# Chapter Select, [[S5E8 - Resident Evil Village]] 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. --- Mike. *00:00* Yeah. *00:01* Isn't Resident Evil 3 incredible? *00:02* Dude. *00:06* You guys ruined me. *00:07* It's all I can think about. *00:09* It's all I could think about now. *00:11* It's so good. *00:12* Godforsaken series now. *00:14* I'm so glad you're on my side of this. *00:15* Yeah. *00:18* I mean *00:19* Resident Evil 3 remake. *00:21* Top three, top four? *00:22* Oh yeah. *00:24* Top four Resident Evil. *00:25* I think I think it may be by might be my third favorite. *00:26* What's your list? *00:32* I think four remakes my favorite. *00:34* And then probably village. *00:37* And then probably three remake? *00:39* I respect that. *00:43* Probably. *00:45* I like two's not been my least favorite because I'm playing five right now. *00:46* And I think I'm at the so *00:52* You saying five's not a masterpiece? *00:55* Uh five is really good. *00:58* When I saw zombies riding motorcycles, like great. *01:01* This is exactly and then uh what's his name is such a goofy. *01:05* Irving. *01:09* Uh Irving, yeah. *01:10* Irving. *01:11* Yeah. *01:13* What a goofy guy. *01:14* The Irving Boss. *01:17* Yeah, dude. *01:18* Okay, yeah. *01:19* I mean, you guys played co-op. *01:20* I'm playing by myself. *01:22* That part sucked. *01:24* Yeah, there were like for that boss fight in particular, I'm sure it probably was pretty fun with like two people with one person. *01:26* It was just me, because the what's her face? *01:32* You have to like command her to like go on a turret. *01:34* But since he switches sides so frequently, you ha like she can't just like stay at the same turret. *01:38* But I just had her park at the same turret and then she would get off at some points. *01:44* She wasted all of her ammo. *01:48* And so then she was just standing there while I finished the boss fight, and it took probably longer than it it had to, I guess. *01:50* The all also the uh the like flying insect one was really annoying. *01:57* Because somebody has to somebody has to yes, somebody has to kite it and then the other person has to go behind it and you can't like *02:04* She can't kite it and I can't kite it and I can't rely on her to shoot the thing in the back, so that got really annoying. *02:12* That sounds super not fun. *02:20* Well the granted, I am I'll I've been playing like all of these *02:22* Except for this one, although I I use basically cheat codes at by the end of this one for Village. *02:26* Uh I uh I've been playing them all on easy, so *02:33* It made those parts probably uh better than if I had played it on normal. *02:38* Because I think if I played it on normal I probably would have gave up already, but *02:45* It's fun. *02:49* I think the story's really interesting in five actually. *02:50* I think, but *02:54* So far. *02:57* I'm only I'm like literally halfway done with it. *02:57* I think I've done eight of the chapters out of the I mean, I guess there's technically six, but there's sections. *03:00* I think I'm halfway through from all this section. *03:06* I'm in chapter four, like the right at the beginning. *03:09* I mean, I guess this can serve as like a precursor to our own discussion, and I don't want to say too much. *03:11* Max, I've actually been quite *03:16* Please with how we're playing this game because I don't feel like we've talked too much as we play about like what we think about it. *03:18* We're just *03:23* For the most part. *03:27* I will say the thing. *03:28* You guys are still gonna have to record five. *03:30* I forgot about that. *03:31* Yeah, we're we're playing five right now. *03:33* We're like we have like five levels left, and then we're doing the DLC. *03:34* One of the DLCs. *03:38* We're not doing all of it. *03:39* Because there's Logan told me there's there's DLC where you play as Chris and Jill and you go to like Wesker's secret castle. *03:40* Yeah, so that's is that what the cutscene was in like I was maybe it's just that. *03:48* Yeah. *03:53* I was maybe going to play that at some point afterwards, but it supposedly is like one of the best parts of the game. *03:53* the game and I've never played it so that'll be my my first time. *03:59* Yeah and so he'll be Chris. *04:01* So I'm Chris and he's Sh Shheva. *04:03* Shiva? *04:05* Shiva? *04:06* Shiva. *04:06* Yeah. *04:08* He's Sheva. *04:08* But then for the DLC he'll be Chris and I'll be Joe *04:09* Which jails the best. *04:13* But I'm enjoying all of them so far. *04:14* Like I haven't hated any of them. *04:16* I two scares me the most. *04:18* So I Yeah. *04:20* Did you do both runs or did you just play as Leon? *04:22* I just did Leon's. *04:25* I'll do the Claire run at some point. *04:26* It's largely the same. *04:28* Yeah, I I know it's like exactly I I thought about maybe just watching it *04:30* Like I'm going to do that. *04:35* I mean, it is basically the same game until the end. *04:36* The end end like the very thir like last thirty minutes are diff pretty different depending on what you do. *04:40* And one of them Mr. *04:46* X Well that yeah. *04:48* And then one of them Mr. *04:50* X chases you at the end, and then the other uh *04:52* you have to fight the big thing on the top of the train or whatever. *04:57* So yeah, when when I finished it, there was like the it showed like the train opening and there was a bunch of like flesh tentacles like coming out or whatever. *05:01* Basically all that happens is like there's one big giant fight at the end and it lasts 90 seconds. *05:12* Yeah. *05:18* And then that's it at that *05:19* That's it. *05:20* Great. *05:20* Well then maybe I won't. *05:23* Maybe I'll just watch it or something. *05:24* Um and then Sherry asks Leon and Claire to like adopt her. *05:27* or something. *05:31* Yeah. *05:32* Well I heard that I heard like I listened to the your guys podcast thing for it. *05:33* So I know what happens because you guys already talked about it and I have listened to it or whatever. *05:38* So you're gonna play Code Veraka though? *05:42* I might. *05:45* Did you listen to our episode about that one? *05:46* I did. *05:48* Where I just laughed the whole time about how dumb that game is. *05:49* Or I didn't f I might have not finished it yet. *05:52* I might have like started it. *05:54* That game is I love that game *05:56* Yeah. *05:59* I think about it. *05:59* Seems pretty goofy. *06:01* I'm excited to *06:07* Wrap up five and play six because Oh yeah, that said no one ever, I think. *06:09* I'm I'm really excited to do it. *06:15* I think it's gonna be so goofy. *06:17* Man, that Chris campaign though is so good. *06:19* I like I'm so pumped. *06:23* We'll have to talk about what order we want to do them in Max. *06:26* Oh my gosh. *06:29* Is it like Birth by Sleep where you play this campaign from a bunch of perspectives and you basically replay the game a bunch of times? *06:31* No, they're all different. *06:37* They're all drastically different. *06:38* So they're like. *06:40* They don't intermingle at all? *06:40* Not r really that I can do. *06:43* I know that like you see some of the characters that are playable in certain cutscenes, so I assume they would at some point, but I *06:46* At least from what we played from the the Chris campaign and then from what we started in Leon's campaign, it didn't seem like it crossed past that much at all. *06:53* I keep getting this YouTube video recommendation of like Chris and Leon meeting in RE6 and it shows the shot from I assume a cutscene. *07:06* And they're like both pointing guns at each other, and I'm just like, I want to play that game. *07:14* We we've showed it in the chat before, like a while back, a long time ago. *07:18* And uh there's like the part with A There's the part with Ada *07:23* On the roof or whatever. *07:28* I don't know, man. *07:30* I'm just happens. *07:31* I think it's I think Ada dies or N Ada dies or something and *07:32* She like falls off the roof or somebody like gets pushed off a roof or something. *07:37* It is so funny. *07:41* I have to I have to see if I could find a thing again. *07:42* Oh my god. *07:44* That that campaign was what a blast. *07:45* I'm so pumped. *07:48* I really am. *07:50* I think I think 'cause I'm not coming into this like a jaded fan probably at the time. *07:51* When did when did SIGs come out? *07:56* Like *08:00* I want to say like twelve. *08:01* Yeah, we've got twelve. *08:04* Two thousand twelve. *08:06* So that was three years after five. *08:07* Mm-hmm. *08:10* That's so awesome. *08:11* But yeah, I'm loving it. *08:13* I'm loving these games. *08:15* They're great. *08:16* I'm glad. *08:18* Very great. *08:19* I'm glad. *08:20* I I kinda hope *08:21* if they end up remaking any of 'em. *08:22* Like another remake. *08:26* I hope it's the first one. *08:27* I've heard that a little bit lately. *08:29* I want to before one again. *08:31* I think *08:34* I think the one the first one would sell more. *08:37* Oh yeah, for sure. *08:41* And I also think it'd be cool with that per I mean, granted, I mean Code Veronica is that same like *08:43* Different camera angle perspective, right? *08:50* I assume. *08:52* Tank controls the whole thing. *08:54* Yeah. *08:55* So I guess either one of those would probably be. *08:56* It's that zero hard. *08:58* Or do both. *09:00* Or just do both. *09:01* Yeah. *09:02* It's those three that are left with the predetermined camera angles. *09:02* They got three they there you go, you got three more games they can make. *09:07* And then they'll get to five and six. *09:11* Yeah, then they'll get to five and six. *09:13* It'll be great. *09:15* Please don't remake five and six. *09:15* They can remake five. *09:17* I would play a remake of five at this point. *09:20* It's so *09:22* Funny dude. *09:23* I eventually like if if this trend continues, like that's just naturally where they'll get eventually. *09:24* I don't actually know how to think the trend will continue forever, though, is the thing. *09:30* I don't know how always puts out their games and remakes them, especially Resident Evil. *09:34* Eventually they get there. *09:40* I don't know how for the original plays, but for the remake *09:42* was interesting and how it was like I don't know, I guess I don't want to say anything. *09:47* I I don't want to Logan hasn't even started it yet. *09:52* And I haven't like trying to beat five with Max and then *09:54* I don't want to say anything then. *09:59* We gotta put six and I'm I'm kind of like not wanting to start four because I'm afraid I'm about to get this Star Wars video game. *10:01* Oh yeah, that'll be soon. *10:10* That's cool. *10:12* So and then I'm also I mean, honestly, I'm playing a lot of MLB of the show this year. *10:13* Like it's really got its hooks in me. *10:18* Have you *10:19* Written your review for that yet? *10:20* Okay. *10:22* I thought I figured you did, but obviously. *10:23* It's really good from what I played. *10:31* I liked it a lot. *10:33* What do you think about the game? *10:34* Yeah, I was playing on Game Pass, yeah. *10:36* I the only problem I have with it this year, and I don't do you do the Diamond Dynasty stuff much or no? *10:38* A little bit, but I didn't like how it started. *10:42* how they started it. *10:45* I feel like it was way different. *10:46* 'Cause I thought 'cause they kind of just gave you a team, right? *10:48* Like they like They always do. *10:51* They always give you like I thought you had a choice to like choose a team or maybe I'm getting mixed up with *10:53* other games that are like it, but I thought you choose like your favorite team and then they give you cards kind of like within that team and this time they kind of just gave you a bunch of I it's usually random players. *10:59* Oh okay. *11:09* It's just interesting. *11:10* Yeah. *11:11* I think you might be thinking of two K. *11:11* Probably. *11:13* Probably. *11:15* Um *11:17* But yeah, d Diamond Dynasty's weird this year because like they changed it to where um *11:19* There's like a seasonal format to the game now. *11:27* And like if you do ranked play online, you can only use certain cards at certain points of the season. *11:30* Like *11:37* It's kind of hard to explain. *11:39* But like there are different sets of cards. *11:40* If you have a core card, it is like one of the main cards in the game, and you can use it over the course of the entire *11:43* time this game will be live. *11:51* And so those are the cards people are willing to pursue. *11:53* But then there are set cards and set cards can only be used *11:55* during the specific season. *11:59* So right now season one is going on, so set one cards can be used as part of season one. *12:01* But as soon as it rolls over to season two, set one cards will be retired and you can't use them anymore as part of your active team, at least not online. *12:06* I think you might be able to still use them as part of like the single player components and stuff. *12:14* But it's basically forcing you to like rebuild your team like every like two to three months. *12:18* That way you can't just like get all the best cards right at the start of the *12:23* year and then like you're like, I'm done. *12:27* I've finished my team. *12:29* As long as they don't make it so hard to get those cards per season. *12:31* But that's that's the problem at the same time right now, I think, is that uh *12:36* Everybody has diamond players everywhere. *12:41* And like previously, if you had a diamond card, it was like, holy crap, I pulled a *12:45* Mike Trout in a booster pack. *12:51* This is awesome. *12:53* And it's like the anchor point of your team. *12:54* And then you like build your entire team around like the few diamond tier players you have. *12:56* Now like my entire roster is diamond tier players because you're getting them more easily. *13:01* Yeah. *13:06* I mean if you go online to face people, they've all got them. *13:06* So you're facing off against squads of people that are like uh like have like rosters of 95 overall players at every position. *13:09* It's like, well, this is just like *13:17* I busted now. *13:19* It could kind of give him a chance to like I don't know how crazy like ranked play is for like MLB and stuff like that, like competitively, but it gives them a chance to like *13:21* change meta, I guess, for the game. *13:30* Like every season. *13:32* I think that's why they're doing it because in the past there's been cards that are like totally unstoppable and like any team who wants to be truly competitive has like *13:35* certain cards in their deck that are just way too good. *13:44* Yeah. *13:47* I mean it makes sense to I mean, they're just taking something that like something like Magic the Gathering does on a competitive scene. *13:47* Like they they do that where you can only use I think the last three sets in like standard like competitive play, but then once the next *13:54* set comes out, though like oldest one gets pushed out, and then the next three are kind of the next one. *14:05* But then they have different *14:11* Obviously they have like I guess different game types. *14:13* It just loses its luster if there's too many like high tier cards that you can *14:17* it. *14:21* It's like, okay, well, like I I feel like less compelled to build out my team. *14:21* I don't know. *14:25* I I will say like I've enjoyed getting a like stacked roster together and then doing like the single player component stuff though because there's always like the *14:26* Yeah. *14:34* Different game modes within that uh that you can do. *14:34* And I think those are pretty fun. *14:38* I know Max has like literally no idea what we're talking about. *14:39* So I can understand the con I can understand the concepts of what you're talking about. *14:41* I was mostly just playing row to the show, and it's generally the same exact thing as it was to the last time. *14:46* So but I enjoy it. *14:53* So it's just *14:55* Rogue of the show March to Octo in March to October I don't think changed like at all. *14:57* And then I think with franchise they like changed *15:02* They like treat tweaked how scouting works and that's like the biggest change they made to that. *15:05* Otherwise all their changes work. *15:11* Did you have you done the Negro League stuff? *15:12* Because that's actually really fun. *15:14* I did uh a couple of the challenges, but