Hopefully we don't get hit too hard, man!

That reminds me of the first time I beat Silent Hill 3. I made it to the last boss, ran out of ammo and was low on health, so I ran up to it and hit it with my katana and killed it with that one swing. So intense.

Try taking one out with just a handgun or a knife.

Wow, I haven't posted in ages...

The remainder of Chapter 3 will forgo spoilers, for obvious reasons.

Chapter 3-2

So yeah, I still think that Salazar is pretty damn creepy. Maybe it's the voice, maybe it's the height, or a combination thereof, but man, so disturbing. I did not enjoy the Novistadors. It made me overly cautious I think and they are quick! I wasted some shells for sure taking them out.

Managed to kill the red guy with the necklace before he escaped so from what I've gathered, I was able to avoid a chaingun sequence.

The Maze...damn the maze. First of all, those dogs are still creepy. Secondly, I hated how they jumped out of the bushes at times. I jumped a few times!

Chapter 3-2 Stats

Hit Ratio: 61%
Enemies Killed: 66
Deaths: 0

Chapter 3-3

This chapter wasn't so bad. The cage room gave me a bit of trouble (no deaths fortunately), and I did use the grenade trick to save some time. And yeah, don't like how if you kill an enemy with a Plagas head, but don't kill it with a head shot, it leaves the host's body...that was really damn creepy.

Luis' death scene was laughably dramatic. Graphic, but dramatic. Aside from that, it wasn't too bad.

Chapter 3-3 Stats

Hit Ratio: 79%
Enemies Killed: 23
Deaths: 0

Chapter 3-4

First things first. Playing as Ashley...I did not relish this fact. It was very very dark and very very unpleasant in terms of atmosphere. I died once because one of the knights came up from behind because I couldn't see him in the darkness...

And yes, to answer the age old question. I wanted to shoot her many a times when she held in those bars.

Other than that, pretty simple.

Chapter 3-4 Stats

Hit Ratio: 94%
Enemies Killed: 9
Deaths: 1

Back to spoilers!

Chapter 4-1

The lava room wasn't so bad, but really...it seems so out of place. The use of mine carts to get around the castle also is a bit odd to me.

I found it interesting that when you dodge the knights leading up to the grail room, and the sword somehow manages to hit Ashley, since she just ducks, she doesn't die.

Oh, speaking of the grail room. The first set was quite simple. The second set...ended up getting my head chomped off twice.

Another moment of fun! Ashley's gone again! WOOT!

I ended up dying in the tower because of low health and getting whacked by a mace.

The Garrado room wasn't too bad, but I have to thank my magnum for that.

During the cutscene where Leon falls, the first thing I said was "I'm not looking forward to fighting the red robed minion.

Boss Battle:

Leading up to it, dodging his tail kept me on edge. As for the actual battle itself, I tried to fight him regularly, but ended up getting my head sliced off twice in the process so I chickened out and used a rocket launcher...

So yeah, that's as far as I've gotten at the moment.

Chapter 4-1 Stats

Hit Ratio: 77%
Enemies Killed: 79
Deaths: 5

Cumulative Stats

Hit Ratio: 75%
Enemies Killed: 533
Deaths: 25

Onto finishing the rest of chapter 4 this weekend!

Finished up 4-1 and 4-2.  I'll like to start with a concurrence:

Concurred.

You betcha.  A part I've often come to dread in the GC original now becomes a walk in the park with the Wiimote.  I had no trouble with the third one, but managed to get caught off guard by the second one that rises on the left.  Nothing like a big ball of orange flames filling up the screen to place one back on alert.

As for the whole "floating" nature of the dragons, I honestly never thought about it before.  I always just assumed they were held together by chains.  I mean, a chain of sorts BREAKS once you bring them down, right?  I never really looked too closely, nor gave it a second notion.

I've always found the Red9 to be a more viable weapon in this area.  It's faster on the draw, and since I too haven't been upgrading the Shotgun, it also proves to be the more powerful choice.  Their Plagas showed up much more quickly than I expected as a result.  Having a surplus of Flash Grenades made this a generally easy affair.

Always the best way to take out shield-wielders.  Pull it off fast enough in this area, and the other guys won't even begin moving down the hallway until the shields are all dead.

