Resident Evil Creator Explains Why the Series Stopped Being Scary
- Thread starter Cognimancer
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I say again: Resident Evil was never scary. It was the kind of campy, so-bad-it's-good that nerds like us love.
The games have IMO actually been getting better, they're video games now instead of being weird, tank-controlled nightmares that make for excellent Youtube poop material.
You were almost a Jill sandwich.
The games have IMO actually been getting better, they're video games now instead of being weird, tank-controlled nightmares that make for excellent Youtube poop material.
You were almost a Jill sandwich.
That sounds like an answer that has the benefit of hindsight. Like George Lucas saying the lightsaber fights in the prequels were more frenetic because the jedi were better trained yadda yadda. When in reality the budget, style and technology changed.
RE 4 was a legitimately spooky game and the RE series has always been about spooking people rather than the silent hill, alone in the dark approach of making the player feel totally alienated by their environment.
RE 5 is when it started becoming a joke in my opinion. RE 4 had spooky mansions, caverns and foggy lakes. RE 5 had......black hawk down with zombies and a village of stereotypical tribesmen? You can have balls to the wall action and still shit someone up. Dead Space 1 proved that. RE 4 is a scary enough game, but more in a schlocky slasher movie way rather than trying to do the Shining
RE 4 was a legitimately spooky game and the RE series has always been about spooking people rather than the silent hill, alone in the dark approach of making the player feel totally alienated by their environment.
RE 5 is when it started becoming a joke in my opinion. RE 4 had spooky mansions, caverns and foggy lakes. RE 5 had......black hawk down with zombies and a village of stereotypical tribesmen? You can have balls to the wall action and still shit someone up. Dead Space 1 proved that. RE 4 is a scary enough game, but more in a schlocky slasher movie way rather than trying to do the Shining
I would buy another game with clunky movement controls and restrictive camera angles. I would buy another ten of them. Also, Remake didn't sell very well because IT WAS ON THE FUCKING GAMECUBE. Your target audience had to buy that damned thing just to play it, but we already bought a PS2.
GAunderrated said:
Except that's not what's happening. Shinji Mikami had no hand in Resident Evil 5 or 6, and his point about why the control scheme of 4 was so vastly different is a good one; People were likely tired of tank controls. I know that personally, that's one of the biggest reasons I can't get into the older Resident Evil or Silent Hill titles.CriticKitten said:
It sounds more like he equates a clunky, unintuitive control scheme with a "scary" game, which is a bit of a double-edged blade because clunky controls alone won't make something tense and frightening, it'll just make it tedious and frustrating. He's not blaming the fans, simply stating that the development of Resident Evil 4 was altered because of the market. Arguably, due to Capcom's hilariously poor writing department, Resident Evil 4 probably could've been "a more scary, horror-focused game" even with the new control scheme if Resident Evil's writing hadn't always been B-movie quality.
So basically it's our fault that he made Resident Evil 4? Great, then!
However what he's really saying is that we're responsible for Resident Evil's failure. Seriously? Not the god awful voice acting, the terrible gameplay, dodgy camera angles, bad writing and translation and crap story of the first three? There's also the fact that the remake was on the Gamecube, the third place of the 6th Generation. Talk about pretentious.
However what he's really saying is that we're responsible for Resident Evil's failure. Seriously? Not the god awful voice acting, the terrible gameplay, dodgy camera angles, bad writing and translation and crap story of the first three? There's also the fact that the remake was on the Gamecube, the third place of the 6th Generation. Talk about pretentious.
Resident Evil remade for the PS3 with RE6 graphics would be awesome and better then the new games IMO.
I've never actually liked a Resident Evil game. Most of the suspense was caused by the fact that controls handled like arse and for the first installments the camera was 3d models on a 2d platform.
It was only "scary" because you couldn't see what the fuck was going on due to the third person camera being a crock of shit.
It was only "scary" because you couldn't see what the fuck was going on due to the third person camera being a crock of shit.
So he made a remake of a horror game for a console that focused on family entertainment and he was surprised of "bad" sales?
To recap this: he produced a game for a specific and smaller market to begin with on a console bought mostly by NOT that crowed? and was surprised that it did not sell CoD style.
Even on a mainstream system like the Xbox or PlayStation the remake would have not sold ?stellar? because horror is not for everyone.
So to sum this up for me: You are a dumbass.
The remake was a great game. Now you produce mainstream shit. Be happy to feed the sheep but you can fuck right off for me.
To recap this: he produced a game for a specific and smaller market to begin with on a console bought mostly by NOT that crowed? and was surprised that it did not sell CoD style.
