What are you playing?

[pierrot]

My daughter and I finished a co-op playthrough of Kirby's Epic Yarn the other day. Now we're a couple of hours into Return to Dreamland.

Man, I loved Kirby's Epic Yarn, when I played it. I don't even care that it's babby-level easy. I had so much fun playing it. I never wanted to pay full price for Return to Dreamland, so I never ended up actually getting it. Seems like it might be worth playing, though.

Kirby is probably the strongest platformer series from the 5th gen forward (I'm one of those people that prefers Kirby 64 to Mario 64).

Bone, bruh--. Stop making me agree with you.

The guide I followed, which seems to be the only Shenmue I dedicated Notebook guide online (in English anyway), mentioned that the entry at the Arcade, is impossible to get at the same day as the Parking Lot brawl and the Tattoo Parlor entry.

Oh~. That comment on the video makes a lot more sense now. I don't remember ever getting a notification for it, and I've been scratching my head a bit, over the last couple days, trying to make sense of it. Now I get it.

The one with the Cat though I'm unsure of, the guide says if you give the dry fish to the Cat you get one entry, and if you give the Tofu and talk to the two gossiping ladies in Sakuragaoka you get the other. Now I'm not sure if it is possible to get both entries.

There shouldn't be anything missed if you give tofu to the cat. If you give her the dried fish, Megumi will just tell you about Yamagishi, and the note to talk with Sumiya will be lost. So you have to give the cat the fried tofu, then talk with Sumiya, then Yamagishi.

However, can I just start a conversation with a second part (where you have to press A to continue) and cancel before that part? I just did some testing and it seems that a random street drunk, and the long haired guy that's always a jerk in the Nagai industries, count for the Fortune Teller even if they don't say anything specific to the Parlor/Hights, at least one of them does anyway, since I also spoke to the two Chinese bar patrons during that interval.

I'm not sure i totally understand the question. It's been a while since I had to do it, but I'm fairly certain you can just start a conversation with an NPC, then immediately cancel before hearing any of the dialogue, and it will count as one person toward the counter for the Lapis fortune teller. As far as I'm aware, any NPC will count toward this counter, but the five people at the bar are just the most consistent ones to hit up for the last two fortune entries that night, since there are only a few people roaming the streets at that time.

Of course all this is moot in the short term and I have to restart my playthrough anyway, because apparently, I shouldn't have picked up the key from Iwao's desk back at the Hazuki Household, since it affects an entry later in the game.

Oof, yeah. There's a few things to really watch out for on a notebook run. Here's what the guide I used has to watch out for:

1. Don't pick up the mysterious key.
2. Feed the cat fried tofu (and not the dried fish).
3. Don't lose at billiards in MJQ.
4. The night of the sailor fight (all the stuff I copied into my last post).
5. Don't buy a drink for Won. (This leaves a blank spot in the notebook).
6. Mess up the passcode when on the phone with #8 Warehouse.
7. Mentions selecting 'Area' after calling information (104) to get the entry about 61- being the area code for Amihama. You can also get this entry by looking at the phone book at Ryo's place, or at the tobacco shop by the bus stop, though.
8. Make sure to accept Hisaka's request at the docks. Also you have to make sure to clear the QTE when you first meet Mai, or else you won't be able to deliver the lunch boxes to the old warehouse district. (There's an entry for failing the QTE too, though, so this leaves another blank spot in the notebook.)
9. Don't solve any of the basement puzzles on your own. Solving the last part without Ine-san's help gives a separate entry that is lost, though. So that's the third and final empty space in a "completed" notebook.
10. Lose to Chai at the YOU Arcade. I actually went through the trouble of beating him, then restarting, but you have to lose to him to get a couple extra notebook entries.

I had the inclination to restart anyway, since I was very inefficient with my time, partially because I enjoy exploring the gameworld, partially because I was re-familiarizing myself with the controls and the game again, and partially because I thought I had more than enough time with the April cut-off point, but now that it switched to early February, I'm pressed to be more efficient with my time and money.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I did something similar when I started on the full notebook playthrough. I was happy that there was still often a lot of time to just kind of wander around and chat with people, though. Shenmue can be weirdly addicting to play. Sometimes I just have to go into Bob's Pizza, and talk with my main man, Mario, because his voice actor is hilarious.

