#i like these two but only in re2 tbh

[okaykois]

i’m waiting so patiently for separate ways dlc :-)

[starrysky28]

RE2 Leon Kennedy SFW Alphabet (A-M)

A/N: Just something I'm trying once again. Somewhat similar to what I did a few months back with the Genshin character hcs.

Warnings: None really, other than mentions of drinking in E.

Enjoy!

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

I'd say he's affectionate to a moderate degree. Not completely devoid of it, but also not totally clingy. I think he's a bit awkward, y'know? He'd definitely show affection by comforting or helping others when they're upset or stressed (or hurt), It's just in his nature.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

He'd be a pretty chill best friend. Very typical "childhood guy best friend" vibe about him. The friendship might start before Raccoon City, most likely when you two were younger.

Though, if you were there to survive the incident with him, I think there would be a possibility of the relationship becoming something even more than best friends...

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Kinda tying into the affection one, he wouldn't really cuddle much if he didn't know you too well, but if he happened to be more comfortable with you, he'd be more than happy to cuddle with you if you asked him to.

He'd be pretty gentle with cuddling. Maybe in the form of casually slinging an arm around you while you two watch a movie, or laying in your lap while you play with his hair (I think he'd especially like that tbh)

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Before Raccoon City happened, I think he envisioned eventually getting married to someone and having a kid or two. Now, he's not so sure he'd be ready for something like that after all that he went through.

As for cooking, I think coming from an Italian family, he'd be a really good cook. I can imagine a recipe or two may have been passed down to him before the death of his parents.

Cleaning on the other hand....oh boy. Honestly, I don't think he'd be a total slob, but I think he'd procrastinate on tidying up more than a few times...

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

I think he would avoid being the one to do it. The last thing he wants to do is hurt you in some way, so unless he was certain you two were on the same page about it, he wouldn't want to break things off right away.

On a separate note, I don't think he handles being broken up with the greatest either (ie: coping by getting drunk and almost missing your first day of work *ahem, ahem*)

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He's very loyal so I think he'd have no particular problems about commitment if and when the time comes. However, he's only 21 and recently survived a zombie apocalypse, so I don't think getting married is the first thing on his mind at the moment.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He's a pretty gentle guy physically, but since joining the force, had developed thick skin when it comes to more dire or serious situations.

It takes quite a bit to get him emotional, though I feel like even in the years following the incident, he'd cry most often in private to avoid showing vulnerability around others.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

He likes hugs but doesn't receive them often. He does, however give others hugs if they need them.

His hugs are very soft. He's got strong arms from training at the police academy, but he knows not to squeeze the life out of you lol.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

He’d say it early on, but not too early. I feel like “I love you” would be something he’d first confess in the heat of the moment, though he’d also accidentally (and awkwardly) make implications that he likes you pre-relationship.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

For jealousy, I think he wouldn’t seem like the type of guy to get jealous, but you’d be wrong on that.

It’s another one of those things that builds up on the inside for him. He’d make subtle but snarky comments and facial expressions related to whatever he’s jealous about. Though, if you confront him about it, he’ll deny it.

“What? Jealous? I’m not jealous, what makes you think that?!”

“Leon, you’ve been pouting this whole time”

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

I think he'd be a gentle kisser. He would also have soft, almost feminine lips, though I think they'd get chapped a bit easily too.

He loves kissing you on your forehead and cheeks the most. I feel like his ex wasn't super affectionate with him, so he feels most special being peppered with kisses on his face and neck.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Despite being an only child and probably growing up mostly around other adults, I think he'd be pretty good with kids for the most part.

He would seem a bit inexperienced, but definitely tried his best to become more experienced during the time he took care of Sherry.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Definitely wakes up early, it's something he does out of pure habit from having to wake up at the crack of dawn at the police academy.

Has trouble sleeping in on days he doesn't have to wake up early, though if he had it his way, he would.

As for spending it with him, I feel like he's the type of guy to force himself to go for runs in the morning. I can imagine that you'd be inclined to join him on occasion.

N-Z will be coming soon!

[sapphire-weapon]

What you said about Leon never settling down, I hate how people ignore that aspect. Ship wars are fighting for headcanons only tbh lmao. Not saying that I'm the only person with the right interpretation, but like... not having a long time romantic partner is kind of a huge lart of his tragedy as a character. I see him as somebody who would fantasise about settling down with one special person (a hypothetical person... not a specific woman we can all fight about). That's the sad part. He never will. He won't have that because of his lifestyle and trying would be pointless. Random hookups (if he's lucky) is the best he'll get. We're supposed to sympathise with him.

I've talked before about how Leon ends up in such a horrible state mentally compared to the rest of the cast because of the very specific point in his life that Raccoon City happened to him. I can't find the post right now, but. yeah his life got ruined at the exact moment that it was meant to begin. he's not like Chris and Jill and Rebecca who were already working professionals. he's not like Claire who was in her second year of college and was still trying to figure shit out anyway. Leon probably had a whole life plan worked out, and he achieved step one of it by getting hired at the RPD...

... and then it all got taken from him.

and not only did it get taken from him, but it got taken from him in a way that can never be given back, per his two negative character arcs coming out of RE2.

his loneliness is a major part of that.

Leon Kennedy is the personification of the typical millennial experience, basically (despite the character actually being gen x).

the one canonical romance he has (aeon) is overtly showcased as being impractical at best and downright toxic at worst, and the other canonical romance he has (eagleone) is very explicitly a fantasy/fairy tale that he'll never actually be able to live out once the events of the game end.

that's like. the whole point.

Leon is a tragic character.

you can prefer one dynamic over the other, and that's fine, but like. to go out of your way to be a cunt to people who prefer a different kind of dynamic makes no sense when he has no actual viable long-term ships in the first place.

[geddy-leesbian]

hey look it's all my Serrennedy fic (note that I did not come up with tags for the AU's until making this post, meaning I have to go back to retroactively tag the posts I've made, which is going to take a while because tumblr's search is hot garbage.)

and also due to tumblr's search being garbage, searching my blog for my tags won't give you shit, but if you click to search all of tumblr instead, every post will show up. idk man, that's just how it is.

RE2 AU

started as a one-shot and then spiraled into a whole RE2 AU. the only thing I've written where things pretty much go right for them 💖 Leon isn't a government agent, Luis is a stay at home dad, and Claire and Luis lovingly bully Leon together.

tag: 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆.

How Do You Talk To Girls? (2/3 chapters posted)

❝Don Juan, eh? Always thought of myself as more of a Don Quixote, but if the shoe fits… How about we try some practice anyway? I can talk to you like I'd talk to a girl, give you a first-hand demonstration.❞ OR Leon tries to learn how to pick up women from Luis, and instead has a bisexual awakening and picks up Luis. Task Failed Successfully.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒖𝒅” (unpublished WIP)

Claire and Luis are getting married.

Something A Little More Plain

Not in the same continuity as the other two fics, but it is an RE2 AU, so I'm putting it here. Just really soft Luis being a dad to twins content. The only thing I've written about them that is just fluff and no angst.

❘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘🖤⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘❘

Signals // Childhood Friend AU

playlist

tag: 【𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝖽𝗈 𝗂𝗍𝗌 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀. 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙜𝙤.】

𝑇𝘩𝜀 𝛥𝜋𝛼𝑙𝜎𝑔 𝐾𝜄𝜕 (1988)

you move me, you move me. with your buildings and your eyes, autumn woods and winter skies. you call me, you call me.

