The Steves take on the Umbrella Corporation as they break down why Resident Evil is their favorite horror video game franchise.
#ButFirst
Resident Evil Disucssion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves take on the Umbrella Corporation as they break down why Resident Evil is their favorite horror video game franchise.
#ButFirst
Resident Evil Disucssion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello returning happies and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin, and this is
Stephen:Stephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of
Steve:happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, television shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bringing a smile to your face along the way.
Stephen:And today we're talking about, oh my God, what's wrong with your eyes
Steve:itchy. Tasty
Stephen:not again, good thing to keep the vaccine for the T virus handy,
Steve:Much better. You know, we really should take down that umbrella corporation. So this stops happening to me.
Stephen:I agree. But first let's talk about our favorite horror video game series, resident,
Steve:evil shore thing I love, but first what's making you happy. So,
Stephen:It's two things. I had a really fun weekend with Mr. Ramekins and we went hiking. So, you know, I walked children in nature and that was lovely, but I'm also really enjoying paper, Mario, the origami king for the Nintendo switch.
Steve:Excellent. What are you enjoying about it?
Stephen:It's this really quirky take on the Mario brothers world. The combat is interesting. I love the exploration and the puzzles and it just it's fitting into this weird little niche that. Just tickles my funny bone. So I'm enjoying it a whole bunch.
Steve:Excellent. I'm glad that you're enjoying it. After the last entry in the series, didn't really make much of a big impact for you sticker star sucks.
Stephen:Yes. But what about you, darling? What's making you happy.
Steve:Well, you we're walking children in nature with Remy because I was away at sober con and that was a blast. What is sober? Calm? Well, it was a conference about sobriety. And I renamed it sober con cause it just sounds flashier. And I feel like I should do some of the marketing for my
Stephen:groups. I mean, I enjoy the name, sober con it was probably something like, you know, alcohol awareness conference.
Steve:It was just because we go friend and it was all just called the Florida state conference.
Stephen:Oh yeah. So becomes
Steve:better over kindness. Better, but yeah. In addition to that I've been enjoying or a love, hate relationship with Pokemon unite? Yes, it is the new Fortnite esque kind of Pokemon game where it's not a matter of catching them all or beating the elite four it's timed matches where you have a certain limited number of time to level your Pokemon up, make it evolve. Score goals on the opposing team. How do you score goals? You did cheat each other to take each other's points and you get points by defeating wild Pokemon while you're also fighting other people in real life. So
Stephen:you make the Pokemon
Steve:faint. Yes, you do. And it's just. It's one of those games where I really love it when I'm winning. It's awesome. But when I'm losing, I'm ready to throw my controller and that's not normally the type of video gamer that I am. No, but I also think it's why I'm the type of video gamer that normally doesn't play online, multiplayer games like that. Because it does bring out a side of me that I'm not, but luckily I win more often than I lose. Well, that's lovely.
Stephen:And something else. That's interesting. And it's entirely to your question. We can now look at our little baby and tell him to
Steve:sit. Yes. And he said nine out of 10 times now, which is nine more times out of 10, many used to a couple of weeks ago.
Stephen:Yes, because he was not one to sit, stay, roll over high five. Any of that sort of thing. Like we couldn't even get him to come to us. The only people that can do that are my parents. And all they have to do is go or come here, Remi, we have me come here and he comes running towards them. I can look at him. You can look at him and go Ramy, come here. And he just looks at us. Yeah, papel. What are you talking
Steve:about? Yeah. And then I also have been enjoying today before this recording of watching the world ends with you, Anna Mae. It's on Hulu and it is subtitled. So you do need to read the story, but it's a great way to, for me to catch up before I play the SQL Neo ends with you without having to replay that first game and the first
Stephen:game. For the 3d
Steve:S yes it did. And then they did a port for the switch that I think you'd love one day. Cause it does have an amazing story. But I wasn't ready to play through the full game to play the CQL. So the anime is stylish. It gives you the highlights, it gives you the beat and it even makes the combat like call back to the game in like a really flashy awesome way. So that's fine. I'm F a fun trip through that right now.
Stephen:Well, wonderful. And I guess with all the. Things about us out of the way that brings us to resident evil.
Steve:Yes. And for those of you who don't know, resident evil is also known as biohazard in the east and pretty much everywhere else, but America. It is a Japanese horror video game series and franchise created by cap con
Stephen:its primary gameplay would be considered. A shooter, although the gameplay is involved in literally gone on and off the rails. And, you know, they've had gone from the start where it was like controlling a little tank to over the shoulder to first person. So. It's been a lot of different things over the years. Yes,
Steve:it has. In addition to a lot of different types of games, the franchise has also expanded to include a live action films, which had
Stephen:very little to do with the gate.
