http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/637/1637183/
Dangeki Online did an interview with several people who are working on the two Resident Evil 7 DLC pieces, Not a Hero and End of Zoe (both releasing on December 12th, Not a Hero is a free DLC for every owner of RE7, while End of Zoe is paid for but is included in the season pass), which includes a plethora of new information including the first gameplay details of End of Zoe.
Firstly, the titlecards for End of Zoe and Not a Hero:
Here's a bulletpoint list of the most interesting details (though mostly fro Google Translation bits):
Not a Hero:
-Theme of the DLC is "Chris vs Lucas"
-Plays differently than the main game as you plays as Chris, includes some of Chris' RE5 establishments such as being able to 'stun' enemies and then run up and either punch or stomp them.
-You can play Not a Hero before beating the main game, but they highly recommend playing it after the main game. NaH takes place after the main game with story connections, and the difficulty of NaH is harder than the main game.
-For those who don't know, Not a Hero was delayed from an April release date to rework it (originally it was outsourced to another studio, what came back they were not happy with so they reworked it themselves). They comment the rework didn't change much of the 'base' of the DLC (IE, story is pretty much the same as it was planned to be), but they redid the stages/mechanics and mention they tried to implement more of what people liked of RE7 into Not a Hero in key places. They also were able to further work Not a Hero from the evaluation people had of the main game and user's expectations.
-The name of "Not a Hero" is mostly focused on the DLC exploring Chris, the new Umbrella, and why Chris is working for them.
-How Chris controls will be very different to how Ethan controlled in RE7. There's more general things, like an increased moving speed, faster reloading, but there is also new systems such as melee strikes on a stunned enemy and being able to counter enemies attacks by guarding at the right time. On-top of this, Chris' arsenal is entirely new and functions in a much more efficient way that Ethan's did, and he has various animation and other differences to give him a different playstyle.
End of Zoe:
-In RE7 they purposely made Ethan a thin character to put more emphasis on the Baker's, to give more attachment to the antagonists. End of Zoe will build a lot on one of the Baker family members you only know more passively in RE7, Zoe Baker.
-Part of the reason End of Zoe was created as it is was because of user's reactions to Zoe not really being 'savable' in RE7's split path, no matter what you do she's kind of boned in RE7, so they want to explore past that and her ultimate fate.
-Joe is the main character of End of Zoe, and he plays very differently from either Ethan or Chris. He does not have access to firearms and instead needs to use his survivalist skills and environment to get-by. The DLC is mainly set in the marshlands and outdoor environments,how Joe controls is the left bumpers are his left hand and the right bumpers are his right hand. He is a survivalist and somewhat violent but with weakness and vulnerabilities, and have to use his bare hands and objects of the swamp as weapons.
-Confirm there will be new types of monsters in End of Zoe not seen in the main game, including the wildlife of the swamp. Tease there's a particular monster with a 'large mouth' of the swamp you may want to be especially careful of.
-End of Zoe will be the first RE7 piece to get use out of a brand new sound system they're testing and been using with Monster Hunter Worlds; ViReal technology. The full game may get support for it in the future, but it should make an astounding amount of difference for those with headphones and big sound systems. They mention in End of Zoe sound design was a huge focus and hope to impress people with it when they play.
Some general RE7 development & Gold Edition things:
-Development went well, and they're really happy with how RE7 turned out. They experimented a lot within the team, and if taken as a whole RE7 has a lot of weird quirky elements in the Gold Edition, everything from classic horror style, escape puzzles, a card game, an arcade shooter, a VR title, etc. And even just testing RE7 in first-person and going back to the series roots was fun to take on, and lead to good momentum within the team.
-One thing producer Kawada Masachika thinks they really came to understand in RE7 is it's important everyone knows what to home in on. He thinks sometimes in the past there were different ideas of what a Resident Evil game should be, but it was different in RE7 as everyone on the team knew the themes of RE7 and what they were going for, so even when experimenting different ideas there was consistency. He thinks having the team understand direction and theme to explore will be important going forward.
