• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

RTTP/LTTP: The (Mostly) Entire Canon of Resident Evil (on-going)

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Spoilers ahead.

So, for the past few months, I've been playing through all of the canon Resident Evil titles in chronological storyline order, that is, starting with RE0, and finishing with RE8. I'm currently a ways into Village, so I figured I'd start compiling my thoughts on each entry as I have motivation and time. This will probably become a little long in the tooth, but for anyone who's curious about my thoughts, wants to chime in, reminisce, have some nostalgia driven discussions, or is into reading, this is for you. This isn't intended for the tl;dr crowd, this is your warning that this will include several walls of text, and probably have no images attached, because I'm on mobile and too much of a boomer to figure out this darn technology. But with that out of the way, some background:

Before I began this undertaking, the only titles I hadn't played in the direct canon were the remakes of 2 and 3, and 7 and 8. Going through chronologically, this was neat, because it gave me two new experiences relatively close to the beginning, and two more at the end.

My time with Resident Evil began during the GCN era, where 4 was my first title. I proceeded to then play 0 and REmake, along with the ports of RE2-CVX on the GameCube. From there, I've pretty consistently kept up as they've released. Which brings us nicely to this current marathon:

---Resident Evil 0---

Some mood music first.




This is, and has always been an odd game. It's hated or just generally disliked by a fair number of people narratively, and for gameplay mechanics. If it isn't broke, why fix it? mentality. I've always appreciated this title, though.

This is the prequel to the entire franchise. The beginning of the beginning, if you will. In 1998, STARS Bravo Team is sent to investigate a string of cannibalistic murders occurring in their jurisdiction of Raccoon City, apparently originating in the forests covering the nearby Arklay Mountain range. Unexpected (but quite plot convenient) engine failure in their survey helicopter causes an impromptu "landing," in the woods, and from there, the team splits up.

Rookie medic officer Rebecca Chambers happens upon a derelict train, the Ecliptic Express, and meets up with Billy Coen, a supposed escaped war criminal whose chance at freedom comes at the expense of all life in Raccoon City. The two team up, and come to face Doctor James Marcus, one of the masterminds behind the discovery and development of the Progenitor Virus, and become entangled in his personal vendetta of revenge against his former place of employment, the pharmaceutical giant, Umbrella, Inc.

The game progresses through a linear, but action packed train, a slower more methodical training facility (channeling the old mansion vibes of it's sequel and counterpart) into a water treatment facility at it's climax. The train remains one of the tightest intros in a RE title I can remember. It establishes the core gameplay mechanics, functions as a small sampling of the type of problem solving the game will expect you to do in an expanded way later on, gives you a boss encounter, and has a tense escape sequence, all in the first hour or two of gameplay.

The big complaints I see gameplay wise are the lack of item boxes and the boss fights. I feel the item box issue is exaggerated, as most people will just pick a large hub (like the conference room or main hall of the Training Facility) and dump items there. The biggest detriment I can think of here is it's essentially a pointless mechanics, because your save rooms in essence just BECOME your item boxes, instead of containing them.

As for the bosses, the Giant Bat is Hell on higher difficulties, but design wise, more bosses in the franchise's history have been giant -whatevers- than people acknowledge, to the false detriment of RE0.

The partner zapping mechanic, meanwhile, remains one of my favorite parts of the game. If you pick the wrong character or items to take during a split, you're likely to experience tension and fear, even late into the campaign. These are usually feelings that subside early on in more single character oriented RE games because the balance of power shifts in your direction quite linearly. With twice the characters and item management, every action essentially becomes a puzzle in and of itself.

Storyline is...I mean. It's there. I like the Progenitor Virus lore and the usage of Leeches to refine and perfect the T Virus. It has certain (likely intentional) echoes to the T Veronica Virus taking cues from ants, and it's a neat little parallel. I like Marcus when he's doing sensible, believable things. The whole opera singing, bishonen robe wearing, barefoot clone made of leeches may have been Capcom overplaying their hand too much for a prequel, especially when the following two or three games at least PRETEND they're grounded in realism. The characters deadpan reactions to essentially being in an anime plot also add to the uncanny qualities and not necessarily in the best way.

Overall though, I think 0 is a flawed, but fun experience, and as the last mainline game to be released using the fixed camera angles and tank controls, I cut it some slack. I'll update with my thoughts on the REmake (I skipped the original Resident Evil this time) in a later post. If you're still here, thanks for reading.
 
Last edited:

Kev Kev

Member
i really enjoyed RE0. it felt like a classic RE to me, with a few differences. and since i never played it, going through it for the first time a few years ago really scratched my classic RE itch. i remember there being some things i didnt care for... probably the boss fights... its always the boss fights with capcom lol
 

Aldynes

Member
Just watched Noah Caldwell-Gervais 7 hours long video critique of all main RE titles, Now your post about RE 0, I'm a huge fan of RE, gotta say 0 is weird for me, I find the train section to be amazing and one of the best moment in the series but after that it's just downhill to the end, the bosses sucks, Proto-Tyrant is a cool design/concept, we barely see the other members of the S.T.A.R.S a huge missed opportunity, the singing white dress Marcus, Rebecca continuity problems with RE 1, the gameplay too lacked impact when shooting, the game is hard which is nice but it's a chore to replay for me, I'll go back to REmake or good old RE director's cut any day of the week to be honest.
 

kunonabi

Member
Just watched Noah Caldwell-Gervais 7 hours long video critique of all main RE titles, Now your post about RE 0, I'm a huge fan of RE, gotta say 0 is weird for me, I find the train section to be amazing and one of the best moment in the series but after that it's just downhill to the end, the bosses sucks, Proto-Tyrant is a cool design/concept, we barely see the other members of the S.T.A.R.S a huge missed opportunity, the singing white dress Marcus, Rebecca continuity problems with RE 1, the gameplay too lacked impact when shooting, the game is hard which is nice but it's a chore to replay for me, I'll go back to REmake or good old RE director's cut any day of the week to be honest.
The core game play of of RE0 and the Billy/Rebecca dynamic is great but everything else about it is a mess since it's so firmly entrenched in the sci-fi anime BS that dominated the franchise from CV and on. Had it been more in the mold of 1,2,3, and Outbreak it could have been something amazing.
 
Last edited:

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Just watched Noah Caldwell-Gervais 7 hours long video critique of all main RE titles, Now your post about RE 0, I'm a huge fan of RE, gotta say 0 is weird for me, I find the train section to be amazing and one of the best moment in the series but after that it's just downhill to the end, the bosses sucks, Proto-Tyrant is a cool design/concept, we barely see the other members of the S.T.A.R.S a huge missed opportunity, the singing white dress Marcus, Rebecca continuity problems with RE 1, the gameplay too lacked impact when shooting, the game is hard which is nice but it's a chore to replay for me, I'll go back to REmake or good old RE director's cut any day of the week to be honest.

