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[antitrop]

Gameplay is great. But the story? Laughable.

You say laughable like it's a bad thing. The game is intentionally humorous, but so many try to take it dead seriously.

I think the humor of the script works perfectly as a contrast to the foreboding atmosphere. You get a little bit of sweet with your sour, it's perfect.

 

[MegaSackman]

21st century equivalent

Pretty much.

But kinda fun in its silliness.

Somehow, but your image is funnier.

 

[Man God]

Just like everything else in the game it is perfect.

The one time Capcom's usually inconsistent localization standards really paid off. The script is perfect for the product they made. The one liners are perfect. The villains are perfect. The dialogue is tight, snappy, and fun. The jokes hit. The line reads are quite good.

 

[Neiteio]

It's ridiculous, self aware, and fun.

This. It reminds me of the Evil Dead movies in a way (or at least Army of Darkness, which is the one I've seen).

 

[Neff]

I'm sure RE7 will have some shitty dialogue, but it'll be boring shitty, not batshit shitty.

The dialogue in RE7 (based on the demo) is servicable, but not much more than that. What does stand out is a very fashionable aspiration to legitimacy enforced by abundant swearing. While I love swearing, it cuts both ways in writing, and it has to be employed sparingly and rhythmically for effect, rather than liberally peppered with abandon, as RE7 does, and a great many modern games with it. I seem to remember the script being written by a Western writer for the first time, so I don't hold out much hope for the game's story reflecting either the franchise's structure or its character.

 

[Stilton Disco]

I hated it when it first released, but once I came to terms with the fact that Leon is and always has been batshit crazy, and for some reason the universe is happy to just go along with whatever nonesense he thinks reality should be, I learnt to love it.

For anyone else that loves the camp silliness of 4, I also highly recommend the Darkside Chronicles, which offers a fabulous glimpse into Leon's very inaccurate recollection of the events of Resident Evil 2 and what he heard happened during Code Veronica, which I can only assumed he wasn't fully paying attention to. Also, it explains both his backstory with Krauser and that he believes the best cure for a zombie virus is a movingly beautiful landscape.

 

[Voliko]

The game is hilarious, the majority of it is quotable. It's a mostly self contained little story that serves its purpose. RE has always had a terrible story, at least RE4s makes sense and has memorable characters.

"Mr. Kennedy, you entertain me" hilarious

 

[Barry Burton]

I hated that Umbrella was killed off-screen in the intro, after all of the build-up.

The actual game's story is pretty dumb and not that well thought out. Lot's of things that just don't make a whole lot of sense. That said, it has some memorable, entertaining moments.

But it's certainly not RE4's strength by any means.

 

[Correctomundo]

I realize I'm begging for an avatar quote, but it's where the series jumped the shark and pulled a Cobain curtain call. It's been dead ever since.

Real shame. Used to be one of my favorite franchises.

 

[TannerDemoz]

I realize I'm begging for an avatar quote, but it's where the series jumped the shark and pulled a Cobain curtain call. It's been dead ever since.

Real shame. Used to be one of my favorite franchises.

 

[Sub_Level]

I'd agree for MGS 1 and 2 maybe but the others just went too far. When everything Snake says is cheesy then it's too much.

Yeah MGS3 was noticeably more light hearted than MGS1 or MGS2, despite the obvious tragic drama that occurs.

 

[Correctomundo]

pic

Not my avatar, but it'll do.

 

[K' Dash]

It doesn't take itself seriously, that's why it is the best RE out there.

 

[Dragon1893]

Wouldn't want it any other way. The trick is that it doesn't take itself seriously because it knows it doesn't have the story to do that and it's all the better for it.
The following games fell into that trap, fortunately Revelations 2 got it right, striking that fine balance between delivering gloriously cheesy one-liners while presenting a story that still manages to keep the player invested and create tension when it needs to.
Rev2 got most things right though, by far the best RE since 4.

 

[Moon_frogger]

My advice: skip all the radio dialogue and read every single document you come across. The real story of re 4 is in those documents and the environmental storytelling and it's actually quite good. Definitely not garbage tier.

