Nov 4, 2014

I'm looking for Sailors... In real life!

I've gushed about Shenmue and the Dreamcast before. I know that a remake or a Port with Upgraded High Definition Graphics is almost hopeless due to SEGA's current state.

Well, through Facebook I stumbled on this:
Let's get sweaty!
Looks a lot
like the Parking where you practice... Posted the pic in case the video don't load or you don't want to see no steenkin video!

Well, this pic of things that look like Shenmue got me searching... Looks like someone else did collect a bunch of pics from the Yokosuka Harbor area in Japan and added some Shenmue referenced captions and HOLY CRAP! While there are some differences, the Shenmue Team at SEGA managed to make a reasonable facsimile of the Yokosuka Harbor area.

It's a shame that the game came out too soon and SEGA lost their focus. We now may have lost a chance at a Remake/HD port of the first two games and a chance to live the end of the story. Though Personally, I did have a few concerns with the final parts of Shenmue 2 (Kinda felt like I landed in a Final Fantasy game). Now I don't want to turn this into another Shenmue fangasm rant... Though it kinda is.  I'm amazed and a little bit creeped out on this amazing recreation of a real place, tweaked for a game. Keep in mind that this game came before other games like GTA III, True Crime, Scarface: The World is yours, Spider-Man 2, etc... All the way back in 1999. While Unappreciated it did bring back the Dragon's Lair style gameplay with the infamous QTE. The idea that a Dreamcast game was able to capture a real place in such a manner that later games in more powerful systems were not, is a thing to praise. While, yes, Liberty City and Los Santos are amazing ersatz cities, the fact that they are not New York and Los Angeles kinda kills some of the magic. Then again, in GTA you're a criminal running around killing other criminals and driving stolen cars. Unlike Shenmue, where you're a Martial Artist with a vengeance. The difference in genres allow Shenmue to pay more attention to the world. (TBH, GTA V reminds me a bit of Shenmue with the ton of pointless activities you can do... Some that seem a bit off for a pair of 40-something dudes and a 20-something former gangbanger.)

But again, back unto the main topic: Shenmue. I have to wonder: how many people have done the Dobuita Pilgrimage just to drink soda in two gulps, get sweaty on the Parking Lot, look for sailors in the middle of the night, buy tons of capsule toys, etc?
I'm even considering getting a really cool jacket with a tiger on it! (Just to go to that Parking Lot and make a fool out of myself.)
Excuse me I have to race Forklifts!

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