Ryo Hazuki as a Role Model discussion

[cube_b3]

I have to get back to my job so I will make this breif but it is a discussion that I really want to have here.

Ryo Hazuki was my role model, I discovered him when I was 13. I was a very disconnected asocial gamer. Through Ryo, I sort of ventured into the real world. The most basic example would be traveling and navigating. You know it started by looking at the map near Yamonose park and then so much...

At the age of 15, it truly made sense when I traveled to Turkey and England for the first time, all the knowledge of Ryo came in handy in taking to strangers, looking at bus maps and venturing through foreign land all on my own.

This is just one example, all of us grew on fighting flicks so a part of every man would want to be a martial artist but Ryo totally drove that message to the next level and I took up martial arts. I have practiced Tae-Kwon-Do, Kung-Fu and Kickboxing.

So Ryo really guided me into my adult life and by the time I was 24. I got my undergrad degree, got a real job and became a productive member of society. I look at Ryo now as a highschool drop out and that is really sad. I really wanted Yu Suzuki to remake Shenmue 1, make Ryo atleast 20 years old so that he can be a college drop out instead.

I understand Ryo's journey through China will be a really educational one, but functionally in life it won't get you anywhere. I have a degree from Pakistan which is almost worthless in the States. Even though I had it accredited, finding jobs with that degree has been difficult to say the least. I am enrolled in community college, to get an American degree to find myself a much more lucrative job, which will help me pay for grad school (I don't plan on taking student loans).

So even though I am buying Shenmue 3, at the age of 27 I am wondering what could I possibly gain by becoming Ryo again.
________________________

Note: I made a very screwed up decision... I bought Shenmue 2 in 2004 on my trip to England and I didn't play it.

I decided to wait for Shenmue 3's announcement because Shenmue 1 had the perfect ending... the game ended with me, leaving Japan and traveling into the real world.

I tried playing it many years ago and the graphics looked so bad... some how I like Shenmue 1's graphics but Shenmue 2 looks bad, mainly cause of the shirtless arm wrestler in the start of the game...

So please avoid any Shenmue 2 spoilers, I plan on playing it soon on Dreamcast or Xbox 360 or both. Which one do you recommend I should play first. I have accepted Corey Marshall as the voice of Ryo so the X-Box version would be a good bet!

[|darc|]

I played through most of Shenmue II just 2 years ago on a flat panel monitor with VGA on a Dreamcast.... thought it looked great?

[DaMadFiddler]

My wife has been playing Shenmue II off and on for the last several months... Dreamcast connected to Sony HD CRT via S-Video. The graphics definitely look dated by today's standards, but I thought they looked pretty damn good for the time the game was made, and they certainly didn't interfere with enjoyment of the game the way a lot of old 3D tends to. (Incidentally: in this particular case, the TV setup actually helps. Our set--a Sony KD-34XBR960 is *VERY* good at 480i > 1080i upscaling, which--combined with the nature of CRT--really help disguise any jaggies and other resolution issues. Of course, that still won't do anything to help with art and texture limitations.)

Your graphics issue is probably a pure case of nostalgia vs. lack of the same. Shenmue doesn't bother you because you grew up with it, and see it as the game you saw back when it was new (i.e., when you didn't know anything better because in-game graphics didn't really get better than that.) Since you didn't have that history with Shenmue 2, you were seeing it "fresh" from the perspective of someone already living in the world of PS3 and 360 games. No game is going to look cutting-edge a decade after its release, especially if it's using a more "realistic" graphics style.

[Specially Cork]

I still think the textures especially look fantastic. Even in this day and age, being able to walk into a building that has no purpose in the game, zoom in on any poster or sign and be able to read the whole thing is amazing.

Then there's the meticulous attention to detail. Even the raindrops made little splashes when they hit the floor rather than just disappear into it.

Most console games these days look much better...but only at a distance.

[cube_b3]

I think Ian sums up my grievances with the graphics perfectly.

So did any of you perceive Ryo as a role model?

[Eviltaco64X]

Our set--a Sony KD-34XBR960

Nice. I casually look around for that set from time to time with the intent of finding the right one (or maybe a 910 if the price is right) and then calibrating it/fixing the geometry if need be.

Plenty of 970's pop up in my area, but it's just not the same.

[DaMadFiddler]

So did any of you perceive Ryo as a role model?

That sounds pretty unique to your situation (hence the lack of discussion).

Our set--a Sony KD-34XBR960

Nice. I casually look around for that set from time to time with the intent of finding the right one (or maybe a 910 if the price is right) and then calibrating it/fixing the geometry if need be.

Plenty of 970's pop up in my area, but it's just not the same.

I might be persuaded to sell it, but at 200 lbs, the cost of shipping probably outweighs the value of the set.

[Calavera]

I think the graphics still look pretty good considering they are about 15 years old. If you want the english voices but still want to play it on the Dreamcast there exists a version of Shenmue 2 for Dreamcast with all english voices. Somebody took all the voices from the Xbox version and put them into the Dreamcast version. It is pretty cool.

[cube_b3]

Yeah, it was LanDC former admin of ShenmueDojo.

