1.5

[Carnivol]

Going by the fact that the interview directly mentions the demo of the retail version of RE2, I guess it must be some issue from around late-July, sometime August, or possibly early September. At least the version of the BH2 demo that's bundled with Director's Cut (which was released in late September) was compiled on the 6th of August 1997.

[imacwesker]

EDIT: Okay, next up. Does anyone know where this interview came from? Famitsu, I know, but it would be nice to know the exact issue, year, etc.

Issue 10/10 1997. Scan of the cover available here:

http://survivhor.biohazardfrance.net/RE1.5/TEXTES/03/index.html

[Guest]

Issue 10/10 1997. Scan of the cover available here:
http://survivhor.biohazardfrance.net.../03/index.html

Neat, a thanks to you as well!

[MeganGrass]

Okay, next up. Does anyone know where this interview came from? Famitsu, I know, but it would be nice to know the exact issue, year, etc.

I have an issue of 'Tips&Tricks' from January 1998, with the same interview, only it is translated to English. It's not of the best quality--it was scanned many years ago, now... but, here ya go:

[Guest]

I have an issue of 'Tips&Tricks' from January 1998, with the same interview, only it is translated to English. It's not of the best quality--it was scanned many years ago, now... but, here ya go:

Great, now we even know the English translation came from a reliable source. Thank you!

[OKeijiDragon]

Great, now we even know the English translation came from a reliable source. Thank you!

Do you guys have scans from the original Japanese Famitsu interview? The one found in Wesker's links doesn't show the actual text and there are photos of the development staff that are imposed by french text. =(

[Guest]

Three more questions:

1. What magazine is this preview from?
2. Where is that interview from?
3. Where do those details come from?

Spoiler:

show spoiler

I'll have to admit that this is the first time I ever looked this stuff up...but I just can't believe how bad even the smallest tidbits on 1.5 are documented. If sources were listed more frequently for these things, stupid fake rumors such as those from the infamous bogus RE4 interview would not spread nearly as much.

[News Bot]

Unrelated to 1.5, but slightly relevant; does anyone know the source for Mikami stating that he wanted to have a wizard in Dino Crisis but was stonewalled by Capcom who wanted Resident Evil with dinosaurs?

If that's true, fucking hell. :/

Related; what's the source for his statement about wanting the first Bio Hazard to essentially have no story at all? I remember his "spooky house doesn't need a story!" line.

[Guest]

Related; what's the source for his statement about wanting the first Bio Hazard to essentially have no story at all? I remember his "spooky house doesn't need a story!" line.

That one is from the interview in ANOTHER SIDE OF BIOHAZARD (もうひとつのバイオハザードの世界).

[News Bot]

That one is from the interview in ANOTHER SIDE OF BIOHAZARD (もうひとつのバイオハザードの世界).

Ahh, I still have that book too. Are scans needed or is there already a full, accurate translation somewhere?

[Carnivol]

Three more questions:

1. What magazine is this preview from?
2. Where is that interview from?
3. Where do those details come from?

Spoiler:

show spoiler

I'll have to admit that this is the first time I ever looked this stuff up...but I just can't believe how bad even the smallest tidbits on 1.5 are documented. If sources were listed more frequently for these things, stupid fake rumors such as those from the infamous bogus RE4 interview would not spread nearly as much.

If you're able to drag Kim (Inflames) online, I think he'd be more than willing/happy to provide information for most stuff that's up on Bioflames. (Might be possible that the sources for those interviews and details have been posted on the bioflames forums in the past). Chris (Alzaire) might know some of these answers too... he's kinda the in-house 1.5 sleuth.

I think the only really unreliable, yet commonly spread, piece of information that's floating around for 1.5 is its completion status, but I think that might just be related to contradicting information giving by the game's staff and Capcom (Or more like lack of extra context, as even gaps like 65% and 85% can technically mean the same amount of game being finished, just that one of the numbers accounts for QA/polishing and the leap from Alpha->Beta->Release Candidates, while the other just refers to general design.)

[Guest]

Ahh, I still have that book too. Are scans needed or is there already a full, accurate translation somewhere?

Resident Evil Horror provided a translation a few years ago, but I think scans are always appreciated.

If you're able to drag Kim (Inflames) online, I think he'd be more than willing/happy to provide information for most stuff that's up on Bioflames. (Might be possible that the sources for those interviews and details have been posted on the bioflames forums in the past). Chris (Alzaire) might know some of these answers too... he's kinda the in-house 1.5 sleuth.

I think it might be a bit audacious to ask someone I don't know over to verify some random bits and bobs. Maybe someone else can. Or, well, Alzaire.

