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Resident Evil 2 · The Long and Short of It

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Thanks for checking out the Long and Short of It podcast.
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Please consider following or subscribing.
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We hope you enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the Long
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and Short of It, the podcast where we discuss each of the
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games on the Open Critic Top 100 list.
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My name is Dan and I'm joined by.
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This is Lawrence. Welcome to the podcast.
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Welcome. One and all, how are you today?
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Yeah, not bad. It's what we on.
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It's Wednesday, it's my birthday in two days.
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So that's very exciting. My my 90th.
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And what's your plans for your birthday?
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I do not have any plans because I never have plans on my
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birthday. Because I'm very boring, I tend
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to mostly ignore my birthdays and.
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What are you going to do to mark your birthday?
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Nothing. I'll go till.
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You must do something. Probably go to the gym, that
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would be nice. I don't even have cake on my
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birthday. You got to eat nice food.
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Do you remember? I think it was my 21st, maybe
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when you and a few others in the house.
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Yeah. Made you're.
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Going to say. Yeah, a castle out of out of
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brownies. And then I think in first year
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when it was your birthday, I had like a Nyan cat cake.
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Yeah, so someone at university you'd like to bake made a Nyan
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cat cake. So anyone who doesn't know what
1:29
Nyan cat is, that will be your evening, I imagine.
1:32
Correct spell MYAN. Correct Nyan.
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It's great. I love Nyan Cat and then seeing
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you next weekend, aren't I? Nyan cat.
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You're seeing Nyan cat. No, I'm seeing you next weekend,
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not Nyan Cat. You are indeed, yes.
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Perhaps, probably not, but perhaps we can squeeze another
1:49
episode in before then. But yes, indeed, those of you, I
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don't even know if I've, I've mentioned this on the podcast.
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I'm sure I think so. So I'm getting married in just
1:59
over a month. One month, one day today and.
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It's not to me. As of recording and in one
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week's time next Friday we are going over to Buxton for my
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stack do for three nights. So yes, it will be a pleasure,
2:17
yes. So from pleasant places to
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unpleasant places, we are going to Raccoon City for this week's
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game. This week's game is Resident
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Evil 2, the remake from the year 2019, which has a score of 92 on
2:37
the Open Critic Top 100 list. So as a bit of an introduction
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to all the listeners, what is Resident Evil 2?
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What do you do in it? And functionally, what is it?
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So it is the sequel to Resident Evil, and it's the prequel to
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Resident Evil 3, but it's a survival horror game.
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We've played Resident Evil 4 on the podcast probably about two
3:03
or three years ago, I think. Code Veronica as well.
3:06
That was. I know that was the highlight of
3:08
your year. To be I'd completely forgotten
3:10
that we played that game because I hated it so much.
3:12
Dreadful game. But yeah, it's a survival horror
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game based in the the Raccoon City, as you mentioned earlier,
3:22
in the late 90s. And it's about effectively a
3:25
zombie outbreak. And each game focuses on some
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different characters in a different area, but they're all
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kind of in the same universe, I guess.
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And this game you play as Leon Kennedy, who's the protagonist
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in Resident Evil 4, which we've played, and Claire Redfield, who
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is the sibling, the sister of Chris Redfield, who is one of
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the main characters of the series.
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And you play as him in the first game, I think, Well, he's in the
3:52
first game play. Yeah, so you play as Chris in
3:55
the 1st? Game Chris and Jill, isn't it
3:57
Jill? Yeah, and you also play as Chris
4:01
in Resi 5. With Shiva.
4:04
Yes, yeah, with Sheva Alomar and you also play as Chris and Leon
4:10
in six, yes. So yeah.
4:16
OK. So do you have any history with
4:19
Resident Evil 2 the remake or Resident Evil 2 the original
4:22
version, No. And where did you play this?
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No, not at all. I The first Resident Evil game
4:29
that I played properly was when we did Resi 4 or Code Veronica,
4:33
whichever one we did first. I.
4:35
Think we did resi 4. Yeah, I think so too.
4:38
So, yeah, those are the only two Resident Evil games that I've
4:40
played. I'm to be honest with you, I'm
4:43
not really into the Resident Evil games.
4:45
I never have been. I think it's one of those things
4:48
that if you didn't play it a lot when you were younger, it's one
4:51
of those things that maybe passes you by.
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So I knew what Resident Evil 2 was.
