u/GotMepsiPax

Following up from my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Shenmue/comments/1syja5e/im_a_newcomer_that_just_got_to_disc_3_spoilers/

Not much to add, really. I overall had a great time with it!

- I could honestly do the forklifting stuff all day. It's very relaxing for me.

- Tom is the man.

- Thanks to your tips, I was finally able to get somewhat of a handle on the combat. Still not a fan of the camera and having to use the D-Pad for movement in Free Battle. Whatever. I dealt with it.

- I will definitely be doing another playthrough, as it's become clear I missed A LOT of stuff in the first two discs. But that might be after I beat III.

One thing I should note: On the final boss, I regularly kept my distance to recover health, dealing blows here and there. Wasn't taking any chances after the arcade fight. At one point, all of my green health spheres turned red and started rapidly disappearing. I panicked and dealt one last blow, ending the fight. I can't find any information pertaining to that. Was there an invisible time limit to the fight? It was weird.

Anyway, on to Shenmue II! ...Later. The one thing I'm curious about in terms of story is the actual significance of mirrors. The very existence of Chai has me thinking that there could very well be supernatural forces at play, but the way Chen described the mirrors, it sounds like superstition. Guess we'll see.

A little over a week ago, I finally got my hands on a Dreamcast...

https://www.reddit.com/r/dreamcast/comments/1sqcdm0/ive_finally_joined_the_club/

...And the very first thing I wanted to try was Shenmue after seeing the passion from fans after Shenmue III Enhanced got announced. Yes, I could've gotten the Steam release for cheap, but I like playing on original hardware when I can.

I knew precisely three things coming into this:

- It's a story about a boy trying to avenge the murder of his father.

- Apparently, as of Shenmue III's conclusion, >!that still hasn't happened(?).!<

- There's a guy who used to be Chinese years ago.

So far, this experience has been sublime. For a game originally released at the turn of the millennium, this world is brimming with detail. I didn't quite understand/appreciate how to take in the world until I saw a YouTube comment last night that said something to the effect of:

'Shenmue isn't a brawler like Yakuza; it's a 3D point-and-click adventure.'

Had I come into this game with that mindset, I would've had a much easier time with a few parts. I did have to consult a guide due to >!having no clue how Japanese area codes work. !<But honestly, having no clue what I was doing did make the discoveries more exciting.

I guess I'll just give bullet points of my gripes here:

- Navigating Ryo is a bit awkward, especially when trying to get into tight spaces, but whatever. And yes, I did set movement to R.

- Some QTEs have been a pain, but only because I'm not used to the Dreamcast button colors at all.

- I absolutely SUCK at Free Battle. I'm so glad the two difficult fights I had did not require me to win, but I feel that won't be the case anymore. I'm probably gonna have to watch some tutorials, 'cause I have no clue what I'm doing.

All in all, this has so far been an experience unlike any I've had so far. Also, I was surprised how short these discs were compared to 2D multi-disc games lol