Resident Evil: A thread for the undead!

[Foggle]

RE0's atmosphere was phenomenal. They did a very impressive job of making the graphics and sounds in that game simultaneously beautiful and unnerving.

[Eddy]

REmake remains my favorite RE to this day. I want another Resident Evil like REmake.

My favorite part of RE5 was probably the Lost in Nightmares DLC.

[Foggle]

I liked Lost In Nightmares a lot as well, but it has very little replay value because it's so short. And the copy-pasted note(s) from REmake didn't help.

I would also love to see another game like REmake, even if it was just a remake of RE2. Best level design/progression ever IMO.  Sadly, it will never happen.

[Eddy]

Yeah, Lost in Nightmares sadly does not have much in the way of replay value. But, man, do I wish that kind of tone and atmosphere could be present throughout all of RE5.

I did get a bit nostalgic hearing this on the results screen at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lv7haLgEys

[Foggle]

Aw yeah, love that track.

I really don't see why Capcom can't just make a full game like LiN. It seemed like they were going in that direction with Revelaitons and Leon's campaign in RE6, but the former devolved into mindless action by the halfway point while the latter only gave the illusion of that style in pre-release videos.

Really, modern Resident Evil isn't so much bad as it is disappointing. RE5 is half lazy copy-paste/reskin of RE4 and half lame new levels. Revelations has no direction or design consistency, and can't decide if it wants to be classic RE, RE4, or RE6. RE6 was developed under the misconception that longer = better, thus ruining many of its best levels with tedious padding. The rail shooters, while fun, are ill-conceived and serve only to give older fans false hope for the future. Operation Raccoon City... okay, yeah, that game sucks.

While I love RE4, I am convinced that no one but Shinji Mikami is capable of making a proper sequel to it, so Capcom needs to stop taking this series in that direction. They either need to go back and replay the classic games repeatedly to figure out why people liked them, retire this franchise altogether, or sell it to Tango Gameworks. Sadly, none of those things will ever happen.

[talonmalon333]

When I saw some of the [later] trailers of RE5, I actually thought the atmosphere would be more like Lost in Nightmares. When I saw previews of Chris and Wesker fighting in that dark castle, I was ecstatic. I imagined that the first portion of the game would be in that desert village you start in (and would have a far more bleak, desolate, and savage atmosphere akin to what was implied in the initial trailers), and then when you meet Wesker you make your way into that castle and the atmosphere gets darker.

... I then played the game and found that the desert location felt unbelievably bland, and that the dark castle fight with Wesker was just a flashback. To this day, I haven't yet fully recovered. The lasting effects might stay with me for the rest of my life.

Still, the Lost in Nightmares chapter was nice, and might've been the best part of the game.

[talonmalon333]

So I was thinking about something else in REmake. First, no I'm not currently in a REmake bashing mood. This can't be held against the game very much, really. And it was present in the original.

But I kind of think that in the remake, they should've changed Rebecca's character a bit. In the original game, her helpless, naive, and overall lack of any real experience characterization made perfect sense. However, the remake was in development at the same time as RE0. In fact, it started development after RE0. So Rebecca could've used an update. They made the remake knowing that, just the night prior to this game, Rebecca had already survived a nightmare. By the time you first meet her in the mansion, she's already seem some serious shit, far more than any of the main characters had by that point. But the game still acts like she's defenseless without Chris. The biggest offender is when she encounters a Hunter in the second half of the game. In RE0, she had faced dozens of those things. But in REmake, she curls up in a ball and cowers against the wall without doing anything. It's like "Come on, girl. You've killed far worse than this thing. Step it up".

Again, it's not a problem in the game. It's just a small change I think would've been worth making. At the very least, I do remember her having a slightly badass moment at the very end of the game.

[Eddy]

I guess we she encountered that Hunter she was out of ammo. At the very least, they do let her hold her own a bit if Chris gets poisoned by Yawn and she has to get get him serum and you take control of her.

Regarding RE5, I remember when the early information about it came out and it sounded much better. How they said light was going to play a key factor where if you came out of a pitch black building into the blinding sun that Chris would have trouble seeing while his eyes adjusted. I believe they also said that the enemies were going to utilize the dark and shadows and hide in order to take Chris by surprise.

Of course, this was all before it added Sheva and became co-op.

[talonmalon333]

I guess we she encountered that Hunter she was out of ammo. At the very least, they do let her hold her own a bit if Chris gets poisoned by Yawn and she has to get get him serum and you take control of her.

