Resident Evil 2 (2019) Does this change the story from the original version?

[BountyHunter]

Does it change any of the lore or create continuity errors with the rest of the series? Or does it keep everything intact?

 

[Deleted member 21244]

Does it change any of the lore or create continuity errors with the rest of the series? Or does it keep everything intact?

The game change the sorry and create continuity error whit the rest of the series, that's why I consider it non Canon

 

[Mr.R]

It depends on how much you're attached to every single little detail. (I'm not, for example. RE's canon was always messy for me to cling on those things)

All the major plot points of RE2 are still present on the Remake. The incident was caused because of the same reasons, the virus was spread in the same way, everyone who died in the original died in the Remake, Sherry was still infected and cured, Ada still helped Leon with the Rocket Launcher and so on.

There's the boss repetition between Leon and Claire, just like in the RE1 Remake, which left things ambiguous on who faced each monster, something that didn't happened in Re2. Also, there's the fact that Leon and Sherry don't interact much, which would make her RE6's statement that Leon saved her a little weird, which I actually don't agree, based on certain conditions.

But anyway, most of what happened in RE2, actually happened in the Remake. RE's canon was never the most straight and clean thing in the universe so...don't let that stop you from enjoying the game.

 

[Deleted member 21244]

It depends on how much you're attached to every single little detail. (I'm not, for example. RE's canon was always messy for me to cling on those things)

All the major plot points of RE2 are still present on the Remake. The incident was caused because of the same reasons, the virus was spread in the same way, everyone who died in the original died in the Remake, Sherry was still infected and cured, Ada still helped Leon with the Rocket Launcher and so on.

There's the boss repetition between Leon and Claire, just like in the RE1 Remake, which left things ambiguous on who faced each monster, something that didn't happened in Re2. Also, there's the fact that Leon and Sherry don't interact much, which would make her RE6's statement that Leon saved her a little weird, which I actually don't agree, based on certain conditions.

But anyway, most of what happened in RE2, actually happened in the Remake. RE's canon was never the most straight and clean thing in the universe so...don't let that stop you from enjoying the game.

There is also the whole Ada backstory missing, that was present in the original...
ada fall from the bridge and it's hard to imagine how she survive , while in the original she is attacked by Mr x she is wounded but not dead....

The whole birkin flashback is rushed into two tapes of 30 second each, while the original had a whole epic cutscene....

Chief irons back story is completely cut

Ada and leon love story is cut to minimal, and it look like ada didn't even care about leon in the remake, he only try to use him to get the g virus, while in the original she fell in love whit him, a fondamental part of the plot since in re 4 she protect leon from certain death many times

The whole train fight whit birkim was better done in the original, also the ending was better, whit leon saying that he want to stop umbrella and Claire saying that she must find Chris, this monologue will set up the two next game, re code veronica and re 4... In the remae instead leon Claire and Sherry meet a truck driver that grant them the middle finger than the walk happy in the sunset like nothing ever happened, lame ending

Also the game contradict itself since Mr x die in two different way, you fight birkin in the same place and Annette die differently in both scenario, the second run is rushed while in the original you really experience the second character perspective, but in the remake bisides the prologue and the end, you experience much of the same things... It's like resident evil 1, whil re 2 was famous for its zapping sistem and the four different scenario, here you have only two campaign like re 1 and you hand up doing the same things

Only the basic plot is there, by the end of the game you don't even get the whole story if you didnt play the original, I friend of mine played the remake and not the original and liked the gameplay but for him the story was poor, and was Shocked to find out that the second campaign was the same only whit minor changing

Nonetheless the game is still good and it deserved to be played for the gameplay especially

 

[BountyHunter]

I still plan to play it regardless, but from the sounds of it, I'll be keeping the original game as canon and treating the remake as an alternate take on things

 

[Deleted member 21244]

I still plan to play it regardless, but from the sounds of it, I'll be keeping the original game as canon and treating the remake as an alternate take on things

It's definitely worth playing, I'm playing it right now, it's a great game, but the story is rushed and non sensical that's all... Just keep the original as canon

 

[RedfieldFan]

To be fair, none of the original RE PS1 games had 1 canon storyline at first.

It was only later confirmed that ClaireA/LeonB was the canon scenario in RE2 and that you need to jump of the bridge in RE3 (not that that makes that much of a difference).

To this day, it's still impossible to get the canon story in RE1.

The next section contains spoilers for RE2!

I do think it's a shame that they didn't make two very different stories for Leon and Claire in the remake. Two different stories that sometimes interact. They could even have the two main characters meet up and fight Birkin together in the lab similar to certain bosses in RE6. (Kingdom Hearts BBS also did this.)
After this they could have split up again to fight their respective final bosses.
The scenarios in the RE2 remake were almost completely the same which is the game's biggest flaw. Because of stuff like riddles and boss encounters being repeated along with stuff like Mr X being killed in Claire’s campaign while still being alive in Leon's, it's hard to call the game canon.

