# Chapter Select, [[S5E2 - Resident Evil 7 - Biohazard]] Transcript This transcription was completed on March 4, 2026 with the application MacWhisper on macOS. This was done automatically, without human input during the transcription process. The transcription used the Parakeet v3 model. My hope is that by offering this transcription – however accurate it may be done by a machine learning/AI – will help you, the listener. I’d love to offer full, proper transcription some day, but that is not feasible at this time. Thank you for listening and reading. I hope you enjoy the show and that this document was helpful. Enjoy. --- Here's a topic. *00:00* Do you think we'll get an HBO trailer for the Last of Us show this week? *00:01* Oh, because it's outbreak day on Monday. *00:06* Although they don't call it that anymore. *00:10* Yeah, because of it's insensitive to COVID victims or something. *00:12* Um no. *00:17* No, I don't think HBO cares. *00:19* It seems real dumb. *00:23* If sh if this shows out within four to five months, that'll just I'm released something. *00:24* Yeah, no, they really have they ever said that it's early twenty-three? *00:31* Yeah, it's early early next year. *00:36* They've said that Yeah. *00:37* I don't think HBO said that *00:40* Yeah, they have. *00:42* One of their CEO people has. *00:43* Okay. *00:44* Really next year. *00:52* Who's in the cast? *00:53* I don't care who's in the cast. *00:54* Take a second look. *00:55* You may like. *00:57* My thought was they would I mean I guess they could. *00:59* My thought was Keeley would somehow get it for his game awards. *01:05* But if it's early then that's I mean they could *01:09* I mean, why not? *01:13* If it's early, he's already got his last of us due for the year. *01:13* But if you think about it, if it's early twenty three They wrapped filming in June. *01:18* Like how much how many months of post production do they need? *01:23* need. *01:25* I don't think they rapped. *01:26* Yeah they did. *01:28* In June? *01:29* Sir, I write about this show for a living. *01:30* They f they finished filming back in June. *01:34* I mean uh February or March, they could start advertising this in early December, three months of whatever. *01:37* Why not? *01:44* Ah yeah, one of the directors. *01:46* Uh the man who's literally der directed the first episode of the show. *01:50* Craig. *01:55* Uh the Nancy guy? *01:56* No, Kantomir Balagov. *01:58* No, that guy. *02:00* He directed the pilot. *02:01* He was doing an interview earlier this year and he said I'm not sure if sure if everything's lined up yet, but to my own understanding it *02:03* It's early next year. *02:10* I mean, I don't think we get it tomorrow or Monday. *02:12* I mean if it is early next year *02:17* See the thing is is does HBO Like is that it's a good idea. *02:21* That you talk about every year and you got plenty of major Last of Us things coming up that you could. *02:32* Naughty Dog does and Sony does, but does HBO care is my question. *02:38* I feel like HBO can put a trailer up whenever they want. *02:43* They paid for this IP. *02:47* They have to care for it. *02:49* I don't know. *02:51* I mean it'd be fun. *02:52* I don't like this is like a show I don't need to see anything else for. *02:53* I'm I'm good. *02:57* Yeah, because it's alright you've already played the game 85 times. *02:58* Believe me, man. *03:03* I saw it on my uh *03:04* Is it called an XMB on the PS5? *03:06* Dashboard? *03:09* Ah, jeez. *03:10* I saw it on my PS5 the other day and went, man, I'd like to play you. *03:11* But I know why don't you? *03:15* I don't have the time man. *03:17* But if I played that, I know I would jump right into part two. *03:18* And then that turns from a twelve hour game to like *03:22* Thirty hours. *03:30* Thirty thirty-five hours and I just don't have that. *03:31* Just don't play part two. *03:34* Pretty simple. *03:35* I don't have another twelve hours, it doesn't matter, so You've already got the platinum. *03:36* Just play the games you don't have platinums for. *03:41* This is true. *03:44* What I'm w well next is I I I gotta keep grinding in Pokemon and then I gotta start residue of four. *03:47* That's oh hey, look, as we live and breathe, the people are teasing that things could be coming. *03:55* Wow. *04:04* Wow, what a shocker. *04:04* This is why I I what brought this up in the first place is because I was closing my tabs and I saw that Druck had just tweeted about this. *04:07* That's a good gif. *04:15* What was I gonna say? *04:18* Dang it. *04:21* Dang it. *04:24* Look. *04:29* Was it about the name of your child? *04:30* No, it wasn't. *04:32* Here's my God of War magazine. *04:32* Wow, you're still paying Game Informer. *04:36* I only subscribe to Game Informer whenever I buy something at GameStop. *04:39* And they're like, your membership expired. *04:44* I'm like, is it gonna save me money today? *04:46* You know, like I weigh the choices of it or whatever, and then I just resub. *04:48* So there's the title of the preview. *04:52* All hell breaks loose. *04:56* So original. *04:58* Honestly, they probably I should dig out my old God of War game information issues. *04:59* They probably said like all Hades breaks loose or something in an old God of War preview. *05:04* Probably. *05:09* It's good stuff, man. *05:14* I gotta tell you, man, Avatar was actually pretty good. *05:16* No. *05:23* I'm serious. *05:24* This isn't like it's it is a great movie theater movie *05:27* I was shocked. *05:32* People were hootin' and hollering and clapping. *05:33* Jake Scully, you are a handicapped man. *05:36* Now you're a blue boy and I guess you I think the last thirteen years and it being the most success *05:39* you know, profitable movie of all time has just like led to jaded erosion. *05:46* I don't even I've never even seen memes of that. *05:51* No, no, no. *05:54* Discussion surrounding it, I guess. *05:56* Just the joking about it because it's so big and there's only one movie and it's Pocahontas in space. *05:58* But the actual movie *06:03* Is really well done and shot. *06:05* It holds up super well. *06:07* There's the whole inspiring, tribal, overcoming thing. *06:09* There are some C shots in that movie that are just *06:13* mind blowingly awesome and the 3D is still killer. *06:17* Like it is a super effective movie theater movie. *06:20* It's pretty good. *06:24* Now, am I gonna sit home and wat I've seen it this is my third time seeing it in thirteen years or whatever. *06:25* So whatever. *06:31* I will say this though. *06:33* They cut out the ponytail sex scene. *06:34* Why? *06:37* I don't know. *06:38* They I mean they still like make out in the woods or whatever and like consummate their marriage in front of Ewa. *06:39* But they don't show the ponytail. *06:46* They do with animals, which is weird. *06:49* But they don't show it with the them. *06:51* Avatar Avatar Ponytail Edit. *06:54* Oh, I'm getting uh Avatar the Last Airbender? *06:58* No, I'm getting like anime people, like weird ponytail, hair art, deviant art. *07:03* It's like uh *07:10* Theatric theater re-release. *07:14* Gone. *07:17* Missing scene in Avatar where Jake and Natiri *07:19* Mate Reddit. *07:23* This will be safe, I'm sure. *07:25* Theatrical versus special. *07:28* Anyway, they removed it, is all I'm trying to say. *07:31* So that was *07:33* It's just you know, we left. *07:35* We're like, what happened to that scene? *07:39* But it's a good movie. *07:40* I'm not out here saying it's the best *07:42* Not saying it's, you know, a goat that I'd watch at home, but you know. *07:44* I don't know if I've said this. *07:49* This is the last thing I'll say and then we can start. *07:50* I don't want to see the new movie. *07:52* Not only because I don't really care about Avatar in the first place, but the trailers scare me. *07:55* I don't like water. *08:04* I don't like being underwater. *08:08* Really? *08:10* You have like a water. *08:11* I just don't there's some shots in that trailer where they're like swimming underwater and there's like big whales and stuff, and it looks so realistic, and I'm like, this is like *08:13* Unnerving. *08:21* Like if it looked more if it looked more fake. *08:22* Like they I it basically the visuals are so good that I'm like this is kind of *08:26* Bothersome. *08:30* I don't know if I like this. *08:31* I just don't know. *08:33* Like where he's like swimming in the ocean and touching a giant whale or something like that. *08:34* I'm like, I don't like this. *08:38* I didn't know that. *08:41* I mean I don't have a huge problem. *08:43* I don't have a huge problem with I don't know. *08:45* I don't want to drown. *08:48* Drowning scares me. *08:49* I think drowning should scare everyone. *08:50* Drowning seems like one of the worst ways to die. *08:52* That and being caught on fire. *08:56* Gotta be two two of the worst. *08:57* Not only am I concerned with my own drowning now. *08:59* I have to be concerned about this baby drowning. *09:02* You know all the signs on like these plastic grocery boxes. *09:05* No. *09:10* If there's this, haven't you seen those Vidaly can die. *09:11* Do you gotta be one of these par you know you gotta be one of these parents that *09:14* Takes your kids and chucks it in a pool when they're two months old and it's like swim and then they float on their back. *09:18* And they're like, Wow, it's natural, see? *09:24* Cause she has a pool at her house, not Chuck yeeting her into the pool. *09:29* But Yeeting who? *09:33* The baby. *09:34* You know when you're not gonna get it, dude. *09:35* You're not gonna get it. *09:37* You will all find out her name when she's born. *09:39* Hello everybody and welcome to Chapter Select, a seasonal podcast where we bounce back and forth between a series exploring its evolution, design, and legacy. *09:44* For this season, we are covering the Resident Evil franchise. *09:53* My name is Max Roberts, and I am joined, as always, by Logan Moore. *09:57* Hi, Logan. *10:00* Welcome to the family, Max. *10:02* Oh my gosh. *10:04* I'm confused now. *10:05* We're doing Fast and Furious family, and now we've got the Baker family in Resident Evil. *10:06* We're just in a family mood lately. *10:11* Yeah, that's our uh favorite forms of media or franchises that center around families. *10:15* This is our new through line for chapter select moving forward. *10:21* We uh chapter select, a family podcast where you can uh enjoy the subject matter of family. *10:24* Family, family. *10:31* Yeah, we're gonna do a whole season about your own family. *10:32* That'll that'll be uh season six. *10:35* It's gonna be about your *10:37* Family members of this is a family tree. *10:41* Yeah, we'll do an episode about you, we'll do one about Abby, one about your mom and your dad, one about your your daughter, what's her name? *10:44* Top secret. *10:52* Evelyn. *10:55* There you go. *10:55* Evelyn? *10:56* Very timely name. *10:58* Yeah. *10:59* Mm-hmm. *10:59* Fits perfectly with the theme. *11:00* We are talking about Resident Evil 7 in this episode. *11:02* We just wrapped up. *11:05* Resident Evil 7 Biohazard. *11:07* Or if you're in Japan, Biohazard 7 Resident Evil. *11:09* Exactly. *11:14* Exactly. *11:15* Uh and you know, maybe before we get in the foot, we're playing this one now in our second episode. *11:16* You made this happen because *11:25* This is similar to the first game in some ways, but with design and inspiration, and it's the reboot of the series. *11:28* So I guess if if anyone's wondering why we're playing Resident Evil 7 now. *11:34* That's why, you know. *11:39* I mean the t the technical if we did our usual bounce back and forth, village would have been the next one, but I didn't feel like playing the second *11:40* Ethan winners led game made sense before playing this one and I also really like the dynamic of playing the first one and then jumping into this one since *11:49* Seven really tries to mirror a lot of aspects of the original game. *11:58* I just felt like a good companion to play after the original game. *12:02* So *12:07* That is what brought us has brought us to RE7 this time around. *12:08* And with that, let's uh go ahead and get into the rundown. *12:13* Of all the basic information here about Resident Evil 7. *12:17* Uh as every other game in the series, it was developed and published by Capcom *12:19* It originally came to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. *12:24* Uh it was also compatible with PSVR on PS4. *12:28* And uh at the time we're recording this, it has just recently come to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. *12:32* Uh we both played on PS5, correct? *12:38* Yes, we both did the PS5 version of the game. *12:41* Okay. *12:45* Uh it originally released on March 24th, 2017. *12:45* The game director was Koshi Nakanishi. *12:49* The producers on the game were Masachika Kawada and Tsuyoshi Kanda. *12:53* And the composers were Akiyuki Morimoto, Miwak, Miwako Shinone, and Satoshi Hori. *12:58* Resident Evil 7 ended up scoring an 86 out of 100 on Metacritic for both of the console versions. *13:06* I think the PC version might have been a little bit lower, but it was a negligible negligible difference. *13:13* Uh so it scores sits in 86 overall. *13:20* Uh all in all, this is a good game by standards of critics and fans, I think. *13:23* And there's a lot of *13:31* I don't know. *13:33* There's a lot of thoughts and ideas out there about this game because this one, as you mentioned before, is a reboot of the series, which I think