Well according to this thread over at the Shenmue Jojo, at the dates of Dec. 24 & 25, Jan. 1 - 4, Feb. 14, March 14 the chances of winning at the raffle doubles.

The information is supposed to come from one of the Japanese guides. However someone in that topic did some testing, and figured out that Christmas in particular may have a better chance than the rest, of the so called 'lucky days', since he/she managed to get a Dural Gold twice in the same day. I was saving cans to do my own testing when I got to Christmas, but now that has to wait for my new playthrough.

Hmmm, interesting. Seems almost too good to be true, but I might try it. I tend to just buy chocolates for the raffle tickets. I would assume it's cheaper than winning cans, since those are supposedly a 1/4 chance. Also, you might already know this, but keep in mind that once you get a job at the docks, you can't really go to the Abe store anymore.

As for having fun? Well my current completionist playthrough doesn't allow me to explore much, and I really like checking every detail in every place, but other than that, yeah is pretty fun going back to Yokosuka after all these years.

I found that playing Shenmue for completion made me really appreciate it even that much more. I already loved the game, but a lot of people put a lot of work into that game, and a lot of it can easily go completely unnoticed, depending on how it's played.

[Arenegeth]

OK I started a New Game, got back to where I was in a shorter time and with more stuff done, and managed to do the complete 'Charlie night' run successfully.

Oh~. That comment on the video makes a lot more sense now. I don't remember ever getting a notification for it, and I've been scratching my head a bit, over the last couple days, trying to make sense of it. Now I get it.

Yes, technically getting this entry on the same night is a glitch, since he's telling you about the guy that supposedly comes around at 7:00pm when is already past 7:00pm and he is sitting right there! You have to be pretty close to the wall for this to work. So I can't really blame the guy who wrote the guide I was following, since ostensibly he is right, you can't get this entry and the one from the Tattoo Parlor on the same night, and you wouldn't if it didn't glitch out.

There shouldn't be anything missed if you give tofu to the cat.

I know that now, and did it the 'right' way in new playthrough. The guide also stated it I just misread it, or most likely was dismayed by Ryo's stupidity in giving the cat Fried Tofu when Dried Fish was available...

I'm not sure i totally understand the question.

The guide I was following sates that sometimes you have to specifically inquire a subject and not just talk to random people for a hint to pop up at the Fortune Teller. And in most cases Ryo doesn't even bring the subject up until the transition in the conversation where you have to press 'A' again.

Of course now I know, that at least for the purposes of that night, just talking with people (any people) works, and that talking to the same people also works. That last part was pivotal in making it that night, since I thought you had to talk to different people for the second hint, but revisiting the Yokosuka Bar denizens made this whole thing very possible (I exited the Tattoo Parlor at 11:17pm).

The guide I follow also mentioned talking to three people for every hint, not five, and three people (four if you include the person who gave me the previous entry) has worked for me, so I'm not sure who's right here.

Don't buy a drink for Won. (This leaves a blank spot in the notebook).

Who's Won? If that's the guy who works at the Chinese Restaurant then is too late for this playthrough as well, I already bought him a drink from the vending machine the very morning of the Charlie night.

EDIT: I looked into this. And if it is about Wang, it only matters if you buy him a drink around the time you're supposed to get the entry. So it doesn't matter if bought a drink for him prior to that point.

Lose to Chai at the YOU Arcade.

That's not happening. This is meant to be a complete playthrough, not 'get Notebook entries at the expense of everything else' playthrough.

Losing the fight for me, means that I don't get to 'complete' the game, just the Notebook (and even that doesn't complete 100% anyway due to other entries). But I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Though I did say before I started, that I would have to make concessions when there was a conflict between Notebook entries and other stuff.

Also, you might already know this, but keep in mind that once you get a job at the docks, you can't really go to the Abe store anymore.

I don't quite remember what happens actually, I remember the game rushing you, but I have forgotten the details. I guess I can always dally around at the end of Disc 1 or 2 until Christmas comes along and clean house then. I should probably look into this in advance though.

By the way, can you link to the whole guide you posted that excerpt from? It was a great help in getting through that night, and Google Translate did a good job of making sense of it, I could at least use it to supplement the English guide.

