If there were ever to be 'A Forgotten Classic' this would be it.
What made the game stand out was that you would go and make notes on who you talked to, come home and check your answer phone, rest a little and then go back and do it all again. When in town you would go shopping, head to the arcade or get a job. This all added to the games realism, making the protagonist more believable, you wanted Ryu to find his fathers killer and seek revenge.
Unlike most conventual RPG's the fighting system was in a sense, a 'beat em up'. Taking Segas pedigree in Virtual Fighter and sticking it into a story that had unimaginable depth and creativity to it. Also Ive forgotten t mention the fantastic ATB (Active Time Bar) that would go off during some scenes, for example a chase or a small fight.All of this made for a perfect game, it truly had a great story, unmatched graphics, fantastic fighting system and a world as deep and seamless as your own.
To conclude, the game finished with a 100 man battle that was breathtaking to participate in, as it was genuinely hard and took some 4 or 5 times to complete. To my dismay I had to wait for another year for the 2nd part of the story to hit the shops. What was sad on the launch day (having faked being ill so I could get a day off school) was the man behind the counter telling me that apart from him I was the only other person why had bought a copy.
And that is the sad tale of Shenmue, a game never finished due to costs of production, but in my mind will always be the forgotten classic.