Thread for the frustruated with the "survive the werewolf attack" moment in the beginning of the game

[Luke Puke]

If you personally had no problems or even enjoyed the titular moment, I am very happy for you. This thread is not to argue your experience is in any way "wrong". This thread is for those unfortunate souls who had miserable time getting through the first werewolf attack sequence and seek emotional companionship with the ones who share their misery. The thread is purposed for people to let off some steam, complain, share advice, and simply realize they are not alone with their trouble regarding this moment in the game.

I would like to share my experience. I had read complains about this game being too easy on "Standard" difficulty setting. Consequently, as someone who enjoys challenging games, I chose "Hardcore". Being familiar with the first four games from the series, I anticipated more of the same from the high difficulty: monsters are stronger, you have to think faster, manage resources better, be aware of your surrounding. However, I did not anticipate an arena with an invisible timer which counts down towards a random chance of a cutscene appearing!

Hardcore leaves 2-3 hits until death. It takes about 10 pistol bullets to kill a werewolf. Werewolves are faster than the player. These are not very good prerequisites for a narrow arena with endless waves of werewolves against the player who has a pistol with about 15 bullets. Especially when the player is constantly outnumbered and told nothing but "SURVIVE THE ATTACK!". I was super confused and had no idea what to do. Apparently, one has to survive for 6 minutes and then a cutscene activates. Randomly. Great.

This moment could have worked by the end of the game, when the player has resources, weapons, knowlegde, and experience to stand off for six minutes, having fun using guns and game mechanics. But in the beginning of the game? Did anyone really have fun running laps around narrow corridors without any idea what to do until a cutscene appeared out of nowhere? Certainly not the people who chose hardcore for the first playthrough and died millions of times.

Some may say: "Well, you chose hardcore, what did you expect?" I can answer: I expected a survival game with clear cut mechanics which I would have to learn in order to be successful in the game. I expected to rely on myself rather than "a magical cutscene where all my enemies suddenly run away and a new path opens up" to solve my problems. I expected to use my skill and wits instead of relying on a chance. I expected to have a fair challenge where outcome is clearly decided by my actions, not obscurely hidden behind a vague task, invisible timer, and hidden triggers. That's what I expected and that's why I had chosen "hardcore" before playing for the first time. Maybe I was naive, please excuse me for that.

For those who are stuck on this moment, I say - do not despair. Some may argue, but for me it was the hardest moment in the game. Think carefully if you make a decision between trying to pass on hardcore and switching to standard. It might worth it to go through it. As an advice, I would like to point out that werewolves cannot harm you while you are on a ladder , you need to survive for about 6 minutes , and that after 6 minutes all you have to do is run around and hope for the best .

Do you have experience you would like to share about the moment?

[ChainsawPukingEtherKitten]

Messaggio originale di Doc Holiday:

Messaggio originale di ChainsawPukingEtherKitten:

Pretty sure it's bugged on my save because the cutscene never triggers. I've done everything from holding at the first house for 2 minutes shooting to hiding in basement until the biggie shows up, use the flour bags, hold the second house (keeping from coming in by sparing shots and knife jabs), use both explosive barrels, run back to the original lycan fight house and barricade and the scene never triggers. I am absolutely certain it's bugged because I have watched several youtube videos of very similar strategies working in less time then I am spending before dying. I always end up getting killed from behind with no cutscene and having to restart.

I don't want to go through standard difficulty because I do want a challenge, but I am pretty sure this segment is not functioning correctly in my game.

Whenever I feel like trying the game again I am going to restart from the beginning with a new save and see if it fixes the issue. It would be great to say it's my lack of skill but after watching so many videos of people playing I am 99.9% sure it's bugged for me. I'll update after I try a few runs from an absolutely fresh save.

To make sure it isn't a bug, use a chronometer and from the beginning of the Lycans attack on the Shotgun house, start a 7 minute timer. If you are dying before that, it's not a bug.

You said you are waiting 2 minutes on the first house... You can hold out there longer than that. I'm almost sure you are not bugged.

Thanks for the reply, it's possible to last longer in the first house if I was more skilled I guess.

