Is anyone else extremely disappointed?

[Det. Beauregard]

Claire and (surprisingly) Steve were the only characters whose interactions were at all believable to me in this game, and every game after RECV (to an extent) seems to have upped the action capability of its characters and lowered the empathy capability.

I agree with Claire and Steve's interactions being pretty believable, but I thought that as a whole, all the characters' interactions in this game were more believable when compared to other games in the series. The developers originally stated that there would be "more emotions" this time around, and they were right. I thought it worked well and made the scenarios a bit more believable.

Leon and Claire didn't seem to get along terribly well during Memories of a Lost City, but we're assuming that they got along like best friends in the original RE2 in the first place (since RE2 never really touched on the subject). I see at is this - two survivors team up to get through the destroyed, infected town. They didn't have to love each other, but they needed each other to survive, and so they put up with each other. At the end of RE2, I think they did grow fond of each other - why else would Leon help Claire in CV by getting in contact with Chris?

Even characters who are supposed to be "normal," like Claire and Steve, have possessed abilities and talents far outside the realm of believability.

I'm not disagreeing with you here. From Claire "drops gun, falls down, catches gun, fires it at 30 machinegun-armed troops" Redfield to Steve "can fly a plane at the age of 17" Burnside, there are some serious aspects of character believability in this series. Characters like Barry, Wesker (pre-infection), Billy Coen, Nicholai, the Birkins, Alfred, etc. are semi-believable - but some of the feats that other characters have done (and the characters themselves) simply are not.

I also think a lot of fans need to actually go back and play the original games, instead of just romanticizing them through rose-tinted glasses, because the characters have hardly ever actually been scared or acted scared, despite the predicaments in which they found themselves. But now you have a case with Darkside Chronicles where the characters act almost as if they're too scared to even function, let alone actually survive the events depicted in each scenario. If it's not one extreme, it's another. Capcom is not good with subtlety.

I liked how the characters acted in DSC when compared to the originals; they seemed to act more believable all-around. For example, the scene with Ada and a wounded Leon in the sewers - that was the first time I actually heard Leon speak with emotion in his voice ("but you've gotta start working with me here"). Some people thought that "badass" Claire and Leon were acting too afraid in DSC (e.g. Claire whining at the appearance of man-sized spiders), but if you were a 19-year-old college student who was suddenly overwhelmed with all the horrors of Raccoon City, how would you act? I thought they nailed the characters emotions perfectly, and after playing DSC, I wish they would've payed that much attention to the emotional side of things during the original games.

And yeah, I also kind of got the impression that Leon and Claire didn't particularly like each other in Memory of a Lost City, which I found especially odd when you consider how quickly Claire was apparently taken with Steve in Game of Oblivion.

Interesting observation. Perhaps Claire is just someone who would rather be in control herself rather than be an "equal teammate" to someone just as capable (e.g. her and Leon in RE2). Between Claire and Steve in DSC and the original, it was pretty obvious from the get-go that Claire was the one wearing the pants and calling the shots. Perhaps, even though she is still afraid, she is simply more comfortable in this role?

As for Leon, I didn't really like (or dislike) him in RE2 - he was simply "there." When I thought of RE2, Claire was always the first name that popped in mind. Originally, after playing RE4, I began to dislike Leon. That game seemed to make a joke out of the series with all its action stunts and emotionless one-liners and whatnot. However, once RE5 came out, I actually started to appreciate Leon a bit more. When playing through RE5, I noticed how painfully boring Chris and Sheva were, and actually started to miss Leon and his one-liners.

The bottom line is this - "nu-RE" fans (who started with RE4) tend to think that Leon is a no-nonsense badass who roundhouse kicks his way through any problem. This couldn't be farther from the truth. I think it's pretty evident that Leon is and has always been an overly-emotional character who wears his emotions on his sleeve - he wouldn't have been so susceptible to Ada and her trickery (in both RE2 and RE4) otherwise. If he was some uber-badass who lacked most emotions (like Wesker), why the hell would he have taken a bullet for a woman he had just met, or risk being crushed like an insect to save some random South American girl who was already infected with a deadly virus? Leon is not a Wesker-esque badass (regardless of his inhuman abilities in RE4), but quite the opposite - he is selfless. And whether you're a fan of Leon or not, that is respectable.

