entering the dragon

Am progressing through shenmue a game I've beaten twice, why bother going through it again... Yanno, it's tough to say why I do anything that i do in life, just following my heart I guess. I feel it's right to drudge through both games again this time attempting to find all the secrets.

Interesting to read and watch reviews of the new game comparing it to the many shenmue inspired clones that have come and gone and some considering those to be better in some aspects. Maybe... I don't know, haven't attempted any of them. Is shenmue 3 too retro, should they have made it more modern with all the excessive overdone stuff we have in today's hand holding pussy ass games we get nonstop these days.

I don't know what's frustrating these reviewers who want the game to be made like today's nonsense. But just playing shenmue 1 again I forgot how ball busting some stages are in that game, but that was typical of 90s games. They gave no fucks, if you couldn't find a miracle to win them, no dice.

Today I mean yeah there are still tough games but it more or less comes down to tedium having to deal with hordes of enemies or poor game design not deliberately crafted difficulty which was the MO of classic old games, even mario was going to destroy you back in the old old mario days, even that shit crushed your spirits and made you want to toss your nintendo out the windo.

I mean I wanted to give up at points in shenmue 1, but I kept fighting, kept walking into the pit of hell and just kept losing again and again... Haven't had a game do that to me in a very long time. Then it happened. I figured out the right patterns to give myself a chance and I struggled and beat the dude. Now of course I know he's not the worst I've fought and beat. That still awaits me in shenmue 2 but it taught me to push on through anyway. Corny as it sounds. It's simply  because I didn't let "give up" take over in my mind that I proved I could do it... That's great gaming. And yeah the stage is poorly designed and tough for reasons you yourself have to adapt to and learn to deal with, but I mean, that's 90s gaming. Half of the games back then had shit in them you had to adapt to and adjust to and use your brain to calculate how to solve all the wonky design problems and bugs. Super Star Wars, hell I can name a billion star wars games where you just had to figure out how to hack the game using the game itself to some extent in order to survive it. Mario Kart can be unfair as hell if you don't know how to manipulate the track itself and learn proper sliding to gain an advantage, etc. it was up to you in the end is all I'm saying. They pumped out so many games so fast with so many bugs, what an insane test of will power those were...

I remember playing like a jedi on some levels. Not even thinking, just going through the motions letting go of all conciousness and letting just the reflexes do all the work. They don't make those games anymore.

Or maybe that's what shenmue 3 demands. You play like you did on old systems. I don't know yet. Will be cointinuing to look into people's thoughts, I don't think people have beat it yet, must be a big ass game...