Because I know someone is going to ask: the footage of Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3 is captured using the DuckStation emulator (check it out, it's really good). P.S. No story spoilers for the Resident Evil franchise. Footage of all games (with exception of ReMake #1) is taken from the early hours of play.
Cheers for correctly making a delineation between the 3rd person action and survival horror entries in the series. It seems like a lot of people still consider RE4 etc, to be survival horror games. This video was a killer watch too! Really well done.
Though I agree that RE4, 5 and 6 (maybe even Revelations) are not survival horror I whole heartedly do not agree on the argument of fixed camera = survival, 3rd person = not survival horror. For example Resident Evil 2 remake is an excellent survival horror game with a 3rd person perspective, but it is still a survival horror game. Camera doesn't make or break the genre, it is just the way it is shown.
My favorite monster in the series is the Nemesis he became so popular that Capcom would have similar characters like the Ustanak and Jack Baker in later games.
Considering that the view into each room and the assets within is limited and known, it really frees up artists and ressources to make the visuals bombastic, flawless and stand out from free camera games. Prerendered backgrounds where the AAA graphics of old. Nowadays AAA graphics means enourmous efforts are put into making every minute detail of a 3D environment look stellar, so that the game does not look rough around the edges. But spending that same time and skill not on every never-seen corner, but on very specific sceneries, like virtual dioramas, they surely can be made to impress even more.
I agree to an extent, but one issue I still have with fixed camera games (including the RE remake, which I love) is that getting the controls to feel responsive and natural can be difficult, especially when camera angles suddenly change while moving through an area, resulting in jarring changes to the direction your character is oriented and often causing the player to make unintentional movements. There are some cool aspects to that style, for sure, but I wish that the added jurisdiction given to developers when it comes to visual artistry and tone didn't so often result in incidental control frustrations for players. I would love to see a modern game tackle that style of camera again with the goal of finding a solution for those decades-old control issues.
@@BucklingSwashes I feel like I've played a couple games with fixed cams where input directions and on screen walking directions often don't match. To get around that, holding the stick in the same direction after a camera transition keeps the forward movement. Only once you let go of the stick does it require inputs based on the new perspective. I even recall gradual transition, where you notice the character slowly turning and you automatically correct the stick until it is in the right direction. I think there are solutions out there.
Tormented Souls was an awesome return to the fixed camera style! Its not entirely fixed but its the closest that a game has felt like a classic RE or Silent Hill in a long time
I really wish they reused the zombie design from RE1 remake. It was so awesome playing & not knowing when a zombie would get back up or become a faster & deadlier crimson head. First time that happened I literally jumped while dropping my controller & then Chris bit the dust. The good old RE remake.... This video with analysis of gameplay really makes me wanna play thru it again. Thank you kindly for the nostalgia.
@@CursedWheelieBin Probably left them out because the people werent dead long enough before becoming dead......nevermind because they have the lickers so it makes no sense that they dont have crimson heads in RE2 remake.
The idea sorta lives on in the remake titles with zombies often seeming dead when knocked down so you’re unsure if they’ll get back up or not. It’s a lot more limited but it’s a similar concept
In all fairness, it's pretty hard to stay on your feet when a 9mm goes into any part of your leg, let alone your knee. The fact ganado's get right back up is pretty scary.
Yes you can but only with a shotgun, and it has to be from the right distance. They essentially become crawlers and those don’t come back as crimson heads cause they just permanently die.
Great video as always! Exactly what I needed for the spooky season ;) Gotta say though, it's amazing how good RE remake and RE: Zero still look, almost 20 years later..kind of makes me wish the era of pre-rendered backgrounds hadn't died out. Sure, games today can make things look just as nice in fully 3d graphics, but there's a kind of densely packed artistry to the best pre-rendered scenes which I feel is missing from most games these days..
One thing; Code Veronica was never actually supposed to be a the third game in the franchise. It was specifically developed for the Dreamcast as a spin-off from the mainline games.