No bullshit, watching that right now. Haha
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Just watched Noah Caldwell-Gervais 7 hours long video critique of all main RE titles, Now your post about RE 0, I'm a huge fan of RE, gotta say 0 is weird for me, I find the train section to be amazing and one of the best moment in the series but after that it's just downhill to the end, the bosses sucks, Proto-Tyrant is a cool design/concept, we barely see the other members of the S.T.A.R.S a huge missed opportunity, the singing white dress Marcus, Rebecca continuity problems with RE 1, the gameplay too lacked impact when shooting, the game is hard which is nice but it's a chore to replay for me, I'll go back to REmake or good old RE director's cut any day of the week to be honest.

I feel like the character issues with Rebecca are typically explained by the fandom as her having a lack of sleep paired with being shell shocked. It's clearly a handwaving type of excuse instead of being baked into the actual narrative, but it's serviceable enough for me to overlook it.
 
Last edited:

Aldynes

Member
I feel like the character issues with Rebecca are typically explained by the fandom as her having a lack of sleep paired with being shell shocked. It's clearly a handwriting type of excuse instead of being baked into the actual narrative, but it's serviceable enough for me to overlook it.
They should have used a different character instead of Rebecca in my opinion, I didn't knew that theory about her having lack of sleep/trauma this is so flawed because that still left on the table how she never tell Chris about all of this, like Kunonabi explained earlier this is just CAPCOM fault, I might be wrong but I remember watching a video where the devs told they got some heat from other writers in the series by including stuff that forced them to retcon things or modify other in later RE games due to some liberties they took, they were a ton of different RE titles in development at the same time trough 98 to 2002, if anyone here on GAF can correct me on that.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
They should have used a different character instead of Rebecca in my opinion, I didn't knew that theory about her having lack of sleep/trauma this is so flawed because that still left on the table how she never tell Chris about all of this, like Kunonabi explained earlier this is just CAPCOM fault, I might be wrong but I remember watching a video where the devs told they got some heat from other writers in the series by including stuff that forced them to retcon things or modify other in later RE games due to some liberties they took, they were a ton of different RE titles in development at the same time trough 98 to 2002, if anyone here on GAF can correct me on that.

Yeah, RE0 was definitely doing it's own thing in some places, which was...a strange decision for a prequel of all things to take so much liberty with. I could do with a lot of the less theatric aspects of Marcus' character, and something to work Rebecca in better (be it a couple of throwaway lines in REmake, or just not having her go places or read things that explicitly spell out Umbrella's culpability in the conflict)

It's fascinating, because it's one of the only games in the franchise where I'm split narratively between really liking some of the lore introduced and on the same hand, ignoring other bits to keep a less convoluted head canon. I mean, jokes on me either way at the end, probably, for being invested in a Capcom storyline of all things beyond a reason to kill more creatures, but...I am what I am.
 

Aldynes

Member
Yeah, RE0 was definitely doing it's own thing in some places, which was...a strange decision for a prequel of all things to take so much liberty with. I could do with a lot of the less theatric aspects of Marcus' character, and something to work Rebecca in better (be it a couple of throwaway lines in REmake, or just not having her go places or read things that explicitly spell out Umbrella's culpability in the conflict)

It's fascinating, because it's one of the only games in the franchise where I'm split narratively between really liking some of the lore introduced and on the same hand, ignoring other bits to keep a less convoluted head canon. I mean, jokes on me either way at the end, probably, for being invested in a Capcom storyline of all things beyond a reason to kill more creatures, but...I am what I am.
The RE story is often considered to be basic and very B-movie, but what if I tell you this is not the case? My argument is the original script for each of the games in Japanese contains completely crucial plot point, details and subtle things that either got lost in the translation or completely missed by the majority of players, I've watched some videos (in French only) of a RE fan on YT that had the original scripts translated by a friend from Japanese, he made a retrospective some years ago (ongoing) and he got a reputation to point out some misconceptions about RE, the most glaring difference to me was in the Japanese script they really put a great importance in genetics and the idea that the work of Umbrella on B.O.W and Tyrant was to create the next step in evolution, more subversif in the tone, kind of like playing god. Surprisingly there was a LOT of stuff written in advance for future games since the early games onward (way before 2000) , all the way to stuff we would see in RE 5 a decade later.

There's even censorship in some of that stuff like in Code Veronica, the whole prison island, the Ashford family being blue eyes blond hair, there were supposed to be Nazis.

The devs wanted players to have some clues or hints for the story but never fully explain everything, for sequels and letting some mysteries, the journals you read along the games serves that purpose instead of having long cut scenes.

Basically the culprits are the horrendously bad voice acting and cheesy dialogues + sub par translated scripts.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
The RE story is often considered to be basic and very B-movie, but what if I tell you this is not the case? My argument is the original script for each of the games in Japanese contains completely crucial plot point, details and subtle things that either got lost in the translation or completely missed by the majority of players, I've watched some videos (in French only) of a RE fan on YT that had the original scripts translated by a friend from Japanese, he made a retrospective some years ago (ongoing) and he got a reputation to point out some misconceptions about RE, the most glaring difference to me was in the Japanese script they really put a great importance in genetics and the idea that the work of Umbrella on B.O.W and Tyrant was to create the next step in evolution, more subversif in the tone, kind of like playing god. Surprisingly there was a LOT of stuff written in advance for future games since the early games onward (way before 2000) , all the way to stuff we would see in RE 5 a decade later.

There's even censorship in some of that stuff like in Code Veronica, the whole prison island, the Ashford family being blue eyes blond hair, there were supposed to be Nazis.

The devs wanted players to have some clues or hints for the story but never fully explain everything, for sequels and letting some mysteries, the journals you read along the games serves that purpose instead of having long cut scenes.

Basically the culprits are the horrendously bad voice acting and cheesy dialogues + sub par translated scripts.

Yeah, I mean, I get invested in it. I love the fact that most of the storyline is revealed piece meal through actual exploration of the game world. It's the same reason Metroid Prime stuck with me so much growing up. Kind of like a reward based on investment. It can be a cheap popcorn thriller or a more methodically plotted out scenario depending on how much you take away from it. Good shit.
 

Aldynes

Member
Yeah, I mean, I get invested in it. I love the fact that most of the storyline is revealed piece meal through actual exploration of the game world. It's the same reason Metroid Prime stuck with me so much growing up. Kind of like a reward based on investment. It can be a cheap popcorn thriller or a more methodically plotted out scenario depending on how much you take away from it. Good shit.
This in conjonction with the tight gameplay and the precision of the whole combat system, the "speedrun" design for repeated playtroughs (set HP for ennemies, damage for your guns, telegraphed attacks, the game display your record time after beating it with rewards if finished under certains conditions and time constraints ) make the RE games so much more than just scary games, my personal view on horror games and why I always come back to RE more than other games in that genre, is down to what's left of your game when it's not scary anymore, fear doesn't last forever, the more you're familiar with the game the less scary it becomes, that's a inherent flaw of this genre that RE games with their "arcade" mentality and design had a solution to, you can just running around shotgun in hands popping heads left and right, it even become kind of a racing game with established routes and shortcuts, the gameplay is what holds everything for me, hence why RE director's cut is my GOAT, they even included advanced mechanics like the quick-shots (RE 1.2.3) that rewards skills.

