The True Essence of a Resident Evil Fan?

[Pikminister]

....and when we look at their age on their youtube accounts they have 17 or 18 years old sometimes. That does not make any sense.

As far as I know, EVERYONE lies about their age on Youtube. Especially on Facebook.

And I feel sorry for those that have never played the RE1 remake. As well as those that will skip Revelations for the very same reason they didn't play REmake.... cuz it's not on their console of choice.

[Grem]

As far as I know, EVERYONE lies about their age on Youtube. Especially on Facebook.

Yes, they are even younger

[Gradon]

I suppose I understand where Grem is coming from when say, someone of nowadays goes back and plays those classic Resident Evil's, but you can't just base that on their age - as Enetirnel said, she was only 4 when she first experienced Resident Evil, and she still has those thoughts and feelings with her even when she played it so young, and they stay till today like we all have because the original games are nostalgic, they were the Resident Evil's we knew and love. I can relate to Enetirnel and I can bet there are others around the ages of 16-22 that will agree with us when our relatives played the RE's when we were young, being viewers of the series and growing up with it along with our relatives - my brothers played RE2 in 1998 when I was only 4, I had watched my brothers play through all RE1, 2 3 and CV, I had given them a go when I was little and enjoyed them to the best I could of at that age - by the time Outbreak was out when I was about 9 or so, I was replaying the classics, I was reliving what I had already felt but more personally. It's rather ignorant and yes, elite of you to say because we are younger we do not know what Classic RE is about, that we have not experienced the true RE back then when it was absolutely fascinating, because you are wrong.

[DXP]

Really people are throwing in the age gap thing? since we have people young and old on this forum most people were shown this game at different times in their lives like I first played the original game when I was 8 and that was back in the late-ish 90's? I didn't really get into the series until I had watched the original dawn of the dead (The old games scared the hell out of me before I watched that) and in college/high school I was given the title zombie dude for a reason. The true essence of a fan is not shown with how much merch you have or how many beta's you collect it's how devoted you are to a series that sure enough you may start on a newer game in the series like for example I started playing Final Fantasy 7 before I played any of the others and instead of going onwards I went backwards from the first game to really understand what the series was about and how much each game changed depending on what time period it was created.

So we have a bunch of new kids who are young who weren't around when the originals came about so what? I've seen a few of these people instead of thinking that RE4 and 5 are the greatest go back and learn about Resident Evil's history, how much it changed with ever iteration of each game, how it went from static backgrounds and tank controls to fully 3D with action specific gameplay so my opinion is that a the true essence of a fan is someone who can accept the new games even biting down hard on their tongues, who doesn't just stick to the new games but goes back and plays the originals and learns the origins of the games back from the first one. It's like for another example when we all played MGS 1 for the first time or any mgs for that matter did we just jump onto the next one or did we learn where its roots lied and played the original games as well?

Which then leads into a whole bunch of different regions a fan lies we have our action-tards like a friend of mine who only plays the new action based RE games and never touches the old ones, we have the nostalgic fans who love the old games and want the old premise to return (ain't gonna happen though but we can hope right) the collectors who collect everything and anything with the RE logo stamped on it and finally the ones who accept the originals and also the newer ones but think capcom don't know what they are doing with the franchise (I fall into pretty much all of these categories minus the first one)

So for me a fan is measured in if they accept the history of the game series itself, if they start from whatever game they will check out the originals and not with "wtf is this shit the acting is bad the controls are crap etc etc" but more like "So this is how it started....interesting." So do I hate the people who only think the new games are amazing? No because its each to their own like I said above each fan has his or her own category they fall under.

@ Enetirnel it is true that a lot of the assets are re-used in games main reason being is to do mainly with time constraints and milestones and of course because we have capcom who recycle everything because they are lazy and want to get a game done asap every company does it just to a point that you can't see if it is recycled or not.

