I feel really bad for Ethan

[Netsa]

He got some bad injuries in 7, sure, with getting hand and leg chopped off. Here, though, he's getting stabbed and dismembered in just about every single cutscene. It's way more than what happened to him in the last game. Even if you play perfectly, he's set to get tortured on a constant basis, and I could swear that big wolf you fight after getting the unborn key just chomps right in the groin.

And if you don't play perfectly, he gets stabbed right through the chest every few minutes. Virus-based immortality is nice and all, but he can clearly still feel pain. I mean, his pain tolerance must be extremely high with a lot of the crap he pulls off here, but still.

None of the STARS members had to deal with this. Ethan doesn't even have a face, it's so unfair.

[Netsa]

(Finished the game)
Okay, I don't buy the "Ethan was dead all along" thing at ALL. It feels like a BS plot twist to explain something that already had a clear explanation: he was infected. Mia, the Bakers, everyone experienced the exact same level of regeneration that Ethan was exhibiting, so him surviving getting his heart removed isn't that much of a stretch.

They couldn't even show a scene of him dying in 7 because it never happened. It was a straight retcon. And we're supposed to also believe that Ethan finds this surprising, even though he's had so many holes drilled into his chest that he can't possibly even have a chest anymore? Wtf is this writing?

Anyway, back on topic... no, he definitely took the vast, and I mean the VAST, majority of his punishment in this game, not in 7.

[RJX3029]

I think it's just a plot twist. Least that's how I saw it. Everything adds up to the moment Evaline tells you you're mold and have been the whole time. You're supposed to suspect something's not right with him, then it's confirmed toward the end.

The amount of damage any RE protagonist endures is about like that. Then heal themselves with a plant they find on the ground. Shrugging off .50 cal machine gun fire and crossbow arrows like it's paintballs, exploded, falling 50 feet, set on fire, hulk smashed by 800lb indestructible enemies. All of that is easily survived but an alligator or mutant shark or some crows? Nope that's near instant death lol. Probably don't read too much into it just have a good time

[cuss]

(Nice) I agree, but him being dead is only one interpretation of possibly many.
I don't know about the damage part, in 7 he lost a hand to Mia, Jack beat the living crap out of him and if he catches you at one point he takes a leg too, with a shovel. Plus there must have been about a hundred insect stings thanks to Marguerite. (I'm glad Ethan wasn't allergic)
But the damage in 8 is definitely more visual, playing with half a hand is a constant reminder of the injury, and seeing inside his arm at one point was a nice touch. It was more visceral too with the focus on chest injuries. And groin, that was probably intentional to make us all cringe and cross our legs. Well done, CAPCOM.
edit; And he's still alive apparently:
https://www.ign.com/videos/resident-evil-village-post-credits-mystery-solved

[Stormspark]

Originally posted by cuss:

Originally posted by Milkless Tea:

I thought that was just Eveline being spiteful, lying to the man who killed her for revenge. And Ethan being infected with mold came as no real surprise, I doubt he could have survived his injuries in 7 with just a handful of woodwork staples in his arm and bottle of green tonic.

Nope, she wasn't lying. Ethan WAS all mold during RE8. That's why he started calcifying at the end.

[Netsa]

Originally posted by RJX3029:

The amount of damage any RE protagonist endures is about like that. Then heal themselves with a plant they find on the ground. Shrugging off .50 cal machine gun fire and crossbow arrows like it's paintballs, exploded, falling 50 feet, set on fire, hulk smashed by 800lb indestructible enemies. All of that is easily survived but an alligator or mutant shark or some crows? Nope that's near instant death lol. Probably don't read too much into it just have a good time

Idk, I separate Ethan from the rest because most of the damage that happens to him is actually in cutscenes, not just gameplay, and it's all from blades or spikes that explicitly break the skin. The rest of the protags might fall from great distances or get knocked around, but blunt impacts are a lot easier to suspend disbelief over.

Ethan, at one point, gets stabbed through both hands and then strung up by them. He breaks out by pulling the blades the rest of the way through his hands while screaming.

Edit: On the "Ethan returning" thing...
I really like Ethan, but I hope they're not bringing him back. They would have to jump through a lot of stupid loopholes and create a lot of stupid plotholes to let Ethan survive that explosion, and I don't want the writing to get worse than it already is.

It could just be another doppelganger or something.

[RJX3029]

Originally posted by Netsa:

Ethan, at one point, gets stabbed through both hands and then strung up by them. He breaks out by pulling the blades the rest of the way through his hands while screaming.