The stupid idea to remove the Auto-AIM for the US version of the game completely backfired, in an attempt to make the game more difficult to avoid rentals, people still to this day argue that tank control are shit due to having played RE 1996 and despised the gameplay, the game was designed around the auto aim !
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Isa

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
---Resident Evil---

Again, let's ambience things up here:



For the original entry, I played the PS4 remastered version of the GCN REmake. As this thread goes on (or fades into seventh page obscurity, whichever happens first) you'll find that this is the only game that has a remake that I've decided to leave out the original version for. My reasons for this are twofold: one, silly me hasn't got a copy of the original. I'm ashamed, yes. Reason two: REmake was designed in a way that runs perpendicular instead of parallel to the 2 and 3 remakes, in my mind. This game wasn't changing it up, remixing story content, making things more modern and coherent (in the storyline sense) This game was an evolution of the original, not a "based upon," following the same general beats. I feel like REmake is *the* definitive version of Resident Evil. It's the on the ground firsthand war footage while the '96 version was the tired veteran's recounting of the tale 20 years after the finer detail escaped his mind.

With 2 and 3, I feel like, as fun, visually impressive, and worthwhile as they are, they still require the originals as almost necessary supplemental material. I'll get into this more as I cover them, but certain things, enemy and item placement, story beats, the surprise depends on a knowledge of how the original was laid out. I don't feel this is the case with REmake.

It's barely worth summarizing, so much of a staple of the genre and to a lesser extent gaming in general, has it become, but...STARS Alpha Team of Raccoon City fame gets called to the forests of the Arklay Mountains to look for Bravo Team, who had gone radio silent after departing the evening prior. Finding the downed chopper of Bravo Team and the mangled corpses of their colleagues, they wonder what could have brought these trained officers to such a gruesome end. The answer makes itself known in the stalking presence of a horde of undead canines. They give chase, and Alpha Team is forced to take refuge in the nearby dilapidated Spencer Mansion.

The brief respite they receive from the carnage outside is a false one, however. To Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Chris Redfield, Albert Wesker, and Brad Vickers, the night is only just getting started, as corporate scandal, betrayals, and a horde of undead monstrosities reveal themselves, and the mysterious goals of one Umbrella, Inc. that they're all tied to is laid bare in the harsh strobe of the ever present thunder storm outside.

This game. This fucking game. This is the quintessential distillation of an entire genre. This is the reinvigorated classic. Enter Survival Horror. The Spencer Mansion is an iconic locale in gaming. Simultaneously the setting of the majority of the first game, and almost a character interacting with the protagonists (Jill and Chris) themselves. Such a dark, foreboding place. Hostile, yet not as B-schlock openly malicious as other later settings, the Spencer Mansion feels like the grandfather to the spiked descending ceilings or the slaughterhouses waist high in blood of later titles. It's dignified, refined, and yet if you step on it's lawn, it WILL kill you.

It's a puzzle box in the best sense. You find a key item, or in some cases, a key itself, and take it to some other part of the Mansion, usually entire floors or wings away, to unlock another part of the Mansion, and back and forth. The routes you pick, the distance from save rooms you have to travel, when to save, if that slot in your inventory space is best used for additional ammunition or kept free in case you need to lug around another crank or dial or emblem or key. Which enemies should you kill and which should you avoid? With what ammo should you kill the ones that you decide need to go? Almost like dominoes, every choice made instantly topples into another decision, just as relevant to your continued survival.

And then there's Crimson Heads. Another layer of survival and agency on top of the other systems. Deciding which corpses to burn to prevent them from reanimating into Crimson Heads later, whether to even kill that enemy or not, whether to waste a shotgun shell on a decapitation to eliminate needing to burn the corpse in the first place.

The other cool thing the REmake added was the Trevor storyline. Revealed entirely through documents that can be found through interaction with the game world, this subplot details George Trevor, the doomed architect who constructed the Mansion at the behest of one Ozwell E. Spencer, and his wife and daughter who were used and (in his wife's case) summarily disposed of by the faceless company Spencer controlled. Trevor's daughter Lisa becomes a new recurring boss, an example of classic RE body horror in a game that is otherwise pretty grounded as far as it's sequels concerning transformations and tentacles and auxiliary eyeballs and such. This little non-essential plot line, and an extra memo at the end help to tie the events of the original in to 2 and Code Veronica, and I always appreciate some continuity nods.

As for everything else, the game still looks and sounds like a powerhouse even 20 years down the line. The pre-rendered backgrounds here and in 0 aged like wine. The voice performances are in a different universe from the original, but the dialogue remains stilted in a way that games have just *finally* started getting over in the last five years or so. Only other note, was it ever elaborated on as to why Wesker had such a deadpan gruff white American accent SPECIFICALLY in the first game? Was it to throw off STARS? I don't know. Weird shit. Anyway, next up is Resident Evil 2, original.
 

Aldynes

Member
For the original entry, I played the PS4 remastered version of the GCN REmake. As this thread goes on (or fades into seventh page obscurity, whichever happens first) you'll find that this is the only game that has a remake that I've decided to leave out the original version for. My reasons for this are twofold: one, silly me hasn't got a copy of the original. I'm ashamed, yes.
I'll try to convince you to play the first game to see what they pull off in 96', don't go with the original US release (no auto aim) but go for the Director's Cut 97' version, It's the first game with added content that completely change the game once you've mastered it, they pretty much pulled the REmake idea a few months after the original, it's very hard mind you, probably the hardest RE entry in my opinion (with RE 2 1999 on Dreamcast and PC we will talk about that next review) you have a new pistol that can has RNG 1 hit kill for dogs or zombies to compensate (RE 2 on Dreamcast will feature it on a hidden difficulty too), yes the same idea found in REmake, or you can even go with the DS remake too, you can skip doors in this one, the 3D models are better but playing on a DS/3DS is weird for a horror game.

Playing the OG after the REmake will make you appreciate it even more, it will add a new layer of comprehension and an amazing sense of discovery when seeing the blueprint of certain rooms and how they built upon them on REmake.

The gameplay in the first game is perfection, it's bare bone simplicity but it works 100% of the time, consistency, which was lost for the 02' REmake, you can't rely on your shotgun for exemple, it's pretty much a gamble each time you want to pop a zombie head, you miss a lot and end up shooting him in the torso or get bitten if he's too close and recovers faster than you pumping the next shell.

