# Chapter Select, [[S5E7 - Resident Evil - Code Veronica X]] 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. --- Oh, I wanted to ask you. *00:00* I don't actually remember the kid's name, you don't have to tell me. *00:02* But how is uh the boy liking Super Mario Odyssey? *00:04* His name is Everett and he is liking it quite a bit. *00:10* I'm trying to I'm trying to show him how to do the like *00:15* Like the mo like the m standard like Mario moves, like here's how you like do a backflip. *00:19* You hold the button and *00:25* And you hold uh the trigger and and jump. *00:27* And here's how you do a long jump. *00:29* And I'm like trying to teach him how to do those things. *00:30* Because he's like, I can't get over to this part. *00:33* And I'm like, no, you can. *00:35* You just gotta *00:36* No, the mechanics and seven. *00:37* Seven, okay. *00:42* And the daughter is three. *00:43* Mm-hmm. *00:45* Okay. *00:46* Seven. *00:47* So she so he's old enough to like *00:47* play games and understand them and he's like he's getting he's in the part phase where he's like getting better but he's still not great so he's still like I can't do this can you do it for me and I'm like okay *00:50* And it's like he's like, what the heck? *01:03* How did you do that? *01:04* I'm trying to think forever. *01:05* Seven years old. *01:09* Trying to show him how to do a triple jump *01:10* I'm just thinking back to like Super Mario Sixty Four, which would have been our analog at that age. *01:13* Yeah, but I just I was not I was not doing *01:19* I was doing triple I was doing triple jumps and long jumps. *01:23* I'm not I was. *01:28* It took until like sunshine until I felt like I was like really starting to like oh I think I'm *01:31* Starting to learn how to do this a little better. *01:37* Which would have been when I was around like eight or nine. *01:38* Oh yeah. *01:41* He's not never played a game like this. *01:41* He's never played Mario game. *01:44* His first Mario game. *01:45* Wow. *01:46* Interesting. *01:47* Just so cool game. *01:48* So cool that your first Mario game gets hit. *01:50* It would be really cool. *01:52* I don't think it's his first Mario game at least. *01:54* He only has a Switch and he's *01:56* I think that yeah, because he's he doesn't have 3D world, even though he's also like mentioned that he wants to play that. *01:59* It would be so cool, and I know you can't do this unless you did buy it physically many moons ago. *02:05* But the All-Star collection like would be so perfect for someone like that. *02:11* Yeah, I've told him about that. *02:15* Do you have It's still available in some manner, isn't it? *02:16* You can like go buy it out on the street, sure. *02:19* I don't know what that costs these days. *02:21* I don't think it's that much *02:23* But you cannot buy stores usually. *02:24* Stores still carry it, don't they? *02:27* Because I feel like stores might still have *02:29* Price charting says lose 57 bucks complete 65. *02:34* I'm you might be able to find it at a store, like a GameStop or something. *02:39* Cause yeah, m the uh it's like not on Amazon here, but if you could find it at a store that just still naturally has it in stock, you could just buy there. *02:44* I've seen it *02:55* On pre-owned on GameStop for 60 bucks. *02:58* Which wasn't this 40 when it came out or was it a full 60? *03:03* No, it was always 60. *03:07* Okay. *03:08* I mean I would have paid 60 for it of like I agree that this would be good for him. *03:09* But here's the thing, is like it's more just Mario's being a big dum-dum and not well letting people just buy it. *03:14* Yes. *03:21* But you don't want to overwhelm the boy with too much Mario. *03:22* That's the thing, is I've noticed that he is whenever I introduce something else he could play, he kinda stops playing the thing before. *03:25* Yeah, well that's kids' attention spans. *03:32* Well, I had a free code for uh Mario and Rabbids too that I got because it was like part of some promotion when I got the new game. *03:35* And so I was like, do you want this? *03:43* And I gave it to him. *03:44* Has he been playing that instead? *03:46* He immediately started playing that and he was like and I was like, I don't know if you're gonna really like this game that much. *03:48* I was like *03:53* It's like you might I and I was like trying to explain to him how it worked and he was like not really he was like slowly starting to understand it a little bit more. *03:54* I'm like you gotta hide behind walls because at first he was just like running out in the middle of the battlefield and like shoot *04:02* And I'm like, no, you gotta like hide and stay behind walls and yeah. *04:07* And so he's been playing that a little bit, but I think it's been harder for him, obviously, because it's *04:12* just so different. *04:17* Yeah. *04:18* Big strategy game. *04:19* And so I've been trying to like tell him like focus on Odyssey. *04:20* This is the one you should play. *04:24* Definitely don't just dump a bunch of games on him. *04:26* I do think that like a birthday or Christmas like all star collection would be *04:29* Really cool. *04:34* Well even his mom was like I was like I said something about like beating Mario Odyssey. *04:35* I was like, beat Mario Odyssey first. *04:40* And his mom's like, Have you ever even beaten a game? *04:41* He's like, I don't know, not really. *04:43* And I'm like, uh, see this is like *04:45* Using this like to me yeah, 'cause that's how you are when you're a kid. *04:48* You don't n you never really care about getting to like to the end. *04:51* Yeah. *04:54* I played Banjo Kazooie constantly when I was a kid, but I never beat it until I was like *04:55* 16 years old and I was like, I should just beat this game now. *04:59* And I went back and played it on 360. *05:01* Some of the first games I remember, like I never beat Donkey Kong 64. *05:04* I got that end. *05:09* I got to the end, but I never beat it. *05:10* But some of the first games I remember beating, Star Fox 64, when I realized when the neighbor told me that there was an alternate path *05:13* So I remember that, but that's not a hard game per se. *05:21* It's just more making the right choices at certain parts. *05:24* I don't know. *05:28* Wind Waker is really sticks out in my mind as a game that like *05:29* I went start to finish here. *05:34* Because I never played Ocarina or Majora before that. *05:35* So I remember that quite fondly as beating it. *05:38* What else would I I guess the GameCube's really where I started getting into like and Game Boy games, obviously Pokemon. *05:44* I beat Pokemon and *05:51* Yeah, I'm trying to think of like what some of the earlier games I would have beat would have been. *05:53* I beat Super Mario 2, 6 golden coins. *05:57* I remember fighting Wario in that game, so I definitely beat that. *06:00* I remember watching my dad beat *06:04* Ocarina of time. *06:07* Oh wow. *06:09* And then I was and then I was like, I think I can do this now. *06:10* And then I started playing it. *06:14* Um 'cause I kind of had watched him play through all of it. *06:17* I guess Wind Waker would really be one of the first big games I remember beating *06:21* Like start to finish. *06:26* And see you would have been older. *06:28* You would have been closer to like ten then. *06:29* Oh yeah, for sure. *06:31* I'm just trying to think he's in s he's seven, so he's like *06:33* The cool thing about Odyssey, I think, for that type of age range, that focus, is you get moons so quickly. *06:37* Mm-hmm. *06:45* So it's like very snappy, very rewarding. *06:46* He's not I will say he's not very focused on moons. *06:48* He's like getting coins and stuff. *06:51* And I'm like trying to be like, you gotta get them. *06:52* He's like, I wanna go to the next place. *06:54* I'm like, well you gotta get the moons. *06:56* And he's like, well how do I do that? *06:57* I'm like, you gotta *06:58* Go find them and stuff like that. *06:59* So fascinating. *07:02* I can't wait until Eloise's old enough for me to observe like that. *07:03* I was talking with a guy on actually the most recent public show. *07:07* Robert Ashley, he's got a kid who's playing Breath of the Wild right now. *07:11* And he's like, he plays that game way different than I do. *07:16* I was like, let's go. *07:19* We're gonna defeat Ganon. *07:20* You know, here's the objectives. *07:22* Let's do it. *07:23* And his kid's like, I'm gonna run around and, you know, collect, do this and fight this stuff. *07:23* Like just explore and live freely. *07:29* I want him to try Breath of the Wild too, but I feel like, yeah. *07:31* I'll say this, it was hard for me to watch him play Odyssey the other day. *07:35* I was like, uh *07:38* That's kids. *07:40* Cause it was just like I can't like I know what to do and he's like not doing it. *07:42* I'm like, please just *07:46* Yeah, that's a kid. *07:48* Do the thing that I know how to do. *07:50* It's just like go get the the moon's right there. *07:53* Go go go get it. *07:56* It's right there. *07:58* I would encourage it. *07:59* I would encourage maybe not Breath of the Wild to start. *08:01* I feel like that's almost too open. *08:05* But maybe that's what he needs as a game to play, just I can wander and do whatever. *08:07* But 'cause like Ocarina is mind blowing. *08:15* You know, and if you get him at the right age, I'm not saying seven's the right age, but if he could play Ocarina at He's getting to the point where he's like starting to ramp up and play games more and like them more *08:18* Yeah, if you could Oh my gosh. *08:29* This is how I get you to subscribe to the first time. *08:31* He told his mother he wants to stop doing piano lessons so he can play his Switch more, and she's like, no *08:33* No. *08:38* You know what? *08:39* This is how I get you to buy the Nintendo Online expansion pack family. *08:40* I already *08:45* That's this has already been my thought. *08:46* Yeah. *08:48* I set up an account for him last week and since that's happened. *08:51* He's gett been like been able to update games now and stuff too. *08:56* Like you don't need an account to do that, but he was never even connected to the internet. *08:59* So I connected him to the internet and then set up like an eShop account for him. *09:03* And stuff. *09:06* So he's been downloading like updates and stuff. *09:07* He's like, I got a lot of new like stuff in Minecraft. *09:09* I've never seen this before. *09:11* I'm like, yeah, because you're downloading updates now. *09:13* Cool. *09:17* That's awesome. *09:17* That is so cool. *09:18* You definitely should get the ex you should do the whole thing. *09:20* So you can have N sixty four and Game Boy games and I mentioned that to his mother. *09:23* I told her about that and I was like he could play a lot of older games and I could I could be the one buying it and it would *09:28* We could just like split the cost or something if you want to do that. *09:34* Clue 'em all in. *09:45* Does he have Mario Kart? *09:46* I wouldn't. *09:47* He does, yeah. *09:48* 'Cause that would give him the DLC with all the new tracks and characters too. *09:49* He also had just recently got uh Animal Crossing and he was playing that and then I gave him Super Mario Odyssey. *09:53* And then he started playing that a lot over Animal Crossing. *10:00* Yeah. *10:04* So he's definitely a the new game first. *10:04* Whatever's new is what I'm doing. *10:07* Yeah. *10:08* Which is a kid. *10:09* I think Animal Crossing he was also just still trying to figure out and *10:10* He didn't really understand some of it. *10:14* And I couldn't exp speak to that game as well because he was like, how do you do this? *10:16* How do you do this? *10:20* I'm like, I honestly don't know. *10:20* He's like, well, how do you pay off your house? *10:23* I'm like *10:25* I don't remember who you talked to for that. *10:25* Like I did I didn't remember how we play this game. *10:27* I'm trying to think of like other games. *10:30* He'd probably like that new Kirby, I bet. *10:32* He'd probably like the the Wii port or Forgotten Land *10:34* The Forgotten Land one the one from last year, not the remake. *10:38* He says he wants Mario Party. *10:42* Get him the super the one with the old games in it, not the *10:46* He'd probably like EROM. *10:50* And then he really wants Cuphead. *10:52* Cuphead would kill him. *10:54* Yeah, Cuphead would break his teeth *10:56* Has he seen the cuphead cartoon? *10:58* Is that what is that the That's why he wants it? *11:00* Okay. *11:02* I asked his mom that because he was like, I want cup head. *11:03* And then I was like, is he aware that there's a cuphead cartoon? *11:05* And she's like, I don't think so. *11:07* I've never seen that. *11:09* I showed it to her *11:09* And I was like, well you should tell him to watch I was like, yeah, Netflix, right? *11:11* And she's like, yep. *11:14* And I was like, well just ha tell him the w he can watch that. *11:14* He could he should watch that. *11:17* That would be great. *11:18* He would love that. *11:19* And then she told him that she's like, oh, did you know there's a cartoon? *11:19* He's like, yeah, mom, that's why I want the game. *11:22* She's