RE4 Tells A Better Story than RE5

[Becky's Butt]

Crikey, I've done it now!

And no, I'm not saying 4 had a great story. That's not why i think it's better than 5. I think it's better than 5 for one simple reason.

RE4 didn't fuck up the canon. Everything we knew from previous games was intact in this game. Leon and Ada's relationship, Wesker going out to collect things for his evil schemes and there you go.
RE5 on the othe rhand retconned pretty much everything we knew about Wesker. He was now an experiment instead of just someoen hired by Umbrella. He was now injected by a virus that was given to Birkin as opposed to a virus Birkin created. And this is just off the top of my head. There's probably more.

People make a big deal about RE4 not being directly connected to the main games but even if it wasn't, it's still better than a game that rapes the main games.

[Stu]

Everything we knew from previous games was intact in this game.

Other than Umbrella, that's the only thing that impacts the main canon.

But i absolutely agree with what you're saying. For all the shit RE4 takes, it at least left the vast, VAST majority of the canon to it's own devices.

[Branden_Lucero]

RE5 could of been a hell of a better game if they retained the original things that were "supposely" suppose to happen like the inclusion of Sherry Birkin, and the sight fixation.

these are some of the few things i looked foward to RE5 for many years, and its sad that they were cut.

RE5 was good, but RE4 did practically everything better.

[Darkmoon]

I can't stand RE4's storyline. Yes, RE5's story wasn't great. It had a number of incostiency issues. But at least it's story was a fully fleshed out plot, with twists and turns.

RE4's only claim to being better is it was so completely unrelated to any other RE game that it doesn't really cause any inconsitncies. And saying that, I'm sure there was a few issues dredged up by Wesker in the game. I may be wrong though, since I can't recall what it was.

RE5 made a number of mistakes, but was a much more ambitious project. It didn't work well, I admit, and there a number of mistakes. But at least it had a proper story that tied into the canon and resolved things. The only thing RE4 resolved was, 'Oh, we got rid of Umbrella...but might bring it back 'cos Krauser thinks so.'

To break it down into major plot elements...

Predictability - Alright, how many people thought Leon might not make it? Or might not make it out with Ashley? Then, how many of you wondered wether Wesker or Jill would make it out of the otherside alive? I remember plenty of talk about those two and whether they would die. And Excella as well, for that matter.

Emotion. HAH! Alright, Chris doesn't exactly express himself well but he did manage hatred for Wesker, caring for his partners and how tired he was at the beggining of the game. And the other characters all do an nice job as well. It wasn't perfect, and I still feel that the characters (bar Excella and Irvin, maybe) didn't express much by way of fear. But it was oscar nominated compared to RE4.

There was also a lot more emotion in the story. The two emotional elements in RE4 were Ada as the unrequited/old flame and Krasuer as the friend who went to the dark. In RE5 the main emotional issues were Chris and Jill and Chris and Wesker, which echoes RE4 in several ways. But the RE5 ones had a lot more emotional impact, partially due to the additional build up, partially due to the character actions in the game, such as Chris' desperate pleas to Jill during the battle with her. You never really got the sense Leon felt any real betrayal by Krasuer, just a slight sadness and curiosity as to how it happened.

Plot twists: The closest RE4 had to plot twists was that Leon was infected, Saddler's master plan and Ashley has been abducted again. And again. RE5 had Jill's death and bird lady (for those of us not spoiiled by Capcom's incredibly stupid advertising campaign) Wesker and Spencer's plots and the Wesker Children (who saw that one coming?)

[Mr_Zombie]

I think it's better than 5 for one simple reason.

RE4 didn't fuck up the canon.

By that logic, no game after CODE: Veronica should continue the story, because every game would fuck up canon somehow (hey, RE Zero says hi).

Yes, I agree that RE5 story was far from perfect and, probably due to the game being co-op, lots of things were rushed (especially meeting with Jill - after all those hours of "Jill this, Jill that" I expected something more than 2 minutes cut-scenes :/) or thrown into Library. However, it tried really hard to logically continue the story. To move on from the 1998, after Raccoon City incident.

