Some cool 1.5 exclusive screenshots (**As seen on TV!**)

[Deathlygasm]

I know the anti-virus bullet part is def legit I just wish I could find where it was. It mighta been Kamiya who told us that part but I know it was Mikami who said he liked the zombie variety and the gorier death scenes.

Also I never really realized that the Ivy plant has some similar attacks such as spitting acid and grabbing the player and pouring acid.

[biohazard_star]

It was an interview. It's legit

That was a scrapped idea for retail though, not 1.5. I suppose John throwing you the bullets would've made a bit more sense than Ada throwing you a rocket launcher from out of nowhere:

Q33. Tell us about the rejected design.

A33. We planned to entwine Ada's lover "John" into the sub-story. He supported the main characters from the shadows to make amends for his involvement in the evil plans of Umbrella while his own body was being attacked by "T-Virus" and entrusted the player with "anti T-Virus ammo" to pierce Tyrant with the final blow at the end, and died without meeting Ada…For the zapping mode, whether John survived until the end or died depended on the player… How about that one? Should I have done it?

Here's some interesting tidbits about 1.5'scenario, from the same interview though:

Q34. Specifically, what kind of game was "BIO1.5" before it was scrapped in favour of "BIO2"?

A34. The stage settings are largely unchanged from the current ones. However, the original police station was made to be ultra modern and had become a regular office building. In addition, you could enter a production line or factory warehouse and there were scenes such as the load-carrying tray for a trailer parked outside. The scenario did not have a zapping system like the present, but a single one. There was a scene where Ada appeared for an instant in the main female character's scenario, as well as police officer Marvin, who gives you the card key in the police station, being a partner who cooperated as Leon's senior until the end. It was entirely scrapped due to the fact it didn't live up to expectations and we couldn't say with confidence "This is BIO2." We didn't want to release it as "BIO2" though it may have succeeded as a game if not given the name "BIO."

It seems like the side characters make multiple cameos in the other character's scenarios. IGAS probably has this covered, assuming they have contact with some of the old scenario writers.

Also I never really realized that the Ivy plant has some similar attacks such as spitting acid and grabbing the player and pouring acid.

The attack patterns are very similar. They spit acid if you're at a distance, and they grab you if you get too close. The only difference is that the Ivy does not move. I suppose it isn't terribly surprising, since it's basically what the man-spider got replaced with in retail. I hope Gemini makes the man-spider's AI more aggressive. The current one is a push-over that acts more like an annoyance, rather than a threat. Same with the gorillas.

[Graco]

Thanks for the clarification, star. While the John and "virus bullets" concepts were not originally a part of 1.5 I wouldn't be opposed to their inclusions either. There doesn't seem to be much of 1.5's more specific scenario details that were written or have been preserved over the years, (at least from what's been made publicly available) pieces such as these were at least official concepts that could be used to help flesh out 1.5 more. Though I can see why that'd be a touchy subject for more of the purist oriented members of the community.

[skyrunner14]

Not being one of the "purist" members, the whole anti-viral bullets thing sounds like a cool idea. I mean, as far as some things go, if they know exactly how something was going to be in the "final" 1.5, I'd say try to stick as close to that as you can, but if there's a situation where you can make the game more fun and/or interesting for the player, who cares if you deviate a bit?

[biohazard_star]

It'd be kind of a slippery slope though since we don't know if the Ada in 1.5 is the same one mentioned in RE1. That and he specifically mentioned that they're anti T-Virus bullets meant to kill the Tyrant. Birkin is infected with the G-Virus in 1.5, and he doesn't [permanently] die on the train platform, unlike the Tyrant. I wouldn't be opposed to it, but I guess it's up to IGAS whether they want to take creative liberties or not.

[Guest]

Gemini, are you working on 1.5 and behind the mask simultaneously?

[Lanzagranadas]

Ada: Use THIS!!! (throws an Anti-virus bullet)
Leon: Th... What the fuck?!!!

[Gemini]

Gemini, are you working on 1.5 and behind the mask simultaneously?

Pretty much, yeah. The current main task takes effect on the core itself, meaning it's extremely useful for the engine foundation rather than just 1.5. Once this is done I can start porting over the event scripts entirely and it will all look a bit more alive (no pun intended).

As for 1.5, this is the last thing I've ported almost entirely:

There are a few changes due to the different engine and some improvements. For example, text related to language is still missing, a status button has been added to the joypad layout, and the monitor tuning screen is entirely drawn with primitives (it was previously a static image).

[NEOMEGA]

It seems like the side characters make multiple cameos in the other character's scenarios. IGAS probably has this covered, assuming they have contact with some of the old scenario writers.

We already knew that. We seen the snapshot with Elza talking to Marvin in the front lobby of the factory. We even see Leon catch a glimpse of Sherry in our build.

It'd be kind of a slippery slope though since we don't know if the Ada in 1.5 is the same one mentioned in RE1.

Well there was nothing wrong with the name Linda. Why else would they change it to Ada?

[Sly]

But, John says in RE1 that he's already infected and will die soon after writing his letter, he could not possibly appear in RE2, could he ?

As for the anti-virus bullets, I guess you could say it kind of made its way to RE2 indirectly, through Darkside Chronicles : in the scene where Annette decides to finish off William herself, she shows 3 strange coloured bullets. It's never explained explicitly, but if she thought she could kill him with that, it had to be anti-virus bullets designed to kill G-virus infected creatures.

