Of course it’s firmly one footed in the past. Setting and design wise I agree on recognizing where it might be more glaring, but the greater part of playing audience knows that most of that is a signature of faithfulness and just upping fidelity, control.
Resident Evil 8 like this would be more questionable.
I think his central premise that this is somehow a more “realistic” approach is basically wrong. there is a greater emphasis on realism and detail than was possible before, and the game adapts the existing narrative/mechanical structure to fit what’s possible with 2019 tech. there is not really any noticeable focus on realism for its own sake. it seems like he is complaining about convention, which is really silly considering how much this game challenges its own conventions to began with. yes, of course some remain. and that’s fine. it’s still resident evil! resident evil is kind of an inherently silly premise!
It’s very hard for games to navigate increased fidelity and the inherently literal nature of game rules without suffering dead ends into realism. A dash of Japanese goofiness is a great way out of this trap while living under its strictures.
this game has some flaws, but the reason it’s so exciting is because of how modern it is yet how steadfastly it clings to the original resident evil 2 design sensibility. it’s a rebuke of resident evil 4-6 without discarding what those games contributed to the series. it’s really amazing to play a game in 2019 with top tier production values that still also has seemingly anachronistic shit like frequent backtracking, meticulous ammo/item management, and boss fights that mostly involve awkwardly running around to dodge while finding strategic moments to take potshots. having the zombies be comically bullet-spongey (which is how they’ve always been in resident evil games (which I feel like have a fairly established set of rules for zombie mechanics that are honestly just as intuitively recognized as romero-isms at this point)) is a part of that.
the exact things that people seemed to hate about the original resident evil games are back and are honestly more present than ever. and what’s great is that people seem to be loving the game for those same qualities.
he could have just said “it’s a videogame”
what’s up with that $2 bag of ice in 1998
Something about this game really inspires super dry navel-gazing articles.
these mfers need to shut up until last of us 2 comes out
it’s got to be that it’s so successfully anachronistic while not being strictly backwards-looking, right? it’s possible that these people are actually unfamiliar with the original trappings and even if those trappings are still broadly likable and successful, they’re grasping for the context when it seems so self-evident. there’s a pretty large body of writing around “I am incredibly fascinated by this artifact specifically because I am not aware of its antecedents” and it can actually be really fun and interesting to see that perspective (we had a former poster who once waxed philosophical about the emotionality of the charge up scenes in bleach or something and it became clear that he had never seen dragon ball z), but it can also be really dry and obvious.
that, or people are bound to try to extract a thinkpiece from anything that does brisk business, and this one defies broader meaning even more than most
Yeah, I’m bewildered by the article. Generally speaking I’m on board with the thesis. 90’s era adventure game design glued to extreme mechanical constraints of an action game with prerendered backgrounds was never not going to result in the dreamlike logic akin to the hotel in The Shining. Like, the current framework a 2019 Big Singleplayer Experience is expected to follow doesn’t really cater to the type of game the original RE 2 is: an experimental interplay of gameplay systems + whatever the cg artist decided would be memorable looking puzzle pieces + whatever the narrative person thought would be evocative of a George Romero movie, and so on, all while propelled by the confidence and resources that having already delivered worldwide hit to indulge these creative impulses (I offer cancelled RE 1.5 as proof)
I don’t want to put words in the authors mouth, but how do they know that the original team wasn’t shooting for the moon in terms of realism and verisimilitude? And if you accept my thesis that the magic of RE and RE 2 comes mostly from a group of very talented people channeling all their creative energy into facsimile of a western zombie movie but made in medium with insane constraints (nascent 3D engine with fixed camera angles, cinematic cutscenes with voice acting in an industry with (then) no established pipeline to acting talent, less codified game design), is it not clear that this sort of alchemy isn’t something you can ever achieve through deliberation, much less intentionally recreate? I think it’s maybe a little unfair to expect it from anything! For all of their very obvious flaws, I think the closest analog that exists today (and I also mean this in terms of budget and profile) is a new David Cage game!
Even then, I find it remarkable that so many of the bizarre kinds of edges of the original game show up in REmake 2 in way that is tremendously amusing and thoughtfully considered (the Chess fan mentioned earlier in this thread, female tank top zombie making an appearance near the cell block, the bizarre antics of the C4 guy on 3F, multiple old fashioned tumblr safes, I could go on). Like, the default outfit is less obviously out of place, but it’s not as if it still isn’t insane that Leon is dressed differently than Marvin and was driving into work already dressed in tactical gear. REmake 2 does a tremendous job of keeping and rearranging these elements while adding its own weird touches. Like, you spend the first hour trying to figure out how to leave the police station, but somehow you’re still boarding up windows?
I’m annoyed by the article but I mostly wanted to talk about why love the original and how goddamn good REmake 2 is where so many similar creative projects are cursed from the starting line.
Try to go about your real life without ever backtracking.
Get back to me if you manage it.
My solution to this was putting mental whiteout over the original explanation that Leon is a brand new cop school graduate on his first day of the force and writing in that he’s a transfer from another cop tribe and he showed up in his old uniform because at least it’s better than showing up in civvies.
man i don’t know what the real terms are and I don’t actually care all that much
cop tribe
Brotherhood of Steel or NCR, who’s the copsiest?
Well the former’s used a station or two in their time.
I mean I am down with this 100% but doesn’t it say RPD on both uniforms, or did he transfer from REINDEER PD
Brotherhood one thousand and ten percent here. NCR are bureaucrats through and through
Yeah there’s really no comparison just goofy musing. NCR’s inner workings are a mess to me in memory while BoS may have gotten more caricature.
I mean, one of these two factions was the target of the only plot I made for myself in Fallout 4, and let me tell you, Adrien Brody sure as shit loved baseball batting every one of those fuckers off a blimp.
NCR may be Hillary stans, but the Brotherhood is a bunch of Silicon Valley tech bros
leon was being groomed for aptitude displayed in police academy to be shot directly into becoming a replacement member of S.T.A.R.S. which all wore personalized combat uniforms in the field
Yeah, I read it as the RPD tactical uniform that nobody else had time? or thought to put on, which is not the STARS uniform.
I think it’s really funny that there’s a SWAT van in the parking garage. Like, you’ve already got your corporate special forces unit, you’re going begging for the SWAT federal funds too?