 

[Nemesis_]

I thought it was a pretty uneventful story as someone who enjoys the Resident Evil lore. But I think Mikami and his team wanted to soft reboot the story and that's why, only for Capcom to rip it all back in with 5.

Personally I think it's really cliche and merely window dressing for a game that takes us through a village, a castle and an industrial Island.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

Loved the game.

Hated it as a "resident evil" story, and where it took future games =(

 

[deeTyrant]

Its fun and perfectly suited to the style of game they were going for with 4.

It feels self aware, like they had a lot of fun writing it. I usually have a big dumb grin on my face whenever Leon is talking. Its still super quotable.

Its also pretty good about knowing when to pop in with some story content and for how long before getting back to the action.

 

[afternoon delight]

"Meeesteer Kennedeeee"

He'd twirl his mustache right of his face if he wasn't in a child's body, game is camp to the max, save the President's daughter and all. The radio communiques between mission fodder sound like they were written for an audience of twelve year olds. Plot falls apart at nearly every turn like the James Bond stuff it emulates as in 'it'd all be over real quick if they just shot the main character rather than gloat over their disarmed form."

 

[TheVampire]

Why only send in one person?

Why not a small swat team?

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

It's amazingly cheesy and hilarious.

Poor Mike.

 

[Toparaman]

Honestly it's one my favorites in gaming. It's campy without being overly silly, has lots of memorable dialogue, just feels like the right kind of story for a game like this. It's just fun. More game stories should be fun instead of trying to be Oscar-bait.

It's like a Japanese impersonation of a John Carpenter movie. It's great.

Exactly.

 

[Shredderi]

It's one of the best video game stories in the context of the game it inhabits. It works wonderfully with the rest of the game even though it's cheesy as fuck.

 

[Late Flag]

Just like everything else in the game it is perfect.

The one time Capcom's usually inconsistent localization standards really paid off. The script is perfect for the product they made. The one liners are perfect. The villains are perfect. The dialogue is tight, snappy, and fun. The jokes hit. The line reads are quite good.

Exactly. Perfect script and delivery.

 

[Astral]

"Looks like the President equipped his daughter with...ballistics."

 

[Kuraudo]

Why only send in one person?

Why not a small swat team?

Because a small swat team only wishes they were as capable as Mr. Scott Kennedy.

 

[danmaku]

Sometimes it's funny, most of the time is background noise for the shooting. I don't remember anything about it except the president's daughter has been kidnapped by zombies and Ada is somehow involved.

 

[NightShift]

Really basic, cheesy and self aware. Perfect for the kind of game it is.

 

[Audette]

MIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKKEEEE

I absolutely loved how out of the blue it was for Leon to have this friendship with the helicopter pilot. Makes me laugh so hard every time, I love it.

Personally though, the cheese in RE4 is a little steep. I think 5 did the story best of the modern games, lots of allusions to previous stories and a plot that's large but not overly segmented or cheesy. It's still cheesy but not too much so. 6 was okay storywise but the huge segmented narrative was reaching a bit too much I thought.

4 is cheesy, and mostly on purpose. A little too much sometimes.

Ps. Off topic- Fingers crossed that one day RE5'smain villain returns. Love that guy. (D.C. Douglas I believe?)

 

[encephalon]

I really hated what they did to Leon. He's obnoxious.

 

[freethought]

I've honestly never thought about it. What happens? There's a really short guy and a really tall guy. At one point there are monks and you end up in a lab with monsters in it. Wesker shows up?

Oh yeah, you're rescuing the President's daughter. That was a mad thing to be doing. "Oh yeah I was a rookie cop, killed some zombies so obviously I went to work for the President."

 

[BumblebeeCody]

It's the best game ever made. I love the story but it does have a huge plot hole or at least, a plot question.

You find out at the end that they intended to have Ashley return to the US and then she'll infect the rest of the population. So why do the Ganados and Los Illuminados insist on taking Ashley away from Leon? Surely once he's rescued her, they should let him "fulfill" his mission and take Ashley back to the US.