While I had a surplus of Flash Grenades, I was fortunate enough to have at least one Hand Grenade left.  The perfect opportunity to use it here with one toss, timing it so I got a cluster of enemies together with the rocker launcher....launcher.  Of course, I made the foolish assumption that the blast killed him along with the others, forgetting the golden rule that enemies with heavier duty weapons tend to live longer.  It was too late; I had already turned around to deal with the rest of the ambush, when I got a nice missile in my back.  Lovely.

Were you also reminded of disposing that one Gekko in MGS4's Act 4, as the Mk.III is working on the shutter gate?  Who's to question video game logic, though?  You'd rather kill Verdugo quickly, and then actually WAIT four real-time minutes for that elevator to arrive?   

I took the easy way out with Verdugo.  I did make a few attempts to not use the rocket launcher, but I'll admit I was never good with this fight.  A QTE dodge can still result in a nasty hit from his rapid stabbing attacks, and I was getting killed too many times to be bothered making that long trek to initiate the boss fight over and over again.

I went ahead and took them both on this time, simply because this has become a money-hoarding playthrough for me.  I had just enough ammo, but I ran out of Flash Grenades by the time I downed the first one.  I got grabbed a few times, too, which resulted in the use of a double green herb, and two white eggs I had left in the case.  In the end, I had three shotgun bullets left, and none for the hand gun.  It really may not be worth it for that additional 15,000.

Am I alone in thinking that the S&M Gigante's (thank you, Zane) bandit mask is adorable?

Had to do a double-take there.  Since when did RE4 allow you to fuse weapons? :)

Your assumption is sound.  I've found that even a single shot from a decently-upgraded Red9 is enough to kill any that's still in flight.  Yet again, using the Wiimote for this specific purpose works absolute wonders.  The trick is getting them close enough so that they're actually hovering above ground rather than the pit so that you can pick up the Eyes.  (Speaking of, I'm still missing one more damned Blue Eye to complete the second Blind Butterfly Lamp.)

Yeah, the dragons are suspended by two large chains, and once you take them out (by shooting the dudes, not the chain) the chains break and the dragons then fall into the lava. I'm going to categorize this one into RE4's Gaming Physics somewhere between the trolley rides in the castle and the way the elevator automatically opens once you beat Verdugo, despite the amount of time you fight him.

Probably.

After you beat the game a bunch of times the Merchant lets you combine weapons. You should see my Semi-auto Killer9Cannon!

Indeed, the dragons are suspended by chains.  Big honking chains, in fact.  I don't know why I didn't notice them before.

Happy Monday, dudes and dudette! Hopefully we've all beaten the Castle segment by now and have started chipping away on to the Island segment of the game. This area is set up a bit differently from what you got used to in the Castle, but (just like the rest of the game), it totally owns. Anyway, here's my recap of chapters 5-1 and 5-2 on Pro mode!

5-1: First things first - when you hear Ashley calling you as you near the Island complex, make sure you shoot out that overhead searchlight. It will make the next segment a little easier for you, and at this point I'm sure having less Ganados to fight will be welcome. As you make your way into the complex, make sure you explore every area - there is a Yellow Herb and a jewel in the lower level of the complex where you first meet the huge armored enemies, before you get to the sequence where Leon walks by the TV systems and Ashley gets... well, I think you should decide for yourself as what goes on.

Fighting the first Regenerator on Professional (the real first fight, not the ones you see in the hall) was quite different than fighting it on normal mode. After getting my ass handed to me several times, I decided to take a video of what happens and uploaded it to Youtube, complete with dumb commentary. Enjoy my ugly voice as Leon gets destroyed!

And at the end of the chapter we get Ashley back. Woo!

5-2: Why am I excited that Ashley is back? Because she drives a f---ing bulldozer in this chapter, that's why. That and the fact that Little Miss Priss gets tossed in a garbage dump! It felt like the enemies in the wrecking ball room were more aggressive than usual this time around, and Ashley got taken out from an off-screen Ganado a couple of times while breaking through the wall, but it wasn't frustrating. What was a little frustrating was the rate in which the Ganados hopped on the bulldozer while I was trying to get the elevator going in the next segment. I'd go up the ladder, shoot the four Ganados on the platform and then Ashley would get axed. So I had to revise my strategy: use the Rifle to take down the dudes (especially the one with the crossbow), then wait and snipe whoever drops into the truck. Then move forward, kill a couple of more dudes, then wait for dudes to drop into the truck. Flip the switch... well, you get the point. Took me about seven or eight tries, but I got that all settled and then lost Ashley again at the end of the chapter. Dammit!

