Resident Evil 7 - Looking Back Four Years Later

resident evil 7 took a bold new step in the  series by looking to its survival horror routes   and updating it for modern audiences where the  first three numbered titles were fixed camera the   following three were over the shoulder resident  evil 7 made the leap to the first person view   did it work out i'd say mostly the game went back  to its roots of survival horror and getting us to   play as who was essentially the everyman character  departure from previous protagonists in the story   of resident evil re7 is mostly self-contained  story that doesn't really tie into the series lore   until it plays its hand at the end of the game and  uses the dlc to tie it all together so let's dive   into resident evil 7 now that's been 4 years since  its release and resident evil 8 is on the horizon   do you know that there will be heavy spoilers  for resident evil 7 you could use time stamps   to jump around i'll provide some additional  links to some information i pulled from behind   the scenes looks to gdc talks hitboy's  got to eat he got to have your supper   so how did the series get here capcom went about  as far as they could in the direction they took   the previous number titles with four five and six  and while they all sold well they made the right   decision instead to move back to the roots of what  made us fall in love with resident evil in the   first place from resident evil 4 they created a  template that turned the gaming world upside down   took it as far as they could with resident  evil's 5 and 6. it worked well with resident   evil 5 selling over 13 million copies 11.2 million  copies for re6 however both titles were met with   less enthusiastic response and re-6 in particular  was especially a large departure from the   survival horror roots and was initially a sales  disappointment although it sold well over the   years don't get me wrong re4 i hold is one of the  greatest games ever made along with resident evil   remake resident evil 5 has its merits and they owe  the name of my channel to it just hold on resident   evil 6 has a great combat system but i think every  resident evil fan could agree that pushing further   into the action-heavy set pieces couldn't be  maintained so when it came time for resident   evil 7 the team took that feedback figured out how  they could get back to their survival horror roots   of the franchise and update it a big change with  residential sun was not only going for an every   man character with the protagonist ethan winters  switching to first person view which was aside   at the beginning of development this was decided  even before the addition of vr and to note i don't   have vr so i can't really comment on it resilient  took a lot of influence from evil dead in having   something with just a few characters in the small  remote setting which the game mostly does until   the end of the game when it plays its hand and  shows how this game ties more to the overall   lore of the series this was intentional as one  of the high level design choices was to keep   the tie-ins to previous resident evil titles to a  minimum the team decided for re7 to go to a remote   rural environment and decided upon louisiana as  its setting to know while there were a lot of   comparisons between the two resident evil 7 was  well into development before the release of pt   although i'll have to note these hallways here  they do look fairly similar the team wanted   to recreate the feeling of playing the original  resident evil and bringing it to the modern world   did they succeed with resident evil 7 i'd say  so they didn't see this as a reboot but simply   evolving the series forward at the early stages  of development the team was also working on the   re engine a new game engine for the studio to  use the meantime they did prototypes with unity resident evil 7 starts with an  interesting yet simple setup   we got this message from a woman mia  sending much love to her husband ethan   it's really charming i cannot wait  to be done with this babysitting job   and come home to my loving husband and i miss  you then we get this really interesting bit ethan you were right i did lie to you i shouldn't  have all i can say is that if you get this stay away as ethan who we're playing as we get  a message three years later to come and find her   simple it's straight to the point and there's a  lot of intrigue right off the bat in starting re7   what was mia lying about what was ethan right  about what's the relationship like how did she   end up in louisiana what happened during those  three years to know it's also nice to have someone   who's actually married in the series let alone  a relationship relationships have always been   kind of a running joke and a number of memes that  popped up over the years with chris wanting leon   to continue the redfield bloodline relationship  between jill and chris or leon in his on and off   relationship with ada and honestly if capcom  wants to retcon some things i look the other   way if they let carlos take a sip of that tall  drink of water and have a bio that jill sandwich   and let them be together but back to resident  evil 7. that's enough to give us motivation   three years thing we'll come back to later  as it does create some issues with the plot   but it's nice to come into this game and with  one the goals being that team wants something   that didn't exactly tie to the larger lore  until later in the game it's a fantastic start   enjoy the daylight here because it's the last  we'll see of it for a while four years later   this game still looks absolutely stellar and  with what they're going for with the re engine   the game takes a bit of time to build up to  that first encounter or even giving us a gun   we'll come across a video tape of an internet  series of people examining this house   the limited time we have these characters  engrained in how it builds them up   how they bicker with one another and how they turn  to concern later and we get some mention about the   baker family i was an anchor you know we can't  sub pete not anchor what's that nothing so uh   hillbilly joe and his family go missing not  hillbillies the bakers jack and marguerite baker   and they were quiet not backward a lot of bad  rumors about their son lucas bad seed apparently   i mean producers they come and go but a good  cameraman like you clancy you stick with me   it's the classic found footage with us controlling  it it's a horror trope done really well now we cut   back there's a lot of unease here we then find mia  instead of asking a million questions right off   the bat we need to get out of here right now which  is fine as mia shows a lot of urgency did anyone   see you did he see you he who else is here what  the hell's going on daddy's