All you're describing is individual things that occur during or before the actual ending itself. The dialogue you describe is still chalked up to *We made it. What now? ^_^*

And if handcuff symbolism is anything better than finishing off a main series villain once and for all then that kind of appeal flew way past my head.

I don't think many people will remember the handcuff in the ending as much as the little butterfly in the web which depicts far better symbolism than anything Zero meant. And on that note I still am not seeing much of a reason to lash on someone for liking RE5's ending.

Also Code Veronica was not seven minutes of dialogue at the end unless of course you are referring to a re-release which decided to add an additional Wesker scene setting up for a future showdown that was concluded in RE5. And if that's the case, the lines were not really that long. It was pure filler since they were going to end it just as they did with the original.

 

I do believe the marketing was a huge part of why the game was so successful. After the hype of RE4, which was an award-winning breakthrough for the series, Capcom had to leap to the next step of promotions.

The first thing that comes to mind is the racial controversy from the early trailers. No one can escape that there will be people finding the concept of a white man killing africans offensive regardless of the narrative of the story focusing on a returning character in the series fighting off Africans being infected. But with this title stretching out to territory not really visited much in videogames there was a universal world-wide interest going on. People from all over the world gave their insight on what they though of this game.

The next step was targeting the casual gaming mass which was where co-op came into play. Having a co op RE title in the main series wasn't going to go unnoticed. With RE5 being the first resident evil title on an XBOX console the crowd also had to be convinced that this was an action co-op title to go along with their lineup.

Next we had the marketing for fans of the series. For that, there was a heavy focus on cutscene trailers that depict the story coming back to Chris vs. Wesker. Not only that, but they also revealed through minor shots and advertisments the gravestone of the series' most beloved heronie---Jill Valentine. Any fan of the game had to know how she died or if she was truly dead or not. This in itself was a very clever way to pull in the fans.

Next we had to show off the HD quality of this game. All the mocap actors were on tour giving interviews. The developers showed off their technology and how advanced the gameplay and cutscenes were looking. This is the only RE game where there was a focus on how the mocap process was going. This was all behind-the-scenes stuff that gained interest in the gamers.

And to top that off, aside from having a film director (the guy who did Pulse) handle the cutscenes of the game they also had another horror director (the guy who did the remakes of Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th) handle viral marketing videos which were placed on a RE5 site that offered extras and prizes.

The website also took itself more seriously than previous RE titles. Back when RE4 was out the site for it was barely updated and always contained false information. Now they've been keeping on top of things with lots of information to keep a gamer interested. They even included viral blog entries to update you with nothing vital yet they still maintained your curiosity.

We also have to include commercials, some exclusive, coming from popular channels like Comedy Central.

Vegas even promoted the game on a side of a building. One of my friends that lives there drove by and noticed it then text'd me about it because he knew I was an RE fan.

With all of this included in sites, trailers, interviews, commercials, advertisements, promos, etc. It's hard to see how this game could fail in not being noticed.

 

Well RE5 was originally going to be a single player game early in development. They even say that in their RE5 guide. But they also point out that Sheva was a main character created early in development as well and have the concept art to back that up. I would imagine that before the game was desogned around co-op that Sheva was a supporting character to Chris because of the African location. The concept art of an earlier design still had the same basic set up with a few more differences. But Wesker was still the villain. Irving and Excella were a part of his scheme. Jill was still captured. Sheva still aided Chris. I think there was some pros and cons going about making this game co-op. But the marketing for that came later in the game. They announced Sheva as a playable character so some had believed you would switch between them. And before that people were still under the impression that RE5 was single player in the desert. They not only didn't know about Sheva, but Irving, Excella, Josh, the names of the monsters, who the test tube girl was, Jill's grave, lickers, bosses, etc.

All that early stuff was still in development, and there was always a chance of some of it being tweaked or scrapped. RE1 1.5 and RE 3.5 had some of the biggest well known changes done to them from what gamers were originally lead to believe in the early info. Hell RE2 was pretty much close to being released like that before the whole thing was scrapped. Characters were changed around (Irons going from good to bad), characters dropped/created (Elza becomes Claire), and the layout is re-designed (the police station).

In fact RE2 also had some pretty great marketing of its own back in 98. They had George Romero work on an advertisment so even back then they used horror diectors to film ads. And it's no surprise that RE2 was the former best selling title in the series.

 

Yes, Excella was underrated. While the tyrant death sounds nice I think I prefer her death in the final build. It seems much more fitting for her character to be one of the unworthy selected by Wesker's uroboros. That, and of course she suffers the worse tenticle rape that could ever be concieved. But I liked her. She had some of the wittiest lines in the game, and her loyaty to Wesker is rare when you contrast her to Ada Wong.

As for Alexia I knew there would be votes based around having taste to the idea of "bad girls". I think Jill made for a pretty good "bad girl" herself even though she was a tool to Wesker and Excella. I can just imagine all the horrible acts she would do under orders from both of them.

But there is something about bad girls who can still dress sexy that appeal to gamers. Just look at Ada and Excella. Even though Alexia dresses like royalty Capcom still provided semi-nudity as obvious fanservice. And as for Jill....Even though Jill is a super soldier they give her a skin tight battlesuit with high heeled boots to go along with it. I think that's the first time I've ever seen Jill wear high heels in a canon RE story.

But thanks for the vote. I can already tell you're excited to learn a little bit more about Alexia once Darkside hits this winter.

 

I don't know if removing her would make no difference to the plot.

First off the drive for RE5 is "partners". They drill it into your brain enough times with the dialogue and co-op gameplay. Chris and Jill happen to be the most well known partners of the entire franchise. Making Jill appear dead and giving Chris a new partner to reflect upon Jill was part of the course for this story. It was all in tune with the theme even to the point of thinking about Jill as Chris jumps in to save Sheva's life from Wesker on board the air craft.

The possibility that she is alive is the entire reason that Chris goes to Africa in the first place. As he points out he has a personal stake in this mission. And when the BSAA are told to retreat he decides to proceed further because Jill's picture in the database confirmed his suspicions and he had to go and find her.

Other than that she is one of the reasons for the outbreak in Kijuju. And when she's saved she does manage to tell them Wesker's weakness along with provide support alongside Josh at the end. So I found her very important in the story. She may have been hidden for most of the game, and not playable in the main story, but that doesn't take away her importance. The one thing I would have liked more is if she tagged along with them in going after Wesker, but I imagine they wanted to keep the focus on the partnership that was building with Chris and Sheva. Since you play as those two that's why they fight together and kill Wesker together.

But hopefully Jill being alive means she can have a game of her own again just like RE3. I would love to see either her or Claire star in a new sequel again to fight some infected once more. There's talk of a reboot, but I hope they continue with their stories and just "reboot" the gameplay like they somewhat did with RE4.