What is your opinion on "improvement" type romhacks?

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

I mostly only play them after beating the vanilla game.

 

[RustySK]

Depends on both the game and the specific changes in my mind.
Some break the intended experience and some can salvage ones that were originally pretty flawed, even in unexpected ways.

To give an example, amongst a series of smaller QoL changes, the English fan translation of Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special includes an encounter rate reduction by default, which is something I'm generally wary of.
I usually assume games with a high encounter rate try to account for that in the way they're designed - resource mangement usually being the primary factor - so I tried giving the original version a shot and hoo boy, that change really is a worthwhile improvement.

So yeah, I don't have a general rule for improvement hacks and usually do some research on a case by case basis before deciding.

 

[Dyne]

I like romhacks that feel like the "definitive" version of the game. Things like bugfixes and small tweaks that improve the game without changing how it feels or plays too much.

I almost never play romhacks of games I havent already played vanilla though.

 

[Bonkers225]

A good motivation to play through some classics again, and have less difficult time going through those harder games if the hack makes it easier.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I have always loved those.

A lot of games I feel that were held back from becoming truly great due to head-scratching decisions on the part of the developers, and a lot of "improvement" patches really help those same games realize their potential. I never go back to the base games after having experienced those fixes.

 

[Moreno909]

I sincerely love mods, rom hacks and other fan-made content, as they turn any game with a dedicated enough fanbase and the ability to be modified into an 'eternal' collective project, which can always be updated and improved over time.
I always look for romhacks or mods in the games I download to improve the experience.

 

[RageBurner]

I never feel obligated to finish the vanilla game if the improvement patches address glaring design flaws or bugs. I'll go back to an example I used before: play Mega Man X3: Zero Project v4.8 and tell me if you wouldn't go back in time to make the modded game the actual released version.

 

[Bakuma1997]

Some of them flatout feels like what their companies must re-release *finger guns and wink to Earthbound 25 Anniversary and Metroid MoTHER* Instead of the same rom with sometimes worse emulation (RIGHT SUPER MARIO 3D ALL STARS!?)

 

[Lena CE]

Case by case but most of the time I prefer my initial playthrough to be the vanilla experience. There is this intangible and impossible to describe feeling of a game going beyond just being a general improvement patch and wandering into outright being a new thing. You can never describe when someone has gone too far, but you'll know it deep down what too much means to you when you find it. Generally my ideal QoL changes are ones that stop a game from "wasting my time" though that is a nebulous concept I admit.

For example. Metroid mOTHER? Way too much change for me, it is a dope fanwork but when I want to play Metroid 1 it deviates too far from that game for me. Metroid+Saving though? Perfect! It fixes the only 2 things I really wanted from that game and that's the Famicom version's saving and the ability to save your health status so I don't need to arbitrarily grind for health everytime I reload a save. Having a map and the ability to combine wave and ice beam is also great, though I appreciate the latter change is optional since I choose to not take advantage. I've done my Metroid 1 playthrough where I made my own graph paper maps as I played and it was tons of fun, but I'm glad that I can just take advantage of +Saving's built-in map function. Basically, I feel like using passwords and having to grind for health everytime I die or take a break is just a waste that adds nothing to the atmosphere or pacing of the game, so removing those aspects doesn't feel like it cuts into the original intent of the game.

I've seen a few people say even +Saving's changes are too drastic because they are purists, and I've also seen some people refuse to play the game unless it is overhauled on the level of mOTHER. Always neat hearing people's standards for these things.

Thinking about it now, I realize most of the time I play on fan patches it usually just ends up being for 3rd and 4th generation games, typically because they add save functionality or retranslate the game to not be so cryptic or sloppy (lookin at you my beloved Breath of Fire 2).

 

[fake-kun]

Love 'em, use 'em.

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

Used them especially depending on the improvements.

 

[RageBurner]

I also wonder if the righteous game dumper anti pirates have a stance against them or if they just locally hack their own dumps ?

Very good question. I guess this varies wildly from person to person. I've never been one for purism - if something can be made more enjoyable to play and less buggy (though enjoyment is subjective), I'll always choose it over the vanilla experience.

Let me give you an example. Mega Man Zero 2 and 3 have the whole thing with rankings and a certain threshold is necessary to be able to earn EX skills (extra moves learnt from bosses). That's all well and good but what the game expects of you often borders on the absurd as it demands speed, high levels of enemy destruction and little to no damage taken... I mean, okay? can I actually PLAY the game now instead of trying to speedrun it like a machine?

There are patches that disable the ranking requirement for EX skills (in effect making the games function more closely to how every other Mega Man game did) and I definitely prefer playing with these patches attached.

Purists will bemoan me and throw the 'ole "git gud" non-argument my way, surely, but I don't care.

 

[RageBurner]

As another point I can feel your frustration because I rubbed 2 brain cells together and only used those 2 to purchase final fantasy x/x2 for xbox one. Probably the worst port of it same for the other consoles it released on. Its harder to get Titus' final weapon with the chocobo race and the baked in assists or only on the pc release for that one unlike 7,8,9. If I could play a hacked version of what I paid for on my xbox I definitely would.

I had no idea those ports were poor. Were they based on the Vita compilation?

 

[RageBurner]

Some Japanese companies never much cared for the Xbox, as the market share in Japan is probably minuscle. Don't quote me on that, though.

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

Bug fixes.
Quality of life changes
Removing Grind
Restoring content
Re-translation/rewrite (if it needs it)

After those, potentially more content
closing holes in the story/plot
Improved or changed sprites
changing the dub

I suppose anything that makes you more happy than before.

 

[jon2]

Depends on whether the vanilla game itself is worth finishing and replaying; afterwards comes the impact of the romhack itself: does it change too much? For the better or worse (in terms of the vanilla experience)?

 

[Deleted member 537]

i usually stick to patchs that just restore content that was in the disc but unused, undub patch, and finally fixing glitches and bugs small or big.

in my experience improvement patches made by people are terrible, like either goes too far to absurdity, or i can't tell the difference in the improvement.

also @RageBurner it sound like you need to Git Gud, mate. ; )

 

[RetroLaw]

Love them

 

[RageBurner]

i usually stick to patchs that just restore content that was in the disc but unused, undub patch, and finally fixing glitches and bugs small or big.

in my experience improvement patches made by people are terrible, like either goes too far to absurdity, or i can't tell the difference in the improvement.

also @RageBurner it sound like you need to Git Gud, mate. ; )

Whaat? but I'm so guuud already! LOL

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Love them

r/pfpchecksout

 

[MistHunter]

Need them, for prosperity's sake...

 

[dropsmegamega]

Often I feel like it's very presumptuous of the modder to think he knows more than the developers, but it varies a lot, some games are indeed really flawed and can be improved with a few changes.

 

[Zerpina]

If they are REALLY well done like the Castlevania II IPS patch by Bisqwit, Love'em

 

[Mochi Panic]

As long as its not too much to the point that it is almost unrecognizable from the base game. Sometimes I wonder if its better for the makers of "Improvements" to work on a original game if so much of the base game is changed to meet the new look.

 

[χKai]

Hate 'em.
Not even because of the principal concept but because of alllll the falsely labeled "Improvement" hacks that are really more of a personal preference or some kind of stupid self-insert.