Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (Original)
The last part of the original Resident Evil PlayStation one trilogy and another one that I’ve read later probably more than RE2 but haven’t played in a long time. I couldn’t help but think about and make comparisons to its remake. The voice acting is definitely an improvement in the third game but still retains some cheesiness like the bar fence thing falling into the pit after the last worm boss fight randomly at the perfect time and some of Carlos’ lines and delivery. But makes me appreciate how well the remake updated the character chemistry especially with jill and the mercenaries. Carlos is a lot more charismatic, Mikhail is more sympathetic and Nicholai is written and acted as the perfect villain you love to hate.
In playing the original again, Dario’s Memo hits so much harder playing this as an adult. Him regretting his life as a salesman and wishing he pursued being a novelist. But ended up being zombie food. You never know what may happen tomorrow. Not that we’ll be fighting zombies but who knows.
One thing I appreciated with the original more than the remake was seeing the nods to the first two games that are missing in the remake like Jill’s commentary on the state of the police department that gives more depth or Seeing the nods to RE1 that are missing in the remake like Jill’s commentary on the state of the police department or her going there to get her trusty lock pick. Or Barry having ammo on his desk ready for Jill or her recognizing Marvin. As well as her going there to get her trusty lock pick which yes she gets it in the remake too but that fact that in the original she gets it from her desk in the STARS office just hits different. Same with how Barry had ammo on his desk ready for Jill.
The irony of hating that the clock tower section was completely missing from the remake I realize is a wanting of nostalgia because of even more nostalgia. I think the thing I loved about the clock tower in the original is its vibe and aesthetic as it was a call back to the mansion in the first game and so when playing this as a kid I enjoyed it for the nostalgia without knowing what nostalgia was and so that’s why it felt like it hurt so much that it was missing from the remake. This also ties into what made RE3 feel so fresh and replayable is it was the biggest departure from the formula seen in the first two games with the first half of it being where you just go between many smaller areas of interest in the city instead of the full game just going through three big areas. Getting to the clock tower oddly felt like a familiar breath of fresh air from that chaos and gave something familiar like a big save room so to speak. But it is also cool how they randomized enemies and ammo you’d find to make multiple playthroughs not feel too repetitive which made this one standout from the previous two even more.
A new level of depth I feel with the clock tower clock is with its rock puzzle. The answer was amber in future, obsidian in present and crystal in the past and I just thought of it like how it ties into the weight of the stones like how crystal is the lightest one and so the past should only be lightly focused on to learn from it but not be stuck in and then the amber is the next heavier and so in the future which should have a little heavier focus as we can make decisions that can impact our future. And then obsidian which is the heaviest and fits for the present as that is what should have the most amount of focus as it is the time we affect the most and what we can control the most as oppose to our limited control of the past and future. What a great lesson hidden in the subtext of this puzzle. Makes me like the clock tower even more. And this was always my favorite puzzle. I never quite understood why but I feel my reasoning here may be why I subconsciously always had a liking to it.
Another thing I enjoyed was how Nemesis will hide and play games with Jill. Not always be in the same room she was just in. And in a final comparison I like how the remake ended with the conclusion with Nicholai but I really wished they gave a chance to have that ending with Barry. Such an icing on top moment of the original. In the end I feel like the original RE3 is one I will come back to more than original RE2 because it has so much that the remake lacks unlike how the RE2 remake does a great job at improving upon the original and retaining the aspects I liked of that. So for any Resident Evil fan I recommend playing the originals in general especially this one.