Shenmue 2, english or Japanese!?

[mxz600]

I have a PAL version of Shenmue 2 running on a modded US version Dreamcast. I bought this PAL version cus i assumed it was in english, i played it for a few minutes and realized i had to read the subtitles. Is there a way to change this or is the whole game like this?

[Christuserloeser]

It's like it is.

Honestly I prefer the original Japanese voices + subtitle over the English dub version - imagine they' dub Japanese pop singers for European or American releases of their records. Here in Germany all the foreign movies are dubbed before they're shown at the cinemas or in TV. o_O

Luckily there's DVD now, so we can finally enjoy the real voices of the actors.

Anyway, back on topic:
If you'd prefer English voices, there's been an xbox version (which is the reason why Shenmue II on Dreamcast didn't see a release in the states) with an English dub. I heard that it's a horrible dub much worse than that for Shenmue I, but I can't confirm that since I don't own an xbox.

I think there's an attempt to merge the xbox dub with the Japanese version of Shenmue II but I really don't know how far they came - and obviously you'd have to use backups instead of real GDROMs, so we couldn't get into too much detail anyway.

However, here's a link to the Shenmue Dojo:
http://shenmue.planets.gamespy.com/

...and here's the original post where I learned about the project:
http://www.dcemulation.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=73936

[mh777]

Anyway, back on topic:
If you'd prefer English voices, there's been an xbox version (which is the reason why Shenmue II on Dreamcast didn't see a release in the states) with an English dub. I heard that it's a horrible dub much worse than that for Shenmue I, but I can't confirm that since I don't own an xbox.

Oh, god, the Shenmue 2 English dub is TERRIBLE (and that's putting it nicely).

[beetroot bertie]

The dubbing in Shenmue 1 was bad enough I daren't think of how bad it must be on 2. The subtitles are much better in my opinion.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I don't think the dubbing in Shenmue 1 was all that bad. Some people just have impossibly high standards, especially when it comes to the dubbing vs subbing debate. I don't even know Japanese, but I could still tell that a lot of the original voice actors in Shenmue 2 weren't any better than Tom's English actor from Shenmue 1 (who seems to be the one that annoyed most people, but I liked it). The constant repetition of the same lines was what was really annoying, the actors that said the lines mostly did a fine job.

As for the Japanese dialog in Shenmue 2, I look at it this way. In Shenmue 1 you were a Japanese kid in his native land, so it makes sense that you'd be hearing things in your "native" language, whether that's Japanese or English. But in Shenmue 2, you were a Japanese kid in Hong Kong where everyone would be speaking a foreign langauge, so it's somewhat fitting (even if unintentionally so) that the left everything in Japanese for the Western release. No, Japanese isn't Cantonese, but it's suitably foreign for an English-speaker. Just makes the game feel a little bit more authentic.

Really, it's really too bad Yu Suzuki didn't opt to have the dialog of Shenmue 2 be mostly in Cantonese...it wouldn't be hard to explain how Ryo knew the language. Might even have led to some interesting situations if his knowledge of Cantonese wasn't perfect. I thought Shenmue was supposed to be such an incredibly realistic game, so how come everyone in Hong Kong speaks Japanese? Even the street people?

Anyway, mxz600, if the Japanese dialog really bothers you, you could always turn off the Japanese and hire someone to stand over your shoulder reading the subtitles outloud. Have him or her do all the voices and everything. It'd be just like a real dub job.


...word is bondage...