Has Resident Evil had it's day at this point?

[Turo602]

After having my own thoughts, and seeing everyone else’s opinions all i can think is, Capcom have f##ked up. Badly. The story, the characters, everythings just gone to hell. Capcom just contradict themselves all the time. As many others have said in this post, Capcom call Chris and Jill superheroes, then have Joe go all clubber lang on molded, which is not only ridiculous in itself, but totally removes any tension or threat from the molded as enemies, which wasnt really there to begin with. I don’t know, i can’t say anything else that hasnt been said by everyone else at this point. It just sucks.

Yeah, it really sucks. I never thought I'd ever feel like this about Resident Evil. For a long time, it's been on my top 3 favorite franchises of all time, but I can't say that anymore. I feel no hype, joy, or excitement for the next entry, Revelations 3, or even REmake 2. The magic is just gone.

 

[bSTAR_182]

This being one of very few game series that I have dedicated a lot of time and money towards, I still try to remain hopeful. I haven't completely given up on the series making a comeback as there are opportunities where Capcom can bring the series back on the right path and tie up loose ends. It's obvious that most fans can agree that they would like to see the continuation of the iconic characters again before completely rebooting the series. Which I hope Capcom has at least realized this after RE7.

If there is anything positive that I can say about RE7, in terms of bringing anything to the series' story, it's that it does leave the possibility of bringing back Wesker. Granted I know some fans don't want him to be brought back but the fact of the matter is that Capcom doesn't quit bringing him back up especially where Chris is concerned. Lucas seems to know of Chris to the point where he specifically wants to toy with him over any of the other Umbrella operatives. Couple that with the fact that Capcom never discloses who Lucas was working with makes me speculate that we've seen this person before (or that they are completely making things up as they go- which is also a good possibility looking at how this series has played out thus far).

If it was Wesker then it makes it all the more ironic that Capcom would use Chris to end Lucas and then destroy the computer before the information could reach the "unidentified buyer". But if they're not setting up for Albert's return then it could still be a company that Alex can merge with once the time is right.


I'm still curious to see where they take any of the future instalments but if it looks like Capcom continues on with all new characters then I'll be sitting the next instalments out.

 

[ROCKMAN X]

I really don't care about any story at this point. RE4 killed umbrella in its intro and that was the end of old story. Everything that came after that was just pure nonsense and isn't half as interesting as the RE1-3's lore. RE5 was a major disappointment gameplay wise as it didn't have a great single player campaign and RE6 was just an incoherent mess. I like how RE7 more or less ignores the previous games and does its own little story with new characters, old characters are like superheroes so why make games with them? it won't be as good.

 

[bSTAR_182]

I like how RE7 more or less ignores the previous games and does its own little story with new characters, old characters are like superheroes so why make games with them? it won't be as good.

 

[KevinStriker]

With Resident Evil 7 kinda doing its own thing, all I see is a parallel to 4.
Resident Evil 4 was the first in a new numbered trilogy, introduced a radically new gameplay style and contained a story that had little to do with the overarching plot, but its place in it was built upon and revealed later.

 

[Cure Zombrex]

I'm not saying I don't dislike RE7 or even 5 and 6, but they ain't able to hold a candle to the first four games, including Code: Veronica. As for RE4...I don't think that game sucks or anything, but again, it's the RE title being on the cover that sold it for people. The game has next to nothing to do with the others, beyond Leon being in it (although he behaves almost like a different man) and some passing references to Raccoon City is noted down. But play it back to back with RE2, and you wouldn't even think it was in any way supposed to be connected. Well, I know Ada is in both games too, but I meant most of what else it involves you doing sets it in a different world entirely.

 

[N7Valentine]

I'm pleasantly surprised how people here on residentevil.org are much better critical thinkers. I've been on biohaze.com while I was away, but that site is literally filled with lore-whores elitists, that will commence a witch hunt if you dare to criticize or point out flaws of the series. Makes me appreciate this site even more.

Anyway, I believe the series started to crumble with RE4. From that moment on when each entry started to be a self-contained story with some loose connections to past titles, in opposition to the closely tied stories of previous entries.

Then we have the constant time skipping which didn't do the series any favors. Some characters get more spotligh, while others have to wait decades before they even consider using them. How many years did we wait until we saw Rebecca, Claire and Barry back on screen? Now it looks like Jill's the one to be benched. And of course, too many informations are never released in the West and you have to rely on fansites that translate this... But even then, most of these infos contradict with the established lore, which makes me wondering if Capcom even cares to be consistent, no matter how small the detail is. Also, the inconsistency for their own damn characters. How on god's earth am I supposed to be believe that this twat in 7 is Chris Redfield or that weird chick in Rev1 is Jill Valentine? How?! How come games like Uncharted can keep their characters iconic looks, while RE can't?

