Poll: Resident Evil 4 is big a knock off

[SadakoMoose]

Best action/horror game of 2005? Sure. Satisfying game play, well considered design, good play control, and a really fun New Game+ mode? Of course! Best thing to feature Leon Kennedy? Well that depends if you really REALLY liked Gaiden. Otherwise sure.
But an Original Story?
Oh god no.
And not just in the usual "Shinji Mikami has a hard-on for George Romero" way.
Enter the year 2001. The first year of the New Millennium! What cinematic wonders were to come our way, after that last decade of great cinema, the 90's? Well, Spain decided to dust off the old HP Lovecraft, to come up with Dagon.
Directed by Stuart Gordon, and starring the voice of Tomas/Oswyn/Lord Jonaley from Dragon Age Origins, Mr. Ezra Godden, Dagon takes place in mysterious coastal town of Imboca.

Here in Imboca, people don't take too kindly to strangers...

Taken from IMDB: "As night falls, people start to disappear and things not quite human start to appear. Paul finds himself pursued by the entire town. Running for his life, he uncovers Imboca's dark secret: that they pray to Dagon, a monstrous god of the sea. And Dagon's unholy offspring are freakish half-human creatures on the loose in Imboca..."

Sound familiar to anyone?

Now, admittedly, Dagon (2001) itself is an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's Innsmouth mythos.
What do you think "Imboca" comes out to in English? But to take place IN SPAIN, on the Coast, and to have Tentacle creatures popping out of people's mouths...
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1bjHg0Bcf3M/TlCTlwqr_NI/AAAAAAAACj0/ZAoUUyuhMwQ/s1600/hpl2.jpg

I mean, certain things like The chainsaw ganados and Salazar can be attributed to different pop culture sources, as with all RE games. (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Clock Tower anyone?)
But the similarities between this movie and this game are really too much.
Then again, even Capcom gets knocked off every now and again:

Here's the trailer for Dagon, which is also a Yuzna picture if you're wondering.

What do you think, escapist?

 

[Floppertje]

I think... who cares? it was 6 years ago and who even gives a damn about RE's storyline? the entire industry is based on ripping each other off, it's the quality of the ripoffs that matters.

 

[drummond13]

I'm sorry, but I haven't heard a single person ever claim that RE4 had a remotely original story. It was lauded for its gameplay. Story had little or nothing to do with the praise the game received.

 

[PureChaos]

i've played Zero - 4 and 4 is the best but only because it took out the annoying things of the previous games, mainly the door animation between each room. 3rd person view and the case system were better but the fixed camera and inventory system in the others never bothered me. i did a review of the games a few weeks ago and if they could remake most of the other games so they have the same gameplay as 4, they would be SO much better than 4

 

[Ordinaryundone]

No one ever said RE4 had a particularly good or original story. What people liked about it was the cheesiness, the corny one liners, etc. It felt like a return to form for RE, going back to some of its base elements without getting bogged down in the silly mythos and backstory fluff that had been dragging the series down since 2.

Plus, the gameplay was a ton of fun. It was fresh, without being overly complicated like RE5.

 

[Rawne1980]

Resident Evil had a story?

I just thought it was zombie killing moments of joy.

RE1 - Arrrgh big scary mansion full off walking dead, big bloody spider, a giant snake and friggin annoying zomdogs..... Oh, and Wesker is eeeeevil.

RE2 - Wait this has absolutely nothing to do with the last RE and why the hell are these police doors all locked using weird disk keys hidden in bloody puzzles ..... no wonder they all died they couldn't get to the armoury in time. Watch out for a giant corcodile thats going to try and eat you after appearing from a puddle of water that was so small there is no way on earth a croc that big could have hidden in it...... Oh, and Wesker is still eeeeeevil even though you don't see him.

RE3 - Now what the hell is going on and why am I being chased around by a big ugly thing, no not Susan Boyle you cruel bastards the Nemesis. Wait, how many time do I have to kill this thing before it actually stays dead. Is there a plot anymore? ....... Assumingly, Wesker is still eeeeeeevil.