==Off Topic==
Zombies never originally were flesh eaters old black and white films depicted zombies as people under control, hypnotism whatever you want to call it so to say the ganadoes or Majini aren't zombies to some extent is wrong, they are zombies but not the ones we know and love from the old RE games again I accept that since its not like Capcom are ever going to give us original brain dead freaks just ones that have a texture slapped on that looks zombie like unless of course a huge boycott ensures.

Sure I hate some specific people who play RE and those are the ones who are graphic whores who think RE 5 is the shit and more and likely are COD,Halo and Gears of War Fanboys who instead of accepting the origins of the series would rather talk shit about them saying they are old and retro and the graphics are shit compared to COD so? At least Capcom don't push out the same game every year like a certain company that does nothing different, who also again re-uses 3D assets and may throw a new texture on a weapon and that's it wow....because that's creative So ORC where does that fall into? Well In my opinion its going to attract COD, Halo, Gears fans and nothing more I'll be getting it later on when the price drops because lets face it Slant Six have no idea what is canon or not (I know ORC is non-canon) but making Birkins lab like 'Dining Hall B' in the first RE film, giving nemesis a Gatling gun and screwing up the minute of details means a simple game to sell as many as possible using the RE brand I will buy games that follow the history not make it up as they go along... and that is my 2 pounds added..

[Enetirnel]

Grem & DXP regarding the reuse - I know, the real thing that irks me is that they have had some novel ideas but instead, they keep doing the content reuse and shuffle development teams around that end up reusing the content when focus is changed to try and repeat sales of one of the newer titles. 5 had this happen, but I can point out over ten different things I've seen in 5 that was around in the concept art for Demento.

1.5 is in 2, 3 but areas were also reworked and remade into the same sort of thing with slight differences in Zero.

Devil May Cry was originally 4, but so was Demento/Haunting Ground. In fact, Demento is closer to the fog and/or Hookman AND zombie builds (which became Outbreak, branched off with the hiding and stalking mechanics used within Demento itself) with it's initial designs. Hell, you can even see the old design for Dante with the blue colour variant closer to the retail design for the first Devil May Cry.

Within the concept art for Demento, is an entire section of a light puzzle that looks the exact same as the one in 5. There's lab designs and the like that look closer to tanks and the like within Birkin's lab in 2 among other stuff, like the sentient suits of armour in 4.

It's that they've had good ideas that differentiate their product from things, but then these ideas get scrapped because they seem to think they're too out there. Like the hallucinations and the like Leon gets, despite we've had psychological titles like Siren, Zero/Fatal Frame and stalker enemies have proven to be popular with the Clock Tower titles, RE2, RE3 and so-on.

This is the sort of stuff that pisses me off when it comes down to it, they could have released something that would have been a bit more novel and/or unique, it didn't even have to be a main piece (look at how many variations Square have done to the Final Fantasy VII world) but no, the old controls and other bits are being forced into a more action-oriented game and with this style having been knocked off and done better than what Capcom has done of late, is what FURTHER annoys me every time I see large sections of things that may have ended up being a bit more interesting than the repetitive gameplay of the Ganado/Majini/what look like zombie skinned Ganados in 6.

And as DXP put it, some people do play the games backwards.

I got Inferno04 to play the games, she went backwards from RE4 and then went back up the titles again so she understands and respects the old games.

When I started Final Fantasy, I started with Final Fantasy VI. I later went through the older titles and the newer ones as well as spin-offs and sequels, to the point I ended up beta testing the MMORPGs and other ones.

I prefer the older games up to Final Fantasy X. X-2 wasn't that bad, cheese but not the worst. Final Fantasy XII was great fun once you got the hang of it, but XIII itself was practically nothing but pressing up and X for hours on end - music wasn't too bad, but I can't even force myself to finish the game up as I've gotten practically nothing out of the plot or anything to keep me interested in it (I normally finish these games in under a week) so it's saying a lot that I can't find anything interesting to keep me going if I've spent hours grinding, leveling up, doing all side quests, mini games and the like to the point I've broken the clocks in every single bloody game repeatedly.