I think the only really unreliable, yet commonly spread, piece of information that's floating around for 1.5 is its completion status, but I think that might just be related to contradicting information giving by the game's staff and Capcom

No reliable sources problem for the completion status at this moment, I'll just use "65 to 80 percent". The Famitsu interview said 65, Resident Evil Archives and Kobayashi said 80. And honestly, the difference is not that big, it's just that 80 percent sounds more complete to people.

[Alzaire]

Unfortunately Prime Blue is sadly right about how undocumented the old interviews involving 1.5 are, esp. the post-cancellation ones. It's one of the things I've been regretting recently, as I hate to admit that many of the interviews are something I do not have physically copied or written down, though I remember the "important" details from most of them in regards to 1.5. There are several low-key interviews done back in the past by various sites and people that contained some small bits of info or technical info about 1.5 that I haven't been able to re-locate. Though I'm sure some of the information or interviews themselves may come under questionable scrutiny by some without proper sourcing or reliability, considering that some things have been faked over the years.

As for the 60 vs 80% completion thing as described by devs, I agree it could be just a subjective account. Though lately I've wondered if they are referring to the E3 build (the one Curator reviewed) as the 60% one and that is the one they relate mostly to the magazines and such because it was the most publicized in magazines and shown/playable at the E3 in Japan. It would probably be the most familiar to them. It might have been a little bit of PR play, as 60% sounds only like barely halfway complete and probably would have been accepted considering the familiarity with the E3 version. Then later on they started saying 80~% in regards to it's real completion general rating, considering it was supposedly only a month away from projected completion time and pretty close to the projected release date (originally scheduled for March, 1997 release, canceled in Jan/Feb (unclear), 1997). While it could have just been subjective (I know real % numbers for completion are near impossible to really accurately reflect true completion), I have more of a feeling they at first chose to say 60% to make it sound less complete than it was as a PR thing. But who knows.

Anyway, back on topic, unfortunately I don't know the sources for most of the interviews and such. Aside from one in one of the RE2 strategy guides I have personally, I never bothered to document technical info in the past as I never really thought I'd need to as long as I remembered the details said about 1.5 itself. I mean, at the time I'm sure the general source was stated (as I've seen many of the same interviews a lot and usually described as like "Famitsu interview" or "PSM magazine interview" and such) so most of them should be real. Like I said, this is something I have regretted since a couple years ago when I've begun a few projects in regards to 1.5, including the maybe-eventual 1.5 section, and other ideas I've been toying with and I wish I had documented more of the interviews in the past.

[ashkan]

Hey guys I wanted to ask you somthing. Did Shinji Mikami hate Re1.5 because of it's storyline ? or he wanted to close the story of the franchise himself!?

By the way, I'm really happy that Re1.5 and Re3.5 topics are still alive! because The horror is alive in our hearts.

[Guest]

Unfortunately Prime Blue is sadly right about how undocumented the old interviews involving 1.5 are, esp. the post-cancellation ones. It's one of the things I've been regretting recently, as I hate to admit that many of the interviews are something I do not have physically copied or written down, though I remember the "important" details from most of them in regards to 1.5. There are several low-key interviews done back in the past by various sites and people that contained some small bits of info or technical info about 1.5 that I haven't been able to re-locate.

Pity, because if you guys don't know the exact sources, they are probably lost forever. Now, it's not that I question the validity of the information in these magazines (the Internet was still in its fledgling stages back then, so the rumor mill didn't run as quickly yet), it's just that it will be hard to use...sources on Wikipedia without knowing...the source. But, well, I've got the most important things in there now anyway. It's just minor things like the changing costumes feature that remain "not fully sourced".

projected release date (originally scheduled for March, 1997 release, canceled in Jan/Feb (unclear), 1997)

Hm, I guess March 1997 is based on that one. Most other sources I've seen said spring 1997, and the only "straight from the horse's mouth" comment is a Capcom Entertainment, Inc. press release from November 25, 1996, which gives the release date as May 1997.

Hey guys I wanted to ask you somthing. Did Shinji Mikami hate Re1.5 because of it's storyline ? or he wanted to close the story of the franchise himself!?

We know from interviews (such as the ASOB one above) that Mikami generally favored atmosphere over story and was largely uninvolved with the scenario writing. What we also know is that Capcom wanted to make RE2 a million-seller and that Yoshiki Okamoto wanted to create a whole universe for the series as it was so successful – to develop many, many future games. That was the main reason for the story change of 1.5, and why the actual scenarios got deeper with each game back then. I'll have that all included in the article.