Then we have RE7... It completely went FP, away from the traditional "seeing your character" perspective in favor of cheap and lame-ass FP horror. The story and characters weren't better, either. Ethan was by far the blandest and most un-reactive character in RE's history... Capcom calls Chris, Jill and Leon etc. overpowered, but Ethan is even more overpowered than them, so is Joe aka Poor man's Chuck Norris. The whole Blue Umbrella plot is straight up retarded: They were already established in 2007 according to files , but it is now that we actually see them. So in a time before RE5! Yet how come they were never brought up before? How come Chris, Leon & Co. didn't do something against them earlier? Probably because Capcom has pulled that plot line out of their asses. :razz: Nevermind, the series has already many plot holes and all they do is adding more questions than answers, which add more confusion among fans: Basically, not really closing a chapter and jumping onto the next "big thing"

I don't know how they will handle this but I'm rather skeptical about RE's future. There are so many things that need to be solved first

 

[Cure Zombrex]

N7Valentine, I'm not in the business of badmouthing other forums, but I agree with you about the attitude of some of the users on Biohaze. I'd been a member there for years and didn't cause any hassle, nor flame those who said the polar opposite to what I just said. We all know that opinions reflect the original poster's own belief. Many people there didn't take to me, and while I cannot automatically make people like me, I also felt as if I didn't deserve to be treated how I was at times.

To me, it felt like Biohaze had sadly become one of the last major online communities for the very series I've put up with through a lot of cyber abuse, changes to the style of the games, and having to deal with my own personal problems. Yet it was always the same members who posted there, and I can see why some stragglers never stuck around for long. Now with social media being so mainstream, most forums are dying off in any case. Coincidentally, Yama has gone and redesigned Biohaze just like these forums have been improved, but the ordinary Biohaze forums are now gone. I'm not keen on the new look, to be honest.

With a lot of forums, you'll probably also find that long term members get away with all sorts, while relatively new members just have to address something or get out of line a few times, but they get banned for it. "You Died" was my alias on Biohaze. However, like you noticed too, I think they go about nitpicking over stuff all the time and they cannot master the simple task of being able to respect other people's opinions. It's like things change and you are supposed to go with the lore, when you should be able to decide what is best for you as a fan. It's like with Final Fantasy. I'm not into that series at all, but I reckon some people who love the older ones won't necessarily care much for the more up to date ones, for whatever reason. That's their own choice and their opinion should not matter to others, but it should at least be respected.

That snooty approach they all took annoyed me too. The way I see things today, is that we're in three categories now: old, new, or both. I'd state that I didn't feel as if some recent games like 7: Biohazard were truly like a Resident Evil game, but you know? That isn't to say I am a hater, but I was made to feel that way. They always have to beg to differ, which is okay. It's just how they went about their business on there.

Plus, I reported a stalker on there for uploading avatars of people I know, but they didn't do anything about him. That's likely because, as I stated, they didn't truly like me anyway. Well, the feeling is mutual, I guess. Although you should still be able to get along and not get into petty arguments with strangers on the Internet. My interest in gaming does wax and wane, but I'm sure we all feel like that from time to time.

 

[N7Valentine]

N7Valentine, I'm not in the business of badmouthing other forums, but I agree with you about the attitude of some of the users on Biohaze. I'd been a member there for years and didn't cause any hassle, nor flame those who said the polar opposite to what I just said. We all know that opinions reflect the original poster's own belief. Many people there didn't take to me, and while I cannot automatically make people like me, I also felt as if I didn't deserve to be treated how I was at times.

To me, it felt like Biohaze had sadly become one of the last major online communities for the very series I've put up with through a lot of cyber abuse, changes to the style of the games, and having to deal with my own personal problems. Yet it was always the same members who posted there, and I can see why some stragglers never stuck around for long. Now with social media being so mainstream, most forums are dying off in any case. Coincidentally, Yama has gone and redesigned Biohaze just like these forums have been improved, but the ordinary Biohaze forums are now gone. I'm not keen on the new look, to be honest.

With a lot of forums, you'll probably also find that long term members get away with all sorts, while relatively new members just have to address something or get out of line a few times, but they get banned for it. "You Died" was my alias on Biohaze. However, like you noticed too, I think they go about nitpicking over stuff all the time and they cannot master the simple task of being able to respect other people's opinions. It's like things change and you are supposed to go with the lore, when you should be able to decide what is best for you as a fan. It's like with Final Fantasy. I'm not into that series at all, but I reckon some people who love the older ones won't necessarily care much for the more up to date ones, for whatever reason. That's their own choice and their opinion should not matter to others, but it should at least be respected.