And yet, I can't even go through the last couple of chapters in XIII - let alone buy XIII-2. To me, it feels like X-2 mechanics half-assedly combined with the XIII gambit system, ALL GONE WRONG.

Anyway, the difference being - I can play the newer RE games, but I'm not going to praise them as they don't really do anything for me in terms of interest but after practically running a Final Fantasy fansite and/or forum for over five years previously, I can tell you now - new players do actually get into the older titles.

Hell, even with the Clock Tower series. I tried the Clock Tower 2 game ages ago, I never bought it though. I got Demento and then picked up Clock Tower 3, I then imported the original game's PC version, Clock Tower 2 and Ghost Head and have been collecting everything now as I highly enjoyed the older games over 3. Demento is still a great game itself and is better in my book than CT3.

(Sorry, had to bring it up as I am actually in the middle of translating doujinshi and official comics of CT).

So really, it does seem quite biased that you'll say that no young person or new entry to the series or a series in general will check the older titles out. That may be the case with something like say, Yakuza where they give you an actual recap instead of an addition at the start of the game so in my overall opinion, is that a true fan is someone that can enjoy the games and see their pros, cons of the series and it's variations in general but I'm speaking in terms of the games. I wouldn't call someone that has only seen the movies a "true" fan as they haven't experienced the actual series proper.

I don't hate people that like the new games, nor do I hate people that only like the older games, or the sidegames. Hell, Infero04 as I mentioned loves the Outbreak games. They aren't my favorites, but I can appreciate the atmosphere.

I'm not going to bitch about what people like (aside from the movies, which I will forever say are crap - I'm a casual moviegoer and it's sad to have to say they bore me out of my fucking mind whether or not I associate the title with the series), if the movies' are brought up - I'd suggest to watch a better horror movie or action one, but people can watch or play whatever the hell they want as long as they don't try to shove it down my throat.

I'd love to see a return of the character specific gameplay and that would be a great way to cater to both old style players and new style players and I know it's possible as people have been modifying 4, 5 and have been able to get back to a more classic gameplay style within the newer games.

That way, there would be the best of both worlds as to be quite honest - people play games in different manners, you could look at any walkthroughs or streams of something Mass Effect, so having multiple endings would give a nice bit of variety to things like the older games did instead of being a tad more restrictive in the gameplay variants, so each player could have a unique experience.

(Off-topic on the zombies, I know of the origins but I was meaning in terms of the zombies we usually see within the series itself).

[News Bot]

Devil May Cry was originally 4, but so was Demento/Haunting Ground. In fact, Demento is closer to the fog and/or Hookman AND zombie builds (which became Outbreak, branched off with the hiding and stalking mechanics used within Demento itself) with it's initial designs. Hell, you can even see the old design for Dante with the blue colour variant closer to the retail design for the first Devil May Cry.

Zombie biohazard 4 did not become Outbreak. Do you have a source for this?

EDIT:

According to an interview with producer Noritaka Funamizu, the first concept of Network Biohazard, as it was known originally, was before the release of Resident Evil 2 in 1998. With growing interest in the concept of network gaming over consoles, Shinji Mikami, the director of the first Resident Evil, suggested to Funamizu that he should have a try. Early on in the design, Funamizu made a small multiplayer minigame where the player must survive the longest; the team decided to remove it due to its failure to encourage team work (players would instinctively run away from the horde rather than help one-another), arguing that what made Resident Evil scary was its lack on multiplayer, forcing gamers to play on their own. The team then chose that the game would follow its own story like the other games in the series, but keep the option for multiplayer.

Capcom released various pieces of media in 2002, including pictures featuring the eight main characters wandering around the Arklay Mountains and a trailer demonstrating the ad-lib system and character communication. Later that year the game was renamed "Biohazard Network". By October, eighteen different scenarios were in-development, with even more in the concept phase.

Outbreak was in development before the Zombie build of BH4 and pre-dated Demento in all of its features.

[Enetirnel]

Zombie biohazard 4 did not become Outbreak. Do you have a source for this?

