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Is Resident Evil 4 the most phenomenally paced game ever?

Servbot24 said:
What the !!
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I just replayed TLoU, this time the remastered edition on PS4. It's still a fantastic game, but man, the first hour or so after the prologue is slooooooooow. It's the main reason I hesitate to show this game to my non-gamer friends, since I think that stretch would test their patience. I almost think it might be better to just show them the prologue, then skip straight to Bill's town, and continue from there.
 
Yes.

RE4 is my favorite game of all-time, and a lot of that has to do with pacing. Every time you think your weapons are getting better, the game throws just enough more powerful enemies at you to keep you on your toes.

I also have EmCee's problem, and it's because of the pacing. I always start with "I'll play for a little bit" and end up playing through large chunks of the game.

I do think though that the castle comes dangerously close to overstaying its welcome, mostly because some of those chapters are fairly long.
 
I will say, the last time I played RE4 was when it was re-released for PC, and it didn't quite click with me like it did back in the day. Hard to put my finger on why.
 
Fantastic game, one of my favorites of all time and has great pacing. But it also had a billion false endings. Every time I thought I was close to wrapping it up there was another giant, daunting task ahead. A blast to play, but that first time through can be exhausting.
 
I actually think that both Uncharted 2 and TLOU is better paced then RE4. RE4s first half is brilliant but then i think it goes down a little in the end.
 
Neiteio said:
I just replayed TLoU, this time the remastered edition on PS4. It's still a fantastic game, but man, the first hour or so after the prologue is slooooooooow. It's the main reason I hesitate to show this game to my non-gamer friends, since I think that stretch would test their patience. I almost think it might be better to just show them the prologue, then skip straight to Bill's town, and continue from there.
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Yea... I had a pretty negative opinion about the game until after the high school. When I replay it in the future I am going to dread going through the prologue and first two hours.

The beginning actually really upsets me because those two hours really feel like they ate up a lot of the game's time. When I think back to how much time I spent in certain areas of TLOU, the first two hours before and during Bill's section really feel the longest, which is unfortunate.
 
Two months ago, I would have said yes. But now the queen has taken that crown:

entrada.jpg


Sorry, Leon.
 
Will never forget that day when I beat the game on normal, professional and on normal again with all unlockables.
 
When I think pacing I think Resident Evil 4 and Uncharted 2.

So yes, it is. "Perfect" games, they just go down so smooth.
 
Hmm... My first play through was so long ago, and then there were so many after that that it's hard to say. The village was probably the single greatest gaming experience I've ever had, but the castle and island didn't quite live up to it. It's hard to say after so long how pacing played into that. I do remember being constantly excited to see what would happen next though, so the pacing must have been good.

Nibel said:
Will never forget that day when I beat the game on normal, professional and on normal again with all unlockables.
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Holy shit, really? My 19 hour playthroughs wouldn't allow that.
 
Reading some of the posts on RE4 and while I do agree it kinda drags but that might be from actually powering through it like a lot of people here did. You just can't stop yourself the game has that sort of appeal even if you're feeling fatigued near the end of it.
 
The castle is actually my favorite part of RE4. The fight in the ballroom/banquet hall was so tense I think I actually stood up at points, lol. I remember hiding in a room under the stairs and the fuckers dropped through the ceiling to grab Ashley, haha. Those monks are probably the most unnerving fodder enemies in a horror game.
 
I actually loved the castle in RE4, unlike others here. But I'm a sucker for castle settings. The big hall with the water pools where you have to fight dozens and dozens of monks while protecting Ashley had me sweating.

What drags the game down is the island at the end. There's a little too much shootbang going on there, to the point where it almost got monotonous. Apart from that, the pacing is pretty much perfect.
 
I don't really agree with these Bayo 2 posts. I really like the game but I found the pacing quite uneven. You have little sense of escalation, things get super crazy early but are never really surpassed later on. The ending is also quite abrupt - it's as if the final boss was missing. It's like you took Bayo 1 but ended the game after the Father Balder fight.
 
Rest said:
Holy shit, really? My 19 hour playthroughs wouldn't allow that.
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I must confess I finished the game already by then. Started normal very early (basically NG+), then switched to professional and that took the biggest amount of time, and the last playthrough with the unlockables could be finished in less than 6 hours I think.
 
MoogleWizard said:
I actually loved the castle in RE4, unlike others here. But I'm a sucker for castle settings. The big hall with the water pools where you have to fight dozens and dozens of monks while protecting Ashley had me sweating.

What drags the game down is the island at the end. There's a little too much shootbang going on there, to the point where it almost got monotonous. Apart from that, the pacing is pretty much perfect.
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Yeah the castle is fucking amazing. That's where a lot of the best combat scenarios are because they REALLY start throwing you in the ringer in terms of the creative combat arenas. It's a lot more claustrophobic than the village, which makes it all the more difficult and intense. Plus all the new enemy types are great: shield, scyth and helmet cultists, the novistadors, garradors, new plagas, etc.


It also doesn't hurt the the art design for the castle is stunning:
70181.jpg
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Abso fucking lutely. Terrific game and one of the best paced games I've ever played. Not a single bad moment in that game.
 
TacticalFox88 said:
Is it not? I can't really put it into detail, but to me, Resident Evil 4 always knew when to break up the action, it walked the line between throwing too much at you and letting you breathe and explore every nook and cranny.

I've probably replayed the game far more than any other game in my lifetime with playthroughs in the double digits.

After it was over, I immediately started over and saw what I could do differently. I was happy to know that I could!
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Not only that but it achieves that miracle by retaning the same interaction system and core mechanics through out the hole game (near 20 hours in lenght no less for first time playthrough). How it retains that functional integrity for all it's progresion while keeping the player engaged is nothing short of amazing.

RE4 and Shadow of the Collosus were the last 2 real master pieces of the action / adventure genres. And to this day the wait continues.
 
Big_Al said:
Abso fucking lutely. Terrific game and one of the best paced games I've ever played. Not a single bad moment in that game.
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I was less than enamored by the fucking block puzzle as Ashley (and honestly the whole section where you play as her--while certainly novel--is not all that fun). They should at least let you skip it on replays.
 
I felt like the castle area was too long and dragged on, so no. I'd say Uncharted 2 is probably the game to beat in terms of pacing. The God of War games also have a nice eeb and flow to them, 1 and 3 specifically.
 
Great-God said:
Moor is life, moor is life, moor is life...

Sorry, I'm Spanish. It's "morir es vivir"
Actually the game is fucking hilarious because despite its setting in the north of Spain (Galicia, I think it was) the Ganados' accent is mexican lol. Also, the third world villages.
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We don't speak like that so, no.
 
Fancy Clown said:
Yeah the castle is fucking amazing. That's where a lot of the best combat scenarios are because they REALLY start throwing you in the ringer in terms of the creative combat arenas. It's a lot more claustrophobic than the village, which makes it all the more difficult and intense. Plus all the new enemy types are great: shield, scyth and helmet cultists, the novistadors, garradors, new plagas, etc.


It also doesn't hurt the the art design for the castle is stunning:
Click to expand...

Yeah, RE4's castle is my favorite location in the series. The creepy atmosphere is amazing.
 
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