Resident Evil 4 No merchant/ no saving typewriter Professional challenge.

[Romero]

Yeah, about knife-only runs, I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying that the first time you absolutely, definitely need a Handgun is Chapter 2-1- I'm not sure how else you would break the chains holding the crates at the waterfall! Leon's knife is a pretty handy tool but I doubt it creates enough wind to break those chains And yeah, some scenes you need more 'advanced' enemy control, so to speak, and a knife alone just cannot deliver that.

About the gallery and the red zealot, try and headshot him from a distance. When he stumbles, run forward towards him. When he's recovered, give him another round or two in the head. This should stall him enough that you can catch up to him before he gets through that door, and then it's simple.

I did use a little more ammo than is ideal in the second part of the gallery and then in the Colmillo maze, but my ammo supplies are still pretty healthy- my gun is fully loaded and apart from that I have 739 bullets as of the start of Chapter 3-3.

I had forgot about the crates at the waterfall. I think I didn't have to hit the chains, just hitting the crate itself will make it drop. But a knife is of course useless.

On PS2, the red chain gun zealot will run instantly when I aim at him. So making a headshot with a handgun sounds next to impossible. I find it difficult enough to make a body shot with the rifle (when I'm at the locked door area and he is waiting at the oposite side). Maybe his behavior is different on GC?

749 bullets. :blink: If you have many healing items then you can't have much free space. I think you have room for 1350 9mm rounds if you have only the pistol apart from the ammo.

 

[Dos]

I'm done with Chapter 3-3 and 3-4. The Garrador cage was escaped relatively easily- I copped a crossbow from one of the zealots outside the cage, and one swipe from the Garrador as I was getting out but by skipping the cutscene you give yourself an extra five or so seconds. I positioned myself in such a way that I was close enough to the lock to knife it (so as not to create noise) but out of the swinging arc of the mace zealots outside the cage. It took about 20-25 slashes with the knife to break the lock- hence why I took a couple hits. Once I was out of the cage I meleed the zealots to their doom, then finished off the Garrador and zealots that drop into the cage.

The next room has the ladder that can be used to dispose of the zealots- even including the three shield zealots. Just lure everyone onto to the bottom level, climb back up the ladder, then knife them as they come up after you. Simple. Three zealots in the chapter sprouted spider Plagas, which are pretty easily dealt with.

Chapter 3-4 was easily disposed of- the bit where you have to protect Ashley is a challenge without a rifle and/or grenades and does use ammo a bit (partly why I was so keen to conserve ammo in 3-3, but I got through it. I copped one crossbow, but the game generously heals up both Leon and Ashley completely at the start of Chapter 4-1, so I wasn't worried about that. And Ashley's bit was simple- like last time, I didn't bother killing the two zealots Ashley has to get around- they never drop ammo anyway, only sometimes money or a green herb.

Stats

Chapter 3-3
Accuracy: 100%
Kills: 24
Died: 0 times

Chapter 3-4
Accuracy: 97%
Kills: 11
Died: 0 times

Overall to end of Chapter 3
Accuracy: 94%
Kills: 443
Died: 3 times

So onto Chapter 4-1- a NIGHTMARE CHAPTER! I like to call this particular chapter THE CHAPTER OF HELL.

Whether I can make it past this chapter is far from certain- the Armaduras will be extremely tough. I actually have no idea how I'll approach that fight armed with only a Handgun-anyone got suggestions? The Armaduras move so quickly on Professional, especially once their Plagas have been exposed, and the Handgun does very little damage to them and doesn't 'stop' them at all- I'm going to use a lot of ammo there, I suspect. And the rest of Chapter 4-1 isn't exactly a walk in the park either. The clocktower bridge scene will be a total horror with only a Handgun- I got killed there last time when I had a Shotgun, grenades and Butterfly! Time will tell...

 

[Dos]

The red zealot's behaviour is like that on GC too. You just have to land your shot well basically...if you miss and he gets to the gun, well, it's still not that hard to kill him himself, it's just more that it's obviously quite dangerous for Leon because that chain gun can shred him to pieces pretty quickly...