like, oh, I just don't know. *11:24* Oh, that's so man. *11:27* God, Cuphead is so Cuphead is one of the platinums like I want to pursue *11:28* That's why I bought it on PlayStation. *11:33* Like I want the cuphead plat one day. *11:35* I could do it. *11:39* I know I can do it *11:40* He also this is this is what's hilarious. *11:42* Here's the last thing I'll tell you, and then we should probably keep going. *11:44* Um So he *11:47* I went over last week like last Friday and he was like can you help me hook my switch up to the TV? *11:50* I finally have a doc *11:56* And I was like, oh. *11:58* He's like uh that's what I said. *11:59* I was like, what do you I was like I was like what? *12:01* And she and she's like and she's like, hold on, all all will make sense. *12:03* Let me explain. *12:07* So he's like, Yeah, my uncle I think it's his dad's brother or something. *12:08* Sure. *12:13* Got rid of all his switch stuff and was like, here you can have some of this. *12:13* That's how he got Animal Crossing is his uncle like sold his switch and he's like, Here you can have this game I have *12:17* So he got that from him. *12:22* Um and then he was like, oh, I also have the dock. *12:24* Here you go. *12:27* And he's like, I have a dock now and I can and uh he's like, can you help me hook it up to my TV? *12:28* And I was like, okay. *12:32* And then I was like *12:33* To Danielle, I was like, I was like, you I was like, where'd you how'd you buy his switch? *12:35* He's like, oh, just like at the store, at Target. *12:40* I'm like *12:42* When? *12:44* And she's like, like two years ago. *12:44* I'm like, well he should I'm like, did you have the doc for him? *12:46* And she's like, no, I never came with it. *12:50* I'm like *12:52* Woman, what are you talking about? *12:54* And she's like she's like, oh, it just I I don't know, it just didn't come with it. *12:56* Uh we've never had this before. *13:01* I'm like *13:02* I was like, do you still have the box that the switch came in? *13:04* He's like, Yeah, it's in my closet. *13:07* And he's like, Good boy, a good lad. *13:09* I was like, I was like, go take me to your switch box. *13:12* And he's like, okay, it's on the top shelf. *13:14* I'll need you to get it. *13:16* And so I reached up there. *13:17* And I bring it downstairs and I open it, and you know how like the switch is on top when you open it up. *13:18* Yeah, and then there's a lift it up then for free to cardboard, yep. *13:22* Yeah, and then underneath it is everything else. *13:25* I lifted it up and then underneath was everything still in the packaging. *13:26* And the bubble wrap was the switch dock *13:29* The HDMI cable. *13:31* How has he been charging it? *13:33* All of it. *13:34* He has the so the charger was on top, I think. *13:35* Um the dock and everything underneath, I don't know. *13:38* I feel like everything's underneath except the Joy-Con and the tablet. *13:43* Like I feel like it could be Wow. *13:46* That's how I'm going to do that. *13:49* You bought I was like how long has he had that? *13:53* She's like I bought it for him in 2020. *13:54* I was like, he's had this for almost three years and you didn't even know he had this doc *13:56* And she's like, I don't know what I'm doing with any of this stuff. *14:00* Like she doesn't understand video game stuff at all. *14:04* I'm like, So wait, and when I got it down from him five or something, if he's seven now. *14:07* Yeah, and I was like I was like I was like all right you could give your uncle this switch dock back and he's like well he doesn't need I was like well congratulations now you have two and then I was like let me hook this and so I hooked it up to a TV *14:13* And I was like, did it until a play on the TV? *14:24* Yeah, he had never played on the TV before *14:28* Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. *14:32* She just didn't know. *14:35* But that's the thing. *14:35* I thought maybe it was a switch light and he was like, now I can play it on the TV. *14:36* And it was like, oh no, you have the wrong console for that, but nope, nope. *14:41* He had a normal he has a real switch a standard switch. *14:44* Wow. *14:48* And that's why I was asking. *14:48* What color JoyCon does he have? *14:50* I had gray I think. *14:52* Okay. *14:54* He d he doesn't have any other ones. *14:54* Mm-mm. *14:56* He he saw mine, he's like, whoa *14:57* I have the OLED. *15:02* And he's like, well, yours are cool. *15:03* He's like, do you want to trade? *15:04* And I was like, no, buddy. *15:05* I I do not. *15:07* Sorry. *15:09* You *15:10* Should yeah. *15:11* Wow. *15:12* You what you should do, here you go, here's what you do. *15:13* You buy the Zelda OLED that will undoubtedly be announced, and then you can give him the white Joy-Con and be like, look, I have gold Joy-Con now. *15:15* No, no thank you. *15:23* If I'm gonna buy anything it'd be Steam Deck, I need to do my taxes. *15:25* See how much money I get. *15:28* Bad, a bad console. *15:30* What is bad about it? *15:31* Especially when you're getting into like *15:33* It's just a PC. *15:35* It's just a handheld PC and I can download ROMs and stuff on it. *15:37* Like that's what I want to do with it. *15:40* It's not that I just want to be like, I want to play something. *15:41* I just like to give you a hard time about making decisions. *15:43* I just like that it's super customizable and I could just download old games on it. *15:47* It's very hacky. *15:52* Very hacky. *15:53* You have a Wii U. *15:54* You can do it. *15:55* A Wii U is a Steam Deck. *15:56* When you really think about it. *15:59* 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. *16:03* For season five, we are covering the Resident Evil franchise. *16:11* My name is Max Roberts, and I am joined, as always, by Logan Moore. *16:15* Hi, Logan. *16:18* Oh Max Littlefishy, come see my hook. *16:19* Oh, thank you for being such good bait. *16:24* Oh my goodness gracious, Logan. *16:27* We're going down south *16:29* Pretty far south, some may say. *16:32* Very far south. *16:33* Further south than Resident Evil 7, that's for sure. *16:34* We are headed to Antarctica. *16:37* So south that it almost becomes north. *16:40* Unless the earth is flat. *16:43* True. *16:46* It's quite possible. *16:47* We are going to be talking about Resident Evil, Code, Colonel Veronica, X, or just Code Veronica. *16:48* As it's come to be known as, uh, the Dreamcast spin-off title in the Resident Evil franchise *16:58* It is the quote It's not really a spin-off. *17:06* This is a very this is a in a mainline game absolutely and it's also almost more important than a lot of others in this series. *17:08* Well there's some fascinating history there that I definitely want to touch on, but technically it is a spin-off in the nomenclature of game titles and wonkies. *17:16* So uh this is technically the oldest game we are playing this season. *17:28* Uh we played the Resident Evil 1 remake for GameCube and HD, so that was after. *17:33* Code Veronica as well as Zero, even though Zero was being developed alongside Code Veronica for the N64 at the time. *17:39* So this is technically the oldest game we are playing the season. *17:48* And uh Logan, I mean, to kind of cut to the chase, this is got tier. *17:52* Did you like that? *17:58* I was okay. *17:59* I was I I very much wanted to know your impressions. *18:01* This is a phenomenal game. *18:04* Now you see why there has been a cult of people, myself included. *18:06* Screaming, remake this game, remake Code Veronica, remake Code Veronica. *18:10* And they're like, no, we're gonna do Resident Evil 4. *18:14* And it's like, that game doesn't really need a remake, but okay. *18:16* I at the time we're recording this, Resident Evil 4 reviews just dropped, and it's like *18:18* staggeringly impressive, so like we're very, very excited to play that game, obviously. *18:23* And you can hear our thoughts on that at the end of the season. *18:27* Yes. *18:30* Yes. *18:31* Our thoughts on that will be coming soon enough. *18:31* But this is the one that I feel like is *18:33* Very much poised to get a remake. *18:36* And we'll have a discussion about it in the legacy part of this episode, but the short of it is it needs to be the next remake. *18:38* Yes. *18:46* And if they do something like remake five, it'd be so bizarre. *18:47* Like barely a little over ten years. *18:53* I guess uh we're like fifteen years removed from five now, I guess. *18:55* Which is *18:58* Strange. *19:00* But um anywho, yeah, let's do the rundown and then I I I wanna obviously get way more into your *19:01* Thoughts on this one because this was the one I think of all the games in the series this season that I was interested in hearing your thoughts on, it was this one because it is so much off the beaten path. *19:07* In the larger series to some degree, but it is uh of utmost importance at the same time. *19:18* There's just a lot to break down here. *19:23* So anyway, uh this game was once again developed and published by Capcom, but it did have, as Max has noted here *19:24* Uh some additional development partners from a lot of various companies. *19:31* It was not developed by Capcom. *19:36* It was published by Capcom. *19:37* But Capcom had a small part in it. *19:39* So *19:42* Uh go go ahead, say all the developers. *19:43* Oh yeah, uh the developers include flagship next tep XAX Entertainment *19:45* Capcom Production Studio 4, and then you noted Sega also helped out with this. *19:51* Which makes sense because this was a Dreamcast game, as we will mention next originally. *19:56* Yeah, it was um *20:01* It basically flagship is like an independent Japanese developer that has a lot of funding from Capcom, Nintendo, Sega, so it kind of gets all this funding. *20:03* over there. *20:12* Uh I think primarily Capcom though. *20:13* So it's like a little spin-off indie studio, essentially. *20:15* Then so they saw like the scenario and game direction. *20:19* But NextTech handled all the technical stuff. *20:22* Capcom Productions Studio afforded art direction and character design, and XAX assisted with the environments. *20:25* And then Sega helped optimize it for the Dreamcast. *20:31* So this is very much a lot of cooks in the kitchen making this game. *20:34* But out of all the games we're playing this season, it's the only one that was not directly developed solely by Capcom, which is interesting to me. *20:38* Yeah, I think um I'll have to we'll have to note this on our Resident Evil 4 remake episode, but I'm pretty sure that one started as an externally developed *20:48* game as well to see. *20:57* I remember hearing something about that. *20:59* I don't know if Capcom's ever confirmed as much because the game was not formally announced when all that conjecture was going around. *21:02* Um, but supposedly that one started out at an external studio as well, and then they were like, This isn't great, we're gonna bring it in-house now. *21:09* Thanks for your help though. *21:16* Um but we'll talk more about that with RE4 remake. *21:18* As mentioned, originally game two dreamcast it later uh also ended up releasing on PlayStation 2, GameCube, and then it has been *21:22* Uh re-released on PS3 and 360, which are then forward compatible as well on PS4 via the PS2 version, which is w what we played. *21:30* I played it on I played the PS4, the PS2 version via *21:40* PS4, whatever, the re-released. *21:44* The PS3 and 360 versions, though, are not the same thing. *21:46* They are not? *21:51* The PS4 version is PS2 emulation, which is what we did. *21:52* But the PS3 and 360 actually got proper HD remasters with widescreen support and other optimizations. *21:55* Uh there was a I did they remove tank controls? *22:04* Let's find out. *22:08* I don't believe so. *22:09* So trophies and achievements, sure, which are in the PS2 emulated version. *22:11* Saves are stored on the hard drive. *22:15* There are minor graphical changes, including high-resolution menus and textures. *22:16* So it's really just some polish. *22:20* It doesn't sound like they removed tank controls based off what I've read here. *22:21* It's just it is a different version than what we played, which is *22:25* Interesting that I didn't really hear about it until final prep for this show. *22:30* It's kind of funky that it's a digital only on those consoles, never brought forward in any manner. *22:35* Very much so. *22:41* Uh the game originally released on February 3rd, 2000 for Dreamcast. *22:42* The later versions we don't have release dates for those because it doesn't really matter. *22:47* The game was directed by Hiroki Kato, the producer. *22:51* King himself Shinji Mikami produced this one and then the music was done by Takeshi Mira, uh Hijiri Anzei, and Sanai Kasahara. *22:55* Uh the Metacritic score on this one was quite impressive on the Dreamcast front when it first released with a 94 out of 100. *23:05* The PS2 re-release was an 84 out of 100. *23:13* And then you also put the GameCube one here, and I wanna *23:15* Which scored at a 62 out of 100 aggregate score. *23:18* I would like to note though the GameCube version re-released much later than the other versions, I believe. *23:21* And if you