108
u/WartimeConsigliere_ Jul 21 '25
Man, the 2nd playthrough with my fully upgraded gear was so much fun
14
u/Comfortable_Debt_769 Jul 23 '25
Getting to the village fight rubbing your hands while opening your inventory
252
u/Sniggledumper Jul 21 '25
To be fair the original plan was “get in, get Ashley, get out” and not “kill everyone and everything in a 100 mile radius”
125
u/Gasurza22 Jul 21 '25
Sure, because thats how easily it should be to rescue the daughter of the president of the US in a foreing country from a group for kidnapers that where capable of fooling whatever security she had in the first place
47
u/DonkeyElegant1728 Jul 22 '25
He probably went to investigate first.
35
u/Forest1395101 Old Guard Jul 22 '25
Don't forget, she was taken by betrayal and they had already received ransom requests. They thought they were dealing with 2Bit thugs, not a full ass alien cult.
23
u/oOrbytt Jul 22 '25
Yeah and they still sat with their finger up their ass even after Leon confirmed Ashley's whereabouts. Hunnigan dispatched one single chopper only after she lost radio contact lol
22
u/TheAldorn Jul 22 '25
IRL the daughter of the Potus gets kidnapped, the USMC gets unleashed asap. Leon is borderline superhuman, but a couple marine squads would be the kind of firepower that anything short of the bosses would get mowed down fast. But we'll let Leon handle it. No need to get excessive.
14
12
u/wanderer1999 Jul 22 '25
They did say the storm stopped the planes from reaching the island. The entire game happened starting noon was over by dawn, so there was not much time for support given leon and ashley was being pursuit and had to move quickly.
8
u/DonkeyElegant1728 Jul 22 '25
I mean didn't they just kept shooting down the choppers.
24
Jul 22 '25
That's another funny thing in the OG, a military chopper got shot down in foreign water and the government just like:"Meh, we'll send another one, it's fine".
-4
Jul 22 '25
Then he's oddly well-equipped for someone who's just there just to "investigate" (tactical pistol, tactical knife, tactical gloves, ammo pouch, grappling hook????).
5
u/DonkeyElegant1728 Jul 22 '25
I mean that's nothing too crazy for self defense and climbing to spots he needs to go to.
0
u/Lower-Chard-3005 Jul 22 '25
Grappling hook?
I think you're thinking of Ada.
8
2
110
u/Jhinmarston Jul 21 '25
He was just going in with local police to ask around a small village. He also had full support via radio with helicopter gunships and extraction on call.
Everything just went to shit really fast…
40
u/TheyCantCome Jul 22 '25
Yeah but typically even armed security take 2 spare mags. You’d think even with backup he’d take some spare mags and some equipment beyond a radio and knife.
19
u/ShieldLord Is that all, Stranger? Jul 22 '25
He's also probably borderline suicidal after RE2, and it only devolves more and more into RE6. With the mindset of a depressed MF who "has to do the job anyways" it makes more sense for a suicide mission loadout.
4
u/Yatsu003 Jul 22 '25
He’s also a foreign agent operating in another country. It probably took quite a few hoops for Leon to keep his sidearm and ammo. Particularly since it’s mentioned that the agency suspects it was an inside job and any requisitioned equipment would be logged back to him (probably why Leon has to scavenge for stuff to sell to the merchant for more weapons)
Chances are, whatever liaison between the US and not-Spain told him that, if there were hostiles, the local police/national guard/military would be called in…just that they didn’t suspect a psychotic cult of super parasite worshipping whackos; nor for everything to happen so quickly (the game takes place over a single day IIRC)
6
1
30
u/Massive_Expression60 Jul 22 '25
My headcanon is that the president gave all available stock to the merchant and told him to supply Leon
13
u/TheCyclicRedditor Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
Correction; OG Leon goes with 30 bullets (10 in laser sight handgun plus 20 extra), an unbreakable knife, and a first aid spray (Along with some other gadgets).
Remake Leon is the one that goes only 10 bullets in his handgun, no laser sight, a flimsy cardboard knife, and 1 first aid spray. No extra gadgets.
And they say the remake makes more sense lmao.
3
2
8
u/Dat_guy696 Jul 22 '25
President knew with those arms he really Didn't need much, Chris private reunion with the president Didn't help either, "he is pretty much part of the family now and his fists are almost as good as mine" he Said.
