RE4 Tells A Better Story than RE5

[News Bot]

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

I think you need to re-evaluate your understanding of what a retcon is. And another thing, Zero was developed alongside or just after RE2. The story details about Marcus and Birkin were meant to coincide.

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

Doesn't that make you the hypocrite yourself for saying the characters have emotion in the first place? I didn't even say that they did, just that your statement is what I like to call WRONG.

[Becky's Butt]

Doesn't that make you the hypocrite yourself for saying the characters have emotion in the first place?

...no... I'm not saying they have emotions then saying they don't.

I didn't even say that they did, just that your statement is what I like to call WRONG.

Taste can not be right or wrong. you saying they have shitty, unrealistic emotions is subjective. If I said they had realistic, good emotions (which I haven't) it too would be subjective and beyond being right or wrong.

[Alexia_Ashford]

Birkin was originally credited with the creation of the T-Virus (though I can't remember where it was mentioned). I believe Annette mentions that he created it in RE2, and Weskers Report 1 does as well I think. There is no evidence that he did actually create it though and like Paul said above, RE2/0 were developed alongside eachother so the fact that Birkin creating it doesn't make sense, wasn't meant to make sense because he didn't create it, Marcus did.

Your two posts are confusing me, though. Are you talking about who created the T-Virus or who created the Wesker virus? The virus he's talking about in UC is the Wesker virus.

[Darkmoon]

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'.

...Twilight sells in great numbers, and yet no one is likely to claim it has the greatest story and characters of all time. Chris isn't a brilliant characters, I admit quite happily. But I felt he was more realistic that Leon was. Leon felt like he'd been manufactured to be as cool as possible, which appeals to some folk. It makes me grind my teeth in rage. I hate false people. I don't like false characters much either.

Leon does show emotion, but it's rarely appropriate emotion. He's completely fearless when he faces a new enemy he's never seen before (we used to at least get a gasp or a back up in the older games), he's OK with having a Las Plagas floating around in him, he's a bit annoyed when the president's daughter and his mission objective gets abducted again because he's being controlled via said parasite...and yet when someone he's known for a time ranging between hours and minutes dies he screams there name to heaven like it's his lost love whose just been raped to death by his most hated nemesis with a giant diesel powered motorized dildo.

As for the Wesker not knowing the truth...it's a good, solid story device. See some old detective movies for some examples. A client would hire a detective with a false story, tricking them into finding a person they were hunting or a treasure they couldn't get themselves. There's nothing wrong with it. Since people can make mistakes in real life assuming everything a character, even a major one like Wesker, says to be true is not always a wise move. Indeed, especially with Wesker. He's exceptionally arrogant and is therefore less likely to believe what he knows is wrong.

[Mr_Zombie]

Leon felt like he'd been manufactured to be as cool as possible, which appeals to some folk.

I remember watching an interview when someone from RE4 team stated that they wanted to make Leon's every move and line look and sound cool.

[Darkmoon]

It's quite possible, and his voice actor did a brilliant job doing just that. Leon exudes cool from every pore. But cool isn't human. And he's not even likable, Fonzie cool. Eyyyy.

[Becky's Butt]

It's Ash fom Army of Darkness cool.
Gimme some sugar, baby!

[Vector]

My God, this is like debating what tastes better -- urine or feces.

It's hard to say which game tells a better story than the other because let's face it, Resident Evil has never been fantastic at telling stories, and RE4 and RE5 were just as bad as the others, if not worse.

RE4 featured a series favorite who was revamped(in many people's eyes, for the worse) heading into a random Spanish village trying to rescue the President's daughter. Saddler's plan...spread the Plagas virus through the world by way of Ashley(and key figures in Washington)? I always hated that. Not only is this idea lame and cliched, but if not for Leon, RE4 could be a standalone game from the Resident Evil universe.

This does NOT make the story better, contrary to what some people would like to believe. The story still sucks, whether it's connected to the others or not. It shouldn't matter if the canon was affected or if it wasn't, because the game's storyline is just plain stupid.

RE5, unlike RE4, featured many elements from the RE storyline. Sadly, the game butchered what was left of the canon...turning Wesker from a devious, cunning antagonist to a prototypical 'insane' villain who 'snapped' and tried to 'save the world' in his own way. It turned Chris from a mindless "MUST STOP UMBRELLA" prototype hero into a "MUST FIND JILL" action hero who punched the heads off of Africans. While this is bad-ass, it's still shit-storytelling.