go look through *23:25* Most of the comments from what people said, they're like, this hasn't aged well, this isn't good, because it would have, I think, re-released after *23:27* Uh remake came out, RE1 remake, I believe. *23:35* Okay. *23:39* It would have been part of that those wave of games that they brought to GameCube when they re-released. *23:39* Uh obviously RE1 remake and then they also ported over two and three and this. *23:44* Um so I think just by comparison of like where the series was heading and how it was getting better, people were like, This sucks now. *23:49* Yeah, it was shocking to me actually how *23:56* How harsh some of the critics are. *23:59* Yeah. *24:02* It's yeah, well like G four TV gave it a twenty *24:02* And the quote on the code. *24:07* Which would have been a one out it would have been one out of five on their scale. *24:08* Yeah. *24:11* In the end, it's almost physically painful to try and wade through this game, especially if you've already played it in its previous incarnations. *24:12* It just seems so harsh for something. *24:18* Like the the mindset critically around this re-release was if it's not new and updated and fresh, it's old and outdated. *24:22* Like a week it seems like the *24:31* Community quickly discarded old games. *24:33* Well, this is this explains why RE1 remake was done within a span of like what five years? *24:36* Like that game was remade very quickly. *24:42* Like nowadays, if somebody would if *24:44* I mean it kind of happened most recently this past year with The Last of Us, which got a remake, what, nine years after the original release of the game, and people were like, this is ridiculous, this is asinine. *24:47* Why would Naughty Dog do this? *24:57* And now back then Capcom was like, we're remaking the first game. *24:59* And everybody was like, yay, this is a great choice. *25:03* Good job, Capcom. *25:06* So it's uh an interesting look. *25:07* I think that review score is not reflective of the game itself. *25:10* No, because it doesn't seem like it's like a poor port of it on GameCube. *25:14* It is just the same game. *25:18* Yeah. *25:19* And outlets are just like, it's the same game and it's not good by the comparison of what we've had the past couple years. *25:20* So don't play it. *25:26* Um anyway, so but yes, the original game itself was a ninety-four out of one hundred, which makes us I think maybe *25:29* Is this the highest game critically in the whole series? *25:36* I mean for I mean I I'm bringing this up now and we'll bring this up again on the RE4 remake episode. *25:40* That game I know is clocking it at a ninety-three out of one hundred right now on Metacritic. *25:45* What was the original Resident Evil 4 though? *25:49* On PS2, the original Resident Evil 4 is a ninety-six. *25:52* Okay, so Resident Evil 4 still is Top Dog. *25:56* And for GameCube it's a ninety-six, so yes. *25:59* Um then the remake is a ninety-three. *26:03* Okay. *26:07* But it is in this upper echelon, of course, with the Resident Evil series. *26:08* Uh I'm surprised that the X re-release for PS2 scored so much lower. *26:13* It just added more content. *26:18* I think again that's probably a sign of oh it's old. *26:20* We've we've been here, we've done that. *26:23* And *26:25* It's interesting to see that, you know, some twenty Resident Evil 2 remake has a 91. *26:26* Uh Resident Evil 1 remake has a 91. *26:32* So this is like *26:35* Those are the ones that all eclipse 90, I think, is RE2 remake, RE1 remake, uh RE4, Re4 remake, and then this. *26:37* Those are like the top five most critically acclaimed. *26:45* And I I would agree with the 94 kind of range for this game. *26:48* I mean, I think that's very high, to be honest. *26:53* Um, here's *26:56* I obviously want to get into you and I want to hear your thoughts on this game. *26:58* I I would like to briefly state what I do like about this game though, and I want to see if you come in with a similar perspective. *27:01* The reason I like this game, especially upon replaying it and revisiting it, is I think it hits on all the great notes of what I like about Resident Evil as a whole. *27:09* It is *27:19* Schlocky. *27:21* It is uh the the puzzles it all the puzzles from the old school resinual type are very much in play here. *27:23* Um it it has all the old school *27:29* elements of the series, obviously, which are core to the franchise and are still present in some capacity. *27:32* But it is Schlocky B B movie horror. *27:37* Um mixed with over the top action. *27:41* I I think of like some of the sequences later in the game where Wesker's fighting Alexia and Wesker like the whole end of this game is Wesker and Chris fighting for like a five or ten minute cutscene and then *27:44* Chris flies away in a jet. *27:55* It's just so over the top and stupid. *27:57* I I j I just yeah. *28:00* Oh, and then the uh *28:01* That the third element of what I really like about this game is like the backstory and the lore and the continued fleshing out of this world and how Umbrella came to be and who are who are these important characters and why is what is up with these twins? *28:03* Why are they here? *28:16* Why are they important? *28:16* Like *28:17* this like storytelling that is done via text logs in the game and via uh th that like I like gathering those details in all of z all of these games and that's become really apparent to me the more we play these games over the course of the whole season is *28:18* I think some of the best storytelling in these games are stories that get fleshed out via the documents you find scattered around the world and then you piece together *28:33* like what actually is going on and why the characters that are presented in certain ways are acting the ways that they do. *28:42* Like Alfred in this game, you never really understand why he *28:48* has the behaviors that he does until you get a little later in the game, you're reading some of the documents that like describe like how his father viewed him and stuff and how he wasn't the *28:52* perfect t of the of the two twins he was not the perfect one it was Alexia so he was like very protective of his his sister and stu uh anyway *29:01* It it it just hits on all the notes with B-movie horror, over-the-top action, and uh s the storytelling. *29:10* I I I think they're in perfect conjunction with with this game. *29:18* Um, and I I think that's what makes it good, especially for the old style of Resident Evil Games here. *29:21* This game has the best story. *29:29* that we have played so far. *29:32* Yeah. *29:34* It is. *29:35* Hold on. *29:37* I gotta ask this. *29:37* Do you now like Wesker? *29:38* Wesker's incredible. *29:40* God bless them for bringing him back. *29:41* I get it now. *29:45* Because before he's in Resident Evil 1 and then he's just like, oh, I'm a bad guy, and then dies, quote unquote. *29:46* He just kinda he reveals himself very late in the game, and then it's just *29:54* Ty you fight tyrant and it's basically over. *29:58* So you don't really get to understand it. *30:00* But now I get it because they just decide to retcon that and they do that with this Wesker report thing that was like an included bonus DVD for pre-ordering or something, which I've watched. *30:02* And it's hilarious. *30:12* They just roughly chop in scenes from the old games and Wesker narrates what he was doing. *30:13* Like he was the one that saved Ada from falling in Resident Evil 2 or something, but he's also the one that made her fall. *30:19* So he's like doing all this stuff to try and he was in charge of hunk and all this stuff. *30:26* So it's just super silly. *30:31* Actually a funny anecdote is it seems that um *30:33* the director, uh Kato Kato? *30:38* Hiroki Kato. *30:41* He uh uh uh uh in one instance claims that he just wrote that while extremely in top *30:42* So like the Wesker Report stuff is just totally made up on the fly, it seems. *30:48* That's great. *30:53* That's what I love. *30:53* Like it's yes. *30:54* But the twins are *30:56* Just God tier Kojima style characters. *30:59* That's what I love about this. *31:04* It's so he's like *31:06* Uh the the idea it's Alfred, right, is the brother? *31:08* Yes, yeah. *31:11* Alfred at first I thought had multiple personality disorder. *31:12* It kind of does. *31:17* I think if they remade it, that's what it would be described as instead of just a cross dresser, which is what is in the game. *31:19* That does feel a bit dangerous. *31:25* You cross dressing freak *31:28* Yeah, that feels extremely outdated today. *31:30* Yeah, not twenty twenty-three. *31:34* At first I was like, Oh my gosh, there are no twins. *31:35* It's a multiple personality disorder. *31:38* Like that's *31:40* But that's that's why I was being very careful when we were midway through the game. *31:41* I was like, Have you gotten to this scene with Wesker yet? *31:45* And you're like, I think so. *31:47* This happened. *31:49* And I'm like *31:50* You've not seen what I'm referring to, so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say anything yet. *31:51* And then you get to the the midpoint of the game where the disc would switch over, and you find out that Alexia's in like a cryotube, and at that moment I thought that *31:55* Alfred was growing like a new version of his sister, but it but through those documents you're talking about, she injects herself with the *32:05* Queen the vr T Veronica virus, which is just the stupidest name for a disease ever. *32:13* It's named it's named after their great ancestor of their lineage, though. *32:19* The original *32:23* The original Ashford, uh Which is so good. *32:25* So she's been in like a cryostate for fifteen years to become like this queen *32:29* Aunt Munch. *32:33* Yeah, you read her you read her own like research documents and she's like, oh I'm gonna inject myself with this, but I'll have to go to sleep because it takes a long time to implement. *32:34* So I'll have to be in c catast uh uh cry cryo sleep for ten or fifteen years so that my powers can develop. *32:43* It's like And why does she come to that conclusion? *32:50* Because they decided to experiment on their dad, who is one of the bosses that you fight. *32:53* So there's this trick. *32:57* To the big man with an axe down in the basement. *32:58* But also silliness to it all that is just it is a perfect marriage of all these things. *33:01* And it's a world and a lore that I want to be immersed in. *33:07* And then you've got their father who has ties to the uh to Umbrella. *33:11* You've got their mansion layout, which is similar to the layout of the Spencer Mansion itself. *33:16* Uh you learn about their father whose name I forget. *33:21* Um I don't it doesn't really matter. *33:25* Uh their father and his relationship with Spencer and he was like, oh Spencer's an idiot and *33:26* Uh like you you've learned that like Spencer is not that this important of a character within the larger Resident Evil history as you once thought because the real *33:32* like um ma machinations behind what umbrella would become more stemmed from the Ashford family and their own research and things like that. *33:41* And uh Spencer kind of like co-opted a lot of this for himself. *33:48* Um yeah, it is wild and so much fun. *33:53* It kept me engaged from start to finish, and it's a story that *33:57* The series really has it matched up to this point as we've been playing. *34:03* I get now where a lot of the goofy *34:07* Stuff we see later, I think right now, like village. *34:11* The fact that Ethan's hand gets chopped off and then can just be reattached. *34:14* Like that's a very goofy thing that makes sense within the world, I suppose. *34:19* But I feel like it really truly starts here. *34:24* I feel like because the formula of the This is the first game after the Raccoon City incident. *34:27* So this is where the scope finally starts to broaden. *34:33* Uh to where it then starts to become like a world travel video game series. *34:36* Cause then you've got four, which is in Eastern Europe, Spain, you've got five, which is in Africa, you've got six, which is all over the world. *34:41* This game's obviously in Antarctica. *34:50* Like this a as soon as they got out of Raccoon City, they're like, cool, we're traveling the globe now, and we're gonna explain how Umbrella didn't only impact Raccoon City, but the whole planet as a result. *34:52* It's um it's so much fun. *35:02* It is the most engaging thing. *35:04* And I think because the formula of Resident Evil is so established by this point, right? *35:07* It's been going on for *35:12* five, six years, I think, at this point that's when they could spread their wings narratively. *35:14* And like you said, they've left Raccoon City. *35:21* So they're spreading their winds there, but also they can just start creating these crazy worlds and lores. *35:24* I feel and then you have to think of what was out at the time, what was out while this game was in development. *35:31* Metal Gear Solid without Ocarina of Time, not saying that like they're copying Zelda here, but I do see a lot of Metal Gear Solid in this game. *35:37* Narratively, structurally. *35:45* The flow of the game, the characters, the