RE:4 Impressions Thread

[Caffeine Addict]

If you started the series in 2017, you may enjoy the remakes more because they would be totally new to a gamer that just began playing RE under the new engine they developed. Anybody else though, probably won't be as optimistic with all of the omitted story aspects and areas.

For example, they don't really explain too much about Jill's PTSD after the mansion incident. She's just in her apartment, before Nemesis shows up. Then that's when the game just descends into running sequences and linear exploration. The first person portion was cool, but it doesn't make one think of RE3 whatsoever.

Only the hospital section with Carlos was a challenge. Everything else was just rubbish. To top it off, Barry never appeared to save your bacon either.

 

[Mocata]

Things like PTSD are NOT appropriate in a series like this. The writers are not nuanced enough to cover such a difficult topic and the games are not a place to tell that kind of story. Jill and Leon in 3 and 4 respectively became tougher and more determined because they are sci-fi action heroes not real human beings. As they should be.

 

[Caffeine Addict]

They're doing it in other games, though. It's also a basis for Jill in Death Island.

 

[Mocata]

Yes and it's obvious why. But if they think that people want serious stories like The Last of Us they should start a new franchise that isn't full of B-movie clichés. Transplanting that stuff into this series, especially remakes, is just dumb.

 

[Caffeine Addict]

It also feels like they're 'doing the rounds' by making it one character has it, gets over the issue, then another hero ends up with the same trauma.

 

[Mocata]

It didn't work in the Chris Redfield soap opera in RE6 and they haven't improved much since. Leon's final words in RE2 were about taking down Umbrella, cue guitar riff, not 'I'm so mentally damaged and I can never be a cop' etc. Tone and consistent characterisation is important.

 

[Mocata]

OK major gripe - the merchant says 'be sure to collect stuff before going forward' AFTER the clocktower ride... so I can't get back the bottom of the tower where some stuff was. What the hell. Is there a super hidden ladder back down somewhere or did they forget to add it on that ledge just above him?

 

[Mocata]

Also where's the NG+ first merchant screen? Missing.
Final impressions after first 18 hour play through getting every stupid errand.
It's good. Most things that have been cut have something new in their place. Strangely for a game that always had third act placing problems this might even be longer than before.
Ada is still badly miscast but so is Saddler. Capcom doesn't understand what charisma or presence are.
Remember that pathetic Spider-man reboot where they had Martin Sheen say some long winded dumb line instead of 'with great power comes great responsibility'? A bunch of dialogue is like that.
Huge chunks of personality have been gutted and Leon just seems more angry or angsty rather than confident.
A lot of other characters just come across as boring. For example the replacement for that bit where Salazar gets stabbed is very weird.
Spoiler:

Spoiler

Wesker also sounds wrong and comes off as an idiot in his scene, telling Ada his plan is just to kill people. What an evil genius! Then again Ada is too if THIS is what tipped her off she was a villain.

Krauser first fight is an improvement but second isn't.
New regenerator set pieces are good until they overstay their welcome.
Forced walking section at the end is bad.
Jet ski is bad and it always was.
They had a chance to make the Mathilda worth using but it's still not, and now even the RPD outfit combo is missing.

 

[Caffeine Addict]

I don't think Capcom really gives a hoot about what's cut in the remakes, what's people's idea of faithfulness and whatnot. Sometimes, I wonder why I still care about the storylines because they are clearly making up things as they go along. All that gay jive with Alcina Dimitrescu in her castle was just syrupy and nonsensical simp stuff.

After RE7, as much as I thought it was good and kind of different, I was excited about finding out why Umbrella came back. Then RE8 was mostly unrelated to that, until Chris finds out the BSAA uses bioweapons. Great. Another flipping tease.

So I was enjoying that. Then of course, the DLC was all about Rosemary and her superhero powers. And she met her dad.

Such hooey. I struggle to understand why people call RE8 a masterpiece. This is why you don't do shrooms in the PR department in Capcom HQ.

 

[Tidus79]

I finished it (Ps5) and I think it's a funny remake for Fans.

Hope to see a Remake of RE Code Veronica but I think we'll see first "Re 5 Remake"

 

[mert20004]

So yesterday ı managed to download the game from somewhere to play it. It took a lot of space on my pc and opening it takes time but now ı'm able to play it. Right now ı rescued ashley from the church. My impressions about the game are overall the same, ı'm still gonna stand by my criticisms about the new game's story. However to my surprise, the gameplay was quite enjoyable and really fun. I would say it's certainly better than re2r and especially re3r. But ı dont find it as good as re4. Some mechanics are changed and they make me prefer og game automatically. I might be able to finish village section today, then ı'll give my thoughts about it before starting castle.

