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Game Informer: Resident Evil 7's Producer spills his guts (on why RE7 is a RE game)
- Thread starter Dusk Golem
- Start date
hemo memo
Gold Member
Old fans. RE5,RE6 (the majority) are not. Few exceptions here and there so no one jumps on me.
I believe the devolpment started before P.T. It's I believe Outlast/Amnesia
Neff
Member
You may be right. But if the 'only way' to experience RE7 is to shell out £350 for a VR headset (and another £350 for a Pro because by all accounts it looks terrible on a regular PS4 in VR), then surely that's not a good way for Capcom to invite fans to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary.
Exactly. Even later RE games have very good high risk/reward mechanics (melee from headshots, crowd-clearing melees, dodges, counters etc). It's simply a good feeling to be able to play a game well and have something tangible to show for it. Most horror games are very poor at this and I hope RE7 understands the distinction, even if the demo sadly did not. A game has to be fun above all else.
Indeed.
Chris is a special forces operative, and there are explosions. So I guess RE1 is a COD clone, too.
I'm still waiting for that mythical Call of Duty game that plays just like RE6, since everyone kept mentioning it!
The sense of exploration is so great. In the room with the VCR I found myself getting low on the floor just to see what the inside of the chimney looked like. LOL
Silent Hill
Banned
You think so?
Vic_Viper
Member
I still feel like this game is just Resident Evil: PT. I'm in the wait and see mind set currently until I see some impressions of the full game. I hope this ends up being a bait and switch style marketing campaign and there's secretly an awesome Resi game tucked away but so far it just looks like PT VR.
My main concern is that this game was made for VR and will suffer because of it. Please prove me wrong Capcom!
My main concern is that this game was made for VR and will suffer because of it. Please prove me wrong Capcom!
MiamiWesker
Member
Ignoring the fact that this is the most like RE game we have had since RE4 would you want that mentality for RE4 and beyond. This franchise changing formulas is why it's been so successful.
Dr. Zoidberg
Member
I honestly don't know what to think. The demo was alright for what it was and first-person doesn't bother me but it barely felt like RE so I am waiting to see what the finished product delivers. I'm hoping the demo is deceptively different to the finished product and the "vibe" on the real game is far more RE-style. If it's just like the demo I'll probably pass until it's dirt cheap.
Emperor_Uriel
Member
The leak definitely has me worried. Very few enemies beyond the Bakers mixed with a very linear progression makes me think we won't be getting anywhere close to the series's standard levels of replay value.
Couple that with the combat looking pretty bland (forget the shooting, I hate how many times I've seen the player get backed into a corner and pounded on in gameplay trailers/demos) and it just doesn't seem worth grabbing Day 1, even at $45.
I'd be singing a different tune if Nioh, Horizon and Nier weren't so close as well.
Couple that with the combat looking pretty bland (forget the shooting, I hate how many times I've seen the player get backed into a corner and pounded on in gameplay trailers/demos) and it just doesn't seem worth grabbing Day 1, even at $45.
I'd be singing a different tune if Nioh, Horizon and Nier weren't so close as well.
SolidSnakex
Member
Here it is (although it's not a direct quote)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=226732694
The impressions from that press build were pretty much across the board super positive. It really just seems like a matter of whether they can keep that up for the duration of the game. I don't think Capcom have said how long it'll be. And we know that the press demo takes place around an hour or so into the game, so no one knows how it starts. So, it seems like it'll be one of the longer entries in the series.
Astral Dog
Member
true, the game is trying to be old school( with a few twists) RE so much its mind blowing fans lol
Cryptic puzzles, exploration, solo play, atmospheric, unknown horrors,ammo conservation, item managment, old abandoned house/complex, etc.lets see how it turns out
Jawmuncher
Member
They said about 15 hours for a first time playthrough. So definitely won't be longer than say RE6, unless the player really does decide to explore every nook and cranny. So it'll be on the longer side of games like RE4. Which really was the first long RE game, not counting for skill level of the classic games. Which so long as you knew the jist of things were never longer than 10 hours really.
This just goes right back to what RE means to people. It's not like the series did one title like RE4 and then went back to horror. The series has at this point just as long been about coop, action, and what not. That at this point, that is RE to people. Regardless of factoring in roots. You also need to factor in the movies as well, which further push the action concept of the series to more casual fans. Hell when you google Resident Evil, the movies are the first thing that come up. I've been singing the same tune for awhile now. It's all RE, and no one camp is right on the 100% de fact answer on what RE is, or should mean to people.