[PartridgeSenpai]

A friend talked me into finally picking up a NES Classic yesterday and I absolutely love it and can't believe I took so long to get one . I just can't believe this thing is JUST $60!

Anyway, I booted up Mario 2 (USA) on it yesterday and played until I got my first game over. Got to 4-2 playing as only Luigi, and MAN to hell with the damn pixie onslaught on that level. I played it a LOT on the GBA growing up, but I guess I forgot just how much Mario 2 HATES you

[BoneSnapDeez]

Princess.

Whole game.

[pierrot]

managed to do the complete 'Charlie night' run successfully.

Nice! Congrats! Depending on who you ask, that might be the toughest thing to do in Shenmue. I personally feel like beating Hang On is probably tougher, but that might just be me.

if it didn't glitch out.

Oh, I had definitely forgotten that it was a glitch--. I just reread that section of the guide. That's crazy.

dismayed by Ryo's stupidity in giving the cat Fried Tofu when Dried Fish was available...

I find it kind of funny how Ryo seems like more of a sociopath on a full notebook playthrough.

Who's Won?

Yeah, sorry. I forget the Chinese names, because they're given Japanese pronunciations in the Japanese version (Lan Di is 'Lan Tei,' for instance). It is the delivery guy for the Chinese restaurant.

Chai

Yeah, I know what you mean. I went with what would ultimately be recorded on the save file, which was all the notebook entries. Winning against Chai doesn't really do anything other than give a personal badge of honor, and some extra gaps in the notebook. I still beat him, it just wasn't part of the save file I ultimately kept with.

I don't quite remember what happens actually, I remember the game rushing you, but I have forgotten the details.

I'm pretty sure, although I also don't entirely recall, that once you have the job, the game basically immediately puts you on the bus to the harbor after getting up, and by the time you can return to Sakuragaoka, the Abe store is already closed. The guide I used recommends doing a lot of stuff, like getting the four certificates, between buying the boat ticket, and starting the job at the docks.

Speaking of, here's the main page (which is actually a Shenmue I and Shenmue II guide):
http://shenmue.fc2web.com/

This is the page with tips for the notebook entries:
http://shenmue.fc2web.com/shenmue01_00.html

A page on (mostly) capsule toys:
http://shenmue.fc2web.com/shenmue01_gacha01.html

Scenario items and cassette tapes:
http://shenmue.fc2web.com/shenmue01_item01.html

Scrolls and battle training:
http://shenmue.fc2web.com/waza01.html

[PartridgeSenpai]

Princess.

Whole game.

I mean that's the obvious easiest choice. I wanted to spice things up a bit this time XD

[Note]

I've been playing Super Metroid on the SNES Classic. Have this cartridge from when it came out, but never finished the game. I'm pretty far into it, about to finish up the Wrecked Ship area and head to Maridia. It's been convenient playing with the rewind feature and save states, as some areas definitely gave me trouble.

Also, been playing Star Fox 64 on my CRT TV. Just a game that's easy to pick up and play, and get into without much time needed. Finished the game the other night, and somehow managed to top my score from back in the day.

Another game I've been playing on my CRT is Time Crisis. Still have the game with the big box and Guncon from when it was released. Was able to finish it too, another game that's easy to pick up and with a high replay value. Probably my favorite light gun game.

Next week, I'm hoping to finish Super Metroid and either play through Super Mario RPG again with the SNES Classic or get into Shadow of Colossus, which I just picked up for PS2.

[Arenegeth]

Depending on who you ask, that might be the toughest thing to do in Shenmue.

It was actually pretty easy to execute, once you have everything figured out. The problem is figuring everything out...

Chai

Well the lack of those Notebook entries, in an otherwise complete Notebook (minus any unavoidable gaps), would actually be the proof that you beat Chai on that playthrough.

Besides, and I'm not that far in the game yet obviously, so I don't know if those entries are possible to be missed even if you do lose to Chai (as the game naturally expects you to) so the only way you can miss them, is beating an enemy you can, and are expected to lose to otherwise.

But I'll look into it later, as I have other more urgent things to worry about in the meantime.

The guide I used recommends doing a lot of stuff, like getting the four certificates, between buying the boat ticket, and starting the job at the docks.

That seems like a good plan. I admit I wasn't that efficient even with my restart of the game, but I'm hoping it will not cost me the whole playthrough in the end.

