Losing interest in the series

[Dot50Cal]

I see a lot of folks mentioning RE4, but for me I look back fondly now on that game. I'm not sure what it is, but given what 5 became, I have a bigger appreciation for 4. The environments were so varied and the journey so long compared to what we got in 5. I found myself having to suspend my disbelief much more with 5 than 4. I think the really great part about it was just the atmosphere the game evoked. You're alone, in a hostile environment and noone is there to help you. Its desolate, and the time of the year was great (leave on the ground, decay everywhere).

Like a couple others have said, I'll still play the future titles, but it will primarily be for the gameplay they provide and not the story. I too hope they just do something new, with as little connections to the previous games as possible.

I think part of the reason I'm so disappointed with the games (and maybe others as well) is because for years we've been speculating about characters, events, etc. Only to have our hopes dashed. The thing that always astounds me is that Capcom can make such interesting characters and then just completely forget about them. So over the years, you see that they don't really listen to the fans and see where our interests lay. We got our resolution with Spencer (as half assed as it was), but what about Billy? Rebecca? Characters are just completely forgotten. I'm not saying give them another game, but you think these people who survived (and presumably testified) would keep in touch or something.

Someone also mentioned Weskers Report. Retconning stuff like that also doesn't exactly help. Steve seemingly playing a big role at the end of Code Veronica, Sherry having "something about her".

[News Bot]

I want to know what happened to Billy, Steve and Sherry. I don't care for anyone else.

All of these have already been answered.

1) Billy went off to live his life.
2) Steve is dead. (He DOES play a big role after CODE: Veronica, just not in a way most people are expecting)
3) Sherry was in the custody of the U.S. Government. In her 20s now, probably living a normal life.

I go through periods of time where I don't really care for the series much, or lack motivation. But to be honest, I will never let it go. For one thing, the universe is just too huge. And it already plays on my love for biological science fiction. Plus, there's the nostalgia factor and the fact that they're among my favourite games ever. I'll never lose interest in the older games.

Plus, there is still a LOT of plot-related information to be discovered. These are proof of that:

• http://projectumbrella.net/forum/Bio...tion-Committee
• http://projectumbrella.net/articles/...rd-Archives-II
• http://projectumbrella.net/articles/...ide-Chronicles

Someone also mentioned Weskers Report. Retconning stuff like that also doesn't exactly help. Steve seemingly playing a big role at the end of Code Veronica, Sherry having "something about her".

Wesker's Report was not retconned in the slightest. Wesker did have Sherry in his hands, but most people thought this meant that he had her captured. In reality, he used spies working for him in the U.S. Government to monitor her. As for Rebecca etc, the fact is, they are just boring characters (ESPECIALLY Rebecca). The series is already over-saturated with them. The reason they don't keep the exact same protagonists is the same. Billy wasn't interesting either. Seriously, look beyond the surface and all you have is a really flat, substance-less character. People began making up a bunch of nonsense for his character when BH5 was announced by saying "OMG AFRICA? BILLY WAS IN AFRICA WASN'T HE?" like there was a definite connection.

Also, Spencer's resolution wasn't really half-assed. If anything, it stayed with the image they fostered for him ever since the original Biohazard; a real, mysterious, cold-blooded bastard with a God complex and delusions of grandeur. Hell, they even gave him a 1UP on Wesker, the main antagonistic presence in the series. I don't know what people expect out of the games a lot of the time when it comes to stuff like this. Personally, I think Spencer's entire backstory was pretty well-done and they managed to encapsulate about 13 years of it and still keep in line with the direction they were taking the original games (same can't be said for gameplay of course).

[Smiley]

I've been a fan of the series since I was a kid renting the original back in 1996. And I followed each game with anticipation. I guess at the time playing a survival horror game really meant something to me. I was limited as to what games I could get my hands on so Silent Hill came second followed by others. Now that they've become franchises with movies, novels, comics, etc. the series has gotten pretty bloated.

There were some ups and downs in the games. But like Metal Gear Solid 4 I played RE5 with a finale that brought me some form of closure to the series. It didn't end everything, and more games were to be expected of course. But I can safely say that my interest in the series has reached its peak. Not even a reboot will make me feel the same as I did when I was eight years-old popping the first game into my playstation.

That said, as I get older I find myself becoming less and less of a gamer in general. Most of the new games I bought I have yet to beat. But I still try when I have time from work, life, etc.

Being older has also made me wiser when it comes to games and products. For example I'm not such a RE fan that I need to buy a 3DS and play Mercenaries 3D right away. An updated merc game is not a must buy for me. And after a year or so Nintendo will release an updated 3DS fixing any kinks the launch version may have and possibly add new features to it. Happens all the time with electronics.