coming we need to go   daddy we need to go now resident evil 7's use  of ethan more or less being a blank slate does   make some changes to how we relate with him but it  also does cause some problems with the plot as the   game goes on i want to know here how fantastic the  new engine looks for putting these things together   and the photo realism that the team went for and  if the resident evil tales have made use this re   engine since resident evil 2 remake resident  evil 3 remake i feel this one does the best   and that's due to face scanning for models as  quality as the models look and the characters   look there's still something just slightly off  the moggles in the re engine especially the women   there's something slightly off about mia's hair  but in a way it adds the unease to re7 compare   that to clara jill and the resident evil 2 and 3  remix as good as they look there's still something   just a bit off when compared to the models they  were based off of could get a bit uncanny valley   at times back to mia this conversation with  her where she's jumping back and forth trying   to remember what is what gets us asking a lot  of questions in her mind we know something's   not going right here although ethan takes him  in stride eventually we'll lose mia but then uh we get a taste of the combat which keeps  it simple some slashes and some blocking   we get a phone call from a woman named zoe  you really shouldn't have come here who's this   and what the [ __ ] is going on my name is zoe  this should be a way out through the attic attic   go there now we get a bit more exploring  before mia comes back and then this happens let's give a hand for ethan ladies and gentlemen  but seriously though this is a moment where i see   a lot of people point to law plot issues that  come up after this incident of getting her hand   cut off people lost all sympathy or care for  mia which does come back later at a crucial   moment yes she's ethan's wife but that's all  we really know so far we don't understand much   of the relationship at this moment so why exactly  should we care the gdc talk on a postmortem of re7   here's what the team said about the scene the  scene early on where you get your hand cut off was   the result of our article lamenting over the fact  that there wasn't enough punch in the early scenes   so cos she thought that we'd certainly make  things interesting but how would players   come back from that we'll get a pistol and  deal with me again with more dialogue that   she's clearly fighting with something in her  mind and there's a heartbreaking end to it and finally our introduction proper to  the baker family with the now iconic line   welcome to the family song it's one hell of an introduction and just  like that we get our hand healed up which is   okay well we'll come back to that later now the  iconic meal this has become a very well known   scene we learn a lot about the baker family who  they are and how they interact with one another   and look more arms being  lost we'll cover that later   do notice the old woman here at the table  it's interesting the behind the scenes   footage watched some of the dev team play the  cno as a test to see if it would work okay so now we're free to go exploring and now we fall  into that classic resident evil style gameplay   but jack will come after us  and then this scene happens you better now yeah what the [ __ ] so actually this isn't  my footage as i got away quick enough here   but now that's another limb that we could just  reattach the [ __ ] is going on here why did that   work re7 will explain it later but also creates  some issues with the plot and finally we make it   to a save room there's no limited saves like ink  ribbons here and the music is haunting but there's   also a tiny ting of hope save room themes for  all resident evils have always been a highlight   the save room theme for resident evil 7 is no  exception so at this point we're mostly free to   roam around and as great as the intro is you can't  exactly fly your way through it like skipping cut   scenes in previous titles in the series sure you  can now have a save file here for each time you   decide to replay but i wish re7 gave you the  option just to jump right ahead and start at   the meal time scene especially when you compare  it to previous titles when we get into the thick   of things very quickly that said on the first  playthrough resident evil 7 does a great job of   setting up the mood in the story what's at stake  and the atmosphere all great stuff i told you now we're in the main house it's small it's  interconnected we'll open up shortcuts it's   got that classic resident evil design that falls  under the tube style or metroidvania technique   and yes the team themselves even mentioned the  term metroidvania this was accomplished with   either linear or what we call tube style design  or through more metroidvania-like progression   it's a nice return to the routes that four five  and six drifted away from and we have more of   the classic style item management with item boxes  so let's go over item management in resident evil   7. it's great here but it doesn't quite reach the  level of the classic re titles on the ps1 or remic   2. there we're constantly thinking about how  much ammo we have to take healing items how   much basically for pickups along the way and stuff  we do pick up what can they unlock this is still   present in re7 problem is the inventory is too  big and i had very few situations where i really   had to think about juggling that inventory space  the previous titles had that perfect balance of   keeping it in mind without getting too frustrating  for it's a very delicate bounce you hit this flow   state of when you're progressing always thinking  about how much space you have in your inventory   i didn't quite find myself ever hitting it here in  re7 as a result i recall during my playthrough of   resident evil 7 there's maybe a handful of times  where i had to go drop off stuff to make room   again this is a very delicate bounce if you  want to look at another similar series look   at silent hill 4 where they introduced item  management something that was not present in   their previous titles and they really mucked  it up and created more frustrating experience   still re7 gets a lot right here with item  management although i wish they had been a tiny   bit more restrictive on the inventory to get me  thinking two steps ahead of how much ammo to take   items to take with me how much space to leave  for items that will pick up along the way   so in this house we'll be dealing with jack  baker to note the team took slasher elements   of horror when it comes to jack with  how he behaves and how we get away from you him your time the name jack was  taken from jack torrance