 

[mert20004]

Ok so ı finished village section right now. So far ı only died 3 times and that was at the start when ı was trying to kill the 1st chainsaw ganado that appears from northwest gate. I eventually killed him before triggering the 2nd one but time run out. For the 1st el gigante encounter, ı bought a rpg and blast it up with the amount of gold ı had. The treasures were overall easy to find out, more so with the dlc that adds even more treasures to the map. I personally find this stupid. Locking extra gameplay content behind a paywall makes no sense whatsoever. Re engine entries still do this and ı keep disliking it. I also dislike the new painting puzzle solved in the church. It's unnecessarily tedious and ı still have no idea how it works so ı decided to look up. The other puzzles are good but ı dislike that one. I find the game incredibly easy so far, more than og game ı would say. I think hardcore is meant to be normal? I started from standard cause that's the most vanilla difficulty but for hardcore, it states about it being for hardcore re4 fans.

 

[mert20004]

I've seen some re4 haters claiming that re4r is more " survival horror " than og game as well as it returning to the so called " form " or something. Just like re5 and re6 haters who gatekeep about " survival horror " due to their precious agenda. I cant agree about that. The game offers so much handholding that it feels even more arcadey than og game along with re5 and re6. For instance, bolt thrower, a weapon ı managed to buy quite easily, is straight up an infinite ammo type of gun. It feels like an unlockable meant to be for future playthroughs but it becomes available early on. The game offers crafting and you can even gain more depending on to the chance. Like really? Not that ı have anything against handholding and making the series open to newcomers but the sacred debates about survival horror are still boring to me just like the pointless debates about the canon.

 

[mert20004]

Finished castle right now. Died 5 times. 4 times as leon and once as ashley. I got killed 1st in water room by a silly mistake, then accidentally burned myself to salazar statue due to forgetting to shoot the dynamite, followed by falling down from planks and then to salazar himself. The castle, while being fun, isnt as good as village. I just dont think they put the same amount of effort that's put into the former. After verdugo fight, which ı managed to blast it up with rocket launcher, the quality took a dive down. Krauser boss fight which is executed too early is really boring and ended far too quickly. The way it's executed isnt as good as og game and that's not only the cutscenes. I thought ı would enjoy it more than og game's 1st encounter but the gameplay gets limited to knives and knife's usage is limited along with having an unnecessary durability. I got tired from repairing its durability over and over, ı didnt even parry that much with it and it still got broken at times. Novistadors are really generic and that includes their drops. Most of the time they drop ammo or gunpowder, rarely they drop gems but due to the way the treasure system is implemented in the game, they lose their uniqueness. Now you can combine gems with the treasures that offer the right opening. As long as it fits to space, you can combine the gems. In og game, you can only combine the specific jewels with the right treasure, it feels more unique than the new game. I still dont mind the new system but it makes novistadors look like a joke.

 

[Mocata]

I was replaying on Hardcore to try and get the S rank but I think it won't be possible because it's taken me too long to reach the hedge maze. For me this kind of speed run just hasn't been that enjoyable, I think just doing it real slow and getting all the treasure was more fun. Oddly ammo has been scarce (because of not killing each enemy and getting all their items) but I forgot all about the bowgun. Like the mine thrower and the TMP in the original it's probably something I just will never use.

 

[mert20004]

Finished island section as well as the entire game. Now ı can finally have a concrete opinion about the game. I think it's a good game from a gameplay perspective and it's certainly better than both re2-3r but ı still dont find it as good as og. Island felt even more rushed than both locations, ı still died 3 times and those werent even due to regeneradors which are still the best part. I died 2 times to the turrets at the start of island section and died once to one of those cow ganados that wield a minigun. They are so bad and look like a joke, the ones in re4 and re5 are so much better than those stupid types. I dislike those turrets too, you cant even deactivate them, it just changes the position they look at. I dont mind the new stealth additions but those turrets felt like ripped straight from rerev2, that puzzle during replays of that game is still annoying to me and gives a massive heart attack whenever ı try to follow blue footsteps. But the ones in re4r are the worst. I dont understand how many can get bothered by re6's stealth / vehicle sections but give re4r a pass. To me they were quite annoying in re4r, ı dont even remember having that amount of annoyance when ı was 1st playing re6 back in 2013. About regeneradors, ı also dont like a certain detail and that's about them mutating into an iron maiden after their weakspots are destroyed. That felt quite cheap. I would have preferred to fight iron maidens separately rather than it being a mutation for regeneradors. But overall it's still an easy game when compared to og, ı didnt have as much annoyances as ı was wondering.

