New Shen Mue revelations

[07.28.99] » Additional information concerning the day/night cycle, plus the adventure epic's size.

   Following just a few days after the announcement of a limited edition Shen Mue Chapter 1: Yokosuka, Sega has announced the game will ship on three GD-ROMs. The proprietary GD-ROM format, which all Dreamcast games use, holds a gigabyte of data, compared to the 650 megabytes of a standard CD-ROM -- making Shen Mue one of the largest games to date.

   More interesting, however, is the new information concerning Shen Mue's time system. As in Brave Fencer Musashi, hero Ryo will grow tired as time passes, and must break in adventuring for a good night's sleep every once in a while. Failure to get enough sleep will turn Ryo into a GIA editor, as well as causing his fighting abilities to decrease -- in particular, Ryo takes a lot more damage when not properly rested.

   Also of note is a minor shift in the basic plan for the game. Originally, Shen Mue was to allow the player to go almost anywhere at any time. However, the development team decided that some structure was needed, and now the game will force the player to advance if he or she spends too much wandering around.