Resident Evil

I'm gonna play 'em all, eventually (even Gun Survivor, and Gaiden for the GBC). The only reason I haven't touched the remake yet is because I don't own it. Which sucks, as I just got a Gamecube and none of the three games I have for it *

are really holding my interest.

Need some zombie shootey bangey wahey...

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This thread is not allowed to die!

So I took ya'lls advice and played some Resident Evil 3. Like an idiot, I started on the "Hard" setting. I assumed that it would be a difficulty equivalent to the first two Resident Evils and that "Easy" was for absolute beginners. But then I noticed the zombies were kinda fast, and took more bullets than usual to down. When I got to my first encounter with the lover of premium movie channels*

I opted to fight him the first time... and promptly got my tight little ass handed to me. So the second time, I avoided him, but now I'm struggling against the hordes in the police station.

Currently I'm debating if I should restart the game at an easier difficulty, or just tough it out and keep going on my current setting. I haven't run up against a wall yet but I feel like if I'm gonna restart I should do it before I get too far in. Thoughts?

Also, question: Which version of Resident Evil 4 should I get, Gamecube or Playstation 2? I read that the Gamecube version runs more smoothly and has better graphics, but the Playstation 2 has more game modes.

Keep in mind, I don't have a Wii.

edited 22nd Dec '11 2:44:07 AM by MoeDantes

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Either is fine, but the Wii version is better because of the aiming controls, IMO. Just avoid the PC version like the plague.

Easy mode in 3 is funny. It gives you a crapload of equipment on top of enemies being easier.

Hard mode is how it's supposed to be played, but if you're really having a headache with it then drop the difficulty.

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I tried out "Easy Mode" and when I saw what it was, I was like "no, this is too pussified'' for me." So I'm continuing on Hard.

I also found out something weird... apparently, some rooms and halls have random contents. Particularly, that hall near the dark room, that has the entrance to the classroom thing, can have either dogs or zombies in it, and if it has zombies it'll also have red herbs. I'm not gonna obsessively look for "randomized rooms" like this, but if one happens to present itself I'm gonna save scum and take advantage of it.

Man, that Nemesis really puts you on edge, doesn't he?

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Yeah, Nemesis loves to pop out at unexpected times. from what I remember, though, he's relatively easy to dodge with his rocket launcher if you can see him coming, but it gets much tougher later in the game.

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I know it. I'm at the part now where I have to fight that... worm thing in the underground. That thing's nowhere near as intimidating as Nemesis.

When I got the multiple-choice where I could either hide in the office or jump out the window, I couldn't pick "jump out the window" fast enough!

People who say Resident Evil isn't scary must've somehow missed this one.

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It's mostly because later games don't really put on the scare factor much, though the monsters are still as ugly as ever.

The earlier games were good in atmosphere, though the Silent Hill series is considered to be much more terrifying on the whole.

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Well, I finally beat Resident Evil 3... once. I'm honestly thinking of replaying it to see what happens if I make different choices at the "Choose Your Own Adventure" bits, and because I've heard you get neat bonuses if you actually fight Nemesis... which I was actually starting to get good at. It only took me three tries to beat him in the clock tower's courtyard.

It was so satisfying to freaking melt the dude in that timed battle though. And then to watch him get pummeled by the rail gun. Unfortunately I didn't get to witness the part where Jill "makes him see S.T.A.R.S" because this being my first time thru, I had fracked around too long (it took me awhile to realize what I was supposed to do with the power generator thingies) and when it gave me the option, I had to evacuate instead of risk another lengthy battle. Good thing I've got my save...

Anything I should watch out for on my second playthru?

So, which game should I play next: Code Veronica, Gaiden, or Survivor? I might possibly get Resident Evil Zero or the REmake for Christmas, too.

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Resident Evil Code Veronica Takes place after 3, and I haven't really played survivor or Gaiden. Resident Evil 0 is a pretty good prequel, Though it focuses on Rebecca Chambers in that one.

edited 24th Dec '11 6:26:41 AM by Demongodofchaos2

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I'm pretty sure Nemesis only drops goodies on Hard Mode. The good news is that most of the time when you choose to fight Nemesis during those "Fight or Flight" options Jill will do something that knocks Nemesis, most likely causing him to drop something. Afterwords it's just a matter of picking up the item and/or running away before Nemesis gets up for round 2.