EDIT:





Outbreak was in development before the Zombie build of BH4 and pre-dated Demento in all of its features.

I've had various staff involved (people who were also involved in Zero, 4) date it's development before a date previously given by Hideaki Utsumi on Demento's development. Demento was already beginning it's development late 2001, early 2002 but had been planned as another Clock Tower after the rights had been picked up after Human Entertainment folded in 1999.

So there's that, technical elements within the files being the same (right down to the right control mechanics, oh and the hiding mechanisim).

A couple of the storyboard artists dated concept art pieces to be early development (regarding Debilitas, the zombie variant that also had another outfit that was the same as we saw on the "Hookman", the Dante looking one was dated after DMC split from Biohazard and became standaone, nobody from Team Little Angel within Production Studio 1 was aware that the design was being used when I spoke with them.

Initially, the Fiona character was to be a young girl and as was Daniella until both characters were aged up at around about the time that the 3.5 builds of 4 were scrapped and enviroment files were modified (there is additionally concept art nearly the same as the doll room shown in the 3.5 released gameplay footage).

Two lots of staff from external companies were involved in　multiple developments at Capcom at the same time ranging from Gun Survivor Dino Crisis 3, Biohazard Zero, Clock Tower 3, Demento, Biohazard 4 (GameCube and the later PS2 port), P.N.03, Basara and a few other titles.

They were getting shuffled around a bit across development and that's part of the reason how the reuse happened was that time and effort were put into particular products, only to be scrapped repeatedly and materials were reused in order to speed up development.

In 2004, Fiona was also using part of the Ashley 3.5 face (with how the character models are missing the front part of their face within 4, Demento is slightly similar) but with a new main face section and eventually her ears and the like were made a new model. Voice over was cast by Ginny McSwain for both 4 and Demento. However, within all early trailers, Fiona's voice was actually made up of early press audio for Ashley, some retail final audio and some dialogue by Fiona's actual VA.

Not forgetting that Zero composer Seiko Kobuchi also added her voice to some of these, she also did voice recordings for zombies in the early development of 4 but she still refers to enemies as zombies and the like.

So, what was more or less said - they were working on too many things at once, versions were scrapped and to not put them to waste, they reused them in the development of another title (which had another build, too which was dated as the in-between of the child characters to adult stage before we got to the final character design in the retail build. Funnily enough, some of the character design also seemed to be based off scrapped designs for Clock Tower 3 which also had some early build differences).

I'm probably forgetting something as I'm only responding because I woke myself up coughing from the flu I've gotten. But anyway, the important pieces were pre-dated before Outbreak was even shown at E3 2002 which was held on about June 5-7 and early build images of Clock Tower 3 were shown there too despite that they had already moved from in-engine cutscene to pre-rendered ones so Kinji Fukusaku could have them done the way he wanted them to be with less limitations.

I've got images as well as references, storyboard pieces, scans and other crap (random Demento sketches from the storyboard team) but I can't be bothered to upload it all (as I'm going over the reuse in an article for my own website) as I'm going back to bed now that it's about 4:30 a.m. DX

[News Bot]

Outbreak was actually first unveiled at the PlayStation Meeting on February 13, 2002. So the game was in development by at least 2001. However, concept work began on the game as early as 1998, before BH2 was even released. It still pre-dates Demento even from the concept stage. No telling when they actually began developing the game. Probably around the time the PS2 became available for development (1999/2000).

I have no doubt that the Progenitor and Hallucination versions of BH4 had many elements re-tweaked into Demento though. Timeline-wise, I think Demento and Outbreak did share a few gameplay mechanics now that I look back on them (and the engines appear to be very similar). Looking forward to the article! Your work will supplement our own very well. Please do eventually upload all of the material you have.

[Mrox2]

It's a shame Domento wasnt called a Clock tower , Capcom toke the whole series and made CT3 Only and left it behind , like its a bad game ....
What happened to Human anyway ?