I'm not done with the games entirely as I still find them fun to play through. But I'm not rushing to play them right away either. I still have yet to buy Dead Rising 2 and I'll get that before I get MvC3 so they'll likely be used purchases. In my opinion all the talent of Capcom has parted ways. As I've seen with the DmC reboot feedback not even the gamers are sold on starting a popular series fresh these days.

At the moment though the horror games that are really catching my interest stem from Haunting Ground (a ps2 game recommended to me by my partner which turned out to be a true gem of a game) to Dead Space. With a rail shooter spin off and Dead Space 2 out along with the animated comics and movies it seems as though we have a new franchise on our hands. Is it gifted (or doomed) to follow the path of the others?

[Archelon]

Wesker's Report was not retconned in the slightest. Wesker did have Sherry in his hands, but most people thought this meant that he had her captured. In reality, he used spies working for him in the U.S. Government to monitor her.

Yeah, but it took Capcom how many years to clarify that? And in a guidebook, no less.

Heck, look at how many years it took just for Capcom to show in an actual game how Wesker survived the Mansion Incident. I think that's a big part of the problem.

Instead of actually showing things in the games, Capcom seems instead intent to rely on patching things up using guidebooks that most fans probably will never even see outside of Japan. Project Umbrella notwithstanding.

When you have to constantly refer to outside sources to be able to enjoy or understand the plot of a game, it kind of defeats the purpose of having a plot to begin with. It's certainly one of the biggest reasons I've given up caring about the story.

[Smiley]

Like MGS, RE has been pretty sloppy with their canon. Back when it was just the classics I rather enjoyed the multiple scenarios and choosing your path based on your decisions. With each sequel comes a challenge to meet a certain canon of the series. That's why I have yet to play a RE game where Chris, Jill, Barry and Rebecca all escape in the chopper together.

[Archelon]

That's another issue. With all of the remakes, ports, re-releases, re-tellings, etc, that this series has had, Capcom has ample opportunities to fix those kinds of inconsistencies, yet they never do. They just leave things as is, or worse, muck things up even more.

[News Bot]

Yeah, but it took Capcom how many years to clarify that? And in a guidebook, no less.

Heck, look at how many years it took just for Capcom to show in an actual game how Wesker survived the Mansion Incident. I think that's a big part of the problem.

Instead of actually showing things in the games, Capcom seems instead intent to rely on patching things up using guidebooks that most fans probably will never even see outside of Japan. Project Umbrella notwithstanding.

The simple answer is that a lot of the time, fans don't care. Sherry was never planned to appear in another game after BH2. There's just nowhere you can take some of these characters apart from really convenient career choices. You can understand Chris and Jill because of their age and their experiences clashes with their strong sense of justice. But Sherry was 12. Did people expect her to become an Alice character? Same with Steve. People bitched about Wesker being alive again but the same thing not happening to Steve is a bad thing?

I do admit their strategy of incorporating vital plot details into guidebooks and other supplemental material is pretty stupid. They had a chance to change this with both Archives books, but both of them are only about 60% of the information contained in the guides. I think Archives II is the only one with any actual NEW info, the first book is a simple copy and paste from the Kaitai Shinsho guidebooks.

Regardless, I still love the series for what it is. There is a certain thrill when uncovering something through translation that has gone undiscovered and unmentioned for over a decade.

[Archelon]

The simple answer is that a lot of the time, fans don't care. Sherry was never planned to appear in another game after BH2. There's just nowhere you can take some of these characters apart from really convenient career choices. You can understand Chris and Jill because of their age and their experiences clashes with their strong sense of justice. But Sherry was 12. Did people expect her to become an Alice character? Same with Steve. People bitched about Wesker being alive again but the same thing not happening to Steve is a bad thing?

While I can't speak for everyone (I'm personally okay with never seeing Sherry or Steve again), I think the difference with them is that the seed was planted by Capcom in both Wesker's Report and CODE: Veronica X, respectively. No such thing was ever done with Wesker. He just came back out of nowhere, while Wesker's Report strongly implied we would see Sherry again, and of course there's the infamous line Wesker uttered in CODE: Veronica X about possibly bringing Steve back, which I had always assumed he just said to get under Claire's skin, but many other fans obviously took it literally.

[Zombie Fred]

Myself I don't see the need or have the urge to invest into the series no more, in terms of the universe and its plot deeply after Resident Evil 5. Don't get me wrong, I will keep playing the series and look forward to what they will bring, but 5 ended with a conclusion I was happy to see as an end of an era for the franchise. Everything coming now will be just to enjoy as a game in general.

[REmaster]

I see a lot of folks mentioning RE4, but for me I look back fondly now on that game. I'm not sure what it is, but given what 5 became, I have a bigger appreciation for 4. The environments were so varied and the journey so long compared to what we got in 5. I found myself having to suspend my disbelief much more with 5 than 4. I think the really great part about it was just the atmosphere the game evoked. You're alone, in a hostile environment and noone is there to help you. Its desolate, and the time of the year was great (leave on the ground, decay everywhere).