4:56
I knew that you played as Leon, and I knew that it was in a
4:58
police station or part of the the level was in a police
5:01
station. But other than that, not much
5:04
knowledge other than there was another character in there
5:06
called Mr X. Yeah, so.
5:11
A fair bit of knowledge on the game itself, but I'd never
5:13
played it and I'd never had the interest to play it.
5:16
But I played the remake version because I didn't want to play
5:20
the blocky PS1. Yeah, and it's the remake that's
5:23
on. The oh, perfect critic list
5:25
anyway, so yeah, I played the PS4 version.
5:27
I was going to get the PS-5 version, but I thought I didn't
5:29
want to spend any extra money for a game I knew that I
5:32
probably wasn't going to be that into.
5:34
Like it's not a game I was going to play after the fact that I
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played the PS4 version on my PS-5.
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What about you? I played it on my Series X, it's
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that's where I already had it and it was a replay for me.
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I have completed this game both characters because you play as,
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as you said, Leon and Claire and I have completed both characters
5:58
in in the past. I've also played the original
6:02
Resident Evil 2. I've never completed it.
6:06
I've dabbled with it, I'd say, and I've played a lot of
6:10
Resident Evil over the years. It took me a bit of time to get
6:14
into Resident Evil as a series, but the game that really clicked
6:17
with me was Resident Evil 4, and I think probably the first one
6:23
that I properly played was Resident Evil GameCube, the
6:28
remake for the GameCube. Yeah, that was the first one
6:30
that I tried, actually, the when they remade the original on
6:33
GameCube, but I didn't get very far because the camera angles
6:35
and stuff, I hated it. I just remember that game for
6:39
the time was so, so good looking.
6:42
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was mind blowing.
6:45
So yeah, that that was kind of the main reason I picked it up
6:48
then. But yeah, so this is this is a
6:50
replay for me. OK.
6:53
Do you want to give us an overview of the story, what goes
6:56
on in this game? Just sort of, I wouldn't say
6:59
beat to beat, but broadly broad strokes.
7:02
Yeah, so like you say, there are two playable campaigns in this
7:04
game. One is Leon and then the other
7:07
is Claire. And the the stories, they kind
7:10
of merge together. I think Claire's story takes
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place like 30 minutes behind Leon's or something along those
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lines. But Leon is on his way into
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Raccoon City at the start of the game for his first day on the
7:25
job as an officer for the Raccoon City Police Department.
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He kind of gets into the city and they see that Raccoon City
7:33
is kind of Ground Zero for this virus that has had an outbreak,
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which is the same virus that was being developed and was found at
7:42
the Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil 1.
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So the game is primarily I only played Leon's campaign.
7:51
I didn't get to the end of it either because I struggled
7:54
sticking with this game to be honest with you, but how far?
7:57
Did you get out of curiosity? I got about, I don't know, about
8:02
four hours. Like I met William Burke, the OK
8:07
Monster man. So I played a fair wack of it
8:13
because it isn't a particularly long game either, is it?
8:16
It's like each campaign's probably about 8 hours, 8-9
8:20
hours. Yeah, it's about 8 hours I'd
8:21
say. So yeah, the the story revolves
8:25
around Leon on his first day on the job in the Police
8:28
Department, and the first part of the game is him trying to
8:32
like, unlock a way out of the Police Department.
8:37
You meet Ada Wong, who was in Resi 4, and this is her first
8:42
introduction into the series, I think, where she's kind of
8:44
putting a front on as an FBI agent, saying that she's doing
8:48
an investigation into how the the G virus kind of had its
8:52
outbreak. But it's discovered later on in
8:56
the game that she's actually working for someone else and
9:01
she's looking to sell the virus. Yeah, she's looking to sell the
9:04
virus so that the game, the first half of it is Leon kind of
9:10
making his way around the Police Department, avoiding Mr X, who
9:13
is this massive mutant creature that just harasses Leon.
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You then go down into kind of the sewers, which is where you
9:25
do a fair bit with Ada, and then eventually the game gets to a
9:28
point where I think you go into the labs, don't you?
9:31
Yeah. And yeah, try to get hold of the
9:35
virus to find a cure. And then you take over as
9:37
Claire's story, and that's as much as I can tell you.
9:40
So you'll probably have to take over from there.
9:43
Yeah. So essentially it's all about
9:47
this virus that Doctor William Birkin and his wife were
9:53
developing. He he basically injects himself
9:57
with it and you fight him quite a few times.
