#while also organizing the common people to save from from the zombie outbreak

[memecatwings]

btw if anyones looking for a tv show rec Kingdom on netflix is one of my faves rn its a historical kdrama zombie horror and it has 2 seasons plus a movie :3

[tanstar]

Rambling about RE2R and RE3R’s cut content part 2

Read part 1 here.

Part 2: RE3R

So I’m gonna be honest, I really like RE3R. It’s narrative and characters are 10/10 for me, something I haven’t been able to say about RE in a long time (honestly my biggest gripes with re5 and 6 are the complete wasted potential of their narratives and characters). I’ll go more in depth about it later but yeah I’ve got no complaints about the story or characters. My problems with RE3R come down to it’s length, level design and the utilization of Nemesis. So let’s get started.

spoilers ahead 

Cut/altered/new content:

Live select options were cut in favour of a cohesive narrative and characterization (which have been expanded upon greatly), Jill’s apartment is now explorable, Nemesis ambushes Jill at her apartment and her escape is now playable, the graveyard is gone (though there is a nod to the graveyard at the start of the rpd section), the clock tower interior and its puzzles are gone (it’s exterior is used for the boss fight against Nemesis form 2 like the original), no water puzzle, the gravedigger has been merged with hunter gamma as a common enemy type, Uptown is now a linear setpiece that cannot be revisited, there are fewer Nemesis encounters, Nemesis item drops aren’t as worthwhile as the original,  there’s a new boss fight with Nemesis as he wields a flamethrower, tram has been changed to a subway train, fetchquest for the tram has been cut, Mikhail is now fully conscious for his entire appearance, new character Dr Bard included with new vaccine subplot, fetchquest for the gems has been made optional instead of mandatory, Mayor Warren’s statue is no longer fetchquest related and can be found before crossing the bridge to the clock tower, battery fetchquest for the construction site elevator has been changed to fuses for the underground storage facility elevator, Nemesis destroying the helicopter has been moved to the beginning of the game, Brad is still bitten at Bar Jack but heroically sacrifices himself rather than act like a huge coward, Brad is not killed by Nemesis, Brad infects Marvin (which ties in well with both og re2 and RE2R surprisingly), Racoon city in general has been redesigned to look like an american city instead of a japanese one, Stagla still explodes but cannot be entered, the zombie horde at Stagla has been moved to the hospital in a tower defence sequence, Drain Deimos and Brainsuckers have been merged, no leeches, no spiders or crows, new enemies the pale heads and parasite zombies, construction site and power station have been merged, once Jill has been infected Carlos takes her to the hospital instead of the chapel iside the clock tower, likewise Carlos doesn’t wait for 2 days before deciding to find a cure instead it takes him around 12 hours to find Jill and he immediately looks for the vaccine, hospital has been expanded, underground storage facility replaces the park, dead factory is merged with a new lab area, Tyrell is now an actual character and dies to Nemesis intead of an explosion, final boss is now reliant on Jill operating the rail gun herself rather than coercing Nemesis in front of it, iconic STARS line has been moved from the final boss fight to a chase sequence, the confrontation with Nicholai has been moved to the climax of the game, Nicholai is implied to be working with Wesker instead of Umbrella and of course the alternate ending with Barry was cut.

So RE3R does cut or alter the content of the original but in most cases it does try to replace whatever was cut. Also regardless of cuts, re3′s narrative has been expanded upon with character arcs and lore tying it to the rest of the series, that alone justifies this game’s existence for me. As much as I love the original, its bare bones plot and narrative structure (a result of being a sort of choose your adventure game) as well as the fact that it started as a spinoff game and the fact that its last three levels were added last minute (hence the vaccine plotline coming out of nowhere) really don’t do it any favours. I still enjoy the original story and characters but I think the remake did a better job at both these things. 

So I had some major problems with the writing for RE2R in both terms of the overall narrative (there is no cohesive overlapping narrative between our two leads) and the portrayal of certain characters (Leon and Ada), so what did I think of RE3R? It’s good. It’s really good actually, the acting is probably the best in the series tbh. Jill’s ptsd from the mansion incident and how it has made her distrustful but also self sacrificing is so interesting. This is perfectly displayed when she agrees to help the UBCS, she knows she shouldn’t help them, that Umbrella is out to get her but with civilian lives on the line she decides to fulfil her duty as a STARS officer and help out. But she isn’t just abrasive or snarky, she shows she is still a very caring person too, this can be seen in her interactions with Brad, Kendo and even Dario, she wants to genuinely save all three of them but things just don’t work out that way. Carlos is great, way better than his original incarnation and I say that as someone who likes that version too. He’s a great support character for Jill and also acts somewhat as a foil for her character and his arc about learning of Umbrella’s wrongdoings is handled well. I think everyone can aggree that Carlos and Jill’s dynamic is fantastic, the growth of their relationship feels very organic and genuine. I never expected to care about Brad so much, in the original he’s just a huge coward who exists to be killed by Nemesis but now he actually feels like a person and someone who Jill valued. Also holy shit that scene where he bites Marvin is so much more narratively fulfilling than his death by Nemesis. Mikhail’s expanded role as captain is great, as is his death. Tyrell actually gets to be a character this time around and I actually hoped he’d somehow survive. Dr Bard is a total scumbag and his inclusion finally explains the vaccine’s creation as well as adding to the overall corruption of RC via Umbrella. Nicholai’s a total ham and a dickhead, I mean this in a good way I would describe all my favourite RE villians this way (the Weskers, the Ashfords, Salazar, Carla Radames, Jack Baker). And form 1 Nemesis has some fun dramatic flair that I enjoyed. Also I will defend the choice to remove Barry from the ending, I really like Barry but it was the right decision not to involve him as it would really work against the game’s narrative and Jill’s character arc.