[yeahokbanned]

I don't mind if you were singling me out, Archelon. I think your objections in this case were fair. I suppose I should be a bit more specific:

The RE characters have never been really been much more than the over-sexualized Mary-Sue's they were at their introduction; Macho Chris, Femme Jill, Tough but Inexperienced rookie Leon and biker Claire, all are archetypes. However, they seemed to me (maybe just through their voice acting, RE1 exempt) to have some semblance of humanity, and that made them somewhat appealing. Leon's confusion at no one listening to him, Claire's desperation at Sherry's infection, etc... It is fair to say that they are unreasonably capable in their combat abilities (Claire and Steve especially). As to their age, Japanese video games (and some American) tend to have their protagonists as overly pretty, overly mature and skilled sorts. It's unreasonable in its depiction of the military and the extent of age. I have no response to that. However, if nothing more, the personality brought by the voice actors in earlier games (once again, RE1 exempt) gave them some semblance of humanity that to me was undone once the protagonists reached the level of hyper-capability: Claire's gun-drop was the beginning of that, though seeing my favourite character exude such skill initially excited me. Once RE4 came, though, I think what was already ridiculous was made obvious. How is one to feel danger if one knows the protagonists can escape it without breaking a sweat? I'm not saying the characters have ever shown much complexity; I don't require Nabokov-esque character profiles. I'm just saying I liked them better when they were fallible.

[Andyfer_Ruu]

Meh, we all love and dislike characters in the series.
When i first joined this site i got into a few arguments when i defended Leon and RE4.

But i've changed now.
peoples opinions effect their answers in the forums. They are neither right or wrong, same with what ever answers i give. =]
Theres nothing wrong with being old school, or starting with RE4 or likeing all the games.

Right, down to my true reply. Maybe some people are trying to read to much into Resi-Evil, after all it is just a game and is meant to be a bit of entertainment. It isnt meant to be realistic.
After all, it has zombies, almost super human characters, monsters and crazy impossible stuff that could never happen in real life.
However, thats what makes it fun and a good story. It wouldnt look good now would it if the main character was crapping himself every 30 seconds from fear and wanting to hide in a corner.
Its designed to be an excellant drama, same as movies. Movies ignore things that would happen in real life to make the movie look more dramatic and entertaining.

So theres nothing wrong with nu-RE fans likeing the action in RE4 or RE5, because it's designed to be entertaining. I've been with the RE series since i was young and i loved RE4 and RE5 when i played them. =]

It's the same with the complaints you have with Darkside Chronicals (character side of it). They wernt focusing on making a super detailed realistic character. They were focusing on a fun shoot 'em up game for people with an Nintendo WII.

[Jill Lover]

this is why i don't take the chronicles series serious, because they just tore up the story line and left it even more broken, by adding even more material that's hard to follow. i mean, the absense of Barry Burton in UC should just tell you something.

Indeed. Or the ridiculous scene in the RE3 chapter with Jill having a hot night with the zombies.

They just won't care.

[yeahokbanned]

^ That was indeed a strange and unfortunate choice. Then again, Jill was (as with all protagonists in REUC) lobotomized in her appearance in Umbrella Chronicles.

[Grem]

Using Leon as an example, simply because he's not very popular around these parts, it's fine if someone doesn't like him. Like I said in my previous post, to each their own. The thing that bugs me is when people act like he's the only unbelievable character in the entire series. There isn't a single believable character in Resident Evil. Very few of the characters have ever had any true vulnerabilities. It's not a new thing that started with recent games in the series. It's always been that way.

Honestly, I found Leon to be the more believable protagonist of the series (I'm just talking of Leon in RE2 of course). Far more believable than Claire.
I mean, he is just a cop, there's nothing wrong with his abilities, he's not a highly trained operative, but his training as a police officer allows him to handle weapons and to protect people and there's also nothing wrong with him being a police officer at that age (21).
Back to this original apperence in RE2, he's the only protagonist who is flawed. He's awkward with women, reckless when it comes to help people, people doesn't listen to him, etc....
He's also the only characters who was injured pretty badly.

