1. RE2
Great sequel to RE1 and a great improvement storywise. Liked how Leon and Claire scenarios connect to each other very well. Plus the scenario system is very unique in this. Characters are pretty good too. Really wished the sequels followed Leon's " Hey! It's up to us to take out Umbrella! " line though.
2. Remake
A big reason why it's so high up here is cause the story and characters are a GIANT improvement over the original. Also liked Lisa Trevor and her new backstory in this. Really wished Chris' and Jill's campaigns connected to each other though instead of being completely standalone just like in RE1.
3. RECV
A good sequel to RE2 though one thing is extremely headstraching.
To quote 4thSnake:
" While on Rockfort Island, she gets in contact with Leon to ask him to tell Chris where she is, making one wonder why, if she knew Leon could reach Chris, she didn't just ask him where Chris was, instead of raiding Umbrella's Paris HQ by HERSELF. "
Wesker's return is kinda cool and an interesting twist but I wish the game explored how Wesker survived RE1 / Remake's events more. It never really got explained how Wesker survived. He kinda pops up out of nowhere in this.
Overall still a good story. Claire is more badass / likeable in this, Chris saving his sister is awesome and Ashfords as villains are interesting. I also don't get the hate about Steve, he wasn't that annoying and his fate was tragic, same thing with his infected father too. Plus RIP Rodrigo; I like how cutscenes about him can change depending to your actions.
4. RE3
This game's story is kinda underrated. I like how 1st half takes place before RE2 and how 2nd half takes place after RE2. There's also a randomization factor to it and depending to your choices, the story might play out differently which is nice. Jill is awesome and her personality / voice acting is an improvement from RE1 / Remake. Nemesis is one badass mother****** and working with UBCS members is very cool. This game shows Raccoon's destruction which is one of the most important moments in the series and has one of the best cutscenes of the franchise which is this:
I wished it was a bit longer though.
5. RE6
Another game which has an underrated story. A big reason why I think this game's story is pretty good ( And is better than RE5's story. ) is due to the fact that 4 campaigns in this connect to each other very well. Voice acting is pretty good in this game, the best one in the series and characters are very likeable, especially returning ones. From new characters, I think Jake is the best one who has a great chemistry with Sherry and gets great character development but Helena and Piers are cool too and I like how the game explores them.
( Kinda felt bad for Deborah's death and how Helena was forced to do Simmons' bidding; I was really satisfied when Leon and Helena killed him once and for all. As for Piers; I liked how he confronts his captain multiple times in the campaign when needed and his death was tragic. )
I also liked Carla and Simmons as well as their rivalry between them. They were interesting and the files even go into more detail about them and how they connect very well to the RE storyline.
I could go on and on what I like about this huge game since there are even more good things about it but I've made an essay about RE6 campaigns here already which goes even more into detail so I'm gonna talk about this game's missed opportunities instead:
a. Chris' campaign feels forced compared to other campaigns. Even though his campaign has the best story; personally I think it could have been better. Like the game could have explored his amnesiac status further, Jill, Claire and even Barry ( After all; Chris and he came back a long way. ) could have been in the game or there could have been Jill mentions and even more Claire mentions. Not to mention he's missing in Edonia for 6 months; pretty sure it wouldn't take that long to find him.
b. The files. You can't obtain files in the game similar to RE5. Instead you need to shoot serpent emblems to unlock files which can't be read while playing the game and instead; need to go to cabinets to read them. It's also weird how RE. net site has files that have extended texts which isn't available in the game. ( Thankfully the game connects to the site and it's not a DMC4 situation where I have to go search the internet just to randomly come across a novel that explains story stuff in the game. ) Personally I think it could have been cool to come across files here and there similar to in RE4 and RE5. If that's not possible which is acceptable I guess; then another possible idea is some files being cutscenes or flashback cutscenes which would be an even better idea than randomly encountering files since the game's cutscenes are a joy to watch.
c. Revelations 2. For some reason; Capcom needed to make this game when what they should have done was make it a part of RE6. ( See below. )
Overall pretty good story with great fanservice moments and despite some missed opportunities; it's a great love letter to the franchise.
6. RE5
Not as good as RE6 but still pretty good story which is kinda an improvement from RE4's story with 2nd best voice acting in the series. Chris and Wesker are back from RECV and better than ever; Sheva is cool and a WAY better character than Ashley who constantly gets kidnapped ( Though RE4 AI is still better than RE5 AI. ) along with Josh who is a LEGEND. It also explains the birth of viruses and more origins about Umbrella as well as BSAA being established in this game.