is one of the key things we'll talk about throughout this episode. *13:34* I don't want to *13:46* I mean there's a lot we can talk about with this game's legacy, which I know we're already planning on doing because this is a very important and pivotal game. *13:48* within the larger resinual franchise. *13:55* And we'll get to that stuff, but before we do, let's just talk about our broad histories and experiences with the game. *13:57* I can start, I mean I guess I played it through the first time the week it came out, and I have not returned to it since, and this is my first time returning to it since it initially came out. *14:04* Um you got the platinum. *14:15* I did get the platinum. *14:17* I played this game on Madhouse this time around. *14:19* I actually did two playthroughs before this episode that we're recording. *14:21* Yeah, and I did not have to do that. *14:25* Uh I played one on Madhouse because my original run back in 2017 was just a normal playthrough. *14:27* Uh through the power of PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5. *14:32* Forward compatibility, I literally still had all of my original saves. *14:37* Which is kind of cool. *14:42* They did good with being able to bring your old saves over when they updated all those um PS4 games. *14:43* Yeah, because I was when I was playing the original version of this game, I was making a lot of saves. *14:50* Uh a lot of different save files, so I had a lot of different snapshots throughout the game. *14:56* So for for instance, uh *15:01* When I beat this game on Madhouse, I did one of the Indines, which there are two endings in the game which each depend on who you choose to save when you get to the *15:02* uh divergent point there with either saving Zoe or saving Mia about two-thirds of the way through the game. *15:11* And I think in my original playthrough I saved Mia, which I think is the vast *15:17* What's the vast majority of people do. *15:23* Yeah, it's what most people ended up doing. *15:26* So in the my Madhouse playthrough, I saved Zoe. *15:28* And I got the second ending, and then after that I went back to a save that I had that was from my original playthrough where I had originally saved Mia, and it was right at the very last typewriter before the end of the game. *15:32* And then I just played through the final five minutes and binged the other trophy that way. *15:44* And then I did one speed run after that, which was about two hours and forty-five minutes. *15:47* On easy mode. *15:53* Yeah, that sounds about right. *15:54* So yeah. *15:56* That's very good. *15:57* You, on the other hand, have played some of this game, but not all this game until now. *15:57* So correct. *16:02* So I *16:04* I got the game when it came out because I had bought PSVR in October, right before it. *16:05* And this was a game, you know, this was *16:12* This was the must-abuy game for PSVR that first year. *16:15* This was a launch window title. *16:19* It was the definitive game to buy. *16:20* I had played the demo. *16:23* I actually wrote a preview for it. *16:24* I found it in my Google Docs searching for stuff. *16:26* So I wrote about the midnight demo that came out for this game *16:29* They also had the kitchen demo that came with the PS VR demo disc, you remember that? *16:33* Where you'd sit in the SCP? *16:36* Yeah, but you didn't know it was Resident Evil *16:37* It was just called Kitchen, yeah. *16:40* It was like a broad horror demo that was available to try on PSVR and it's like, oh, this is cool. *16:42* And then only later do you find out, oh my gosh, it's Resident Evil. *16:50* Uh that was part of their twenty sixteen press conference at E three, I believe. *16:53* That was an awesome reveal. *16:58* I w I wanna talk about *16:59* the r reveal part of this game a little bit um later as well. *17:01* So I played that and I played a little bit of it when it, you know, VR or whatever, and I don't remember necessarily how far I got *17:06* But I took a break from it. *17:14* Or I you like a few months of a break, I think, because later in October *17:17* I came back to it. *17:23* So, you know what, five, six months later, what have you. *17:24* Came back to it. *17:29* Um, we actually spoke about it on episode 113. *17:30* Shadow of Loot Boxes on Millennial Gaming Speak, and I wanted to play you this clip because I think it's pretty funny. *17:34* This is about this is eight days before I got married. *17:40* What have you been playing? *17:44* Lately. *17:47* You g okay, so you went back to Resident Evil 7. *17:48* Well we'll start there. *17:50* I did. *17:51* The video you sent me was amazing. *17:52* I still don't think you'll finish that before next week. *17:54* You got a week. *17:58* It's a short game. *17:59* I got twelve days. *18:01* It's a short game. *18:02* I just gotta man up. *18:03* I can't be scared anymore. *18:04* News flash, I was scared and ran out of time and didn't finish it, so *18:05* If you got past if you got halfway through it though. *18:10* I did. *18:13* You got past the spooky parts, I would say. *18:14* Yeah. *18:17* I think most of the spooky parts are up front. *18:18* Once you get out of the house and go to Lucas' Fun Factory. *18:20* Which is where I stopped essentially. *18:23* I had killed Marguerite in the greenhouse, and that is where I stopped playing. *18:25* So that's all I remembered. *18:30* So coming into the game this time *18:31* I remember the first half of the game fairly well. *18:33* Like you go here, you do this, or or broad strokes. *18:36* I was like, you fight in the garage, you take the car. *18:39* Very broad strokes. *18:43* It's been *18:44* almost five years. *18:45* Almost roughly to the the day window of time. *18:47* So but back then I played mostly in VR and this time I played in no VR. *18:51* I would have played N VR, honestly, but it's put away because my office is now at nursery. *18:57* So I wasn't really able to. *19:04* So I just played all on the PS5. *19:05* And I did kind of *19:08* Most of the game at 120 Hertz HDR. *19:10* Okay. *19:14* Or yeah, what but and then some of the game, the beginning and the end of the game *19:15* was 60 in rate tracing. *19:19* So actually the beginning of the game is what I beginning and end is what I recorded for the video version of the show. *19:21* And then the middle I played at 120 hertz. *19:25* And I think we'll talk about that as well. *19:28* So I definitely *19:30* dabbled in this game. *19:33* This is the first Resident Evil game I ever played. *19:34* Very first game. *19:36* Okay. *19:37* So this was my initial exposure to the series. *19:38* I was aware of Resident Evil, but this is the VR part and the demos, like this is what got me *19:40* To look at and play Resident Evil. *19:47* This was really the killer app for the first six months of PSVR, I feel like. *19:50* Absolutely. *19:54* And even over the long haul, I feel like this was still the killer app. *19:55* Because when this *19:58* I can't remember other games that came out that were big AAA games that had or you can play it in VR. *20:00* Like no other games I can think of off the top of my head. *20:07* I can't think of anything else that had options like this later. *20:12* That came much later though. *20:17* It did. *20:18* It did. *20:18* I'm but Hitman 3 is a notable title that is playable in VR or normal. *20:19* So that's definitely one of them. *20:24* That came later after the launch of the base game, though, correct? *20:27* Or was that at the same time that they it launched with Hitman 3. *20:31* Okay. *20:34* So when Hitman 3 came out, it launched with it. *20:35* It is also still only playable in VR on PS VR. *20:37* So whatever exclusivity deal they wrote, that's still there, even with the you know, the PC VR market. *20:43* I would love to see them bring it over to PSVR2. *20:50* They clearly have the technical capability to do so with Village and Resident Evil 4 remake. *20:54* Uh Village is fully playable in VR and the remake has at least a VR component or element to it, if not entirely playable, haven't it confirmed? *21:01* And their engine is is flexible enough, so they clearly can and I hope they do. *21:09* Yeah. *21:14* They just have to redo the controls. *21:15* RE4 remake is *21:16* Armature though, correct? *21:18* And I think Capcom did. *21:20* I don't think the PS5 remake, no. *21:22* The uh quests No no no no no no no. *21:25* Uh RE4 *21:27* VR on Quest. *21:29* I was talking about the upcoming remake in the U. *21:32* Yes. *21:37* Because they said there's PSVR to something. *21:38* I said RE4 remake. *21:41* I meant to say RE4 VR. *21:42* Mm-hmm. *21:45* Yeah. *21:46* There's a lot of versions. *21:46* We'll get to Resident Evil 4 before too long. *21:47* Yes, we will. *21:50* Before we get too much into the weeds of the game itself, I did want to go back to something that you brought up here, which is kind of in *21:52* ancillary part of this experience, and it's something that won't matter in the grand scheme of things, but we're talking about this now and this is the first time we've played it. *22:01* What did you think about the next gen PS5 version of this game? *22:09* Because I *22:14* I have to say, I did not think it was great. *22:16* I really didn't. *22:19* Um, and I don't know if that you feel the same way. *22:20* Like, I felt like this game was one that was already *22:23* pretty good looking uh when I played it on PS4 all those years ago. *22:26* Like obviously this game engine has gone on to be the game engine for every major Capcom game that has come out for the past couple years. *22:30* So the game engine's great and the game always looked good. *22:37* But when I booted this up on PS5, I was like, wow, I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of technical bump this guy and how much better it looks now. *22:40* And that really didn't ever like wow me in any capacity. *22:48* Um I noticed a performance boost for sure because I ended up playing uh prior at first when I started first playing I prioritized ray tracing *22:53* And I did not think that it drastically improved just the visual aspect of the game. *23:02* So then I turned ray tracing off, and then the performance was better, and that was good. *23:08* Um but I didn't feel like the ray tracing boost necessarily made the game look that much more impressive. *23:13* Like it was not on equal par with the PS5 version of Village, let's say. *23:20* Like Village still looks *23:25* drastically better in my opinion. *23:27* And I was hoping that this would look more akin to Village with this PS5 version. *23:29* I didn't know if the same was could be said for you though. *23:34* So *23:37* One thing we have to consider is this is the first RE engine game. *23:38* It is. *23:42* You know, so it's older thing. *23:43* You know, what they've done in these new updates is either ray tracing *23:45* Um, which is fair at a consistent 60, or 120 hertz, which it with no ray tracing. *23:50* That's kind of the trade-off, or no ray tracing, and you still get the 60, stable 60. *23:57* So *24:02* I did watch Digital Foundry's video when it came out, um, and I'll link it in the show notes and stuff, but the ray tracing is subtle. *24:03* You mostly see it in tight corridors and just the lighting. *24:12* There's definitely a difference, especially I was flipping between them at some points. *24:16* Your TV can't do 120 Hertz, correct? *24:21* I don't believe so. *24:24* No. *24:26* And if you're wondering how I wouldn't know that, I'm currently playing on a TV that is not mine. *24:27* So there is that. *24:32* S this playing it at 120, I was surprised to I mean it's super smooth and slick, but I was surprised how used to it I was. *24:33* And then I remembered, duh, this game ran at 120 Hertz on the PS4 in PSVR. *24:41* So the f the bump in frame rate wasn't this big surprise or revelation to me coming from like a 30 to 120, because I was already used to it. *24:48* The ray tracing I liked combined with the HDR because I never played this game with HDR before. *25:02* I think just the contrast and colors there was pretty nice *25:06* But the stability was the the overall big thing for me. *25:09* And just the texture quality and stuff, everything sharper, look more detailed. *25:13* It looks really great, especially playing on. *25:17* You know, before I was playing this on a 21-inch LCD 1080p TV, and now I'm playing on a 55-inch 4K OLED, so just a big quality of life overall. *25:19* Um that's why I opted to turn off ray tracing personally. *25:30* I felt like it was just the frame rate was kind of It's stable across the board. *25:33* Is it really? *25:38* Yeah. *25:39* It just didn't fe I mean maybe it was something in my monkey brain that was making me think it wasn't as stable when I had swell tracing turned on. *25:39* But it did not seem as consistent for me when I was playing it. *25:46* And I turned it off pretty quickly early into the game because of that. *25:50* But that could have just been something I was tripping myself out about. *25:53* Absolutely. *25:56* From what I recall, because I watched the video before picking, so I knew which kind of mode to pick or which one I would prefer. *25:57* And they both are f super stable, so *26:02* The Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 remakes, that's a different story, but we'll save that for another time. *26:06* We'll get there. *26:11* Yeah. *26:12* Yeah. *26:12* I enjoyed playing it though. *26:12* Uh and again, the bulk of it was at 120. *26:14* I enjoyed it. *26:16* I also *26:17* PS5 specific, the adaptive triggers, I thought felt pretty good for some of the weapons. *26:18* The shotgun, the grenade launcher, those types of things I thought felt pretty good. *26:23* uh with the triggers. *26:28* So definitely look forward to that stuff. *26:30* Didn't stand out to me too much. *26:33* Like I think some devs have shown that they really look to take advantage of the dual sense in *26:35* Like at greater ways than like I think of Returnal. *26:42* Returnal's still one of the best examples of using the dual sense by far. *26:45* And I'm not expecting Capcom to *26:49* By any this is a larger d talking point about the PS5 and how developers are using the DualSense. *26:51* I'm not expecting Capcom to go back and add all these crazy DualSense features to this *26:56* Five year old game. *27:00* Now the dual sense and haptics, the triggers in the haptics and stuff like that, they're good for an older version of the game. *27:01* Yeah. *27:08* Um *27:08* But it nothing that blew my pants off or anything like that. *27:09* But it'll be cool to see what they do with Village and VR, you know, take what they've done already and apply it to the future. *27:12* For sure. *27:19* Let's talk about the game itself though. *27:19* And I do want to hone in on sort of the setting of this game first. *27:21* I think this is going to be a through line *27:27* Uh honestly, with all these games, I feel like the setting is gonna be the first major thing that we're going to look to talk about throughout this whole season. *27:30* Um this game *27:38* Like I said at the top, really goes back to basics, uh, especially coming off of Resident Evil 6, which was *27:40* The third third-person shooter game in the series, if you're not counting spin-offs and such. *27:49* Uh the third shooter-focused Resident Evil game. *27:54* Uh it fo featured a lot of different characters. *27:58* And the scope of that game was you were bouncing all around the world and fighting a ton of different zombies and bioweapons and yeah. *28:01* Crazy. *28:10* This game brought the scope back in, put it into a single manor slash mansion slash house, whatever you want to call it. *28:10* It's on a single property, sort of, until the end when you're on a boat, but that's for the most part this game is very similar to the original *28:20* Resident Evil, where you are in one house in its surrounding areas. *28:30* And I love that personally. *28:35* I I I don't know how you feel about this game's location being set in *28:37* The deep south down there in Louisiana, the bayous of Louisiana. *28:43* I think it makes for a fantastic setting. *28:47* I think it makes for one that has *28:49* enough similarities to the original Resident Evil where you're in this sprawling property, this large estate that's got all these old *28:52* strange parts of of the property that are built out. *29:02* Like I I like when you go to the old house, which is where Marguerite's at, and there you can see on the wall that that that house itself was built in like the 1800s. *29:05* You are at this place that is very old and there are a lot of weird aspects of this of all of these different locations you're bouncing around to. *29:13* Um but it feels interconnected, it feels cohesive. *29:22* And at the same time, it doesn't feel like it's trying to it's clearly trying to call back to the original Resident Evil with its structure, but it's not so one-to-one that you feel like *29:26* It's not like a Force Awakens to New Hope where like you go see I went to go see the st the Force Awakens it's like wow they really just *29:40* Mirrored the original Star Wars movie here. *29:49* You can tell what they're trying to do here in Resident Evil 7, which is uh kind of mirror the original game, but it's not so blatant that I felt like that when I was playing it. *29:52* I guess is what I'm trying to say. *30:02* It still feels wholly unique and like it's its own game, but there are obviously things from the past that Capcom has drawn upon and brought into this one. *30:03* What did you think? *30:14* For a horror game it's spectacular, really. *30:15* It is an immersive environment. *30:17* I wrote *30:20* Down um I wrote the house is horrific. *30:21* Uh Boondocks Hoarder Filth. *30:25* Like it feels contagious. *30:27* If I touch anything, I will get sick. *30:29* Uh which is really kind of leans into the mold horror aspects of it and the beginning where you're first in the house and you open the pot and a cockroach is on your hand. *30:32* Like they do a lot of stuff to indicate how filthy it is. *30:41* There's good *30:44* environmental storytelling here, you know these people are sick, not necessarily from a medical per perspective of *30:45* were infected with a disease, but more they are initially portrayed as just psycho people. *30:55* And then later you learn what has happened to them. *31:02* And we'll talk about that. *31:05* I actually have issues with that. *31:06* So the environment itself, super spooky, greatly designed. *31:09* I think the way the house peels at the the original house unravels itself, is really cool *31:16* There's the kitchen area and then you m you move into the main area. *31:24* Yeah. *31:28* And then you go to the basement. *31:28* Basements are always scary places. *31:30* And how things kinda connect and tie back later, how you end up in that that workshop down in the basement at one point after um getting some keys. *31:32* It's it's all tied together really well. *31:42* I think some of the areas feel a bit tacked on later. *31:45* I think *31:50* The old house while super creepy and like flooded with water, having that connect to the greenhouse and like Marguerite be like a bug plant late Like I didn't I didn't care necessarily for the tunnel that connected those two. *31:51* Like that just felt kinda like *32:04* mashed together and then what part of the house is Lucas in like where he conducts his that just felt like it's the it's it's the farm *32:05* The repurposed their farm into his little fun house there. *32:16* I didn't really understand where that space took *32:23* took place. *32:27* Yeah. *32:27* Uh but and then later obviously you go to the boat in the mine. *32:28* It just but the core house I love. *32:31* And the way and and the upstairs of the old house. *32:35* Which feels like it should have been in the main house. *32:40* Like those two areas felt very similar. *32:44* So I'm not sure. *32:46* Where you have to go find the arm in Evelyn's back to the same thing. *32:47* Yes. *32:52* Which is *32:53* A really great just whole set piece up. *32:54* It reminds me of the moment in uh village with uh *32:57* Puppet doll house. *33:02* Like that's their one section of the game where they're like, we're just gonna throw in a section here to scare you, and that's all it is. *33:03* Yeah. *33:09* There's a lot of scary moments in the game, but that's like an on-rails linear *33:09* let's screw with the player in their head sort of sequence, which is great. *33:14* And I have to say, given the fact that I played half of this game back in in 2017 and then the other half today, going into areas I had no idea about *33:19* 'Cause I really didn't know what the back half of this game was at all. *33:28* I I hadn't heard anything or recall hearing anything about the boat or any of the other stuff. *33:31* The unknown is very scary. *33:38* And I think it's effective in this game. *33:41* So playing this game fresh, knowing nothing, and then looking at the design of the house now, I think. *33:42* Yeah, this game is spooky. *33:49* This is compared to Resident Evil 1, which is interesting in its own right because that game's from the 90s. *33:51* But this is a horror game first. *33:58* It's *34:01* It's horror instead of survivor horror, it's horror survival. *34:02* And they lean into the ski this is certainly the scariest. *34:07* focused Resident Evil that I have played to date. *34:12* Um and I like that a lot. *34:15* I mean I've played this game before and I knew what to expect and I was still *34:18* Very spooked out in many instances when I played this game. *34:23* Even when I did my speed run at the end. *34:26* Uh, you know, I'm not really taking anything seriously. *34:29* Jack's still chasing me around the house and I'm like, uh, I don't like this. *34:32* Stop. *34:36* Stop and it's just freaking me out for multiple reasons. *34:36* He's more annoying in that, I guess, because I'll try to speedrun, but I don't like that man chasing me around. *34:41* I don't like *34:46* Marguerite turning into a big old spider and screeching at me. *34:47* Like it it is very There's a lot of creepy things in this game, for sure. *34:50* Even some stuff that is a little bit more uh *34:55* I I don't want to say straightforward, but like even just some of the body horror stuff of of the game. *35:01* Like I think about later on in the flashback with Mia when she's with her partner that she's working with trying to keep Evelyn. *35:07* Uh under ties and her partner's dying and he just starts like barfing up black stuff everywhere. *35:15* I'm like this is really *35:20* creepy. *35:22* Like it's very it's very it it like it's it's not scary in the same way that Jack chasing you around or not knowing what's around a certain corner is creepy, but just yeah, the body horror aspects of this game are also frightening. *35:24* Um I think to uh in that same vein, like I think of when Lucas puts the cops severed head in the refrigerator and you can see that he was beginning to turn into a mold person. *35:37* You've got like the half head, half *35:49* Mul like you can see the cop's head buried within the mold person's I actually didn't realize that was the cop's head. *35:51* Yeah. *35:58* I realized it later when you go to his *35:59* body and have to get the key out of him and he calls him a pig and I'm like, oh that wasn't just a mold head you put in the fridge, that was his head. *36:02* Yeah, that was the cop that Jack stabbed in the face with a shuffle. *36:11* So so yeah. *36:16* Yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of creepy body horror stuff, and it all kind of plays into the same *36:17* I mean vein of what you were saying with that. *36:22* Everything's dirty and grimy and just Yeah. *36:24* Ethan loses his hand. *36:28* Ethan loses his hand. *36:29* This is actually a good instance to mention this. *36:30* Did you lose your leg in this game as well? *36:32* No. *36:35* Okay, so this is something I figured out and so we have not played Village yet for this season, so I'm gonna mention something from Village, but *36:36* There's a very popular sequence in Resident Evil Village where Ethan gets his hand just flat out chopped off. *36:45* And he he puts it back on and he just pours some goop on it and it's fine. *36:51* That exact same thing happens in this game with his foot. *36:56* Uh there is a sequence very early on after you escape the kitchen when you're trying to get into that hatch *37:02* uh beneath the house to get away from Jack when you are first in the kitchen. *37:09* Oh by the kitchen, yeah. *37:13* Yeah. *37:14* So Jack if he catches you in that room, he will grab a hold of you and he will use the shovel he has in his hand and he will chop off Ethan's leg. *37:15* And then he sets a uh medical uh one of the medical gel items down on the ground and he says, Try try using this and see what happens. *37:23* Ah ha ha ha ha and he's like laughing and Ethan picks up his leg and puts it back on and he pours the goop on it and is like *37:32* Sticks right back together. *37:38* But most people miss it. *37:41* I've played this game a lot of times, and it wasn't until I was doing some research for this podcast that I found out that that was a thing. *37:42* So I'm sure you're trying to look that up now. *37:48* I'm looking at screenshots of it. *37:50* There's Jack putting medicine down on the floor. *37:52* Yeah. *37:54* Fascinating. *37:54* So that exact same sort of sequence from Resident Evil Village that we were all enamored with, and I think it was more apparent because that's an on-rails *37:55* Sequence in village. *38:03* Yeah, this is a an optional thing that a lot of people you're you're never gonna see this unless you get caught by Jack. *38:05* And I think a lot of people don't get caught by Jack. *38:10* But if you do, he chops your leg off, and then you just pour it right back on with the with the medical gel. *38:13* Which clearly then indicates he's a mold man. *38:20* I j it indicates it's he's very silly. *38:24* It's a very silly game is what it indicates. *38:26* Uh while we're talking about locations, I do want to talk about the boat in particular and get your thoughts on this because this is the one wholly *38:30* separate area of the game for the most part. *38:37* I mean we've got the farm which is we can talk about Lucas's farm and that whole asp area too as well because those are pretty different. *38:40* Um, I feel like we've talked about the old house and the main house, which is where Jack and Marguerite are at. *38:47* Uh let's talk about the boat though first, and then we'll maybe talk about the farm in Lucas' area. *38:53* What did you think about this uh part of the game? *38:58* Did you cause you had no idea this was coming, you're playing his Mia now, you're piecing together what has happened and learning more about Evelyn, but then you're on this scary boat where all this stuff went down. *39:00* And then there's multiple spooky sequences, spooky scenes in the past where you're seeing how the boat got this