Why did they kidnap Ashley? Story is so vague.

[deadbeef]

Is it just me or is the story in this game next to non-existent? Everything is VERY vaguely explained through in-game lore snippets, other than that there's no explanation at all, and left many questions unanswered. Was it like this in the original game?

Case in point, maybe I missed it, but there was never any explanation at all as to why exactly the cult / Sadler kidnapped Ashley. Why on earth did they do that? Did the original game bother explaining this either? Considering the entire point of the story is Leon trying to rescue Ashley, I think it would be pretty important to explain why she's been kidnapped, but nope the game didn't even bother.

Other unanswered questions:
What exactly is the Amber?
What's with all the bugs?
Who exactly is Sadler?
Etc......

Best I can put together of the whole story is basically that Umbrella was researching a mind control plague, they gave it to Sadler who was the ruler of some spanish village, Sadler used it to take complete control over the village and create a cult of personality around himself. Somehow the Amber is important to the plague, but unknown why. Then the villagers kidnapped the US President's daughter for some reason, so Leon comes to save her, then the whole game is just chasing Ashley through various situations until you finally rescue her and kill Sadler.

[WuffWabbit]

The Amber is how the Salazar family the Plaga sealed and where they found it to begin with deep under their castle. That's what the excavation section showed and deposits of the actual amber can be seen near the end of the game, with parasites frozen inside.

The bugs (Novistadors) were experiments by a Saddler scientist, an in game file said this.

Saddler and Krauser kidnapped Ashley because:

1) He wanted to dominate the world, Ashley being the presidents daughter sends a message. She would be returned home infected and spread it since she had a dominant strain.
2) Krauser hates the U.S Government because of Operation Javier in which they screwed him and his team over (said in files and dialogue.) They left them for dead.
3) Krauser helped kidnap Ashley as revenge on the U.S gov as speculated by Leon.
4) Saddler is a cult leader obsessed with a religion his family headed for generations, Los Illuminados, the plaga is central to it and his means of controlling people.
5) Saddler hired Luis at one point who once worked for Umbrella.
6) Ada is working for Wesker (also formerly Umbrella.)

You weren't paying attention, clearly.

[BACKSTABUUU]

It's not vague, there plenty of notes and cutscenes that explain what they're using Ashley for.

They want to infect her with Las Plagas so that they can send her back to the United States under Saddler's control. Once she's back, he plans to have her infect the president with Las Plagas so that he can control the entire country and eventually infect the entire world.

[Metadragon]

They infect Ashley, release her while under control of the Plaga and she infects the President and other high ranking governmental figures. Putting the US under Saddler's control.

This is possible with the Dominant Plaga which everybody and their brother is after.

[◢Seulgi◤]

Umbrella has nothing to do with Las Plagas. The whole point was to kidnap Ashley (daughter of the president) (some one with high status surrounded by important people) Infect her with the parasite. Once she fully turns, Saddler has complete control, then send her back to the US and infect everyone with the parasite. Which then Saddler has complete control of the whole country.

I'm pretty sure some notes in the original and probably in the remake go over the plans why they did this.

[Nirvash]

Amber is a real stone that is found underground, and irl amber can preserve ancient animals and insects for centuries. So the story for that is the parasites are ancient creatures that were discovered inside a particularly large vein of amber. And like all RE monsters, they have some kind of semi-immortality, so they can be revived from the amber.

Sadler is the guy every RE game has, where he discovers the power of this specific semi-immortal parasite creature and is the one to utilize it for his ultimate evil goal.

All of the gaps in information are usually handled in notebooks or journals or on the backs of photographs. So the info is there, usually. But you gotta find it and piece it together yourself. Or wait for a DLC. But they usually don't do much story DLC for the remakes.

[InstableMonster]

Originally posted by deadbeef:

Is it just me or is the story in this game next to non-existent? Everything is VERY vaguely explained through in-game lore snippets, other than that there's no explanation at all, and left many questions unanswered. Was it like this in the original game?

Case in point, maybe I missed it, but there was never any explanation at all as to why exactly the cult / Sadler kidnapped Ashley. Why on earth did they do that? Did the original game bother explaining this either? Considering the entire point of the story is Leon trying to rescue Ashley, I think it would be pretty important to explain why she's been kidnapped, but nope the game didn't even bother.

Other unanswered questions:
What exactly is the Amber?
What's with all the bugs?
Who exactly is Sadler?
Etc......

Best I can put together of the whole story is basically that Umbrella was researching a mind control plague, they gave it to Sadler who was the ruler of some spanish village, Sadler used it to take complete control over the village and create a cult of personality around himself. Somehow the Amber is important to the plague, but unknown why. Then the villagers kidnapped the US President's daughter for some reason, so Leon comes to save her, then the whole game is just chasing Ashley through various situations until you finally rescue her and kill Sadler.

The reason for kidnapping ashley is in a cutscene that you cant miss. Did you not pay attention amd are now wondering why the story seems vague?