»»————-💙————-««

somewhere out of a memory, of lighted streets on quiet nights… (1988)

»»————-💙————-««

ΠⴹⰞ Ⱎ⎕ᒥᒪᗪ ᎷᗅΠ (1988-2004)

he's old enough to know what’s right, but young enough not to choose it.

»»————-💙————-««

Digital Man // Open Secrets (2004) (1/? chapters posted)

Well I guess we all have these feelings we can’t leave unreconciled. Some of them burned on our ceilings, some of them learned as a child.

The things that we’re concealing will never let us grow. Time will do its healing, you’ve got to let it go.

❘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘🖤⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘❘

BU2B (aka Leon Fucking Dies)

(2/3 chapters posted)

❝That Agent Kennedy is proving to be quite a thorn in my side, much like you. I need him to live long enough for him to appreciate his gift and go home and begin to spread it to the rest of the world, but he's starting to cause a little too much trouble. But still, it would be a shame to have to kill him. Such a 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 it would be. If only there was some distraction to keep him occupied and out of trouble… You 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 him, don't you?❞ ❝This isn't about him. Say whatever you want about 𝘮𝘦, but keep 𝘩𝘪𝘴 name out of your mouth.❞ ❝But you'll want to hear this: He's quite fond of you too. He doesn't want to admit it, but I've been in his head. He likes it when you tease him. He 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘴 you. You could send him on wild goose chases over and over, and he'd just keep following you, until time ran out.❞

❘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘🖤⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘❘

𝐌𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 (𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒓𝒆)

My very first Serrennedy fic,,, someday there will be a second chapter, but I have zero idea of when because I've been fighting demons tbh (by demons I mean various rough drafts because I can't figure out what the fuck to do with it. The ideas are there,,,,, but the execution is not 🫠)

Luis thinks he's a shitty person. Leon disagrees.

❘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘🖤⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘❘

Other random stuff kicking around in my drafts (and feel free to ask about any of these because I love talking about them):

AU where Luis sabotages the Nemesis Project, gets caught, and sent to Rockfort Island.

Alfred Ashford notices that Luis was a child prodigy and thinks that's neat because he's a weirdo and Alexia was a child prodigy. So instead of being executed, Luis is forced to be his friend until Alexia wakes up from her cryo stasis thing. (And being his friend is not a good time, because he's a weirdo and threatens to get his sniper rifle and hunt down Luis for sport a lot.) Luis gets out when Claire does, and goes back to Valdelobos after to hide from Umbrella, meaning RE4 will still happen, although slightly different. Luis is much colder and very hesitant to help Leon, because trying to do the right thing previously got him sent to a concentration camp.

❘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘🖤⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘❘

DON'T WALK AWAY

Songfic. While Leon and Ashley are waiting on a helicopter to come pick them up post-RE4, Luis tries to quietly slip away, because he thinks he's a shitty person who doesn't deserve to have Leon. Leon notices him trying to leave and says fuck that and argues with him, insisting that he will come with Leon.

❘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘🖤⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘❘

Don't have a title yet, but a little thing where Leon gets a call from Chris right after he gets back from Spain. Chris says the BSAA has been conducting their own investigation into what happened, and they found someone ex-Umbrella they had been trying to track down for years severely injured, but alive while searching the place, who claims to know Leon and that Leon would vouch that he's a good person now.

[lightpinkstuff]

[long post rip] Wow okay. I just watched re: wtrc, and it's definitely interesting?? It feels like it brings out the things I like about the games because it mostly didn't adapt them very well lol (speaking as someone who's only played RE2R & RE3R and has a vague understanding of some of the other games' stories). But the atmosphere was overall very creepy and frightening, and the casting was generally good!

Except from Wesker... He's not really the vibe I expected (I haven't played any of the games he's in, so I'm obv missing a lot of info on him). But he's just not intimidating at all? Who is this confused scared man, taking orders from other people? I get what they did with the sunglasses at the mid-credit scene, but they could have probably gotten a more suited actor in general. I thought he was supposed to be older than Chris? Like, quite a bit older? Why do they look like peers?

I kinda forgot the Birkins existed, they were there in the beginning, and then they became important close to the end. They were simultaneously more and less emotionally connected to the protagonists than in RE2, and that was strange to see... Poor Sherry was an afterthought entirely. And there was a very amusing scene where William repeats verbatim a line from the game, and it stands out to such contrast with everything else he says and does. Because in the game, he's ruthless. But just like Wesker in this movie, Birkin is less of a personality (and Annette is just. Nothing).

Jill and Chris were the right vibes, although Chris was a bit colder towards Claire than I expected him to be?? But ig it's because they were given a slightly different backstory from the one in the games... I wish I had more to say about Jill... but she was just around? Tbh there wasn't much bonding between any of the characters at all, which was very sad ;-;

The way the movie handled Claire and Leon was in the general direction of how I think of them in RE2. Claire is generally the more confident and assertive of the two, and Leon is still a little green and unsure.

What I did not like was how incompetent he was made to be? Like, excuse me, but he was never a slacker in the academy?? WDYM he doesn't know how to handle guns???? But the most infuriating thing was one line he said to Claire "idk why I became a cop" or something like that. WHAT are you talking about?! What in the world are you talking about??? These two issues about his characterisation tie into one another I think. He became a cop because he wanted to help people. Period. SO, he worked really hard to become good at his job. He always follows the rules, not because he's scared, confused, and incompetent, but because he believes in them!! He's a goody two shoes!! (at least in the remake, I'm aware that there are prob some differences between OG Leon and remake Leon).

Claire was okay honestly. We didn't see her sweet side like we do in the game, but I think it has more to do with the fact that she wasn't the one who helped Sherry in the movie. Although she does feel more like a YA protagonist than Claire is in the game (tbh I'm biased because I know the actress as Teresa from Maze Runner and I couldn't get that out of my mind the whole time).

So yeah. It has some charm ig. I really wished for more character interactions, everyone was just kinda there because they needed to survive and nothing else... The parts that I am familiar with were a mixed bag of fun and frustrating, so I really just wanted to talk about it.

[kayura-sanada]

I'm only just now watching Ray Narvaez Jr.'s playthrough of RE2, and in it he mentions KH3 and how the reviews all look largely okay but that, even if it's trash, fans will defend it to the death just because it's KH and they're KH fans, and I immediately was like, "not all of us."

Like, there are things I loved about the game. The graphics. The gameplay itself. Maybe about two or three scenes. But as a KH fan, one who's been there from the moment KH2 came over to my country back in 2006, all I can say about KH3 is that it gave me everything I needed to not want to be involved in KH anymore. It really was that bad.

(And the fans who defend all of it ravenously also help that decision, tbh. Ray is right that it's their prerogative, but it's also a great way to keep new and old fans both from wanting to remain.)

[scariusaquarius]

Would Kennedy date someone younger than him? Let’s say a couple of years younger or maybe a little more?

What about someone who’s like 10 years younger? Would he date them then or would he treat said person like a child/sibling?

i'm actually writing a smutfic of reader who is like 15 years younger than damnation! leon aslkdkfjas;ldfj so YES LMFAO but it depends on which Leon we talk about because it really does make a difference.

RE2 Leon would only date someone about two or three years younger than him, and then he puts a cap on it. He's 21 in RE2, so he's already pretty young. I don't see him being comfortable dating anybody younger than 19 tbh

RE4 Leon (27) told Ashley (20) not a chance, so LMFAO for one. Not even gonna talk about his stupid unhealthy ada obsession, but that moment showed me that he wouldn't date anybody super young (and annoying but sh) like that.