way, and then you're now on this area again. *39:12* Oh like I don't know. *39:21* What did you think about this section? *39:22* In general? *39:25* I'm I'm of two minds. *39:26* Two two parts of me. *39:28* I like the spooky part of it, and I like playing as Mia. *39:31* I think that's a cool way to tell her story. *39:36* and have her get her memory back or or relearn what happened and get context for the true enemy of this game, the source of the the mold Evelyn. *39:40* But I do not enjoy having everything stripped down and you just have to hide in the beginning. *39:50* You it it switches to like *39:58* alien isolation kind of like I gotta hide in the closet until I find weapons later on. *40:00* So I wasn't Were you hiding that much? *40:06* Yeah, because those mold things chase you around. *40:09* Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. *40:12* You have no weapons and You don't. *40:14* And it feels pretty *40:16* elongated like you're going up and down and finding items and if you were being thorough like me it's like well I need to use this corrosive on all the things so I'm going back to this floor and getting items *40:20* Which is great, carry that over. *40:32* I was actually worried we were gonna lose all of our items as Mia. *40:33* Like when we switched back to EN. *40:36* Thank goodness they give them to you. *40:39* So that was at least somewhat fine. *40:41* It's it's a bit like the flashback part's a bit long in the tooth. *40:44* It is. *40:50* So I'm of two minds. *40:51* Like it if *40:53* It's a little bloated or a little boated, but it's a cool place. *40:54* It's coop creepy, spooky. *40:59* Uh I really have more of an issue with the mind than I do the boat because the mind just feels like what wait w *41:02* Why are we here? *41:10* Well the minds just the minds just re- reconnecting back to the house. *41:11* So you didn't play the add-on not a hero DLC, but that's where the entirety of that DLC takes place. *41:16* Okay in the minds. *41:22* So that comes back into play a little bit more. *41:23* The mines just felt super filler. *41:25* I get we had to get back to the house, but it just felt like I really don't want *41:27* to be here and all it really is is a hallway for mold men to come at me. *41:33* Yeah. *41:39* Basically it's a it's a section of the game where they're throwing mold people at you and then giving you more *41:39* backstory and lore info via text documents. *41:45* So I'm I'm I'm more down on the mind than the boat, but *41:49* The boat has some cool stuff going on. *41:55* I do I I generally agree with pretty much everything you said. *41:57* I really like the creepy elements of the boat. *42:00* I like playing as Mia. *42:03* I like learning more about, you know. *42:04* 'Cause by this point in the game you still don't really know what's going on. *42:06* Like you have some ideas and Mia keeps saying I'm sorry and *42:09* She's hinting at things that Ethan doesn't know yet. *42:14* And so the boat being the part of the game where those answers come about is uh I I I like the story beats of it and I like the creepiness in the *42:17* the atmospheric nature of it. *42:27* But I don't like how it is disjointed from the rest of the game. *42:29* Because the one thing I do like about this game is I think it is very cohe everything is pretty cohesive. *42:32* at the Baker Estate and then they all of a sudden you're just on a boat and it's totally sort of shifts pretty dream. *42:38* Yeah. *42:47* It seems like the game's ending and then all of a sudden you're on a big ship. *42:48* It didn't feel like that fight with Jack was the final boss, but it also felt like the game was ending. *42:51* It's more of a final boss than the final boss. *42:56* Yes, absolutely. *42:59* Um oh totally. *43:00* But it just it felt like we were done. *43:03* Like I left Zoe on the dock, we were driving off into the swamp, and then it's like surprise *43:06* Yeah. *43:13* And you do see some mentions in some of the text documents lying around the Baker House of there being a ship and that's where Evelyn comes from. *43:13* Well if you do a replay of the game, you can pick up on those things in some of the docs that you find earlier. *43:22* But I don't know how much you have to say about Lucas' section of the game. *43:27* It's probably *43:30* The weakest? *43:33* I don't know. *43:34* I I mean uh of the core Baker family, it's by far the weakest. *43:35* But it's not it's not it's not bad. *43:39* It doesn't end in a boss it ends in a boss fight, just not the boss fight you think. *43:41* And I think a part of it is you solve the room before you get to the room. *43:47* That's the point though. *43:54* Did you do the whole thing again? *43:56* Or did you run directly to the lock and punch in the loser code and then go get the no, did the ran and punched punch the code because they knew it all worked. *43:57* So yeah, if you play the VHS tape *44:07* When you get there, it's not changed, it's not different. *44:10* The only thing different is the board on the back of the wall where you have to throw the bomb back through. *44:14* Yeah. *44:18* So all of the tension *44:19* All of the attention is sucked out of his entire encounter. *44:22* Wandering through the barn is super linear and you're fairly well stocked at that point. *44:26* I guess the only thing you really haven't faced before is like the big fat mold monster. *44:31* But that's super easy at that point if you have the right items, your flamethrower, your grenade launcher, like you're good. *44:36* It's not a tough fight really. *44:42* And then you do the VHS tape, which has zero tension because you know the tape ends in your death, like, but there's no immediate pressure. *44:44* And then when you get back there, nothing's changed, so you just punch in the code. *44:52* Yeah. *44:57* And again, it's a n it's a hanging thread they have until the DLC I mentioned before. *44:58* So I kind of wish *45:03* It was either more puzzle-centric, as in more puzzle rooms, just kind of all connected, or it was one bigger puzzle, or you only knew part of the puzzle. *45:05* Like I just feel like they *45:16* They show their hand early in a safe way, and Lucas's entire thing has no stress. *45:18* I feel like that's part *45:25* Of why they do that though. *45:27* Like if you play through the tape, you're supposed to then have one up on him and you know and you can take advantage of that. *45:28* Like that's kind of the point at the same time. *45:34* Is that oh Ethan's already seen this and he knows how to get past this and he doesn't have to go through the same things that happened to the person before him. *45:37* Um *45:45* Uh but I get your point. *45:46* It does make it redundant and then you're just kind of going through the motions. *45:47* I think the thing about Lucas is he's one of the more interesting characters in this game as far as the events of the plot and what's actually going on. *45:50* And *45:59* His whole sequence doesn't do much to bring to light his involvement with everything that has been happening at the Baker State Baker estate and everything that's been going on with Evelyn. *46:00* His role in all of this *46:13* is pretty interesting and has some effects on the larger he has more wide-ranging effects on the larger Resident Evil universe outside of just what's happening *46:15* uh at uh at the at the farm with the the uh with the people in question, with ethan Ethan and Mia and Zoe and everybody else *46:26* Uh, but they don't really hone in on those things until the DLC and until you've learned about this stuff that I'm referring to and again a lot of the supporting *46:34* files that you'll find scattered throughout the game and you're like, Okay, wait, there's some interesting stuff going on here with Lucas, but yeah, after his whole section in the farm he just kinda runs off and that's the end of it. *46:43* And you don't really see him again until you play *46:54* the DLC with Chris. *46:57* So that's a bummer. *47:00* That's uh yeah, I I don't know if they ended up coming back later uh with the DLC and they're like, oh cool, now we can maybe do more with that or *47:01* I guess what I'm saying is I hope when this game was made, Capcom wasn't intentionally trying to keep those elements with Lucas hanging because they're like, we'll just release DLC later and do that. *47:10* And the DLC was free, so it's not like people had to buy it, so that's *47:21* Good. *47:25* It's not like they're jipping people out of money necessarily, but I would have liked to have seen more of his uh eventual *47:25* plot arcs come to fruition within this actual game rather than supporting content later on. *47:34* Yeah. *47:39* We've been talking about a lot of the characters. *47:40* Um let's touch on some of them as well. *47:42* I think this game has some of the most *47:44* I'll say I think it has one of the most iconic characters on all of Resident Evil, which is Jack. *47:49* Jack is great. *47:54* Jack is amazing. *47:55* Jack's one of the best villains in all of Resident Evil, in my opinion. *47:56* I think he is fantastic. *47:59* His voice actor is fantastic. *48:01* He sounds both his his personality of being both like *48:04* He's both creep he's creepy, but he's like laughing the entire time he's chasing you. *48:10* He's got this southern draw. *48:14* Come here, boy! *48:16* Like he he's so *48:17* He he's so frightening. *48:19* He's unlike any other character that is really in this series until he inevitably turns into a large *48:22* Ty tentacle goop monster at the very end. *48:28* With a bunch of eyeballs. *48:31* He's very unlike a lot of other villains we have seen in the Resident Evil. *48:33* franchise. *48:38* He is just this hulking tank that will not stop and will not die. *48:39* And he does not go away. *48:44* Even when you saw him in half, he comes back as tentacle boy, like I said later on. *48:45* Like it *48:50* I think this game in a lot of ways is made better by him. *48:51* Marguerite, she's fine. *48:55* She's not really in it too much, to be honest. *48:57* Uh Lucas, I kind of touched on him and my feelings on him. *49:00* And then we'll talk about Ethan here in a second, but I didn't know if you had anything. *49:03* Jack is very Jack. *49:06* Especially when he's chasing you in the house. *49:09* Like those are genuinely tense moments. *49:11* I do think there's some game design issues there. *49:14* But the actual character of Jack. *49:17* Coming in the house, leading this family, being spooky and coming around. *49:20* I I enjoy all of it. *49:26* It's really fun, great, good tension. *49:27* The fights with him *49:31* He's really crazy. *49:33* Actually, Abby sat on the couch while I did the chainsaw fight where he has like giant scissors or whatever. *49:34* And that was freaking her out. *49:40* That was a really fun, tense encounter. *49:41* With this crazy man character. *49:45* Super fun. *49:47* My Beef with Jack is the end of the game. *49:48* Where in the flashback they retroactively are like, please save my family. *49:52* I really would have just preferred they were crazy the whole time. *49:59* Like I didn't this sympathy card at the end felt really cheap and lame and I didn't care for it. *50:04* I like *50:12* Crazy Jack and Crazy Marguerite. *50:13* I didn't care for we're possessed. *50:15* Please help us. *50:19* I just I didn't like it at all. *50:20* I it actually made me a little upset. *50:23* Well, I would I would push back and say that's one of the larger through line threads of most of Resident Evil is that most of the bad guys are just normal everyday people. *50:26* Who have been taken over by I mean all the zombies, all the various members, all the core, like obviously Western is *50:36* Wesker and well like okay, obviously certain bioweapon people are very are like Mr. *50:47* X. *50:53* Mr. *50:54* Mr. *50:54* X and Tyrant and stuff and Wesker. *50:55* Like these people are inherently *50:58* evil, whatever. *51:00* But a lot of the general baseline enemies in these games. *51:02* The your your normal zombies and the *51:06* They've been taken over because of this plague that has been spread by Umbrella. *51:10* And Evelyn is a bioweapon, and she has had the ability to infect people with her gift. *51:15* as they call it. *51:22* Mm-hmm. *51:23* Um, and so they really have been taken over against their will, just like a lot of other people in this universe have. *51:23* So in that sense, I don't think it's that *51:29* out of bounds compared to what we've seen in the other games. *51:32* But I get w I get what you're saying. *51:35* It's just felt. *51:37* It uh maybe if there was more *51:39* hints dropped about it or build up to it. *51:43* It just felt super cheap. *51:46* Maybe they could have just more explained *51:48* in accompanying files or something like that. *51:51* Like what really happened to them. *51:54* And may and you could have felt sympathy for them in the same way that you feel sympathy for uh *51:56* What's the character from RE1 Remake? *52:01* Uh Lisa Trevor. *52:03* Like you have sympathy for her as a character and they really contextualize that well through *52:04* the files that you're reading and finding and and you start to realize that this is a tragic circumstance that s has befallen her and you feel bad for her. *52:09* And I think they could have done the same thing here with the Baker family rather than putting a very *52:18* To the point, I'm not that bad. *52:23* It's just my I've been taking over, and so is my wife and