-They think RE7 was a valuable title to work on, both for the end user, for their flagship Resident Evil franchise, and internally as they think they realized some new things for Resident Evil and its direction and how to handle internal development from RE7. They appreciate that Resident Evil is a series that can get creative and experimental a bit
-Resident Evil 7's feedback is back, and it's done really good in people's outlook at the RE franchise, and there's a very different feeling for the franchise before RE7 happened and after, a more positive outlook. They hope to expand on that, and have been of course examining the why deeply. They're happy they may get more chances to try to go further this direction with Resident Evil, or even some unexpected directions.
On Revelations 1 & 2 Switch Port:
-Revelations 1 was a natural fit for Switch, it was originally a handheld title turned into a title people could play on consoles, and now on the Switch people can choose to play Revelations 1 either in handheld mode or on console.
-Going back to Nintendo hardware, they had fun implementing the Gyro controls for Revelations and used an idea they had while working on Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition of how a detailed optional control scheme can add to users enjoyment. They hope people enjoy the new optional control scheme.
-Revelations 1 & 2 they think may be some users first experience with Resident Evil, and they hope it's a good introduction. Seem to be interested in bringing more Resident Evil to Switch if Revelations 1 & 2 does well there.
---
UPDATE: Another Japanese interview, here's the additional details.
Interview with 4Gamer at the link (Japanese): http://www.4gamer.net/games/346/G034629/20171118013/
Additional details from this interview:
Not a Hero:
-Reaffirm that Not a Hero's update didn't change the story, the story has remained the same since they wrote the DLCs story and scenario after the main game's scenario was finished being written. However, they did take RE7's response to update the overall quality and rework some scenarios and add some, though the overall scale of the DLC hasn't changed.
-Comment that only the first small bit of Not a Hero is from the base RE7 game, there was a door that was unopenable in the main game's Mine location. The DLC all takes place beyond that door, and it is all new past there.
-Comment again the focus on the DLC was Chris and Lucas, but expand on that. They want the DLC to demonstrate both the appeal of Chris and Lucas as characters in gameplay, IE Chris having some of the staples fans have come to expect with him in how he plays in contrast to Ethan, but also in how Lucas as a character works but much more expanded. The sort of sick twisted games, puzzles, and traps he likes to do, but expanded in a much grander scope as Lucas realizes he's on a thin rope and up against a challenging foe.They hope NaH highlights what's likable about both of these characters and their conflict.
-Confirmation about Blue Umbrella: Their deal will be explained at the start of Not a Hero, but Blue Umbrella was actually made by members of the original Umbrella. After their stocks crashed, several remaining members created the new Umbrella and organized it years later as 'atonement', to make an organization to finance and fight the mess that Umbrella originally created. Chris is invited from the BSAA to be an adviser, but he doesn't trust the new Umbrella completely but figures he should keep an eye on them. They're making 'anti-BOW' weapons and have a goal to track down and eliminate what Umbrella created in wake of their creations going crazy in the world, black markets, and underground organizations, while using their world-leading technology to combat it.
End of Zoe:
-Talk about the 'misery of Zoe', and the Daughters episode they released which showed more of that than the main game did, and that this episode was created because many people wanted to save Zoe but the main game didn't give much of a choice in that regard. When asked directly if Zoe can be saved, the director coyly says the interpretation of that may be divided among people.
-Joe, the playable character in End of Zoe, is confirmed to be an outlaw who's living in isolation partially for this reason. He can't return to normal society. He's forged survival skills and has a tough body, but is aging, has his own weaknesses, and unprepared for what he is going to face. Confirm this episode focuses very strongly on both the 'survival' and the 'horror' part of survival-horror, and contrasts the tone of Not a Hero.
-Joe is confirmed again to have no guns. He can make harpoons though, and can create other things from materials in the swamp. He also can create and lay traps.
-Joe can hunt down animals in the wild and use their meat to recover health.
-They comment again a bit about the sound design, but add on this that atmosphere was a really big focus for them in End of zoe.
On Resident Evil 7 in general:
-VR response was much more positive than they were expecting. They say VR would never be a fit for all games, but might be a good fit for certain kinds of games. They mention there's challenges, but they feel positive they've gotten a pretty decent handle on how to make a good VR game, and user response tells them VR made the game more immersive by many reports from players.
-Tease that Clancy maybe survived the events of RE7.