RE6, ID, and Damnation! Leon would most likely be the ones to BED someone a lot younger, but I don't see Leon being willing to date anybody more than 10 years younger than him. It's just a completely different ballpark, and Leon doesn't really have time nor patience, I don't think.

Vendetta! Leon is the same way, but he'd be the less likely to have anything to do with someone super young. I just can't see him wanting to have any sort of relations with a super young person because of, well, everything akf;lsjfdfsd

[mymelancholiesblues]

No, Mia isn’t  "low-tier" compared to Ada (morally speaking, or w/e) – a measured answer?/essay

So, a couple of Ada haters tried to put up a false symmetry between both of these characters there on twitter, and it inspired me to put my own thoughts down in a more articulate essay as to why that's (Ada's somehow being morally worse than Mia) not sustained by canon in Resident Evil.

standing there, killing time

can't commit to anything but a crime

all the good girls go to hell

'cause even God herself has enemies

and once the water starts to rise

and heaven's out of sight

she'll want the Devil on her team. ⁕

First things first: let us debunk the false symmetry that they tried to establish between these two characters with extremely distinct archetypes – and worse, the following replies to this false symmetry and its poor arguments trying to validate it, pointing out that, in fact, no, character B (that would be Ada, btw) – which is so evidently and ridiculously different from character A (and that would be Mia) – is, in fact, WAY WORSE than character A, and then proceeding to assert some unsupported propositions about misogyny in Resident Evil (which, tbh, definitely IS a recurring problem in the franchise, but that in this case particularly, little or does not apply AT ALL) and how Ada contributes to "the perpetration of a biological cold war".

Starting with what differentiates Mia from Ada grotesquely: we know NOTHING of Ada's true alliances in RE's world. Mia, however, canonically worked for a group that participated in the importation and exportation as well as the manufacturing, testing and marketing of biological weapons: "The Connections", a CRIMINAL SYNDICATE which, amongst other things, was also involved in money laundering, assassinations as well as weapons and drug trafficking. I don't care at all about Mia, so I don't intend to waste much of my time going on about her role in the plot, but people should've already realized by just that much how infinitely dishonest is to try to put these two characters as "similar" ones, or argue that Ada is somehow worse.

Another detail that shouldn't escape anyone's attention too, are the origins and nationalities of both – and yes, I intend to briefly bring up racism against eastern-Asian looking characters (a silent plague that takes form by each passing day in all fiction fandoms) and anti-China xenophobia, but for now, hold this tea there just before I drop it: Mia is canonically American, and previously a Texas-state resident; meanwhile, we have no confirmation of Ada's nationality except for her pretty evident Chinese ancestry. But, as I said, hold it there for a while.

i) espionage — the job

red so silent

wait a minute

or just a little while.

what are you looking for? ⁕

At all times that Ada's "job" was brought up in this franchise, in ALL of her cameos, she has NEVER been called a mercenary in the original Japanese. She's always referred to as a SPY. Even in RE2R, the most recent title in which she's featured in, the original text of the game makes a point of labelling her as a SPY (and not a mercenary) in the dialogue that transpires between Annette and Leon.

It's the North-American translation and correspondent localization that now and then falls for the equivocal use of this other term. This distinction is important since espionage NECESSARILY implies operating in an organized service for, perhaps a country, or a political cause, or a class/group, or a corporation, or whatever. While a mercenary is someone who's acting per their self financial interests, indiscriminately selling their specialized "labour" and skills to anyone who'll offer more.

Ada's not a mercenary, she's a spy. But Mia, in addition to being hired to a canonically criminal company, was also the handler personally assigned to Eveline. I don't care how exactly Mia got in that predicament but the fact is: Mia was canonically employed by a company that profited over illicit activities and directly watched as a family was destroyed and toyed with by this new killing machine (Eve). Yet, we can't state for sure that we know to whom or to what Ada is truly affiliated with.

ii) sources — check them

who's a heretic now?

am I making sense?

how can you make it stick?

and I'm on a trial

waiting 'til the beat comes out. ⁕

This fandom should put a little more thought into which translation and localization of the game texts, dialogues and files they are using to support their arguments. I know that in some cases the United States people have a bit of an inclination to think of themselves as the owners of the planet and deem English as the only language that matters in this world, but let's not forget that RE is a Japanese franchise (wow, insane, right?!). Therefore, the most valid script, with the greatest amount of details, and highest credibility, is the Japanese original. Throughout these years, there have been several errors in translation and localization of the Japanese original to North-American English. And, believe me, curiously enough, plenty of those concern Ada, since she's often mentioned or referred to in a very vague way – without the use of pronouns or adjectives or adverbs that could help in indicating gender. This ended up causing those details and mentions to her to get overlooked, even though in the Japanese text it was a clear reference to her character (per observation of context).

iii) the good guys — one of

head in the dust

feet in the fire

labour on that midnight wire

listening for that angel choir

you got nowhere to run

careful son, you got dreamers plans

but it gets hard to stand. ⁕

Yes, as much as haters try to minimize it, it is SIGNIFICANT that Ada saved so many important characters and stood for unquestionably heroic actions in so many moments - like stopping everything she was doing so she could help completely random Chinese civilians with the helicopter she managed to pilot in that chaos in China (yeah, I know you haters love to forget about this, but it happened, it's there in canon, and no, it wasn't her direct OR indirect responsibility what was going on in China: REPLAY RE6 and for the love of GOD, never again argue that what she did was somehow "the equivalent of evacuating a city after selling a WMD to destroy that same city". It's a case of pure intellectual dishonesty to say such a thing. It's canon that Carla was the one who caused what happens in China, PLEASE, PLAY RE6).

Furthermore, Ada shows compassion on some occasions even for characters who are directly putting her in harms ways, like Annette (in RE2 OG, right after - in order to defend herself - she slaps Annette leading her to lose balance and collapse over the sewers fences, Ada makes an effort in trying to pull Annette back and prevent her from falling) and Carla.

Replay RE4 and pay attention to it, pay attention to her solo campaign: getting involved with Leon's journey in Spain hasn't brought any real benefit to her mission or herself: Ada deviates from her main path several times due to worrying about him and trying to help him and almost ends up dead in several of these occasions over her insistence in doing so: by saving him from Bitores Mendez, by helping him and Ashley against Sadler, by confronting Krauser and stopping him.

It's so lazy to only read/listen to a file in which she says in English that "Leon might be useful to her plans" (this is way more nuanced in the Japanese original of Ada's Report), and ignore everything that was SHOWN in the game: every effort she made to ensure that Leon could rescue Ashley, remove the parasite from his and her bodies, and escape from that hell-island.

The jet-ski she left for their escape was ALREADY there before she was captured by Sadler (or you think she arranged it while she was caught?). Leon having to intervene and save her from Sadler WASN'T her plan. It WASN'T her plan to take the sample from Leon's hands. She wanted to help him get out of there with Ashley and she guaranteed he could do so, she wanted to get the sample by herself and escape too while sending that hell to kingdom's come. But, because she chose to help Leon rescue Ashley right in front of Sadler, she ends up captured.

On her end, Mia never did anything minimally compared to that, and all of her "selflessness" or self-sacrificing actions involved a much, MUCH smaller scope than Ada's: wanting to help her husband and HERSELF is not at all comparable to saving a few dozens of unknown Chinese civilians. So no, they aren't "cut from the same cloth". They don't come from the same place, nor do they share the same intentions or goals, and their contributions to the RE storyline are quite different.

iv) unknown true purpose (shades of grey)

lining up in the background

waiting for the crowd shot to be seen

in the shadow of the big screen

everybody begs to be redeemed. ⁕

In databooks, Ada is recurrently described as "a Chinese spy with extraordinary physical abilities, vigorous health and composed mind and spirit, capable of coping with grim situations and handling even the most difficult requests without losing composure". If we are paying attention to the storytelling ingame, however, we know that this isn't always the case: Ada did let her mask of unswerving emotional and physical strength fall and showed a very fragile side under strenuous circumstances a couple of times already.