I have 801 bullets now...10 in the gun and 791 in boxes. So that's 16 boxes of ammo= 32 spaces, plus 6 for the gun, leaves 22 for healing items. At present I have nine full healing items (three of them are gold eggs), which take up a further 15 spaces. And one brown egg and two white eggs- so I have 56 out of 60 squares filled. So I'm low on room but still have a bit. Inventory management is far less of an issue in this challenge compared to the last one, where I had many more different items to try and fit in.

 

[Dos]

I've passed Chapter 4-1! But it was one tough mother of a chapter.

Since I'm not using the butterfly, I had no reason to backtrack at the start of 4-1, so I went straight to the fire dragon room. This was negotiated easily. Then after opening the new door with the ornament, I proceeded to the Queen's Grail, which was done easily.

Next was the Armaduras fight. In the end, I decided to knife them while they were still in their full suit of metal, then whip out the Handgun and use it only on the sprouted Plaga until the thing disintegrates. This is easier said than done- they move especially quickly once their Plagas have been exposed- and on pro you only need a couple slashes from the type 1 Plagas and you're dead. Knifing them actually isn't that hard if you use the centre podium as a pivot and gradually work your way behind them and get a few slashes in. It does, however, require a lot of patience- and I paid the price for losing my patience when I tried to get some extra slashes in when it wasn't safe to do so- and promptly got axed by one of them then slashed to death by the exposed Plaga of the other (I'd killed one to this point).

So second time around, I disciplined myself to never try and slash a full suit while one of the others has an exposed Plaga- you must focus solely on the Plaga until it's neutralised. And eventually, I dealt with all the type 1 Armaduras. The type 2 Armaduras- while theoretically more dangerous because they move marginally quicker, have more HP and their Plagas of course have an instant kill move- are in practice easier to deal with because you don't have the threat of the flailing Plaga blade that the type 1 Armaduras do. So, I kept heaps of distance between Leon and the Armaduras so the exposed Plaga couldn't try biting his head off- but other than that the tactics are exactly the same as for the type 1 Armaduras. And eventually, after close to thirty minutes of battle (very draining!), they were all dead. It was a horrible battle with only a Handgun, though, so to get through it on my second attempt, I was fairly pleased with that.

The zealots in the hallway were easily dealt with- although I dodged the couple shield zealots- no use wasting bullets. The Novistador nest is rather tricky with only a Handgun- luckily there's only eight or nine of them. I got hit a couple times, but made it through. I progressed through the inside of the clocktower okay, and even managed to shoot dead the catapultists way onthe other side- but unfortunately I succumbed again during the clocktower bridge ambush on my way to the two Garradors room. There are so just many zealots here, and almost nowhere to go because of the narrow bridge. On my second try, I succeeded in getting past- but it's extremely tough and even on my second try I got hit within one hit of death. Perhaps in the future I could try dodging them all, but the bridge is so narrow that getting past them without taking serious damage would be no mean feat. The three or four type 3 Plagas that sprouted were very bothersome also.

The two Garradors room was relatively simple- if, like last time, extremely slow- I think it took me close to half an hour to finish them both off. And finally it was time to the face the brute himself- Verdugo. Now, this time I just equipped an egg so I could run at full speed, and did not even entertain thoughts of trying to kill him. I dodged his attacks, used the nitrogen cans to slow him down- and eventually got out of there, only taking a hit once (mind you, that hit sent me crashing from full health, which at this stage is about 8.75 bars out of 10, down to just 0.5- he very nearly killed me). And with that, Chapter 4-1 was history!

Stats
Accuracy: 91%
Kills: 82
Died: 2 times

Overall stats to the end of 4-1
Accuracy: 90%
Kills: 525
Died: 5 times
Time: 7hrs 29 mins 52 seconds.

Chapter 4-1 alone took me two hours- that's how long it is.

So onto 4-2- which will be a very tough chapter with only a Handgun. Mainly because the Novistador cave at the end of it, where there's around 40 Novistadors, will be an absolute nightmare without a Shotgun. Wish me luck.