 

[duckroll]

This is a game about a lone secret service agent sent into a zombie infested European region where a cult operates out of a medieval castle, to rescue the President's teenage daughter. I don't think the English dialogue is misrepresenting the tone at all. It is not unusual for the original Japanese script of a work intended to be presented in English to begin with, to be drier. Happens all the time, even with good writers. Vagrant Story is a great example of this.

 

[dlauv]

Who honestly knows just how self-aware it is. Mikami doesn't have the best track record on that. On the other hand, you run from a giant mecha version of a midget.

The game is insanely quotable, which is great.

It's not a meaningful story, but who honestly cares?

 

[Joey Ravn]

I like it just as much as I like the rest of the game.

 

[Dantooine]

The story is fine. Doesn't take itself seriously, it's just there to propel you along to then next fantastic bit of gameplay. I think it got the ratio just about right in terms if story verses gameplay, something that Capcom hasn't replicated since. 5 & 6 take themselves way too seriously, and some chapters of 6 are almost all cut-scenes. 4 is funny, but, apart from the Regenerators isn't scary at all.
Seems like 7 will be a serious game, I'm not expecting much cheesy dialogue, but as long as it delivers as a game it doesn't matter - hopefully this one will have some scares.
I find the whole "playing video games for story" kind of ridiculous, but that's probably because I'm old (and have read too much Hemingway).

 

[Prime crotch]

It's pretty damn great, people underestimate just how hard it is to get pacing right, and RE4 gets it.

 

[Nocturnowl]

The one liners are absolutely incredible.

It's even got unintentional humour
Krauser: "All for Umbrella's sake..."
Leon: "Umbrella?!"
Krauser: "Almost let it slip..."
There's no almost about it Krauser you berk!

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

It's the best game ever made. I love the story but it does have a huge plot hole or at least, a plot question.

You find out at the end that they intended to have Ashley return to the US and then she'll infect the rest of the population. So why do the Ganados and Los Illuminados insist on taking Ashley away from Leon? Surely once he's rescued her, they should let him "fulfill" his mission and take Ashley back to the US.

Leon knows she's infected as soon as he rescues her, so if he were somehow able to take her back to the US right then, she wouldn't be in a position to infect anyone else in the government.

 

[Kinyou]

Loved it. Such a quotable game.

 

[Santar]

I think it has just the right amount of eeriness without going too over the top like RE 5 onwards. It actually feels pretty grounded and the atmosphere and feeling of isolation (especially at the start) is great.

 

[Bergerac]

The funniest part is how frigid Leon is.

 

[Already Torn]

"Your right hand comes off?"

Exactly what I want out of a resident evil game. Which is why I'm absolutely not looking forward to the tryhard scary atmosphere of 7.

But we already have "Welcome to the family, son" and "Not a hillbilly, a BAKER"!

 

[black070]

Got a smoke ?

Got gum.

 

[PsionBolt]

It's important to understand that there are different kinds of greatness. The kind of traditional literary quality attributed to the canon works is not the only way to tell a strong story.
Even judged on traditional literary terms, it should be noted that one of RE4's most oft-praised qualities, its pacing, is in no small part dependent on the game's story structure. The game's atmosphere and tension have their basis in the plot as well.

 

[CaptainLoveline]

The premise is great, dialogue is cheesy... just like every other Resident Evil. But unlike those other Resident Evils, this game was doing it on purpose so it loses points.

 

[Kanann]

Silly, goofy, fun.

 

[Zakalwe]

I'm atually going to buy this on my ps4. I've played through it on every system so far. What's wrong with me?

Spoiler

Story is wonderful, hocky, charmingly self-aware fun!

 

[Diprosalic]

it is one of my favourite games of all time, i play it almost yearly.
i finished it 10+ times and i couldn't tell you what it is about.
i don't even know the main dudes name.

 

[Ushojax]

It was a video game story and didn't pretend otherwise. It was camp as hell and all the better for it, post-RE4 they tried to play it straight which was a terrible mistake.