Resident Evil Revelations - The Official Spoiler Thread

[Mr. Spencer]

Yes, but Chris is saved by his awesome dialogue. He's become the successor to Barry.

"It's like a disco ball's in front of my face!"

"Do you get all your ideas from comic book villains?"

For that reason, Chris has become a likeable character. Sure he's a little one-dimensional, blinded by his loyalty to Jill but he's an amusing character. In the same way you think about John Matrix in 'Commando', he doesn't have much of a personality but he's a character you like because of his actions rather than his words. Like Chris, Matrix also has some wonderful one liners. Basically, Chris is like an eighties action movie hero. Cheesy, over-the-top but harmlessly enjoyable! Jill is just fanservice, she's the pretty actress who isn't very talented, portrays a boring character and is simply there to provide some eye candy.

[Pikminister]

MS its funny how you try to make excuses for Chris Redfield's generic action hero characteristics. Why waste your time. Chris has always been a white-bread character who only started to get interesting when they gave him that Jew-fro in REmake. However, it works for him. Being generic. It's hard to hate a character like that and lots of people identify with him, because his character is not complicated or has a lot of extra baggage like some others do. Chris is perfect that way. I think RE6 should provide him with a chance to gain a bit more personality, though. I don't think he'll come out of that game as someone that only punches boulders or who is a heavy steroid user. I hope not.

Claire may not be the eye-candy go-to girl, but she's just as annoying when she constantly puts to shame all those trained S.T.A.R.S., B.S.A.A. etc. members despite originally being basically a skinny college student that rides a bike. She was created at the time when other lanky female action heroes like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (girl powah!) were all the rage. She's basically a 1990's - Spice Girls fugitive/fossil. A character that only comes to life when she has a Claire fanboy trailing her (old perv Steve) or having to play nanny to either Sherry or the lil' girl in Degeneration. It would be great if Claire was as interesting as the actress that voices her. She's great on Twitter. Check her out sometime.

Now, despite what I said about Claire's ridikulas skills, I still like her quite a bit. Mostly because she's always looking out for other people. That's a likeable human quality.

IMO, Claire fans probably feel a bit insecure considering that Claire is being left out of all the RE goodness lately. So they lash out at the other characters that are getting the spotlight at the moment (mainly Chris, Jill, Leon). I think that they should calm down. Claire may till get that game that puts her back into being relevant again. Maybe she will get a cameo in that cgi RE flick.... Or maybe in RE6.

Maybe that next portable game Kawata hinted at will have her as a protagonist. That would be TITS.

[Archelon]

That would be TITS.

You had to say it.

[Pikminister]

You had to say it.

Well I was only trying to bring this lil' debate into being on-topic again.... Revelations.

[[STARS]TyranT]

I actually think is a great character. But then I would when he's my favourite character in anything ever.

I just think his attitude to everything is proper bang on, a real hero that stands in front of impossible odds. Some argue it's a little one dimensional, I can kind of see that, but it's his desire to never give up which makes him so compelling. Wesker smashes him around the place in CODE: Veronica, and he just gets up every single time. He's actually become more developed as the series has progressed, and is now turning into a more tortured character, seemingly never at peace with himself no matter how hard he tries. It's been a great arc, and I just seriously hope it doesn't end with him dying for example in Resident Evil 6.

In direct contrast you have Leon, who is arguably just as heroic, but far more flashy and a little more reckless. Whenever Chris is put in a situation out of his ability, he surveys the area, sees what he can do to level up the playing field, (grabbing a bar against Wesker, or spotting the Linear Launcher against Alexia). Leon makes some bad choices here and there because he's a lot more over confident. When he tries to spin kick Mendez near the beginning of Resident Evil 4, which promptly ends up with him being thrown into a cupboard, is a great moment because straight away it shows a difference to his approach to situations as opposed to Chris.

Hopefully Resident Evil 6 will build on this contrast further.

[Archelon]

I think Chris is pretty reckless in Resident Evil 5, certainly compared to the examples you gave from CODE: Veronica. He lets his emotions run pretty wild on more than one occasion.

Leon, by comparison, is decidedly less reckless in Degeneration than he was in 4, possibly because he had faced a couple similar situations before. Or, as I suggested once over on Biohaze, being faced with Krauser's deception and forced to kill him, as well as being led to believe by Ada herself that she was, in fact, working for Wesker, may have resulted in Leon becoming the hard, embittered individual he was in Degen.

[I_Am_Nemesis]

I actually think is a great character. But then I would when he's my favourite character in anything ever.