This is my major gripe in regard of REmake, an otherwise masterpiece, like you said everything else is masterclass even today, more so in the modern ports, this game was like 1 gen ahead of it's time in 2002, the use of CG backgrounds, animated on top of that, left a ton of power to render each characters and enemies, they perfected the backgrounds with the train section in RE 0 a few months later but still, the number one exemple on how to do a remake to this day with RE 2 2019 following close behind it.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I'll try to convince you to play the first game to see what they pull off in 96', don't go with the original US release (no auto aim) but go for the Director's Cut 97' version, It's the first game with added content that completely change the game once you've mastered it, they pretty much pulled the REmake idea a few months after the original, it's very hard mind you, probably the hardest RE entry in my opinion (with RE 2 1999 on Dreamcast and PC we will talk about that next review) you have a new pistol that can has RNG 1 hit kill for dogs or zombies to compensate (RE 2 on Dreamcast will feature it on a hidden difficulty too), yes the same idea found in REmake, or you can even go with the DS remake too, you can skip doors in this one, the 3D models are better but playing on a DS/3DS is weird for a horror game.

Playing the OG after the REmake will make you appreciate it even more, it will add a new layer of comprehension and an amazing sense of discovery when seeing the blueprint of certain rooms and how they built upon them on REmake.

The gameplay in the first game is perfection, it's bare bone simplicity but it works 100% of the time, consistency, which was lost for the 02' REmake, you can't rely on your shotgun for exemple, it's pretty much a gamble each time you want to pop a zombie head, you miss a lot and end up shooting him in the torso or get bitten if he's too close and recovers faster than you pumping the next shell.

This is my major gripe in regard of REmake, an otherwise masterpiece, like you said everything else is masterclass even today, more so in the modern ports, this game was like 1 gen ahead of it's time in 2002, the use of CG backgrounds, animated on top of that, left a ton of power to render each characters and enemies, they perfected the backgrounds with the train section in RE 0 a few months later but still, the number one exemple on how to do a remake to this day with RE 2 2019 following close behind it.

Yeah, it's a blindspot that I'll probably correct via emulation. I know about most of it, due in large part to cultural osmosis, but that still doesn't make up for firsthand experience.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
----Resident Evil 2----

Let's step into the Dark Room.



Resident Evil 2. The Judgment Day to Resident Evil's Terminator. Bigger, bombastic, louder than it's predecessor. More of a tense action thriller than a confined descent into madness. This was a lot of people's first foray into the series, so fittingly viral was the word of mouth around Capcom's second outing in the world of Survival Horror that not two years prior they themselves had pioneered.

Two months after the Mansion Incident of RE1, the self contained viral outbreak in Arklay makes its way to the oblivious Midwestern hamlet of Raccoon City proper, turning a co-dependent citizenry to the mega giant Umbrella into the walking dead. Two starkly different personalities make their way into the disarmingingly quiet city, unaware of the horrors of the previous months and following days. Rookie police officer Leon Scott Kennedy, already late to his first day on the Raccoon City police force, and Claire Redfield, a self assured college student tomboy searching for her missing brother, Chris Redfield, one of the survivors of Spencer's Mansion. Claire and Leon meet up, and are separated, both in the most unlikely of circumstances, and agree to each take their own path to the Raccoon Police Department. Having just arrived in the city, they find that getting out of it again may not be so easy.

This is an incredible game. This is one of an unintentional trilogy of games in the franchise I've headcanoned together that I like to call "The Masterful Pacing," trilogy. Pace is really the key word here. The RPD is, in function, the Spencer Mansion from RE1. Where RE2 differs, though, is that each area is smaller, tighter. It feels like there are three mansionlets, each with the same nauseatingly tight corridors, claustrophobic angles, labyrinthine shortcuts and puzzles, but arranged in such a way that just as you feel an area is beginning to become long in the tooth, you progress to the next one. Sure, the tasks are essentially similar with different wallpaper, but the feeling of actual PROGRESSION is amplified in a way that makes it feel like you're moving, accomplishing something. RE1 was a slow burn, it was meant to basically take place in one area, RE2 feels more like a journey.

Another thing that plays well into this truncated level design is the incorporation of a B Campaign. With roughly half the assets, RE2 was able to craft six distinct scenarios (counting Hunk and Tofu) and not one of them overstays their welcome. I was always fond of how decisions in one campaign would affect the other, or clarify what made your life that much harder or easier. Also, Mr. X, the implacable bastard, he stole the show from William Birkin and provided that nice through line from RE1 that the Tyrant was an actual weapons program and not something Wesker got bored and made in the basement with super glue and macaroni.

The extra little flavor bits of gameplay with Sherry and Ada also gave the game some variety, though these bits weren't quite as extensive as I would have hoped for. Resident Evil 2 ended up being the testing ground for a lot of functionality, story beats and game design the series would evolve in earnest over the years, and that shows its longevity. I would consider gaming one of my most cherished hobbies, but even then, RE2 is one of the few games I can sit down in the afternoon and start, and finish in that same sitting. Also, Lickers are fucking awesome.

Hey, it's up to us to take down Umbrella!

 

kunonabi

Member
As far the Remake goes I actually prefer the original. As much as I love the visuals, the bonus modes, invisible enemies, exploding Forest, etc, and the defensive weapons I found all the extra additions to be mostly pointless and in the case of the crimson heads and Lisa easily ignored. The expanded aqua ring is probably the best addition but it still doesn't make up for them completely gutting Chris' personality. Not including a proper canon ending is also a missed opportunity.
 

Aldynes

Member
RE 2 is like AlienS to Alien for me, your take on the journey aspect of the game is on point, that's exactly the feeling I get playing it, everything about the game was amazing back in 98, the weapons, enemies (the licker is awesome) and more than the first game the Bosses are all memorable, I love body horror transformations ala the Thing (my favorite horror movie) so for me Birkin and his G transformations are right up my alley, it's perfectly in tone with what the plot was going after (trying to play god and the next step to human evolution) the levels are amazing, the dialogue is way better than the first game, I love the A & B scenario the zapping system was under used though, just some items and the labo entrance that needs both protagonist fingerprint registration, It could have been more on that aspect.

For the longest of time I was pissed off about not having RE 1.5, There was so much stuff interesting like the body armors, the blood and wounds on your character the more you're hurt, hand grenades, equipment, defense item like a knife that showed equipped on Leon armor that suggest a precursor of the daggers/stun gun we got in REmake, zombies that would respawn infinitely and could be stopped momentarily by using automated doors that could break if used too often, increased number of ennemies on screen and different sizes of zombies, variations on speed when they attacked you they could be slow or turbo zombies, they could mount obstacles, the whole police department was different, more realistic and the blue cold tone of the environment was frightening.

It's years later that I finally came to the same conclusion the devs had back in 97', It would certainly had been worse than what we ended up with, RE 2 is a masterpiece.

My only disappointment is that the game is far too easy for repeated playtrough, you are forced to speedrun it and leaving ammo and items to have a challenge, if you just play the game at your pace, it become a breeze, you end up the game with hundreds of bullets, shotgun shells and magnum rounds.