The video is amazing but one thing yes the developers see code Veronica as a direct continuation of resident evil 2 but it was never meant to be RE3, it was always a side story. The original RE3 was going to be set on a cruise ship with Hunk having to retrieve a viral sample, when that was cancelled and needing a game quick they promoted a side game that was about a new character escaping raccoon city, changed it to Jill and we have the og RE3 we all know and love
Indeed it's an excellent post-mortem. Patrons have already voted for it, it'll be on the channel 'soon', but I do have a couple other videos to release first.
@@AIandGames What do you think of UA-camr's like yourself and other Gamedesign focused channels basically "stealing" the content off of GDC talks, for lack of a better word, for your own Video's? On the one hand more people get to see it and the content is usually more focused and simplified. But on the other hand it feels kinda wrong to enjoy these kinds of video's because lets be honest, rarely people actually watch the original talk even if you credit them.
That's a very good question. Especially given I am an advisor to the GDC AI summit these days. For me, there are two key issues: accessibility and language, and then knowing who your audience is and how do you serve them. I imagine 75% of my audience have no intention to ever read or watch the original sources I use in my videos - and the (expensive) paywalls will quash any idle curiosity outright. But that shouldn't deny them from knowing this is something that exists, and ideally they are educated and hopefully entertained by the video. My videos are designed to make what is possibly a 'boring' sounding subject look more appealing. Because I fundamentally believe if you frame information the right way you can get someone interested in it. For the 25% that might explore more, I always provide the references - mentioning it in the video and in the description - because I *want* them to go and do that. But of course, those original sources can be complex and hard to understand if you don't have a background in Computer Science or game development. If at the end of the day my video merely becomes a primer or stepping stone to their further understanding, then great! Pretty much every form of education (be it school, college/university etc.) is transforming information into something more palatable for someone at that phase of their life and learning. A university lecturer rephrasing content from a textbook as part of a lecture series is standard practice, with the student then being able to read the book to learn more if they wish. It's the same principle, but different mediums and sources. Ultimately honesty comes in two forms here: the creator must acknowledge where they get their information from (otherwise it's plagiarism). And the viewer must be honest with themself about how much they want to learn. If watching videos like mine is 'enough', then that's okay. If they want to know more, then they should explore the source material, given their curiosity will now push them forward.
@@AIandGames Thank's for giving such an in-depth answer and for me Channels like yours were definitely the first stepping stone for looking into game design more thoroughly and I can absolutely see other people not be interested in watching a 1h talk going into technical limitations of path-finding in difficult terrain.
@@urlauber2884 For me, translating that 1hr talk on pathfinding is the real challenge. How do you make someone care about that if they don't already understand the significance of it? I've already started working on a Death Stranding episode and that is a big part of it already. Why is this even important? As a player, why would you care? I had a similar issue with the next episode which I just finished recording (no spoilers yet). The end product is fantastic, but trying to explain how much work went into making it look that good is a tough sell, as I have to take the original sources and then explain a lot of foundational stuff that they don't. It's always an interesting balancing act.
That music. I'm 15 yrs old again. I've just played RE1 for the first time. I'm immediately in love. But I have to leave the house for my Saturday shift at McDonald's 😁😭
Raccoon City deserved more potential in RE3R, very shame that capcom ignored completely the great survival atmosphere that the classic RE games has...RE2R probably maintainted a bit of that spirit but the lab part was pretty disappointed, too modernized.
Resident Evil will always have a special impact on me especially the first 2 games I feel like those games were masterpieces at the time especially the first one which redefined the survival horror and zombie genre and games themselves before getting remakes which made it better but the OG will always have a special place to our hearts if we didn't have Resident Evil 1 or these remakes we wouldn't have this amazing franchise as a whole especially with it's sequels like 3 all the way up too 7 and Village! Which to me were the best ones but by far my favorite are the first 2!