Steve:Yes. It had animated films, comic books, novels, audio dramas, and has an upcoming Netflix live action series. Super excited for that. Yes, me too. So. You know, with this being the best-selling franchise for cap con it has sold over 110 million units across the series as of March 31st, 2021. Okay.
Stephen:And it can also be credited with bringing it. Zombies as scary things back into pop culture. Sure.
Steve:Yes. Even George Romero said like his movies after the nineties were really heavily inspired by resident evil. The first game came out in 1996 for the PlayStation was created by Shinji Mikami and to Kuro Fujiwara. And yes, it definitely brought zombies back into pop culture. I don't think we'd have the walking dead if it wasn't for resident evil.
Stephen:Probably not. And because we had gone through a series where zombies had also become comedy. Yes. Like the return of the living dead series. In the late eighties into the nineties were definitely more skewing towards comedy. And so this brought the horror
Steve:aspect back. Yes, it did. Because when those dogs jumped through that window in the first one, everyone through their controllers squealed out loud, if they were anything like me. And that was me.
Stephen:Yes, exactly. That was exactly my first experience with survival horror. I had a PlayStation. Yeah. I had it set up in my bedroom. I turned off all the lights. I closed the blinds and set down to play it. And the first opening sequence was cinematic. I believe it was actually shot with people. And then you get into the mansion and you're wandering around and you get upstairs and you're going down this hallway. Lightning striking outside and you walk like five steps and this demon dog breaks through the wind. I tossed the controller up into the air. I screamed out loud and it was years before I went back to the game. Yes.
Steve:Well, I played through it. I remember playing it with sleepovers. If Ruth's house for all of us would like be playing it. And like, like one person would have the controller of everyone around was like, go there, no, watch out for that. And like, we'd have to like trade off the controller when it got to be too scary or whatever, but it w it was really a great start to the. Franchise it's become since then the best-selling horror game series across the industry. And it's also the highest grossing franchise of a film adaptation of video games.
Stephen:And a lot of people in the horror and zombie genre does rate this as their favorite or right near the top. And it's nice that, you know, a video game adaptation movie did well on the theater because. Growing up. We only had the super Mario brothers movie, which did
Steve:not do well on the theaters.
No,
Stephen:that had too many cooks in the kitchen on that
Steve:one. Yes. But all the games in the series are about biohazards of one form or another being released in a fictionalized version of our world. So the name biohazard really makes a lot more sense than resident evil for the series, although it kind of fits for that first one. Cause they were in a house. And that was evil, that mansion, but w why was, why was the series called resident evil in the United States, babe?
Stephen:Because there was a crappy DOS-based game and a new York-based punk band that all shared the name biohazard. So. It would be impossible for cup come to register the game. Yeah.
Steve:Chris Kramer said that it would be impossible for it. So as a result, the head of marketing held a company wide contest to come up with a new name, even though Chris himself voted against it for being super cheesy it's
Stephen:I would love to hear what the other like top nine out of 10. Entries in that contest or if a resident evil was the top choice, I would love to hear what
Steve:the other nine were. Yeah. I can imagine one of the bigger like Sam bees, zombies zombies.
Stephen:So for those of you who have not played resident evil and plan to play it in the future before warned whereabouts, despoiled
Steve:the hell a lot of it. Yes, we certainly will. We'll it won't go into specific plot points. That's but we will spoil enough of it. I'm sure. To, to give you the idea, then again, it's not like you really play these games for the story. You play them for the environment, for the feel for the action. But yes, we will be talking about the plot points. I know the earlier installments focused on a group of people battling against the umbrella corporation and their secret bio organic weapons research.
Stephen:Right. It would be like if Pfizer had a shady underbelly and. Got everyone to take a vaccine and it was secretly a bio hazard weapon. Oh God, baby. Oh, no, 300 million people now have the T virus in America, not to mention the millions, even billions across the world. Oh no, COVID wasn't real. It was just them getting us to take the T virus vaccine.
Steve:Sorry, mom,
Stephen:just kidding. COVID is real. The vaccine is safe. We were making.
Steve:Yes. I remember though when I was, when I spent my little stint working as part of the CVS corporation, like I definitely like around orientation, went around to a couple people and I'm like, where's the bio-organic weapons division. No one seemed to get it, but yes, it would be along those lines of that, of one of the leading healthcare industries in the world was secretly. For bio organic weapons. Right? And so this took place in a raccoon city, which has a fictional Midwestern city that had outlying areas, housing, several bio-engineering laboratories, belonging to umbrella in the movies we learned, they were called the hive, which is Canon now in the games as well. And I also
Stephen:love that it's the umbrella corporation because. It is an overarching company that is involved in agriculture, technology, biology, health care, so many things. It's an umbrella. It's kind of like these days where you know, Amazon has its hand in so many things or Warner brothers and at, and T whenever they head to their movies and phones, You know, so it really works. And also it's a, it's a cool
Steve:name. Yeah. Yeah. And they had speaking of cool names, they had a group of stars, which was an elite task force investigating a missing team member, but star stands for the special tactics and rescue services. So what do you think of that name?
