How we all feeling about these remakes?

[Pockets]

I apologize if this is a bit of a vent or long but I've had a lot of thoughts regarding this topic and haven't really had any outlet to express them. I don't really have a problem with video game remakes in and of themselves. While there are a lot remakes I don't really care for, there are a lot that I do enjoy and am even looking forward to. If you're enjoying them then more power to you.

For me it feels like this whole trend really kicked off almost 10 years when the Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil 2 remakes got announced and back then those felt like novel ideas. People had been wanting an FF7 remake since that PS3 tech demo and with the (at the time) recent success of the Resident Evil remake's HD remaster seeing RE2 finally get that treatment (even if the end result was a very different kind of remake) was exciting. Then there was the Shadow of the Colossus remake and then RE2 finally released then RE3 barely a year later and then FF7 and since then I feel like things have spiraled out of control with a new remake coming out every few months.

I just feel so burnt out with all of these remakes and the way I often see these remakes being used as ways to take jabs at the original work for being "too antiquated by today's standards" is so disheartening. It feels like so many people are completely in favor of throwing away everything aspect of a game, including the gameplay, as long as the story is kept mostly the same.

So it's such a shame to see things like RE2's remake completely abandoning the zapping system and variations across the multiple scenarios, or RE3 completely botching Nemesis by turning him into mostly static encounters (especially when they did so well with Mr. X in RE2R) and removing the live selection system as well as the random enemy encounter and item placements, or Persona 3 Reload basically be just Persona 5 with a Persona 3 skin and a new mechanic, completely abandoning many of the original's mechanics and gameplay systems that tied directly into the game's themes and further reinforce it's core message.

I'm not looking to start an argument with anyone or attack people for enjoying these games. But I also feel this sentiment should go both ways and people should be allowed to express their criticisms with these games and for these games in particular these are opinions I've regularly seen people get attacked for expressing.

 

[antii antii]

Yes Bro im tired of the just remake after remake the only remake i was excited about was Ninja Gaiden 2 because it was followed by Ragebound and also Ninja Gaiden 4 so thats two new experiences. Every remake now just seems like a safe bet so companies dont have to risk starting a new Ip or continuing one and it failing which i get from a financial stand point. but from a creativity and fun standpoint and as a gamer its fcking annoying.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

It’s whatever, I’m more disappointed they only go for safe options. Square Enix had the chance to reintroduce one of the older games to people (most preferably one of the games that originally was robbed from releasing here aka 2, 3, and 5) but they went with a 7 trilogy… Didn’t even bother with 5 or 6 even though they were next in the line

FF3 got a 3D remake for PSP, DS, and Steam
FF4 got a 3D remake for PSP and DS
FF5 got nothing
FF6 got nothing
FF7 got two 3D games

 

[AkiraSO4]

Yeah the whole remake-a-mania began to get out of control.
There's good examples, like RE1.
RE2 was good but there was some slip-ups, like Mr. X always looking constipated, lol. (SERIOUSLY, LOOK AT HIS FACE), then RE3 was straight up bad and RE4 was full-on redundant.
Crash N-Sane depends, unless you're way too used to the originals, it's fine, acceptable even. (does it even count? Depends on who you ask)
Oddworld New 'n' Tasty wasn't bad, definitely improved some things from the PS1 game.
But it's definitely getting a little out of hand.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Honestly I'm quite torn on this too, I don't mind remakes if either they're a brand new experience that captures the charm of the original. And yes, I get where you're coming from with the corps being hesitant to move forward with franchises instead. Remaster too, tend to elicit the same. Though much like most trend, it'll pass eventually.

 

[Hourai]

Remember the interview with the first person who got FF12, where they asked where the FF7 remake is?

Anyway. Remakes can be good, but they often need to try their own takes on things to not be inferior to the original. If you try and deliver the same experience as the original - especially if you go shot for shot like some people do - you're very likely to fall short and just come up with a worse experience. Of course, you can go too far and end up the other direction. Final Fantasy VII after the original is about Cloud vs Sephiroth instead of the political story of a company killing the planet for profit, even if the OG kinda lost the thread in the same way FFT did. Despite 7R trying to keep some of Shinra's horrificness, the game still follows that trend that doesn't capture why FF7 is still good, today. It's very much a tightrope.

Regardless of how it ends up, though, it's gonna sell a ton. There's no monetary incentive to take risks when you don't need to, and people will always buy remakes.

 

[Segadude113]

Honest opinion? I don't like the Resident Evil remakes. I like the way RE1-4 and Code Veronica were on the original consoles they released for. I know there's no remake for Code Veronica yet, dunno why.

