Another 1.5 walkthrough, anyone?

[RMandel]

Hello. You don't know me, but I've been reading a lot about you guys, and following a lot of your posts. I'll make a long story short. About 2-3 years ago me and some friends decided to put together a RE TV series based on the actual games - not that Hollywood crap. One of our team members absolutely insisted we include a RE1.5 based episode. He even came up with a script to show how it could be reworked for the show. We thought it impossible at the time, until the talents in the RE1.5 fan community (MartinBiohazard in particular, but there are many others) started doing their hacks. It made my friend's dream a reality, and he got his RE1.5 based episode for our YouTube RETV series.

Anyhow, that's how I got dragged into this whole RE1.5 thing. I never even knew this existed until we did our show. I've been mulling over a way to pay the fan community back, and I think I've found a way. I can't code, I can't animate, and I'm terrible with a paint program - but I'm an experienced writer and I have a fair amount of experience with video. Why not a new RE1.5 walkthough? Or in my case, a video telling of the story - one that won't always be accurate (due to the dreadful lack of data), but one that at least entertains, and might help the revival/reconstruction effort. God knows it's been years since the last serious attempt at this, and there's been a lot more data discovered since then. That was all I needed to get started. Here's the links to the first two episodes.

Part 1 - Unwelcome Visitor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ht-hAqWYxU
Part 2 - The Doomed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLxbQRkpnD0

And here's my friend's "revisioned" RE1.5 based episode for our RETV series, in case you were wondering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21y_P-tzISQ

I won't promise they're pretty, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

This new video walkthrough is my way of saying "thank you" to everyone involved in this incredible effort to revive RE1.5. BTW, I've already prepared rough scripts of both Elza's and Leon's games from start to finish. As to actual production and materials for the videos ... well, we'll see how it goes. Both comments and criticisms are welcome, as they'll only make it better than I can do alone. Enjoy!

Richard Mandel
VVA Productions

[Zombie_X]

I gotta say it's a pretty cool idea. I'll make sure to watch them ;)

[Darkmoon]

Get in touch with Alzaire. Assuming certain private matters don't keep him busy, he's probably the best source for 1.5 info. You won't be able to do a complete walkthrough or anything, but you might as well include as much as you possibly can.

[let me live]

This is some pretty awesome stuff! The descriptions provided in the text fillers reminds me of my own playthroughs of the originals. Putting in scenes from RE3 also provided a sense of authenticity. Nice!

[Scream]

Good, I like the RE 1.5 background parts. Though the text drags on a little long at times and the RE2/3 CGs I've seen so many times I can't relate them to anything but their respective games.

[RMandel]

Yeah, I know it gets way too "texty" at times, and that's going to get worse the farther we go. Can't be helped. If I were an animator, I do new CGI (and if I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning ...!). I'm not, so it's those "same old videos over and over again" (grin), plus whatever else I can make or capture out of MartinBiohazard's and SeiyaKou's hacks. As Lincoln once said, "We must work with the tools that we have."

If it helps, think of these as storyboards, like you'd use in setting up a story you're going to film or animate. Remember, this is supposed to inspire those who are trying to remake or resurrect RE1.5 - not be a word-for-word, blow-by-blow of the actual beta. That's impossible. We don't have it, and we don't have enough of it to ever be 100% certain. So, I'm doing the next best thing - taking what pieces we have and trying to put them together in a way that you can tell a proper story (or make a playable game) out of them. That's always been the pull for me, on my part, with the classic RE games. They had such great stories, and there's a great one trapped here inside a lost beta.

I haven't yet gotten in touch with Alzaire, but out of respect for him I don't plan on hassling or bugging him. I'm sure he's tired of answering the same three dozen questions over the past four or five years every time somebody new (like me) comes along, so I'll leave him in peace. Nevertheless, I've read a lot of his posts here and on other boards. A lot of what he's said concerning RE1.5 is reflected in this project - leastways, so far as I can go given what's available and what I need to make a smoothly flowing story out of it. I get the feeling that if I screw up too badly on this, he'll let me know. In the meantime, at least on this front, let's be nice and let him take it easy for a change. Fair enough?

