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Remakes: Plagues or Boons?

Are there too many Remakes in contemporary gaming?

  • Yes, with the exception of...

    Votes: 6 15.4%
  • Yes.

    Votes: 12 30.8%
  • No, with the exception of...

    Votes: 2 5.1%
  • No.

    Votes: 15 38.5%
  • I don't care either way.

    Votes: 4 10.3%

  • Total voters
    39

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Gaming is a relatively young medium in comparison to films, music, literature and even television. When matched against it's "siblings," gaming is nearly an infant. What separates gaming from other mediums is just HOW quickly it's "growing up,"

Gaming now is in a growth spurt phase. Coming into the end of it, I'd say, but still. Gaming was up to my knee yesterday, and now it's up to my shoulders. Cost, manpower, and time is also going up, in relation to making a product that turns a profit and isn't jank.

Enter the remake.

On paper, it's a great idea. Take the money, resources, accumulated knowledge and shortcuts, all the modern day QoL improvements and tech advancements, and then take the framework of a classic, i.e. setting, characters, basic plot outline, and then ship it. I'm unessecarily simplifying the process, but still: it's a relatively safe bet in an industry that is rewarding innovation and experimentation less and less as we speak. We're Past the point that six buddies of mine can get a wild hare up our asses and create a studio and start the publishing train. We're In a climate where one game whiffs it and the devs are potentially out of business. If you remake something that's already sold gangbusters, then you can safely rest on at least 50% of your laurels because the pedigree is more of the selling point than the actual product.

Now, as has been mentioned in other topics about remakes on here, there are typically four kinds, with varying amounts of market saturation:

The 1:1 Remake: The Last of Us, Part I, as an example. A game that is very much the same game. Every room is the same, every enemy is the same, nothing has been made bigger or more opulent, it's just The Last of Us, with a complete overhaul.

The reimagining: Taking the basic story, character, setting and gameplay and modernizing it, changing maybe the order you undertake tasks or the characters you meet, but starting and ending firmly where the original did. I'm thinking the Resident Evil REmake best encapsulates a reimagining.

The soft reboot: Like the reimagining, but differs in that it's fast and loose with the established events. Some shit happens like you'd expect, some shit feels out of left field. The Remake project for Final Fantasy VII is a good example, I'd say.

The Adaptation: This one is pretty rare, it takes elements from a title wholesale to the point where it's essentially a remake, but it has different window dressing in the form of plot, setting, characters, etc. Think Ocarina of Time to ALTTP, or Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid.

So what say you, GAF? Is there an oversaturation in the gaming sphere of Remakes, or is it cool with you? What type of remake do you prefer? What Remakes have been fantastic and which ones have been shit? Sound off.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
There are too many remakes of games that are relatively recent. Games like TLOU, Dead Space or RE4 still play perfectly fine and I don't see the point in remaking them now... except for the easy bucks, since those games are way,
way cheaper to produce than a new game since all the art designs, level designs, enemy IA and many more things are already done.

I can get behind the Demon's Souls one, since the original was stuck on only one platform. But they botched the atmosphere and many designs so whatever.

I don't have a problem with other kinds of remakes. I like the Live A Live one since that's an excuse for releasing the game on territories that never saw the original release, or the RE2 since that one changes the way the game is played.
Then you have the System Shock one which I guess will play mostly like the original but since it's a way older game I don't have so much of a problem with that one.
 

Comandr

Member
I don't see the problem with remakes. If someone wants to remake a critically acclaimed game and bring it to modern platforms and standards, why not? It's not my fuckin' money. If I don't want it, I don't have to buy it. Santa Monica Studio isn't going to halt development of God of War because all 400 employees are working on a Kinetica remake. So what's the real issue?
 
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There are still remakes I dream about coming to fruition. DMC1 remake headed up by Kamiya neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeds to happen please
 

Pejo

Member
It's impossible to put these all into the same bucket.

Remakes of fan favorites that are either several console generations away, or hard to find legally due to licensing issues/availability? Absolutely. Great.

Remakes or remasters of 5~ year old games just to boost resolution or textures? Nah. Doubly so if the originals are still available to play on current consoles via backwards compatibility etc.
 

ungalo

Member
I don't like it either way. I mean, as a proposition, for a studio. I can enjoy playing it obviously, but i consider it a lack of ambition.

Whether it's devs that lost the magic touch and see opportunities in fan service revival, or it's random devs putting their hands on classics built by others. It usually makes for solid products, more easily made and more easily acclaimed. As a gamer it's creatively boring as fuck.
 

Fbh

Member
I don't think there are too many remakes as there are still tons of new games coming out that interest me. But personally I just don't care too much about remakes in general.
IMO nothing from the Ps2 era onwards really needs a remake, at most a remastered re-release with some quality of life improvements.

The only ones that interest me a re-imaginings. Stuff like FF7 remake is both remaking a game that is old enough while also changing things up enough so it doesn't feel like I'm just playing the same game yet again but with nicer graphics.
 
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rofif

Can’t Git Gud
There are not THAT MANY remakes and remasters. I don't know where people get this notion from?!
Do You wish Re2 remake and Demons SOuls did not exist?
Don't we all want bloodborne remaster/port ?
 

ungalo

Member
I couldn't care less that Demon's Souls or RE2 remake exist or not.

And the ports and remasters should definitely exist, but they should be way cheaper and not marketed and covered like they are new releases. We should have access to way more old titles more easily without a new release being treated like it's a miracle worth 50 dollars, that's absurd. Publishers are playing on that.

For Bloodborne it's even more malicious if they are just preventing the game to have its framerate unlocked with a simple update so they can sell a remaster or a remake. That's why i hate remasters even if they are important.
 
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Most of the games, I really cared for, are pretty old now. Driver, the first five Need for Speed games, Burnout, The Getaway, GTA 1/2/4, Test Drive (Unlimited), MGS 1/2/3. I would totally love remakes or reboots of them.
And I really enjoy the new Hitman parts, the Resident Evil remakes.
I’m in love with the IPs from my youth, it happens pretty rarely that new IPs are interesting to me (would really love a new IP that fits my interests, but it seems that this is not the right time for it).
 
Remakes in principle are great. But remaking games more than a few years old is a waste of time, resources and gamer attention.

E.g. I'd take waaay more remakes in the vein of SOTC and faaaaaar less like TLOU1 (which just feels like a horribly cynical cash grab).
 

The Shepard

Member
A Lot of these remakes are aiming for new customers along with the old ones, a lot of people forget this. I'd never have played demon's souls if they never remade it, a game which I absolutely adore now and whilst i think re4 is still one of the best games ever, newcomers may be put of by its age.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
there's too many of them, but even i get excited for the stuff that's coming out pertaining to my favorite game so i might be a hypocrite

they used to be a once in forever type of thing but nowadays we sort of get them all the time and it's kind of frusturating. especially when publishers do it in old franchises that haven't had an entry in years (cough cough klonoa cough cough crash cough cough spyro cough cough tony hawk cough cough)
they should just release a new entry to 'test the waters' then make a remake afterward. if you want to get people into a franchise you make a new game and then show people all the older stuff so they can get caught up to speed. making a remake is pointless when you want to do something like that since eventually you have to make another for the second entry, then the third entry, and then you end up in capcoms situation (that being said the remakes they make don't slow down regular game production so ehhh)
 
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Raonak

Banned
Remakes are great, allowing you to play an old game you loved, but in a way that makes them even better than before. And it also allows new players to jump into games they missed on.

Plus, it's a form of games preservation. The ability for a modern console to have a library that spans generations is one of the best things about it.
 
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