RE8 Village thoughts roundup

[mert20004]

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[russident]

Also ı was checking the previous replies and ı saw russident mentioning that ethan could have ruined the whole operation if chris didnt keep him in the shadows. Like how he could have ruined the whole operation exactly? I dont get it.

Imagine that you were told in advance that you would not live with your wife, but with an ancient fungal mutant who mimics her and who will babysit your daughter. The mutant would simply suspect from your discomfort that you know something and take appropriate action, which would lead to the failure of the entire operation. And discomfort is the best reaction that you can show in such a situation, because someone will panic or get angry. It's a risk anyway.

Chris and the squad took the little time they had and attacked Miranda.

Plus if that's the case, then why did chris train him between the events of re7 and revillage?

Ethan has participated in combat training and even keeps a book by Joe Kendo. But that doesn't make him a professional. He's still a civilian.

Actually, the only thing that didn't kill Ethan in this story was his regenerative potential. The game clearly shows that without this phenomenon, he would have died a million times.

Like did they really had to transport ethan and rose?

Yes, because they could have been infected from contact with Miranda.

Keep in mind that Chris and his people didn't know they weren't human in the first place.

Not to mention where were they transporting miranda to? Even more ridiculous; they were transporting ethan, rose and miranda all in the same vehicle, what the hell?

They were taken to the same quarantine zone, as they are biologically dangerous subjects. Miranda was presumed dead.

It ruins chris' character very badly imo who makes an extremely stupid mistake ( He still didnt learn from his mistakes in the past. ) despite being the most experienced character in the series.

I don't think this mistake was stupid. In this game, Chris and his men are shown in a surprisingly professional way, not that Chris is saving the world again, and cockroaches in bulletproof vests are dying around him. But these are still people, not superheroes, so professionalism does not eliminate mistakes. This is what humanizes these characters.

 

[Caffeine Addict]

I agree. I even made a video about this crap.

OK. So I was laying it on a bit for my amusement.

 

[mert20004]

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[Caffeine Addict]

Why should you get your daughter back... when you have MURDERED mine!?

Why a dragon, though? Why not a bat?

 

[russident]

I apologize for some of the confusion.

You don't need to, you didn't do anything wrong.

chris should have told ethan the truth right after shooting not-mia / miranda

Chris knew Ethan would want to get involved in the incident, so he didn't tell him. I'm sure Ethan would have been told as soon as he arrived in the zone, while Chris and his squad went to the village.

I think my reply comes off more like " Chris should have told ethan the truth before the start of his plan. " .

Well, that's the nature of the human factor. When people make mistakes, there will always be talk that this mistake shouldn't have happened, because this and that. But the point is, it's already happened. And I slightly don't see the criticism of events as a criticism of writing. For me, these are different things. Especially when the story itself says in such comments that the mistake is an intentional part of the story and the character's storyline.

While I think the events don't put Chris in the best light, I like the idea that such a context is possible, because no one is perfect, but, on the contrary, humanized. This is the same reason I like RE7, since Eveline was sent out of the lab because the BSAA miscalculated.

I still think miranda alone should have been transported to the quarantine zone ( With chris and some men supporting them. )

You don't need a separate car to transport a corpse. If you think you're going to transport a living body, then why would you transport it in the first place? That's the point. They were wrong.

As for ethan; the only thing everyone ( except mia ) didnt know was he was killed by jack after the boss fight with mia but resurrected.

The Connections knew as well. The report from RE7 says that the syndicate knew about the phenomenon that happened to Ethan.

The BSAA could also be involved.

So chris and his people would still know that ethan ( and therefore rose ) is not an ordinary human and is infected with the mold

I'm not sure what you mean. Chris and his people didn't know that Ethan and Rosemary were mutants, so they planned the operation to get them into quarantine. All the revelations came much later. And Mia wouldn't have told Chris about Ethan if he hadn't "died" in the first place.

Not to mention he and mia were most likely given the same vaccines that are seen in end of zoe.

I don't think Ethan was treated. You can cure a person who is infected with a fungus, but you can't cure a fungus. Either the BSAA knew what Ethan is and could expect a second Eveline, or the replication is so precise that it is difficult to detect the potagen, and there is no point in treating what is not detected. No doctor would do that.

