the Resident Evil series (7 dependent on earlier?)

[JeenLeen]

Please no spoilers for Resident Evil 7 and, ideally, any other of the games. If your answer would be a spoiler, please put it in SPOILER tags.

I read some stuff about Resident Evil 7, and it sounds like a game I would enjoy watching a Let's Play of on Youtube. Already on about 1 hour in on a 7-hour playthrough.

Do I need to know anything about the previous Resident Evil games to 'get' this game? I'm vaguely aware of the Umbrella Corp and zombie virus lore, but little beyond that, but I've never played any of the games.

[Antonok]

There's a few references to the overall series, but overall no. The story is pretty self contained.

[Mikemical]

No. I already beat the game. The only references you would get from having played the fixed camera angle ones(1, 2, 3, and Outbreak Files 1 and 2) are few and not really important. Like Antonok said, the story is pretty self-contained. Even the "sudden OMGWTFBBQ plot twist" at the end will likely fly over the head of any non-Resident Evil fan without mattering much, though they would likely miss out on some implications.

That the state of the world was not explored post-RE6 is a little annoying though, so I guess I'll have to watch Vendetta to get that info.

[JadedDM]

Yeah, you'll be fine. There are little references to the older games sprinkled throughout, mostly in newspaper clippings and such. But nothing terribly important.

[Psyren]

4 is also a fairly self-contained story. Ada Wong is knocking about being mysterious but nothing you really need to read up on.

[JeenLeen]

Thanks, y'all.

It is surprising to me how much the start of this seems like it could easily be supernatural instead of supertech. Knowing RE, I can get the hints that it's supertech and all, but I think I was well over an hour in the playthrough before there was anything that would make me think it's not just some demon infestation or something like that (well, besides the Codex being tech). Actually, if I thought this was just a generic horror game (i.e., didn't know the title), I still would question the source of the problem.

One reference I'm curious about. There's a picture that, when you pick it up, the main character says/thinks something like "You've never met him, but you get the feeling he's a a-hole" or something like that. Is that someone from a previous game?

[Antonok]

Thanks, y'all.

It is surprising to me how much the start of this seems like it could easily be supernatural instead of supertech. Knowing RE, I can get the hints that it's supertech and all, but I think I was well over an hour in the playthrough before there was anything that would make me think it's not just some demon infestation or something like that (well, besides the Codex being tech). Actually, if I thought this was just a generic horror game (i.e., didn't know the title), I still would question the source of the problem.

One reference I'm curious about. There's a picture that, when you pick it up, the main character says/thinks something like "You've never met him, but you get the feeling he's a a-hole" or something like that. Is that someone from a previous game?

Can't remember right off hand, but I believe that's just a picture of a Lucas.

[JadedDM]

Yeah, it's Lucas. The guy who threw food at you and got his hand chopped off during the dinner scene.

[JeenLeen]

Yeah, it's Lucas. The guy who threw food at you and got his hand chopped off during the dinner scene.

That's weird, since you did meet him already... but I guess the idea is that he looks so different between that photo and in-game that the main character doesn't realize it's the same guy.

[JadedDM]

That's weird, since you did meet him already... but I guess the idea is that he looks so different between that photo and in-game that the main character doesn't realize it's the same guy.
That was my thinking, as well.

[Mikemical]

That's weird, since you did meet him already... but I guess the idea is that he looks so different between that photo and in-game that the main character doesn't realize it's the same guy.

Or because their only interaction thus far was him throwing a plate full of maggots at Ethan's face.

What bothered me the most about the game is just how Ethan just accepts everything like he's dead inside. "Go find these two things in this creepy-looking house." - "Okay. You want fries and a diet coke with that? Only 2$ and I can turn your order into a combo meal."

NOTE: He doesn't say that in the game, but his reactions are more the ones I'd expect from Leon, who is more used to this kind of bull... not some guy from accounting who came to pick up his missing wife after she's been gone for three years.

[JeenLeen]

What bothered me the most about the game is just how Ethan just accepts everything like he's dead inside. "Go find these two things in this creepy-looking house." - "Okay. You want fries and a diet coke with that? Only 2$ and I can turn your order into a combo meal."

NOTE: He doesn't say that in the game, but his reactions are more the ones I'd expect from Leon, who is more used to this kind of bull... not some guy from accounting who came to pick up his missing wife after she's been gone for three years.

Yeah, that does seem odd to me, too. I can easily enough handwave him being proficient with all sorts of weapons (though I figured he might be special forces, not accounting, since I didn't see any of his background info), but his acceptance is odd. I do get it a bit, in the sense of this is a first-person game so the game designer wants the player to get in the head/place of the protagonist and thus the protagonist freaking out might nullify that (kinda how Gordon Freeman doesn't speak in Half-Life), but it seems extreme enough here to break verisimilitude and immersion.

