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Resident Evil 5 ditches the typewriter photo

The classic save system iconic to Resident Evil games, the typewriter, will not be used in the newest installment of the series. The newest issue of EGM features an interview with Jun Takeuchi, the producer of Resident Evil 5, where he reveals that the method of saving will be a more modern checkpoint and chapter arrangement.

I'm not sure exactly how to feel about this. In early Resident Evil titles, a good part of the fear for me was derived from the knowledge that I not only had a limited number of saves at my disposal, but that I would have to actively hunt them down. With the fourth game, the need for ribbons was eliminated, but the typewriter remained a shining beacon of hope, a reassurance that the game might just let me complete it.

With the typewriter gone, some of that confidence is lost, which would add to realism and possibly ratchet up the tension a bit. It could also mean that there will be no free will in the matter at all, and the location from where you continue after death is completely subject to whatever cruel whims the game may have.

Are you going to miss the typewriters or do you think that they're an outmoded concept far past their usefulness? 

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34 comments | showing # 1 to 34

aborto thefetus's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:00
aborto thefetus
NOOOOOOOOOO!
Kryptinite's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:03
Kryptinite
Not a surprise, there's no typewriters in Africa.

..what is the game even set in Africa? I don't remember anymore.
NotAZombie's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:07
NotAZombie
Typewriters were one of the best parts of Resi 4. They let you have a minute to collect yourself and then you get to go back out. Boo Capcom.
KMCC's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:08
KMCC
I'll miss it a bit, but I think I'm going to be so happy to finally be playing it that I won't care.

BTW, ending a post with a question is a cheap, easy way to secure responses, and I am very susceptible to that.
LionheartAce's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:12
LionheartAce
Well that's a shame. So what now? Do you text to save?
Aziel13's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:19
Aziel13
*vader moment* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
njsykora's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:19
njsykora
Always liked the Typewriters, they provide a recognisable save point and I'm a little worried that what's replacing them as a save point won't be as obvious.
Conrad Zimmerman's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:21
Conrad Zimmerman
@KMCC: I'm cheap and I like getting responses. What else can I say?
PappaDukes's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:28
PappaDukes
BOOOOOOO! Now I'm definitely not getting the game. First the racism, now this....
DynamicSheep's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:35
DynamicSheep
Makes sense... typewriters would stick out like malaria nets in Africa.

"These players are dying needlessly just cause there's not a typewriter to save at. That's all we have in offices is typewriters! And you're telling me TYPEWRITERS alone would save lives? That's the easiest thing ever!"
falinter's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:38
falinter
First: Typerwriters > Dell brand Computers

Then: First Aide Spray > Mountain Dew
GuitarAtomik's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:39
GuitarAtomik
I say Thank God! I always hated the fuck out of the typewriter system. Sure, it added tension but it's the tension that comes with "holy shit! I could lose an hour of progress if I die!" which is the kind of stuff that makes me quit games. The tension should come from the game itself, not losing progress in it.
Gameboi's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:46
Gameboi
The end of an era :-(
nebones's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:53
nebones
R.I.P :[
Skribble's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 09:55
Skribble
strange...I guess this iteration of Resident Evil wont play out like the last ones? Looks like it might be a more linear affair. Something like the first level of MGS4 perhaps; small open ended areas.

The point of having the typewriters was so that you could continuously save your efforts after looking for shiny gems or overcoming a scripted enemy event and what not. You could always travel back to the typewriter, it was the safe zone of your zombie outbreak. With that gone, Resident Evil turns more in to a 3rd person action game and less of a survival horror title.

Quick time events, melee attacks, over the shoulder camera view, no real zombies in site, coop mode. I love me some Resident Evil, but this is not Resident Evil. They should have just called the game something else and made up an original story for it.

Im just tired and cranky.
BulletTrain's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:11
BulletTrain
Resident evil stopped being about suspense and terror when resident evil 4 came out and Leon Kennedy was an unstoppable un-killable superman with (virtually) unlimited ammo.

