Topic: Push Square Game Club Spooktacular: Resident Evil 4

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yep, I actually played Deltarune roughly 10-15 minutes after release on PC, cleared it in a couple of hours and then have never played it again! It would definitely be interesting to revisit it but it does rely on knowledge of Undertale so would be one for the future.

So from the looks of things, Undertale seems to be the most popular choice so I think we’ll go for that. Shouldn’t take us too long as it’s not a really long game even if you go for the true ending. It should generate discussion though! As always, choose whatever console you want, it’s on basically everything at this point. I’ll give people a couple of days to pick it up and then we’ll get started on Monday. First goal is to make it out of the ruins and we’ll see how long it takes everyone!

@RogerRoger @ralphdibny @phil_j @crimsontadpoles @Ralizah @JohnnyShoulder @ralphdibny @Th3solution @Thrillho @mookysam @LieutenantFatman @LobsterJohnson @Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy @Tjuz @Kidfried @Octane @Trisque @Col_McCafferty

@nessisonett Sounds good. Hopefully I can start on Monday, I should be finished with Danganronpa V3 by then and possibly finished with my 2nd run in RE2 — I’m in the sewers now.

I'll sit this one out, as I'm knee-deep in my own games. It's a lot of fun, though. Anyone with the stomach for it should attempt a genocide run after seeing the true ending, as it's utterly unique, has some awesomely challenging boss fights, and pretty radically changes the tone of the entire game.

@Ralizah I never could bring myself to do that. I got the true ending and if you can go back and do that run afterwards then you’d surely have to be a monster 😅

@nessisonett The game certainly treats you like a monster. It's essential, though, because it completes the scope of the game's satire.

I only played Undertale a few months ago, so shall sit this one out. It’s a brilliant game though, so I hope everyone enjoys. 😀 Papyrus is hilarious!

@Ralizah Hmm, that’s a route I may take on a future replay. I found the pacifist route quite a challenge on the Vita given the battle system, but because I killed a few enemies near the beginning and didn’t want to restart ended up with a rather macabre ending. The game also remembered me defeating goat lady; when I quit and reloaded (largely because I felt guilty), I got a nasty surprise from the evil flower!

@mookysam Ha, I mentioned that very scenario in another thread on here recently.

I’d like to have done this one but I don’t want to distract from my play through of TLOU2.

@mookysam The game has a number of amazing fourth-wall breaks that I've not seen before. These are essential to its satire insofar as the game forces the player to question basic assumptions about how they're supposed to interact with characters in an RPG. This is, as I noted, most explicit in the game's genocide run, where the basic behavior of grinding is likened to mass murder (because... it is), and the way characters interact with the player is altered drastically as a result of this perception. The game is so different on a genocide run that it's practically an entirely different experience altogether, and becomes something akin to a horror game where you're playing the monster. If you found a normal run to be challenging, though, you should know that the genocide route has a couple of boss battles that are several orders of magnitude more challenging than anything in the rest of the game. I thought the bosses in the normal/pacifist routes were a bit on the easy side, though, so I enjoyed the challenge.

I’m getting close to finishing my Leon 2nd run in REmake 2. I am now in the Lab and so far it seems to be following the 1st run closely in this section so I anticipate only a couple more hours at most.

So far I’ve enjoyed the 2nd run almost as much as the first. Leon is a charming and relatable protagonist.
This run has been a little harder. The sewers got a little tight with ammo. But now in the Lab I’m swimming in it so far.

I will say Ada is pretty cool, but I feel like her arc has gotten a bit rushed. I enjoyed her section and the hacking mechanic, but I didn’t feel like her character got enough room to breathe. I don’t know if her and Leon’s relationship is able to simmer a little more at the end but so far it seems like one minute she’s annoyed at Leon giving him the cold shoulder, and then the next minute she’s grabbing his face and kissing him. It almost feels like she’s using him; that once she got injured now suddenly he has value to her whereas before he was just getting in her way. Which I guess is true and ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’ so if the world needs saving, then she is justified in using her womanly charm to get his cooperation. I also think it’s amazing that she’s able to run around and fight zombies in a miniskirt and 5 inch stilettos! 😂

As far as weapons, I like the flamethrower more than the electrical gun, but I liked the grenade launcher better than the shotgun. So maybe it’s a wash between the two characters’ weapons.

Hopefully I’ll have some closing thoughts if I can make it to the true ending this weekend.

@Th3solution Yeah you're close to the end. Glad you're enjoying it. Gotta love a flamethrower, makes me think more of Ripley than Rambo.

😉

@Ralizah Yikes, that really is grim. It’s interesting how the game does challenge what the player expects from an RPG, and I liked that it made me question the character’s actions. It’s always great when games with such rudimentary presentation can evoke those feelings. Reading the various story bits dotted throughout the world had me convinced that the monsters had every right to live their lives and that the humans were actually the villains all along.

@Thrillho The flower is hands down one of the nastiest pieces of work I’ve encountered in a game.

Well, I’m finished with RE2 Remake, Leon 2nd run and what a great ride it was! Seriously am probably going to put this game in my PS4 top 20, which is high praise this late in the generation with as many gems it has had. I’d have to look at my list but maybe it’s even top 15 material. Was gripping from beginning to end and there is even something satisfying about the 2nd run since you know where you have to go, kind of. Then they switch things up just a little bit to keep you on your toes.

I finished the run on just under 8 hours and with 43 saves and a “B” grade.

Overall, the polish of this game is great and I liked the 10ish hour play time, which becomes 20 hours with both runs and potentially 40 hours for all 4 runs. I am curious to see how many differences there are in the Leon A/Claire B scenario.