Anyway, at this point all of my weapons (Red9, Bolt-Action Rifle, Striker, Broken Butterfly) were fully upgraded and I still have some Pesetas to spare! After this things get way intense as we start down the "Path to Closure". The final few chapters of the game are non-stop awesome action, and I'm really looking forward to reading about how people have progressed!

Getting Ashley back can't be a issue to say Woo! unless she comes back decapitated and in small pieces to be forwarded onwards.

Anyways, time to put my stuff up from the last week and parts from this week. Pretty much in the end soon, but got bored of the places so haven't much played this week.

Chapter 4-3 continued

The second celing trap didn't let me shot the targets before moving into the room, so that caused a small panic, thanks to those facehuggers.

And for some reason, I just don't get any shotgun shells lately, and thanks to minecart madness, I'm left with three shells. But that scene is always funny, too bad that Yakety Sax isn't playing on it. Anyways end of a chapter again.

Hit Ratio 80% (Total 75%)
Enemies killed 66 (Total 583)
Number of times killed 0 (Total 3)

21th save and playtime is 9:57:19.

Chapter 4-4

Made a lots of stupid mistakes on Salazar's statue room, thanks to that, ran away from the statue with 5 shells, which meant that the upcoming lift battle was fuuun. Thankfully had some rifle ammo which helped

Saved before Salazar, even if I will use Rocket Launcher on it. (22th save).

Which happened to be a good thing, got eaten to death thanks to that eye-part, I guess I did read it bit wrong, but then it was just letting Salazar to show his misfigured body and boom, byebye.

After that, it was time for the first exclusive upgrade, and some other small upgrades and stash cleaning.

Clearly looking at my suitcase, I was ready to wage some war. 78 + 22 bullets, 57 shotgun shells, 46 rifle bullets and 23 magnum bullets. And healing department was also on a good shape. Too bad that this would only mean one thing, game would get harder.

Hit Ratio 72% (Total 75%)
Enemies killed 45 (Total 628)
Number of times killed 1 (Total 4)
23th save and playtime is 10:36:52

Chapter 5-1

The island invasion went pretty nice, though ran out of Red9 bullets. Even J.J. went nicely, even if I was again suprised that he can jump from windows. Saved at merchant (24th) and upgraded as much as I could, though, didn't have enough money for semi-automatic rifle's exclusive. But then, only 3 regular upgrades and 3 exclusives to go.

Also, any idea what Leon meant by "reminds me of the days of O.R.E."?

Died once, thanks to few Garradors trying to befriend me, pff. Why I let them always attack me.

Was really running out of cash so decided to go through the shooting range parts for good. Which did give me around 100k pesetas more. But that only let me upgrade Striker a bit and that damage-reducing vest.

And I still hate that open/close-door part. Anyways, saved before the few upcoming hurdles. (25th).

Meeting Regenators is always a thrill, they do remind me of Lickers and Hunters from earlier games.

Playing Crane Catcher with Garradors is damn funny.

Rescued Ashley again, really she is the most non-useful damsel in distress. Sheesh why can't Leon just give her a gun.

Hit Ratio 74% (75% total)
Enemies killed 75 (703 total)
Number of times killed 1 (Total 5)

26th save and playtime is 12:02:29.

Chapter 5-2

Boulder dash room went suprisingly nice, no hits to me or to Ashley. Killed some Regenators and upgraded the Striker exclusive, now I have SHELLS.

Anyways, time to save again. (27th).

And after a nice scenery ride with Ashley, we crashed to another building, yay. But then, Ashley got taken away AGAIN.

Hit Ratio 71% (Total 74%)
Enemies killed 62 (Total 765)
Number of times killed 0 (Total 5)

28th save and playtime is 12:28:53.

Chapter 5-3

The knife fight-scene with Krauser is still cool to watch and didn't even die on it, progress! But then, laser corridor killed me twice.

Saved for the upcoming encounter. (29th)

Battle against 'It' went nicely, even if I got hit few times at the cages, after that it succumbed to magnum rounds.

After that, got the exclusive for Broken Butterfly, which means I would be packing some power now.

Krauser was suprisingly easy after learning that knife is the way to go, atleast on the timed match.

Hit Ratio 57% (Total 74%)
Enemies killed 23 (Total 788)
Number of times killed 2 (Total 7)
30th save and playtime is 13:14:48.