I stopped caring about RE after 4. It was a fun game but it was no longer the survival horror that I craved. I'm still waiting on Eternal darkness 2 to be announced and for the survival horror renaissance to begin.
psycho terror2's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:17
psycho terror2
hmm.

well resi survived the jump from fixed camera, which was another hallmark of the earlier games and no doubt the new save system will integrate well because capcom will make damn sure it does.

i just hope by the time resi 6 or 7 comes out that it's still recognisable as resident evil and not just another survival horror game.
WutDaHeckMan's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:22
WutDaHeckMan
RE is just an action game now. its still alot of fun but its not RE anymore.


typewriters are integral. as were the ribbons to keeping to the survival horror aspect
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:34
Holyetheline
I am going to miss the typewriter but I will accept any means of save that they give me.
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:36
king3vbo
No typewriters? NOOOOOOOOO
EternalDeathSlayer's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:37
EternalDeathSlayer
I'll miss em, but who really cares?

It's not about survival-horror anymore, it's about shooting motherfuckers in the head.

And I love it. More so than any other game, in fact.
Trev's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:38
Trev
I'd rather be scared because Regenerators make the creepiest video game monster noise ever, not because I have an hour's worth of progress made and can't find a save point.

Feeling bad about the removal of typewriters is like feeling bad about the removal of Armored Core's terrible old control scheme. Typewriters are how it was, unfortunately how it was happened to be stupid.
Demtor's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:39
Demtor
Ya know, maybe that speaks to something within the series as to why I abandoned it after RE:2. A victim of its own success and spin offs, where the core principles become so watered down its barely recognizable? Hmm, perhaps. Needs more pondering and playing through 3 and 4 before I could accurately decide.
Face's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 10:44
Face
Fail! It was so classy. I also love that "sanctuary" feeling that you get from the save areas. I suppose they will stop dirt poor peasents from droping 100 rounds of uzi ammo for the sake of realism too.
Wexx's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 11:28
Wexx
I'm not buying Resident Evil 5 now, good one capcom!
Agent Orange's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 11:36
Agent Orange
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Ujn Hunter's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 12:09
Ujn Hunter
what's next?! the Green Herbs?! ARGH!!!
Mabec's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 12:20
Mabec
RE1 had the best music inside the save room :(
socross's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 15:04
socross
I thought the typerwriters were cool flavor-wise, but I'm not a fan of game designers using save points as a way to balance game play. Checkpoints add too much repetition to games, and if your game is too easy with unlimited saves you need to balance it some other way.
vexed alex's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 15:46
vexed alex
Good fucking riddance!

I'd like the tension to come from the environment and monsters, not some cheap ass save system.
frozenbabylon's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 17:57
frozenbabylon
I agree with GuitarAtomik and Vexed Alex. I hated the fucking typewriters.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2008 20:36
B-Radicate
I don't understand how the typewriter in RE4 helped you "choose" where you wanted to restart from. You couldn't save anywhere at any time. You always save at the next one you find. Why woudn't you want to restart at the most recent point when you die anyway?

Every typewriter appearance pretty much ends the "chapter." Just like this system. I never played any of the others, though, so maybe I just don't get what you meant.
heretrix's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/06/2008 10:24
heretrix
Thank God. It's great that we'll have a save system that was made in this decade. At this point you should be able to save anywhere just like most PC games. I'm really getting tired of holding on to features that were needed when consoles had limitations that forced these conventions on to the player.

It's time Japanese developers started stepping it up in this area. They make great games, but it is really disappointing at how their reluctance to evolve hurts their games. MGS 4 is is a step in the right direction, it show just how good these games could be if they started to rethink things like controls, camera and save systems..
Blackhat's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/06/2008 16:17
Blackhat
Now you'll need to hunt down Flashdrives for your Laptop. I sense only a graphic change.
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