Bringing the old to the new

[Althea]

What is your view on remakes and ports? Are you likely to buy the remake or the port of a game if you enjoyed it the first time around, or is once enough? Is the extra content or enhanced graphics enough to get you to purchase a remake again, or do you prefer not to waste your money on an ancient game you've already completed? Would you buy a port of a game on a different console because of it's convenience (i.e. getting a PSOne Classic for PS3/PSP when you've still got the PS1 disc) or would you play it on the original platform? Are these even a good idea? How can the gaming industry possibly move forward if ancient history is being dredged up as a grim reminder that things aren't as original (or good, depending on your perspective) as they first appear to be?

I'll almost inevitably end up buying remakes of games I enjoyed. Annoying as it is, I usually get more enjoyment out of remakes than anything else, and I'll end up buying them because I know the game will be good, or because I haven't played it in a while and am going to seize the opportunity, rather than dig up my old console. Remakes almost always have some new content that makes them worth getting for me - particularly RPGs, with their joyous extra dungeons filled with murderously hard bosses - and in some cases I never got the opportunity to play the original, and I welcome the chance, because if it's getting a remake, then there is going to be a good reason for it, and since the game will come from a time before graphics mattered so much, I can certain it's a reason I'll agree with.

As for ports...the game has to be VERY good for me to buy it again, and cheaper as well. For example, I bought Link's Awakening DX off the 3DS store even though I have a cartridge copy. My PS1 is tucked away in a box and, rather than getting it out, I just bought Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid and FFVIII off the PSN, because I actually play my PS3 and PSP. For me to buy a port, I'd want to have not played the game for at least five years, as well.

If a game is going to be remade for a new console, then honestly I think it needs a complete overhaul, and not just a tune-up. Whilst I think games are going in the wrong direction, I will give them this: controls are better now than they were. Older games are clunkier, and they just don't handle as well as newer ones do for the most part.

I'm of two minds about bringing back old games: on one hand, it gives the younger generation the chance to play the older games, something I think they really benefit from, and it lets those of us who have played it before experience it again.

But at the same time, I can't help but feel that remaking or porting ancient games to new consoles does them and the games that have followed a disservice. I'll take the recent enhanced port of Ocarina of Time on the 3DS as an example. Whilst Zelda games haven't really come a long way since OoT, the gameplay has been refined to the point where the bugs present in OoT have been removed; the port doesn't make OoT feel better, it makes it feel worse, and at the same time it shows up the Zelda games that have followed it for following practically the same formula. A not-so-nice trip down memory lane, really.

So, whilst I welcome remakes and ports, all they really do is show me just how much less fun modern games are when compared to most of them. I honestly don't think I really need the reminder, although the nostalgia is always fantastic.

 

[SentryDown]

I buy remakes ports if the game meets one of my following criteria:
-It is an enhanced remake, where new features and content and possibly a graphical update are added on top of the original (Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together)
-The original game has a large sentimental value to me (Pokemon Gold/Crystal -> HeartGold)
-I do not have or do no have access to the system in which the original was on (Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon)

Unless it meets one of those criteria, I would never buy a port/remake. It seems that a lot of times ports are just there to milk more of a franchise (see: LoZ:OoT 3D) and don't tend to add much of anything to make it interesting. Sure some games need ports because of the original system no longer in production (see: Sonic Adventure[Dreamcast] -> SonicDX: Director's Cut [NGC]) but honestly, as you said, it needs an overhaul instead of a just a tune-up (although sometimes tuneups are just as fine, cant think of any examples off the top of my head)

 

[Captain Fabio]

I guess my opinions on remakes vary from time to time and, obviously, depends on if I like the game. However, overall, they are just reproducing a popular game to make a quick bit of money. Take LoZ:OoT time example, that was hyped up so much it is untrue and, no doubt, that made the developers a hell of a lot of money.

I don't mind it as such if a remake is justified, which, I think, OoT is because it was originally released in '98, which the new generation of gamers could have completely missed. However, if it has been only a few years since the release of a game, I think it is a pointless idea, because most people will remember the original and only fans will buy it, not the mass market because they will have seen it before.​

​

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

It depends on how the remake is executed. If it's well done and it's a remake of a game I enjoyed in the past, then I'll have no problem picking it up. Sometimes I'll buy a remake without playing the original if it seems interesting enough (i.e., NIS's Rhapsody for the DS, original PSX release). If, however, the remade game is poorly done or if the original was mediocre or unimpressive, then I don't even bother buying it. Thus will be the case with any upcoming Pokemon R/S remakes because the original games aren't good enough to warrant me buying a remake.

 

[razzbat]

usually i get pretty excited about remakes, its not like i discriminate them from other games. if i loved the original, then i will probably love the remake even if its as simple as graphical improvement or putting it onto a handheld.
while i haven't got any yet, i am also pretty excited about all the new hd collections that are coming out as a majority of them are games i had always considered getting into but just never got around to it or didn't have the console (only just got a ps2 at the beginning of the year)
these include...
metal gear solid collection
silent hill collection
ico and shadow of the colossus
devil may cry collection (hasn't been confirmed but the first 3 have been rated by esrb for ps3 and 360)
and i'm really really hoping to see that kingdom hearts collection that has been rumoured to be real.
what i don't like about remakes though is when companies get something that clearly has potential to be sold for another couple of years and just creates an updated version that just makes the original redundant. as much as i like capcom's games, i hate it how they do this with a majority of their games, clearly just scheming ways of getting every last penny out of consumers. i mean announcing an updated version for MvC3 after 5 months of it being released? its just ridiculous.

 

[Shining Raichu]

No idea what "ports" are so I'm just going to answer for remakes lol

I have yet to meet a remake I haven't liked. I find that gaming remakes are quite the opposite of movie remakes - the movies are terrible while the games tend to be amazing. I am more than likely to buy a remake of a game just because it is a remake.