BTW, I've already spotted one goof in the Part 2 v1.0 video. The meeting room key card is supposed to be green, not red (known RE1.5 item list). I'll fix that and re-up it at some point in the future.

------

And now, here's a question you can sink your teeth into, and help me with fleshing out the script for Part 3. How am I going to deal with the issue of the two sewer entrances? The one outside the RPD lobby, and the one in the RPD parking garage? Both appear to lead to the same sewer corridor, only at different points. This is just a guess, but it looks like they try the manhole outside the lobby first and then come back in via the parking garage manhole. Why twice? Maybe they need to find that "water key" before going down, and it's somewhere in the garage? Right now I'm planning a RE2-like scene to explain away the first entrance (remember Ada leaving Leon in RE2's first trip down to the sewers?), but it's a kludge. I'm open to suggestions, if you have any.

[Guest]

I think "Water Key" is the substitute for "Eagle Medal", with no Wolf Medal.
As Capcom said, the sewers changed very little.

[Darkmoon]

I think "Water Key" is the substitute for "Eagle Medal", with no Wolf Medal.
As Capcom said, the sewers changed very little.

I thought the sewer layout was pretty different, it was only the Labs that were relatively unchanged (with a few noticeable exceptions)?

[RMandel]

Look at that video of Leon and his party, right after they enter the sewers. Now look at the Inflames pictures of the same location, and compare those with both the sewer entrance in the RPD parking garage and the one on the west side of the RPD (roof dropoff). Both of those manholes appear to come out in the same section of sewer, only at different locations. The lobby manhole entrance is the one at the corner (ladder facing the viewer in the video). The garage manhole entrance is where Leon's party just came in (directly behind them and to the right in the video). Think about that ... and what it implies for the RPD basement/garage arrangement.

Of course I could be completely wrong. Maybe there's a third manhole that goes nowhere. Why put two ladders there, though, when you need only one? A gamer would come in through one, and naturally want to explore the second. If I'm right, and the one in the corner comes from the exterior lobby manhole, then it makes sense. You come in that way, do some exploring. You can't go anywhere because the far doors are locked and the other manhole "appears to be blocked." You backtrack to the RPD, do some more exploring, eventually end up in the basement, and then the parking garage. You find the manhole there - only this time, you've found something else earlier in the basement/garage you'll need for the sewers. Our "water key," if you will (like those medals in RE2 you were mentioning). You already know the other ladder goes back up to the RPD - no need to go that way again. Don't need to - you now have what you need to unlock the doors - and go deeper into the sewers. Quite a lot like the finished RE2, actually, only this is the early design. That's the way I'll probably script it, anyway.

I think that's also why John goes with Elza to look at the first manhole. I'm guessing, I know, but she needs him to help her back up to the lobby roof. Broken ground ladder, you know. Like Leon helping Ada in RE2 on their first visit to the sewers - and like her, John "finds another way" to rejoin her. Leon's solution would obviously be different (how would he get back up without help?), but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Another kludge on my part ... but it does produce a workable plot given the known data points. It's also a way the reconstructors might actually be able to code or hack, and that's another one of my aims. As for what actually happens in the real RE1.5 ... who knows?

[Guest]

Alright, as you said, you're completely wrong.
Elza and John get to the manhole because they're following Sherry.
If the doors were locked, Sherry would not have a place to hide.
Another thing is that Leon starts his scenario first than Elza, that's the reason why the crashed van is not in completely fire just like PSM showed us. If Elza came from the "first manhole" as you said, the other one would be already open.

[RMandel]

I'll shortly be uploading a slightly revised Part 2. Fixed the key card problem, and also reworked the rooftop box puzzle. Elza needs BOTH boxes to climb back up, not just one, due to the height of the roof. That way, as described, she can get back up there (and to the valve for the water tank, solution to the burning van puzzle) without having to go the long way around and deal with the crows again. You know RE and its box puzzles ... think of Sherry's first quest in RE2, in the abandoned factory, where she has to do some climbing, and you'll see what I'm driving at.