of just like the first player. *15:15* I forgot what his name was. *15:20* Sagel Page, I think. *15:22* Yeah. *15:23* I did uh I did like the first couple of challenges for that. *15:24* Those are cool. *15:27* I think that's like a really cool element of the game. *15:28* Yeah, I like the presentation of it and like how they have like the video stuff in the beginning. *15:30* It reminds me of the 2K stuff, like the 2K showcase stuff. *15:35* Yep. *15:40* I think that's really cool that they're bringing it too like a lot of people. *15:40* I air like that man too. *15:42* It was he was a nice man. *15:44* Nice. *15:45* 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. *15:47* For season five, we are covering the Resident Evil franchise. *15:55* My name is Max Roberts, and I'm joined as always. *15:58* By Logan Moore. *16:01* Hi Logan. *16:02* It's time for werewolves and vampires. *16:03* Mmm. *16:05* It's time for magically putting your hand back on after it's been cut off. *16:06* It's time for tall vampire ladies and scary dolls. *16:11* Because we're talking about Resident Evil Village. *16:15* Or eight. *16:18* It's interesting. *16:19* This game doesn't have the number in it at all, which is *16:20* The first mainline game? *16:23* Well, it's visually there. *16:25* But the game is the game is just called Resident Evil Village. *16:27* At least 7 was called Resident Evil 7 Biohazard. *16:31* This one drops the number altogether. *16:35* Which makes me wonder what they're gonna do with nine more than anything. *16:39* Well, we have to find a word. *16:43* That they can draw the Roman X. *16:45* What's a word with an I and an X in it? *16:49* Uh be it be it *16:51* Beatrix? *16:52* I don't know. *16:54* Sure. *16:55* Resident Evil Beatrix. *16:56* I yeah, it's all about the haircut. *16:57* Hey man, they had a game called Code Colon Veronica X *16:59* I think I think they can call the game whatever they want. *17:05* Wait, the the Harry Potter lady's not Beatrix, is it? *17:08* It's Yeah, no, Bellatrix. *17:11* Bellatrix, close enough. *17:13* It's close. *17:15* It's whatever. *17:16* Yeah, maybe we finally we can just fuse the wizarding world of Harry Potter with Resident Evil just like they've all been. *17:16* That'll do the trick. *17:28* That actually would be kind of cool. *17:29* That would be kinda cool. *17:31* Oh my goodness gracious. *17:34* For this episode, we do have a guest with us once again. *17:36* Uh good buddy Michael Ruiz will be joining us in just a few minutes. *17:38* Until then, let's do the rundown real fast for all things Resident Evil Village. *17:43* Once again, Resident Evil Village was developed and published by Capcom. *17:50* It came out on PS5, PS4, PSVR2, which you've noted here, which launched earlier this year. *17:53* Xbox One, Xbox Series, X and S, Nintendo Switch, which I forgot about, PC, and then Mac. *18:00* They released an optimized version of this game for Mac. *18:06* This thing is on everything. *18:08* All platforms. *18:11* It's crazy. *18:12* The only thing they missed was Stadia. *18:13* And in fact, there might have been a Stadia version of this. *18:15* It was on Stadia, actually. *18:18* It was on Stadia. *18:20* It's just you can't play that version anymore. *18:20* So I did fail to mention Stadia in the notes here, but it was on Stadia. *18:23* It could be on Amazon Luna. *18:29* I don't know. *18:30* I didn't even look at it. *18:31* I think it might be actually. *18:32* You can look that up. *18:34* It released on May 7th, 2021. *18:35* The game director was Moremaso Sato. *18:38* The producers were Suyoshi Kanda, Peter Fabiano, and Masachika Kawata. *18:41* And the music for this one was done by Shusaka Uchiyama. *18:47* The Metacritic score for Resident Evil Village was an 84 out of 100 on the PlayStation 5 version of the game, which *18:51* Max, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it I think is pretty low for this game, personally. *19:00* I don't know uh how you're gonna feel about this one soon enough, but I like me some of this video game here. *19:05* It's pretty it's a pretty good game. *19:12* Is it on Amazon Luna? *19:14* I found Resident Evil 2. *19:16* I found Resident Evil 3. *19:18* I am not seeing *19:20* Seven or eight. *19:23* Oh. *19:25* Bees Bezos has got to fork over the money. *19:26* This game is no longer available on Luna for Resident Evil 7. *19:28* So I'm feeling like if it was on it, it's not anymore. *19:33* I'm not seeing any listing. *19:38* So Ethan Winters is just too much for Livingology. *19:39* Jeff can't handle it. *19:44* He can't. *19:46* Too many. *19:46* Too many non-facial polygons to render. *19:48* One more thing, actually, another thing I forgot to pull up and look, the Resident Evil *19:51* Village VR metacritic score. *19:57* 82. *19:59* 82, but that is with 11 critic reviews. *20:00* So, you know, a little bit different thing. *20:03* It goes low based on how everybody's been talking about that game. *20:05* I would *20:08* Uh also agree with that. *20:09* I'm I'm actually shocked that this game is been reviewed. *20:10* So I feel like if we *20:15* Reviewed it. *20:18* If critics reviewed it today, I think it actually would be higher. *20:18* This game's strange is it was up for a lot of *20:21* The game of the year honors, I feel like, at the end of 2021. *20:25* And and in fairness, 2021 I wanna say was a pretty weak year overall. *20:28* It was the first year following the next gen consoles releasing, which is always a pretty weak year on paper. *20:32* But this one was up for a lot of *20:38* accolades by the end of the year, which is a bit bizarre to see it only reviewed I again eighty-four on the PS5 version, but then the other versions of the game range between eighty one, eighty two, and eighty three, it seems like for the most part. *20:40* So yeah, I feel like this is *20:52* I don't know, especially looking back at it now, I feel like there's more positive word of mouth around this game than uh what the aggregate scores say at the time. *20:55* But let's bring in our guest. *21:04* Michael Ruiz to see what he feels about this game. *21:07* Michael, welcome to the show. *21:09* Welcome back to the show, I should say. *21:11* Yes. *21:14* Is this my is this my third time here now? *21:14* I think so. *21:17* You were on the Nuts and Bolts one with us. *21:18* Nuts and Bolts. *21:20* Um Tokyo. *21:22* God of Wars. *21:24* You were on Tokyo Drift, yeah. *21:25* It's true. *21:27* And now Village. *21:27* Yes, and then Ricky then I Ricky was super and then Furious Seven and Resident Evil Two. *21:29* Okay. *21:38* So you guys are like our two most frequent guests, which is not a surprise. *21:39* I'm gonna echo what uh Ricky said on his episode and say that you guys need to do a Yakuza one. *21:42* So then you can have us on there for every single episode. *21:48* Oh my goodness gracious. *21:51* How about you guys do the Yakuza season and we'll give you uh we'll give you placement on our feed. *21:52* Yeah, we'll be the guests on that one. *22:00* We'll lend we'll lend the feed to you. *22:02* I'm not I'm not opposed to that idea actually It's such a long *22:04* It is a it's a it's a long commitment. *22:10* That one's like one we'd have to chip at over the years and like just record as we played and then *22:13* And then just the hardest the hardest part I think about that one would be is that dude RGG Studio does not stop. *22:19* There are *22:27* They announced three new Yakuza games last year, and one of them released earlier this year. *22:28* It was really good. *22:33* It is. *22:34* But now we're gonna get the one that's like a bridge between six and eight, I think, in the back half of this year. *22:34* And then early next year will be eight. *22:40* Two two in one year. *22:42* Yeah, there's another one coming out this year. *22:44* Holy cow. *22:46* That is *22:48* And they're good. *22:50* That's the other thing is that they are all good. *22:52* Like this is not shovelware that they're getting out. *22:54* They're all of a very high quality. *22:56* season. *23:03* We have to play the zombie shooter on the PS3 and 360. *23:03* Do you also have to play judgment as well? *23:07* Does that count? *23:09* I feel like we should, yes. *23:10* Man, that's a lot of game. *23:12* That's a lot of video game. *23:13* Two judgments, what, seven mainline, no, eight mainline games. *23:15* Yeah. *23:20* Uh then Ishin. *23:20* Eight is coming up. *23:22* You could probably skip the spin-off stuff because I shin isn't *23:24* Anything with the Yakuza games. *23:29* It is very good, yeah. *23:36* I agree. *23:38* So yeah, if you count zero, there's nine mainline games that don't have. *23:39* You have to count zero. *23:44* And that's a mainline game at this point. *23:45* Anyway, we're talking more about Yakuza. *23:49* Michael, let's talk about another Japanese video game series, Resident Evil. *23:51* You played Village Forest with on this one. *23:55* Yeah and I I I I I guess b so this is interesting at the time we're recording this. *23:58* I guess we can just kind of peel the curtain away *24:03* here. *24:05* Michael, you've been getting getting really into Resident Evil as we have been in the midst of recording this season, which has kind of been fascinating. *24:06* So you are also *24:13* a listener of this podcast, so thank you for that. *24:14* Yeah, no. *24:17* But I guess I was not aware that you were not like I don't know, you and I have played like Resident Evil Six together and I just always assumed you like these games. *24:17* enough and you had played enough of them, but s I I guess I totally forgot that you were not too intimately familiar with this season until *24:27* or or with this series until recently. *24:34* So why did you want to play Village with Us? *24:37* And then I guess what would what did you think going back to it this time around? *24:39* Uh, so Village, I believe it's uh oh yeah, I we played Village before we played Resident Evil 6, correct? *24:44* Am I am I right in status? *24:53* Uh no. *24:55* We played six. *24:56* We played six during COVID. *24:57* That was when we did it. *24:59* We played six during COVID. *25:01* Alongside I wanna say maybe the Halo games was the other thing we did, but we may have done that before COVID actually. *25:03* I can't remember. *25:09* I th that might have been before it and then maybe it went in during it. *25:10* Yeah, I'm pretty sure you like weren't working at the time when we're like *25:13* You're like, I have nothing to do, I guess I'll just play video games all the all day. *25:16* And I was like, We could play Resident Evil Six because sure, why not? *25:20* But yeah, Resident Evil Village is technically the first Resident Evil game I finished, uh unless you want to count that campaign that we finished in Resident Evil 6. *25:24* So uh that yeah, that is the first one that I have played and complete. *25:35* Beforehand I had played I've played like pieces of the Resident Evil 1 remake, pieces of *25:39* You know, I played Resident Evil two. *25:45* I didn't I didn't finish it, even though that game is so short. *25:47* But I had played some of that remake. *25:51* I had played like the older games before, but I had never completed one. *25:53* Um, but I've always had that like appreciation for it. *25:57* I the reason why I like Resident Evil, what it connects to me with, is more the films, if anything, which is a weird thing. *25:59* Yeah, that's even more weird. *26:06* I guess I get have never connected that you've not *26:07* games, but you preach the gospel of the movies to us. *26:11* I love the movies. *26:14* They're not good. *26:15* I'm not gonna say that they're good, but they are fun to watch. *26:16* I watch 'em every year. *26:18* Uh they're great. *26:20* I I love that. *26:21* So that's kind of my connection with that with the series in general. *26:22* But yeah. *26:24* In twenty twenty-one I played Village and it was my favorite game of the year. *26:25* So uh I guess before Max or I jump in, what did you think broadly about it this time around? *26:30* Did you *26:34* still hold up? *26:35* Do you like it a lot? *26:36* I mean and how I guess how does it compare to the other ones that you've now played following wrapping Village up? *26:37* It's funny because, you know, I played this and then I was like, you know what, I'll listen to your guys' podcast. *26:43* So I just started with the first episode. *26:48* I don't I think that was seven, right? *26:50* And then it wasn't. *26:52* That was our second episode. *26:53* That was the second episode. *26:54* Okay. *26:56* Oh yeah, then one was the first one, right? *26:56* So I think I listened to those two and I was like, you know what? *26:59* I should start playing these games because I think the next one might have been two or something like that. *27:02* Yeah. *27:06* So then I started playing two or I've played it and finished it and then I listened to your podcast. *27:07* And then I started playing three and then I listened to your podcast for it. *27:12* Now I'm playing five now. *27:16* And I haven't listened to that one yet, but I did listen to Code Veronica 1. *27:17* But right now, I would say that this kind of Resident Evil Village kind of cemented it as like *27:21* Still like one of my favorite games of all time. *27:28* I love that game. *27:30* Uh I think it's an incredible game. *27:31* I think the design choices they have. *27:33* I *27:36* I've written down here that it like I think it's like kind of a weird celebration of the Resident Evil franchise as a whole because of how each section of the game plays out. *27:36* I feel like it is some sort of different era of each *27:45* era of Resident Evil. *27:49* I just think it's a a great game. *27:51* I guess broadly. *27:52* I mean we could go into deeper things later, but yeah, I still love that game. *27:53* I think it's great. *27:57* Max, what about yourself? *27:58* I know this was one of your first exposure. *27:59* Like Mike, this was one of your first exposures to the series as well. *28:02* Yeah. *28:06* Yeah, yeah, yeah. *28:06* I *28:07* Like I said before, my first Resident Evil game was actually seven and bought it for PSVR back when that launched and then dabbled in two. *28:08* And then Village was coming out, and I was cool on it. *28:17* Just. *28:20* uh you know, more first person Resident Evil. *28:21* And the only reason I snagged it around launch was I had like 20 bucks at Best Buy that was going to expire. *28:24* And so I asked Abby if she wanted to watch me play, 'cause, you know, we like spooky things, we watch scary stuff and and whatnot. *28:32* And it sounded like fun with the werewolves and vampires a very different *28:42* type of horror for Resident Evil. *28:46* So we snagged it around launch with that Best Buy credit. *28:48* And *28:53* I that's actually how I realized. *28:55* I played it on casual back then too. *28:57* I've never played this game on anything higher than easy. *28:59* So and I did that because she was watching and I didn't want a hard time. *29:02* I just wanted to kind of have a fun *29:06* horror experience. *29:08* But she dropped off and I kept playing and so I did beat it. *29:10* But it's funny coming back I because it's at that time I hadn't beaten seven. *29:13* So coming back to it now, with I don't know, six well, about seven games of Resident Evil knowledge now, I was picking up stuff that just flew completely over my head last time. *29:18* really enhanced my enjoyment this time around. *29:31* But it was just it was a cool, fun, snappy game, right? *29:34* Nothing *29:39* Nothing too imposing. *29:41* Again, I was playing on easy, which I totally had forgotten at the time. *29:42* And I just really kind of had a fun time with it. *29:46* And so coming back to it, I once again played on *29:49* easy. *29:53* There's some other stuff there. *29:54* I I dabbled with VR for PSVR2 now. *29:55* And so it was overall it's this game has just got a solid pace to it. *29:59* And I really enjoy the experimentation. *30:04* And it makes me very curious what they'll do in the future here. *30:07* Um, but it this is definitely one of the more diverse *30:11* Resident Evil games for more reasons than one. *30:15* Yeah, this is one of my favorites, I think. *30:18* You think I played this I I it's uh it's hard. *30:20* They're all *30:23* They're all my favorites in diff