Clarkus Darkus
Member
Neff
Member
This sounds absolutely terrible and I hope it's not the case.
Worst case scenario - the game has content locked to VR, like collectable medallions or files or something you won't otherwise be able to see without it. I doubt they'd do this, though.
Clarkus Darkus
Member
Simple case of going options and turning VR mode on/off.
Astral Dog
Member
we could say it was time for Capcom to try something different and they wanted to explore the series roots after all these years of going all out on action and there is nothing wrong with that, action RE wont go anywhere with Chris and co. returning in the cheesy new movie and Wesker on a little girls body.
ArkkAngel007
Member
The data mine missed a number of weapons we know of, all documents, and some enemies. And that's what we know of. It wasn't a complete picture ato all, to where it's still up in the air what a ton of the stuff post Ch. 4 deals with.
The trailers (including B-roll) misrepresent the combat it seems. The footage is trying to be sooooooo atmospheric by having the player move slow, have no reticle, and get purposely cornered. Yet, there's a lot of options available that make it more balanced. There's a dodge mechanic through the crouch. Blocking to minimize damage. Crafting stronger ammunition, as well as grenades/mines. Most encounters seen and described seem to have a number of approaches. Enemies have good hit reactions and can be stunned (plus regular enemies to be killed).
Things are also bound to pick up as the game progresses, as the press had the
magnum and grenade launcher
Hopefully we get one more big blowout on the game now that we're in the home stretch. Why the gameplay had to be so secretive is beyond me.
Plus it would be nice if US RE Ambassadors could be thrown a bone, as all the meetings and play opportunities have been Japan exclusive.
Stallion Dan
Member
When RE1 released there really wasn't anything to copy so this is a false statement. The only slightly comparable thing was Alone in the Dark which was very different to say the least.
Compared to RE7 where we've seen nothing not seen in plenty of other games already and so far has yet to show anything unique or original.
There is good reason, straight away as seen from all gameplay videos and the demo visuals are screwed with, purposely making it hard to see and need use the flashlight. Straining to see just to play a game is not fun, and despite the series often being at night and in the dark, actually seeing has never been an issue in the RE series with clarity always being the same if in a dark alleyway or well lit room.
It's a shitty overused and frustrating mechanic in first person horror games and isn't even needed for a good atmosphere, Alien Isolation let you see fine.
It's also a totally different type of horror experience, seeing an enemy chasing you as you run and then grabbing you in third person is not the same as just knowing it is behind you somewhere and then getting a red marker or whatever.
Clarkus Darkus
Member
I seen just fine while playing in VR, The flashlight helped but everything else was fine, It did seem a nause when i seen someone else play it on the TV tho. Hopefully doesnt detract the experience for those playing it in non VR mode.
From a thematic standpoint nothing was original about the game, and it wasn't all that dissimilar to Alone in the Dark, anyway. Sweet Home is essentially the reason that game exists, and it expanded upon it in many ways while also simplifying in other areas. I think you're being very assumptive about RE7 and you should have a little more faith, Capcom have deserved the right to take influence from modern games in the genre they effectively built after its foundations were established by others. It seems very much like a modern interpretation of the first game in the series with elements of Alien Isolation, which to me sounds like the perfect recipe for the scariest game in the series in a long time. I get the sense most people don't see the potential the game has.
Also I don't see the whole "it's too dark" thing, because it seemed plenty bright to me outside of the VHS, which actually benefitted from darkness.
Emperor_Uriel
Member
It doesn't ruin the game any more than talking about how long it is or the number of weapons. If people are coming into this thinking that they're hiding a huge number of BOWs and that Capcom reps were playing coy in the previews, they deserve to not have their expectations stomped on.
Previews (including those posted on GI) have explicitly stated that the Bakers are the main enemy and there's not really much beyond them outside of the Moulded.
There's a difference between plot spoilers and "Hey, they've already said this in the previews and it looks like it's true." I recall this being a major sticking point for people when deciding whether to preorder or not, so I think it's worth pointing out.