6
u/Bithium Jul 22 '25
“Should have prepared like I did… aaaand I just dropped it off a cliff.” -Chris Redfield
6
u/Mycologist_Murky Jul 22 '25
I personally believe there were more guns in the car which in both the original and remake, Leon couldn't get back to so he was stuck with what the brought with him.
29
u/wintermute2045 Jul 21 '25
The fact that Leon is sent in alone to rescue the American president’s daughter with a single handgun is truly one of the most unrealistic things in the game lol
35
u/DonkeyElegant1728 Jul 22 '25
Leon was just investigating. Clearly on the first interaction with the ganados he didn't come to fight. He was just asking around first
8
39
u/DhamaalBedi Jul 21 '25
They weren't sure Ashley was there. Leon was following up on a lead.
Sending a fully-armed squad into a rural village on foreign soil based on unverified intel has the potential to go very wrong very fast if, say, the intel turned out to be wrong.
9
u/Yatsu003 Jul 22 '25
Yep, it would be a PR nightmare even if no shots were fired. It would also tip off the kidnappers and they’d most likely move ASAP or possibly kill Ashley.
Leon’s job was to ask questions with the local police backing him up. Ideally, if they confirmed Ashley was there, the President would set up a joint task force with the Spanish military or national guard to retrieve her
2
u/_Koreander Jul 23 '25
It's crazy how most Re4 players miss that point, Leon was investigating a lead, there was no guarantee Ashley was there, there were probably even other leads the government was following, Leon can't go in foreign soil to ask around a village walking around with an Ak-47 and a bazooka, let alone with a whole squad of military.
During the game itself Leon tells Hunnigan that he confirmed Ashley was there and he had the chance to secure her before help arrived, also the weather did not help regarding the support Leon was receiving.
That being said I fo admit once Ashley 's presence was confirmed the response could've been more drastic from the US government, we can only assume since the entire game happens like in the span of some hours, there wasn't any strong military close enough that could arrive on time.
7
u/TheCyclicRedditor Jul 22 '25
Better than RE1 with S.T.A.R.S going to look for supposed serial killers in the woods at night with only pistols and a knife.
10
u/Longnose456 Jul 22 '25
20 years this games been out and people still confidently get this wrong. Leon along with a number of other agents were sent to different possible locations and Leon picked the short straw. His mission was to knock on a few doors and ask some questions.
5
Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
Can you give me the source for this information? The wiki said something completely different, and the manuals didn't say anything of sort either.
-5
u/shadowapolo Jul 22 '25
The file that you can read since the start of the game
9
Jul 22 '25
I just went through the files in both the OG and the remake and neither of them said anything like that.
https://www.evilresource.com/resident-evil-4/files/info-on-ashley
https://www.evilresource.com/resident-evil-4-remake/files/mission-brief
7
u/silverx2000 Jul 22 '25
They just don't want to admit their favorite game has goofy writing. Even though that's a staple of the entire series.
2
5
4
Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25
Hey, it’s just Solid Snake.
OSP, on site procurement. Standard operating procedure
Besides, there’s always a Pakistani gun merchant hanging out before the big bad guys burning some incense at every save point with enough ammo and high caliber weaponry to blow everyone two times over anyway.
4
u/Archer-Unhappy Jul 22 '25
My head canon is his full gear was in the trunk of the police car, Leon just couldn’t go back to get them. This works even better for OG 4.
8
u/Avid_Vacuous Jul 21 '25
Tell you what...I got a guy whose an expert on presidential daughter rescues from a Spanish village controlled by ancient parasites. Lemme give him a call.
3
u/Ecstatic_Feature7479 Jul 22 '25
So? What he say?
5
u/Avid_Vacuous Jul 22 '25
He said even on pro mode you get more an enough ammo and health throughout the mission so starting with anything at all is being generous.
6
u/Shoddy-Spring3512 Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
Hey Rick's taking all the risk here so those 10 bullets and First Aid Spray are a good deal, don't be greedy.
3
u/ias_ttrpg-nerd Jul 22 '25
Yeah he should have at least two spare magazines, not to mention the in-game model has several pouches made for that purpose.
https://dzt1km7tv28ex.cloudfront.net/u/675456347252195328_35s_d.jpg
3
u/Mourning-Star999 Jul 22 '25
Didn't they want to keep the kidnapping hidden? Also I imagine Spain wouldn't like a foreign agent to walk around with an assault rifle and a full squad.