different ways. *30:24* Like this is one of my favorite game series ever, if not my favorite. *30:28* But there's a lot *30:32* about this one that I really, really love. *30:34* I I think the horror elements being so different with the focus on gothic style horror works out really well. *30:36* Like I remember when the leaks and rumors about for this game first started and I was like *30:43* cr werewolves and vampires like what are we doing here Capcom? *30:47* This sounds like way over the top and then it just it works. *30:51* I I I don't know. *30:55* It sh it probably shouldn't work, but *30:56* I I guess at the at its core, uh we've talked about this over the course of the season. *30:59* Resident Evil is inherently campy and goofy, so them diving in headfirst into *31:03* werewolves and things i is like very much on brand for this series, even though it doesn't we're we're we're we're pretty far gone from the days of the T virus and their zombies and Raccoon City. *31:09* Like everything's *31:20* Are we? *31:21* Are we far from it? *31:23* Yeah, because there's a whole lot of there's a whole lot of mold in this game. *31:24* A lot of mold. *31:29* There is a whole lot of mold. *31:31* And I'm sure you're alluding to some of the stuff at the end about it. *31:32* Mega mecite or something? *31:35* Like I mean this game goes I think it's all still pretty much in the same vein. *31:37* It's just a different type of infection. *31:41* Well, and then they try to connect all the dots between *31:43* They have Mother Marita being like an old associate of Spencer. *31:46* It's it's really it's really funny. *31:51* We'll we'll talk about the that stuff uh when we get more into the story and lore and stuff that they that they pump in. *31:53* But yeah, overall this game really is kind of like what you were saying, Mike. *31:59* It hits all the same. *32:03* It's kind of a Resident Evil greatest hits, I think. *32:05* It's got the through line. *32:08* gameplay that it's very similar to four as well as kind of the structure of four. *32:11* Um but then it's got the spooky castle that's like President Evil 1 and it's got the *32:17* the horror elements they kind of pack all into one single area with the dolls and stuff and the puzzle solving. *32:22* They they throw a lot of that into a single area. *32:27* The *32:30* Fish section, I I I I don't really know. *32:31* It's just kind of there. *32:33* I thought of that as like the puzzle y section. *32:34* Cause like you do a lot of more puzzle stuff, I feel like in that section, more so than the other section. *32:36* I mean I guess that the I guess the core element of uh Resident Evil that's seen there is uh large animals. *32:42* Large *32:50* large animal monsters because as we've seen playing all of these games, like Max and I have even been playing and we'll talk about this in our other episode, but *32:51* Uh like we've been playing five and there's a couple instances in that game where it's like big animals show up and I'm like, oh, there we go. *32:59* Gotta get the large mutated animals in the picture here. *33:05* So that's kind of what I guess the fish guy is. *33:08* And yeah, like it's just it's it's so over the top. *33:11* Yeah, I I don't know. *33:15* I I think for myself, the one thing I should mention is that *33:16* We all played this game in very different ways this time. *33:20* Michael played it from you you did the third person perspective that you get with the what after the winners expand. *33:23* And came out right? *33:29* I did, yes. *33:30* Okay. *33:31* Max, you played you set you mentioned you played in VR and in third person. *33:32* I did. *33:36* I wanted to play completely in VR, but I realized that was not *33:37* Having a child with the s yeah, a six month old child. *33:44* Yeah. *33:48* When she wakes up in the morning or needs something, it's just more cumbersome to pause and like *33:48* take the whole thing off and then tender when I could just hit pause. *33:54* So I did pivot and the saves aren't compatible. *33:57* You can't just s play a game in VR and then restart the save and it's a bit of a sucks so bad because it's so it's the *34:01* Dumbest thing because also trophy. *34:08* Seven was not like that. *34:10* No, seven completely interchangeable. *34:11* There's no trophy support in VR mode either, so you can't earn trophies. *34:14* So it was just very *34:18* That really sucks, especially for some of those like multi-run trophies that you obviously have to get like beat the game with that with only using *34:20* three health items or something like that, you know. *34:28* But I did I did play a few hours uh in VR and then I switched to the third person. *34:31* And w uh we can talk I'll talk about the VR stuff specifically because I think it is *34:37* Transformative to the game overall. *34:42* But I did primarily play in third person this time, and then obviously the first time around, first person *34:44* I played on the hardest difficulty possible. *34:49* I played in first person mode because I wanted to have a I wanted to ha the there are only two first person games in this series and I knew we were going to *34:54* I feel like it would I I knew you guys were gonna play in third person predominantly because they had released that post-launch as DLC, so I wanted to still play in first person just because I feel like that's *35:03* core to what this game is to some degree. *35:15* Um and I felt like it would behoove our discussion if I played in that manner. *35:17* The other thing that I did though was I played on the hardest difficulty, but I also had *35:22* and unlimited ammo assault rifle and by the end of the game I had unlimited ammo magnum and stuff like that so it was just like firing away at everything. *35:26* So it was not really *35:36* I was not really beating my head against the wall that much. *35:38* It was pretty easy. *35:41* But it was fun. *35:42* I think we all did we all buy *35:43* the unlock everything pass because it was on sale while we were playing this game. *35:47* Yeah, it was like it was like three dollars, I think. *35:52* So I was just like okay. *35:54* That that might be the first *35:56* unlock everything microtransaction I've ever purchased. *35:58* I think it might be for me as well. *36:02* And it was absolutely worth it. *36:03* It was amazing. *36:06* Light lightsabers, unlimited ammo. *36:07* It just was an absolute blast. *36:10* I completely agree. *36:14* Yep. *36:15* Totally worth every penny. *36:16* They got me. *36:18* They finally got me. *36:19* The system works. *36:20* I think I only used the I used I was playing on New Game Plus, so I had my stuff carry over from my last save, but uh so I didn't really *36:21* get into many issues. *36:29* I played on normal difficulty, I believe, the entire time, but I had bought that pack during the Heisenberg section, uh, which is when I started losing ammo and stuff. *36:31* I'm like *36:42* I'm gonna turn on the unlimited ammo thing. *36:43* And then a that section became very easy and fast. *36:46* So that part of the game can be stressful for sure. *36:49* If you do not. *36:52* Because I remember I remember playing through that the first time *36:54* Yeah. *36:57* Anyway, yeah, all of our playthroughs are a little bit warped to some degree because of how we chose to play, but I mean we can obviously still speak to let let's let's start with the *36:57* I want to talk about the world with this game, and I feel like that's kind of the thing we've naturally done. *37:08* The title of this game is Village, I feel like. *37:13* The village is the main character because I will say Ethan's definitely more front and center in this game, which I like, and we'll talk about Ethan too. *37:16* How do you guys feel about just how this game is laid out, the different areas? *37:24* We've Max, you you mentioned that there's a good flow and pace to it. *37:28* And I agree, this is a really *37:32* Like replaying it, this is a very brisk game. *37:34* I feel like I beat this in like four and a half or five hours this time through compared to like the eight to nine that was my first playthrough. *37:36* I don't even know how I lasted eight to nine. *37:43* The first time to be honest, I guess I was just taking everything in. *37:45* But yeah, you can really fly through this and it feels quite condensed, but in a *37:48* Not like it's not like everything's tiny necessarily. *37:56* I I don't know, there's just there's a good scale to this game that I r really appreciate and enjoy and you become intimately familiar with all the different avenues of this village and all the different *38:00* three or four main areas uh that are that are within it. *38:10* What what did you guys think about kind of the central hub and its varying locations? *38:13* So I remember the pre-release discussion around this game. *38:20* being is this open environment? *38:28* Is this open world? *38:30* Can I go to these bosses in any order? *38:32* And I remember at the time being a little disappointed that that wasn't the case. *38:35* Because this game actually is quite linear in its you go to this boss and then this boss and and so on and so forth. *38:40* But coming back to it this time around, I'm totally content with it being *38:48* Straightforward. *38:53* I do and I also remember, at least myself and I think other people as well, thinking that like *38:55* Lady D took was a bit more of a consistent presence throughout the game. *39:02* These are more bite size feels too small, but these were like *39:07* you know, appetizer kind of courses for each type of horror and environment that we explore here. *39:12* And so, you know, when you the go through the castle and then she's gone, it felt kind of *39:20* like too uh almost too quick, but I think they don't overstay their welcome and it it works overall quite well. *39:27* Uh I certainly didn't want to spend any more time in that dollhouse. *39:35* That's that's absolutely for sure. *39:38* So I think each, you know, they work and some ideas fall flat. *39:40* I think the swamp is overall, I could *39:44* I don't need the swamp. *39:47* At least the way that they execute it, I feel pretty meh about the whole thing. *39:48* The factory, I think, is probably *39:53* While it is scary, I do think there is a couple of moments where it's like, all right, you're just kicking me all the way back to the beginning. *39:58* There's that part actually at the very end where Heisenberg th you get to the top and then Heisenberg throws you down to the bottom. *40:06* And I forgot that you would run into Chris down there, but I was like, oh my gosh, they're gonna make me climb this whole thing. *40:13* Again. *40:20* So I was a little bit more down on the factory, but I do think the castle and the dollhouse are the strongest of the sections or environments. *40:20* There's one more area that's *40:30* Uh I might bring up there's one area as well that's not really a fully fledged area, which is like The Village? *40:32* Oh, I was gonna say like Werewolf Central, which is the kind of like one offshoot area you go to before the factory where you just *40:38* Fight a horde of werewolf city. *40:46* I forgot about that. *40:50* Yeah. *40:51* You just breeze through Werewolf City, yeah. *40:51* But it's it's kind of fun. *40:55* I don't know. *40:56* It's a cool world. *40:57* I just I guess I wish there wasn't a swamp necessarily, at least the way it's done. *40:59* Uh but I like the way it's laid out overall. *41:05* I do think it would be cool if the next game did have open environment and you could choose the order. *41:09* A la Mega Man, like not that you're getting power-ups to defeat the other bosses, but choosing the order I think would be interesting balance-wise, but it it works not having it here. *41:17* Sounds like Max wants to play Resident Evil 6, choosing the order of where you go and when. *41:28* I mean we will get there, so maybe I'm wrong about this whole desire. *41:34* Max uh sorry, Michael, what uh what about yourself? *41:39* Well, I c I mean I guess I kinda said it before. *41:42* I feel like I guess this goes into with the setting itself, but I feel like this game is like a *41:44* is like a celebration of Resident Evil and really just modern horror video games. *41:52* And I think a lot of that is these settings that you're in, you know? *41:56* Like the the village itself having played the *42:00* Resident Evil 4 remake right now, I mean, it's basically the demo that's out if you had played it too. *42:04* They basically start out almost exactly the same. *42:10* Like I felt like almost exactly the same. *42:13* Except one has werewolves and and and one has the Las Plagas people or whatever they're called. *42:16* I think that's what I don't know. *42:23* Um *42:24* Yeah. *42:27* Yeah. *42:29* You can just call them zombies. *42:30* It's okay. *42:31* The zombies. *42:31* The zombies. *42:32* Technic. *42:33* Um *42:34* But they start that whole section like started out exactly the same, but then going into the castle that's more traditional, like Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 2 kind of feeling thing there. *42:35* The dollhouse is the one that I feel like is very much modern horror. *42:47* Like if you play something like Amnesia or if you play something like *42:50* I played Obser I I like that game Observer quite a bit. *42:55* Um I feel like it feels more like that kind of modern horror video game. *42:57* I got PT vibes big time. *43:02* Yeah, yeah, it's exact it's exactly kind of like that kind of feeling. *43:05* Swamp again. *43:09* That one's the weird one, the weird outlier, and I'm kind of with you, Max, on that where *43:10* I don't really like how they executed it, but I like Moreau's character a lot. *43:15* Because he's so goofy. *43:19* Yeah, I I think there was like potential with Moreau where like the him is this like *43:21* kind of shun member of the family that no one likes, but like the way that they use him is not great. *43:27* Like even when he explodes into a giant monster, he's just kinda like, oh I can't control it. *43:35* Help me, help me *43:39* I think it would have been better if he would have like done that out of like anger rather than like apprehension and like, oh no, I'm turning into a giant monster. *43:40* Like *43:50* Like Moreau's interaction with you the like with Ethan, I think is like one of the most interesting, if anything, in any of the Resident Evil, because he's actually afraid of you when you come by. *43:51* And I feel like nobody else was ever like that in any of the Resident Evil games, which I thought was like super interesting when I saw that. *44:01* But yeah, the swamp areas, like I guess like the puzzle y aspects, 'cause I feel like you do more puzzles in there than anything other than the ending art. *44:08* It's kind of all puzzle until the very end. *44:15* Until how do you lower the water? *44:19* But it's not *44:22* A puzzle puzzle because it's pretty straightforward. *44:24* Just like go here and zipline across. *44:26* So it's it is one. *44:28* swim by attacks that he does or whatever. *44:32* Yeah, and then they do those things where they had the colored like uh sections where you had to like press the button so then the Oh yeah like *44:34* There's like that part, which wasn't necessarily it's not hard puzzle solving, but neither is Resident Evil. *44:41* Like there's no really hard puzzles, I feel like, in Resident Evil games that I've played so far. *44:46* I feel like because the dollhouse in the swamp lake area, it's really a lake, but not a swamp. *44:50* Yeah. *44:56* Actually. *44:57* Sorry. *44:58* Sorry guys. *44:59* I wrote swamp down. *44:59* Because those two come back to back, I feel like that's why they then send you off to Werewolf City afterwards. *45:01* They're like, oh, we haven't made you shoot anything in a while, and this game is that's kind of the point of this game. *45:07* So here go fight a bunch of werewolves for the next *45:11* Half an hour. *45:15* And I mean that section's very much more akin to like a Resident Evil 5 or 6 where you're just blowing people's brains out. *45:16* With stuff like just a little bit. *45:23* Which is kind of sa it's kinda satisfying though because they give you a lot of tools in this game and a lot of different weapons. *45:24* It is like a beefier, more action-focused version of *45:31* Seven in that regard. *45:35* Yeah. *45:36* So