Hitting head does NOT do more damage?

[Frost]

So I know if you aim at the head and get a CRITICAL shot, the head explodes and the zombie is permanently dead.

However, it seems that I can down a zombie in less head shots with NO critical hits (because his head does not explode and he falls over) than in body shots. I can take out zombies in 2-3 hits to the head but it takes 3-5 if I go for body.

Am I missing something, as like I said the consensus seems to be you do the same non-critical damage anywhere on the zombie, head or body (?)

[Seamus]

Adaptive difficulty.

Shots to kill vary by how well you play on any difficulty below hardcore.

[Player Zer01]

shots to the head has a higher chance in stunning the zombie and/or knocking it down. in terms of damage it would be a yes only because body shots wont ever kill a zombie.

the remake was done in a way to be more of a survival horror in you use shots when you need to. this was really the only hit or miss with this game (this is also why in 3 remake they brought back headshot kills).

really only shoot for the head and not to kill but to mainly stun them and pass by them. the only reason to kill a zombie is because you will be passing that area to much. if youre going to kill a zombie just use either the GL with flame rounds or the shotgun and aim for the head.

[Frost]

Originally posted by Seamus:

Adaptive difficulty.

Thank you for the reply.
Shots to kill vary by how well you play on any difficulty below hardcore.

I can load a game, the first zombie I see shoot him each time in the head and drop him in 2-3 hits. I can exit, reload the same save and hit him in the body and it takes more hits. (Assuming no crit shot to the head). So I would think that removes the adaptive difficulty variable from the equation (?)

[Frost]

Originally posted by Player Zer01:

shots to the head has a higher chance in stunning the zombie and/or knocking it down. in terms of damage it would be a yes only because body shots wont ever kill a zombie.

the remake was done in a way to be more of a survival horror in you use shots when you need to. this was really the only hit or miss with this game (this is also why in 3 remake they brought back headshot kills).

really only shoot for the head and not to kill but to mainly stun them and pass by them. the only reason to kill a zombie is because you will be passing that area to much. if youre going to kill a zombie just use either the GL with flame rounds or the shotgun and aim for the head.

Thank you for the reply.
Yes, I only kill the few zombies I need to kill when playing, but I noticed for the ones I choose to make sure I kill for when I return to that area it seems they 'die' quicker (assuming no crit shots to the head) when I shoot the head verses the body, and I've always read it does the same actual damage overall to the zombie no matter where you hit it - where you hit it only affects what happens if you happen to get a crit. But this is contrary to how it seems they don't 'die' as fast if I decide to just hit the body so I'm less likely to miss by the zombies' erratic movement.

[Bullett00th]

I actually don't know if there's a difference in damage between head and body shots, I would assume hitting the head does more damage because it's harder to hit and offers a crit chance.

But there's no constant number, it's a variable with limits that can sway one way or the other depending on how well you're doing in terms of health, ammo and accuracy - hence adaptive difficulty.
The adaptive difficulty is almost non-existent on Hardcore though.

That said, in choosing between head and body I would often say go for the legs)

[WreckWren]

There is a mod to fix this stupid design decision:
https://www.nexusmods.com/residentevil22019/mods/495?tab=files
Drastically improves the game. Imagine thinking what RE needs is RNG and bullet sponges.

[Frost]

Originally posted by WreckWren:

There is a mod to fix this stupid design decision:
https://www.nexusmods.com/residentevil22019/mods/495?tab=files
Drastically improves the game. Imagine thinking what RE needs is RNG and bullet sponges.

Nice mod. Thanks for the info!

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by WreckWren:

Drastically improves the game. Imagine thinking what RE needs is RNG and bullet sponges.

Literally every single RE game has bullet sponge enemies and a certain amount of RNG.

The mod sounds as an interesting alternative though. That said saying it 'improves' the game is quite a bit of an overstatement given that it kills resource management

[Phillip Oliver Holz]

Originally posted by WreckWren:

There is a mod to fix this stupid design decision:
https://www.nexusmods.com/residentevil22019/mods/495?tab=files
Drastically improves the game. Imagine thinking what RE needs is RNG and bullet sponges.

Wow, this changes everything for me.

My brother (22) bought this game for me (36) for Christmas knowing my aging ass would love it yet he's disappointed that the bullet sponginess of the head-shots is deterring me from putting more hours in despite my multiple attempts to accept it. This will change everything.

Growing up watching all the pre-"28 Days" Zombie flicks, it was kind of a lore/trope that "the heads-hots are always what you go for" when killing zombies,... so to NOT have this be the case (and yes, I know that the devs had good reasons for doing this) in a long awaited remake to what must be my fav. zombie game of all time was just too bitter of a pill for me to swallow.

