RESIDENT EVIL / The Darkside Chronicles | TALING EVIL

Something out of the ordinary is happening in this South American waterside village that now is all but a ghost town.

The new South American story in Darkside Chronicles is called Operation Javier, named after one of the characters players will meet in the mission. I’d like to tell you a little about Javier.

Today, I’m finally able to talk about a new episode in Darkside Chronicles that was recently announced.

Now I’d like to go back to the meaning of “Darkside Chronicles” for just a moment.

One of the things that people often overlook when playing games is environment design. The design of backgrounds and environments in games and in film plays the extremely important role of immersing the audience in the world that the game or film is attempting to create.

For Darkside Chronicles, we have created high-res character models that we use for cut scenes and the like. These high-res character models are not only being used for the game but also on the web, in ads, and on packaging; serving the important purpose of conveying the appeal and originality of each character.

There are 2 little girls in this game.
The darkside that each of them possesses is one of the themes of this game.

Most of the Resident Evil series is set in America, so the characters speak English. Of course this means that we have to record each character’s dialogue in English.

Shirogumi inc. is creating the cut scenes for Darkside Chronicles, and Mr. Hidekazu Gondoh is directing them. Shirogumi has been doing CG animation for quite awhile, working on game cut scenes, TV commercials, and CG in feature films. They most recently worked on K-20: Kaijin Nijyuu Mensou Den (K-20: Legend of the 20 mysterious faces), and will be working on BALLAD Na mo Naki Koi no Uta (BALLAD: The unnamed love song) this September.

My true feeling is that Darkside Chronicles has surpassed the original Umbrella Chronicles in pure entertainment quality. Here is why I feel confident in saying this:

I’d like to talk a little bit about the background music this week.

We recently held a recording session for the game’s orchestrated music. The Resident Evil series has a long history of impressive orchestral music. We are always trying to find ways to make the music more and more impressive, which is why I love to visit the recording studio.

This week, I’d like to talk a bit about Alfred Ashford’s daughter, Alexia.

Since we are revisiting Code: Veronica in the game, Alexia will of course be an indispensable part of the story. I’ve got to be careful not to give away too much while writing this blog!

The Code: Veronica scenario takes place on Rockfort Island, run by two members of the noble Ashford family, the twin brother and sister Alfred and Alexia Ashford, the story’s main characters.

This week’s theme is monsters.

Life and death duels with monstrous, dimorphic creatures called Bio-Organic Weapons (B.O.W.s) developed by the Umbrella Corporation are what Resident Evil has always been about. I love monsters like the ones in Aliens and Predator, so I really get into my work.

If you’re talking about Code:Veronica, you can’t forget about Steve.
I mean, when most people think of Code: Veronica, they think of Steve, right!?

Just like Claire, Steve too had been caught and imprisoned on Rockfort Island. The two of them work together to plan their escape from the island following a biohazard emergency. Steve a brand new character for Code: Veronica, together with Claire, must fight his way out of this insane world.

Code: Veronica’s music is very distinctive. Especially the song called Alexia’s Lullaby. This song seems to paint the world in Veronica’s colors. Like the word “lullaby” suggests, it’s a very simple song, but you hear it a number of times during the game and it leaves quite a strong impression. Anybody who has played Code: Veronica and hears it will think “Oh yeah, that song.”

The world of Resident Evil: Code Veronica also appears in Darkside Chronicles. This is one of my favorite games. You probably think that I’m just saying that, but it’s true. I guess that can’t be helped though ;-) Even though Resident Evil has so many titles in its ever expanding franchise, I still think that Code: Veronica stands out among them.

Last time, I talked about Claire’s appeal, but that’s not all there is to her.
Have you ever thought about the gap between the two sides of her character?

To me, Claire is one of the most interesting characters in the Resident Evil universe. I personally have always really liked her as a character..

In the story, Claire is just your average college student, and the fact that she is a civilian makes her quite unique. With the exception of the Outbreak games, there haven’t been very many civilians to play a major role in the Resident Evil Series.

The Leon in Darkside Chronicles appears as he was in 1998. This was the year the T-Virus spread throughout Raccoon City and started the whole Resident Evil series. Leon must endure a bitter struggle to escape the doomed Raccoon City.

If you watch the recent Darkside Chronicles trailer, you will see the names of some of our staff displayed at the end for a few seconds. We are a very enthusiastic team that is looking forward to bringing you a quality game. I’d like to introduce you to some of the really talented team members, hopefully illustrating some of the cool things about Darkside Chronicles along the way.

When talking about Darkside Chronicles, the first word that comes to mind is “presence”. By that I mean experiencing something that feels like it could actually exist. After completing Umbrella Chronicles we gave a lot of thought to what kind of sequel we wanted to make, and the word presence really captures the theme of the game.

Hi, I’m Yasuhiro Seto, the director of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles here at Capcom. I’m going to be writing weekly blog entries to bring you an inside look at all the cool things we’re doing with this new entry in the Resident Evil series. I directed the previous game in this series, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.

The title of the blog is “TALKING EVIL”, and I plan to do just that every week as I go in-depth about all of the cool aspects of the game.