RE Code Veronica, Resident Evil Survivor, Resident Evil Gaiden, Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil: Dead Aim, Resident Evil Outbreak, Resident Evil Outbreak File #2, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Resident Evil Revelations........ ahh you get the bloody point.

Lots of Resident Evil games. I think people stopped caring about any form of story line around the second door puzzle in RE2.

 

[burningdragoon]

Besides the fact that Resident Evil's stories are bonkers at best, I really don't see much of connection.

 

[SadakoMoose]

Besides the fact that Resident Evil's stories are bonkers at best, I really don't see much of connection.

What...?
But, rural town in Spain, where's it's always dark and rainy...tentacles coming out of mouths...bizarre cult...half human creatures...
Plus, Doesn't Salazar kind of look like the first Scissorman?
Did you even read the OP?

 

[Fusioncode9]

I loved how RE4's storyline didn't take itself seriously, the characters were campy and there were plenty of fourth wall breaking scenes. The RE series has never had a good storyline.

 

[Xmaspast]

If you're going to complain about RE4 having an unoriginal story you also need to complain about every single fantasy novel, movie, or game ever made post Lord of the Rings. Because basically every single one of them has ripped off Lord of the Rings. Is that a bad thing? Not really, because if you expect every single game, novel, or movie, to not borrow significantly in some ways from previous works there would be a grand total of like three novels. Everything is a copy of something.

 

[Quellan Thyde]

RE4 doesn't even think much of RE4's story, and that's sort of the point. One of the game's greatest achievements is how much it takes the piss out of what by that point had become an insanely twisted and nonsensical storyline. This actually helps the game's immersiveness, in my mind, by shifting emphasis from the (deliberately) flabby plot to the tight and visceral combat, which ends up giving the game's set pieces a whole lot more weight.

Wow. Streamlining a game actually helped make it better. Who'da thunk it?

 

[w9496]

A knockoff? Probably not.

An overrated game? I think so. It took all of what was great about the first 3 and shat all over it and threw it out to the dogs.

 

[Jezzer]

I don't think they are enough alike to label RE4 a "ripoff". It seems you are trying to create a direct, causal relationship based entirely on thin, superficial similarities.

 

[SadakoMoose]

If you're going to complain about RE4 having an unoriginal story you also need to complain about every single fantasy novel, movie, or game ever made post Lord of the Rings. Because basically every single one of them has ripped off Lord of the Rings. Is that a bad thing? Not really, because if you expect every single game, novel, or movie, to not borrow significantly in some ways from previous works there would be a grand total of like three novels. Everything is a copy of something.

I never said anything like that. I'm not some stupid kid on the internet that just discovered how ideas build upon each other. Stop talking down to me.
I was complaining that RE 4 took far too much from Yuzna's Dagon, to the point of crossing over from inspiration to near theft.
I even state, in the fourth paragraph, how I acknowledge that 2001's Dagon is an adaptation of the Innsmouth stories. I'm not angry about "ripping off". I understand how the creative process works. I just wanted to point out that Capcom probably took a little too much inspiration from this movie.
That's all I wanted to point out.

 

[JWRosser]

I've never actually heard this comparison. I think it's probably coincidence. Like when this dude accused Catch-22 as being a rip off of this other book, to which Joseph Heller replied "My book came out in 1961 I find it funny that nobody else has noticed any similarities, including [the author] himself, who died just last year."
I would say this is similar.

 

[burningdragoon]

Besides the fact that Resident Evil's stories are bonkers at best, I really don't see much of connection.

What...?
But, rural town in Spain, where's it's always dark and rainy...tentacles coming out of mouths...bizarre cult...half human creatures...
Plus, Doesn't Salazar kind of look like the first Scissorman?
Did you even read the OP?

Rural town in Spain is hardly a big red flag, and RE4 is not always dark and rainy. It's dark at night, and actually pretty bright if a bit overcast during the day.