child. *52:25* Yeah. *52:29* Like at that family. *52:29* That's a little on the nose to put that scene in there. *52:32* I do agree with you. *52:34* But I I like the I'm not as against the idea of them being taken over against their will by *52:36* Evelyn, because it does make it tragic in the same way that Lisa Trevor's story was. *52:44* I think Evelyn is more like Lisa Trevor than *52:48* the rest of them. *52:52* Uh Evelyn's off a rocker, though. *52:54* Well, let me put it this way. *52:58* the the Evelyn that was a child, the actual child Evelyn, is a bit more tragic tragic in the sense that she has just been *53:00* in a lab her entire life and experimented with an on. *53:09* Not so much old Evelyn, which Well that is her. *53:13* That is her makes people see the child version of herself because she's gonna make people *53:16* Hallucinator, whatever. *53:22* I get all that. *53:24* But I'm saying just the the one in the flashback that is a girl on the boat. *53:25* Yeah. *53:30* That is the more Lisa Trevor like *53:31* Great reveal, by the way, of her being old and actually being the granny that was popping up around the house. *53:33* When it clicks *53:40* When you for me it clicked Did you think much about the granny throughout the game? *53:41* Like, there's another family member here. *53:45* Who is this? *53:48* Like in the beginning of the game, yes. *53:48* Because she's popping up everyone, and I'm like, oh my gosh, you're a terrifying woman. *53:51* When am I gonna fight you? *53:55* And then she leaves *53:56* Fr because you go other places and you forget about her. *53:59* Then you come back to the house and she's popping up again. *54:02* But you're used to this. *54:05* You you almost are desensitized to her as a threat, which is *54:06* Super smart on their part. *54:12* And then for me, you read the note and it's like, Evelyn's becoming old now. *54:14* And I'm like, well, she doesn't look old. *54:20* Like it didn't fully click. *54:22* It was when I came back into the basement. *54:23* It wasn't even like this flat. *54:26* It was like the oh my gosh, she is Evelyn. *54:27* Great moment, great reveal. *54:32* And it's just the right level of surprise twist. *54:34* It's not some convoluted, oh, I was secretly doing this the entire time *54:37* It's just there's Evelyn. *54:43* Like she was here the whole time as Granny. *54:45* I wonder what would happen if you like shot Granny. *54:49* I mean she wouldn't die, obviously. *54:52* But is oh the reticle would go away? *54:54* I'm not sure, yeah. *54:56* I don't think but good reveal, Evelyn is a satisfactory villain. *54:57* I think in in the context of Resident Evil, she's um you know, she's fun as a source of mold. *55:04* Making a child the villain too is something that we've *55:12* Uh there's some other games that kind of I think the closest would be from what I've played. *55:15* The closest is obviously Lisa Trevor. *55:21* She is a boss in some context. *55:23* You don't have to fight her. *55:25* You can um *55:26* You just kinda let her go. *55:28* But it's the same concept I think expanded upon fully in a game. *55:29* Because in the remake they add her *55:33* From the origin. *55:35* Like she wasn't in the original. *55:36* This is a fully fleshed out idea as a child as a villain, which is also another just horror trope feels *55:37* Almost mean, but it's like a horror thing. *55:45* Trope. *55:47* I it's the only word that really applies. *55:48* To have a kid be possessed and a villain and stuff. *55:50* And they do well with it here on their first *55:53* Attempt as a full main villain. *55:57* Mm-hmm. *55:59* Let's talk about Ethan. *56:01* I don't know if you have any strong opinions on Ethan. *56:02* Or if there's even much you have to say at all. *56:06* Because I think he just sort of is supposed to feel like he's supposed to feel like an everyman. *56:09* He's supposed to feel like you are the person who's in this situation. *56:14* Uh yeah. *56:18* People have hated on Ethan for a long time, I think, from this game. *56:20* Like, oh the game was good, but Ethan sucks. *56:23* And Village I uh does some things to change that and play around with that idea. *56:26* uh or play around with that response that fans had. *56:31* But I've never disliked Ethan. *56:34* Uh I d I he's not a silent protagonist because he's obviously talking and he's *56:37* He's great lines. *56:42* Integral to the story. *56:43* He does have very good lines. *56:44* I I think he's very pretty well written for a faceless protagonist. *56:45* And uh I don't really have anything bad to say about him as the main character of this game. *56:50* And I think it's important to recognize when this game came out, which is after Resident Evil 6, which featured *56:55* Pretty much all of the main not all, but a lot of the main characters from the Resident Evil series were in six. *57:04* They're like, okay, we've been doing different games where *57:09* Four's focused on Leon and fives focused on Chris. *57:12* What if we put one game and all of them were in it? *57:15* Yeah, that's a great idea. *57:17* And then that game sucked and no one liked it. *57:18* Uh what will we think about that game? *57:20* Find out later in the season when we play it. *57:22* Uh but that game brought a lot of them together and then it wasn't received well. *57:25* And so Capcom's like, well, we gotta go back to the drawing board and we'll just create a new character, and he's just gonna be sort of a blank slate. *57:30* I guess what I'm saying is this could have gone way worse. *57:37* than it did with him being the central role. *57:40* And I think for what they were going for, Ethan being the central protagonist actually works quite well in this game. *57:42* And it works very well in *57:50* uh looking at the larger franchise and this being a reboot of the series as well, which is still meant to touch back to the other games. *57:53* All in all, Ethan's *58:01* Solid. *58:03* He's not he's he's not amazing, but he's not he's not bad either. *58:04* But he does well in his role as the main character. *58:08* Being a first person game *58:12* And a VR game, which naturally first person, but being those, it feels important to have a *58:15* uh a a blank slate or as much of a blank slate as possible because you are being put in the shoes. *58:25* You're they're putting the gameplay on the stick, right? *58:29* Or on the headset, in your controllers, in your hands. *58:33* And so it has to be adaptable to whoever is playing the game. *58:37* But Resident Evil, from what I have played, you know, before this show and and during the production of the show. *58:43* The cast is vital to Resident Evil. *58:51* These there are characters that people love or enjoy a lot from spooky elements and stuff. *58:55* And I think the rest of the cast does a lot of lifting. *59:01* To help keep Ethan as moldable as possible. *59:05* So I like Ethan. *59:13* And I think what they do with him in village is super fun. *59:14* And you know, maybe there will be more Ethan someday, maybe. *59:18* Who knows? *59:23* I don't know. *59:24* From based off the end of eight, who knows? *59:25* But I like it. *59:27* It's a good clean slate for people to just slip right into and it's effective. *59:28* And I think that would probably really tough for them to balance in the design phase. *59:35* Yeah, I do too. *59:41* I think that was probably a really difficult element of this game. *59:42* The other thing that I think was really difficult was just making it first person in general, which was something you started to touch on. *59:45* But that's the other major feature of this game is that they do shift it to first person. *59:51* And the way we're playing this for chapter select here is different because we're s uh starting obviously with *59:54* An original game and then jump into a first person game and the first person games are not common in the series. *01:00:00* There are two of them to my knowledge. *01:00:05* Or maybe is there I don't know. *01:00:07* I'm not counting other spinoffs or anything like that. *01:00:09* There's two mainly *01:00:11* Resident Evil 4 VR is a first person game. *01:00:13* Yeah, okay. *01:00:16* Whatever. *01:00:17* It's a first person. *01:00:18* There's a there's only a couple of them. *01:00:19* Yes. *01:00:21* And this is what started it. *01:00:21* So *01:00:23* I think as a first person game, this r this game really succeeds as well. *01:00:25* Uh I think that I think that's another *01:00:29* I think it I think there is just a lot of this game on paper, I think, was a recipe for disaster. *01:00:33* Like, oh, we're coming off of uh Resident Evil 6, it didn't do well. *01:00:38* Uh *01:00:42* Let's uh go back to the first game and we'll do that again and let's change the change the genre because uh I don't think people like the shooters anymore, so we'll just completely shift the perspective to something new and we'll put a new character in the main like *01:00:43* Everything on paper with Resident Evil 7 could have blown up big time in Capcom's face. *01:00:57* And a lot of the original demos for this people were kind of maybe not critiquing, but *01:01:03* Uh there was a lot of you could tell that they were drawing a lot of inspiration from from games like Outlast and other hor first person horror games that were around that time that were releasing in the early PS4 era. *01:01:09* So it was like, okay, is this going to feel like *01:01:20* Resident Evil in first person, like are are they still going to have that Resident Evil juice in this new game, or is this just going to be Capcom trying to *01:01:23* play the like like copy things like Outlaster, uh what is the machine for pigs game? *01:01:32* What is that I that's the one I think of for some reason. *01:01:38* Amnesia. *01:01:41* Yeah, no amnesia *01:01:42* The Dark Descent. *01:01:44* Amnesia, Dark Descent, and Machine for Pixie. *01:01:45* Yes. *01:01:47* Those two games. *01:01:48* Those are other uh Eternal Darkness is the GameCube game. *01:01:48* Yes. *01:01:51* Not first person. *01:01:52* Yeah, the amnesia games were other b big uh first person horror games that were around that time that were doing really well. *01:01:54* And so I uh that was the concern coming into this is that Capcom would just try to *01:02:00* Mimic things that were popular in the survival horror space at the time that they would lose Resident Evil in the mid in the midst of that. *01:02:04* And that's totally not the case. *01:02:10* This is a first-person game, but it is also inherently a Resident Evil game. *01:02:12* The puzzles are still there. *01:02:16* All these things we have written down, the puzzles are still there. *01:02:18* The inventory system is still similar to the previous games. *01:02:20* Uh the way you are getting around this world, you gotta you're oh I found a scorpion key. *01:02:24* I can now open scop scorpion doors. *01:02:29* Like all these main *01:02:31* uh things that are synonymous with Resident Evil and have been for decades are still present in this game. *01:02:34* And it even though the perspective has shifted, doesn't feel like the formula has been lost, which is great. *01:02:39* I love that personally. *01:02:46* Being the first Resident Evil game I ever played, this is kind of I'm almost approaching this backward. *01:02:48* Like this is Resident Evil to me. *01:02:54* And I see it's funny, this happened to me as well with Zelda. *01:02:56* My first 3D Zelda game was Wind Waker, and then I go back and play Ocarina of Time. *01:03:00* I'm like, look, they took the Wind Waker chest animation and put it in Ocarina. *01:03:04* Oh *01:03:08* So playing Resident Evil 7 first, I'm go I in the games I've gone back to, it's like, oh, this is where it comes from, or this is how these systems come from. *01:03:10* So yeah, to me, this will always be Resident Evil on some level. *01:03:18* There are some first person things though that I think they don't get right. *01:03:23* Do you not like the shadow puzzles? *01:03:28* Shadow puzzles are fine. *01:03:31* There's like two of them. *01:03:33* The puzzles in this game are a separate thing, but first person, doors. *01:03:36* The door stuff in this game is janky. *01:03:43* There are times where you're pushing on the door, and it's like, are you caught on the door frame or not? *01:03:45* Like they didn't get the doors quite right. *01:03:51* At least uh playing with a controller and not VR. *01:03:53* Doors, a little jank. *01:03:57* Sometimes you don't know if the door is locked or not. *01:03:58* The map isn't indicating it, so you don't know if you're just pushing it wrong. *01:04:00* You definitely get stuck on things in this game that are not super great. *01:04:04* So not necessarily a fan of that. *01:04:10* I think *01:04:14* It's kind of my biggest first person. *01:04:16* The rest of it's more just scenario and level design. *01:04:18* But the the door thing really kind of upset me at a lot of points. *01:04:21* Well what do you have to say about those elements? *01:04:25* You said scenario and level design? *01:04:28* I think they do too many singular paths or approaches and then they box you in and you can't get pat like *01:04:31* In the basement or something, you a mold man will drop down from the ceiling and you there's mold men behind you, so you're you're boxed. *01:04:43* And you don't have any ammo, and it's like, well, you could run past them, but they take up the whole hallway. *01:04:51* And kind of like the doors, you can't really squeeze past them. *01:04:57* You