Really, this latest chapter has been so boring in the end, only good parts has been every Regenators. They really should have skipped the whole "let's go to another isle"-ripoff from Jurassic Park and instead they should have make it so that when you kill Salazar, you would have gone down to some lab or something, filled with Regenators.

I mean, this place has too much place changes to my taste, around 7-9 depends how you count. Anyways, maybe I'll finish this up tomorrow.

I watched this video without sound, and my imagination filled in the missing soundtrack with "OM NOM NOM NOM."

Do you lose the tactical vest after taking damage?  I recall buying one, but later I realized that the merchant had one in stock because Leon was not wearing one.  Or did I reset to a continue point after buying the vest?

I can confirm that has indeed happened to me on Normal -- but only if you're close to death, and you don't shake him off fast enough.  Being on Professional, the occurrences may be more frequent according to the higher damage ratio.

*pops in a couple of Madonna albums on the ol' playlist*

That is surprisingly appropriate.

No way! The vest stays with you for the game. Maybe you died or reset before you hit a continue point, which negated the purchase. I totally forgot about that thing. Heh, no wonder why Leon would die in about two hits! I guess I should pat myself on the back for beating Pro with no vest.

Man, I had no idea! Here I am thinking I am hot shit for finding something out, and it just turns out that I didn't meet the conditions to see it the first eight times. Dammit.

The thing is, I had full health when that happened. If you want to see how ridiculous Professional mode can be (for those of us who haven't finished it on that difficulty - *high five to Angie*) just watch how quickly Leon's life goes down when the Regenerator jumps on him. It's insane! Death in two seconds.

Wow, Zane, I have never actually seen that happen before! Would scare the living jezus out of me too.
Then again, I never shoot them in the leg to down them, so that would explain it. I tend to take out the parasite on the back by lobbing a grenade just behind the Regenerator.

Also: looking at the neatness of your briefcase: obsessive compulsive disorder much?

Anyhoo, here's my experiences for 5-1.

- Took out Railgun Man with my Magnum which took only a handful of shots. I deemed myself pretty much safe having taken him out, but then I found out the Plagas spawn rate is THROUGH THE ROOF on this bloody island. Seriously, I think 1 out 2 Ganados spawned one of these nasty buggers, so I got a bit more of a beating than I had anticipated.

- It surprised me that the merchant set up shop in the middle of an area filled with enemies. I'm pretty sure the Ganados can reach him, and although they're not likely to attack him, I don't think you want to throw lots of bullets and grenades around with him too close. This is the only time his location seemed like a really bad choice by Capcom.

- I think my memory has blocked out how much I freaked when the burning man comes dashing from the fridge the first time. I'm used to it now, but wow, be on your guard, you first-timers!

- Those Big Guys clad in armor with their big hammers are not very smart are they? One of them just stood there while I took out some ganados around him, and waited patiently for me to snipe him through the head. AI can be a bit iffy at times...

That makes two of us. Although I like the idea, it can be a bitch to get through unharmed.
For the first set of enemies you'll want to shoot one of the sticks of dynamite before they get the chance to throw it. For the second part I just lobbed a grenade in. Love doing that.

- The crane part always make me cackle with sadistic glee. Next time I should try doing that with my cat on my lap.

- The Regenerators still freak me the f--- out. I really love the idea of having to use the thermoscope, but the way in which they amble straight towards you with that awful panting sound just makes me lose my cool every time. Managed to get by them largely unharmed though.

Acc: 94%, 74 kills, 2 deaths.

4-4

I had been saving the rocket launcher that I picked up from the glass display case, and the fight with Salazar seemed like the right time to use it.  There's something elegant, I think, about dispatching that snotty bastard with a single shot.  And if anyone deserves a rocket to the face, it's Ashley.

5-1

When I had to take down the Regenerator carrying the Storage Area Key, I wondered how to get a shot of the parasite on its back.  I ended up running around the lab area so that the Regenerator would flop over the window and land on its face, revealing the parasite on its back.  Later I realized that a single pistol shot to a Regenerator's leg will disintegrate it and cause the Regenerator to fall forward.

5-2

I thought that the way endless Ganados drop down from out of nowhere during the wrecking ball scenario was kind of cheap.  I decided that having Ashley anywhere near this fracas was a bad idea and had her stand by in the fan housing.

