Making a blog post. I've been playing games to figure out what I like and don't like. My favorite games are Metal Gear Solid 3, Dark Souls and Resident Evil 7. I've tried playing Resident Evil 4 because everyone says it's such a great game, but I found it to be a boring linear slog - same with Resident Evil 6. The shooting mechanics were alright, but the game went on for too long doing the same thing over and over. The thing I don't understand is why people say RE6 is so bad, but RE4 is a masterpiece. They seem essentially the same boring slogs with slow and boring story exposition. RE7 on the other hand, plays out its story rather quickly (with a cool plot twist) and has a gameplay curve where your character slowly gets outfitted with good weapons and upgrades. Dark Souls has the same element, but it's much longer of course. Dark Souls had atmosphere and lore, with a story you had to figure out for yourself. It had great level design similar to RE7. Metal Gear Solid 3 has an amazing story and Rambo-like atmosphere that makes me want to replay it. Like RE7, MGS3 gives you item upgrades for your next playthrough. MGS3 has this campy tone (such as when The End's eye pops out and rolls around) that RE7 also has ("Zoe, get your ass back to the house. I will deal with you later"). Both RE7 and MGS3 are over-the-top in the coolest way. It's stuff that can only be done in video games.
What is it about these games that makes me like them so much, but dislike RE4, for example? I tried Yakuza Zero and disliked it - I found there was far too much pointless dialogue and the game could have been better if it moved a little faster. I tried The Evil Within, and again, very little story three hours in. Didn't like it.
Most video games, to me, just suck. They're boring slogs that have you doing the same boring shooting with little story. Every now and then a game comes along that I like, but not often.
What is it about RE7, Dark Souls, MGS3, and perhaps Metroid Prime?
Literally Resident Evil 7 is good for the first couple of hours. After Jack's done the game tanks so fucking hard.
Don't get me fucking started on that Tanker.
Brandon Brooks
I sort of agree, but the game's twist makes up for it. The tanker part isn't bad once you know what to do, and it's necessary for the game's plot. Replay it again once you know what to do. I thought the exact same thing on my first playthrough. When Jack shows up once you save Zoe and Mia, it's really cool.
Thomas Clark
I think a lot of people play RE7 as a horror game rather than just what it is. It's a cheesy over-the-top Evil Dead version of MGS3. It even has bobbleheads like MGS3. And MGS3 is probably my favorite game. I agree with what the guy at Destructoid said about RE7: that it's a modern classic. It just exudes quality.
Alexander Rivera
Eh. The tanker literally hits the linear wall games like 6 were called out for. 7 isn't bad, but damn it's third act ruins the game. The tanker should have just been cut.
Knowing what to do doesn't make up for the fact that it's really really bad.
Josiah Price
But I disagree. It's necessary for the plot - without it, Evie's and Mia's roles wouldn't be explained and the game's twist would be anticlimactic. Play it again.
Carter Ward
Sure. But the section ruins the atmosphere the game had built during it's entire run. The tanker and salt mine literally fall into every trap the previous games are accused of.
I don't think the story was worth it. Especially how the choice of who to give the antidote to is literally made worthless in the next scene.
This is a prime example of when the story is put before the gameplay. And the experience suffers as a result. Just replace Mutant Jack with Grandma, and end the game with the antidote choice. Or even better, have the player believe everything is fine after Mutant Jack and the immediately throw Eve at the player the moment the player believes they are safe.
Move the scene with Jack begging the player to save his family earlier into the story to help humanize these monsters and drive home their misfortune.
Leave Chris's cameo for Joe Baker and have his DLC take place after the game.
Boom the gameplay is saved and the story remains intact.
You can even make the Tanker Section a prequel DLC to explain how this all happened.
Noah Adams
>RE7 >favorite game Dear god, WHY?? I sure hope you've played at least REmake already?
>The thing I don't understand is why people say RE6 is so bad, but RE4 is a masterpiece Because RE4 is designed way better, and still kinda had some survival-horror DNA in it. It also has great replay value.