 

[NeonKnights]

The Shadow of the Colossus remake on the PS4 killed nearly any interest in future remakes for me.
Wander's face, the basic atmosphere options failing to replicate the PS2, the jittery shaking from Colossi, the pattern on Wander's clothes being wrong on PS4 but correct on PS3/2, the corruption effects nearly missing until the end and no forced perspective make this game an inferior experience for me. When the PS2/PS3 version is the definitive edition you know something is wrong. It's fine for people who don't care what SOTC was, however I still feel Bluepoint cheated them. SOTC pushed the PS2 to the absolute limit. If only Bluepoint could have done the same, but they didn't really care.

 

[Segadude113]

Remember the interview with the first person who got FF12, where they asked where the FF7 remake is?

Anyway. Remakes can be good, but they often need to try their own takes on things to not be inferior to the original. If you try and deliver the same experience as the original - especially if you go shot for shot like some people do - you're very likely to fall short and just come up with a worse experience. Of course, you can go too far and end up the other direction. Final Fantasy VII after the original is about Cloud vs Sephiroth instead of the political story of a company killing the planet for profit, even if the OG kinda lost the thread in the same way FFT did. Despite 7R trying to keep some of Shinra's horrificness, the game still follows that trend that doesn't capture why FF7 is still good, today. It's very much a tightrope.

Regardless of how it ends up, though, it's gonna sell a ton. There's no monetary incentive to take risks when you don't need to, and people will always buy remakes.

I HATE the FFVII remake series. -.-' It misses everything that made FFVII great! Like it focuses on certain parts from the original and fleshes them out more, that's great and all, but then it goes completely off the rails with the new stuff!

 

[NeonKnights]

I HATE the FFVII remake series. -.-' It misses everything that made FFVII great! Like it focuses on certain parts from the original and fleshes them out more, that's great and all, but then it goes completely off the rails with the new stuff!

Not to mention the Butterfinger DLC.

 

[Segadude113]

It’s whatever, I’m more disappointed they only go for safe options. Square Enix had the chance to reintroduce one of the older games to people (most preferably one of the games that originally was robbed from releasing here aka 2, 3, and 5) but they went with a 7 trilogy… Didn’t even bother with 5 or 6 even though they were next in the line

FF3 got a 3D remake for PSP, DS, and Steam
FF4 got a 3D remake for PSP and DS
FF5 got nothing
FF6 got nothing
FF7 got two 3D games

But we got remakes of Dragon Quest 4-8

 

[Faust03]

they aren't horrible but I am getting tired of them believe it or not

 

[Segadude113]

they aren't horrible but I am getting tired of them believe it or not

Ok but what if we got a Jack Bros. remake?

 

[RageBurner]

The problem with remakes, the way I see them, is that they are the symptom of a larger issue: brain drainage. For instance, let's consider something like Vagrant Story; it was different, complex and innovative.

This can either go two ways: a remake is not made (which is the most likely scenario, if you ask me) or a remake is indeed made, and the essence of the game gets mushed up to appeal to a wider player base because profits.

That leads us to the crux of the problem, here: profit.
Why are remakes made? because they are safe, and being safe, they are profitable - the target audience is always more or less at the ready to pounce at the chance, because oldbies would like to perhaps relive their cherished memories in a new way and newbies will get the latest, awesomest new release to sink their teeth on for two weeks and move on.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

I mean, its whatever, videogame industry is movie industry 2.0.

If you have been burned by one, you have no one to blame, but yourself for buying it.

 

[Balownga]

The Remake of Demon Souls was quite good. It was mostly just a reskin, but the result was quite nice.

 

[Questless Knight]

I like remakes and remaster at least some of them and I will give you a few reasons.
1. Now some older games simpler to get your hands on and play with out having to pay a fortune for them and playing them with out having to emulate them.

2. Allot of at least older PC games are PAIN in the ass to get it to run and some of them honestly where good games but their UI or Combat and so on well they have not aged well in is a pain to play.

Take MorrowindI like that game but man I hate playing it. with out mods Combat is a pain, UI is a pain, Inventory management is a pain honestly im looking forward to Morrowind to be finished so I can play the game with Skyrim UI and combat meaning it will be much more FUN.

3. Making remakes or remasters of old games will introduced them to more and new people which means if it gain popularity a new game could be made in a series or a dead game series could be revived.

I think that one of the biggest pluses with it all introducing games to a whole new generation can be a good thing.


Well that´s my few reason but yes it has some down sides like.
1. Making a half assed or straight up bad rematser/remake like Star wars battlefront or GTA collection.
2. You go full square enix and take a game split it in to 3 parts and sell for full price so you end up paying over 100 bucks for a COMPLETE game.
3. There is NO need to remake/remaster games that just 3-10 years old like fracking Last of us a free high texture DLC is all what that game would have needed.