but you don't really get to let loose, at least for that middle chunk of the game there too often. *45:37* Yeah. *45:42* There there are a couple like smaller instances when you do, like I think of the *45:43* I can't remember what the four-legged werewolf, the lichen beasts or whatever they're called. *45:48* The uh four-legged ones. *45:52* Yeah, the ones that matter. *45:54* Yeah. *45:58* The ones that Max says he just ran away from or whatever, I believe, right? *45:58* I couldn't at the time that we spoke and I hadn't killed any of them, then I got unlimited ammo *46:03* And then you went for the else. *46:09* Yeah, then I killed them and got the trophy. *46:10* Turns out I was only like a bullet away from killing the one by the house. *46:12* Like because I had done so much damage to it previously, I just *46:16* 'Cause that's when they give you the grenade launcher, I believe. *46:20* It is. *46:23* When you first so I had shot at a bunch. *46:23* Apparently I was only like a bullet or two away from it falling over. *46:26* So *46:29* So yeah, like they they intermingle combat there and then they don't really The factory that's the one thing I'll say about it is it feels like a good mix of *46:30* the horror and the combat at the same time. *46:40* Exactly. *46:43* I feel like the factory brings all of the different elements from every single part of the game into one area. *46:44* And although I think that area *46:49* overstays its welcome just slightly. *46:52* It's a little long. *46:54* Having it close out with the tank is amazing. *46:56* Like that like *46:59* Every setting is is awesome and I like how diverse it is. *47:01* And then also just going back to the village and going back to somewhere familiar, I think is really *47:04* neat and like a good design decision to be like, okay, you're gonna come back here. *47:09* You're familiar with it. *47:13* You feel safe here. *47:14* It's like basically your save room, but for an entire village, I guess. *47:16* Or at least that like main hub section. *47:20* For sure. *47:23* Um, which is nice to have. *47:24* Like a a good, reliable place you know for sure you are going to be fine at. *47:25* Yeah, once you get once you get through that opening sort of intro to the village with all the werewolves and *47:29* It reminds me of the it reminds me of the opening of uh Planet of the Apes when they're like riding around on the horses and stuff like that. *47:35* Yeah. *47:41* Uh and they're all wrangling you up. *47:42* Same sort of vibes. *47:44* I feel like they definitely took inspiration from the *47:45* OG Planet of the Apes. *47:48* But yeah, I after you after you finish that, the village does sort of feel like your safe zone. *47:49* You've got uh *47:55* What's the merchant's name? *47:56* The Duke The Duke. *47:57* The Duke. *47:59* You got him sitting up on the in the central sort of area that connects to all the different smaller locations within the village. *47:59* Uh you've got the church. *48:07* You i you've got a lot of like areas that you can kind of explore and go find stuff in. *48:08* Until they kind of like throw some unexpected things in there sometimes, but I feel like even then it's like you know how to manage that stuff. *48:20* by that time. *48:28* Yeah, it's and I like how it feels so inter like, I don't know, it's it's w feels obviously it's connected and everything, but I feel like you get kind of those really cool aha moments when you're like, oh, this is going over here. *48:29* Like *48:41* I I can't really think of one specific example but I like how it how that world is all connected to so *48:41* Yeah, I agree. *48:49* I wanna uh I I want while we're talking about the war there's a lot of story stuff I I I would like to dive into, but I feel like we should *48:51* table that for the moment because I feel like there might be more to discuss there. *48:59* Let's do the let's talk chat about gameplay for a bit because I really feel like a lot of this is obviously built off of the back of *49:03* Resident Evil 7, there's a lot of similarities. *49:11* They've upped the action here. *49:13* It is more of a shooter this time around rather than a survival horror game. *49:15* And really 7 was *49:20* Pretty once you got out of the main first home there with Jack, I feel like it was a lot more of a shooter in in some senses. *49:21* But this one is *49:29* uh you you're firing away far more often it it enemies in this game. *49:31* But how do you guys feel like they combine the increased action with the puzzles and stuff like that? *49:36* That's kind of something that I feel like *49:42* You and I talked about Max with like Code Veronica Code Veronica specifically. *49:43* Um that was more of an action focused resident evil game that obviously uh still put a heavy emphasis on puzzles and things like that. *49:49* How d how do you feel like it was handled? *49:55* Uh with village for the most part. *49:57* I think it's I feel I don't it's almost difficult to *50:01* speak to that from a initial perspective because I felt *50:09* I wrote this down. *50:17* It feels snappier and less scary having played this game before. *50:17* Like the castle, I knew. *50:21* Oh, I gotta go up here. *50:23* I gotta go this way. *50:25* The daughters are gonna be like this. *50:25* I gotta kill them. *50:26* So like *50:27* The stuff I got hung up on the first time around, I wasn't hung up on. *50:29* So I didn't feel it didn't feel as puzzly to me. *50:33* There were *50:37* Two puzzles. *50:39* And I I didn't write them down actually, which I should have. *50:40* That I actually had to look up a solution for again. *50:43* Oh, one was that initial chase. *50:46* uh with Heisenberg and he's dropping the uh the saw blades on you in the very beginning of the game and you have to find the one tiny corner to like tuck in and that was just *50:50* I was like, I don't know where to go. *51:03* And so I had to look that up. *51:05* And there was another one that I'm not quite sure of. *51:07* I had to look that one up too. *51:10* Yeah, it just that felt a little unfair. *51:11* But the rest of it I didn't struggle with. *51:14* And so it was more how am I going to engage in this space and and navigate my way through it with this knowledge? *51:18* And it *51:26* There was a confidence with that I this time around. *51:27* And I enjoyed that. *51:30* That actually made the game feel more *51:31* fun, it's that loop that hooked me in Resident Evil 3 and that I see in other games in the series of *51:35* I can do this faster, I can do this better, I can use less ammo, I can get a higher score, so to speak. *51:43* And in a in a trophy sense, you know, I can do these more difficult challenges. *51:50* If we weren't *51:54* churning through these games at the pace that we are for this show and you know, playing other things and like Resident Evil 4 remake just came out like Mike said. *51:56* Like I probably could see myself *52:03* Going through and like shipping away at the trophies on this, like I did with three. *52:06* There there is that gameplay hook that comes with replaying the game that feels satisfying, and I get it for Resident Evil. *52:10* I mean just to jump off that real quick, Mike, before you jump in here. *52:20* Sure. *52:24* Yeah, I felt the same way because when we did seven, I talked openly about how I replayed that game. *52:25* Two or three times, I think, ended up getting the platinum. *52:31* And I felt the same way after I played this one. *52:34* I really was like, I wanna do another couple runs here. *52:38* I wanna knock out everything *52:41* uh that there is to knockout to get all the trophies and things like that. *52:43* And I only stopped myself from doing that because one, the trophy list requires you to do mercenary stuff to get the platinum and I didn't like that. *52:47* Two though, obviously we just *52:54* Have other games to play and it was time to move on. *52:57* But yeah, there is this sort of I don't know, these games are constructed in such a way whether they're more *53:00* survival horror focused or action focused uh with you always feel like you can optimize your run in some sort of manner and you can always go faster through this and these games are very much *53:07* Like I said, that first playthrough I did on this was eight to nine hours, then this second one was closer to four and a half five, and I I just feel like I could get it down to two or three or I I I could move through the game even faster, especially if I have *53:17* unlimited ammo on my weapons and things like that. *53:31* Like there there's there's a lot of optimization here which I which I really like. *53:34* As far as puzzles, I really didn't feel like there was anything *53:38* too inventive in this game on that front, um, which is fine. *53:43* I don't there are n there aren't many puzzles throughout the whole Resident Evil series that I can think of that are like *53:46* That's a fantastic puzzle that really challenged me in this sort of way. *53:52* I mean they're all of the same sort of variety, you know. *53:56* Run around the castle, get these different masks, put them in the spots where they go. *53:59* Like it's all it's all very *54:03* pretty straightforward most of the time. *54:05* Examine the items that you get and th things like that. *54:07* So nothing too out of the ordinary in that front. *54:11* Um *54:15* But there's just, I don't know, there's something about how the puzzles are always styled in Resident Evil games that I generally like. *54:16* So it's not that I want to say they were bad in this game, it's just they were *54:22* what I would expect from Resident Evil at this point. *54:27* So Yeah. *54:30* I mean it's that like Metroidvania kind of thing. *54:30* I mean even though it's not that kind of game obviously, but it's like you see a door, you know you can open it at some point, but you just need to find the piece and then when you finally find the piece, you're like ah I *54:33* could finally go through this thing that I've been l staring at this entire time. *54:42* Yeah. *54:45* And I feel like it scratches that kind of itch, I I suppose. *54:45* For me, like I thought the I mean I think the game control's great. *54:49* I mean it gives you enough mobility to get away from things, but *54:52* Kind of still constricts your movement enough to not get too comfortable in certain situations, especially when you're in tighter spaces. *54:56* But generally I I mean I think I I echo the same sentiments you guys say. *55:04* I think, you know, the first time around I definitely *55:09* I mean, I had talked about it before, scary games scare me a whole bunch. *55:13* Uh it's hard for me to get through a lot of this stuff if I don't feel powerful, I guess. *55:17* So like that first playthrough took me quite a bit, a quite quite a lot of sessions, uh thirty minute sessions of playing the game to get through it, but *55:23* This time around, I again just had more confidence. *55:30* I've seen everything that this game has to offer. *55:34* Also, if you play in third person, you kind of know when the scary stuff's gonna happen because it transitions back into first person for some of the cutscenes or most of the cutscenes. *55:36* So you kind of knew when th something was gonna happen anyway. *55:44* But yeah, I think generally it's it still plays great. *55:47* I I didn't really have too many issues with it. *55:50* Like technically it's still sound, it's a beautiful game. *55:52* But yeah. *55:55* I did uh I think this is a good spot to talk about it, it seems to me. *55:56* So it's the VR mode, which uh between the three of us, I'm the only one that's played it. *56:00* I think Logan technically has access to it through work, but hasn't played yet. *56:05* I could play it, yeah. *56:11* I I have access to PSVR too. *56:12* I just have not tried it yet. *56:14* I will at some point. *56:15* Yeah, you definitely should because it is *56:16* bonkers. *56:20* It changes it changes the game and once I have a more dedicated space *56:21* to play in VR here in a few months. *56:30* I plan on probably dabbling with it, especially when this Resident Evil 4 remake VR thing, whatever that may be, comes out. *56:32* I think *56:41* That would be a really good time to dive back in because to say this real quick, I'm sorry. *56:41* I feel like the residue of 4 VR mode is just gonna be like *56:47* one of the shooting galleries in VR or something like that. *56:51* That is what I've been saying, because they have not said it's the full game. *56:56* But having played *56:59* About half, you know, two-thirds of Resident Evil 7 in VR back when that came out. *57:02* Playing Resident Evil 4 on Quest 2, and now Dabbling in Village. *57:08* It's *57:14* my favorite way to play a Resident Evil game. *57:15* And I know on PC there are mods for two and three which sound and have looked really, really cool from what I've seen. *57:18* You wanna go look at Mr. *57:26* X in person in Nemesis? *57:27* Yeah. *57:29* It's wild, man. *57:30* And I don't. *57:32* That's how scary. *57:33* You I mean, you actually load *57:34* the pistol, you know, drop the magazine, put in a new one, slide the rail back, all that stuff. *57:38* Which sounds tedious in in some sense, but it just feels so natural in VR. *57:43* the aiming down the sights or just reaching and grabbing things on your your person is by far the most accurate I've had in a VR game when I reach for a *57:52* you know, a pistol magazine clip, that's what I come back with, or the knife. *58:04* And it does lead to some cool gameplay moments because they don't want you to *58:08* They don't want to break the game in a way of well if you drop this knife like you're gonna have to like walk over there, bend over, and pick it up. *58:13* So like you you have unlimited throwing knives essentially where you can just take this *58:20* Ethan has this knife sheath on his arm, and so you just pull the knife out and you can just throw it and a new one will spawn. *58:25* And so you have unlimited throwing knives. *58:31* It's just *58:34* You know, holding the flashlight where you can hold it like with your you know, your hand down or your hand up o you know, over a underhand. *58:35* Totally just feels it just feels so natural and great. *58:43* And I highly encourage people who do have PSVR2 or have access to it to play that way. *58:49* It is *58:56* I wish I could have played the whole thing for the show that way. *58:57* I just the space and the time of life just didn't work out. *59:00* But it is by far, I think, the best way to play the game. *59:04* Well, you're you're talking about one alternative method of play. *59:09* I wanted to ask you guys what you thought of the third person mode because obviously *59:13* This game was designed with first person in mind, but then they totally recreated it for third person, which I dabbled with and I thought it was pretty solid. *59:18* I I don't *59:26* I mean again, there's been a lot of other third person Resident Evil games. *59:28* I guess that would be my question is uh you guys played the whole game. *59:31* Do you feel like the third person mode that they tacked on here is as good as the games that are natively in third person, which you know *59:33* Are you two, three, four remake most recently? *59:42* I think it works. *59:45* Yes, it's good. *59:47* I think you should play it in first person if you're going to play it though. *59:48* I think it I I personally like if for if you're playing the game for the first time you should definitely play it in first person because like I said before like *59:52* those cutscenes, like you're in third person, it'll just zoom back into first person. *01:00:02* And so any scary moment or like cool moment, you won't really get the same s kind of surprise because *01:00:07* Like for example, when your hand gets cut off, uh, when you're about to pull the handle for like the door, if you're playing that in third person, you'll like start to pull it and then it'll just zoom into first person again and then your hand gets cut off. *01:00:13* Like *01:00:25* That kind of unexpected stuff is what made some of those moments, a lot of those cool moments, like really great. *01:00:25* And uh in that case you kind of lose that surprise and stuff, uh, entirely when you play in third person. *01:00:31* So *01:00:36* I would say for like a second playthrough it totally works and