Outgrowing Resident Evil

[Becky's Butt]

Played RE3 back in 2000 or 2001.
Followed it up with RE1, 2, CVX, 0 and 4.
Read tons of files for the games I didn't play, translations, posted on God knows how many RE boards.
Years of my life and dedication for a series I now more or less laugh at for its bad gameplay and terrible writing.

Then...I dunno, whenever Damnation or RE6 came out, and I just didn't care at all, I realized I had outgrown the series.

I have nostalgia for 1 and 0 but that's it. The only thing I find worthwhile about the series are the soundtracks. I'll always enjoy Resi music, even if it is from a godawful game like Code Veronica.

I'm posting on here mainly because I've been in a huge RE1 and 0 mood lately and am buying up RE soundtracks as well. I'm just curious if anyone here has found their affection for the series waning?

[Wrathborne]

Welcome to the club, it started about 2008 or so when RE5 came out and finished off the original storyline(as in pissed away a great opportunity) and started grasping at straws with boring choices like Jake Wesker and Ada beta.

4 wasn't a great in retrospect but as a side story that expanded the series world it wasn't too bad. If it was less hammy and a more survival horrorish maybe the 5th game wouldn't have started the no horror trend.

I don't think Capcom has lost enough money on RE to give a fuck what the fans want yet so as long as theres lots of explosions, bland characters, and quicktime events they're happy and think they're doing whats right.

[Grem]

My interest for the series significantly dropped after the release of RE6. Man, I was disappointed. No focus anymore and a ridiculous storyline that felt forced especially after RE5.

But, now I've regained interest for the series. I guess I'm really a die-hard fan and I would follow this series religiously until the day they REALLY screw things up (by reviving Wesker or shit like that)

[News Bot]

The current stories are piss, but the older stories keep me interested. We find out more new things about them every day than we do about the actual new stories, which is hilarious.

[Grem]

The current stories are piss, but the older stories keep me interested. We find out more new things about them every day than we do about the actual new stories, which is hilarious.

Well, perhaps because now they have the decency to explain all the story directly with the game and the supplemental material.

Because we learn bits of stories 10 years after don't make the old stories any better than the new ones. It's actually the other way around, it shows that Capcom at that time weren't very eager to explain to the players the story that was presented to them when the game was released.

I don't find RE0 or RE2 any better than RE5 storywise (and I'm strictly speaking about the story, not the over-the-top cut scenes)

Now, don't get me wrong, I found some of the old stories more engaging back then, but that was probably more because we were still fresh fans aswell. Now, we're desillusionned assholes.

[News Bot]

Nah, the old games have much better stories even just from a writing perspective. The only thing that has tangibly improved would be the presentation (voice acting and such).

They also really do not at all explain anything more now than they used to. The difference now is that they don't even release that supplemental material.

[Scream]

Perhaps its more about story telling than the story itself.. I guess story telling often involves gameplay in video games. I remember playing RE5 and just felt like I was being pushed from one artificial game scenario to another. While with the old RE games it was always a very natural progression.

It's more about the journey than the ending.. then hey, I don't think RE was about the story at all? It was just meant to keep you intrigued.. I guess this brings it full circle to the OP, the music is great in the series and reminds me of good times.. as does the isolation of the mansion, RPD etc in the originals.. those two things make RE for me.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

I think both 3 & CV suffered from not having a singular location to explore. The former didn't give you enough freedom or amount of Raccoon City to explore to make up for it and the lab felt underwhelming, and whilst CV shot all over the place, it felt too familiar (mansion & labs).

I've grown up since the first Resident Evil on the PS1 but the series keeps growing sideways and curling back in on itself.

[Northman]

just curious if anyone here has found their affection for the series waning?

Certainly aging has a lot to do with it. I for example am in my 30's now, and have notably started to put away childish things now, things that used to matter to me. While it is part of the natural process of growing up, it's also pretty sad in a way. These things used to give me a lot, after all.

The pivotal point for me was Resident Evil 4. RE4 was the game where the style of the series changed too much, and to a direction that didn't please me at all. That was when the series became too action oriented, and even worse, threw away years worth of established material and plot progress, only to replace it with something that isn't as charming. After that, RE just didn't feel the same anymore. To me, Resident Evil is all about the zombies, the survival situations with limited equipment, and the Umbrella conspiracy. Take those away, and it just doesn't work for me anymore.

[News Bot]

If there's one thing the series is still good for, personally anyway, it's providing a rather comprehensive showcase of "don't fucking do this" for writing.

[Lanzagranadas]

I´m only dissapointed with RE4 and RE6 story wise. Now, gameplay wise, I´m more or less dissapointed with every RE since RE4 came out with no exception, albeit I enjoyed and had a lot of fun with every modern RE, except that ORCrap.

Unfortunately (or should I say fortunately) I found more enjoyment these later years in other franchises such as Batman Arkham and Assassin's Creed series, rather than one which has lost its identity several years ago in trying to appeal Call of Duty and Halo fans.

I just hope the next RE bring something really fresh and innovative because I wouldn't buy another game like RE6, unless I find it for less than 5 dollars someday.

[Becky's Butt]

RE4 is nothing like COD or Halo. Those games are pretty damn serious and are obviously expected to be taken as legitimate stories.

RE4 is a game people love precisely because Capcom were clearly just having fun and not taking anything seriously. In many ways it is very reminiscent of RE1 with how intentionally campy it is. RE1 is B-Horror and RE4 is B-Action.

Having seen some cutscenes of RE6 though, it seems like a vast departure from previous RE games with very straight, dark storytelling and a lot of character development what with Chris being all traumatized and then getting drunk and having to overcome said trauma. I can't say if it was well done or not, and this being Capcom it probably wasn't, but it definitely was something newer with the tone and all.

[Lanzagranadas]

Well, I prefer a more serious-dark tone story rather than a campy one, I don´t precisely play a RE to laugh at an absurd story, there are better games for that.

[Wrathborne]

No Jill Sandwich for you?

[RaccoonSurvivor]

I think the nearest to 'classic' was Revelations - I enjoyed that one and its storyline.
I liked RE5 purely because of its links to a corporation (Tricell and Umbrella's past) but thats about it - Wesker was awful and the explaination of viral flowers sucked big time.
RE6 was good in the way the chapters were linked together, but I felt only Leon's and Ada's levels were any good (and thats saying something as they weren't great either)
Jake's campaign made me feel like I was playing Uncharted and Chris's was all C.O.D (the snake boss was cool though aka RE1)

I don't care how they actually do the storyline (campy or serious) but they need to bring some classic stuff back. Either Umbrella or a similar big company.
That was their biggest mistake - getting rid of Umbrella (though after Raccoon they were gonna be caught eventually)

I still prefer the Wii shootemups - they had Umbrella, zombies, and a good soundtrack - make a RE4 style game like that, I'd be happy.