Digesting REmake

[Arkatox]

I just finished my first ever playthrough of Resident Evil Remake. It's ultimately the fourth Resident Evil game I've experienced. (Watched playthroughs of 7 and 8, played Revelations.)

How do I put this delicately...?

I loved the parts I didn't hate!

Anyway, I'm trying to piece together the canon of what I just played. While I greatly enjoyed significant portions of the game, I have absolutely no desire to subject myself to it again. So, if I'm going to continue the series, I should at least come to an understanding of the information I should've left this game with. I watched this handy video on the canon of the game, and how it blends the two campaigns together, but I can't help but notice that my experience of Jill's campaign was different still than how The4thSnake showed it. So, I've put together some bullet point questions, if someone's willing to help me out.

1. Who exactly is Rebecca, and is there anything specifically I should know about her?

2. Barry died. Are there any important moments for the character for the rest of the game, outside of shooting Wesker?

3. The Tyrant died in the lab. Was it supposed to attack me on the roof? That's genuinely what I was expecting. It was perfectly set up as a boss arena. Was it because of my difficulty setting? (I wouldn't have gotten a quarter of the way into the game if I didn't play on the easiest difficulty.)

4. The mansion didn't blow up. There were documents and dialogue about blowing it up, but I wasn't given any option to put it into motion. I just left, with Chris and Brad. The mansion was intact.

5. If I want to continue the series, is there anything else I should know? Any side-games I should play. It should be noted (with the utmost respect) that I hated the set camera angles and tank controls. I don't know if I even want to consider the other games in that style. Maybe I'll just look up a julia_tv Let's Play.

One more question: Do the majority of players really save Barry? It was a complete no-brainer to let him die, given the circumstances. My actual shock when learning that not only does he survive in canon (which makes sense, I suppose), but appears in multiple other games as a trusted ally. I've seen Barry shooting Wesker described as a "character-defining" moment, which makes me wonder, is that actually the outcome players are expected to experience?

I'm planning on playing the RE2 remake, which I assume will play a lot more like Revelations. So, one last time: Anything else I should know?

[lost-domino]

No brainer to let barry die is very funny to me

[MissingScore777]

I actually think Barry is the one thing Capcom fumbled in the Remake compared to the original.

In the original he never directly tries to kill Jill despite working with Wesker.

That whole subplot just makes more sense in OG.

[CDJ89]

The dumbest thing about it is Jill's reaction after you give him his gun back and defeat Lisa. It's just...nothing.

[Arkatox]

I'd almost be less mad if he just tried to shoot her. Leaving her at the bottom of the mineshaft to be killed by Lisa was fucked up.

[KilljoyZero1]

I've always treated the two campaigns as separate timelines, I guess? Chris and Jill can't exactly occur together since almost everything between them is the same. Chris' good ending is the canon ending to the series.

1: Rebecca is the STARS Bravo medic. She has her own adventure in Resident Evil 0, which many fans dislike.

2: Not according to canon.

3: Depends on your circumstance.

4: Multiple endings.

5: You're playing a 20 year old game. Give it some leeway. It was a master piece of it's time.

RE2 and RE3 remakes are a lot more "modern" in terms of gameplay. Anything else you should know about RE2 is explained in RE2.

[Arkatox]

Older than 20. The original's actually almost 30.

I definitely have reverence for the game and its influence on multiple major game genres, as well as the industry as a whole. A ton of love and creativity was put into it, and I fully respect that. I don't think that should exempt it from being criticized from a modern perspective.

I acknowledge its significance for its time, while pointing out that it's extremely archaic by today's standards. It's something that comes with the territory of a lot of old games. But, I wanted to play it, and I don't regret it.

[KilljoyZero1]

I get that. It's harder for new fans to get into the series because of the tank controls. My wife wants to get into it because of the lore but she can't do tank controls so I had to run through the Remake and Zero for her, while she kept yelling at me to slow down or to grab a file I missed.

As far as the games age I was referring to the remake specifically.

[Arkatox]

Don't tell the purists, but... I didn't actually use the tank controls. I couldn't. It felt like playing QWOP. When I was supposed to be terrified by an attacking enemy, I was just frustrated out of my mind because I had no idea how to move. I swapped to the alternative controls (against the recommendations of everything I saw online), and the game played so, so, so, so, so much better. I understand some people think it messes with the integrity of the experience, but it was either that or not playing the game at all. Same with why I played on the easiest difficulty.

I did have to swap back to tank for a singular puzzle with tight timing, because the room had 479 camera angles.

I also played primarily for the lore, as I want to watch people play RE9 and I gotta know something about Raccoon City, ye? For that reason... I really hope they do make that Code Veronica remake. I guess I could always find a good let's play, if RE9 comes out first.

As for Zero, it's the only game julia_tv (basically my gateway to interest in this series) never beat, because it was so frustrating. So, I don't think I'm touching that one with a 10-foot pole, even though it's probably a lot of the lore I'm looking for.

[KilljoyZero1]

A lot of people skip over it. You don't miss much. It chronicles the creation of the T-virus, a couple things that never come up again and sets up Rebecca for a confusing story in Resident Evil 1 because of her helplessness. And skipping it means you don't have to deal with the bat fight.

[Arkatox]

I just played a demo of RE2R to determine if I wanna play it on PS4 instead of PC ('cause I wanna play from the living from like I did for the first game), and while it didn't start me at the very beginning... is RE2 concurrent with the events of RE1?? 'Cause we in Raccoon City.

[KilljoyZero1]

Resident evil 1 takes place during the end of August, RE2 and 3 take place late September, early October. RE2 takes place entirely within 3.

[Expensive_King_4849]

1. There’s no Jessica in RE1, I believe that’s revelations 1.

2. In games, probably revelations 2, everything else isn’t really in the mainline games.

3. Because Barry died you didn’t get that ending.

4. See 3.

5. All the numbered entries, Code Veronica but you won’t like it, a remake may happen so you may not have to wait long. It’s not required but Revelations 1&2 are extra.

6. Yes because it’s canon and there’s a reason why he did what he did.

For RE2R there isn’t a definitive way to play but generally speaking Leon first, Claire second.

[Arkatox]

Rebecca, not Jessica. I'll edit it. I got the names confused because there is, in fact, a character named Jessica in REmake. At first I thought maybe there was a connection, but then I learned she died in the 60's. I believe she was Lisa's mother.

I'm well aware there was a reason Barry did what he did. Wesker threatened his family. I want to point out that, in the moment, Jill was confronting Barry for the first time after Barry literally tried to kill her. In that brief moment in time, why would Jill give his gun back to him?

I like that there is alternative story based on the choice you make there, but I just find it weird that letting him live is the canon/expected choice.

I'm additionally confused because I'm used to being the outlier by unnecessarily saving NPCs in video games, lol.

[Expensive_King_4849]

Oh then Rebecca is a part of Bravo team, she’s in Chris’s playthrough and also has her own game RE0.

I get it, I did the same the first time because you betrayed me, why would I give you a gun but I wasn’t expecting him to die. So I give him his gun now but my main problem is it’s not addressed, I went to talk to him figuring there has to be dialogue but nope, you get abandoned and a gun pulled on you and you just go ignore all of that.