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I'm the kind of person who thoroughly enjoys video games with an emphasis on well written story telling, like Assassin's Creed, Red Dead, Metal Gear and even Hotline Miami. Games with a lesser emphasis, like Just Cause or Dead Rising generally aren't for me. But what about Resident Evil? Is the series more or less just zombies and guns meant for your brain to be turned off while playing, or is there an intricate and respectable story to be analyzed and appreciated? Are the characters just action movie stereotypes or is there substance to their actions and motives?
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There's a deep lore surrounding the events of the series and the presentation of narrative through files, diary entries and reports you find while exploring is really well done in almost every game.
The actual in game plot, the dialogue and the story events are pretty hit and miss, it runs the gamut from being genuine affecting horror, anime action nonsense, cheese ball melodrama and everything in between.
Sometimes it works, sometimes not, even within the same game. Really depends on your tolerance of B - movie narn.
Edit: I think it has a not too dissimilar balance of smart, dramatic and silly that Metal Gear has, though it never quite goes as for as some of the weirder moments on that series and never ever gets quite as meta.
ID: hagnx3jID: hagqwhbI would agree with this assessment. It's in between the two extremes op gave.
There is legitimate story. No one is calling it grand or anything though.
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Imo, it's more about the gameplay than the story. It started out as something and has taken wild turns ever since. That being said, RE is my favorite game franchise and I try and absorb all of the content so there is a story there.. Just not as articulated as other RPG style games
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It's a mix it really depends which game you're playing personally think the story goes off the rails starting with RE4
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Yes, it does. A kind of bedtime nightmare story
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The stories are kind of all over the place to be honest, both in terms of quality and consistency. But the universe and lore they create is really cool
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No the story isn't that important overall. The basic plot points are, but even more important is the atmosphere of the game. Usually the environments themselves are the main characters
ID: hah0v59That’s how they pitched the village in village and I gotta say the castle was the real hero
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It used to be easy to follow but not so much after RE5
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Well written? No, but doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. Story does get convoluted though with all the main entries and that’s not even considering all the lore in the countless spin off games.
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Sometimes a game just is a game..."entertaining" Resident evil hasn't gotten famous for it's masterful storytelling but it's deep and rich survival horror gameplay loop that is satisfying and rewarding with great sense of progression. Now are all of RE games are like that? No but the ones that are in this way use story just as a serviceable tool to tell a simple narrative. That's why resident evil is so great. A pure video gamey bliss in some of RE games is what makes them timeless and unique. And I'm so happy that even to this day with village capcom still provides a satisfying gameplay loop first and then tells a story
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1-3 was pretty easy to keep tabs on. Then 4 happened and it just went off the deep end. Can't speak for 7 or 8 though.
ID: hah3pks8 is pretty contained as a story in itself. 7 brings little context to 8 and that’s the only contribution it brings to the RE universe. 8 has a better connection to the RE universe with mentioning BSAA & Umbrella / Spencer. Granted not much but even the Duke references 4.
I do agree 4 is the beginning of the end for the continuity that somewhat was easy to follow. I miss the simplified nature of Raccoon City lore. Not this crazy additional cult / organizations outside of Umbrella and corporate espionage.
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It could get pretty confusing in the extended lore, but I’d say that yes. For the most part, it is good and interesting
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Id say that 1 2 and 3 have a fairly coherent story. After that it all goes pretty crazy.
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Some of the individual games have pretty decent stories. The overall storyline is a mess though. imo the series is more about the atmosphere and gameplay than the story
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From the start of the series it follows a certain pattern! Sth happens and the character is involved so during the course of the game they/we understand about behind the secenes and the causality of it all by reading files and watching cutscenes. The only character who goes through stuff and you can see him evolve is chris, he wins and he lose and has ptsd and wanna quit and has personal stakes and grows old, the rest are just heros who do the right thing and that's it! In leons case it involves a bit flirting and him being a cute guy. Ethan on the other hand is a camera that we control and is meant to be like that. IMO resident evil games were always about the whole setting which is so balanced that will hide the dissapointments yet not turn it into sth great! So we have amazing games with obvious bland scenarios!
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There’s certainly a difference between a “well written” story and “an amazing” story
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The games have pretty good characters. Most of whom, have gone through significant and consistent development over the years. However, the plots of the individual games range from decent to downright absurd. So if strong, semi-grounded, and loveable characters stumbling in and out of completely bonkers misadventures. Then you'll probably get a kick out of the majority of the series. If not, it's still the most widely acclaimed survival horror series of all time. So you might find something else to like about it.
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Ill never grasp this. PLAYING video GAMES for the story? Great gameplay should always be the main focus. Hell, do you ask about the story when chosing which board game to play?
People like this, the same kind of people who cant adapt to tank controls and eventually git gud, and who would rather whine instead and blame the game for their lack of skills, are the reason why every fucking games/franchises have switched to a generic 3rd person over the shoulde
perspective. Always only caring about the fuxking story and wanting the most streamlined and simplistic gaming experience with subpar redundant cookie-cutter gameplay and difficulty.RE was at its best during the OG trilogy era. EVERYTHING from those games blended together perfectly and delivered the best survival horror experience. Something the franchise never truly recoevered from ever since the overrated trash ass RE4 was released. Even RE2make, which is amazing, pales in comparision to the original games and the freedom of choice/replayability those games allowed.
ID: hahlo4dAwww someone needs his bottle lol did RE4 traumatized you? Fucking gatekeeping toddler
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No but I love it anyways.
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Actual plot and its presentation range between anime, over the top nonsense and blandness (with the exception of RE7 that had decent story), but RE shines in environmental storytelling (which is superb in this series) and well written files.
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Nah. But it has really fun stories and a lot of lore. It's camp, through and through. But if Metal Gear is part of your bar for good writing, then yeah. Resident Evil's writing is fine.
Don't get me wrong, I love Metal Gear, but outside of MGS2 it's some grade B campy material. If Red Dead 2 is the gold standard for writing in games then Resident Evil is about 10 notches below it. For RE there is a lot to dig into and it's mostly all really fun. I don't think you'd have a bad time with it unless you really hate shlock.
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I'm currently reading the novels and funnily enough thinking the same thing.
There are A LOT of inconsistencies and plot holes throughout the entire series - movies, novels and games - but it doesn't stop the core plot being fun and understandable. I love the lore. RE5 has a lot of readable files to clue yourself in but lacks imagery to support them deeper.
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OP have you played The Last of Us?
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It's a schlocky, cheesy (but fun) B-movie story in each game and in the overall series, but each game's lore is surprisingly detailed.
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Resident Evil fans take the story for more seriously than Resident Evil itself does. It’s a very goofy sort of scifi and generally the story is a means to an end - the “end” being cool monsters you get to fight.
Don’t expect an especially deep or nuanced plot - it’s mostly just a good silly time. It’s enough to keep you curious and engaged and the characters are memorable. The plotlines are fun, But the only ones I could actually try to explain with a straight face are 2, 7, and maybe 3.
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Newp!
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It was well-written up until around 4. I say "around 4" because I think DSC's Operation Javier was a good addition to the story.
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This.
The overall lore of the series is relatively complex and quite well written when you take the time to look in to it (looking at what sites like Project Umbrella have dug up over the years for example).
But the individual games can range from campy B-movie horror films to attempts at slightly above average blockbuster action movies.
If you're able to combine both of those in your head and appreciate that, then it can work...But if not, then each individual game will come across as quite poorly written or at the very least a surface level attempt at characterisation.
But then again, this is quite similar to how Assassin's Creed worked in the earlier games as well.