10:00
There's also variations of the virus, the tyrant variation, Mr
10:04
X, as you mentioned. And yeah, Leon Leon's story
10:11
starts off him trying to find a Safeway out of the police
10:14
station, and then it becomes him working with who he believes are
10:21
the FBI to obtain the virus for ADA.
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The virus is eventually destroyed.
10:28
You fight a very large form of the virus but basically you
10:31
fight William Birkin again in his in one of his forms and and
10:41
then with with Claire. I didn't, I didn't replay
10:45
Claire's for this play through but I have completed it before.
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You go into an orphanage and you you find William Birkin's
10:53
daughter, Sherry Birkin, who reappears later in the series,
10:57
and you're kind of saving her at the same time.
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But yeah, not necessarily known for their for their actual kind
11:07
of plots. They're always a bit sort of B
11:10
movie, but it's more the the gameplay and the field and the
11:14
atmosphere of these games that is what draws people to them.
11:20
OK, we're going to jump straight into our ever present feature.
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Gameplay is king. Do you think that Resident Evil
11:28
2 is fun to play and follow on to that?
11:33
How does it compare to the other Resident Evil games that we've
11:37
played for the podcast? I'd say that it's engaging.
11:40
I don't know if I'd call it fun. It isn't a fun game.
11:43
I mean, these games are designed to kind of stress you out a
11:46
little bit, aren't they? And to make you feel an edge.
11:49
And it does that very well. And I mean, I think I've
11:51
probably mentioned it in the Resident Evil 4 episode that I
11:55
was always more of a fan of Silent Hill.
11:57
I always kind of put Resident Evil and Silent Hill together,
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even though they are very different games.
12:01
Like Silent Hill is like a psychological horror game,
12:04
whereas this is survival horror, but engaging.
12:10
I'd say so. And in terms of the difference
12:12
from the other games, I mean, obviously this is a remake,
12:15
whereas the the version of Code Veronica that we played was like
12:19
the original and then we played like a remade version.
12:24
Yeah, but not the new remake. So I mean, they control quite
12:31
similarly. The The camera in this game
12:33
wasn't bad because Resident Evil games, I feel particularly the
12:38
early ones, have a reputation for having difficult cameras.
12:44
Yeah, well, there's there's the old tank controls, isn't it?
12:46
Which they did away with for Rezi 4 and they went with the
12:51
over the shoulder camera view. And they've kind of stuck with
12:55
that until Resident Evil 7 where they started using the first
13:00
person camera for the mainline games.
13:03
And then for the remakes they were using the third person
13:05
camera. So yeah.
13:08
So yeah, we played the original Rezi 4, but Rezi 4 Remake is on
13:13
the open critic list, so maybe it won Halloween.
13:16
We'll get to that I. Won't do it Fuse.
13:21
Well, it's different enough, unfortunately, that yeah, we'll
13:25
have to get to it at some point. Yeah, I think it'd be a good
13:28
Halloween game. I think we played Rezi Rezi 4.
13:31
For Halloween, yeah, we did. We also definitely played Code
13:33
Veronica for Halloween and I know you love that so it so I
13:38
agree with you, it's not fun to use the word fun to describe
13:42
this game. I mean, I suppose it's a twisted
13:48
sort of fun, but the word I'd use is satisfying in a survival
13:52
horror way. It it does what it sets out to
13:55
achieve. There's the thing that I really
13:58
like about certain Resident Evil games is the the combination of
14:05
using bullets sparingly, inventory management, and just
14:10
that satisfaction of uncovering the map and finding the right
14:15
items and searching for things. It's that same satisfaction that
14:20
you get in The Last of Us games from searching every draw for
14:23
resources. There's There's something in
14:25
these games that really satisfies the collector in me, I
14:29
suppose. And yeah, I find it very
14:32
satisfying to play. I'd actually just completed
14:36
Resident Evil 6 just before playing Resident Evil 2 for the
14:40
podcast. I'd never completed Resident
14:42
Evil 6 before because any, any fans of Resident Evil know that
14:47
that game was quite alienating at the time because it was
14:50
basically a set piece laden, action heavy, sort of loosely
14:56
horror themed game. And I completed that for the
15:00
first time. And that's a very long game
15:02
actually. That was like 20 hours to do all
15:04
the all the four playthroughs of the different characters.
15:09
And coming to this after that felt good because it wasn't so
15:14
action heavy. It was more of a pure survival
15:18
horror experience. So yeah, I enjoyed it.
15:23
OK, on to our did you know feature.
15:29
I kind of rifled through lots of trivia and there is, as you can
15:33
imagine, lots of trivia for Resident Evil too.