Stephen:Spelled out stupid stars itself. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like, oh, I love the name shield, but strategic Homeland. Berber.
Steve:Berber. Yeah, no. Yeah. So, but they soon find themselves in the mansion and that is where the first game takes place in the majority of it. And
Stephen:that's where we get introduced to best character in the resident evil franchise. Jill
Steve:Valentine. Yes. Unless you had like your daddy's, in which case Chris might've been your favorite, but I already can tell why did you, or why do you, I love Jill so much because she's a badass female. Yes. She certainly is. I also remember choosing her because in the original game they each had their own kind of different like benefits. Like Christmas could take like an extra attacker to, without dying while Jill came with a lock pick earlier on. So there were certain things when you. That only she can have access to. So that's why I liked her from the tactical standpoint, but you're right. She is also just a
Stephen:bad ass. Yeah. You're giving all these good reasons and I'm sitting there remembering. Okay. So short story. You know, when they have March madness and they have the office pools where you pick who's gonna win. So so it's a thing and DIA did really well. One year. Basing it on uniform colors and styles. She had no idea about the team. She was like, awesome. She did. And so it reminds me of my choice of Jill in the way that she did really well on March madness, basing on the cute uniforms.
Steve:Yeah. Meanwhile like the, with the Jill and Chris and the other members of stars that they run into, like, they're looking for Rebecca, they have. You know, other members that they're they encountered during what was the Berry was one of them. Wasn't it?
Stephen:There's oh, goodness. Yeah. I, I, but they also, like they have a teammate there's Albert Wesker who. Anybody that's played the series knows that name.
Steve:Yes. He ends up being the DoubleTree trader or like he was a double agent working for umbrella as well as for stars. So he ends up being the super bad guy who plans to use the tyrant, which has a giant humor night, super soldier infected with the T virus to kill the remaining stars agents.
Stephen:And like a lot of the times that they're released. These giant things like the tyrant or nemesis, because they want to see how they will do. In field tactics so that they can possibly sell these things to governments to use as soldiers in war. Yes. Isn't that always nice city
Steve:is always, it's nice. Definitely purely fiction. I can never imagine anyone doing something like that in real life. Yeah. I
Stephen:mean, just like in Jurassic world. Yes. Like they were breeding certain types of dinosaurs and governments were going to buy it. To let loose the dinosaurs against countries in war. This is why
Steve:we can't have nice things. That's for damn sure. Yes. But this one ended up leading to a trilogy of games that happened all roughly at the same time. It led to the, the second one featured Leon
Stephen:who was second best resident evil character,
Steve:in my opinion. Yes. And Claire Redfield. Who's Chris's younger sister. They are in raccoon city and they encounter the GI virus, a deadlier version of the T virus, ultimately taking down Dr. Berkin, who worked for umbrella as a creator of the virus with the help of ADA Wong and hunk. Meanwhile saving Dr. Berkins daughter, Sherry and the cure.
Stephen:And that was kind of had a little skew where the use that in the movies with the. I think it was resident evil to where the doctor's daughter was in the city and they had to get her out. And she was the basis for the red queen and the mansion and the first one. And it was a whole,
Steve:yeah, they found a way in the sequels to tie it back to the games a little bit more. But that one, I just remember the police station and like all have other areas of the game. That's where you spent a big chunk of it, whether you played as Leon and. Because
Stephen:that was the one that you had. What was the thing that was chasing you through
Steve:Mr. X or? Yeah, I think it was Mr. X through the hallways of the police station.
Stephen:And that was just one of those things, especially cause you recently did the RA to remake. Yes. And where they updated the graphics, some quality of life. And it was really good. I liked, I like when you do games like this. So that it's like a movie for me. Yeah. And I get to watch a horror action movie. You have the stress of dealing with all the controls and things where I just can sit there with ice cream and be like,
Steve:this is great. And you love seeing me when I freak out with the jump scares. Yeah. So that's why you also really loved it when I was doing the resident evil three ma remake recently, because that is when Jill is trying to escape raccoon city at the same time as resident evil two is going on, but she's facing her own challenges in the form of nemesis who hardcore stalking you and chasing you throughout the day. She ultimately escapes and kills nemesis with the help of Carlos Rodriguez.
