So last weeks podcast didn't leave us much time to answer RE5 Q&A from our forum. Since everyone worked so hard to send us their questions, I figured I would go back and answer some of them myself. Having played through the game entirely via Co-Op, I will give you my own personal insight into your questions and use it as a tool to get me thinking as I begin to write my full length review. With that said, lets get started:
1.) Drew from Massachusetts asks:
Do you feel that that the new live action inventory system is a better fit for RE5's play style?
I will answer this from a size perspective and functionality perspective. First of all, with the size of the inventory box being much smaller this time around (smaller than the cache box from RE4), picking and choosing items, weapons, and ammo might seem like more of a chore at first glance. In actuality, Capcom has streamlined this process by making all weapons fit into one slot as opposed to multiple slots. In previous games, the bigger the weapon, the more inventory space it took up. Luckily, that is a thing of the past, making inventory management much more accessible.
Secondly, the fact that you play this game through via co-op means that you essentially have twice the inventory space available and are able to switch and exchange items and ammo on the fly. This means that no matter who picks up an item, both players should have complete access to it. Because of this, I found this new inventory system to be a great fit to the games play style and much less of a pain as compared to RE4's "tetris" cache case.
I will post a few more questions and responses in the next few days so keep your eyes peeled.
-Nick
3 comments:
kool... i feel special... nick answered my question.
When I first played the RE5 demo, I thought the inventory system was a complete mess. Having to select and equip in such hostile situations seemed sluggish at best. Now, having played through the whole game, I retract my ealier thoughts.
At a first glance it seems they tried dumbing the game down with little success, but if anything the new system has you more focused than ever. You have to plan, switch and move all your items to where it would be best needed and easy to access with the hotkeys. The game tests you and by doing so improves your skills. At the start of the game you'll be thumbling around selecting First Aid Spray, but by the end you could be fast reloading by combining ammo with your weapon in less than a second.
As mentioned in the blog post, it makes you feel like you rely more on your co op buddy. However, I don't think Nick doesn't go as in depth with this. If you have a decent buddy/friend to play with you start deciding what weapons and what roles both would play as. Should Chris be handling the Ithaca M37 while Sheva provides covering fire with the Dragunov? Who'll be combining the herbs and who'll handle grenades? It's subtle and many people might not notice it, but the reliance on your partner, even with the AI, makes the co op experience even more deeper and therefore much more gratifying.
The system isn't perfect mind you. There are times when I felt like the game was unfairly restricting me when organising my inventory. Why can't I discard ammo or grenades for the time being, pick up a red herb, combine and then fill up that extra space again by picking the items back up? Or why risk ignoring and losing that herb? This is something I wish that was fixed. As for the whole inventory system itself, this game is practically made to be played live with another person, so pausing isn't viable. Besides, is there really any way you could streamline the whole thing anymore than it is?
So, if you allow yourself to get used to and even try to exploit the inventory system, you'll gradually see how good and effective it truly is, and how much more enjoyable co-op as a whole becomes.
P.S. I like the 'tetris' comment. lol
Holy shit, didn't realise I wrote that much. lol
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