In 2023, I think Resident Evil 4 is still overrated...

[Grace in the Dark]

While I think RE4 is a great action game, I think it's not really a game you could label as being scary at all. And to be honest, I played the remake of RE4 earlier this year, but I think CV was criminally overlooked in favour of rushing out 4, due to how overly praised 4 has been for decades now. I mean, just ask any fanboy, and they're on cloud 9 for the damn game.

It's also a funny argument to bring up when people say 4 is supposed to be a fine blend of horror and action, and claiming RE5 is just action. The same with 6. Because 4 is not very scary to me. But at least 6 had zombies, because zombies are like the standard enemy in the RE universe. When they were gone in 4 and much of 5, the name RE suddenly didn't feel as relevant. But of course, people never like to admit that it was 4 that started the decline of RE being less about feeling terrified. 5 and 6 introducing a sidekick just wrecked the legacy that RE began in the 90s.

The first time I played the original RE4 in 2005, I could understand why people liked the new controls and gameplay, as they felt innovative during the era. However, I struggle to play it now as the controls are so outdated and feel rather sluggish, especially in the not so great ports like on the PS4. I also don't like the fact that the plot is hardly correlated with the events from the previous games. They just axed Umbrella in one cutscene by mentioning their downfall. Jesus, man.

The whole game is just a gauntlet of you facing waves of different villagers, troops or cultists, with more badass weaponry becoming available. There's barely any variety to them either. The Los Illuminados also leave too much ammo after you kill them, yet you can see the buggers aren't carrying guns in the early parts of the story. You don't actually run into enemies with firearms until you reach the military complex later on, while Ashley is gone for a while. So it's just kind of dumb to see this happening.



Also, I think having a trade system to get yourself upgraded to Rent-A-Vigilante is why the franchise became utterly ridiculous and confusing, and the mainline characters simply became too overpowered when they overcame too many monsters and bad guys for years. Although RE has still consistency remained enjoyable, I suppose.



You don't get any sense of atmosphere in 4, arguably until the castle and factory locations. The game just feels like you're shooting and looting way too much, then running off to see that weird looking vendor at one of his stalls. But it just erased all the tension that older RE games provided, like when you were exploring the tight hallways in the police station with the music providing the right sort of mood. Now you can just buy stuff from a merchant like you're on eBay.

But nobody on Reddit cares. They get funny if people are critical of the game. I have noticed that. Because RE4 is a flawless masterpiece in their eyes. But in general, the storylines in the franchise today are just totally bizarre, so the plot feels so muddled up and like the people at Capcom just like to make up silly crap now for the sake of carrying on more nonsense (like when simps made those daft memes about that tall vampire whore). It also became apparent to me that Capcom wants to keep milking the series, so the most popular heroes got infected by multiple viruses which keeps them looking kind of ageless. So Jill can probably stay looking like she's 45 for good now.

I just think the survival horror genre has other games that do a better job of providing a survival horror vibe, yet people just automatically assume RE is the scariest series around for horror, when it's really not. At least not presently...

Regards, from Grace.

[SkyDragon]

I think it's scary for action game fans, but not scary for horror game fans, because if you're overexposed to a stimulus, your brain doesn't respond as much to it anymore. Most horror games will probably feel like lackluster action games with possibly bad controls after someone plays outlast, for example. RE4 definitely has creepy creatures coming out of somewhere suddenly, suspense, it has parasite which is similar idea to T virus in the way it takes over the host's brain. Sure, not having fixed camera angles will make it feel less suspenseful, and having better controls will make it feel less helpless (which contributes to scariness), and I think the atmospheric soundtrack is slightly worse in RE4, but I think my point still stands that it does enough horror for action game fans, and possibly enough for most horror game fans if they take a tolerance break to re-sensitize themselves to the genre.

[Grace in the Dark]

I think it's like the MCU, where all the big heroes just get increasingly stronger. This was bound to happen when Capcom kept bringing them back. But I think the series has dipped in quality somewhat.

The oldest games and even including RE4 generously, were the scariest entries. 5 and 6 are action. While 7 finally took the franchise back to horror, 8 was really zany, with more action. Although this was apparently a decision Capcom made, due to fans being too scared when playing through 7.

It's certainly odd to claim a horror game is too scary. But quite frankly, I just felt as if RE8 was trying to copy RE4 too much.

[SkyDragon]

Maybe, I guess if someone gets superhero level strength/skill/equipment, they're no longer helpless, and it's harder to pull off the scary angle unless you get increasingly stronger monsters. Perhaps the solution is to make Resident Evil a souls-like where anyone can 2 shot you no matter how strong you are. The "Remnant" games were able to pull off souls-like with guns well. Did people really complain about 7 being too scary?

[Grace in the Dark]

I misspelled Capcom once in my previous post. Hehe.