Some of the design decisions in the next area I thought a bit strange.  What is the point of having a shutter open only partway so that Ashley has to crawl through and open it from the other side?  She opens it immediately and isn't in any peril while she does.  It's unnecessary as a mechanism to make sure that Ashley is in tow, since you can't leave an area without her.  And come on, Leon isn't so much larger than Ashley that he couldn't squeeze through, too.  I also don't understand why there's a loading screen when you open the door to the small closet with the typewriter and merchant.

5-3

I agree with Angela that the knife fight is awesome.  Unfortunately, on the Wii version the scene freezes momentarily after each QTE entry (it reminds me of the cutscenes in Resident Evil remake), which ruins the rhythm of the fight.  I don't recall this happening on the GameCube version.

I hate to say so, but the game is starting to drag for me.  Maybe the problem is that the further I progress, the more of a perfectionist I am in terms of clearing each area cleanly, e.g., taking minimal damage, not wasting ammunition, making sure that each grenade blast hits several Ganados.

Hey! You want to know what's more fun than being locked in a freezer with a nigh-invincible enemy whose weakness is a scope INCOMPATIBLE WITH EVERY WEAPON I HAVE? ANYTHING.
Restarting the chapter, and hoping I can afford what I need.

Don't be a p---y. Shoot him enough times with anything, that motherfucker will go down, I guarantee. Even Iron Maidens, if they take enough damage.

Guess who tried to shoot that stick of dynamite like five or seven times, always noticing "Damn, too low/too high, and shutter is down". I just used my rifle to beat the living shit out of them in frustration.

Also, doesn't grenade pretty much kill them if you first shoot their legs and the give them a biscuit for that trick?

I like to keep things in order so I know how much ammo and healing items I have, so I can gauge how to proceed. I didn't organize things until right before the Salazar fight, though - I was so wrapped up in Pro Mode that I didn't take the time to organize things until then. But... usually my case is nice and neat all the time.

Same here, man. Their music is tight, too. Very Silent Hill-ish!

The way I see that is kind of a joke on Capcom's behalf because Ashley is so useless for most of the game. Like, here, all she's good for is crawling under a door where she's not in danger - I bet most players gave a big WTF at that point - and then in the very next area she is driving a bulldozer and mowing shit down left and right. That's what I think, at least. No idea about the loading screen, although it could just be to set up a continue point (even though there is one right through the next door as well). Must have been a programming issue.

Nope, no freezes on the GCN version.

After a 3-hour marathon run last night, I only have one thing to say.  f--- KRAUSER.  That motherfucker killed me like 4 times, mostly just because I kept running out of time.  For a while I thought you had to do something else since I was running out of ammo and he just wouldn't die.  On my third death, I emptied my second to last bullet in him, managed to kill him, but still died because the damned fort blew up!! AAUGH!!  The last time I fought him I hit him with like 4 hand-grenades, 3 incendiaries, and finally figured out you have to go for the shins.. 

For those on professional, I have no idea how you're going to do this one.  Best of luck Tommy.

Oh yeah, I forgot to buy a rocket launcher, instead opting for the 100,000 peseta final upgrade to the TMP. 

I am ready for this game to be over.  It's been a fun ride, and while I'm probably missing half of the fun because I'm not vested in Resident Evil lore, I'd still recommend the game to anyone. 

Chapter 5-4 and hopefully the conclusion will come tonight.

Dude, thank you. Your luck must have preemptively been with me in spirit this past weekend when I rocked the rest of the game! The Krauser fight was BRUTAL on Professional, both because of how much damage he does as well as how few healing items I had left because I was cocky and sold off all my First Aid Sprays. The several hours I spent on 5-3 goes to show how practice really does make perfect.

5-3: I can do the knife fight QTE in my sleep by now, so this part wasn't an issue. It was the only part of the game that dragged for me, though, since I've done it so many times and it's not skippable - not even the end part once the QTEs are finished. Three minutes of boredom is a small price to pay after putting in about sixteen exciting hours into the game.

The U3 fight was interesting, mainly because I got rocked a few times in the cage segment and used up some herbs. Good move on my part since Leon's health got maxed out at that point, bad move on my part, since that left me in bad shape for the Krauser fight. Once I made it through the cage sequence I took U3 down by exploiting grenades, the red barrels and my Broken Butterfly. Big sigh of relief when he bit the dust!

