Resident Evil REmake HD

[Julius]

So, after what just happened on the balcony and in the garden (?) when trying to find some Green Herbs after being attacked on the balcony, my fear of big dogs as a small child has retroactively been fully justified and next time I will be bringing a shotgun to the dog fight. 

Interesting tone so far, not really sure what's going on quite yet, but I do now that burning this mansion down might be a better idea than sticking around for however long the game is going to make me  there hasn't really been much tension yet outside of cutscenes, but I'm only a couple of hours in so far. I went with Jill, by the way, purely because I've heard so much more said about her over the years than I have Chris. The slight boob jiggle when you stop walking caught me off guard the first time and gave me a good chuckle – I'm sure this is the true reason Capcom decided to remake the first RE 

Definitely took some time to adapt to the tank controls (I went with the original control scheme), I was feeling somewhat competent up until the dogs came into the picture, and obviously the fixed cameras are pretty foreign to me too. Enjoying the light puzzle elements so far, like figuring out what and how to interact with things in a room, going back and forth to the chest to just test items out that I've picked out on certain things I can interact with, testing out things like the lighter and kerosene after reading up on how to dispose of the corpses in-game (love when games communicate things like this effectively but don't just throw a dozen tutorial screens at you in the first 5 minutes, I had to learn about it from someone else's writing in the universe) and then accidentally walking into it, mixing Herbs, and so on. I already feel like I've mentally mapped out what I've seen so far of the Mansion pretty well, which is impressive for the game to get across with just how little time I've spent with it so far. The key-related puzzles (that trap room where the game seems to hint that you need to die to progress? Yeah, I wasn't taking that bait!) have probably been my favourite puzzles so far. 

Obviously, I've got to shout out just how good this game looks. Sure, I'm playing the HD re-release on modern consoles, but it's not hard at all to imagine how the original release of Remake back in the day must have blown minds. Similarly, the lighting, the sound effects, the vibes are through the roof but they aren't suffocating in the way I, for whatever reason, thought they might be going in; music creeps in at times to lend a hand to the building tension, lightning flashes through the window to reveal a box under a chair which makes you move just left enough towards a fire place for the camera angle to change, which shows a map of the second floor – honestly, just this little nugget feels like it got me more excited for the game, knowing that someone clearly put that there knowing that players would see it when the flash of light burst into the room. It feels so well crafted. Special shout-out to whatever misery awaits me under the stairs, but also a bigger shout-out to the door animations, as they're absolutely hypnotising. 

Feels a little weird to be limited on inventory space just because I don't have much experience with games giving you limited inventory space. That's taking a bit of getting used to just in terms of a "hmm, what should I be taking with me?" sense, but I quite like that every time I've gone back to the Safe Room (only unlocked the one so far) I'm always trying to figure out what I need and then what I *might* need, there's a definite risk-reward to carry both the shotgun and handgun while dumping the knife, or carrying around an emblem I've had since the start of the game still because I just know it's going to be useful in some way. Combining stuff and examining them in the menus, too, just feels like it adds this other layer of "let's stop, think, and take a closer look at this" which I'm liking. 

This is my first time playing a Resident Evil game - not counting the 5 minutes I spent in the demo of RE2 Remake wandering around the starting room as Leon before deleting it because I wussed out - after meaning to for a good while, and I'm really excited to see how it goes, knowing both how revered the franchise and this particular game are, but also just on terms of how I'll handle my first real survival horror experience outside of The Last of Us.

I'm not sure how much I'll be revisiting this thread during my playthrough but after a month or two of feeling fully burned out on games, I'm glad that after taking the last week off after playing something very short last week, I've even started one. I feel like I've been trying to deliberate over the last few days which games I want to get to between now and the end of the year, and above all else I felt like I needed something new and different; so far at least, the alien nature early on to me of the tank controls and my first RE seem to be doing the trick. 

Edited Sunday at 01:56 AM by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

This is your first time playing a Resi game? You're in for a treat. Yeah, the controls can take some getting used to but the atmosphere more than makes up for it. The game was something very special back on the Gamecube and it still holds up to this day. 