from the shining   like mostly resident evil games if not all first  area i'd say is the best you could tell us where   the team put the most care into there's a bit  of a missed opportunity here when it comes to   looking at items to get more personality  and insight from ethan but again the game   wants to keep a more real blank slate for  example him looking at this picture of lucas   saying he looks like an [ __ ] it's a great  little touch a fight in the garage with jack   while very quick is very intense we're dealing  with something here that's clearly of our element   and it has a hell of an ending encounter now we  could start to really explore the main house and   for the first bit of re7 all we really have to  deal with here and be aware of is jack himself   one of the goals of the game was to keep it to a  small cast and having to just deal with jack at   this time is a fantastic thing and for aaa game  pretty bold choice when you don't see happening   very often the house's full character gives a lot  of great insight into the baker family and even   some shout outs to previous resident evil titles  we'll come across the first spinning puzzles to   get these shadows to line up there are a few of  these throughout resident evil 7. they're not   too complicated you just have to do a bit of trial  and error they're fine they're quick but there's   nothing outstanding or very memorable about them  we come across this vhs tape from mia and why   they're still using vhs okay but it's just left  here for us to find okay it's a little odd now we   briefly play as mia so we escape from margaret and  gives us a preview ahead of the second house that   we'll be dealing with later on there's this little  interesting bit here with this girl over here who this is we'll get back to later it's an  intense little sequence here and gives us   some foreshadowing of somewhere we will go part  of the plot also dealing with marguerite later   eventually we'll make our way  into the basement and the game   does a great job of building dread for  it this is our first taste of the molded enemies and here lies one of the major issues that i have  with resinual 7 get used to fighting these enemies   because besides the bakers most of your time is  going to be spent with these in variations of them   and there's nothing really that great about them  their look is fairly plain they're fairly easy to   deal with while the first few encounters within  the basement are great more encounters in the   future just become another obstacle in the way  previous titles always had enough variation to   keep us on our toes this is something that  resident evil 7 drops the ball on of all the   flaws that the game has i'd say the lack of enemy  variation is probably that's worst we then have a   chainsaw fight with jack and you can see the evil  dead influence here it's a silly fight but in a   series full of silly things it still also feels  quite in line with what we've been given so far   do me a favor and stay dead oh that smells good donut now we can make our way  outside and move beyond the main house and go to   the old house before we do we'll stop at zoey's  trailer a nice middle point for the areas and   a moment of rest there's a note here about how  zoey will be like mom and dad at some point how   long has it been for her we'll find out more about  that later we already got a brief taste of the old   house playing as mia and the tape but now there  are some changes in here the old house is more   straightforward in its design compared to the main  house which is more metroidvania in its design   but does offer some different challenges to tackle  here the game goes more for body horror which   devs talked about as their focus for marguerite  depending on what kind of horror gets you the most   you may be like mean to find the encounters  with marguerite more terrifying than jack   we'll make our way through the old hills  dealing with these flies and these nests   that will take out with the flamethrower it's  cliched but you know it's at least different   than the molded although they're not much of a  threat on their own we'll encounter marguerite   throughout the house it's interesting to  hear how she deals with us compared to jack i don't understand you and all this  is the gift i know you and zoey   i know you were sad you think i don't know what  you want to do with that boy ethan the encounter   with marguerite in the next house to me is the  highlight of resident evil 7. we have plenty of   space to navigate in verticality a number of  options to us but so does marguerite there's   an ebb and flow here as she and we the player move  around the space and we're getting plenty of items   including ammo and health around here the amount  of space and options here gives us plenty of room   to work with and is resident evil 7 at its best oh  and hopefully you got the grenade launcher back in   the main house once you got that one key in the  old house although you'll do fine here with the flamethrower i do think in re7 there's a bit of a missed  opportunity to flesh out marguerite more she   doesn't get as much of that compared to jack and  lucas who we'll see in the next area that said she   is still very terrifying and i find her encounters  the most terrifying of the three and she could   take quite a while to take down so while this is  the peak of resident evil 7 it's not saying that   the areas that fall aren't terrible but they are  stepped down you can now get the other part of the   serum in the old house bouncing the scale with the  light she had for some reason that just works okay   puzzle logic and the encounter and build up here  is really tense it's the classic horotropes of the   deranged little girl with drawings nori7  does a great job of putting us on edge and gives us some insight and foreshadowing  of what to expect because as we know in   horror games whenever you pick up a key  item something always has to go wrong afterwards of the bakers it's now time to go deal with  lucas who has both zoe and mia whereas jack was   influenced by slasher films margarite by body [ __  ] kimovari 7 made use of psychological horror for   lucas note that this isn't like the psychological  horror and say silent hill but more in dealing   with someone who isn't all right in the head but  is also brilliant and not to be underestimated   we do have a bit of backtracking through the main  house to open up areas that weren't accessible   before now the house will have the molded around  as mentioned earlier the fights with the mold and   the lack of enemy variety here is resident evil  7's biggest flaw beyond a few variations to them   there's not much to it it's just easier in a lot  of cases to just run past them and save your ammo   while you can and time going to