Shenmue Beginner Tips
Find Maps Around the City
One of the most noticeable issues with Shenmue is the lack of a map to reference when navigating the city. As a result, you’ll have to do a lot of exploring to memorize the city’s intricacies. However, you’ll notice that there are interactive maps posted throughout the city’s walls. Don’t get lost and try to memorize everything just by playing a lot, like some people have.
If you’re really savvy, you can interact with the maps and take a picture on your phone in real life for reference so you don’t have to keep going back. We’re all spoiled with maps these days, but Shenmue is 19 years old and it shows. Either way, make sure you reference the maps scattered around the city so you don’t get lost.
Shenmue Beginner Tips
Look at Watch to Pass Time Faster
Another prominent feature of the Shenmue games is time. Specifically with the first installment, you may often find yourself looking for things to do to kill time while you wait for a mission objective to initiate. At the time, this was unprecedented, but now it just seems like a poor use of the player’s time.
If you’re really bored and need time to pass quickly, open up your Item menu, go to the Story Items tab and navigate over to the watch. If you select it, you’ll notice time will move more quickly. Treat this as a last resort, because there is much to see and do in Shenmue. However, if you need a potty break or want to go grab a quick snack, leaving the game running with your watch up will speed up time.
Shenmue Beginner Tips
Your Notebook Tells You What to Do
Something we’ve gotten used to with modern games is a quest log or mission menu showing what to do next. Shenmue doesn’t have either of those things, specifically, but rather a notebook that hints at what to do next. In some ways, this is kind of novel, as it may immerse you into the game further. With it being straight from the main character, who is not all-knowing, you and him have to kind of figure things out together. Just remember to always check your notebook to see what the game wants you to do next.
Shenmue Beginner Tips
Talk to Pedestrians If You’re Lost
Like the notebook, the pedestrians in Shenmue are there to help you on your mission. Luckily, there are almost always people to talk to when walking along the streets. Some of them may not have any useful information, while others can point you in the right direction. It’s a cool feature that made the first Shenmue feel like a living, breathing open world.
Shenmue Beginner Tips
Use First-Person Mode to Identify Buildings
The first-person feature, which is introduced at the very beginning of the game, is used to get a better look at things in this dense world. While it isn’t recommended to use it all the time, it’s extremely useful when trying to identify buildings.
At the start of the game there are quests that force you to go to building X, but with the weird map situation and the sometimes hard to read text on the sides of buildings, finding these places can be tough. However, if you walk up to a building and go into the first-person mode, it will tell you the name of the building as it corresponds to the map, so finding your goals can be made easier.
Shenmue Beginner Tips
Try to Put Yourself in the Shoes of Someone in 1999
It’s been alluded to before, but Shenmue HD is a port of a game from 1999, which means it’s old. At the time, some of the innovations made were unheard of, like the day/night cycle, or being able to talk to pedestrians. These days, comparing Shenmue to recent releases seems almost unfair, especially when looking at games of a similar genre, like Grand Theft Auto or Yakuza.
Still, the Shenmue games are special and if it weren’t for them, there would be no Grand Theft Auto V or Yakuza 6, at least not as we know them. When playing Shenmue, you may find much more enjoyment looking at it from a lens of someone in 1999. Yes, the movement is clunky, yes the combat is basic, but almost two decades ago, this was incredible. Some odd features aside, Shenmue mostly holds up today, and it’s no wonder fans are so excited for the third one, Shenmue III.
About the author
