Hello everyone, I write this post with love for the franchise and a desire for it to succeed and grow even more. But right now I believe its facin its biggest problem.
I believe everyone knows that re requiem was a big success, yet I've seen people say more and more that it was a very good game but it wasnt a "masterpiece". I also believe that, I played the game once or twice and really didnt played it anymore for some reason...It just didnt pull me back in. And I believe that the reason is stagnation.
By the time re6 came out, the franchise was was walking to its own grave, wesker died in Re5 and with him, the biggest element of the story tying to the older story died too. There was no longer a main villain, umbrella was dead, and our heroes already reached the status of super soldiers, they reached max level, and resident evil 6 demonstrated that, the villain was kinda lackluster, the action was over the top, and the story kinda lacked focus, It was a big event in world, but in the bigger picture little happend.
So resident evil 7 came, a much needed soft rebot, the scale was way smaller, we had a new protagonist, a new deadly disease that wasnt a virus, a new plot point with blue umbrella, BSAA becoming evil and the connections were introduced. Everything finally had focus, there were a ton of plot points to be developed and answers to be answered. And yet re8 came, and the only thing it explained was how the umbrella logo was made. Sure it had those weird chris clones, but they were so minimal and without focus that I almost forget about it... Oh and chris's new squad of course.
Where is blue umbrella, the connections, where is the BSAA, where are the connections... And my boy ethan died... The game felt like a low stakes spinoff, even tho the story of ethan and his daughter was beautifull, it wasnt tied to anything worth the scale that a numbered title shoud have.
So we came to re requiem. And I felt that the problems with re6 showed again, a villain that was kinda meh, an attack that didnt really move anything forward storywise, still tied to umbrella that to this day is a horse that was beaten to death so hard that it turned itno goo.
The connections were back, and even more loudly this time, but it wasnt loud enough for me, we still know nothing about them, I feel that in the span of 3 numbered titles we should have WAY more info on them then we actually have... Where is blue umbrella, BSAA, where is chris and his squad. Why do we have leon back? What part of his story was developed besides him being married, I actually wouldnt mind him dying on re8 with a big dramatic scene, it would be so incredibly sad and a worthy death to a character so beloved and important to gaming would become history.
Leon's infection as well as Racoon city syndrome felt like the whole chris being evil debacle in re8 where in the end was just a silly thing that really wasnt that big of a deal.
In the end, nothing actually changed, the world remained the same, the characters remained the same, even Leon that actually had that interesting part of his character regarding his survivor's guilt wich I think was underdeveloped... In the end he was just the same.
I think the Developers need to actually start planning a bigger story. A new big baddie that doesnt die at the end of the game he show up, they need to actually focus on the things the introduce in previous games and ACTUALLY DEVELOP them.
It actually feels like capcom is scared to stop repeating the same formula and start taking the same risks re7 took. Because thats how the originals made it, the initial trilogy had umbrella and racoon city, stories that were standalone yet connected and developed in meaningfull ways, where you can actually tell "the story of racoon city" in a book, from its beggining in the arklay mountains to its eventual destruction. What overall story to the new games have?
To make this short, Resident evil needs focus, a new main villain, a new virus that actually matters, maybe a new setting, and to actually focus and develop plotpoints.
I would love to discuss this with you guys, and lease remember, i on your team, I love this world and these characters, please dont be mean, and I would liekt osay even tho I played all the games, Im not a lore scollar, so If I get anything wrong even if its big, care to explain it to me in a calm and respectful manner, I hope this post generates a big discussion!!!
