"All in all I think that Shenmue had some great ideas that overshines the shortcomings and the tale of Ryu was engaging enough to make me want to play the sequal."That's how my review of Shenmue ended, and now I have played the sequal. And my overall thoughts on the second entry in this series is also very (and even a bit more) positive. Shenmue 2 continues where the first game left off, storywise it's a direct continuation so in that regard it really feels like I just kept playing one and the same game. A lot of things are, however, different. A lot of "quality of life" changes have been made to alleviate the frustrating moments of the first game. My favorite improvement is that if I reach an area outside of the hours where the story progresses I get the option to "Wait", which means the time fast forwards in an instant to the time I want it to be. Also, conversations now have a few options so I can steer the topics a bit more in many cases!
"I find myself not exploring as much as I would like, because I know it's 40% loading screens"
But when things are easier to just... enjoy, without having to navigate outdated mechanics that's only in the way, other shortcomings become evident. For example, I find myself not exploring as much as I would like, because I know it's 40% loading screens. Have to open a door? 30 seconds. Want to gamble? a few seconds to initiate the conversation, a few seconds to get started, a few seconds to load the conversation afterwards, a few seconds to get back to free-roam. Need to restart the system (only way to reload a save)? A couple of minutes. Want to check out a new area? First you have to get there, it's three blocks away with a minute of loading screen between each block, and then a small loading screen when interacting with anything on the way. Most of the time I end up just going where I'm supposed to, because otherwise I've wasted an in-game day with walking and seeing a fracture of what I planned anyway. Perhaps I should've gone the HD remake route, but wouldn't that take away a bit of the awe? I mean, it's a cool game because it's on an old Dreamcast. It's all part of the charm. If it's on a modern system it'd feel underwhelming and outdated.
"it's really entertaining, in its own quirky way"
The main story progresses fairly slow to be honest, it's all the other things I experience "on the side" that makes it seem like a lot is happening. I mean this in a positive way, I feel like I've been through a lot even though I'm not particularly nearer the answer to Ryus question (who is Lan Di and why did he kill Ryu's father). As long as one is prepared to let the game take its detours, twists and turns it's really entertaining, in its own quirky way.
However - towards the end of the third disc they, to my great frustration, ramp up the QTE:s and it all becomes rather cumbersome. It's a lot of trial and error and I was starting to think "I hope they wrap things up soon" going in to each session. And then there's disc 4. It completely changes the pacing and the gaming experience as a whole. All you do through the entirity of the last disc is walk on a forest path with a girl I won't describe further to avoid spoliers. It's a mixture of walking, talking and the occational QTE. For three hours straight. Don't get me wrong, in the beginning I loved it, it felt like a fresh change of both scenery and pace and I quite enjoyed just talking about everything and nothing while taking in the scenery. But by the time we arrived at our destination I was so bored I think I almost fell asleep sitting up once. I know I had the option to skip most of the dialogue but then what was the point of the last part at all? I wanted to experience it the way it was intended. Anywho! Once we arrived this chapter of Shenmue came to its end and even though it dragged on towards the end a bit I'm still very eager to see how things unfold. The third installment is however on the PS4 so I won't be covering it on this blog. How's that for a cliffhanger.
