Good break down, but there is one subtle moment that not only you, but a lot of people missed. After Leon defeats Salazar, he takes an elevator to the docks and during his descent, he watches Krauser take Ashely on one of the boats to the island. If you have a scoped weapon, you can look down the sights and see that Krauser actually looks up and locks eyes with you for a few moments before turning his attention back to driving the boat. Was he taunting Leon? Was he proud of him? A little bit of both? Neither? The ambiguity is really cool for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail.
Maybe krauser was just glad that Salazar didn’t kill Leon and that he would be the one to do it, or maybe he is just proud that his training is what got leon that far since during the krauser fight he tells leon he isn’t surprised that he made it that far.
I like how Krauser calls Leon "rookie" not only as a power move but also to make him remember Raccoon City and his first day as a member of law enforcement- when he was as green as they come and was, essentially, forced to reach the top of the ladder in a single day, or die. It's an enduring reminder that Leon somewhat paradoxically lacks experience because he has so much experience in that single horrible event.
then when he's finally been defeated, he calls him "leon" as a sign of respect and acknowledgement that the student has surpassed the mentor. i love how the parrying system which was originally meant for the krauser fight only evolved into them essentially being rivals since you fight him on equal grounds until the end
Glad I'm not the only person who interpreted "Rookie" that way. Cause it DOES have a hugely traumatic double meaning for Leon specifically. Rookie cop is late for his first day and gets stuck in a zombie apocalypse. And somehow manages not to die immediately, but to survive and escape. So his new instructor/superior/enemy turns that into a personal pejorative. This fucking ROOKIE, in two senses of the word. One is that he IS a total newbie by any standard with minimal training, two is that Krauser is directly calling out and maybe trying to trigger a trauma response from Leon, because of his personal history in regards to that status, while also denigrating Leon's accomplishment in the same breath. "Rookie cop survives a zombie apocalypse." "ROOKIE is the only important word in that sentence." It's now canon that Leon is still actively carrying trauma and guilt from Raccoon City, which also makes this even worse if this interpretation is correct. Not only is Krauser intentionally turning a traumatic event into an insult, he's doing it to someone he probably knows is still grappling with that trauma.
Mmm, I would like to think it’s that deep, but I always just assumed he just calls him rookie cause he was a rookie in the special forces where Krauser trained him. I don’t think he’s trying to remind of raccoon city cause I don’t think Krauser cares about that at all. He just wants to remind Leon that he’s his student and this Krauser is superior. Really doubt it’s meant to bring up raccoon city at all.
Something to add to the "Dark Reflection," Krauser is the person to captures Ashley in the first place. Leon must undo what Krauser did. But also, it makes sense that someone of Leon's abilities was the person who was able to capture her in the first place.
Krauser when he finds out leons coming to save Ashley "Alright Ashley im taking you home" *Flashes Ashley with the men black flash thing* *Speed runs re4 in reverse* Leon just arrives at the 1st ganado house
Something that I feel like you've missed is that RE4R seems clearly driven by some sort of death-wish. In his tent, right before the second fight with him, you can see that he kept all of his men's dogtags. And in his message to Leon, he tells him to come and put an end to what happened two years ago : The annihilation of their squad. Which mean his and Leon's death. And while his comments during the fight can be taken as being for Leon, a lot of them are also self-reflection. "You're slow and so goddamn weak." "You can't save anyone." "You're losing your cool, making mistakes." "You're too soft, you can do better than that." etcetera. All of these are as much pointed toward Leon as they are pointed toward his own self. Because as you said it yourself, his motivation stems from the extreme trauma that happened during Operation Javier. He was responsible for the lives of his men and they all died. It doesn't blame the US for it nor does he blame Leon, who was also there, at any point. Because to him, their death happened because of his own weakness. It also fits with the fact that at no point does he ever try to get Leon to understand the Illuminados side. That's because he doesn't actually give a shit about any of this. He doesn't believe in Saddler's "world without war thanks to religion." He has no stakes in this. His only focus is trying to get some sort of closure for the failed operation. And in the very last part of his fight, he shows it even more. By that point, instead of taunting Leon, he compliments him for doing good, asks him to show him why he's wrong. That he's been waiting for this. Telling him that he's glad that this is not just some random grunt. And of course the last scene where, instead of mutating further, he simply asks Leon to do what he needs to do. Because again, this never was about Los Illuminados, Ashley, world domination or any ideology. It was the last fight of a broken man, wanting to die by the end of his student, so that he can rest with his fellow soldier like he should've two years ago.
In sekiro, when you finally defeat owl at hirata estate, in his prime form, him and wolf drop the hardest exchange of all time: “death of a shadow… you taught me well” “to be defeated by one’s own son… the feeling is not entirely unpleasant”
Yes I 100% agree. Krauser at this point is a man that is suffering from severe PTSD and survivors guilt from the deaths of his men. Krauser definitely blames himself for their deaths because he felt he was the one responsible. I can imagine him going over Operation Javier over and over, replaying those events as to how he could’ve done things differently. I also believe the fact the operation was covered up, and he probably wanted the story to be publicized in the hopes of his men getting justice and have some kind of honor. Also, the dog tags, he probably had to physically remove each and everyone of his men’s dog tags off their lifeless bodies. I can only imagine how traumatizing that is as well. Krauser did not understand why he didn’t die, and continued to spiral. It’s interesting how he tells Leon to stop reminiscing when he was the one who continuously refer to what happened two years ago. Krauser is a good man, however his trauma is what drove him to make the decision to join Los Illuminados to gain or cope with his trauma. I really hope we get DLC for Krauser. I would love to see more of his character.
@@Angelbunnys i believe krauser believes he’s moved on from javier, but its just so he can keep moving and avoid processing what happened. Leon integrates his trauma to try and be better, krauser was unable to because the systems and structures he thinks in were completely shattered by what happened and the complexes he lives with at the point of re4make have enveloped every bit of what he used to be
One thing I like is the intro scene firmly estabilshes Krauser is more dangerous than the other villains. Saddler needs his power to be a threat, Ramon is a joke until he mutates and Mendez is powerful but very slow. Krauser is not only crazy strong going by the kicks and leaps he performs, but also lightning fast, showing that he doesn't need to mutate to be dangerous, which only makes you more terrified when he does considering how powerful he's already shown to be.
To me, Krauser is a glimpse into a successful, militarized bioweapon. The man and the virus are in harmony, mutations are under control and the host exhibits great training and will.
@@Odinfang In some respects he's like Wesker 2.0. All the enhancements brought about by a virus but with the added benefit of years of military training
@@thefanwithoutaface8105 yes indeed. Kinda feels like if Raccoon City wasn’t destroyed, US military would have more bioweapon soldiers much like Krauser thanks to Umbrella.
Krauser accepting the deathblow is such a powerful moment. Could be a moment the original Krauser, the Krauser Leon remembers shines through the trauma induced megalomania... That final 'I trained you well, Leon' actually had me feeling kind of emotional over a relationship I haven't even fully seen in game... Project Javier dlc when tho?
i dont think there'll be an operation javier dlc, since it's been retconned to leon not being there only krauser and his soldiers. the game was able to communicate alot with very little words, krauser was leon's mentor turned rival who fell from grace and sold his soul for the dominant strain plagas. their dynamic was so much better in this game and i love it lol
I think that line has another meaning. I think he is acknowledging that Humanity is in good hands if it has Leon to rely on. Krauser is the kind of villain that either kills you and proves you were not up to the task or helps train you to be ready and shows you have passed by killing him.
@@maxreboman it's possible that was another mission, my reasoning for leon not being involved with operation javier was how he had to be reminded of how krauser lost his squad, and that he wasn't included in the operation javier file that krauser had. like you'd think leon would already know pretty clear what kind of effect operation javier had on krauser if he was there in person rather than simply hearing about it lol
I liked this Krauser more than the original because rather than being just a cartoon villain with a desire for power he's a soldier with PTSD who was terribly influenced by Saddler just like Salazar was. I found some of his lines funny too since they reflect another Capcom villain Vergil. "I need more power!" "Those without power can't protect anything, let alone themselves"
Lol. He’s legit just a cartoon villain with a desire for power.. I. The original he was working for wesker and they expanded on that by showing us that his arm was severely injured and was discharged because of it. In this he randomly knows saddler for whatever reason and is dumb enough to work for him because… he wants power
@@BabyGirlTiny In the original his backstory was never revealed until Umbrella chronicles and there he learned just how powerful BOWs are and desired that power. He naturally started working for Wesker as a fellow lover of Virus weaponry. His motivation is barebones i want power. The new Krauser seemingly has no connection to Wesker though we won't know until Separate ways comes out. His motivation is still "hurr durr i want power" but now there's a sympathetic reason for it, the death of his squad... It may not be a huge change at the end of the day but it gives some context to the character within the game he originally appears in unlike the original where he was shoehorned in without us knowing a thing about him only Leon.
Yeah I was thinking that too, he's very reminiscent of Vergil from his quotes in the fights, and I love it. I even tried beating both fights just with the knife but that didn't work lol.
He's even more cartoon-y here, what are you on about? Did you listen to his little monologues during the final battle? You said yourself you found it funny.
I don't doubt too much that Leon wished he could spare Krauser's life but he knew that if he didn't deliver the killing blow, Krauser would have been right about his doubts and lack of strength, it was necessary for him to do in order to move on, both on a personal level and to show his fallen mentor as well as himself that there was strength to be found from within, rather than outside. In his last moments, Krauser seem to have a revelation and catharsis about his choices and in accepting his death with dignity by the hands of his pupil, he shows that he admits that Leon was right and that he was wrong without it being outwardly said.
I think Krauser really wanted Leon to kill him. He wanted to die ever since his men got wiped out. Guilt for not protecting them and betrayal from the government it all adds up.
@@LeonS.kennedyswifeSome shipers are really obsesed with their hobby. The most minor sing of respect or affection between characters means, for them, that the ought to start giving each other backshots as fast as possible.
Krauser establishes their relationship by telling Leon that knives are faster, but just a few hours earlier Leon says almost the exact same thing to Ada when they reunite. Leon has been EXPLICITLY carrying Krauser with him on this mission.
I thought it looked pretty impressive--not silly at all! Of course, it did look kind of spastic slappy, though, so in reality, it seems like it'd be really hard to do!
I like how at the end he says "I taught you well, Leon" Rather than calling him rookie. It shows how he establishes and respects that Leon is no longer a rookie
Not only do we see Krauser first in the reflection of his knife, we see him as he and Leon are sharing his perception. Leon looks to his own reflection and sees Krauser instead.
I think the tent before the fight could have been explored a little here too, like the fact that Krauser still has all the dog tags of the lost soldiers, and I think there was a photograph as well. I believe same as you that Krauser really didnt do this as revenge and the writers want us to see him as evil but I also think it's something they wanted to show perhaps along with the way he mutates, that although Krauser is evil, he still retains his humanity.
Dude I loved that section in the game, there's a trail of blood literally at the exit of the tent, after you look at everything and you go outside you see a giant suitcase and if you'd played OGRE4, you knew what was in that suitcase. Sure the fight is an obstacle course but my god the back and forth between them is just great... Krauser is talkative but it's all interesting. I also loved the line "Anything to make a pretty boy feel special" ... Thank you devs, it's not just Ada who calls him handsome. 😏👌
I think the subtext with the dog tags makes it clear that Krauser’s motives aren’t selfish. In denying that it was revenge, he simply ruled out one of the darker possibilities for his intended goal.
@Welsh Lout even his setting up his gauntlet Leon shows he isn't all out for power... He wanted to test Leon to the fullest, Leon's ideals vs his own. If Leon can't win, he can't save Ashley. He was a mentor till the end.
Krauser got properly introduced here by killing Luis and showing us his relation with Leon with hints first then the direct interactions. In the original he was like a random soldier dude that he appeared just 'cause.
