The Great Resident Evil Franchise Replay - Join me, Won't You ?

[chandoog]

Game 1.

Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PSX)

Managed to play through and extremely surprised at how well my memory of the game was retained, including puzzle solutions and locations of key items. With prior knowledge, this is actually a pretty short game. Easily beatable within 2~3 hours for a scenario.

Played one of each Chris and Jill's games to get the best endings for each.

Pros:
- Extremely memorable
- A sense of mystery that future games in the series often lose out on.
- Good implementation of 'metroidvania' style mechanics in a 3D environment
- Each character has multiple endings which gives the game great replayability

Cons:
- Probably the least well-aged game owing to the extremely low resolution backgrounds. This could definitely use the AI - Upscaling mod treatment.
- Chris's game is much more harder than Jill's game. It was a harsh reminder playing it how bad Chris has it, with the lesser inventory slots and not being able to access the GL.



Retrospective score: 7/10


In conclusion:

Chris's "YOU CAN'T KILL MEEEE" sound bite before the first Tyrant fight is arguably my favorite single line in the franchise.

 

[chandoog]

Game 2.

Resident Evil 2 (GameCube version via Dolphin Emulator)

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Arguably the best old-school style RE game. Especially out of the one's from the PS1 era.

Gotta give huge props to the incredible Seamless HD mod for the GC version which uses AI up-scaling to enhance the backgrounds and even improves on the FMV quality by using the Source Next version's FMVs.

The mod can be obtained for free here.

Scenario played: Claire A Leon B. Because while the 'official' canon was always a mixture of the two scenarios, Claire A and Leon B made the most sense for the series to continue, as this is the only scenario where Sherry gets infected and Ada surviving seems a lot more plausible if she passes out from being hit against a control panel than falling down a bottomless shaft.

Like with RE1, I was surprised at how well my memory of the game was retained including minor things like the safe-code where you get the RPD map and acid rounds / shotguns hells (2236). With all the prior knowledge, both scenarios can be finished in a couple of hours but the AI Up-scaled mods make me want to take in all the amazing detail.

Pro:

- Incredible sequel to the first game. Just about every single aspect is an improvement.
- What better say to expand from a single location to an entire city. It's the Alien to Aliens formula done right.
- The game has above average length and replay-ability thanks to the 4 unique-ish scenarios and 3 unlockable modes.
- Introduced two of the most memorable and quotable leads of its time, who've ended up becoming main stays of the entire franchise even 20+ years later.

Con:

- Lack of resolution for the surviving cast of RE1 for the time the game originally came out felt lacking (of course it doesn't anymore)
- Always felt like RE2 barely scratched the Raccoon City segments, again something which future games will greatly remedy.
- Even though they're only a few minutes long, the small Sherry game play segments drag because of how slow she runs.


Retrospective Score: 9/10

Final verdict: Excellent game, incredible sequel to RE1 and arguably the game which cemented Resident Evil's success as a franchise.


--


Hey. It's up to US to take down Umbrella.

*cue bad-ass music*

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[chandoog]

Game 3.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

Version played: Gamecube via Dolphin Emulator using the amazing Seamless HD Mod.

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This is it. For a long while this used to be my all-time favorite RE game. And arguably the first RE game I *really* got into back when I first started the franchise. I was maybe 12 when this came out .. all things considered I played these games at way too early of an age.

This was the first RE game which only has one scenario and 2 endings with very minor modifications, thus making it the shortest RE game at the time of release. To make up for it, we got Operation Mad Jackal. An amazing side-game with high amounts of replay value and tons of fun to be had.

Nemesis introduced various forward thinking advancements to the franchise which various future games would fail to implement successfully eg a persistent 'chaser' enemy, being able to free-climb stairs rather than pressing a button, and a very wildly fluctuating dodging mechanic etc. To this day I cannot nail down a dodge 100% and in most cases it's a stroke of luck when I manage to hit one.

Nemesis was also the first game in the franchise to implement real-time decisions at various points in the game which have minor modifications to the active game play scenario you are in at the moment, and can even determine which ending you get near the end. Dubbed "Live Selection", it's a shame we haven't seen much of this in future games. Nemesis also had randomization for non-key items and enemy placement in various locations in the game. You may not find the same amount of herbs or ammo in a location in play through B that you found in play through A.

Another game play advancement Nemesis made was the inclusion of gun powder. The amount of ammo you find in the game itself is very limited, the game makes up for it by peppering gun powder and an ammo tool which can be used to make basic ammo or combined in various combinations to make different kind of ammo (and even enhanced ammo).

And in terms of it's greater place in the franchise, we've all heard the rumblings about how this was not supposed to be a numbered game, but I believe the opposite. This game marked the closure for the Raccoon City portion of the lore, it deserves a numbered spot. The game also advances the plot for most of the key characters in the franchise thanks to the Epilogue files you unlock by beating the game repeatedly. Yes, most of this info would have been great in the game itself as files or character conversations .. but you get what you get I suppose.