[Graco]

Gemini,

Is there any chance of the "Standard Arms" in the inventory being expanded upon to allow the player to quickly brandish an alternative firearm (one that is normally restricted to one item slot) or the hand grenades? Birkin mentioned that the code to map the Standard Arms to a separate button when "Aim" was pressed is already present in vanilla, and I'm interested in that serving other functions than just the knife. The fact that there is a weapon there at all (not to mention the name alone), the menu has an arrow pointing from the main inventory to the slot and allows you to click on the item equipped to it though not conclusive gives the impression that perhaps it was intended for more than just miscellaneous key items. Whether or not that is desirable to anyone other than myself is another matter though.

P.S.

[NEOMEGA]

But, John says in RE1 that he's already infected and will die soon after writing his letter, he could not possibly appear in RE2, could he ?

If thats a response to me, John scientistman and John "Kendo" I'm sure aren't the same person. However that is what is taking away credibility of the Adas being the same character. Then again John is quite a common name in North America. Maybe capcom acknowledged that and wanted to enforce the "run of the mill" citizen concept John "Kendo" represented.

Is there any chance of the "Standard Arms" in the inventory being expanded upon to allow the player to quickly brandish an alternative firearm (one that is normally restricted to one item slot) or the hand grenades? Birkin mentioned that the code to map the Standard Arms to a separate button when "Aim" was pressed is already present in vanilla, and I'm interested in that serving other functions than just the knife. The fact that there is a weapon there at all (not to mention the name alone), the menu has an arrow pointing from the main inventory to the slot and allows you to click on the item equipped to it though not conclusive gives the impression that perhaps it was intended for more than just miscellaneous key items. Whether or not that is desirable to anyone other than myself is another matter though.

I brought up this same topic many pages back. So far we can see that only a pipe would be a replacement as shown in outbreak. The pipe item has a number attached to it giving potential speculation that the pipe will have a number of uses-like in outbreak- then it would break and you would find a set amount of pipes throughout the game- a very similar concept is seen with the daggers in remake. It seems that unlike the knife, any other standard arm will have finite uses
Thats all what IGAS has to work with but I made the hypothesis that a police-issued stun gun would act as another standard arm based on its incorporation in re2 retail, remake and outbreak. I theorize that any other standard arm will have finite uses making the player fall back to the knife.

[Graco]

Another couple of things I took notice of:

1. Upon selecting the knife the player is briefly allowed to select another item in the main inventory. Again, not conclusive but the implications of that being incomplete structure, or simply my misunderstanding of a glitch occurring is speculative on my part.

2. Typically, when you select another firearm to equip in place of your current it immediately swaps them. However, if you click the knife and attempt to do the same process it simply unequips the current weapon for nothing, sliding the "Standard Arms" into the main slot as it does when you normally unequip a firearm without opting to select a new one. Could this be that it's attempting to initiate the process of altering your Standard Arms designation but resorts to merely prioritizing the currently assigned weapon (the knife) due to incomplete coding? That is until you designate a main (more likely powerful, possibly 2 slot) weapon to the primary option?

Considering the development team's approach to increasing combat options these setups allow for more seamless firefight. Let's say for instance R1 + Square fires your primary while L1 + Square initiates your Standard Arms. Given IGAS' implementation of the quick reload function, R1 + Triangle could reload your primary weapon while L1 + Triangle would reload the Standard Arms. For those that would prefer more restrictions to increase the challenge a mode could be offered that removes the use of Standard Arms, lowers overall carrying capacity, available ammunition, etc. similar to what is found in other titles in addition to the customizable features already known to be offered.

Given 1.5's more varied encounters (larger numbers of enemies being more commonplace, the speed at which some move, and the potential for more damage resistant variations) it seems to me that this was their basic model for adding more gameplay variety while attempting to maintain a proper balance necessary for survival horror. If done correctly I believe this would have instilled a desire to avoid liberal use of more powerful ammunitions (abundant amounts of regular handgun ammo should come as no surprise in a police station) while increasing player options as opposed to the more restricted and overall conservative model repeated from its predecessor used in the release.

[Gemini]

Is there any chance of the "Standard Arms" in the inventory being expanded upon to allow the player to quickly brandish an alternative firearm (one that is normally restricted to one item slot) or the hand grenades? Birkin mentioned that the code to map the Standard Arms to a separate button when "Aim" was pressed is already present in vanilla, and I'm interested in that serving other functions than just the knife.

You misinterpreted. The game has structures for an extra animation slot that can be assigned along with those for your currently equipped weapon. In RE2 that slot is overwritten at runtime with data coming from enemy banks to animate player special events.

The fact that there is a weapon there at all (not to mention the name alone), the menu has an arrow pointing from the main inventory to the slot and allows you to click on the item equipped to it though not conclusive gives the impression that perhaps it was intended for more than just miscellaneous key items.

It's was designed to have only the knife there in the prototype version. No matter what you change it to via debugger, it will always default to the combat knife. Squeeze Bomb changes things a bit and you get a real 11th slot with an item, but it doesn't allow weapon switching for a number of reason.

[Enigmatism415]

Gee, D.Birkin sure has been quiet despite all the new developments...