Totally agree with Yama on practically everything. I had the same final time as well.
As you guys know for me this whole game was all about how they were going to handle Wesker. I always felt that if they killed him I would be angry. But what they did was give him a proper backstory, it was a bit out of the blue and could have used a lot more time on but it finally explained why Wesker is the way he is without being a "mystery virus" that you always wondered why it wasn't being mass produced. They also gave Wesker a purpose. Yes he wanted power but he was kind of just gathering viruses for what, the whole human evolution thing kind of just fits. And I LOVE that they explained Spencer, from the very beginning Spencers true motives were always in question. And we finally find out that it wasn't just to be a big powerful BOW selling company, he wanted ultimate power and I like how that passed on to Wesker.
Now that Wesker has a final goal and purpose we finally saw him in action. He is still arrogant, he is still a total ass not caring about anyone, case in point Excella. To the very end he was larger than life, the ending of this game actually gave me a finish so incredible, so huge that I was satisfied with Wesker's death. Plus it helps that it practically takes place in the same location where Anakin and Obi-wan battle, as a SW fan it was like the merging of two of my favorite things.
The revelation of other Wesker's help the sting of losing him for sure. We know there is an Alex Wesker, which in a way is Wesker's father. I guess the series can go in that direction but at this point I am still wonder what is next. With the PS1 era RE games they all had Raccoon City and Umbrella as their base of the story, once RC was blown up in RE3 I was left wondering now what? The series had to branch out, sure there was still Umbrella but it was heading to all new territory. CV established Wesker as the new anchor for the story, all games after that always had a purpose cause there was always Wesker out there, it gave the overall story a direction. Now that Wesker is gone once again I am left with now what? While going on this Wesker origins storyline can be cool it still wont feel the same cause it wont have any ties to the original. That is what was special about this series cause even now 13 years later we are still feeling the effects and getting closure to events that started from the very first game. I know the heroes remain but to be honest I never viewed them as the stars, they are basically your typical hero character taking turns as the main lead, the villains is what holds this series together. Thats the thing, there is nothing to connect the future with the past, there is no more Umbrella, no more Spencer and no more Wesker.
On Jill, like Yama said they should have spent more time on it. I dont need this game to go all MGS on me but come on. Chris finds out what is going on and it all gets resolved in the same moment. I wanted them to explore the pain Chris must have felt of having Wesker turn Jill against him. I thought it would be an on going process throughout the story. But it was just a quick bullet point. The other new characters, they made the cast of RE4 seem brilliant. I am so glad they all died miserable deaths, especially Excella, horrible character, glad Wesker betrayed her. You guys are totally right, the trailers had it all, what the hell. Thats probably why I was expecting more meat to this story cause I figured the trailer was just showing us the outline of a deeper story, no, that was the whole story right there. Seriously the files is what made this story great, without them its just a series of badass cutscenes with little substance outside the Wesker stuff.
I am sad that they basically completely ignored what happend in Separate Ways. Guess we will never know what is S, who Ada works for, and how Wesker reacted to being betrayed. That kind of sucked cause without that stuff, RE4 is basically pointless, it just introduced Las Plagas.
I am not a fan of Uroboros, ANOTHER virus, come on you have enough already do something with the ones you have! They keep introducing these viruses and totally discarding them in the next game. I totally forgot how it was created though, there was a file on it but I forgot what it said. It basically did what Wesker went through right, if a host is worthy it will turn them Wesker like but if not they become a giant blob.
Barry, where's Barry? The story is not over until Barry shows up damn it! He should have been flying the helicopter at the end.
As for the actual game, I LOVED IT. I put my expectation level at below RE4, and for a while I thought it should have even lowered it some more. But from chapter 3 on the game completely came into its own, it started having situations and setpieces as fun and imaginative as any of the stuff in RE4. The bosses, they give RE4's bosses a run for their money, visually stunning, it takes boss size to a whole new level. Again the shooting stuff never bothered me. The cover system was like RE4, I never felt confused or lost, it was simply a way to hide while bullets went flying around, it provided for some great sniper moments. Chapter 5-1 was easily the best, Lickers, the lab, the files, the boss fight, all so classic RE. The fact that I was bothered by the fact that I was not alone, I always had an AI partner, but still managed to love this game so much shows how well made it was. With online co-op it will even be better, plus there is so much to do after.
I think the best way to describe how I feel about RE5 is how I feel about RE2 and RECV. RE2 is my favorite of the old school but CV is right there. When RE3 came out it was a disappointment when compared to RE2, i dont feel like that with RE5 compared to RE4. When CV hit I loved it, it still wasn't as good as RE2 but it was so great, had such a strong identity and memorable moments that I was completely satisfied. Thats how I feel about RE5.
