{"id":40821,"date":"2015-08-13T22:13:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T02:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=40821"},"modified":"2020-07-16T22:13:37","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T02:13:37","slug":"cant-say-im-optimistic-about-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=40821","title":{"rendered":"Can’t say I’m optimistic about this"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Long story short<\/a>: Capcom has announced that they are (finally) remaking\u00a0Resident Evil 2<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you know that Resident Evil 2 was the first time I had ever put down a deposit and reserved a game?\u00a0 It was.\u00a0 From an Electronics Boutique, before they were all gobbled up by GameStop, and after they had gobbled up Babbages.\u00a0 It was in a mall that had two, before the mall itself died, and was more recently resurrected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back then, there were no pre-order specials, no artbooks, no collectibles, and no in-game content special for pre-orders.\u00a0 It was solely to ensure that the store wouldn’t possibly run out of copies before I could get my hands on one, because when I was in the tenth grade,\u00a0surely<\/em>\u00a0the game would be such a hot commodity that I would\u00a0have\u00a0<\/em>to reserve one to guarantee that I got mine as soon as I could get to the mall.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I remember going to Electronics Boutique and handing the jaded, pimply-faced cashier my copy of the duplicate form that I had paid ten dollars to reserve, months in advance.\u00a0 I remember him opening the drawer, retrieving a copy of RE2, and handing it over to me upon completion of our transaction.\u00a0 There were numerous copies in that drawer.\u00a0 The copy then in my hands, wasn’t\u00a0my<\/em>\u00a0copy, it was just\u00a0a\u00a0<\/em>copy.\u00a0 There were no envious gamers watching me walk away with my copy that I clearly had the foresight to reserve to guarantee, and I could have just as easily decided on a whim that I wanted RE2 on\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>day, and I would’ve been able to get it just as easily.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn’t have to reserve the game.\u00a0 But I did anyway, because I had loved the original Resident Evil so much, that when the sequel and its release date were announced, I about exploded with excitement.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what an experience RE2 was.\u00a0 The introductions of integral core characters to the series, such as Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield and Ada Wong*.\u00a0 The evolution of the T-Virus into becoming the G-Virus.\u00a0 The dynamic, concurrent storyline mechanism the game utilized, so that the game could basically be played over\u00a0four times\u00a0<\/em>with a fresh journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

*not forgotten is the fact that Ada is mentioned in RE1, but never introduced<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the history of\u00a0Super Mario Bros.\u00a0<\/em>becoming\u00a0Doki-Doki Panic<\/em>,\u00a0The Legend of Zelda\u00a0<\/em>being succeeded by\u00a0The Adventures of Link<\/em>,\u00a0Final Fantasy VI<\/em>\u00a0rolling into\u00a0Final Fantasy VII<\/em>, among others, there is a laundry list of debatable bad sequels out there in video games.<\/span><\/p>\n

[IN MY OPINION], Resident Evil 2 did not fit such criteria.\u00a0 It was everything that a sequel really should have been.\u00a0 Bigger, in the fact that the setting from a mansion in Raccoon City was now all of Raccoon City in its entirety.\u00a0 More firepower, in some new guns and weapons not dreamed up in the first game.\u00a0 Fresh faces, in all the aforementioned names, most of which end up being integral concepts throughout the remainder of the series, if not carried over outright.\u00a0 And a few modifications to game play style, again referencing the concurrent storytelling based on who you the player pick.\u00a0 All while not really leaving the core recipe from the first game, which is running around with limited ammunition, blasting zombies and other mutated creatures.\u00a0 AND, the game had even more bonus replay value, with the\u00a0Hunk\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Tofu\u00a0<\/a>unlockable games, based on how fast and effective you could complete the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

I loved RE2.\u00a0 I played the ever-living shit out of the game, because this was during a time when people still played the ever-living shit out of games.\u00a0 There were no laundry list of achievements to fulfill and then move onto the next game and its own laundry list of achievements.\u00a0 You played every arc once to experience the stories and perspectives from each and every one.\u00a0 And then you played them all over again, because once you unlock the unlimited rocket launcher, it’s just so much fun to go through and blast every zombie, licker and William Birkin to smithereens, in as fast as you could.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got good enough at the game to where I got a few S rankings, but mostly A rankings.\u00a0 I unlocked the Hunk game, although I was never able to beat it, because they’re hard as shit, but I wasn’t so good at the game to where I was able to unlock the Tofu variant.\u00a0 But I loved the game, played it a tremendous amount, much the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like five or six years ago, I got my hands on the Nintendo DS re-release of RE1, then christened\u00a0Resident Evil: Deadly Silence\u00a0<\/em>(D.S. GET IT).\u00a0 But it was basically RE1, but made portable.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it was basically the best variation of the original RE1 ever released; being on a cart, load times for all the door animations could be skipped, and it was entirely possible to blow through the entire game in under two hours, easily.<\/span><\/p>\n

The thing is, after enjoying RE1 all over again on the DS, I had really, really, really hoped that Capcom would do similarly for RE2.\u00a0 However, somewhere along the line, Capcom spouted some rhetoric about just how technologically superior RE2 was over RE1, and how it couldn’t happen on the DS, and that the bottom line was to not hold my breath because it just wasn’t going to happen.\u00a0 This was a tremendous letdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the last few years, the Resident Evil franchise has been somewhat sputtering.\u00a0 After basically reaching the top of the mountain with RE4, the general consensus is that RE5 wasn’t as good, and that RE6 was a pretty big letdown.\u00a0 I’m not going to agree wholeheartedly to those statements, as I did get a good deal of enjoyment out of both games myself, but in terms of story, gameplay, and perhaps just poor timing at their releases, they just weren’t capturing the same magic as earlier installments of the series did.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, in that same span, Capcom had released all sorts of other Resident Evil themed titles, such as\u00a0Outbreak<\/em>, _____\u00a0Chronicles,\u00a0<\/em>random sequels on random platforms (3DS exclusive (initially)\u00a0Revelations<\/em>), and remakes and re-releases of the original RE1 as well as RE4.<\/span><\/p>\n

As much of a fan I am of the series, the Resident Evil franchise really was spinning their wheels in the mud for quite a while.\u00a0 Remakes are kind of cheesy in the fact that they’re not really new games, since the plots and stories are nothing new; they’re for lack of a better term, fresh paint on old cars.\u00a0 Great for short-term gratification, but in the spirit of creativity and creation, they’re still nothing new.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which brings us to now, the present, after hundreds of words, I’m getting to the point of what sparked this brog post.\u00a0 Capcom has (finally) decided to re-make RE2.<\/span><\/p>\n

I mean, they have to now, because\u00a0they’ve officially announced it<\/em>, right?\u00a0 Because Yoshiaki Hirabayashi decided to have a 90 second monologue while standing in front of a large screen with “Resident Evil 2* Remake<\/em>” on it,\u00a0talked about<\/em>\u00a0how the decision to remake the game has been made, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah no, I can’t say that I’m feeling too optimistic about this.\u00a0 Talk is cheap.\u00a0 Even the smallest clip of initial footage would garner some faith and excitement about this project more than this video did.\u00a0 Making an announcement video about something that could very well have easily been accomplished in a generic press junket is actually kind of worse, because it’s like saying “we’re putting effort into\u00a0<\/em>talking about\u00a0making effort<\/em>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Like when Valve used to announce dates for when the next announcement was coming.\u00a0 Fluff, that doesn’t actually accomplish anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

Observations about the announcement video that I interpret:<\/span><\/p>\n