You also punch a freaking boulder in this game:
This Youtube comment describes it best:
" Chris went from running from a boulder to beating the **** out of one. If that is not character development, I don't know what is. "
One also can't forget this gem from Wesker:
Time for the disappointing aspects of this game's story:
a. Jill. This game handles her very badly by making her blonde and Wesker's slave. The flashback scene is kinda stupid due to Wesker not noticing / hearing Jill running towards him while she's shouting.
Yes, I know that Chris is a bigger enemy to Wesker than Jill due to Chris encountering him and watching him hurt Claire in RECV but that's still not a good excuse for Wesker to be this stupid; both of them are his enemies after all and ruined his plans. Also from what I saw somewhere that I don't remember; apparently in game's previous versions; Chris catches Jill's hand to prevent her falling instead of him being too late to catch Jill. ( I have to give extra points to Chris for thinking that Jill's alive WHILE Wesker is not. Strengthwise; Jill is a weaker character than him as RE1 / Remake establishes that she has lower HP, defense and can't handle weapons as good as Chris. Meanwhile Wesker is a superhuman who already faked his death. ) I wished at least that happened. Personally I think Chris and Jill should have been partners right from the start of the game. ( Sheva instead could have been a part of Josh's team. See more about Sheva's section.)
Last thing I want to mention is one of the cutscenes at the end of the game. The one where Chris and Sheva fire rockets at Wesker while Jill simply waits. I'm sorry but why isn't there a 3rd rocket launcher at the helicopter? Or better yet; why isn't Jill, who fought with Wesker longer than Sheva over the years, got horribly tortured by Wesker, got forced to kill / torture civilians and hurt her partner firing that rocket launcher instead?
b. Sheva. I think Sheva should have been a part of Josh's team. I've been thinking about this and it's not perfect so here's my idea. Basically remove the 2 short story DLCs from the game and instead add a longer Josh's campaign to the game similar to Separate Ways.
( Make sure to allow them to improve their weapons' stats and buy weapons / items just like in the main game instead of the terrible lazy stars system in the DLCs. )
In the early parts of this story, the soldiers except Josh and Sheva got killed by Ndesu. You fight the BOW similar to how you fight El Gigante in RE4 instead of a boring vehicle section where you can't move. ( Remove it from the main story and add it here instead. ) After killing that BOW, Josh and Sheva most of the time clear some obstacles in the area that make that area easier for Chris and Jill to move through or explore. In some sections; they even help Chris and Jill offscreen with a long range weapon similar to how Ada helps Jake and Sherry in RE6. Throught this story; Sheva starts to experience badly nightmares ( She encounters them due to losing their comrades. ) which is related to her backstory told in a file from time to time while Josh comforts her; after all, Sheva's the little sister of the team. This story kinda ends similar to Desperate Escape; they survive in an area until the chopper arrives, pilot dies, Sheva kills that Majini and they fly with the helicopter to help Chris and Jill and save them from Wesker. Of course Chris and Jill fire rockets together at Wesker.
c. Excella. I think she should have been more useful in the story and to Wesker instead of simply walking and running away from Chris and Sheva. Honestly I would give her Blonde Jill's role instead and make her a superhuman who's good at fighting similar to Wesker. ( Yes; in chapter 5-3, you fight Wesker and Excella instead of Wesker and Blonde Jill. ) Wesker later on leaves her alone to kill Chris and Jill cause he got work to do. Excella fails after a horrible beating from Valenfield team and instead runs away from them to get help from Wesker. This of course ****es Wesker and he punishes her by injecting her with a Uroboros strain due to her outliving her usefulness.
( These ones are kinda ignorable and not that big. )
d. Irving. This is more of a small nitpick but I don't think this character feels fitting to the game, he's clearly inspired by Salazar from RE4 but doesn't feel fitting to RE5's more serious story unlike how Salazar feels fitting to RE4's more campier story. Some scenes containing him are questionable. ( Like in one of them where he tells Chris and Sheva to drop their guns while both of them are pointed against him. He also isn't that affected from that gas Blonde Jill throws unlike Chris and Sheva that fall to the ground. ) At least get a better voice actor; ugh...
e. More Uroboros monsters. Another small nitpick but I think there should have been more Uroboros monsters just like Reaper and less Plaga monsters in the game to give the game more difference from RE4. Not to mention the Plaga monsters aren't as fun to fight as the ones in RE4 IMO.
So here it is about RE5; I know I ranted a lot, especially about the way Jill is handled but I still like this game's story. It's still good IMO.
From this point on; the stories start to become generic / forgettable.
7. RE4
The main reason why it's higher than the ones later on is cause Leon and Ada are my favourite characters in the franchise and their adventures are very enjoyable here; and of course they are more badass here than they are in RE2 not to mention Leon's one liners which also got carried to RE6. The story is still kinda a sequel to RE2 and even to RE3 ( Epilogue files. ) in a way so it doesn't actually feel like a reboot unlike the horrible RE7. It also has a special tone to it with their characters which I can't help but love it and it doesn't take its generic story that much seriously.
