Resident Evil (1996) and later versions

Royta/Raeng wrote:Not exactly sure what you're saying there Zenyn.

I wanted to comment on the originator without being condescending, since no one here did. And praise your honesty by admitting to have never touched it.

As so much more is a matter of personal opinion, I'll will say this: '96 for me is not the lower bottom of this series. That's Zero. Since there is evidently little if any fresh ideas in it, it's often a step back. You know what I mean if you ever played beyond the train segment. And the "storytelling" (if there ever is something similiar to that term) in Zero is to my mind far worse than any schtick that '96 doles out. In short: I could not write anything worthwhile about that one, as I tried about the only one without a numeral.

That's fair. I wouldn't call Zero the bottom of the barrel, but it was the turning point where a lot of the team said "we want to do something else", that's for sure. A lot of the content present there seems like scrapped material. I must admit I still really like the game. The train segment is brilliant, the teamsetup pretty interesting and Leech Hunter a lot of fun imo. I'd still put it above RE5, 6 and 7 and maybe over CVX. Though I admit to little love for CVX.

Love that train segment.

Zero is the best of the "not great" ones for me. I love it even though it lacks the sheer overall brilliance of REmake or the impeccable pacing of RE2. I would certainly rank it above CVX, RE3 or anything post-RE4 of course.

Above RE3 takes me by surprise. You don't hold that one in high regard? It's my personal favourite barring 4.

Royta/Raeng wrote: A lot of the content present there seems like scrapped material.

I feel that, too. The premise of the early N64 prototype didn't evolve much further.  

Royta/Raeng wrote: and Leech Hunter a lot of fun imo.

   You mean the mode that awards unlimited ammo for the main game which cannot be toggled off or exchanged for the regular kind? BECAUSE THERE IS NO ITEM BOX AVAILABLE?! Bit of a shot in the foot for a survival game, me thinks.

Royta/Raeng wrote: Though I admit to little love for CVX.

I hold none. It's like a parody of the original double the length. Lame.

I don't rank games (or much of anything). It's admitting that even average things held my attention long enough to evaluate them. I just replay whatever whenever it sits overall fine with me.

Royta/Raeng wrote:Above RE3 takes me by surprise. You don't hold that one in high regard?

No, it's the worst of the classic series for me. I'm glad it exists and I think the series would definitely be worse without it, I just find it lacking in many respects.


The Raccoon streets have less personality and a more streamlined layout than the Spencer Mansion or the R.P.D., Nemesis is too mobile for Jill's moveset which makes a lot of the early fights a chore, the only non-Nemesis boss in the game (Grave Digger) is kinda shit, the dodge roll is too temperamental to be relied upon, the Choice Events are usually pointless, and the randomized puzzles are mostly math-based which takes away a lot of their creative potential.

I still love the game for the great OST, pre-rendered backgrounds, Carlos, Nemmy's design, the superb Clock Tower segment and OMJ of course. I just don't think it's quite on the same level as some of the others, unfortunately.


Probably worth clarifying: I played these games for the first time as an adult and replay them regularly, so that probably influences my perspective a bit since my opinions aren't based on cherished childhood memories like many other fans!

Back to the Evil at hand.
Though I played all the modes for the Cube Evil, I never successfully enabled a full No Saves game.
Whenever I start I tend to go macho with Chris, since Jill has many shortcuts.
I have lots to improve. But that is something I sincerely want to do.
Any of you did it?

Interesting, most of the parts you mention are exactly why I love it i.e. Choice Events, the dodge, bosses, Nemesis fights etc. I really went into the game about a year ago and replayed it a few times, really one of my favourites. It's a great action game for me personally, though also because of the randomness which I kind of like. Not a game I'll run to death though.

> no save
Only did it for Jill once, which was tense as hell. Never did it for Chris.

My notes ( ) show that I did Jill No Save last year with hard diff. Saved Barry and lost Chris. Must've felt unremarkable because I forgot I did. Played Chris Once Again today with Forrest haunting and lost to Plant 42 which I hadn't prepared for proper. Takes all some sweet time. On my next try I will let Rebecca start earlier then before. Waiting on her without any side task left isn't fun, let me tell you.

>The original RE is by far the worst of the classic series and I consider it to have been rendered obsolete by the REmake.