I started a new game on hardcore again and I passed the survive the attack segment first try. It's possible my previous save wasn't bugged but honestly like I mentioned I am pretty sure I was lasting longer than other people based on videos out there. Like when you survive at some point you get attacked from behind and the cutscene plays out, on my previous save it was like I would get attacked from behind and instead of the advancing cutscene I would just get a lycan kill animation. Like I would survive beyond when the big boy shows up and go into the first house, turn around and get killed from behind where a lycan could not have been and I would die.

Maybe I was missing the right triggers previously, I think I killed more lycans this time around but I am not sure. People keep saying it's a timed event but I am less sure of everything after passing it so readily on a new save. Who knows maybe I got lucky, it was definitely strange.

[Barbarian]

In my opinion this survival level set the tone for the game. I loved it because it was a challenge. It was tense and forced me to get good.

[Timotheos]

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[jmwall24]

Messaggio originale di Tommy Wiseau:

Messaggio originale di Solidus's Revenge:

Not to be a jerk, but if you aren't familiar with this game or other games like it, why would you choose to start on Hardcore difficulty? From a developer standpoint, they must assume that people who play on Hardcore are either series/genre veterans (who would not mind dying a lot trying to figure out the best way to survive) or have already played the game on easy or standard difficulty and want an extra challenge. I don't think it's fair to get so mad at the difficulty when you imposed it upon yourself.

That being said, I can understand that it would be frustrating. I played on Standard first, and died at least once the first time through that section. But once I figured out it was probably just a situation where you have to just keep moving, I was fine. I moved from the shotgun house to the ladder house, blocked the door, and ended up on the roof. From there, eventually the cutscene played and it was done. I was actually mad at first, because I thought the wolvies got some kind of cheap one-hit kill on me.

Anyway, they don't give you ammo because you're supposed to be running away the whole time. And it's supposed to be a challenge. And it's supposed to show how vulnerable you are as Ethan.

Apparently they are not familiar with these games because it was MUCH harder on Res 4 god so much harder, and its alot harder later in the game like the den and in the factory i found almost no freaking ammo in that place. Go play the evil within that entire game is harder than the lycian attack. Seriously i am flabbergasted at how many people had trouble with this easy childs play part.

Stop trolling, you look like an idiot. It's not child's play and you know it, you're just trying to look cool and it's pathetic.

[Luke Puke]

Messaggio originale di Solidus's Revenge:

but if you aren't familiar with this game or other games like it, why would you choose to start on Hardcore difficulty?

But I am familiar with Resident Evil series... At least with the original first four. I had played the first three on my Playstation 2 and played Resident Evil 4 on its initial PC release year. I skipped 5 and 6, since I am not a fan of "the action direction" of their's. I played a little of Resident Evil 7, but I dropped it mid-way, because I didn't like to aim with a PS4 controller (liked the game, though).

Hearing REVII is the series more or less comming back to its survival roots, and it being inspired by Resident Evil 4, I imagined more of the same: open spaces, freedom to navigate around enemies, need to search for resources, use weapons to move enemies away rather than fighting them, so on.

And my expectations were met! Straight after the scripted werewolves attack, that's exactly the gameplay of Resident Evil VII! I am currently fighting The Dimetrescu Lady and everything before was super fun and exciting. Still on Hardcore and greatly enjoy it.

That's why it's such a pitty for me the beginning of the game is riddled with an unavoidable, scripted arena. I see some quoting Resident Evil 4 featuring a similiar segment, but I believe people miss out one important detail: Leon could KICK enemies away, making them drop every other enemy behind them. This is an extremely powerful move. Even if Leon was cornered, he could make one headshot and then kick the first zombie away, making it drop the whole crowd behind him. RE4 villagers were also much slower and didn't have lunge attacks. Ethan? He can block hits. Very useful against a large crowd, having 81 FOV.

[Luke Puke]

Messaggio originale di Tommy Wiseau:

it was MUCH harder on Res 4 god so much harder

Messaggio originale di Tommy Wiseau:

Seriously i am flabbergasted at how many people had trouble with this easy childs play part.

Try it on Hardcore without any Game+ stuff. If you succeed, come back here and share some advice, please!

[Dzarmer]

I have an experience that I have to share, which is funny because I think it's one of the most exciting moments in the entire game.

My first playthrough was on standard difficulty, even though I'm familiar with like 70-80% of RE games I decided to make my blind playthrough as enjoyable as possible. I was thinking that easy difficulty would be boring and hardcore might give me some headaches that I could avoid by choosing normal difficulty. I came to regret this decision.