Except I’m the OG they explained that he was working for wesker and with Ada so no it wasn’t just cause. In this it’s just cause because he has no connection to wesker or Ada so he just randomly knows saddlers
What's funny is that I'm getting metal gear vibes from the way the 2 Krauser fights play out now, which is more of "Capcom flexing on Konami" stuff :) First it was "So they cancelled Silent Hill PT? Fine then, we'll do it ourselves", aka House Beneviento. Now it's "They fucked up Metal Gear? Fine, we'll do some of that".
I remember back when there were rumors about Krauser being cut from the game. Glad he wasn’t. People were actually defending him being cut as him being not important.
to be fair, krauser in the original re4 was forgettable, he showed up at the end for a qte fight and another boss fight that gets cheesed with the knife. the remake simply made use of the potential krauser had as a mentor and essentially being like vergil in the sense that him and leon share the same skillset
I don't know who these people were to defend that All I remember, is laughing at people expecting Krauser to be cut in the first place The whole operation involving kidnapping of Ashley, which itself means the whole game, was his job
It's funny because the OG RE4 was my first RE game, so I had no idea who ANYONE was, including Krauser, so I just assumed by the way he spoke with Leon was that he was an old character and not some rando pretending to be one lol. But either way, Krauser exudes so much Rule of Cool that it makes both new fans and old fans not care too much.
@@BabyGirlTiny No, he doesn't do the exact same thing and it's not small. Krauser in the original wanted to revive Umbrella for 'world order' which is a silly reason and was incredibly cheesy. Here, he has a more personal and serious reason and taunts Leon even more with them arguing each other. And it's more with the fact that he's Leon's mentor and kills one of Leon's companions in his journey. Also he doesn't just fall down and die like the original. Instead, he says some words to Leon in a way that he's proud of him as a mentor.
@@BabyGirlTiny for one he's not working for wesker he's making this by his own choice which is a major difference He also kills Louis which is not a subtle change and he's much more involved with Leon and we know more about his back story....he's also more complex here
What I find interesting is that even though krauser states it isn't about revenge at all, I think its interesting that he kept all his fallen teams dogtags
Imo, I think it secretly was about revenge as much as it was about power. He just didn't tell Leon that because the road of revenge is seen as something a naive person would do as opposed to letting it go, and not only is Krauser a teacher and strives to set an example (good or bad is up to personal interpretation), but Krauser refuses to see himself as naive, because to him, being naive immediatly makes a person weak, which is something he refuses to be. Besides, losing all of his men was the starting point of his transformation into the character he is; he likely keeps the tags as a reminder of what he strives to overcome. Ps (this is more of a personal take) He was angry abt the government lacking honor surrounding the soldier's deaths, so he likely wanted to bestow some of his own. Keeping the dog tags honored them, in his own way.
There is also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of Krauser in the “backstory cliff notes” cutscene; Leon mentions his training, and you get a split-second of the two of them fighting. It means that the next time you see that red hat, it still feels like someone you’ve seen before/vaguely remember, even if you’ve never touched *any* RE game before.
About the Dark Reflection of Krauser in the Knife, we see that scene because Leon sees that scene through the Plagas. So, for a short time Leon becomes his Shadow, Krauser. So, Leon knows what is to be the "Wrong Path".
What I find most interesting about the changes to Krauser is that they show how superfluous his connections to Wesker were in the original. They completely removed all of his ties to Ada and Wesker, and it didn't meaningfully change the story whatsoever. Even the plot beats from Separate Ways that they retooled for the main game in the remake read much cleaner without Krauser's involvement. It helps that on top of this they better integrated him into the story this time around, but it goes to show how convoluted the story got in places in the original, and how much tighter the narrative is without the unnecessary conspiracies/double-crossing (well...as tight as B Horror/Action can be). Still so confused how some people hate Krauser's new characterization. You touched on a lot of what I really liked about his new role in the game, here. Nice video, and also I'm interested to see what you have to say about the other characters! 👍
Overall this krauser is a moch more well-rounded character, but his execution and how he talks down to leon felt much more forced than the equal-footing they had in the original. Krauser seeing eye to eye with leon made him feel actually more believable, considering leon is pretty much a certified badass by the time you reach the qte fight in the middle of the island bit.
To Be fair, it could be said later that Wesker introduced/ordered Krauser to get into the Illuminados and then went rogue, it puts more power of Saddler's charismatic approach.
because changing characters and stories sucks, simple, you cna make the best character ever, but do it in another game, not replacing one i already liked
Will have to disagree with this take...seems as if they filled in prior plot holes regarding Krauser's character by simply creating new ones. -I like how they detailed Krauser's motivations & method behind kidnapping Ashley. -But was Krauser really telling the truth behind what got his unit killed during Operation Javier or was it his own negligence/misjudgement that got them murdered? -If you were to quite your 9-5 job to become a freelancer, you would want to develop as many "strings attached" partnerships as possible and in Krauser's case becoming more connected in the underground bioweapon industry as shown in the original game opposed to just suddenly becoming a full on cuck slave to Saddler.... -....which begs another question...how did Krauser & Saddler meet btw? -^hence it made sense in the original that Krauser wouldn't put all his eggs into one basket fully knowing either Saddler or Wesker could dispose of his services when it was convenient for them. -I'm not saying the original game was perfect story wise (far from it) but it continued the RE element of backstabbing, ulterior motives, conditional strings attached partnerships, etc amongst the antagonists. -When I think of RE's portrayal of this element throughout the series, it sort of reminds of the "underground organized crime scene" where everything is conditional coming with strings attached...or else...
I really like that Krauser has no full body transformation, just arms, it just shows he uses the plagas only as a tool. So in a sense, he fought as a human and died as a human.
The whole “rookie” thing is also interesting because Leon was the rookie cop throughout RE2, and maybe krauser is using that as a form of psychological warfare as well
I am shocked that I have never seen anyone mention this. With his dying breath, he calls Leon by his name, which he otherwise doesn't, he talks down to him and calls him "rookie", but when he's beaten he treats him finally as an equal, as if he can beat Krauser with all his powers then not only is he's world view proven right, but so is his training, he's a rookie no longer. That last little bit where he said that made me like him, and made me wish we didn't have to kill him which is precisely what the devs were going for because its exactly how Leon feels. You also get his knife as a "passing of the torch" moment between the two. Probably the most impactful and saddest moments in Resident Evil for me.
As a big Darkside chronicles fan, I was a little frustrated he has two mutated arms now. In Darkside, he loses his arm to Javier's BOW and is forced to leave the service (hence the power-seeking) which is why the same arm is mutated and he uses his bow as a weapon in RE4 (a weapon that inherently requires both arms, and it's a nice human touch to Krauser that he would use a bow simply because he enjoys using his restored arm.)
Leon does directly call out his arm being injured during the second fight with him, to be fair. A line something along the lines of, "that arm must be killing you," or close to that, during the fight just before he mutates.
@@BabyGirlTiny Oh hey, it's you again. Yeah like I told you in that other thread, the original game doesn't reference his arm at all. Darkside Chronicles does, but the remake actually makes reference to it.
That was the first Resident Evil game I ever played as a kid. I still remember that bit. Krauser got infected in his arm during the final boss fight, (I think I'm remembering correctly?) He had given his whole life to the US Government only to be abandoned by them, both during the mission and after it was all said and done. He could no longer get any work. It was Wesker that I believe "saved" him from turning into a full on BOW, and he repaid the favor by serving him. He felt useless and completely betrayed, and went along with Wesker's plans as the result. It's been a while since I revisited the original timeline, but I'm pretty sure that's how everything went, and knowing that, it makes his reasons in the remake understandable. There was further supplementary material aside from the Darkside Chronicles
I rather enjoyed this. The fact that he stops calling him rookie with his last sentence and instead addresses him as leon is quite telling too. It kind of adds a little humanity back into him, to be honest I think alot of us would pretend we would be like Leon in this kind of world, but the truth is we would probably be more like krauser and I feel that krausers respect for Leon kind of accentuates that point. Even when leons looking back at krausers dead body before the drawbridge goes up there's this feeling of "that could easily have been me" and there's a subtle resentment of the illuminados for setting up the events that led to him having to kill his own mentor.
@@malucoblz588he always has taunted Leon, if anyone tries to use the "pretty boy" thing to ship them, just remember it's a taunt, and that Jeanne from Bayonetta 1 does the EXACT same thing. They're just being delusional
I think they did a lot of development towards his character in this remake too. After playing I was able to sympathize with him a bit. On the surface he seemed like he was just power hungry, but through dialogue with him it seemed that there was more to it. I saw someone who wanted power because he saw the lack of it cost him his men during Operation Javier. It’s also more attachment because he was also Leon’s mentor. In the end he accepted that if he lost it just meant Leon was stronger than him. And in the end, when he died he seemed genuinely proud to see his student surpass him. You can see that when he finally stops calling him rookie and calls him Leon.
I also think he knew that Leon was going to surpass him. He wanted to die and he wanted Leon to end him. Deep down he was in pain after losing all of his comrades from operation of Javier. Leon ended Krauser’s suffering.
I really, *really* like how they've deepened the characterization in 4. I hope any future RE titles (including other inevitable remakes) have this level of writing; the characters have always been likable and memorable, but there wasn't much *too* them at the same time. I know the series is known to be equivalent to schlocky, action-oriented B-movies, but that doesn't have to mean they're completely mindless. I especially like how they made Krauser and Leon being reflections to each other; his first reveal is such good use of composition.
In other words, Krauser went full Vergil in this one, not that it's a bad thing, Vergil is a very well - written character after all. I think that at least a part of my fascination with Krauser is because of how relatable I find him. He was in a situation where he felt helpless and abandoned, and decided to do whatever it takes to never be hurt like that again. It's a very human thing, something everyone can relate to, something many of us felt as human beings. Granted, most people won't go as far as implanting a bio weapon parasite in themselves, but a lot of morally questionable actions can still be born from this feeling. Another thing is how human Krauser feels despite becoming a BOW - infused mutant, where all the other villains are just monsters.
Compare to Resident evil 2 remake that leon fight still had a prep time for him while Krauser units were send to die and i am sure Leon re2 remake will die in that case too if he was in that Units.
You actually first see Krauser in a blink and you’ll miss it moment at the start of the game. It’s when Leon is recalling what happened to him over the 6 years through flashback.
It truly is remarkable just how much more entertaining this version of Krauser is, and I already liked him originally. As you said, good rivals make for good content.
The biggest improvement in the remake from the orginal alongside luis was definitely krauser, he was the best part of the game for me, and my favorite boss fight in the whole re franchise, first off he is badass and strong, his boss fight isn't your typical re monster boss fight, it's just an honorable knife and guns duels between two badasses, mentor and student. But his story from being just a random guy which had no interesting dynamic with leon and just serves wesker, to this actual tragic and flawed character and you feel for him, his relationship with leon and the tension between them is just awesome, his ending scene where he dies has to be one of the best scenes in resident evil history, leon getting his knife, and hesitating in killing hin really being sad, and then krauser saying "I trained you well leon" is so awesome it brought a tear down my eyes. In his last moments, it was the first time he called leon by his actual name instead of just rookie, his student made him proud in his last moments. It has kind of a sekiro vs owl where in his boss he says: "defeated by my own son? The feeling is not entirely unpleasant" That's why I loved krauser so much. Also of course people mentioned it but they look like dante and vergil
Nick Apostolides (Leon’s VA) did a stream of the RE4 Remake with the various voice actors of the game, including Mike Kovac (Krauser’s VA). Nick mentioned an alternate version of Krauser’s death where he would’ve put his hand over the knife as Leon went to stab him, but they scrapped it because it wouldn’t make sense with his mutated arms. Krauser probably had a death wish, as he probably felt he should’ve died in that jungle along with his men. Leon was able to grant him that wish.
The story between the two is bookended with both characters looking at their reflections through the knife. Color contrasts (pale vs warm) and even emotional states (desire to prove vs quiet resignation to do the right thing) are all wonderful foils. Cheesiness aside, this story was captured incredibly well.