it's great and it's fine. *01:00:37* Um but yeah, definitely preferred third person or first person. *01:00:41* Yeah, it it shows that the game was obviously designed first person *01:00:45* the first time around, but it is impressive that the game structurally, not from a narrative perspective, because they didn't even rework the cutscenes in in VR *01:00:51* You know, the scene in the beginning of the game where Ethan is being dragged out of the house, you're just standing in your living room and Ethan is laying on the floor. *01:01:05* So like your head is supposed to it just doesn't feel right at all. *01:01:12* But *01:01:17* It is impressive from a game design angle that this game works in third person or VR or first person. *01:01:18* I think that is really cool. *01:01:27* And I would love to see Capcom take a game from the ground up. *01:01:29* And design it with both in mind, whether that's cutscenes, you know, work in either mode in a natural way or *01:01:36* Just they're both available at launch from the start because clearly their technology is capable of all of this. *01:01:45* And I I've talked about that extensively. *01:01:51* But it shows their chops, I think, really well. *01:01:55* This is any type of Resident Evil experience you want, you can get it in village *01:01:59* Whether you want the I guess the only one you can't get is tank controls and predetermined camera angles. *01:02:06* But it is from m Resident Evil 4 onward, if you want that type of experience in any of them *01:02:12* Play Village. *01:02:19* You'll get a type of gameplay experience that you could have gotten in any of the games. *01:02:20* I I wonder if part of the reason why maybe they didn't redo *01:02:25* cutscenes other than obviously probably cost money and you know a lot more work, a lot more time, all that stuff. *01:02:30* I wonder if part of it has to do with the faceless nature of Ethan and not Oh my gosh ever show because they would have to go through go through l tons of *01:02:35* different th like angles and whatever to figure out a way to even not show his face and stuff, which, you know, I guess we'll probably talk about *01:02:45* when we talk about the DLC, which is that's only can we just can we just quickly just talk touch on the fact that you we can't see Ethan's face and I think it's the greatest *01:02:53* kind of just running joke of the whole game. *01:03:04* There are so many times where if you turn your camera like he j his body just turns away from it. *01:03:07* Like he's shy. *01:03:13* cutscenes, especially in the Shadows of Rose DLC, like you just the strategic placement of objects to hide this man's face. *01:03:14* I find hysterical. *01:03:23* It is it's the great I think it's so fun. *01:03:25* It's so *01:03:29* Goofy, there's almost a Japanese humor to it that you would just get in a Japanese game. *01:03:31* It's like you can't see this person's face. *01:03:37* It's the silent protagonist, but faceless. *01:03:39* And *01:03:41* And not silent. *01:03:43* Yeah, and not silent. *01:03:43* But you get what I mean. *01:03:44* Like it's just there's like a joke. *01:03:45* Yeah. *01:03:47* It's like everyone else can see his face, but you can't. *01:03:47* I like I love that. *01:03:51* Like I'm I'm really glad they've committed that. *01:03:52* Well, I've heard some fans be like, why don't they just show his face? *01:03:54* I'm like, dude, that's not the point. *01:03:56* Like he's supposed to be a conduit for the player, and they are leaning into it so much so that like *01:03:58* You're not supposed to see him. *01:04:04* Like, that's the point. *01:04:06* Yeah, yeah. *01:04:07* Oh, I love it. *01:04:08* I don't want them I don't want to know what Ethan looks like. *01:04:09* I think it's so funny that especially how close *01:04:11* How close we get sometimes. *01:04:14* Yeah. *01:04:17* There's moments where they're like, oh, you're gonna show it. *01:04:17* No, never mind. *01:04:20* Never mind. *01:04:21* I wanna I wanna speak to I mean just speaking to the first person stuff *01:04:22* for a moment. *01:04:28* I do think that this game some of the moments I this is an exceptional first person game, is what I wanna s is what I was gonna say. *01:04:29* And I think I think we talked a lot about that with Seven, about how they really *01:04:37* prove that first person was a place that this series could go when a lot of people were questioning it at the time whether or not the series could make the jump. *01:04:42* to that style of play and they really have shown with both Seven and Village here that Resident Evil in first person is excellent and *01:04:51* I think the thing that I should mention here, and I am like 90% certain about this, um, but I'm pretty sure Capcom has said they are moving away from first person now with future games and they're going back to third person. *01:05:01* like with Resident Evil 9 and beyond or whatever 9 ends up becoming. *01:05:14* Um and they talked about how that that with in regard to the Shadow of Rose DLC, I think specifically, like the first person stuff was tied to Ethan. *01:05:19* And so with Ethan being *01:05:27* written out now they're gonna go back to third person and stuff moving forward. *01:05:28* And I kind of I I that kind of bums me out because I think they've done such a good job with both of these games. *01:05:32* Like th there's a different *01:05:38* sense of horror in these games that I think comes about through the first person perspective compared to like *01:05:40* two remake with Mr. *01:05:48* X chasing you. *01:05:49* There's just a different vibe. *01:05:50* And I I think they've been able to really like some of those moments we talk about in the dollhouse that are much creepier and do lean into more modern. *01:05:51* take a riff off of more modern horror games like amnesia or PT and stuff like that. *01:05:59* Like that's only I think that's not it possible. *01:06:04* I mean it's not not that it's impot it's not impossible. *01:06:08* But I would imagine you guys have played through this game both in first person and third person. *01:06:11* Was the dollhouse section creepier in first person, I would imagine, compared to third? *01:06:15* Absolutely. *01:06:20* Yeah. *01:06:21* Well I thought so, at least. *01:06:21* Probably, but again, I knew what was happening in there. *01:06:25* Yeah. *01:06:28* And so it was less scary. *01:06:29* And we'll talk about the DLC later. *01:06:31* But what they do in that space in third person I think was scarier than the baby stuff in the base game. *01:06:34* So Yeah. *01:06:41* The the it depend I think it depends on the type of horror that was going on, both two wildly not wildly different, but two different types of scenario that leveraged *01:06:43* the uh original camera's perspective of each. *01:06:53* I mean it is But in both of those moments, I know what you're talking about in the DLC. *01:06:56* It's it's very vi that style of camera, third person I think is very specific to why that moment works *01:07:00* Exactly. *01:07:06* Yes. *01:07:07* So the baby stuff, I think it was probably scarier, like overall. *01:07:08* And I dreaded coming back to it. *01:07:15* Don't get me wrong. *01:07:17* I did I actually remember getting to that part early in the morning and was like, I don't really want to play this right now. *01:07:18* I don't want the screaming, creepy *01:07:24* baby, but you know, I think it just depends. *01:07:26* Like having knowing what was gonna go on, I think makes it difficult for me to properly judge the my *01:07:30* response to it. *01:07:40* I'm kind of of uh of two minds of it, whereas um you know, I feel like when Resident Evil seven was coming out *01:07:42* It almost I think probably fans were like upset with it 'cause maybe it felt like they were chasing like what other horror games have been doing because there was so much success with *01:07:49* First person horror. *01:08:00* I mean it's it's an incredible way to do horror. *01:08:01* I mean, you you are experiencing it firsthand, like it feels that way. *01:08:04* Well PT had even *01:08:08* come out I think by that time that seven had released. *01:08:09* Yeah. *01:08:13* So like at like the a lot everything a lot of horror was transitioning to first person at that time for sure. *01:08:13* Yeah. *01:08:20* And so like having it all tied to Ethan, I'm kind of cool with that. *01:08:21* Like it makes his uh story like completely unique from the rest of Resident Evil. *01:08:25* Like his character is in first person. *01:08:31* Like you cannot *01:08:33* You can, you can. *01:08:35* You can, but it is meant to be played in first person. *01:08:36* It is that is the experience that you're having with that. *01:08:39* And I'm kinda cool with that being tied to that. *01:08:42* So *01:08:44* I mean, but then also they kind of showed that they could do that horror still. *01:08:45* Like uh obviously you guys already talked about that dollhouse part, like for the Shadow of Rose DLC, like they could still do that kind of horror. *01:08:49* in third person. *01:08:57* Like there are still effective ways to do that. *01:08:58* So I'm not really like too bummed because I feel like if they are going to stick with like that actual like real scary horror stuff. *01:09:00* Like I mean they've even done that with *01:09:08* With Resident Evil 2 remake, I feel like that game is incredibly scary, and that's mostly just because of sound design. *01:09:10* I mean, if they just stick with that kind of stuff, I think they'll have something uh just as scary or whatever in that game. *01:09:16* More than anything moving forward, I kinda wish they wouldn't have shot down the potential of doing first person again. *01:09:23* I guess mo I just would have liked to not know what they're gonna do next. *01:09:29* And so for them to have said like nope first person's not on the table anymore is kind of like huh, well that doesn't make me sad necessarily, but it just kind of like *01:09:33* pigeonholes them to one type of game that we have seen a lot. *01:09:42* I mean most Resident Evil games have been third person, uh at least for the better part of the last twenty years. *01:09:45* So I've been looking around for that quote or that source on that. *01:09:53* And it I haven't found something definitive quite yet. *01:09:57* It seems to stem from an interview with IGN from the Tokyo Game Show back in *01:10:01* last year of 2022. *01:10:07* And it sounds like I guess the Shadows of Rose DLC concludes the Winters family saga is the terminology used. *01:10:09* So those characters are all done apparently, according to Capcom, at least at this point. *01:10:17* And so that's taken on the meaning of we would leave first person behind, so far, at least in the the Googling I've done. *01:10:23* that we would just return a third person and a new cast of characters or old favorites. *01:10:32* So that seems to be where it's stemming from, but I haven't found anything definitive yet. *01:10:37* Yeah, I I I just looked it up here myself and so yeah, maybe they could do first person, but it does I mean even the end of this game says the father's story is now complete or something like that, I believe. *01:10:43* Yeah. *01:10:54* So th so they make it clear that Ethan's *01:10:54* Done. *01:10:57* Uh he's not getting a trilogy. *01:10:58* He's getting on duology. *01:10:59* This the the Capcom's language says the Winter's family, as in *01:11:02* Rose 2, which feels very strange. *01:11:07* Which is weird, and we'll talk about that. *01:11:10* We'll talk about that the DLC here in a minute *01:11:12* So we've been talking about Ethan here a lot throughout this episode, but we have not talked about much of the story of this game, at least not outside of some like brief uh references to certain things. *01:11:14* And I think that *01:11:26* The story of this game is it's it's one of the reasons why I like it a lot, but it is very much all over the dang place. *01:11:27* So much so that I almost don't know where to start because we're obviously coming off of the end of *01:11:36* Of seven, there's a lot going on here with Mia, and then Mia gets offed in the opening five minutes of this game, and then there's a baby with superpowers, and then the baby gets *01:11:42* torn apart and put in little bottles. *01:11:52* There's just all oh like this game is like I I think you mentioned uh *01:11:55* You mentioned I I I believe in Code Veronica or Code Veronica episode Max that one of the uh writers on that game talked about how he wrote the entire script while he was drinking. *01:12:01* The specifically just just the Wesker report, which explains why Wesker is alive. *01:12:12* That's not not Code Veronica itself, just this DVD bonus video. *01:12:18* Okay. *01:12:23* Well *01:12:24* I they may have taken a page out of that playbook that they wrote when they wrote this game because it feels like but it's great at the same time, I think. *01:12:25* Like it is, again, Resident Evil to me is inherently campy. *01:12:33* And this game is psycho stuff. *01:12:38* I d I don't know. *01:12:43* Where do you guys even well where do you guys want to even tap in here with what happens? *01:12:44* Um, I guess like for me, you know, I I have not played seven. *01:12:50* Okay. *01:12:55* I've played like the beginning of it *01:12:56* You know, I've I killed So you witnessed the key moment of seven, I guess, which is Yes, I did. *01:12:59* Yes, I witnessed the key moment. *01:13:04* I got up to the lady *01:13:07* That's in the house made of flies or something. *01:13:10* Marguerite. *01:13:13* Or spiders or something. *01:13:14* Yeah. *01:13:15* I got to her and I'm like, this is too scary, guys. *01:13:16* I can't play this game. *01:13:18* It's too much. *01:13:20* Uh so yeah I got to that part and I stopped playing the game. *01:13:21* Uh I'll probably revisit it though at some point. *01:13:24* I probably I will. *01:13:26* I will revisit that game uh soon. *01:13:27* But so coming into this, I guess like honestly *01:13:29* It's it's less about the actual story itself and more about like all the things that are tight like all the lore bits and stuff that make it so complicated, but the story itself is like really simple, I guess, at the end of the day. *01:13:34* It's just like you know, you you're *01:13:44* Your wife gets sniped by Chris Redfield. *01:13:46* You're like shot in the face ten times point blank in front of your eyes. *01:13:50* And you're like, what the heck? *01:13:54* And then *01:13:56* Your baby and they take you, but then you get kidna or your baby gets kidnapped and you find out that she's been separated and you uh basically you're trying to put her back together is the like what the story is at the end of the day. *01:13:57* And try to save her. *01:14:08* Which is crazy that you could think you could save her when her body parts are all in different cubicle thingies and you have to put them in a machine. *01:14:10* What I don't know. *01:14:17* That kind of stuff is weird. *01:14:18* But like the basis of the story is super simple. *01:14:19* Like there's nothing really like they kind of tell you in like everything you kind of need to know from Seven. *01:14:22* Um, and then from then on like you're just experienc experiencing what they have here in front of you, which then gets it to crazy stuff like that I personally would not understand, like at the end with all the stuff how it connects. *01:14:29* in the deeper lore of Resident Evil with I know they ha mentioned like the Arclay Mountains, which I know is from the first thing and like with Miranda and stuff and that kind of stuff kind of flows like goes *01:14:43* I I just don't know what's going on there. *01:14:55* Maybe I do now if I play it now and then I look back at it. *01:14:57* You would. *01:15:00* But *01:15:01* But a a at the even at the moment of like when I played it the second time, I I was like, Oh, this is interesting. *01:15:02* Like obviously it is tying back to 'cause I knew the settings of each one. *01:15:07* Like obviously this stuff is tying back to old Resident Evil games, which is really cool fan servicey stuff that *01:15:11* is awesome that they could tie it in that way and in such a interesting way, I guess. *01:15:17* Um I don't know if it's all that interesting. *01:15:21* Well how I guess how they do it is kind of d *01:15:24* Whatever. *01:15:27* I mean it's just a bunch of notes. *01:15:27* I like that