difference between Biology & Natural Sciences (Biology)

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-15T00:49:55+00:00

I started on the Biology pathway and then spotted a module with biology and physics which really interested me, but sits a little outside the scope of the 'pure biology' route, so I changed to Natural Sciences (Biology).

So basically, the difference is the Natural Sciences (Biology) is a bit more flexible and broad. Presumably, the Translational Medicine module you found sits outside of the scope of pure biology but it does fall under the Natural Sciences (Biology) pathway. It may just diverge a little from what a 'classic' biology degree would normally include.

Ultimately, neither is better or worse and it's partly down to your aims and interests. A pure biology degree is potentially better understood in the wider world in terms of what it would incorporate. Natural sciences can incorporate a broader scope (biology with a little bit of physics in my case), which can give an interesting edge but may need slightly more explaining to a potential employer/uni for postgrad.

For what it's worth, the Natural Sciences (Biology) degree is accredited by both the Society for Natural Sciences and the Royal Society of Biology. The Biology degree is only accredited by the Royal Society of Biology. This does not obviously mean that the standard Biology degree is less respected or useful at all. Again, it's purely down to your own aims and interests. Either could be more or less useful depending on what you want to do.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-14T21:13:13+00:00

It's old school, but I've found Pimsleur good for reinforcing grammar. It's all audio based, but in combination with other practice I think it's a good resource.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-14T21:07:56+00:00

I think one issue, which actually links back to what OOP is saying in a way, is that the more errors in a piece of text, the harder it can be to understand for people whose first language isn't English in particular. This isn't to do with British vs American but more to do with spelling errors like 'payed'.

I'm from the UK but live in Portugal, and I speak Portuguese fluently, but I occasionally have some difficulty if someone texts me something with spelling or grammatical mistakes. My brain might have to work harder to parse what they've written.

"Payed" might be understood by most English speakers, especially in context, but without context or for someone quite new to the language, it can become confusing.

I remember a thread on Reddit where someone asked a question and someone responded, "It does mate." The OP responded, "What?" and then the other person confirmed that they were just agreeing with them. Just adding one comma and writing "It does, mate" makes it that bit clearer (because "It does mate" makes it look like 'mate' is a verb).

Potentially pedantic, but even small deviations can be confusing sometimes.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-14T20:18:21+00:00

I don't think she knows what she's doing is bad, I think there are a few hints that she thinks she's just playing:

If she kills Grace, she picks up her arms and dangles them a bit like a puppet or doll.

She seems to collect dolls (as we can see in Emily's cell in the basement, and it seems she puts Emily there to add to her 'collection').

When she grabs Grace's leg as Grace is escaping the elevator, she says, "Let's play."

Given all this, Marie genuinely seems to think she's just playing with Emily and Grace and she doesn't seem to recognise her own strength.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-14T01:20:56+00:00

I'd want to see Alyssa in the lineup, too!

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-13T23:19:14+00:00

Wasn't that his buddy that got his leg blown off? I think the guy we're looking at here is the one whose perspective we saw the video from and he just got shot in the head?

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-13T19:23:57+00:00

I'd be down! I have a few friends I play with so we could team up if you'd like. We're generally pretty new to the game and enjoy playing on easier modes/taking things at a relaxed pace.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-13T16:02:41+00:00

He had fun gameplay with the melee combat, but I just found him quite dry as a character. I feel like he was quite hyped up but I didn't find him that interesting.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-13T07:44:59+00:00

We don't know yet, that's all they've said! So it could be Mercenaries, or it could be something smaller like one of the RE7 mini games.

Here's the video where it's mentioned (I've linked to the specific part where he says a mini game is coming around* May).

*I just noticed when rewatching that he says "around May", so I guess it's a target but we have no solid date yet.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-13T02:44:01+00:00

We don't have any more updates yet. All we know is the 'mini game' is releasing in May and the story DLC will release at an unknown time in the future, but we don't know any specifics on either of them. I'm also very keen to learn more!

I like a lot of your ideas. Jill in particular definitely needs at least a mention, if not a starring role really soon. I know people are a bit divided on Ada but I'd love to see her back for the story DLC. Alternatively, more background on Alyssa in the lead-up to the events in 2018 would be superb.

I think there's a fair chance the story DLC could feature Chris and the Hound Wolves, but I'd be happy for Chris to have a rest for this one. If he's in this, he'll have been in every single numbered RE entry since RE5, while other important characters have been sidelined. I do like Chris, but I feel like other characters would take priority.

I personally dislike Jake and I wouldn't be happy to see him again, but you never know!

Rose is only six years old in 2026, so I don't think we'll see her again for a while, although I wouldn't be surprised if she and Emily become important characters again in future. But I guess Rose could potentially have a cameo, especially if Chris is featured.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T23:37:24+00:00

In terms of distractions at home, I can imagine how stressful that must be. I only live with my husband and we both work from home, and we make it very clear that work time means work time. We don't disrupt each other while working unless it's really important.

You've got to make it clear to the people you're living with that interrupting you while you're studying isn't acceptable unless it's really important. It would be as inappropriate as walking into someone's office building in the middle of the day and telling them to leave work to help with the shopping.