 

[LogBomb]

Finished island section as well as the entire game. Now ı can finally have a concrete opinion about the game. I think it's a good game from a gameplay perspective and it's certainly better than both re2-3r but ı still dont find it as good as og. Island felt even more rushed than both locations, ı still died 3 times and those werent even due to regeneradors which are still the best part. I died 2 times to the turrets at the start of island section and died once to one of those cow ganados that wield a minigun. They are so bad and look like a joke, the ones in re4 and re5 are so much better than those stupid types. I dislike those turrets too, you cant even deactivate them, it just changes the position they look at. I dont mind the new stealth additions but those turrets felt like ripped straight from rerev2, that puzzle during replays of that game is still annoying to me and gives a massive heart attack whenever ı try to follow blue footsteps. But the ones in re4r are the worst. I dont understand how many can get bothered by re6's stealth / vehicle sections but give re4r a pass. To me they were quite annoying in re4r, ı dont even remember having that amount of annoyance when ı was 1st playing re6 back in 2013. About regeneradors, ı also dont like a certain detail and that's about them mutating into an iron maiden after their weakspots are destroyed. That felt quite cheap. I would have preferred to fight iron maidens separately rather than it being a mutation for regeneradors. But overall it's still an easy game when compared to og, ı didnt have as much annoyances as ı was wondering.

I think the Island is my least favourite area in both the original and the remake, where as up to and including the castle are much better areas in both. I'm also not a fan of the animal masks in the remake, but it's a minor thing.

So did you enjoy playing through it Mert? Is it a good Resident Evil game?

By the way I highly recommend Professional difficulty now that you have unlocked it, for a more satisfying challenge. It's not too hard and feels more rewarding.

 

[mert20004]

I think the Island is my least favourite area in both the original and the remake, where as up to and including the castle are much better areas in both. I'm also not a fan of the animal masks in the remake, but it's a minor thing.

So did you enjoy playing through it Mert? Is it a good Resident Evil game?

By the way I highly recommend Professional difficulty now that you have unlocked it, for a more satisfying challenge. It's not too hard and feels more rewarding.

Island doesnt bother me as much in og game compared to the new game. In og game, castle drags on until meeting with ada when it started to become better. However in 2023 game, it feels disappointing compared to og game due to certain details but still fun for what it is. I would say ı like salazar boss fight more than og version for example. Throwing a golden egg at his portrait was also hilarious.

Did ı enjoy playing it? Compared to re7 and re2-3r, yes the gameplay was much more enjoyable and felt more like rerev2 than those examples. Never liked the " Good game, not good " x " game " statement that much, if it's good, it's good. If it isnt, then it isnt. So my answer would be yes ı think.

I dont think ı'll play it again, at least not until ada becomes playable during her own scenario. It takes far too much space on my pc, ı had to delete things to free up space. Plus if ı would play it more, it's possible ı might start to get more disappointed from it which happened with re7 and re2r when comparing them to past games.

 

[mert20004]

From my experience, ı think you kill less enemies in re4r compared to og game. Ammo wasnt thrown at the player as much as og but at the same time, you also battle less enemies and you can even craft ammo. Re engine games keep utilizing this and regardless of how much they rely on it, ı still dont find it as good as re3's gunpowder system. Compared to re4r where the game is much more centered around luck, re3's system revolves around the usage where crafting through the same method results in more ammo being created. I also dont like those charms, they felt pointless for the most part and not that useful. I gained a good amount but only found a few useful. I also dislike the shooting range minigame, it feels harder than og version but the rewards feel so pointless. In og game, you would gain gold after scoring enough but this is changed.

 

[mert20004]

I was lurking on internet and ı've seen some shipping leon and luis. After playing the game, ı find it quite strange. Luis didnt feel like he's changed that much just like the entire cult. They just add a new backstory for him about umbrella but remove his cop backstory instead. I know it's meant to be fake but ı still dont like the decision of changing characters' backstories to replace them with new ones. They did this with leon and ada in re2r where ı dislike it and ı cant say ı appreciate it here for luis and krauser either. More details about luis' backstory is also removed, like him not being able to contact his friend due to not being aware of him dying. But anyway there's still not much screentime given to him, you team up with him during the mines where villagers are there but now krauser kills him. He dies a bit late but it still happens in the castle area. Cant say ı like krauser appearing earlier on either. The battles in the island still didnt change my view about him.