places. *35:47* I even wrote in my notes a little Castlevania, more the backtracking *35:51* kind of ax aspects of it, a little bit of the sound. *35:55* There's like a lot of secrets in this game, more so than the others that you could unlock. *35:58* Like I if you never take the *36:01* Like I think about the first guy that the Claire comes across to who lets her out of the jail cell. *36:04* Like if you never take him the lighter, then I don't or if you never take him the uh medicine. *36:08* The medicine, then I don't think you can get the lock pick, and I'm pretty sure you can just continue on through the game without ever getting that stuff. *36:13* Yeah. *36:20* But y you g if you give him the medicine to stop the bleeding, he'll give you the lockpick, and then he later gives the lighter back to Chris, which allows him to get the submachine gun. *36:21* Like, there's a lot of things like that that you would just never *36:28* unlock unless you kind of knew what you were doing or you took the time to backtrack, I guess I should say. *36:32* Yeah, it is *36:38* It's a game that clearly was the series was in a super mature state at this point, in this original incarnation of Resident Evil, and we see that, I think, extremely polished and masterfully done here. *36:40* And then it also makes sense that this was the last new game, so to speak. *36:53* I mean, I get there was the remakes and re-releases, but the last new game before Resident Evil 4, which was in development at this time as well. *36:58* And Resident Evil 4 obviously, as we talked about, went through so many different design iterations before what it landed on originally. *37:05* So it is its peak. *37:12* We've we've been talking a lot about this story, so I just want to kind of wrap this up, but there's a lot of things I want to dig into. *37:15* First off, to take it back to Wesker, we talked a lot about like *37:21* Uh we didn't talk much about Claire and Chris's role in this game, because I I really don't think they have much I don't think they have roles really. *37:24* They're just kind of the conduits for you to go through this story in some ways. *37:32* Like Claire's introduction into why she is here is actually kind of *37:35* Strange. *37:39* She's just like, I'm in an umbrella facility and now I'm in jail and I'm in Antarctica and I'm just gonna unravel this whole mystery of what's happening around me. *37:40* Um and so there's not there's not as much like compelling *37:48* Thrust behind I I would say Claire specifically. *37:52* Chris kind of plays the role that she plays in Resident Evil 2, which is I'm finding my sister. *37:56* I need to look for my sister. *38:00* Um I do like though, early on in the game *38:01* She's like, I need to send a message out. *38:05* I'll ask Leon for help. *38:07* I'm like, oh they're all in contact still. *38:08* Like I forgot about that. *38:11* Yeah, actually. *38:12* Where she sends the email. *38:13* And that's how Leon gets in touch with Chris, which is what sends Chris to the base. *38:14* So they're like all homies now. *38:19* It's great. *38:20* But yeah, I don't I don't feel like there's too much to say about Claire and Chris specifically, but I did want to go back and touch on Wesker because I I love that Wesker's involvement in this story *38:21* Is he just shows up and they're like Wesker what are you doing here? *38:30* And he's like, I work for a new organization now. *38:33* It's like, well who? *38:35* And it's like he never says anything *38:36* He's just like I've worked for another organization and I'm here to kid I'm here to get this the virus from Veronica virus *38:38* I need this b virus so I can leave and blah blah blah. *38:46* It's like, okay? *38:49* So he was working for Umbrella and now he's working for another unnamed organization. *38:51* And then he ends up getting like Ada to work for him in the future and it's it it doesn't make any sense. *38:55* Like they just throw Wesker back in for the heck of it and then they never really explain like like he has goals and things, but they're it's like *39:02* His true motivations are never really known other than he's just like, I want the virus, and that's it. *39:09* And that's kind of I I kind of like how *39:15* generic that is. *39:18* Like it it it works very well actually. *39:19* Yeah. *39:22* That he just ve a very one note character like give me virus for my for my benefactor that desired me. *39:22* So here's my thing about Wesker. *39:30* Particularly just in this game. *39:33* I like everything that they're doing with him. *39:35* It's great. *39:37* My question though is why is he on the box slash start menu? *39:38* Because he doesn't show up until like half the way. *39:45* Yeah, like a third of the way through the game, I feel like he's wish *39:49* He's not I wish he wasn't on the promotional material and it was a true surprise. *39:54* Yeah. *39:58* Cause I think that would have been great. *39:59* I because I wrote in my notes, I'm like, where is Wesker? *40:00* He's on the screen, but I'm about fifty percent in this game and he's not here. *40:03* And then he shows up. *40:07* About that midway point the base is about to explode, Claire's gotta leave type thing, and he has superpowers and red eyes, which are not explained in the game at all. *40:08* Yeah. *40:17* He's got superpowers, baby. *40:22* Yeah. *40:24* I like I like that every scene he shows up into or I I feel like he mentions this like two or three *40:25* different times in the game. *40:31* Like I know he does in the first scene where he runs into Claire. *40:32* He's like, your brother, Chris. *40:35* I hate Chris. *40:37* I despise *40:40* Chris. *40:42* He just keeps mentioning over and over how much he hates Chris. *40:43* Yeah. *40:47* The whole game. *40:47* And then that results in their big final battle at the end, which is so over the top and so good *40:49* And I I ti I texted you this after we both finished. *40:56* I was like, Max, we made the right call with like how we ordered the season because this sets up Resident Evil 5 so well. *40:59* Because Resident Evil 5 is absolutely just *41:06* the Chris versus Wesker game. *41:09* So it's very pumped now. *41:11* It's very vital that you play this one beforehand because yes, Wesker's hands, everything that happens in this game as Fallout is *41:13* It it it it goes directly into five. *41:22* So the sequel to this game is five, pretty much. *41:25* And didn't you say you told me before five has DLC with Chris and Jill reuniting. *41:27* Yep, and they go after Wesker. *41:35* Yeah. *41:37* Oh my god, that's gonna be so good. *41:37* Like that gets me amped for these games, man, because *41:39* It's that goofy, just engaging rivalry Japanese storytelling that we're getting here with like this American action flair, and it's so fun *41:43* And that's why we're playing this, because it's fun. *41:54* But then there's the I'm pumped. *41:57* I think the best part of the game by far, and the best stor the best moment in the entire story, and the thing I was looking forward to you seeing. *41:58* Is the moment where obviously Wesker is aligned with Chris and Claire to some degree because he wants the T Veronica virus, which means he has to go up against Alexia. *42:04* Who uh Chris and Claire are also going up against. *42:16* So the best scene in the whole game is where all of the characters merge in the one centerpiece of the mansion. *42:18* Which is just an all-out starts. *42:25* Well, it's all out brawl. *42:28* It's more like Chris is hiding. *42:30* Chris is Chris is hiding and Alexia and Wesker go at it and Chris is just kind of staring in a corner watching this. *42:32* And then Wesker just leaves. *42:47* He's like, you can handle the rest. *42:48* Goodbye. *42:50* Yeah, he just runs away. *42:51* I do think this is a good spot to mention one thing about the visuals in the game. *42:53* I know this isn't our graphics particular discussion, but *42:59* There are two types of cutscenes in this game. *43:02* There are the in-game cutscenes, and then there are the CGI cutscenes that were pre-rendered. *43:04* And in the year of Our Lord 2023, uh the in-game cutscenes *43:10* hold up way better than the CGI cutscenes. *43:15* And I know CGI was so cool back in the early two thousands and that's why it was exciting to have all this stuff, you know, Claire running through a secret base in Paris or London, whichever one she was at, I forget. *43:18* Uh but you know, that fighting Artica. *43:29* Yeah, so there's some silly CGI cutscenes that just have not aged well visually, but I really do like the in-game cutscenes and I kinda wish *43:33* those had stuck like those were more prominent in the game. *43:42* Obviously if this game is remade, that won't be an issue. *43:45* Everything will be the same level of asset and visual fidelity across the game. *43:47* So *43:52* But uh that was something I noticed there because that scene is so great and I think if it was a CGI cutscene, it would diminish the awesomeness of that particular moment. *43:53* I even think there is a little CGI cutscene, correct me if I'm wrong, with Alexia walking down the stairs and like she catches on fire and turns into *44:02* I think it's when she first reveals like her true form or whatever. *44:10* Right. *44:13* But that is a CGI cutscene where all her clothes are burning off, right? *44:14* Yep, yep. *44:17* I think so. *44:17* See that didn't age as well, but then her walking down the stairs in game before the fight *44:18* holds up still to this day. *44:23* So an interesting thing twenty years later. *44:24* What did you think I just gotta know what did you think in that moment when that happened and you realized that that fight was going to break up between those two? *44:26* I was just like *44:35* What's happening? *44:37* Like it's just kind of soaking it up. *44:38* Like she was just on fire all of a sudden. *44:39* It was just Yeah, because it's where she reveals her true powers. *44:41* Like she's not just a lady who controls a big tentacle that g blasts out of the ground nonstop. *44:44* Cause that's all she'd really been up until that point. *44:51* She reveals her true form and her true powers, and then Wesker's like, okay, now I will fight you with my fist and glowy eyes. *44:53* It's pretty cool. *45:00* It's a great it's a great moment of this game. *45:01* It's one of my favorites. *45:03* As far as I we've talked about a lot of the story character stuff here, I don't know how much did you have anything else you wanted to say about Chris or Claire specifically too much in this no. *45:04* It's nice to finally have them come together, I guess I will say. *45:14* Following the events of of two. *45:17* And I feel like it's nice to finally have Chris get thrust in the spotlight a little bit more, especially because everybody feels like *45:20* RE one is a lot of people think RE one is Jill's game more than it is Chris's. *45:27* Um I feel like if you asked *45:33* Resident Evil fans that most would say Jill's is the more iconic of the two runs in the original. *45:36* Jill sandwich, baby. *45:41* Yeah. *45:43* So I feel like Chris finally gets some time in the spotlight here and it's good. *45:43* And like I said, it sets up five well. *45:47* Um, sets up his presence in the larger series because he's really like the main character of the series to some degree. *45:50* Um he's one of the *45:58* He is, but he's in sure. *46:01* He's in he's in one. *46:03* He's mentioned a lot in two, obviously, and then he's in this Koderonica, and then he's in five, he's in six, he's in seven, he's in eight. *46:04* Is he in seven? *46:12* He shows up at the very very end, remember? *46:14* He's like, I'm Redfield. *46:16* And then there's the DLC with him. *46:18* And then obviously he is in village for sure. *46:22* That is a big part. *46:24* So he's like he's in more of these games than *46:25* Anybody else. *46:27* Yeah. *46:28* Huh. *46:29* We we need to talk about one character in particular. *46:30* Yes, we do. *46:34* That's this is why I asked if you wanted to say anything else about Claire or Chris before we bring up the one other character that we have not touched on yet. *46:34* Steve. *46:42* Steve is the lone bad element of this. *46:43* Or well, he's he's the he's the sore thumb of this game. *46:47* He's very, very, very bad. *46:50* And he's a forced character. *46:52* He's the worst character in the Resident Evil series that I think we have encountered so far. *46:55* Oh bar. *46:59* There's some bad ones in six too, so prepare yourself for that. *47:02* Okay. *47:05* Uh but yes, Steve is absolutely the worst character I think we've seen in the series. *47:06* He's he has like a total brat. *47:11* vibe early in the game, like uh ha ha ha, gimme a cooler gun and then I'll share these lugers with you. *47:15* He he he he he chase me pretty lady. *47:21* Um, but really quite frankly, Steve's creepy. *47:24* Steve Yeah, Steve's got like rapey vibes. *47:27* He's totally cool rape and Claire. *47:30* Totally tries to do it on the plane. *47:32* He rele this is I'm gonna read it. *47:34* Here's the weird thing is like Claire Claire then acts like she like loves him at the end of the game