***

Why a dragon, though?

Dracula means "dragon".

 

[Caffeine Addict]

Right now, all we can do is wait until Capcom spills the beans about what this is about.

 

[RipvanX]

I’m not even sure what Capcoms ultimate goal is with this story anymore. It’s like how Disney handled Star Wars, there is no “trilogy” plan. They are just going day by day to see how fans and the general masses react to their flagship IP and go from there. It’s literally the death of visionary creativity. RE has not influenced the gaming industry since RE4 and simply piggybacks off what is popular at the time now. Nothing in RE8 makes me sit back and go “wow, so that is what this series was missing.”

I really wanted to like this game but I feel this won’t be winning me over like RE5 did. I feel like Wesker coming back with superpowers in CVX was the true shift towards this direction we are in now.

At this rate I will be surprised if RE can make it to its 40th anniversary without becoming a full blown superhero game. Jun Takeuchi needs to drop the bong and dial it back by several notches.

 

[RipvanX]

I’ll drop this here as well since RE.org is dead and doesn’t care about lore.

A bit of a rant and I know this is all science fiction but that’s what made the classic RE’s special to me. Viruses have made many enlarged mutants in the series but howcome the G-virus didn’t make Sherry a giant over the years like the Cadou did to Dimitrescu?

Dimitrecu’s daughters’ creation makes no sense. How do bugs completely devour a corpse and perfectly mimic an entire organism without any sort of visual deformities? The leeches in RE0 tried this but were still unable to mimic someone perfectly except for the Queen leech reviving Marcus. (Which also jumped the shark a bit).

Why do the Cadou make zombie like creatures in the first place? Are they like the Plaga from Damnation?

Why did Miranda use only wolf DNA on the villagers and not other animals? Or did she also use crow DNA to make those flying bird mutants?

Why does the mold enter a crystallized state and what is its significance while like that? Does it have a life cycle and if so what is it?

How did Miranda stumble upon one of the most powerful organisms on the planet (Megamycete) without any sort of assistance or knowledge of its existence? Imagine just walking into a cave somewhere and finding eternal life while researchers have dedicated their lives to finding new species and habitats. It feels far-fetched.

How can Miranda not suspect Heisenberg’s betrayal despite all of them being “linked” to the Megamycete? Jack Baker could telepathically communicate with Ethan so how different was Eveline’s mold from Miranda’s if this was the reason why they didn’t have this ability?

If Miranda didn’t want to take over the world like Spenser, than why did she give Heisenberg the resources to build a mutant cyborg army?

Mia knew who Miranda was as evident from the photo in the lab, so why did they move to an area in Romania where she knew where she resided? Why would she keep Ethan’s mutation secret to begin with?

The fact Ethan made it out of Louisiana without being suspected of being a molded is ridiculous. He would of been put in a quarantine zone forever if they tested him for mold infection.

Also Enhanced C and the Cadou seem like the most overpowered BOW’s in the series to date and have no real rules holding them back from creating anything and everything. This is why RE6 and RE8 will remain my least favorites simply from a science fiction standpoint and ruin what was established. Making all other research feel pointless in hindsight, except for maybe the Plaga and Uroboros.

 

[Caffeine Addict]

To be honest, a lot of gaming forums are dead because of mostly, the lack of activity. When I posted on GameFAQs, they were rather rabid there, and didn't appreciate criticism of any sort. I guess everyone has their opinions about the games. But they're kind of ridiculous. They would talk about fixed camera junkies and just stupid things like that, as if every old school fan is nostalgia driven.

Personally, I see the first person games as a distraction from the games and themes we already had established, which Capcom has ignored. I'd love for Capcom to get back to all of that someday, but I won't be putting all my eggs into one basket, so to speak.

However, this game appears to predate all the others, as we learn that Miranda was Spencer's teacher. So it's definitely linked. Still feels weird having this game affiliated with the original, because of how bizarre most of it is.

 

[russident]

It’s like how Disney handled Star Wars, there is no “trilogy” plan.

Well, that's not exactly true. Development of Resident Evil Village began before the release of Resident Evil 7, so it affected Resident Evil 7 as well. Even the revelation about Ethan wasn't a retcon.