The remake of RE1 also didn't streamline the story but it also didn't confuse anything from the original - it simply made the game prettier while adding new gameplay elements and plot. Maybe the RE2 remake should have done the same, just with the over the shoulder gameplay.
That said, some of the new stuff in the RE2 remake are awesome such as the orphanage and the bigger sewers. Others like the new plant-zombies - not so much.

From Code Veronica and forward, almost all main RE games only had one ending. I personally prefer it like that as it doesn't confuse the overall story.
Only Rev2 and RE7 had two different endings but the canon stories for both those games were made clear through additional dlc.

All in all, while the story inaccuracies does bother me, the RE2 remake is still an amazing game and I would definitely recommend it!

 

[Mr.R]

All of your arguments are fair, but in the end of the day, all the important plot points of the original RE2 are present on the Remake, and answering the Op's question, the story doesn't exactly changes the lore in any way. It might have less information (and I do miss some context files from the original RE2, like the reply from the FBI, when Chris asked then to run a background check on Irons, Chief Irons aspirations of being mayor and things like that.)

Some of the changes are also for the better, in my opinion. I actually prefer Leon and Ada's interactions on the Remake, especially because Ada's cover is better (I mean, pretending to be an FBI agent in the middle of a crisis seems way better than "looking for my boyfriend John who works for Umbrella). Also, I never bought that whole "death speech" from Ada in the original. Again, I never really liked Leon and Ada as a pair, but I kinda enjoyed their interactions on the Remake. I also enjoyed Leon and Claire's flirty because..............they're much better together than Leon and Ada. There. I said it.

For the Mr.X thing...it might be possible to have two tyrants running around Raccoon? I mean, by that time they were mass producing them so...the one killed by Birkin might not be the same Leon killed in the end?

Anyway, I think you guys have a point, but I also think that none of the changes actually impacts the overall lore of the series. All main canon events happened in the Remake so, I suppose the player is free to choose the version of the story they like the most.

 

[Deleted member 21244]

All of your arguments are fair, but in the end of the day, all the important plot points of the original RE2 are present on the Remake, and answering the Op's question, the story doesn't exactly changes the lore in any way. It might have less information (and I do miss some context files from the original RE2, like the reply from the FBI, when Chris asked then to run a background check on Irons, Chief Irons aspirations of being mayor and things like that.)

Some of the changes are also for the better, in my opinion. I actually prefer Leon and Ada's interactions on the Remake, especially because Ada's cover is better (I mean, pretending to be an FBI agent in the middle of a crisis seems way better than "looking for my boyfriend John who works for Umbrella). Also, I never bought that whole "death speech" from Ada in the original. Again, I never really liked Leon and Ada as a pair, but I kinda enjoyed their interactions on the Remake. I also enjoyed Leon and Claire's flirty because..............they're much better together than Leon and Ada. There. I said it.

For the Mr.X thing...it might be possible to have two tyrants running around Raccoon? I mean, by that time they were mass producing them so...the one killed by Birkin might not be the same Leon killed in the end?

Anyway, I think you guys have a point, but I also think that none of the changes actually impacts the overall lore of the series. All main canon events happened in the Remake so, I suppose the player is free to choose the version of the story they like the most.

There is only one tyrant even Capcom say so, the story is simply a mess, there is only one birkin too and yet you get to fight him in the same place whit leon and claire and you get to see him transform to its other form every time whit every character

Well looking for her boyfriend John is the Canon course of event since in resident evil 1 you can find John letter to ada and you even use it as a code to open the computer in the lab...

Yeah in the end resident evil 2 remake had the minimal part of the story, but yet it ommit important part that are necessary for the game to being Canon, for example ada backstory...
also the whole fact that she is working for the organization is ommited and this is an important part of the story... in code veronica and re 4 you later find it was was working for wesker, but now they simply say she is a mercenaries and she is going to sell the virus to the highest bidder but this is not true she is going to give the virus to wesker and the organization, so this is a huge plot hole....
The whole plot is simply a mess, and dosent deliver resdident evil 2 true story, it's simply gives you essential information, it's not even an entertaining story, it was better narrated in the original one...

 

[ToCool74]

Some of the changes are also for the better, in my opinion. I actually prefer Leon and Ada's interactions on the Remake, especially because Ada's cover is better (I mean, pretending to be an FBI agent in the middle of a crisis seems way better than "looking for my boyfriend John who works for Umbrella). Also, I never bought that whole "death speech" from Ada in the original. Again, I never really liked Leon and Ada as a pair, but I kinda enjoyed their interactions on the Remake. I also enjoyed Leon and Claire's flirty because..............they're much better together than Leon and Ada. There. I said it.