It is definitely different in that way yes. He gets tortured way more in cutscenes than any other RE character. And it did make me cringe a couple times. Also can't really say it was the horror aspect I was hoping for. But it works sort of. After he reattaches his hand, he can pretty much seem to live through anything so not too worried about what happens to em. Kind of numbs you to it. They made him mold just to torture the hell out of him later lol.

Edit
They probably won't bring him back in future games, but they'd be missing what'd be a pretty good story opportunity for Rose's DLC if they didn't let her say goodbye to him through what's left of the mutamycete they all communicate telepathically through. I think they're all still alive in there or were in some way or other. And it wouldn't really be a plothole since Evaline was in it. But after that this story arc should be it.

[cuss]

Originally posted by RJX3029:

..what's left of the mutamycete they all communicate telepathically through. I think they're all still alive in there or were in some way or other.

Agree.. I think there might be more than one megamycete root and Ethan's consciousness got uploaded to another one when he died. Or maybe there's a giant 'mother' root somewhere. A mother-mega. Mega-mother??? (it's a very big root, folks) I think when he appears at the end he's somehow projecting himself from the root into the world to contact Rose for some reason. Eveline did a similar trick when she was wheelchair bound using a little girl image.

Originally posted by Stormspark:

Nope, she wasn't lying. Ethan WAS all mold during RE8. That's why he started calcifying at the end.

Don't think so.. ALL mold would be 'molded', wouldn't it? Molded are black or grey. I think he started to calcify because he was reaching saturation point. Every time he was injured the mold used itself as the building blocks to repair it and over time he'd become more mold than man. Miranda taking his heart was probably the last straw.

[Machika]

If Ethan was mold then he should of had some control over the lesser molds. I think he was just knocked out at the start woke up in the chair then ran around to escape from Jack and crawl through that hole in the floor before he gets the body part chopped off and reattached. I think he was all human at the start of RE8 as well otherwise he should of been able to control the "werewolves". Now that being said if he was infected and was selfish he would of used the cure himself and Mai and not the other lady at the pier which he I believed promised he would do and did if choosing that route when playing the uncle.

[Netsa]

Originally posted by Machika:

If Ethan was mold then he should of had some control over the lesser molds.

Ethan only cured Mia, canonically. The other girl, Zoe, was only helped in the DLC, iirc.

I don't know if he would necessarily be able to control anyone, but I think you have a point. If he died that early into RE7, I'm pretty sure most of the zombies he encountered wouldn't have attacked him. Especially the zombies in RE8, since he wasn't even considered a threat for at least a quarter of the game.
He didn't get to turn into a giant monster, either. What a gyp!

Like I said, the whole thing's a bad retcon.

Originally posted by cuss:

Originally posted by RJX3029:

..what's left of the mutamycete they all communicate telepathically through. I think they're all still alive in there or were in some way or other.

Agree.. I think there might be more than one megamycete root and Ethan's consciousness got uploaded to another one when he died. Or maybe there's a giant 'mother' root somewhere. A mother-mega. Mega-mother??? (it's a very big root, folks) I think when he appears at the end he's somehow projecting himself from the root into the world to contact Rose for some reason. Eveline did a similar trick when she was wheelchair bound using a little girl image.

Am I the only one that thought the mutamycete data collection and communication was kind of BS and didn't make any sense in any way? When I picked up the document that said so-and-so was a "data center", I had to step back and say "wtf gave them that idea?"

Frankly, it sounds like they wrote themselves into a corner by:
1. Bringing back the mold from 7 in the first place. 7's ending didn't naturally lead into 8.
2. Letting the mold act as a massive, underground root network, mimicking trees.

So suddenly, random collections of tree trunks can be data centers and every zombie's consciousness is somehow collected inside of it, none of which has any precedence or serious explanation.

As a result, 7 seems really divorced from 8, but 8 is set up to simultaneously retrofit 7 and set up the situation in 9... but the way they solved the problem in 8 didn't make any sense (they bomb a random castle, which somehow weakens the villain's powers, then Chris hand-throws a knife into a giant fetus and nukes it). The way the mold worked seemed to make it virtually impossible to destroy, so I don't know how anything Chris was doing in 8's final segment worked or made a difference.