There's nothing wrong with Leon in RE2 in terms of believability,and I thought that he was pretty well depicted in Darkside chronicles in that sense, and even in Operation Javier, he seemed believable enough to me.

On the contrary, Claire is just not believable at all. How can a civilian be that skilled? Plus she's Chris' sister and happened to be caught in the outbreak and managed to survive. This is very unlikely.

For me, the only believable characters in the series are Barry, Leon (RE2) and perhaps Nicholai (because his background made sense and his motivations as a vilain were very plausible)

[IllGiveYouStars]

Hmmm, not extremely disappointed, at least in terms of gameplay and graphics. The storyline though, yeah, quite disappointed.

Like other people here I didn't expect a great deal from the game, I anticipated it of course but not as a major RE release. So I was pleasantly surprised with RE2 and CV scenarios, despite the rearranging of the story to cater for the co-op gameplay, and a few other minor issues people have mentioned. They faithfully stuck with the original game's layout, unlike UC's RE3 scenario... still pains me that it didn't get the recreation it deserved. I still want my damn RE2 remake though, Capcom!

My main issue was that there was no storyline gaps filled in like UC did. There's still no explanation on Sherry! It's so stupid, this was Capcom's big opportunity to expand on Sherry, when will they get another? Disappointed in the lack of Wesker, too. He got like, what, 2 lines in the whole game?

But the short scene he did appear in, I agree with Archelon, very cool.

As for Operation Javier... I wasn't really too impressed.

[Itashious_boy]

i would think that since the camera angles are fix'es are so badly done that people would like it being harder to shoot, i mean that puts the "shaking because your being attacked" into the game. i havnent played ti but it seems like to me that its just another game the original fans hate so im in for DC

[Det. Beauregard]

i havnent played ti but it seems like to me that its just another game the original fans hate so im in for DC

There's the logic!

[Darkmoon]

i would think that since the camera angles are fix'es are so badly done that people would like it being harder to shoot, i mean that puts the "shaking because your being attacked" into the game. i havnent played ti but it seems like to me that its just another game the original fans hate so im in for DC

I...what? So because people who like other RE games, including RE4 and RE5, think that these games are bad even relative to those that means you think it must be good? In otherwords, because people who like RE don't like these, then you will? I...well, I guess that means you can't stand any of the other RE game, begging the question as to what the blue hell you're doing here.

[Andyfer_Ruu]

...I think my mind just exploded trying to get my head around that (first part of Darkmoon's post)
But i think i know what Itashious_Boy means. Usualy what the hardcore old school fans dont like, the people who like RE4 / RE5 WILL like. Thats usualy how it works in the forums.

But yes, that logic also implies that an RE4 / RE5 fan wont be into the older RE games. (Which isnt true, since i like the old school games and RE4 & 5)

I thought the camera shaking in DSC was cool. I liked the realism it added.
Ok, it did make it harder to aim...however, i liked it. I saw it as a challange.

[Darkmoon]

Sometimes. But both DSC and UC got pretty universally panned by both sides of that particular fence. If nothing else the random changes to characters and events for not logical reason tend to annoy people regardless. There are expceptions, and even bits they did right, but then the same is true for everything anywhere. But simply because a set of people doesn't like it doesn't mean you will. That's just silly. It's like saying that since Jewish people don't like pork you must adore bacon sandwiches.

[Stu]

There's the logic!

hahaha

We have the nut still over on Biohaze, and he pretty much comes up with the same sort of stuff all of the time.

[UBCS]

after beating it there is little drawing me back other than a coulple
go rounds on the RE2 chapters.
*yawns*

I do like my Capcom store RPD shirt tho

[Stars1356]

After replaying the game again the one thing that bothers me besides the shaky cam is the fact they switched the characterization of Alfred and Alexia. Instead of Alfred being this high pitched manic, he has a deep voice and seems to more clever with his traps for Claire and Steve. Alexia on the other hand has the high pitched voice and is now a manic. I always felt in CV that she was in control and that every action had a reason and liked the strong sounding female voice. Both characters are over the top don't get me wrong but think it's a big change from what they were originally.