Capcom shot themselves in the foot the moment they brought Wesker back to life. From that moment on, Wesker was a virus collector that just sit in the dark and did completely nothing with said viruses and yet the superior virus, that not only brings dead to life but also allows them to retain their humanity and gives them super powers, was flowing in his blood. That was the biggest fucking plot hole in the entire series.

"Wesker children" project retconned the story, yes, but at least it managed to bring logic (at least a little bit of logic) into the whole "why is Wesker a super human and no one is even interested why or how".
I don't like how Capcom turned Wesker into a comic book villain, though, but it seems that's the case with every villain in RE universe and Wesker was't different.

The game also gaves more backstory to Umbrella's history (Sonnentreppe) and gave more backstory to the whole Umbrella's fall (unfortunately, you can only find this info in the Library :/), something more than "they went bankrupt and voilà".

And, as Darkmoon's already stated, the characters were more human, showed emotions, were more likeable and the whole story wasn't as predictable.

[Alexia_Ashford]

I prefer RE4 to RE5 for this reason. I didn't like where 5 took the canon and thought it made a pigs arse of every character we've seen thus far. My point in the other topic is that RE4 has no relevance or impact on the canon whatsoever, isn't relevant, and to say it is more important canon-wise than Code Veronica is crazy.

RE4 is a very fun game, given. RE4 had the biggest impact on the series than most because it completely revolutionized an established gameplay system and made it one of the most popular games ever. It broke the mould and got into many other gaming audiences and sold like crazy. I think it's a brilliant game and I love it.

I also love it because it has absolutely nothing to do with the series that I can just play it light-heartedly and not connect anything in it to other games in the RE universe. I couldn't do that with 5 because it was so story-centric and made characters I liked (Wesker, Spencer and Chris) into idiots. I really disliked Jill's appearance as well, didn't think it was necessary and was simply a fan service.

[Becky's Butt]

By that logic, no game after CODE: Veronica should continue the story, because every game would fuck up canon somehow (hey, RE Zero says hi).

Only canon it screws up is Marcus released the T-Virus in the mansion. And retconning "an accident" into something intentional is not nearly as bad as retconning a retcon (Someoen gave Birkin the virus to giv eto Albert > Birkin created the virus > Wesker died)
It gave more answers than anything. Thank God for Zero 'cause after about 5 games I was getting tired of recieving no information whatsoever on the T-Virus.

And, as Darkmoon's already stated, the characters were more human, showed emotions, were more likeable and the whole story wasn't as predictable.

Every character in RE4 showed emotion...
And I am pretty sure Leon is more likeable than Chris. If polls I've conducted elsewhere are any indication, Leon's popularity dwarfs Chris'.

[Alexia_Ashford]

I found that more of an explanation than anything else. We never really knew before how the T-Virus got released and it gave us a reason as to why it happened other than "Umbrella are clumsy clowns". RE0 retcons the origins of the T-Virus (previously it had been thought to be Birkin) and causes some indiscrepancies on the nature of the virus (given that an Eliminator bites Rebecca and she doesn't get infected).

[Becky's Butt]

Oh yeah. I had almost forgotten Annette's line about Birkin being behind the T-Virus. I remember when I was fresh from playing RE2 I was going around saying William invented it so someone had to link me to the files from REZero. Still, Zero gave us the first real details on how it came about.

As for the Eliminator biting her....hm. I had forgotten that.

[Mr_Zombie]

Only canon it screws up is Marcus released the T-Virus in the mansion. And retconning "an accident" into something intentional

And that's the part of Zero I really dislike. I really prefer an accident ("I heard there was an accident in the basement lab. It's no wonder, those
researchers never rest, even at night.") than a revenge from an old man that was killed 10 years ago and then was resurrected by mutated leeches and turned into a young one :/.