The new game closed the main storylines from Resident Evil 7 and gave the established storylines new layers. For example, I didn't think there would be a mention of Blue Umbrella in the game, but a mutant of the North American branch of the BSAA wears an Umbrella uniform and uses Albert's weapon.

The BSAA is clearly involved in both incidents, but now Chris has a lead. This will be developed in the future. The BSAA was established as a measure against the global threat of bioterrorism, but this happened after the authors ignored Wesker's Umbrella, which was supposed to control the balance of power in the world. I believe by linking them, the authors coordinate the storylines in such a way as to arrive at a common productive denominator.

While the Louisiana incident may have seemed disconnected from the timeline, the new game gave it layers that showed it wasn't true and never was. It all started with Spencer, who was looking for the Holy Grail and found a mentor, which he told the founder of The Connections in Africa. This is basically the reason why Eveline was created.

And this story will not stop getting new layers, linking it to the entire chronology. I don't think Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5 had the same tight connection. On the contrary, they had conflicts with each other. And I don't even think Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 were so tightly connected as well, to be honest.

So I don't agree with the Star Wars comparison. Abrams directed a nostalgic remake, then Johnson decided to ignore this vision and made a deconstruction, after which Abrams tried to "fix" everything and made it worse. It was a mess.

A bit of a rant and I know this is all science fiction but that’s what made the classic RE’s special to me. Viruses have made many enlarged mutants in the series but howcome the G-virus didn’t make Sherry a giant over the years like the Cadou did to Dimitrescu?

Heisenberg and Jack Baker also had very high regenerative potential, but they did not become giants. Dimitrescu's height is related to her own metabolism.

You may have heard of a man named Sultan, who, due to a brain tumor, began to grow and reached almost three meters in height.

Dimitrecu’s daughters’ creation makes no sense. How do bugs completely devour a corpse and perfectly mimic an entire organism without any sort of visual deformities? The leeches in RE0 tried this but were still unable to mimic someone perfectly except for the Queen leech reviving Marcus.

Marcus' leeches didn't have his DNA and only imitated him visually, so any movement made the imitation worse. The Queen Leech, on the other hand, assimilated with Marcus' corpse and returned him as a new life form.

The point is that the substance of the fungus is formed from a huge number of microorganisms, and these are bacteria and microbes. Unlike human cells, bacteria do not have nuclei, so their DNA floats freely inside our cells. Since the fungus can store human information, it can distribute parts of it to bugs. These bugs then combine with each other, coordinating their actions through pheromones.

Each fungal life form can secrete the substance of the fungus from its cells, so the bugs merge into one mass.

Why do the Cadou make zombie like creatures in the first place? Are they like the Plaga from Damnation?

Once upon a time, the black substance of the fungus began to absorb the biomaterial and form a colony. For centuries, feeding on information, it formed tissues, electrical activity of human organs, and so on, which turned it into a kind of giant embryo. To feed itself, this thing secretes fungus from its cells, which grow out of it in dense strands like roots to get food through the soil.

The parasite works the same way and looks the same, because Miranda extracted the "embryo" genome and injected it into the nematodes. When the parasite enters the human body, it secretes the fungus and takes root throughout the body, infecting the person with the fungus. This is the same infection with the Mold, it's just a different vector of infection.

Why did Miranda use only wolf DNA on the villagers and not other animals?

You mean Moreau? He was the one who used the blood of the wolves to create the big werewolves.

I believe that the Lycans are feral people who are heavily overgrown with hair. They are not related to wolves and are similar to them due to convergence. And this is an example of the transformation of a living person.

A zombie (Moroi is "zombie" in Romanian) is an undead creature that has been "resurrected" by a fungus. In fact, the fungus simply absorbed the corpse and reproduced its body.

Or did she also use crow DNA to make those flying bird mutants?

I think the reference was bats. In Romania, there are many bats that live in caves, so the Mold could easily have such information.

Why does the mold enter a crystallized state and what is its significance while like that?

It's probably some kind of chemical compound, but I'm not good at chemistry. But I know that some fungi and bacteria can crystallize.

How did Miranda stumble upon one of the most powerful organisms on the planet (Megamycete) without any sort of assistance or knowledge of its existence? Imagine just walking into a cave somewhere and finding eternal life while researchers have dedicated their lives to finding new species and habitats. It feels far-fetched.