when he dies or doesn't die. *47:37* I don't know, whatever. *47:43* Wesker steals his body. *47:44* It's so we it's weird. *47:45* This is what I wrote. *47:47* This is verbatim logan. *47:48* Steve releases toxic gas because he is checking out deadass. *47:51* Like *47:55* He's the worst. *47:56* He literally puts them in danger because he can't stop checking Claire out. *47:58* It's *48:03* He's it's a really bad, really dated writing. *48:05* I honestly feel like it would be pretty cringe back in 2000. *48:08* Uh *48:12* He is a lot of the reading I wrote is he was designed visually after Leonardo DiCaprio, which I guess he's like got DiCaprio live. *48:13* Yeah. *48:25* So *48:26* I I guess he also his hair changed between Code Veronica and Code Veronica X. *48:27* Probably more to adapt to that. *48:31* It's just Steve is rough. *48:33* Really rough. *48:37* Well, he has no like *48:38* character his whole character is I wanna make out with Claire and then they and then randomly out of nowhere they tried to give him like some *48:40* Depth of some sort when he like blows away his dad? *48:51* Yeah, he like annihilates annihilates his dad, who is, by the way. *48:55* Right next to Claire. *49:00* Who is by the way on top of Claire and then he unloads full clips of sub ma two submachine guns into him? *49:02* It's really *49:11* Goofy there. *49:12* But but that's also like kind of why I love this these games. *49:14* It's it's like I see that. *49:17* I'm like what's going on here? *49:18* And then his uh his death. *49:20* You know, the transformation into a big green monster *49:23* And his his quote unquote death before Wesker, I guess, somehow kidnaps his takes his body away. *49:27* I feel like he's like, I love you, Claire. *49:33* Which, by the way, there's no time for love to develop in all of this. *49:36* All it was is like what he really was saying was, Claire, you're hot. *49:40* Um *49:44* I then Claire is like boo boo-hooing her eyes out and is like, ugh, Steve, Steve. *49:45* It's like, okay. *49:51* Yeah, it's whatever. *49:52* I if they were I'll say this, if they were to need to be majorly reworked. *49:53* In a remake. *49:59* Yeah, I was gonna say that the way that I would compare this is again, we have not played RE4 remake just yet. *50:00* But I do know in that game, uh is it Luis? *50:07* Luis, uh he has been added to the game more prominently. *50:11* And that's just based on all the trailers and stuff we've seen. *50:16* He's in sections of that game that he is not in *50:18* in the base game. *50:21* So they have given him a larger role. *50:22* And with this game, I think they should give Steve less of a role if they were to go back and remake this one. *50:27* I think they should do the opposite. *50:32* Um because he just i he's yeah, he's atrocious. *50:34* Like I I don't want him uh r I like every scene he's in is annoying. *50:38* He's just *50:44* I I I yeah, I I just don't understand what like sort of purpose he serves. *50:45* And what sucks is so much of his so much of Claire's time in this game and her sections *50:50* center around him. *50:57* Like once you get to playing as Chris about two-thirds of the way through the game or so, like Steve's kinda out of the picture for the most part, which is nice. *50:58* Thank goodness. *51:05* And then Chris's whole task ends up being, you know, getting Claire and saving her and stuff. *51:05* But a lot of Claire's section hinges on Steve and it's not good at all. *51:10* It's harsh and I think but I do have to say the fact that we love this game so much despite *51:16* the blight that Steve really is on everything uh speaks to the quality of everything surrounding him that he can't even bring it down that far. *51:24* You know, he kinda gives me a little bit of Johnny vibes from Metal Gear Solid. *51:33* Four, where it's like I'm pooping in the in my outfit. *51:37* Kind of. *51:42* Yeah. *51:43* Time to marry. *51:43* And then you fall in love with Mariel. *51:44* Yeah. *51:45* Time to marry her. *51:46* Last character I did want to bring up quickly is Alfred, because I feel like we've talked about Alexia a little bit more than Alfred. *51:47* Alfred, I think, is *51:53* Very over the top and very like conversely, like I would say both Steve and Alfred in this game are over the top and just kind of like *51:56* the characters that stick out is like what it what is going on here. *52:04* But Alfred Alfred's better works. *52:07* Yes. *52:10* Alfred works because Alfred comes across *52:10* As a crazy person, but at the same time, he's been holed up in this Antarctic castle base *52:15* for the past ten years alone protecting the the cryosleep tank of his sister. *52:23* So like him being a little s *52:31* a little psychotic and a little like he is the whole game. *52:33* I think plays and makes sense. *52:37* Yeah. *52:40* I like Alfred and and and I like that he I like through a lot of the like it supporting documentation and stuff, you can tell that he's kind of *52:40* Uh kind of yeah, he kind of struggles playing second fiddle to his six his sister, but he also like submits to her because he knows that she's like the superior twin. *52:48* I wrote I wrote uh early on, creepy twins give me Lannister vibes. *52:59* Yes. *53:04* Like it's almost a creepy love for your sibling type. *53:05* Yes. *53:10* Angle here. *53:11* Which probably could be fleshed out in a remake as well, more to that type of thing. *53:12* It's *53:17* He's really good. *53:19* He's a really good character here. *53:20* And I like he's a good character for the first half of the game. *53:22* He would not hold it up *53:25* Throughout the whole game, which is why his sister becoming a big thing. *53:26* Takes over, which is a good a good switch. *53:29* Yep. *53:31* It's it's all very good, a great moment. *53:32* When we saw the Resident Evil movie in theaters, there was a point in that movie where they tease the twins and I was like, oh, there's the twins. *53:35* And you're like, I don't get it. *53:42* And I'm like, you whi Oh code veronica. *53:43* Like talking about it *53:47* Like now you know why. *53:48* Yeah. *53:49* I get it. *53:51* I would be very excited to see them show up in future. *53:51* Because they were like, weren't they doesn't it explained in the game that they weren't born of like *53:54* Like they didn't have a mom. *53:58* They were like their test tube babies. *53:59* They're test tube children made by their father. *54:01* Yeah, which is that he was trying to get more creepy *54:04* Funky layers. *54:07* There's so much there's so much cool narrative depth here, just silly crazy ideas that are put out. *54:08* Last story last story moment I want to ask you, and then I want to kind of start breaking down the world in gameplay. *54:14* How do you feel about Chris's introduction in this game? *54:19* Just scaling up the side of a cliff. *54:23* I got some beef. *54:26* I got some again. *54:27* I don't know when this movie would have come out. *54:29* But Chris, why was the bag not cross-strapped? *54:34* You know, that's what I want to say. *54:39* Why was the bag not cross-strapped? *54:40* What it what bag? *54:42* He has a bag while climbing, they assume carrying all his gear, and then he drops it all into the ocean, which explains why Chris has a nothing when you get up to the top. *54:44* That's right. *54:53* I forgot. *54:53* He's a stars member who should have been cross-strapped, all I'm gonna say. *54:53* Uh I got very big Mission Impossible Tom Cruise vibes from this. *54:57* Now Mission Impossible Two would have come out *55:02* Actually later that year, May twenty-fourth of two thousand. *55:06* So it maybe Tom Cruise showed Capcom a screening of the film. *55:09* Yeah. *55:14* Yeah. *55:15* There's big Tom Cruise energy *55:15* It's I just like that that's how I just like that that's the transition. *55:17* It cuts from them being in the snowmobile but getting blasted by the tentacle, and then the next thing you see is Chris climbing the side of a mountain. *55:21* I like that Chris *55:29* Misses them by moments. *55:31* Like, yes. *55:35* He shows up right after the base is blown up, and Claire and Steve have just left. *55:37* So it's just this total mismatch *55:41* Miss of everything. *55:44* That's another great thing about this game. *55:45* I mentioned that like in the same way that like in every Bioshock game there oh the there's a lighthouse or whatever, there's always a lighthouse. *55:46* In Resident Evil, there's always a self-destruct sequence, and in this game there's two of them. *55:53* It's good. *55:59* It's very good. *55:59* There was one thing I wanted to say about Claire. *56:01* Uh just came back to me. *56:03* Uh her design in this game, I think again the product of the times. *56:05* They just for whatever reason *56:10* Gave her a crop top. *56:12* They're like, I got a belly button in Antarctica. *56:14* I'm like, that feels pretty dated because her design She was in Paris, come on. *56:17* I guess. *56:22* Or wherever she was. *56:23* But I that feels pretty dated, especially I think her design in Resident Evil 2, even the original, is just more iconic with the full jacket and, you know, just the look. *56:25* So I would be excited to see *56:35* h a more oh her cooler design, quite frankly, come back in a remake as well. *56:38* She did feel a bit dated in this game, visually speaking. *56:43* How did you um *56:48* This can kind of get into more the structure of the game and we'll we'll talk about the world and stuff like that. *56:51* But uh to kick off that discussion, I did want to ask you, of these older games, this is *56:55* one of the ones outside of three that doesn't have dual playthroughs, but it still kind of sticks close to that model by but putting dual protagonists *57:01* in the center and they still traverse the same avenues and stuff like that. *57:10* And not only that, but there's stuff in this game like if you don't pick up certain items as Claire when you're running through, you can pick them up later as Chris and things like that. *57:14* Like there's a lot with this game's structure and how it's designed that I think is cool. *57:21* and it is a natural evolution of the dual character runs that you can play from the earliest Resident Evil games. *57:25* How did you feel about that this time around? *57:30* Especially because I know we have not been playing the set the alternate campaigns or at least in just Resident Evil One. *57:33* I know we did it in *57:39* to remake. *57:40* Um but yeah how did you feel about that sort of decision here because it's clear that that that that decision with this game is um stems from what they did in the previous entries. *57:41* Yes. *57:52* This is exactly what Ricky alluded to us in our Resident Evil 2 episode. *57:53* They fix the problems that I have with these dual *57:58* protagonists runs that are separate and not having the world feel lived in the same occupying the same space. *58:02* This is *58:09* the same space for both characters. *58:10* And it's actually super cool that when Chris comes to the first island, it's in the destroyed state. *58:12* So you're familiar with where to go, but avenues and paths are blocked off because of the destruction. *58:19* And if you do leave items behind as Claire, Chris can get to some of them. *58:25* If you kill the worm as Claire, my understanding is you don't have to fight it as Chris. *58:29* later. *58:36* That may not be true because the other guy still well no, he would just die, I think. *58:37* I think what I read was he just dies of of his wound or something. *58:42* So it's interesting that the world is lived in and feels like the same space for both characters. *58:47* It's also important the items that you drop in the item box. *58:53* I I screwed this up actually, but the items that you drop in the item box before you go fight the *58:56* the zombified version of their dad or whatever with the sniper. *59:01* Like if you happen to be carrying the grenade launcher, because that was the thing that screwed me up. *59:05* I had the grenade launcher on Claire in my run. *59:08* And so then as Chris's run, I was picking up all these *59:11* all the grenades and acid rounds and stuff like I'm like I can't even use it because this is all on Claire at the moment. *59:14* It's super cool and super smart. *59:20* I will say I played with a guide. *59:22* I just was like, it's old. *59:24* I did too. *59:26* I just want to breeze through this. *59:26* Uh so the guide gave me that heads up and whatnot. *59:28* I did I di I did as well, yeah, because it was it was one of those ones where we've been playing these games. *59:31* We've been playing these games on a bit of a time crunch too. *59:37* We're not a crunch for time necessarily, but I I want I want to make sure that I'm moving through them at a good pace. *59:40* So that's kind of why I've been consulting a guide while I play through. *59:45* It's *59:48* I really love that part of the world design and reusing spaces and having destruction be a part of it. *59:49* It it truly feels alive. *59:57* It's probably the most *59:58* a live place in these old games that truly feels connected. *01:00:01* Yeah, I think the all these