What are your thoughts on how much remakes of games should change or add?

[twilitfalchion]

There's quite a bit of room in what remakes tend to do for the original games they're made for, whether it be mechanical changes, visual overhauls, etc. Some of these changes allow the original game's vision to be realized better, while others improve on the flaws of the original experience.

What are your thoughts on how far remakes should go in changing a game's original experience? Do you prefer more faithful remakes? Or would you rather the remake be closer to a new experience entirely?

Personally, I lean towards preferring more faithful remakes. Change too much and the original game's identity is lost or muddled. At that point it's not really a remake so much as a new game entirely, I'd say.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

The goal of a remake or remaster should always be, "how would we make this game with access to today's technology and today's design philosophy". Some times this means stripping the game of mechanics or artwork that players really loved. So unfortunately for the poor designer they also have a responsibility to deliver on the perceptions of the players, which might make remakes a cursed problem.

 

[Uwu_Oocoo2]

As a general rule, remakes should be a better version than the original. Clean it up, but don't change what it is. You can add more item slots, maybe some bonus areas, but other than a spit and polish don't touch what's already good about it. If a level was hard in the original version, let it be hard. Don't change any major game factors. The swift sail in the ww remaster was okay because it was something that didn't interfere with the plot and was convenient. Dampe's dungeon builder in LA annoyed me a bit, but overall was unobtrusive. As long as you don't compromise the original game it's okay.

 

[MapelSerup]

It always depends on the game and what it needs. Some games just need some visual touch-ups, while some require an overhaul of an entire system. Whatever suits the game best is what should be changed.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

if its an enhanced port or remaster, then yeah, keep it as faithful as you can while just making adjustments or improvements to things that didn't work in the past

for remakes, it really depends since that's probably more prone to changes or overhauls, like oftentimes playing a remake will give you a different experience than playing the original versions, for better or worse

honestly, I really don't know if I like remakes being their own experience or not, its like a yes and no thing on whether I like them being different from the original, its complicated

 

[MW7]

I like more faithful remakes, but I don't have a strong belief that this is always best. I would prefer that remakes add stuff that is optional, and the best thing I've ever seen added is the Master Quest to Ocarina of Time. I don't care about graphics much at all. Of all the Zelda remakes, the only one I consider bad is Majora's Mask 3d because of all the unnecessary changes they made to bosses and little things that add up like Deku Scrub hopping feeling totally different. Even that one had good changes to the Song of Double Time and saving. The ability to map more items to buttons in both that game and Ocarina of Time 3d was fantastic, and similarly being able to switch boots without pausing was really nice. Twilight Princess HD didn't change much but didn't mess anything up. Wind Waker HD had a huge improvement from the swift sail. Skyward Sword HD's ability to play without motion was nice. Overall I think each of these could have done more but I don't have that much bad to say.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

here's something that people might not agree with;
I think a remake should only be done if it's necessary
like at some point in the quarterly meeting be like "okay we want to rerelease this game, what does it need?" And the answer to that should usually be a remaster, sometimes a port, sometimes a remake, depending on factors
it shouldn't be a "which one do we want to do", it's by necessity and how badly the game in question has aged

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

As much as they think is necessary to not only make the game better, but to open the game up to a modern audience.

Ever since it released, I've pointed to the Resident Evil 2 remake as the pinnacle of what a remake can be. It doesn't aim to be the same as the original game. It changes the moment to moment gameplay (from isometric to third person), the writing, the structure, and the narrative. To me, it is a significantly better game unfettered by the archaic gameplay traditions of old.

Remakes shouldn't be a reason to take a game and change nothign about it besides the graphical style and the controls. They should be taken as an opportunity to make the game that developers wanted to make when said game was originally released or to corrects of a game that just aren't good.

 

[A Link In Time]

I definitely prefer the faithful remake approach. Take the Zelda remakes for example. Nintendo has gone with an approach of making the games how you think you remember playing them back in the day. Ocarina of Time 3D has the feel of the original, but with better graphics, framerate, inventory, and so on.

That said, I recognize that not every game can have a faithful remake because the original game design has aged poorly. I think the Resident Evil remakes do a good job at presenting the same story, but really sprucing up the controls, camera perspective, environments and cutscenes to make the games more accessible to a modern audience.