It was a little-studied region of Eastern Europe. The colony and the Holy Grail that held it back had been there since the Middle Ages, but in Miranda's time, the English, for example, believed without irony that you could meet wild vampires if you went to a God-forsaken village.

During the World Wars, someone like the Nazis made attempts to find Christian artifacts, and Spencer is an allusion to this. He and his expedition went there, but the conditions and the mountainous landscape almost left the universe without a major villain, ha-ha!

Thanks to Miranda, humanity breathed a sigh of relief and began to suffer because of Oswell.

How can Miranda not suspect Heisenberg’s betrayal despite all of them being “linked” to the Megamycete?

Miranda had known all along. She even mocked Ethan for losing an ally.

If Miranda didn’t want to take over the world like Spenser, than why did she give Heisenberg the resources to build a mutant cyborg army?

She didn't care. Miranda founded a cult, designed a symbol with the founders' crest in mind, and reunited the descendants to have power over the region and access to resources. This was her Umbrella, which was needed to achieve a personal goal, and people thought that Miranda gave them work, custody and treatment.

This is also the point of her conversation with Spencer in the cave. They recognized the pattern of the crest as an umbrella, since umbrellas cover everything that is under them. Spencer and Miranda founded "umbrellas" to achieve their goals. Just as Spencer didn't care about Marcus and Ashford, Miranda didn't care about the aristocrats.

Mia knew who Miranda was as evident from the photo in the lab, so why did they move to an area in Romania where she knew where she resided?

Mia was an American agent, but she went to Germany to get Eveline. I don't think Mia knew where this researcher might have come from.

Why would she keep Ethan’s mutation secret to begin with?

This could ruin the marriage and cause a serious existential crisis for Ethan.

The fact Ethan made it out of Louisiana without being suspected of being a molded is ridiculous. He would of been put in a quarantine zone forever if they tested him for mold infection.

Well, you can't blame the local hospital for not identifying an abnormal pathogen that has assimilated into the body.

But the BSAA did some extra tests, and, you know, those bastards could have known everything so "Eveline" could have worked for them.

Also Enhanced C and the Cadou seem like the most overpowered BOW’s in the series to date and have no real rules holding them back from creating anything and everything. This is why RE6 and RE8 will remain my least favorites simply from a science fiction standpoint and ruin what was established.

The true potential of the Progenitor Virus was established a long time ago. Even back in the 1990s. These pathogens are just close to it, but also infinitely far away.

Making all other research feel pointless in hindsight, except for maybe the Plaga and Uroboros.

Not really. The researchers already had the most powerful virus in the world, which is more powerful than any pathogen. They deliberately weakened this virus, because it is too deadly for contemporaries. The point was to make a strain that was as compatible as possible with Spencer's body. He was a crazy eugenicist and wanted to evolve as a human being. And he wanted to rule the new world like a God. It's not just about immortality.

Fungi and leeches don't do that, because they're not viruses that will encode you. They will simply eat you, and even if you retain your consciousness, you will still be a leech or a fungus. This is not evolution, but replication and assimilation. That's not what Spencer needed, because he was a eugenicist. It was even named after Herbert Spencer.

 

[mert20004]

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[russident]

Yeah, well, I really don't think Chris did anything wrong. Of course, when a person knows in advance what is going to happen, it is easier for them to comment on certain actions. But Chris and his team have never encountered such a mutant. At the time of the operation, they didn't even have the test results to confirm whether it was related to the fungus and how much this variant might differ from the one in Louisiana. Therefore, when Miranda mimicked death and literally stopped all functions of life, after which she remained in this state for a long time (long enough that a person can't be resuscitated), no one had objective reasons to assume that she was alive. You may remember Wesker who experienced something similar in the mansion, but Wesker literally died and was resurrected. It's not the same thing.

The operation had risks and the uncertainty factor, which makes it quite realistic, and the fact that the soldiers miscalculated does a good job for me in this regard.

If Chris's team had several cars, they would still have been driven by a caravan, which may have been the case (I'm not sure if we know for sure if there was only one car), because they share a common destination. There was no point in leaving Ethan and Rosemary at home.

