HD Remakes of older Games

[env963]

I dont know about you guys, but for me the updates are both a blessing and a bit dissappointing. I just got ratchet and clank collection HD all 3 ps2 games for like $15. Good deal and I am really enjoying them. I never played them before.

However i see there is a remake of a few games such as Radiant Silvergun, Nights, so on and so forth, that for some reason doesnt have the same charm as it did on the original hardware. Is it just me? (I think part of the problem is i already own the originals.)

[sosoyo180]

I love remakes, I think they're a great way for gamers to get aquatinted with older games with a modern feel, like Bionic Commando Rearmed, sure the thirty year olds remember the original, but the modern gamers have no idea it was an original game.

[Gamerforlife]

It's good and bad. Sometimes I'm dissapointed in how they are handled. The Sly Collection I was initially elated by, until I discovered some problems with the port. One was that they removed the developer commentaries from the first game, essentially making it a pointless endeavor to beat all of the master thief sprints. Secondly, Sly Collection is among that list of aggravating games that doesn't allow you to copy your save file. The Ratchet and Clank collection you mentioned has a ton of bugs, most notably in Ratchet and Clank Going Commando, which may or may not have been in the original PS2 version

I also feel sometimes that these are just becoming quick, easy cash ins for companies

On the other hand, it's kind of cool to get trophy support. It's nice to replay these games and get an actual reward now for all the hard work you put into it, whereas years ago you just did it for your own satisfaction. I'm especially looking forward to that with the Final Fantasy X HD release. Speaking of trophies, it's kind of impressive seeing older games like Ratchet and Clank and Final Fantasy XII already having achievement systems built in before achievements were even a thing. The R&C series had it in the form of skill points.

Anyway, it's also nice getting to play an old classic on a 40" TV in high definition. That is pretty sweet.

[J T]

On the other hand, it's kind of cool to get trophy support. It's nice to replay these games and get an actual reward now for all the hard work you put into it, whereas years ago you just did it for your own satisfaction.

This something I don't get, and maybe I should create a new thread. I just don't see the appeal of achievements/trophies. They don't feel like actual rewards to me. I feel reward from the gameplay, or in overcoming a difficult in-game obstacle. Getting an acheivement for it just seems like an unnecessary added layer. Actually, they usually bug me because I don't like the little achievement popup on my screen. At it's worst, it's immersion breaking.

[AppleQueso]

On the other hand, it's kind of cool to get trophy support. It's nice to replay these games and get an actual reward now for all the hard work you put into it, whereas years ago you just did it for your own satisfaction.

This something I don't get, and maybe I should create a new thread. I just don't see the appeal of achievements/trophies. They don't feel like actual rewards to me. I feel reward from the gameplay, or in overcoming a difficult in-game obstacle. Getting an acheivement for it just seems like an unnecessary added layer. Actually, they usually bug me because I don't like the little achievement popup on my screen. At it's worst, it's immersion breaking.

This, and you can't turn them off.

[Gamerforlife]

I just like having acknowledgements of your accomplishments in games. I mean you can ask why we have olympic gold medals, or super bowl rings, or titles in pro wrestling, or oscars, or academy awards. It's the same idea. It's just a way to acknowledge the milestones that gamers achieve

If you want me to rant about achievements/trophies, believe me there are a lot of things I could complain about, but that has more to do with how some people implement them into games. The concept, however, I've always loved.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

When achievements are done well they add to a game and make it better. Usually these are neat challenges like: Climb to the highest point on the map or Kill 5 guys in a row with your fists.

Ways to ruin them: Basically all Online achievements, story based achievements

I used to care about achievements, but, haven't for quite some time simply because most developers suck at making achievements. I much prefer just goofing around in the game and if I get an achievement while following my own personal drive to climb to the highest point on the map walking on my fists then cool!

Don't we already have a thread on HD re-releases?

[AppleQueso]

Don't we already have a thread on HD re-releases?

