What are you currently playing? 4.0

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I notice that whenever I look up gameplay footage of the game on youtube or back when I watched my friend play the game, just about everyone default to playing as Jill instead of Chris. I guess that's supposed to be because Jill's version of the story-line is canon (even though its nearly identical playing as Chris with a few differences here and there), or at least I think it is.

[talonmalon333]

I notice that whenever I look up gameplay footage of the game on youtube or back when I watched my friend play the game, just about everyone default to playing as Jill instead of Chris. I guess that's supposed to be because Jill's version of the story line is canon (even though its nearly identical playing as Chris with a few differences here and there), or at least I think it is.

The canon is actually half and half, or maybe even Chris's slightly more canon.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I didn't even know that the original RE was split up into halves, or 2 scenarios. I thought RE2 was the only one that did that (like having a part A and B to the story-line with the 2 discs alternating between Claire and Leon in each scenario). That's interesting, though. How exactly does that work out (like, what makes for the half-way marker in the game)?

[talonmalon333]

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I didn't even know that the original RE was split up into halves, or 2 scenarios. I thought RE2 was the only one that did that (like having a part A and B to the story-line with the 2 discs alternating between Claire and Leon in each scenario). That's interesting, though. How exactly does that work out (like, what makes for the half-way marker in the game)?

Sorry, I completely messed that up.

It is how you thought, in that Jill and Chris' missions are just variations of each other. However, the true canon takes parts of both. It assumes that Chris and Jill and exploring the mansion at the same time, separately.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It'd be interesting to see a mod of the game that deliberately had you switch around between Chris and Jill throughout the game, but not between separate files and not by player will, but scripted to pertain to the canon story-line. Something in which you finish some key objectives as Jill in order to progress the story-line, and then at that point the game forces you to take control of Chris to complete objectives that are canon to his part of the story-line. Then again, I'm not sure that would work out since they would both need to be in contact with Barry, and it would be weird if he knew the whereabouts of both of them but didn't tell either one of them that he had seen the other one (though I haven't seen the ending of the game so maybe there's some weird plot-twist that I don't know about).

[Foggle]

Chris does not encounter Barry in his game. He has Rebecca instead.

I notice that whenever I look up gameplay footage of the game on youtube or back when I watched my friend play the game, just about everyone default to playing as Jill instead of Chris. I guess that's supposed to be because Jill's version of the story-line is canon (even though its nearly identical playing as Chris with a few differences here and there), or at least I think it is.

Most people play as Jill because her scenario is easier and her story is better; she can hold more items than Chris and starts with the lockpick, thus making certain parts of the game less frustrating. Also, her cutscenes are cooler than Chris' and Barry is a more interesting character than Rebecca.

The canon is presumably a combination of both, though if you were to accept a single one as relevant, I'd say it'd be Jill's. This is because she saves Chris' life at the end of the game, which would help his motivation in 5 make more sense.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Chris does not encounter Barry in his game. He has Rebecca instead.

Crap, I forgot about that. In fact I didn't even remember that Rebecca even existed.

Most people play as Jill because her scenario is easier and her story is better;

Oh yeah, in regards to that doesn't she get to skip a boss fight that Chris is forced to go through? I remember a friend telling me something like that, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

she can hold more items than Chris and starts with the lockpick, thus making certain parts of the game less frustrating.

So wait, does Chris have any advantages of his own or did they deliberately make him a harder character to play as than Jill? Like, does he have more health or something, or is he just all around the same but with less inventory space and not getting a free lock-pick?

[Foggle]

Rebecca is pretty lame, so it's not surprising that you forgot about her. She's also in Resident Evil 0, where she gets upstaged by Billy, a supporting character who never appears again in the series.

Oh yeah, in regards to that doesn't she get to skip a boss fight that Chris is forced to go through? I remember a friend telling me something like that, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

She can solve a lengthy and slightly complicated puzzle instead of fighting one of the bosses, yeah. This can also happen in Chris' game, I believe, but you have to deliberately fail an earlier challenge. You do have the option to actually fight the boss if you'd rather, though.

So wait, does Chris have any advantages of his own or did they deliberately make him a harder character to play as than Jill? Like, does he have more health or something, or is he just all around the same but with less inventory space and not getting a free lock-pick?

Chris can take more damage before dying, is more likely to score headshots on zombies (an instant kill that also negates their transformation into Crimson Heads), and gets to use grenades as defense items, which are really cool and also ensure a head explosion. He doesn't have to waste an item slot on the lighter, either, but that only comes in handy a few times in the first half of the game aside from burning corpses, which still requires you to carry around the kerosene can.

All in all, his scenario is tougher, but it does have its perks. Jill's is intended for newcomers while Chris' is intended for veterans, though Jill's is widely considered to be the better of the two.

[talonmalon333]

I think Chris, on Advance/Arrange mode in RE1 is the best RE experience.