15:35
But we're always looking for those interesting facts that
15:38
might be a little surprising. So, so the fact that I've got
15:41
here, which is apparently a fact.
15:45
So did you know after the popularity, and I say popularity
15:52
in a broad sense of the Resident Evil 2002 GameCube remake, did
15:59
you know that they were at one point considering doing Resident
16:05
Evil 2A remake for that before it would have been before
16:10
Resident Evil 4 released. So that doesn't shock.
16:13
That kind of changes the course of history in a way if that had
16:18
happened because would we have still got the 2019?
16:22
Yeah, rejuvenation of Resident Evil 2.
16:25
Yeah, because they've. Effectively done.
16:27
Yeah, they've done their plan, but they've just done it kind of
16:29
15 years later, haven't they? Yeah.
16:33
Because they they never. Did it I think.
16:34
We've got they never did it with Rezi, did they?
16:36
Like the first one? They've always just kept it as
16:38
that is. As the remake, yeah, that is the
16:41
remake. And it's in terms of remakes,
16:44
that's a much more pure remake. As in, they don't.
16:50
Yeah, they make it look a lot lot prettier, but the moment to
16:55
moment the layout. Everything.
16:57
Is sort of the same, just massively overblown graphics.
17:03
So if two had come out in that format, I imagine it would have
17:08
been more of a beat for beat like that was.
17:10
Whereas the version that we got in 2019 is sort of a
17:15
reimagining. And I know that Capcom said that
17:19
they consider it its own thing. So even though it is Resident
17:22
Evil 2 for all intents and purposes.
17:24
It's separate. It has.
17:25
Its own place in the Canon. So that's interesting.
17:31
OK, let's talk about the first thing you will see when you I
17:37
boot this game up and that is the visuals.
17:39
Talk to me about the visuals. What impression did they make on
17:43
you? Were they good?
17:44
Were they bad? Were they otherwise?
17:45
Yeah, I mean, and bear in mind I played the PS4 version, but it
17:49
holds it very well. I mean, this came out in what,
17:51
2019? Yep, six years ago I.
17:55
Think for a six year old game, it looks very good.
17:58
So this would have been one of not one of the last games, but
18:01
one of the much, much later games in the PS4's life cycle.
18:06
Yeah. And yeah, I think that it's
18:08
still, it looks amazing. The graphics on it are
18:10
brilliant, and the character designs, particularly for like
18:14
the zombies and stuff, are really, really good.
18:18
I'd say that the visuals on this game look kind of up to par with
18:23
what some games are releasing now.
18:27
I agree. Yeah, it stands out.
18:30
And I think that they do a very good job in terms of the design
18:34
and the environmental like storytelling of the places that
18:38
you are to kind of make you feel how they want you to.
18:41
You feel very like uneasy a lot of the time when playing this
18:46
game. Yeah, yeah.
18:48
And I I agree, I think it looks very polished and like a lot of
18:54
care has gone into this game. And one thing that again, coming
19:01
from Rezi 6 to this is, is just the the, the details on people's
19:06
faces and the facial animation, facial animation and the facial
19:10
textures, it looks great and it still does hold up.
19:14
Absolutely. And, and I think that speaks to
19:16
the care and attention that's gone into this.
19:20
OK, so talk to me a little bit about the audio if you can.
19:25
From from what I've heard, the music in the remake is a lot
19:28
more subdued than it was in the original.
19:32
I don't know if that's the case. I mean, a game like this doesn't
19:36
really need much music. And I mean, if they'd have kept
19:41
it in line with what was in the original, I don't know.
19:44
Because in the original Resident Evil 2, because I know the music
19:47
in the original Resident Evil was atrocious, like really,
19:52
really bad. And it's become like a meme.
19:56
But I'd say like the the sound is fine.
19:59
The voice actors do a good job. Leon sounds.
20:02
I don't know if it's the same voice actor that voice 2 and 4,
20:06
but no, no. But yeah, I'd say I probably
20:10
haven't got too much to say in terms of the audio.
20:13
There is one thing about the game that I wanted to talk about
20:19
which is separate from the audio and visual.
20:22
And it's a game that you might know where I'm going with this.
20:24
It's a gameplay mechanic that's in this game that I hate.
20:27
And we've talked about it a couple of times in the past.
20:30
You know where I'm going to go with this.
20:34
No weapon degradation? No.