Even on a mainstream system like the Xbox or PlayStation the remake would have not sold ?stellar? because horror is not for everyone.
So to sum this up for me: You are a dumbass.
The remake was a great game. Now you produce mainstream shit. Be happy to feed the sheep but you can fuck right off for me.
Claustrophobic enviroments, resistant enemies with weak spots, giant monsters that shook the screen as they walked, fast moving bosses, minimal background noise, those buggy henchmen fellas who followed midgiy naploeon around, mother licking Regenerators! RE4 may not have focused on horror but it sure as hell didn' forget it.
This just sounds like excuse making to me. RE4 may not have been "Amnesia" type scary, but it certainly had horror elements, for a good chunk of the game I really did feel like you had to choose your shots wisely because ammo felt scarce, and there was a good sense of isolation and desperation.
5 and 6 lost much that by becoming co-op focused (your partner being dumb as a bag of hammers certainly didn't help), giving you plentiful ammo, putting in WAY too many QTEs (6 was almost hilarious about this), and putting in action sequences so over the top they'd make Michael Bay blush.
To me, RE4, the original FEAR, and the original Dead Space showed how you can make an action-oriented game and still keep it scary, by focusing on atmosphere, ammo scarcity, and a sense of just barely surviving (FEAR didn't really have ammo scarcity, but compensated for it by giving you the sense of being chased by an unstoppable and unknowable force).
5 and 6 lost much that by becoming co-op focused (your partner being dumb as a bag of hammers certainly didn't help), giving you plentiful ammo, putting in WAY too many QTEs (6 was almost hilarious about this), and putting in action sequences so over the top they'd make Michael Bay blush.
To me, RE4, the original FEAR, and the original Dead Space showed how you can make an action-oriented game and still keep it scary, by focusing on atmosphere, ammo scarcity, and a sense of just barely surviving (FEAR didn't really have ammo scarcity, but compensated for it by giving you the sense of being chased by an unstoppable and unknowable force).
And so the scapegoating continues! Well done Capcom!
I really don't know what they expected from the RE Remake (A great game), it was on the Gamecube, it was destined to fail sale's wise since the PS2 was running the show at the time. As for the success of RE4... it was RE4 (A great game), it was bound to sell console exclusive or not. Its a shame that we loved the balance of action and horror RE4 offered, yet Capcom stopped listening to us as soon as ACTION was brought up and they threw BALANCE out the window. And you morons wonder why Mikami left...
You know what, whatever. They say'll they''ll listen to the fans, they haven't, I'll be shocked if they ever do at this point.
I really don't know what they expected from the RE Remake (A great game), it was on the Gamecube, it was destined to fail sale's wise since the PS2 was running the show at the time. As for the success of RE4... it was RE4 (A great game), it was bound to sell console exclusive or not. Its a shame that we loved the balance of action and horror RE4 offered, yet Capcom stopped listening to us as soon as ACTION was brought up and they threw BALANCE out the window. And you morons wonder why Mikami left...
You know what, whatever. They say'll they''ll listen to the fans, they haven't, I'll be shocked if they ever do at this point.
He is actually right, giving the player a handicap creates the tension that leads to horror. I have yet to see a single great horror game that didn't handicap the player in some way..shrekfan246 said:
Amnesia TDD made it so you never really saw the enemy until you were about to get attacked that second, took away your weapons, and had a limited source of light with an insanity meter.
RE made its money on clunky controls and sounds. Basically you could hear the zombies roaming around but because of the clunky controls, camera angles, and limited ammo that was able to create some genuine feeling of horror.
Now RE 4 got rid of some of the clunky controls, but they still kept not being able to move when you shoot and the 180 degree turn. However, it was the rich and lonely setting that made the game tense and exciting.
The second you rely on massive gunfights with no handicap and co-op (limited ammo, camera angles, or limited controls)the game becomes another generic 3rd person shooter which is what RE 5 and 6 ended up doing because like I said earlier they had no clue what made RE4 so good and decided to take the worst parts and crank it to 11.
It's all such a damn shame, really. I thought the REmake was the best entry in the entire series, one of the best games on the cube, and one of the best looking games of the entire generation. Hell, it STILL looks incredibly good, and it's gotten pretty old at this point. I'd love another game like it, not even necessarily a game in the Resident Evil series, but just a survival horror game on par in terms of gameplay, puzzles, atmosphere and visuals. And yes, I really DO mean gameplay. It might feel very basic and clunky these days, but it served its purpose very well, and as far as the REmake goes, has also aged surprisingly well.Li Mu said: