Since Rebirth, I have been entrenched in the world of Shenmue. I've played all 3 games back to back to back. When I say "entrenched" I mean it; Without noticing or feeling it, I played Shenmue 3 for 91 hours! That is only 16 hours shorter than Rebirth! How!? In Total, I spent the last 200 gaming hours on this series. I will not review Shenmue 1&2 but I do plan to review Shenmue 3. Here is the my very short and sweet review of the entire series:
This is the most Addictively Charming Mundane series I have ever played.
I see why SEGA had a hard time marketing this game back in the day. Yu Suzuki created Shenmue out his desire to create an RPG, because he was unsatisfied with the limitations of RPG's at that time. His idea of an RPG is so forward thinking; He was trying to create an RPG closer to what we have TODAY!. To the casual eye, it does not contain any of trappings of 'RPG"(it does just in a unique way). Shenmue is sometimes called an Action/Adventure game, but it's lacking in the "Action" or at least what the average gamer would deem as Action. Shenmue has a robust fighting engine based off Virtua Fighter 3 .... that goes mostly unused. The amount of mandatory fights in Shenmue across all games is like 30ish? The most shocking revelation about Shenmue for me is that it has nothing to do with "fighting"; You do fight, and thematically it has martial arts focus story but it is not point of the game. Nowadays, Like a Dragon is used as starting point to recommend Shenmue to new fans. It is the most accurate label but still not correct. Yakuza borrows a lot from Shenmue, but the things it took from Shenmue, Shenmue still does them better. I would look Yakuza as increasing the Action element but reducing the Shenmue.
It really is a testament that even amongst the most elite Shenmue fans there is still debates about how to classify Shenmue. What is my take?: Shenmue is a Life Simulator. The point of Shenmue is to get you, through Ryo, to be a resident in this virtual world. Shenmue is actually closer to something like Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing/than Yakuza. The RPG elements are there though: Grinding means going to a parking lot or sparing with a fellow martial artist to level up your moves. Instead of item shops there are pawn shops. You need money? Get a job or gamble. You interact with the world through a series of mini games in which fighting is just one. That is Action element; It can be fighting, QTE scene, find the item or clue in this room, fishing, gambling, driving a forklift, chasing chickens or just arcade games to past in game time. All that wrapped up in a thriller Kung Fu story. They made it all work!
If I Personally had to compare Shenmue to anything it would be Majora's Mask if fighting was reduced to Mandatory fights. With that being said I get it; I get why this series is so loved. I had an absolutely blast getting though the these games. Shenmue changed the way I think about "RPG's" and "Action" in games and that's my biggest takeaway from the experience. Shenmue is definitely not for everybody, but if slow, atmospheric, explorative thriller is your cup of tea then I highly recommend Shenmue.