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
Keep in mind the demo didn't have all the enemies listed in the files, there was no direct mention of the
spider, centipede, and bee
From the the files we know of
six 'main' enemies including Jack and the like, and we know of four types of Molded. We also know from previews about the insect enemies. It's also notable the Bakers don't stay humanoid, they mutate into monsters. And there were notable things missing from the files we know about, such as said insect enemies, and some mentioned deeper in the files not in a transcript, like the ocean crustaceans and gun turrets.
I also don't know what you're meaning by linear progression. It seems like the standard "explore the place and get X crests to open the next area" of the series which makes more open bits, and we already know from previews there's optional areas, side quests, optional back-tracking to open optional areas, etc. Also randomized elements to change things between playthroughs ala RE3 according to the Capcom guy on the Game Informer preview, and we know Madhouse Mode changes at least one gameplay element on replay to go to classic RE styled saving system.
I just think it's silly to look at a list of progressive objectives with no emphasis on anything but objective triggers and think the whole game is an A to B affair even if we know otherwise. It's short sighted thinking. It's like looking at a map and seeing where you start and your destination, you ignore everything in-between the starting point and destination and judge the whole trip before going on it from that, not any of the actual travelling part or anything in-between.
This is my issue with FP games. People say it's more immersive but it's not for me 'cause it's just like playing as a disembodied camera with a pair of forearms stuck to the screen. Much better for me to see my character.
ArkkAngel007
Member
There has been only one place in the in game footage where it's dark like that, which was our first look at the moulded. One dark area, with nothing else being like you described.
From all indications, there's also no marker or anything to designate an enemy off screen. You have to rely on sound for their positioning. The one exception may be the
stimulant shot
Emperor_Uriel
Member
You're not wrong, but I prefer to take a "glass-half-empty" approach to this sort of thing. There could be a lot missing from the leak that we're unaware of, and the game definitely could be way less scripted and linear than what we've seen/played suggests.
But it could also be totally accurate. The
insect enemies might not count as NPCs, but "swarm" effects more akin to stepping in fire than fighting actual creatures.
My biggest fear is that the game will prioritize setpieces and scares over rewarding core gameplay, and I think the leak goes a long way in supporting that. It's absolutely not an Outlast/Amnesia/PT clone, but I think the core DNA of the game will be more of an even split between those games and Resident Evil than RE fans are expecting.
Stallion Dan
Member
Going by the demo it all too dark, gotta focus on each area to properly see, cannot just look around a whole room and see everything clearly, things not in main focus of torch are also hard to see.
If you run by an enemy you know where it is, but the chase isn't the same as a third person game.
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
I have the opposite impression of you. Firstly, having bigger enemies doesn't immediately make it like the commonly placed Outlast/Amnesia/P.T./whatever first person defenseless horror game comparision. Outside of the fact that all three of those are pretty different from each other (Amnesia is slow and hiding in darkness as you can't outrun your enemies usually but do things to hide from them, Outlast you parkour and run like hell for last minute clinches and can see in the dark easier), there's a number of bigger switch-ups at play than I think you're putting into the equation.
Firstly, you can negitate being caught. In most every example listed there, the moment you get caught you're either doomed or have to flee and evade. RE7 gives a number of options. The arsenal of weapons is the obvious one, you have handguns and shotguns and chainsaws and grenades and more. Enemies also are not unstopable, they're tackable forces. They aren't weak, but they are stoppable. Getting hurt isn't an instant death ala Alien Isolation or basically death like in Amnesia as once a monster is on you, you can't shake it. Instead of the brick wall unpreventable death once you're caught resetting the field you have to deal with and having to start again from scratch, as you have tools at your disposal to take on hostile forces you respond and make choices, both when exploring and when dealing with a threat. It isn't hide and then try to run. You have other options, from setting traps, using your environment, finding shelter in a safe room, etc.