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Say, Dantes, Ever thought of Playing the Onimusha series? Along with being one of the pioneers of the modern day Hack and Slash games, it has a lot of puzzle elements,a similar style of atmosphere, Narm Charm voice acting and Camera angles to the first 3 Resident Evil games and Resident Evil Code Veronica, at least in the first 3 games.

edited 24th Dec '11 7:10:06 PM by Demongodofchaos2

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Ah, Onimusha. Can't remember much, but what I can remember I adore.

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Definitely one of favourite gaming series. On the topic of Resident Evil, is wrong of me that Resident Evil 3 is one of-if not my favourite game in the series?

Not really. 3 and Code Veronica tie as my favorite.

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I know I might be the odd one out, but I honestly would rank 4 up towards the top. Sure, I liked 2 a lot and all, but 4 was just more fun. Even if it lacked some of the scare factor of other games, the action and the reworked controls/gameplay gave me a more enjoyable experience overall.

"Oh no, Sanji's Chronic Simprosis!" - Kou The Mad

Sorry it took me two days to get back to you... Christmas and all.

It's on my to-do list.

Right now my Resident Evil time has to be shared with a game trilogy my parents got me for Christmas. A sweet little set called Devil May Cry. You may have heard of it. That and I'm replaying Nemesis because I feel like I've missed stuff.

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Oh yeah! I see you are going on a nice old school capcom binge.

I would recommend all of Clover Studios PS 2 games.

edited 27th Dec '11 6:35:12 AM by Demongodofchaos2

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Onimusha, Devil May Cry and Resident Evil are "old school" now? Okay, I can kinda see that for the PS 1-era Resident Evil games...

Devil May Cry is surely gonna be remembered as a classic though. I just got past that spider-scorpion thing (I think the game calls him Phantom?) and was like "oh shit!" when he reappeared in the hallway... until I discovered the fact that firing Ebony and Ivory in the air keeps you levitated and makes it super easy to dodge his fireballs, and it damages him, and he can't get close to you past a certain point...

And then I discovered you can save your game immediately afterwards and keep all your money, but you'll have to fight the battle again next time... and save again, and fight again and save again... I think I may have discovered a Disc-One Nuke, though heaven only knows if I'm gonna use it or not (I kinda want to play thru the game naturally and see what its really like before I go all breaking it).

Haven't started Code Veronica yet, but I kinda gave up on re-playing Nemesis when I found out all the really good weapons are actually had thru playing the Mercenaries mini-game and you can't carry any of Nemesis' drops thru to a New Game Plus. And you apparently have to actually beat the game eight times to get all the Epilogues (correct me if I'm wrong about that).

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You guys let this get off the front page. I am seriously disappoint.

Anyway, let's revive this with some capsule reviews so far:

Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PS 1)

This was the first Resident Evil I played and also the game that "totally made the Playstation worth it" in my eyes (we have a history, ya see). Even in the light of its sequels, I still think this one holds its own, mostly due to the atmosphere and that its plot is a straightforward mystery. Even though you know how it ends, on replays years later when you've forgotten small details it still has enough to intrigue you.

I also love the absolutely hilarious voice acting and dialogue. My favorite moment is in Chris' game when Wesker is showing him the Tyrant. Chris just starts laughing and Wesker says "hey, stop it!" in an uncharacteristically whiney voice. Chris in general is just so many different shades of awesome. Not bad for a guy who only has six inventory slots.

Resident Evil 2 Platinum (PC)

Yeah, I got the PC version instead of the Playstation one. It's not a bad port, the biggest problem I had is that FM Vs could be choppy (may be a problem with the installed video codec, since my system is way above specs).

