Resident Evil 7

Since guns became detailed in the series they had extreme attention to realism when it came to firearm handling, and RE7 is actually the first time in a while that the game has incorrect gun animations, which is hilarious given how close the weapons are to the screen.




Excuse you. There is zero reason for me to bend over to unnecessary changes to this series I am invested in "several days after the game's launch" or not.

I see a lot of people enjoying this game and I'm more than happy for them, but this doesn't mean I can't criticize whenever I see fit.

The fact you're given a machine gun in the end. Phew, it keeps getting better.

I think a lot of fans are more accepting of this game after the atrocious effort that RE6 was... I have friends who quote "love it" and think "it's one of the best RE games". From what I've seen and played this game is as soul less as the real life objects they scanned for it.

As much as everybody bash RE6 at least I felt it had some soul to it, love for the brand and overall it was Capcom's misplaced attempt to make the biggest modern RE game they could've, RE4 and RE5 combined and rehashed with performance drugs. And that's what they got, but the result was just... Not cohesive nor fun enough.

Does Resident Evil 7 go back to the series roots?
Yes, on some levels it does. Puzzle solving, Key finding, Head shotting, Resource combining, Inventory management and Backtracking of previously explored locations - are all key elements of the franchise that carry over into this new interpretation. Those elements/mechanics do make me feel that I am playing a Resident Evil game; but only those parts.
For the rest of the time I could be playing any other recent horror title; Amnesia, Soma, Layers of Fear.

Thank you.

Re6 is dumb, but it's fun. Re7 shows us what a flawed genre Survival/Horror used to be, and how trying to make that work by changing perspectives was probably the worst decision Capcom could've made.

Who played the original game and thought "Well, yeah, this is cool, but you know what would make it better? Copious amounts of gore, jumpscares, and best of all, let's make it all in first person! There, that's what this series needed!"

The bosses themselves aren't all that great either. There's no build up to any of them and they're all kind of bland. Jack is memorable because Jack is funny but he's basically just Mendez but more boring and without any of Re4's superior combat. Marguerite (or whoever you spell that) felt like she really, desperately wanted to be in a Silent Hill game, and Lucas felt like a redux of Jack Krauser, except you don't get to kill him at the end. And Eveline? Eveline is definitely not Alma Wade, and don't even pretend she is, even though one of this game's devs worked on FEAR.


That's my other gripe. Remember Re4? Remember how innovative that was? The game literally changed how we play third person shooters. Re6, like it or not, is an expansion on the mechanics in that game, and taken on their own, they're very nice.

What is Re7? What does it contribute to gaming? Really, really nice graphics, we can't deny, but its core mechanics are stale and have been done to death.

Things that would've made it a better shooter:


Less Ammo. This one's a given, since, as Shep pointed out, ammo is really easy to make. The only real challenge is we can't reload shotshells the same way as handgun ammo, but so what? A single shotshell will kill literally everything that isn't one of the Bakers or the Big Man Molders.

Iron Sights. Seriously, this shouldn't even need to be stated, but there's a reason these are the go to aiming mechanic used by FPS devs who aren't Valve. It works. Removing them was apparently done since having them would've meant re-balancing the game's combat system, and forget that. What we got in Re7 feels a lot like playing the older Hitman games in first person, or this FPS hack I once saw for Re6: you know, where your camera is inside the model of your character's third person chest model? There's a reason no one else does it this way. Instead, we got really awkward, clunky aiming that's not precise at all. I've played a lot of shooters, so I know what I'm talking about when I say Re7 is one of the most cumbersome I've ever touched.

Lean Keys. These would've made the stealth sections a lot less idiotic and more suspenseful, since you'd be able to peek around corners rather than standing half in, half out of cover, like a five-year-old playing hide and seek. Again, other developers do this (Treyarch and Bethesda come immediately to mind), so it shouldn't have been too hard for Capcom to figure out.

Bashing. Again, I shouldn't need to explain that a designated melee weapon went out of style alongside carrying more than four weapons (at most) at a time. You should be able to hit things with your guns, since that's a completely logical thing to do. I'd balance it so there was still a reason to carry the knife (i.e., the knife is faster, the axe is more powerful, and the combat knife can be thrown, for instance), but there's no reason you couldn't stove someone's head in with your shotgun's butt. If ammo's less common, this shouldn't just be optional; it should be necessary.

Things that would've made Re7 a better game. Stay with me on this one, because there were times the game was decent, I'll admit:

More dialogue from Ethan. I really didn't expect to like Fallout 4, since it added a voiced protagonist, but I found a lot of my character's quips and internal monologues made me like her a lot more. Part of this could be the female protagonist is played by Courtney Taylor, who I really like anyway (the male PC just sounds like a git, so this one is the first game in the series I've started off not playing as myself, but I digress). I feel like it would've been easier to connect to Ethan had he actually read some of the text in the game, rather than just yelling "Fuck!" a lot, which is seriously about 60% of his dialogue in game. It also would've been interesting to hear different characters examine the same items, so you could hear Clancy's thoughts on the things he can examine in the Guest House, or Ethan's opinion of some of the things you encounter as he and Mia on the ship.