I actually found the death scene pretty touching. The dialogue was well done and had a sort of passing of the torch kind of feeling. The fact Krauser embraced his own death after how confrontational he had been was interesting, and like you mentioned, not something you see in RE games.
One of the best moments of that boss fight was that he only refers to Leon as "Rookie" the entire game. Until he is bested at his most powerful. When Leon proves he is strong enough to "do what is necessary", he says "I trained you well, Leon." This is the only time he actually says Leon's name and it signifies that he views Leon as an equal if not his superior. It was a great moment that is part of the reason I made a save right before that fight so I could relive it again and again. It's a great fight to play but also a great fight to listen to as well. The final phase of the fight has both characters clashing full force in both physical and ideological strengths. The story in this game has easily become one of my favorites of all time and I am still blown away by just how well it is.
Leon and Krauser in the remake reminds me of Dante and Vergil in devil may cry with all of them experiencing a severe trauma(Dante and Vergil with losing their mother and home, Leon and Krauser with operation Javier) while Leon and Dante chose to dedicate themselves to protecting others while Krauser and Vergil chose the path of power to cope with their trauma. I love how they took inspiration from the series that spawned from re4 for the remake
Resident evil 4 og was Originaly DMC so Krauser & Leon Remake kind of like Dante vs Nelo Angelo (Vergil) that fight for Mundus. but The line of Power connect to Devil may cry 3.
16:57 - What makes this moment even better is that not three chapters prior, when Ada shows up to attempt to convince Leon to quit his mission, is that Leon beats Ada with the same maneuver, _and_ the same line Krauser used in this first battle. I think it further highlights how much more experienced Krauser is over Leon, further adding to his threat level--although he also acknowledges Leon's skill in the same stroke. I love how well this is written. I also got a strange sense, after seeing Luis survive past where he originally died in RE4 OG, that he would die somewhere else... and it somehow crossed my mind that, since we had seen Krauser deployed at the time Leon joins up with Luis, that Krauser would be the one to kill Luis. Cue one chapter end later, and Luis literally gets stabbed in the back by him. I had hoped that I was wrong, but that moment sealed it. Glad I found this channel. You do a good job with these deep dives. Thank you.
23:50 Krauser saying "You can't save her, you can't save anyone" is because Leon and Krauser tried to save Manuela (operation Javier) and failed to save her. She died despite all their efforts to save her.
I really hope we get an Operation Javier DLC to fully explore what happened in this new timeline. Imagine how cool that could be. Krauser is so much more memorable in this remake. Like you said, he didn't really have much motivation or character in the original. Now it makes sense that he's mad and it gives him a good dynamic with Leon.
He’s not memorable though??? They just retconned what they already established. That doesn’t make him Memorable as he doesn’t do anything worth remembering for. Lol. I guess he kills Luis but that’s about it lol. Like, they already developed him in operation Javier and you get a reason as to why he’s working with welser because of his arm. In this they took all that away and made him a generic antagonist
@@BabyGirlTiny The Krauser in the original is fine, but this one has a much more developed connection to Leon. He also has more motivation than what happened just to him, now he's also mad about the deaths of his men. They took what was a perfectly serviceable character in the original and expanded on him. That's why I said he's more memorable.
@@BabyGirlTiny In the OG he is more generic than the one we currently see. In the OG he wants to revive Umbrella and create a new world order. He is discount Wesker. The funny thing is Darkside Chronicle didn't come out until after RE4.
@@BabyGirlTinyBro, we get it, you've got a hard-on for the original Krauser. He was entertaining in the original, I agree. This version though feels far more personally connected to Leon, and has a much more direct influence on his character development. Wesker doesn't need to be working with Krauser to make him a good character, they still have him looking to gain power because of his injured arm and operation Javier and all that, rewritten or otherwise the actual important aspects of his character are intact.
@@snortlaxatives there is no developed connection Leon in this one. Again, they had operation ma over and decided to retcon it. All they did in this one is have Krauser call Leon rookie and bring up an operation they retconned so it holds no meaning to people who played darkside chronicles
One thing I like about the end of the fight with Krauser is his line "I trained you well...Leon;" after the entire time of Leon being called "rookie," it not only was a taunt by Krauser but a statement acknowledging the master/apprentice persona. In a way, when Krauser is defeated by Leon Krauser is proud of him becoming a true soldier where his last words are him calling Leon by his name rather than rookie; Krauser is in a way saying "good job son...you're not a rookie anymore." In fact when Krauser dies he almost seems satisfied or peaceful if you will; knowing that even though he made the wrong choice, all his skills, knowledge, and strength will be put to good use because he trained Leon to be a great soldier/agent; so in the end he technically doesn't die in vain and can be proud that Leon won't make the same mistakes he did.
I really enjoyed the voice acting for Krauser (Mike Kovac). It is a bit over-the-top but very entertaining, engaging, fun, and embodies all the points you're making in this video.
I second this, I really like new Ashley, and I think they made her resemble Leon as a way to make her Leon’s inner child, one he is desperately trying to protect from the nightmare around him.
And the last moment before his death. ‘I trained you well, Leon’ He called Leon by his name instead of rookie meaning that he accepted Leon as equal in the end.
One of the most notable things, at least for me, when it comes to Krauser's death is the fact that even if he wanted to keep on fighting, he physically wasn't able to. Because of his mutation, he wasn't even able to pick up his knife, which was what he preached to be his most useful tool. It's easy to interpret this as another sign that Krauser was wrong; in seeking power, he couldn't even hold up his own principles.
That first knife fight is so good. They took what was a QTE snoozefest and made it a playable segment. Bravo! I really want for Capcom to give us an Operation Javier expansion. It would be cool to see more of this version of Leon and Krauser, how they met, how they get along... who was Krauser before he broke? C'mon, Capcom, do something! *pokes Capcom with a stick*
There’s one line that really stuck out for me. When Leon first meets Ada earlier in the story they have their exchange and Leon ends up with the upper hand and remarks about knives being faster in close quarters. Then once Krausers introduced later and he says that he taught Leon that knives are faster really stuck out to me
Krauser also acts as a reverse of Marvin. Both met Leon when he was a "rookie", both gave Leon the advice that he needed to survive, and both pass on their knife as a keepsake.
Absolutely one of the best shots and the menacing stance and the way the shadow encompasses his face and the way his Barrett stays untouched almost to show his insignia as a lethal opponent where the student becomes the master,and how after he kicks Leon and the leap and the landing he could've likey killed Leon as Leon was still rolling to get his footing back to his stance, although even the beginning how he so gracefully has a knife at leons throat before he even gets his gun half way unholstered and graphically one of the best looking parts in the game without a doubt
I thought it was interesting how not only in story and visual framing (Krauser looks into knife and then Leon later does), but in physical features they REALLY mirror each other. It is esp evident at the point they're locked face-to-face in the knife fight. They could be father and son, with Leon only looking like a younger, thinner, not sullied version of Krauser. It was almost like seeing what further years of trauma and fury could make Leon literally become. Not so much only looking into a mirror but an "alternate crystal ball." In defeating Krauser, perhaps he defeats a part of himself. The model for Krauser would have actually been a really good one to have Leon grow into if they remade RE6 and if he was in RE9 as an older middle-aged man (minus the face scar, of course). He's actually quite striking and handsome as well, just with a harder edge. I suppose they could still use it with just enough tweaks that everyone isn't like, "Wait, what's Krauser doing here?"
I wonder if it might be more appropriate to refer to Leon as the bright reflection of Krauser since Krauser did come first and Leon comes from his tutelage.
I like how in every cutscene with Krauser, he is always on the higher ground while Leon is always looking up. This changes once Leon defeats him with Krauser laying down in a bloodied mess.
the last words he and Leon have almost brought a tear to my eye. he prepared Leon for all the shit he has to go thru in the future. at least thats how I took it
i come back to this and all your other RE4R video essays every once in a while because i really like your analysis of the scenes and the characters, plus i learned most of the backstory through them lol. i agree that Krauser is definitely one of the most compelling and interesting villains in the entire series and his boss fight is really well done. i love all the little details that were put in to give us clues about his relationship with Leon and also show us little facets of his personality. you already pointed out a lot of it but two more moments that i really liked were, for example, when Leon says his line about how Krauser was always an asshole but at least he had some sort of honor, Krauser lets out a tiny huff of a laugh, as if Leon calling him an asshole was little more than a joke in good will or, alternatively, an actually justified claim to him. i really like that this shows a sort of dry, bitter sense of humor from Krauser and also shows that Leon is clearly not just anyone to him, he's someone who can rightfully call Krauser an asshole because he has experienced it first-hand and is only making a valid point xD and then the other moment is a bit more obvious and i'm sure that others have already pointed it out but i don't care, i want to write it out as well, i have been thinking about this a lot (possibly too much? oh well...) the fact that in his final moments, right before Krauser dies after Leon stabs him in the heart, as a final acknowledgement and show of respect, he says "i trained you well, Leon," actually calling him by his first name instead of "Rookie" and implying that in this final moment, they see eye to eye. after all of his condescending barks and sneering insults, he's actually being sincere with Leon for once. and it's like that moment of sincerity kind of presses pause on all the horrible and weird stuff that has been happening and that Krauser has played no small part in and he and Leon briefly go back to just being mentor and student. this final acknowledgement from Krauser to Leon is not very far off from a display of pride, the sort of pride that, like you briefly mentioned, comes quite close to that of a father figure. and if... y'know... the whole context and everything that happened right before this wasn't a thing, i would actually find this pretty sweet. as a general note and point of gushing, that entire scene at the end of the Krauser boss fight is incredibly well done, you can see the depth of their relationship in Leon's body language and it's genuinely quite emotional once you actually focus on it. Leon slowly takes Krauser's knife and as he kneels beside him and prepares himself, you can see him hesitate multiple times before he finally gathers all his strength and gives Krauser the finishing blow. at this point, we've seen Leon slice up dozens of Ganados and various monsters into ribbons without a second thought, so seeing him struggle here is a very subtle but powerful moment. and then here's the part that hit me personally the most: despite the fact that Krauser became quite evil at the end and literally tried to turn Leon into an agent-shaped skewer for the past few minutes, despite the fact that Krauser is kind of the whole reason for this specific mission of Leon's and everything that came with it, since he was the one who kidnapped Ashley, now that he's found himself on his mentor's figurative death bed (literally more like his death... wall? idk) Leon immediately returns Krauser's final expression of respect by acknowledging his impact on him in an equally respectful tone ("that you did, Major") and then, after Krauser has died, seems quite shaken and conflicted over the fact that he's gone, which becomes clear from the subtle quiver in his lip as he looks up and takes a breath, like he's trying to stop himself from crying. i think this final scene is just so well done, the subtle clues and hints from the acting and the body language are incredible and even after the 20th time, this scene still gives me goosebumps because now i too, just like Leon, have some very conflicting feelings about Jack Krauser. because he's definitely an asshole, he's evil, he turned himself into a weird, horrifying mix between a human and a crab and he killed my favourite character in the game but like... DAMN IT, that was a great fight. and a great death. sorry about the essay. actually no, i'm not sorry, this was really fun. thank you for this video, and, while we're at it, also your Luis analysis, they're both amazing.
If only more villains could be this compelling, not all, we still need over the top guys, but having a more nuanced guy to bounce off of makes for a engaging story.
I am blown away by this in-depth analysis of Krauser's character. The video does an excellent job of examining his motivations and backstory, showing how his experiences shaped him into the villain we see in the game. The use of clips from the game and other sources really helps to illustrate the points made in the video and brings Krauser's character to life. I also appreciate the discussion of the game's themes and how they relate to Krauser's character. Overall, this is a well-researched and insightful look at one of Resident Evil's most intriguing villains. Great job!