Stephen:Yes. And that was another really great remake. I love that camp, condoms Capcom is doing this where they're going back to some of their games and they're like, you know, the technology wasn't there back then. We did what we could, but now let's make it the best game possible. And I
Steve:appreciate that. I do too. Yes. So the first trilogy ends up with raccoon city being nuked by umbrella to try and cover up everything. But because our heroes survive, we find out that, you know, the name umbrella was never able to recover from it. So the company ended up ultimately failing. But they didn't, they weren't wiped out completely. They just ended up failing. So you still have. Scientists and things laying out there just, just called the dark money. Exactly. Just in case that leads to anywhere else, which it does because the series does continue on from there. But before we get into that, what are some of your favorite highlights from the first trip?
Stephen:So, I mean, the mansion itself is just really, really interesting. I love the way that whenever they first built it The graphics for it back on the original PlayStation were more impressive than they should be because they were pre-rendered backgrounds that were going to be there and their character just moved through it.
Steve:So, yeah. And then I continued on to two and three as well as only in cold cover Ronica where they started having their own renderings. Yes.
Stephen:And I didn't care for the controls in the first, like the whole tank controls, not a fan. I love that this created this wonderful genre with this story and characters that kept moving and it was creating this great universe where it was different every time though it was following a storyline, like, you know, I love the Zelda games, but. They're not known for the really originality in their story, except for maybe breath of the wild, which was totally original, but it's usually princess get the sword, save the sages, save the princess type of thing where this. Is real unique for each installment of the series.
Steve:Yeah. And, and I really feel like they are really fleshed out in their, their plot. It follows from one to the next really well. But just, I mean, it's when I fell in love with the idea of like the locations kind of being their own character, cause that Spencer mansion had its own history and its own story. And you go into the second one and the police station is just alive with, you know, with the, the history of that. Like, it actually felt like people worked there up until this was happening. And like, you could see the little pieces of life leftover reading the journal entries. It's one of the first games where I would really. Codex is as they normally call them in RPGs. And just like the, the journal entries, like where I got a tasty itchy from, it just is something that you know, reading through those stories kind of take you, it just really connected you to it. And then three it was a little more all over, but you got to see in my opinion, more of the city itself,
Stephen:which raccoon city is probably yeah. The name most associated with the resident evil series. Oh yeah. Like you can say raccoon city and anybody that has even cursory knowledge. They're like, oh, that's resonant evil. Yeah. And one of the, the things that we now know isn't realistic. You have all these people running from zombies and the plague trying to fight it, where if they were making something realistic, you would have to have half the citizens running towards the zombies screaming, fake
Steve:news. Yeah, exactly. But we also didn't know where our real world would end up going when this came out in the nineties. So mainstream, maybe in resident evil, not. Like it'll be a little bit better, but yes. The game series does continue on with a resume we'll code Veronica, probably one of the ones most in need of a facelift now or a port, because it has not been remade or reported half as much as the previous entries into the series or even the following ones. Right now I believe that that's the only one that you can't get on the Nintendo switch.
Stephen:That is, well, you can't get two or three. Oh, you can. Yeah, you can do zero and remain. Four five
Steve:and six. Okay. Well that makes sense. Cause two and three are also on the PlayStation correctively. So yes, but it is a direct sequel to resonate to following Claire and her brother, Chris from Rockford island, which is a prison in the Southern ocean to an Artica taking on the Ashford family and well, Again, with the Wesker. Yes, he truly is the Michael Myers of resident evil villains. You kill him in every single one and he keeps on coming back. It's amazing how that
Stephen:happens.
Steve:Yeah. But that's the one where he like, admits like he is more than human now. Cause at first, like you thought he was just human working for them, but then he shows up and he's like, no, I actually have super powers. And I'm super
Stephen:bad too, because he's been experimenting on himself like Hank McCoy and the X-Men.
Steve:Yes. It was also a villain for those of you who don't understand that his gray area in this is oftentimes more blue. Great. Yup.
Stephen:Resident evil SERE. Zero came out later on and I love that they call it zero so they could have a pretty cool, yes. And it deals with stars member, Rebecca and convict, Billy who are there and the taking down Dr. Marcus, who combined with the T virus. Leech DNA. And it's known a lot for train.
Steve:Yeah. The train, as you know, you know, like I mentioned, like every game has one location that is just unique in some ways or special. And that's where the game starts office just on, on these trains. But I just remember the, between that and the game play of tagging off between two cars. Excuse me. You've had games like resident evil, two where you have Chris's or Leon's rout and Jill Claire's Claire's route. Yup. Yes, but this was the first time we were like, you, you can be fighting with like Billy and then swapped to Rebecca back and forth
Stephen:and doesn't, and I could be wrong if I'm remembering incorrectly, doesn't have the train crash somewhere near the man.