Now onto RE3R’s level design and structure and in my opinion it should have borrowed more from the og re3′s level design way more. What we have isn’t bad but it could’ve been much more. The streets being redesigned was inevitable to me, I really enjoy the aesthetic of the original but it looks very Japanese and RC is supposed to be a US city, so this change doesn’t bother me. The linearity does. The streets should have been more open and you should have been able to return to Uptown to explore (adding back in a fetchquest would justify this), this would give way more opportunities for Nemesis to stalk the player. What’s strange is there is a mod that opens up Downtown to be almost completely explorable and Nemesis’s AI can actually track you throughout it’s entirety, why bother programming him that way if the intention was to make the area more linear? When Nemesis does show up in the remake he’s great but he should have been present way more, he’s like the opposite of Mr X in RE2R. Mr X follows the player semi randomly around the RPD for a while but he is pretty toothless as a threat (seriously, you can out walk him), Nemesis on the other hand is a genuine threat but is only semi random for an incredibly short portion of the game. Expanding the streets would fix this issue. The park could’ve been an explorable area before the RPD, I personally don’t mind the park being cut but i know a lot of people do. They should have implemented more puzzles. I also think the clock tower should have been explorable and if I’m being honest I think it was supposed to be, it’s referenced in the subway and then we get the pamphlet before crossing the bridge, I think it was cut for time.  I think a lot was cut for time and I don’t think it’s M2′s fault, i think Capcom is the problem here and all you need to do is look at RE2R and all of its cut content for proof. 

Honestly if this game had just reintegrated some more of the original games levels and structure I think it would have been a 10/10, I still enjoy what we got I just want more! I hope we get DLC in the future and there’s certainly ample opportunity, we could have a ghost survivors scenario with Brad escaping Nemesis, we could play as Nicholai as he collects data on the outbreak before the main game, a dream sequence of Jill exploring the clock tower, Tyrell could cut through the park as he makes his way to the hospital and of course I hope we get Mercenaries mode. I guess time will tell.

[sugasweetsubs]

You Never Walk Alone [BTS Apocalypse AU]

Members | Taehyung & Jungkook

Words | 1.4K

Warnings | violence, language

Summary | Taehyung doesn't mean to be a hero, but sometimes the approaching end of the human race doesn't leave you much of a choice.

Disclaimer: This is the DRAFT EDITION of this story. It has been sitting in my drafts for almost two years, it isn’t finished and I don’t know if it ever will be, but I wanted to share. It is mostly unedited. Feedback is welcome!

Prologue | Part One | Part Two | Part Three | ?

Prologue: Sometimes People Die

Coughing--the first sign.

They say it started on a plane--a standard flight from New York to Paris that left JFK International Airport at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If the stories are to be believed, at some point during those eight hours and thirty-seven minutes a passenger came down with a cough that then spread throughout the entire aircraft. Due to recent international health scares, the flight was quarantined upon arrival and the one hundred and fifty-seven passengers and crew members were kept under careful medical observation for what was meant to be a ninety-six hour period.

Subconjunctival hemorrhaging--bleeding underneath the lining of the eye.

Fifteen hours before the quarantined passengers were set to be discharged, a new symptom appeared. As startling as bright red blood covering every part of the eye except the iris may appear, subconjunctival hemorrhaging on its own is harmless and clears up on its own. Normally, the condition would be written off as a result of the intense coughing fits that the passengers had suffered from since the flight; however, the sudden onset of the bleeding in every single patient worried the medical staff. The quarantine was extended by one week.

Aphagia--the inability or refusal to swallow.

Less than twenty-four hours after the last of the patients showed signs of hemorrhaging in their eyes, many of them also began to display a disinterest in eating their rationed meals. Thought to be a result of the sudden stress and isolation, the affected patients were kept under closer observation, but otherwise nothing more was done. Throughout that same day, the remainder of the plane’s occupants started to refuse their meals as well. By the time the extended quarantine period was meant to end, every last affected patient was receiving an intravenous rehydration treatment and being tube fed. The quarantine duration was extended indefinitely. An unknown disease outbreak was confirmed.

Death--the permanent cessation of vital bodily functions.