It is a bit of a shame, not to mention the game that inspired the original Resident Evil: Alone in the Dark. Quite possibly the first survival horror game.
When re3 remake came out it was my first experience of resident evil. I've since gone back and I'm playing everything in order really a great series. The only ones I did not enjoy very much were CV, outbreak 1,2, and ORC.
this could do with a revisit, i've checked out the models and animations of re1 remake and i'd be curious to see how they achieved yawn's tail effect, its most likely using some kind of cloth simulation but i can't be sure, the snake's tail isn't animated, and is always pointing straight
Not gonna lie. I thought that my speakers died for a bit at the beginning there when I couldnt get any sound to come out of them. I guess I'm just conditioned at this point to expect either an opening jingle, or for the speaker to start immediately.
One thing I wish Capcom did even with the remakes is each play through randomizes the item and enemy placement. This would make each play through not as mundane and expected.
RE1, 2 and REmake had some of the best atmosphere you could ask for. Strictly from that aspect, I'm not sure which games could surpass them. Silent hill 2?
Have you done a video on AI-driven systems like music layering? The original System Shock has a few a few of these systems, from the music system to cyberspace actually playing "The Game of Life" by John Conway. If not, I'd like to see such a video.
Can you actually have horror without survival? Ive played resident evil 8 and true there are some scary parts like the dark sound walk at the start or the baby monster level but outside of that it seemed like a very nice non horror game.
Remake 2 was a perfect combination of the old design in a modern perspective. I played the game on hardcore for my first playthrough and it was absolutely amazing and terrifying. Every action had so much weight to it. I spent most of the rpd 1 in danger lmfao. The zombies were so perfectly designed too Remake 3 is ass and just took what I loved in 2 and trashed it. Remake 2 was my goty despite how amazing sekiro was.
Not a fan of the newer fps Resident Evil games. 🤷🏽♀️ not sure if it was the story or what? As someone who's played it since 96......I just prefer the original fixed camera angle.....BUT RE2 remake as started to change my mind on that.
Because I know someone is going to ask: the footage of Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3 is captured using the DuckStation emulator (check it out, it's really good).
P.S. No story spoilers for the Resident Evil franchise. Footage of all games (with exception of ReMake #1) is taken from the early hours of play.
@@BlooTeg probably from a copy from steam
Before I watch it, does the video contain major spoilers?
@@rendoirs No plot spoilers throughout (I try to avoid those in general). Though if anyone can think otherwise do let me know!
@@AIandGames I love duckstation playing tobal 2 fully translated
Duckstation huh, never heard of that emulator. Gonna check it out as PSXe is mega old
Cheers for correctly making a delineation between the 3rd person action and survival horror entries in the series. It seems like a lot of people still consider RE4 etc, to be survival horror games. This video was a killer watch too! Really well done.
Though I agree that RE4, 5 and 6 (maybe even Revelations) are not survival horror I whole heartedly do not agree on the argument of fixed camera = survival, 3rd person = not survival horror. For example Resident Evil 2 remake is an excellent survival horror game with a 3rd person perspective, but it is still a survival horror game. Camera doesn't make or break the genre, it is just the way it is shown.
Yeah avalanche thats how to make videos about RE.
Aye Avalanche fancy seeing you here
@@Kaboose666 True, God of war, Bayonetta, Devil May and Final Fantasy 10 has fixed cameras and I wouldn't exactly call those survival horror.
The RE franchise is more like comedy/horror these days with its dialogue, plot and cutscenes. I'm not mad, I'm impressed.
Resident Evil has *always* been cheesy.
Remember that the very first game had some laughably bad voice acting.
@@SkandiTV Oh yeah, the first game was absolutely terrible. Looking back at it now it's so bad it's almost good.
My favorite monster in the series is the Nemesis he became so popular that Capcom would have similar characters like the Ustanak and Jack Baker in later games.