Speaking of, here's the main page (which is actually a Shenmue I and Shenmue II guide

Thanks for that, very useful information in there, and everything looks a lot better than stuff we westerners got over at GameFaqs.

Can you clarify this part from your link about the moves?:

④効率の良い練習
『中級以下では１０回技を出すとポイントが加算される』
『中級以上では２０回技を出すとポイントが加算される』

ただし、中級以上のポイントが溜まっていても、全技巻物を開いて中級以上になった状態を確認・確定しなければ、中級以下の状態のポイント加算が行われる。本来は中級以上のはずなのに、１０回でポイント加算の状態を続けることが出来ます。製作者側が狙って残したバグかと思われます。

中級手前で止めておいて、そこから全技巻物を開かずに練習を行えば、一気に１０回ずつのポイントのままで上級まで上げきることが出来ます。単純計算で中級から上級まで、半分の労力で済みます。

If I understand that part correctly, based on the job Google did to translate it, and some experimenting I did myself since I read it.

When moves cross the line from beginner to intermediate, they start to level up slower, but if you don't actually check your moves scroll, though they still advance all the way to max, they level up at the higher rate afforded to by the beginner state, since you haven't 'updated' the move by looking at the scroll.

If that is the case, and though I haven't taken advantage of this from the very beginning, and also I run the risk of over-training without knowing whether I maxed out or not. It is still a great advantage I can use to save me overall training time. And let's face it, that's where the majority of my actual in-game time is gonna go.

Speaking of which, I took a couple of days at the end of Disc 1 to devote entirely to training, so I started Disc 2 at the morning of December 13th.

So in starting Disc 2 here's my biggest issues right now.

1. I'm really low on funds. The constant back and forth between Lapis and the Harbor early in Disc 2 has depleted any additional funds the couple of extra training days afforded me. And now I had to take an extra break in Disc 2 (though I did that because I wanted the Goro help at the Warehouse also) to help cover the immediate bus fare and Lapis expenses.

2. The Arm Break Fire Scroll. Throw moves are going to be the biggest problem in managing to complete everything in time (which just got even more limited, more on that later) since I can't train them directly, and though I try to use them exclusively in free battles and the daily sparring with Fuku-San (which will end eventually). I'm worried that the ones you learn later in the game, will take too long to max out (all but Tengu Drop and Shoulder Buster are already past the halfway point). And I obviously can't afford the 3000 Yen for the Arm Break Scroll now, and I didn't buy it earlier in the game when I could, thinking Mud Spider and Crawl Cyclone would be useful for Chai... And yes I have used 'Train Throw Moves only' at the bed since day 1.

So I'm not sure if this will end up screwing me over in the end forcing a restart very late in the game.

The quest I'm time pressured for in Shenmue II, is Fangmei's birthday. Though her actual birthday is on March 3rd, the quest begins at the 28th of February and you need to be at the Temple airing the books at least 2 days before that, add a little leeway time so I'm not too forced at the start of II and I have to basically get everything done by January 31st at the latest.

[pierrot]

Can you clarify this part from your link about the moves?

Yeah, so essentially my understanding is that the game doesn't actually add up all the points added to your skill proficiency until you open up the moves window, or exit the training (the latter I'm not positive of, I just remember that quitting a training session automatically opens up the moves screen, but I could be misremembering that). So, what the guide says is that below the intermediate proficiency line, a move needs to be used 10 times for one point of skill proficiency toward that move, but once the skill has been observed to reach proficiency above that line (often moves change visually a bit with the proficiency, so it's kind of noticeable, too), by opening the moves screen, it takes 20 times to gain a point, from then on. However, due to some sort of bug, perhaps, if you train it up to just below that line, check it, then continue to train it until it would hit master proficiency, then every point will only take 10 repetitions, as long as the moves screen isn't opened again until it would hit master proficiency.

I took advantage of that, a bit, but I don't know if I actually trained any moves up to master proficiency. No more than a couple, anyway, I'm sure. For your purposes, it might be worth trying to count points needed to get to intermediate proficiency. My guess is that it would be the same number required to get to master proficiency (the author doesn't explicitly state that, but seems to make the same assumption in that last line of text).