Even in the original RE4, I loved how these two interacted. The lack of context was certainly confusing, but I got enough hints through their dialogue to understand enough like when Krauser calls out to Leon and asked what he fought for. It was an optional dialogue that you could choose to ignore, but I always liked to hear these sort of things. The remake really seemed to double down on Krauser the most with a bit of a hit to the other bosses in some regards. He got much more screen time and build up that really addressed the big weakness of the original while giving more foundation to an already rich relationship that he had with Leon. While he claims that he isn't doing this out of revenge, I feel a bit of doubt considering how he still carries the dog tags of his fallen soldiers in his personal tent alongside other memories of that time. While it is the same place where he decided that power was the goal he needed to achieve, it still showed that he kept a reserved love for his fallen brothers alongside upkeeping his respect for Leon, his last student, even when opposing each other. Honestly, Krauser seems more sympathetic than he was before. He was a good man who was also traumatized like Leon, and made a lot of wrong and quite frankly terrible choices in his attempts at escaping it, and he was only brought back to his senses by the one remaining person that he cared for. If he is to somehow survive that boss encounter like he did before in the OG RE4, then I'd love to see him attempt to take up his student's doctrine and work at regaining the honor he once had by hunting down bioterrorists. After all, Luis was someone that even Leon wished he left behind to rot after just hearing that he was from Umbrella, but it was from him that Leon accepted that even bad people can change for the better. I'd also just like to see Operation Jauvier get a remake too. Or a port of it to PC please, Capcom.
I think something that makes Remake's Krauser just a little bit more compelling is something that might not be immediately obvious. He's a dark reflection of Leon, yes. But, he could just as easily be used as a dark reflection for just about any member of the series' main cast. He could have just as easily been Chris (even pre-5 and 6), or Jill. Remake Krauser could be used as a means of showing just how easily the rest of the main cast could have gone in the same direction.
I had Darkside Chronicles when I was in middle school and because we had a pretty pathetic Wii game collection, it stuck out as a shooter game and was my first Resident Evil game ever. I 100% except for the weird “all zombies are now Jello blocks” Easter egg. You play as Leon first then once you complete everything in the game up to that point, there’s an secret dark side mission where you play through the Leon sections but from Krauser’s perspective and listen to his attitude change about how he feels about biohazard weapons.
Eh, Krauser for Leon is like Wesker for Chris Krauser vs Chris would feel like forced fan service The best we could wish for, is OP Javier as a full-fledged game, instead of railshooter
I love Krauser, but I do wish he lived longer in my opinion. He did most stuff in the background in the past games but I liked him in the remake and how he talks much more about losing his men.
three opinions and thoughts: 18:00 I love this kind of villain; not only antagonist to the hero, but dignified, respectful, and 100% evil. The only other one I can think besides Krauser is Sukuna from JJK, both knowing when to step back and give other characters their space, and recognizing the whole capacity of their habilities. 29:39 His eyes looks almost soft, as if no time had passed between him teaching Leon and the present. And Leon's expressions after finally killing him are pure gold. Im so glad the game has this amount of details When playing the original game over ten years ago, I'd use to think Krauser was really theatrical and dramatic(the face paint, his dialogues and mannerisms in the original game) , in the sense that maybe, if he had gone down a different route, he could've been a full blown actor. The door raising at 32:44 is like a curtain closing, after a final performance
If Krauser really didn't care that the government abandoned him and his men why did he keep their dog tags left evidence for Leon to find about the US leaving him and his men to die? Personally I felt he did have a grudge against them and had a bit of suvival's guilt. Yea, he was power hungry but he seemed to really care about the men who died.
One thing I find really amusing with both Leon and Krauser's relationship is that they both tend to do completely unnecessary backflips just because, lmao. Leon did a ridiculously over the top backflip when meeting the Bella sisters, and Krauser did one at the start of his boss fight when he could've just... you know, jumped down, lol.
I love how Leon is what Krauser held onto, mentally and physically (through his photograph). He was the only one left who could have possibly let him die in peace with dignity, all his insecurities and trauma validated. He's the only one alive who matters. Also, 27:42 - 27:54 is so beautifully shot. Leon is in serious pain, in over his head, disoriented and thinking _"That_ just happened", and is now a little kid lost in the dark with a flashlight.
I made a video essay playlist of all my favorite video essays and your videos make up like 80-90% of it. You always put out top quality videos, keep up the awesome work big guy!!
I think an interesting point to make is how perhaps Leon's worldview vs Krauser's was formed in this remake. Leon experienced Raccoon city as a rookie cop, so Operation Javier's outcome was nothing new to him. Whereas Krauser was already a seasoned combat veteran and experienced the outcome of bioweapons for the first time during Javier. Leon had already battled monsters with inferior combat skills and prevailed. It wasn't his skill set - but his ability to face fear, resourcefulness, and tenacity that allowed him to prevail. The skills just make things easier. Whereas Krauser failed to save his men despite his combat prowess. He lacked the mindset to ultimately prevail in his mind, and thus chose the dark path - and sought tangible power, rather than adopting a mindset that Leon had from the beginning. Krauser relies on careful training and preparedness - which are not inherently bad things, but he relies on that alone. That is shown in his battle with Leon - he sets up traps and a course for him to navigate. Leon has the ability to improvise and adapt in the face of danger - something that cannot be taught easily - or maybe, something Leon already has inherently come to understand because of Raccoon City. Krauser does not. Krauser only knows how to make gains and prevail through acquisition of strength. Krauser only knows traditional combat so Javier disrupted his entire worldview, leaving him questioning his years of combat experience, and what success on the battlefield meant. Leon is naturally talented but beats Krauser by combining both his training, his ability to quickly improvise and adapt, and his understanding of his worldview.
"You cant save anyone" i think its also Krauser talking about himself and he feels that he was too weak and powerless himself when all his men died. Like, he would have blamed himself, telling himself "If only I was more powerful, I could have saved them." His story is definitely more sad now. The fact that after getting super powers, he still lost the fight is even more sad. He lost his men when he did not have power. Then now, he still lost even after getting power. So his belief of "Power will allow me to be able to protect and save everyone" also has been proven wrong in his eyes. Sad.
I absolutely love the new Krauser. He's no longer motivated by petty jealousy, rather; he was a hardass but honorable special ops soldier betrayed by his own government. Left to die against bio-weapons that nearly killed him. In his tent he has all the dog tags of his fallen unit on display, showing he genuinely cared for his people. His goal in attaining power is so that it could never happen to him again. It's tragic, he's the traumatized veteran with nothing to lose, so he says 'fuck it' and carves out a chunk of that power for himself. But in the end, Leon was trained by the man who fought for what was right. Krauser went back to his original self in his final moments, and indeed taught Leon a final, but harsh lesson. Sometimes you do what you have to, even when you don't want to. You can't save everyone, and you either pull the trigger, or you die. Krauser could have tried to kill Leon still; scream and writhe around while cursing him like the original. But no, he accepted his loss with honor, and conceded to one noble fragment of himself that he left in this world, Leon.
" FOOLISHNESS Leon! Foolishness... Might controls everything. And without strength you can not protect anything. Let alone yourself. I need more power."
Another thing I thought was interesting about Krauser in the remake is that Krauser is working with Los Illumindos from the beginning and had already earned the trust of Saddler. In the original, Krauser tells us he plans to kill Leon to earn Saddler's trust. In the original, after killing Krauser, you call Saddler in which he thanks you for killing Krauser, saying he would never trust an American and was wondering how to get rid of him after the plan with Ashley. In the remake, Krauser came up with the plan and helped execute it. I think the remake did this better because it makes Krauser more like a powerful force that Saddler respects and can admire the determination of Krauser and less like some pawn that was just being used. I may be wrong in saying this because I didn't even realise the two stories were different until I played the original RE4 and met Krauser. Amazing vid btw I'll definitely look into more of your content! :)
I'm hoping that, if Krauser's connection to Wesker is reestablished for the remake somehow, he's established as having gone rogue once he gets his hands on a Dominant Plaga. He has no loyalty to those who have power, only to power itself.
@@devindalton4688 That’s strange. Normally I could tell if it was Wesker or not. He has a specific type of cadence when speaking. I guess I couldn’t tell that well over the radio.
@@acgearsandarms1343 nah it's the fact just like with Ada the person doing Wesker's voice acting was trash. Dude tried to do his own thing instead of trying to actually sound like Wesker
Good break down, but there is one subtle moment that not only you, but a lot of people missed. After Leon defeats Salazar, he takes an elevator to the docks and during his descent, he watches Krauser take Ashely on one of the boats to the island. If you have a scoped weapon, you can look down the sights and see that Krauser actually looks up and locks eyes with you for a few moments before turning his attention back to driving the boat. Was he taunting Leon? Was he proud of him? A little bit of both? Neither? The ambiguity is really cool for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail.
now I have something to look forward to in my current replay.
This is awesome thank you for telling us about this
Yeah never scoped in at him but will always take a few shots as he leaves.
I see it as pride. He expected no less from leon
Maybe krauser was just glad that Salazar didn’t kill Leon and that he would be the one to do it, or maybe he is just proud that his training is what got leon that far since during the krauser fight he tells leon he isn’t surprised that he made it that far.
I like how Krauser calls Leon "rookie" not only as a power move but also to make him remember Raccoon City and his first day as a member of law enforcement- when he was as green as they come and was, essentially, forced to reach the top of the ladder in a single day, or die. It's an enduring reminder that Leon somewhat paradoxically lacks experience because he has so much experience in that single horrible event.
then when he's finally been defeated, he calls him "leon" as a sign of respect and acknowledgement that the student has surpassed the mentor. i love how the parrying system which was originally meant for the krauser fight only evolved into them essentially being rivals since you fight him on equal grounds until the end
I think you’re significantly overthinking this
@@SmackingCashews I don't think they're overthinking it. I think it's interesting. Plus, it just shows how passionate someone is about a topic.
Glad I'm not the only person who interpreted "Rookie" that way.
Cause it DOES have a hugely traumatic double meaning for Leon specifically. Rookie cop is late for his first day and gets stuck in a zombie apocalypse. And somehow manages not to die immediately, but to survive and escape. So his new instructor/superior/enemy turns that into a personal pejorative. This fucking ROOKIE, in two senses of the word. One is that he IS a total newbie by any standard with minimal training, two is that Krauser is directly calling out and maybe trying to trigger a trauma response from Leon, because of his personal history in regards to that status, while also denigrating Leon's accomplishment in the same breath.
"Rookie cop survives a zombie apocalypse."
"ROOKIE is the only important word in that sentence."
It's now canon that Leon is still actively carrying trauma and guilt from Raccoon City, which also makes this even worse if this interpretation is correct. Not only is Krauser intentionally turning a traumatic event into an insult, he's doing it to someone he probably knows is still grappling with that trauma.
Mmm, I would like to think it’s that deep, but I always just assumed he just calls him rookie cause he was a rookie in the special forces where Krauser trained him. I don’t think he’s trying to remind of raccoon city cause I don’t think Krauser cares about that at all. He just wants to remind Leon that he’s his student and this Krauser is superior. Really doubt it’s meant to bring up raccoon city at all.
Something to add to the "Dark Reflection," Krauser is the person to captures Ashley in the first place.
Leon must undo what Krauser did. But also, it makes sense that someone of Leon's abilities was the person who was able to capture her in the first place.
Krauser when he finds out leons coming to save Ashley
"Alright Ashley im taking you home"
*Flashes Ashley with the men black flash thing*
*Speed runs re4 in reverse*
Leon just arrives at the 1st ganado house
Something that I feel like you've missed is that RE4R seems clearly driven by some sort of death-wish.
In his tent, right before the second fight with him, you can see that he kept all of his men's dogtags. And in his message to Leon, he tells him to come and put an end to what happened two years ago : The annihilation of their squad. Which mean his and Leon's death.
And while his comments during the fight can be taken as being for Leon, a lot of them are also self-reflection.