lucas's room  and getting insight to how deranged he is but   also how brilliant he is at the same time it's all  great stuff it helps build up for the encounters   with him we have another videotape we'll get  a small little puzzle section of trying x item   with y placement as another character which they  will meet their end it's pretty gruesome stuff   and being the first person helps re7 take this  part to the next level with what happens to us what are you doing lucas makes use of traps here for us to  navigate through and there's a nice change   of pace here to slow things down make our way  through some rooms disarm them and some will   be quite hidden if you're not careful it's  nice to hear the classic re menu sound here oh no it's zero five one four you're  so close to oh four five one lucas   so close we didn't have a barn fight with  a larger molded which while nothing special   in how we deal with them is the nicest setting  to help get across just how deranged lucas is we'll now make our way into the room where  the happy birthday tape section was and with   our knowledge we could skip through most of it  and thor lucas's plan here that said when i was   playing this i did actually take a couple weeks  break from playing re7 and coming back here i had   to go back and watch what i did previously to make  sure i did not meet the same fate we then arrive   to where zoe and mia are tied up and this is our  first time seeing zoe she makes the serum quickly   and there are just two of them alright that's  handy and convenient but look who comes barging in in certain ways this fight with jack here reminds  me of mendez and re4 just the aspect of going up   and down to attack his weak points it's nice  of him to give these big glowing eyes for us   to attack as the weak point more things change  the more they stay the same video gaming isn't   it but to take jack down we end up using one  of these serums now we only have one serum   now we get to the choice between zoe and mia  i had to use one of them there's only one left there's only one left there can't just be one  left what the hell are we gonna do now and here   lies the largest issue with the story in resident  evil 7. i'll go over this part more especially   my fixing the narrative of re7 section the  information we learned from the rest of the game   but let's cover it now with the information that  we currently know there's so many things i could   say about this part but i'll try to keep it fairly  brief i mean why not a half dose of each would   that have worked at least i've watched various  videos of red threads and it's interesting to   see the discussion that comes up between whether  people chose zoe or mia here to cure and their   reasoning behind it but one point i found in  common amongst everyone is the game did a poor job   of the execution and setup of this choice and that  the game would have been better off if they didn't   include a choice whatsoever so let's go through  the two favor of curing mia well she's ethan's   wife she's been the driver of the plot of resident  evil 7 he is the reason why ethan is here now and   what he's gone through and yet there's something  clearly off with her like the bakers that seems   to cut in and out she also did chainsaw handoff  where a number of people said that they turned on   her right then and i don't blame him sure it gets  stitched back on by zoe but it doesn't change the   fact that she chainsawed her [ __ ] hand off and  from the beginning we know that she's been lying   to us and she cuts in and out of being infected  by this gift that jack and marguerite talk about   so what's going on mia has a lot to answer  for here and what about in favor of curing zoe   well she's been guiding us through the phone  calls she's been helping us find and make the cure   she's the one who stapled their hand back on  we've only really seen her once face to face   she doesn't seem to have really any issue that  rest her family does with the infection so is   she really infected she says she has something  inside her and can't leave and the note in her   trailer does say that she will turn like the rest  of her family soon but it's been almost 3 years   how would she know that she would turn soon what's  the reasoning behind this is that just a wild   guess on her hand does she feel like something  inside her is changing so right now with all the   information we've gathered it seems like the sides  are pointing that mia plays a large part in what's   currently going on here so wouldn't we wanna at  least get some answers from her could she help put   an end to this there's so much more here about  the scene that causes a lot of issues with the   plot we're gonna put a pin on that for now and go  over it later once we have a better understanding   of the plot with the information we're given  later in the game before moving forward in their   re7 post-mortem talk they did talk about  why they included this choice in the game   we wanted to actually bring things even forward  even more so what could we do one of the ideas was   the split paths with zoe and mia keeping with the  scope of less is more our and our fast approaching   deadlines we wanted to have something that made  players feel like they were making a critical   decision but also something that wouldn't be  so involved that it would delay the project   we settled on having the decision affect part  of the story even though the outcomes led the   player into more or less the same direction  for my playthrough i gave the cure to mia it's fine it was foolish thinking i could  escape but zoe go both of you just go   come with us i'm i'm sure there's someone who can  help this is not home apparently i belong here i'll send help don't bother there  won't be anyone left to help you come across this large ship are attacked and  then we switch to playing as mia ethan is taken   away it's time for us to get aboard the ship and  find him the atmosphere on the ship is fantastic   building a large sense of dread and this ship  was foreshadowed back in the child's room with a   picture on the ship mia begins to piece together  her memories that she lost and we'll get some   insight into what happened here we'll have a few  run-ins with the girl that we saw in the old house   and on the old mia tape and now it's time for mia  to remember we flash back to 2014 through years   ago and something has happened on this boat and we  get a name for this girl evelyn or evie okay evie   where are you and hey looks like mia knows  how to handle herself we'll get insight into   how me as part of a special operations division  and how evelyn is being sought after by rival   organizations and to be disposed of if things  go wrong all right now i'm intrigued lairs are   starting to peel back and re-7 is giving  