I really hope one day we see the return of the fixed camera style, cuz there's so much you can do with it now that we have more powerful hardware
Considering that the view into each room and the assets within is limited and known, it really frees up artists and ressources to make the visuals bombastic, flawless and stand out from free camera games. Prerendered backgrounds where the AAA graphics of old. Nowadays AAA graphics means enourmous efforts are put into making every minute detail of a 3D environment look stellar, so that the game does not look rough around the edges. But spending that same time and skill not on every never-seen corner, but on very specific sceneries, like virtual dioramas, they surely can be made to impress even more.
I agree to an extent, but one issue I still have with fixed camera games (including the RE remake, which I love) is that getting the controls to feel responsive and natural can be difficult, especially when camera angles suddenly change while moving through an area, resulting in jarring changes to the direction your character is oriented and often causing the player to make unintentional movements. There are some cool aspects to that style, for sure, but I wish that the added jurisdiction given to developers when it comes to visual artistry and tone didn't so often result in incidental control frustrations for players. I would love to see a modern game tackle that style of camera again with the goal of finding a solution for those decades-old control issues.
@@BucklingSwashes I feel like I've played a couple games with fixed cams where input directions and on screen walking directions often don't match. To get around that, holding the stick in the same direction after a camera transition keeps the forward movement. Only once you let go of the stick does it require inputs based on the new perspective. I even recall gradual transition, where you notice the character slowly turning and you automatically correct the stick until it is in the right direction.
I think there are solutions out there.
Tormented Souls was an awesome return to the fixed camera style! Its not entirely fixed but its the closest that a game has felt like a classic RE or Silent Hill in a long time
Can you imagine how f*cking beautiful pre rendered back grounds would look with todays technology?
UA-cam recommended me this video and I don’t know how I’ve gone all the years without watching you. Instant sub my dude
The RE1 remake will always be the pinnacle of the series for me.
Which is absolutely correct.
Same for me
You mean the 2015 HD Re-master? Is that the same thing? I have a copy on my Steam account but have not downloaded it yet
@@bcal5962 yes, that's the Remaster of the 2002 remake
@@bcal5962 yeah, they're all pretty similar. If you have a CRT, the gamecube edition holds up unbelievably well.
I really wish they reused the zombie design from RE1 remake. It was so awesome playing & not knowing when a zombie would get back up or become a faster & deadlier crimson head. First time that happened I literally jumped while dropping my controller & then Chris bit the dust. The good old RE remake.... This video with analysis of gameplay really makes me wanna play thru it again. Thank you kindly for the nostalgia.
@@CursedWheelieBin Probably left them out because the people werent dead long enough before becoming dead......nevermind because they have the lickers so it makes no sense that they dont have crimson heads in RE2 remake.
The idea sorta lives on in the remake titles with zombies often seeming dead when knocked down so you’re unsure if they’ll get back up or not. It’s a lot more limited but it’s a similar concept
AI and Games: "If you can hit them in their knees-"
Me: YOU CAN SHOOT THEIR KNEES?!
In all fairness, it's pretty hard to stay on your feet when a 9mm goes into any part of your leg, let alone your knee. The fact ganado's get right back up is pretty scary.
Yes you can but only with a shotgun, and it has to be from the right distance. They essentially become crawlers and those don’t come back as crimson heads cause they just permanently die.
Ah, I too remember when you had to buy the "Official Strategy Guide"
Great video as always! Exactly what I needed for the spooky season ;) Gotta say though, it's amazing how good RE remake and RE: Zero still look, almost 20 years later..kind of makes me wish the era of pre-rendered backgrounds hadn't died out. Sure, games today can make things look just as nice in fully 3d graphics, but there's a kind of densely packed artistry to the best pre-rendered scenes which I feel is missing from most games these days..
Is it weird that these horrible dangerous places like Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City have a calming effect via nostalgia or is it just me?
Sometimes it's like it's all about AI with this guy.
Yeesh.
XD
Another great video.
Thanks for meditation on yet one more interesting topic, mate!