 

[RipvanX]

Thanks for clearing up crucial plot points russident. I went from hating this game to at least tolerating it haha. Will probably play it again in the near future to see what I missed now that there’s a deeper understanding of it’s story. The whole storytelling feels very gutted, even for RE standards. RE5 had flashbacks that helped flesh out its story and are some of the most iconic moments in the series to date. RE8’s story would have benefited greatly if we had the chance to actually see a younger Spencer and Miranda having conversations. More character interactions that didn’t involve Ethans hands flailing about would have been nice. The whole lab at the end was the biggest plot dump in the entire series and feels like a last minute addition. Also Miranda’s lab looks a lot like the one from Alien Covenent.. like exactly like it.

Combining a fantasy theme with science fiction was a bold move but I feel ultimately falls flat and creates conflict in its themes. The whole game feels like a Frankenstein’s monster with a bunch of different ideas stitched together. (No pun intended).

 

[Caffeine Addict]

Put the pedal to the metal.

Have you ever seen a more stranger boss fight?

 

[russident]

RE8’s story would have benefited greatly if we had the chance to actually see a younger Spencer and Miranda having conversations.

It's probably not the most popular opinion, but I kind of like it. I like the feeling when the storytelling focuses on a specific perspective, so you can't see anything beyond it. You visit houses, caves, and ancient ruins that reflect their history through environments and files. And instead of getting flashbacks or cutscenes in which the protagonist does not take any part, you explore the world of the game, collect information bit by bit and then organize it. Of course, you will have some gaps, because part of the history may have been lost.

Maybe I like this feeling, because as a child I dreamed of becoming an archaeologist, but it didn't work out, so I probably subconsciously enjoy this experience in games.

Although I understand your feelings and, as a fan of Spencer, I would like to see more of him. I even thought about how to expand his role in the story without changing the storytelling, but it turned out to be more difficult than I thought.

I also think that Spencer's expedition in some sense deserves its own game. Actually, we even have such a game. It came out recently and is called Amnesia: Rebirth. The game just focuses on an expedition that went to Algeria during the First World War, but everything went horribly wrong, because of which they encountered embodiments of local folklore. Of course, there were such tropes before, and I even saw them more than once, but it would be cool to experience this from the perspective of Spencer or someone from his team who would be next to him until his death.

 

[Caffeine Addict]

To be honest, while RE5 beats the tar out of RE8, that's still not a good, scary game either. It is a great action game, but you really need a second player to assist you out. But man. Wasn't it fun seeing Spencer getting his old ass whooped by Wesker!?

"I was to become a God!"

Nah, mate. You weren't.

 

[russident]

I just discovered that fungi are a separate class of microorganisms. They are not related to bacteria, are not unicellular, and may have nuclei.

Although intracellular infection with the fungus is still possible. For example, I once learned about a fungal genus called Cryptococcus. It grows in cell culture and can cause severe meningitis in people with AIDS.

 

[RipvanX]

Capcom likes to boast that they have returned to their roots for RE, but we have yet to see a brand new fixed camera game in over 15 years. Indie titles like Song of Horror have proven that there is still an audience for this type of game. Even if it’s for side games, they should do fixed camera again and see what they can do with it. REmake sold like hot cakes for being a decade old Gamecube exclusive back in 2014, so it’s an untapped market Capcom is missing out on. RE8 is also not a survival horror game, it belongs in the same family as RE4-6. The huge inventory and over abundance of resources is proof of that.

As much as I like 3rd person, and it worked great for REmake 2, it has become more stale to me than fixed camera at this point. I also feel the first person perspective is going to fade out much faster than either of the prior styles. The market is over saturated with all these first person horror and P.T. clones and it’s getting tiresome.

 

[RipvanX]

To be honest, while RE5 beats the tar out of RE8, that's still not a good, scary game either. It is a great action game, but you really need a second player to assist you out. But man. Wasn't it fun seeing Spencer getting his old ass whooped by Wesker!?

"I was to become a God!"

Nah, mate. You weren't. ❣

I was actually pissed at how Capcom handled that when the game first came out. We have never seen Spenser in person at all for the then 13 year old story and he gets killed off in a 3 minute flashback. While it was annoying at the time, having Wesker do it was the most fulfilling in a way so he made up for it.