[deadbeef]

Originally posted by InstableMonster:

The reason for kidnapping ashley is in a cutscene that you cant miss. Did you not pay attention amd are now wondering why the story seems vague?

Yeah I just rewatched that cutscene. Ramon Salazar says "With that girl as the very source, your United States, and then the entire world shall overflow with his grace. For that is the iron will of my master, the most holy Lord Saddler!"

And that's all. One entire sentence explaining why they kidnapped Ashley. Really not much of an explanation.

Originally posted by ◢Seulgi◤:

Umbrella has nothing to do with Las Plagas.

Umbrella is clearly involved somehow considering the photo you find of the "European Umbrella Lab" showing an entire crew of Umbrella people in what appears to be Luis's lab. Seems to be trying to say that the entire island facility was at one point an Umbrella facility.

I think this proves my point that the story is pretty vague considering people have conflicting explanations just in this thread alone.

[InstableMonster]

Originally posted by deadbeef:

Originally posted by InstableMonster:

The reason for kidnapping ashley is in a cutscene that you cant miss. Did you not pay attention amd are now wondering why the story seems vague?

Yeah I just rewatched that cutscene. Ramon Salazar says "With that girl as the very source, your United States, and then the entire world shall overflow with his grace. For that is the iron will of my master, the most holy Lord Saddler!"

And that's all. One entire sentence explaining why they kidnapped Ashley. Really not much of an explanation.

Originally posted by ◢Seulgi◤:

Umbrella has nothing to do with Las Plagas.

Umbrella is clearly involved somehow considering the photo you find of the "European Umbrella Lab" showing an entire crew of Umbrella people in what appears to be Luis's lab. Seems to be trying to say that the entire island facility was at one point an Umbrella facility.

I think this proves my point that the story is pretty vague considering people have conflicting explanations just in this thread alone.

It is the explanation, its the first step in his plan to conquer the world. He wont have a 20minutes monologue about it. You not liking the explanation doesnt mean that its not there or that its vague.

[Xengre]

Ashley was supposed to return to infect the highest tiers of personnel in the US and eventually spread it to the entire US. The odd part of the entire story is Leon is actually aware of this, in fact they outright state it in the remake, and yet all Leon has to do is report with comms back to HQ and their entire plan is foiled yet this never transpires.

[Justinyl]

Jack was working for albert wesker, to gain admission into the cult, he kidnapped the president's daughter. There, its easy to understand.

[Grayyernaut]

Originally posted by deadbeef:

Originally posted by InstableMonster:

The reason for kidnapping ashley is in a cutscene that you cant miss. Did you not pay attention amd are now wondering why the story seems vague?

Yeah I just rewatched that cutscene. Ramon Salazar says "With that girl as the very source, your United States, and then the entire world shall overflow with his grace. For that is the iron will of my master, the most holy Lord Saddler!"

And that's all. One entire sentence explaining why they kidnapped Ashley. Really not much of an explanation.

Originally posted by ◢Seulgi◤:

Umbrella has nothing to do with Las Plagas.

Umbrella is clearly involved somehow considering the photo you find of the "European Umbrella Lab" showing an entire crew of Umbrella people in what appears to be Luis's lab. Seems to be trying to say that the entire island facility was at one point an Umbrella facility.

I think this proves my point that the story is pretty vague considering people have conflicting explanations just in this thread alone.

The explanations in this post are pretty much in agreement.

[Barbarian]

People, no need to be arrogant in your answers. There can be many reasons behind a person missing clues. Just explain and leave it there.

[Dollmaker]

Originally posted by deadbeef:

Originally posted by InstableMonster:

The reason for kidnapping ashley is in a cutscene that you cant miss. Did you not pay attention amd are now wondering why the story seems vague?

Yeah I just rewatched that cutscene. Ramon Salazar says "With that girl as the very source, your United States, and then the entire world shall overflow with his grace. For that is the iron will of my master, the most holy Lord Saddler!"

And that's all. One entire sentence explaining why they kidnapped Ashley. Really not much of an explanation.

Originally posted by ◢Seulgi◤:

Umbrella has nothing to do with Las Plagas.

Umbrella is clearly involved somehow considering the photo you find of the "European Umbrella Lab" showing an entire crew of Umbrella people in what appears to be Luis's lab. Seems to be trying to say that the entire island facility was at one point an Umbrella facility.

I think this proves my point that the story is pretty vague considering people have conflicting explanations just in this thread alone.

Thats just Luis mementos from his time with the company, Umbrella has nothing to do with Las Plagas or Los Illuminados, and that Island lore wise was largely ruled by Saddler's family based on the notes found there.

The only "tie" is that supposedly Luis got inspiration from Las Plagas to help create the NE-α Parasite, Aka Nemesis.

[REhorror]

It's just Leon's Spain vacation that involves some cults and the President's daughter.

[ShadowSkill11]

You read the documents and watch the cutscenes. The story is pretty simple. Unless you skip things or are in the habit of getting distracted while playing games frequently I dont see how you can miss it.