gotta like shoot 'em to stun them to run around. *01:05:00* It feels *01:05:03* more janky than in say Resident Evil 1 where you could shoot a zombie and then run around it. *01:05:05* Like you running around a zombie in third person is easier than running past a mold man in first person *01:05:11* And not, I don't think because of challenge, I think because of some level design and just perspective and things. *01:05:18* So I felt trapped *01:05:24* more than I think I should have, and not from a this is hard or a challenge, but more I'm stuck on the wall and I'm a I'm be I can't get past it. *01:05:27* So I definitely died to that more than once. *01:05:37* Cause you you even text me one time *01:05:39* You don't have to waste your ammo, you can just run past them. *01:05:41* It's like, I can't run past them if they take up the whole hallway. *01:05:43* And there's no room to squeeze. *01:05:47* There are times I did that. *01:05:50* It's somebody who played on Madhouse, I'll tell you right now. *01:05:51* I had to do that more than once. *01:05:54* I believe it. *01:05:57* And it just to me it felt crammed in an unfair way. *01:05:58* That doesn't mean it's not hard or difficult or *01:06:02* Yeah. *01:06:05* It's just it's just difficult, I think it is. *01:06:06* You're presented with a hard choice. *01:06:08* I don't think I guess to push back on what you're saying, if they made the hallways bigger or it was less cumbersome, then *01:06:11* That's an easy game and you're supposed to feel a little stressed when you're trying to get down a singular corridor and there's a and there's a villain in front of you and you don't have enough ammo. *01:06:16* Like that's the survival horror. *01:06:25* But yeah, that that's the survival horror aspect of it. *01:06:27* There's no way out. *01:06:31* There you you're put in unfair scenarios, I think. *01:06:32* Because it's not like you can turn around and go the long way around. *01:06:35* I mean, you can in some scenarios, but there's also just *01:06:39* There's enemies on both sides. *01:06:43* You're stuck in the hallway. *01:06:44* You have no ammo and it's not like you can't run past them. *01:06:45* You physically cannot. *01:06:50* And it's n *01:06:51* In other games you could try and run and avoid being grabbed, or you know, sometimes enemies would still grab you. *01:06:52* It's just it felt unfair at times, or Jack would be in the hallway and like *01:06:59* The only way to get from the save room to the main corridor is down the one hallway and he's just camping down there at the end. *01:07:04* It's like *01:07:11* What am I supposed to do here? *01:07:12* Lure him out and then he maybe goes and wander somewhere else? *01:07:14* There just felt some like one hallway scenarios *01:07:18* It's why the good lord gave you a block button that you press the L. *01:07:21* Can we talk about that? *01:07:25* We can, because it's I I'll tell you right now, I don't know if you have anything to say about it. *01:07:27* It is vital in Madhouse. *01:07:31* That became my best friend. *01:07:34* Blocking became my best friend. *01:07:36* It never worked for me. *01:07:38* Like you're never going to totally *01:07:40* Uh I should say when I played Madhouse, I had one of the defense books on me, which is a bonus item you get for beating the game once, and if you block, it does reduce your damage a little bit more when you block. *01:07:43* So that was one boost I did have while playing Madhouse. *01:07:54* That being said, everybody hits like a tank in Madhouse, so but still blocking became very integral in my playthrough that I did. *01:07:57* It has to be, I would think, on Vital, but I'm telling you, man *01:08:04* Again, maybe I'm just terrible at blocking or whatever, but I'd hit the thing and then I'd be like stabbed or thrown around or pushed back onto the ground. *01:08:07* Like, what is this doing? *01:08:16* How it Are you trying were you trying to time it as like a butt? *01:08:17* Okay. *01:08:22* Yeah. *01:08:22* But I just felt like I was still getting my teeth kicked in and not like my health's going down, like thrown around like I couldn't do it. *01:08:23* Yeah, you still get you you still get messed up, you just don't take as much damage, I think, as a result. *01:08:29* But they can still smack you around. *01:08:34* Didn't feel very effective. *01:08:36* I was not a fan of it. *01:08:38* Um didn't really use it because it felt yeah, I think it just mainly diminishes the damage you *01:08:39* Receive, but they can still have an impact on your character model. *01:08:46* I think we've touched on a lot of things here. *01:08:50* I don't uh we wrote down some other things. *01:08:51* I didn't know if you had anything to say about the inventory system. *01:08:53* It feels very similar to the other games. *01:08:56* I like how you can inspect the items a little bit more closely in this game compared to some of the others. *01:08:57* To me it is interesting it feels like a *01:09:03* half step between older Resident Evil games and Resident Evil 4, you're not really managing the rotation of the items. *01:09:08* They auto rotate. *01:09:16* And really the only thing is is your quick equipped items or your shortcuts or whatever go vertical and everything else is horizontal. *01:09:18* So there's a little bit of a little bit of space managing, but not a ton. *01:09:28* Yeah. *01:09:32* So you didn't have to think about it necessarily too much. *01:09:33* Um it never got to the point I felt in Resident Evil One remake where it was unfair. *01:09:36* I put things away. *01:09:43* There's plenty of boxes. *01:09:45* So it felt good. *01:09:47* It was a decent system. *01:09:48* The crafting was um slightly interesting. *01:09:50* I never really did anything with the psycho-stimulant stuff. *01:09:54* So that's not like an unnecessary part of crafting, but you know, then there's different ammo or are levels of chem fluid. *01:09:57* So it was good. *01:10:04* Wasn't *01:10:06* The best, but it was it was good for the type of game we were dealing with here. *01:10:07* I actually really like the weapons in this game because I think there's enough of them, but not so many that it's overload. *01:10:11* at the same time. *01:10:19* Like there's about off the top of my head there's like there's like six to seven items I feel like in the game. *01:10:20* Like two shotguns, a grenade launcher. *01:10:25* And then you're counting are you counting the Magnum as a pistol, I assume? *01:10:28* Yeah, the one in the cage. *01:10:32* I didn't get it, but *01:10:34* Oh, it's a beast. *01:10:36* That's what it says. *01:10:38* And then there's two other pistols and the flamethrower. *01:10:39* So seven and then bombs and a machine gun by the end. *01:10:42* Yeah, you get a machine gun, I guess, for the end. *01:10:45* And then you can get some other weapons in the secondary runs if you complete certain things. *01:10:48* Like the gun you pick up at the end to kill Evelyn. *01:10:54* If you beat the game, you can get that gun and run around the house and blast everybody with it, which I did. *01:10:57* I had in my run. *01:11:03* It's called the Albert. *01:11:04* Um, it's pretty great, but even that was not good enough to kill everybody in Madhouse. *01:11:06* Madhouse was *01:11:13* Rough. *01:11:14* I know a lot of people just to talk a little bit about my Madhouse run real quick. *01:11:15* Uh we don't have to spend too much time on this because I know you didn't play in this mode. *01:11:19* So Madhouse changes certain factors of the game. *01:11:23* Like for instance *01:11:26* In your own playthrough, after you fight Jack in the garage, he sh doesn't show back up for you until you go in the bathroom and drain the bathtub, right? *01:11:27* Mm-hmm. *01:11:37* Yeah, he shows up right away for me. *01:11:38* The second I get back out in the main house. *01:11:40* He's running around, ready to go *01:11:42* So I don't like that. *01:11:44* No, thank you, sir. *01:11:46* You're speaking in. *01:11:47* Stay away. *01:11:49* But other thing the in conjunction with that though, the scorpion key, rather than putting the scorpion key down, uh *01:11:50* In the basement on the body, do you remember when it on that location when I'm referring to? *01:11:58* I believe so, yes. *01:12:05* Because you have to go because in the easy mode what you have to do is you have to go out to the bathtub, get the uh *01:12:06* I think the big um shadow door thing. *01:12:13* Open the shadow door, go back through that back way, and then you go through the back hallway, and then you can go into the basement. *01:12:16* And then in the basement there's the scorpion key, and then that lets you get back out into the main area. *01:12:21* Anyway. *01:12:25* In Madhouse, the scorpion key is in the middle of the room, and it's in one of the bird cages, so you have to put three antique coins in it. *01:12:27* in order to unlock it. *01:12:35* But however, there are 30 antique coins in Madhouse rather than 18. *01:12:37* There's like 33, I think. *01:12:41* So there's more coins in the in Madhouse mode. *01:12:43* But you have to use those coins to get the scorpion key. *01:12:46* So basically what I did was I went out in the main hallway, opened the scorpion key right away. *01:12:49* The second you open the cage, Jack busts into the room. *01:12:54* You have to go open the scorpion key door, get out of there. *01:12:57* And then you can go downstairs and try to do the chainsaw fight with him right away. *01:13:01* And that's basically what I had to do because I couldn't run around any of the house because he was just *01:13:05* Going to be there ready for the k yes, he was a huge threat. *01:13:10* So I in my own playthrough I went to the base and I was like, alright, let's square up and fight now so we could get this done with. *01:13:14* It was the first thing I did, is just tried to kill him to get him out of the way. *01:13:20* Um so that's I mean th there's like little differences like that throughout the game and then obviously the y everybody hits way harder, everybody takes way m more hits. *01:13:24* It's really really difficult, but it's a really very fun way to play the game. *01:13:34* Also saves are limited as well. *01:13:38* So I had uh cassette tapes. *01:13:40* You can only save it to cassette tape players. *01:13:43* If you have cassette tapes on hand similar to the ink ribbons. *01:13:46* So uh I still ended the game. *01:13:50* I was saving pretty frequently, and I still had probably I want to say like five cassettes. *01:13:52* by the end of the game. *01:13:59* So I never I you're s you're stressed because you don't know when you're gonna get more of them, so you don't want to save too much. *01:14:00* And I felt like I was saving a a little more than I needed to at times. *01:14:07* And there was still always *01:14:11* more for me to find. *01:14:14* So I I never I never actually hit zero cassette tapes and I was like, I don't know when I will be able to save again. *01:14:15* Um but yeah. *01:14:21* It it's a fun mode to play on. *01:14:23* I definitely recommend it and it gave me a lot of those *01:14:25* OG Resident Evil vibes, especially with the saving methodology and stuff like that. *01:14:28* It's fun. *01:14:34* I think if we weren't playing so many of these games like we weren't playing them all back to back to back *01:14:36* I would've I would have jumped into a madhouse. *01:14:41* This had a similar feeling to me as I did with Resident Evil 3, actually earlier this year when I played that on my own volition, and I just kept playing that game and uh got the platinum in it. *01:14:43* And I think if I was playing this of my own volition here in twenty twenty two, by the end of the game I felt like I want to do this, like I'll go for the platinum in this. *01:14:54* You know, two more playthroughs. *01:15:04* I got this. *01:15:05* You can do two more. *01:15:06* Yeah. *01:15:07* So *01:15:07* That's an enticing hook. *01:15:09* And there's always that the thrill of the challenge. *01:15:11* I who would I have gotten through Madhouse? *01:15:13* I don't know. *01:15:16* I would have followed of guide, of course. *01:15:16* But *01:15:19* It's definitely an enticing game. *01:15:20* There's that loop that you still want to go back. *01:15:21* I think you could have got through it. *01:15:24* I w I would have coached you through what to do. *01:15:26* I would have told you to go do your *01:15:28* uh under four hour speed run because if you do that then you get a uh spinning saw of some sort and that thing is a monster in Madhouse you can basically one-hit everything *01:15:30* It's kind of like having a handheld chainsaw. *01:15:44* It's like having a rocket launcher in RE3. *01:15:46* Yeah. *01:15:48* Yeah, you can basically the boss fight with Jack in the basement, you don't even need to get the actual chainsaw. *01:15:48* You can just take the one you've got to his head and it kills him right away. *01:15:54* It's pretty great. *01:15:57* That's pretty cool. *01:15:58* That's pretty awesome. *01:15:58* So, but you need to you need to beat the game in under four hours first. *01:16:00* So if you did want to platinum it, go do your speed run. *01:16:03* Don't heal, play on easy mode. *01:16:06* That's not that hard either. *01:16:08* That's very simple. *01:16:09* I beat that entire my easy mode speedrun without using any healing items. *01:16:11* Gotta be a good gamer. *01:16:17* Couple other things I want to touch on here and then maybe we'll start looking to wrap up. *01:16:18* I do want to talk a little