Also, in these databooks, they often point out that "she has her own 'true purpose' and has FREQUENTLY betrayed organizations and clients to achieve it". Huh, we can AGAIN, by this only, see how completely different she's from Mia, who personally watched an entire family being driven to insanity by Eveline's hand.

Furthermore, in these databooks, it's often said that "this true purpose is still obscure and whether she truly cared for anyone or simply used her charms to manipulate people that crossed paths with her isn't ever clear". If people are willing to be open-minded and exercise their text comprehension skills, though, they'll see that in multiple occasions of emotional confrontation it has been established time and time again that yes, Ada DOES care. She wasn't capable of shooting Leon and there has been a couple of other times that failing to choose a cool, sociopathic calculation and pragmatical demeanour over empathy and humanity towards others has put her in harms ways: nonetheless she still chose it.

v) positive impact

I'm gonna break the cycle

I'm gonna shake up the system

I'm gonna destroy my ego. ⁕

To this point, RE's plot systematically leads us to believe that Ada has been covertly acting behind the scenes of multiple biological incidents COLLECTING INFORMATION (the job of a spy, who would've thought! lmao), that is valuable to numerous organizations, companies, groups and different contexts, but at the same time of allegedly offering to handle this knowledge for the right price to the big players involved with bioterrorism and clandestine trading of bioweapons, she's also working to sabotage said players.

This is evident throughout the franchise: she intended to hurt Umbrella's business. She outwitted and deceived Wesker multiple times. She even undermined Simmons, someone who was in a position of power in the US government and actively using that position to lead bioterrorist ventures on the parallel side.

There's no concrete evidence or hint as to what she does with the information she collects, and for all purposes and effects, I can presume that she's gathering this knowledge to assist in the discovery of countermeasures and vaccination studies. I might as well argue that she is a Chinese spy who is working against European and North-American capitalism and the imperialism that creates such monsters like the biochemical and bioweapons industry and that her real objective is to dismantle the market for bioweapons and bioterror supported mainly by the USA (see: Simmons and The Family).

That is, as long as it is unclear what her true purpose is, I have the freedom to surmise whatever the heck I want and that all of what she's been doing was for the sake of the greater "good" - and I'll even have canon moments to support this reasoning as it's clear that she regularly sabotages her customers (customers that are unquestionably established as playing for the "evil" side, with perverse intentions) - throughout the franchise. She did this on RE2, RE4, RE6 and Damnation. It's there, transparent in canon, people just choose to ignore it.

She laughs in the face of whoever she's talking to by the end of Damnation, saying she doesn't intend to deliver the Plaga; she scoffs at Simmons; she betrays Wesker and kills Krauser. She had been sabotaging Wesker for so long, that he sent Krauser to be the main agent in the mission in Spain, and Ada was just a "side effect" that he didn't have in control and had to keep an eye on, so he ordered Krauser to keep tabs on her. It's not a mutually beneficial dynamic. Ada doesn't want Wesker to succeed, she despises him; this is clear in the games in which they interact. There are even files that indicate that she was trying to double-cross and get in the way of his plans for at least 2 years before Spain, and he was constantly catching up with her. See here and here.

On her end, Mia was employed by and consciously working for a criminal syndicate.

vi) a (secretly) helping hand

oh, I'm a master pretender

just felt more alone

the further I'd go

but I'll stick around

I'll be your master defender

yeah, I'll stick around. ⁕

Ada approached characters such as John Clemens and Luis Sera, and both had a canonical intention to, in addition to putting an end to their connections with the criminal companies and organizations they've been working for, also expose and denounce them for their crimes. It's in this context that Ada comes into contact with them. And why is that?

Check John's background: he had made up his mind about disclosing Umbrella's crimes to the public. Check Luis' background: Ada went to Spain to assist in his extradition since he feared for his own life if he resolved to turn his back on the cult of Los Illuminados, and also dreaded the consequences of the liberation of Las Plagas on an international scale.

Keep in mind that Ada handed over to Wesker a USELESS Plaga sample. Wesker only got the sample currently circulating in the underground market because he went after Krauser's body. We don't know what Ada did with the master Plaga sample she obtained. We only know from Ada's Report and the Plaga Recovery file that she didn't deliver it to Wesker, and he needed to go out for a plan B to get it.

Even the G-Virus sample that fell into the hands of the clandestine business, it's possible to argue that Ada's involvement in it was flimsy, since Simmons CANONICALLY made over a thousand laboratory tests in Sherry, and, as we know, he was a leading figure in bioterrorism and bioweapons trading with the aid of his position in the US government.

But, guess what, Ada clearly is a non-white character with obvious Chinese heritage and Mia is white, so of course, OF COURSE, someone can so nonchalantly affirm that Ada, this "vile bitch", is somehow WORSE than Mia. The same Mia who watched the Bakers being destroyed. Right.

Also: trying to validate one's point by claiming anything related to the misogyny present in RE franchise, while IN THE SAME BREATH AND TWEET reducing Ada's entire character arc to that of "a sociopathic bitch cured by the magic dick of her love interest" is supposed to be a joke, right? No, really. Joke.

conclusion and a word against misogyny

we are waiting on a telegram to

give us news of the fall

I am sorry to report

dear Paris is burning after all

we have taken to the streets

in open rejoice, revolting

we are dancing a black waltz

fair Paris is burning after all. ⁕

To any Ada fan that has been reading this so far: PLEASE, I ask to consider refraining to use the "oh yes, Ada did some bad shit, bUT" take to defend the character because that isn't sustained by canon in RE, lmao. She didn't do anything evil that had an indisputable bad impact on the plot and other characters arcs. For one, I myself do love some villains, but that isn't the case with Ada.

She did do some unconventional shit yes, since she's a morally GRAY character and an anti-heroine, but by the end of the day, each and every action of hers had a positive impact on the journey of other characters and main plot. Just pay attention to it.

Like idk man, Black Widow, Elektra Natchios, Scarlet Witch and Black Cat from Marvel, Catwoman from DC, Yennefer from The Witcher (some pop culture examples that come to mind).

Saying that this is an "extremely selfish prototypal bad bitch except when it comes to the magical redeeming dick of her love interest" it's a grotesque reduction of a complex female character, and, in its attempt to critique the misogyny present in RE's franchise an expression of misogyny in itself.

Remember: Ada has actions and impact on the franchise ASIDE and IN ADDITION to her romantic involvement with Leon.

[fonulyn]

I think RE:ID proves that Leon is competent and can take care of himself and others.

It also says loud and clear that Leon is extremely lucky BUT he's still skilled and trained and it's unwise to underestimate him.

It also proves yet again that Capcom can't write and depending on whether they want Ada to be involved in the story or not, they are going to write Leon's storyline in such a way that he will either need her help or not.

By the way, the awful lines in RE2 Remake about keeping score of saving one another's asses didn't help the matter in my opinion.