That was until I found out there's two version of that game that added way more difficulty settings, introducing the Dreamcast and PC port of the game exclusives bonus, the NIGHTMARE/VERY HARD (name change only between versions) mode is only available after beating the game multiple times with a good rank.

And then the unthinkable happen, RE2 becomes by far, the hardest RE game BY FAR, think of fan mod with bonkers difficulty, a simple Zombie becomes a huge problem, they don't flinch anymore they just soak up bullets and walk faster, they don't fall neither collapse when pressured, they just eat your ammo and kill you in 2,3 bites, ammo is scarce say goodbye to hidden cache of bullets like behind some statues or other secret places, they're gone.
The number of bullet you got got decreased from each pick up, where you used to have 30 now it's 20 or even 15, shotgun shells are 5 or 4 instead of 7 etc...
You soon realise that avoiding enemies is required and sometimes due to the increased enemy speed, is not the same path you found in your normal playtrough, lickers are near bosses in that mode, they don't fall on their back anymore after a shotgun blast, they just shrug it and slash your ankle, two rapid hits or 3 and you're toasted, it's insane, so you are forced to use every healing item you found pretty frequently or use advanced stuff like walking slowly to trigger their alert state, wait a few seconds, and move a tiny bit just when they go back to their normal state (abusing the animation) and repeat the trick step by step inching your way to the next room. (they're blind remember?)

The game become scary again, you will die again and again, your last save being half a hour ago maybe more, all your tedious progress, gone, it's everything I wanted in classic RE2, the only bone the game throw at you is the same you got back in Resident Evil Director's Cut Arranged mode, the RNG critical head exploder handgun, your new best friend, maybe you'll get lucky and use only 2 to 3 shots on a Zombie, or end up using 25 rounds on one and the bastard is still walking, I'm not exaggerating, Zombies can survive more than 20 bullets in that mode, think of Zombie Brad health for all Zombies.

Leon scenario is by far the best way to experience this huge task, having access to both the shotgun and the magnum,it's still manageable to decap zombie and dogs heads with his arsenal, it's doable if you are a veteran classic RE fan, just enjoy ! Oh and leave every zapping system item to Claire, Yes both the Mac 11 submachine gun and the ammo pouch for 2 extra inventory slots.
Because Claire scenario on the other hand is for the masochists, you've managed to beat Leon scenario? Good, now do it without the shotgun and magnum, YES you are screwed, the bow gun is pure trash, ammo pick ups are 15 instead of 18 and you need like 3 times that amount of darts on a Zombie, I've never managed to kill one with it, and forget the grenade luncher too, the range is abysmal and you need 2 to 3 grenades to down 1 Zombie, it doesn't even blow their legs or heads anymore, so you're left with the handgun most of the game and use the grenades on the bosses, pure hell.

Any gaffers here knew of this? It's not available on the Gamecube port either, only on the Dreamcast and PC version of the time, It was not made by CAPCOM, they were not added by the original dev team but by those who worked on these ports. Hidden deeply and not even advertised on the box. Not surprising when you found out CAPCOM will do that again with their Street Fighter Alpha/ZERO anthology and the hidden HYPER mode (all characters of all versions of ALPHA/ZERO games + hidden -ISM modes like marvel vs capcom, 3rd strike, Darkstalers, exclusives movesets, exclusive OST made specifically for that mode...) all this awesome stuff just hidden deep behind requirments and not advertised anywhere, hell even among fans it's obscure!
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
RE 2 is like AlienS to Alien for me, your take on the journey aspect of the game is on point, that's exactly the feeling I get playing it, everything about the game was amazing back in 98, the weapons, enemies (the licker is awesome) and more than the first game the Bosses are all memorable, I love body horror transformations ala the Thing (my favorite horror movie) so for me Birkin and his G transformations are right up my alley, it's perfectly in tone with what the plot was going after (trying to play god and the next step to human evolution) the levels are amazing, the dialogue is way better than the first game, I love the A & B scenario the zapping system was under used though, just some items and the labo entrance that needs both protagonist fingerprint registration, It could have been more on that aspect.

For the longest of time I was pissed off about not having RE 1.5, There was so much stuff interesting like the body armors, the blood and wounds on your character the more you're hurt, hand grenades, equipment, defense item like a knife that showed equipped on Leon armor that suggest a precursor of the daggers/stun gun we got in REmake, zombies that would respawn infinitely and could be stopped momentarily by using automated doors that could break if used too often, increased number of ennemies on screen and different sizes of zombies, variations on speed when they attacked you they could be slow or turbo zombies, they could mount obstacles, the whole police department was different, more realistic and the blue cold tone of the environment was frightening.

It's years later that I finally came to the same conclusion the devs had back in 97', It would certainly had been worse than what we ended up with, RE 2 is a masterpiece.

My only disappointment is that the game is far too easy for repeated playtrough, you are forced to speedrun it and leaving ammo and items to have a challenge, if you just play the game at your pace, it become a breeze, you end up the game with hundreds of bullets, shotgun shells and magnum rounds.

That was until I found out there's two version of that game that added way more difficulty settings, introducing the Dreamcast and PC port of the game exclusives bonus, the NIGHTMARE/VERY HARD (name change only between versions) mode is only available after beating the game multiple times with a good rank.

And then the unthinkable happen, RE2 becomes by far, the hardest RE game BY FAR, think of fan mod with bonkers difficulty, a simple Zombie becomes a huge problem, they don't flinch anymore they just soak up bullets and walk faster, they don't fall neither collapse when pressured, they just eat your ammo and kill you in 2,3 bites, ammo is scarce say goodbye to hidden cache of bullets like behind some statues or other secret places, they're gone.
The number of bullet you got got decreased from each pick up, where you used to have 30 now it's 20 or even 15, shotgun shells are 5 or 4 instead of 7 etc...
You soon realise that avoiding enemies is required and sometimes due to the increased enemy speed, is not the same path you found in your normal playtrough, lickers are near bosses in that mode, they don't fall on their back anymore after a shotgun blast, they just shrug it and slash your ankle, two rapid hits or 3 and you're toasted, it's insane, so you are forced to use every healing item you found pretty frequently or use advanced stuff like walking slowly to trigger their alert state, wait a few seconds, and move a tiny bit just when they go back to their normal state (abusing the animation) and repeat the trick step by step inching your way to the next room. (they're blind remember?)

The game become scary again, you will die again and again, your last save being half a hour ago maybe more, all your tedious progress, gone, it's everything I wanted in classic RE2, the only bone the game throw at you is the same you got back in Resident Evil Director's Cut Arranged mode, the RNG critical head exploder handgun, your new best friend, maybe you'll get lucky and use only 2 to 3 shots on a Zombie, or end up using 25 rounds on one and the bastard is still walking, I'm not exaggerating, Zombies can survive more than 20 bullets in that mode, think of Zombie Brad health for all Zombies.

