To Remaster, or to Not?

So one of the most interesting things about the SaGa Frontier remaster SE recently announced is that they took a famously unfinished game and opted to actually finish the game proper this time by adding back a bunch of cut content, including a missing eighth playable lead character. So it didn't take long for someone to wonder if SE would consider giving Xenogears the same treatment if a remaster was ever considered.

Granted, while I can imagine SE may go a remaster route for Xenogears 25th anniversary (2023 baby!) I don't think they'll change anything outside of a few QoL changes. The second disc would remain mostly unchanged unless SE partnered with some of the original core members to make this remake whom have all left SE by this point. Things I would point out here is that while the SaGa series has often put back in missing content such as the PS2 remake putting back in a ton of missing quests and characters and now the stuff with SaGa Frontier, the SaGa series still has several of their prominent creators still working for SE including the series creator.

So the question is would you be interested in a remaster, and if so, how far would you hope they go?

I picked option 2 but not really because I’m scared they’d ruin it, but because I actually really like Disc 2 in it’s original form. Sure, it plays like a cliff notes version of the plot, but honestly at that point the game is incredibly bloated and it helps that you get a segment that’s so rich in story in the end when normally in SE games the story takes a backseat in the final hours. Also I just really like it artistically. They had so much story to tell but were under such time and budget constraints that they made something really creative imo.

But yeah, mostly the translation needs reworking (no shade towards Richard Honeywood considering he did a fantastic job as the single translator in a time when the internet couldn’t help him - it really just needs some sprucing up so the dialog flows better and all mythological allusions are clear) and some bugs need to be fix.


Still, a part of me would really love a complete reworking from the ground up a la Trials of Mana. They could get the people from Monolith Soft to really let them complete their vision (especially with how depressing this and Xenosaga was for Soraya Saga, so it’d be neat if she got another shot at it). I imagine Takahashi would probably link it to his new Xeno era somehow lol. Like I wouldn’t be surprised if Klaudia had something to do with the creation of Deus. Still, it’d feel pretty hollow if they didn’t get the chance to do Xenosaga properly as well, but that’s obviously not happening, especially not because Xenogears might be getting an anniversary remake.

I'd love a complete remake done well. Expand the "disc 2" section to the point that was intended in the first place while they're at it.

It'd probably (but not necessarily) have to be done with the help of Monolith, which is now owned by Nintendo, so if they did go that route there would have to be some deals being made there, but I could see Nintendo going "alright, make it Switch exclusive and maybe PC after a time, like Octopath" and S-E going "sure, Switch has plenty of users to make profit off of".

One can dream :p

I'd say go full remaster and finish it. Maybe not the FFVII treatment, as that would be a huge game and the audience is probably not there, but something similar to Trials of Mana would be nice.

I beat the game twice. It was 75 and 80 hours. I got 60 hours into Xenoblade twice, and got burned out. And people are talking about wanting this game pushed closer to the originally intended 100 hour mark? that's baffling to me. Plus I think I'm with Fynn. The visual novel at the end with boss battles was unique and fascinating. Some of it was admittedly jarring, but again I'd agree to just touch up the text to make it flow better. Add analog support, and have character portraits with more than 3 faces and I'll be happy. The thing I really don't trust SE with is turning the UI into an iPad like they did with FF6, and the Tokyo RPG Factory games (hard to describe, but whatever it is, it irks me)

Maybe they take the 'visual novel' concept from the last part and make it the whole game. A boss rush with some story scenes in between. I can see them doing this actually.

I feel for me I would love to see a remaster that did try to expand the second disc. Though I would settle for a simple remaster that touches up the graphics and cleans up the translation as well.

I think my biggest issue with fixing the second disc is that I would want some of the original staff to be onboard for that kind of overhaul just to stay somewhat consistent with the rest of the game, though I also feel it's been so long for the staff that coming back and trying to expand on that part will always feel off no matter what.

I'm less inclined for a serious remake. While the idea of seeing Gears in Xenoblade graphics is very tempting to me, I just imagine the game would get overhauled to fit more modern gaming taste and I'm less inclined for that. Probably have the battle system turned into a boring action-rpg and then they would add a thousand samey side quests to do on the side, but maybe my cynicism is showing too much. Not to mention I imagine trying to adapt Xenogears into that style would still make the game not cost effective enough to be worthwhile.

Which is why I'm more content with just a slight graphical touch up like the ones seen for the SaGa remasters and a cleaner script. Getting Mitsuda to come back to do a new arrangement of the OST would be pretty snazzy as well as long as I can have the option to switch back to the original.

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Originally Posted by Vyk

I beat the game twice. It was 75 and 80 hours. I got 60 hours into Xenoblade twice, and got burned out. And people are talking about wanting this game pushed closer to the originally intended 100 hour mark? that's baffling to me.

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I don't mind it when a game is super long really. Heck, my favorite game took me somewhere between 150-200 hours to beat the first time I played it, and that wasn't padded by super time-intensive optional stuff like FFX's arena or anything like that either :p

As for remake vs remaster, to be fair when I say remake I mostly just mean fix that second disc, and maybe touch the gameplay up a bit. Not necessarily "give it modern day graphics", though that would be neat to see. To me, graphics fall under the "remaster" umbrella anyway :p