[Glen-i]

59 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The game was something very special back on the Gamecube and it still holds up to this day. 

Oh man, I pretty much hate survival horror, but this can't be stated enough. Resident Evil on that console was absolute jaw droppingly beautiful. It really showed that the Gamecube was more capable then the PS2 in terms of graphics.

Also, seeing as @Julius mentioned it. The door animations are such a clever way to use loading times to your advantage. Obviously, this remake didn't do it first, but it's such an effective tool to build tension.
Even though I'm sure the HD version could load each room quicker, I'm glad they didn't go for it.

Edited Sunday at 07:37 AM by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

This was my first Resident Evil as well (well, the original Gamecube version anyway) and yeah, this is the best introduction you could possibly ask for really.

Of course, I went back and played the rest of the series afterwards, but none of them even remotely compare to the sheer atmosphere of REmake.  It's the pinnacle of the series as far as pre-RE4 Resident Evil goes.  Truly horrifying stuff

That being said... tank controls bloody suck, and they still suck here.  It's a tough game to go back to after RE4 (or indeed even Eternal Darkness, which came out about 6 months later; and did a far better job with its fixed camera controls), but I do feel that it would be a lesser horror experience without the fixed camera angles.  I just wish that it could get a similar control setup as what Eternal Darkness had.

[Julius]

Bit of a frustrating second session, once again finishing on a death (this time, thankfully, I had saved in the room next to where I died). 

I died to a Crimson Head - or I'm guessing that's what it was. I came across a red-hued zombie who had decided he wanted to live again after dying a second time (poor guy) earlier on my session and killed him, I have trophies turned off again so just saw the trophy description after finishing up and the image more or less matches my description of the first guy I killed and the second guy who killed me. Zombies can get up again after being killed and they're faster and stronger, that's good to know. Wish I burned his corpse, which is what I'm guessing that file I read was talking about (how to avoid having these second generation creeps turn up). 

Had to start the session doing everything I did towards the end of my last session in order to go back, blow the dog whistle, and kill the dogs. I used a shotgun because screw those things. No, seriously, screw those things -- even with a shotgun I nearly ended up downed by the two geezers a second time. 

I've got a mask and put it in place (I don't know if I'm actually meant to do this because *something* is chained up there and I'm not 100% sure I want to find out what it is), I've done the key swap and so have the Armor Key, just collected the second part of Moonlight Sonata which is why I died heading over to the...bar, I guess it is? 

So, by far and away my favourite thing so far about the game is the puzzles. They feel so natural and relatively light as far as puzzles, but because you might not have an item to hand, figuring out what you need to get from the chest or how many slots you want to have open to move things around makes you feel like you have a level of ownership over the puzzle you're solving. Favourites are the knight and bee puzzles so far, though I've been waiting forever to do that clock puzzle (spent 5 minutes trying to figure out if I did something wrong the first time I walked into the dining room!). 

My second favourite thing is the atmosphere. Knowing that Crimson Heads are a thing now adds some more tension, the lightning, the dark hallways, now I'm scared of L-shaped hallways with windows because of dogs and zombies crashing through windows. 

But my main frustration is with the combat and the tank controls in combat specifically -- because they don't come naturally to me (as, well, this game first came out when I was just 3 years old some 20+ years ago and I can't remember if I've ever played a game with tank controls like this, but I don't think I have) when I'm getting attacked or chased I feel like I'm fumbling around the DualSense and hoping for the best at times, which means my stun gun has seen ample use, as have the daggers I had been collecting, but have run out of. This aspect of the game specifically I'm just not finding much, if any, enjoyment in. I also feel like there's supposed to be a way for me to dodge when they attack (my general tactic has been shoot a thing until dead or, after learning about Crimson Heads, shoot a thing, run around it, or try to draw it into a corner and then go around) but honestly I have no idea if that's just me not gelling with the combat is there and wishing for a way to dodge. 

I also just feel like I suck at the game because of this, even if I feel like it's going relatively okay some 3-4 hours in, I feel like I'm taking it slow (in part because Jill is slow, in part because of tank controls, in part because I'm looking around and searching everywhere for items) but I *think* this may have just got a friend who was warning me about a snake killed (whoops). I'm guessing there's a time limit or something? I was wondering why the game was so explicitly telling me where something was for a change! And I feel like I'm saving too much, and wasting ammo, and... You get the picture. 