Krauser's part was the most frustrating for me, even more so than 4-2. It took me a good amount of tries to make it from the beginning of the battle to when you actually fight him without taking damage, so I exploited the continue points and kept retrying until I got it perfect since I couldn't afford to get wasted. Once I made it through his sadistic little obstacle course, we started the fight proper and I died a good six times or so because Krauser kills you on Pro in two hits. If you miss a QTE event, about 2/3rds of your health goes away, and one more hit kills you. Then again, I neglected to buy the Tactical Vest (oops), but more power to me for taking the hard route.

I used the knife to kill him, per usual, and it didn't take too long when I actually did it correctly - less than thirty seconds total, including avoiding his attacks via QTE - but I probably spent a good thirty minutes trying to take him down, including restarts and deaths. I finished with about 2:35 lest on the clock and then proceeded to loot the top area and exit with about two minutes to spare. Defeating Krauser with the knife is an invaluable skill to have when playing RE4; not only do you get to flaunt your skills, but you also save a lot of ammo and grenades trying to take him down. An even BIGGER sigh of relief when Krasuer kroaked. (Couldn't help myself.)

5-4. Mike's a good guy. I can't tell if he's supposed to be from New York, Jersey, Boston, or all of the above, but he's your Everyday American coming to blow the shit out of some Ganados for you... which is great in both Normal mode and in theory, but in Professional that lazy sack of shit is totally useless. He only "swiped clean" one embankment during the whole drawn-out segment, which was amazingly hard thanks to the amount of damage Leon takes as well as the sheer amount of Ganados that spawn. Add in J.J., multiple turrets and a handful of crossbow Ganados and you have a headache - one that I somehow ended up making it through using a single G/G/G herb mixture after getting my run as close to perfect as I could. I died during this segment, a lot. It seems like the last few chapters on Pro are ridiculously hard, but surmountable with good planning, practice and patience.

The last section of 5-4 is almost like a "welcome home" type of map after the "Path to Closure" part of the chapter. Lots of, but not too many, Ganados, a fun little keycard chase and plenty of healing items and ammo, and stuff to blow up! Whenever I get to this point in the game I get a little sad because I know it's almost done. And then I realize that I am completely addicted to RE4 and will most likely be playing it again in a few months' time anyway, which makes me less sad. Once you make it through those doors it's time for the Final Chapter...

Krauser was far and away the most agonizing part of my own Professional playthrough.  I was ill-prepared for the fight to begin with, suffering from a critical shortage of just about everything by the time I reached him.  I pretty much had to start at a previous save point starting from 5-1, and pace myself better for when I reached that point again.  Such a bastard.

I need to get back up to speed on the Normal playthrough.  I'm about to take on Salazar on 4-4.

I need to start/finish 4-2 - end of chapter 4. I'll TRY to complete the game by this weekend, but since I'm leaving for Germany on Monday and am SO ILL PREPARED at this point, I may just have to make catch up commentary about it when I come back.

Holy crap man, that's right! I remember you talking about that when we hung out back in May. Crazy, dude. Time flies! Enjoy your trip and... well, good luck keeping your composure out there!

It's going to be tough, but I think I'll manage...I may leave with a heart condition though.

This happened to me, too.  I assumed that a cutscene would automatically whisk Leon out of danger after the fight, but as I watched the three seconds remaining tick away it dawned on me that I was hosed.

You really aren't.  RE4 doesn't have much or anything in the way of fan service that only series fans would understand or appreciate.  It's true that you won't appreciate that certain characters reappear from previous games if you aren't versed in the series, but these characters weren't much fleshed out in the first place.  Wesker is your typical Shadowy Puppetmaster, and Umbrella is a stock Sinister Multinational Corporation.

I am noticing a trend where the first subchapter is a lot longer than each consecutive one.
5-1 again seemed really long, but 5-2 was over in a flash!

- Oh, oh! I have another favorite Leon quote! Almost forgot about this one. The Right Hand line is still the best, but my second favorite would be after jumping down the trash chute, Leon telling Ashley "I knew you'd be fine if you landed on your butt"
Classic!

- The room with the big iron ball is a pain in the ass. Trying to ward off an unending stream of Ganados whilst having Ashley operating the bloody crane will result in DEATH. So I just told her to stay near the hole you have to jump through, operated the crane myself, whilst fighting, and once the passage was opened, I called Ashley down and legged it.
A lot of trouble with Ashley can be avoided if you know where to place her. The ability to tell her to stay put is a godsend.

- Yeah, the shutter thing. They had to put a shutter in the way because they didn't want to you to just run past the Regenerators from one end to the other without interruption, obviously. Don't know why it only opens halfway though. It could have been a real sneaky surprise if they hadn't shown it in the cutscene.