us insight into what mia was lying about   i mean i guess it is a babysitting job in a way  and it's stated that she is a caretaker but it's   a lot different than we probably had in mind at  the beginning of resident evil 7. the game does a   great job here of answering a number of questions  but also raising a lot of new ones an issue that   i do want to point out here is that a lot of this  information is conveyed through telling as opposed   to showing see scatter notes that give us insight  into what's going on granted it's not like this   is new to the resident evil series or games in  general but it's nearly always preferable when   you can to show don't tell the ship area has a  good sense of progression of going back and forth   to unlock areas the issue is that it's narrow  hallways that look the same and lacks a lot of   variety of the first areas and of course we have  to deal with more of the same mold mold there's   not a ton of space in here so it's more difficult  to avoid encounters which at this point have gone   far past their novelty and sense of horror and  are obstacles simply to mow down at least re7   gives us remote bombs we could use against  them now which are really satisfying to use we cut back to the present day now that mia  has our memories back it's time to rescue ethan   we have to progress through the ship again  but things are a little different in how we   navigate now that it's three years later while  i don't mind the ship as much as other people do   i do think resident evil 7 would have been better  off if they fold the flashback in the present day   together and have the time of being on the ship  eventually we reach ethan and we cut to a scene as   ethan talking to jack baker who is normal with zoe  there as well how this scene happens it doesn't   really make sense but some absolutely stellar  acting by the actor playing jack baker listen   the girl just wants a family on her own she's  the key all right you find her and you stop her ethan free my family please now playing as ethan again we now  have to go find evelyn with what mia gave us i want to comment now that  there's just something so   endearing about ethan and his matter of  fact comments throughout the game ah no a [ __ ] pocket knife do me a favor and  stay dead seeing as we'll be playing as   ethan again in resident late i guess it's true  when they say ethan chads just keep on winning   we're off to the mines and really  there isn't much to say about this area   it's short it's fairly linear and guess what more  molded however it's much more open than the ship   so it's just easier to run around them i guess  it's more about setting up the dlc where we'll   be down here afterwards we have a number of notes  here that really answer a lot of plot questions   in the span of two rooms we get basically an  information bomb again it's a case of telling as   opposed to showing but c'est la vie so it turns  out for the last few years lucas has been cured   at least in regards to being under the control of  evelyn which makes me wonder what was lucas like   in that time frame where he was under her control  if he's as deranged as he is now what would he   have been like then we got more insight into  how evelyn wants a family now she's looking old   hmm we learn about this infection the e-series  or evelyn and how it works so we learned that   the first stage in the infection one of  these side effects is that the subject   gains regenerative abilities so ethan is  infected that explains the hand and the leg what the [ __ ] and while lucas is normal in  the mine he seems to still have this ability   due to his arm coming back the second stage  of the infection hears things and experiences   hallucinations they'll see images of evelyn and  hear her voice so ethan is at this stage as well   not only with what we'll see shortly but back in  the old house when we get part of the serum on   that note in the tape section of me and the old  house is that ethan seeing evil in the tape is   that mia how does that work out third stage in the  infection is the body being taken over physical   mutation varies results in incredible physical  strength so that explains jack or marguerite   and aspects of mia when she's taken over but how  is mia able to cut back and forth is it due to   evelyn viewing her as a mother we learn about how  evelyn is a bioweapon and how it converts hostile   enemies into willing servants this could change  the landscape of combat at war and it's a nice   variation in twist of these various viruses  we've seen over the years in the franchise   get an explanation for the reasoning of evelyn's  appearance as a young girl which i'm glad that   resident evil 7 justifies when i first came across  evelyn i was a bit disappointed thinking that they   were going for the creepy girl root that has  been a bit of a cliche in the horror world but   re7 at least justifies the reasoning we get back  to the house experiencing plenty of hallucinations   i know you didn't mean to hurt me kill him  mommy oh boy you shouldn't have done that   it's [ __ ] hard does it want to be my daddy  then he can die and we'll eventually reach   evelyn who has all this power to keep  us away instead just fushro does us away we just block and move our way forward okay  that was really lame and for a better lack of   a term video gaming moment i've been fine  if re7 here just took this as a cut scene   with ethan approaching evelyn saying he wanted  to be her daddy and when she lets her guard down   he uses the serum on her and surprised who  would have thought that grandma baker was   actually evelyn all along which we had a bit  foreshadowing in one of those emails from lucas   then we got this comically goofy fight  with evelyn but luckily we have some backup   we take evelyn down here and  the familiar face appears i'm redfield oh my god what's wrong with  your face granted it's a bit of a running   joke now how much chris's appearance  seems to change throughout the series   here he looks like he's really off steroids and  hasn't been punching many boulders as of late   but really now we get on the helicopter with  mia and boy there's gonna have to be a long   conversation between those two afterwards oh  and mia has plenty to account for doesn't she   and look at this umbrella so i'm guessing here  as well that ethan gets cured as well from the   team that rescues him and we'll see later in  one of the dlc's that they do have a cure for it   oh unless you decide to hear zoe instead in which  the game mostly plays out the same except both zoe   and mia die [ __ ] you supporters of zoe so with  that we get a really cool cred scene and the base   game of resident evil 7 is over before we look  at fixing the narrative and the dlc's let's take   a look at the base game