TL;DR: RE's storytelling as a whole sucks a sweaty ass.

[Becky's Butt]

My God, this is like debating what tastes better -- urine or feces.

Well...uh...
No, not gonna get into that.

[I_Am_Nemesis]

hmm i prefer the story to RE5 than RE4 to be honest. RE isnt exactly known for brilliant story telling any way. I rather like the new hollywood style cutscenes and i also thought that the acting was a LOT better in RE5. I did think that RE5 was cheesy but then again so was RE4.

[Det. Beauregard]

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.

Thank you for this explanation; it actually explains a quite a lot.

If Birkin didn't know of the abilities this mutation stock virus would provide to those infected with it, he would still consider G to be the crown jewel of viruses. Birkin, like Wesker, was an arrogant man - it's understandable to believe that he would tell Wesker that he created this mutation stock virus, if only to impress him. Wesker, knowing that Birkin was indeed a genius biochemist, would have no reason to disbelieve him.

Also, it's interesting to know that RE2 and RE0's stories were developed around the same time. I didn't know that.

Something I'm not clear on, however, is the effects of this "mutation stock virus" on specific subjects. Was it developed to only work for "Wesker children," or would it work on anyone? I do know that it wouldn't always give the user increased strength and speed; I believe there was a 70% chance.

[LVL100 Merchant]

Resident Evil 4's story, though I might like the game a little bit more than 5 overall, is trash. Truly, absolutely awful garbage. I don't know how the writers were able to sleep at night aware of that awful, down-right stupid narrative they slapped together (which was full of plot-holes no less).

Resident Evil 5, while the story is not good per se, I got entertainment value out of it at least. As an RE fan, I was satisfied. I didn't expect a great story or anything, merely an exciting one that would keep me intrigued, as a fan, until the end, which is what I got. RE4 didn't do that for me at all. I was relatively curious about Ada and Leon interacting but that delivered dick all. In RE5, I got to participate in a battle fighting Wesker and Jill at the same time, which is fucking cool. Plus, the character interaction in RE5 was genuinely believable at times with some surprisingly good voice acting. The only two characters in RE4 worth a damn pretty much just spent all of their scenes together trying to be cooler than the other and NOTHING is resolved or even discussed between the two of them, and their history together is only hinted at in the ending (between Leon and Ashley no less).

So no, RE4 doesn't tell a story better than RE5 at all. While neither game has a good story, RE5's is at least entertaining to watch unfold and it features genuinely dramatic moments with existing characters we actually care about. As for the direction the characters and story went in RE5, I don't even care since I stopped putting stock in RE's story the moment it jumped ship after RE3.

[rewak]

RE1 had a better story than both of them, and i'm talking the original here, shitty voice acting and all.

[Guest]

Resident Evil 4's story, though I might like the game a little bit more than 5 overall, is trash. Truly, absolutely awful garbage. I don't know how the writers were able to sleep at night aware of that awful, down-right stupid narrative they slapped together (which was full of plot-holes no less).

Resident Evil 5, while the story is not good per se, I got entertainment value out of it at least. As an RE fan, I was satisfied. I didn't expect a great story or anything, merely an exciting one that would keep me intrigued, as a fan, until the end, which is what I got. RE4 didn't do that for me at all. I was relatively curious about Ada and Leon interacting but that delivered dick all. In RE5, I got to participate in a battle fighting Wesker and Jill at the same time, which is fucking cool. Plus, the character interaction in RE5 was genuinely believable at times with some surprisingly good voice acting. The only two characters in RE4 worth a damn pretty much just spent all of their scenes together trying to be cooler than the other and NOTHING is resolved or even discussed between the two of them, and their history together is only hinted at in the ending (between Leon and Ashley no less).

So no, RE4 doesn't tell a story better than RE5 at all. While neither game has a good story, RE5's is at least entertaining to watch unfold and it features genuinely dramatic moments with existing characters we actually care about. As for the direction the characters and story went in RE5, I don't even care since I stopped putting stock in RE's story the moment it jumped ship after RE3.

I compleatlly agree with you.

The onlly thing that intriges me is: how the f***k did wesker obtaine the plagas sample??? I REALLY hope they explaine that in RE dark side chornicles... I know it's not likelly, but I sure hope so

[rewak]

Uh, Ada gave it to him? Even i know that and i hate RE4 and 5