 

[Romero]

I've passed Chapter 4-1! But it was one tough mother of a chapter.

and even managed to shoot dead the catapultists way onthe other side- but unfortunately I succumbed again during the clocktower bridge ambush on my way to the two Garradors room. There are so just many zealots here, and almost nowhere to go because of the narrow bridge. On my second try, I succeeded in getting past- but it's extremely tough and even on my second try I got hit within one hit of death. Perhaps in the future I could try dodging them all, but the bridge is so narrow that getting past them without taking serious damage would be no mean feat.

Well done with shooting the catapultists at so long range.
On the bridge after the Clock Tower, can't you just spray out your ten bullets and stun the zealots so you can run in between them? I don't think there's more than ten zealots in front of you. Maybe I'm wrong though, you play on Hard so they are maybe not that stunned by small arms fire.

And finally it was time to the face the brute himself- Verdugo. Now, this time I just equipped an egg so I could run at full speed,

Run at full speed?? To me it seems as Leon run at the same speed regardless if a rifle or an egg is equipped.

I'm done with Chapter 3-3 and 3-4.

Stats

Chapter 3-3
Accuracy: 100%
Kills: 24
Died: 0 times

Chapter 3-4
Accuracy: 97%
Kills: 11
Died: 0 times

Overall to end of Chapter 3
Accuracy: 94%
Kills: 443
Died: 3 times

And with that, Chapter 4-1 was history!

Stats
Accuracy: 91%
Kills: 82
Died: 2 times

Overall stats to the end of 4-1
Accuracy: 90%
Kills: 525
Died: 5 times
Time: 7hrs 29 mins 52 seconds.

Something here isn't right. Your overall accuracy was 94% after chapter 3 (3-4 I assume). And after 4-1 your overall accuracy was down to 90%. This should only be possible if your accuracy on 4-1 was lower than 90%. But it was not lower - it was 91%. :huh:

Good job with getting 100% on some chapters.

 

[Dos]

Yeah- about the accuracy stats Romero, it struck me as a little strange too. Perhaps the huge number of bullets I would have used in 4-1 could make that possible? Just for arguments sake, let's say that, to the end of 3-4, I'd fired 2000 bullets- so with an accuracy of 94%, that would mean 1880 of my shots were accurate. Now, let's say I used 300 bullets (I probably didn't use that much, I'm just making up figures here) in 4-1 alone- with an accuracy rate of 91%- which means I would have been on target 273 times out of 300. So 1880+ 273= 2153 out of 2300 total bullets...which is an accuracy of about 93.5% still...hmmm so that can't be right, you're quite correct....the other possibility is that I've recorded some of the figures wrong. I jot them down on a note pad and then write them here, so perhaps something went wrong at some point (I am prone to concentration lapses occasionally) and I wrote something incorrect on the note pad. I'm human afterall, I do mistakes! Either way, I'll make sure that at the end of 4-2, I record it properly and deliberately.

 

[Dos]

And about the clocktower bridge, on Pro there probably aren't more than twelve zealots (or eighteen if you count the initial three shield zealots and the three who spawn behind Leon when he gets to halfway along the bridge), but two of those twelve, on my playthrough at least, had shields, which greatly complicates matters. And once you factor in that three of those twelve spawned a type 3 Plaga, I had in fact faced a total of probably 21 enemies just on that bridge. A stunning headshot could work if I was looking to just run past- which to be honest is probably the best approach, but I like to kill the enemies if possible- in a scene such as that one, my approach probably isn't the best option really.

And finally, about running speed, Leon runs quickest when he is unarmed, or is equipped with an egg or grenade, or has a one-shot RL strapped to his back. He runs slowest when he has an infinite launcher, and basically the same speed for every other gun. I think anyway.

 

[Romero]

And finally, about running speed, Leon runs quickest when he is unarmed, or is equipped with an egg or grenade, or has a one-shot RL strapped to his back. He runs slowest when he has an infinite launcher, and basically the same speed for every other gun. I think anyway.