What I had kind of envisioned, for my purposes, was to get the moves up to the maximum proficiency required for carrying over into Shenmue II, then essentially keep a second save file for maxing out all the moves, with the benefit of a couple more in-game months to just work on training them up. That was also probably where I was going to worry about collecting all the regular capsule toys, from dispensers.

1. I'm really low on funds.

Yeah, I remember money being really tight, for exactly the reasons you mentioned, up until the boat ticket section. At that point I gained a bit more disposable income to deal with, but I think I also probably had a little bit more to work with through the earlier sections, just because I wasn't necessarily moving too swiftly through events. I was already at the 30th of December by the time I was fighting Chai at the end of Disc 2.

[Arenegeth]

After careful thought and consideration... I decided to restart my playthrough yet again.

I'm already back at the end of Disc 1, currently training for money and moves, though I could train the moves at a later time, the urgency is mostly for money.

One mistake I did last time as I was finishing Disc 1, was start Disc 2 on the weekend. Why does that matter? Well the buses have a slower schedule on the weekends, and there's a lot of back and forth with the bus in early Disc 2, I was wasting time needlessly having longer waits for the bus. My current plan is to start on December 15th which is Monday and if possible, start with at least 5000 Yen in the pocket.

To be honest, not much was done differently on this playthrough, except getting the Arm Break Fire Scroll instead of Mud Spider, which ultimately cost 2000 Yen more. Optimizing training didn't change all that much in practice, I guess I unknowingly benefited from the 'bug' more than I thought.

Here's the other issue though, the tapes. As the tapes cycle out every week, I did not want to leave them too late into the game in case I found myself in the position of cycling out a week with nothing else to do, just to get the tapes to appear, plus new tapes show up later in the game. So, I decided to pick a single tape per day, which actually caused me to miss the fourth tape of the first cycle, because the game doesn't start on the beginning of the cycle, after the first three days it switched to the second cycle. Not a big deal as I am going back into the first cycle as I'm starting Disc 2. EDIT1: Actually the tapes cycled on to a completely new set than the old one, I'm forced to ignore them if I am to make the money/time schedule.

In the process of spending all that money however, I decided to make the expenditure more worthy, so every time I bought a tape, I save scummed a raffle prize, and excluded the 5th prize as a viable one.

Last time as I got all the tapes without save scumming, I manged to win only a single raffle prize and it was the second one (got the Space Harrier game) this time I already got all Rank 4 prices, 2/4 Rank 3 prices and... A shiny new black boombox!

Save scumming for the Tomato Mart at the harbor would be harder, because of the longer run, but I'll also hopefully have to do it a lot less or settle for 5th prize that shows up pretty often.

And no, I will not be restarting again, besides the only thing I could really do 'better' is ignore the tapes which would save me some money, but not incredibly much, the December 15th 5k Yen start of Disc 2 save should be my new return point, if anything is to go sour in the future.

But wait there's more craziness going on!

After restarting and doing most of Disc 1 for the third time, I figured, hell, I know the game up to this point like the back of my hand, let's up the stakes!

So after I get comfortable in Disc 2, I will be restarting the game yet again but... It will be the HD version!

I decided to do a parallel perfect playthrough of both versions of the game, Original PAL Dreamcast and PS4 HD release! I can actually record some stuff in the PS4 version if necessary (like the Charlie night run) so that would be an advantage, plus you can save wherever you want in that version.

Why not? Let's go crazy and start this year with a bang! With the third game finally coming out in 2019 this will be the year of Shenmue!

For your purposes, it might be worth trying to count points needed to get to intermediate proficiency.

It seems that starting right under the intermediate (or moderate as is translated in-game) line, requires you to execute a move a total of 910 times in order to max it. The 10 is for the 1 point under the moderate line I'm starting the process at. And it seems to take around 200-300 moves to go from under beginner to right under moderate, though I didn't keep an accurate count on this part, since I could safely go in the menu and check the progress in real time. EDIT2: It takes 440 moves total to go from right under the beginner line to right under moderate, making a move take 1350 executions from the lowest point to the max total.

I will do more testing as I train more moves to max as I move further in the game (currently have 5). Though on a full training day it seems that you have enough time to max one move starting for right under the moderate line, and enough time to set up another move for the next day. Of course different moves have faster/slower animations and are harder/easier to execute than others, so millage may vary.