Dangeki Online did an interview with several people who are working on the two Resident Evil 7 DLC pieces, Not a Hero and End of Zoe (both releasing on December 12th, Not a Hero is a free DLC for every owner of RE7, while End of Zoe is paid for but is included in the season pass), which includes a plethora of new information including the first gameplay details of End of Zoe.
Firstly, the titlecards for End of Zoe and Not a Hero:
Here's a bulletpoint list of the most interesting details (though mostly fro Google Translation bits):
Not a Hero:
-Theme of the DLC is "Chris vs Lucas"
-Plays differently than the main game as you plays as Chris, includes some of Chris' RE5 establishments such as being able to 'stun' enemies and then run up and either punch or stomp them.
-You can play Not a Hero before beating the main game, but they highly recommend playing it after the main game. NaH takes place after the main game with story connections, and the difficulty of NaH is harder than the main game.
-For those who don't know, Not a Hero was delayed from an April release date to rework it (originally it was outsourced to another studio, what came back they were not happy with so they reworked it themselves). They comment the rework didn't change much of the 'base' of the DLC (IE, story is pretty much the same as it was planned to be), but they redid the stages/mechanics and mention they tried to implement more of what people liked of RE7 into Not a Hero in key places. They also were able to further work Not a Hero from the evaluation people had of the main game and user's expectations.
-The name of "Not a Hero" is mostly focused on the DLC exploring Chris, the new Umbrella, and why Chris is working for them.
-How Chris controls will be very different to how Ethan controlled in RE7. There's more general things, like an increased moving speed, faster reloading, but there is also new systems such as melee strikes on a stunned enemy and being able to counter enemies attacks by guarding at the right time. On-top of this, Chris' arsenal is entirely new and functions in a much more efficient way that Ethan's did, and he has various animation and other differences to give him a different playstyle.
End of Zoe:
-In RE7 they purposely made Ethan a thin character to put more emphasis on the Baker's, to give more attachment to the antagonists. End of Zoe will build a lot on one of the Baker family members you only know more passively in RE7, Zoe Baker.
-Part of the reason End of Zoe was created as it is was because of user's reactions to Zoe not really being 'savable' in RE7's split path, no matter what you do she's kind of boned in RE7, so they want to explore past that and her ultimate fate.
-Joe is the main character of End of Zoe, and he plays very differently from either Ethan or Chris. He does not have access to firearms and instead needs to use his survivalist skills and environment to get-by. The DLC is mainly set in the marshlands and outdoor environments,how Joe controls is the left bumpers are his left hand and the right bumpers are his right hand. He is a survivalist and somewhat violent but with weakness and vulnerabilities, and have to use his bare hands and objects of the swamp as weapons.
-Confirm there will be new types of monsters in End of Zoe not seen in the main game, including the wildlife of the swamp. Tease there's a particular monster with a 'large mouth' of the swamp you may want to be especially careful of.
-End of Zoe will be the first RE7 piece to get use out of a brand new sound system they're testing and been using with Monster Hunter Worlds; ViReal technology. The full game may get support for it in the future, but it should make an astounding amount of difference for those with headphones and big sound systems. They mention in End of Zoe sound design was a huge focus and hope to impress people with it when they play.
Some general RE7 development & Gold Edition things:
-Development went well, and they're really happy with how RE7 turned out. They experimented a lot within the team, and if taken as a whole RE7 has a lot of weird quirky elements in the Gold Edition, everything from classic horror style, escape puzzles, a card game, an arcade shooter, a VR title, etc. And even just testing RE7 in first-person and going back to the series roots was fun to take on, and lead to good momentum within the team.
-One thing producer Kawada Masachika thinks they really came to understand in RE7 is it's important everyone knows what to home in on. He thinks sometimes in the past there were different ideas of what a Resident Evil game should be, but it was different in RE7 as everyone on the team knew the themes of RE7 and what they were going for, so even when experimenting different ideas there was consistency. He thinks having the team understand direction and theme to explore will be important going forward.