Just in time for all hallows eve. Tommy Thompson always delivers
One thing; Code Veronica was never actually supposed to be a the third game in the franchise. It was specifically developed for the Dreamcast as a spin-off from the mainline games.
RE dead aim: guess I'll just keep not existing.
Excellent analysis! I’ll be looking forward to the second part.
First video I've seen of this channel, I could listen to this Scottish brogue forever. Excellent, excellent analysis, well done.
The video is amazing but one thing yes the developers see code Veronica as a direct continuation of resident evil 2 but it was never meant to be RE3, it was always a side story. The original RE3 was going to be set on a cruise ship with Hunk having to retrieve a viral sample, when that was cancelled and needing a game quick they promoted a side game that was about a new character escaping raccoon city, changed it to Jill and we have the og RE3 we all know and love
You should make an episode for Death stranding. I just saw the GDC AI post mortem and more people need to see it, so insightful and interesting!
Indeed it's an excellent post-mortem. Patrons have already voted for it, it'll be on the channel 'soon', but I do have a couple other videos to release first.
@@AIandGames What do you think of UA-camr's like yourself and other Gamedesign focused channels basically "stealing" the content off of GDC talks, for lack of a better word, for your own Video's?
On the one hand more people get to see it and the content is usually more focused and simplified. But on the other hand it feels kinda wrong to enjoy these kinds of video's because lets be honest, rarely people actually watch the original talk even if you credit them.
That's a very good question. Especially given I am an advisor to the GDC AI summit these days. For me, there are two key issues: accessibility and language, and then knowing who your audience is and how do you serve them.
I imagine 75% of my audience have no intention to ever read or watch the original sources I use in my videos - and the (expensive) paywalls will quash any idle curiosity outright. But that shouldn't deny them from knowing this is something that exists, and ideally they are educated and hopefully entertained by the video. My videos are designed to make what is possibly a 'boring' sounding subject look more appealing. Because I fundamentally believe if you frame information the right way you can get someone interested in it. For the 25% that might explore more, I always provide the references - mentioning it in the video and in the description - because I *want* them to go and do that.
But of course, those original sources can be complex and hard to understand if you don't have a background in Computer Science or game development. If at the end of the day my video merely becomes a primer or stepping stone to their further understanding, then great! Pretty much every form of education (be it school, college/university etc.) is transforming information into something more palatable for someone at that phase of their life and learning. A university lecturer rephrasing content from a textbook as part of a lecture series is standard practice, with the student then being able to read the book to learn more if they wish. It's the same principle, but different mediums and sources.
Ultimately honesty comes in two forms here: the creator must acknowledge where they get their information from (otherwise it's plagiarism). And the viewer must be honest with themself about how much they want to learn. If watching videos like mine is 'enough', then that's okay. If they want to know more, then they should explore the source material, given their curiosity will now push them forward.
@@AIandGames Thank's for giving such an in-depth answer and for me Channels like yours were definitely the first stepping stone for looking into game design more thoroughly and I can absolutely see other people not be interested in watching a 1h talk going into technical limitations of path-finding in difficult terrain.
@@urlauber2884 For me, translating that 1hr talk on pathfinding is the real challenge. How do you make someone care about that if they don't already understand the significance of it? I've already started working on a Death Stranding episode and that is a big part of it already. Why is this even important? As a player, why would you care?
I had a similar issue with the next episode which I just finished recording (no spoilers yet). The end product is fantastic, but trying to explain how much work went into making it look that good is a tough sell, as I have to take the original sources and then explain a lot of foundational stuff that they don't. It's always an interesting balancing act.
That music. I'm 15 yrs old again. I've just played RE1 for the first time. I'm immediately in love. But I have to leave the house for my Saturday shift at McDonald's 😁😭
loved your Deathloop stream Tommy, and these videos rock. much love man!!!
Might get around to a Design Dive on Deathloop next year. Watch this space.