If Ethan was actually able to project himself from a root into the world, that would mean the mold is still very much active and is still zombifying people. I think the intention is that the Ethan we see at the end is a hallucination, Rose is now the sole source of mold, and that 9 will instead focus on the zombies being employed by BSAA. Probably with Rose as the protagonist and letting the player do a lot of "The Darkness"-style (an older video game) antics.

Edit:
I also wonder if anyone else sees the parallels between this story and LISA.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/335670/LISA_The_Painful/

[cuss]

Maybe Ethan uploaded to Rose's mold.. gasp! Daddy lives in Rosie's head, interesting scenario. Seriously though, wasn't there a note or something about when Miranda discovered the mold and touched it she experienced all the people it'd been collecting for centuries? Including her Eva. How else would she get the idea to resurrect her daughter? As for the plant consciousness thing, why not. If plants can feel pain why can't they have other abilities; they have thorns, eat insects, some even attract insects to kill other insects?

edit; actually the mold idea reminds me of Brian Lumley's Necroscope books where breathing spores from a certain swamp would turn you into a vampire.

[Netsa]

Originally posted by cuss:

Maybe Ethan uploaded to Rose's mold.. gasp! Daddy lives in Rosie's head, interesting scenario. Seriously though, wasn't there a note or something about when Miranda discovered the mold and touched it she experienced all the people it'd been collecting for centuries? Including her Eva. How else would she get the idea to resurrect her daughter? As for the plant consciousness thing, why not. If plants can feel pain why can't they have other abilities; they have thorns, eat insects, some even attract insects to kill other insects?

edit; actually the mold idea reminds me of Brian Lumley's Necroscope books where breathing spores from a certain swamp would turn you into a vampire.

Yeah, there was a note like that, but it doesn't really explain anything unless you combine it with Chris's random "it's a data center" message. Without that crap being backed up by Chris's squad, the story would instead sound like this:

"Miranda was infected by the mold a hundred years ago while she was dying in a cave. She was overcome by visions having to do with her late daughter, and so she made it her life's work to use her new powers to regain what she lost. By any means necessary."

There's no indication that the mold had anything to do with her daughter (iirc), and losing a baby is a tragic enough event that it would easily stick in anyone's mind. I don't think a mother needs zombie-moss to tell her about her own baby. Meaning, there didn't have to be any data or communication, she would get the idea of resurrecting her daughter just because she knows the mold can resurrect people.

Trees can have other abilities, sure, but there's no data collection because there's no structure for that. Even if they're special mold-trees, the way they just pointed to some random vines and went "yep, that's a data center" seems very silly.

Remember, Chris didn't see those files about Miranda's life until the end of the game, after they had already gathered their data and set up the bomb. Did they mention anything about the mold collecting data in 7?

[cuss]

("..zombie-moss? ..mold-trees?" You're getting good at this)
I read venus flytraps can count to 5, that's a smart bug catcher.
"Driven to despair, Miranda ventured into a nearby cave wherein she intended to commit suicide. However, before she could end her life, she came across a massive ancient fungal super-colony, which she dubbed "The Mold". Miranda touched a portion of the large mass and in the process saw the memories of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had been consumed by the fungus over the centuries. Among those was Eva herself, whose body had been assimilated almost immediately after her burial.[4] Believing she could use the Mold to bring her lost daughter back to life, Miranda came to revere this substance as "The Black God". (I know it's another online article but I don't remember the minuscule)
https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Miranda
https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Fungal_Root
In the Fungal_Root article on the same site the root is described as an entity that absorbs DNA and consciousnesses and is the hub of a super colony.
It would appear to be conscious itself because it became aggressive when threatened and dropped lycans around Chris from its mold tentacles, presumably constructed using mold and stored dna.
I don't know about 'data centres' but I wouldn't get too excited about Chris's choice of words, he's a bit of a nerd in a layman kind of way, he probably calls his mobile a talkbox. Lets just call it memory, plants have memory. They count, have memory, can communicate, can recruit help; and all sorts of other things.
But Europe wasn't the first known root, Louisiana was.
"A fungal root was also created in Dulvey Parish, Louisiana when a Mold-contaminated oil tanker, Annabelle, was swept inland during a hurricane in October 2014. Over the next three years this super-colony spread for miles beneath swampland, into houses and into a salt mine. The conscious minds of those contaminated by Mold, regardless of distance, were ultimately duplicated and stored within this fungal root for later. It was discovered in July 2017 by Ethan and Mia Winters, the former of whom was briefly embedded within the core and communicated with the stored minds. This root was likely destroyed as part of the BSAA's sterilisation of the area."
Same Fungal_Root article.
No, 7 makes no mention of the root or it's abilities, that I recall. There wasn't really time to pick up technical info because the only person alive with 'any' information was Mia and she was 'incommunicado' for most of the game and the BSAA didn't turn up until the very end.