[Enetirnel]

Outbreak was actually first unveiled at the PlayStation Meeting on February 13, 2002. So the game was in development by at least 2001. However, concept work began on the game as early as 1998, before BH2 was even released. It still pre-dates Demento even from the concept stage. No telling when they actually began developing the game. Probably around the time the PS2 became available for development (1999/2000).

I have no doubt that the Progenitor and Hallucination versions of BH4 had many elements re-tweaked into Demento though. Timeline-wise, I think Demento and Outbreak did share a few gameplay mechanics now that I look back on them (and the engines appear to be very similar). Looking forward to the article! Your work will supplement our own very well. Please do eventually upload all of the material you have.

There's that and concept art that you can see on SurviHor that had the early 3.5 monsters had another set without the tentacles from what one of the artists said, couldn't show me but said it worked in with the Homunculus artwork. There's many things that are in the Demento concept art that are from other pieces, such as the red specimen tanks from Biohazard 2 that you see within Birkin's lab look like the ones in the concept art... However, they were changed to a green tank and instead of featuring a bloody experiment mass (and/or a massive artificial fleshy womb), instead it's been changed to a more green-ish colour like the ones in REmake and we have a Homunculus made from samples of Fiona to make a clone of her.

The engines are nearly the same, difference being Outbreak was modified to support online play but bugs between it and Demento are still the same (enemies going into T-pose randomly among other crap). Though, I've also got the debug working for Demento as well.

Of course, Demento actually was running an engine closer to RE3/DMC. I found PS1 type beta textures and Demento was also using sequenced audio files (their last game to do so), but items and the like were also being shared with CING's Glass Rose development. Doors and other crap from 3.5 are used (this is also the game with Barry, Rebecca and the person that has the highest chance of voicing RE1 Jill in it too).

It's a shame Domento wasnt called a Clock tower , Capcom toke the whole series and made CT3 Only and left it behind , like its a bad game ....
What happened to Human anyway ?

Human Entertainment folded and the staff left and formed different companies. Just before it folded Suda51 left with some staff to form Grasshopper Manufacture, others went and formed the game company Spike (and took the rights and IP for Suda's Twilight and Moonlight Syndrome games), the director of Clock Tower took the lead programmer and artists and the like that were involved in Clock Tower and created NudeMaker.

Suda51's Killer7 was originally a sequel to his old Syndrome games, some parts of them are left over and is why sections of the game don't always make sense to most people. It mainly changed from the sequel when Mikami became involved.

The Syndrome games picked up after Spike made another one (characters in this one look suspiciously like the girls of the first Clock Tower) and it's been made into a few films, radio dramas and stuff like that.

NudeMaker have been working with Platinum Games and sometimes Capcom as well.

The reason about Clock Tower 3 was kind of crappy, was that they ripped practically all of the names and stuff out of Ghost Head's english version "Struggle Within" and tried to do their own thing to it, but it came it very wrong. It got weirder the more you progressed through the game, but I can't really blame Fukusaku considering he did pass away from cancer nearing the end of production so it's hard to tell if they changed designs and the like on him as there's a large contrast between the dark look in his live action commercial, the opening of the game up to when the stalker "Chopper" appears, after a particular death cutscene, the game continues downhill.

From what I've seen, Capcom only have the rights to the title whereas Sunsoft have the IP rights (Sunsoft have been credited for the game on the Wii Store and PSN from what I recall), so unless they agree on doing a game then the title had to be changed (combined with outrage over May's death scene - a little girl bludgeoned to death by a giant sledgehammer, that had happened in various places so there was little to no marketing for Demento outside of Japan).

Anyway, sorry about going off topic.

Another bit to add about being a fan, in terms of purchasing stuff - I don't buy every single little thing because a lot of the time a decent amount of the Biohazard and/or Resident Evil merchandise and related products are decently catalogged in user's collections or Anders' site so it's easier to know what is actually worth forking out money for instead of getting a cheap, flimsy product that you wouldn't buy if it was anything else.