Synesthesia

I often hear quite mixed reactions to shenmue but one thing that does intrigue me is whether it should actually be classified as an adventure. It seems to have every aspect an adventure game should have but with a much more immersive and richly realised world to explore as you unfold the linear plot line.

The biggest difference is the inclusion of RGP, racing and live action elements, which make it one of the most original titles I have played.

Bruno_Malta

I don´t think that SHENMUE falls in any particularly genre. It is one of those games that blends many styles to create something unique. I for one, love this game. There is so much to do, so much to see.
I would dare say that, this game should be a base for how adventure games could evolve on something new.
But answering your question, yes, i think it can be classified Adventure.

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Quadriflax

I agree with all of that. Especially the idea that Shenmue should be the base for future adventure games. The potential is almost unlimited. The worlds are huge, the story is not linear and you can do things in almost any order you want, you can spend hours (days even) just walking around and doing secondary missions and tasks etc etc. There were some monotonous tasks to complete that could be done away with, but otherwise everything was handled extremely well. Of course, the sheer size of Shenmue makes it pretty cost prohibitive to develop, or at least to polish to a point where many of us expect things to be. Some corners with voice acting etc have to be cut because there is just SO MUCH game to cover.

But take the Shenmue engine, create new worlds and characters, and you have an amazing opportunity to create the new adventure game. I hope Yu Suzuki gets a chance to create Shenmue III on the XBox 360, or the PS3, or any other console that might see the light of day in the next few years. I'm dying to complete the series. And if more games like Shenmue came out, I would .. I don't know what I would do, but it would probably involve wet pants at some point

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SakSquash

It's not an adventure game, or an action game. I'd call it a "lack of action or adventure" game.

SamNMax

It's a genre all on its own.

Fum

Damn you guys and your stupid genre debates. This is why I spend most of my lurking time lurking around the Thumbs. There are only two real genres that really mean anything, “Good” and “Bad.”

If the adventure genre dies, it will only be the label that dies, so who cares. There will always be story and puzzle driven games. There will always be good games.

Just felt like ranting.

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SamNMax

What does that have to do with anything?

Intrepid Homoludens

Many adventure game fans have their arbitrary categorizations, informed primarily by what they've played over the years and have deduced to a set of criteria accordingly. Though I have yet to play it, Shenmue behaves as a 'typical' adventure game would in terms of story as the true focus and motivation, deep exploration, and character development and interaction, seemingly far more so than many standard adventure games. Puzzles may be lacking, but that shouldn't necessarily make Shenmue any less of an 'adventure game' than, say, Myst, for its lack of a dynamic, in-your-face story.

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crabapple

What?
Does this mean you didn't like it?

SakSquash

Got it!

sethsez

Shenmue is a bunch of mediocre games crammed together.

Quadriflax

That's pretty much what I feel. I call it an "adventure" game for those reasons. There's plenty of walking around in it, but that's not different from any other "adventure game." There's some pretty tedious tasks/games as well, but really, the ability to explore so much space and interact with so many people is amazing. I don't see how anyone can think that's a BAD thing. I guess I don't see how people can be so anti-Shenmue. But even if you don't like it, would it be a bad thing to continue to explore what a Shenmue type engine could mean for adventure games? For action games? For gaming in general? Think MMORPG without the "O." Maybe some people don't think it's different from the typical large scale RPG, but I do. It has certain elements about it, that if expanded, could yield impressive results. I'd like to see it explored.

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Quadriflax
"To Insanity and Beyond!"

Fum

Yeah, what were we talking about again? I think I only read the title of this thread and decided to rant. My first paragraph was kind of on topic though, give me points for that.

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pleto4_ryan

Been playing Shenmue 2 (finally found it on Xbox) and having a blast.

A friend asked me what genre it is...i couldn't answer.

One of the questions that cannot be answered, it's everything and nothing, it's a whole experience.
Just have fun with it and don't ask this kind of questions.

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Intrepid Homoludens

I think a lot of adventure game fans misguidedly identify the adventure game with nothing but story and puzzles. What about elements like spontaneous exploration, discovery, quests, sidetracking, investigation? Quite honestly, the one word that's agonizingly lacking in many adventures in the past several years is one of the things the caused it to be eclipsed: freedom.

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SakSquash

Yeah, you can walk around and talk to everyone in it, but they pretty much all say the same thing. Worst of all, the dialog in the game is very mechanical and boring. I'm telling you, the devil made this game and he's fooling you all.

For the record, I liked the first one.

RLacey

I completely fail to understand the appeal of Shenmue. But then, I don't understand the appeal of Myst either. Each to his own...

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Fum

Again, genres really don't matter, but I think most people accurately call Adventure games games that you advance through more my puzzle solving then action. Simple as that. Games you can sit back and think to beat - rather then swigging from poles and shooting and hitting things to beat. But, not for the last time I'm sure, genres don't matter. I've got to stop coming back to this topic as everything about it annoys me.

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Quadriflax

For now, yes. Would you want to record all those voices? How much would THAT cost, and how LONG would it take? But as time progresses, and technology gets better, it might be easier to make these people speak more varied sentences on the fly. I'm not saying it's perfect now, I'm saying the idea needs to be looked at and taken advantage of. Even if you don't like Shenmue, you have to admit the project and the potential for it are huge in scale and could mean a lot in terms of exploration, multiple locations, and large scale worlds with lots of people to talk with and things to do.

The actual dialogue itself might lose something in translation to English. Playing the Euopean version of Shenmue II with Japanese voices and English text made it sound more authentic. The actual context of the dialogue might not be the best, but it was easier to ignore in the second game. And again, to get back to my overall point, you didn't like THIS game. But get some better writers and more technology involved and you've got yourself a great opportunity to make one hell of a game.

Honestly, I would rather have a few, huge games that are very well done than a mess load of thrown together crap made to turn a fast profit. If games of Shenmue's scale can become more profitable, perhaps we'd see more companies willing to take the initial time and money to invest in longer term projects. Sure, they might not be as current in technology when they're released, but there's always a lag between what's bleeding edge and what people actually have in their PCs. It should work for consoles as well since they're on about a five year cycle, so a company could produce a few larger games during the prime years.

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PILMAN

Shenmue was supposedly it's own genre. It feels very much like an adventure game and the series was great, hopefully yu suzuki gets the funding he needs to release number III