Completely disagree. The first is hands down my favorite. Just a perfect package through out. Expertly designed, and it has the best save room theme out of all the games.
I don't get the hype for REmake, maybe I came to it too late, I just didn't like the changes. Looks beautiful though.

hedfone wrote:it has the best save room theme out of all the games.

I find that hard to agree with considering how REmake's save room music is literally a higher fidelity version of OG RE's save room music.
Exact same melody, better quality all-around:





Which is very much representative of the whole game, in my opinion. To each his own, though! :)

I consider Zero one of the best for no other reason than I just think so.

We all know you love being an underdog supporter Bird

Yes. I'm also right and the boss.

Don't know of any boss in Resident Evil called "Birdman".

>REmake's save room music is literally a higher fidelity version

To an un trained ear, sure . Tons of subtle differences in the tempo, instruments used, and the pitch of the wailing. OG is more haunting to me, while REmake is more comforting.

I've just finished hard difficulty with Jill. Tyrant 1 using the knife was very funny. Knife only, no save and under 3 hours seem to me good challenges. I'm going to do a Chris run on hard and after that I'll play something else, but I want to overcome those trials.

@RedShot

Cool! Very nice to see somebody get into classic RE for the first time in 2020. Do you think you might be interested in playing some of the other older games in the series at some point in the future?

I'm also curious, what kind of horror games have you played in the past and how would you compare REmake to those?

I have the original Japanese PS1 version in a box somewhere.
I'm surprised it hasn't crumbled to dust yet.

@KSubzero1000 I love this game and I'll definitely play RE2 and the other ones. I wanted to get RE4 but I decided to start from the beginning. Not disappointed at all! I was a bit worried of "tank" controls but I like this idea, it works perfectly and there are also helpful audio cues. By the way, I'm not an expert of horror games. I tried some first person horror titles like Outlast, Amnesia and Penumbra but I didn't like them too much gameplay-wise. I don't know if they are considered horror but I have good memories of Bioshock and Condemned.

Very nice, if you’re feeling up for it, Real Survival is a great challenge. The next several mainline RE titles are amazing, you’re in for a good time man.

New TGBS about REmake



Haven't played Resident Evil 1-3 in a long while, so I can't comment. Editing is better than usual, though.

I admit that I just can't stomach his Road to Rocketlauncher series anymore after how horrible the first few ones were made, just reading the maps aloud with a few 'ah if you go here, then now you can go there' without any sort of analysis. His "I couldn't find proof that CVX would be RE3 originally, so I'm going to ignore that" statement really irked me as you can find proof of that after a minute of googling.

So yeah, not going to watch it. I'll let someone else suffer through it! If it's good though, let me know.

Just skimmed the other ones, since I've never actually watched them, and... They're honestly not that much different from this one. I thought the editing was better than usual for his videos, but it's actually the exact same.

So it's probably not very hard-hitting analysis.

Charlie has sounded bored in every video of his in the last two years. I only made a few minutes into this before turning it off. Really not trying to be a negative but I can’t stand the guy anymore. Him and Cvit pretending to be ambassadors of action games just makes me cringe. I can’t do it.

This is neat, lots of people playing Resident Evil :) Within the past year I played through the original PS1 version of RE fully to unlock everything and loved every moment of it. Excellent experience and still very fun today! Well designed and great pace. I'll play RE: Director's Cut next time to see the differences. I have also played the GC remake and the newest remake on PS4...which I played first and I was surprised to see how great it was to still play the original even after playing the newer entries! Maybe one day I'll try RE2 & beyond...

I heard the Director's Cut really changed a lot of things (for the better) which is fantastic. If you haven't already Hebass, and you have the time, this video by Lotus on the changes is really fantastic and in-depth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cfnl6Bt8_o

It's extremely indepth but well worth a watch. The only thing he forgot to mention iirc is that the PS4 release added more jigglephysics haha. He's apparently not as pervy.

Which games have you played so far in the series?

Thanks for the video link, that's pretty detailed. I love that the game gets modified with all of the releases slightly. That's what makes me want to play them all, even the N64 version!

I haven't played many in the series to this point.

- GameCube remake RE1 (played in early 2000s, didn't complete it).
- PS4 remake (a couple of years ago with my Wife, Platinum trophy).
- RE Zero on PS4 (immediately after previous, didn't get too far).
- PS1 Original - Loved it! Played it every which way.