- The Presidents 18-year-old, spoilt daughter knows how to drive a bulldozer? Sure, works for me!
I didn't have a lot of trouble here, but I'm starting to get worrisomely low on ammo (for the handgun mostly, plenty of shotgun shells, and my rifle bullets are in a kinda grey zone), which is funny because I suddenly have plenty of healing items. Why can't I have enough of both!?

Acc 92%, 78 kills, 3 deaths (2 of which were Ashley).

I found someone who did a speedrun of RE4 in less than 2 hours!  http://speeddemosarchive.com/ResidentEv … SpecialsSS  It's a great watch for anyone who's beaten the game before.

Brilliant!

Yeah, I dislike having to babysit a second character as much as the next guy, but I do really appreciate the options Capcom gave you to deal with her. I think there's only one instance where telling her to wait outside doesn't work, and that's at the room with the big Novistador Nest, but that's only because she has to be abducted there.

In fact, the very thing I love most about this game, is the many many many ways in which you can deal with the situations presented to you.
I've played this game about 6 times now, and I'm reading some posts here that make me go "wow, I never thought of that/noticed that/knew that"

THAT, is what makes an awesome game.

Is it appropriate to comment on the final chapter at this time?  Don't highlight the next two paragraphs if you haven't finished the game.

I thought the final battle was a bit disappointing.  The pattern of hitting Saddler's weak spot or stunning him with the environment and then stabbing him in his main eye was too formulaic.  And although the way the battle ends carries on Resident Evil tradition, the deus ex machina of being thrown a "special" rocket launcher is incongruous with the evolution of the series from survival horror to ass-kicking action.

Although I had said before that Resident Evil 4 has little or nothing in the way of moments that only series fans will appreciate, on reconsideration the self-destruct countdown definitely qualifies as one such moment.  As a fan of the series, it seemed perfectly natural to me, but I imagine that it would seem gratuitous and inexplicable to those new to Resident Evil.

Can someone explain the significance of the Las Plagas sample that Saddler carries around?  Couldn't a sample have been drawn from one of the hundreds of villagers and monks infected with the parasites?

Are we playing through the bonus games, too?  Since I had previously played the GameCube version, Separate Ways is new to me.

I think it was one of the master plagas samples which could be used to control other plagas or something to that kind.

And end of my journey now:

Chapter 5-4

I find it odd that Ganado's didn't hear Mike flying the choppa, or even hear him tackling that water pump down.

The whole Michael Bay-fest went pretty nice, even if I got hit few times, even into a nice crossfire. The whole area/scene is fun and still somewhat awesome but it just doesn't feel like it should be on RE-game.

And Mike did most of the job, I just ran around the place like a fool. Poor Leon, he lost his drinking buddie, damn you SADDLER, DAMN YOU TO HELL!.

Also, what the hell is bag thingy on the trashes, part of Regenerator? :D

Even watching speedrun just last week, didn't remember the next part immediately, but it went nice, even if J.J. hit me few times, but I did return the favor with Broken Butterfly, otherwise blasted my way with shotgun to easen up the shell situation and hopefully making the rest of the game easier. :P

And now I noticed that you could trek back to the room where Ada confronted Saddler, that netted me again with Magnum Bullets, like I didn't have enough of those already.

Then after a brief stint of plaga-removal and hugging, it was time to hit the last chapter.

Hit Ratio 75% (Total 74%)
Enemies killed 86 (Total 874)
Number of times killed 0 (Total 7)

31th save and playtime is 13:57:03.

Last Chapter

I wonder why always in RE-seris the bad guys want to transform themselves into huge monster.

Salazar went without a hitch, goofed off alot and wasted ammo for fun, then decided to give him a a blast from the past.

Overall, this last battle is a bit of a disappointment, especially if you come in somewhat stocked with healing items and ammuninations.

And this game really didn't need that end jet-ski part.

But then it was time to see Ashley trying to get some overtime and then it was time to enjoy the staff roll, especially the music + background pictures which nicely do show what happened in the village.

+ Hunnigan at end <3

End Stats:
Hit Ratio 73% (Ok for somewhat with itchy triggerfinger + ps2 :P)
Enemies killed 874 (More than few villages there)
Number of times killer7
Clear Time 14:12:06

So did I enjoy playing this again, of course. Should play more and tackle that Mercenaries minigame someday, and professional, still on that around the part you meet the Merchant first.

