Remastering video games is a great practice

Matt Ferguson of G4@Syfygames writes "With the recent announcement of the Final Fantasy VII remake, and some other fantastic remasters like Gear of War Ultimate Collection on the horizon, we felt it was necessary to step back for a moment and talk about what makes remastered games so awesome. I could probably go on for about a week about this, because I'm personally a huge proponent of remastering and remaking games, so I'll try not to ramble too much.

I've heard many people gripe about so many games being remastered since the Xbox One and PS4 came out, but I really don't see the downside to it. There are plenty of great reasons for a developer to want to remaster one of their successful titles, and probably even more reasons as a gamer to pick one of them up. So let me break it down for you."

[Nosred]

Remaster No But Remake, unfortunately most remaster not need to be made as healthful games that change little like a game last year with new prices.

REmake old games that marked the time really worth it.

[Rimeskeem]

So basically R and C is what the industry should aim for when it comes to remastering/remastering/reimag ining a game

[The 10th Rider]

Ratchet and Clank is a reboot, if that's what you mean.

Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D are what come to mind.

[nicksetzer1]

Yea, I would say Ratchet and clank and FFvii are the best examples. Really excited for ratchet remake. The only other remaster to "remake" the game would be halo 2 within the master chief collection, even that might not be a full remake, but it was fully recreated assets.

That said, I have no problem with remasters, so long as they don't effect future development and so far, it hasn't. In fact, one could argue it speeds up dev times because the extra income they receive. (however, there isn't really any proof for that) The way I see it, remaster collections are nice and those are the ones I will likely invest in, if they are games I would like to re-experience. I am not a huge fan of single remastered games for $60 like TLOU, God of war and gears of war remasters.

[MasterCornholio]

Well yeah R@C and FF7 is what the industry should be doing.

However doing that costs alot more so it might not make sense for niche games.

[NukaCola]

I don't mind series remasters, especially if I missed on them. But some games new a remake or reboot. Oddworld New and Tasty is an example of a complete reboot/remake that is not up to par with it's original masterpiece.

[joab777]

I just want a Bioshock Collection and I will be the happiest person ever! All 3 games remastered w/ DLC.

Can you imagine revisiting these locale in 1080 60 fps?

[stragomccloud]

Already possible. In fact during the summer sale, you could buy all three for like $12 at 1080p and higher resolution textures, etc.

[Hellsvacancy]

I've got no problem with remasters, I feel last gen was a con, most of the games looked like crap imo, I can't believe I sunk 700 hours into BF4 PS3, it looks so much nicer on the PS4

[DevilOgreFish]

you know, If you can pause and think about your statement. If you believed that you were conned because of the new gen is granting you standards that previous gens couldn't before, it's going to simply happen again, and again as you move forward looking back.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Talk about Remaster while having FF VII Remake as a thumbnail... Ayy Lmao

[Majin-vegeta]

FF7 is a remaked not remaster.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Tell that to the author

[DevilOgreFish]

I prefer remakes over remasters, but even remakes can get remasters. (as Capcom proves with RE.)

[joab777]

I like remakes b/c it gives the devs the ability to truely see their initial vision come to life...at least it's a possibility.

What if Demon Souls and Dark Souls got a remake? What if Miyazaki actually had intended for areas to look more detailed like BB, or more enemies, different areas entirely. What if things were compromised by the tech?

This is just an example. But I would definitely replay them.

[nutcrackr]

Complete rebuild of assets and levels from a game 10+ years old = good.
Resolution upscale of a game not even 5 years old = bad.

[Xavior_Reigns]

I don't really mind remastered games. As for why? Well if they're some of my favorite games performing and looking significantly better why not? Of course I won't be buying them at full price though, get them cheap ($20 or less.) It's good for people who missed out on them last gen or whenever. The problem is remastering unnecessary games while some like Demon's Souls gets ignored. Overall I'd much prefer remakes - Onimusha, Otogi, Turok, etc...

[gokuking]

I wouldn't equate a remake with a remaster. One is a much more extensive job that requires essentially making the game from scratch. The other is slapping some lipstick on an already existing game.

[Lng101010]

There's nothing wrong with charging full price for a remaster of a recent game. They put in the extra work, sometimes it's not even the same team. They deserve getting paid again if the game is worth it.
There's also nothing wrong with not wanting to pay full price for it.

Solution? Buy the original version for cheap, or wait for remastered to go on sale. Stop whining.

[jay2]

NO! make new games ffs fed up with it!

[N0TaB0T]

If the process doesn't break the game sure, but in most cases I'd rather just backwards compatibility.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Its an economical business practice but not a great trend imo. I would rather have had consoles offer real BC options for all previous generations since we are buying into their ecosystems.

[N0TaB0T]

This. Also, games that scrape the ceiling can run so much better on an emulation if the settings were tweaked right by the OEM.

[NeoGamer232]

Remasters are out of hand this generation. They are good for the first year or two, but remasters now are a cop out.

We should be seeing nothing but new content now.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Remasters are okay in moderation.
But when they're used as a cash grab in lieu of PROPER backwards compatibility, and to forestall the expense of new projects for the sake of milking every possible cent out of the fanbase of a not-that-old game, that's when it becomes a f&#%ing problem.

Since the internet is full of sensitive brats, I won't name names.
But I think we all know some recent culprits...

[MasterCornholio]

"Since the internet is full of sensitive brats, I won't name names."

I know I defended remasters in the past like Orcania of Time and Majoras Mask so I know your talking about me.

But I'm fine with a remaster as long as it meets these conditions.

1. Doesn't interfere with the development of a new game (example needs to be made by secondary studios such as Bluepoint).

2. Has to be price according to what type of remaster it is (the less improved it is the cheaper it should be)

3. It has to work well (can't be a broken game like some remasters are)

As long as they meet these 3 conditions I'm fine with them.

P.S I would like to add an example for number 2.

The PC version of FF7 on PS4 should be inexpensive while the remake had the right to be priced the same as a modern AAA title considering the amount of the work that goes into it.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

I actually wasn't aware of you having done anything of the sort, though...XD