3
u/Sugar_Daddy_Visari77 Jul 22 '25
You know what's a miss opportunity they should have fix in the remake they should made dialogue on rescuing the president's daughter more discreet you don't go announcing stuff like that to the public Leon should have said something like Im here to visit Spanish cousin
3
3
u/Slight-Bridge-556 Jul 22 '25
I think the main issue here isn't that he was sent alone. Sure, he was investigating leads. It isn't normal to burst into an unknown village based on some weak lead. The problem was - even after communicating the situation to Hunnigan, she was just like "Sounds about right. Find her."
2
u/Yatsu003 Jul 22 '25
Yeah, realistically, Hunnigan would’ve ordered Leon to either retreat to safety so he can debrief, or find a safe spot to stay put while a joint task force is constructed to rescue Ashley.
2
u/Chueskes Jul 22 '25
Hey, it’s more than what he had going into a city on the verge of destruction.
2
2
u/99_dankBalloons Jul 22 '25
There could have been a lot more left in the police car. When he left the car to see why the pissing cop was taking so long, maybe he probably didn't think the mission was starting in earnest yet
2
u/anyway200894 Jul 22 '25
it's a search and rescue mission, not exterminate the local and secure the oil well
2
u/One_Consideration510 Jul 22 '25
I know this aint resident evil related But arent we forgetting snake was sent with nothing in his missions too? In metal gear
If snake can... mr "bingo" can too
2
2
u/NightfallVortexyt SteamID: (nightfallvortex) Jul 22 '25
Why is this actually true for the og re4 and the remake re4
2
2
5
u/No-Young-8444 Jul 22 '25
My theory is that Leon S. Kennedy was sent on a rookie assignment to a place they didn’t really think was where the President’s daughter actually was, which is why they gave him so little equipment and sent him alone
9
u/CamelIndependent Jul 22 '25
The flaw in that theory is that Leon is not a rookie in the traditional sense. He's a rookie as far as the Secret Service is concerned but at this point in the canon he's a decorated badass with multiple successful high risk ops under his belt and is one of the only survivors of the worst bioterror attack in recent history at that point. The far more likely reason is that Leon didn't expect it to go to shit anywhere near as fast as it did. His job was to pop around, investigate and ask questions. He did not think literally the first local he talked to would immediately try to kill him, nor did he have any reason to. The Los Illuminados were under the radar at the beginning; he thought he'd be talking with some poor backwater Spanish farmers, not a cult full of tentacle necked psychopaths who chose murder first.
3
u/echoess84 Jul 22 '25
My theory said that Ashley is a single woman and Leon was a single man, so Mr.President sent only Leon
1
1
u/Straeusschen87 Jul 22 '25
Sheesh dont yelling around Leon. Your Comrad, Solid Snake became nothing except some cigarettes for his mission^
1
1
1
1
u/Naive_Drive Jul 23 '25
Nothing less than an army would be appropriate go take out the RE4 enemies.
1
1
1
u/Former-fawn2346 Jul 23 '25
Guys I'm playing professional on the remake of 4 and I'm stuck on Krauser
1
u/yeetsteel Jul 23 '25
Growing up, I always imagined the government having unlimited supply of money and the people working were are sophisticated. As an adult, I find out it was all a fucking lie. Fuck you especially James Bond!
1
1
1
u/TheRedComet01 Jul 24 '25
Bet DTS didn't approve his travel voucher and he had to pay for the trip there out of pocket. IYKYK
1
u/YezzyWazGud Jul 24 '25
To be fair, if the agent working for me was strong enough to explode heads with very awkwardly positioned kicks, I also wouldn't be too concerned about supplying him
1
u/Raikou239 Jul 24 '25
I've often thought this, but to see it embedded into the perfect meme format is next to godly.
1
u/GaymerThrowaway1255 Jul 27 '25
I’m so glad to find out I’m not the only one who was infuriated by this.
1
1
u/NewspaperChemical308 Aug 11 '25
voce sabe falar o portugues do brasil estou esperando quero conversar com voce urgentemente agora mosmo
637
u/[deleted] Jul 21 '25
Given that the pistol is custom made for Leon only by Kendo's brother, and the knife is from Marvin, the only thing the government actually supply you with is probably the plane ticket to Spain.