Leon scenario is by far the best way to experience this huge task, having access to both the shotgun and the magnum,it's still manageable to decap zombie and dogs heads with his arsenal, it's doable if you are a veteran classic RE fan, just enjoy ! Oh and leave every zapping system item to Claire, Yes both the Mac 11 submachine gun and the ammo pouch for 2 extra inventory slots.
Because Claire scenario on the other hand is for the masochists, you've managed to beat Leon scenario? Good, now do it without the shotgun and magnum, YES you are screwed, the bow gun is pure trash, ammo pick ups are 15 instead of 18 and you need like 3 times that amount of darts on a Zombie, I've never managed to kill one with it, and forget the grenade luncher too, the range is abysmal and you need 2 to 3 grenades to down 1 Zombie, it doesn't even blow their legs or heads anymore, so you're left with the handgun most of the game and use the grenades on the bosses, pure hell.

Any gaffers here knew of this? It's not available on the Gamecube port either, only on the Dreamcast and PC version of the time, It was not made by CAPCOM, they were not added by the original dev team but by those who worked on these ports. Hidden deeply and not even advertised on the box. Not surprising when you found out CAPCOM will do that again with their Street Fighter Alpha/ZERO anthology and the hidden HYPER mode (all characters of all versions of ALPHA/ZERO games + hidden -ISM modes like marvel vs capcom, 3rd strike, Darkstalers, exclusives movesets, exclusive OST made specifically for that mode...) all this awesome stuff just hidden deep behind requirments and not advertised anywhere, hell even among fans it's obscure!

Those extra difficulty modes are news to me, haha. Resident Evil 2 definitely got the Capcom treatment of a thousand ports, and then the fan treatment of a bunch of mods and randomizers. Goes to show how great of a baseline game experience it was. Very cerebral, but also very arcadey in a way that most games don't exhibit in the contemporary era.
 

kunonabi

Member
Claire's scenario is trash through and through aside from Irons. Leon single handledy saves RE2 for me and I still think I'd prefer what 1.5 was going for especially since the elements that did get recycled in later games always turned out great. I just never got into the comic book look of RE2, the godawful new redesign of the police station, the easier difficulty, and the zapping and /a/b stuff was really undercooked despite being great conceptually.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Claire's scenario is trash through and through aside from Irons. Leon single handledy saves RE2 for me and I still think I'd prefer what 1.5 was going for especially since the elements that did get recycled in later games always turned out great. I just never got into the comic book look of RE2, the godawful new redesign of the police station, the easier difficulty, and the zapping and /a/b stuff was really undercooked despite being great conceptually.

Yeah, I thought the zapping system itself in RE2 *could have* been used to great effect in some grandiose, campaign spanning puzzles or combat scenarios. As is, I can only really recall the armory locker room, the fingerprint lock, and the P-Epsilon utilizing the A-B scenario at all. But I DID enjoy the idea of having to play a couple of times to unlock the full ending, and I liked some of the more complete storyline picture you get by compounding both campaigns.

For what it's worth, I didn't find Claire's section offensive, but I agree that Leon is where the most exciting stuff happens.
 

EDMIX

Member
I feel like the character issues with Rebecca are typically explained by the fandom as her having a lack of sleep paired with being shell shocked. It's clearly a handwaving type of excuse instead of being baked into the actual narrative, but it's serviceable enough for me to overlook it.

lol yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Capcom was like "and das why she forgot she fought Zombies before"

They should have used a different character instead of Rebecca in my opinion, I didn't knew that theory about her having lack of sleep/trauma this is so flawed because that still left on the table how she never tell Chris about all of this, like Kunonabi explained earlier this is just CAPCOM fault

I don't know if I'd go that far. For years, my friends and I have joked about that and debated about if a different character would make sense, but at the time RE2002 remake was deep in development and Zero was almost never a thing, regardless...their development overlaped and clearly it coming out the same year means they knew 100% that such a thing would be an issue yet never addressed it.

So in comes the remaster and to my shock, that shit is still in the game. All they needed to do is have her say "oh shit Chris and or Jill, I've encountered these fuckbois before" . While running thru it, my friends and I were laughing our fucking asses off when they never changed shit. All those years of debating how they'd correct it, only to just leave it as is, ignoring how strange it sounds for her to just never talk about such an event, even when people are DYING from this as they are puzzled at what is going on.

1 line changed can fix that whole thing, or at least some what explain it and make it make sense. So a whole different character I feel is too much, but shit that makes more sense then them doing nothing even with a remaster
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
lol yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Capcom was like "and das why she forgot she fought Zombies before"



I don't know if I'd go that far. For years, my friends and I have joked about that and debated about if a different character would make sense, but at the time RE2002 remake was deep in development and Zero was almost never a thing, regardless...their development overlaped and clearly it coming out the same year means they knew 100% that such a thing would be an issue yet never addressed it.

So in comes the remaster and to my shock, that shit is still in the game. All they needed to do is have her say "oh shit Chris and or Jill, I've encountered these fuckbois before" . While running thru it, my friends and I were laughing our fucking asses off when they never changed shit. All those years of debating how they'd correct it, only to just leave it as is, ignoring how strange it sounds for her to just never talk about such an event, even when people are DYING from this as they are puzzled at what is going on.

1 line changed can fix that whole thing, or at least some what explain it and make it make sense. So a whole different character I feel is too much, but shit that makes more sense then them doing nothing even with a remaster

Yeah, like I said, it's a sloppy handwave, but I suppose it's better than nothing. She's only had one appearance after the original game, and they didn't paint her up like a grizzled vet or anything there, either, so I guess 0 was an anomaly.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
---Resident Evil 2: Remake---

Once more, with feeling.



This is the first LTTP I've done in this thread of RTTP/LTTP. I purchased this game digital on PS4 during the 2020 Halloween sale on the PSN, played up until Leon changes out of his civvy clothes, and then immediately was distracted by the FFVIIR. So this time, I was playing for keeps. I initially made the decision to play the campaigns in the opposite order I did for the originals, which was Claire A, Leon B. So I started up the remake with Leon.

Initial thoughts aren't breaking any new ground, the game is a marvel and I wouldn't be the first or most eloquent to say so. Graphically it really blew me away at first, coming straight off of a PS1 game. This is the first game I've ever really played where the oppressive level of darkness didn't annoy me. I know some claim that it's washed out, but I felt so much more immersed in the shadow play in these dark corridors than I ever had in the original. I've made my thoughts known about how much I like the original game, but it's no competition when it comes to atmosphere and actually instilling a sense of dread and unease. This is especially remarkable given you're playing as Leon and Claire, two characters veteran's will know become more than capable by series end. My biggest graphical complaint is some of the facial capture animations. Namely, anytime Claire looks happy. I think Claire looks gorgeous in this game, but something about some of the movements just sets me firmly into uncanny valley.

