So glad it wasn't that ♥♥♥♥♥, Rachel.

[The Grotesque Abomination]

I won't spoil it for people who haven't beaten it. But when I saw the trailers and caught that glimpse of the blonde from the back. I clenched my fists and cursed to the air "I SWEAR TO ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GOD IF THAT'S YOU RACHEL." Granted it would've been a great "revelation" to discover she de-mutated...but I am so glad with what they wrote.

Anyone else have any thoughts on where they were going to take it that differed from the outcome?

[Lukus]

"Rachel, on the scene!"

I found Rachel to be a good relief from all the serious characters in Rev 1. It would have been nice if Gina or Rachel managed to survive for more than 5 minutes instead of dying horribly in front of you. I'm seeing the Foley family being a black humour device. It would also have been good to see more background on the Foley's too.

[The Grotesque Abomination]

Rachel was the stand out villain for me in Revelations. When I found out that ♥♥♥♥♥ was still crawling through the walls whispering my name it cemented her as one of the break-out characters in the more recent years of side-charcters in the RE series. i would've liked to see more of her as well, but the way she was used as a constant haunting was aces and i 100% enjoyed the experience. i guess a part of me was not only hoping it wasn't her but also kind of wishing it was so i could kill her one more time.

rip. rachel.

[The Grotesque Abomination]

i did not really like the side character natalia in rev2 to be honest. her purpose was great and i understood she was there as a bridge from the events of the first rev, but up until the very end i was hoping she wouldn't become a mainstay character. but, due to what transpired i am very excited to see how natalia "grows up."

[Lanzagranadas]

Rachael worked great as a BOW, but as a character was a terribly stupid idea, she's just a pair of walking boobies withouth even a face. They made her even more stupid by including her in Raid mode.

[The Grotesque Abomination]

Originally posted by Lanzagranadas:

Rachael worked great as a BOW, but as a character was a terribly stupid idea, she's just a pair of walking boobies withouth even a face.

that's not very fair though, because you could say that about any of the female characters.

[Vilmer Slaughter]

Originally posted by Lanzagranadas:

Rachael worked great as a BOW, but as a character was a terribly stupid idea, she's just a pair of walking boobies withouth even a face. They made her even more stupid by including her in Raid mode.

At least she was a short lived walking pair of boobs. Jessica gets plenty of screen time, and she is no better than Rachel.

Let's not leave out all the other bad side characters of the first game. Quint, Keith and Raymond.

[Lukus]

I can agree with Rachel being fan service, but I believe that wouldn't have been the case if they expanded on her character and background in Rev 1 to flesh her out (pun intended?). I also had the impression that Quint and Keith were created in the same light-hearted vein. They weren't completely goofy - they had a good balance between comic relief and capability/reliance as characters. You could argue, though, that comic relief in a supposed survival horror game may be out of place.

[Sapphidia]

Actually i thought Rachel was quite well developed in Rev1 (and no I don't mean in the physical sense).

If you read her logs you get the feel that she's this really scared but keen rookie who's totally out of her depth and has no experience whatsoever fighting BOWs. She arrivd on the ship for investigation and wasnt expecting a huge firefight with beasties. She was hung out to dry by the boss she trusted and sacrificed as cannon fodder - even her rather ditzy "I did it!" when you finish a raid mode mission with her gives her this air of someone with very little self confidance who doesnt expect to survive... a breath of fresh air in the series.

Yes on the surface she's somewhat a pair of boobs and a silly blonde hairstyle but I can sort of see why - her model is actually quite chunky overall. She's not just huge boobs on a stick thin waist, she's noticebly a little more cuddly than the other female characters, implying she's just simply not all that fit or athletic in comparison and probably shouldnt be on the frontlines. Heck, even her wetsuit doesnt fit properly. The fringe-over-eyes is a bit dumb I admit but at least it's a unique look that was memorable (and makes sense given the eventual look of her mutant form mirroring it with goo).

She's a tragic heroine that you're meant to feel sorry for, and I love playing as her in Raid mode - somehow it added more tension to the atmosphere when you feel you're playing as a character who's out of their depth and scared, compared to veteran BoW-slayers like Jill and Chris who are pretty much going through the motions again.

TLDR: Lay off Rachel. She was my favorite character in raidmode and a lot more developed and interesting than people think at first glance.

[Lanzagranadas]

Originally posted by Metal Masked Assassin:

Originally posted by Lanzagranadas:

Rachael worked great as a BOW, but as a character was a terribly stupid idea, she's just a pair of walking boobies withouth even a face.

that's not very fair though, because you could say that about any of the female characters.

Other female (and male) characters have a purpose on the story, and a fully modelled face. Jill is there for a reason, and so Jessica. Rachael doesn't even show her eyes because she was probably just a Jill or Jessica placeholder or scrapped model that they finally decided to include in the game, but if you played the 3DS demo that came with RE Mercenaries, you'll see that Rachael wasn't going to be there at that point, Jill witnessed the death of a Veltro scientist instead. Here's a video in case someone didn't know it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgra3ScoRI (watch at 05.10)

Originally posted by Squeeeeeeeeeeps:

Let's not leave out all the other bad side characters of the first game. Quint, Keith and Raymond.