"You're slow and so goddamn weak." "You can't save anyone." "You're losing your cool, making mistakes." "You're too soft, you can do better than that." etcetera. All of these are as much pointed toward Leon as they are pointed toward his own self.
Because as you said it yourself, his motivation stems from the extreme trauma that happened during Operation Javier. He was responsible for the lives of his men and they all died. It doesn't blame the US for it nor does he blame Leon, who was also there, at any point. Because to him, their death happened because of his own weakness.
It also fits with the fact that at no point does he ever try to get Leon to understand the Illuminados side. That's because he doesn't actually give a shit about any of this. He doesn't believe in Saddler's "world without war thanks to religion."
He has no stakes in this. His only focus is trying to get some sort of closure for the failed operation.
And in the very last part of his fight, he shows it even more. By that point, instead of taunting Leon, he compliments him for doing good, asks him to show him why he's wrong. That he's been waiting for this. Telling him that he's glad that this is not just some random grunt.
And of course the last scene where, instead of mutating further, he simply asks Leon to do what he needs to do.
Because again, this never was about Los Illuminados, Ashley, world domination or any ideology. It was the last fight of a broken man, wanting to die by the end of his student, so that he can rest with his fellow soldier like he should've two years ago.
Insanely underrated comment
This is EXACTLY what I thought when playing the game
In sekiro, when you finally defeat owl at hirata estate, in his prime form, him and wolf drop the hardest exchange of all time: “death of a shadow… you taught me well” “to be defeated by one’s own son… the feeling is not entirely unpleasant”
Yes I 100% agree. Krauser at this point is a man that is suffering from severe PTSD and survivors guilt from the deaths of his men. Krauser definitely blames himself for their deaths because he felt he was the one responsible. I can imagine him going over Operation Javier over and over, replaying those events as to how he could’ve done things differently. I also believe the fact the operation was covered up, and he probably wanted the story to be publicized in the hopes of his men getting justice and have some kind of honor. Also, the dog tags, he probably had to physically remove each and everyone of his men’s dog tags off their lifeless bodies. I can only imagine how traumatizing that is as well.
Krauser did not understand why he didn’t die, and continued to spiral. It’s interesting how he tells Leon to stop reminiscing when he was the one who continuously refer to what happened two years ago. Krauser is a good man, however his trauma is what drove him to make the decision to join Los Illuminados to gain or cope with his trauma.
I really hope we get DLC for Krauser. I would love to see more of his character.
@@Angelbunnys i believe krauser believes he’s moved on from javier, but its just so he can keep moving and avoid processing what happened. Leon integrates his trauma to try and be better, krauser was unable to because the systems and structures he thinks in were completely shattered by what happened and the complexes he lives with at the point of re4make have enveloped every bit of what he used to be
To me, Krauser’s desire for power speech reads as false. He’s just trying to mask his trauma and justify his emotional choices.
Exactly.
In this remake, I don’t think he wanted power at all. He wanted Leon to finish him off, he wanted to die.
Krause is basically Leon's version of a final exam. All the skills are being tested from parrying to dogdging traps.its all there
Imagine if Krauser was the douchebag that sets those damned bear traps around the village. Ohhh how those things can be annoying
@@convergence1point brooo you ain't lying lol
LMFAO
@@convergence1point On one point during the first village fight you can spot a ganado setting up a trap near the locked door
One thing I like is the intro scene firmly estabilshes Krauser is more dangerous than the other villains. Saddler needs his power to be a threat, Ramon is a joke until he mutates and Mendez is powerful but very slow.
Krauser is not only crazy strong going by the kicks and leaps he performs, but also lightning fast, showing that he doesn't need to mutate to be dangerous, which only makes you more terrified when he does considering how powerful he's already shown to be.
To me, Krauser is a glimpse into a successful, militarized bioweapon. The man and the virus are in harmony, mutations are under control and the host exhibits great training and will.
@@Odinfang In some respects he's like Wesker 2.0. All the enhancements brought about by a virus but with the added benefit of years of military training
@@thefanwithoutaface8105 yes indeed. Kinda feels like if Raccoon City wasn’t destroyed, US military would have more bioweapon soldiers much like Krauser thanks to Umbrella.
@@thefanwithoutaface8105 Krauser might be the most OP RE charector. Maybe even more than Wesker.
Krauser accepting the deathblow is such a powerful moment. Could be a moment the original Krauser, the Krauser Leon remembers shines through the trauma induced megalomania... That final 'I trained you well, Leon' actually had me feeling kind of emotional over a relationship I haven't even fully seen in game... Project Javier dlc when tho?
i dont think there'll be an operation javier dlc, since it's been retconned to leon not being there only krauser and his soldiers.
the game was able to communicate alot with very little words, krauser was leon's mentor turned rival who fell from grace and sold his soul for the dominant strain plagas. their dynamic was so much better in this game and i love it lol
I think that line has another meaning. I think he is acknowledging that Humanity is in good hands if it has Leon to rely on. Krauser is the kind of villain that either kills you and proves you were not up to the task or helps train you to be ready and shows you have passed by killing him.
@@randomt800kiddo2 I think its pretty clear that Leon was there when Krauser says “Remember that fight in the jungle? We barely made it out alive.”
@@maxreboman in the file that refers to Operation Javier mentions that Krauser was the only survivor
@@maxreboman it's possible that was another mission, my reasoning for leon not being involved with operation javier was how he had to be reminded of how krauser lost his squad, and that he wasn't included in the operation javier file that krauser had. like you'd think leon would already know pretty clear what kind of effect operation javier had on krauser if he was there in person rather than simply hearing about it lol
I liked this Krauser more than the original because rather than being just a cartoon villain with a desire for power he's a soldier with PTSD who was terribly influenced by Saddler just like Salazar was. I found some of his lines funny too since they reflect another Capcom villain Vergil. "I need more power!" "Those without power can't protect anything, let alone themselves"
Lol. He’s legit just a cartoon villain with a desire for power.. I. The original he was working for wesker and they expanded on that by showing us that his arm was severely injured and was discharged because of it. In this he randomly knows saddler for whatever reason and is dumb enough to work for him because… he wants power
@@BabyGirlTiny In the original his backstory was never revealed until Umbrella chronicles and there he learned just how powerful BOWs are and desired that power. He naturally started working for Wesker as a fellow lover of Virus weaponry. His motivation is barebones i want power. The new Krauser seemingly has no connection to Wesker though we won't know until Separate ways comes out. His motivation is still "hurr durr i want power" but now there's a sympathetic reason for it, the death of his squad... It may not be a huge change at the end of the day but it gives some context to the character within the game he originally appears in unlike the original where he was shoehorned in without us knowing a thing about him only Leon.
Yeah I was thinking that too, he's very reminiscent of Vergil from his quotes in the fights, and I love it. I even tried beating both fights just with the knife but that didn't work lol.
'original Krauser was like a cartoon villain' also 'remake Krauser reminded me of Virgil'. Seriously?
He's even more cartoon-y here, what are you on about? Did you listen to his little monologues during the final battle? You said yourself you found it funny.
I don't doubt too much that Leon wished he could spare Krauser's life but he knew that if he didn't deliver the killing blow, Krauser would have been right about his doubts and lack of strength, it was necessary for him to do in order to move on, both on a personal level and to show his fallen mentor as well as himself that there was strength to be found from within, rather than outside.
In his last moments, Krauser seem to have a revelation and catharsis about his choices and in accepting his death with dignity by the hands of his pupil, he shows that he admits that Leon was right and that he was wrong without it being outwardly said.
Leon : Easy Work... (Krauser Line)
I think Krauser really wanted Leon to kill him. He wanted to die ever since his men got wiped out. Guilt for not protecting them and betrayal from the government it all adds up.
it would've been too cheesy and cliché if he didn't kill him specially because he killed Luis
Krauser’s story is really tragic and he’s probably my favorite character in this game. I genuinely felt sad after killing him.
Sad he's been dumbed down by idiots on twitter to "omg he's gay for Leon!!!"
@@LeonS.kennedyswife my brother/sister in Christ? Why are you even listening to Twitter people?
@@ninazarmerk2722 I don't
@@LeonS.kennedyswifeSome shipers are really obsesed with their hobby. The most minor sing of respect or affection between characters means, for them, that the ought to start giving each other backshots as fast as possible.
@@hectorhernandezaleman3836 FR! Like they don't even wait for canon evidence 😭
Krauser establishes their relationship by telling Leon that knives are faster, but just a few hours earlier Leon says almost the exact same thing to Ada when they reunite. Leon has been EXPLICITLY carrying Krauser with him on this mission.
Also, the knife slap fight is Kali knife fighting. One of the most effective knife and weapons based fighting styles ever made by man.
Why is it so effective?
I'm also curious about that fighting style, to Google I go.
@@Gortanckla Fliphinno art can use Stick and Knife too fast in the warzone.
I thought it looked pretty impressive--not silly at all! Of course, it did look kind of spastic slappy, though, so in reality, it seems like it'd be really hard to do!
I like how at the end he says "I taught you well, Leon" Rather than calling him rookie. It shows how he establishes and respects that Leon is no longer a rookie
Not only do we see Krauser first in the reflection of his knife, we see him as he and Leon are sharing his perception. Leon looks to his own reflection and sees Krauser instead.
I think the tent before the fight could have been explored a little here too, like the fact that Krauser still has all the dog tags of the lost soldiers, and I think there was a photograph as well. I believe same as you that Krauser really didnt do this as revenge and the writers want us to see him as evil but I also think it's something they wanted to show perhaps along with the way he mutates, that although Krauser is evil, he still retains his humanity.
I thought those were blank dogtags for his Las Plagas guards?
Dude I loved that section in the game, there's a trail of blood literally at the exit of the tent, after you look at everything and you go outside you see a giant suitcase and if you'd played OGRE4, you knew what was in that suitcase.
Sure the fight is an obstacle course but my god the back and forth between them is just great...
Krauser is talkative but it's all interesting.
I also loved the line "Anything to make a pretty boy feel special" ... Thank you devs, it's not just Ada who calls him handsome. 😏👌
@@yharnamiyhill787 no they're of his lost squadron members from Operation Javier.
I think the subtext with the dog tags makes it clear that Krauser’s motives aren’t selfish. In denying that it was revenge, he simply ruled out one of the darker possibilities for his intended goal.
@Welsh Lout even his setting up his gauntlet Leon shows he isn't all out for power... He wanted to test Leon to the fullest, Leon's ideals vs his own. If Leon can't win, he can't save Ashley.
He was a mentor till the end.
Krauser got properly introduced here by killing Luis and showing us his relation with Leon with hints first then the direct interactions. In the original he was like a random soldier dude that he appeared just 'cause.
Except I’m the OG they explained that he was working for wesker and with Ada so no it wasn’t just cause. In this it’s just cause because he has no connection to wesker or Ada so he just randomly knows saddlers
What's funny is that I'm getting metal gear vibes from the way the 2 Krauser fights play out now, which is more of "Capcom flexing on Konami" stuff :)
First it was "So they cancelled Silent Hill PT? Fine then, we'll do it ourselves", aka House Beneviento.
Now it's "They fucked up Metal Gear? Fine, we'll do some of that".
@@carljohan9265 the dialogue in the first knife fight is like something directly taken from MGS 5
@@Matti2ooo8 Capcom gonna give the fans what Konami took away and I'm loving it.
@@carljohan9265 the wharf and the whole island felt like entering Shadow Moses
I remember back when there were rumors about Krauser being cut from the game. Glad he wasn’t. People were actually defending him being cut as him being not important.
to be fair, krauser in the original re4 was forgettable, he showed up at the end for a qte fight and another boss fight that gets cheesed with the knife. the remake simply made use of the potential krauser had as a mentor and essentially being like vergil in the sense that him and leon share the same skillset
@@randomt800kiddo2 i would disagree, i thought krauser was compelling through the mysterious past he shared with Leon.... and he was a total badass
To be fair, he’s not important. You can replace him with someone random because they took away his connection to Wesker
@@randomt800kiddo2 the remake didn’t do anything with that. They just had him call Leon rookie and that’s about it
I don't know who these people were to defend that
All I remember, is laughing at people expecting Krauser to be cut in the first place
The whole operation involving kidnapping of Ashley, which itself means the whole game, was his job
Krauser was one of my favourite characters from the original so I'm happy that they gave him more to do in the remake!