20:39
Oh, you mean like the knives? OK, I know that because that
20:44
that was a big point of contention for people going to
20:47
the remake of Resident Evil 4 as well, wasn't it that they
20:49
weren't happy that Leon's knife degrades over time?
20:52
Because it doesn't in the original and I've.
20:56
Completely forgotten about that to be quite.
20:58
It, I don't know why, but weapon degradation systems really annoy
21:02
me. And it's one of the things, like
21:04
when we talked about Breath of the Wild, I really liked that
21:07
game and I was anticipating that I would as well, to be fair.
21:11
But the one thing that really put me off it was the weapon
21:14
degradation stuff. I just don't feel that it's
21:18
necessary in a game. Or if it is, maybe put a setting
21:22
on so that you can turn it off because it's so frustrating.
21:26
It's like a punishment for using something that the game has put
21:30
in there as a design. Yeah.
21:34
Yeah, I mean, we know. I think it was necessary here
21:39
and the reason I say I say that. It's a get out of gaol free card
21:42
isn't it? The knife if you get across
21:44
because. Because every time you're
21:45
grabbed by a zombie, you can use your survival knife or they do
21:50
give you options so you can use a flash bang grenade or a normal
21:53
grenade to to basically escape from the the zombies grasp
21:59
without taking damage. And I think if obviously if if
22:05
it would have broken the game had had they had no degradation
22:09
on the on the knife. And obviously every time you use
22:12
a grenade, it's you lose that grenade.
22:14
So yeah, I, I get it here. And I in this game, I don't know
22:21
how you played it, but I tend to just shoot things.
22:27
I find that the ammo is, yeah, there is a lot of ammo can, as
22:31
long as you're searching the room, you can kind of just down
22:34
zombies and, and there is a way to kind of take them out long
22:38
term. And I, I was tended to go for
22:41
the heads and then once the head explodes, you know that they're
22:44
they're done for. So yeah, that's sort of my
22:47
approach. But I must say that I didn't
22:51
notice it too much here. I can be frustrated by weapon
22:57
degradation sometimes. I think it depends on the game
23:01
and it's all about the balance of that particular game.
23:05
I'm not against it as a as a principle because I understand
23:07
that certain games is required for balance.
23:12
But yeah, OK, interesting. On to another aspect of this
23:18
game that I'm not sure you encountered, but I know you
23:22
would have seen in videos because I know that you've
23:25
watched quite a few videos in this game and that is Mr X.
23:29
Talk to me a bit about Mr X and what does he mean for the game?
23:37
What significance does he have to gameplay?
23:40
Well, he's just like an ever present kind of thing that's
23:46
there and he isn't always around, but you can usually hear
23:48
him from far, like very loud footsteps.
23:51
And it's kind of like, OK, well, if you're in this area and maybe
23:55
you're taking too long or you're not progressing enough, it might
23:58
be the case that you hear Mr X's footsteps and you can't kill
24:01
him. You can incapacitate him for a
24:04
little, like a short while. You can knock him down, but he
24:07
will get back up. And I think that the inclusion
24:11
of Mr X in the game is quite cool because there's they have
24:15
the same in. Is it Resident Evil 3 with?
24:20
Yeah, so actually Mr X was in the original Resident Evil 2.
24:23
However he was only on. So there's first and 2nd
24:28
playthrough. So once you complete the first
24:30
playthrough, on the second play through, Mr X would appear, but
24:34
they decided to blow that open and have him appear in this game
24:41
in the first time you play it. And his introduction is is
24:45
great. It's all in game and he he
24:48
basically moves a helicopter out of the way.
24:50
He's. Just there.
24:52
And once he appears, the police station doesn't feel safe
24:57
anymore. Now there are safe rooms, there
25:00
are rooms that he will not enter, but going between rooms,
25:06
it always feels like he's sort of, well, the AI is tracking you
25:09
to a degree and slowly making its way towards you.
25:13
So you just don't feel safe. And, and it, it does make the,
25:18
the police precinct feel more dangerous.
25:20
And every time he shows up, because he does show up after
25:24
the police station, you're like, oh, for God's sake, go away.
25:29
But in the best possible way, because that's what he's there
25:33
to do. That's what he's intended to do.
25:34
But yeah, you're completely right in in Resident Evil 3.
25:38
Nemesis yeah, goes around saying STARS doesn't he?
25:41
See, his like mission is to take out all of the members of STARS
25:44
from Resident Evil 1. Yeah, and they've kind of run
25:48
with this a bit. I think again that popularised
25:50
this idea was Alien Isolation and having the alien follow or
25:55
not follow you. But always being.