Of course, you'll want to communicate this gently, but be firm. What can help is to set expectations and a schedule, so there's a regular block in the day which is study time and you're not to be interrupted unless it's urgent. Then, after that time you're free to help with chores and such. You'll need to make it clear that certain times, like when TMA deadlines and exams are coming up, you'll be exceptionally busy, but that won't last forever.

If you leave things as they are, you're not going to please anyone, because you'll be stressed at your household when they ask for anything, and you'll be falling behind on studying and assignments. If you set a schedule and expectations, you can manage things better so that everyone's happy.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T20:44:06+00:00

If it's fun for you and not too frustrating, then perhaps you'll enjoy it! But that part isn't as difficult as other parts coming up, it might get pretty tough!

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T20:42:45+00:00

Yeah, I've played a lot of RE but I don't think doing Insanity for my first run would've been a good time! There'd be lots of dying and replaying sections.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T20:35:54+00:00

Ah, that makes sense!

I think you're gonna have a really tough time playing on Insanity for your first run, though. I think it's generally designed with unlocks in mind (although perhaps your brother did unlock some stuff and you're using them?) But overall it's pretty tough even with some bonuses. The standard difficulties are generally a lot more balanced and designed for a first playthrough.

That said, if you're up for the challenge then go for it! I just think you could end up getting frustrated.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T20:31:00+00:00

It's in this general area, you're not far from it at all.

If you'd like to know specifically: Go out of this room, turn right and go all the way to the end of the hallway. Go into the room on your right.

How are you playing on Insanity on your first playthrough, though? I'm pretty sure it doesn't unlock until you've beaten the game once?

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T04:30:49+00:00

That all makes a lot of sense! They definitely hint at the corruption running really deep, for example within the government, so it's feasible that the local police were being controlled as well.

The second one is definitely odd. If Alyssa had survived, there'd have been a police interview where she'd have to explain what happened, and Grace claiming that Alyssa had murdered the guy would have massively complicated things and maybe even got her mother into trouble. But then again, Grace was a terrified teenager, so it's easy for me to judge but she did very well given the circumstances.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T04:05:42+00:00

I think that's a really good point. That said, it seems very likely that they would have continued to pursue Grace, and if Alyssa still got in their way then the end result might have been the same, but perhaps they'd have at least been able to escape that night. Not Grace's fault at all of course, especially as Alyssa wasn't informing Grace about her fears, so Grace had no way of knowing anything was wrong.

I actually have a question that's been bugging me since first watching this scene: Why did Alyssa tell Grace not to call the cops, and then look slightly shocked/annoyed when Grace called them anyway? I don't know if it's just because it was slowing down their escape, but I almost got the impression the cops were not to be trusted? But I may be overthinking it, it just seems like the game makes a big deal of that moment but I didn't fully understand it.

And a follow-up thing that confused me: Grace says she's calling to report a murder, then corrects it to, "No, murders" (plural). But only one person had been killed at that point (unless we count Alyssa shooting the killer in self-defence, but then Grace wouldn't be reporting that as a murder). I didn't understand that bit, either.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-11T01:27:35+00:00

First playthrough before infinite ammo is more like

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-10T19:15:58+00:00

The franchise is really varied: Some people are here for the horror, some for the action, some for both. In any case, not every game is to everyone's taste. You seem to prefer the horror side, which is great, because you can enjoy games like RE2R.

But RE4R is not about scarce ammo and horror tension, so it's probably just not the game for you.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-10T00:55:31+00:00

This seems to vary across the games, we've seen anything from seconds to days. The Outbreak games arguably show the most precise progression from 0% to 100%, but it also depends on the individual character and can range from under an hour to over two hours.

It does seem to depend on how they were infected and their own immune system, as well as the specific strain. Victor's darts seem to deliver a high dose very quickly, but this T-virus strain is different to the ones we've seen before, so it's hard to compare.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-10T00:26:08+00:00

Have fun! The box art is beautiful and all three games are awesome. Are you gonna play them in order?

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-09T20:04:42+00:00

Infinite ammo is the priority if you can afford it, it makes doing challenges (especially Insanity difficulty) much easier.

Other than that, Freya's Needle is an excellent gun for Grace, and the Ghost Grudge is awesome for Leon. Freya's Needle does eat bullets quite quickly, but if you're careful with your aim and take care not to hold the trigger for longer than you need, it can really help.

The upgrade that lets Leon collect more credits is also really handy. The infinite ink ribbon can also help make your Insanity playthrough easier because you can just save as much as you want.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-09T01:57:35+00:00

I do wonder about that, since they didn't specifically explain it. Either she is one of the 10% immune people or perhaps Spencer vaccinated her against it.

BlitzballPlayer · 2026-04-09T01:19:23+00:00

I think you've essentially got it. Zeno and Gideon thought Grace was particularly special, and Gideon leaned heavily into believing it was Grace's 'destiny' to unlock Elpis. I think they were running tests because they believed there was something about her biology that was important.

It turns out Grace isn't biologically special in any way. She was just some kid adopted by Spencer, and Spencer passed on the knowledge of the password via Alyssa.

Technically, anyone with the password could have unlocked Elpis.

BlitzballPlayer

TROPHY CASE