Steve:Yes. You ended up finding yourself in the basement, basically of the mansion. It's just, it's its own little separate venture that doesn't really have much of an impact canonically but I do remember it being a very fun train ride.
Stephen:Now my favorite entry in the series is the one where they started changing things, a great deal to kind of modernize it. And that was resonant, evil. Which got universal acclaim and it came out near perfect
Steve:reviews across every, every board that reviews video games. Yeah. Well, Leon
Stephen:returns to the series and he travels to Europe to save the president's daughter. Ashley, one of the most annoying. Like character. So one of the things in the resident evil series, you'll have a character that you have to watch out for that you have to make sure that they're not attacked by any of the things. And even though you may be doing well, if you leave them alone and they die, you will die. Yes.
Steve:But normally like, even with as we mentioned with resident evil, zero, like I remember playing as Billy and like, I would occasionally have to tag out into Rebecca, like if her health was getting low, but like typically they'd like, they both had guns. They both could share swap inventory, back and forth. You know what the president's kid was gonna say. Like they could defend one another to a certain point before you had to jump in. But no, not, not with the president's daughter. Ashley was just a flailing, useless person. Wasn't
Stephen:she? Yes. And this time it's not exactly the T virus, it's the loss bloggers and they totally corrupted an entire European village with these worm, like things that go inside the people and. Kind of like you shoot them and some of the stronger ones you blow their hand off, and this thing comes up with all these tentacles and you have to watch out before it gets close to you. Cause it'll Pierce you and cause a lot of damage. It's all very exciting. But one of the best things that changed was instead of the tank controls, where it was a third person. Further back perspective. This was kind of an over the shoulder perspective and it's
Steve:just when we're like, Leon felt like he can move around and run around. Yeah.
Stephen:And it, it didn't feel as awkward with the characters moving and you got eight, a long back and definitely a gray area character, but more in the good side.
Steve:Yes. Meanwhile it also that one, I would say, like, I always remember that first village that you enter into the game is like the one where it's timed and you have the, the chain saw the guy coming after you.
Stephen:And it's just this thing where they're relentless at the beginning. And it's interesting that, you know, at the beginning you don't have much ammo. You don't really have any health things and you have to be super creative from the get-go. To survive. Cause once you get past that, and then you go to the farmhouse in some areas, you definitely have more of a chance to breathe, but I definitely, it feels like that first area through the village. You're just going go, go, go. Yes.
Steve:I certainly remember that feeling. And that also is the scene of a fanfic I wrote of it. Remember oh yeah.
Stephen:That you also get the weapon seller where he. What are you buying? Is that all stranger?
Steve:Yes. And you loved when you were watching the play residential village and how the, the taglines keep coming back in the newer series
Stephen:that made me very happy.
Steve:Yes. And then while that was the most critically acclaimed entry in the series, the best selling is resident evil. It did receive mixed reception. At first there was claims of racism, although it just ended up being that it was set in Africa. Like it didn't really feel racist because it had. Like people of different color that So it just was probably advertised, not the best way at first. I think that's
Stephen:definitely what it was.
Steve:Cause once it came out that whole company went away, controversy
Stephen:stopped. And I honestly think that this was the best selling one because of how good four was people were ready to jump on.
Steve:Yes, I, and also it was released ultimately on more systems,
Stephen:because at that point it was able to get. To the Xbox and the PlayStation where at, and at that point you really just had everyone.
Steve:Yes, exactly. That this take, it took place five years after resonate for Chris now is working for BSA, which is still around today. In the series, it's the bioterrorism security assessment. And he's not as
Stephen:flashy sounding as stars, but the name makes more sense. Yes,
Steve:it does. And he's partnered with Shiva Alomar to apprehend Ricardo Irving arms dealer or a drug dealer before he can sell a bow on the black market, which is
Stephen:a bio organic weapon.
Steve:Yes. And they are facing off with the last plug us again, although it's a diff. Like strain strain of it. And ultimately in mind, controlled V Jill Valentine, who we had previously thought was dead at the beginning of the game and face off against Wesker, but then it ends up, he was just mine controlling her. They ended up saving her and they finally kill Wesker. As of resident evil, eight Wesker is still dead. I can't promise that he'll stay dead forever because video games are like comics in that way. I mean,
Stephen:with the technology that they have, I would say, as long as they had so. DNA, they could easily clone a new Wesker if they needed it. And this was definitely a big change for the environment of the series. As you mentioned, it's an Africa. So you had some, you know, desert situations in daylight more because a lot of the games take place at dusk or at night, because even the parts of four that were not at night, they were weren't even it wasn't bright, sunny, and. More of that in
Steve:five. Yeah. This was a bright, sunny day when it first starts off. I remember the, that first village just the brightness of it all. It was just very surprising and going in and out of the house and like, because it's almost like when it's brighter outside, like inside less scary also like inside feels darker. Right. And so when you would go into the houses and it's like pitch black, like you really feel it almost more because you were just outside and the sun's right behind you.