Though he said you'd need 800MB CD-R's for it...

[DaMadFiddler]

I think the graphics still look pretty good considering they are about 15 years old. If you want the english voices but still want to play it on the Dreamcast there exists a version of Shenmue 2 for Dreamcast with all english voices. Somebody took all the voices from the Xbox version and put them into the Dreamcast version. It is pretty cool.

There's also something similar for Space Channel 5 Part 2. You can get the game in English on PS2, but it only released in Japan on Dreamcast... so naturally, someone inserted the English voice work into the DC version.

[Calavera]

Yeah, it was LanDC former admin of ShenmueDojo.

Though he said you'd need 800MB CD-R's for it...

I actually have just tried out Shenmue 2 english on Dreamcast and there are 3 versions. One for 80-minute CD-Rs, another for 99-minute CD-Rs, and a final one that is mostly for emulators with each disc coming in at around 1.1GB.

I didn't realize this at first and tried the 80 minute CD version. It works fine but the voices are very compressed and don't sound that good. I then got the 1.1GB version and the voices sound just fine.

[DaMadFiddler]

A Dreamcast will read 99 minute CD-Rs?

[Calavera]

A Dreamcast will read 99 minute CD-Rs?

I've never tried it personally but others say it work. I looked up 99 minute CD-Rs to see how much they are on DX.com and the some of the reviews of them were people saying they used them on the Dreamcast.

[Specially Cork]

I still remember all the topics on GameFAQS about Shenmue 2 having no voices. Basically North Americans who couldn't be bothered importing and just went with the Echelon rip.

I actually prefer the Japanese voices. The first game felt like the news, where they'll translate the French president into English with a French accent or something. Except they only did it halfway, because Ryo didn't sound Asian at all.

[DaMadFiddler]

Ryo didn't sound Asian at all.

Classic Ryo Voice Actor Returns for Shenmue 3, Records Personal Messages for $1000

[Calavera]

I still remember all the topics on GameFAQS about Shenmue 2 having no voices. Basically North Americans who couldn't be bothered importing and just went with the Echelon rip.

I actually prefer the Japanese voices. The first game felt like the news, where they'll translate the French president into English with a French accent or something. Except they only did it halfway, because Ryo didn't sound Asian at all.

I imported Shenmue 2 and I didn't mind the japanese voices at all. At first I wanted the english just because I was used to it but once I started playing it was fine.

[|darc|]

A Dreamcast will read 99 minute CD-Rs?

Yeah, the Dreamcast will read some 99-min CD-Rs. Thing is, since 99-min CD-Rs are out of spec, the only companies that seem to bother manufacturing them are making shitty quality CD-Rs, and most of my Dreamcasts barely read normal CD-Rs these days.

Around 2005-2006 a lot of groups started reripping Dreamcast games to fit onto 99-min CD-Rs so that less is removed from the disc to get it converted from a GD-ROM to a 99-min CD-R.

However, these days the main Dreamcast I play games on has had its GD-ROM drive replaced with the SD card-based GDEMU which has 100% compatibility, lower load times, and none of that GD-ROM noise.

[not just souLLy now]

However, these days the main Dreamcast I play games on has had its GD-ROM drive replaced with the SD card-based GDEMU which has 100% compatibility, lower load times, and none of that GD-ROM noise.

How much did this cost to get done? My Dreamcast has a broken disk drive and it was going to get binned, but this sounds like a good alternative

[|darc|]

However, these days the main Dreamcast I play games on has had its GD-ROM drive replaced with the SD card-based GDEMU which has 100% compatibility, lower load times, and none of that GD-ROM noise.

How much did this cost to get done? My Dreamcast has a broken disk drive and it was going to get binned, but this sounds like a good alternative

You don't have to have anyone install it for you, you simply unscrew the 4 screws on the bottom of the DC to take the top off, then unscrew the 3 screws holding the GD-ROM in place, then you pop the GDEMU where it was and reassemble. Easier than installing a hard drive in a desktop computer.

Problem is that nobody is manufacturing large amounts of these things. So far all of the people making these optical drive emulators are just in it as a hobby and haven't manufactured them in large amounts. Deunan manufactures batches of them every few months, so you have to check his page periodically and email him when he opens preorders. His page is here: https://gdemu.wordpress.com. He charges 110 euros which includes everything including shipping worldwide.

There is another guy based in Russia who has his own USB-based GD drive emulator, but he doesn't speak English and you have to message him on ICQ whenever he's available and the only payment method he takes is Western Union, and then you wait. As shady as that sounds, people received their devices eventually and they worked perfectly as far as I know. His page is here: http://3do-renovation.ru/USB-GDROM_Controller.htm



As much of a pain in the ass as it is to obtain one, it's the best way to play Dreamcast. Play on original hardware, 100% compatibility, faster loading times, no drive noise, supports loading virgin GD dumps with nothing removed from them, supports loading CDI files and homebrew, etc. You just put all the disc images on an SD card and the DC boots to a menu that you can use to select a disc image, when you select it, the DC reboots itself and loads to that game.