25:57
Around. And you can't.
25:59
Always there. That could be yeah in in the
26:01
events. And that was sort of the core
26:04
thing of of Alien Isolation. And they really did a good job
26:08
with that. And Resident Evil has taken what
26:11
worked there and included it in their games.
26:14
So in Resident Evil 7, you have the family that that will follow
26:19
you around. Resident Evil 8, you've got Lady
26:22
Dmitresk. It's.
26:23
The one that the Internet is in love with.
26:27
Yeah, yeah. And Resident Evil 9, there's
26:29
going to be another STALKER style enemy.
26:32
But they did talk about in in the development of Rezi 9, how
26:37
they've kind of they're putting spins on it to make it fresh to
26:40
keep it. Fresh crazy girl in that one.
26:42
Don't you like a teenage girl or something?
26:43
Yeah, I think her name is Grace. So it's a new character for the
26:47
Is she? The Is she the baby from #7 or 8
26:52
The child of like the main character, Mia's daughter?
26:56
Possibly. Possibly.
26:59
I haven't looked too much into it, but I've seen some trailers
27:01
and it does look. Good.
27:02
Yeah, it looks quite serious. At the beginning of next year.
27:07
OK, question of the week. Question of the week.
27:10
Very simple one. Obviously the Resident Evil
27:16
games are toying with first and third person.
27:20
What do you think the the pros and cons of first versus third
27:24
person are for horror games or survival horror?
27:27
Games, well, I think, yeah, you split the Resident Evil games in
27:32
half really, don't you? You do one through 6.
27:35
That's like the first generation to some extent of Resident Evil
27:39
games. And then seven forwards is
27:41
different. I mean, I think the reboots,
27:43
yeah. And you only have to focus on
27:48
Resident Evil 7 to see one of the reasons why they did that.
27:51
And one of my friends has played through Resident Evil 7
27:54
completely in VR because obviously with that being first
27:58
person, Yeah. Yeah, I think my dad tried it as
28:00
well. And it's not an experience that
28:03
I'd want to do, but it makes it so much more intense.
28:08
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm, I'm a bit different to
28:12
you. I'm not big on horror games, to
28:14
be honest with you, than it really my thing.
28:18
But I think that each style has its place.
28:22
And I mean, you only have to look at the the game that Kojima
28:27
and Del Toro were going to do, which was going to be the remake
28:30
of Silent Hill, was Silent Hill's PT.
28:33
It was. And like, that game is one of
28:36
the most frightening gaming experiences I've had.
28:40
It was so like just in your face, literally I.
28:45
Wonder if that's where they got the inspiration for Resident
28:48
Evil 7. Maybe that's speculation, but.
28:51
Yeah, perhaps because I think PT came out around 2014.
28:55
Yeah, I. Think it came out before
28:56
Resident Evil. Seven, yeah.
28:58
So yeah, possibly. But yeah, I think that each
29:01
style has its place. It just depends on what you're
29:04
trying to achieve. And you know, like even like
29:08
indie horror games like Mortuary Assistant that we played, that's
29:12
first person and that worked very well for the kind of style
29:14
of game that it is. And like there's even games that
29:17
a couple of my friends have shown me, like there's this, I
29:19
think it's like hitchhike simulator or something where
29:23
you're this girl waiting on the side of like this road that
29:25
looks like quite Twin Peaks esque and you hitchhike with
29:29
like randomly generated people and that's first person.
29:35
And that game's very, very creepy.
29:37
So I think that to get the real scare factor, first person's
29:41
probably where you want to be because you're you're somewhat
29:43
removed from it when. You're in a yeah, I agree with
29:45
that, aren't you? I Yeah, I think you just hit the
29:48
nail on the head. So in a first person game, you
29:52
are experiencing the things as the character through the
29:55
character's viewpoint. And in a third person game,
29:57
you've got this level of detachment because you're almost
30:00
like, I don't know, a narrator or some sort of godly person
30:06
who's watching the character. And although you're playing as
30:10
the character, as the character, yeah, there's a distance to it.
30:14
There's a reason why in Super Mario 64, when they first sort
30:17
of were toying with the third person camera, that that was
30:20
actually a person that was Lakita that was.
30:23
And because it wasn't really a thing in games.
30:27
And every time you watch a film, obviously you, you, you, you
30:30
take the vantage point of the camera person.
30:34
So I think for pure horror, if you if you want to go down that
30:39
route, then first person is probably the answer.