overall resident evil 7  was a fantastic return to form to the series roots   while making some tweaks to the formula while  it does become more action survival as the game   goes on due to becoming more familiar with the  molded stripping things down to dealing with the   bakers who are well put together in areas akin  to classic metroidvania design in the original   titles was the right choice keeping the plot  mostly self-contained before revealing the wider   implications and how re7 ties to the series was  the right move i'm curious to see where resident   evil 8 goes from here of course it's not perfect  the ship and the mines take a noticeable step down   of what came before the lack of enemy variety  hurts quite a bit it's on the plot is really   messy but granted what game isn't especially  considering how convoluted and over complicated   the lore of resident evil has gotten over the  years so on that note let's take a look at some   of the ways we could fix the narrative we'll take  a look at missed opportunities discussing some of   the major issues with the plot of re7 and dangling  threads that i hope resident evil 8 doesn't drop to know this is all hindsight being 2020 and it's  just one person taking a look with some thoughts   game development is unbelievably complex and  has so many people involved in moving pieces   with constant changes to the plot being very  common that said let's jump into it one missed   opportunity right off the bat in resident evil  7 is not making use of much of the louisiana   setting as they could have louisiana does have  an interesting culture that re7 could lean more   into instead of just using as a backdrop  another missed opportunity that could have   been used to build more tension horror is  make use of the fact that ethan is infected   having a race against time to make sure we don't  meet the same face as the bakers or the molded   is a really easy way to erase the stakes and  tension which resident evil 7 doesn't really   take advantage of hell if they wanted to go  hard with multiple endings they could have   had certain actions lead to a bad ending where  ethan does become fully infected and on that   note of multiple endings let's go back to the  biggest issue with the game's plot that being   between the choice of mia and zoe again this is  the team's reasoning behind this choice for re7   we wanted to actually bring things even  forward even more so what could we do   one of the ideas was the split paths with zoe  and mia keeping with the scope of less is more   our and our fast approaching deadlines we wanted  to have something that made players feel like they   were making a critical decision but also something  that wouldn't be so involved that it would delay   the project so there's a few ways we could take a  look at this in hindsight and correct this issue   firstly i just say take this choice away let the  other characters have agency here and driving the   plot one that pops into my mind right away  is have zoe just use the cure and leave us   to our elements why well because she's justified  in doing so she knows that mia has some part to   play with evelyn being here and what it did to her  family she simply could have cured herself and say   hey that chip you came in on mia go check that out  and mia and ethan could have went there trying to   fight off evelyn's control to see if there was  something there you could do about the infection   would have been one way to really raise the sticks  as we come to the concluding chapters of resident   evil 7 not knowing if there was a surefire way to  cure ethan and mia on that note of mia having a   part in what happens in re7 i really hope that  resident evil 8 doesn't drop the ball in this   because mia has a lot to answer for she's more or  less a bioterrorist working at this organization   i'm curious to how much ethan knew as he was aware  that she was lying but to what extent she's lived   a double life for quite some time now her behavior  in the game seems to show that there's a lot of   remorse for what she's done and i don't doubt her  love for ethan but could also just be that she's   following orders with evelyn after all in her  briefing it does mention dispose of evelyn if   the mission is compromised there's a lot of  unanswered questions here about mia which to me   makes it really intriguing and hopefully resident  evil 8 doesn't drop the ball on it and with that   information should it not come as a surprise why  chris shoots her in the resident evil 8 trailer   granted i'm sure there's more to this scene than  meets the eye especially when you show a scene   like this in the trailer but as well we'll see  in chris's dlc he's not afraid to put people down   i can't wait to get my hands on that   just remember we need him alive chris yeah yeah i  guess at some point he learns about mia's role in   this that or seeing that they have a kid found the  suitable seed provider for the redfield bloodline   another missed opportunity here is not going into  much detail about the marriage between mia and   ethan and i've read people saying that they chose  zoe for the serum one of their reasons is that we   don't really know much about mia beyond the fact  that she's ethan's wife and that wasn't enough   for them we don't really know the history between  the two of them granted the team of resident evil   7 wants to keep ethan more of a blank slate but  when you have someone that's a blank slate that's   married and has such a large role in the plot that  can create a lot of issues which happened here so   what's a way of fixing this i'm going to do  something that the developers of re7 did here   and merge two characters together initially  grandma baker was supposed to be a separate   character before the team merged here with evelyn  so one way to fix these issues with the plot   is to merge the characters of zoe and mia why  for two reasons firstly instead of zoe leading   us to the cure we could have mia doing that in  her place when she has moments of clarity this   way you could have fleshed out the relationship  between ita and myanmar to give better insight   it creates a more simple plot and helps remove  the attacked on choice that the zoe and mia   serum conundrum creates but there's also a second  reason for merging zoe with mia and it's the way   zoe deals with the infection this creates a  law of confusion and inconsistencies in the   plot of resident evil 7 into how evelyn and  the infection works we are given information   that this infection will vary between each  person and with mia the fact that evelyn   sees her as her mommy can give reason for why  the infection seems to work differently for her   she didn't attack you it's part of her imprinting  protocol i can't believe this is happening but   what about zoe