I remember that I wondered if Leon could run faster if a grenade or egg was equipped, but I was not able to notice a difference. So I thought it didn't matter. I did not test it with stopwatch.

I'll test this and see if it's different on my PS2 version. If anyone with a PS2 version can confirm this it would be nice.

 

[Dos]

I don't know if the difference in the running speeds is great, but it does seem to be there nonetheless. Mainly because, when Leon is either unarmed, or equipped with an egg or grenade, or with a one-shot RL, he is able to swing his arms to their fullest arc and this seems to make him move marginally faster. On my GC version anyway.

I'm finished with Chapter 4-2, but it was tough. Very tough. Due to one area alone.

The Plaga mines area was negotiated okay. The Dr Salvador you encounter here is a little lazy- he tends to just languish near the boulder unless you move into his direct eyesight, which seems to activate him. So, I retreated to the top part of the area, let the four Ganados that spawn with the Salvador come after me, disposed of them, then activated the Salvador- and used the ladder to knife him to death as he tried to climb up. Took a while, but nice and easy and failsafe. Just a note here, don't try the ladder tactic unless the other Ganados are gone- you don't want to be finishing them off before they jump down the ladder then suddenly have Dr Salvador climb up behind you. It goes without saying, but you'll wind up minus your head!

The Dos Gigantes were easy as always- I just dropped one into the lava and then knifed the other. Took a while and I actually did get hit once, but I was fine apart from that.

And then it was time for the Novistador cave....

On Professional, this is a tough area full stop. Armed with only a Handgun and knife, it becomes very nasty indeed. There are around forty Novistadors in the area, and it is very easy to get trapped and surrounded by them- at which point, armed with only a Handgun, you'll have no chance of survival at all. So my plan was to run equipped with an egg and just try and run past them- stopping and trying to take them on with a Handgun is asking for trouble. However, unfortunately the ones from the bottom of the caves follow Leon up as he moves deeper into the caves, so when I activated the second switch, I was being pursued by around thirty Novistadors! Some of them right on my heels. Not surprisingly, I perished- Leon's face was burnt off rather quickly.

So on my second attempt, I decided to lure the initial wave of 20- one or two at a time- of them into the long passage leading back to the Gigante area, and try and kill them there. And, because that passage is relatively narrow, it's hard to be surrounded by the insects there. It worked. Without those 20, I had a much greater chance. The activation of the first switch was followed by taking out the wave of five that spawn, a fair bit of kicking was involved and I took a hit once, but got out of there. And then for the second switch- which is much more dangerous than the first because the Novistadors that spawn on that occasion are much more agressive and quick- they follow Leon in to the dead-end cave almost instantly. So this time, no way was I taking the chance of taking the swarm on- I just hightailed out of there. Kicked a few out of the way, shot a couple dead when I had a spare moment- and got out of there. It was disappointing to die here once, but I guess I wasn't too surprised. Taking on forty Novistadors on Professional with only a Handgun is no easy task!

Stats for Chapter 4-2
Accuracy: 95%
Kills: 45
Died: 1 time

Overall stats:
Accuracy: 94% (must have stuffed up the end of 4-1 figure afterall, Romero!)
Kills: 570
Died: 6 times

Next is 4-3. Normally I find this chapter one of the easier ones in the game, but armed with only a Handgun, it could well transform into something much harder. Taking on up to 75 Ganados (including FOUR Dr Salvadors!) with only a Handgun- well, it could be interesting!

 

[Romero]

The Plaga mines area was negotiated okay. The Dr Salvador you encounter here is a little lazy- he tends to just languish near the boulder unless you move into his direct eyesight, which seems to activate him.

He is not lazy on my version, he comes straight at me when I jump down from the swithc area. One time I retreated to the merchant room and re-entered. This was to play with Salvador and test his strength. When I enter the mine tunnel, Salvador is waiting down at the pit. He can't see me but he will seek me out and after a while he'll come running up the tunnel.

The Dos Gigantes were easy as always- I just dropped one into the lava and then knifed the other. Took a while and I actually did get hit once, but I was fine apart from that.