bit more about the boss fights and also let's talk about enemy variety because let's talk about that at first because I feel like *01:16:22* There is none. *01:16:30* It's mold boys and crawling mold boys and then some fat mold boys. *01:16:32* And that's all you got. *01:16:37* And that's probably one of the weaker elements of the game, for sure. *01:16:39* Don't forget the worst villain uh enemy in the game. *01:16:43* the bees, wasp, whatever. *01:16:49* Oh yeah. *01:16:51* Those are atrocious. *01:16:53* You cannot kill them without taking out the hive. *01:16:56* They just never stop hitting you. *01:17:00* They block key paths, especially when she shows up, Marguerite does. *01:17:03* Screw the bugs. *01:17:10* Screw them. *01:17:12* They're terrible. *01:17:13* I do not like the bugs. *01:17:15* I don't like her being the bug lady. *01:17:16* I don't like the bugs stabbing you. *01:17:18* Especially on my madhouse run. *01:17:19* That was not fun. *01:17:21* That takes like half your health right there *01:17:22* Um yeah, there's just not a lot there. *01:17:24* You get tired of killing them old people by the end of the game. *01:17:27* Bosses, on the other hand, I think are *01:17:30* Pretty fun. *01:17:33* Uh Jack I think is uh obviously the the garage fight's great. *01:17:35* Uh the fight against Mia early in the game when she's got the chainsaws pretty intense too because you still don't know really what's going on. *01:17:39* You just got your hand chopped off. *01:17:45* I know that's a little bit more of a smaller engagement, but there's a lot of high stakes in that moment. *01:17:47* The game really comes out of the gates. *01:17:52* in a very strong manner, I believe, with that whole sequence where you're like, Oh my gosh, I found my wife. *01:17:55* Yay, we can get out of here. *01:18:00* Oh no, I have to kill my wife with an axe now. *01:18:01* Ah like *01:18:05* It it really comes out of the gate in an awesome, awesome way. *01:18:07* The first 20 to 30 minutes of the game are they set the tone quite well. *01:18:11* But Jack's gr all of Jack's fights are great, except maybe for the one where you gotta shoot his eyeballs and he's a big tentacle dude. *01:18:16* The Marguerite fight's fun, I think. *01:18:23* I mentioned before, but the final F fight with Evelyn is not *01:18:25* It's probably the worst one in the game. *01:18:29* There's really you just shoot her face with all the ammo you have left that you've stocked up on you and it's a good idea. *01:18:30* I looked up a guide. *01:18:37* I looked up a guide for that fight. *01:18:38* Um *01:18:40* to trigger that fight because she's in the attic screaming. *01:18:40* Uh-huh. *01:18:44* And I'm blocking 'cause the game is prompting you to block and I'm trying to walk and it just keeps pushing me all the way back. *01:18:45* Apparently you have to run there. *01:18:52* It did not occur to me. *01:18:55* It didn't it was not anyway, again an example of blocking being bad, um, even when they tell you to do it. *01:18:56* So the but the the polygon guide that I the first result came off *01:19:04* the sections for that fight was shoot her face. *01:19:09* Periods. *01:19:14* Great guide writing by the way. *01:19:14* I loved it. *01:19:16* I was like this bravo. *01:19:16* Great guide writing. *01:19:18* Yeah, the final Evelyn fight, even on Madhouse, like I did not die to it. *01:19:20* I died, like you said, when running towards her because her little blast she does in child form can one-hit you. *01:19:24* Um luckily there was a *01:19:29* There was a uh checkpoint right next to that, so that wasn't even a big deal for me. *01:19:32* But yeah, it's just shoot her in the face a whole bunch, and then Chris will toss you a gun, and then you shoot her in the face some more, and that's all there is to it *01:19:36* The Marguerite fight I think is very fun because it is in that greenhouse and she's running around and you don't know where she's at and she's pu *01:19:43* popping out the windows and she's popping out the ceiling. *01:19:51* I like that she's spying on you and you're trying to scan every aspect of the environment to try to figure out where she is at and you keep hearing sounds *01:19:54* I don't know. *01:20:04* Sounds like you moved throughout the house in that fight. *01:20:05* Sounds like I played it on Madhouse and I had to, so yes. *01:20:09* I just sat in the corner. *01:20:14* Yeah. *01:20:17* And she just eventually would come and I would shoot her. *01:20:18* I didn't. *01:20:21* Um I did die toward the very end. *01:20:23* It kinda I wish there was a better indication *01:20:26* for the status of bosses, their health or current condition. *01:20:31* Um there are clear, like, phase triggers where they do some animation they haven't done before and you're like, ah, I know I'm in the next phase. *01:20:37* But *01:20:45* Each boss doesn't have a clear indication of how far along you are. *01:20:46* And so I'm a little I wish there was something more with that, but *01:20:51* We'll see how it goes. *01:20:57* Yeah, uh the blood on the screen is something that got really annoying to me with that as well, because *01:20:59* I immediately went to the options and toggled it down to as little blood that can appear on the screen as possible is what I want to see. *01:21:07* I didn't know you could do that. *01:21:13* Oh, I should have, because that was annoying. *01:21:14* It makes it that much harder to know when you are dying, I guess, but it's less annoying than having your screen shrouded in blood constantly. *01:21:17* And again. *01:21:26* Because I was playing on Madhouse, there were some sequences where I was trying not to heal and I was trying to see how long I could last before I had to heal. *01:21:27* So I immediately went in there and *01:21:36* Uh you can't toggle off the blood on the screen all the way, but you can dial it back just a little bit, I believe. *01:21:39* Yeah, I don't know. *01:21:45* All in all, I think most of the boss fights are good. *01:21:46* And then there's not too many of them as well. *01:21:48* I like that *01:21:51* Again, as we said before, every everything that's great on that front, I I do believe centers around Jack. *01:21:52* Whether it's the fight in the garage, fight in the basement with the dueling chainsaws, or even *01:21:58* He I mean he's not really a boss when he's running around the house, but he m he might as well be. *01:22:03* You can't kill him. *01:22:08* You can just kinda knock him down and put him out of commission for a couple minutes and that's all you can do. *01:22:09* Did you do that by chance? *01:22:14* Did you ever try to fight him in the actual house? *01:22:15* No, just ran away. *01:22:18* Okay. *01:22:21* So everything every all the great boss fights I believe involve him, but I wanted to talk about *01:22:22* music and sound design real quick and then we'll get into some wrap-up stuff. *01:22:29* Because very much like Resident Evil 1, like we talked about, I I think this game's soundtrack is quite good. *01:22:34* And I think *01:22:41* The sound design is immaculate. *01:22:43* And especially in VR. *01:22:45* That's why I can't play this game in VR. *01:22:46* Is because it's one thing having it strapped to my face. *01:22:48* It's another thing having *01:22:53* all the sounds of this creepy manor. *01:22:56* Like i it's so the way they do the sound is so good and you can hear Jack stomping around in the same way that you can hear Mr. *01:23:01* X stomping around at the police station, Resident Evil Two. *01:23:07* All the creaks, uh all the noises of the house settling, all the different just i there's so much going on. *01:23:11* The sound design in this game is *01:23:16* truly, truly immaculate. *01:23:19* And it's one of the things that I think is so good throughout the entire series. *01:23:20* And I'm sure I will praise this with a lot of the different games, but I I I think *01:23:23* Of the ones that I have played and do remember playing, I I I think Resident Evil 7 might be one of the best of the bunch in this manner. *01:23:28* I *01:23:36* I've played most of this game with headphones on because I was playing early in the morning and I couldn't really have it on my speakers. *01:23:38* So I really did get to s kind of immerse myself in the 3D sound. *01:23:47* That helps a lot, like with what you said with Jack or where enemies are placement-wise. *01:23:51* So that was uh actually a quite useful tool. *01:23:57* But it is super spooky. *01:24:01* The sound design is is great, the horror design I think. *01:24:03* But the rest of the soundtrack I really couldn't speak to it outside of the save room. *01:24:08* I I don't uh and the opening. *01:24:11* The menu music's great *01:24:13* Um I honestly don't remember it. *01:24:15* I remember the song that starts when you boot the game because it comes in and just like go talent *01:24:18* And I'm like, oh my gosh, get me out of this menu. *01:24:26* So uh the the save room reminds me a little bit of uh The Last of Us. *01:24:29* It has like that weird out-of-tune twang strum. *01:24:35* Like *01:24:39* feels a little bit inspired by that or or No Country for Old Men which inspired the last of us so that was a little interesting I couldn't tell you a single song for the rest of the game. *01:24:40* So *01:24:50* Yeah, I mean a save room the same room the save room music is always what's at the forefront and there's not a lot of other *01:24:52* Most of the game is that. *01:25:00* Like the presence of music in this game is meant to be uh is meant to soothe you more often than not *01:25:01* Yeah. *01:25:09* But there are still a lot of a lot of it is sound design based, to which I still yeah, like I said, it's very good. *01:25:09* I I I *01:25:17* I c I cannot imagine playing this game with headphones on like you did. *01:25:18* That would have bothered me quite a bit. *01:25:22* I just can't do that. *01:25:25* It it it *01:25:25* That was when I originally played this game I did play in VR for probably the first two or three hours and I just couldn't do it after a bit. *01:25:27* I it was just too much. *01:25:35* I didn't want to walk down any hallway 'cause I heard noises and creaks and *01:25:37* things crawling around and scurrying about and nope no thank you. *01:25:41* It's it's wor it's worse. *01:25:45* Your mind makes it worse *01:25:48* the things you can't see compared to those that you can. *01:25:50* Like when a mold person actually does drop in front of you, you're like, ah, okay, I'll shoot it. *01:25:52* Like it's not that scary facing off with an actual enemy once they show themselves. *01:25:56* It's more horrifying not knowing what is around the next corner. *01:26:01* Yeah. *01:26:04* Um and yeah, these games have always done a great job of that. *01:26:05* Let's talk about the legacy of this game and begin wrapping up here because I think that it's there's a lot of *01:26:09* things this is something we always do throughout chapter select is talk about the legacy of whatever game or movie or piece of media that we are talking about in that given episode. *01:26:15* The legacy is a through line topic in this show. *01:26:27* With this one though, I I I feel like our discussion is going to be much different. *01:26:30* And it's going to be because of some of the things we've touched on in the past. *01:26:33* And maybe one thing we've not touched upon. *01:26:37* Um so abruptly is the Resident Evil engine, the RE engine that this game is built on. *01:26:40* We mentioned it kind of offhand, or at least I did, uh but this engine has gone on to really be *01:26:46* I mean Capcom has built everything around this engine in recent years. *01:26:54* This went on to be the engine obviously in the sequel with Resident Evil Village, but it's the same engine in *01:26:57* The Resident Evil 2 remake, the Resident Evil 3 remake, it's gonna be the same engine in the RE4 remake. *01:27:03* It's the engine is this the engine in Street Fighter VI by chance? *01:27:08* It is. *01:27:12* It's the engine for Street Fighter VI, Devil May Cry, Dragon's Dogma. *01:27:13* Yep. *01:27:18* It it has become *01:27:18* Capcom's main engine. *01:27:22* And I think like this is actually a story I want to write for my blog. *01:27:24* Um, and it may be up by the time this episode's out, because this is months from now. *01:27:30* But *01:27:34* RE Engine is one of, if not the most flexible proprietary game engine out right now. *01:27:35* It is across all major platforms from the PS5 and Xbox Series X PC down to the Switch. *01:27:44* It's *01:27:53* uh coming to Apple Silicon, you know, which is a big deal for from a game perspective. *01:27:54* So it's coming to Apple's *01:27:59* proprietary chips there so theoretically it can then be applied to phones and iPads and stuff. *01:28:02* It's a VR engine. *01:28:08* It's got the frame rates, the ray tracing. *01:28:10* Action, horror, fighting, strategy, like it is so wildly flexible across their entire line. *01:28:14* It's honestly *01:28:23* I think a technical marvel, and it all started here with Resident Evil 7. *01:28:25* Yeah, this engine is more important than this game. *01:28:30* And this game is important in its own way and we can *01:28:33* Can touch on that more in a second, but yeah, like here's everything. *01:28:36* I mean, we'll just run down the full gamut of everything that this engine has done since it first appeared in Resident Evil 7. *01:28:39* It's gone to do Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 3, Monster Hunter Rise, Monster Hunter uh sorry, Monster