Why is Resident Evil 2 so great?

Which Classic Resident Evil is YOUR Favorite?

  • Resident Evil/Resident Evil Director's Cut

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • Resident Evil 2

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • Resident Evil: Code Veronica

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • Resident Evil 0

    Votes: 1 25.0%
  • Resident Evil Remake (either Gamecube or HD Remaster)

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Total voters
    4
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Grimm_Reaper1005

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Hey, I know this may not be the best place to do this, but y'know what? I want to talk about it, and this seems to be somewhere that it's allowed at the very least. To give a bit of background, I'm a huge Resident Evil fan. As a matter of fact, one of my earliest gaming memories is with the first Resident Evil on the Sega Saturn. I didn't play Resident Evil 2 until it came to the N64, and I thought it was amazing. Because of my parents, I wasn't allowed to play the original Resident Evil, so I watched my brother play it instead. With RE2, I finally got my hands on the game, and it didn't disappoint.

I missed RE3 and Code Veronica, since I didn't have the consoles to play them and my brother wouldn't let me play on his. Eventually, I got back into the Resident Evil series with the Gamecube remake of the first one. I've played and beaten almost every main-series Resident Evil game (I haven't finished 6 because of a promise I made that me and someone else would finish it together and she moved, and RE3 Nemesis is pretty hard to find). Now, with the upcoming release of the HD remaster of RE0 and the official announcement of RE2 being remade, I've never been more hyped for the series.

However, in the light of all this, a question has popped up to me. Every person I talk to about the classic Resident Evil games says that RE2 is the best. Now, I can admit openly that it's better than the original, and I haven't played much of Nemesis so I can't say, but Code Veronica is much better in my opinion. And RE0 and the remake of RE1 are my favorites in the series to this day! When I ask people what's so great about 2, they always just say it's the best. They praise nothing in particular, though a few have said that it's because of Leon. So I'm opening up this discussion thread.

To be clear, I like Resident Evil 2. It was my first real Resident Evil game. Even with it's poor graphics and pretty bad voice acting, I love it still and will gladly play it. However, I honestly don't think it's the best in the series. For the sake of this discussion, I want to hear all opinions. Why is RE2 considered the best by so many? Why do you think it's not that good? What game do you think is the best? For this discussion, I'm not counting RE4, RE5, RE6, or the RE: Revelations games, as they aren't what I mean when I say "classic Resident Evil." Please be civil and keep this a discussion, not an argument. If this gets hateful or hurtful, I WILL ask a mod to lock this down.

TL;DR: Why is RE2 considered the best classic RE game, what game should be the best, and the third-person over-the-shoulder games don't count in this discussion, though the Gamecube remake of RE1 does. No arguing please, and be civil.
 
Me personally I liked the original Resident Evil. At the time it was my first survival horror game. I had never played anything like it. I remember watching my brother play first, stop, and didn't pick it up so while he was gone for a week I played, beat it, and the rest is history. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed RE2 followed by Code Veronica and Nemesis(You can get Nemesis on the psp or probably amazon/ebay)but I have to stick with the 1st. The characters, game play, weapons, replay value. With RE2 I only played through once. The characters were okay for me, nothing really notable.
 
Code Veronica is my all time favorite, but there's something special about RE2 that RE1 didn't have. Maybe I just liked Leon as a kid, like I think a lot of people did, and still do. Also, I had the first game with all of its terrible voice acting which I don't think left a very good impression on me - not that it mattered at the time, but now I can't really take it seriously unless I play REmake. I like to feel as if I can take my games seriously unless they're meant as a joke.

All in all, it's either because of the characters, the vastly improved inventory system, or the storyline. Which is a significant step up from the first game. Not that the first was bad, no way, but the second was just much better.

I'm a massive fan of the series, so I'd probably defend any game equally. Except for 6 because that game is evil.
 