Stephen:And some of the people complained that it was. To action focused at this point that it was losing the survival horror,
Steve:well initiatives. They shouldn't have spoken just yet because resident evil six comes out and that's the most actually like, yeah, I don't can't even think that you would call it a survival horror game. At that point. It's been some time since I played it, but I tried to even like read the summaries of the plot as to what had happened in that game. Cause I remember like, it was very interesting cause it had like three or four different stories
Stephen:because you have. Leon and tall Oaks, which I keep wanting to say tall Oaks, California, but I don't think that's where it is. We have as a city kind of like raccoon city. You had Chris and China.
Steve:Yes. And I remember that because at one point he like played or you were fighting against like a fucking like zombie tiger. Yeah. And you, you had Sherry Birkin was a player, a bull controller with Jake Miller. And so you have like all these different stories, but I remember at some point, like some of the stories kind of overlapped, but it certainly was no like, love that it was no love actually where it will make sense in the end or they're all connected. And
Stephen:it was after that game that even people were saying, you know, calf come flushed to the series down the toilet. There's no way you can come back from this. And that's whenever you started hearing well, they're just going to reboot the series. Yes.
Steve:And they did. And they didn't with resident evil seven biohazard. It was their way of kind of blending the Eastern and Western audiences with the. And it definitely returned the game to it's har roots. It's switched so
Stephen:much. So my goodness. Oh yeah.
Steve:Especially, I mean, it did come out in VR. We did not play it with the PlayStation VR. I think I could have handled it exactly because even watching it on the screen, I remember when you were in the first person climbing through the hole in the wall with the bugs and everything, it was just, it was done very well. And it features Ethan Winters as he faces off against the baker family.
Stephen:And Ethan Winters is. A normal human, no real experience.
Steve:Right? Exactly. And they do this thing where there was like, there are pictures of him where you see him from outside. Like when you see him, but like you never see his face because it's the first person idea. And it
Stephen:has the baker family, which gives you more of a Texas chainsaw massacre, family vibes, the whole thing, especially
Steve:at first, when you're like tied down to the table and watching them all lead a meal.
Stephen:Yeah. And like, In the earlier games where you had nemesis or Mr. X and things chasing you through the whole game with this, you have different members of the baker family coming after you like the father and the mother, depending on where you were in the game. And they were.
Steve:They were scary. It was scary. Yeah. Rather than being a virus, it was a mold that caused it. And he was in that location to try and save his wife, Mia, which canonically, he did save, although depending on how you play through it it might've been differently. It does end that way because the story does continue with resonate. And the way they did village with V I L L it's still heavy. Aye. Aye. Aye.
Stephen:Well, whatever. So that it looks like Roman numerals for
Steve:eight. Exactly. Yes. And so that's where he goes to save his daughter Rosemary, after a fateful encounter with Chris Redfield where his wife Mia apparently ends up dead, allegedly,
Stephen:allegedly. And then that one was really good as well. Again, they kept the aspect to it. They kept the Definitely survival horror aspect to it again. And it feels like this reboot was definitely what the game needed because. You are hearing a lot more acclaim for seven and eight again.
Steve:And I really like, like they tied together so nicely that spoiler, like I mentioned with spoiler alerts, but like the fact that you're playing through eight and you realize like at the, like the 11th hour that Ethan died at the very beginning. Of resin evil seven. And that, like, he didn't realize it because the mold brought him back to life and he was able to like successfully like blend with the mold, like the villains did, but then like in a good guy kind of way, just like blows my mind that like you went through. Basically two full games of him with this like, twist that, you know, when you go back, it makes perfect sense because when lady D ends up chopping off your fucking hand and you end up putting it on throwing some holy water on it, and it's all good to go. You're like, I was like, when she first sliced off the hand, I was, I screamed. I was like, oh my
Stephen:God. And so, yeah, that was the 12 foot tall woman that the internet fetishized.
Steve:Yes. They fell in love with her.
Stephen:And I, you know, she's dressed in. Victorian garb and a big hat and she's full bodied and beautiful. And it was definitely one of those characters that took the internet by storm, but there were means of. And fan fiction months before the game, the name came out, I was
Steve:going to say, and I've seen like games where you can create your own character, people nodding it. So that it's her. And just like seeing her play these different games and having these different situations, it was, she definitely was a very fun part of the game with the internet appeal. Yes, very
Stephen:much so. And it just, I don't know. I really enjoyed where they went with this and I look forward to seeing. Where did they go with
Steve:nine now? Yes, I have a feeling that Ethan's story is now done because he died really bad at the end. Yeah. And it also said he also died at the end of the father's story. Exactly. Which makes me think it's going to be his daughter Rosemary. And the next one, because she has a little bit of power herself
Stephen:and I, I wouldn't hate it though. If they find a way to bring back. Claire or Leon or a Chris Redfield as a playable thing in the future.
