Any Resident Evil 6 fans on The Escapist?

[DrunkOnEstus]

I absolutely did not like it at first, when I played the couple pre-release demos and reflexively became disgusted at the QTE festival and action focus. Later on, doing an RE series re-play, I decided I'd finish it and try to enjoy it for what it is and not what I want it to be.

Damned if it isn't the greatest shitty game ever. Playing by myself, it is a DRASTIC improvement over RE5, babysitting the AI partner's inventory and having to trade in order to get all the things you wanted that they picked up. Also the AI partner using a pistol in a boss fight when you gave them a shotgun. In RE6, I can just do my thing outside of the now-obligatory co-op doors and navigation.

Once you get a handle on the poorly explained (in-game at least) combat meter and inventory shortcuts, a lot of scenarios are a roundhouse-kicking jump back like Max Payne blast. The game is also incredibly huge, and rather lengthy (which is a detriment at times). The difference in the campaigns try to give something for everyone, which means everyone is going to be disappointed at least some of the time, and I could have really done without Chris's outside of the last chapter.

I feel that RE6's combat system, when fully understood and fully used, is the best compliment to the Mercenaries mode, making RE6's Mercenaries the best version yet, even including the raid mode from RE:REV2. It was always a wackier, more action focused test of your skills, and a wacky action focused combat system makes it worth revisiting now and again.

The PC port is also above average, which was a nice surprise. The textures are a mish-mash of quality, but the game is so damned optimized that it runs a supersampled 1440p render with RadeonPro extras thrown at it without dropping below 60 like ever on my very modest PC. Extra kudos for the FOV options that actually made the game physically playable for me.

Yes, there are way too many QTEs and for very stupid and contrived circumstances, the tone shifts from self aware to attempts at being heartfelt or scary quite clumsily, and the cover system makes Chris's campaign even more of a pain in the ass. Some of the bosses are also either forgettable or very annoying, as are the one-hit death situations. The checkpoint system is generous, but the actual saving takes place very irregularly; it's not uncommon to exit and re-open a game to see that 5 or so minutes of progress has been undone.

Anyway, it's a huge and very generous piece of software, especially at the prices it asks today with all the DLC. It is a AAA, blockbuster, setpiece-laden beautiful trainwreck that overreaches in too many directions and is clearly confused about what market it wishes to sell to or even what those markets actually want. Despite all that, I'm glad I gave it a second shot. I'll never play RE5 again unless I have a co-op partner, but I'm actually interested in trying RE6 again even if I can't find a partner for it. It doesn't even touch the tightly focused/balanced RE4 or the single-player focused descent into madness of The Evil Within (on PC of course), but having finished it I'm excited to see what Capcom does with RE7 now, particularly with these mentions of rethinking their priorities and remaking RE2. Hopefully they can capture Mikami magic, if they can't then they're actually better off just hitting the drawing board again with the challenging-yet-stupid Michael Bay insanity approach.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

To be honest, I started playing it, and at first I was enthralled. The presentation was really nice (like REALLY nice, in my opinion, I love the setting and the phone system and the way you pop pills into your hand for healing and everything) and the gameplay design was nicely tweaked from the other RE games I'd played previously (RE4, 5, and Revelations). I was all ready to burn through it like I had the others, having found them surprisingly fun and compelling. I pushed on through the first chapter of Leon's campaign.

Then I hit the quick-time events.

Then a train hit me. Multiple times.

Then I hit the absolute cluster fuck at the end of that first chapter, fighting dozens of enemies in a really cramped space with AI buddies running all around me, completely breaking any sense of immersion as I just panicked and flipped around and relied on my invincible allies to do most of the work.

And to be honest, after that, I don't think I'm going to go back to it.

EDIT: By the looks of it, I should probably at least give some of the other campaigns a try before giving up on the game for good. It just really, really turned me off when the game was throwing me into a face-to-face confrontation with a hugely bloated zombie that practically took up the entire room while no less than five AI characters were milling round me and getting in the way. While I had ran out of ammo because, jeez, there was an absolutely huge zombie right in my face, of course I was going to panic and use all my ammo... I know ammo conservation is practically the entire point of Resident Evil, but that kind clashes with the game metaphorically screaming in my face with high-octane set-piece after high-octane set-piece.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

I'll try to address your points. First things first, I encourage everyone to READ THE MANUAL.

http://game.capcom.com/manual/bio6/en/index.html

And also, TURN ON AUTO ACTION BUTTONS to make QTEs less frustrating.

http://game.capcom.com/manual/bio6/en-UK/page-103.html

I can't emphasise this enough. Resident Evil 6 shipped with no manual, instead telling players to go to a specific web link and read the manual there. This approach was a spectacular error of judgement on Capcom's part.