@Dipper I actually really like Resident Evil 6. Well, two-thirds of it anyway. Leon's story is really good, and Sherry's part is good, too, just not AS good. Chris and Piers, though, aren't so good. Way too action-focused, and nowhere near enough horror. My only problem is the partner AI, which seems to have somehow gotten worse since RE5, and it was painfully stupid back then. The only reason I haven't beaten it yet is because of the promise I made. I fully intend to beat it one day, though.
 
Resident Evil 2 and 3: Nemesis are my two all time favourites. I cannot even say how many times my brothers and I played through and completed RE2, hundreds, it was just incredible and so much fun to play. RE3 was superb too, I liked the choices you could make and the different routes available, plus the ending theme was so amazing ^_^
 
Only ever really played 4 for any length of time. They're fun games, but I can't say I ever formed a tight attachment to them. The GameCube remake for 1 was pretty fun, but I only played my friend's copy for a few days.
 
Resident Evil 2 and 3: Nemesis are my two all time favourites. I cannot even say how many times my brothers and I played through and completed RE2, hundreds, it was just incredible and so much fun to play. RE3 was superb too, I liked the choices you could make and the different routes available, plus the ending theme was so amazing ^_^
I, too, have played through RE2 hundreds of times (though to be fair most of those were done when I was a kid and a cheating little shit, so I had infinite ammo and unlimited health). I already stated that RE3 is one that I haven't gotten much of a chance to play, since it's so damn rare and expensive when you can find it, but that's a different story anyway. My question is about WHY RE2 gets so much praise. I mean, I get that for the time, it was a great game, but so often it's called an even better game than RE3 or Code Veronica X. It wasn't until RE4 came out that it was dethroned as "Best Resident Evil game," and I just don't get it. It's a great game, even for it's time, but Code Veronica X was much better, and Resident Evil 3 had so much more to offer, so why is it always RE2 that people talk about? That's what I want to know.
 
You know, people often give a lot of shit to Resident Evil 6 for being the worst, I'd have to disagree, at least with 6 you could actually play through the game without a friend and not worry about your AI partner wasting countless of bullets and then just standing around and taking a chainsaw hit as if her brain just immediately shut down. Looking at you, 5, you fuckin piece of shit. 6 for me is easily an ungraceful game, but it has some minor cool moments.

As for classics? Code Veronica for the gameplay and controls, and 3 for the Nemeis.
 
I loved RE 2 because of Claire being one of many hot video game chicks that made me forever love brunettes.

Then RE 4 came out and that became my favorite of the series.

Because it evolved from being survival horror to action horror.

Quickscoping cultists and Plaga was badass.
 
I... I honestly don't know if Razilin is trolling or not. I'll state this for the record: while RE4 is a lot of fun, and RE5 is an absolute blast to play with an actual person sitting next to you, neither are really Resident Evil games in my opinion. And the reason is because there's no horror in it. There are some scenes that are tense, but nothing is really scary. In Resident Evil 6, I've gotten scared a few time. Not terribly scared, but at least it made me jump. I've mastered RE4 to the point that I can breeze through the game while barely paying attention to it. I don't use the infinite launcher (mostly because it's stupid), but it's all just too easy. Even Resident Evil 5 is a bit too easy, save for a few enemies (I'm looking at you, Reapers, you fucking cockroaches). The action focus makes them boring. I still feel much more satisfied with the classic games, complete with the tank controls (which are in my opinion WAY better than the "new" control scheme). As for "quick-scoping," please. Keep Call of Duty out of the horror franchise, please and thank you. I don't mind action games, but that's not the point of Resident Evil. It should be about survival horror, where every bullet matters, and every injury feels almost real, because you have to wonder if you can afford to use the herb or if you'll need it later.
 
Wasn't trolling

I did appreciate the focus shift to action horror as the survival horror aspect began to wane as it became less jumpscares and claustrophobic and more mad science

At that point going to action horror was a smart move, especially with reusing old chars who are veterans of zombie outbreaks
 
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