u/Bhavan91

Disclaimer: There is no bias or nostalgia here, as I am not a fanboy of the original. I liked it a lot but it's not my favourite in the series. That will always be RE5, unless a remake surpasses it.

Mods that I used on OG RE4:

- HD Project mod.

- RE4 tweaks.

- Improved frame rate

- Improved gun sounds.

Here are my thoughts on OG vs 4make.

What I liked more in RE4R:

- Storage box: This made experimenting with other weapons in additional playthroughs far more convenient. I didn't have to sell weapons to make room for new ones.

- Mercenaries: RE5 Mercs is my favourite of all time, and RE4R's mercs feels like that but without co-op. I play at least 2 rounds almost every day. With OG, I never could enjoy the mercs as much as I wanted to.

- Inventory: I never liked the Tetris-esque management you had to do in the OG, so the auto-sort option was a godsend. Plus the drag and drop combine function makes it easier to combine herbs.

- Weapon swap: As seen first in RE5, the ability to swap weapons in real time gets deep appreciation from me in the remake.

- Separate Ways: Except for that ogre like monster chase in the laser room, I find almost everything to be more fun and repayable in the Remake's Ada campaign compared to that of the original. (I am still not a fan of them making it a paid DLC though).

- Gun sounds: The guns all have a punchy POP that makes the impact feel satisfying. The OGs gun sounds, while nostalgic, didn't age well IMO.

What I liked more in the OG:

- *Snappy movement*

The way the character responds to your input regarding movement feels simple, snappy, and precise. The tank controls may seem restrictive but once you get the hang of it, moving around to position yourself in combat, or to evade projectiles feels very satisfying. I had to use snappy controls mod in RE4R, to feel more connected with the character's movement in the game. But it still doesn't feel rewarding like in the OG.

- *Responsive gunplay*

The aiming feels quite smooth when I move the mouse around. The camera is detached from the aiming, and so it feels Leon's arms are an extension of my hand. And the shooting feels quite rewarding. The stationary aiming, while seeming restrictive on paper, didn't hinder me from enjoying each combay encounter like a shooting gallery. And the laser sight, where the beam and the line of fire are fully aligned with the barrel makes it all the more satisfying. In the remake, I had to install mods such as classic laser aim, realistic rate of fire, and headshot stagger to bring a feel closer to that of the original.

- *Pacing*

The way the campaign is structured feels quite tight and tense. Except for the last encounter in the island, no setpiece overstays its welcome. No puzzle breaks the flow of combat, no fetch quest feels tedious, and Ashley's segment doesn't create any disconnect in pacing. However, in my repeat playthroughs of the remake, almost every puzzle, fetch quest or explorative segment made me feel like I wanted to get back into the combat. Especially Ashley's section and the fetch quests in the boat segment. What's funny is that RE4R has cut content, yet feels draggy when these segments occur.

- *Aural & Visual art direction*

The set and audio design in the original oozes atmosphere. Every area, except the last few enemy camps in the island, made me stop and gawk at the art design of the architecture and artistry of the environment. And while I stop in awe of the art style, I am further impressed by the auditory presentation of the atmosphere throughout the game. The cinematography of the cutscenes too had impactful camera work, reminiscent of a John Woo flick. However, while the remake had vastly superior graphical fidelity and audio quality, the art direction regarding the environment and the atmospheric audio was lacking. Everything being a quixel megascan asset gives the remake a generic uncanny look, in my honest opinion.

- *Ashley as an objective*

I've never had a problem keeping her alive in my 20+ years of playing the game. The stop/follow commands are simple but powerful. In the remake, the stick close or follow from a distance options took away the control I enjoyed in the original. I still succeeded in not letting her get caught, so there is no skill issue here. I simply like the option to stop her at any given time.

- *Characters, including the enemies and Ashley*

This is entirely subjective, but I much preferred how the characters were written and presented in the original. And the voice acting of all the characters elevated their presence even more. Even the enemies and villains had more powerful performances that stayed in my mind even when I wasn't playing the game. Whereas the voice acting plus character presentation in the remake stayed between generic (Ada, Salazar, Saddler, enemies) and just serviceable (Leon, Ashley, Hunnigan). Like before, I had to use some voice mods to make my experience more enjoyable.

- *Boss fights*

Except for the del lago and Krauser fights, I preferred the staging and combat encounter of all bosses in the original. Especially Salazar and Big Cheese. Again, this is subjective.

Conclusion: I like the campaign of RE4 more. I see myself revisiting it at least once a month. I need to take a break of at least few months to revisit the campaign of RE4R after beating it. Whereas, I find myself playing the mercenaries mode of RE4R a lot more than that of the originals.

In mid 2020, during Covid time, I was looking for gamers to play RE5 (my favourite game) co-op with. So I posted in the RE5 forums asking about it.

One dude commented that he is interested, and so we connected via DMs. We started playing right away as we were from similar time zones.

Not even 10 minutes had passed since we started playing, and the guy was raving about RE4. At first, I ignored it but then it got annoying. Not because I like 5 more than 4, but due to his yapping distracting me from enjoying the co-op.

I told him RE4 is cool and all, but I prefer 5 over 4. And the guy popped off like as though I stole his dad's kidneys. I ended the co-op session, and blocked him.

Few days later, I played RE5 with another rando from the Steam forum and had a discussion with the guy about what had happened with that RE4 fanboy earlier. To which he mentioned that he and 2 of his Steam friends had a similar encounter too. Turns out it was all the same guy!

This dude, who loves RE4, intentionally joined an RE5 forum and played co-op with people with the aim of fighting with those who liked 5 more than 4.

Moments such as these are why I feel RE4/Leon fanbase has the most number of toxic fans who would go to severely petty extents to put down non-RE4 games, especially 5, and its fans.