Some of the changes where better but the FBI one is definitely not one of them IMO due to the fact that it conflicts with the established canon of RE1 since the Boyfriend John thing was present there and is canon and yet the remake created a inconsistency by making this new FBI story change. I'm ok with small changes here and there but all I want for them to do is make sure that they do not conflict with established lore since that only serves to suck some of us who hold's the story in high regard straight out of the game story since now we are left wondering how this fits in with the established lore it just contradicted, I still maintain that they should have simply did with Remake 1 did which was leave the core story completely intact but add new gameplay and storyline elements on top of it which remake kinda did with the Orphanage part but kinda fumbled the execution or overstepped its bounds by making changes to previous established lore.

 

[Deleted member 21244]

Another big plot that as Been completly cut from re 2 is the t virus

Thats right the t virus is never mentioned once in the whole game, the game simply say that a virus spread, but what virus, g? T? Z? F? They never talk about the t virus (there is only a file at the end that say that the t virus was injected into one of the g virus test subject but that s all) , you can only see a tape where birkin is taking sample and than rat eating the sample but the game never say it's the t virus but that birkin is just takin g virus sample into his brief case, also if you are lucky you will get that rat spread the virus via a dialogue delivered by leon but even this is never explicitly say by any of the character... In the original it was Annette who deliver a whole dialogue about t, g virus and how the t spread and what happened to William, but here all is cut to nothing

 

[KevinStriker]

I'd rather RE0, REmake 1 and REmake 2 (and now 3) occupy their own continuity separate from the original games' continuity at this point now that there's 3+ of them. RE0 and REmake just kind of existed in this limbo of "which is canon which isn't" conflicting however slightly with events as they were in Resident Evil 1, as well as being stylistically identical to each other but radically different (and more advanced) compared to Resident Evil 2, the next game canonically. Obviously there would be not radical stylistic shift for somebody going from RE1 to RE2.

 

[Deleted member 21244]

I'd rather RE0, REmake 1 and REmake 2 (and now 3) occupy their own continuity separate from the original games' continuity at this point now that there's 3+ of them. RE0 and REmake just kind of existed in this limbo of "which is canon which isn't" conflicting however slightly with events as they were in Resident Evil 1, as well as being stylistically identical to each other but radically different (and more advanced) compared to Resident Evil 2, the next game canonically. Obviously there would be not radical stylistic shift for somebody going from RE1 to RE2.

Re 0 and re 1 are perfectly Canon whit the old Canon, re 2 remake can't be Canon whit re 0 and re 1 remake since the completely ommit events from re 1 remake such as ada boyfriend... Re 1 remake story is the same as the original only whit some added feature like lise Trevor, that was originally going to happear in the original but was cut because they didn't have time

If you play re 1 remake and then the original Re 2 the plot is perfectly consistent while if you play Re 2 remake it's isn't

Only re 0 retconned some part of re 1 by saying that it was Marcus who spread the virus but even than it perfectly coexist whit Re 1, because it retcon some event That are never explicitly say in re 1 but dosent contradict anything like re 2 remake did...

Capcom itself say re 2 and 3 remake are reimaginations of the event, I personally like re 2 remake but if someone as to get the full plot and Canon plot, than you should Play the original one...

Damn even darkside chronicled did a better job at remaking re 2 story

 

[RedfieldFan]

Another big plot that as Been completly cut from re 2 is the t virus

Thats right the t virus is never mentioned once in the whole game, the game simply say that a virus spread, but what virus, g? T? Z? F? They never talk about the t virus (there is only a file at the end that say that the t virus was injected into one of the g virus test subject but that s all) , you can only see a tape where birkin is taking sample and than rat eating the sample but the game never say it's the t virus but that birkin is just takin g virus sample into his brief case, also if you are lucky you will get that rat spread the virus via a dialogue delivered by leon but even this is never explicitly say by any of the character... In the original it was Annette who deliver a whole dialogue about t, g virus and how the t spread and what happened to William, but here all is cut to nothing

That's a very good point. I didn't even realize that the t-virus isn't mentioned at all during the game.

 

[Deleted member 21244]

That's a very good point. I didn't even realize that the t-virus isn't mentioned at all during the game.

They could have at least mention it, we have a whole outbreak, but it the end the game never say it was a t virus outbreak...
Its like remaking re code veronica but only mention the t veronica virus and completely ommit that the t virus is the one spreading into the island

I hope that at least is mentioned in re 3
The good things about re 2 remake is that it was done simultaneously whit re 3 remake so most of the things they cut could be explained by re 3 remake, like the t virus, but obviously they cannot save the two scenario contradicting each other

 

[KennedyKiller]

Lol, basically, the answer is yes. There are changes to the lore AND the continuity, for better or for worse. Personally, I'm enjoying it less with each play through, but, still enjoying it enough to keep playing through it. And a lot of that IS due to every time I play it, I find another thing left out, or another change that isn't for the better. I would definitely still recommend buying it and playing it...

Also, I'm so glad everyone keeps bringing up John when it comes to Ada's changes. I thought I was the only one that remembered that and was salty about it.