That snooty approach they all took annoyed me too. The way I see things today, is that we're in three categories now: old, new, or both. I'd state that I didn't feel as if some recent games like 7: Biohazard were truly like a Resident Evil game, but you know? That isn't to say I am a hater, but I was made to feel that way. They always have to beg to differ, which is okay. It's just how they went about their business on there.

Plus, I reported a stalker on there for uploading avatars of people I know, but they didn't do anything about him. That's likely because, as I stated, they didn't truly like me anyway. Well, the feeling is mutual, I guess. Although you should still be able to get along and not get into petty arguments with strangers on the Internet. My interest in gaming does wax and wane, but I'm sure we all feel like that from time to time.

I actually remember you from there! I was wondering why you didn't show up again!!! I went by the same name as I do here

Anyway, I just dislike the whole "elitarian" attitude from certain users. They act like they know the lore so damn well, yet don't realize how often Capcom is either vague or contradicting with their own ish. It became annoying as hell!

Another thing is the blind fanboyism: It's not like you cannot a enjoy a specific series/franchise but one cannot overlook the flaws this series has. I had many arguments regarding how Capcom treats certain characters (E.g. Putting Chris and Leon above everyone else, while treating Claire, Jill, Ada & Co. as lesser important characters) and some folks didn't like it, even though I did the same with other games as well. It's simply the way I roll.

RE7 was a poor attempt to bank on the PT hype/FP Horror. Yes, there were some elements from older RE games (Save rooms, Joe being somewhat similar to Nemesis, Mansion etc.) but that doesn't guarantee that a game is actually good. I found the game to be boring as hell and they clearly slapped the RE name on it to sell better:razz: The Evil Within 2 was far more enjoyable

 

[Cure Zombrex]

I'm not sure how long Capcom has left with the series anyway. People used to be of the belief they could go on forever. However, I'm not sure. Revelations 2 felt like a copy of The Last of Us, but it was still in my view, one of the better entries in years. 7: Biohazard wasn't bad, but it was just NOT a true RE game, no matter what the lore says. Save for Chris and a few minor references to Raccoon City, the game was a different adventure entirely that, much like 4: The Room was to Silent Hill, could be branded as its own thing. Like you say, the plot bounces around quicker than a rubber ball in a game of squash. Capcom just seems desperate now, but I do not think the RE2 remake will be anything like the original remake.

 

[N7Valentine]

Of course RE7 wasn't a real RE game. It had some elements/references of older titles but that's about it.

Well, there's a couple of reasons I noticed why the plot of RE has become a mess

1. No real flagship
The writing teams change with each project and each of these directors/writers add their own flavor into the stories without taking a deeper look at the lore and if it doesn't contradict.

2. Poor utilization of characters
Like I already said, RE has a large cast yet it takes them decades before they give us updates on certain chars. Rebecca prior to Stage and Vendetta hasn't appeared for almost a decade, Claire the same before Rev2 and now Jill has gone AWOL. They could easily kill two birds with one stone but they think it's better to keep up waiting many painful years

3. Supplemental materials, that never gets any translation
The lore of RE is vast but there's some files that never get a real translation in the West and is only available in Japanese. They basically withhold valuable information for the general audience (BTW, I think important plot points should be in the games, not in files. Games are a visual medium, so keeping that kind of knowledge like that in some Jap. Files is stupid)

Also, the constant time-skipping and repetitiveness of RE hurts the story a lot. Then there's the consistency with character design...
I could go on like that, but I'm glad I can voice my opinion here without getting burned at stake like a witch lol Other sites aren't that open-minded.

Anyway, I don't know how REmake 2 will turn out. I'm kinda scared, tbh.

 

[Cure Zombrex]

Recently, I thought I'd try to finish Downpour. To be fair, it's graphically not all that bad. The game was going great for me up until the part where Murphy gets into town. After that, it soon got WAY, WAY exhausting and I found the whole game hereby...boring. The lack of firearms was actually appropriate for this game, to an extent, but the game as far as I'm aware, has no boss fights and it's all down to what decisions you make. When I was playing it, 3 hours into things I actually concluded that the game has no boss battles at all. That ain't right. These games always had boss fights up to this entry, and some grim looking monsters too. Nearly everything in Downpour resembles a banshee, and for a game like Silent Hill, we need all sorts of creatures out on the streets that resemble the character's sins.