Sound design was also exemplary, and went a long way towards amping up whatever atmosphere the game intended to have at the moment. Shaking windows, torrential rain, shuffling footsteps and otherworldly moans and roars, this felt like someone took the arcadey template of the original and just beefed it up into a serious, dark journey. Slightly disappointed in how low into the mix and infrequently used the new soundtrack was, but I'm also part of the Silent Hill fanbase, so I'm well aware that expert use of soundscapes often invokes complete silence as a juxtaposition against sound and music.

Gameplay felt like a perfect compromise between vulnerability and empowerment, almost as if Capcom took the lessons (getting ahead of my thread here) they learned in both Resident Evil 4 and 7 into account and masterfully blended it into a position where your character never feels like an action hero (at least until the end) but never feels powerless.

The game is, above all things, fair. You will run out of ammunition. You will get bitten. You will get cornered. But it's never a situation where you feel as if it's the game being janky or punitive. These are *your* mistakes, and learning how to overcome them and evade your foes is the most undiluted "Survival Horror," feeling I've had in years. It takes the methodically plotting your course around the Spencer Mansion and makes it more claustrophobic, darker and visceral.

Zombies are a real threat, once again, not just moving targets to mow down. Every room, nearly every encounter becomes a small puzzle within a puzzle. Having to plot a course across an office room with three zombies, two at the windows, and rows of tables becomes like Pac Man on a bad acid trip and all of this is done in real time, with the consequences right there in bloody jaw chomping glory.

Adding to this is Mr. X, who was implemented FAR better than I could have imagined, and in both campaigns to boot. This was a good case of RE2R playing with your expectations if you've already completed the original. Same with the first Licker encounter. It feeds into your nostalgia, while at the same time picking moments to weaponize it and pull the proverbial rug out from under you. I LOVED getting stalked by Mr. X, hearing those heavy footsteps, trying to sus out how close he was by sound alone. I loved the grinding industrial pounding percussive theme that played when he was on your ass. It turned horror into thriller and then effortlessly dialed it back when you escaped his sight. This bipolar whiplash took a setting you were finally getting comfortable with and turned it on it's head. Now quiet passageways were suddenly long, straight corridors of pursuit with no place to hide. Now dead end rooms were spots to catch your breath, or death traps. It organically remixed the entire police department and I'm STILL impressed by it now.

The extra bits where you play as Ada or Sherry have been thankfully expanded, and utilize different gameplay gimmicks from the main campaigns, reminding of something not entirely different from the story DLC of other titles, in a more punchy, precise way. These don't overstay their welcome, but they DO break up pace, and have you doing something else for a few minutes. In particular, Sherry segment, and I never thought I'd say this, is probably one of my favorite portions of the game. The lack of weapons, the necessity of hiding, the cat and mouse where you simultaneously must run AND stalk, the implied horror of a lecherous adult searching for a child for nefarious intent, it just awakened a kind of tension and fear I DEFINITELY didn't expect to see in JILL SANDWICH Resident Evil.

Big complaints aren't anything new to write home about. Monster variety could have been better. Campaigns could have been better integrated to each other, rather than even worse than in the original. But overall, fantastic game.
 

kunonabi

Member
---Resident Evil 2: Remake---

Once more, with feeling.



This is the first LTTP I've done in this thread of RTTP/LTTP. I purchased this game digital on PS4 during the 2020 Halloween sale on the PSN, played up until Leon changes out of his civvy clothes, and then immediately was distracted by the FFVIIR. So this time, I was playing for keeps. I initially made the decision to play the campaigns in the opposite order I did for the originals, which was Claire A, Leon B. So I started up the remake with Leon.

Initial thoughts aren't breaking any new ground, the game is a marvel and I wouldn't be the first or most eloquent to say so. Graphically it really blew me away at first, coming straight off of a PS1 game. This is the first game I've ever really played where the oppressive level of darkness didn't annoy me. I know some claim that it's washed out, but I felt so much more immersed in the shadow play in these dark corridors than I ever had in the original. I've made my thoughts known about how much I like the original game, but it's no competition when it comes to atmosphere and actually instilling a sense of dread and unease. This is especially remarkable given you're playing as Leon and Claire, two characters veteran's will know become more than capable by series end. My biggest graphical complaint is some of the facial capture animations. Namely, anytime Claire looks happy. I think Claire looks gorgeous in this game, but something about some of the movements just sets me firmly into uncanny valley.

Sound design was also exemplary, and went a long way towards amping up whatever atmosphere the game intended to have at the moment. Shaking windows, torrential rain, shuffling footsteps and otherworldly moans and roars, this felt like someone took the arcadey template of the original and just beefed it up into a serious, dark journey. Slightly disappointed in how low into the mix and infrequently used the new soundtrack was, but I'm also part of the Silent Hill fanbase, so I'm well aware that expert use of soundscapes often invokes complete silence as a juxtaposition against sound and music.

Gameplay felt like a perfect compromise between vulnerability and empowerment, almost as if Capcom took the lessons (getting ahead of my thread here) they learned in both Resident Evil 4 and 7 into account and masterfully blended it into a position where your character never feels like an action hero (at least until the end) but never feels powerless.

The game is, above all things, fair. You will run out of ammunition. You will get bitten. You will get cornered. But it's never a situation where you feel as if it's the game being janky or punitive. These are *your* mistakes, and learning how to overcome them and evade your foes is the most undiluted "Survival Horror," feeling I've had in years. It takes the methodically plotting your course around the Spencer Mansion and makes it more claustrophobic, darker and visceral.

Zombies are a real threat, once again, not just moving targets to mow down. Every room, nearly every encounter becomes a small puzzle within a puzzle. Having to plot a course across an office room with three zombies, two at the windows, and rows of tables becomes like Pac Man on a bad acid trip and all of this is done in real time, with the consequences right there in bloody jaw chomping glory.

Adding to this is Mr. X, who was implemented FAR better than I could have imagined, and in both campaigns to boot. This was a good case of RE2R playing with your expectations if you've already completed the original. Same with the first Licker encounter. It feeds into your nostalgia, while at the same time picking moments to weaponize it and pull the proverbial rug out from under you. I LOVED getting stalked by Mr. X, hearing those heavy footsteps, trying to sus out how close he was by sound alone. I loved the grinding industrial pounding percussive theme that played when he was on your ass. It turned horror into thriller and then effortlessly dialed it back when you escaped his sight. This bipolar whiplash took a setting you were finally getting comfortable with and turned it on it's head. Now quiet passageways were suddenly long, straight corridors of pursuit with no place to hide. Now dead end rooms were spots to catch your breath, or death traps. It organically remixed the entire police department and I'm STILL impressed by it now.