I do agree that ID shows that really clearly, and I really really like the bit they had in there about "oh it's just luck" "no luck doesn't get you that far" bc like sure he's gotten lucky a few times but it doesn't in any way diminish his actual accomplishments and/or capabilities.

but honestly I don't think we needed ID to prove it, because it has been clear from all the other installments already. okay we can argue that the RE2 Leon is the least competent one but he's an actual baby lol he's just a rookie on his first day and I don't think we can demand the skills of a trained agent from him. he still does well, considering. but in the other parts of the series? we clearly see him being incredibly competent. it's not like ID does something very revolutionary by showing that.

also honestly I personally don't think it's that much about bad writing in this case tbh. I think it's more the fandom's tendency to oversimplify everything and think in absolute extremes. like... most of the instances where Ada saves Leon aren't things where there are only two options, get saved or die. they're situations wherein it's great she did show up but if she hadn't, I don't think it'd be outrageous to assume that Leon might've gotten out of it on his own regardless one way or the other.

like let me use RE4 as an example (I don't have the time to delve into all the games/movies now lmao). I put it under a cut because wow I rambled :'D

Ada saves Leon when she rings the church bell and it makes the ganados disperse but honestly, Leon has been in bigger pinches and survived so I don't think we can argue that he would've 100% failed if she hadn't helped with the distraction. it absolutely helped but it wasn't like if she hadn't rung the bell he would've rolled over and died for sure. then she shoots Mendez when he's stomping Leon but there I think we can again argue that if she hadn't shown up he might've still gotten out, it wasn't like he was doomed to die without her help. (besides, that's an optional thing in the main game and it doesn't necessarily even happen unless you go back intentionally, so it could be argued it might not even canonically happen?)

the third time she helps Leon she shoots Krauser's knife when Krauser's about to stab Leon. and okay here the odds were definitely not in Leon's favor :'D but I think we can make a case that he still had a chance to survive even without her interference. in the game you can die in that part, but it's more about your own skills in holding back the knife for long enough so it's not Ada-related really.

and I know some people would now add she saves Leon's life by throwing him the jetski key but I must say I disagree very strongly because c'mon, she set the whole island to explode and gambled on him possibly being able to get out on time. it's not her saving his life, it's her giving him a slim chance to save himself.

plus I've seen people say she saves Leon's life when she takes him on the island with the boat in the first place and like... what do people think would've happened if she hadn't offered a ride? that Leon would've turned around and went "oh well, mission failed!"?? there are more ways to get on a damn island :'D

so like I've said before, my intention isn't to badmouth Ada at all! she's a certified badass, and there's no denying that she does help Leon at some points. but I'm trying to say that I've seen way too many people saying that Leon would've absolutely failed his mission and died a dozen times had it not been for her interfering and I just... don't think it's right.

and I don't think it's bad writing that puts him in impossible situations where he needs to be saved, I think it's more an attempt to make an immersive and exciting gaming experience. it could be bad writing if he would've clearly been actively imprisoned and dying each single time he needed help but like I said, most of the instances are things where the help was most definitely appreciated but it wasn't exactly and explicitly the only possibility for his survival.

you can obviously still think it's bad writing, it's a matter of opinion! :3 but personally I don't think a character needing help is bad writing even if it is a character as competent as Leon. it would be more ridiculous in my opinion if he would never need anyone and would be an invincible superhero who never encounters any hitches or troubles. I feel it makes him more compelling as a character that he goes through all that crap.

idk I didn't mind the RE2 keeping score lines tbh, I felt they were clearly making awkward jokes in a tense situation. I don't think it's any more deep than that? but might be just me.

[mayybirds]

so far I've only seen walkthroughs of re7 and 8 but your fic has me interested in what happened in raccoon city. I heard there's an original and a remake, do you have a recommendation on which one to watch or which one you're basing your interpretation on? I started with the remake and I'm on Leon's route but I'm a little confused ngl

Oho!! I can’t believe I get to give my opinions on what order to watch walkthroughs in this is great. I feel so accomplished. ✨✨

If you’re watching playthroughs, I’d recommend the remake, as it’s much prettier and more cinematic to watch. The original game is a classic, but it’s old as balls and visually isn’t much fun to watch. I don’t think the original and remake contradict each other too much minus some stuff on Ada, but I am choosing to mostly work off the remake in reference to my fic, as I look at it as the “updated canon” and it’s just…better tbh.

The interesting thing about the remake is that there’s technically 4 different games within it—which heightens the replay value but is perhaps more daunting for someone just watching playthroughs. There’s a Claire 1/Leon 2 run, which is technically still two games. And a Leon 1/Claire 2 run, which, again, two games. And every route, even with the same character, is either a lot or a bit different. As a player, and on a story level, I prefer Claire 1/Leon 2 because I like Claire’s route more. That said, most letsplayers do Leon 1/Claire 2. In relation to my fic, Claire and Leon will both pop up, but Claire is a more significant character.

There’ll always be a little confusion with RE2 if you’re not familiar with RE1, but it is the first game set in Raccoon City, so I do think one can muddle through it (I played RE2 before RE1 and didn’t struggle too much). I do think that doing Claire’s route first is easier to follow if you’re a newcomer, and if you’re looking for a storyline more in line with Ethan’s games, but again…most letsplayers prioritize Leon, annoyingly.

[greensaplinggrace]

Saw you're post about how much Ada values her own life and that's something I never really thought about before! I think the only time I thought about her feeling of her own value was the end bridge scene when Leon is holding on to her. She looked pretty open to his attempt to save her until she realizes that him trying to save her could result in him falling too. Her "It's not worth it" always sort of translated to me as "I'm not worth it", so just wondering how you interpreted that scene! 1/2

Do you think she saw more value in his life than her own in that instance? (Side note: I know a lot of the anti-Ada people would say she only wanted him to let go bc she knew she was going to live as a part of her diabolical plan, even though there were clear instances in the game that shows she obviously underestimated the severity of the mission she agreed to take on and wasn't fully prepared.) 2/2

---

Tbh I’ve never really thought about it much before recently either, so I’m definitely welcoming comments or asks with other people’s impressions here!

I think that saying she knew she would survive isn’t so far off base. Ada has her grappling hook and we’ve seen her tackle any height with unflappable confidence that she’ll come out unscathed. At the same time, she was about two decades younger in the re2 remake and much less experienced. Leon catching her was probably what saved her as well, if we’re being honest. I doubt her reflexes would have matched up to the speed of her fall or the rate of her realization after the initial surprise when the bridge starts to crumble.

And let’s not forget that Ada looks honestly afraid here. 

Like, legitimately afraid. 

There are two instances where she looks down and her expression is blocked from Leon where she shows fear. If she were manipulating him, that fear wouldn’t be there when she’s looking away from him and doesn’t need to put on her act. There are (I think, I’ll have to replay this part - and also get better screenshots because all I have right now are the ones that didn’t get fuckng eaten when I reinstalled steam) a few scenes where she is showing fear when looking at Leon. These can be read differently, but I’m of the opinion that at least her last words were sincere. Once I get better screenshots I’ll try to show what I mean, but there’s an instance where she looks up at him after looking down that the fear there is at it’s most honest when facing him. That’s right before her expression shifts into the calm at peace “it’s not worth it” phase, and she tells him to take care of himself. 

Her “it’s not worth it” translated to “i’m not worth it” for me as well! I’m curious how many people read that into the scene. Based on what we see of Ada, it isn’t much a reach to interpret that subtext. Especially considering her next words.

And she does have a moment of realization (probably around the same time Leon does lol). So her evaluating her life’s importance versus Leon’s isn’t so far off the mark. Anybody would have to. After all, it’s either one person or two people dying at this point. Any person with even 1% of human decency would choose the obvious option, and we already know Ada possesses at least that much.