 

[Dio]

There is no general rule really because each remake needs to be different depending on the game that is being remade. Some need a lot of work and others do not.

A classic NES game for instance would need such work to bring up to modern standards that a new game might as well be made instead because that is what it would be. For one of those a simple clean up of graphics is all that is worth doing.

For a 20 year old N64 or PS game sometimes a full remake is the best option. FF7 for instance. It had a great story but a dated look and controls. It needed a complete overhaul to be brought up to modern standards and that is what was done.

If a game is only a decade old with outdated graphics and slightly clunky controls a complete remake might be a bit extreme, a redo of the visuals perhaps updated character models and textures and lighting and alteration to the gameplay to make it more smooth is appropriate. Nier: Replicant is a perfect example of this.

Sometimes I have found remakes haven't gone far enough. Simply upgrading to HD and keeping much of the old look. With TP HD for instance I feel they should have gone further with enhancing the graphics and lighting effects as the 2006 game ended up looking like a 2012 game rather than a 2016 one and was still a generation behind modern games at the time.

WWHD on the other hand holds up extremely well even today as a larger graphic and lighting overhaul was given.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Sometimes I have found remakes haven't gone far enough. Simply upgrading to HD and keeping much of the old look. With TP HD for instance I feel they should have gone further with enhancing the graphics and lighting effects as the 2006 game ended up looking like a 2012 game rather than a 2016 one and was still a generation behind modern games at the time.

Twilight princess looked the best a game with that realistic of proportions could have on a Wii u. For it to be more visually impressive they would have had to make everything much more artistic

As good as that would have been for everyone, perhaps too close to a full on remake rather than a remaster or touch up

 

[Fig]

As much as they think is necessary to not only make the game better, but to open the game up to a modern audience.

Ever since it released, I've pointed to the Resident Evil 2 remake as the pinnacle of what a remake can be. It doesn't aim to be the same as the original game. It changes the moment to moment gameplay (from isometric to third person), the writing, the structure, and the narrative. To me, it is a significantly better game unfettered by the archaic gameplay traditions of old.

Remakes shouldn't be a reason to take a game and change nothign about it besides the graphical style and the controls. They should be taken as an opportunity to make the game that developers wanted to make when said game was originally released or to corrects of a game that just aren't good.

Couldn't agree anymore with this. I'd personally also include FF7R with what they are going to do for the rest of the game areas and story of the original based on the base game and Yuffie DLC and what the two offer. As for BDSP, they are faithful to the original games even when there's corners cut for obvious reasons. It's solid but I find it funny how almost immediately Pokémon fans are now asking for Gen 5 remakes now knowing that the quality of remakes just aren't the same since HGSS. ORAS was ok and BDSP is also just ok which isn't a bad thing.

Twilight princess looked the best a game with that realistic of proportions could have on a Wii u. For it to be more visually impressive they would have had to make everything much more artistic

As good as that would have been for everyone, perhaps too close to a full on remake rather than a remaster or touch up

Regardless, it still doesn't compare to WWHD as like DIO said, changes in the lighting engine and visual make that game pop out even better thanks to being cell-shaded. TPHD looks like your modern 3D action-adventure game which isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't make it memorable if I'm being honest. The fact they removed the foggy/dog water filter from the game means I can actually see what the world looks like, it just only took 10 years since the original release to get that level of visuals even if they are mid at best (assuming we don't count emulation mods that upgrade the visuals even better).

 

[Dio]

Twilight princess looked the best a game with that realistic of proportions could have on a Wii u. For it to be more visually impressive they would have had to make everything much more artistic

As good as that would have been for everyone, perhaps too close to a full on remake rather than a remaster or touch up

I'd have to disagree with that as Final Fantasy 13 was on the Xbox 360 and looked noticeably better than TPHD which was a game running on a console just as powerful. The lighting and shading could have been improved a lot more along with some textures. The low polygon count of some models in TP did not help at all and those should have been updated. TPHD could have looked much better than it did and I believe that the extra effort should have been put in to bring it up.

2016 Wii u game

2011 Xbox 360 game

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

A remake should only change or add what's necessary to smooth out gameplay aspects that were clunky in the original, or update the game to a modern audience.

Otherwise, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

a console just as powerful

I would need to see the specs to believe this