I just think his attitude to everything is proper bang on, a real hero that stands in front of impossible odds. Some argue it's a little one dimensional, I can kind of see that, but it's his desire to never give up which makes him so compelling. Wesker smashes him around the place in CODE: Veronica, and he just gets up every single time. He's actually become more developed as the series has progressed, and is now turning into a more tortured character, seemingly never at peace with himself no matter how hard he tries. It's been a great arc, and I just seriously hope it doesn't end with him dying for example in Resident Evil 6.

In direct contrast you have Leon, who is arguably just as heroic, but far more flashy and a little more reckless. Whenever Chris is put in a situation out of his ability, he surveys the area, sees what he can do to level up the playing field, (grabbing a bar against Wesker, or spotting the Linear Launcher against Alexia). Leon makes some bad choices here and there because he's a lot more over confident. When he tries to spin kick Mendez near the beginning of Resident Evil 4, which promptly ends up with him being thrown into a cupboard, is a great moment because straight away it shows a difference to his approach to situations as opposed to Chris.

Hopefully Resident Evil 6 will build on this contrast further.

Id never trust capcom to do it because, lets face it they suck when it comes to killing of characters, but i think Chris dying in one of the games could work very well, I mean dont get me wrong hes my faveourite RE protagonist but i could really imagine a very, dramatic, epic death for chris, maybe sacrificing himself for one of the other characters, saving the day in the process (cliche' i know). Problem is it would have to be done well, and it would also make a huge divide between the fans that hate the thought of him dying, and those that thought it was well done

[TheBatMan]

Id never trust capcom to do it because, lets face it they suck when it comes to killing of characters, but i think Chris dying in one of the games could work very well, I mean dont get me wrong hes my faveourite RE protagonist but i could really imagine a very, dramatic, epic death for chris, maybe sacrificing himself for one of the other characters, saving the day in the process (cliche' i know). Problem is it would have to be done well, and it would also make a huge divide between the fans that hate the thought of him dying, and those that thought it was well done

Unfortunately Capcom have proved countless times over that they don't have the balls to do things like this.

[I_Am_Nemesis]

Ah, tis the sad, sad truth :/ they're perfectly fine with killing of secondary characters like steve.

[Vito]

Unfortunately Capcom have proved countless times over that they don't have the balls to do things like this.

This is true sadly. I think the last main character death was Steve. 12 years ago.

[Mr. Spencer]

Steve was hardly a main character.

[Dracarys]

I never said that Parker had a deep personality. I simply said he had more of a personality than Jill.

Parker's accent has nothing to do with it. To an Italian, Jill has an accent, but she's still as bland of a character as ever.

I'm curious, what is Jills personality, according to you.

[Smiley]

When it comes to female protagonists of the series, I'd have to favour Claire over Jill. Whereas Jill is designed to cater to the hormonal mutant fanboys, Claire has a more conservative and reserved attire. You never see Claire wearing a mini skirt. See that's where I actually differ - Jill and Ashley both wear short skirts, except that when I talk about Ashley I'm going on about her relationship with Leon and how they have a protector/damsel connection between them. Ashley comes across as a more believable character than Jill. She has no combat experience, no training. She's vulnerable, she's scared. Yet she's able to improvise with rudimentary weapons, such as the gas lamps during her gameplay segment in RE4.

Jill has no personality. She did but what does she do now? She's pretty much in the shadow of Chris, who actually has a reason to keep doing what he does. Jill can't have the same reason, so what's her purpose? She's just eye candy, a pair of tits for pubescent scrotes to oggle. In fact, I reckon that Jessica is what Los Jilluminados WANT to see in Jill - ideally wearing as little clothing as possible.

Parker however, he just seemed very likeable. An average guy, very believable in that regard. He was experienced but he wasn't some superhero. A run-of-the-mill guy. He wasn't pretentious, he wasn't egotistical in any way. Just a really nice bloke.

Of all the souls I have met in my travels, his was the most...human.

And we finally get down to it. Her attire in RE3 translates to her personality over the series. Otherwise why make it such a focal point? Her casual attire and her attire when she goes on missions under STARS and BSAA are not one in the same. Capcom does take advantage of the fanservice, but that goes for every nearly female character in the series. It's not a winnable argument for any of them. Claire doesn't wear a mini-skirt. With her being a biker I find her attire just as off putting since booty shorts and spandex wouldn't be the most proper thing to wear when traveling long distance on a motor-bike. If we used your "vulnerable" example of Ashley compared to Claire then by all means Claire would lose just as much as Jill did because Claire's experience and skills make her "less human" from your argument. Even more than Jill because Jill had the proper training from the game's narrative where as Claire is a college student learning some tricks Chris had taught her.