The canon is presumably a combination of both, though if you were to accept a single one as relevant, I'd say it'd be Jill's. This is because she saves Chris' life at the end of the game, which would help his motivation in 5 make more sense.

But the fact that Jill's scenario acts like that certain character (who I won't name just in case Ensatsu-ken doesn't know) doesn't die at the end kinda disqualifies it, in my opinion.

Not like any of this matters though. We're not accepting only a single one as relevant.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just tried a demo for The Darkness II. I thought it was awesome. Its almost impossible for me to get interested in any FPS games these days, but I had a ton of fun with that demo, and that may be primarily because I didn't even end up using my guns that much in favor of abusing the hell out of the abilities of The Darkness. I haven't played the first game before, so I have no idea how that is, but the demo for the sequel was sure entertaining. I may look into picking that up when in the Summer time, when its sure to have gone down in price by at least half by that point in time.

[Foggle]

The first game has an amazing storyline and voice acting (Mike Patton <3), but the gameplay is pretty bad. I'll just copy/paste what I wrote about it on Destructoid.

From a gameplay standpoint, The Darkness is not good. The voice acting is excellent (especially Mike Patton), as are the story and dialogue, but the game just suddenly stops being fun midway through Act 3 once the enemies turn into super snipers who can kill you in three hits and soak up more damage than you do on Easy mode.

It controls like dogshit. And I'm not just saying that as a diehard PC FPS fan who has trouble with the dual analogue control scheme. Keyboard-only Doom plays better; this is a fact. The aiming is floaty, the character movement very rough and imprecise. The guns do fuck all against your enemies (the shotgun especially is terrible), and the second half of the game basically boils down to "hide behind shadowed cover and press the black hole button over and over."

With that said, The Darkness 2 demo is fucking sweet! The game looks to be everything I loved from the first game with none of what I hated. The gunplay is tight, the Darkness powers actually feel good to use, the gore is insane, and the story appears to be even more badass and explosive than the original's. Can't wait!

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Anyway, I'm currently playing through the Resident Evil Director's Cut. I don't know, man, it's still a good game, but it just feels... incomplete after playing the remake. The gameplay is as good as ever and the cutscenes are still hilarious, but the atmosphere just isn't there, the puzzles are extremely rudimentary, and many of my favorite rooms don't exist outside of the GameCube version.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I had seen gameplay footage of the first game before and even just watching it I got the impression that the aiming controls were really wonky and off (that is to say that the reticle always seemed to be jittering around whenever it was moved rather than just aiming straight). That said having actually played the demo of the 2nd game, I had absolutely no issues with the controls and the gameplay was awesome. Whether the full game is awesome depends on if the developers were creative enough to have you use your Darkness powers in unique and interesting ways as the game progresses in order to keep things interesting, otherwise if it just replicates the demo then I could see it getting really repetitive really fast, but even then the gameplay in the demo was good enough to support at least a typical 8-hour experience, IMO, so I still may pick this game up if it turns out to be solid.

As for the original Resident Evil/Director's Cut for the PS1, it may not have the ehanced atmosphere from the Gamecube remake, but it does have the best portrayal of what I think is the best scene in any RE game that I have seen. I am of course talking about this infamous little piece, here, that even an RE newbie such as myself has seen many times over.

[talonmalon333]

The atmosphere, in my opinion, is way better in the original and is the main reason I prefer it to the remake. In the remake, it's just so... stereotypical in comparison. But in the original, the mansion feels so odd. It's well lit, but it just feels uncomfortable. The main hall is a giant white, empty room, at one point there's a hallway that's entirely green. And the zombies look far more unnatural than they do typical zombies. The remake is much more in-your-face horror, dark hallways, blasting thunder. And the uncanny is far more effective than horror.

[Foggle]

I can understand why you feel that way, but I do not agree. The cheerier design of the mansion does make the jump scares more shocking and effective, however. The dogs popping through the windows still get me.

Yeah, I had seen gameplay footage of the first game before and even just watching it I got the impression that the aiming controls were really wonky and off (that is to say that the reticle always seemed to be jittering around whenever it was moved rather than just aiming straight). That said having actually played the demo of the 2nd game, I had absolutely no issues with the controls and the gameplay was awesome.

Yeah, the second game runs on a different engine and was made by a different studio. The controls are ten times better in the sequel's demo alone.

As for the original Resident Evil/Director's Cut for the PS1, it may not have the ehanced atmosphere from the Gamecube remake, but it does have the best portrayal of what I think is the best scene in any RE game that I have seen. I am of course talking about this infamous little piece, here, that even an RE newbie such as myself has seen many times over.

There are so many amazing line deliveries in that game. Another great one.

[talonmalon333]

Barry might have the worst lines. But I think Richard has the worst voice acting. His scenes are just hilarious.

"There are terrible demons. Ouch."