To people wondering if Shenmue is any good...
The first thing you have to keep in mind is that this game used to be graphically stunning. I remember buying a cheap used Dreamcast, burning the game on CD-Rs and good grief, I had seen nothing like it even on my own computer that was decent at the time. Character models were superbly detailed, the environments rendered in details that were absolutely astounding. It was really quite something ; nowadays, that effect is a bit lost because we are used to any open world games having the kind of detail Shenmue had. Shenmue was however way ahead for a long long time. I think maybe until GTA 5, and yes, I'm serious, even if the thing ran on a Dreamcast. There's very little game mechanics in Shenmue, so the entirety of the power of the console could easily be put into graphics.
Keep also in mind that this game was supposed to come out in Saturn, and.. just look at the video below. It already looked incredible.
Next, about the gameplay, once again, context is everything. If you play Shenmue 1 for the first time now, it's possible you just see a slow paced popamole adventure game (no puzzle), with QTE and Virtua Fighter like combats and lightish RPG elements. Yes, that's all there it is to it, but that's just actually the surface of it all. When Shenmue was released, there was nothing like it. I remember a trailer describing Shenmue with "It is not a game. It is not a movie." and that's really the closest description you can use about Shenmue : neither game, nor movie.
What you do in Shenmue is progressing through a story, with a few fights and mini games for diversity's sake. It doesn't sound exceptional in 2015 when just every game follows this routine, but really, Shenmue 1 really made me feel I was witnessing a new form of storytelling. There is no other point in the game than telling the story, and the game allows you to live said story fully. : Ryo goes home one day to find his father brutally murdered by what looks like to be the Chinese mafia, but not before said father is accused by his murderer to be himself a murderer and stealing a strange mirror. The story begins in Yokosuka, with you trying to find a lead on who is this murderer and where he could have gone.
I'll be honest : what seemed like an awesome storyline back when I first played it actually now feels almost bad ; everything is centered about Kung-Fu and weird chinese culture, cliches about martial arts abound, and abound also in how it is a tale of revenge, a cycle that never ends. Add also a treasure hunt in there. Still, while not being top tier in quality, the story targets a few areas that were seldomly addressed by games before : it is set in the 1980s in Japan and China, in a real world without too much fantasy (you only witness one possible supernatural event in the entire playthrough of Shenmue 1&2), some characters are very likeable, and fuck ! It happens in a real japanese city and Hong Kong ! And then you go deeper into China ! That's just not something you do in every games !
But more than the story in itself what stood Shenmue apart is the way it is told. You can have an awful story, as long as the narration is brilliant, you'll have a good time. One example I like to quote is Portal 2. Another would definitely be Shenmue 1&2.
Shenmue 1 is slow paced, yes. You wander around a small town asking everyone questions, but that's what makes the whole thing awesome. Shenmue is incredibly zen. Ryo, the main character, knows almost everyone in town. The game has a day&night cycle, respects holidays, has weather that impacts slightly the game world and conversations. You really feel like you are there and it is an incredibly immersive experience ; talk to people and they'll gossip about each other, as days pass, couples are formed and other break up. Everyone in the game has a name, an occupation, and a schedule... Something I couldn't remember having seen since Ultima 7. And it really feels like a modern Ultima 7 in that regard : the game is filled with useless locations, NPCs and activites being put only there just so that the experience feels even more real. A small environment with such great details, so many things to be missed on a first playthrough, and a slow paced story provides an incredibly relaxing experience with a few action sequences here and there.
Shenmue 2 is different : you do leave the before mentioned town and go to Hong Kong. And oh boy, I remember it felt like visiting the damn place although only a few quarters are in, of course. You no longer know everyone, only a few NPCs, but I think most have still a schedule. Gameplay is a bit different and atmosphere is totally unlike the first game : here, it's a full fledged HK Kung Fu action movie, with mysteries and adventure bits thrown in for good measure. It's equally great, but once again, very different. It is on a much bigger scope than the first game, with its pros and cons : A less focused game that retains most of the quality of the previous one, and adds other nice traits like a much faster paced story and holy fuck, Hong Kong.
The final part of Shenmue 2 deserves to be mentioned. It is Dear Esther/contemplative gaming before anyone thought about it. Apparently, Shenmue 2 was supposed to be quite a bit longer, but the last chapters were cut. However, the final disc of Shenmue 2 still feels like an introduction to those cut chapters... And as such, final part of Shenmue 2 feels like, once again, an absolutely different game and a demo of Shenmue 3. Without spoiling much, nothing pretty much happens : you are on your way to some place in deep rural China and meet some girl with whom you engage in an incredibly well written conversation. That's the whole last disc of Shenmue 2 : walking, and talking, with once again relaxing music after all the hectic action of the first three GD ROMs ; it sounds boring, it's not. Once again, it's to be experimented before being able to exactly relate to it.
And the disc ends on a cliffhanger. What the fuck happens in the last minutes of Shenmue 2, nobody really knows. So yes, you can sort of guess why people are happy to see the third part coming around, have some answers, and see if they can keep the charm this series have than Yakuza, its so called successor hasn't (although being a very good game on its own merit).