>The tanker should have just been cut. Fuck you and your kind. The whole tanker section is LITERALLY the only GOOD part in that piece of shit game, actually resembling both a survival horror game AND a RE-title for a while there. Everything before and after is just shit.
Liam Gonzalez
You do know grandma is Evie, right? The tanker was necessary for the plot, and it did it well.
I'm going to get REmake soon. The thing that I really liked about RE7 was the campy tone. It wasn't as serious as most horror games and that's why it stood above the rest to me. It all took place in one night, and that's what makes replaying it so satisfying. It was like the campy horror version of MGS3
Dominic Sanchez
Wait, make it a DLC? You're just fucking with me now.
Bentley Hernandez
Free DLC. Or a bonus mode. Having it at the end of the game. Just ruins all of the atmosphere until that point.
You could just move Evie's boss fight immediately after Jack's. It would be a good subversion if player expectation.
The player beats this monster that took all their resources, thinks it's over and begins to unwind, then bam Evie boss fight.
Player kills Evie. Has to choose who to give the antidote to, game ends.
The game no longer has this horrible section that runs counter to everything the game was working towards at that point. Resident Evil 7 isn't 6 so I don't understand why they decided to go that route
Owen Bennett
Well, I disagree. Some people think MGS2 is a good game, but I think it's shit. "Run around a boring bland plant and disarm these smelly bombs!" Hopefully we can agree on that at least.
Brayden Parker
Yes but Capcom just could have just made it a prequel chapter, unlocked after beating the game, or free DLC. Especially since you just play as Mia for the majority of the section.
Move Evie's boss fight to right after Jack. No tanker section no salt-mine.
Since Evie/Grandma was shown to still have control over Mia even after the antidote you could have had Ethan create the Necrotoxin earlier in the plot while finding the ingredients for the antidote.
Bam the game is fixed and story remains intact.
Ryder Morris
Yeah the story and boss fights have always carried the Metal Gear games to a point. I like MGS2, but I haven't bothered to replay it as much as MGS3.
The second half is a lot more enjoyable. Especially since it's like the team realized they were making a Metal Gear game. Making the first half the way it was is just in service of the story and while it has some great moments, the bomb scavenger hunt is a bit grating. Especially given the size of the area.
Nathan Wright
Every time I attempt to play MGS2, I get to the bomb exposition from the black guy and start yawning, then turn it off.
Nathan Martinez
>likes re7 >doesn't like re4 Sounds like you're just retarded.
Eli Clark
REmake wouldn't even make it to top 5
Blake Foster
Anyway, I found RE7 to be an enjoyable game, and the campy tone is what did it for me. I was never really frightened during the playthroughs - I was more entertained by the nods to other campy entertainment like Evil Dead. I also thought the tanker was necessary for the plot, and once you understand what to do, as they're introducing child Evie to you, you get a sense of climax when Evie is revealed to have been grandma all along. It seems like a lot of people want to remove the tanker for whatever reason, but during that level, you're told that Mia was an agent, and you understand her role, and finally you find out that Evie is grandma.
RE4 is boring samey shooting with little story and no plot twist. I really don't understand the appeal. It's just a slog with no payoff.
Juan Fisher
Sounds like you like movie games. Stupid zoomer.
Jeremiah Hughes
If I'm playing a single player game, I expect certain things from it. I liked MGS5 and that had little story compared to other games in the series. Certain games click with me, and others don't. I don't find RE6, Evil Within, or Yakuza Zero entertaining. More boring slogs with either too much story to that point of inane dialogue, or too little that it just becomes a shooter slog where you do the same thing over and over again. I'm picky with my single player games.
James Roberts
But I guess my ultimate point here is that, while games like RE6 or Yakuza Zero or RE4 might be alright for one playthrough, they're not ones I want to return to again and again. Part of that might be because the games feel too long and drawn out. There's too much tedium in certain games. There's very little sense of progression. The gameplay doesn't change like RE7's did. When you get to the burner and start lighting up the bugs, and then get the machine gun. RE7 just has masterful pacing.