especially what's after nearly  been three years it doesn't really make sense   she does mention that she can't leave and  feels that she'll be like her mom and dad soon   but how does she know that it's not like lucas  who is cured from evelyn's control a few years   back in just a few months after being infected  and on this note of three years i think having   such a long time frame between the shipwreck and  when ethan arrives wasn't necessary and creates   law of plot issues resident evil 7 could make do  with that time frame being a few weeks or months   in that case you could say that zoe was able to  resist it for some time feels like she's going   to be infected soon and that feels much more in  line than three years sure three years did get   evelyn enough time to kidnap people to try to  create a family with but i think a few weeks or   months goes sufficed here and you could have had  something molded come from the ship to the house   hell you could have brought the alligators in  as well who we will see in the end of zoe dlc   and why was it three years until evelyn tried to  get mia to bring ethan here is she able to fight   off that long again it's something that you could  have done a few weeks or months and i think that   reducing this time frame makes love the resident  evil 7 plot a lot less messy so on that note let's   leave the base game of resident evil 7 behind and  let's take a look at what the dlc has in store don't that just smell like heaven i made  especially for you the dlc of resident evil 7   has a nice variety of ideas that wouldn't fit that  well in the main game they are free to explore   and incorporate here while the base game can be  campion points the dlc does lean more into this   it does also pull some of the more action heavy  elements from 4 5 and 6. this is one of the   better examples of making good use of dlc so let's  jump right in banned footage volume one has three   pieces of content for us to check out nightmare  bedroom and ethan must die i don't really have   much to say on ether must die beyond it's a rather  enjoyable challenge so let's look at the other two   nightmare reminds me of mercenaries modes in the  previous titles with a few twists we'll gather   resources to purchase weapons or upgrades in the  basement of the main house as we fend off molded   and later on jack himself we can lay down traps  as well by spending resources nightmare has a   great balance of making decisions on where  to spend our resources collecting resources   ensuring we have enough ammo and health and of  course dealing with the molded while i don't   find it as replayable as mercenaries it's still a  great experience and a fun little piece of content bedroom has a chained up in a well a bedroom  in the main house with marguerite bringing   us a delightful meal for us to enjoy one of the  main issues with the base game of resident evil   7 was wishing we had more time with marguerite so  it's nice that we get some more time with her here   having us locked up in bed having her  straighten our face is pretty daunting wow this this looks delicious  really it looks great   oh good our goal is to escape from  the room so as we free ourselves we   have to navigate through the room to find  items and solve puzzles to make progress   there will be points where noise will be made  and we have a timer to get back in bed so we   have to make sure everything is in order or else  marguerite will catch us there's some fantastic   tension here as she comes in the room making  sure that everything was in order as it was huh has someone been in here oh something ain't right hmm well everything seems in  order now hold on just a minute that drawer didn't open  itself this is what you get no hell no i'll be good i'll be good of course there's some bizarre puzzle logic here  but hey that's the resident evil series for you   while it's fairly straightforward the bedroom  dlc is a great piece of content full of tension   and giving us more time with the  character who i wish had more screen time   in the base game 21 is a very saw-esque  piece of content with us playing 21 with   another opponent with lucas egging us  on with one of his crazy contraptions i want to play a game this can get pretty  gruesome and residential 7 making use of   the first person perspective makes these  finger removals that much more gruesome it's another showcase for just how deranged  lucas is daughters is a noticeable standout   for us getting to see the bakers prior to  being infected and seeing the events from   zoe's perspective of the arrival of evelyn zoe go  get some fresh clothes from the laundry room okay   lucas's old room oh come on can't you put her  somewhere else oh lucas you just her she's long   outgrown that room i always wanted to run a bed  and breakfast you got your big break didn't you   this is very brief seeing them normal and just  like that jack and marguerite are infected   the part in the main room trying to stealth by  marguerite was really frustrating for whatever   reason took me several tries to get right  well the game over for it is interesting to are you see yo what's the matter honey  don't you want to play with your new sister they're keeping mia out in the trailer to  take care of her but then evelyn appears   the problem with this dlc however is it does  seem to create some confusion with the infection   as the next day everyone is fine there are some  notes in the base game of re7 that mentions   that the first few days they drifted in and out  before being fully taken over by the infection   still it's a nice piece of dlc just for the  brief appearance of getting to see the bakers   in a normal state of mind on that note it's  a bit of a missed opportunity we don't get   time frame where lucas was actually infected  and under the mind control of evelyn i would   have really liked to see how he would have  been considering how deranged he is as is not a hero has us playing as chris  redfield descending into minds to deal   with lucas one of the plot threads that  we left at the end of resident evil 7.   