games have always done really phenomenal jobs of their locations. *01:00:06* Their locations, I think, are what set these games all *01:00:12* A part. *01:00:15* Actually, I I'm looking at my notes. *01:00:16* Th here's a great example of this, I think, is *01:00:19* When you're Chris, you have to go get the army proofs that Claire uses to get the jet. *01:00:24* You have to get them to unlock the the secret lab or whatever. *01:00:29* And so it is it forces you, you know where you have to go. *01:00:34* So you have to navigate back through the world, but solve some puzzles a different way because things have changed. *01:00:37* There's a big hole in the ground now. *01:00:42* Yeah, it's strategic and create makes old spaces feel new. *01:00:44* And I really loved that. *01:00:50* And the objective was clear. *01:00:52* And just fr, it's so good. *01:00:54* Great design. *01:00:56* Great, great design. *01:00:57* Like I remember there are things, like I said before, about the items and stuff like that. *01:00:58* Like I remember seeing certain items. *01:01:01* I'm like, I don't know how I can get that. *01:01:02* Like how? *01:01:04* How do I reach that? *01:01:04* How do I get there? *01:01:05* And then like uh I go back through later and like the environment's slightly different. *01:01:06* Like I think of one of the um *01:01:09* one of the briefcases that's trapped behind the cage in the Antarctic base near the end. *01:01:12* I I was trying to get that as clear. *01:01:18* I'm like, I don't know how to get this. *01:01:19* Uh maybe later I'll try to come back. *01:01:20* And then as I go through with Chris it's destroyed. *01:01:22* And it's like, oh, well there we go. *01:01:23* Now I can get it *01:01:25* It's good design. *01:01:28* Good wealth design for sure. *01:01:29* How do you feel about all the different locations in this game? *01:01:30* Because we've got the opening jail slash military base, which kind of then leads to *01:01:33* uh the twins palace and then we've got the um the house and uh the the final Antarctic base where everything takes place there at the end. *01:01:39* How how do you feel about the different *01:01:49* environments in this game and kind of how they play off of especially the final locale how it plays off the Spencer Mansion and stuff as well, which I know we've already talked about to some degree. *01:01:51* The it military base is an interesting start, I think. *01:02:02* I thought I thought the palace was gonna be r where we spent most of our time. *01:02:06* And you do spend time there, but really you're bouncing around places quite often. *01:02:12* There's even a submarine for some reason that connects to like an underwater base. *01:02:16* But it's Did you like that the military base is established as like the main military base where all the umbrella people train, including Hunk? *01:02:21* Did you find Yeah, did you find that document? *01:02:29* I found a document from Hunk, I believe. *01:02:33* Yes. *01:02:35* And I think he mentions the military base and how he used to train there or something like that. *01:02:36* See cool world building. *01:02:41* So the that's cool. *01:02:43* I like the palace because it immediately gives you that resident evil vibe, but it's not creepy. *01:02:43* And then the house on the hill is creepy. *01:02:47* But I think we don't spend enough time there. *01:02:49* In the house on the hill? *01:02:52* Yeah. *01:02:53* It's go upstairs, do secret puzzles in the bedroom, come downstairs. *01:02:54* Yeah, and then you go upstairs and there's the like the carousel or whatever up there too. *01:02:59* And that's about it. *01:03:05* Yeah, it just I feel like there's potential in that house that wasn't tapped into. *01:03:07* And then *01:03:12* Secret Antarctic base, like with Spencer Mansion slightly recreated in it. *01:03:15* It's cool and goofy. *01:03:20* Uh cool literally because it's Antarctica. *01:03:23* So I'm I'm fond of it. *01:03:25* All these places feel good. *01:03:27* They're contained, not too expansive, easy to remember. *01:03:29* Where you need to go. *01:03:34* The map is actually like sorta useful-ish, kinda. *01:03:35* Probably the first especially for one of the older ones. *01:03:40* Yeah, an actual useful map. *01:03:43* So appreciate that. *01:03:45* I like it. *01:03:46* It's a good world that feels properly fleshed out without being too cumbersome. *01:03:47* I like the final Antarctic base. *01:03:54* Like it hasn't been blown up yet, so the reason they explain how things are different when you get there with Chris is just kinda like that Alexia has taken control of everything and has like done some remodeling. *01:03:57* To some degree. *01:04:08* And that's how things are a little bit shaken up over there. *01:04:09* Yeah, I think um I will say I don't think there are as many specific iconic locations in this gink *01:04:13* compared to some of the other ones we've played, there is no equivalent of the police station. *01:04:20* There is no Spencer Mansion. *01:04:24* Every there there's a lot more, it's a lot more interconnected than I think some of the other Resident Evil games. *01:04:26* games we have played are and you are backtracking more often and you are going you're traversing the whole world in this game a bit more than a lot of the others and so in a lot of ways that makes it much more unique and you feel like you are covering a *01:04:32* Like when I just say where this game takes place, I just think of Antarctica kind of broadly. *01:04:45* Like I don't think I don't have one specific spot in mind. *01:04:49* But I think that's different, like to the game's benefit. *01:04:53* Like you don't need a one-off *01:04:57* location in every Resident Evil game if that's the same. *01:04:59* In a way, kinda similar to RE3, where RE3 really is just Raccoon City. *01:05:03* and then a hospital underground base. *01:05:09* Like two separate locations. *01:05:12* So and these games were being built and made at the same time, so there could be some crossover there. *01:05:14* I think this is a better world in an exploratory sense. *01:05:19* Resident Evil 3 is very much beeline straight through not really exploring spaces. *01:05:23* But this is a very good just explorable world in in that scope without being too big. *01:05:29* Coming off of like the world design, I wanted to also ask you about the gameplay in this one, which *01:05:35* is old school Resident Evil for the most part, but uh what I specifically I guess wanted to ask you is um *01:05:42* If you can clearly see how Resident Evil 4 came after this. *01:05:51* Because this game, more than any of the others, uh lets you *01:05:55* Do combat pretty regularly, and I don't feel like you're ever strapped for ammo as much as you are in some of the other games *01:06:00* I didn't know if that's how it was in your own experience. *01:06:07* But I do know I got to the end of this game and I knew I was heading in the final boss fight and I looked what I had in my item box before I went to go fight the final boss and it was *01:06:10* Whole lot of ammo that I was sitting on for all my weapons and I was not not using my weapons throughout the game too. *01:06:18* Like I was *01:06:26* pretty heavily firing away at zombies and other enemies whenever I saw them. *01:06:27* Um so it wasn't a situation where I was trying to be conservative. *01:06:32* But this game and this is a progressive change that we see in all these games too. *01:06:35* I know we didn't play the original *01:06:39* Resident Evil 3. *01:06:41* But that game had a larger focus on combat as well, rather than being more survival-based. *01:06:43* And you still have to be careful with how you allocate your resources. *01:06:48* But yeah, I guess broadly when it comes to *01:06:51* shooting and killing zombies and stuff in this game, did you find that it also it very much pushes you to use your weapons. *01:06:54* Go nuts. *01:07:02* We're gonna give you ammo pretty regularly in this. *01:07:02* Yeah, absolutely. *01:07:06* I wrote down this is definitely the most action-y old school Resident Evil game. *01:07:07* And it makes sense that four is the next step from this, embracing that, but giving us that over the shoulder. *01:07:11* camera angle while maintaining the tank controls. *01:07:17* So it's a logical next step up. *01:07:21* Um it it definitely is. *01:07:23* I see that and felt that, experienced it quite a bit. *01:07:26* I will say though, I thought the weapon variety was not great. *01:07:29* I think we're *01:07:35* I'm starting to get bored of the tried and trues in Resident Evil. *01:07:37* I think the *01:07:43* The bow gun was pretty cool. *01:07:45* Very fast. *01:07:47* Not it can hold infinite number of ammo, so they're never reloading. *01:07:49* Oh yeah, and you can stack it all. *01:07:53* Yes, you can have like 400 uh rounds at a single time and you don't have to. *01:07:55* Yeah. *01:07:59* The bow gun is cool. *01:08:00* I think the grenade launcher in this game sucks. *01:08:01* I think the arc of the shots, like they they botched the grenade launcher. *01:08:04* I think the shotgun is fine. *01:08:08* The grenades work well, but I don't think the flame rounds or the acid rounds work very well. *01:08:10* Or the there's gas rounds too, I think. *01:08:16* Yeah, I just I *01:08:19* I wasn't feeling the weaponry this time around. *01:08:21* Also, some guns have a percentage of ammo instead of *01:08:24* That was odd, and I found myself not wanting to use them because I was worried I'd run out, and then I get to the end and I almost have 100% on all of them. *01:08:29* So that was *01:08:37* That was an interesting mindset. *01:08:38* But with those guns, you can you can shoot two different zombies at the same time, which is really cool with those, which is awesome. *01:08:40* Dual-wielding type energy, very dope. *01:08:48* I like that, but I guess because I was scared to use them as a limited percentage item, I didn't really get to *01:08:50* Experience that a lot. *01:08:59* But replaying the game you would know that you could do that, I guess. *01:09:00* Sure. *01:09:04* Because you're never gonna be *01:09:04* Like that's why I was saying this game is because it took me a bit to realize that while playing this game is like, oh, I'm not running out of ammo. *01:09:07* Like I'm not even pressed for it. *01:09:15* So I'm just gonna start using it pretty *01:09:17* Pretty freely here. *01:09:20* Um, because I think I'll be fine. *01:09:21* I know I'm nearing the final phases of this game. *01:09:22* I did notice there aren't a lot of bosses in this game. *01:09:25* There's not a lot of boss fights. *01:09:29* And some of the ones that are presented are optional as well. *01:09:31* The spider was optional. *01:09:34* The spider is one you can avoid. *01:09:36* I think of the uh when you go down into the *01:09:37* like dungeon basement area where the uh plaque is in the water and then that Oh that electric uh yeah because I just ran in there and grabbed the plaque after I couldn't hit the darn thing. *01:09:43* And then you can just turn around and run back out. *01:09:53* Yep, you don't have to fight that either. *01:09:55* It's I don't know how I feel about it. *01:09:57* There are cool bosses in this game, I'd argue. *01:10:00* the dad zombie I wrote the name down here, the Nor Nosferotu. *01:10:03* Nosferatu. *01:10:11* Nosferatu. *01:10:12* I think is actually a really iconic Resident Evil villain. *01:10:13* uh the design of it with all bandaged up and tentacles and a a big axe type energy. *01:10:17* Cool cool boss design there. *01:10:24* Tyrant of course shows up. *01:10:26* I *01:10:28* Feels like just for the sake of the case. *01:10:29* A little recycled. *01:10:31* Yeah, I think Tyr I think this is the last appearance that Tyrant makes. *01:10:32* And then of course, uh Alexia and her You've got the stretchy arm dudes. *01:10:36* Oh bander snatches. *01:10:43* Yes. *01:10:46* Which are very annoying. *01:10:46* Annoying, but unique. *01:10:48* I I appreciated a little bit new variety there. *01:10:50* And they can jump up on different levels. *01:10:53* And that happens at multiple points in time. *01:10:56* That's pretty scary. *01:10:57* In that sense. *01:10:58* So cool, neat, but not a lot of boss fights. *01:11:00* There's no you of course you run away from s Monster Steve. *01:11:04* Which is which is horrible, but it's a bad segment. *01:11:08* Because you ki basically have to go into that section with health or else you will die. *01:11:12* You have to have two health items or get extremely lucky. *01:11:18* And there's no, I don't know how you can outrun it, to be honest, because I tried it and I died like twice. *01:11:23* I was like, oh, I just have to burn through my health here. *01:11:29* So that section sucks. *01:11:31* It does suck. *01:11:33* It's *01:11:34* And then obviously Alexia and Which is a fun fight and she gets all she turned there. *01:11:35* I don't think the final fight is fun. *01:11:42* I well, I'll say this. *01:11:44* I like blowing her up with the bazooka energy gun thing. *01:11:45* Well, who doesn't? *01:11:49* Because it the second you it happens, it immediately cuts to CGI. *01:11:49* Yes. *01:11:53* But that second *01:11:54* The second phase of that fight where the little bugs are just hounding you is obnoxious. *01:11:56* I will say I did not have much trouble with that because seven times in a row. *01:12:04* I had, oh, I did not die at all on her. *01:12:09* I had full Magnum ready to go, primed. *01:12:11* Shot her with the magnum. *01:12:16* But those bugs, I ran, I would run it, I had like six shots of Magnum. *01:12:17* Run out of that and switch to the AK or the whatever machine gun I have. *01:12:21* Oh, I had my gr I had like twelve grenade launcher rounds, so I was just like poof, poof, poof, poof *01:12:25* But those bugs kept killing me, man. *01:12:30* I actually looked up a video and they were like, you just gotta shoot her. *01:12:32* Don't worry about the bugs. *01:12:35* Yep. *01:12:36* And I tried I tried two strategies of ignoring the bugs and *01:12:37* shooting the bugs and both were failing up to that point. *01:12:40* But then I was like, all right, I'm just gonna shoot her forever. *01:12:42* And I stuck with the strategy I saw in the video and it it seemed to work. *01:12:45* Well it did work because then I ended up winning. *01:12:49* But man, those bugs suck and uh that fight needs to be reimagined as well, I would think. *01:12:51* That that didn't give me a problem, uh fortunately. *01:12:57* I did kill her the first time. *01:12:59* So that's it. *01:13:01* Just dawned on me. *01:13:01* Was Claire poisoned in your run? *01:13:03* Uh yes, by the stupid moths, which I hate. *01:13:07* By no no no oh the moth sack. *01:13:11* No no no. *01:13:13* Was she poisoned by Masferatu? *01:13:13* No. *01:13:18* I was reading about this. *01:13:19* Apparently, if you get too close to him in the fight, he poisons you. *01:13:20* Yes. *01:13:23* And then Chris has to go get an antidote. *01:13:24* Yes. *01:13:27* Which is referenced in pickups and collectibles. *01:13:27* Yes, it is. *01:13:30* And it is in the basement section. *01:13:31* And I was actually uh looking for that because I knew about that. *01:13:33* I was like, why am I not can why can I not find this? *01:13:36* And then when I *01:13:38* When save Claire, it was just like, oh, she's fine. *01:13:40* So yeah. *01:13:42* Yeah, that's another optional section of the game. *01:13:44* I think that's a really cool touch and it it's it directly impacts *01:13:47* narrative and performance of the game, again connecting the world. *01:13:51* And it makes you want to ensure that you do a better job as clean in that boss fight on top of the like helipad or whatever you're fighting on. *01:13:55* A bit too foggy up there. *01:14:04* Bit too foggy. *01:14:05* A little bit. *01:14:06* You can definitely see the Metal Gear solid influence in in that fight, for sure. *01:14:08* With the sniper rifle and *01:14:12* Yeah, that's the middle gear saw one vibes, absolutely. *01:14:15* But yeah, there's not a lot of bosses in this game, I I th like you're saying, which I think is kind of interesting because it is so *01:14:19* action heavy. *01:14:27* So it is it is different in that re regard. *01:14:28* I I gotta say I hated the moths in the spiders in this game. *01:14:31* Moths are atrocious. *01:14:34* They are obnoxious. *01:14:37* Because you can't aim at them. *01:14:38* They're like they hover in a s in a area that's like between like shooting at mid-range and shooting upwards. *01:14:40* And so like you never ha know exactly how to shoot them and then they can just latch onto your back and it's very annoying in that regard. *01:14:47* Um and one time I killed all of them, but was had one of their *01:14:55* little babies implanted on my back. *01:15:00* And so I waited in the room for it to hatch. *01:15:02* So I can leave the room. *01:15:04* And then when you go back in the moths are back. *01:15:07* Yeah, that that was that section I didn't. *01:15:13* I did not like that section, for sure. *01:15:16* I don't think there's anything else to say gameplay-wise though. *01:15:18* I mean, did did any puzzles stand out in this game to you or uh Oh! *01:15:21* I mean I gotta ask about it *01:15:26* This is your true tank control game. *01:15:28* What are your thoughts? *01:15:31* At first I was like, this is atrocious. *01:15:32* Get me out of here. *01:15:34* This is gonna be the worst game we play. *01:15:35* Because it's just tank controls *01:15:37* They have not aged well. *01:15:40* It's so frustrating they're bad. *01:15:41* But because you mentioned it with resident before. *01:15:43* You're like, this is so bad. *01:15:46* I'm like, Max, you don't. *01:15:47* I think it's worse in Resident Evil 4 in the sense that Resident Evil 4 *01:15:55* feels like it should be a third-person shooter where you can walk and shoot. *01:16:01* So tank controls don't feel natural in that setting. *01:16:04* But the more top-down approach here at least made it a little easier on my brain. *01:16:07* Of just up is go forward and then figuring out left and right based off the right. *01:16:14* And they give you the 180 spin, which is nice. *01:16:18* Very helpful. *01:16:21* So it's fine and I got used to it, but please no more. *01:16:22* Please no more tank controls. *01:16:27* It took me about 45 minutes to an hour to get kind of used to it, and then I didn't have any problems after that. *01:16:28* Early on in the game when you have to like run away from the dogs, I was like, this is not good. *01:16:33* This is a bad time. *01:16:37* I can't. *01:16:38* Yes. *01:16:39* Because when you panic. *01:16:39* Your brain goes into that fight or flight, and then my brain's not thinking, here's how we use I definitely use the D-pad. *01:16:41* I try and naturally I was reaching for the analog stick at first, and that makes it even worse because you don't have any true *01:16:47* Oh, I played the whole game with an analog stick. *01:16:54* Oh, I know. *01:16:56* Could not do that. *01:16:56* I was D-pad all the way. *01:16:57* I need to know up is up and left and right or left and right. *01:16:59* I can't have the, you know, drifting nature of a a thumbstick. *01:17:03* So *01:17:07* Interesting. *01:17:08* But I got better at it and I I'm glad I experienced it. *01:17:08* I have some historical context for it now, but I'm I don't want it anymore. *01:17:12* I was afraid when we were going to come in to to record this episode. *01:17:17* you were going to say this game's horrible. *01:17:22* I hate Code Veronica. *01:17:24* Tank control's bad. *01:17:26* Like I thought that this was gonna be like your turning point on the series over. *01:17:27* Not turning point. *01:17:32* Like you hate it. *01:17:32* But like I figured you were not going to *01:17:33* adapt well. *01:17:36* Especially for how this one is slotted in the season, kind of like right in the middle, and we've played a lot of remakes and we've played a lot of newer games and we've played a lot of older games that are newer than this one. *01:17:37* I I I thought you might struggle. *01:17:49* So I'm glad you were able to enjoy this in spite of this being the oldest entry we have played. *01:17:51* Yeah. *01:17:57* Um for sure. *01:17:57* Did you I again uh *01:17:58* Anything about the puzzles, inventory system, there's nothing really to write home about this time around. *01:18:00* I like the inventory is expandable, which I think is the first for an older game. *01:18:04* So very exciting, very cool. *01:18:08* The puzzles I feel are more point and clicky inspired. *01:18:11* They're more obtuse options. *01:18:15* There's tricks and, you know *01:18:17* Things that wouldn't necessarily make sense at first glance. *01:18:21* So that it feels more point and clicky in that nature. *01:18:25* Like *01:18:28* A pirate ship is a key. *01:18:29* Like a pirate ship wheel is a key. *01:18:30* Or you have to go get a painting. *01:18:32* You have to first zoom in on a skeleton painting to get numbers to unlock a door and then take the painting into another room. *01:18:34* So it feels very *01:18:40* monkey islandish in that way of, you know, try odd items until they work. *01:18:42* So that's that was one th or get all the necklace crystals to, you know, open things later. *01:18:47* So definitely feels more like that. *01:18:53* Let's uh let's touch on the horror factor of this game, which is an element of all of these games. *01:18:57* Um and as the series has started to become more action-heavy with this one *01:19:03* It's definitely lost the creepiness element for sure, especially coming off of like Resident Evil 2 and 3, which are games that have *01:19:08* people chasing you the whole time, which is not really present in this in this game. *01:19:17* I think I think honestly what makes this game less creepy than the others, though, um, is just the fact that the main antagonists are all *01:19:21* human or humanoid for the most part. *01:19:28* Like you've got obviously zombies and mutated animals and insects like normal in the Resident Evil series, but *01:19:31* Alexia, Alfred, and Wesker, which you don't really directly fight Wesker outside of cutscenes, but they're all humans in nature to some degree. *01:19:38* So there that makes it less *01:19:46* Scary. *01:19:48* You don't have a big hulking tank with a rocket launcher chasing you around. *01:19:49* Um and I think that alone kind of *01:19:54* lowers the horror factor in this one considerably. *01:19:58* It's I wasn't scared by anything. *01:20:03* There was I was never like *01:20:07* Unsure to enter a new space. *01:20:10* I think they tried some horror stuff. *01:20:13* I think narratively there's creepy stuff. *01:20:15* Opening the doors more slowly m with the like heartbeat with your heartbeat ramping up. *01:20:16* As your uh controller shakes in tandem with it. *01:20:23* I think of the doctor that was performing and had the secret lab underground. *01:20:25* He was like no one will get to my precious subjects. *01:20:34* And obviously, like the stuff that they do to their dad, who is the boss, like that is narratively scary. *01:20:36* But in game *01:20:43* Not scary. *01:20:46* It's like body horror stuff more than it is like jump scare or or not you just like I I'm not scared to play the game ever necessarily. *01:20:47* It's gruesome and it's *01:20:56* Gross, but it's not really like I I I could I I never felt like I was like, I gotta take a break. *01:20:59* This game is *01:21:05* Stressing me out. *01:21:06* Whereas like the other day I was I mean this will kind of time things a little bit. *01:21:08* I've been playing through Village recently and I reached the dollhouse section of village the other day and it was like 1130 at night and I was like, you know *01:21:11* I think I'm just gonna stop here for the night actually. *01:21:18* Yeah. *01:21:21* It's this is definitely not scary. *01:21:22* And I'm I would be curious to see how horror could be *01:21:24* re like reimagined into the game if it was remade. *01:21:29* Because I think you gotta have some scary stuff in the game. *01:21:34* Like I *01:21:38* There's so many possibilities of what they could do in a remake. *01:21:40* But yeah, it's not as scary, which is a a bummer, but I do think it compensates it in the action and just over-the-top nature of everything. *01:21:44* So it it does feel balanced, just not it's definitely the furthest we've come from horror. *01:21:52* Yeah, to some degree. *01:22:00* I mean, I think the series from here does become more action *01:22:01* heavy for certain oh absolutely. *01:22:06* Four, five, six, uh obviously. *01:22:09* Like it's just th things only get crazier from here. *01:22:11* And so horror is an aspect of Resident Evil and it always will be, but *01:22:15* I do think this is where it started shaking loose from trying to intentionally scare the player. *01:22:20* Um whereas the older games kind of tried to do that more frequently. *01:22:26* Let's talk about the music. *01:22:32* Um *01:22:33* I think there's actually more to say about this soundtrack than a lot of others. *01:22:34* There is ever-present music in this game compared to just *01:22:39* Sound effects and stuff like that. *01:22:44* A lot of these other games opt to be a little quiet to build a tense atmosphere and uh make you trepidatious of where you're exploring. *01:22:46* But no, there is *01:22:54* Pretty constant music in every single area of this game. *01:22:56* It's playing in the background constantly. *01:22:59* There's different themes for different sections of the game. *01:23:00* And I think the full soundtrack in this game is *01:23:03* One of the strongest ones we've seen so far out of all of these. *01:23:06* Absolutely. *01:23:10* This game has such a good soundtrack. *01:23:12* It's *01:23:15* Got this jazzy detective thriller flair to it and some of its sound effects. *01:23:16* The theme for the twins slash Ashford family is iconic. *01:23:21* Immediately I knew I heard this. *01:23:28* I was like, this is a certifiable banner right here. *01:23:30* This is the this is the song from the game. *01:23:34* It's so *01:23:36* So good. *01:23:38* It's eerie. *01:23:39* It's creepy. *01:23:40* It's romantic. *01:23:41* It's a great song. *01:23:43* A great song. *01:23:45* Are you talking about the song that plays like on their uh the music