Resident Evil 4 Professional - No Merchant + No Damage [New Game]

This playthrough is a new and improved "No Merchant" gameplay of Resident Evil 4 in Professional difficulty, New Game, this time with the addition of the "No Damage" rule. A "No Merchant" playthrough of Resident Evil 4 means that you completely ignore the merchant throughout the whole game, which means that not only you cannot upgrade your weapons and your attache case at his "store", but moreover - and most importantly - you cannot buy any other guns from him. Plainly put, you are limited to your default inventory as is, plus the very few extra weapons that you come across in the game itself, namely the Shotgun (chapter 1-1), the Broken Butterfly (chapter 4-1) and the two Rocket Launchers (chapter 3-3 and Final chapter). The "No Damage" part of course consists in sustaining no injury at all.

I saved a lot in this playthrough, and I also had to reload a lot. Sometimes because Leon would get hit, but most of the times because I thought I'd try a different - and better - strategy, and more so, since I hadn't played the game in a long time, and I needed to refresh my gaming memory regarding certain sections.

Chapter 1

The first chapter of the game is very easy, even in Professional. There is really not much difference in a "No Merchant" run, as even in a regular playthrough the upgrades that you can make are very few anyway. What really makes a difference though is that, since you cannot buy anything from the merchant, you will never get a Rifle in your hands, although you will not really feel the lack of this kind of weapon until much later. The most difficult part is the start of sub-chapter 1-2, where you have to make your way through about 50 ganados while looking for the two pieces that open the exit gate. I found it better to knife or shoot them dead instead of ignoring them, so that I would avoid any nasty surprises.

Chapter 2

The second chapter is a bit harder, but this only becomes evident during the Cabin Fight with Luis in sub-chapter 2-2. The thing is that, since you cannot make any upgrades, your Shotgun is limited to carry 6 bullets each time, which means that you have to reload way sooner that you'd like to. In any event, I followed more or less the same strategy that I usually apply in most of my playthroughs: I just stand at the top of the stairs for the first part, shooting any ganagos that may attempt to approach in groups, then in the second part I make sure to drop the ladders around the windows and keep close to Luis as much as I can. 

The worst part for me this time was the boss fight with Bitores in the barn. The first half of the battle was easy, as I did the same trick that I always do, both during my New Game runs and in my Handgun Only challenges - I shot him from a safe spot from the rafters until he mutated into his second form. The following part of the battle was the worst, as sometimes he would scratch Leon and even fatally wound him without the game giving me a prompt to dodge his attack. Moreover, he is quite fast and most of the times grenades are too slow to get him. So what I did was that I threw a Flash Grenade when he was close to the floor to make him drop, then threw a Hand Grenade while he was still down which then gave me the time to throw Fire Grenades before he could fly high up again. This sequence wounded him enough, and so soon after the fight was finally over.

Chapter 3

As the game progresses, it becomes harder, as expected. The third chapter is where you start wishing you had a Rifle and a few upgrades in your guns. The Prison was a bit of a pain, as I didn't want to waste much Shotgun ammo on the Garrador, so I additionally used the pistol and the knife to hit his plaga. This strategy made the battle last longer than I'd want to, but I already knew that as long as you keep walking around instead of running, you are relatively safe. 

Then was the accursed room with the pools and the crank. This section is a nightmare even in regular gameplay, let alone in a No Merchant/No Damage challenge. Not only are the Zealots endless, not only way too many of them carry shields, but as if all this wasn't enough, their plagas are infuriatingly resilient. To add insult to injury, the two archers on the sides of the room will most often than not be able to hit you after you have cleared the whole room, which means that you have to replay this whole part from the start.

Afterwards is the part where you have to protect Ashley as she is turning the two cranks, by shooting the Zealots that get close to her and / or manage to grab her, while at the same time a decent number of other Zealots come running to Leon in a fury. It is one of those desperate times when you'd offer your kingdom for a Rifle; and the Shotgun can only cover Leon's close encounters with the Zealots as it is not only unable to shoot away the monks that are up on the bridge with Ashley, but it is also too risky to use it as its wide shooting range can hit the girl and kill her before you know it.

Moving on, I was not sure how to proceed in the Sewers with those disgusting giant insects, until I decided to just run past them, ignoring them completely and hoping that they wouldn't hit me or surprise me around a corner. After a few attempts, the plan worked and I only missed those items from the cells; but I would have wasted way more ammo had I decided to fight and kill the monsters. The room where the Goat Ornament is was a bit frustrating, but again I found it better to simply run through, shooting only those enemies that would stand in the way. The Zealots with the Rockets hiding behind the painting were quite helpful, as their shots would kill a few monks every now and then.