More logical choices. I'm going to assume all of you have beaten Re7 by now. If you haven't, shame on you because it'll take you most of a day unless you've never played Resident Evil before, and if that's the case, what are you even doing here? Anyway, one of my biggest gripes about the game's narrative is how idiotic the two endings are. Either you, A, save your wife (you know, the woman you're here for in the first place), or B, you pick the random chick you just met who's kinda sorta been helping you out (but not really; look at how she reacts to Ethan complaining about her mother's bugs). Under what circumstances would anyone pick Zoe? How does that make any sense based on the things which have happened to you up to this point? The mechanic should've either A, been scrapped, or B, more fleshed out. I'll get to this at the end, for my conclusion.

Incentive for the tapes My second playthrough completely skipped Mia's tape because that's the only one that's not actually relevant to the game. If I recall, you can find one of the plinth items earlier on, but that's it, and if you already know how that works (because it's one of Re4's puzzles) that's dumb. Likewise, the only reason to play Clancy's first tape is to get one of the Ancient coins; you have to watch "Happy Birthday" however, or the game won't allow you to progress any further. I would've expanded this system and made the tapes a bit harder to find, but also give you tangible benefits for finding and watching them. For instance, in tapes revolving around the file-only character Travis, you can cache supplies for Ethan, and even kill weaker versions of otherwise more difficult enemies, so you don't have to fight them later. I also would've added some tapes from Zoe and maybe even Lucas, both for more character development, and to give you a completely different perspective on the characters. This way, if you try to power through the game, you severely hamstring yourself later, and may even brick yourself into a corner on Madhouse. This also fits one of the core mechanics of the original games this one completely missed: meticulous exploration is rewarded, while just killing everything (which this one still encourages, even more than Re6) won't help you much in the long run.

Dying should matter again. Seriously, remove the checkpoints. You already have the tape machines, clearly you're trying to appeal to the older fans of the series who remember the ink ribbon saves, so why not go all the way through and make it so you can only save if you have a tape and are near one of the machines? Dying in Resident Evil used to mean something, but now doing it's a viable strategy to experiment with an encounter.

Characters are important. The older games had a solid supporting cast Re7 just doesn't have. Again, I like the idea of fleshing out some of the file characters, as well as Clancy and Mia. Further, there should be consequences for who you play as, or ignore, while completing the main game, and the things you do as the side characters should directly impact the main story. Re7 really had an opportunity to take this and run with it, but they never did, and that's a shame.

Ditch the Molders. Seriously, these guys aren't really scary, so much as annoying. At best, they should be a lower tier enemy, with something more human-like serving as an advanced enemy; as it stands they're just going to mob you instead. Barring that, at least give them more forms. A molder dog, for instance, or some kind of fish monster would've been really scary at just the right time. Remember Hunters and the first time they show up? They kill your partner if you're not careful in the first game. Re2 had lickers, Re4 had garrardors, Re5 had reapers, etc. Re7 has...more Molders.

A file browser. Capcom had this in the original game. Why it's been removed here is beyond me. Also, pictures shouldn't take up inventory space; that's dumb.

Keys are discarded when you no longer need them. Again, this is Resident Evil 101. I got stuck in the chainsaw fight with Jack because I still had a key I no longer needed in my inventory, and couldn't ditch it, so I had to waste healing items so I could pick up the chainsaw. That's dumb, and that's not something I could've prepared for, since I had no way of knowing I'd already unlocked everything I needed to with that key.

Go stealth, or go home. The hide and seek mechanic is really terrifying for one playthrough...then you get a shotgun and can immediately apply it to Jack's forehead; I've gone out of my way to make Marguerite flee in every playthrough because it's just tedious trying to hide from her. The stealth mechanic needed to be expanded, or ditched; what Capcom did instead was try too hard to do what other games had succeeded at already, without learning anything from them.

Basically, I'd have liked a more varied game, with more than two endings and more enemy variety, as well as more incentive to explore. I think it'd be interesting, for instance, if Ethan can actually encounter Clancy, Travis, or Cortney (Travis's girlfriend, who is otherwise only in files), but the choices you've made determine their condition. For instance, if you go out of your way to be helpful as Travis, you run the risk of getting infected, and Ethan may end up having to fight him as a boss later. Likewise, make all the right choices, and be good at the game, and you can save everyone including the Bakers, although this would naturally be harder than just killing everything.

All I see from the third person/1st person thing is
"We want it and we should get what we want and the game company should listen to us"

The game was made with THEIR intentions for it to be first person, its not about 'accept and forget' its more about realize games are made the way they're made in the devs visions, not how people who WILLINGLY pay for THEIR product want it to be.

It'd be like telling an artist "Your art is good but can you change this aspect of the painting  that it makes me dislike it a bit" like no, you pay for SOMEONE elses work,

TL:DR They made the game the way  they wanted, YOUR CHOICE to pay for it and low-key demand they give you an option for something they never intended on putting in it
ITs okay to say you dislike it, but I see some mentioning they SHOULD give us an option for it, which they have no requirements too

I dont like the fact there are very few enemies, but im not gonna blab around saying they SHOULD add more enemies

Dunno, I pretty much love the game, so I guess my viewpoint is like a needle in a haystack here