On standard difficulty I didn't feel the tension at all, moving from house to house and barricading the entrances was somewhat threatening, but it wasn't challenging at all, I managed to beat it in quick succession and thought that this place was just a dumb RE4 reference. I didn't even waste the resources I have simply because I was too busy running from place to place avoiding enemies, barricading doors and grabbing everything I could.

On hardcore not only enemies hit harder and take more damage before going down, but time required to survive was increased as well. It felt more enjoyable, but since it's the exact same scenario as on standard difficulty, I felt bad for not experiencing it on hardocre first.

Where this area really shines is on VoS difficulty where you can die in 2 hits, ammo that you have is not enough to kill even 5 Lycans, enemy types from the mid/end game appear right away (I'm talking about bow wielding and armored lycans) and timer is like 5 minutes, it's crazy. But I felt the tension, I felt like every bullet counts and I should stunlock my enemies rather than kill them, use all possible ways to outsmart them rather than use brute force since it would be more fitting for village that died out and you are just one guy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to humiliate anyone here for not playing the game right or not understanding what to do, it's just that this area reminded me of tension and fear, something I haven't felt since I played Alien Isolation. It's a very well designed area that is making players actually do something in a survival horror fashion.

[Luke Puke]

Messaggio originale di Dzarmer:

I have an experience that I have to share, which is funny because I think it's one of the most exciting moments in the entire game.

My first playthrough was on standard difficulty, even though I'm familiar with like 70-80% of RE games I decided to make my blind playthrough as enjoyable as possible. I was thinking that easy difficulty would be boring and hardcore might give me some headaches that I could avoid by choosing normal difficulty. I came to regret this decision.

On standard difficulty I didn't feel the tension at all, moving from house to house and barricading the entrances was somewhat threatening, but it wasn't challenging at all, I managed to beat it in quick succession and thought that this place was just a dumb RE4 reference. I didn't even waste the resources I have simply because I was too busy running from place to place avoiding enemies, barricading doors and grabbing everything I could.

On hardcore not only enemies hit harder and take more damage before going down, but time required to survive was increased as well. It felt more enjoyable, but since it's the exact same scenario as on standard difficulty, I felt bad for not experiencing it on hardocre first.

Where this area really shines is on VoS difficulty where you can die in 2 hits, ammo that you have is not enough to kill even 5 Lycans, enemy types from the mid/end game appear right away (I'm talking about bow wielding and armored lycans) and timer is like 5 minutes, it's crazy. But I felt the tension, I felt like every bullet counts and I should stunlock my enemies rather than kill them, use all possible ways to outsmart them rather than use brute force since it would be more fitting for village that died out and you are just one guy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to humiliate anyone here for not playing the game right or not understanding what to do, it's just that this area reminded me of tension and fear, something I haven't felt since I played Alien Isolation. It's a very well designed area that is making players actually do something in a survival horror fashion.

I think it's a fantastic story! Thank you very much for sharing. I think it's important to hear stories like that to inspire people who do not enjoy the moment to maybe look at it from a different, more positive angle.

I personally could not see it as anything but "an arena with a vague task, an invisible timer and a chance for a random cutscene"; thus, I have suffered, instead of enjoying the moment. Retrospectively, I should have looked at it from more of your's view. My view certainly did not help and was counter-productive. Maybe on my VOS playthrough I will be able to enjoy it, bearing in mind what I have learned now :D

[Thorba]

I did it on 8 or 9th try on hardcore but it was making me really unsure if i picked the right difficult. I was starting the game new on standard, sadly now at the end of the game it was aside from a few bosses too easy on standard. You can say that this very bad beginning messed up the game for me. Somehow the beginning of resi 8 reminds me of an old game called "driver" where the tutorial was harder then the rest of the game.

[Luke Puke]

Messaggio originale di Thorba:

I did it on 8 or 9th try on hardcore but it was making me really unsure if i picked the right difficult.

My exact experience. After being stuck there for an hour I was just about to restart the game on "Standard". I thought: "If the whole game is like that, I don't think I will enjoy it on Hardcore." The only reason I didn't change the difficulty was stories like this:

Messaggio originale di Thorba:

I was starting the game new on standard, sadly now at the end of the game it was aside from a few bosses too easy on standard.

