Well, I can finally say I finished the first Resident Evil. Wanted to post my thoughts on it post-play.
First, to give you an idea of where I'm coming from, I've been gaming since videogames were a thing (I'm 50). For whatever reason though I never played the RE series until RE4, which I adore and have played through at least ten times. I played through RE5 a number of times, and really enjoyed it as well. I only played through RE6 once, but I mean to go back to it. It was a big departure from 4 and 5, I felt, but I think it has merit and want to devote some time to it some day.
I thought the Remaster looked amazing. Capcom should be applauded for the work they did on it. Just a fantastic job.
I loved the puzzles, for the most part. Some of them were a bit obtuse, but I thought most of them were well thought out and fair. The recent REs have got nothing on RE1 in terms of the puzzles.
I played through on Very Easy. In hindsight it was way too easy. That's my fault though, I can't knock the game for that. I always had tons of ammo and ribbons to save.
The combat was "meh." No skill thanks to the auto-aim, so it took a lot of the tension out of it for me. Do the harder difficulties remove the auto-aim?
I missed upgrading weapons. That's a fun part of the game for me in 4 & 5, and I missed it.
Like all RE games, the atmosphere and level design was top-notch. Superb.
Fuck having key items take up one of your six slots. That added nothing more than annoyance. I'd run around with my weapons and ammo in my inventory and the key items stored in a box, so it was constant schlepping back to the box for shit. And fuck whoever came up with the idea of the doorknob breaking to make the trek back to the box even longer.
The need for ribbons was annoying. Sure , it adds some tension, but just make it like RE4 where you need to find a typewriter, that adds tension enough.
Great game! I had a fun time with it, $20 well spent. Glad I finally experienced the original, I see why people call it a masterpiece and why it spawned a franchise.