More so on the 'bigger' enemies like Jack, there's a key element at play here no one mentions. Many first-person horror games suffer from repetition, with samey stalkers. There's the alien in Alien Isolation who is your consistant big threat through the game, all the monsters in Amnesia are pretty much the same really, you tackle all the stalkers in Outlast pretty much the same with little variety between their encounters. It's been weak point of many of these games. RE7 doesn't seem to suffer from this problem, some previews even mentioned right when they thought they had figured out an enemies behavior and pattern (the enemies run by AI and not scripted paths for the majority), the Bakers change and evolve as you progress and introduce new elements and methods to their play. True Achievements preview tackled this the best, how they thought they had figured Jack's rules when he changed it on them, and many perceived Marguerite as a very different threat compared to Jack with reason since how you tackled her was completely different. That difference makes all the difference compared to other games with a similar kin of bigger enemies, with more gameplay options, a bigger budget, and the sensibilities of the RE team who have a long running series built on variety of enemies and surprises, they have the weird and quirky Capcom Japan sense to try to make interesting and varied scenarios and enemies, enemies who themselves change it up over time. Matched with a larger variety of player options (even outside of the weapons there's reportedly environmental factors to take advantage of, in the demo we see the kickable hanging corpse to stun the enemies, and we have a few confirmed from previews, one being that the first boss battle can be tackled in a multitude of ways, one person knifed him to death, another preview beat the first boss as he
got Jack to knock over some keys on a shelf and then stunned him with a headshot and got in a car, started it, and drove it into Jack and kept on ramming into Jack with the car (fully controlling it) until Jack couldn't get up no more.
insects collect around Marguiete.
And this is just speaking of the big baddies, the game does have a selection of smaller threats, puzzles, set-pieces as you said, but also VHS sequences, exploration & plotting, upgrades, a RE3-esque crafting system, traps, and more. We know of an optional series of things you can do to open up a hidden room with an optional statue puzzle to get a shotgun. We know Molded are beatable, but not only that unlike the Bakers they can't open doors so you can lure them and shut them in a room to tackle them later when more armed or to go off in a route you don't plan to pass through again for a while.
The
insects work as individual and swarm, you can knife or melee them or take care of collected bits with the flamethrower.
I think too many people just assume first-person horror games are 'simple' and they play them down mechanically in their minds as being that, simple and lacking depth. But there's a lot at play going on here, and a big studio with over 100 people working on it with experience and a budget vs a team of less than 10 and no budget working on an indepedent game. But I know many won't believe it or be cautious until it's out and known.
Lucent
Member
Lol Dusk doing work. I love how passionate he is about horror games. RPGs used to be my fave genre, but now I prefer horror/survival. I'm really excited for RE7. It looks like it's gonna be a great experience. Luckily, I have a friend who owns a PSVR and is gonna let me borrow it so I can experience this game in the best way. Gonna turn off the lights to make sure no light leaks in and put on some headphones. January 24th can't come soon enough!
How About No
Member
Great write-up!
My personal worry is I'm gonna use up too many consumable items to evade or dispatch the stalkers only to get hit a bunch of times anyway, and make myself feel compelled to restart from an earlier save to use less supplies (which would sorta ruin the pacing)
They didn't. It wasn't so much the guns but the enemies; they often didn't react to your bullets, and having such poor feedback makes the combat unsatisfying. Zombies would often just disintegrate without any indication that they were already dead, you'd often keep firing without even knowing if your shots were hitting or passing right through... it was a pretty huge regression from 4, which really emphasized targeting different body parts for vastly different effects. In RE6... you mostly just shoot to set up a melee.
The whole game just felt like one long fight against a giant bullet sponge. Leon's handguns were practically worthless; you could hardly keep them filled because it took nearly a whole ammo pickup just to kill one zombie. If you like running around meleeing zombies to death for 35 hours straight, that's probably right up your alley, but I thought the guns felt pretty awful compared to 4 and even 5, where your weapons were actually an effective way to kill things on their own.
I haven't even mentioned the bosses, which even Capcom themselves acknowledged were tediously unresponsive slogs by shortening the kill times in the remaster. The gunplay was truly awful, like you had equipped BB guns by mistake.
It doesn't. It just absolutely doesn't. Especially if you're talking about interior spaces, which RE6 handled especially poorly. Everything looked like it was being swallowed by black crush and the assets were almost invariably low quality rushjobs when you got up close. It wasn't a game designed for looking around and taking in scenery, it was a massive 4 campaign action game with corners cut all over the place. RE7 has a big emphasis on realism and intimate detail and it shows; the difference in the amount of care seen in the environments couldn't be any clearer.
Jawmuncher
Member
We didn't play the same RE6. The reactions are there. Now I can agree that the guns themselves did feel weaker. The Hydra alone is a good example. In RE5 it felt like it had a lot of weight, in RE6 it didn't. But that was partly due to pushing the melee forward. Which is where my reaction comment is aimed at. You can easily tell when you can run up and do a contextual melee attack on the majority of the enemies.