Bizarre cult is also not a Dagon-specific thing.

Half human creatures in Dagon are "unholy offspring of a sea god", in RE4 they are mostly parasite-controlled drones. I count that as different enough to not be a direct ripoff.

You even said it yourself that some of the stuff could be from other stuff. So is Dagon part of the inspiration? Sure, maybe, but I doubt it is a straight ripoff. And even if it was, so what? Things get ripped off all the time in every medium.

And I did read the OP. You gave a synopsis of Dagon and went "See?" when it sounds nothing like it.

Also, the post below me says it much better...

 

[Iron Mal]

Best action/horror game of 2005? Sure. Satisfying game play, well considered design, good play control, and a really fun New Game+ mode? Of course! Best thing to feature Leon Kennedy? Well that depends if you really REALLY liked Gaiden. Otherwise sure.

Agreed on all of those, Resi 4 was a fun and fresh new take on Resident Evil.

But an Original Story?

Did anyone ever claim Resi 4 had an original story?

The initial bloody premise is rescuing the President's daughter...I swear that's a stock plot from the age of the SNES and Sega Megadrive collection of side-scrolling beat-em-ups.

A lack of originality isn't exactly something you need to be too observant to notice.

And not just in the usual "Shinji Mikami has a hard-on for George Romero" way.
Enter the year 2001. The first year of the New Millennium! What cinematic wonders were to come our way, after that last decade of great cinema, the 90's? Well, Spain decided to dust off the old HP Lovecraft, to come up with Dagon.
Directed by Stuart Gordon, and starring the voice of Tomas/Oswyn/Lord Jonaley from Dragon Age Origins, Mr. Ezra Godden, Dagon takes place in mysterious coastal town of Imboca.

Here in Imboca, people don't take too kindly to strangers...

So it has some surface similarities to a somewhat obscure film that came out a few years prior?

Not exactly enough to call it a rip off.

Taken from IMDB: "As night falls, people start to disappear and things not quite human start to appear. Paul finds himself pursued by the entire town. Running for his life, he uncovers Imboca's dark secret: that they pray to Dagon, a monstrous god of the sea. And Dagon's unholy offspring are freakish half-human creatures on the loose in Imboca..."

Again, all of those do happen but that's not really an in depth comparison and some of those are superficial points.

Resident Evil 4 has a cult that is centered around fossilised parasites that infect and take control of human hosts, that film sounds like it's about a town of evil cultists who worship a Great Old One and have been doing so for some time (thus resulting in children being conceieved by said unholy baby daddy who grow up to be inhuman hybrids).

Resi has a guy who can control parasites, that's hardly Cthulhu.

Sound familiar to anyone?

What you're trying to compare it to is something clearly inspired by the Cthulhu mythos, a setting and theme that Resi 4 doesn't posess (everything in Resident Evil is explained through science and biology, Dagon and the works of H.P. Lovecraft centre around ancient gods and eldritch abominations).

Now, admittedly, Dagon (2001) itself is an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's Innsmouth mythos.
What do you think "Imboca" comes out to in English? But to take place IN SPAIN, on the Coast, and to have Tentacle creatures popping out of people's mouths...

You're again taking very superficial and surface comparisons and saying this means it must be a rip off (tentacle monsters and other weird growthes on creatres have been a long standing part of Resi iconography since the first game).

Just because the game happens to share the same location as the film you mention doesn't mean it's a copy either, settings are reused in various series all the time (how many times have we seen Manhatten or New York in various series?).

I mean, certain things like The chainsaw ganados and Salazar can be attributed to different pop culture sources, as with all RE games. (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Clock Tower anyone?)
But the similarities between this movie and this game are really too much.
Then again, even Capcom gets knocked off every now and again:

What do you think, escapist?

I think you're just looking on something to rag on here. The only similarities I could see were shallow so I couldn't really reasonably call it a rip off (especially when you consider that the Spanish village by the coast is abandoned fairly quickly in the game).