I'm sure I can write a lot more about the game, but to summarize below are my pros and cons:

Pro:
- The "most" game play variety in the franchise so far.
- Jill's portrayal and performance was also some of the most solid character work in the franchise so far.
- Nicholai is a great villain and a suitable alternative to Wesker. It's a damn shame the franchise hasn't made up its mind about which ending is canon regarding him even now.
- Nemesis was a revelation. While not a completely original concept, Nemesis is one of the best implementation of a 'chaser' enemy even today.
- While the game isn't the longest, it has enough minor variances through out that you can easily warrant a few runs through the game just to see all available content (eg seeing Carlos with Murphy instead of Nicholai, or seeing Nicholai in the gas station instead of Carlos).

Con:
- Average game length, it's kinda small and if you know what you're doing, you can easily beat it in 2~3 hours max.
- Carlos is mostly a terrible character. Thankfully this was greatly remedied in the remake.
- That motherfucking water treatment puzzle. Fuck that piece of shit puzzle.
- As fearsome as Nemesis is, once you get a hang of his game play ticks, it is very easy to avoid/fight him even with a handgun (i-e always stay on his right hand side cause he only grabs Jill from the left hand)


Retrospective Score: 8/10

Final Verdict:
A great follow up to the sublime RE2. While it hasn't held up as well as RE2, it's still one of the best games of its kind and a must-play for anyone interested in the RE franchise.

And we got one of the coolest one-liners.

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Next up ... Resident Evil Survivor .... oh boy I'm not anticipating this one.

 

[chandoog]

Alright, time to post an update. Beat RE: Survivor and I'm glad to be done with it.

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Not gonna be a long post cause I don't really have a lot of positive thoughts on the game in the first place.

So, this is it. Not the ideal swan song for the franchise on the PS1, but ah well. Played the PSX version with a controller, no gun con support for the US release I guess (not that I would go out of my way to get one in the first place). This is a bad game, there's no two ways about it. A lot of reused assets from RE2 (guessing this was being developed simultaneously with Nemesis, which is why it doesn't use any assets from that game instead).

There are some pros about the game, namely some really good lore-building files. However since the game has come out, some things about them have been put into question. Namely, one of the files in the English localized versions is written by Nicholai from RE3 post Racoon nuking, however the original Japanese translation does not have that entry, so Nicholai's ultimate fate and which of the RE3 endings was canon is still in dispute.

That being said, here are some basic pros and cons in my experience.

Pro:
- The game has some variety to the locations you can visit/revisit I guess. You have a choice between some locations which determine the antagonist you get.
- A good variety of weapons and enemies. Seemingly every BOW from the first two games is in here, including a bucket ton of Mr. X's.
- The game is mercifully short.
- There are glimpses of a game which could have been much better than it became. A whole another island effected by Umbrella's antics is a plot that could have been much more relevant in the time-frame this game came out in.

Con:
- Abhorrently insufferable voice acting.
- Despite coming out on the tail-end of the PS1, the game looks like something you'd have been in its first year.
- Game-play is serviceable at best.
- Absolutely no puzzles.


Retrospective score: 3/10

Final verdict: Just a terrible game, wasn't really that fun to revisit and I'm glad it ended quick. I did not want to replay to check the other paths.


Favorite character: Vincent's mother.

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[chandoog]

WISE FROM YOUR GRAVE !!

Game 5. Resident Evil: Code Veronica X
Version played: PS3 HD Remaster

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So, here we are. The first Resident Evil game on a new generation. Originally released on the Dreamcast, later getting an expanded re-release on the PS2 .. which is the version all future releases have been based on. The PS3/360 got a decent remaster which upgraded the lighting engine using MT Framework, making it much better visually but with the added side effect of making everything much much darker. Oh, they also did a really bad job cropping the FMVs to 16 : 9 ... so I'd say it's probably a better option sticking to the PS2 or Gamecube version.

That being said, Code Veronica used to be a game I held in very high regards, as I played this game the first time I was getting into my teens and was had a RE fever. Not to say I hate the game or anything now, however I will say this game has aged terribly and is now placed in the lower echelon of the RE rankings.

Being the first game with fully 3D graphics, it's kinda understandable why it hasn't aged well. This is early console 3D, which misses out on a lot of bespoke detail lovingly added in the pre-rendered backgrounds. Sure you can increase the resolution via emulation, but it just highlights the early 3D textures even more.

On top of that, for some reason or another, Code: Veronica lacks various game play enhancements added in RE3. For example, you cannot free climb stairs anymore, character animations (outside of cut-scenes) are more rigid and the characters don't feel as agile and nimble to control as Jill Valentine did.

Another key negative is backtracking. At the time of release, Code: Veronica was by far the biggest campaign of any RE game, however a certain part of it was due to multiple instances of forced backtracking.

Moving on from the negatives, the game also did various things really well. For example, the story is now beyond the Raccoon City arc and various plot points for the future of the franchise are set in stone here. The added Wesker scenes for the X version set him up as a recurring villain for the franchise, despite the fact that his sudden revival was received mixed by the fanbase at the time of release.

Replaying this game in 2021 felt like a chore to be honest. At multiple points I genuinely considered just youtubing the cut-scenes instead. To summarize, the game may be a great representation of classic RE, but it has not aged well.

Retrospective score: 6.5/10

Steve is FUCKING TERRIBLE.​