I still say a big reason over the divide in RE6 is how people played it. If you put melee over gunplay you're gonna be in for a better time than just trying to use guns and nothing else.
As for graphics. RE6 looks fine and RE7 does as well.
I wouldn't say RE7 is exactly winning any awards though. It does what it needs to. But due to the push for 60FPS and VR, they of course can't push the engine on consoles as far as they would've liked I think. I wouldn't even be surprised if RE2make running on the same engine would look better than RE7.
Neff
Member
This statement makes me think that your understanding of RE6's combat is very, very poor.
Hydra being weak as a shooter is justified because that quickfire combo is soooooo good.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
I see it as
1. 6 to me looks bettter texture and such.
2. 7 looks good because it had a lot of extra added "clutter" that does however make environments look better.
How About No
Member
Hmm I don't think RE6 looked as consistently good as RE5, though I did like that the lighting was a bit more interesting and dynamic than RE5's, which I thought had a flat, washed out (but still good!) look. (There, I said something somewhat decent about RE6. Paypal me, Capcom.)
I still think RE6 has a problem where it looks like a completely different game depending on the environment, and sometimes it looks alright, sometimes I think it looks hideous (mostly the industrial environments like the church lab or the seabed lab). Doesn't help that the textures are sometimes atrocious (but my memory may be flawed since I only ever played the PS3 version)
I'm not sure what my point is but I do like the aesthetics of RE7 way more than these two games anyway lol
I'm bummed they mostly ditched the dynamic exposure from the sunlight they promised from the first few trailers for the overcast, color-graded look of the final game. Still nice and sharp, though!
I still think RE6 has a problem where it looks like a completely different game depending on the environment, and sometimes it looks alright, sometimes I think it looks hideous (mostly the industrial environments like the church lab or the seabed lab). Doesn't help that the textures are sometimes atrocious (but my memory may be flawed since I only ever played the PS3 version)
I'm not sure what my point is but I do like the aesthetics of RE7 way more than these two games anyway lol
Rastafarian42
Member
Never been a huge RE fan I played the demo and I must say I really like the shake up by making it first person I can say I was way more creeped out using that presentation for the game. If the story is legit i can say this will be a welcomed shake up like RE4 was at the time.
We played the same game. I don't buy the "you were doing it wrong" argument; this isn't rocket science. I know how to do a melee attack. I did plenty of them when playing; you don't have a choice. There isn't enough ammo to play any other way. I find the idea of physically engaging almost every enemy to be really boring, repetitive and time consuming. There isn't some hidden strategy to enjoying this game. You either like it or you don't, and I just didn't. It doesn't matter how flashy the wrestling moves are or how fluidly you can chain attacks together, the pacing and level design were still abysmally bad.
The hit reactions are there, yes, but they're not nearly as pronounced as before. Compare what happens in RE4 and 5 when hitting different body parts; every shot counts, and just one bullet can radically change how the enemy stands and moves. Shoot an enemy in the arm to make them drop their axe, shoot them in the knee to make them kneel, then shoot them over to topple them; each shot has a dramatic effect. Does this happen to the same effect in RE6? Or do your shots mostly just pass through zombies like pudding? You can technically do the same things, but it's not nearly as clear cut or satisfying, and zombies do often just keep walking toward you through your shots with no reaction. The j'avo at least have mutations that occur, but I don't necessarily consider something that makes the enemy more annoying and time consuming to deal with to be a good reaction.
Let's refresh our memories.
Find me a single texture in the RE7 demo that looks as bad as these. And bear in mind the final game seems to be noticeably better looking than the demo. I played RE6 for the first time maxed out on PC, which is equal to or better than the PS4 remaster, and the textures weren't quite this bad but still totally unimpressive, even back in 2013. It has some flashy lighting when outdoors, but that surface glitz just barely masks how low quality the actual environments were. Forget RE7, RE5 looks better. I say that with no hesitation.
Spiral Insanity
Banned
Is the Steam version still getting Vive support?
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Official support? In a year maybe, psvr has one year exclusivity. Hoping for an Alien: Isolation situation and there's something we can flick on in a cfg file to get it working. Like, I really hope someone figures that out asap, if there was one VR game I want to play this year it's this.
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
It doesn't get any better than saying you're looking as a potentially 10/10 game! If all these glowing previews don't turn heads, I don't know what will!
davidwhangchoi
Member
i want Albert Wesker to return, is that too much to ask at this point?
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