RE7 Discussion Thread

[News Bot]

The story now has painted itself into a corner where there will always be an army in the background and its needs to one-up the previous entry in threat by forcing in as many locations as possible and upping the global threat constantly.

There are no corners. They can scale back perfectly fine and have plenty of aspects to choose from for implementing new situations. The only limitation is in imagination and the expectations of fans, who are the ones primarily responsible for the "must be bigger each time" mentality, intentionally or not.

The series was never "about" anything except survival with a horror aesthetic. The scenarios themselves aren't bound by a checklist. The list you just posted is one reason why the series was considered to be on its way out at the time: people thought it was a tired formula. There's no sense in just repeating that cycle.

[Dracarys]

There are no corners. They can scale back perfectly fine and have plenty of aspects to choose from for implementing new situations. The only limitation is in imagination and the expectations of fans, who are the ones primarily responsible for the "must be bigger each time" mentality, intentionally or not.

The series was never "about" anything except survival with a horror aesthetic. The scenarios themselves aren't bound by a checklist. The list you just posted is one reason why the series was considered to be on its way out at the time: people thought it was a tired formula. There's no sense in just repeating that cycle.

It was the gameplay that was on its way out. Nothing else. I've not mentioned gameplay at all. RE is not going to scale back into a mansion and there is always the BSAA army, someone suggested the BSAA being too busy elsewhere, if they too busy elsewhere it is a massive threat again, that isn't scaling back.

[News Bot]

It was the gameplay that was on its way out. Nothing else. I've not mentioned gameplay at all.

Not even any anecdotal evidence to go along with that claim?

The story was on its way out too. That was partially due to three games in a row having a "OKAY WE'LL GET UMBRELLA... NEXT TIME!" The story also includes the setting and situations. People got tired of "another outbreak/Umbrella guy/secret facility." Although I never personally agreed with it and have even more reasons why I still don't, the story was a big bag of missed potential. Although what they had planned for BIO4 (both the Devil May Cry and Castle versions) would've advanced the series a lot more than what we got.

[Dracarys]

The only complaints I ever remember was so many mansions and they all being so similar. RE1, REmake, RE0,CV. A bit much when 4 out of 6 games all had one.

[alexdz]

It was the gameplay that was on its way out. Nothing else. I've not mentioned gameplay at all. RE is not going to scale back into a mansion and there is always the BSAA army, someone suggested the BSAA being too busy elsewhere, if they too busy elsewhere it is a massive threat again, that isn't scaling back.

The BSAA issue could be easily resolved with the game taking place on an outbreak taking on an isolated location with no means of communication with the outside world, it's not that complicated.

[Sly]

Or, the BSAA could be dissolved, kind of like the FBC, following a scandal involving the top brass of the organization being corrupted by some pharmaceutical company in order to cover up their mess.
Or, just like in Degeneration, the BSAA could not be involved because the country where the outbreak is occurring doesn't want it to be involved (but Chris could still go in solo anyway, you just know he would if he has a personal stake in it).
There are lots of ways, just use your imagination, it's that simple, really.

[AsteroidBlues]

Or, the BSAA could be dissolved, kind of like the FBC, following a scandal involving the top brass of the organization being corrupted by some pharmaceutical company in order to cover up their mess.
Or, just like in Degeneration, the BSAA could not be involved because the country where the outbreak is occurring doesn't want it to be involved (but Chris could still go in solo anyway, you just know he would if he has a personal stake in it).
There are lots of ways, just use your imagination, it's that simple, really.

Chris has to go in to save Claire/Sherry/Stephan the Janitor/etc because Terrasave was there contributing relief for 'X' reason, but it could turn out that she/they weren't there or got out in time, etc etc. So many things could be done with that.

My personal idea was to play from the viewpoint of an employee at (surprise surprise) one of these secret bio-engineering bases. The bio weapons and viruses escape, and you're left to escape. You wouldn't NEED the BSAA (although there are ways you could include them intelligently), and it could be really good.

[Sly]

Yeah I was thinking about something along those lines too. Like, Sherry would go in to save Claire from some outbreak she would be involved in because of her job at Terrasave, thus reversing the roles they both had in RE2. That would be nice.

Your personal idea sounds like the situation Gordon Freeman is in Half Life. You could have a scientist (not working on BOWs directly, as that would imply he's a bad guy, and that's not cool) working on the premises who get caught in the initial outbreak, you could even have to avoid USS-like troops going in to kill every one on sight, again, like Half Life. Even if personally, I've always thought that just killing off dozens of scientists was not very intelligent, since good scientists are not expendable people. They are hard to replace.

[Bianca]

Yeah I was thinking about something along those lines too. Like, Sherry would go in to save Claire from some outbreak she would be involved in because of her job at Terrasave, thus reversing the roles they both had in RE2. That would be nice.

This is so incredibly good that I want to cry, because Capcom would never give us such perfection. Oh, the humanity!

[AsteroidBlues]

This is so incredibly good that I want to cry, because Capcom would never give us such perfection. Oh, the humanity!

lol Hey, it could be worse....

Spoiler:

show spoiler

Capcom could give us this.

[Wrathborne]

I can talk about your imagination all I like if you keep giving me reasons to do so. You're always completely free to disprove it.

More ad hominem from someone who doesn't want to be challenged and has can't come up with an argument without insulting the other party in the slightest way. I could present an argument with out insulting you in the slightest and you'd still be put off enough to slip in something personal.