box? *01:23:47* Yeah, like the piano theme that you hear all the time whenever they're around. *01:23:52* It's *01:23:58* It's great. *01:23:59* I wrote there's good music in the the private estate, the manor on the hill there, the credits music. *01:24:00* I wrote as bumpin', you know, because I've got a great musical *01:24:06* vocabulary here. *01:24:11* They've got the choir boss battle music coming back. *01:24:12* It is just a really full and experimental soundtrack that I appreciate. *01:24:16* But that jazzy detective nature of it, I'm like, ooh. *01:24:20* More of this please. *01:24:24* Let's. *01:24:25* . *01:24:25* Yeah. *01:24:25* Give some character and texture to residual sound. *01:24:26* Like make it fun. *01:24:29* Yeah, I I think them trying to *01:24:30* Um, like we said before, not focus so heavily on um trying to scare you. *01:24:34* Cause I I think when music is playing in the background, it does kind of break that tension a little bit and it does kind of make you feel *01:24:40* A bit more at ease even if things on screen are chaotic and you're getting swarmed by zombies. *01:24:48* Just the fact that there is music there is s is a a constant that you can kind of latch on to with audio-wise. *01:24:53* Yeah. *01:25:01* Um *01:25:01* But yeah, the the the music in the game is great at the same time. *01:25:02* So I I'm I'm glad to see them implement it a bit more heavily than some of the others that we have been playing, especially some of the others from this *01:25:06* era of the late nineties, early two thousands. *01:25:14* Or I guess just early two thousands, because we never played any of the actual games from the nineties. *01:25:18* We deferred to some of the remakes instead. *01:25:23* But yeah, the soundtrack in this game I d absolutely think is one of the strongest in the whole series that we've experienced so far. *01:25:26* Apparently there was a vinyl release of this. *01:25:33* And the cover art is Alexia in her like queen bug form. *01:25:37* That's that's that's a choice for the cover. *01:25:43* Very interesting. *01:25:45* They'll send it to you. *01:25:46* Pretty cool. *01:25:48* Alright, Max, we've kind of touched on it a handful of times, but let's talk about the legacy of this game and what it means for the larger series and how it's looked back upon. *01:25:48* You can start this one off. *01:26:00* It man, what a game. *01:26:03* What a game. *01:26:06* There's a lot of different things, like a little tidbits, I think, that make this up. *01:26:07* It's the first big major Resident Evil game that is developed not by Capcom. *01:26:12* I think that's really important here. *01:26:19* There's *01:26:22* Because this game is awesome. *01:26:23* And it proves that Capcom's not the only one that like has cracked the Resident Evil formula. *01:26:24* I get that Capcom had a hand in making this game. *01:26:28* But it wasn't just them. *01:26:31* Shinji Mankami's still a producer, so anything these people are coming up with, he's having to like movements to some degree in my history book, The Itchy Tasty. *01:26:33* He was *01:26:42* just kind of approving things on the side. *01:26:43* He was 'cause at the time you've gotta think he was in on two, three, four, like a lot was going on. *01:26:45* He's just the producer on everything. *01:26:52* He didn't yeah, he didn't direct some of those games, but he was still he was kind of the *01:26:54* He was overseeing all of this. *01:26:57* Yeah. *01:26:59* This game brings back Wesker, which is so vital to the future of the Resident Evil series. *01:27:00* and is a legendary character within video games, so I think that's really important. *01:27:06* The twins, the Ashfords also my understanding are fairly prominent in *01:27:10* The series going forward. *01:27:16* I'm gonna show you after this ends. *01:27:17* I don't know if you've looked it up, but the scene from that movie I was talking about was that. *01:27:19* I haven't gone back, no. *01:27:23* I should they could they directly uh *01:27:24* the film uh the reel that you find of them and he's like tearing off the bug wings or whatever, that's directly in the movie. *01:27:27* Oh my gosh. *01:27:33* Okay, see that sounds so cool now. *01:27:34* But in the end, I think this is like the true culmination of traditional Resident Evil. *01:27:37* It is the peak of that design. *01:27:42* And as we've talked about through the course of the season, Resident Evil can really be kind of chunked. *01:27:45* into three different eras. *01:27:50* The old school tank control traditional era, the middle action-y era, Resident Evil 4 through six. *01:27:51* And then the rebirth of it all with seven, reengine, and this season of remakes with two, three, and now four. *01:27:58* And this is the peak, this is the end of that first era, and it hits and it's great. *01:28:06* Yeah. *01:28:12* And I definitely am with the people that think this game needs to be the next one to be remade, for sure. *01:28:12* This is *01:28:18* I can't believe it's not talked about more as well. *01:28:20* Well, we had to go back and play a version of it that is over twenty years old. *01:28:23* Like there's a reason this one is the oldest game we've played this year. *01:28:27* And that that that's why I think people want this remade the most, is because *01:28:30* of all the other games. *01:28:34* Like we've talked we've talked about how when like Capcom holds these Resident Evil sales, like the whole Resident Evil saga one through six, zero *01:28:35* Um seven and eight even, like readily available across PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC. *01:28:44* This is the only one that is like gridlocked to certain platforms that you have to kind of *01:28:50* And does go on sale with those games. *01:29:00* It does. *01:29:02* It does. *01:29:03* It is an emulated version of the PS2 *01:29:03* Yes. *01:29:07* Actually on Xbox I wonder what it is emulating, because it's not the HD version, so it might be the Dreamcast version. *01:29:07* Yes. *01:29:14* I mean that's that's what I'm saying. *01:29:15* You're playing a PS2 version of the game that is *01:29:16* forward compatible on PS4, which you can is then also backward compatible on PS5. *01:29:18* They did remake it on PS3 and 360, or remastered it. *01:29:23* So they did try going forward the next generation to keep it forward, but really they just haven't done anything with it since the PS4 generation, which *01:29:28* was 10 years ago when it that generation started. *01:29:37* And so it's interesting that Capcom like isn't I don't want to say isn't it I mean it's proud of it, but it's definitely not as accessible as the rest of them. *01:29:40* Well it's just it it is a weird It's weird because uh to me this game's legacy is that *01:29:51* It's it's very it's so important. *01:30:01* Like this game is so vital to the larger series, like I was saying, and directly sets up what happens in five *01:30:04* This is the first game that broadens the scope outside of Raccoon City. *01:30:10* This deepens the lore. *01:30:14* This *01:30:16* uh showcases what the uh uh it gives us a first taste of kind of what this series would become with its globe trotting nature of going around to different countries and different locales and meeting different characters and figuring out the extent to which Umbrella has impacted *01:30:17* the world. *01:30:32* Um I I think this game is pivotal in what the series would become. *01:30:33* And in a lot of ways this is *01:30:38* Like, it's strange that Re4 is a mainline game because that game is pretty self-contained and doesn't tie in with a lot else that happens within the larger *01:30:41* series. *01:30:51* Like that, I mean that's not really true because there are ta ties with five and stuff. *01:30:51* But Resident Evil 4 is like pretty k self-contained to the point that that could be a spin-off of its own just *01:30:55* This adventure of Leon. *01:31:02* Leon saves the president's daughter. *01:31:04* Yeah, Leon saving the president's daughter in Spain. *01:31:06* Like that's it's very different compared to Code Veronica, which is *01:31:08* Directly following up the events of uh of the Raccoon City games. *01:31:13* They're trying to still hunt down Umbrella. *01:31:18* They're going to these different umbrella bases around the world. *01:31:19* They're finding out more about the roots of the company and how it's again, how it's a reach, it started to extend to other parts of the world, how the virus was born, what it's what it came from. *01:31:23* So like yeah, this game is very much like this is kind of Resident Evil 4 in a lot of ways. *01:31:35* Like it is so it's weird that retroactively *01:31:41* Like, and I know this because I've been a fan of the series for so long, and I've I told you this coming into it, and I think anybody else who's been familiar with this series for so long knows this as well. *01:31:45* But like when they finish remaking *01:31:54* Uh three, a lot of people were like, cool, four next. *01:31:57* And anybody like me or others was like, no, code Veronica next is what needs to happen. *01:32:00* Like that's that is the next logical game they should look to do because it's just *01:32:06* sequential. *01:32:11* So it's it's a spin-off that is more important than some of the mainline games, strangely. *01:32:12* Um this is the only non *01:32:18* numbered game I think we're playing in this season, correct? *01:32:21* Yes. *01:32:26* But now that you've played it, would you agree that it's hugely more pivotal than even three and four? *01:32:26* Like *01:32:32* Is game building. *01:32:33* I'm so glad that you said we're playing Code Veronica. *01:32:35* Like yes. *01:32:38* When we were building out this season's list of just games to play, not even the flow necessarily. *01:32:39* But this was vital. *01:32:45* And then it also was vital in our flow discussion. *01:32:46* I like where we've put this in the season. *01:32:48* I told you we had to play this before five because I knew *01:32:52* Just it sets up everything. *01:32:55* It comes after us plane three, which wraps up the Code Veronica, or I'm sorry, the Raccoon City. *01:32:57* Story. *01:33:06* And this is the logical next step and leap for that coming out of RE2 and and Resident Evil 3. *01:33:06* So *01:33:12* I this game is vital. *01:33:13* If when I go forward and I tell people to play code or Resident Evil games, this makes the cut. *01:33:15* This is a game to play and experience. *01:33:21* It's *01:33:23* Awesome. *01:33:24* It's fun. *01:33:25* And it doesn't sound like it would. *01:33:26* Like the game, we didn't haven't talked about this, but like the game title is so name of the game is so weird. *01:33:27* Like *01:33:34* Oh, you gotta play Resident Evil Code Veronica. *01:33:34* It's like what? *01:33:37* That sounds like Code Veronica X. *01:33:38* That sounds like a game that would have released on like Game Boy Color and like no one would have ever thought twice about 25 years ago. *01:33:40* But it's like, no, this is like one of the *01:33:47* Like of the games in the series that are the most important to the overall Resident Evil universe and lores that like this is like very, very high on the list. *01:33:49* Yeah. *01:33:58* So yeah, and I I think that's this the game's legacy in my mind is that this is a linchpin in the larger series *01:33:59* So much of what Resident Evil would later become is kind of a turning point here, not only in terms of mechanics, like we mentioned how it's more action-oriented, but also the story. *01:34:06* sets the stage for where things go following Raccoon City. *01:34:17* Like this game is hugely important and that's kind of its legacy to me. *01:34:20* Yeah. *01:34:24* Is that it is the *01:34:25* One of the most important games of the series that is not numbered it at all. *01:34:28* Which is funny. *01:34:32* Alright. *01:34:34* I think that does it for Resident Evil Code Veronica X *01:34:34* Thank you all so much for listening. *01:34:39* If you'd like, you can check out the rest of our seasons over at chapterselect. *01:34:40* com. *01:34:45* We've got stuff like The Fast and the Furious or God of War. *01:34:45* uh The Last of Us, you know, that show just ended as we're recording this. *01:34:50* So uh plenty of shows to explore and seasons there. *01:34:53* If you'd like to follow Logan, you can do so over at Moreman Twelve on Twitter and his work over at comicbook dot com. *01:34:57* If you'd like to follow me, you can go to maxfrequency. *01:35:04* net. *01:35:06* All my writing is there. *01:35:07* And my other podcast, the Max Frequency Podcast. *01:35:08* So go check that out. *01:35:11* Thank you all so much for listening. *01:35:13* And until next time, adios. *01:35:14* Alright, I gotta go pick up my kid. *01:35:24* Chapter Select is a max frequency production. *01:35:27* This episode was researched, produced, and edited by me, Max Roberts *01:35:30* Season 5 is hosted by Logan Moore and myself. *01:35:34* Season 5 is all about Resident Evil. *01:35:38* For more on this season, go to chapterselect. *01:35:40* com forward slash season 5. *01:35:43* Follow the show at Chapter Select and check out previous seasons at ChapterSelect. *01:35:45* com *01:35:51*