That's it so far. I was thinking of playing all actual releases in chronological release date time. So Director's Cut would be next, followed by Resident Evil 2, then the Dual Shock version of Director's Cut. For some reason, I really like to play games in release order haha.

Going to get the original game, just wanted to check to be sure: https://store.playstation.com/nl-nl/product/EP0102-NPEF00163_00-GRESIDENTE000001?utm_source=google

I should get this one right?

Yes I am so proud of you Roy. Today, you become a man, a real true gamer.

That's awesome man, have fun!

I honestly really like OG RE. I feel it has the fewest interruptions then any of the classic series (story-wise) making the unskip-able scenes less egregious then 2 and 3. It still has plenty of depth when it comes to planning routes and what-not. And the VO is really charming and fun (I love how genuinely hurt Wesker sounds when Chris laughs at him).

Not my favorite RE. Probably not the best either. But in my mind at least, it's the purest.

Still never done arrange mode sadly. I'll have to get on that. I hear "Deadly Silence" is the best version, can anyone here confirm that?

I might postpone this for a few days, as I maybe have gotten a bid in on a used version of the disc on PS1 for only a tenner, would be steal if true. Otherwise I'll just get the EU version on PS3. Need to get a good PS3-controller anyway to play the Vita God of War's down the line, so might as well use this as an excuse haha.

> deadly silence
I heard that a lot on Reddit too, but also hear it's filled with Quality of Life features and some mini-games that involve the touchcontrols. Not sure I'm keen on that.

AeternalSolitude wrote: I hear "Deadly Silence" is the best version, can anyone here confirm that?

What is a "best" actually? Ask your best friend. Or your best man. With the best test.

Well, I am one of the few who can claim to have played Deadly Science. And it does what's expected in using the devises of the system. The best feature would surely be the designated button for reloading, right? For purists who can't abide the knifing game there's always Original Mode.
Original enough for ya?

Royta/Raeng wrote:> deadly silence
I heard that a lot on Reddit too, but also hear it's filled with Quality of Life features and some mini-games that involve the touchcontrols. Not sure I'm keen on that.

As long as it keeps the controls tanky I'm cool with some Quality of Life upgrades. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Bought the PSN version, so far having a very good time! It's weird to now play it side by side with the Remake in mind. For one, the style is so different it boggles my mind. Everyone says how action-y RE2 is but this game is pretty action too, swimming in ammo, cool bosses, pretty mobile, slow enemies. You can hit pretty hard. The flavour of the cutscenes is also the most ham I've ever seen. REmake was very more 'serious' I felt, also in style, music etc. That game was really scary to me, this isn't at all.

Of all the things I expected to like though, I ended up liking the lack of something the most: it doesn't have any gimmicks. It's pure Resident Evil, which is logical since it's the first. There's no A/B scenario. No Mister X or Nemesis. No mid-game character swap. No Crimson Heads. No item-dropping or dual character nonsense. You pick a character, a difficulty, and go. That's it.

In a sense it is also a bit dull maybe as a result, perhaps. But I kind of like that. Just pure Resident Evil. Just beat Jawn and making my way through the cabins now.

>Everyone says how action-y RE2 is but this game is pretty action too

Biggest surprise playing RE 1 and 2 is RE has always been an action series. REmake was the only one that punished action with the crimson heads.

On a side note: I still hate the garden section with its dogs haha!

If there was a gaming jail you would be in it right now.

Come on man, I've already taken a ton of your gaming recommendations. Let me take one of someone else for once.

I meant because everyone should have played this by now, but yes you have done well recently so I will show leniency.

>Deadly Silence
I was after this version at one point but just couldn't find a copy.

Finished the game on Jill Standard, total time was 7:13 and 11 saves. Got what I assume is the 'best' ending e.g. Barry and Chris were alive. Really enjoyed my time with the title! It was different enough from REmake which again makes me feel that game is even more excellent in how masterfully it used this game as a base instead of just giving a room for room remake.

Combat was excellent, music was chilling, especially this one imo:
https://youtu.be/sITJuWV3HXg

The game wasn't really a challenge until the Hunters showed up, which were a much bigger threat. Died a total of 4 times which was a humbling experience. Pacing was great, multiple routes were good, the layout wasn't too confusing and made sense, there were some fun puzzles and yeah, just a downright amazing game.