Chris is the one who discovers it all. *01:15:29* That's the that's the element of it. *01:15:32* I I don't hate some of the revelations at the end. *01:15:34* Revelations, Resident Evil reference. *01:15:37* Um *01:15:39* This stuff's the best. *01:15:41* I like how I like how they make it interconnected, but it feels like every couple games *01:15:43* They like they did a similar thing in Code Veronica, where it's like Resident Evil 1, it's like, oh, Spencer, he's kind of the guy behind Umbrella and he's the one doing all this, and then you get to Code Veronica, it's like, no, it was actually *01:15:49* The Ashfords that were ki one of the key people responsible for Umbrella. *01:16:03* Yeah, and now we know Miranda was there. *01:16:10* And I think that's super cool because that's hundreds of years and she's there and this fungus is taking over her brain and all she wants is her kid back. *01:16:14* I think and maybe this is just because I'm so new to Resident Evil on the whole for this season *01:16:25* And we've just played all of this so close together. *01:16:32* But like I'm riding a Resident Evil lore high right now. *01:16:35* And when we got to that lab this time around and I was reading everything. *01:16:39* I my mind was like, oh my gosh, she was there. *01:16:44* They were finding the progenitor virus and h she's out here dealing with this fungus thing. *01:16:48* And I just thought it was so cool. *01:16:54* I really, really *01:16:56* enjoyed that lore revelation in the the part that you know we've talked about. *01:16:59* There's always a lab. *01:17:04* I like that there's still a lab, and this lab's been here for hundreds of years and *01:17:05* There's more things. *01:17:10* There's also some interesting stuff with the BSAA being bioweapon soldiers this time, invading the space. *01:17:11* So like that has some future implications, I imagine. *01:17:17* I was gonna say they don't really touch on that *01:17:19* too much until it's it's kind of like one of the final kickers of the game and sets up where nine could go. *01:17:21* Yeah. *01:17:27* I also though think outside of the *01:17:28* the extend extended lore here. *01:17:32* I kind of really enjoyed the scientific y reasons why *01:17:36* the bosses are the way they are because they've been inf they've been infected with the uh *01:17:43* The Kaudu Kow or whatever? *01:17:50* Yeah, this live fungus hive mind kind of thing. *01:17:53* It interacts with the megamycite, I think. *01:17:57* Yeah, the megamycet's like this big brain *01:18:00* But, you know, explains why Lady D is a tall vampire lady. *01:18:03* It's because she has a rare blood disease that combined with wild growth or whatever means she has to like eat humans to stay stable. *01:18:07* Or *01:18:16* You know, with Heisenberg being able to control metal or the doll lady controlling her dolls, she was taking it out of her and putting it in her dolls. *01:18:17* I like the way that they try to ground this scientifically, the same sort of way. *01:18:26* They explain why Ethan can just have his hand chopped off and put it back on. *01:18:32* It's cause the man's made of mold. *01:18:38* Uh which I just is the silliest thing ever written in Resident Evil, at least as far as I've played. *01:18:40* The man is just filled with fungus *01:18:48* He's just a moldy boy. *01:18:51* And I think that's so cool and how they hint at it throughout the games, actually the more *01:18:53* I remember the first time I played this game, I just thought, poor Ethan's hands. *01:18:59* They just really like stab him, rip him, chop him off. *01:19:03* His hands just get brutalized. *01:19:08* in this game. *01:19:10* Well Lady D drinks his blood at one point and she says something like, ah, like, yeah. *01:19:10* You're getting ready to go bad or something. *01:19:15* Yeah, yeah, yeah. *01:19:17* Yes. *01:19:18* I think it's something along those lines. *01:19:19* And so they do drop a bunch of hints *01:19:20* uh throughout the game with it and they even do going back to seven. *01:19:23* Like I know we we keep alluding to the chopped off hand but we talked in our seven episode he gets his leg chopped off in that game in an optional cutscene *01:19:26* Uh he just he just reattaches it willy-nilly. *01:19:35* So like they've been dropping hints to it. *01:19:39* I don't know if this was like a grand plan they had. *01:19:41* Maybe that maybe in seven its inclusion was just meant to be a goofy thing. *01:19:44* that but now it's come full circle and they've it given a reason for it. *01:19:48* But but yeah, it's Ethan Ethan as a character is so bewildering. *01:19:51* Like I I I still have so many *01:19:58* questions, I guess, about like so his wife, what's his wife's name? *01:20:01* Mia, she so she procreated with a mold man. *01:20:06* Like *01:20:11* So she's the product of a mold-loving relationship? *01:20:12* Like Rose is the product, I should say. *01:20:17* Mia, I guess *01:20:21* Essentially they had superpowers. *01:20:27* But Mia would have known *01:20:29* This. *01:20:31* Yes, which makes it even more like head scratching. *01:20:32* And also Miranda can shape shift into *01:20:36* Mia, which is why she gets blown away at the start, which I kinda like. *01:20:41* I mean I don't think anybody even before this game came out, I don't think anybody knew thought like, oh Chris is gonna be evil. *01:20:44* And like that was kind of what they tried to do with the *01:20:51* uh marketing for this game and it was clear that that was never going to be the case. *01:20:54* But yeah, there's there's a lot happening in this game. *01:20:59* But I do agree with you, Michael. *01:21:02* At the same time *01:21:04* I think what works about this game is that, and in in typical Resident Evil fashion, I think this is one of the stronger aspects of the series as a whole, is it is so character-focused. *01:21:05* Like the characters are *01:21:15* Central to everything. *01:21:17* And then there's lore and world building and backstory and stuff like that, which Max was talking about uh here at the end of the game. *01:21:18* But for the most part, it is just these characters, or whether it be *01:21:25* Chris, Jill, Leon, like there's there's central characters and then the the villains and stuff as as well. *01:21:29* And and sometimes they don't hit or sometimes the side characters don't hit. *01:21:35* And I think I'm like *01:21:39* Steve from Code Veronica. *01:21:39* Like in this game, I think the cast is pretty top-notch across the board, whether it be *01:21:41* Between H Lady D, Heisenberg. *01:21:48* I don't think Miranda gets as much time, honestly, to feel like a compelling villain. *01:21:50* That would be kind of my one *01:21:54* problem with this game because you you Max talked about how you like that she does have roots going that far back and I wish they would have l done a little bit more with that. *01:21:57* Like her motivations aren't explained until *01:22:07* Like the 11th hour essentially. *01:22:11* Like like they do they and that's kind of my problem with what happens at the end of the game. *01:22:13* It is just so *01:22:17* dumped on you as the player in these text logs and fleshing out her motivations and fleshing out why she's like this. *01:22:19* And oh because in in in all those various techlo tech uh text logs it establishes she has a child. *01:22:26* her child died, how she found the Mega Mycey, that she knew Spencer, this how Spencer got the inspiration for Umbrella. *01:22:32* Like there is a lot of stuff that is like just thrown at you very, very quickly. *01:22:39* And that stuff's all fine, but they could have done more with it in the game itself. *01:22:44* And I think that's my one issue with it is like all her l her children are too *01:22:51* are so front and center throughout the rest of the game that she just kind of falls into the background. *01:22:55* But I like, you know, Heisenberg and Lady Dia's characters and stuff like that too. *01:23:00* So it's *01:23:03* I do think there is a bit more fleshing out about Mother Miranda's motivations or at least her objective of r a daughter, you know, doing something with Rose and her power to resurrect something. *01:23:04* Heisenberg hints at it, he, you know, uh especially when you're in the factory, he's talking about how they're just pawns and they were used. *01:23:16* Heisenberg's factory has notes and documents talking about how he's building up an army and *01:23:24* um mordu talks about experimenting with the the m the fungus, the kodu, or I don't know. *01:23:30* There's a lot of *01:23:37* funky things here. *01:23:38* You know, that's how the werewolves come about. *01:23:39* So I do think there's some world building of just Miranda and her forces in general throughout the world and kind of her objective and those things. *01:23:41* But yeah, it is the same trope of *01:23:49* Here's all the the the plot twist, right? *01:23:52* The the narrative plot twist, and it's always in the lab at the end in a bunch of documents. *01:23:55* The twist never really comes in a cutscene. *01:24:00* I guess besides the fact that uh you died and you're made of fungus. *01:24:04* Well the other thing too that I wanted to mention is like and this is where my disappointment with Miranda comes through more is like she's also responsible for Evelyn in the previous game and Evelyn has ties to her as well and so to make *01:24:08* Miranda kind of the core villain of both of these games and then to just not do a whole lot with her other than just I want your daughter to recreate my daughter. *01:24:22* Like I there was more *01:24:32* to explore there with her, I think. *01:24:33* And if they would have made her more obviously she's name dropped constantly throughout the game that a lot of people around the village, or I guess *01:24:36* the old lady is her. *01:24:43* Uh but she she's she's name dropped quite a bit throughout the game and y you know she is the central *01:24:45* figure that you are kind of going to have to deal with because Heisenberg and Lady D and all the others, uh Moreau, they're all they're all mentioning her, but she does not directly appear outside of *01:24:51* There's the one cutscene at the start of the game where they're all together before you get chased, and then you don't see her again until, I believe, the variant of the game after you deal with Heisenberg. *01:25:02* And so that's again where *01:25:12* I just feel like there was more like they could have sprinkled her in more over the course of this game, I think, and and she would have uh *01:25:15* She she could have served a bigger purpose. *01:25:23* But yeah. *01:25:25* Yeah, I think they could have done if maybe not show her more, but do more things like how she was like the old lady like right in the beginning. *01:25:27* Like maybe make her because she has the ability to shapeshift, maybe she was, I don't know, like a crow that was hanging out that you keep on seeing throughout the entire game or something like that. *01:25:34* Uh or or something like that. *01:25:44* Or she's the Duke. *01:25:46* Or she's the or she is the Duke or something. *01:25:47* Like something something like that in the in that could be *01:25:50* sort of way. *01:25:52* That way it kind of connects with like, oh, she has been watching you this entire time. *01:25:53* She has been there the entire time, if not actually like present like with her normal self, I guess. *01:25:57* Yeah. *01:26:03* I did uh I don't know if there's more characterslash story stuff you guys wanted to talk about in particular, but I did want to say at least before we left that section *01:26:04* A fun fact that I picked up on in the game and then had to double check. *01:26:15* The voice actor for Chris is the same voice actor for Carlos in the Resident Evil 3 remake. *01:26:20* So Carlos and Chris are one and the same. *01:26:26* That tracks now that I think about it. *01:26:29* Like I can totally hear that in my brain without even there was there was some delivery at the lake. *01:26:30* I was like, okay. *01:26:36* That sounds like Carlos. *01:26:37* And so that's when I checked and I was right. *01:26:38* So yes. *01:26:40* The voice actor for Chris in Village is the same as the voice actor for Carlos. *01:26:41* Well I did want to actually bring up Chris and how he's *01:26:46* handled in this game. *01:26:49* I feel like he's one of the characters that we haven't touched on and obviously you play as him for a chunk of the game. *01:26:50* Uh in a very call of duty set piece. *01:26:55* Chris of Duty. *01:26:57* Which which is great. *01:26:58* I like that part quite a bit actually. *01:27:00* But Chris in this game, I don't know. *01:27:02* Even he, I feel like, is not as prominent as he potentially could have been. *01:27:05* I don't know. *01:27:10* It's it's a weird thing to balance because I get that they want to make this an Ethan game through and through *01:27:11* Um and they don't want to have Chris take over the spotlight. *01:27:15* But Chris is in the opening and then he doesn't appear again until the lake, I believe, is the first time you see him. *01:27:18* And you just see him meanwhile. *01:27:24* And then other than that, he really doesn't show up again till the late sections of the game. *01:27:26* Other than that, I think um one of my big questions with this game *01:27:31* And it feels like something where they just kind of wrote themselves into a corner and they're like, well, this is what we want to do. *01:27:36* We want to pitch it as Chris is maybe the bad guy. *01:27:41* So we're going to have him off Mia, who's not really Mia at the start of the game. *01:27:43* Because you even get uh *01:27:47* Basically, I guess what I'm trying to say is why didn't Chris just tell Ethan this? *01:27:49* Uh and that's even I question that one of Chris's *01:27:53* um companions broaches to him like late in the game if you are listening over the uh as he's talking via the comms during the *01:27:57* Chris of Duty section that Michael said. *01:28:05* One of them's like, you should why didn't you just tell Ethan? *01:28:07* You could have just looped him in. *01:28:09* And he's like, Yeah, I think he says like, yeah, maybe I should, but I was like afraid that *01:28:10* How you'd handle it. *01:28:14* I I don't know. *01:28:15* Something to that effect. *01:28:16* Um, and I think that is a little bit of a maybe plot hole like, hey *01:28:18* Why wouldn't they just tell Chris that like this woman is after his child and his child has is unique and these things are happening? *01:28:24* And I guess the b other questions, and this isn't really touched on *01:28:31* a ton, but it's kind of a subtle thing that I like with Ethan is that they establish er in the early portion of this game that he's been like training with Chris a ton and that's how he's more *01:28:35* Proficient with weapons now. *01:28:45* It's uh it's implied that like he's not just this scrub anymore. *01:28:46* He has been trained by Chris. *01:28:49* He has a lot of military expertise now, and that's how he can kind of handle himself in this situation. *01:28:51* So like why wouldn't Chris then fill him in on what's happening and instead he just offs me in front of him is like you don't know what you're talking about, Ethan? *01:28:57* It's like w w what? *01:29:04* Like *01:29:05* It just again, it feels like one of those things where it's like Capcom wanted to intentionally play with fan expectations, and so they did it even though it didn't make a whole lot of sense narratively. *01:29:06* So *01:29:16* I I correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't wasn't it said or implied that Mia was the one make like making Chris not tell Ethan? *01:29:17* Like *01:29:27* Everyone was trying to keep the secret that Ethan was dead away from Ethan. *01:29:28* So I think that's like it's Well you could have you could have not *01:29:33* Told Chris or Ethan that he's dead and could have still told him that like, hey, some but some crazy woman's after your family. *01:29:37* You should be in the know-how. *01:29:43* We're gonna perform a sting operation and kill the person that looks like *01:29:45* Your wife in front of you. *01:29:49* Yeah, I guess. *01:29:50* I don't know. *01:29:51* You know, why is my daughter so important? *01:29:52* She has superpowers. *01:29:54* How does she have superpowers? *01:29:55* Because you're made of fungus. *01:29:56* It's I'm not