I would like to start by saying that I have NO principle problems with all of the porting of classics and oldies that have been happening lately. HD remasters, improved graphics, direct ports....it's all good. So long as plenty of new games are coming, I don't feel cheated, like they're trying to resell me an old game; in fact, thanks to them, I get to play great games that I missed out on before, like the GOW and ICO Collections.
However, I would like to see more go into these ports. Not just graphics, not just an added level or two, but some fundamental fixes.
I got thinking of this the other day while playing the HD remaster Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay on the disc of the newest game. It's great. It does a pretty good job, for the most part, at comparing with current games. But I ran into some problems. The first issue was a with a couple of checkpoints. I would often get stuck in some AWFUL situations. Stuck between the security checkpoint and the way to the mines, for example, with a mech or a person, ready to turn my last health square into swiss cheese with their rifles. And the mech AI is SOOOO stubborn; he'll stare at you in the dark for a stinking hour (Like he somehow does and doesn't see you at the same time) before you say "screw it" and attempt to run past him.
So, why couldn't they make simple improvements to the checkpoints? How about to the Mechs? Or best of all.....the freaking loading times and spots (there's no reason for that much in a current gen game, when the game is mostly tunnels anyway)?
If you're going to port a classic, it's great to have respect for the original's design and everything, but wouldn't a few minor improvements make all the difference? Especially when things like the loading sections could be so easily integrated, thanks to new technology.
And then I got watching the Halo Anniversary Silent Cartographer footage. The commentator made me want to vomit. He went on and on about how they made no changes to the game, including no improvements. He went on to list some of those things that bugged me with the original, such as the underpowered assault rifle (In comparison to the pistol, at least), that could barely take down a grunt from 20 feet away on harder difficulties. Instead of cooing even the original's flaws, couldn't SLIGHT tweaks have been in order?
In conclusion (AKA "TL:DR Version"), I would like to see ports of old games at least see minor fixes to flaws. If people have been able to find and report them for even up to a decade, developers should have plenty of access to help regarding issues in their titles. With often very minor tweaks to fundamental parts of the game, they could make a classic that much better.
And why wouldn't we want an even better version of a classic?
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It's great to see classics make their way to the latest system, but why not make some improvements?
I think I'd like to see more complete remakes, though; thinking about games like Red Faction remade on a modern engine.....OH YEAH.
Well, the purpose of these remakes is giving gamers nostalgia or throwing them back to a time they missed. When you change the power of a gun, you run into a bunch of changes in gameplay design (difficulty for example) that need to be accounted for. It's a domino effect where you end up with a slew of things need to be changed. When that happens, you lose the feel of the original, which would completely misses the point of an HD remake. The want to give us the original Halo, today.
A lot of people would be really upset if 343 made changes to something so iconic.
I hear you, I know it's already obvious but time and manpower is money.
I remember when we were told generations ago that the "original assets" of a game have been cut due to hardware restrictions. Besides, I was truly astonished in a negative way when PS1 classics in PS Store still had the same loading times! What's up with that? reeks of sheer lazyness
We saw dozens of hi res textures, unused art and effects in making of documentaries and whatnot. Where are those? In a vault brewing mold? Can any of you imagine how fantastic can be the original uncompressed Oddworld Abe's odysee & exodus scenario assets? What about prerendered backgrounds like the ones from SNES Super Mario RPG, FFVII,VIII,IX, Resident Evil?(Oh wait, the GC remake already had high quality 2D assets), but you get the point; Where are the thousands of high quality assets, (background, character, effects) that went unused because the hardware couldn't cope with it? Are they lost forever?
That is how I feel about ports and "remakes". The only remaster I am getting is ICO collection because I cant find those in gamestop used and I hear that it is awesome(for its time).
I also feel that if I have the ability to play it on my current gen console or PC without having to buy the new REMASTERD version then why do we need it?
I remember that damn mech. Such a pain in the ass to get past and I agree, with HD remakes they really should fix the issues the originals had.