He does the same exact thing though.. except you actually do the knife fight and he kills Luis. But that’s like two small things
It's funny because the OG RE4 was my first RE game, so I had no idea who ANYONE was, including Krauser, so I just assumed by the way he spoke with Leon was that he was an old character and not some rando pretending to be one lol. But either way, Krauser exudes so much Rule of Cool that it makes both new fans and old fans not care too much.
@@BabyGirlTiny No, he doesn't do the exact same thing and it's not small. Krauser in the original wanted to revive Umbrella for 'world order' which is a silly reason and was incredibly cheesy. Here, he has a more personal and serious reason and taunts Leon even more with them arguing each other. And it's more with the fact that he's Leon's mentor and kills one of Leon's companions in his journey. Also he doesn't just fall down and die like the original. Instead, he says some words to Leon in a way that he's proud of him as a mentor.
@@BabyGirlTiny what do you mean exact same? Did you play the remake? There’s more to Krauser this time around
@@BabyGirlTiny for one he's not working for wesker he's making this by his own choice which is a major difference
He also kills Louis which is not a subtle change and he's much more involved with Leon and we know more about his back story....he's also more complex here
What I find interesting is that even though krauser states it isn't about revenge at all, I think its interesting that he kept all his fallen teams dogtags
Imo, I think it secretly was about revenge as much as it was about power. He just didn't tell Leon that because the road of revenge is seen as something a naive person would do as opposed to letting it go, and not only is Krauser a teacher and strives to set an example (good or bad is up to personal interpretation), but Krauser refuses to see himself as naive, because to him, being naive immediatly makes a person weak, which is something he refuses to be. Besides, losing all of his men was the starting point of his transformation into the character he is; he likely keeps the tags as a reminder of what he strives to overcome.
Ps (this is more of a personal take) He was angry abt the government lacking honor surrounding the soldier's deaths, so he likely wanted to bestow some of his own. Keeping the dog tags honored them, in his own way.
There is also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of Krauser in the “backstory cliff notes” cutscene; Leon mentions his training, and you get a split-second of the two of them fighting. It means that the next time you see that red hat, it still feels like someone you’ve seen before/vaguely remember, even if you’ve never touched *any* RE game before.
About the Dark Reflection of Krauser in the Knife, we see that scene because Leon sees that scene through the Plagas. So, for a short time Leon becomes his Shadow, Krauser. So, Leon knows what is to be the "Wrong Path".
What I find most interesting about the changes to Krauser is that they show how superfluous his connections to Wesker were in the original. They completely removed all of his ties to Ada and Wesker, and it didn't meaningfully change the story whatsoever. Even the plot beats from Separate Ways that they retooled for the main game in the remake read much cleaner without Krauser's involvement. It helps that on top of this they better integrated him into the story this time around, but it goes to show how convoluted the story got in places in the original, and how much tighter the narrative is without the unnecessary conspiracies/double-crossing (well...as tight as B Horror/Action can be).
Still so confused how some people hate Krauser's new characterization. You touched on a lot of what I really liked about his new role in the game, here. Nice video, and also I'm interested to see what you have to say about the other characters! 👍
Overall this krauser is a moch more well-rounded character, but his execution and how he talks down to leon felt much more forced than the equal-footing they had in the original. Krauser seeing eye to eye with leon made him feel actually more believable, considering leon is pretty much a certified badass by the time you reach the qte fight in the middle of the island bit.
To Be fair, it could be said later that Wesker introduced/ordered Krauser to get into the Illuminados and then went rogue, it puts more power of Saddler's charismatic approach.
im hoping they use HUNK as Wesker agent for REmake separate ways since he had no Role in whole story besides retrieving the G-virus for RE2.
because changing characters and stories sucks, simple, you cna make the best character ever, but do it in another game, not replacing one i already liked
Will have to disagree with this take...seems as if they filled in prior plot holes regarding Krauser's character by simply creating new ones.
-I like how they detailed Krauser's motivations & method behind kidnapping Ashley.
-But was Krauser really telling the truth behind what got his unit killed during Operation Javier or was it his own negligence/misjudgement that got them murdered?
-If you were to quite your 9-5 job to become a freelancer, you would want to develop as many "strings attached" partnerships as possible and in Krauser's case becoming more connected in the underground bioweapon industry as shown in the original game opposed to just suddenly becoming a full on cuck slave to Saddler....
-....which begs another question...how did Krauser & Saddler meet btw?
-^hence it made sense in the original that Krauser wouldn't put all his eggs into one basket fully knowing either Saddler or Wesker could dispose of his services when it was convenient for them.
-I'm not saying the original game was perfect story wise (far from it) but it continued the RE element of backstabbing, ulterior motives, conditional strings attached partnerships, etc amongst the antagonists.
-When I think of RE's portrayal of this element throughout the series, it sort of reminds of the "underground organized crime scene" where everything is conditional coming with strings attached...or else...
I really like that Krauser has no full body transformation, just arms, it just shows he uses the plagas only as a tool. So in a sense, he fought as a human and died as a human.
OG RE4: A brother in arms
Remake RE4: A brother who has arms
dude, you're firing out these in-depth analyses like a machine gun
Man's got a lot on his mind. I love it.
And they’re all bangers, too
The whole “rookie” thing is also interesting because Leon was the rookie cop throughout RE2, and maybe krauser is using that as a form of psychological warfare as well
I am shocked that I have never seen anyone mention this. With his dying breath, he calls Leon by his name, which he otherwise doesn't, he talks down to him and calls him "rookie", but when he's beaten he treats him finally as an equal, as if he can beat Krauser with all his powers then not only is he's world view proven right, but so is his training, he's a rookie no longer. That last little bit where he said that made me like him, and made me wish we didn't have to kill him which is precisely what the devs were going for because its exactly how Leon feels. You also get his knife as a "passing of the torch" moment between the two. Probably the most impactful and saddest moments in Resident Evil for me.
As a big Darkside chronicles fan, I was a little frustrated he has two mutated arms now. In Darkside, he loses his arm to Javier's BOW and is forced to leave the service (hence the power-seeking) which is why the same arm is mutated and he uses his bow as a weapon in RE4 (a weapon that inherently requires both arms, and it's a nice human touch to Krauser that he would use a bow simply because he enjoys using his restored arm.)
Leon does directly call out his arm being injured during the second fight with him, to be fair. A line something along the lines of, "that arm must be killing you," or close to that, during the fight just before he mutates.
@@devindalton4688 yeah but because they retconned what happened the arm thing was mostly a minor thing instead of what it originally was
@@BabyGirlTiny Oh hey, it's you again. Yeah like I told you in that other thread, the original game doesn't reference his arm at all. Darkside Chronicles does, but the remake actually makes reference to it.
That was the first Resident Evil game I ever played as a kid. I still remember that bit. Krauser got infected in his arm during the final boss fight, (I think I'm remembering correctly?) He had given his whole life to the US Government only to be abandoned by them, both during the mission and after it was all said and done. He could no longer get any work. It was Wesker that I believe "saved" him from turning into a full on BOW, and he repaid the favor by serving him. He felt useless and completely betrayed, and went along with Wesker's plans as the result. It's been a while since I revisited the original timeline, but I'm pretty sure that's how everything went, and knowing that, it makes his reasons in the remake understandable.
There was further supplementary material aside from the Darkside Chronicles
I rather enjoyed this.
The fact that he stops calling him rookie with his last sentence and instead addresses him as leon is quite telling too. It kind of adds a little humanity back into him, to be honest I think alot of us would pretend we would be like Leon in this kind of world, but the truth is we would probably be more like krauser and I feel that krausers respect for Leon kind of accentuates that point. Even when leons looking back at krausers dead body before the drawbridge goes up there's this feeling of "that could easily have been me" and there's a subtle resentment of the illuminados for setting up the events that led to him having to kill his own mentor.
Also Krauser choking on the word rookie to finally and respectfully call Leon by his name- absolutely amazing
It's like he refuses to lmao
I was initially very cold towards Krauser's VA: Mike Kovac.
But I love how he sounds like a snake "hissing"
I honestly never noticed it until you said it, specially when he says "rookie", almost like he is taunting Leon.
@@malucoblz588he always has taunted Leon, if anyone tries to use the "pretty boy" thing to ship them, just remember it's a taunt, and that Jeanne from Bayonetta 1 does the EXACT same thing. They're just being delusional
I think they did a lot of development towards his character in this remake too. After playing I was able to sympathize with him a bit. On the surface he seemed like he was just power hungry, but through dialogue with him it seemed that there was more to it. I saw someone who wanted power because he saw the lack of it cost him his men during Operation Javier. It’s also more attachment because he was also Leon’s mentor. In the end he accepted that if he lost it just meant Leon was stronger than him. And in the end, when he died he seemed genuinely proud to see his student surpass him. You can see that when he finally stops calling him rookie and calls him Leon.
I also think he knew that Leon was going to surpass him. He wanted to die and he wanted Leon to end him. Deep down he was in pain after losing all of his comrades from operation of Javier. Leon ended Krauser’s suffering.
I really, *really* like how they've deepened the characterization in 4. I hope any future RE titles (including other inevitable remakes) have this level of writing; the characters have always been likable and memorable, but there wasn't much *too* them at the same time. I know the series is known to be equivalent to schlocky, action-oriented B-movies, but that doesn't have to mean they're completely mindless. I especially like how they made Krauser and Leon being reflections to each other; his first reveal is such good use of composition.
In other words, Krauser went full Vergil in this one, not that it's a bad thing, Vergil is a very well - written character after all.
I think that at least a part of my fascination with Krauser is because of how relatable I find him. He was in a situation where he felt helpless and abandoned, and decided to do whatever it takes to never be hurt like that again. It's a very human thing, something everyone can relate to, something many of us felt as human beings. Granted, most people won't go as far as implanting a bio weapon parasite in themselves, but a lot of morally questionable actions can still be born from this feeling.
Another thing is how human Krauser feels despite becoming a BOW - infused mutant, where all the other villains are just monsters.
Compare to Resident evil 2 remake that leon fight still had a prep time for him while Krauser units were send to die and i am sure Leon re2 remake will die in that case too if he was in that Units.
Finally I know someone would compare him to "the storm that is approaching."
You actually first see Krauser in a blink and you’ll miss it moment at the start of the game. It’s when Leon is recalling what happened to him over the 6 years through flashback.
It’s not a goofy knife fight. What they are doing is a martial arts called Kali. It has been used in part of many countries military training.
Man good rivals truly elevate any piece of media they appear in
Some of the best characters are rivals. Vergil from DMC, Jetstream Sam, I could go on. They're also usually the best boss fights.
@@Darkslayer289 Krauser is *very motivated*
@@mikaelm5367 Foolishness, Rookie! Foolishness!
It truly is remarkable just how much more entertaining this version of Krauser is, and I already liked him originally. As you said, good rivals make for good content.