Of course, RER was pretty awful in regard to character design, but Raymond and Jessica were important to the plot, Quint and Keith well, at least they were playable and they did a minimal contribution to the story. Rachael instead did absolutely nothing, and doesn't even have a background plot to back her up, you could replace her by any generic FBC agent and nothing would change.

[Lukus]

Rachel did have a use - for creating atmosphere for the gameplay to take part in. It would not have had the effect, if it was just some generic guy. Neil and Pedro are perfect examples of this. Rachel had to have a written character for the creation of atmosphere to be effective. Being chased by just another generic enemy wouldn't have anywhere near as much effect as one that we can become intimate with, empathise with, or relate to.

[LANKO]

Rachael is my fav from REV1.

1. She was sent in before the player gets there. We all know this is a long traditional device used in the RE series. Just like how all helicopter escape plans end up in boom, Rachael is found dead so the player is reminded that stuff didn't go down right.

2. Rachael's body is then "misplaced"---the 2nd time the player goes to that area, her body is no longer there. Again, an old device used in RE series constantly.

3. Rachael's character design/model fits her transformation very well---the hair, the way her head splits open like the other standard BOWs, etc. Again, if you have a RE, you can count on a character to transform and eventually be taken down.

4. Without Rachael, maybe we wouldn't have the muffled voice copypasta'd to Lady Hunk! (ok ok.. this is a pretty weak point -_-).


So to sum up, everything about Rachael is a perfect fit for the RE universe. Here's to the Foleys!

[ShinChuck]

Originally posted by Sapphidia:

Actually i thought Rachel was quite well developed in Rev1 (and no I don't mean in the physical sense).

If you read her logs you get the feel that she's this really scared but keen rookie who's totally out of her depth and has no experience whatsoever fighting BOWs. She arrivd on the ship for investigation and wasnt expecting a huge firefight with beasties. She was hung out to dry by the boss she trusted and sacrificed as cannon fodder - even her rather ditzy "I did it!" when you finish a raid mode mission with her gives her this air of someone with very little self confidance who doesnt expect to survive... a breath of fresh air in the series.

Yes on the surface she's somewhat a pair of boobs and a silly blonde hairstyle but I can sort of see why - her model is actually quite chunky overall. She's not just huge boobs on a stick thin waist, she's noticebly a little more cuddly than the other female characters, implying she's just simply not all that fit or athletic in comparison and probably shouldnt be on the frontlines. Heck, even her wetsuit doesnt fit properly. The fringe-over-eyes is a bit dumb I admit but at least it's a unique look that was memorable (and makes sense given the eventual look of her mutant form mirroring it with goo).

She's a tragic heroine that you're meant to feel sorry for, and I love playing as her in Raid mode - somehow it added more tension to the atmosphere when you feel you're playing as a character who's out of their depth and scared, compared to veteran BoW-slayers like Jill and Chris who are pretty much going through the motions again.

TLDR: Lay off Rachel. She was my favorite character in raidmode and a lot more developed and interesting than people think at first glance.

YES, so much. I'm new to the Revelations titles, and I've been utterly enthralled with Rachel for the reasons you stated above. But every time I try to explain it to friends, the responses are always along the lines of "You just like her boobs/butt/wetsuit/hair/whatever!" or, at best, "She was worthless fodder who existed just to get killed and give you an obstacle, give it up."

But you explained it very well. She's scared, she's out of her element. She has some training background (that finishing-move kick she does is a little crazy but might be more raid-mode embellishing than a canon Rachel move), but she doesn't want to be there, doesn't belong there, and was thrust into the situation against her will by players bigger than her manipulating things from all sides.

It's far, far easier for me to empathize with her thoughts and situation than with the hardcore professionals that seem superhuman (and I adore Chris/Jill/Barry/Leon/etcetera, don't get me wrong!). I imagine myself (a veteran soldier IRL) in that situation, and I'd be far more like a Rachel: trained but not superhuman, in way over my head.

I honestly want to know more about her. Do we know her motives, for example? Does she know she's there to destroy the evidence that would implicate Morgan (therefore making her something of a bad guy, if still a pawn), or is she there with the (as we know, false) understanding that the FBC is trying to get to the bottom of the ship's mystery? My guess is the latter; she's just too innocent-seeming.

She really is pretty great, and I can't help but wonder how much the backlash after her big reveal might have hurt her survival chances in the game!

[Vilmer Slaughter]

Originally posted by Lukus:

I found Rachel to be a good relief from all the serious characters in Rev 1.

Honestly, I don't find her that comical, considering how her story played out.

I think the majority of the cast of characters are so badly done they serve as relief on their own.

[Lanzagranadas]

Quint and Keith are far from being 'serious', and Jessica's swimsuit.... well, couple this with Rachael and you have the cheapest fan-service costume design in the series. I don't mind far-fetched sexy costumes as long as they're extra costumes you can somehow unlock and decide to use them or not, but don't add them as default costumes because it kind of breaks the story atmosphere in games like these.