Also, there's no thoughts about "I got outside the house. I can probably jump that fence and just run away and call the cops." I get that he'd want to save Mia first, but there's no indication she's in immediate danger. I'd run for the cops after I see that first VHS tape.

It would make sense for him to be afraid he's infected, after Zoe mentions the infection, and thus he doesn't want to leave to get help lest he spread the infection. BUT he never says anything to indicate that he might be infected, so that doesn't seem a valid explanation.


I did like how one time, after solving some door riddle, he says something like, "Who builds these things?"
Made sense to comment how freaking weird all those riddles are.

[JadedDM]

Well, there is a sort of explanation for Ethan's weird behavior. The game doesn't explicitly spell it out, so maybe I'm just reading too much into it, though.

But it's major spoilers either way, so I'll wait until after OP is finished with it.

[Mikemical]

Yeah, that does seem odd to me, too. I can easily enough handwave him being proficient with all sorts of weapons (though I figured he might be special forces, not accounting, since I didn't see any of his background info), but his acceptance is odd. I do get it a bit, in the sense of this is a first-person game so the game designer wants the player to get in the head/place of the protagonist and thus the protagonist freaking out might nullify that (kinda how Gordon Freeman doesn't speak in Half-Life), but it seems extreme enough here to break verisimilitude and immersion.

If you notice, Ethan gets progressively better with firearms as the plot advances. At first you're better off firing without the sights. Halfway through the game you can land headshots consistently if you don't suck at FPS games.


Also, there's no thoughts about "I got outside the house. I can probably jump that fence and just run away and call the cops." I get that he'd want to save Mia first, but there's no indication she's in immediate danger. I'd run for the cops after I see that first VHS tape.

You're clearly a newcomer to the series, because in Resident Evil, everyone is incompetent except the protagonists and certain villains.



It would make sense for him to be afraid he's infected, after Zoe mentions the infection, and thus he doesn't want to leave to get help lest he spread the infection. BUT he never says anything to indicate that he might be infected, so that doesn't seem a valid explanation.

Apparently all it takes to keep "her" away is pure force of will, which certain characters should have plenty more of than Ethan.


I did like how one time, after solving some door riddle, he says something like, "Who builds these things?"
Made sense to comment how freaking weird all those riddles are.

"Har har, we know you hate puzzles in these games guys, so get ready to backtrack to hell and back to open a fricking door." - CAPCOM since 1996.

[JeenLeen]

Well, there is a sort of explanation for Ethan's weird behavior. The game doesn't explicitly spell it out, so maybe I'm just reading too much into it, though.

But it's major spoilers either way, so I'll wait until after OP is finished with it.

Finished it today, so I'd welcome the theory/hinted-thing.

A couple questions:

There were notes about someone being free of Eveline's control. I read something hinting that that was Lucas, due to something the company gave him. But he still has his powers and is crazy. Is that right?

[JadedDM]

Yes, the theory I alluded to before is that Ethan was infected by the spores pretty early on, although he never went beyond stage 2. This explains how he's able to regenerate so easily (like having his severed hand reattached and it still works), and why he's so obsessed with finding Mia even if it would be more logical to just leave and seek help--because Evelyn was exhibiting some minor control over his mind. She wanted him to find Mia so he could become Evelyn's 'father figure'. Some people go further and speculate this is how Ethan was able to use firearms without any training. Those infected by the spores seem to have some kind of 'hive mind' (Ethan was able to communicate with Jack mentally, for instance, while he was stuck in that cocoon). And since Mia did have firearms training, it sort of leaked into Ethan's head via the hive mind.

However, the game doesn't explicitly spell any of that out. It does seem to at least imply some of it, though.

Regarding your question:

Yes, Lucas was given something that allowed him to regain his individuality but he got to keep his regenerative powers (and his ability to see/hear Evelyn's hallucinations). That was sort of a plot twist. Lucas was already a bastard before the infection. Unlike his parents or Zoe, he wasn't a victim. He was more than happy to torture people even when not under Evelyn's influence. (Ironically, he was the only one to get away, too.)

[Mikemical]

If you recall, there's a diary in Lucas' room inside the main house that states that he invited some school bully to his house and then stuck him in the attic until the kid died. Lucas was in middle-school around this time, based on the trophies lying around his room. So yeah, the kid was a psycopath to whom Evelyn's arrival and "gift" were a gift from the heavens. He gets to do all the immoral things he wishes to and cannot be killed off easily.