I think her value of her own life in this situation versus her value of Leon’s is hard to determine, because Ada’s options here are limited. We already know she’s a good person, if a horribly morally grey one. What could she do, if not ask him to save himself? I’m thinking, ideally, she would let Leon know she has a chance of survival. But Ada’s also an opportunist. This gives her a chance for a fresh start from this absolutely abysmal job fuck up. It also gives Leon the motivation he would need to leave and survive. Believing Ada dead would save him.

She doesn’t want Leon to die, that’s clear. I’m thinking that she doesn’t want Leon to die for her, especially. Which, I think, is where she’s currently at mentally in this scene.

Tbh knowing that antis use her knowledge of her own survival as an excuse to misinterpret and devalue the entire scene is pretty frustrating. Because Ada is afraid in this scene. That fear is definitely not faked. Leon has saved her life again, and her wish for him to survive is sincere. She does value his life here, and more than that she seems to also value his mental health what will happen to him in the future. None of this is faked. And I’m sorry but anybody who actually respects her character can generally tell when she’s lying. Like maybe the characters in the game aren’t supposed to know but it’s pretty clear as day to me when I watch her scenes in any game or movie lmao.

Also this is slightly off topic but I constantly think about how much of a rookie Ada herself was in the re2remake. She didn’t have half the experience she has now, which makes her falling for Leon all the more realistic in terms of her story. Because Leon isn’t just the “somehow changes an experienced and dangerous woman’s entire sense of self” stereotype that usually comes with most depictions of such a relationship. He meets her when she’s young, too. He gets under her skin early. And he stays there for years, cementing their bond with every new meeting. Ada’s feelings for him are genuine and probably incredibly unwanted lmao. I think that she often values his life more than her own and hates that she does, because she knows it’s a dog eat dog world but her feelings won’t let her be as cold as she should be.

So anyways, sorry this response probably wasn’t the best it could have been. Her value of her own life was something I only considered recently as well, and I encourage people to participate a bit more in this discussion! I’d welcome some more opinions or impressions on it to help me work through it.

[inkykeiji]

Hello may I do this matchup Halloween thing. Im an 19 year old female and bisexual. Im an awkward mess and don't really have too many friends. I do think head over heart but also have severe anxiety mostly cause I think like that im not touch starved for like sex just for stuff like cuddles. Thanks \( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )/

hello!! yes you may!!

i match you with ⇢ shigaraki tomura! tbh i think it would be a crime if i didn’t match u with him 🥺 he’d be able to relate to you, and he would find comfort and solace in you because of that. most of the time the two of you would be off in your own world; and that’s okay, you like it like that. you both firmly believe  that having a few good, loyal friends is much more important than having a lot of them. people are a nuisance to deal with anyway, he’d tell you. you’re both awkward, which you might think would be a bit of a hurdle, but in actuality it allows the two of you to become more comfortable with each other—it’s a lot less embarrassing when your partner’s just as awkward as you are, and usually you just end up laughing together when an awkward incident happens. i also genuinely think he would help you cope with your anxiety—he would hate to see you upset and would want to aid in any way he can <3

what you carve into your pumpkin ⇢  he deadass begs you to carve something gamer related into ur pumpkins and tbh u can’t say no to this man, so you stick with classics and end up carving sonic the hedgehog + spyro!!

which halloween candy you eat the most of ⇢  starburst or cookies ‘n’ creme hershey’s bars!

couples costume ⇢ kim and edward from edward scissorhands (oh gosh please please u guys would be SO CUTE eeee i’m squealing!!!! aaaah this makes me so soft omg <33 he’d look sooo good as edward you don’t even need any prosthetic scars and you would look adorable as kim 🥺 toga would lose her shit over this y’all r just too cute!!)

how you celebrate halloween ⇢ by building a kickass blanket fort and hoarding all kinds of candy in there (you only eat candy for the entire day, kurogiri definitely scolds u on this) and playing resident evil, either RE2 or RE7. he is determined to finish the entire thing in the day, which is entirely doable, he tells you, as long as you aren’t a completionist! it’s v cozy, v cute and v chill. it ends up being a rainy day, perfect for cuddles and horror games <3

clari’s 1k halloween matchups! 👻

[sapphire-weapon]

Thinking about how you said Wesker only went crazy when he became a Tyrant... Ada worked with him a while, so she must have noticed the change in him, no? I wonder how she feels about that.

i don't............ know, exactly.

bc like

RE2 takes place two or so months after RE1 so like

if RE2 was ada's very first mission with wesker, then he was already crazy when she met him.

granted, he becomes crazier as the series goes on but like

ok in umbrella chronicles and darkside chronicles, he's more or less a regular ass villain. nothing particularly insane or special about him.

but then he goes TOTALLY APESHIT in code veronica because hashtag redfield problems

then he's pretty normal again in RE4

but then by RE5 he's just a fucking

dude he's LOST IT. he's GONE. and granted a lot of that is because of what he learned from spencer in lost in nightmares, but like

RE4make wesker is already at the level of crazy that RE5 wesker was at.

so, something has shifted in the timeline. something has gone fucky. RE4 wesker should still be in his cold, calculating phase. he shouldn't have gone full menace yet.

probably another piece of evidence pointing to us getting a wesker dlc tbh

[leonkenedy]

hi!! i love your blog & want to hear some of your opinions! so: 1) between RE2remake & RE3remake, which did you like better and why? 2) whats your faves from each game’s pair (meaning: claire vs leon, and jill vs carlos) and why? 3) which play style did you like better, RE2 where you finish one campaign and then play anothers, or RE3’s where the story is one consistent line and you switch throughout when the need arises? i hope i didnt annoy u with these Qs 😅 im just curious on your thoughts!

Hi, thank you so much 💖 and you're not annoying, I love answering stuff (and having a reason to unnecessary spout my opinion lmao)

1) I prefer 3 over 2. 3 is actually my fav out of all the ones I've played and then 2 is my second, and in all fairness, 2 would probably be first if I didn't have a huge issue with the consistency between A/B runs. 2 gets confusing between runs, bc Mr X dies in Claire's run but Leon still has to fight Super Tyrant, and Annette dies with Claire and Sherry but then has to manage to tell Leon Ada isn't FBI? Claire A/Leon B is canon in both the remake and the original and I watched a run of the original and that mostly makes sense so idk how they fucked that up so bad lmao. As for why I like 3 better, I like the variety of locations and also I really like Jill and Carlos' relationship while Leon and Claire don't really interact a whole lot (also, I hadn't played the originals beforehand/seen runs of them so the fact they missed stuff out didn't bother me so much but I def understand why people were disappointed)

2) Picking sides is quite hard for both pairs tbh but I have to say Leon over Claire (bc he's my fav in the whole series) which is so hilarious bc before I went into the games I def would have said the order out of the 4 would have been Carlos > Jill > Claire > Leon just from what I knew from what people were posting on tumblr but I love Leon's temperament and also he's cute like... for real. I love Claire as well, like she's SO badass, but I guess I like Leon just that little but more when we only consider the remake. between Jill and Carlos... that's hard too bc I love both of them but I think I have to go with Jill bc I absolutely love her attitude and am def in love with her and also the game focuses more on her than Carlos so we see a little more of her!

