They are actually doing it again: "Village" was originally just a codename for the game, but then management decided that calling it "Resident Evil 8" would've alienated new gamers. Lucky for them, English language and Roman numerals came to the rescue and so they were able to play the oh-so-clever "Resident Evil VIIIage" shtick. According to rumors, they'll drop the numbered titles soon in order to have more freedom, so we'll probably be able to play "Resident Evil: Dragonslayer" or "Resident Evil: Black Ops" in the future.But that's exactly the problem. Capcom did that with Resident Evil 4, then 5, then 6, and again with 7. They keep making games that attract new consumers rather than what's best for the series.
AMEN! RE:2 was the game I had been waiting for since 2002: game-wise, it was everything I was hoping RE4 was going to be...well, maybe the possibility of shaking zombies off yourself was the only thing I was missing, but, after 14 years of round-kicking and suplexing almost anything that was thrown at you, making the walking corpses something you had to stay away from was very much needed to remind everyone what "survival horror" actually means.Resident Evil 2 remake was my dream of a modern Resident Evil game and it took way too long for it to come to fruition and it was amazing. I know Capcom is capable of greatness, but they're run like an aggressively greedy corporation who just wants to keep expanding. I know you like the games as is, but do you think that's how franchises should really be handled?
Yeah, the problem with Capcom is that they are good at what they do, but their marketing strategy is all about squeezing anything they can squeeze from whatever is selling. And that's the problem with RE4 (or RE7 - I just liked it better because it wasn't a shoot 'em up, but it certainly wasn't a real RE): the technical quality is undeniable (I played the HD remaster on my PS4 Pro one year ago - it still holds up surprisingly well and some areas are just gorgeous), but nobody seem to care that it wiped out what RE was. And it actually used to be something very specific: the first 6 games did establish its identity pretty well. Unfortunately, most people can only think about tank controls and fixed camera angles when they have to identify what those game were, while instead (to me at least - but I think RE:2 proved me right) it was more about mood and tone.
It's pretty sad to hear people only caring about "technical quality": there's plenty of games that are well made. Hell, "The Last of Us Part 2" is simply jaw-dropping and puts anything made with the RE Engine so far to shame: if tech was the only thing that matters and had I had less money, I should've stayed away from RE:2 and 3 because TLOU2 is way better in almost every aspect (splatter physics is probably the only thing RE:2 does better - but by a small margin). I know I am going to sound like an old fart, but we didn't play Resident Evil 1 on the PS1 (and contribute to its success) because it was the best-looking or more refined game on the block (far from it): we played it and loved it because it was creepy, gory and, generally speaking, it was the most daring horror game around in 1996. Had we wanted a fast-paced shooter with monsters in it, we would've stuck with "Doom 1&2", "Blood" and "Quake". Or "Duke Nukem 3D" if we wanted to hear cheap one-liners.