One of the things that made this even better than REmake 1 for me is the flow of the game. I hardly ever felt lost, yet it was a challenge with enemies and puzzles that were just the right amount of difficulty for me. It struck a great balance.

I really enjoyed the ending. The final bosses and the story and cut scenes at the concluding moments were ace. I have to laugh at my impressions of Ada that I posted earlier. I had no idea about her twist at the end, even though I had my reservations about her. I’m not sure the original has the same storyline so I won’t get too spoilery, but I love the way her and Leon end up and then the mystery at the end of not quite knowing what’s going on there.
And yes, @RogerRoger there’s a moment where she is injured and needs Leon to abscond the G-virus and grabs Leon by the face and plants one on him, as if to convince him to join her. It comes across rather abrupt, but in the end, I guess it’s genuine? Hard to say. Some things point to a romantic interest there’s. But it’s funny at the true ending when Sherry meets Leon for the first time and asks if he is Claire’s boyfriend and suggests that the couple should adopt her 😂. It’s pretty cute.

Tagging @Col_McCafferty @TheOtherEden who have been following along wanting to know my final thoughts and also recently finished the game.

Also, has anyone played the extra modes? Like the 4th Survivor and the the other supplemental modes available from the beginning?

I definitely will play REmake 3 soon and maybe RE4 since it’s Leon as protagonist again, but I’ll take a little break and play something a little more light. Like Undertale! And I think I might mix in God of War finally as well.

@Th3solution I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as you did! It really is a perfect Game Club game, not too long but generates lots of discussion from the different scenarios and the like. There’s a few ways in which you can go with Resi. There’s Code Veronica X, which continues Claire and Chris’ stories, Resi 3 Remake which continues Jill’s story of Resi 4 which continues Leon’s story. All available on PS4 and perfectly fine to play next!

@Th3solution

Great to know they you really ended up liking the game in the end. I just finished my hardcore play throughs pretty recently. I always hoped that in my head that Leon and Claire live a happy life together with sherry in the end. Lol

RE: 2 has such a perfecting ending for me. It caps off so nicely.

@Th3solution Good job mate, I tend to disagree a little bit regarding the 2nd playthrough being even better than the first but not enough to argue about it.

😉

At some point I'll be tempted to start a new game but play as Leon first. I'm definitely a Resi fan now and plan on playing Resi 3 next year.

@Col_McCafferty Oh, I’m pretty sure we’re on the same page. I actually I agree with you that the first run was better, blow for blow since it was all new. Also, I preferred playing as Claire and Sherry a little bit more than Leon and Ada. But the story and getting the true ending are what I liked better this go around. If I would have finished with the game after just the first run then I would have been satisfied and scored the game highly, but playing the second run just was the icing on the cake due to the closure (kind of 😄) of the narrative. Otherwise the gameplay part was better the first run.

In that sense it reminds me of NieR Automata. Totally different game, but the repeated runs really cap off the plot, even more so in NieR.

If you think of it tag me when you get around to Resi 3. I’d enjoy hearing how you get along with it. I’ll probably revisit the series in a couple months, all depending on if I am able to come up with a Christmas miracle PS5.

@TheOtherEden Totally agree on the ending. And I used to think people who played the game on hardcore must be sadists, but now I can see the allure and if I ever do replay the game it’ll be to try hardcore.

@nessisonett Thanks for the tip — now that makes sense on how the series unfolds. I’ll probably go : 3, 4, Code Veronica X then. I’m wondering how the latter two have aged though.

@Th3solution 4 has aged really well, I played it last year and it was proper good fun. CVX is a bit dated and needs a proper remake but still a good game.

@Th3solution 4 is still brilliant. Aspects of it have certainly aged, but the overall design and pacing are top notch. Although Leon is stuck on the spot (necessitated by the original GameCube version’s controller) when aiming weapons, it feels right as it ups the tension and forces the player to be more strategic, rather than just blasting through everything. Things like aiming and handling are great. There are some genuinely scary bits too. I still think the Wii version is the best!

@RogerRoger Huh, I always assumed Leon was gay, but then I thought the same thing about Solid Snake.

@RogerRoger That’s super interesting. In the remake (spoilers for the game story of the remake which is slightly different although basically ends up at the same spot) Ada had me fooled that she was an FBI agent tracking down the development and illegal use of the G-virus and she initially dismisses Leon as a rookie cop and ‘this case is all out of his league, so just leave it alone’, etc. Then she is injured and cannot walk well, so she convinces Leon that she needs his help to get the G-virus for evidence and legal purposes. That’s when the aforementioned kiss occurs. Then, he only hears of her deceit when he confronts Annette Birkin near the end and she tells him Ada is a mercenary trying to get the virus to sell to the largest bidder, not an FBI agent. Feeling stabbed in the back, a tense interaction ensues when Leon and Ada are reunited moments later, he asks her if its true, and she all but confirms the accusations when she pulls a gun on him and demands he hand over the virus. However, he call her bluff saying “I don’t think you’ll shoot me” and she lowers her gun, clearly having a moment of self reflection due to inner conflict. And at that moment Annette shoots her, and then the rest seems like the original — Leon tries to save her from falling off into a dark abyss, she says something vaguely suggesting a connection to him, I forget, and then says to just let her go, and she tumbles down. It was all very dramatic and occurred right before the ending boss sequences, so it was a really great reveal and had me a little taken aback when Ada’s true original intentions came to light

I’m really interested in the plot line going forward, but I’m taking a mini break from RE. Loaded up Undertale on the Vita, so I’ll see when I get some time if it sticks this go around.