Hunter Rise, Resident Evil Village *01:28:44* Resident Evil 4 remake, it's going to be in Exoprimal, that new dinosaur shooting game they've got coming out. *01:28:53* It's going to be in Pragmata, which is an upcoming game we still don't know much about. *01:28:58* Uh Street Fighter 6 and then yeah, Dragon's Dogma. *01:29:01* You didn't mention Ghost and Goblins Resurrection. *01:29:04* I did not mention Ghosts and Goblins Resurrection because I don't think most people even knew that game exists. *01:29:08* But yeah, it was that too. *01:29:14* Yeah, I mean it's 2D, VR, 3D, Switch, PC. *01:29:15* It *01:29:21* Uh crazy cool engine that just has EA EA wishes Frostbite was like this, which is the engine they pushed on people for so long. *01:29:22* Like Mass Effect, you have to use Frostbite. *01:29:30* Battlefield, you gotta use Frostbite. *01:29:32* FIFA, you got using Frostbite, Anthem, yeah. *01:29:34* They pushed their engine on everybody and their devs who were like, no, we do not want this. *01:29:38* Everybody at Capcom is using this engine happily because it is clearly very good. *01:29:41* Um, and I think in a lot of ways that is this game's legacy is and yes, there's a second element to it here, which we're going to we'll bring up here in a second, but this engine *01:29:46* Is more important than this game because this engine has led to a Capcom Renaissance and much of that renaissance has come about because of Resident Evil. *01:29:59* Like you can't under *01:30:07* Undersell the success of the Resident Evil franchise since this game came out. *01:30:09* But that engine, I mean Devil May Cry 5 was a huge hit. *01:30:14* Monster Rut Hunter Rise on Switch is a huge hit. *01:30:18* Exoprimal, I don't know about. *01:30:22* Neither same for Pragmata, but like Street Fighter VI looks great based on everything we've seen so far. *01:30:24* Dragon's Dogma 2, people are jazzed about that game. *01:30:29* I mean, everything they've released with this engine has gone on to be a pretty major hit. *01:30:33* The only thing that they have released within recent years that was not built on this engine would be Monster Hunter World, I believe. *01:30:37* That was. *01:30:45* One of the only major games they've released within the past couple years that wasn't built off the back of this engine. *01:30:47* And I would bet the next major Monster Hunter game is off this. *01:30:52* Yeah, but the next major Monster Hunter game could very well be RE Engine. *01:30:57* Um because again, like they did it for the Switch version the Switch iteration of *01:31:01* That with Monster Hunter Rise, which is very similar to the PS4 and Xbox One game that was so popular a couple years ago. *01:31:06* So that's one element of this game's legacy. *01:31:14* The other element of the game's legacy is *01:31:17* We talked about it before, but not only did this game kind of save Capcom, uh, but it really saved Resident Evil. *01:31:20* Um Resident Evil was *01:31:27* I mean Resident Evil had not been around for I mean how long uh when did Resident Evil 6 come out? *01:31:30* It came out in 2012. *01:31:37* So Resident Evil had been dormant for five years by the time that this game came out. *01:31:39* Now we can't even go 18 months without a new Resident Evil game, if that. *01:31:46* Uh because since Resident Evil 7 release, I mean that was 2017 since then 2019 Resident Evil 2, 2020 *01:31:51* Resident Evil 3. *01:31:58* 2021 Village. *01:32:00* We're skipping a year here in 2022, which is when we're recording this. *01:32:02* Resident Evil 4 remake though is going to kick off early next year. *01:32:06* And then *01:32:09* And there's the DLC for eight, which is this year. *01:32:10* Uh no, it's not. *01:32:13* That is this year, yeah, yeah, yeah. *01:32:13* No, they have done they have done things. *01:32:15* I mean they're adding new content to Village, new DLC, new *01:32:17* Game modes with the third person mode, Riverse is finally coming out. *01:32:21* So like we're getting new Resident Evil stuff every year. *01:32:26* And so *01:32:29* And it's good Resident Evil stuff. *01:32:31* Yes. *01:32:33* Consistent quality. *01:32:34* Yes. *01:32:35* Yes. *01:32:36* This is not Assassin's Creed getting annualized type levels of derivativeness. *01:32:37* At least not yet. *01:32:42* Please God, don't let it come to that. *01:32:43* But yeah, it's all been high quality stuff. *01:32:45* It really saved the series in a lot of ways. *01:32:47* Um and I think that's owed to this game. *01:32:52* If this game had come out, and like I said before, it was really a recipe for *01:32:55* I don't want to say it was a recipe for disaster exactly. *01:33:00* There there are some clear things that could have gone wrong with this game, though. *01:33:02* A lot of risks were being taken with the design, the approach. *01:33:07* The reveals of this game, like it wasn't initially revealed as Resident Evil 7. *01:33:13* There was, you know, teases and different things like that, but *01:33:17* Clearly they went they tried a lot of new things at once where I think other developers with such storied franchises would not necessarily *01:33:20* Do so much new at once. *01:33:30* This was make or break to a certain degree. *01:33:33* And it made *01:33:36* Yeah, it broke in their favor and it really saved the series. *01:33:39* And I I think Resident Evil would have always been relevant because those original games are still so popular. *01:33:42* So even if this didn't turn out well, and let's say they feasibly still go on to do the same thing, which is *01:33:46* Remake two and remake th three, then I think those games would have been, you know fans would have still latched on to those games because Resident Evil Two and Resident Evil Three and those uh original three first three or four Resident Evil games still have so much *01:33:52* love behind them from the fans. *01:34:05* But this game really showed that the series could evolve and become something new moving forward. *01:34:07* And even as we're recording this, like obviously Village has been out and we'll do a *01:34:12* uh an episode about village later in the season, but I mean we're gonna get a ninth mainline Resident Evil game at some point and I like a couple years ago it didn't even seem like seven was feasible because that's just how *01:34:16* bad six was and how much six flopped and now it just seems like we're going to keep getting new mainline Resident Evil games for the very *01:34:29* Like i I I I don't know. *01:34:39* Like they would have to start they would have to put out a couple flops in a row for them to really start rethinking their plans for this franchise. *01:34:40* Like th this is very much going to be a consistent thing that Capcom puts out every two or three years as a new one of these games. *01:34:47* Um, and a lot of that is owed to this game. *01:34:53* Absolutely. *01:34:57* This really might be, I don't want to say the most important, but it's probably one of the top five most important games Capcom's ever released. *01:34:57* just because of what it has done for that company. *01:35:05* It has introduced a technological renaissance in the company and revived their one of, if not their most important IP *01:35:08* Yeah, I I really think you cannot undersell this game's importance. *01:35:19* Specifically to Capcom *01:35:24* Yes. *01:35:26* And for fans like myself who grew up playing all of these games and liked them all and then was disappointed by six. *01:35:27* So *01:35:33* And I think that wraps it up for Resident Evil 7. *01:35:35* Thank you so much for listening. *01:35:37* If you would like to follow the show, you can do so right in your podcast player. *01:35:38* Wherever you listen, that would be super helpful. *01:35:43* And you can also follow the show on Twitter at chapter select. *01:35:45* You can follow Logan on Twitter at Moreman12 and his writing over at comicbook. *01:35:48* com. *01:35:53* You can follow myself on Twitter at maxrobets143 and my writing over at maxfrequency. *01:35:53* net. *01:36:00* And until next time. *01:36:00* Adios. *01:36:03* Chapter Select is a max frequency production. *01:36:04* This episode was researched, produced, and edited by me, Max Roberts. *01:36:07* Season 5 is hosted by Logan Moore and myself. *01:36:11* Season 5 is all about Resident Evil. *01:36:15* For more on this season, go to chapterselect. *01:36:18* com forward slash season 5. *01:36:20* Follow the show at Chapter Select and check out previous seasons at chapterselect. *01:36:23* com. *01:36:28* Alright, let's pull up, just keep keep it rolling. *01:36:29* Because there's actually one more thing I want to talk to you about. *01:36:32* Combat Resident Evil 7. *01:36:36* That didn't come up and I didn't know how to fit it in there without keeping rolling because it took it just didn't feel right to force it in. *01:36:39* We never talked about umbrella. *01:36:48* No, we didn't. *01:36:51* Well uh Umbrella is in the game only really at the end. *01:36:54* There are a couple of things that feel very umbrella-y. *01:36:58* Where especially when you get the arm and then your watch goes target acquired. *01:37:02* Like that's a really good what's going on kind of vibe. *01:37:07* But the way this ties into the rest of the resident evil world feels so *01:37:12* disconnected and I think it's intentional because again it's a reboot we just talked about it but what it as the Resident Evil you know fan here *01:37:20* What do you feel about? *01:37:29* Because it like an eight, there are umbrella icons everywhere. *01:37:30* Like umbrella has a bit more of a heavy presence in eight. *01:37:33* Yeah. *01:37:36* Here it is solely by *01:37:37* The lab at the end and and they don't even say umbrella in there. *01:37:40* And then the helicopter. *01:37:44* Oh, then umbrella, yeah, then you got the blue umbrella stuff with Chris showing up. *01:37:45* Uh and we didn't talk about Chris really showing up, but I don't think that's really *01:37:49* I mean, especially since we didn't play the DLC, I think that's where that stuff kind of gets touched on a little bit more with Chris and his secret agent boys. *01:37:54* Yeah, I don't know. *01:38:03* I don't really I I I don't think I didn't bring up anything related to Umbrella because I just don't think they're all that intimate. *01:38:03* It just seems such like they're s obviously so essential to Resident Evil as a whole. *01:38:10* They are. *01:38:14* I think the restraint shown here. *01:38:14* Is strong. *01:38:19* It is. *01:38:21* Because they could have just come back and like, how do we want to reboot it? *01:38:21* Well, uh let's just make it where Umbrella did something else bad again. *01:38:24* And it's a good thing. *01:38:28* Kind of, but I don't even know if Evelyn stems from Umbrella. *01:38:30* Oh to my knowledge. *01:38:36* Seems like it. *01:38:38* Let me see. *01:38:40* Um the Yeah, she was uh conducted by the connections. *01:38:43* She was made by Miranda. *01:38:53* So that's her connection. *01:38:55* Who is the Oh she's made by the Vamp? *01:38:57* No, yes. *01:39:00* She was developed by the Connections, which is the Connections. *01:39:02* It's another group. *01:39:07* Are they owned by Umbrella? *01:39:09* Sort of, yeah. *01:39:13* There's a crime syndicate founded by Brandon Bailey *01:39:14* Yeah, this stuff is fleshed out more in village. *01:39:19* That's kinda why I didn't bring it up. *01:39:22* Okay. *01:39:24* Who's Miranda again? *01:39:25* Oh, she's like the crow lady. *01:39:26* Some of this some of this stuff is fleshed out in like the Revelations games too, I think. *01:39:28* Because that's where the mold stuff stems from. *01:39:32* Mold. *01:39:35* Mold is disgusting. *01:39:37* The moldy people start showing up in the Revelations games. *01:39:39* So yeah. *01:39:44* I think I'm gonna play those actually by the way. *01:39:47* I bought just two. *01:39:50* I just need one. *01:39:51* I'm just throwing it out there. *01:39:53* I don't know if we wanted to do content for it, and since we did not *01:39:54* Talk about doing that. *01:39:59* I was thinking about just playing it myself just for the heck of it. *01:39:59* Well take notes and if I decide I want to play 'em, then we could do a bonus member episode kind of loose on it. *01:40:03* Nothing hardcore. *01:40:11* But if I don't play it, no problem, and you still get to play it if you wanted to. *01:40:13* Sound good? *01:40:17* Like me with Arceus. *01:40:18* I have notes and footage of Arceus and you're like, we'll play it, maybe. *01:40:19* Yeah, I'll take notes. *01:40:24* Uh just take notes and then we can refer back to it if I decide to play. *01:40:25* Um obviously I'm gonna start four soon. *01:40:29* Um play more Pokemon. *01:40:34* I'm playing four. *01:40:38* That game's fun. *01:40:39* How many chapters are in there? *01:40:39* Like five? *01:40:40* Five. *01:40:42* Yeah. *01:40:43* So I thought. *01:40:43* Yeah, I'm on like three or four parts of a part. *01:40:44* I think like I'm on five dash five right now. *01:40:49* Wait, what? *01:40:53* Oh sorry, I'm on five? *01:40:55* I'm on no I'm on two dash two. *01:40:57* I don't know. *01:41:00* Okay *01:41:01* I was like, holy smokes, dude, you're done with the game. *01:41:01* I played the whole video game today. *01:41:05* No. *01:41:08* Uh yeah, I'm on like two-one or two. *01:41:09* I am uh I'm about to get Ashley is what happened. *01:41:13* I am yeah, I'm about to get Ashley. *01:41:17* I'm about to run out of the church with her. *01:41:19* The president's daughter. *01:41:22*