3) Following on from what I said before, I would say I prefer 3's style more, it just makes more sense to me. I probably wouldn't mind 2's style if the inconsistencies weren't there but they are. Either way, I definitely think 2 would have benefitted from just being one story where you switch between characters but it would have also made the one campaign significantly longer and you'd probably be switching characters quite often which could end up annoying 🤷‍♀️ I understand though that Claire and Leon essentially have two separate stories going on there, both events could have hypothetically happened if the other wasn't around, while with Jill and Carlos, their stories are very much tied together so the way they're both played DOES make sense considering that. But 3 just feels more fluid to me

[bearpillowmonster]

Resident Evil 2 Remake Review

NON SPOILER

I've bought Resi 4 on Steam, after the first level of playing it, I realized that it wasn't for me, all the enemies looked the same and it looked repetitive, zombies kept spawning and there was no way to get rid of them all, I ran out of ammo, it was a mess. I knew that the genre did that, I know that that’s the point, but I didn’t like it. Plus, I couldn't even really get the gunplay to work right. I heard that it was at its best on the Gamecube but I haven't given it another shot since then. However I saw that Resi2 got a demo, so I played it when it released and I kind of liked it, I was sold on the game and asked for it for Christmas (or maybe even my birthday, so yeah it’s been a long time but I was busy with other games) Now, the RE3 remake is already out...wow, time to play RE2 then, huh? So, you can consider this my "first" RE game.

Right out of the gate, visuals are stunning, almost needless to say and the level of accuracy is immense. I mean I didn't expect there to be a gas station at the beginning but it even had the lighters and beef jerky towards the front and stuff, they really went all out. 

I can't imagine seeing this game when the original came out with PS1 graphics, it's ambitious, this is clearly the way it belongs. I thought a bug flew on screen but then I realized it was in-game, it's immersive, I don't normally read all the little tidbits and notes and stuff but it was generally interesting to read on the lore along with the VHS tapes and get some clues as to what to do next. I tried to play through it as if it were 1998 so I didn't look much up, I usually tried to do it myself with a few small exceptions. I felt accomplished by the end of each session like "Wow, I did that. I'm smart." It's rewarding. Now I played through each campaign so both Leon and Claire (starting with Leon) Claire on the other hand I was more lenient with, I looked up a decent amount because I was already in the station doing the same puzzles as Leon. It makes me wonder how they got the same items story-wise though, I mean we see Leon leaving her notes but you can't blow up the same wall twice in reality, that's nitpicking the game a little bit though. I will say that I felt like it was a wild goose chase when I did look it up because every thing I looked up was giving me different information "The portable safe is in this room." "No it's in this room." "This is the combination for the unicorn statue" "No it isn't, this is." Because it varies when you're playing on standard vs hardcore and whether it's your first or second run. So, I got my punishments for looking it up I guess.

But with that said, I know some of these types of older games have a tendency to make it really confusing and difficult without a guide so I was kind of worried about not knowing what to do or where to go. While I will say I had had to look a few things up, it became cut and dry once I figured out the pattern, most of the things I looked up were things I was going to do anyway but wanted to make sure before I somehow unleashed a hoard of zombies that I certainly didn't want. Same goes for story too, I knew close to nothing about it. But you basically just have to make it to the next area, think of it as that Chowder episode where he loses his hat and Chestnut has it so he has to go around doing odd jobs one by one in order to progress. The overall goal is to get out of the police station and kind of just find a way to survive but you have to focus on the smaller goals / getting to the next room. I looked pretty thoroughly through everything and managed to find everything I needed without even trying or knowing what it was for half the time like "Well this should come in handy later." *puts it in storage chest*  Speaking of, I like how each chest is like an Ender Chest and is interchangeable as if it was the same one chest in every location, that makes things much easier rather than some hardcore game of "where did I put my keys?" that I'm not into. But you learn to find your destination a lot easier than I thought. That was always something I hated about Resident Evil games while watching them, that there was a lot of backtracking but actually playing the game hits differently, it's not what I expected, it's actually kind of fun, like I mentioned saying "I know where that is!"

Maybe it's just the setting of a police station that did that for me or maybe seeing speedrunners doing it with the old games and paying no mind made me scared or maybe the fixed camera angle of the old games (so that each side of the room had the clip as if it were just a picture) along with the idea that the originals are dated rather than PS4 but regardless, it's just surprisingly not annoying like I thought.

Games can easily stress me out but I actually found myself cruising and feeling good about it despite all these zombies...then I met Mr. X. He chases you EVERYWHERE throughout the game. Thing of nightmares. I will probably hear footsteps in my sleep now. I knew he was coming but I didn't know his presence wasn't always scripted, it's just a game of cat and mouse...and he's the cat! It gets me paranoid because I'll stop and hear footsteps then stand still for a good 5 minutes and he's still tromping around. I walk down a hall. BOOM! Crashes through the wall, making ME screech. There's no way to get rid of him and it kind of ruins the atmosphere to be honest, I know it's trying to be scary but it's more annoying than scary because every time I move I'm like "Ok stop" and I'll stand around for a minute, checking the map, to check the fastest route to where I need to go, just to make sure and then continue... only to turn the next corner and then repeat. I couldn't even move comfortably anymore, it's space invading. The tension is high because he can come into the main hall which I liked to use to save but alas, I had to memorize where all the other save points were or check the map again.

So, you get to play as Claire, which I like, but with Leon's story it's kind of just like "Well I'm going to do my own thing and if she survives, she survives." I understand each step is essential to progressing and getting closer but for all he knows, she's just out in the rain, waiting for him to unlock the door. And I also know that she said that she can handle herself (before Leon had to point out the zombie behind her! lmao) and he has survival on the forefront of his mind too but still. They flirt every time they're on screen together but the thing is that I love it, I ship it, it's cheesy but I don't care, that’s half of what I’m even here for.

As for the rest of the story, you're telling me that they made not just one movie but a SERIES of movies and it wasn't this?! This is great, this is a master-craft in its work. I'm not a big fan of zombie movies, I'm sure there's one out there that I like but I can't think of any off the top of my head but this? This is it! (Jennifer Lawrence would make a good Claire tbh) Let alone the horror genre in general, I'm not even frightened all that easily, I just think a lot of the plots and decisions are stupid in horror, this goes against all that. Speaking of spooky, I know making the screen brightness balanced is normal for games but I don't think it's mattered more than here, brighten that baby up because sometimes it's pitch black, immersive but still hard to see.

Boss fights are something I didn't think a whole lot about until I actually got to it. Doing the first boss fight with G was really memorable for me because I could cower away all I wanted in that gridded pit of a machine room and just launch grenades at him but it wasn't until the bosses in the sewer that I really started to like it. First was that Crash Bandicoot type running sequence, then we had G-2. I had actually ran out of ammo at that point, I used it all on the sewage monsters (I didn't get the flamethrower, I didn't know how, as I said, I did this more or less blind) so I just kept running, and clicked X every time the option came up, hoping to pick up something good. All I got was a combat knife and a flash grenade, then I started messing with the buttons on the control panel, in hopes of cheesing it and just going to the next section but then I realized what I was actually doing. I was using those buttons to move a crate and using that crate to slam G into a pit. I love the classic boss style, I haven't played a boss like that in a long time. One where it doesn't matter how much ammo you have, but just using the environment to your advantage without it explicitly telling you (except the death screen giving you hints). That was until the later boss fights, you basically just keep unloading your belt until they die, kinda lame but whatever.

This actually made me rethink the genre and also about giving one of the other games a shot (PLEASE REMAKE CODE VERONICA, I BEG!) it might be right time, right place (PS4 with modern graphics and modern gunplay) that made me actually interested. The “true ending” is unlocked by playing through one of the two’s campaign and then playing through the other, which is basically the same game but with different cutscenes and context (some new areas too) so it’s definitely worth it, you could even just speedrun the second run if you’d like, you even unlock a secret boss and for those who have already seen the true ending, know that I liked it based off of what I said earlier, no spoilers.