The rest of the chapter was a breeze compared to what came before; I just run through the hedge maze not killing any plaga dogs, then in the Garrador room I tossed a Hand Grenade to temporarily neutralize him, kill a few monks and, most importantly, break open one of the cage doors. Freeing Ashley from above was rather nasty, though; again for the same reasons for which the room with the two cranks was a nightmare. Since I had no Rifle, and I couldn't risk using the Shotgun much in case I'd kill Ashley, I relied mostly on my handgun. Those Zealots could never go down, and as long as the leader was alive, more minions would burst in the room. Ashley's part is always easy and fun, so the chapter ended in a relatively relaxed mood.

Chapter 4

After having completed the game for this challenge, I can safely say that Chapter 4 is by far the most difficult section when you play in No Merchant / No Damage mode. There may be certain parts in Chapter 5 that are extremely tough, but the fourth chapter is a nerve-wrecking experience from beginning to end. One of the highlights of course is the room with the knights that guard the King's Grail. Of course I had the Broken Butterfly, but I had to be very careful to never miss a shot. Thankfully, I had enough Flash Grenades to kill the plagas after the knights mutated. 

After placing the two Grails and dealing with the giant insects in the Hive room, I went the long way back to the room with the free Rocket Launcher and took the gun, although at that point I wasn't sure against which enemy I'd use it. Surprisingly enough, I had no problem dealing with both Garradors at the Clock Tower. I slowly lured them towards the entrance of the room so as to not trigger the appearance of the extra Zealots, and managed to kill them one by one, patiently and strategically moving around.

Arriving at the Sewers, I decided to use the free Launcher to kill the Verdugo, although I knew I could simply dodge his attacks and wait for the elevator to arrive, as killing him is not required so as to move on (it is an alternative strategy I had already done in my Handgun Only runs); but I decided to kill him for two reasons: one, after going through the nightmare that was sub-chapter 4-1, I didn't have the courage to play hide and seek with that disgusting giant cockroachy thing; and two, because keeping the Launcher in my inventory would dramatically limit my carrying space as far as ammo was concerned.

At the two Gigantes room, I lured the one in the lava pit (thankfully it was the hardcore one), then used the well-known ladder trick to knife the other like there was no tomorrow. It was a bit time consuming, but killing him with gunfire would mean losing a ton of valuable ammo. Then it was the insects cave, a section that I hate with a venom. Not only are those giant mosquitos disgusting as hell, not only they make those creepy noises as they fly around or run about the cave, they are also able to take you by surprise just when you think you are safe from their reach. I took advantage of the checkpoint system in this room, by exiting and entering the cave after each successful run to a button, and only shot down those insects that would truly cause trouble. There was no way I would waste my valuable Shotgun bullets on those creatures.

Next up, the mine cart ride was an expected highlight. A rather easy section when you have the Shotgun, but for some reason I wasted way too many bullets this time, and when I arrived at the room with Salazar's statue, my inventory was poor as Hell. I moved on anyway, and at the Tower of Death I just run upstairs and boarded the elevator. After dealing with all the Zealots during the ride, I had only a few ammo left, and only hoped that my magnum bullets would be enough for the battle with Salazar.

That is when I realized that using the Launcher against the Verdugo instead of keeping it for Salazar was a really bad idea. Salazar proved to be one of the nastiest and toughest bosses in all Resident Evil history, which is quite impressive for an enemy who cannot even chase you around. Of course my magnum bullets were not enough, and shooting him with the pistol or the Shotgun felt like throwing grains of sand on an iron wall and expecting it to break. I nearly gave up at that point, but then I used Mathematics and they saved me. Salazar's HP is approximately 250; the Broken Butterfly has 13.0 HP. This practically means that you need about 18 - 19 magnum bullets in order to kill him. I only had 15, so I needed to arrive at the battle stage with at least 4 bullets more. Thankfully, I had a save from the start of sub-chapter 4-4, so I reloaded that part and was lucky to get a few more magnum bullets as a random drop from the Zealots there. With the addition of the magnum bullets that you find just before Salazar's arena, I now entered the battle room with 21 magnum bullets. What I did was that I simply stood opposite Salazar, dodging his insta-kill attacks and the hits from his tentacles, and shot him carefully every time his "body" was exposed. That is, I didn't waste any bullets to break his eye and make his body appear, I simply waited for him to open his cocoon and expose himself on his own. It took a bit of time, but I managed to not miss a single shot, and after hitting him enough, I saw the long-awaited cutscene where he wails like a failed opera singer before disappearing for good.

