Same. I finished it on standard and then started a new run to just kill things and I... just don't give a shit? It's not boring, but it's really hard to explain that I just don't care? Maybe I'm just old now. I played the original to death so maybe it's so close to that I'm getting an uncanny valley feeling and it's making me feel like something's off.
I know what you mean there. There’s just something about it that I have no desire to replay. I think it has to do a lot with how clunky the combat feels with RE2R gameplay being in an action game. I can’t really bring myself to play more of this game unless it’s mercenaries.
And this is exactly what I was saying was probably going to happen. Another example of that is me with Black Mesa and HL1, I played the former once and I still replay the latter to this day. Both RE4make and Black Mesa are competently made by people I can tell legit grew up with the originals, but I think both serve as almost a confession that you cant really "replicate" what made them so good. Its the little things that the originals had that are hard if not impossible to "remake". Its difficult to put exactly into words, for me anyway, but games like HL1,RE4 and Dead Space just had a charm to them that even a more technical superior version cant surpass it.
There is a reason RE4 was ported in nearly almost every console since the gamecube, there is just something in it that just "works" extremely well that its a fun experience no matter what.
There is just something in these games that were able to engage us that keep the experience fun even after multiple playthroughs.
Remaking this game was like remaking John Carpenter's The Thing, even if you are able to make a movie that is somehow superior in every way, it will still always live in the shadow of the original (and no, its not wrong calling it "the original" since its more of a new adaptation of the novel instead of a remake of the 50's movie) over how much it was able to achieve with so much less.
After several playthroughs, the most glaring problem with the game above all is there's not enough incentive to kill enemies. The original was constantly supplying you with ammo for your kills and as long as you're good, you always had a well stocked inventory.
In this, they give you just enough to stay alive. The common complaint in regards to that is how rare shotgun ammo is. Sure you can make it yourself, but most people don't do that until you absolutely need it. And if you make it, you're definitely not going to find ammo in the wild outside of a few barrels or boxes that always have them since the game knows you have some. There was never an instance of me playing it where I had 20 shells stocked beyond what was in my gun.
Professional just isn't fun casually. Supplies are so limited half the time that the game wants you to run rather than fight. Hardcore is a lot more palatable.
I think these issues kind are a result of an identity crisis with the remake. What it does is good but it struggles between the identity of RE4 and the identity that it adopted post RE7 (or RE2 remake is you want to be more specific). Maybe you can say that cutscene wise they tried to keep the charm of the original (if they pulled it off or not is rather subjective) but gameplay wise its where things differ. This plays ironically enough more survival horror ish, despite the fact that RE4 built itself on the foundation that it was a fresh new start for the series and that mean new gameplay style that focused less on conservation and preservation and more on style and aggressive tactics.
The original almost plays arcade-ish ...(?) I guess you could say? Clearly they had a great formula here that they tried to build upon in 5 and 6 but the RE engine hasnt been truly tested for this sort of gameplay so it still plays like a middle child between RE2 and RE4's styles and thus it comes at the risk of having an identity crisis on the gameplay level.