30:43
However, if you're going for survival horror and you want
30:47
good gameplay, I would say I prefer gameplay of things that
30:54
are in third person. I don't know why.
30:55
I just feel like it clicks a little bit more.
30:58
So I think there are benefits to both, but I think for the fear
31:02
factor that the first person and for the gameplay factor, the
31:04
third person, I think there's a space for both of them.
31:09
And I quite like the fact that they've gone down this route
31:12
with the Resident Evil games where the remakes and there's
31:15
plenty of games for them to still remake are in third person
31:20
and the the quote unquote reboot titles are in first person.
31:27
It means you can kind of you can explore both worlds.
31:30
And I, I do like my horror games and I'm always looking for, and
31:38
I'm really never going to find it, but always looking for like
31:40
the purest form of fear. And I think the thing that
31:46
happens with games in general is in that they have to be a
31:51
certain length and they have to have gameplay loops because that
31:54
is the nature of games. The danger is that that gameplay
31:57
loop becomes routine. And once something becomes
32:01
routine, it loses the horror, and it's really hard to keep
32:05
shaking things up continuously to keep that horror fresh.
32:10
So even something like Resident Evil 2, where you've got zombies
32:14
and at first they're quite a frightening force, but you
32:17
become used. To them, yeah, they're just part
32:19
of it. They're not.
32:19
They just run around them and stuff.
32:22
And I think the good thing with Mr X actually is that he
32:25
doesn't. He's not around long enough for
32:28
you to get used to him. So in that period where he is
32:31
stalking the police precincts, you're always on alert and
32:37
you're always wondering, can he get me here?
32:40
And you're always listening for those footsteps, which it's hard
32:45
to judge how far away he. Is so you're listening from
32:48
thinking. Is he just outside or is he on
32:51
the opposite side? Sometimes when you're when
32:53
you're in the main hall, you're up on the 3rd floor and you see
32:56
him walking down below and then you see him crossover and you
33:00
think, oh, he's not coming towards me.
33:02
And then you'll suddenly appear on a third floor and you're
33:03
like, what the hell? So it's fun, it's entertaining
33:07
at the very least. OK, so does Resident Evil 2
33:15
deserve to be on the open critic list?
33:19
What are your? Thoughts.
33:19
I think it's got its place and I mean, even though I didn't
33:26
finish this one and it isn't a game that I massively enjoyed, I
33:28
actually think I enjoyed this one more than Resident Evil 4
33:32
and I I did completely because it's more modern, not even
33:34
because it's more modern. I think I just preferred the
33:36
setting because Resident Evil 4 is very much kind of like this
33:42
isn't the G virus or it is something slightly different,
33:44
isn't it? It's like a.
33:46
Yeah, it's like a Ganado. Yeah, yeah, it's like a an
33:49
insect. Or whatever.
33:50
I love the Ganados, but yeah. So I think that I prefer the
33:53
setting of this game and I think one of the things I would, I
33:59
mean, obviously it sounds like we're going to do Resident Evil
34:01
4 Remake. And the one thing that I'm
34:03
disappointed about, that I've never really got to experience
34:05
with the Resident Evil games that we have played is much like
34:10
exposure to Albert Wesker. Yeah.
34:13
Because Wesker is classed as like one of the the big
34:17
impressive video game villains to some extent isn't.
34:19
It bad the name that's always in the background, yeah.
34:22
And I know that he takes more of a background role in a lot of
34:25
the later games. It was in code.
34:26
Veronica yes, I seem to remember, just turned up.
34:30
Yeah. But yeah, I'd say that it
34:33
probably does deserve its place. It isn't really a game for me,
34:37
but I can appreciate it. Yeah, I think for fans of
34:43
Resident Evil, it's always a bit of a toss up between 2:00 and
34:46
4:00 as to which is their favourite.
34:49
And it and it's and it kind of depends what your your slant is.
34:53
Now I I love Resident Evil 4 and for me, I think it's that
34:59
perfect blend of gameplay for a survival horror.
35:03
And I love the setting of the village and the European stuff.
35:05
And I think it gets weaker as you go along.
35:09
So I think the village is the strongest area, followed by the
35:11
castle, probably followed by the island.
35:14
I also think that Resident Evil 2 gets weaker as it goes along.
35:17
I think the police precinct is the best area.
35:19
I think the sewers are a slight degradation.
35:22
I mean sewers when are they ever fun and games?
35:26
And I think the the labs are a further degradation.