Really surprising how badly they nailed it on their first try. Sure there were already titles before it that dabbled, but everything just works to a tee. With RE2 and RE3 you can say they build of off something, but this is just downright impressive.

Some random notes:

- kind of liked how most bosses were just...there haha. Especially the Spider;
- Richard not being savable was a novel thing, he always died seems like;
- Jill really was easy mode with the crap ton of ammo she got;
- TOok me a long time to realize the Bazooka was actually what I knew as the Grenade Launcher;
- Hated how you couldn't seem to switch ammo types without emptying the Bazooka;
- Hated how you couldn't easily stack items in the item box;
- Tyrant died...super fast. 1 GL round and 2 magnum rounds. Ended up using the magnum for the entire end-game since I had 30+ rounds for it.
- Shotgun seemed the most balanced, good knockback/knockdown, high damage but not too high;
- Couldn't really figure out the point behind the multiple ammo types for the GL. I assumed Acid did bonus damage against Hunters, but a regular round also just blew them up in a single shot. Never used Flame Rounds.
- There was a bit too much "nothing special" when you investigated;
- Some of the hitboxes for crank-inputs were really iffy, could've been larger. Got pretty tired of seeing "you can't use that item here" constantly haha;
- the voice-acting was the funniest I've ever seen, legit B-movie horror level;
- the almost power-ranger esque intro and opening was great. Rock music, calling out the names, fucking fantastic;
- still not a fan of 'poison' in the series. Was swamped with Blue Herbs near the end. Was surprised to see that Red Herbs were really, really, really rare. Only found a few;

Do find that the older I get, the less gaming time I have and the less patience I have for the loading-doors. THey work fantastic and still give that feeling of "what's behind it...", but near the end I was zoning out a bit with each door.

All in all though, fantastic. Will play Chris soon and then at least finish the Arranged Mode.

Did Chris on my first run. Not knowing the game and having the limited space was great.
Always had to take less health or ammo than I wanted.

Royta/Raeng wrote:
- the voice-acting was the funniest I've ever seen, legit B-movie horror level;
- the almost power-ranger esque intro and opening was great. Rock music, calling out the names, fucking fantastic;

I feel that's exactly what makes the game still "relevant" today. It's so unashamed of the cheesy content that it is a feast for every go.
A distinct pleasure. And you got it, too!


WHAT IS IT?! forever!

Yeah it's fucking fantastic imo haha, really has a fantastic atmosphere as a result. Just zero shame, going straight for the B-movie vibe. Love it, can't help but respect it.

I'm looking to get into the series (I've only played like 2/3 of RE4 3 years ago, loved it but stopped playing due to forgetting to back up my Dolphin saves before formatting my PC), but starting with the classic entries first before moving on to RE4 and beyond. Since this is a big series, I have a few questions:

1. By some of the comments here I can assume that RE1 and REmake are different enough to warrant playthroughs of both? In that case, which version of classic RE1 is best? I know of the original PS1 release, PS1 director's cut and also PC port but with QoL mods.
2. For REmake1 + RE0, should I play the Steam releases but with the original settings (4:3, original tank controls etc..), Or should I go for the GameCube versions? AFAIK Dolphin emulates both perfectly, and I have a real GameCube controller which I'm using for Dolphin.
3. Which versions are the best for classic RE2, RE3 and CVX? PC with QoL mods seems like the best choice for 2+3 (controller support, AI Upscaled backgrounds), is there any missing content in the PC versions?

1. both would warrent a (few) playthroughs yeah. If you had to start, and are going to play RE2 and 3's original releases afterwards, I'd suggest starting with vanilla RE1 so that you have a nice transition. REmake is, still, far ahead of its time and might make the jump to RE2's original release a bit jarring. Regarding vanilla RE1, Director's Cut is the way to go.

2. I'd definitely play with tank-controls, as the game is built around said mobility options. The games already had 16:9 support on the Gamecube so you can play that way.

3. RE2, RE3 and CVX all have their best versions on the Gamecube. Technically speaking some might prefer the Dreamcast version of RE3, since it starts with everything already unlocked for w/e reason. A severly modded version of RE3's PC release is also good, since it allows skipping the door-animations.

Aren't REmake+RE0 using pre-rendered backgrounds at 4:3? I'm almost sure 16:9 is cropped. I might just go with the GCN version as an excuse to use my GameCube controller haha, but I'll see.