THIS. I always thought RE4 was a great game in general, but I wasn't fond of it as a RE game. Than RE5 came out and I thought that it would be a return to the core of the series, but instead it somehow felt even more distant. They took all the bits and pieces that made RE4 great, but somehow still went wrong.
The forced partner really bothered me and took away from any of the few moments that could have actually been scary. At least in RE0 you got seperated a couple times, but in RE5 Sheva is a thorn in your side the entire time, being completely useless, dying or getting in your way.

Capcom has already stated that they have no intentions of returning to the old style of RE to please older fans, and despite RE5 letting many of us down, it did out sell all the other titles. That's when I started looking at RE4, and saw it in a completely different light. Oh how I miss the opening of a door only to be greeted by a relaxing save room theme...or the sound of a typewriter reassuring my progress has been saved. As you said, the numerous plot lines that were deployed only to to be brushed under the rug left a lot of people wondering just what in the hell is going on. Resident Evil will always be my favorite series and I'll keep playing the games when they're released no matter how much they've deviated from the classics that sprung my interest in the first place.



Resident Evil may be able to prolong it's life, but it's not like it can escape it's inevitable death, is it?

[Vector]

For me, the only loose ends(if they even are loose) that I care about are:

Ada
'The Organization'
TriCell

Revelations seems completely unnecessary and Jill and Chris need to be put to rest. The series is pretty much dead to me, to be honest. All this shit about the Wesker Children can go die in a fire.

[BrionIrons]

@SinValentine,what went wrong was Mikami left after he found out RE4 went multiplatform.

But anyway I still have alittle interest in the Series but its no longer on my top list.GTA is more on my top list now.

[Mr. Spencer]

I'm just interested in getting some closure regarding Nicholai. His survival remains a heated question even to this day.

[TheSelfishGene]

I wouldn't say I'm quite done with the series, but I don't anticipate new releases with anywhere near the enthusiasm I used to.
It's funny, because on Friday night I hooked up my dreamcast and played RE3: Mercenaries for the first time in months. And I had a whole lot of fun. My flatmate was watching me, and convinced me to play RE5 with him last night. It was the first time I'd booted it up in about 18 months. I was still on the pre-LiN/DE software version

He'd never played RE5 (or any of the others for that matter, just knew I was a big fan), and he didn't care about the story or any of the characters, but he actually had some fun. I think alot of people here, myself included, take the story too seriously. That said, I don't think we can be blamed for it. The story in RE 1, 2, 3, was interesting and worth discussing and getting involved with. In retrospect I think the wheels started to fall off around RE:CV, but it wasn't til 0 when I thought it had gone just a bit too silly. It's really a shame that the story has taken a back seat to gameplay. As I said alot when RE5 came out, the best bits in the game for me are the library files, and with some better writing (lawl) they could have included alot of that information in the game, and maybe gotten more people excited about the story?

To backtrack a bit, I don't anticipate the new releases much anymore, and will maybe play them eventually. I haven't played LiN (story is a fiat accompli so why bother? Or DE for that matter. I didn't get DSC until it hit the bargain bin, which is a damn shame, because I actually enjoyed DSC quite a bit. But it's a shame that UC gave it a really bad name. I also probably think the reason I liked DSC was because I wasn't so concerned about retconns anymore. I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in The Mercenaries 3D, and very little interest in Revelations.

On top of all this, I think I'm becoming more apathetic to games in general. I have less and less free time now a days, and when I do have time, I tend to go and play games I know I like/will like. Me playing RE3 Mercs is a good example of this. The trends I see in gaming now a days really put me off. Capcom are especially guilty, with their re-releases and DLC. I was talking to Mr Spencer about MvC3, and how Jill is a completely finished and functional character, but is being witheld for DLC (and the CE right?). Shit like this really rubs me wrong, and not even a generation of consoles ago people would kick up a MASSIVE stink about this. Now they bend over for it. I'd be kinda happy with the games I've played up to and until this point, and just ignore new releases until they hit the bargain bin. I think the only game I've paid for DLC for is LittleBigPlanet - generally DLC doens't interest me.

I still feel really nostalgic about the older games in the series, and as Anders said, once a collector always a collector. Even yesterday I got a couple new items (which you'll all see soon ;) ) and most of my collection for me is the nostalgia it represents - when it was a series I cared a whole lot about. The items I get remind me of the great old games. I didn't really bother with any RE5 collectables (and I won't. Snowglobes lol), because that game doesn't give me the sense of nostalgia that the others, including 4, do.

[DONNIemo]

Yes I agree its dieing a bit (the series) But I am still a very serious collector, and if you dont like the newer ones, just collect the old ones that you have fond memorys of

I still love collecting them all.