Someoen gave Birkin the virus to giv eto Albert > Birkin created the virus > Wesker died

No one said Birkin created the virus, Wesker's Report only stated that Wesker obtained the virus from Birkin. And, as I've said, the virus - if it would be only the virus that turned Wesker into a super human - was the biggest cluster fuck, because why would Birkin work on G-virus for several more months when he gave Wesker that superior virus.

If polls I've conducted elsewhere are any indication, Leon's popularity dwarfs Chris'.

That's because Leon is so cool.
And if polls tell the truth, then RE4 is the best RE game ever...

[Becky's Butt]

No one said Birkin created the virus, Wesker's Report only stated that Wesker obtained the virus from Birkin

Nobody remembers Umbrella Chronicles... Opening of the Rebirth Scenario.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYpGrZTdOw

"The virus that Birkin had created brought me back from the brink of annihilation."

Man that's embarrassing. They create UC while they're also making RE5 and they still can't get their facts straight. Right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing indeed.

[Dark_Chris]

Wesker doesn't know about Wesker' children project until his meet with Spencer, so he was believe that virus was Birkin's design

[News Bot]

RE5 on the othe rhand retconned pretty much everything we knew about Wesker. He was now an experiment instead of just someoen hired by Umbrella. He was now injected by a virus that was given to Birkin as opposed to a virus Birkin created.

learn2read

We knew NOTHING about Wesker's past in previous games, him being part of the Wesker Children project was a revelation, not a retcon. And no, its never stated Birkin made the virus, in-fact, the UC file about the virus implies that it is from a mutation stock. RE5 explains that it was an experimental virus, Birkin just had no idea what it was really for (Wesker Children). Wesker got his facts wrong when talking about the virus, and this was a deliberative move, as RE5 reveals that instead of being the mastermind behind everything, he was actually out of the loop the whole time.

Oh yeah. I had almost forgotten Annette's line about Birkin being behind the T-Virus. I remember when I was fresh from playing RE2 I was going around saying William invented it so someone had to link me to the files from REZero. Still, Zero gave us the first real details on how it came about.

Marcus was never credited with creating the T-virus despite being its real creator. Play Zero, a cutscene reveals that Birkin took over Marcus' research and claimed the virus as his own.

Every character in RE4 showed emotion...

Shit, unrealistic emotion.

RE5 retconned absolutely nothing. Some of you are confusing story details that weren't there in the first place being filled as retcons. RE4 does not tell a story whatsoever.

[Becky's Butt]

And no, its never stated Birkin made the virus,

learn2read

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYpGrZTdOw

"The virus that Birkin had created brought me back from the brink of annihilation."

Wesker got his facts wrong when talking about the virus, and this was a deliberative move, as RE5 reveals that instead of being the mastermind behind everything, he was actually out of the loop the whole time.

Yes and Snake got his facts wrong too. Volgin DIDN'T beatSokolov to death.... It just hadn't been revealed he was alive.
Wesker "just got his facts wrong" is a cozy way of excusing the shitty storytelling in RE5.

Marcus was never credited with creating the T-virus despite being its real creator. Play Zero, a cutscene reveals that Birkin took over Marcus' research and claimed the virus as his own.

I know. A good way to explain away a retcon.

Shit, unrealistic emotion.

If you don't want that, stop playing the RE series you hypocrite.

[Mr_Zombie]

the shitty storytelling in RE5

How is that an excuse? Wesker did not know about the whole Wesker Children project -> didn't know the virus' real origins -> thought it was Birkin's virus. There's nothing in files or games itself that would state that Birkin created the virus other than Wesker saying so. And since we learn from RE5 that Wesker don't know shit about what was really going on, how can we take his words as facts?

Also, what I stated above, if we are to believe that the virus was really Birkin's work, then why on earth would Birkin work on a less stable virus that turns its victim into mindless pile of muscles that constantly mutates and wants to rape its relatives and call said virus "sheer perfection"? That makes no sense at all.