Did you fight him with armor or him without armor? Could you climb his back and knife his plaga? This doesn't work out that well in my game. (I made a thread about it and I think you posted there.)

 

[tequila]

Well done! You have grade A stats! I'm tempted to do a pro run in the near future. You have motivated and convinced me. :lol:

 

[tequila]

He is not lazy on my version, he comes straight at me when I jump down from the swithc area. One time I retreated to the merchant room and re-entered. This was to play with Salvador and test his strength. When I enter the mine tunnel, Salvador is waiting down at the pit. He can't see me but he will seek me out and after a while he'll come running up the tunnel.



Did you fight him with armor or him without armor? Could you climb his back and knife his plaga? This doesn't work out that well in my game. (I made a thread about it and I think you posted there.)

Ugh I hate Dr Salvadors....

You can climb on the gigantes back. You just need to have good timing when his plaga is exposed. Run up to him from behind and follow the button commands. I had a difficult time as well during my first run of the game. Then sometimes I got lazy and whipped out the RL. lol

 

[Romero]

You can climb on the gigantes back. You just need to have good timing when his plaga is exposed. Run up to him from behind and follow the button commands. I had a difficult time as well during my first run of the game. Then sometimes I got lazy and whipped out the RL. lol

I never had a problem with the village El Gigantes, but for some reason what I do in the village doesn't work that well in the mine. I made a thread about it. I've had a pause from the game since then so I'm still at that save point before the tunnel.

 

[tequila]

I never had a problem with the village El Gigantes, but for some reason what I do in the village doesn't work that well in the mine. I made a thread about it. I've had a pause from the game since then so I'm still at that save point before the tunnel.

If you're still having trouble, try using the lava pit and take it from there.

 

[Romero]

If you're still having trouble, try using the lava pit and take it from there.

As I said in that thread, surviving the area isn't a problem. I just have a problem with staying on his back for more than 1 second.
When I pick up the game again, I'll see what I can do there. If I need to talk more about it I'll use that thread and not completely hijack this one.

 

[JaguarsSoul]

That sounds a REAL challenge 0_x! I'm even shivering because of the fear with using my TMP in easy mode XD! It's just because my PC is slow, so Leon's also aiming too slow 0_x! And I'm playing it for the first time, I'm 14 now :3 I guess I can handle it in Wii =)

But good luck anyways

 

[tequila]

As I said in that thread, surviving the area isn't a problem. I just have a problem with staying on his back for more than 1 second.
When I pick up the game again, I'll see what I can do there. If I need to talk more about it I'll use that thread and not completely hijack this one.

Hmm that happens to me too. Perhaps tap the buttons faster lol. Usually you should be able to get a couple of stabs into the plaga.

 

[Dos]

I've been completely snowed under with uni work, hence why I haven't been here for a good week or so.

I'm still in the middle of this work, too, so I'll keep this brief.

But I'm finished Chapter 4-3. Equipped with only a Handgun, it was far from easy. The high number of Ganados makes it quite a challenge- and not to mention that you encounter no less than FOUR Dr Salvadors in the chapter. The mine cart ride is also made quite unpleasant by the high number of Plagas that sprout- I find that the female Ganados in the chapter (both in the first underground area and then the mine cart itself) have a particularly high probability of sprouting a Plaga- I would estimate over half of them in 4-3 do.

Anyway, I got through the chapter without dying, and didn't use too much ammo, which I'm happy about.

Stats:

Chapter 4-3
Accuracy: 97%
Kills: 63
Died: 0 times

The slightly lower kill rate of 63 (I killed 69 in 4-3 on the last playthrough) was due to having to conserve ammo- the fight with Ramon is imminent, and I only have a Handgun to fight him- I'll need somewhere in the range of 600-650 bullets to finish him :O

 

[Romero]

Hi, nice to see the story continue.

I'll need somewhere in the range of 600-650 bullets to finish him :O

:blink: ................. :lol::lol: *Speechless and hysterical laughter*

 

[Dos]

Yes, I wish I was joking Romero...But I'm not!