Steve:Chris keeps on coming back into these games. He's been the one that like in recent entries. I mean, he was in five. Then you saw him and like, you could play with him in six again. And then he was in seven and eight as the guest character, kind of the protag like the What do you call the gray area one. Cause you think that he's a bad guy for most of it. Oh anti-hero antihero. Of course, it ends up that he was good all along and it was all just the misunderstandings because the bad guy from village was actually in me, his body at the beginning, when you saw Chris kill his wife, he was actually killing the bad guy who wasn't all the way
Stephen:dad. And what I loved is that resident evil village very much looked like it was set in the exact same place as resident evil.
Steve:But it was winter. So, I mean, I don't know how that would have worked, but it could have been, it definitely was combined the, like the action from four and five. Just the horror aspects of like seven in the original ones. So it was, if you haven't played the newest to go do that, cause it's definitely fun. It's also had its fair share of spinoff games, hasn't
Stephen:it? Yes. And I loved most of them, honestly. So you had resident evil revelations, which was them trying to do their first created solely for the handheld resident evil game. And it came out for the Nintendo 3d. And you are starting out as Jill Valentine and you're working for the BSA and you're sent out to check out this ghost ship. Yeah. And you're exploring, and there's the virus and zombies and Chris ends up showing up and the story goes back and forth. And you're playing as multiple different peaks. And it was really good. I loved the puzzles in it. The horror aspect was fantastic. It felt very much like I'm a resident evil four type of game on a portable revelations two came out. I don't feel like it was as successful.
Steve:It also came out in chapters. Didn't it? It did
Stephen:it not in like four chapters, I believe. And it takes place canonically between five and six. Claire Redfield is the star and she's on a deserted island in the Baltic sea.
Steve:And not so deserted after all.
Stephen:No, but we also get a Wesker, but it's not, it's not our, it's not album Alaska. It is his
Steve:sister, Alex. Oh, did she survive in the end? No. Okay. Well then long story short, Alex existed for a moment, she sure
Stephen:did. But it was definitely interesting. That it was another Wesker and I liked the, like that the west coast have this infatuation with the virus and infecting themselves to try to be super beings. Yeah. So the, we came along and it was not strong enough to run. A new, like resident evil game. They did resident evil four for it. And that they said was the definitive edition because of the aiming with the Waymo. And it was fantastic. Yeah. But so they created on rails shooters. That covered parts of the resident evil universe. So you had resident evil umbrella Chronicles that covered resonator zero one, and nemesis dealing with the rise and fall of the umbrella corporation. And that was interesting how they did it. Those games were not easy. You could replay the sections to try to get better scores, better scores, and find more of the secret thing. And I liked that dark side Chronicles came out and that covered three and code Veronica with a little more focused on the personal stories. Cause it was doing it as a prequel to resident evil for for those of us that only had the we at that time and no other console I would take, I was taking what I could get in terms of resident evil games. I'm glad. Those were, you know, two and done with the resident evil series. I don't think we need to go back to an on rail shooter, but I'm glad I played them.
Steve:I can certainly imagine. And I know one addition while it's not a spinoff in its own, right? It is a very common practice since the beginning that when you beat the game, you can replay it with bonus points that you get for completing things to then make it easier to play through such as infinity ammo and things like that. But something that. Yeah, I believe it was in five, but I think they added a version of it for four in recent ports as the murder. And they actually,
Stephen:you could buy resident evil mercenaries for the 3d S that was close to being one of the launch games for residents or for the 3d.
Steve:Yeah. And so it's like this game that it strips away, the story puts you in smaller areas and gives you a certain number of time to, to kill as many zombies as you can. And you can get points for racking them up by like multiple kills in a short period of time. And
Stephen:they've definitely evolved it so that it is better than it started as cause then when I saw you doing it for eight, it was a lot more interesting than the 3d S for or something.
Steve:It was, although I wasn't as good at it in resonating eight. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but I was killing all the zombies and I still wasn't getting enough score. So I guess I needed to work on my multiplier. But yes, it was definitely a really I liked the game of what do you think of that as like something that you get for beating the game? I think that
Stephen:that is a nice reward, especially. And I'm, I kind of see if they're using this as a testing type of thing to maybe create a resident evil online multiplayer.