Ashley is portrayed as a college student from a wealthy political father of a president. Her character is designed to be the type that people wait on her hand and foot so of course she has no actual experience fighting monsters. Being vulnerable or a damsel doesn't mean she has more personality although whether she's the most human character in the series is a whole other debate I don't care to get into. But you don't expect Ashley to have the type of personality level as Princess Peach just because that damsel gets herself kidnapped.

You then say Jill did have personality, but doesn't now. What did she lose from RE that wasn't there in RE3, REmake, Revelations or RE5? I'm curious because I don't care much for the plot of these games, but I'd argue that RE5 managed to give her a little more depth than the average female protagonist simply because she was used and abused as an experiment herself. There's that level of vulnerability in being taken against your will and used to create mass chaos and countless deaths. From someone who firmly believes in putting an end to B.O.W.s and being used as one herself adds a whole lot more depth than people give credit for. And as simplistic as the story goes, that little bit of depth goes beyond the average heroes who have no idea what it's like to be responsible for creating the very types of threats they plan to destroy.

Both Jill and Ashley were kidnapped and used in an insidious plot that threatens the world. The difference is Jill was a character who was kidnapped sacrificing her life to save Chris', and she proved great determination and dedication into fighting to prevent these outbreaks. Ashley probably could care less what was going on in the world based on her entitlement although after the events she may wise up from the experience. Her agenda just isn't all that interesting which is probably why we'll never see much of her again.

Then you have Parker who is likeable for being average. Fair enough. You relate to the guy and that translates well in character favoritism. But at no point did he really make as much of a dent in the main saga as Chris and Jill did.

I agree with everything you said, Spencer. The Jill bits in particular are spot on! It's sad that one of the original characters has become nothing more than eye candy, but it's true. The writers don't even bother with fleshing out her story, since they realize that it's unnecessary - the average horny male teenage gamer will like her "character" regardless. In Revelations, she literally could have been replaced with a new character without altering the story whatsoever. She is that bland. The same could be said for Chris in Revelations, although at least he had a story arc that went beyond the Raccoon City incident.

Jill really has become nothing more than a walking bag of tits kept around for fan service.

These "horny male teenagers" you describe are in part much older than you make them out to be. A lot of Jill fans are the ones that grew to like her through the series. They're the ones that wish for her to star in a new game despite getting older in age, and that says a lot when an older female character is still intriguing. As far as fanservice eye candy for the younger generation.... Why do we have characters like Jessica and Sheva? Both were created to be a modern contrast to Jill.

Then you have an argument about "switching her with a new character wouldn't make a difference". This is a self contained story with very little impact on the main series. By all accounts you can character swap any of them, and still reach the same conclusion. That's the fault of the plot rather than the characters. Any interesting character you favor (including Parker) can be replaced. Speaks nothing of personality.

Chris and Jill's addition to this self contained plot is for the fans as opposed to newcomers. The fans will understand Chris and Jill from the previous games and admire having them star in a brand new adventure. Comparing their new partners and re-living the horror again. Newcomers wouldn't get that as much and may be prone to liking any of the characters both old and new. Still, fans themselves can already like Jessica for her own sex appeal or Parker for being the "average" buddy to tag-along with.

[Vito]

Steve was hardly a main character.

I know but i consider every character playable on a main game to be a main character.

Billy, Carlos, Steve, Rebecca are main characters in my book even if they haven't been seen again.

[CrimsonElder]

It continues to amaze me how people say Jill is the RE slut when we have characters like:-

Ada (Red dress with a ton of leg showing)
Jessica (See Ada but with big boobs)
Sheva (Tons n tons of ass shots and her alternate attire)
Claire (These tight jean shorts and several ass shots especially in darkside)
Excella (Do I need to describe)
Ashely (The peek shot we all know about)

I'm sure I could go on. They are not acting slutty either they are WOMEN. Women dress with sex appeal. If you guys cant accept a skirt of cleveage here and there then maybe you should move to Iraq and play their video games. The least slutty character is Rebbeca next to Jill in my opinion. I dont know why I'm doing this because I will become labelled a Jill Fanboy but no its not that I'm just sick to death of hearing her be bashed for wearing a skirt 10+ years ago....GET OVER IT!!!!