Anyways...yeah, that's where I'm up to. Loving the vibe and the puzzles, wanting to tear my eyes out and give up when I'm in combat most of the time. I can't remember any game in recent where my enjoyment of it is constantly meandering depending on the type of gameplay, specifically, that the game is going for in a certain moment. 

I'm going to dig my heels in and push on for now, but if it continues to not click (I don't think I've come across anything like a boss yet), well, I'm not going to force it -- in hindsight, given my knowledge of the tank controls going in but wanting to give the game its best shot at impressing me, maybe I was wrong to go with the middle starting difficulty and should've gone with the lowest purely to account for my lack of experience with tank controls? I don't know, I guess I might need to consider giving modern controls a go to see if I gel with it any better, but if my main concern about starting to experience the earlier PS1 Resident Evil games was that they might not give the fairest first impression and left me not wanting to come back, after today's session with the game, it's hard to not feel like that I was justified, and perhaps should've even started with a more recent remake instead, like RE2, just to touch base with the series in a modern sense before figuring out how I wanted to tackle some of the games. 

Guess we'll just need to wait and see what happens next time on Julius Plays Resident Evil  

[Hero-of-Time]

Nah, you did the right thing starting with this entry. It sets the story up for the rest of the series, as well as giving an idea on how the likes on Resident Evil 2 and 3 play out. Saying that, if you can't get to grips with the controls then the remake of 2 and 3 would probably suit you more.

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. The original games are quite unique and the first time you play one will be a slow burn. Once you get a feel for the puzzles, controls and start memorising the area, you will be flying through it. I lived through the tank control era and so they come second nature to me but I can imagine them being rough for a young whipper snapper like yourself. Can't you change them in the HD version? I thought you could, it's just that they are still a bit fiddly due to the prerended background environments and fixed camera angles.

As for the Crimson Heads, if you kill a zombie in an area you think you'll be returning to on a regular basis then it's best to burn the body. It's either that or risk having to face a tough enemy when going back and forth.

[Dcubed]

Keep in mind that you aren't given enough Kerosene to burn every zombie...

Focus on burning the ones that appear in commonly returned-to corridors, because you can't stop them all from turning into Crimson Heads.

[Cube]

I tried my best to like this, but the item management just frustrated me far too much. I understand having limited space for all the stuff related to survival, but for the puzzle items, it causes a lot of extra backtracking (and backtracking is already an issue without this anyway, I hate it when movement isn't enjoyable).

I ended up throwing in the towel.

[Julius]

So, in loading up today, I had to figure out what I was going to do about the controls. As I mentioned last time and as @Hero-of-Time suggested, my plan was to change over to modern controls, but upon loading up my game I thought I'd try one more thing: using the D-pad instead of the analogue stick. 

And just like that, everything changed. 

Seriously, it's night and day between using the D-pad and analogue stick for tank controls, and the only reason I thought to do it was thinking about how I'd probably have such a rough time playing the older RE games on PS1, probably depending on the D-pad to some degree (not knowing how or if the analogue stick ended up utilised in a similar way as it is here), and so I figured I'd test it out. The right analogue stick is getting use for any quick 180° spins I need to do, but other than, it's been all D-pad. 

Despite only putting in another hour or two today, I feel like I've made fairly considerably progress, at least as far as my time with the game goes. I reflected a bit on my time with and approach to the game after my post last night, and with the combat not clicking in the slightest, I thought back to my time with TLOU, especially that first time: this is a zombie game too, maybe I just keep my shotgun out at all times and make sure I'm always aiming for the head.

So, going back to the Crimson Head who killed me at the end of my last session, I waited for him to come up close, aimed, pointed up, and fired as he lunged...and there went his head, while mine was busy getting filled with a bit more confidence. I also flagged that aiming actually auto-aimed here, too, for some reason I hadn't spotted that before (probably too focused on the zombies coming at me), and so when turning corners or checking out a room, I just spam the aim button a few times to see if I'm locking onto anything, as well as of course listening for the audio cues. There was even one instance where I was checking out a zombie who was downed and looked like a Crimson Head that suddenly got up, and I reflexively yanked out my shotgun and blasted his head away, which felt so damn good. I've been working on dodging zombies where I can, too, which is going pretty well. 