saying it's great writing or it's great defense. *01:29:58* Mold. *01:30:01* Fung mold not fungus. *01:30:02* Last of us boy. *01:30:03* Mold is fungus. *01:30:05* I don't know. *01:30:07* Pretty sure mold is a thing. *01:30:08* It is it's it's not the great, I'm not defending it. *01:30:11* I do think there was just like a write-off excuse of why they aren't explaining it because it's *01:30:14* It's pretty silly. *01:30:19* It's pretty silly to go this long. *01:30:20* And yeah, again, it's one of those things where it's like I'm not staying up at night. *01:30:22* Like, why did they do this? *01:30:25* I don't really *01:30:27* Tossing and turning over the You gotta keep the player interested somehow, right? *01:30:29* You need to have some sort of mystery there in order for them for in in order for you to wanna keep on going, because if you know all that stuff then *01:30:34* How do they keep you going and trying to figure out what's going on? *01:30:42* I feel like if you get that information right at the get-go, I mean *01:30:45* What what is there to what other surprises other than like Ethan putting his hand on and stuff like that? *01:30:50* Do you really get those moments don't even are aren't even as good then at that point. *01:30:56* Yeah. *01:31:01* Yeah. *01:31:02* Last question about uh story and character stuff before we move on is I did just want to ask how do you guys feel about uh Ethan's death? *01:31:03* And then the time jump at the end of the game with Rose, obviously. *01:31:14* And we'll talk more about that with Shadows of Rose here, which we're gonna touch on *01:31:17* more fully, but I I guess just how do you feel about the ending of the game and choosing to kill him off uh I guess for good because he was technically already dead, but yeah. *01:31:21* It's silly. *01:31:33* Like it's very goofy the way he goes about it. *01:31:34* Like, I'm not gonna give up. *01:31:37* You know that if I we haven't *01:31:39* I should say I haven't. *01:31:42* Uh who knows what happens in Resident Evil 5 or 6 at this time. *01:31:44* But we haven't really seen a main character in these games like bite the dust. *01:31:49* And it's interesting to see them introduce a new character in the previous game and then kill them kill them in the second one. *01:31:55* It's *01:32:07* Interesting, just from a reboot perspective, which seven essentially was to a degree. *01:32:09* And it makes me wonder about the future of the series. *01:32:17* in that sense. *01:32:21* But him, you know, basically blowing everything up and being like this limpy little mold man and *01:32:24* Mia's actually alive and, you know, take care of her. *01:32:31* Promise I'll always be there. *01:32:35* I'll protect you or whatever. *01:32:36* You know, typical stuff. *01:32:38* But it's Ethan's sacrifice is pretty goofy. *01:32:40* in hindsight. *01:32:43* I'm not against it, I guess. *01:32:45* Like I I don't think it's I mean, what I I guess at the end of the day when I if I question like what what would I have done differently, I guess, like what *01:32:47* would it be more compelling if he had stayed alive and and also like what what purpose does he have after this story ends, I guess? *01:32:56* I mean then he's just around, you know? *01:33:05* Like what is he gonna do afterwards, you know? *01:33:07* So *01:33:09* I mean granted he would have like with the time jump like you mentioned Logan like would Ethan even still be around at that point then too? *01:33:10* Like would he just be dead anyway? *01:33:16* So I mean I don't know uh and then the time jump too is really weird, especially with the DLC stuff because I mean I don't know, we don't have to talk about the DLC right now, but *01:33:19* I think that time jump and how the DLC f goes about, like, it kind of makes the DLC kind of you don't need to play it at the end of the day. *01:33:30* Um *01:33:39* You know, because of how they position the timing of it. *01:33:40* So they show the same ending cutscene at the end of the DLC as they do at the end of the base game. *01:33:44* Which is very extremely bizarre. *01:33:49* The mystery is still there and who that shadowy figure is and how that plays out with the rest of like what's gonna happen in the next part of the *01:33:52* Resident Evil series and stuff and if Rose isn't part of that according to that interview or whatever, if the Winters family story like *01:34:01* w what's hap like it it's really weird. *01:34:09* I do not know what is gonna go on with with with whatever the ninth entry will end up being, especially with how that ends in it with that kind of information, I suppose. *01:34:12* I mean, let's just talk about Shadows of Rose. *01:34:21* We'll get back to, I know we've got we're gonna talk about touch on the music, but I mean we're talking about Shadows of Rose naturally, so let's just do it. *01:34:24* We don't all play the DLC here. *01:34:30* Which is obviously a first time for all of us. *01:34:32* None of us have done before. *01:34:35* Um I guess just general takeaways. *01:34:37* I I don't I don't want to spend *01:34:40* Um not trying to rush through this section, but I don't I don't think there's all as much to talk about. *01:34:42* I I think largely it's fine. *01:34:47* Like I I didn't hate anything here. *01:34:50* I don't know. *01:34:53* I I I honestly my big takeaway is this. *01:34:54* I it really felt like Rose was poised to be like the new *01:34:57* character moving forward in nine and I thought that they were gonna do that and then this gate this DLC made me not really care about Rose much at all. *01:35:01* And revisiting all these old locations didn't really do a lot for me. *01:35:11* I I I think some of the mechanics are cool with some of her abilities and things like that. *01:35:16* Um *01:35:21* I don't know. *01:35:22* Largely I just thought this expansion was okay. *01:35:23* Uh yeah, I mean I f I kind of feel the same way. *01:35:27* Um I I kind of said it before already, like I don't *01:35:30* I agree that I thought it was fine. *01:35:34* I think it had really cool moments. *01:35:35* Obviously, the dollhouse moment is a standout moment, not just in the DLC, but like that entire game. *01:35:37* It is absolutely terrifying. *01:35:43* The puzzles are really good too, I like. *01:35:46* I like the ones with all the dolls and figuring them out, figuring out where they go. *01:35:48* And like I thought that was enjoyable as well. *01:35:52* I did not like the stealth section, although I think the environment was kind of neat and different. *01:35:54* And at least something like that. *01:35:59* Where everything was big. *01:35:59* Maybe like yeah. *01:36:00* Little nightmares vibes for sure. *01:36:01* Like I don't know if you guys have played those games. *01:36:03* Yeah, it kind of had that vibe for sure and *01:36:05* Like uh I I like that they did play around with some of the environments, but for the most part, I I think you had said it while we were playing it, but like it feels small, like even though we've been in these like *01:36:08* We've been in all these settings in different environments before, but like for some reason it all feels smaller and more like tighter and I don't know. *01:36:20* It doesn't feel as as sprawling as like the castle, for example. *01:36:28* Doesn't feel as sprawling as it was when you play it in the original game. *01:36:32* When you play it here, it feels all like super tight and like you're getting forced into sections whereas like you're not really exploring like how you had that *01:36:36* like the freedom to explore in the in the original game or whatever. *01:36:44* So uh but generally yeah I thought it was good. *01:36:48* Again, like how it ends up panning out like *01:36:50* You don't need to play it. *01:36:54* You see the ending of this DLC in the end of the game, like the abase game. *01:36:56* And then also like *01:37:00* W why did they even have like why did they even introduce Rose? *01:37:02* Like in in the first place, what is her bigger what's the bigger picture here with her? *01:37:06* Ish is she in fact going to be part of Resident Evil 9? *01:37:10* Um, I f I mean I feel like she kind of has to in some s capacity if I mean you even if you don't play as her, I guess, um, maybe some sort of supporting role or something, but *01:37:14* Yeah, it's just interesting. *01:37:25* It's really, really weird, but kinda good. *01:37:27* Like, it's kind of interesting. *01:37:30* I liked it. *01:37:31* It's the f mmm, is it the first? *01:37:33* It's the first piece of Resident Evil DLC that I've played, I believe, so far. *01:37:39* Uh and I know we'll be playing some for five. *01:37:45* and and possibly six, but this is my first exposure to some expansion content in the game, the series on the whole. *01:37:49* I did kind of enjoy the reuse of characters and assets. *01:37:58* It was like, for example, the Duke is evil, right? *01:38:05* He represents *01:38:09* the kind of villain in the first area, which is the castle. *01:38:10* I thought that was kind of neat. *01:38:14* But About the like the castle feeling smaller, I think it's because more of its *01:38:16* like cut off and there's a lot of black goo everywhere where it just limits where you can physically go. *01:38:23* So you know there's other places, but they've they've even shrunk it and just tightened it up by changing the environment design. *01:38:30* I did get some Bioshock E vibes from this uh DLC a little bit, particularly in the castle. *01:38:37* because there is a use of little CRT monitors everywhere and and Rose has powers with her hand, you know, pla a la plasmids. *01:38:46* And then there's a bunch of rabbit imagery in the beginning as well. *01:38:55* So that gave me a lot of Bioshocky kind of vibes. *01:38:59* Not in the this is as great as Bioshock, just a lot of design cues from that, just visually speaking, which was interesting, I thought *01:39:02* The I I wrote this down, not a fan of basically rehashing the dollhouse gimmick, which was at that particular moment of the note just essentially an escape room of *01:39:09* finding these pieces, putting them back together, and then they reveal the mannequin, uh, weeping angel bit, you know, Doctor Who kind of vibe. *01:39:23* And immediately it became terrifying again. *01:39:34* I think actually Mike, you and I got got by the same jump scare. *01:39:38* Where like at one point, you know, the mannequin shows up in the hallway and you're like, okay, there it is. *01:39:43* And you come back to that hallway later and it's not there. *01:39:49* And you're like, ah, it's fine. *01:39:51* I mean it's moving, but it's fine. *01:39:52* And then you open the door at the next door and it's right there and totally it got me for sure. *01:39:54* That got me too. *01:39:59* For sure. *01:39:59* Absolutely. *01:40:00* Dude. *01:40:01* Right when it showed up in the hallway, I'm like, dude. *01:40:01* I don't know. *01:40:03* I don't know if I could play this. *01:40:05* This is this is way too much for me right now. *01:40:07* I think it was definitely the scariest. *01:40:10* part actually of Olive Village in general was these dolls chasing you, and I'm I'm very concerned about what they'll come up with later. *01:40:13* Overall the whole DLC really is kind of more psychological horror based *01:40:22* the imagery of Rose dying a bunch of different ways, these dolls all trying to kill her. *01:40:27* I think the ending kind of fall not kinda the ending falls really hard flat because it's essentially the same. *01:40:33* ending that Mother Miranda is still trying to get her daughter back and Well not only that, but like it was telegraphed from moment one that *01:40:39* Michael was gonna be Ethan. *01:40:49* Like the second it was it was like, okay, well it's clear that this is gonna be him finally interacting with his daughter and *01:40:51* Not not only that, I I I I'm sorry I wanted to mention this real quick because it was fresh in my mind. *01:40:59* But the whole like *01:41:04* Pl the whole thrust of her like wanting to get rid of her powers because people bullied me at school because I have powers. *01:41:06* It's like what is this plot device here for her to get rid of want to get rid of her powers? *01:41:14* Like you *01:41:19* They could have gone with literally any other thing, like I just want to be normal, I just want to live a normal life. *01:41:19* She could have gone with I don't want mold inside my body. *01:41:25* Yeah. *01:41:29* Instead it's just like *01:41:30* I've been bullied and I want friends. *01:41:31* Well I think I think it is I think it is that like, oh, I do just wanna be like I wanna have a normal life, but *01:41:34* because of her age, it's like it's also because she's getting bullied, I guess. *01:41:41* I think the main thrust is j she just wants to be normal. *01:41:45* But how they how they depict it is like *01:41:48* Yes, it's very stereotypical teenage drama. *01:41:50* Yeah, th y I mean th yeah, the way they chose to depict that is is very strange, 'cause it could have just been like, these powers have been nothing but bad news for my family. *01:41:54* I don't want this to haunt our *01:42:02* haunt the winner's family name moving forward. *01:42:04* I don't want to have this hanging over me the same way it did my father, blah blah blah blah blah. *01:42:07* Like stuff like that. *01:42:11* It would be like, okay, sure that makes sense. *01:42:12* It's it it's *01:42:14* I get picked on at school. *01:42:15* Wan. *01:42:17* I don't want to know have telekinesis or whatever the heck. *01:42:18* It's like, I don't know, very silly stuff. *01:42:22* Like what what are what *01:42:26* If I had superpowers and somebody's like, oh you nerd, you got powers, I'd be like, uh Okay? *01:42:28* Like, I don't know. *01:42:34* It's just a very strange odd way in which it was um *01:42:35* Explain that she wanted to go through this whole situation. *01:42:40* And uh the cutscenes at the start are a little like *01:42:44* They feel rushed too. *01:42:47* Like, doesn't it just open she's on a park bench and some random dude shows up. *01:42:49* He's like, hey, I figured out how you can get rid of your powers, blah blah blah blah blah. *01:42:52* So it's like, oh, we're just *01:42:55* We're just we're going here. *01:42:57* We're running. *01:42:58* Like it's just Yeah, it's implied that he like works with Chris or something, but *01:42:59* Turns out that was all Mother Miranda anyway. *01:43:05* Yes. *01:43:07* Yeah. *01:43:08* Um and then I I yeah, I don't know. *01:43:09* I it's *01:43:12* Th the final boss and stuff, I mean it's it is just a rehash fighting Miranda again. *01:43:13* The final boss I didn't think was terrible and getting together with Ethan was *01:43:18* I don't know, there was some uh like modicum of like enjoyment there with like, oh yeah, I'm fighting alongside my dad. *01:43:22* This is cool *01:43:29* I I actually did want to say, I feel like at least currently I'm the only one that could really speak to this out of the three of us, but *01:43:31* I will say that the kind of end-ish, mid-ish point where you're back in the house and you're exploring, and Rose is like, well, is this where I grew up? *01:43:39* Is this like my home? *01:43:49* And *01:43:50* there's all this very heavy, like Ethan, I'm gonna be a dad that's always there and protect my daughter. *01:43:51* Like that actually kinda and the tiny baby stuff, like that actually kinda made me a bit sad and did hit. *01:43:59* And that's *01:44:05* purely just where I am at my time away. *01:44:06* You're six months removed from having a kin. *01:44:09* Yeah. *01:44:11* Yeah. *01:44:12* So Rose in the game is uh six six-ish months or so. *01:44:12* So it's like exactly where I am with Eloise. *01:44:18* So that did actually hit me, which I found *01:44:21* Cool because in general this is just like of course uh she's gonna figure out it's her dad and stuff. *01:44:27* But uh that did actually hit a little bit home for me. *01:44:34* I don't know if it will always hit home for me *01:44:37* going forward, but it was cool to be at the exact same spot as Ethan, you know, in that relationship. *01:44:40* And I will say in VR, Rose is accurately sized. *01:44:48* Uh it's quite impressive. *01:44:52* Throse is an accurate six month baby. *01:44:53* Uh I have a question for you guys. *01:44:57* Were you guys *01:45:00* disappointed that the Michael wasn't the Michael, the