"Huh? What valve? Where's the valve?"

Look again at the videos and stills, right where the roof angles by the water tank - especially the PSM video of Elza up there. Looks like a valve fitted with a valve handle to me. Otherwise, why bother with this part of the roof? There would be no point to the box puzzle otherwise, and there's no valve on the tank itself (ref. still image of Leon looking at the burning van).

Thus, per what I've developed so far, Elza now knows how to put out the burning van. She has a way back to the valve without messing with the crows on the roof. All she has to do now is backtrack and get the valve handle ... which is gonna be lots of fun. All she needs now is a reason .... BTW, I deliberately designed the burning van puzzle as an optional side quest while scripting this part. It may not be in the "real" RE1.5. Though it might be easier for the reconstructors to set up that way.

[Guest]

About the sewers layout, they really don't changed nothing important (Well, at least for me).
If you check correctly the pictures of 1.5 and the final version, you will notice this:


They basically took RE1.5 scenarios and edited them to look like a RE2 version.
Not to mention the tunnel background found in Trial Edition.

Bro, there is NO VALVE HANDLE, check the 1.5 item list.
And the "box" puzzle is not a puzzle, it's just something to block the backdoor from a saving room. (Just like in Code Veronica).

[Alzaire]

Not to mention the tunnel background found in Trial Edition.

The tunnel background is most likely RE2 retail concept/style design and not from 1.5.

[RMandel]

Part 3 is now up. I"m not entirely happy with it, for many reasons (too "texty," too much guesswork), but I'm gonna go with it for now. Threw in an Outbreak reference as a freebie. Went ahead and solved the burning van puzzle, so Elza could get the machine gun before heading to the basement.

There's no "valve handle" per se, but there is this mysterious item called a "fire extinguisher." Might be for the fire in the underground lab, I'll admit. Since there was a valve handle in RE2, though I'm guessing (and it's a guess) that there was one in RE1.5, too - just under another name. A lot of the names in the known RE1.5 item list are misleading, as other have pointed out. Placeholder names for other items, as it was in BH2 Betas 1 & 2.

Those extra sewer backgrounds in the BH2 Trial, like that mystery RPD hallway, are supposedly from BH2 Beta 1. Same goes for that outside shot of the RPD garage with the open ground-level door. That one is known to be from Beta 1 (some stills from Alzaire's extensive collection). Those hallway and sewer designs are totally wrong for the similar locations in RE1.5. May end up using that sewer hallway anyway, though, just to have some video filler. I know some of you don't like these videos being so "texty."

You're right about a lot of RE1.5 locations getting redressed for RE2. Another example is that manhole outside the RPD that leads down to the work area. Left over, moved, and redressed from RE1.5. I had always wondered from where that came, since it seemed so out of place whenever I first played the game. Now I know. I suspect you may be right about some of the sewer halls, too. You've given me some food for thought, and I thank you.

Oh, I'll warn you right now. In the video I describe Elza pushing both boxes off the roof. In the game, she only pushes one. Dramatic liberty, to liven up the action a bit, and I apologize in advance. The video shows what actually happens in the game - one still up on the roof, one on the ground. Also, the "valve" for the water tank might not be up there after all, according to some private emails I've since received. I decided to leave it as is because I can't think of any other reason for Elza to be up there, besides those boxes, other than an alternate way to get off the rooftop helipad. Well, one - the "pliers and grates" theory that some had a few years ago, but there's not enough data to be sure. Maybe there's also something located over by the two HVAC fans? I dunno. Not enough data. Had to go with what I've got.

[RMandel]

Not a day up and I've already spotted a goof in Part 3. When Elza first visits the sewers - the "brief visit" mentioned earlier, not the full-blown adventure - the corridor picture on the bottom is incorrect. It's from the wrong part of the sewer (from the "sewer bridge fight" video). The correct one should have both doors as described, plus a grate on the back wall out of which sewage is flowing. It's the same as the still where you see a lone Leon climbing up and to the left. The single door is directly to his right farther down the ledge, and the double doors are directly behind him on the other ledge. My apologies.