[Netsa]

Originally posted by cuss:

*clipped for brevity*

I know all that, but it's sources in-game are questionable; most of it only comes from one source. Then again, if the wiki and the in-game authorities confirm it, I can't really deny that it happened. 9 is probably going to follow up on it, too, which is a disaster in the making.

You might be expanding a plant's abilities a little too far, and so is the game. A venus flytrap "counts" based on being physically touched by an insect and having an automatic response to the event. It's not thinking "one, two, three..." like a human does. Yet RE8 takes this idea to extremes by giving the mold completely magical superpowers. Even more magical than the average RE villain. We're really supposed to suspend disbelief when it says "it stores thousands of people. Not just a vague skeleton, but their complete human forms and their memories!"

You can't tell me with a straight face that you read those articles and didn't think that was an insane plot device. And not the good kind of insanity, either. Even without Chris and his "data center" thing, the whole idea is contrived.

The fact that 7 didn't seem to make any mention of these ideas just makes them worse, since there actually was a lot of opportunity to bring it up: During Mia's segment, during Eve's flashbacks (the game goes into detail about how she was treated and why she did what she did to the Bakers), during the epilogue, or during the DLC.

[cuss]

It is a video game, I suspend belief as soon as I start a game. It's no different to Star Trek or Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, or COD for that matter, we know they're not real and that a lot of the premises are ridiculous but we go along with it because in those worlds they are real. Flytrap response may not be thinking like we do but it is still aware at some level, enough to measure the number of contacts, similar to Sensitive plants that respond to stimuli. Fly traps work using a short term memory, 'how' it remembers is still mostly a mystery. Research has gone on for years (hotly debated) claiming that plants are conscious, if the 'yays' win that argument then it'll be sentience next. And If that wins, people will probably start taking their pot plants for walkies in the local park on a Sunday, "Come along, Petunia". And I won't be surprised, the majority of people are idiots as far as I'm concerned, nothing surprises me. To see a video game tell an outlandish tale about a virus that mutates humans into impossible monstrosities is no different to them telling me it's origin lies in a rare fungus. Stranger things have happened, I've seen a few myself. They say, The more we learn, the less we understand; and it's true. Anyway, back on track.
I don't see any "..magical superpowers", I just see nature.. expanded, everything mutates, just not to that degree, but push an organism far enough and it'll do all sorts of wonderful things. And I don't see a storage problem either, I doubt the dna and memories of one person would take up much space, not in that world, probably compressible to a match head or less. To clone would need important cells though like nucleus or stem, but I imagine the mold would harvest those from animals easily enough. Notice the only pets in the village were chickens? Mold didn't want those, too unmanageable. I'm glad, giant hairy birds with claws 'and' fangs? YIKES.. I'm telling you with a straight face it's not contrived :) not really.. it's is a little but not too bad, they're making something new and you've gotta start somewhere, at least I hope that's what they're doing. It is interesting that there weren't more notes / diaries / dialogue explaining the intricacies of the story but, and I'm not defending them here, but maybe there wasn't time or money, or maybe they intend to flesh it out in 9.

[Netsa]

Originally posted by cuss:

It is a video game, I suspend belief as soon as I start a game. It's no different to Star Trek or Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter

There is such a thing as internal/thematic consistency, though. They can't just throw anything into the story. Aliens are a thing in Star Trek, but if you introduced them into LotR or Harry Potter, a lot of fans would be outraged. Resident Evil is a sci-fi, so if the next game had you fighting dragons with lightsabers on the back of unicorns, everyone would be raising their eyebrows. It's too inconsistent with the setting.

And yes, I am saying that "this mold can perfectly preserve and reproduce the bodies, minds, and DNA of an unspecified number of humans, including century-old babies" is equally as ridiculous as lightsabers on unicorns.

Originally posted by cuss:

I don't see any "..magical superpowers", I just see nature.. expanded

Oh come on.

Originally posted by cuss:

I'm not defending them here, but maybe there wasn't time or money, or maybe they intend to flesh it out in 9.

It's a disaster in the making, mark my words! Every time Capcom tries to "flesh something out" in the RE franchise, it becomes less comprehensible.