To be honest, I don't know what is meant to be the canon route, and we'll likely not get any more sequels, just more lousy gambling machines, like we really need those when we've already got millions of bingo halls in Las Vegas. Maybe if we all win enough money from the machines, we can put it in pales and send it to Konami first class postage, so they have no excuse for not doing another game, since we the fans, will be paying for its development. For me, the series died the day Team Silent disbanded. I've not had a good thing to say about the series in 15 years on any forum. Now and then, I've defended Homecoming slightly by saying it has a great story, but that's about it.

Capcom are at least getting the idea. We want real horror games again. Not RE: Call of Duty 5.1 and all this garbage like "Umbrella Corps" (shudders). How crap like that gets authorized, I'll never know. It's not like Capcom needs the money. Something tells me Capcom just capitalized on Silent Hills getting cancelled and decided to show Konami who is the true boss when it comes to producing top quality horror games. It took Capcom a full decade to get our message loud and clear that RE was always catered to horror fans more than Hollywood disasterpieces. If Capcom paid more attention to what the fans are clamouring for, maybe we'll see an Outbreak #3 someday. In my opinion, we got robbed with Operation Raccoon City. That game should have been golden, and like the follow-up to Outbreak #2 that we never got. It was no such thing. In my view, horrendous spin-off games like that are what was putting the saga on life support.

 

[MartinMilk]

I'm also starting to wonder what is going on in their own heads.. Maybe it's because they're Japanese?

There are many obvious decisions and oppurtunities they miss in each game. Since many years ago I stopped caring for the plot in a serious way. I basically accepted the stupid decisions and take each game for what it is. At this point i'm just happy we get new games in the series since at it's core it is a decent third person shooter. RE7 chaned that last point but it's still a fun experience playing each game.

What capcom always should have done was to spend about 2 or 3 games that take place in the same time-line and area. This way they could introduce new interesting characters and villans that won't go away after their first and only game. There is a reason why Capcom always go back to 'raccoon city' with their spin-off's and easter eggs. They haven't been able to make the series really memorable since the first trilogy which is sad.

 

[Cure Zombrex]

It's gotten to the point now where we just want to curl up into a ball like a scared hedgehog, because I'm personally so bored with hoping this series will be like it was in the golden age of survival horror gaming. This series has no clear direction any longer. Whatever great story we can occasionally get (like Revelations 2 with Alex) will be vastly ignored so we don't even get to see a real conclusion. That's what Capcom have been doing with these games for years, similar to how real pro wrestling arguably died when the WWF became WWE. All the momentum they gather ends up lost. They are so desperate now that they always go back to the year 1998 with remakes or spin off games which may not even be developed by Capcom themselves (unless it's a third Outbreak game, nobody should care) and that's just to play on all the nostalgia blind fanboys that have pestered Capcom about that for long enough. They aren't sure how to push on forward. Seeing all these posts from fanboys begging for a remake of RE2 angered me because it was coming across as a case of, "Be careful what you wish for. You may just get it." Because RE2 for me was what got me into survival horror games around the turn of this century. I'm not kidding. From the day I played RE2, I knew I'd found something special. And I've put up with a lot of guff since that time.

Understandably, games change. The consoles get better and due to this, things have to evolve. But then why aren't horror games getting better like how music now should be better with all the technology? In my view, Shinji Mikami was the driving force behind the series like how Team Silent made Silent Hill what it was, before all these American developers destroyed the legacy of that series. Career paths also change, so maybe all those employees at Capcom and Konami just had enough. If they are creatively stifled and need out, I cannot blame them if the pay and the treatment from their higher-ups isn't that great.

7: Biohazard was likely a test. If you had asked me in 2002 what I thought of a RE2 remake coming out, I'd have said, "It's only been 4 years," but I'd still have been for the idea of one giving how impressed I was with the remake of the original 1996 game. Now after we've had 4, 5, and 6, plus all the crappy Silent Hill games, cash-grab tie-in games (such as The Umbrella Chronicles) and other action horror games for the past 15 years, I can sadly say that this particular version of RE2 will likely die as quickly as it surfaces if all the rumours about it are not just rumours.

 

[WeskerLives2015]

I just now skimmed through the article mentioning Resident Evil 8 being in "motion". With words like RE7 being the beginning of a new era or new start for RE, I am rather curious and nervous about the next title. I enjoyed RE7 for what it was, but I don't know if I want the RE series to go in that direction. All we can do is wait.

 

[Cure Zombrex]

I hated how RE5 was announced in, what? The summer of 2005 amid all the fame with 4. Then we waited almost 2 and a half long years to play it. At least with RE7: Biohazard, they announced that at E3 in 2016 after giving us a demo under a different name a year before that, and we got it only 7 months later. I'm guessing the reason the demo wasn't named after the game, was because they knew we'd get ants in our pants over it.