Nicks voice acting with the quivering of the face at the end was perfect
also when he calls him Leon instead of rookie. it's like a sign of respect that he no longer sees him as a rookie
The biggest improvement in the remake from the orginal alongside luis was definitely krauser, he was the best part of the game for me, and my favorite boss fight in the whole re franchise, first off he is badass and strong, his boss fight isn't your typical re monster boss fight, it's just an honorable knife and guns duels between two badasses, mentor and student. But his story from being just a random guy which had no interesting dynamic with leon and just serves wesker, to this actual tragic and flawed character and you feel for him, his relationship with leon and the tension between them is just awesome, his ending scene where he dies has to be one of the best scenes in resident evil history, leon getting his knife, and hesitating in killing hin really being sad, and then krauser saying "I trained you well leon" is so awesome it brought a tear down my eyes. In his last moments, it was the first time he called leon by his actual name instead of just rookie, his student made him proud in his last moments. It has kind of a sekiro vs owl where in his boss he says: "defeated by my own son? The feeling is not entirely unpleasant" That's why I loved krauser so much. Also of course people mentioned it but they look like dante and vergil
Nick Apostolides (Leon’s VA) did a stream of the RE4 Remake with the various voice actors of the game, including Mike Kovac (Krauser’s VA). Nick mentioned an alternate version of Krauser’s death where he would’ve put his hand over the knife as Leon went to stab him, but they scrapped it because it wouldn’t make sense with his mutated arms. Krauser probably had a death wish, as he probably felt he should’ve died in that jungle along with his men. Leon was able to grant him that wish.
The story between the two is bookended with both characters looking at their reflections through the knife. Color contrasts (pale vs warm) and even emotional states (desire to prove vs quiet resignation to do the right thing) are all wonderful foils. Cheesiness aside, this story was captured incredibly well.
I actually found the death scene pretty touching. The dialogue was well done and had a sort of passing of the torch kind of feeling. The fact Krauser embraced his own death after how confrontational he had been was interesting, and like you mentioned, not something you see in RE games.
I love the deconstruction of villainy videos! Thank you FatBrett.
One of the best moments of that boss fight was that he only refers to Leon as "Rookie" the entire game. Until he is bested at his most powerful. When Leon proves he is strong enough to "do what is necessary", he says "I trained you well, Leon." This is the only time he actually says Leon's name and it signifies that he views Leon as an equal if not his superior. It was a great moment that is part of the reason I made a save right before that fight so I could relive it again and again. It's a great fight to play but also a great fight to listen to as well. The final phase of the fight has both characters clashing full force in both physical and ideological strengths. The story in this game has easily become one of my favorites of all time and I am still blown away by just how well it is.
Leon and Krauser in the remake reminds me of Dante and Vergil in devil may cry with all of them experiencing a severe trauma(Dante and Vergil with losing their mother and home, Leon and Krauser with operation Javier) while Leon and Dante chose to dedicate themselves to protecting others while Krauser and Vergil chose the path of power to cope with their trauma. I love how they took inspiration from the series that spawned from re4 for the remake
Resident evil 4 og was Originaly DMC so Krauser & Leon Remake kind of like Dante vs Nelo Angelo (Vergil) that fight for Mundus.
but The line of Power connect to Devil may cry 3.
16:57 - What makes this moment even better is that not three chapters prior, when Ada shows up to attempt to convince Leon to quit his mission, is that Leon beats Ada with the same maneuver, _and_ the same line Krauser used in this first battle. I think it further highlights how much more experienced Krauser is over Leon, further adding to his threat level--although he also acknowledges Leon's skill in the same stroke. I love how well this is written.
I also got a strange sense, after seeing Luis survive past where he originally died in RE4 OG, that he would die somewhere else... and it somehow crossed my mind that, since we had seen Krauser deployed at the time Leon joins up with Luis, that Krauser would be the one to kill Luis. Cue one chapter end later, and Luis literally gets stabbed in the back by him. I had hoped that I was wrong, but that moment sealed it.
Glad I found this channel. You do a good job with these deep dives. Thank you.
23:50 Krauser saying "You can't save her, you can't save anyone" is because Leon and Krauser tried to save Manuela (operation Javier) and failed to save her. She died despite all their efforts to save her.
I really hope we get an Operation Javier DLC to fully explore what happened in this new timeline. Imagine how cool that could be.
Krauser is so much more memorable in this remake. Like you said, he didn't really have much motivation or character in the original. Now it makes sense that he's mad and it gives him a good dynamic with Leon.
He’s not memorable though??? They just retconned what they already established. That doesn’t make him
Memorable as he doesn’t do anything worth remembering for. Lol. I guess he kills Luis but that’s about it lol.
Like, they already developed him in operation Javier and you get a reason as to why he’s working with welser because of his arm. In this they took all that away and made him a generic antagonist
@@BabyGirlTiny The Krauser in the original is fine, but this one has a much more developed connection to Leon. He also has more motivation than what happened just to him, now he's also mad about the deaths of his men. They took what was a perfectly serviceable character in the original and expanded on him. That's why I said he's more memorable.
@@BabyGirlTiny In the OG he is more generic than the one we currently see. In the OG he wants to revive Umbrella and create a new world order. He is discount Wesker. The funny thing is Darkside Chronicle didn't come out until after RE4.
@@BabyGirlTinyBro, we get it, you've got a hard-on for the original Krauser. He was entertaining in the original, I agree. This version though feels far more personally connected to Leon, and has a much more direct influence on his character development. Wesker doesn't need to be working with Krauser to make him a good character, they still have him looking to gain power because of his injured arm and operation Javier and all that, rewritten or otherwise the actual important aspects of his character are intact.
@@snortlaxatives there is no developed connection Leon in this one. Again, they had operation ma over and decided to retcon it. All they did in this one is have Krauser call Leon rookie and bring up an operation they retconned so it holds no meaning to people who played darkside chronicles
One thing I like about the end of the fight with Krauser is his line "I trained you well...Leon;" after the entire time of Leon being called "rookie," it not only was a taunt by Krauser but a statement acknowledging the master/apprentice persona. In a way, when Krauser is defeated by Leon Krauser is proud of him becoming a true soldier where his last words are him calling Leon by his name rather than rookie; Krauser is in a way saying "good job son...you're not a rookie anymore." In fact when Krauser dies he almost seems satisfied or peaceful if you will; knowing that even though he made the wrong choice, all his skills, knowledge, and strength will be put to good use because he trained Leon to be a great soldier/agent; so in the end he technically doesn't die in vain and can be proud that Leon won't make the same mistakes he did.
I really enjoyed the voice acting for Krauser (Mike Kovac). It is a bit over-the-top but very entertaining, engaging, fun, and embodies all the points you're making in this video.
He also sounds like he's always out of breath 😅😂
@@bob0699 Exactly.
"You're slow...and so GOD DAMN WEAK"
I would love to see you do a deconstruction of Ashley in the remake
I second this, I really like new Ashley, and I think they made her resemble Leon as a way to make her Leon’s inner child, one he is desperately trying to protect from the nightmare around him.
And the last moment before his death.
‘I trained you well, Leon’
He called Leon by his name instead of rookie meaning that he accepted Leon as equal in the end.
One of the most notable things, at least for me, when it comes to Krauser's death is the fact that even if he wanted to keep on fighting, he physically wasn't able to. Because of his mutation, he wasn't even able to pick up his knife, which was what he preached to be his most useful tool. It's easy to interpret this as another sign that Krauser was wrong; in seeking power, he couldn't even hold up his own principles.
That first knife fight is so good. They took what was a QTE snoozefest and made it a playable segment. Bravo!
I really want for Capcom to give us an Operation Javier expansion. It would be cool to see more of this version of Leon and Krauser, how they met, how they get along... who was Krauser before he broke?
C'mon, Capcom, do something!
*pokes Capcom with a stick*
There’s one line that really stuck out for me. When Leon first meets Ada earlier in the story they have their exchange and Leon ends up with the upper hand and remarks about knives being faster in close quarters. Then once Krausers introduced later and he says that he taught Leon that knives are faster really stuck out to me
Krauser also acts as a reverse of Marvin. Both met Leon when he was a "rookie", both gave Leon the advice that he needed to survive, and both pass on their knife as a keepsake.
One was a nice black guy. The other was a mean white guy. The parallels really are parallelograming.
Jokes aside, nice catch.
"Goofy slap knife fight" dude that is probably one of the more realistic portrayals of high level knife fighting in a game I have seen. Don't be dense
It was a joke.
A non-lightgun darkside chronicles is prime DLC material.
Absolutely one of the best shots and the menacing stance and the way the shadow encompasses his face and the way his Barrett stays untouched almost to show his insignia as a lethal opponent where the student becomes the master,and how after he kicks Leon and the leap and the landing he could've likey killed Leon as Leon was still rolling to get his footing back to his stance, although even the beginning how he so gracefully has a knife at leons throat before he even gets his gun half way unholstered and graphically one of the best looking parts in the game without a doubt
I think it's cool how Krauser kicks Leon into what's mostly a lit area and as he jumps down, he himself is almost fully shrouded in shadows
I loved that he finally calls him "Leon" at the end, indicating that he is no longer a "Rookie" in his eyes.
I enjoy the fact that Krauser finally calls Leon by his name right before he dies, like a right of passage.
I thought it was interesting how not only in story and visual framing (Krauser looks into knife and then Leon later does), but in physical features they REALLY mirror each other. It is esp evident at the point they're locked face-to-face in the knife fight. They could be father and son, with Leon only looking like a younger, thinner, not sullied version of Krauser. It was almost like seeing what further years of trauma and fury could make Leon literally become. Not so much only looking into a mirror but an "alternate crystal ball." In defeating Krauser, perhaps he defeats a part of himself.
The model for Krauser would have actually been a really good one to have Leon grow into if they remade RE6 and if he was in RE9 as an older middle-aged man (minus the face scar, of course). He's actually quite striking and handsome as well, just with a harder edge. I suppose they could still use it with just enough tweaks that everyone isn't like, "Wait, what's Krauser doing here?"
When I heard him yell “move out and draw fire soldier!” it truly shook me to my core terrifying me
I wonder if it might be more appropriate to refer to Leon as the bright reflection of Krauser since Krauser did come first and Leon comes from his tutelage.
I like how in every cutscene with Krauser, he is always on the higher ground while Leon is always looking up. This changes once Leon defeats him with Krauser laying down in a bloodied mess.
😮 The details!
Krauser: join me Leon! And together we’ll rule the world!
Leon: NO thanks, bro
the last words he and Leon have almost brought a tear to my eye. he prepared Leon for all the shit he has to go thru in the future. at least thats how I took it
i come back to this and all your other RE4R video essays every once in a while because i really like your analysis of the scenes and the characters, plus i learned most of the backstory through them lol. i agree that Krauser is definitely one of the most compelling and interesting villains in the entire series and his boss fight is really well done. i love all the little details that were put in to give us clues about his relationship with Leon and also show us little facets of his personality. you already pointed out a lot of it but two more moments that i really liked were, for example, when Leon says his line about how Krauser was always an asshole but at least he had some sort of honor, Krauser lets out a tiny huff of a laugh, as if Leon calling him an asshole was little more than a joke in good will or, alternatively, an actually justified claim to him. i really like that this shows a sort of dry, bitter sense of humor from Krauser and also shows that Leon is clearly not just anyone to him, he's someone who can rightfully call Krauser an asshole because he has experienced it first-hand and is only making a valid point xD
and then the other moment is a bit more obvious and i'm sure that others have already pointed it out but i don't care, i want to write it out as well, i have been thinking about this a lot (possibly too much? oh well...) the fact that in his final moments, right before Krauser dies after Leon stabs him in the heart, as a final acknowledgement and show of respect, he says "i trained you well, Leon," actually calling him by his first name instead of "Rookie" and implying that in this final moment, they see eye to eye. after all of his condescending barks and sneering insults, he's actually being sincere with Leon for once. and it's like that moment of sincerity kind of presses pause on all the horrible and weird stuff that has been happening and that Krauser has played no small part in and he and Leon briefly go back to just being mentor and student. this final acknowledgement from Krauser to Leon is not very far off from a display of pride, the sort of pride that, like you briefly mentioned, comes quite close to that of a father figure. and if... y'know... the whole context and everything that happened right before this wasn't a thing, i would actually find this pretty sweet.
as a general note and point of gushing, that entire scene at the end of the Krauser boss fight is incredibly well done, you can see the depth of their relationship in Leon's body language and it's genuinely quite emotional once you actually focus on it. Leon slowly takes Krauser's knife and as he kneels beside him and prepares himself, you can see him hesitate multiple times before he finally gathers all his strength and gives Krauser the finishing blow. at this point, we've seen Leon slice up dozens of Ganados and various monsters into ribbons without a second thought, so seeing him struggle here is a very subtle but powerful moment. and then here's the part that hit me personally the most: despite the fact that Krauser became quite evil at the end and literally tried to turn Leon into an agent-shaped skewer for the past few minutes, despite the fact that Krauser is kind of the whole reason for this specific mission of Leon's and everything that came with it, since he was the one who kidnapped Ashley, now that he's found himself on his mentor's figurative death bed (literally more like his death... wall? idk) Leon immediately returns Krauser's final expression of respect by acknowledging his impact on him in an equally respectful tone ("that you did, Major") and then, after Krauser has died, seems quite shaken and conflicted over the fact that he's gone, which becomes clear from the subtle quiver in his lip as he looks up and takes a breath, like he's trying to stop himself from crying. i think this final scene is just so well done, the subtle clues and hints from the acting and the body language are incredible and even after the 20th time, this scene still gives me goosebumps because now i too, just like Leon, have some very conflicting feelings about Jack Krauser. because he's definitely an asshole, he's evil, he turned himself into a weird, horrifying mix between a human and a crab and he killed my favourite character in the game but like... DAMN IT, that was a great fight. and a great death.
sorry about the essay. actually no, i'm not sorry, this was really fun. thank you for this video, and, while we're at it, also your Luis analysis, they're both amazing.
