What Makes PSO Special to You?

I was going through the IGN website from around 2002 (back when they where "good") and i found a nice quote for Shenmue that sums it all up i think
"
It's evident, to me at least, that there are some games you can't judge till you've played it for awhile (then you have stuff like Orphen for the PS2... ack). It's also pretty easy to see that there are a lot of Dreamcast owners who have been waiting for Shenmue and will be extremely pleased with the game. Those of you reading who are teetering on giving it a shot, will probably try it out or borrow it from a friend before buying it.

Then, there are those guys without a Dreamcast... and they may or may not be intrigued by Shenmue but they're probably not going to get a Dreamcast just for Shenmue. You can hear their claims of "waiting for Mario on Game Cube", or "Metal Gear Solid 2 will be better on PlayStation 2", or "Microsoft will buy them all out and X-Box will rule the world". And "they" will pass on buying Shenmue; though "they" hear it is a landmark video game that no one should miss, and it boasts an incredible world to explore and a myriad of things to do, and it incorporates a solid combat system, AND it displays some of the best visuals ever on a console, "they" might say that the camera gets in the way of combat, that there's slowdown when Ryo is around a lot of people, that they don't like the VFstyle of combat, or cite other minor flaws this game may contain. But the strongest and most likely reason is they don't believe in SEGA; that SEGA will only produce two chapters of Shenmue then call the whole thing off. "They" will relish that reasoning and keep reminding those that did buy Shenmue that SEGA is going down.

Perhaps that will happen. Perhaps SEGA will call the whole thing off, leaving us Shenmue fans in the dust. If that were to happen, I would savor the gaming wonderful moments the first chapter of Shenmue gave me, but yes, I will be sad.

However, let me ask you this question: What if Shenmue succeeds and continues all 16 chapters, with each chapter being of equal or better quality than the first chapter?

That's right... "they" will miss being part of video game history. Sad, isn't it?"

 

That article sounds like it must've been written closer to 2001, because it references MGS2 as if it hadn't been released yet, and that game was released in late 2001.

In response to what it says, it didn't take me a while to appreciate Shenmue. I loved it pretty much instantly. What really convinced me to get a Dreamcast was DOA2. I played the arcade version of DOA2, and that convinced me I needed a DC. I was also interested in games like Jet Grind/Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi. Also, DC systems and games were pretty cheap at that time. But DOA2 was ultimately my reason for getting the DC, and Shenmue was what justified it for me – once I'd played it.

 

Came up in my playlist today and it just takes me back

 

Still have this on my shelf, not as good as the original DC version, but was still a nice rerelease!