-They think RE7 was a valuable title to work on, both for the end user, for their flagship Resident Evil franchise, and internally as they think they realized some new things for Resident Evil and its direction and how to handle internal development from RE7. They appreciate that Resident Evil is a series that can get creative and experimental a bit
-Resident Evil 7's feedback is back, and it's done really good in people's outlook at the RE franchise, and there's a very different feeling for the franchise before RE7 happened and after, a more positive outlook. They hope to expand on that, and have been of course examining the why deeply. They're happy they may get more chances to try to go further this direction with Resident Evil, or even some unexpected directions.
On Revelations 1 & 2 Switch Port:
-Revelations 1 was a natural fit for Switch, it was originally a handheld title turned into a title people could play on consoles, and now on the Switch people can choose to play Revelations 1 either in handheld mode or on console.
-Going back to Nintendo hardware, they had fun implementing the Gyro controls for Revelations and used an idea they had while working on Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition of how a detailed optional control scheme can add to users enjoyment. They hope people enjoy the new optional control scheme.
-Revelations 1 & 2 they think may be some users first experience with Resident Evil, and they hope it's a good introduction. Seem to be interested in bringing more Resident Evil to Switch if Revelations 1 & 2 does well there.
---
UPDATE: Another Japanese interview, here's the additional details.
Interview with 4Gamer at the link (Japanese): http://www.4gamer.net/games/346/G034629/20171118013/
Additional details from this interview:
Not a Hero:
-Reaffirm that Not a Hero's update didn't change the story, the story has remained the same since they wrote the DLCs story and scenario after the main game's scenario was finished being written. However, they did take RE7's response to update the overall quality and rework some scenarios and add some, though the overall scale of the DLC hasn't changed.
-Comment that only the first small bit of Not a Hero is from the base RE7 game, there was a door that was unopenable in the main game's Mine location. The DLC all takes place beyond that door, and it is all new past there.
-Comment again the focus on the DLC was Chris and Lucas, but expand on that. They want the DLC to demonstrate both the appeal of Chris and Lucas as characters in gameplay, IE Chris having some of the staples fans have come to expect with him in how he plays in contrast to Ethan, but also in how Lucas as a character works but much more expanded. The sort of sick twisted games, puzzles, and traps he likes to do, but expanded in a much grander scope as Lucas realizes he's on a thin rope and up against a challenging foe.They hope NaH highlights what's likable about both of these characters and their conflict.
-Confirmation about Blue Umbrella: Their deal will be explained at the start of Not a Hero, but Blue Umbrella was actually made by members of the original Umbrella. After their stocks crashed, several remaining members created the new Umbrella and organized it years later as 'atonement', to make an organization to finance and fight the mess that Umbrella originally created. Chris is invited from the BSAA to be an adviser, but he doesn't trust the new Umbrella completely but figures he should keep an eye on them. They're making 'anti-BOW' weapons and have a goal to track down and eliminate what Umbrella created in wake of their creations going crazy in the world, black markets, and underground organizations, while using their world-leading technology to combat it.
End of Zoe:
-Talk about the 'misery of Zoe', and the Daughters episode they released which showed more of that than the main game did, and that this episode was created because many people wanted to save Zoe but the main game didn't give much of a choice in that regard. When asked directly if Zoe can be saved, the director coyly says the interpretation of that may be divided among people.
-Joe, the playable character in End of Zoe, is confirmed to be an outlaw who's living in isolation partially for this reason. He can't return to normal society. He's forged survival skills and has a tough body, but is aging, has his own weaknesses, and unprepared for what he is going to face. Confirm this episode focuses very strongly on both the 'survival' and the 'horror' part of survival-horror, and contrasts the tone of Not a Hero.
-Joe is confirmed again to have no guns. He can make harpoons though, and can create other things from materials in the swamp. He also can create and lay traps.
-Joe can hunt down animals in the wild and use their meat to recover health.
-They comment again a bit about the sound design, but add on this that atmosphere was a really big focus for them in End of zoe.
On Resident Evil 7 in general:
-VR response was much more positive than they were expecting. They say VR would never be a fit for all games, but might be a good fit for certain kinds of games. They mention there's challenges, but they feel positive they've gotten a pretty decent handle on how to make a good VR game, and user response tells them VR made the game more immersive by many reports from players.
-Tease that Clancy maybe survived the events of RE7.
Last edited:
