Random Thoughts About Resident Evil: Director's Cut, Advanced Mode with Chris

Continuing from last time, I was curious about the "Advanced Mode" in Resident Evil: Director's Cut, so I gave it a spin with Chris.  Random thoughts:

--The remixed key item placement makes more and less difference than you think it will.  Less difference in terms of finding new ways around the house, but more difference in difficulty, since it really steers you back and forth across the mansion more.  More chances to get bitten by dogs.

--The remixed enemies and weapon/ammo placement, on the other hand, makes a huge difference.  The Colt Python is available for Chris before the shotgun (!!!), but only with the stock six bullets, which makes the weapon itself a valuable limited-use key item, since there are certain rooms where the crowds are just too thick to bust through with the pistol that you'll have to work through before getting the shotgun, and you'll have to figure out how to really make the most out of those first six Magnum bullets. 

--Neptune actually matters in Advanced Mode!  

--Not Advanced Mode specific, but it's really shocking just *how* much better the entire Plant 42 scenario is in the PS1 version of RE1 than in REMake. It's more detailed, with more ways it can play out, and has higher stakes.  The REMake situation of "Jill solves a puzzle and ignores it, Chris fights it" is *so* reductive and uninteresting by comparison.

--Holy shit, the Hunter chapter is brutal on Advanced Mode -- sometimes in good ways, sometimes in dumb ways.  I'm really glad REMake got rid of the whole "lol they have no hurtboxes during half of their animations" nonsense.

--It's weird seeing poison actually matter.  Putting spiders in more places, and places that aren't right next to blue herbs, was a nice touch.  Having to figure out how to deal with an enemy that could poison me in a situation where it wasn't trivial to cure was a unique puzzle!

--As you may or may not know, advanced mode has some different camera angles.  Most are improvements (and REMake seems to be based on the new angles), but one of these removes the early shot of the helipad!  Why?!?! 

--Tyrant gaining the ability to stunlock the player was really not something the game needed.  Yes, the final boss fights were always easy.  No, the game isn't improved by stunlocking the player to death and making them sit through 10 minutes of cutscenes again.

Overall, if you haven't tried "Advanced Mode", it's a must-play for any fan of Resident Evil, IMO.  It brings a real viciousness to the "survival puzzle" aspect of the game that's even stronger than in REMake, while also keeping the more varied scenarios and branching story aspects of the "original" PS1 version that we're all familiar with.