Chapter 5

The last chapter of the game is traditionally the most demanding, but for some reason it didn't cause me many problems this time around. I managed to go through the first part without killing almost anyone, and avoiding JJ's machine gun by either hiding or tossing Flash Grenades to stun him. I followed a similar strategy for the next part, just ignoring the soldiers until I reached the gate and subsequently entered the building.

For the Regeneradores - at least those that are necessary to kill - I used the shoot-and-slash strategy that is so effective and saves you from wasting ammo; and the same I did for the Iron Maidens. The hardest part is definitely the lava room in sub-chapter 5-2; but this time I came up with a different strategy that worked wonders. I jumped down with Ashley, then run to the right and around the lava pool, headed towards the left door of the control room. Just there, I tossed a Flash Grenade, stunning most enemies and giving Ashley enough time to operate the wrecking ball twice before the ganados would start to wake up again. At that point, I tossed one more Flash Grenade, Ashley operated the ball one last time and we managed to run out safely with plenty of time in our hands.

The bulldozer rides are almost always a fun part (unless you play with handgun only; then they are no fun at all). Next up was the knife fight with Krauser. Such a great scene and so many fond memories from my first runs of the game. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that you need to press two buttons in a sequence at the end of the scene, so Jack managed to kill Leon the first time. This was one of the many deaths that Leon had in sub-chapter 5-3.

Then it was the dreaded U-3 battle. It went unexpectedly well this time, however, and I only had to reload just a few times because the damned thing somehow managed to cut Leon in half. There is a dramatic FPS drop from time to time as the U-3 chases Leon around, but nothing too distracting, thankfully. I used the Broken Butterfly, many Fire Grenades and my knife in order to kill the monster and it was over sooner than I expected.

The boss fight with Krauser is a classic part, and I knew I was going to kill him with my knife only. All went smoothly until the final stage, because I didn't remember how fast, furious and flexible Jack would become after his mutation, and Leon ended up dead more times than I could count. In the end though Jack  succumbed to Leon's blade like he always wanted to.

Sub-chapter 5-4 is a challenge on its own, especially in Professional where Mike only shows up once then forgets about Leon almost completely. The part with the three mounted guns is one of the worst sections; but then I followed a strategy that I had come up with during my Handgun Only runs, going first to the leftmost tower and dealing with the arriving soldiers from there, then carefully moving behind the ganado who was operating the machine gun and killing him. I then moved to the opposite tower and carefully killed the other ganado on the rightmost mounted gun, before dropping down and, moving with caution from barrier to barrier, approaching the ganado on the ground-level mounted gun and eventually killing him.

The final part of this sub-chapter turned out to be one of the most frustrating parts of the game. Attempting to kill the soldiers seemed like an option, but they are all so strong at that point that it seems like it's a waste of bullets and time to try and deal with them. So I just run straight to the locked exit door, thus triggering the cutscene where the soldier with the red bandana removes the card from the control slot and runs down to where Leon is. I was lucky this time because when he arrived he was on his own, and I managed to kill him and take the card almost immediately. Again taking advantage of the checkpoint system, I exited and entered the arena after each successful run to a button, until I finally managed to leave that damned place. One more good thing about this strategy is that, as long as you don't kill enough soldiers, the JJ enemy will not appear.

The boss fight with Saddler was like a walk in the park in the end. I used grenades, the barrels and the cranes to stun him and be able to stab his eye enough times to trigger Ada's appearance, then used her Rocker Launcher to send him to his grave. After all that we've been through, it was the least we could do to reward ourselves for our achievement.

Addendum: Separate Ways

Ada's story in "No Merchant + No Damage" mode doesn't make much difference compared to a regular gameplay, because "Separate Ways" has a fixed difficulty level (I guess it's a slightly enhanced version of Normal) and Ada cannot boost her weapons as they already have a few predetermined upgrades. The challenge here lies in her not being able to buy the extra guns (the TMP, the Rifle and the Crossbow), but the times where you truly miss having those weapons are extremely few. Moreover, you can just run past most enemies, sometimes even bosses (namely, the Gigante in Chapter 2), while grabbing all the items in an area. 

The only truly difficult parts, but still manageable, are the shipyard section in Chapter 4, the locked room with the timer in Chapter 5 and the camp part with the archers and the two JJ's in the same chapter. Other than that, both Krauser and Saddler can go down pretty fast with the knife, and you can simply run past everyone - or tossing grenades, like I did - during the final part.