Steve:Well, that's what they did also with aid. It came with its own disc for like an MMO. For resident evil. I forgot what it was called, but it was red, but it was I had on, it was like an add-on game where it was, you can play online. And it just was something that was not for me, as we learned, even with Pokemon United, if I can't. Pokemon and turn it into you know, a nice experience playing it with strangers and causing me anxiety. I can only imagine if you added in zombies, but yes, with that being said, like, what do you find yourself typically? Are you the type where you would beat the game and then replay it again with a cheat or would you play a different mode?
Stephen:I'd move on to another game. Okay. I, I'm not like I invest so wholly in a game that I like to try it. As close to a hundred percent as you can on the first play through that, by the time I'm done. I need something else and I don't really ever have a desire to just go back right. Then I will put sometimes go back later. Yeah. But no, I'm not a right then replay
Steve:is, was gonna say, I mean, because of this, I'm like maybe I should go back and like redo two or three on the PS4. They are really, really good. Yeah. Now out of all the famous locations, what would you say your favorite location in a resident? Evil game has been.
Stephen:So I know that most people will say the mansion or raccoon city, but in terms of the games that I've replayed the most, I actually love the settings from, for the European village and the castle on the lake and all that. I love those so so much because it feels like this world. The, you know, a mansion with zombies and a city was on BS. Absolutely. The Thermo horror movie, the European village in castle in a horror movie is that, you know, that checks more boxes for me. And honestly, resident evil revelations on the somewhat deserted infested cruise ship. I love that setting so much because it just makes me think of. Like whenever the neuro virus was happening. And all of those people on the cruise ships were getting really sick and they were stuck out at port and things like that. I'm like, what would happen if everyone on a ship died and became zombies and somebody had to go clear the ship. Like that's, that's something interesting that I feel like to see.
Steve:Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah. I know that out of all of the locations throughout the year I would probably like, I mean, the mansion was so iconic. It is, but I just, I really loved the setup of like the functionality of the way that they did in resume village, where you had your main village that you kept on going through, but you would pass it to eventually go to like, to get the, basically the four bosses. You know, you would, you come back, but it just felt like a whole like, alive area that all made sense because I had the one hub world with its own little sideburns off to it.
Stephen:And I think one of the reasons I like the cruise ship so much is that really felt like a Metroidvania set up. Yeah. That you're on the ship and you can explore more areas, but it doesn't mean you're not going back to the very start at some point. To, oh my gosh. Now that I have that key, I remember something way back there that I can unlock. So the setup of revelations felt very Metroid, veiny, and you know, I enjoy
Steve:that. Yes, I know you do. And so out of this entire series, what is your favorite game and why is it resonated for
Stephen:it's? Like you saw it on the tip of my tongue, getting ready to say it's resident evil four. I like Leon. I liked the story. I loved the controls. I enjoyed the scares. I loved the setting of it to me, resident evil four was. A resident evil game that wasn't too scary for me because honestly, watching you play seven and eight, I'm not sure if I can do it. I know you could do it. If they, the seven was scary. Yes, it
Steve:was. It was less scary after a while at like, once you get through that first round of attack, you do start to power up and like feel pretty, pretty invincible.
Stephen:So seven always felt like you were on the defensive the whole
Steve:game. And there were so many things about seven that were really awesome. And they did really well. I mean, it definitely reinvented the series. But I would also say that probably like going back to like the two weeks. Was really one of my favorites in terms of like the story as well as the locations. But yeah, it was basically just a great ride all along. I'm, I'm really happy that they're making it accessible for the new generation of game consoles that between the Nintendo switch and the PlayStation four, you could pretty much play all of them. Now, if you'd like. Yeah.
Stephen:And it's a series that thanks to the. Remakes that they're doing is aging. Well, yes, because they're going back and fixing some of the ones that were a little wonky or,
Steve:oh yeah. And definitely if you're interested in them, but haven't bought them yet. Add them to your wishlists and watch them for a month. Cause I swear, once a month they go on sale for 25% off. If not more often than that
Stephen:right now, I know that they are for sale on the switch. Five and six are for$15. So my guess is a five and six are everything else is as well. Yes,
Steve:exactly. So if you haven't played resident evil in a while, or you never have, but you love games, go out and give them a try. Cause we definitely, they make us so happy.
Stephen:I suggest if you're a little jumpy, like I am don't turn off all the lights.
Steve:Nope. Keep a light on so you can play resident evil and kill those zombies or less plug us. Okay. August. Yes. And we would love to hear it from you as to what your favorite resident evil game is and why you can do that by joining the conversation on our social media. Yep.
Stephen:You can find us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at happy life pod, or if you wanted to get in touch with us just super direct,
Steve:you can email us@happylifepodatgmail.com.
Stephen:Well, that is fantastic. I guess until next time everybody stay happy,
Steve:itchy, tasty resident evil. Not again.