While I LOVE being terrified the first one or two runs through RE games,... I do want to be able to master it and have very easy and very fast run-throughs as my knowledge level increases.... I WAS able to do this in RE2 1998 especially for the challenges of unlocking Hunk and Tofu.... but with the random outcomes of head-shots, not to mention the fact that they walk toward you with their head leaned all... the...way... back AND jiggling back-and-forth more than an epileptic seizure victim hopped up on amphetamines.... such Kata-like run-throughs just aren't possible.

Thank you SO much for sharing what will 'fix' a game that to me that has been difficult to make peace with for over two years.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by Jaysahni Voorheet:

I do want to be able to master it and have very easy and very fast run-throughs as my knowledge level increases.... I WAS able to do this in RE2 1998 especially for the challenges of unlocking Hunk and Tofu.... but with the random outcomes of head-shots, not to mention the fact that they walk toward you with their head leaned all... the...way... back AND jiggling back-and-forth more than an epileptic seizure victim hopped up on amphetamines.... such Kata-like run-throughs just aren't possible.

I want to emphasize that you play the game however you like and feel most enjoyable, but you absolutely CAN master it and have an easy peasy time in it with the default values.

There is SO MUCH depth and variety you're missing by making the zombies susceptible to 1 shot headshots that it just pains me to read stuff like this when people claim it IMPROVES the game. Changes it - sure. Improves it? You're removing much more than just zombie HP.

So again, play the way you enjoy it, but I strongly recommend you give it a chance with default settings as well. And btw if you enjoy a purist zombie experience where the body is tough and the head is vulnerable, try Contagion. Preferably with friends.

[Frost]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

There is SO MUCH depth and variety you're missing by making the zombies susceptible to 1 shot headshots

Indeed. When you give yourself way more than enough ammo to kill every zombie, let alone infinite ammo, you realize it ruins the game. Part of the reason the game is enjoyable is because you don't have enough ammo to kill everything and you need to now be wary of picking and choosing how to use your limited ammo - and you don't NEED to kill everything to beat the game - you just need to find an acceptable path of what to kill and not kill to get through it.

Having enough ammo to kill everything pretty much makes the game pointless because you're removed almost all threat from the game.

I was just curious as I always saw people claiming head shots do the same damage overall but it was just critical hits that would make a difference since it destroyed the head and hence the zombie would be dead for good. But it started to seems to me that WITHOUT critical hits I can drop zombies faster with head shots, which implies head shots DO inflict more damage so I was wondering and posted the question.

[Darc]

Originally posted by Frost:

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

There is SO MUCH depth and variety you're missing by making the zombies susceptible to 1 shot headshots

Indeed. When you give yourself way more than enough ammo to kill every zombie, let alone infinite ammo, you realize it ruins the game. Part of the reason the game is enjoyable is because you don't have enough ammo to kill everything and you need to now be wary of picking and choosing how to use your limited ammo - and you don't NEED to kill everything to beat the game - you just need to find an acceptable path of what to kill and not kill to get through it.

Having enough ammo to kill everything pretty much makes the game pointless because you're removed almost all threat from the game.

I was just curious as I always saw people claiming head shots do the same damage overall but it was just critical hits that would make a difference since it destroyed the head and hence the zombie would be dead for good. But it started to seems to me that WITHOUT critical hits I can drop zombies faster with head shots, which implies head shots DO inflict more damage so I was wondering and posted the question.

Another way to increase the damage you deal is to wait for your handgun crosshairs to 'zoom in' on your target. zoomed shots deal extra damage just like headshots do. Combine both and you can conserve more ammo. Hitting them in the leg to trip them also works if you can't be bothered.

[LegendaryThunder]

Originally posted by Frost:

Originally posted by Seamus:

Adaptive difficulty.

Thank you for the reply.
Shots to kill vary by how well you play on any difficulty below hardcore.

I can load a game, the first zombie I see shoot him each time in the head and drop him in 2-3 hits. I can exit, reload the same save and hit him in the body and it takes more hits. (Assuming no crit shot to the head). So I would think that removes the adaptive difficulty variable from the equation (?)

It is random, just as it was in the original resident evil titles. The instant headshot however is on adaptive.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by Darc:

Another way to increase the damage you deal is to wait for your handgun crosshairs to 'zoom in' on your target. zoomed shots deal extra damage just like headshots do. Combine both and you can conserve more ammo. Hitting them in the leg to trip them also works if you can't be bothered.

I thought the zoomed crosshair means increased crit chance, not damage boost

[Darc]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

Originally posted by Darc:

Another way to increase the damage you deal is to wait for your handgun crosshairs to 'zoom in' on your target. zoomed shots deal extra damage just like headshots do. Combine both and you can conserve more ammo. Hitting them in the leg to trip them also works if you can't be bothered.

I thought the zoomed crosshair means increased crit chance, not damage boost

Could be.