[tanstar]

Rambling about RE2R and RE3R’s cut content part 2

Read part 1 here.

Part 2: RE3R

So I’m gonna be honest, I really like RE3R. It’s narrative and characters are 10/10 for me, something I haven’t been able to say about RE in a long time (honestly my biggest gripes with re5 and 6 are the complete wasted potential of their narratives and characters). I’ll go more in depth about it later but yeah I’ve got no complaints about the story or characters. My problems with RE3R come down to it’s length, level design and the utilization of Nemesis. So let’s get started.

spoilers ahead 

Cut/altered/new content:

Live select options were cut in favour of a cohesive narrative and characterization (which have been expanded upon greatly), Jill’s apartment is now explorable, Nemesis ambushes Jill at her apartment and her escape is now playable, the graveyard is gone (though there is a nod to the graveyard at the start of the rpd section), the clock tower interior and its puzzles are gone (it’s exterior is used for the boss fight against Nemesis form 2 like the original), no water puzzle, the gravedigger has been merged with hunter gamma as a common enemy type, Uptown is now a linear setpiece that cannot be revisited, there are fewer Nemesis encounters, Nemesis item drops aren’t as worthwhile as the original,  there’s a new boss fight with Nemesis as he wields a flamethrower, tram has been changed to a subway train, fetchquest for the tram has been cut, Mikhail is now fully conscious for his entire appearance, new character Dr Bard included with new vaccine subplot, fetchquest for the gems has been made optional instead of mandatory, Mayor Warren’s statue is no longer fetchquest related and can be found before crossing the bridge to the clock tower, battery fetchquest for the construction site elevator has been changed to fuses for the underground storage facility elevator, Nemesis destroying the helicopter has been moved to the beginning of the game, Brad is still bitten at Bar Jack but heroically sacrifices himself rather than act like a huge coward, Brad is not killed by Nemesis, Brad infects Marvin (which ties in well with both og re2 and RE2R surprisingly), Racoon city in general has been redesigned to look like an american city instead of a japanese one, Stagla still explodes but cannot be entered, the zombie horde at Stagla has been moved to the hospital in a tower defence sequence, Drain Deimos and Brainsuckers have been merged, no leeches, no spiders or crows, new enemies the pale heads and parasite zombies, construction site and power station have been merged, once Jill has been infected Carlos takes her to the hospital instead of the chapel iside the clock tower, likewise Carlos doesn’t wait for 2 days before deciding to find a cure instead it takes him around 12 hours to find Jill and he immediately looks for the vaccine, hospital has been expanded, underground storage facility replaces the park, dead factory is merged with a new lab area, Tyrell is now an actual character and dies to Nemesis intead of an explosion, final boss is now reliant on Jill operating the rail gun herself rather than coercing Nemesis in front of it, iconic STARS line has been moved from the final boss fight to a chase sequence, the confrontation with Nicholai has been moved to the climax of the game, Nicholai is implied to be working with Wesker instead of Umbrella and of course the alternate ending with Barry was cut.

So RE3R does cut or alter the content of the original but in most cases it does try to replace whatever was cut. Also regardless of cuts, re3′s narrative has been expanded upon with character arcs and lore tying it to the rest of the series, that alone justifies this game’s existence for me. As much as I love the original, its bare bones plot and narrative structure (a result of being a sort of choose your adventure game) as well as the fact that it started as a spinoff game and the fact that its last three levels were added last minute (hence the vaccine plotline coming out of nowhere) really don’t do it any favours. I still enjoy the original story and characters but I think the remake did a better job at both these things. 

So I had some major problems with the writing for RE2R in both terms of the overall narrative (there is no cohesive overlapping narrative between our two leads) and the portrayal of certain characters (Leon and Ada), so what did I think of RE3R? It’s good. It’s really good actually, the acting is probably the best in the series tbh. Jill’s ptsd from the mansion incident and how it has made her distrustful but also self sacrificing is so interesting. This is perfectly displayed when she agrees to help the UBCS, she knows she shouldn’t help them, that Umbrella is out to get her but with civilian lives on the line she decides to fulfil her duty as a STARS officer and help out. But she isn’t just abrasive or snarky, she shows she is still a very caring person too, this can be seen in her interactions with Brad, Kendo and even Dario, she wants to genuinely save all three of them but things just don’t work out that way. Carlos is great, way better than his original incarnation and I say that as someone who likes that version too. He’s a great support character for Jill and also acts somewhat as a foil for her character and his arc about learning of Umbrella’s wrongdoings is handled well. I think everyone can aggree that Carlos and Jill’s dynamic is fantastic, the growth of their relationship feels very organic and genuine. I never expected to care about Brad so much, in the original he’s just a huge coward who exists to be killed by Nemesis but now he actually feels like a person and someone who Jill valued. Also holy shit that scene where he bites Marvin is so much more narratively fulfilling than his death by Nemesis. Mikhail’s expanded role as captain is great, as is his death. Tyrell actually gets to be a character this time around and I actually hoped he’d somehow survive. Dr Bard is a total scumbag and his inclusion finally explains the vaccine’s creation as well as adding to the overall corruption of RC via Umbrella. Nicholai’s a total ham and a dickhead, I mean this in a good way I would describe all my favourite RE villians this way (the Weskers, the Ashfords, Salazar, Carla Radames, Jack Baker). And form 1 Nemesis has some fun dramatic flair that I enjoyed. Also I will defend the choice to remove Barry from the ending, I really like Barry but it was the right decision not to involve him as it would really work against the game’s narrative and Jill’s character arc.

Now onto RE3R’s level design and structure and in my opinion it should have borrowed more from the og re3′s level design way more. What we have isn’t bad but it could’ve been much more. The streets being redesigned was inevitable to me, I really enjoy the aesthetic of the original but it looks very Japanese and RC is supposed to be a US city, so this change doesn’t bother me. The linearity does. The streets should have been more open and you should have been able to return to Uptown to explore (adding back in a fetchquest would justify this), this would give way more opportunities for Nemesis to stalk the player. What’s strange is there is a mod that opens up Downtown to be almost completely explorable and Nemesis’s AI can actually track you throughout it’s entirety, why bother programming him that way if the intention was to make the area more linear? When Nemesis does show up in the remake he’s great but he should have been present way more, he’s like the opposite of Mr X in RE2R. Mr X follows the player semi randomly around the RPD for a while but he is pretty toothless as a threat (seriously, you can out walk him), Nemesis on the other hand is a genuine threat but is only semi random for an incredibly short portion of the game. Expanding the streets would fix this issue. The park could’ve been an explorable area before the RPD, I personally don’t mind the park being cut but i know a lot of people do. They should have implemented more puzzles. I also think the clock tower should have been explorable and if I’m being honest I think it was supposed to be, it’s referenced in the subway and then we get the pamphlet before crossing the bridge, I think it was cut for time.  I think a lot was cut for time and I don’t think it’s M2′s fault, i think Capcom is the problem here and all you need to do is look at RE2R and all of its cut content for proof. 

Honestly if this game had just reintegrated some more of the original games levels and structure I think it would have been a 10/10, I still enjoy what we got I just want more! I hope we get DLC in the future and there’s certainly ample opportunity, we could have a ghost survivors scenario with Brad escaping Nemesis, we could play as Nicholai as he collects data on the outbreak before the main game, a dream sequence of Jill exploring the clock tower, Tyrell could cut through the park as he makes his way to the hospital and of course I hope we get Mercenaries mode. I guess time will tell.