From there, the progression of the disease was rapid. The inability to eat left the patients weak and listless, blood began to leak from their tear ducts, they started to cough blood, they wheezed with every breath, and their skin broke out in patches of bruises that ranged in color from dusty gray to deep violet. Not long after the bruising reached its peak, the patients showed drastic, aggressive personality changes: they snapped at their nurses, threw anything they could get their hands on, and yelled nonsense for hours at a time. Some patients grew violent with the staff and were placed in bed restraints.

In addition to these external symptoms, the patients were also a mess internally: organs were failing, fevers raged, and their blood pressures sank to dangerous levels. Despite doing their best to treat each symptom as it appeared, the doctors were unable to find an effective treatment for this disease without a name.

On the thirtieth day of the quarantine, the first of the patients died. Over the course of the next thirty-six hours, the rest of the infected passed. News outlets went wild, headlines shouted questions like "157 Die in Quarantine, Beginning of an Epidemic?" and public fear spread like wildfire. The United States and French governments were quick to soothe the public with pretty words and smudged statistics that appeared tremendously comforting to the untrained eye; for the next few weeks this method was effective as no other cases of the mysterious disease had been reported. People moved on to more pressing matters, as people do. The governments covered up the news that was even more startling than the deaths of one hundred and fifty-seven people, as governments do.

Reanimation--a restoration to life or consciousness.

When humans die of unknown causes, it is natural for some questions to be raised. Most people don't like not knowing. So when one hundred and fifty-seven people died of a disease no one had ever seen before, doctors and scientists from around the world wanted to take a crack at solving the mystery.

A small number of families agreed to donate the bodies of their loved ones to science. Those donated bodies were transported to top medical research labs across the world to be used in diagnostic and cure research.

It was during this research that the final symptom of the disease made itself known.

The first documented case was in a lab in Australia. The researcher in charge of collecting tissue samples for further analysis left the subject's body unattended for approximately twenty minutes while running files to a different research team one floor up. Upon returning to the autopsy room, the researcher discovered that the subject's body was no longer lying on the examination table. At the time, it was believed that another researcher had taken the body for a CT scan without proper notice; however, it was later discovered that neither research team knew the location of the subject's body. Facility security conducted a sweep of the building, but there was no sign of the subject.

Until they reached the basement.

The figure that huddled in a dimly lit corner of the facility's basement was dressed in a standard medical gown and was thought to be an escaped patient from the hospital next door. The security team approached the figure--meaning to detain the patient and return them to the hospital--but as the team came closer the patient stood and began to back into a different hallway. It was then, when the patient stepped into full lighting, that a member of the security team claimed to recognize the patient.

The supposedly dead research subject.

Ignoring the ridiculous claims of their teammate, the remainder of the security team moved to detain the patient. This movement was met with hostility from the patient, who attacked one of the security guards so viciously that the team resorted to lethal force.

Later, blood testing confirmed suspicions. The patient in the basement was indeed the research subject come back to temporary life.

Over the span of a week, every single lab studying one of the bodies reported situations eerily similar to the Australian lab's. Some were more prepared than others. Not every location was lucky enough to escape fatalities.

It is unknown what happened to the bodies not sent to research locations, but by then the world was more preoccupied with the increasingly common outbreaks of the still unnamed disease. The public panicked as the news of a 'real life zombie virus' spread with every new case of the sickness and with every new example of the dead coming back to...not quite life.

Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Z. In the eight months it took scientists to decide on a name for the deadly virus, over a million people had been killed by the disease and the number continued to grow with every passing day. The staggering infection rate and 100% chance of mortality of the airborne virus created immense paranoia all over the world: governments shut down borders, mandatory curfews took effect in nearly every city across the world, and scientists jumped immediately into intensifying the research for a cure.

The violent tendencies of patients in the late stages of "Z Fever" led to any confirmed cases of infection being detained and held in specially designated compounds where they were to either become experimental subjects for cure research or be terminated. After their initial deaths, patients were considered to be beyond saving and it became standard practice to burn their bodies before they were able to reach the 'reawakening stage' of the disease.

One year and ten months passed with nearly sixteen million deaths before a vaccine was created.

A cure was still considered to be years away, but that same research led to the invention of a vaccine that reduced the infectiousness of the disease. No longer airborne--spread only through contact with an infected person's blood or saliva--the rate of infection was cut in half.

Eight years later, the world's population has fallen to a mere 2.1 billion. While a cure is thought to only be a few months away by even the most conservative estimates, the surviving human population is struggling to hold out for salvation when the world's remaining cities are overrun with the infected and resources have hit critical lows.

Notes: I really liked where this story was going and I’ve been searching for the best time to post it. I wanted to wait until it was complete, but after two years I said f*** it and decided to post on a whim. Feedback is welcome!! I’ll be updated every two days until I run out of pre-written content and after that it’s a mystery. I’m very busy these days, but I miss writing TT

If you want more of this universe check out the video ‘trailer’ I made for it here and a semi-related video edit here

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