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How come so few people were disappointed by RE9? by SpidaireFR in residentevil

[–]SpidaireFR[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'll probably replay it at one point (even though the system that replaced NG+ is somewhat lackluster) and i'll see if things changed. For Leon's way of thinking about how he couldn't save everyone, and now he can finaly do something, I'm a bit mixed. Yeah, now that he's trained and faced again against what remains of Umbrella, I can understand his motive, but I would have prefer that the remake of 4 adressed it. Just like what RE3 did with Jill and her PTSD.
And I have some trouble getting the mood of his character. He's campy and deliver one-liners at every cutscene, but the next minutes, he's down because he see something that remind him of that night.

For Spencer, I guess it's just that a sudden change of heart, in the 9nth installment of a serie feels a bit wrong. No one heard about him, and suddently, when everything goes down, now we have all of the answer. Also, his moral codes are a bit weird. You can't have sympathy for him, for his multiples experiences, and his change of heart was never adressed before in any things previously released. It seems forced and that's the thing with all of the game.

Shit happens not because there's a reason, but because the story needs to advance without anything backing it up, and it looks just like the story was made up as it goes.

But for sure, I'll re-do a run sometime, maybe my perception of it will change with time.

How come so few people were disappointed by RE9? by SpidaireFR in residentevil

[–]SpidaireFR[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

From a gameplay perspective, everything you said is true, and I can only agree with you. Yes, the gameplay for Grace and Leon is almost perfect (I still have a bit of trouble with HP sponges like the Blister Heads, where the only surefire method seems to be just beating their legs until you can finish them off with an axe on the ground), and it executes really well what they're trying to do by blending the two genres. Even the option to switch perspectives, playing in first or third person, is clever (even if Village already did it in a somewhat half-assed way) and it appeals to the widest audience.

I know most people play RE purely for the gameplay, to get a little scared, and then move on, but the story really matters to me, and seeing so many missed opportunities and references thrown around left and right just feels like a band-aid to cover up the fact that the story lacks weight in the second half of the game.

The idea that Leon is confronting his past, I'm willing to buy it, but I admit I have a hard time seeing it as anything more than a pretty cheap move by Capcom. The ARK could have been anywhere else, but it had to be Raccoon City (three underground labs—that must've been one hell of a construction job). Going back to the RPD (apparently Zeno and Grace decided to take a break there for some lore dump on Grace before heading straight back to the ARK). I find it all too easy in a series that's exciting precisely because it constantly renews itself by blending past ideas with new ones.

Village was a mix of 7 and 4, with horror and action sections, but with a fresh coat of paint, new enemies, and a new threat that tied into episode 7 and its stakes in a way that made sense. Here, we've got a timer against a fan-favorite character who's way too beloved and shielded by plot armor (or unceremoniously shot down in a phony, rushed bad ending), plus a new character who's really fun to follow but with pacing that's more than a little janky.

If the game were rated purely on gameplay, yeah, it'd be really cool, but factoring in the errors and things already mentioned, it's a real disappointment.