Style: video game music, traditional Chinese
Primary Emotions/Themes: A boy seeking revenge for his fallen father but the responsibilities of life get in the way of enacting vengeance
Thoughts: Shenmue was a game that blew me away when I was younger. The mechanics of the game were unlike anything I had ever seen before, and when I heard the music (what little there was) it nearly brought me to tears. I had mp3's downloaded of the soundtrack for years on my iPod and never thought I would get a physical copy of the soundtrack. Well I was wrong and now this fabled story's music is on my turntable.
The thing that is so moving about Shenmue's music is how simple it is. It never tried to do more than it should, and by keeping it simplistic the music hits all the harder. Be it the Chinese violin playing the main theme, or the piano playing some of the more minor melodies of the soundtrack, everything works and works exceptionally well.
What initially drew me to this soundtrack was the erhu or the Chinese violin. The way that those strings sing the sorrow of what Ryo felt when his father fell before his eyes and the profoundness of the music when he finds the phenix mirror. There is no other instrument that could have portrayed this better.
Shenmue is a flawed game. The quick time events were wonky and overdone. The training was annoying, but oddly fun. The day to day activities were simple yet somehow it all worked. The ending of the game though was more than disappointing. I wish that it had continued. Seeing as Shenmue III also had an open ended ending I don't know if we'll ever get the conclusion to this epic. Regardless we still have the incredible music to fall back on. That is enough for me... it truly is.
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