Oh God. That game has left such positive and negative memories for me. I loved Shenmue 1, but abhorred how slow and annoying Shenmue 2 was. I wanted a third one if only to give some meaning to the grind session that the second game offered.
But it was one of my first RPG's and showed me a whole new world. It was great, and it introduced features that are standard today. People forget that sometimes. Hell, back then, it was my go to RPG for a deep story. (I was like 10 and the other JRPG characters annoyed me.)
But it also reminds me of, excuse me, KotOR 3. Like how some people, me, have given up on ever truly seeing Revan's, Carth's, Bastila's, the Exile's, Atton's, Mira's, and the other characters have their story resolved through their eyes and not from the old holos someone finds in TOR. People make these great stories, and they can never finish because of issues and everything is left hanging. I usually don't like having to make my own conclusions, because I think the original author knows the characters better than I do, but in this case I have to. I guess I'm peeved because I'm not that excited about the MMO, so I'll do what everyone else is and leave it out of canon. Or maybe I just wanted a happy ending and TOR ruins that for me.
Especially with Shenmue. Making up an ending was the only thing that helped me and my friend get past the fact that Shenmue 3 wasn't out yet. And might never be coming. Ever.
Ryo is lost on some random road, Revan is in Deep Space doing who knows what, and the Exile is on a ship with Atton possibly. Who knows with KotOR 2's ending.
What's similar about them all?
They're all stuck there, possibly for eternity or until an ubergeek wins the super ultra lotto and can afford to pay the developers to make these games.
Until then, I'll pray Mass Effect and Dragon Age finally manage to make it to the Finished Third Game Celebration Party.