If only more villains could be this compelling, not all, we still need over the top guys, but having a more nuanced guy to bounce off of makes for a engaging story.
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I am blown away by this in-depth analysis of Krauser's character. The video does an excellent job of examining his motivations and backstory, showing how his experiences shaped him into the villain we see in the game. The use of clips from the game and other sources really helps to illustrate the points made in the video and brings Krauser's character to life. I also appreciate the discussion of the game's themes and how they relate to Krauser's character. Overall, this is a well-researched and insightful look at one of Resident Evil's most intriguing villains. Great job!
I like how Krauser only calls Leon by his name when Leon kills him.
Even in the original RE4, I loved how these two interacted. The lack of context was certainly confusing, but I got enough hints through their dialogue to understand enough like when Krauser calls out to Leon and asked what he fought for. It was an optional dialogue that you could choose to ignore, but I always liked to hear these sort of things.
The remake really seemed to double down on Krauser the most with a bit of a hit to the other bosses in some regards. He got much more screen time and build up that really addressed the big weakness of the original while giving more foundation to an already rich relationship that he had with Leon. While he claims that he isn't doing this out of revenge, I feel a bit of doubt considering how he still carries the dog tags of his fallen soldiers in his personal tent alongside other memories of that time. While it is the same place where he decided that power was the goal he needed to achieve, it still showed that he kept a reserved love for his fallen brothers alongside upkeeping his respect for Leon, his last student, even when opposing each other.
Honestly, Krauser seems more sympathetic than he was before. He was a good man who was also traumatized like Leon, and made a lot of wrong and quite frankly terrible choices in his attempts at escaping it, and he was only brought back to his senses by the one remaining person that he cared for. If he is to somehow survive that boss encounter like he did before in the OG RE4, then I'd love to see him attempt to take up his student's doctrine and work at regaining the honor he once had by hunting down bioterrorists. After all, Luis was someone that even Leon wished he left behind to rot after just hearing that he was from Umbrella, but it was from him that Leon accepted that even bad people can change for the better.
I'd also just like to see Operation Jauvier get a remake too. Or a port of it to PC please, Capcom.
I think something that makes Remake's Krauser just a little bit more compelling is something that might not be immediately obvious. He's a dark reflection of Leon, yes. But, he could just as easily be used as a dark reflection for just about any member of the series' main cast. He could have just as easily been Chris (even pre-5 and 6), or Jill. Remake Krauser could be used as a means of showing just how easily the rest of the main cast could have gone in the same direction.
I had Darkside Chronicles when I was in middle school and because we had a pretty pathetic Wii game collection, it stuck out as a shooter game and was my first Resident Evil game ever. I 100% except for the weird “all zombies are now Jello blocks” Easter egg. You play as Leon first then once you complete everything in the game up to that point, there’s an secret dark side mission where you play through the Leon sections but from Krauser’s perspective and listen to his attitude change about how he feels about biohazard weapons.
I also like how he called Leon by his name when he dies as a show that he sees him as a equal if not superior
Really wish Krauser had gone on to become a boss in Resident Evil 5. I would have loved to see him and Chris throw down.
Eh, Krauser for Leon is like Wesker for Chris
Krauser vs Chris would feel like forced fan service
The best we could wish for, is OP Javier as a full-fledged game, instead of railshooter
@@spicydong317 I kinda want Krauser to survive as an anti-hero tbh
Everytime someone labels the remake "soulless", I'm gonna refer them to your video! 😁 Thanks for the amazing work.
The devs just went and gave him not one, but 2 best boss fights in the game. Respect +
He's also OP in Mercenaries mode.
Yea just used him lmao he’s no joke
Krauser: Imma turn this shooter into a hack and slash. 😂😂. I love him.
I love Krauser, but I do wish he lived longer in my opinion. He did most stuff in the background in the past games but I liked him in the remake and how he talks much more about losing his men.
I love how Krauser shows you , what Leon had the potential to become.. if he turned down the wrong path..
- Traumatic past which turns them villainous.
- Lusting for power.
- Weird voice.
Yep, this is Vergil alright.
three opinions and thoughts:
18:00 I love this kind of villain; not only antagonist to the hero, but dignified, respectful, and 100% evil. The only other one I can think besides Krauser is Sukuna from JJK, both knowing when to step back and give other characters their space, and recognizing the whole capacity of their habilities.
29:39 His eyes looks almost soft, as if no time had passed between him teaching Leon and the present. And Leon's expressions after finally killing him are pure gold. Im so glad the game has this amount of details
When playing the original game over ten years ago, I'd use to think Krauser was really theatrical and dramatic(the face paint, his dialogues and mannerisms in the original game) , in the sense that maybe, if he had gone down a different route, he could've been a full blown actor. The door raising at 32:44 is like a curtain closing, after a final performance
If Krauser really didn't care that the government abandoned him and his men why did he keep their dog tags left evidence for Leon to find about the US leaving him and his men to die? Personally I felt he did have a grudge against them and had a bit of suvival's guilt. Yea, he was power hungry but he seemed to really care about the men who died.
I just wanted to say that I love your analyses! It's been a while since I've been this invested in anything. Incredible work!
I really like and sympathize with this character and your analysis only further cemented this perspective.
“I lost my entire unit.” Capcoms reason for good guy turns bad or acts poorly.
It happened to Chris, Leon, and Krauser
One thing I find really amusing with both Leon and Krauser's relationship is that they both tend to do completely unnecessary backflips just because, lmao. Leon did a ridiculously over the top backflip when meeting the Bella sisters, and Krauser did one at the start of his boss fight when he could've just... you know, jumped down, lol.
Krauser also taught him how to jump. In RE2r leon couldn't jump over a 2 foot gap 😂
I love how Leon is what Krauser held onto, mentally and physically (through his photograph). He was the only one left who could have possibly let him die in peace with dignity, all his insecurities and trauma validated. He's the only one alive who matters. Also, 27:42 - 27:54 is so beautifully shot. Leon is in serious pain, in over his head, disoriented and thinking _"That_ just happened", and is now a little kid lost in the dark with a flashlight.
I made a video essay playlist of all my favorite video essays and your videos make up like 80-90% of it. You always put out top quality videos, keep up the awesome work big guy!!
I think an interesting point to make is how perhaps Leon's worldview vs Krauser's was formed in this remake. Leon experienced Raccoon city as a rookie cop, so Operation Javier's outcome was nothing new to him. Whereas Krauser was already a seasoned combat veteran and experienced the outcome of bioweapons for the first time during Javier. Leon had already battled monsters with inferior combat skills and prevailed. It wasn't his skill set - but his ability to face fear, resourcefulness, and tenacity that allowed him to prevail. The skills just make things easier. Whereas Krauser failed to save his men despite his combat prowess. He lacked the mindset to ultimately prevail in his mind, and thus chose the dark path - and sought tangible power, rather than adopting a mindset that Leon had from the beginning.
Krauser relies on careful training and preparedness - which are not inherently bad things, but he relies on that alone. That is shown in his battle with Leon - he sets up traps and a course for him to navigate. Leon has the ability to improvise and adapt in the face of danger - something that cannot be taught easily - or maybe, something Leon already has inherently come to understand because of Raccoon City. Krauser does not. Krauser only knows how to make gains and prevail through acquisition of strength. Krauser only knows traditional combat so Javier disrupted his entire worldview, leaving him questioning his years of combat experience, and what success on the battlefield meant.
Leon is naturally talented but beats Krauser by combining both his training, his ability to quickly improvise and adapt, and his understanding of his worldview.
"You cant save anyone"
i think its also Krauser talking about himself and he feels that he was too weak and powerless himself when all his men died.
Like, he would have blamed himself, telling himself "If only I was more powerful, I could have saved them."
His story is definitely more sad now.
The fact that after getting super powers, he still lost the fight is even more sad.
He lost his men when he did not have power. Then now, he still lost even after getting power. So his belief of "Power will allow me to be able to protect and save everyone" also has been proven wrong in his eyes.
Sad.
What I love about this fight is Leon makes fun of his arm injury and asks if he can get a refund for his power
I absolutely love the new Krauser. He's no longer motivated by petty jealousy, rather; he was a hardass but honorable special ops soldier betrayed by his own government. Left to die against bio-weapons that nearly killed him. In his tent he has all the dog tags of his fallen unit on display, showing he genuinely cared for his people. His goal in attaining power is so that it could never happen to him again. It's tragic, he's the traumatized veteran with nothing to lose, so he says 'fuck it' and carves out a chunk of that power for himself. But in the end, Leon was trained by the man who fought for what was right. Krauser went back to his original self in his final moments, and indeed taught Leon a final, but harsh lesson. Sometimes you do what you have to, even when you don't want to. You can't save everyone, and you either pull the trigger, or you die. Krauser could have tried to kill Leon still; scream and writhe around while cursing him like the original. But no, he accepted his loss with honor, and conceded to one noble fragment of himself that he left in this world, Leon.
" FOOLISHNESS Leon! Foolishness... Might controls everything. And without strength you can not protect anything. Let alone yourself. I need more power."
Another thing I thought was interesting about Krauser in the remake is that Krauser is working with Los Illumindos from the beginning and had already earned the trust of Saddler. In the original, Krauser tells us he plans to kill Leon to earn Saddler's trust. In the original, after killing Krauser, you call Saddler in which he thanks you for killing Krauser, saying he would never trust an American and was wondering how to get rid of him after the plan with Ashley. In the remake, Krauser came up with the plan and helped execute it. I think the remake did this better because it makes Krauser more like a powerful force that Saddler respects and can admire the determination of Krauser and less like some pawn that was just being used. I may be wrong in saying this because I didn't even realise the two stories were different until I played the original RE4 and met Krauser. Amazing vid btw I'll definitely look into more of your content! :)
I'm hoping that, if Krauser's connection to Wesker is reestablished for the remake somehow, he's established as having gone rogue once he gets his hands on a Dominant Plaga. He has no loyalty to those who have power, only to power itself.
Was that not Krauser talking to Ada in the castle?
@@acgearsandarms1343That was Wesker.
@@devindalton4688 That’s strange. Normally I could tell if it was Wesker or not. He has a specific type of cadence when speaking. I guess I couldn’t tell that well over the radio.
@@acgearsandarms1343 nah it's the fact just like with Ada the person doing Wesker's voice acting was trash. Dude tried to do his own thing instead of trying to actually sound like Wesker