Regarding RE5, I remember when the early information about it came out and it sounded much better. How they said light was going to play a key factor where if you came out of a pitch black building into the blinding sun that Chris would have trouble seeing while his eyes adjusted. I believe they also said that the enemies were going to utilize the dark and shadows and hide in order to take Chris by surprise.

Of course, this was all before it added Sheva and became co-op.

I hear that whole thing about light was actually a mistranslation. But I don't know.

It almost seems like adding Sheva and co-op actually broke the game. Like, that they had laid the game out, and then decided that they should do co-op. Then, suddenly, everything had to be scrapped and redone, and they had to quickly whip together a bare backbone hollow version of their RE5 vision, but with co-op. But it ultimately backfired and ended up making 2-player co-op the only way to play the game correctly.

[Foggle]

It almost seems like adding Sheva and co-op actually broke the game. Like, that they had laid the game out, and then decided that they should do co-op. Then, suddenly, everything had to be scrapped and redone, and they had to quickly whip together a bare backbone hollow version of their RE5 vision, but with co-op. But it ultimately backfired and ended up making 2-player co-op the only way to play the game correctly.

Sounds about right. Fans have always clamored for the unreleased versions of RE2 and 4, but the released versions of those games are already amazing. I'm far more interested in the early prototypes of RE5. That game could have, and should have, been an epic. The released version is a mess, and seemingly a shadow of what it once was.

By the way, I remember reading somewhere that Lost In Nightmares was actually cut content from the main game. It was removed because it "broke the flow" or something like that. (I have no source, I believe it was stated in Famitsu after LiN was announced).

[Eddy]

Sheva was very obviously a last minute addition to the game seeing how none of the early promotional footage had her anywhere to be seen and it was clearly being made as a single player experience. As to why they added her is anyone's guess. After they saw the success of Gears of War maybe?

Some people speculate she was added to subside the criticism that the game was racist, but I doubt that.

And yeah, I also heard that LiN was intended to be part of the original game in a flashback cutscene where whoever was controlling Sheva would be Jill.

[Foggle]

Sheva was very obviously a last minute addition to the game seeing how none of the early promotional footage had her anywhere to be seen and it was clearly being made as a single player experience. As to why they added her is anyone's guess. After they saw the success of Gears of War maybe?

Some people speculate she was added to subside the criticism that the game was racist, but I doubt that.

I agree. I doubt Capcom really gave a shit whether people thought the game was racist or not. I think you're absolutely right in saying they wanted dat Gears money.

[Eddy]

And now co-op is a feature that they just don't seem to want to drop from Resident Evil games. RE5 is clearly made for co-op and RE6 (though much better to play by yourself than RE5) is also clearly designed with co-op in mind. The only recent RE game that wasn't made with co-op in mind was Revelations and that's only because it was on the 3DS, I'm sure.

My dream for RE7 would be a return to the atmosphere of games like REmake, RE2, 0, and RE4 and to have it made as a single player experience. Maybe even have two different playable characters with different scenarios ala RE1/RE2.

Ah, a man can dream.

[Foggle]

I like to pretend that Deadly Premonition, Shadows of the Damned, and The Evil Within are actually Resident Evils 5-7.

[Foggle]

Oh yeah, something I just remembered about RE's "story"...

We all know Wesker, right? He's that badass guy from Code Veronica, RE5, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Mercenaries mode. But when you think about it, he was probably originally intended as a cowardly moron rather than a cool Matrix dude. (Hear me out!)

In the original Resident Evil (for PS1), Wesker is a traitorous dirtbag being used by Umbrella who cries when Chris makes fun of him and then gets killed by his own creation.

In the original Code Veronica (not X), Wesker spends the whole game hiding and plotting to kill Chris, and when he finally shows himself, he immediately gets bodied by Alexia and runs away, never to be seen again.

In Resident Evil 4 (Separate Ways IIRC), Wesker gets screwed over by Ada and does not obtain the parasite sample he wanted.

Of course, all of these things were retconned later. Wesker was really thick-skinned and cool under pressure (REmake). He was obviously pulling the strings the whole time (RE0). He actually wanted the Tyrant to kill him so he could become superhuman (Umbrella Chronicles). He totally didn't run away from Alexia with his tail between his legs, and definitely almost beat Claire and Chris to death with his bare hands (Code Veronica X). Even though he had no way of obtaining a Plagas sample after the island's destruction, he still got one anyway (RE5). Which begs the question... why did Capcom even bother trying to give this series continuity in the first place?