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Sega Dreamcast Reviews Shenmue II Once again you assume the role of Ryo Hazuki. The young and often time short tempered, but determined man on a journey to avenge his father's death. After sailing away from Yokosuka, we find our young hero on a dock in Hong Kong. With little money and a few clues Ryo must find the whereabouts of his father's murderer Lan Di. Shenmue I was considered groundbreaking even with it's flaws, for example boring game play, the lack of relevant things to occupy your time, and limited help from the majority of NPC's. However people still overlooked these poor qualities and ranked it above everything else on the market. All of the aforementioned flaws have been removed to make the game enjoyable for those who loved the original and those who didn't. The original cast members were either boring or stereotypical. Thankfully that doesn't apply to Shenmue II. The people Ryo chooses, as company is a colorful lot, ranging from the serious and cautious Xiuying to the action first, think later Ren. Accompanying them are several more characters who's addition to the story may seem trivial originally, but later on their character will have meaning. Like actual human beings it's difficult to find out what their intentions are, and what they are after. It's been said before but Hong Kong is huge! After traveling about 4 quarters or the Arbedeen section you will probably conclude that the area there felt larger than the original Shemue. That's not even a quarter of the game! As you travel to different quarters you will eventually get lost. Not to worry practically everyone is helpful and most will either give you directions or lead you to your destination. Some people frowned upon the leading system. If you don't like it just ask shop keeps and they will give you standard directions. Remember that 500 yen that you got every morning? Remember every time Ryo said something about being grateful or thanking Ine-San later you laughed? Well it's gone every penny Ryo will get will have to be earned. The forklift job is history and I will miss it. You can take a crate-carrying job, which is somewhat similar to the forklift job but not as fun. After that you can gamble you money away at various locations around Hong Kong. Not that money is a huge necessity, but it is if you want to have something to do to deter you from the quest. There's several dice games plus another type of game which are all fun when you're winning big. You can also arm wrestle and street fight for money. Not to mention the returning Darts game which you can now gamble on. QTE events have returned and there are about twice as many as in the original. A QTE or Quick Time Event is where you have to enter the correct buttons as they appear on the screen. Unlike the original if you don't do a few of these right you will not get a second chance to try them again. They also put a new twist on the QTE by adding NQTE's where you have to press a series of buttons rapidly at the end which is very hard to comprehend at first even for those who played the original. One thing that hasn't changed from the original is the fighting. The game still uses a fighting system similar to the one used in Virtua Fighter. If you are using an original Shenmue cleared game save then you will have all the moves Ryo learned in the original. If you don't have a Shenmue Clear Save will just have an average amount of moves with an average amount of training on them. The only thing they added new to the fights is a person view. It's a mystery to me as to why this only appears half of the time. I feel this should be dumped because it's a lot harder to use than the standard side view. Speaking of camera angles Shenmue II uses a standard camera most of the time. Rarely if at all is your view obscured by characters even when fighting multiple enemies. The video game stock music that ominously played in the background is now gone. You have traditional Chinese music that seems to boom out of the speakers. The music is absolutely perfect for the atmosphere of Hong Kong. There's not a huge selection of songs, but there's enough that you won't feel like the same songs are repeating themselves. Along with them are the sound effects, very realistic effects are applied to everything in the game. These effects will be no different from what you have heard in real life. Each effect really adds character to what you are doing even if it's a marble rolling down a board, or a punching landing across a face. Everything comes off crystal clear and you can't ask for much better. The voices are a vast improvement over the English in the US release of Shenmue I. A lot of people are uneasy about playing a game with only Japanese speech, but you should actually be embracing it. In no time you will get use to hearing the Japanese voices and the thought of them speaking English will feel foreign. It adds a sense of realism that the American versions lack, it made it feel like you were Hong Kong more so. The original Shenmue had fans tired of hearing the same 10 voices rehashed over and over. That's not the case here, everyone's voice is different. This on top of the Japanese speech tops off the realism in the audio department. Visually this game is far superior to most games out today. Everything has gotten a touch up. People faces, which pretty realistic in the original are now even more detailed. They paid attention to small details and blemishes on faces, so every young face wouldn't look flawless like they did in the original. The people of Hong Kong ranged from pathetic gamblers to businessmen. Everybody had a different look and different gestures. The backgrounds pretty much sum up the entire department. Everything is enhanced small detail in buildings are paid attention to even though they will be overlooked in the grand scheme of the game. Just incase you do look it's pretty breathtaking to see how much detail was paid attention to even the smallest details. This game is just superior to the original. It's a lot better and everything that's 'add on' like the auto waiting system doesn't have to be implemented. You could play this game just like you played the original. Everything has been added to make this one of the most enriching experience's you will ever get out of a game. Delve into the story or gamble so much you forget what you are supposed to be doing next. Either way you will get a wonderful experience of the world of Shenmue. I'd advise you to import this now, because it's worth all the E-Bay inflation. That's a Dy$e Guarantee. D.Turner |
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