout is when it rises above those.

This isn’t a review, this isn’t anything much really, just me and my nostalgia y（^ヮ^）y

Did you play Shenmue way back when, or only heard about it, or never even heard about it? If you played, has it stuck to you after all these years, or nah? I’m curious, so tell me all!