Then a train hit me. Multiple times.

Train dodging is a venerable game mechanic, but one usually seen in FPS games, not TPS. I suppose the section is trying to teach the player about dodging really big enemies? RE6 throws the player in the deep end repeatedly with very little instruction. (Other than the manual they neglected to include with the game.) On one hand, this means RE6 can't be accused of "4 hour tutorial" syndrome like Ubisoft games tend to be. But RE6 is very unfriendly when it comes to unexplained difficulty spikes. You will die. Repeatedly. There's a fair bit of trial and error.

edit:
Also, on the topic of those trains, some players tend to not cross the tracks far enough. RE6 wants you to go all the way to the other side, not just off that particular track.

Then I hit the absolute cluster fuck at the end of that first chapter, fighting dozens of enemies in a really cramped space with AI buddies running all around me, completely breaking any sense of immersion as I just panicked and flipped around and relied on my invincible allies to do most of the work.

I hate to say this, but that is how things are supposed to be. You're referring to the gun shop fight, right? You're just one small piece in a larger battle during these sections. That's why you have an invincible AI companion who has infinite ammo. Until you've mastered the game mechanics, you would get ANNIHILATED by the waves of normal zombies and the bigger enemies. You can run and dodge and all that, but you've only got limited stamina and limited bullets.

I should probably at least give some of the other campaigns a try before giving up on the game for good.

I would recommend that. But if you don't like Leon's campaign, you may not like any, except maybe Ada's. Ada's is the only campaign that is specifically designed for singleplayer. No AI companion, different enemy balancing, a bigger focus on puzzles, etc.

It just really, really turned me off when the game was throwing me into a face-to-face confrontation with a hugely bloated zombie that practically took up the entire room while no less than five AI characters were milling round me and getting in the way. While I had ran out of ammo because, jeez, there was an absolutely huge zombie right in my face, of course I was going to panic and use all my ammo... I know ammo conservation is practically the entire point of Resident Evil, but that kind clashes with the game metaphorically screaming in my face with high-octane set-piece after high-octane set-piece.

One very important thing to know about Resident Evil 6 is it is a brawler-TPS hybrid game. Way moreso than RE5. Trying to shoot your way through everything is only really practical on the lowest difficulty. You can't dodge bullets in RE6, but most melee attacks can be countered by facing the enemy and hitting attack as the enemy strikes. (There'll be a momentary onscreen prompt before they hit.) But at the same time, melee attacks drain your stamina. As does sprinting. And the key is deciding "in the moment" which approach is best. Do you run away from zombies and try to pick them off one by one as they chase you, or do you rush into the crowd and hit attack+aim to unleash quick shot attacks like a character from Equilibrium?

RE6 has a lot of big enemies that will soak up every bullet in every gun in your inventory if you just blindly fire at them. This is a completely wrong approach. You need to relax, and carefully test the enemy to find its weakness.

Remember that you can slide along the ground by sprinting, and then hitting and holding the aim button. This will stun enemies and also smash barrels/crates/etc. Pressing attack instead of aim will do a flying kick, which can knock enemies over edges and such. Don't smash stuff the slow and plodding way during combat if you can avoid it.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

*Snips*

Yeah, I think you're right. Well, I think the big problem was that I'd come into Resident Evil 6 right off the back of RE5, so I was in this mindset of being slow and methodical from a distance, and that if any enemies did get close, then it was alright to panic a bit and shoot them up. Whereas in RE6 it seems to be more "If an enemy gets close, that's when you start attacking in melee and/or dodging out of the way so you can still conserve ammo."

Like I said though, it's still a really pretty, well presented game, and the PC version is incredibly well optimised, so I will try to give it another chance at some point.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

Resident Evil 6 has been reclassified by the Korean and now the Australian boards.

http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=QiJqmhUZAr4IIv8R3mJduQ%253d%253d&ncdctx=eYSJPHjFb9RUAc7KMYTbjSpNkmTgBmic3Au053yjaG1qawLmVA0tWHsHBG9lWpXU

Meaning that a re-release/remaster announcement is likely imminent.