Actually the thread was never about HD re-releases, it was supposed to be about full on HD remakes of games like NiGHTs (though that's actually an HD re-release of the Ps2 remake) and Turtles in Time: ReShelled and whatnot.

[J T]

Back on topic, I like the remakes/re-releases. There are times that it has given me a chance to play a game that I don't own the console for. For example, I've got a ton of older SEGA games that I've never owned the original consoles for. I have the Sonic Collection for PS2, Space Channel 1&2 for PS2, and the Genesis/MegaDrive collection and Dreamcast collection for PC. Now I can play great games like Jet Set Radio, Ecco The Dolphin, Streets of Rage, etc. and I woulnd't have really been able to do that legally without investing a lot in used gear.

I agree with others though that it's not good when the originals get butchered. I wish more games did what Secret of Monkey Island did where you can jump between the old school version and the modernized version.

[Xeogred]

I think we definitely have to separate the two JT. I dunno but I look at direct collections/ports as different things than HD remaster/collections. I'm all for big collections like the Megaman Anniversary, X collection, all the Sonic collections (Mega Collection, Gems, Ultimate Sega Genesis, okay wow that's a few haha), etc. But I'm not so sure about HD updates.

Because some have turned out pretty sloppy, I've become a little skeptical about the HD collections. So I'm kind of hesitant to get some of them, plus there's the fact that I still think PS2 games look great on TV anyways, the retrogamer snob in me comes out (was someone joking about vinyl logic somewhere else recently? haha), so is it really necessary? In some cases yeah it's more convenient and probably worth it, but in a case like the ZoE collection... if I didn't own the second game already, I don't like the first anyways and hear the HD version of 2 runs into framerate issues, so for one game, I'd probably just go with the original PS2 version if I were to choose between the two.

It's funny how inconsistent the developers are too. The Devil May Cry collection is one of the best from the things I've seen and heard (haven't dived in yet myself), yet they completely butchered RE4's and Code Veronica's HD releases. Then there's Konami, the MGS collection is good, but the Silent Hill one looks like one of the worst. I realize there's probably a lot too it, working with different engines/code or whatever, but it's just funny how inconsistent and sloppy this stuff turns out sometimes.

Perfect Dark on the 360 is one of my favorites. Widescreen support, dual joystick support, improved framerate and resolution, they even redid some of the face models I believe. Quality work on that one.

Halo Anniversary was pretty nice too. I'd actually like an HD update of Halo 2 since that one was kind of buggy and looks terrible on a 360 for some reason, maybe they could improve it... or make it worse, lol.

For the bigger collections that have 3 or more games of stuff that I never played, I can say those are pretty appealing to me. I missed out on all of the PS2's adventure games, so I've had my eyes on the Sly, Ratchet, and Jak collections.

Remakes of shmups and 2D games in general to me though, I think is just nearly pointless. Many remakes completely lose their charm or turn out like a completely different awful incarnation of what was a good game (TMNT Turtles in Time comes to mind, the controls/mechanics weren't even the same!)... so I just don't see the point at all. There's some very few exceptions like Zero Mission, now that was a great remake, but I don't prefer it over the original Metroid or anything, they're different and I love both. Pier Solar HD looks like an HD upgrade done well too, but I can still say I'll take the pixels over the new facelift if I had to pick one. In most cases though, 2D remakes seem pretty awful to me. I wouldn't want PSX games to be touched either, the graphics are so dated (not nagging, just technically) that a facelift would turn it into a completely different game. PS2 era stuff however, I think can benefit from being HDfied, but only if handled well. So it's hit or miss.

I think you can get a similar "upgraded" experience when playing PS2 era games that had a PC port as well. There's a guarantee you'll be able to run those games in higher resolutions than the PS2 had them in and with a superior framerate, lots of FPS's come to mind. So it's kind of fun replaying games I once played on the PS2 or something, on the PC now with them looking better and running with improved performance. Deus Ex is a HUGE one... I first played that game (several times) on the PS2 actually, haha... now that I've played the PC one, I can never go back.

A random assortment of my thoughts on all this I guess.