For the game itself, while RE 1 has a better atmosphere I consider RE 2 to be the absolute peak of the series. The reason is the sheer amount of content—there are almost literally like four different storylines. Granted, they all four take similar paths and have a lot of overlap, but each one also has new content that contributes to the overall package, so its really rewarding to actually play thru the game every way possible. And I still think I've missed an event trigger or two (I remember there being a scene where Mr. X busts out of the boarded-up hallway on the second floor of the police station, but last time I played, that never happened).

If I can criticize RE 2 for anything, it's that it raised the bar so high that no sequel could ever compare. If I really wanted to stretch, I could point out its also the game where Umbrella went from being a pharma firm with a little bit of a shady side business but were otherwise down-to-earth, to being hinted to be a more actively sinister entity which of course led to them becoming the supervillains they were in the later games. Even so though, nothing they do in this particular game really sends their characterization off to Neverland, so it seems unfair to use that against it. RE 2 is near-perfect. It's no wonder that when Capcom decided to make a CGI movie, it was basically a follow-up to RE 2.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PS 1)

I said before that, due to Nemesis himself, this is the most genuinely terrifying of the games. That being said though, I read somewhere that this was originally going to be coined a Gaiden Game, with Code Veronica being the real RE 3, but then Capcom changed their mind. My question: why? For all intents and purposes, Nemesis is an expansion pack. It's only got one scenario, a dreadfully short one at that, and there is precious little replay value (those "choose your own adventure" bits don't do it quite as much as "different story depending on who you play first" does). Don't get me wrong—what this game does, it does pretty damn good, but its just a little bit of a letdown after the content-rich RE 2.

Code Veronica (PS 2)

I'm not gonna do a full review just yet, because I'm only at the halfway point of the game, but so far my reaction is a mix between "now this is more like a proper Third Installment!" and "It's good, but the series is starting to feel a little tired by this point."

EDIT: Oh, almost forgot...

The Movies (DVD)

Resident Evil: Degeneration is good. The Paul Anderson films range from "its okay I guess" to "what the hell were they thinking?" Its hard to criticize them too much after listening to the commentary and seeing just how much he and the actors really cared, but being a fan doesn't qualify you to direct a movie.

Still trying to acquire Survivor and Gaiden.

Also, Dino Crisis: most underrated Survival Horror series of all time, yay or nay?

edited 1st Jan '12 5:39:08 AM by MoeDantes

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Most? Nay. Underrated? Yay. They did kinda jump the shark with the 3rd.

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PATRICK! HEHEHE, PATRICK! PATRICK!

Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987

I don't like the Resident Evil movies. I never would've thought that seeing Milla Jovovich would annoy me...

The movies are decent popcorn flicks, and if they weren't called Residen Evil I'd like 'em.

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What Spirit said, except I don't think they'd be particularly great movies even without the license.

Resident Evil is watchable, sort of interesting and has the Red Queen (yeah I love that Red Queen), and while generally stupid and having little to do with the games it hits a lot of the right notes, even down to having a boss fight. The biggest problem I had with it is the B.S. cliffhanger ending

Apocalypse was... well, I had fun with it, but I also had a problem with how it basically dropped the entire premise of R.E. in favor of being an over-the-top martial arts/gunplay movie. This is where I agree with Spirit... if this hadn't been called "Resident Evil" it would actually be enjoyable.

Extinction is just crap. It should never have been made. It's not just bad as an R.E. film, its a crap movie period. Little more than a Day of the Dead wannabe (even down to having a "domesticating the zombies" subplot) that happens to have a few name-drops and a main character who has inexplicably become Jean Gray all the sudden, with a plot that seems to just meander around aimlessly and go absolutely nowhere. Ugh.

That last one also highlights my biggest problem with the R.E. movies. R.E. isn't about zombies, its about bioweapons, of which zombies are just the first stage. But the film's director (despite being a huge fan of the games) somehow misses the point and turns the whole shebang into a zombie movie, that plays up typical zombie movie tropes instead of trying to be true to R.E. I mean I know they try to introduce a new monster each film, but that's bullcrap. The first game had like six or so monsters, so the first movie should as well.

But then, that's what happens when a western director tries to do his own take on a Japanese game modeled after American B-movies...

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