Hey I am playing RE 4 right now and I just pwnt all of the guys when you first meet the salesman. I think missed my chance to get the special pistol since I didn't get enough blue medallions. I can't find a way to go back. I am playing on normal difficulty. As of yet. I've had no shortage of ammo. I am afraid however that I will at some point. Does melee do damage? Anywho, to the point. What weapons should I focus on upgrading? Can I get that special pistol soon anyway? I know there are multiple pistols, which one should I use? Is there any general advice that can make me better in combat?

Well honestly you should learn to kill ganado with only one bullet. You shoot them in the face, kick them, then knife them until they're dead. You will run out of ammo and when you do you'll be in a real crunch when some parts of the game is really ammo based combat, like when you have to protect Ashley while she turns some cranks, or when you're surrounded by ganado in a log cabin. I honestly wouldn't upgrade anything at this point, just save your money until you can get either the Red9 or you reach the castle. This does mean you'll have to go through some hell, but the pay off will be worth it and make the rest of the game smoother in sailing.

You can purchase the special gun at one point for 20,000, but I just shoot the medalions and sell the gun back for 10,000 because it's not that powerful, it eats up your rounds, and the only pay off is that it punches through 2 enemies at once, or 5 if you fully upgrade it. You're fairly early into the game, so you'll have time to shoot the rest of the medalions. You can look up YouTube links of where their locations are or just spend some money for the treasure map (village).

And yes, by God almighty yes, Melee is your best ammo saver, it deals more damage than your knife, and it stuns the enemy long enough for you to knife them to death, unless there's a crowd of them.

Remember, one misfire can really affect you.

I don't think RE 4 is scarce in providing ammo. It depends on how effectively you manage your weapons and strategize your combat with necessary weapons. Like don't use shot gun ammo on simple ganados that hardly put up a fight than jus attack you at close range. Suggestion would be fight them at medium range and fend them off from reaching you. A hand gun would be effective. You will find tons of hand gun ammo in this game. Don't sell them or drop them thinking they are unnecessary. Make good use of the hand gun at medium range combat. B;ack tail is the best handgun in the game. Upgrade them to max and do not sell it for any other hand guns.A TMP is also a worthy weapon at medium range for simple ganados. Also TMP is great on enemies that move a lot like dogs. Leon equips them at waist level which is easy to aim at enemies that are short(dogs).

The dilemma of whether to buy a weapon or upgrade an existing weapon haunted me. But RE 4 gave me so much treasures that i both upgraded my weapons and bought new weapons. I would suggest to upgrade existing weapons one of a kind , then when fully upgraded - sell them - buy a new weapon of same kind.Like shotgun-power up to maximum-sell-buy pump action shot gun. The fire power of new weapons will always be greater than upgraded weapons when the merchant makes it available to buy.You will also save some money as merchant will buy it at a higher price and sell the new weapon at a lower price.Also , I would suggest not to buy pump action shot gun. It acts same way as shot gun. However striker is much better in aiming and in firepower.

Mine thrower - The most important weapon that will save ammo for the rest of weapons. Use them effectively. At some missions, Enemies will jus be open and have no idea of your existence. Use mine thrower to take them out. Don't forget to upgrade them and also equip them with scope.They are useful on garradors as well. Ring the bell and wait for the garrador to take the bait. Use mine thrower . followed by hand gun attack.

You can always upgrade size of your inventory as soon as it is available. It will help you carry a lot of items.

Do not waste grenades unless situation demands. Use shot gun in such situations. Save grenades for the final combat with saddler. Ooops...that was a spoiler.

I tried to beat RE 5 the same way. I lost so much ammo even for hand guns. It was all about melees. They could well renamed it as Resident evil street fighter edition.

I just use shotguns on dogs. I only pull one shot on them.. down boy... good boy.

I played against sadler many years ago and remember it being brutally difficult. I just met saddler where he stopped strangling me.

Actually Saddler is disappointingly easy for me for some reason. U3 is tougher and scarier for me.

Though I'll tell you what, Saddler is freaking invincible in Separate Ways.

I assume to get into the church I have to do something with the graves?

Uhm no actually, though you can get a fancy green cat's eye with the grave markers.

You have to pursue downward to the right past these rafters.

I actually found out how to get that after that little mission in Separate Ways.

Oh yeah, when it's required to do that puzzle.

Should I sell the Cat's Green Eye or keep it?

you should sell it, it counts a treasure- to sell? I think... I don't know, I don't play that much RE4. Though I should be finishing it on Normal

Well if you get the beerstein, you can attach it to that along with a yellow and red cats eye and get even more money. Alone you only get like 3000, with the beerstein you get 10,000, then 15,000, then I believe 20,000.

This is his first run through, plus he said that there wasn't enough ammo in Resident Evil 5 on easy.