Feels like we have been here before, havent we? Seems like every third entry of every RE trilogy is controversial or at least divisive, usually bringing a change in style moving forward.
RE3, as good as I personally think it is, was seen by many as "more of the same", leading Capcom to change into RE4's survival action style.
RE6 speaks for itself, leading Capcom to change back into Survival Horror
I do look forward as to how RE9 will be received and what changes it will bring. Meanwhile I'll just sit here and wave my "Revelations 3 when?" sign
And since I got into a RE mood, I might as well play RE5's greatest soldier again.
Once upon a time I hated what they had done with Wesker in this entry, thinking they destroyed the cool, calm, kickasser master mind that only got involved when he had to.
But over the years and with the lore of RE Umbrella Chronicles and RE5 taken properly into consideration...fuck, it does make sense.
Because Wesker does behave exactly like I have mentioned before in RE5, tho only in Lost Nightmare. His scene with Spencer picks up exactly from Umbrella Chronicles left, with Wesker taking over an insane amount of assets and vowing to meet Spencer again, as to teach him that he "will write for this world".
So basically he was cleaning up loose ends and Spencer was no exception, but something happened he wasnt expecting, for the old man to drop a bombshell, that Wesker himself was "part of the plan". Spencer pretty much told Wesker that he was the Frankenstein's Monster and he was to bow to him as a god, or at least that was the plan once upon a time.
You can tell by the way Wesker closes his fist slowly and his eyes begin to glow more than usual, that revelation got to him. He wasnt the man that brought down an empire in front of its emperor, he was puppet that convinced himself he never had any strings attached, for someone of Wesker's ego, that was catastrophic to learn, he didnt earn anything, it was all "pre-ordained" from the start. You can argue that Wesker had control of everything now but the fact he had this connection with Spencer, as meaningless as it currently was, made sure his mission to get rid of the old man became far more personal.
It wasnt enough to kill Spencer, it was about stealing his dreams and ambitions. Never before Wesker threw the "to be a god" talk until after this particular conversation. Wesker wasnt satisfied with being a mastermind rulling from the shadows anymore, his goals "evolved" into absolute godhood because, and simply, it is what Spencer wanted and by stealing this ambition, Wesker will have given the final spit towards his "creator".
So honestly, Wesker doing all of this is very human and fitting. And I actually appreciate the game doesnt spell this out to us and forces people that actually bother to pay attention to the lore of these games to come to this conclusion.
All this to remind people that despite RE5 being seen as just "fun horror action shlock", there is some legit great narrative and character subtext here that I actually kind of miss in modern storytelling, especially in video games.
Its the same reason why I think Chris being all jacked was great subtle storytelling, the man was literally pushing the human body to its limit after Wesker legit nearly fucking killed him with his bare hands back in CV, so he had to make himself into a human tank to be able to take but also ditch enough damage that even Wesker can feel it (and hell, if you pay attention, whenever Chris is able to hit Wesker, he still shakes his hand in pain for a moment).
So yeah, RE 5 is not perfect but its better than a lot of people, even those that do not hate the game, give it credit for.
Which makes me wonder, if Jake isn't completely written out of the picture and there's a possibility of him coming back, will they bring back it back with him?
On the unlikely, and I really mean unlikely, possibility he returns, as Im sure any RE6 original character aint ever returning, I can imagine they'll take it very easy with his abilities, maybe even imply that they have been weakening over the years for whatever reason.
As for The Family/Neo-Umbrella, I already mentioned it felt Capcom was trying to do "The Patriots" from MGS without understanding why they worked there. Bringing an illuminati faction into the SIXTH entry of the series without any sort of build up or foreshadowing really feels like is a case of running out of ideas and to maybe give an explanation why governments are so corrupt and what possibly keeps the black market for BOWs running despite the BSAA's best efforts. In the end, do we really need to give a "face" to that evil when it can simply be explained away as humanity being itself? Of course governments work on their own BOWs, using megacorporations like Umbrella as their manufacturers (but also fall guys in case it literally blows up like with Raccoon City), of course criminals would start mass producing BOWs themselves to sell to the highest buyer. In the end, BOWs are just that, weapons and as long humanity can weaponize something AND make a profit while at it, we sure as fuck will do it without a hint of guilt.
Raccoon City simply forced the public to accept BOWs are now a thing and began demanding for a solution, which the BSAA was formed as an answer to this outcry.
The Family was just absolutely unncessary and I figure they are soft retconned out of the series so even if anything from RE6 returns, I doubt these plot lines are getting picked up ever again.