 

[AkiraSO4]

Forgot to mention, but no complains about the Tomb Raider remasters, at least.
Now those are ON POINT, especially 1-3 Remastered.
Though I will throw a bone to 4-6 Remastered as well, considering the literal hell it is to run their original versions on modern PCs.

But that's a remaster, not a remake. So it doesn't count, lol. (Guess I'm more of a "Remasters over Remakes" kind of person.)

A remake I just not did enjoy is Tomb Raider Anniversary.
It's basically what I don't like about the LAU Trilogy in a single game. Way too long, combat is a mess, the platforming is straight up jank, the jankiest out of the three games, even. And oh yeah, that Atlantis section where you need to keep climbing up platforms while fighting the flying mutants? No, thank you!

 

[Sunnyside]

To me remakes are unnecessary. I can't justify them unless they're a few generations old. And if a game is that old, chances are it has a fan project already. I can't tell you how many times an official remake ended up being inferior to the fanmade effort. But that stands to reason. I'm looking for a proper preservation of the original experience, so I'd always bet on the passion project of a few superfans. If you're in it for a drastic facelift and/or reimagining then that's a different story. Not for me personally but I get the appeal.

 

[Mituna]

It's been truly disheartening and honestly kind of disturbing seeing every single remake or revival project (e.g. Psychonauts "We Hired Actual Psych Ward Orderlies To Work On This" 2 and Crash Bandicoot "You Are Not Allowed To Like Bimbos" 4) fall short of the original run in some meaningful respect via bad mindset, lack of key staff, censorship and social policy, etc. Obviously, no one wants this kind of thing to fail, but the results and derision/depression from fans speak for themselves. Applying conspiratorial skepticism to the production cycles of new games in pre-Gamergate franchises is one of the only ways to maintain any kind of agency as a gamer any more, and that's not what anyone wanted during the initial wave of revival enthusiasm.

 

[Frickinfrik]

I don’t mind remakes. Remasters on the other hand…. I’m getting so annoyed with remasters lately. I remember back in the early years of the Switch I got so annoyed with all the Wii U remasters coming to Switch, like, i bought the Switch to play new games, not to play slightly upgraded ports of games from a failed console. PS5 and Switch were the main culprits of the heavy amount of remasters that generation. I especially don’t like it when the remaster ends up being worse than the original, such as GTA Trilogy: The “Definitive” Edition, Silent Hill HD Collection, and Sonic Colors: Ultimate.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

I don't understand why gamers line up to pay for remakes. Especially when the original games are classics and perfectly playable. The only way studios will learn to not be lazy and keep regurgitating the same titles with a different coat of paint is if the gamers stop buying them.

I don't see the upside in either justification for a remake. If you keep the remake extremely faithful, you probably feel ripped off if you already played the original. Of course there are numbskulls who prefer to play the same game over and over and over, so I guess that crowd would be happy. The other scenario where you go and change the source material drastically in a remake begs the question: Why didn't they make a brand new game with those ideas then? It speaks to a studio that is afraid to try new things and/or has run out of ideas. A studio in either category might as well not exist, in my opinion.

 

[Retro Doomer]

I heard Remakes don't worry guys I brought the Flamethrower

Burn those Remakes with Fire.
Well my humble and Right Opinion is play the Original they are much more enjoyable and Still have a soul within them,and they are not Cash grabs.they should just make new Games instead of desecrating those Classic games with there Greed and laziness.Remakes are a poison to the Gaming Industry and besides some small exception are Inferior to the Original.

 

[RustySK]

To me something like the RE2 remake is the rare exception in that it actually does enough of its own thing to the point that both can comfortably sit side by side as very good, completely separate games in my mind.
(or I might be doing mental gymnastics to justify my personal enjoyment of that game)

That said, as far as industry trends go, this unending obsession with remakes, remasters, reimaginings, rereleases, reboots and and and seriously has to end at some point soon.
I'm not gonna lie, of course there are a couple lined up that even my frustrated, cynical ass is looking forward to (like the FFT remake), but even in the rare case that I think such a release might end up being interesting, I would always - a hundred percent of the time - prefer the devs make something original instead.

These old games are still out there and they are still great, no need to keep messing with them. Especially when the people messing with them are doing so for the purpose of market research driven product optimization.
Try to pay hommage to whatever older game you enjoyed, sure! Try to evolve whatever concept made them great, hell yes! Just... let old successes lie at some point.

This endless, corporate-led recycling and obsession with marketable nostalgia is the death of creative expression.
(Not to mention that it's just kinda pathetic on a conceptual level.)

 

[MrPanda61]

It really depends on the amount of effort putted into them.

If they respect the source material and give a genuine new experience, they're welcome.

Unfortunately, they mostly feel as lame cash grab.