Resident Evil Basic tips and information

 

In advance

The first 20-30 minutes of the game are the hardest. This is not a joke. Once you have a inventory box, it goes rapidly “uphill”.

In addition, you can get to the inventory box of your choice within the mansion in significantly less than 60 seconds from the entrance hall of the mansion – provided the necessary doors are already open. (It’s actually even less than 30 seconds!) So at the beginning you are much closer than you think.

Why do I mention this here? Well I’ve been reading the forum for some years and these are always points that some people just don’t want/can’t understand. Then they stop immediately and say that it is stupid or too difficult, you only have to keep calm for 30 minutes – including getting lost.

Misleading first game start

Whoever starts the game for the first time is nonsensically asked whether he is a mountaineer or the like, and that with totally misleading text.

• The levels of difficulty ‘very easy’, ‘easy’ and ‘normal’ are hidden behind the answers. Whereby ‘like climbing a mountain’ corresponds to ‘normal’.

With the wrong answer, you will be upset when you complete the game for the first time.

The save system

The save system has unfortunately not been modernized in any way, which is why you have to constantly load the old saves before you start something new. If you are not careful, you will quickly lose some significant progress.

• It is advisable to create 3 fixed save states (3 different slots).
• One for Chris, one for Jill, and one for both of them.

The separate ones are to avoid a suicidal enemy named Forest Speyer (see Unlocks: Modes). At the same time, they serve as a kind of backup in that at least one character is still present. The shared save slot can then be used for the (main) experience including mentioned enemy.

Such a shared save is quickly created when you have completed it with one of the characters.
The third save slot for the other character can be created another time – it is up to you whether you overwrite the “single saves” or rather leave it. Things are going very well with Forest Speyer and it’s fun, it’s just a bit more stressful if you don’t know his spawn points and and behaivor.

Screen resolution

The game uses pre-rendered graphics and so visually there isn’t really a difference between 1080p, 1440p and 2160p.

However, you may have to edit the ini file with the actual desktop resolution to avoid a black frame.
The storage location of the ini file is:
C:\Users\*Username*\AppData\Local\CAPCOM\Resident Evil – biohazard@HD REMASTER
Replace *Username* with your Windows Username. For example: C:\Users\HansDampf\AppData\… etc..

What used to be the reason for very good graphics is unfortunately in a certain sense a really bad choice … Nevertheless, it still looks very good, if you don’t get stuck on any high numbers on data sheets.

* If someone is bothered by their mouse: just move it to the lower right corner. Windows is designed to have space on the right and at the bottom of the screen so that the mouse can be hidden there. This is possible with high DPI and with extra large mouse pointers. With custom mouse pointers, you have to make sure that their proportions, including their effects, are correct. A mouse pointer whose glowing effect shines insanely is therefore difficult to hide.

Character advantages

Each character has its own advantages and therefore disadvantages.

Chris, for example, has more power than Jill, does more damage and has a lighter by default without wasting space in the inventory, while Jill has, among other things, 2 extra slots in the inventory, is faster and has a lockpick. Personally, I prefer Jill. Always found the advantages of the female characters in the RE titles more tactically favorable.

There are other minor differences that are not worth mentioning as they are well compensated for. For example, Jill can play the piano while Chris needs Rebecca’s help here, which in turn takes a bit longer than with Jill.

Furthermore Jill has Barry as a helping hand and Chris has Rebecca for medical support.

Controls

You get used to the old and at first quite strange controls quite quickly, especially if you choose the alternative/modern controls instead of the old DPAD tank. Just play with it for 5-10 minutes and you’re almost completely used to it. You just have to get used to the fact that you don’t have to change the direction of your movement with every new camera angle and thus turn in a circle, but instead keep the stick position (movement direction). With the modern control, you can still use the tank controls with the DPAD (walking backwards, etc.), so there is absolutely no reason to focus on the tank controls when you can have both at the same time.

Inventory management

Inventory management is essential here, especially in the first few minutes.

• So please stop picking up any crap that appears in your field of view at the beginning.
  Knife, pistol, ammunition and quest items such as keys are all you need to survive in the beginning. You can still collect the rest if you have a inventory box, because after all, unlike zombies, items don’t suddenly disappear. It is better to run back “a lot” than to run out of space at the crucial moment. As long as you don’t leave the location and don’t pick up everything, you can see it as a huge inventory box, so to speak. For example, you can skip the blue gem or the wooden shield for a long time.
• If the game asks you if you want to put an item down, then you absolutely agree, because you no longer need it and you can only put it in your inventory box. In other words, with a bit of bad luck, you have to drag the item along for an unnecessarily long time.
• If you walk “properly” as Jill and also make sure that you keep a slot in the inventory free, you will also receive various useful items from Barry at certain points. With Chris, on the other hand, there is Rebecca who can help you medically.

 

Puzzles

The type of puzzles in the classic RE titles are really something special. In a certain sense, the whole game is a self-contained puzzle, which is why all the keys and the like are required.

For this reason there are only two mundane tips from my side:

• Pay attention to your surroundings if you want to solve a puzzle. Often it is pictures or documents that reveal the solution.
• Make a note of the solutions in case you want to save time next time. If you look for online solutions straight away, you usually take a lot of the fun out of the game, as you basically only work through lists.

 

Zombies and ammunition

Stop trying to kill every zombie. Kill only those who are actually in your way, if you can not yet dodge or “knive” good enough. You need the ammunition in the beginning.

