This month was a long one. We bought some games online, and because I heard some good things about Shenmue, I bought a copy for the Dreamcast.
Lussy and I started playing and it blew us away. This game came out in 1999. The same year as Silent Hill, Persona 2, System Shock 2 and Donkey Kong 64, and it looks like something from the end of its generation.
It's an open world game that is fully voice-acted (although it's poor and sometimes just laughable in English), and the world is insanely detailed.
More important characters have a nearly full range of facial expressions, and some details on the characters are just mindbogglingly sharp - we also bought a VGA cable for the Dreamcast, so the image is super clean.
The gameplay is actually very clever. We got bored with the linear "do what we want you to do" gameplay in most of the current story-driven games, and playing this gem made us realize that there are different ways of telling a story in a game.
I'd call Shenmue a detective game. You have to ask people for information, and figure out who to ask and when. The time is ticking, so you have to memorize the little map, and remember who is who. This game is the ultimate fetch-quest game, and it's actually fun, because you have the option of figuring things out in your own way.
The story hasn't really captured us. I mean it's alright, but nothing new really. But the way the player is introduced to it, and how the different gameplay stlyes connect to each other still feels kinda fresh.
There are three actual gameplay modes in the game. The regular "player moving in the world, and looking for interactions"; the quick time events that are essentially cutscenes driven by choice (or rather reflexes); and Virtua Fighter... I mean fighting.
The move controls are awkward. The Dreamcast controller has only one analogue stick, and the D-Pad is on the same side, so you can't use both of them together. And because you move with the D-Pad, and look with the analogue stick, the control is a bit clumsy. But you can run with the right trigger, so at least you can run while looking. But can't turn.
What is amazing about this game is the details. You start in your home, and you can open every drawer and cabinet, and you can pick up and look at items closely.
People have their own daily routines, and you can talk to them, ask them about the your current issue. Days change into nights, NPCs will do their chores and you can even spend your full allowance in the arcades if you want to (playing Hang On or Space Harrier arcade games, among others).
I know, you can see the same things in current games too, but this game came out in 1999, and in some aspects, it is still comparable.
Technologically, Sega was obviously very proud of this game, because on the 4th disc, aka the "Passport", they even added a high-res facial test screen. It's impressive for its time, but quite boring.
They're not using any kind of mip-mapping, what is obvious on modern screens because it creates a lot of shimmering - especially because of the VGA cable. Still the game uses a lot of different textures, for environment and for the characters, and most of them are unique.
The shadow casting is basic, it looks like a flat mesh projected onto the environment. The effect what I like the most is the motion blur. Most games in the sixth generation used a basic fullscreen blur that was more annoying than good looking. But in Shenmue, the motion blur is actually a very blurry translucent mesh that lags behind the character. Genius idea.
Lussy and I have a game idea that is somewhat similar to Shenmue's base gameplay, and to urban exploration. We've been brainstorming about it for more than a year now, writing down parts of the story, testing mechanics, but nothing serious.
After we played Shenmue, we just had to rethink our expectations for our project idea, and how we should make it work.
We're probably not gonna be able to work on it now, or in the foreseeable future, but because of Shenmue we're gonna brainstorm about it more regularly.
Anyways, have a nice summer!