Bit of a whirlwind from there. After playing a bit of Moonlight Sonata and going back to grab the emblem I picked up as my first item in the game in the first session to throw it in a new hole, and swapping it with the other, next up on the agenda was burning the zombies I remembered downing in relatively easy-to-access places. Following this I checked every single door I possibly could with they keys at my disposal, found a Grenade Launcher, used every item in my chest that I figured would do something (thank you Head of Tony the Tiger for the shotgun shells), and ended up with a shortcut via the garden via an awesome puzzle to entirely avoid the L-shaped hallway in the east wing where dogs and zombies had run rampant, but of course I couldn't access this until after I'd made a daring run through to check all the doors over there, too. After exhausting all my options, I faced off against a giant snake, who poisoned me, but not before I spotted what would be my fourth and final mask to collect for the coffin under the garden, so I grabbed that and accidentally ran away in a very happy accident where I just ended up rubbing up against walls trying to not end up in its coil and found myself at the door, so figured why not rest if I could leg it? And I could, and so I did. 

Taking care of the coffin (quick aside: the tilted "shot" as you walk down the stairs is by far my favourite of the game so far) after gently lowering it down and welcoming it's inhabitant back to the land of the living, I've since brutally murdered 3 dogs (maybe this game was an inspiration for The Last of Us Part II) in quick succession the area behind the mansion, and know exactly where I'm heading next: what looks like some woods further behind the house. I started to follow the path, noticed some sort of puzzle with the spinning cockerels in the wind and realised I hadn't saved in a good while, so not knowing when or where the next Safe Room would be turning up, decided to drag myself all the way back to my favourite one on the ground floor on the east wing (my own designated Firelink Shrine of sorts), stock up on supplies, and save up so that I can hit the ground running in my next session. 

Puzzles have continued to be excellent, the level design of the mansion itself is just kind of genius? It's like the intentional interconnectedness and mix of "huh, where do I want to go and what do I want to do next?" of Dark Souls in a single house, it's great. And, even though I'm sure I'll click much faster with later games in the series and the newer remakes given that they're not controlled and framed quite like this, there's an obvious appeal to the tension of not knowing what's around the corner while the camera stubbornly sticks in place, and I feel like I'm starting to finally get it.

There's also some serious artistry to this fixed camera business which I haven't seen in the few other games I've played with fixed camera angles, probably because the most memorable were older JRPGs, but I mentioned before about the tilted angle going down to the coffin, or the time that a flash of lightning burst through the window to make me think something was under a chair to make me move to the left and reveal a new angle and some new objects to interact with, and I forgot to mention yesterday about the weird room with a bed and the camera at a certain angle in that room slowly rising up at floor level, as if to suggest that you aren't alone, only reinforced by some of the object descriptions in the room. Away from the impressiveness of the oppressive and claustrophobic camera angles, there's some serious character to them. 

Also, the music is just kind of excellent. It really seems to pick it's moments to turn up, but when it does, it just adds a great layer of tension or relief, in the case of the Safe Room, and I also really liked the theme which played after Barry carried me all the way back to the medical storage room – both have serious Firelink Shrine vibes. 

It's been a long time since I've done a 180° on a game like this, I don't think it's happened since my first few sessions with Demon's Souls at the backend of 2020 when playing through my first From Software game. Resident Evil was one of my pledge games for the year and while everything I've played from that list so far has been great, the feeling of this absolute 180° in a single gaming session being something I haven't felt in a game in around 4 years justifies having made the pledge: I wanted new, I wanted old, I wanted challenge, I wanted the expected, the unexpected, and to continue to expand my gaming tastes and experiences. This feels like the epitome of what I was looking for right now. 

Let's see if that feeling sticks around; I certainly hope it does.

Can't wait to get back to this tomorrow after work! 

Edited 3 hours ago by Julius