Time for my issues:
a. Umbrella getting destroyed in a cutscene. Personally there should have been a special campaign within this game that featured all 4 main characters which is about them destroying Umbrella once and for all. This would make the game an even better sequel to RE2, RE3 and RECV.
b. Krauser pops up out of nowhere. Apparently him and Leon have some history with them but the game doesn't really explore this with another special campaign.
I probably missed more things but I really don't regret it. They kinda gave a special charm to the game in a good way.
8. Revelations 2
On its own; the story is decent but a big gripe I have with this game's story is not being a part of RE6's story. From what I saw somewhere; both games were apparently being developed at the same time but I don't understand why it was a separate game instead of being part of RE6. Basically 2 more campaigns for RE6 and one of them is Jill's campaign whose partner is Barry and one of them is Claire's campaign whose partner is Moira. Of course more campaign intersections in RE6; kinda forgot to say that but I think campaigns should have more of those type of sections.
Anyways good things about this game's story:
a. Barry's campaign most of the time. He has a good voice actor and he's very likeable in this while referencing previous RE games with his jokes.
b. Claire and even Moira in Barry's final chapter. They save the day with a badass cutscene and I would be lying if I said Claire killing Alex with rocket launcher was boring.
My issues about the story:
a. Claire's personality is ruined. She isn't good with Natalia in this unlike in RE2 and Degeneration where she was good with kids. Not to mention her personality gives me Degeneration Leon vibes. Her VA also isn't that good IMO; really wished they sticked with Alyson Court.
b. The game making Claire look bad by making Moira look good. In chapter 2, they catch on to Natalia and Claire talks to her with a weird tone which causes Natalia to get scared followed by Moira jumping in and stealing Claire's role with a softer tone.
" You're pretty good with kids. " Seriously, Claire?
It also happens again; after they exit from a building, the game makes Claire to ask Natalia a question with such a weird tone.
Lastly Claire gives more priority to finding Neil ( And what is it with the game making them a couple? Did they forget what happened in RECV or something? ) than finding Natalia which is the ultimate betrayal of her character. And no, it doesn't end there; the game doesn't know when to stop making Moira even more obnoxious by making her ask Claire questions over and over and over and over just to make her look good. Ugh...
c. Alex's plan. She's apparently planning to take over Natalia's body but her plan and the results are very confusing. Like how did she fail? Why is she trying to kill Natalia in Barry's campaign? How did she still managed to take over Natalia's body despite her plan failing and her infected body being blown to bits with a rocket? I think they should have given her a different villain plan IMO; this one is unnecessarily confusing.
Long story short, the story is a giant mess but still decent.
9. RE2 Remake
Unlike RE1 Remake which greatly improved its story compared to original; this game's story is a major downgrade. Like scenarios don't even connect to each other, characters are less likeable and more boring, scenarios aren't that unique from each other, less character interactions and an extremely weird ending. Still; it's kinda decent on its own and in extremely rare sections, its story feels improved compared to RE2.
10. RE1
11. RE0
This game and its story are terrible and a major disrespect to RE1 and Remake.
How to fix the game and its story:
Remove Marcus and add a better villain, remove Billy, remove that terrible hookshot, increase Rebecca's HP and defense, improve bosses, remove those infected monkeys with wierd AI, add item boxes, change the game's story somewhat so that it explores Bravo Team a lot more and remove that RE2 location which doesn't even make sense. As for Rebecca being alone or being partnered with someone; I personally prefer her to be alone but still encounter Bravo Team members along the way though if she needs to be partnered with someone; I think her partner should be Richard which would make the game connect better to Remake. Make sure to improve the partner AI in that case; I thought it was terrible. Also Richard should be able to combine herbs, it's really stupid how Billy can't combine herbs for some reason.
It's higher than Revelations and RE7 mainly cause I still like Rebecca in this.
12. Revelations
This game's story feels unnecessary and a waste of time. Apparently it's about giving BSAA some backstory but there was already a very long file in RE5 that already had enough backstory about the organization. I would have liked it a lot more its execution wasn't so boring and terrible. Generic characters, weird character designs and forgettable villains. Overall it sucks and it's higher than RE7 due to game trying more than RE7 did with its story.
13. RE7
This game's story feels like a reboot instead of an actual story to RE6 and other RE games. They should have created a separate franchise for the game instead of shoehorning it to Resident Evil. Everything about the game's story feels extremely forgettable; characters, villains, designs and voice acting. I also can't forgive the devs for turning Chris into a different character with a different look. Ugh, terrible.
