When I bought the Dreamcast, I had two games in mind for what I wanted to play on it: Phantasy Star Online and the first two Shenmue games. Now, I can't play PSO just yet because I have to get internet things figured out to make my mighty modern gigabit internet compatible with the 56k dial-up capabilities of the Sega Dreamcast, but I have recently finished Shenmue, the first one.
This is something that has been talked to death since forever. Yes, it's a little weird to handle the movement for 90% of the game through the D-pad in a 3D game, but it works most of the time, because clunky movement doesn't hinder you in most situations. I didn't mind the whole "playing Virtua Fighter on the D-pad" bit that is the so-called "Free Battle" system all too much, mostly because I have the unfortunate honor of having a good few hours in the Sega Genesis version of Virtua Fighter 2, but there were some times where enemies were at odd angles and as such my inputs got mis-read, which was a little frustrating for specifically the 70-man battle. One thing I don't see talked about terribly often, though, is that you can use the stick for movement in the vehicles, both the forklift and the motorcycle.
Going back to elaborate on the combat, it is just playing Virtua Fighter as Akira with a bunch of moves missing. Personally, I think this was a genius idea, especially since there aren't that many fights in the game. It means if you want to get better at the combat in Shenmue, you can play Akira in Virtua Fighter, and the experience of getting good at a fighting game bonds the player to Ryo a lot better than the script of the game is likely to. Playing this game did make me upset that VF isn't very popular in the states, and also excited for VF6 as a revival of the series (Though I would also like new Shenmue games with the VF fighting system too, that'd be nice...)
The other primary gameplay mode, called "Free Run" is the god-father of Open World games, this much has been stated time and time again. What I haven't seen acknowledged is that it is also... a really high budget Point-and-click puzzle game, especially at the end of disc 1 into most of disc 2. The main interaction here is going to new places, looking at them closely, inspecting just everything around, taking random items and then trying to use them in as many contexts as you can think of. If that doesn't sound like a King's Quest game, then I don't know what does. Of course, I can't leave out the all-important "talking to people" feature, where Ryo interrogates everyone he sees about his current objective. My husband associates this game with the line "Do you know how to read Chinese?" because I got stuck there for a little while. I found this form of gameplay fun, because I liked the relatively slow pace of it, the attention to detail all over the place, and the way I really came to know the areas I was bumbling around the entire game. Honestly I kinda think a lot of open world games nowadays miss this sort of point in exchange for really big maps and glowing quest markers that leave players speeding past the world with tunnel vision toward the next objective. I mean, how many people actually know the roads of Skyrim, even if they've played the game for 50 hours?
I think what makes the lack of usual exploration Quality of Life that I've come to know in my relatively modern gaming sensibilities, is Ryo's Notebook. Ryo keeps a running tab of what he's been told and what he needs to do throughout the game, and phone numbers, which is both nice flavor and something you can spend a fair amount of time on, since all the phones are Rotary dial, so calls take a bit. The story hints, though, are huge, especially if you're a gamer like me, who has a tendency to set games down for... a couple months at time.
This game is also the grandfather of Quick-Time events. In the time since, these have basically become a cornerstone of action games. Button prompts appear on screen, and you have to press it in time or fail the event, usually resetting the sequence, sometimes with a small scene showing how you messing up caused the game to not continue. Ironically, unlike how a lot og gameplay systems get introduced as a very difficult thing and get easier in games inspired by it, Shenmue is actually pretty forgiving with a lot of the QTEs, Ryo can take a decent beating, even in cutscenes, it seems.
All in all, the gameplay of Shenmue is quite forward-thinking for its time, and focused around the kind of experience it wants to make. It may have been better served by more modern camera and movement controls, but I also believe that would make the experience less distinct. 8/10 on gameplay, though I can understand how it might be rather polarizing to a "modern gamer".
This is the part where I start showing what kind of childhood I had... Shenmue is best compared to an 80s Hong Kong action movie, like many of the works of Jackie Chan. The set up is simple: Men in black came to the Hazuki residence and killed Ryo's father. On the way out they stole something valuable. And so, Ryo Hazuki needs to learn who his father's killer is, where he is, and then beat him. Sounds simple enough, until you learn that Yu Suzuki wanted there to be 4 or 5 Shenmue games before the first even released, and then we get to what this first game is. To set expectations, in case you don't know, Lan Di, the main antagonist for the franchise, is barely in this game, and most of his screen time is in flashbacks and dreams.
I love the way the story is handled and paced, but I also know that a lot of people would be mad pissed about it. The story is a constant swing of set up and set back. I know this game is 24 years old at this point, but spoilers ahead.
The first part of Shenmue 1 is widely thought of as "boring" but I like to think of it as one of the best introductions to a game you can get. The objective is to find out who Lan Di is, so the stakes are very low, which encourages players to explore and bump into the various characters they're going to see a lot of throughout the game. I can tell you the early parts are memorable... because I kinda forgot a lot of the middle of the game. I said before that I'm the type to set a game down for a while, and I did that here. I only realize as I go to type out this section that most of Disc 2 is kinda missing from my immediate memory. I know there's the Dojo puzzle section with the hidden door that shows a picture of Ryo's dad, and the stealth section to get into the harbor and meet Master Chen that I sucked so bad at that the game actually progressed me out of pity, and the scrolls in Chinese, but I have truly forgotten a lot of the connecting tissue in there... Maybe I'll have to replay the game here soon and update this review.
One thing I won't forget though, is the Travel Agency bit. You have to go through a lot of work, and the amazing Fuku-san even gives you his life savings to help you get to Hong Kong. And then... the damn Agency was a scam! And even worse, after that, Ine-san stops giving you an allowance. So you're back where you started on the path to find Lan Di: Dead broke. It does cause the forklift section of the game, which is a good chunk of Disc 3, and probably one of the most iconic parts of Shenmue as a whole, so I'm not too upset about it in the long run, but man was it upsetting in the moment.
Shenmue 2 was already being made while the first was in development, so obviously the story ends on a cliffhanger, with Ryo on the boat to Hong Kong. Man, can't wait to play the second game on my Dreamcast! What's that? Xbox had exclusive rights to release Shenmue II in the United States? hmm....
It feels wrong to give a review score to what is ultimately just the exposition chapter of a story, but I'd give it a 7/10
This means I give Shenmue a composite score of 7.5/10, but a personal feeling rating of "I loved it".
While I work on getting the Shenmue II situation figured out, I'll probably try to cut my through Skies of Arcadia. I've also been working on Ikaruga, but man is that game hard.