we get some insight into this blue umbrella  trying to amend for their past mistakes using   the umbrella name to show they take responsibility  for their actions we'll get some information about   the connections whoever that may be chris puts  those boulder punching skills to good use as   staggering the molded here allows to give them  a nice punch along with stomping down enemies we'll find a few of our men down  here falling into lucas's trap   was this a case of lucas being brilliant them  being buffoons or a combination of the two   from our down comrades we'll pick up additional  equipment like night vision or a breathing mask   which leads me to wonder why didn't chris have  this on in the first place we have some new mola   to deal with who are invulnerable unless we pick  up a different kind of ammo which point they drop   like a sack of potatoes we'll go through three  areas each with their own different challenges   and rewards while separate each area does have  some looping design akin to the house while it's   nowhere near as enjoyable or as intricate as the  main house they're still well designed areas after   a few more encounters we'll make our way into  the lab section and get more insight into evelyn   lucas and the researchers that he worked with  there's a number of files lying around but there's   some good environmental storytelling done here as  well to show just what happened eventually we'll   have our final showdown with lucas now all molded  up this is a fun little fight to end the dlc   pulling more of the action heavy focus on 5  and 6 which the dlc has been making use of   again very nice of him to give us this  giant obvious weak point for us to take down   oh video games also get a few more hoops to jump  through here including keeping an eye out on our   oxygen reserves and with that we end the dlc it's  a quick little jaunt was nice to get closure on   lucas as it did seem like resident evil 7 may have  gone the direction of keeping lucas alive having   him become a recurring villain like wesker while  there is more they could have done with lucas i   am glad the team decided to put an end to his  story here i can't wait to get my hands on that   just remember we need him alive chris yeah  yeah and finally we save the best for last   the final dlc of resident evil 7 end of zoe  this time around we're playing as a baker   joe baker the brother of jack this dlc shows  that choosing mia was the cannon ending and   zoe is calcified her mentioning evelyn here  must mean this happened before evelyn was eliminated which again the whole issue of being nearly  three years when the bakers were infected   that has to happen now is a bit of an issue  with the plot but we already covered that   while i find the term overused it is fitting to  say joe baker is a total badass his appearance   reminds me a lot of the overseer in fallout 1.  the cure has been brought for zoe so we have to   go get it but of course there's complications  along the way and resident evil 7 here dials   up even more of the camp by joe just punching  everything in sight and it's super satisfying we can find boxer effigies throughout the dlc  to increase the punching power that joe has   and we also have the option of stealth kills you also get some throwing spears which are quite  satisfying to use and allow us to take care of new   enemies gators it's too bad that the base game  didn't include the gators in the gator fights   slow things down to make sure we take them out  before moving forward and there's that tension of   keeping a distance and not getting too close for  even joe's bare hands aren't enough for them we   have small sections that will loop around before  we progress forward or hit more roadblocks and   getting zoe the cure there's a great little boss  fighting enclosed area about halfway through the   dlc on a derelict ship joe not backing down  to anything here and wanted to protect his   family is really endearing and re7 does this in  a very short period of time so props to the team we got the serum but of course things  aren't that easy for zoey gets taken away   we'll then discover that the  molded that takes zoe away is jack   wait didn't we use a serum on him as ethan  shouldn't he be gone now i'm a bit confused   by this we'll eventually make our way to the house  and what's this lying here what the hell is this fancy toys ready for you i love the power glove it's so bad so  resident evil 7 kicks it up a notch here   with this gauntlet giving us even more power and  to end off this dlc we end up back in the main   house for a one-on-one fight with joe's dear  brother jack this is a simple yet fun little   fight regards the timing of the charging  up the gauntlet and dodging jack's attacks with that zoe's cured and she gets  a phone call from a familiar friend   you didn't forget about me i told you i'd  send help and i always keep my promises   thank you ethan and with that my friends we end  the story of resident evil 7. resident evil 7   was not only the resident evil series regaining  its footing but capcom as well capcom had a bit   of an up and down period in the late 2000s to  the early 2010s this is a time frame when they   strayed away from law of their core strengths  to try to implement more western trends or farm   out work to western studios with the taint of key  staff like kj inifune gone as they left to work on   other projects capcom went back more to  their roots with some of their franchises   the resident evil 7 revitalizing the series they  followed this up with the phenomenal resident   evil 2 remake although had a bit of a stumble  with re-3 remake but resident evil village   looks like a step in the right direction  so where does resident evil go from here   well in may of the seer save for any delays we'll  have resident evil 8 continuing the story of ethan   and mia winters this game looks to pull a lot from  resident evil 4 in regards to its setting and tone   and from what we've seen so far we'll probably  have much more ties to the series lore as a whole   and cover some of the dangling threads left by  seven it's also nice to see chris looking back   to his old self oh and is it me or is chris  the same voice actor of carlos in re3 remake   sorry ethan take him away it's all right you're  going ahead i'm not gonna die on you leave you in   a cold cool carlos this world it's been so nice  in the world where everything is so divided for   everyone to come together and be united in their  universal love for a tall well-endowed vampire   lady i look forward to seeing what resident  evil 8 has in store wow well ethan winters   there you are so there you are my friends  resident evil 7. we covered a lot of ground   here if you enjoyed you know the whole shebang  like leave a comment subscribe check out twitter   discord everything you know how it is  alright my friends boulder punch out

Channel: Boulder Punch

Views: 2,127,858

Keywords: Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 7:Biohazard, Resident Evil 7 review, Resident Evil 7 analysis, RE7, RE7 review, RE7 analysis, Resident Evil 7 retrospective, Resident Evil 7 critique, RE7 retrospective, RE7 critique, boulder punch, Resident Evil 7 dlc, Biohazard, Resident Evil 7 Ethan Winters, Looking back Resident Evil, Lucas Baker, End of Zoe, resident evil 7 biohazard, resident evil 7 gameplay, resident evil 7 review, resident evil, re7 gameplay, resident evil village

Id: C-5llkejFJE

Length: 56min 27sec (3387 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 24 2021