That Keiji Okayasu video made me die of delight. Loved the way he was talking, and great to see another pivotal part of original team is on board for the new chapter. I might need resuscitation.

Can't agree with Ryan on the English voice acting, it was great if you have an open mind.  And Corey was properly great, if I could steal a man's voice it'd be his.

Apart from that, great podcast. Ryan seems like a nice guy and is clearly passionate about the game, as is Yu Suzuki from the sounds of things. Spare a thought for Mrs Suzuki though.

Ouch at Shenmue's ebay price going up though, I hope that's not true. I sold my copies, but really wanted to carry on my Shenmue re-play through thread at some point.

So as some of yous may or may not know, I've never finished Shenmue 1, so finally after years of procrastinating I've bought it again, along with Shenmue 2. And as I hope to play these games through for the first time in like 15 years I also hope to document my feelings in this thread. If anyone else wants to play with me please do so, but I'm aware it's the holiday season and people are busy. I'll try and document my feelings if and when I can but no guarantees on me seeing this thread through.



Anyway, first day of playing:


Bloody hell the Dreamcast is cute little console! When did consoles stop being cute?
Bloody hell the menu presentation is attractive!
Bloody hell this game is attractive! I hear a lot about 2D or heavily stylized games like Wind Waker being considered timeless, but really Shenmue is right up there with them in my opinion. It's simply gorgeous! A perfect marriage of wonderful art and masterful interpretation into technology. To be honest I can't think of many other fully 3D, non cel shaded games that have aged as well. It's more like the character have been carved out of wood than rendered in computer graphics. A HD re release would probably make this better looking than 90% of current gen games.


Lan Di is an amazing villian. Right up there with Darth Vadar. And the choreography of the opening is brilliant.


After a decade of reading about the game, but not playing it, I'm finally seeing so many of the things I missed when I was 13. Pouring though the  draws of the Hazuki household. Seeing the draws full of white tee shirts and jeans in Ryo's room did make me laugh. It's also my first time to trigger the cut scene of young Ryo learning how to eat carrots and pulling the console out of cupboard, or seeing the fish in the pond. Wonderful. I was forcefully made aware of the routine of the characters when I happened to be standing next to the Buddhist shirine in the house when Ine san happened to go for a prayer session, and I was stuck in a corner until she finished. Fuku san staring in what I presume is a mournful fashion at the bare tree outside also really brought home the tragedy.


The Mise en scene through out the game so far is also wonderful. The Hazuki household feels suitably austere yet homely. In fact, everything in this game feels thoroughly lived in and real, and the location's are wonderful, from the homely neighborhoods near the dojo to bustling Doubita. . But most of all the community. Nobody is a nobody, nearly everyone knows one another here, and have probably grown up together. Ryo knows nearly everyone on a name basis from the shop keepers to the little kids playing in the street. Everyone is someone, everyone has their own life, and it really makes you care about them all. When Ine, who tirelessly tends to the house while Ryo is off on his tunnel vision quest for revenge, tells me for a second time to please not come home later than 11 o'clock because she worries ( more than understandable when your dad was just murdered few days prior) I genuiely felt bad for coming home so late.


The other major revelation to me, is how good Corey Marshall's performance is! People have complained for so long that it's "emotionless" and robotic that I came to accept it as fact, that his performance was not a good one. But NO, he is absolutely stellar!  And I mean genuinely, not just in a so bad it's good way (though Tom is certainly in that category). A mere four days after witnessing the murder of his father, Ryo's mourning period appears to well and truly be over, he's quelled the burning pain of his agony with an icey cold mission of revenge. Even when praying at the shrine in his house he dedicates his prayers to "getting" the guys who killed his dad. As far as I've played, Ryo has no emotionally expressive dialogue or introversion at all, one can only presume he's distracting himself from his sorrow with his quest.  Even in his interaction with other characters he's written to be short, interested almost exclusively in furthering his mission, and more than up for a fight. Of course this could be interpreted to simply be lazy writing, but nonetheless Corey makes the most of it, portraying a polite but icey cold youth who has gone numb inside. Even when some characters ask him rather ridiculously if he's "alright after his rough time" or to "cheer up" Corey's replies seem to almost contain an element of sarcasm in their responses of "yeah yeah I'm fine". 

Anyway I've just got up to discovering the tattoo parlor. Look forward to playing more.

^This is really cool.

Perhaps in pride of place beside the Ultimate Hamtaro Manga Compendium.

 

Anyway, when you make art or when you create stuff as movies or video games, you're not just alone pleasing yourself in your home. You're making something for the audience and you obey to some constraints. If you have a chance to tell your story (a lot of people don't have this chance or fight everyday to have it) you don't act childishly.

Imagine trying to tell an author how many books they should have in a series, or how many pages their book should be. The idea is ridiculous to me. It's his creation.

but don't dream! Be realistic!

People have literally been saying this to us for years, that we should stop dreaming because Shenmue 3 was never going to happen apparently. But now here we are.


I completely agree with what James said too. And the fact that Yu has such belief in both himself and Shenmue, is a wonderful thing. After 14 years of Shenmue's unfinished status hanging over your head, I imagine for anyone else it would be tempting to just to phone in a Shenmue 3, cram the remaining chapters all into one game to give the fans closure and get them off your back. But clearly Yu hasn't been jaded or deterred by these last 14 years, and wants to achieve more than that. And I for one and very thankful.

My life has seen a 110% improvement since I left Facebook. It makes everything just a little bit better.

Couldn't have put it any better myself!it is certainly a positive sign! In fact, we've had nothing but positive signs from Yu recently. But as always, let's treat these tweets with a certain sense of lightness, and remember that no matter what is or isn't announced at E3, Yu clearly hasn't and won't give up on Shenmue, and nor should we, not if we want to see it become a reality.

Although I seem to recall talk of a controversial change in Final Fantasy XII's combat system. Can anyone tell me if that's what I've been looking for all along? Or was it not quite arcadey enough for the tastes I've described?

I'd say yes and no. Well, in truth, it's probably not arcadey enough for your tastes. It is real time, but from what I recall, you don't really control you're characters like you would in an action game or something. It's more like you select a course action for your character to follow and then sort of straddle around the enemy while your character keeps automactically performing that course of action, and it's all in real time. Or something like that, sorry for the crappy description. So yeah, not really arcadey in truth, but probably more exciting than the turn based battles for you, and it is a really superb game. Easily one best FF games made to date, quite underrated in my opinion.