Strictly speaking, you only have to kill between 3 and 8 opponents in the whole game, depending on the playstyle. So you can see that the game offers hundreds of bullets – see screenshots – So there is enough ammo, but at the beginning you have to be thrifty.

Another little tip: Use shotgun and grenade launcher only for bosses and legged enemies (i.e. everything that runs on 4+ legs)
Hunters are also easy to bypass, as they take a long swing when they try to hit you. Just run past so that they just hit some air.

A run on ‘very easy’, in which everything was saved and only used the infinite rocket launcher – a bunch of grenades did not fit into the picture:

First run on ‘hard’ – save point at the last inventory box before the boss – this is only the ammunition for the last boss fight:

*The first zombie you meet in the game is best left standing as Jill. Runs back to Barry, he’ll take care of it, at the same time you trigger a whole range of useful help from Barry. (if you do everything “right”)
The first zombie is also one of the stronger types. That means he needs much more shots than other common zombies if you want to kill him. In any case, you do not have to kill him.

Burning zombies

Without spoiling too much:

Only burn zombies in stairwells and hallways that you have to go through often, be it because of adjacent items or closed doors or a well-frequented save room. When it comes to enemies in RE: Out of sight, out of mind.
The fuel available in the game is definitely sufficient for the most necessary zombies. If you run out of it before then, something still has to be optimized.

Incidentally, there are different timers for burning them – depending on the level of difficulty.

Unlocks: Costumes

BSAA costumes (from RE REV1 or RE5) is unlocked by default and can be selected at the beginning. But you can also wear them in the cloakroom.

• Chamber key / locker room key
  Complete the game once. The key is then in the next inventory box. The chamber, on the other hand, has to be found first. But it is not too far away.
• Jill costume # 1 (military outfit)
  Complete the game 1x with Jill.
• Jill costume # 2 (RE3)
  Complete the game with Jill twice.
• Chris Costume # 1 (Leisure S.T.A.R.S Outfit)
  Complete the game 1x with Chris.
• Chris Costume # 2 (CVX)
  Complete the game with Chris twice.

 

Unlocks: Modes

Please also pay attention to the notes on the save system when unlocking stuff.

• ‘One more time …’ and ‘hard’
  Complete the game with a character. ‘Once again …’ is the NewGame +, so to speak. You have to load a completed save in order to load this menu item and all associated unlocks.
• Real survival
  Complete the game with one character at least on ‘normal’. Inventory boxes are not linked in Real Survival. So you have to take the important stuff with you when you leave the area.
• Invisible enemies
  Complete ‘Real Survival’ or complete the game at least on ‘normal’ with both characters.
  Here are the enemies invisible but you can choose the difficulty. Only play this mode if you know where the enemies are hanging around.
  By the way, it can be combined with a knife run:
  
• Forest Speyer / Suizide Zombie
  Can be counted as mode, since easily avoidable.
  Complete the game with both characters on the same save slot. Forest is a former member of the military and is packed with explosives, plus he’s faster than standard zombies. You are not allowed to harm Forest, be active or defensive.
  It is advisable to deactivate the automatic use of defensive weapons and to pay attention to the sound, because Forest strumming well to himself, which means you can hear him very early.
  He can bite the weaker Jill on ‘hard’ two times in a row without dying. Forest is then thrown on the ground and has to stand up again, which gives you time to escape. In addition, Forest has fixed rooms in which he can appear.

 

Unlocks: Weapons

Weapon unlocks only apply to the ‘One more time …’ mode.
Minimum difficulty to unlock: Normal

• Samurai Edge
  Complete the game in under 5 hours.
• Rocket launcher
  Complete the game in under 3 hours.

 

How long does it take to complete the whole game?

For me it took about 55 hours (including the 3 save slots), although it wasn’t my goal to do it quickly on this platform.

Some need more time because they are new, because 20 years have passed or because they just take it easy, read all the documents, etc. and so on – and other players are faster because they still know the process or certain things are simply faster grasp or simply leave out.

If you have actually finished the game, you will receive the following message from Capcom in-game.

*If you want to avoid spoilers, don’t look at these pictures even it is in German language!

The “I’m giving up …” statistics

To make it clear how many people give up at the beginning, here are the statistics of the Steam version as of March 4th, 2020:

The first straight line, right at the beginning, will likely be players who were shocked by the controls. The first pike after the fall occurs at 6 – 8%. So you can see that a lot players have already stopped before. The peak in the middle is 48%. According to the mouseover feature, the top of the next peak is 71% and on the far right are just under 14k players with 100%.

According to Global Stats of Achievements, only 26.4% finished the game once on ‘very easy’ or higher. On easy it is only 21% and on normal it is only 11.4%. For both characters it is just 9.1%.
Only 76.9% killed their first zombie. And 66.5% died for the first time. Here, too, you can see that a damned number of players give up in the first few minutes. Overall, the statistics are unfortunately worse than most other games.

Yes, Resident Evil is more demanding than most of today’s games, that’s how most of the games were back then, and yes, it is sometimes strange when you compare it with today’s games (e.g. the controls), but if you pay attention to one or the other or spend 5 minutes on it, it’s just like it was back then, a very good game – which is why there are more than 20 RE titles today.

The probability that you will also give up, however, is low, because after all you are already showing that you want to learn or adapt. Not everyone does that. And the long ham here, you’ve apparently read too.
So good luck or whatever you need to hold on!

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