Let's Play Shenmue 2 [Part 9] | How to (not) end a Game
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After his quest to avenge his father's murder has lead him to leave his hometown behind, Ryo Hazuki has finally reached his destination: Hong Kong!
As he steps off the boat, Ryo knows nothing about what awaits him in China. His only lead is to find Master Lishao Tao, and so he sets off to find him...
Originally made for the Dreamcast as it was already dying, Shenmue 2 never even got released in the US. Microsoft secured the rights and released a dubbed version for the XBox, which also became the base for the Shenmue I + II re-release.
The fictionalized version of Hong Kong is leaps and bounds bigger than Yokosuka was. To help with getting around, the game introduces a mini-map system, but even with that it is still very easy to get lost. Where Shenmue succeeded in making you feel like you're exploring your hometown, Shenmue 2 nails the feeling of not knowing where to go in a city you've never been to before. For better and for worse.
Being a direct sequel, Shenmue 2 also has a cool feature where you can import your cleared save data from the first game. This carries over things like the moves you unlocked, certain items, and it even affects the date that the game starts.
While the dialogue in the previous game sometimes felt low-quality and even hilarious, the writing in Shenmue 2 has... not improved. Dialogue does not always flow well, making it seem like people are talking at each other, not with each other. When you meet characters that don't say much at all, this only gets amplified.
The issues with conveying information through words spreads into other aspects, too. The game's tutorials tend to mislead or flat out lie to you.
The story requires you to pass a certain mini game relatively early on. Good luck doing that if you do what the game tells you, because the explanation is lacking. When you then have to do that really hard thing three times in a row, it can get really frustrating really fast.
... and then there's a whole mini game locked away behind an optional line of seemingly random events, requiring you to literally go out of bounds of the game's map and littered with atrociously clashing writing. Hope you bought the guide book! Thankfully, nowadays you can just look these things up easily.
Shenmue 2 tried to take a step forward, but unfortunately, stumbled.
At least we'll get a conclusion of the story, though... right?!