And I wouldn't mind if we would tackle Assigment Ada + Separate Ways also.

Finished up Chapters 4-4 and 5-1.

Salazar managed to nail me just once with his maw-grabbing insta-death, but the second time he didn't touch me at all.  A combination of a fully-souped up Semi-Auto Rifle and Red9 made this fight a piece of cake.

I'm duly impressed at how well Quick Time Event maneuvers were implemented in this game.  Even during fast moving action-heavy sequences like Salazar's tentacles attempting to crush you, there's always a sense that the QTEs are expertly placed and pinpoint accurate to pull off.  Not like RE5, which just seemed to throw the damned things at you at random without much purpose or coordination.

I've often wondered: is there any truth that the game assesses your progress at this point?   It's said that once you reach the Island, the game calculates your weapon/item inventory as well as your maximum health, and adjusts the game's difficulty accordingly for the duration of the mission.  I've never noticed any real difference, but then again, I've never really deviated too far from the way I've always played and leveled up.

Might this be another good time to dwell on another one of RE5's foibles?  Why in god's name does having the tactical vest in that game require it to take up an inventory space?  Yahtzee's review slammed it dead on:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ … ent-Evil-5

Yeah, he's always terrific for that thrill, even if you're fully expecting it.  I almost forgot about it myself, had it not been for that one scary musical note that rings out just before entering the kitchen area.  It's the perfect turning of that corner and perspective, and the total spontaneity of the moment that sells it. 

True, but if they hit you, oh boy, are you in for a world of hurt.  I haven't been using very many yellow herb max health upgrades, and one of them managed to kill me with one swing.  But yes, they're easy-peasy with a single well-timed Rifle shot to the head.  Love the attention they've placed on the hit collision on these guys, too; more specifically, when you're trying to knife 'em on the floor, they're only susceptible to the non-armored parts of their body.

You sir, are too cool for school.  Sakito approved.

To clarify: the Regenerators on Normal can actually pull off this move even if you're at full health.  Just blow out one of their legs so they're lying on the floor - if you're close enough, they'll inevitably leap on top of you.  And yes, the suckers drain the life outta you FAST.

Now that was something that I'VE yet to see happen with a Regenerator.  Leaping through one of the lab's windows that separates two rooms with one of them in pursuit, they won't just follow you through a door.  Oh no, they'll actually slink and flop their way over the lab window as a shortcut.  Way creepy, way cool. 

And admit it.  When you're in Regenerator land, the sound of the automatic lab doors opening and closing by themselves scares the jeebus out of you, too. 

No arguments there.  Hey, a neat case is a happy case.

Leon's priceless wit isn't just consolidated to verbal quips.  Two lines in Chapter 5-1 stood out for me in the form of his silent musings, with the latter getting a good chuckle from me:

"This meat's rotten.... But I sure could use a fat, juicy steak right about now."

"Their bodies must have been cryogenized with the parasites still in their bodies.  Sucks to be them...."

Other than that, I must admit that I am getting a touch fatigued on the game myself.  I was uncharacteristically sloppy for the duration of Chapter 5-1, which resulted in a lot of deaths and unnecessary ammo and health item usage.  The confusing corridor setup leading to Ashley's confinement cell always gives me a headache, and it took me forever to actually locate her.

It's a credit to the developers that enemies are programmed to interact with the environment in a lifelike way instead of being unable to compute it and skittering around like wind-up toys.  One of the great failures of game design is that too often developers won't create the AI routines necessary for the world to be navigated by its inhabitants in a comprehensible way.

So I just had a Zane moment, and seen something for the first time that I'm sure you all are intimate with by now. Fighting the Regenerator in the torture chamber/jail cell bit (with the bag flopping up and down in the garbage bin), and the asshole stretched it's arm across the damn field and pulled me to it, Scorpion style. The first time I've ever been given a close up of a Regenerator's maw, and I can say that it freaked me out so bad, it was like I was playing the entire game again for the first time, in that split second. Health was gone like a sandwich in a room full of homeless people, too.

I love it when I completely miss details like that, and then they pop up.

Would that be a Jill sandwich? Hohoho.

Lord, is there a more quotable game than the first?

I wouldn't know, since I'm trying to find what caused Forrest's death. It looks like he was killed by a crrrrow or something.

Don't be such a difficult dog to keep on the front porch.