Raccoon City deserved more potential in RE3R, very shame that capcom ignored completely the great survival atmosphere that the classic RE games has...RE2R probably maintainted a bit of that spirit but the lab part was pretty disappointed, too modernized.
Resident Evil will always have a special impact on me especially the first 2 games I feel like those games were masterpieces at the time especially the first one which redefined the survival horror and zombie genre and games themselves before getting remakes which made it better but the OG will always have a special place to our hearts if we didn't have Resident Evil 1 or these remakes we wouldn't have this amazing franchise as a whole especially with it's sequels like 3 all the way up too 7 and Village! Which to me were the best ones but by far my favorite are the first 2!
It is a bit of a shame, not to mention the game that inspired the original Resident Evil: Alone in the Dark. Quite possibly the first survival horror game.
I dont know but I found it funny when fixed space was said and it shows the snake boss clipped into the wall (15:01)
Too good not to cut it out frankly.
When re3 remake came out it was my first experience of resident evil. I've since gone back and I'm playing everything in order really a great series. The only ones I did not enjoy very much were CV, outbreak 1,2, and ORC.
Such an awesome video and well worded
Great video
This was a great video.
this could do with a revisit, i've checked out the models and animations of re1 remake and i'd be curious to see how they achieved yawn's tail effect, its most likely using some kind of cloth simulation but i can't be sure, the snake's tail isn't animated, and is always pointing straight
Not gonna lie. I thought that my speakers died for a bit at the beginning there when I couldnt get any sound to come out of them.
I guess I'm just conditioned at this point to expect either an opening jingle, or for the speaker to start immediately.
WHATSUPUA-camITSYABOITOMMYT 😎
But... there is music playing ^^
One thing I wish Capcom did even with the remakes is each play through randomizes the item and enemy placement. This would make each play through not as mundane and expected.
RE1, 2 and REmake had some of the best atmosphere you could ask for. Strictly from that aspect, I'm not sure which games could surpass them. Silent hill 2?
And RE 3, and CV,.
RE 1, 2 and 3 maybe.
But the rest is just not the same
Maybe a dive into Dead Space?
What About Resident Evil 1.5 Aka Resident Evil 2 Early Prototype
Thanks for the vid
Have you done a video on AI-driven systems like music layering? The original System Shock has a few a few of these systems, from the music system to cyberspace actually playing "The Game of Life" by John Conway. If not, I'd like to see such a video.
Sweet Home
Please do video on Dead space series
I think the first Dino Crisis was the maximum expression of this game design concept, mechanically speaking.
The original draft of this episode was just 'DINO CRISIS IS LIT'. But I feel like I can make an entire video on that.
@@AIandGames Really looking forward to it!
Re4 rv is where it’s at
Can you actually have horror without survival? Ive played resident evil 8 and true there are some scary parts like the dark sound walk at the start or the baby monster level but outside of that it seemed like a very nice non horror game.
Hmm, I think I prefer I that implementation of difficulty in the early games.
Is this the HD Remaster or the GameCube or Wii version?
Remake 2 was a perfect combination of the old design in a modern perspective. I played the game on hardcore for my first playthrough and it was absolutely amazing and terrifying. Every action had so much weight to it. I spent most of the rpd 1 in danger lmfao. The zombies were so perfectly designed too
Remake 3 is ass and just took what I loved in 2 and trashed it.
Remake 2 was my goty despite how amazing sekiro was.
I love resident evil
I would rather play the early resident evil games than the new ones there more exciting the older ones no thank you on the new resident evil games
Capcom should remake RE1 remake just imagine how the mansion would look in the RE engine!
No thanks, bro
😬😁
Not a fan of the newer fps Resident Evil games. 🤷🏽♀️ not sure if it was the story or what? As someone who's played it since 96......I just prefer the original fixed camera angle.....BUT RE2 remake as started to change my mind on that.
a little mention to recall that resident evil 1 was straightly inspired by alone in the dark - the first survival horror.