I've heard people saying the game is too easy on "Standard". Some even claimed that the werewolf-attack moment is the hardest in the whole game and the rest will be quiet enjoyable on Hardcore. I fully agree with the claim: after getting through the moment, I was able to really enjoy the game! Just like I imagined it to be. I love playing on Hardcore now.

Messaggio originale di Thorba:

You can say that this very bad beginning messed up the game for me

I am sorry. I really wish they either put it in the end of the game or communicated more clearly as what you are supposed to do. I would recommend most "First-run Hardcore" players to carry through the moment and see how the real game feels before deciding whether to restart on Standard or not.

[Luke Puke]

Messaggio originale di ChainsawPukingEtherKitten:

Pretty sure it's bugged on my save because the cutscene never triggers. I've done everything from holding at the first house for 2 minutes shooting to hiding in basement until the biggie shows up, use the flour bags, hold the second house (keeping from coming in by sparing shots and knife jabs), use both explosive barrels, run back to the original lycan fight house and barricade and the scene never triggers. I am absolutely certain it's bugged because I have watched several youtube videos of very similar strategies working in less time then I am spending before dying. I always end up getting killed from behind with no cutscene and having to restart.

I don't want to go through standard difficulty because I do want a challenge, but I am pretty sure this segment is not functioning correctly in my game.

Whenever I feel like trying the game again I am going to restart from the beginning with a new save and see if it fixes the issue. It would be great to say it's my lack of skill but after watching so many videos of people playing I am 99.9% sure it's bugged for me. I'll update after I try a few runs from an absolutely fresh save.

The cutscene has a random chance of appearing after 7 minutes or so. It takes very long and does seem like it will never happen, but eventually it will. You can try to wait on a ladder for 7 minutes and then try to run around until the cutscene appears. For instance, in the beginning you may climb a ladder and wait for 7 minutes. After, you can climb down and use house barricades. Don't worry about using all your resources - they will be plenty after. What matters is to get past this moment... Good luck!

[Thorba]

I did it yesterday on vos difficult at ng+ and even with upgraded weapons it was not easy, at least i got after that the dragon riffle with unlimited ammo, hope that i can finish the rest of the game on that difficult now.

[WORLD CLASS]

Hide in a corner underground and wait for the flaming arrows. The go outside and take an arrow to the knee after a couple of minutes.

[ArcticMetal]

I started with hardcore and got stuck here for at least an hour too - one extra thing you can do is unlock the gate that's behind the starting house before the event starts, then delay as much as possible in the shotgun house and the ladder house, and once you need to start kiting, go back to that first house and run in a circle around the house using the unlocked gate. You can dodge the lycans at this point, or hipshot them with your shotgun to stagger them as you pass.

It's completely overtuned for a first experience on hardcore, which is otherwise perfectly enjoyable on NG. I've 100%'d the game at this point and I'd say the only thing harder was getting SS+ in the Factory 2 mercenaries mission.

[Doc Holiday]

Messaggio originale di ChainsawPukingEtherKitten:

Messaggio originale di Doc Holiday:

To make sure it isn't a bug, use a chronometer and from the beginning of the Lycans attack on the Shotgun house, start a 7 minute timer. If you are dying before that, it's not a bug.

You said you are waiting 2 minutes on the first house... You can hold out there longer than that. I'm almost sure you are not bugged.

Thanks for the reply, it's possible to last longer in the first house if I was more skilled I guess.

I started a new game on hardcore again and I passed the survive the attack segment first try. It's possible my previous save wasn't bugged but honestly like I mentioned I am pretty sure I was lasting longer than other people based on videos out there. Like when you survive at some point you get attacked from behind and the cutscene plays out, on my previous save it was like I would get attacked from behind and instead of the advancing cutscene I would just get a lycan kill animation. Like I would survive beyond when the big boy shows up and go into the first house, turn around and get killed from behind where a lycan could not have been and I would die.

Maybe I was missing the right triggers previously, I think I killed more lycans this time around but I am not sure. People keep saying it's a timed event but I am less sure of everything after passing it so readily on a new save. Who knows maybe I got lucky, it was definitely strange.

glad you got past it. I actually want to do this part again just for the kicks... I think I got toally luck when I passed it