Remakes

[Wolf Kanno]

No this isn't a thread about what games you want to see remade, this is just about the idea of remakes in general. What are your thoughts about remakes? Do you like them? Hate them? Do you prefer when remakes simply alter minor things like graphics and sound, or do you feel a remake should be bold and stray from the original a little bit to add life to an old idea?

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I feel like in the end, I prefer remasters. I’m having trouble thinking of remakes at the moment actually. I know the little I played of twin snakes just made me want to play the original Metal Gear Solid because the difference in voices, dialogue, and music bothered the crap out of me.

I guess if I played a remake, I’d like everything to basically be the same except updates graphics. Even then I’d probably prefer the original. Nostalgia is powerful. I might like a more experimental remake of something like FFI or some older NES games that I didn’t really grow up with. No nostalgia to hold me back, and I feel like there is more room for interpretation or expanding some of those older games.

[CimminyCricket]

I also prefer the idea of remaster. I don't want to pay new game price for an old game just because it looks better. For me the story and the gameplay were always important. Plus, older games getting remade lose a lot of nostalgia. Less remakes and more new titles!

[Freya]

I also prefer the idea of remaster. I don't want to pay new game price for an old game just because it looks better. For me the story and the gameplay were always important. Plus, older games getting remade lose a lot of nostalgia. Less remakes and more new titles!

Yeah I prefer remasters. Updating older things graphically but leaving the gameplay and story relatively untouched, just updated. That way I get the same nostalgia goodness, it just doesn't look and sound like a potato. Remaking the entire thing where it's core story is the same but it's been altered and updated, ehhh that's a bit too much for me. That changes way more and I don't think i'm too fond of that.

[Fynn]

I guess I’m in the minority in that I find no value in buying the same game again just with a different cost of paint. I love it when remakes do new stuff to really redefine what it was that I liked about the original. Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver are a shining example of it, especially when compared to FireRed and LeafGreen which were basically just graphical updates - they added so many new features, both from older games as well as completely new ones that advanced the series as a whole that not only did it make it feel like an incredibly important addition to the franchise, but also reminded me of why I fell in love with Pokémon in the first place (Gold is where I really got balls-deep into Pokémon, despite liking Red - suck it, genwunners!)

Another fantastic example is Final Fantasy IV DS. Not only did it make the story feel that much more meaningful with a more involved direction in cutscenes etc, but also the impeccable retranslated script, but there’s a bunch of new scenes that give greater weight to pretty much everything, and the changes boss AI really made me feel like I’m fighting for my life again.

So yeah, remakes definitely have a lot of value as a reinterpretation of what came before that goes far beyond what a simple remaster could achieve. If I want to play that same old game in its unchanged form, I still have it - the new one NEEDS to be transformative.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think in the past I would have firmly been in the remaster category, but as time goes by and I've seen minor remakes come and go, I finally have fallen into the camp that prefers when a game takes the chance to do something different and actually change up more than just the visuals/audio. Granted, you sometimes wind up with train wrecks like the Lufia 2 remake that is trying way too hard to appeal to the kids and ultimately forgets the core of what made the game so great, but I honestly feel a minor graphical upgrade does no real service to the game either.

The DS remakes of III and IV are games that I felt didn't go far enough honestly. I would have loved to see the devs really change the dungeons around and embrace the 3D graphical changes, even just doing a PS1 era style re-imagining of some of those dungeons would have been interesting. It's the one reason why I like the fact Squenix is planning on really changing VII around for the Remake instead of just giving it a facelift, I mean some of the design has not aged well and some places never fully embraced their potential either.

Overall, a serious change up doesn't really bother me cause if worse comes to worse, I can always retread back to the original.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Really the only reason I like remasters is just so I can play the older games on newer systems more easily. My main tv only has hdmi ports. I’d be just as okay with just a cheaper digital port, I think.

You make a good point with pokemon soul silver and the ff IV ds remake though. I do like those. I think with IV, it helps that I didn’t play it as a kid and don’t have nostalgia clouding my judgment on it. Soul Silver is more of an anomaly there since I played the heck out of the original games though.

[Fynn]

That’s because HGSS is changed to such a degree that it’s really a completely new game at this point

[Vyk]

I think for me it depends. I do enjoy getting to play an old favorite with simply a fresh coat of paint. New resolution and framerate make the rose colored memories come true. But what's it called when they leave everything and also add everything they wanted to originally or things they wish they had in hindsight? Then you probably get into remake territory. And that's about the only way I'm usually okay with deviating from the original. Reboots can be okay if the original was mostly just a good idea but not implemented very well. I felt like there as very little use for the new Tomb Raider reboot right after rebooting her with Legend and Underworld. And everyone cringed at DMC initially. But I love quality of life additions like auto saves and standardized control schemes

[Fynn]

I’d say reboots are a whole different thing altogether