Yeah. I think the Silent Hill universe does horror better, because when you make a person go somewhere and they are unprepared for what may lay ahead, it adds to the tension of being a normal human being who is suddenly thrust into this creepy situation, and has no choice but to see it through. But with RE games, only some characters are initially vulnerable, like Natalia, Moira, and Ethan. That's until Ethan gradually becomes like any other character. He gets as many guns as Leon in RE4, but I thought the gameplay in RE8 was a bit on the unsatisfying side.

The guns didn't feel impactful enough. And I thought the story was all in all, one of the dumbest to date. That's primarily because it felt more like a fantasy type storyline with vampires, and Chris felt like he was only in the game so each RE title can still include a principal hero who is already familiar to fans.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

I think CV was criminally overlooked in favour of rushing out 4, due to how overly praised 4 has been for decades now. I mean, just ask any fanboy, and they're on cloud 9 for the damn game.

But do we really want a remake at this point? RE4 remake at least made some sense since the more modern style of gameplay started with it anyway, so there was no way to ruin it in that sense (I think RE2 remake should have been done in the RE1 remake style).

However, it was also censored and the tone changed quite a lot. Several lines were altered or cut, Ashley's personality and attire were modified, and the admittedly juvenile ability to look up Ashley's skirt was cut (I oppose the change on principle but it's the least bad of the changes). The game overall takes itself a bit too seriously now and carved out the charm, the tone was a tad campy before.

So imagine how butchered CV would be. It has even more controversial subject matter and lines, including crossdressing and incestuous undertones. It would essentially result in a reimagining of the game, it wouldn't just be some relatively slight censorship and tonal shifting like RE4.

Then factor in that it'd just be another action-oriented game like RE2/RE3 remakes, and it's not something I want to see...

But of course, people never like to admit that it was 4 that started the decline of RE being less about feeling terrified.

I'd agree, partially because it was easier, especially on Normal, and especially so on Wii. Plus just becoming an action hero and being in combat so often definitely diminishes the impact of running into enemies,even moreso when its always a horde.

I think it's got scary segments, the beginning is pants-crappingly scary on your first run, and other parts sprinkled about like the underground caverns with chainsaw guys, but it certainly isn't as scary throughout like Resident Evil 0 or Resident Evil 1 (especially remake).

I also don't like the fact that the plot is hardly correlated with the events from the previous games. They just axed Umbrella in one cutscene by mentioning their downfall.

That bothered me too, I never liked the change in direction with the story, and lack of returning characters aside from Leon basically.

The whole game is just a gauntlet of you facing waves of different villagers, troops or cultists, with more badass weaponry becoming available.

Diminishing the role of exploration and puzzles really hurt the game. It's great but just not as a Resident Evil game specifically, like how I feel about Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

You don't get any sense of atmosphere in 4, arguably until the castle and factory locations. The game just feels like you're shooting and looting way too much, then running off to see that weird looking vendor at one of his stalls. But it just erased all the tension that older RE games provided, like when you were exploring the tight hallways in the police station with the music providing the right sort of mood. Now you can just buy stuff from a merchant like you're on eBay.

I actually think the atmosphere was better in the early parts, the village segments, but yeah, it was just weak overall. And the tension was lower too, like you said. The mood just wasn't on par with RE1-0.

But nobody on Reddit cares. They get funny if people are critical of the game.

Reddit is horrible in general lol

Capcom just like to make up silly crap now for the sake of carrying on more nonsense (like when simps made those daft memes about that tall vampire whore).

Lmao that was when Resident Evil objectively jumped the shark, pandering to weird fetishists.

I think the Silent Hill universe does horror better

I think so too, the games aren't as good gameplay-wise. They get atmosphere, story, music, etc down perfectly in SH 1-4, but those kinda play janky at best, even compared to RE1 (PS1). I'd even go as far as to say SH4 is a bad game, it needs to be saved with a remaster that tweaks certain things, like invincible enemies being more easily dispatched. It nails literally everything else but gameplay, combat and especially enemy design in particular.

[Grace in the Dark]

I'm not a big fan of the remakes, but I think Capcom will aim to release more. Earlier today, I found out the RE4 remake topped all other games in the series with over 6 million copies sold. So I reckon Capcom are going to be greedy as usual, and make more remakes.

They also keep going back to Raccoon City, which I find to be very pointless. I totally hate that decision, because it feels like Capcom is not only moving the series forward incredibly slowly, but also mostly retreading events of the past. That to me is the same thing as beating a dead horse.

For example, there's a lot of spin offs, remakes and movies that depict how Raccoon City is blown up. So doing all these reimaginings about the fate of the exact same city gets to be an obvious cash grab. Since the timeline is now past 2020 I believe, they ought to start thinking about letting the past burn.

The franchise has added in too many villains, which only serves to make one puzzled. The Connections. The Family. Neo-Umbrella. Tricell. It barely makes sense, because every new game seems to prefer focusing on something unrelated to what occurred already, but they still throw in a reference. Yet a main character always seems to be involved, just for the sake of it still being linked.

Anyway, State of Play is set for tonight, so the SH2 remake ought to be shown...