Getting facts straight and enjoying a story are two completely different things and they aren't very connected.
If you ever asked me to actually comment on quality, I'd do so. If a new story fits? Great. If it sucks as a story? That's personally disappointing, but the work I do on PU isn't about my personal tastes in the series. Please stop resorting to outright making shit up about me.

I'm making up shit about you when I say you don't care so much about a games story as you do getting the facts straight about the story? The only real story you've openly bitched about was 4's.

When have you provided evidence to the contrary in the past? Look at RE6, even you said you were disappointed by the game(I cant remember how disappointed, but I do remember you were disappointed by no mention of Alex Wesker for certain) but you wanted to know more about "the family", the new secret evil organization running the world from the shadows.

One element from the games story, thats a desperate attempt at creating a new evil organization and you want a 7th game to continue this awful new possible story arc because "it might get better" or answer a few more questions introduced.

You know when a TV show runs out of ideas and starts grasping at straws so they can get renewed for another season or so? Despite the fact the quality of the stories has become awful, the characters are now boring, and no matter what happens it isn't interesting as it used to be?

Thats what this game is, thats what its story is, and thats why if this was a TV show, it'd be cancelled. Because it's not working out, because it needs to just stop before it gets worse. The continued escalation of bio-hazardous outbreaks has hit its limit on the 'Bigger is better' stories they keep using and the characters we've all grown up with are old and the replacement characters they have for optional use...are boring, archetypes with bits of character development. Which in an age where storytelling in video games is becoming an artform, is a crime.


It will take your reboot idea to be good for me to agree with it. Right now it's a cop-out that will achieve nothing.

Id LOVE to share my reboot idea with you, but your so adamant that a reboot would be the death of the series(as well as eliminating almost 20 years of lore and cannon) while you're sitting back waiting and hoping for that RE7 comes out and has Alex Wesker and "the Family" explained, that you're more interested in insulting me or anyone else who is vocal about as reboot, why should I bother?

Why should anyone here who wants to share their ideas of a reboot even consider doing so when you're just going to rely on ad hominem to try to shut us up when we do?

[Dracarys]

The BSAA issue could be easily resolved with the game taking place on an outbreak taking on an isolated location with no means of communication with the outside world, it's not that complicated.

...and why would the professionals of many years not tell anyone where they are going? More conspiracy crap that the series doesn't need perhaps?

Or, the BSAA could be dissolved, kind of like the FBC, following a scandal involving the top brass of the organization being corrupted by some pharmaceutical company in order to cover up their mess.

The world isn't going to ignore bioterror, if the BSAA was disolved someting else would take its place.

Or, just like in Degeneration, the BSAA could not be involved because the country where the outbreak is occurring doesn't want it to be involved (but Chris could still go in solo anyway, you just know he would if he has a personal stake in it).
There are lots of ways, just use your imagination, it's that simple, really.

Just a timer until the army eventually arrives then, and it is still the hero seeking out the monsters rather than trying to escape and survive them.


It is 3am and I've been drinking and 'celebrating' a few friends inability to keep a relationship all night, so I'll type more tomorrow if needed.

[DarkMemories]

I really don't see what's wrong with an RE4 type situation: Leon goes into uncharted territory, loses all contact with his people, is surrounded by hostiles and has to fight for his life. It's a very simple formula that worked well for the game, regardless of whatever the superflous trappings attached to it that people negatively fixated on.

A horror game like Resident Evil doesn't need a complex plot with massive outbreaks and background files running 30 pages long to tell its story. All you need is the isolation, mood, and competent gameplay mechanics. It's what served the classics and 4 quite well.

[AsteroidBlues]

1)...and why would the professionals of many years not tell anyone where they are going? More conspiracy crap that the series doesn't need perhaps?

2) The world isn't going to ignore bioterror, if the BSAA was disolved someting else would take its place.

3) Just a timer until the army eventually arrives then, and it is still the hero seeking out the monsters rather than trying to escape and survive them.

1: Who said it would be a "professional" stuck in a place with little-to-no communication? It doesn't have to be any character we know, or hell, it could be Claire.

2: We're just talking about the possible events in ONE game, we're not plotting the rest of the series until end of days. There could easily be a period without the BSAA during the RE7 timeline.

3: When has there NOT been an RE game where "It was just a timer until the army/government/backup arrives' in one form or another? You CAN make a game where the hero is a badass (like Chris) and still have a horrifying experience. You just have to tweak the environments to allow enemy avoidance, nerf some of the weapons/melee and reduce ammo and BOOM- You've got a really basass character just about as helpless as the snot-nosed teenager Steve was. Just because the character you're playing is "a professional", doesn't mean the game can't scare you (the player) deeply.


And as a postscript; We all have to realize that we're all becoming jaded to RE horror. XD We're becoming the "professionals" some people seem to want get rid of around here.

I really don't see what's wrong with an RE4 type situation: Leon goes into uncharted territory, loses all contact with his people, is surrounded by hostiles and has to fight for his life. It's a very simple formula that worked well for the game, regardless of whatever the superflous trappings attached to it that people negatively fixated on.

A horror game like Resident Evil doesn't need a complex plot with massive outbreaks and background files running 30 pages long to tell its story. All you need is the isolation, mood, and competent gameplay mechanics. It's what served the classics and 4 quite well.

I agree with the exception of the files. I love me some files in Resident Evil. xD

[DarkMemories]

I wasn't advocating the removal of files (I enjoy reading them myself, mistranslation and all) just saying that an RE game doesn't need a super-extensive backstory to function as a horror narrative.