helicopter pilot from Resident Evil 4. *01:45:01* Michael! *01:45:07* I forgot that that was even Michael. *01:45:08* Or he was Mike, I think. *01:45:10* Mike! *01:45:12* Beers on Mike. *01:45:13* Yep. *01:45:14* The true guardian angel. *01:45:16* I forgot that that was his name completely. *01:45:20* I haven't gotten to that point in the remake yet, so isn't it his name in uh *01:45:22* Uh in the original four? *01:45:27* Isn't that I don't know. *01:45:29* I can't remember. *01:45:31* We played that game so long ago. *01:45:32* No, I think it is. *01:45:34* I I see Leon shouting Mike. *01:45:35* I do think it is Mike though. *01:45:37* And I I I will say regarding the whole Michael thing, I think it's kind of funny that Rose is like, oh, are you like my guardian angel? *01:45:39* And Etha's just like, uh. *01:45:46* Yeah, Michael, the angel. *01:45:48* Sure. *01:45:50* Like that's where he t he he's totally just BSing and riffing. *01:45:51* with her. *01:45:56* Yeah, I I did like kind of like their banter with each other a little bit. *01:45:57* I thought that was kind of like fun. *01:46:00* It kind of like made it less scary, which *01:46:03* helps me play through it personally. *01:46:06* So I kinda like that. *01:46:08* And I I don't like dislike Rose as a character. *01:46:10* Like I wouldn't be mad if they had her be, you know, in future Resident Evil games for sure. *01:46:14* Um *01:46:20* Well yeah, I don't know the like you said, DLC pretty good. *01:46:21* Wouldn't play again though. *01:46:26* And then the yeah, and then the *01:46:29* Uh we we mentioned this before, but I just to g to go back to it. *01:46:31* The way it ends with how the ending of Village was also like you find out that this was like didn't happen after the events of Village, it's very *01:46:35* It's kind of odd how they did that, but I guess that stays true with the whole Winters family storyline has now completed or whatever it says at the end of the game. *01:46:44* So yeah, Shadows Rose. *01:46:52* Okay, but I will never play it again probably. *01:46:54* Uh let's talk about music. *01:46:58* Do any of you guys have things to say about the soundtrack for this one? *01:47:00* I do think *01:47:03* Uh actually Max, let's start with you this time. *01:47:05* Hmm. *01:47:08* I um not a ton of notes this time on the soundtrack. *01:47:10* I *01:47:14* W one of my notes was bluntly like I'm not noticing the songs or anything standing out per se. *01:47:16* I think it's one of those soundtracks that blends in with what you're doing fairly well. *01:47:22* and emotionally amps you up. *01:47:26* Like if you're in a firefight, themes are there, but nothing in particular. *01:47:28* I did notice *01:47:33* There's not really a save theme to necessarily speak of. *01:47:34* I mean when you are in a safe space shopping, particularly when the Duke is there with a save. *01:47:39* typewriter, you, you know, there's a theme, but it's not the same, which I was a little slightly bummed about actually not having that kind of *01:47:45* old faithful tune in the background, however it's been remixed. *01:47:55* The one the one particular song that I did note was that the factory has kind of a techno synth is what I wrote, just kinda under the score. *01:47:59* Which was additive, I thought, thematically with, you know, this is a factory, it's we're building machines and monsters and *01:48:09* Uh the Heisenberg is this electricity magnetic kind of character. *01:48:17* So I think the soundtrack in this game is just thematic. *01:48:22* and not so much in your face as something like Code Veronica or even Resident Evil 4 is a bit more in your face. *01:48:26* So that was kind of what I noticed for Village's sound design. *01:48:35* I mean, I really don't have a whole lot more to say other than that. *01:48:41* You kind of copied m me bar for bar, word for word. *01:48:44* Like I I just *01:48:48* I swear, teacher, we didn't look at each other's notes. *01:48:49* Yeah, there was just not a whole lot that stood out to me in this one. *01:48:52* Mike, I know you listened to this soundtrack uh today though, to some degree. *01:48:54* Was there anything that really *01:48:58* Stood out to you with that or I guess like really the only like unique track I feel like is like the stuff that they play like while they're doing like the storybook section in the beginning. *01:48:59* It's I feel like that's *01:49:10* pretty different than what I've played from Resident Evil games 'cause it's so like kinda like more whimsical and story booky fairy tale kinda. *01:49:12* Yeah. *01:49:20* It gives off that kind of feeling rather than like dread and *01:49:21* things are going to kill me vibes. *01:49:24* So I would say like I guess that's like a unique track in it. *01:49:27* It's not one that I particularly care for though. *01:49:30* Um I there was one when I was I c I agree with you guys. *01:49:33* f uh about everything about the music. *01:49:38* I it feels more like it's an additive thing. *01:49:40* It's like the same way how I feel about like the Resident Evil 2 remake soundtrack or whatever. *01:49:42* It's it's more about like *01:49:47* Oh there are a lot of quiet moments in this game and it's more about the sound design of like, oh, you hear something creeping around and a werewolf's gonna jump out at you, and then the music swells and then you feel all this like anxiety and like *01:49:50* you know, frantic whatever. *01:50:04* Like then you get into combat and all that stuff. *01:50:06* And I feel like it's more about those kind of moments rather than like actually playing music the entire time. *01:50:08* I feel like when I played like Resident Evil 3 remake, there was always music on the entire time. *01:50:13* Which was really weird. *01:50:17* Uh but yeah. *01:50:19* Uh yeah, uh I forgot what the track was. *01:50:20* It was like one of the last ones. *01:50:24* Oh, it was called like the final movement. *01:50:25* And I was listening to that, I was like, this is crazy sounding. *01:50:26* Like it's like *01:50:29* Super like it's like a like a banger. *01:50:30* I was like, what's going on with this song? *01:50:33* Reminds me of the hunk like side mission in RE2 that just has an absolute *01:50:36* bonkers track that just feels so out of place but epic at the same time. *01:50:43* I just like what we didn't need to go this hard Capcom. *01:50:48* We did not need to go *01:50:51* I don't even know what part of the game it's in. *01:50:52* Like I just I was like this was in the game? *01:50:56* I don't remember this at all and I'm guessing it's like the w the final boss fight or something. *01:50:58* I don't know. *01:51:02* Could be in the mercenaries mode, which I don't think any of us played. *01:51:03* It could be in that. *01:51:07* True. *01:51:07* I actually did play mercenaries. *01:51:08* Oh, this guy dabbled. *01:51:10* A dabbler. *01:51:12* And I have nothing really to say about it. *01:51:13* It's merc mercenaries. *01:51:14* Mercenaries with uh Resident Evil Village style combat. *01:51:16* So that's *01:51:21* about it. *01:51:21* Sounds sounds like the thing. *01:51:22* Let's wrap up on this one then. *01:51:24* Uh this is obviously a harder question to answer here. *01:51:26* Um *01:51:30* I mean, to some degree. *01:51:31* I mean, what is this game's legacy? *01:51:33* I think the legacy at this moment is just this is the end of Ethan winners. *01:51:34* This is the final Ethan game, in my mind. *01:51:40* This is *01:51:42* caps off the potential first person run they've had here if they do opt to go back to third person, which is what it seems like they're going to do uh with whatever Resident Evil 9 becomes. *01:51:43* But yeah, I mean more than anything, I think taking it back to full circle to what Mike said, this feels like Resident Evil Greatest Hits. *01:51:55* Like if if if I was going to tell *01:52:02* Anybody to play a Resident Evil game, like to potentially hook them, this might be the one. *01:52:05* This is I mean, this is high on the list. *01:52:13* I don't know. *01:52:16* Yeah, it just it hits a lot of the core elements that I think the series does so well. *01:52:17* Um and that's kind of *01:52:22* It's legacy for me, but again, legacy is hard to discuss when this game is we're coming up on its two year anniversary at the time of this recording, but it has not even been out for two years just yet. *01:52:24* So *01:52:34* Mm-hmm. *01:52:35* Uh I feel like and uh this is me personally, and I'm I I'm maybe I'm in the minority here on it. *01:52:37* And maybe I just have my information wrong. *01:52:44* But I feel like this is the game that really cemented that like Resident Evil is like really back. *01:52:47* Like, especially in like for modern games. *01:52:52* You know, like we had seven and seven proved that, you know. *01:52:55* Like, you know, th there are good Resident Evil games, like there will be some maybe, potentially. *01:52:58* Then there is the remake, which is obviously like, you know, re Resident Evil 2 is such a beloved game. *01:53:03* I think pe I don't know if people expected it to be as good as it was, but it was a good game and it's like, okay, well then now they have this new one here or new at the time. *01:53:08* And I feel like maybe people could have seen it going both ways. *01:53:19* Like w it could be bad or it could be good. *01:53:23* And it ended up being good. *01:53:25* And I feel like this is the one that really cemented it. *01:53:26* Both on like *01:53:28* the actual game and the franchise itself, but also like on a technical level. *01:53:30* I feel like this is also like one of the ones that like along with like Resident Evil 2 remake *01:53:34* But really this, especially with new gen consoles or I guess like the PlayStation 5 and and Xbox series consoles, I feel like it it it is still kind of like a cool technical showpiece to show for like graphics and stuff. *01:53:38* Yeah. *01:53:51* It's still such a beautiful game to play, like even now. *01:53:51* So we didn't even talk about that, but yeah, visually I think this game looks great. *01:53:53* Like the RE engine is still top-notch. *01:53:57* Like I think this game looks really, really good. *01:54:01* Yeah, I think it's like the perfect showcase for it. *01:54:03* And even like using I think I played it all with ray traced visuals and for the most part it was pretty solid 60 throughout the entire time. *01:54:05* I I think there's probably dips here and there, but I it was never anything like, wow, this is not great. *01:54:15* Uh I f I think I was playing Resident Evil 4 remake and I I noticed more dips in that game than in in this one. *01:54:21* But um *01:54:27* Yeah, it's it's it's a great game. *01:54:28* I I think it'll go down as like one of the the best Resident Evil games, at least in like a top five for sure. *01:54:30* From I I think it would. *01:54:37* Yeah. *01:54:40* I I Resident Evil Village is I wrote it as a sample platter of horror. *01:54:41* which is fun and refreshing in that way. *01:54:49* You you know, you've got things where there's no gunplay at all, or there's a bunch of puzzles like we talked about, or there's a giant eleven foot tall lady chasing you around. *01:54:53* There's just different types and it gives you all these different hits of horror that you can experience in one game. *01:55:03* Um that's pretty great. *01:55:09* I think it gives it gameplay-wise a not gameplay, I suppose, because you're still shooting and solving things and whatnot, but it does give it a bit of a lack of focus. *01:55:12* Of there's some *01:55:22* you know, well we want to try this, so we'll create this area and do that and maybe it hits, maybe it doesn't. *01:55:24* Um and so it doesn't lead to it being all thriller and no filler. *01:55:30* There's like slight and this game is snappy. *01:55:36* But, you know, the st the the lake almost said swamp. *01:55:39* But the lake or like the werewolf cave, like those feel a bit *01:55:43* unnecessary or imbalance that way. *01:55:48* And so I think if Capcom were to pursue this type of design in the future *01:55:51* maybe truly open where you get to choose where you're going or a bit more cohesive design there instead of uh *01:55:57* Just trying what they thought would work, and some of it works, some of it doesn't. *01:56:08* So I think that's part of it. *01:56:13* But *01:56:15* Outside of that, this is the first game in the series in one game Resident Evil 4, I suppose, technically got there first. *01:56:16* Or no, because there's still not a first-person version of Resident Evil 4. *01:56:25* But it's the first game in the series to have three different ways to play it, visually speaking, which is rather impressive and obviously *01:56:29* I think this game has pushed the Ari Engine to at least its current limit in a Resident Evil sense, with it being *01:56:39* On every possible platform essentially, from cloud to even Apple Silicon on the Mac *01:56:47* They're very adoptive of putting their game on the platform. *01:56:55* And it's cool to see Capcom doing that. *01:56:59* I don't think they will necessarily do that with every Resident Evil game, but it's at least cool to see it done. *01:57:01* here with Village, which I do think is a great entry point into Resident Evil. *01:57:07* You don't need to have played one through seven to really enjoy this game. *01:57:12* This game is fun, period, and I think that's the most important thing. *01:57:16* You might be a little confused later on when you find out that your main character was dead the whole time somehow. *01:57:24* And you get your heart ripped out and things like that. *01:57:31* We didn't even touch on that. *01:57:34* This game is very gory. *01:57:35* Like she lifts her heart out and then like squeezes the blood on her face and is just like It's awesome. *01:57:37* It's pretty crazy. *01:57:44* If you just play the first like literal ten minutes of Resident Evil 7, you'll need you'll see what you need to see. *01:57:46* Yeah, basically *01:57:53* And with that, I think that'll do it for Resident Evil Village. *01:57:55* Thank you so much for listening. *01:57:59* If you'd like to check out more of Chapter Select, you can head over to chapterselect. *01:58:01* com and check out all of our other seasons. *01:58:05* You know, if your fungus is your thing, we got some stuff on The Last of Us. *01:58:08* Or maybe first person have we done any first person games? *01:58:12* No, we have not. *01:58:15* But that may change someday. *01:58:17* I don't know. *01:58:19* We'll see. *01:58:20* And then uh, you know, Fast and Furious season was our previous one. *01:58:20* Fast 10 coming out super soon, Logan. *01:58:25* We'll have a new episode. *01:58:28* It is coming out really soon. *01:58:29* I didn't even think about that. *01:58:30* That we're like a month out, aren't we? *01:58:30* Mm-hmm. *01:58:32* Super soon. *01:58:32* So it'll be exciting. *01:58:33* We'll have an episode up on that. *01:58:35* Michael was also in that season talking Tokyo Drift with us. *01:58:36* So definitely go check that out. *01:58:40* If you'd like *01:58:41* To find Logan on Twitter, you can do so over at Moreman12 and his writing over at comicbook. *01:58:42* com. *01:58:48* Michael, you can find on Twitter at the Michael J. *01:58:49* Ruiz. *01:58:51* Same thing for Instagram, where you can check out all his skateboarding videos and *01:58:52* Whatever else he posts there, I'm not quite sure. *01:58:57* Skateboarding and beer probably are the main things over there. *01:58:59* And then his podcast, Bantam Banner, which he does with Ricky Freck. *01:59:04* another chapter select alum, the two of them just fight over who can be on the show more. *01:59:07* So definitely go check that out. *01:59:12* And if you'd like to check out my work, you can go to maxfrequency dot net where I do the Max Frequency podcast and do all my writing, so you can head there. *01:59:13* But until next time, thank you all so much for listening and adios. *01:59:21* Chapter Select is a max frequency production. *01:59:26* This episode was researched, produced, and edited by me, Max Roberts. *01:59:29* Season 5 is hosted by Logan Moore and myself. *01:59:33* Season 5 is all about Resident Evil. *01:59:37* For more on this season, go to chapterselect. *01:59:39* com forward slash season 5. *01:59:42* Follow the show at Chapter Select and check out previous seasons at ChapterSelect. *01:59:45* com *01:59:50*