35:30
So I do think that the locations tend to diminish, but I can also
35:37
understand why there are different locations, because
35:39
setting a game just in one place, Yeah.
35:41
I mean, they did it with Resident Evil 1.
35:43
But yeah, it'd be interesting because because you're right, a
35:48
lot of Wesker's stuff happens in Resident Evil 1.
35:52
But yeah, we'll see if we won one day.
35:54
Get to that. But the ocelot of.
35:57
The Resident Evil List series. Four, Yeah.
36:01
But yeah, there are other games, there are other horror games
36:03
probably that are worth playing some of the Silent Hills, for
36:07
example. But yeah, we, we do like to time
36:10
a horror game around Halloween. So we'll see what we can get out
36:13
for then get to do one in October at some point just to
36:18
even if it's a short one, just to get something out of
36:20
Halloween. OK, I, in terms of what I think,
36:27
I, as I say, Resident Evil 4 will always have a place in in
36:31
the list of me. I don't have the nostalgia for
36:35
Rezi 2 as I do with four, but I also think Rezi 2 is a very good
36:40
game. If there was one other Rezi game
36:44
on there, I'll probably Chuck in two, but if there was only one,
36:50
it would be 4. So that's sort of where I stand.
36:52
I get that. If there's space for two, Chuck
36:54
in two as well. I know it's pretty bit of a cop
36:57
out but. No, I get it.
37:01
I just wanted to talk about an entry, a new entry into the into
37:05
the. I think it's the Oxford might be
37:06
the Cambridge dictionary. So the word blobbery, it has
37:13
been entered into the Cambridge dictionary.
37:14
If you are a fan of Mr Blobby, you can look up the word
37:18
blobbery. This is true.
37:19
Actually, this is 100% true. Although not related to Mr
37:23
Blobby, A blobbery is actually to do with gardening.
37:26
But nevertheless I I like to think that it's because we have
37:31
re popularised Mr Blobby so they've chucked it in the
37:34
dictionary that's right for our benefit.
37:37
Every day is a blobby day when when your name's down.
37:40
Yeah, so, so do use the word blobbery.
37:44
Do go and look in the Cambridge Dictionary for the word blobbery
37:48
and and keep talking about Mr Blobby.
37:51
Let's not let him die a death again.
37:54
Absolutely. Because he is vital to the
37:57
lifeblood of. Britain.
38:01
Europe and I'd say the world, really.
38:05
In fact, and. There we go.
38:07
Let's let's, let's stop seeing people put up flags around towns
38:12
in the UK and just put put Mr Blobby flags.
38:15
I feel that'll be. I'm I'm all up for.
38:17
That, that'll be a positive, that'll be a positive addition
38:20
to our streets. And society.
38:23
And society absolutely, absolutely correct.
38:27
What have we got coming up next time?
38:30
I believe that next time we're doing Hollow Night, which is a
38:37
one that you suggested, it's it's slightly shorter, isn't it?
38:40
From what I understand, it's an indie game.
38:41
It's not, but I would also say. There's one to plan the
38:46
background. Your mileage on this one is
38:47
going to vary, so just play as much.
38:50
I'm I'm going to. I'm hoping to complete it.
38:52
I've made a good bit of progress on it.
38:54
It's a Metroidvania, right? I know a bit.
38:57
About it, but it's. Never played it quite
38:59
challenging so I would just say. Temper Temper my expectations.
39:05
And yeah, I'm not sure how you'll feel about it.
39:10
So that's that's why I'm kind of framing it that way.
39:12
But yeah, that that would be next time.
39:14
We're hoping to capitalise on the popularity of the release of
39:18
Hollow Silk Song. We will still be doing Metal
39:24
Gear Solid three. That is coming.
39:25
And also, as I say, we'll do a horror game in time for October
39:30
31st. I am, as I say, getting married
39:33
in in a month, so there may be a bit of a pause around that time,
39:38
but we will do our best as we always do for you, the listener.
39:42
Correct. But yes, as always, you can find
39:44
us on social media, on Instagram.
39:48
You can e-mail us at a long shortofitpodcast@hotmail.com.
39:51
And yeah, if you enjoyed this episode or any other others,
39:54
please feel free to give it a share.
39:55
It's always much appreciated. Indeed.
40:00
But yes, anything else from you for today?
40:02
Nope. Wonderful.
40:03
Well, we will see you next time for Hollow Nights.
40:06
And in the meantime, take care, Cheerio.
40:09
See. You on the next one.