The extra bits where you play as Ada or Sherry have been thankfully expanded, and utilize different gameplay gimmicks from the main campaigns, reminding of something not entirely different from the story DLC of other titles, in a more punchy, precise way. These don't overstay their welcome, but they DO break up pace, and have you doing something else for a few minutes. In particular, Sherry segment, and I never thought I'd say this, is probably one of my favorite portions of the game. The lack of weapons, the necessity of hiding, the cat and mouse where you simultaneously must run AND stalk, the implied horror of a lecherous adult searching for a child for nefarious intent, it just awakened a kind of tension and fear I DEFINITELY didn't expect to see in JILL SANDWICH Resident Evil.

Big complaints aren't anything new to write home about. Monster variety could have been better. Campaigns could have been better integrated to each other, rather than even worse than in the original. But overall, fantastic game.

Remake 2 ends up being the inverse of the original for me so I end up liking it about the same.

Claire's scenario is a 1000x better than the original but Leon's is just dog shit now. Its a great implementation of classic RE in a behind the shoulder view and really should have been the template for RE going forward instead of crap like RE8 and Remake 3. Such a shame. It isn't perfect but it does a lot well.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Remake 2 ends up being the inverse of the original for me so I end up liking it about the same.

Claire's scenario is a 1000x better than the original but Leon's is just dog shit now. Its a great implementation of classic RE in a behind the shoulder view and really should have been the template for RE going forward instead of crap like RE8 and Remake 3. Such a shame. It isn't perfect but it does a lot well.

What didn't you like about Leon's campaign? I'm not being argumentative, legit just curious, haha
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Pretty much all his personality and great little character moments are gone and the new dynamic with Ada just doesn't work as well
New Ben also sucks. It's not as bad as Remake Chris but close

Yeah, Ben seemed like a beat reporter with a lot of attitude in the original, and the remake DID kind of make him out to be a one note like...Liberal arts journalist stoner sounding dude, and reduced his already brief screen time, that's one bit I wasn't completely sure about the reason to change.
 

Elysion

Banned
Can we all agree that the biggest flaw of the whole RE canon is the fact that Leon never dates/kisses/fucks any of the women who’ve thrown themselves at him over the course of the series?

I mean, the dude is clearly a total babe magnet, yet he never does anything about it!

Edit: Ok, Ada gives him a little kiss in the RE2 remake, but that’s about it.
 
Last edited:

bender

What time is it?
Can we all agree that the biggest flaw of the whole RE canon is the fact that Leon never dates/kisses/fucks any of the women who’ve thrown themselves at him over the course of the series?

I mean, the dude is clearly a total babe magnet, yet he never does anything about it!

Edit: Ok, Ada gives him a little kiss in the RE2 remake, but that’s about it.

Maybe Leon likes a different flavor of ice cream.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Rean no Kiseki Rean no Kiseki . Yea dude, 100%.

if you've never played the OG Resident Evil, just outright avoid the Director's Cut version. Awful OST, enemies are easier to take down, auto-aim can't be disabled.

The OG 96 release is no joke one of the greatest games of all time and buying a copy off ebay is highly recommended. It's still challenging, tons of replay value, 100% playable, no bugs, no glitches, no auto-aim really forces you to master the controls, especially once Hunters enter the scene.

Don't listen to anyone who says the original isn't playable in 2021, they don't know what they're talking about. If you've played the original 2 and 3 but not the OG RE, you will have an experience of a lifetime. The game is brilliant.

As much as I respect OP going through all the mainline games, skipping out on OG RE 96 is really gonna cause you to miss out. It's the game that spawned the series, it's completely essential.
 
Last edited:

Aldynes

Member
if you've never played the OG Resident Evil, just outright avoid the Director's Cut version. Awful OST, enemies are easier to take down, auto-aim can't be disabled.
I'm not on board with you on this one, RE director's cut is completely recommended for me, you just need to avoid the DualShock re-release with the arranged OST, I still maintain RE was designed around auto aiming, you refer to the US release then, they cut out auto-aiming in order to artificially increase the difficulty for avoiding rentals, as the game was short anyway.

That backfired badly because of this to this day some people hate tank control and blame RE 96 for it.

Sure you can appreciate the added challenge, more so if you first experienced it that way and have nostalgia for, but it's hard not to recommend a better version of game which include the original game + the arranged mode.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Isa

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Rean no Kiseki Rean no Kiseki . Yea dude, 100%.

if you've never played the OG Resident Evil, just outright avoid the Director's Cut version. Awful OST, enemies are easier to take down, auto-aim can't be disabled.

The OG 96 release is no joke one of the greatest games of all time and buying a copy off ebay is highly recommended. It's still challenging, tons of replay value, 100% playable, no bugs, no glitches, no auto-aim really forces you to master the controls, especially once Hunters enter the scene.

Don't listen to anyone who says the original isn't playable in 2021, they don't know what they're talking about. If you've played the original 2 and 3 but not the OG RE, you will have an experience of a lifetime. The game is brilliant.

As much as I respect OP going through all the mainline games, skipping out on OG RE 96 is really gonna cause you to miss out. It's the game that spawned the series, it's completely essential.

You guys have nearly convinced me to end this all with a playthrough of OG-RE, haha
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Some people forget there's also a great version of RE1 on the NDS, it's called RE: Deadly Silence.
If you have an NDS, definitely give it a go.

The 180 turn and the excellent multi-player were such great additions.
It is a great version, it's got the L button for the knife too, doesn't take up an item slot. The Rebirth mode is kind of like a 2nd remake now that I think about it, cause the player models and enemy models have been reworked on top of the different puzzles and stuff.

My only complaint about the game is that enemies go down too easily and auto-aim. Makes it too easy. RE should be a brutal experience cause that's how everyone experienced it in 1996 and one of the reasons so many people talked about it. First time playing it, for everyone, was absolutely brutal.
 

Soodanim

Member
I thought I liked the story of Resident Evil. But what I realised was that I like the story of Resident Evil up to a point, and that point is 5 because it circles back to the beginning and closes the loop. The rest of 5 is throwaway to me. I have no interest in the shit that’s gone on since then, and I have no interest in looking too deeply into the details. Umbrella, Wesker, and the main cast. That’s all you need, and the remakes of 2/3 don’t belong in the main timeline, they change too much.

If you speak to people from the wiki about RE, they will tell you that zombies aren’t actually dead but rather people who were buried alive. Now think of all the times you’ve seen zombies come out of the ground and so on. It’s shit like this that ruins it.
 
Last edited:

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
I thought I liked the story of Resident Evil. But what I realised was that I like the story of Resident Evil up to a point, and that point is 5 because it circles back to the beginning and closes the loop. The rest of 5 is throwaway to me. I have no interest in the shit that’s gone on since then, and I have no interest in looking too deeply into the details. Umbrella, Wesker, and the main cast. That’s all you need, and the remakes of 2/3 don’t belong in the main timeline, they change too much.

If you speak to people from the wiki about RE, they will tell you that zombies aren’t actually dead but rather people who were buried alive. Now think of all the times you’ve seen zombies come out of the ground and so on. It’s shit like this that ruins it.

Buried alive? LOL, what?
 
Top Bottom