Old games for a new audience

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Jagos

I got to thinking about the current game generation along with the emphasis on remaking games.

This is in no way anything resembling a new thing. Nintendo's done it since the SNES. Square has done it since the PSX.

It's going to always be the wrong thing to do.

Ehhh, naw. I'd say remakes and ports are a good way of introducing new fans to old games, especially when not everyone has their old N64 lying around.

a game company should be moving forward with a franchise, never backwards.

Plenty of new games are backwards steps in their respective franchises. I also don't think remakes and ports are steps backwards. It's simply bringing old games to a new audience via a new system, and I think resources it takes to do so are minimal enough that they probably don't affect other projects in any meaningful way.

Let the fans remember the characters as you progress a story.

Once again, not everyone has their old N64 lying around, and I know nostalgia likes to claim otherwise, but old games can benefit from improvements to presentation. Presentation matters, and as technology progresses that bar is raised and the old visuals and audio quality are not always as able to do the games they're in justice as well as they did on release. Aside from that, good luck convincing someone who didn't grow up with these games, "Well, it was really impressive when it released! Take my word on it!"

I think that would work a lot better in solving all of these problems with a company such as Square.

Once again, I think you're overestimating the resources such projects require and the impact they have on other projects.

Let's consider a few games they updated.

Yes, lets.

You have the CronoTrigger series that they put onto the 3DS with a few edits.

DS, not 3DS.

Then, we have FFXIII -2 that's set to come out, but has had a longer than normal (even for Square) development cycle.

What is this? No, really. What is this? Jagos, if you're going to make a thread wherein you feign superior understanding of what companies should do, have your facts straight.

It sounds like you've somehow managed to confuse FFXIII-2 for an updated version of FFXIII while simultaneously mistaking its development cycle for that of FFXIII Versus. If you didn't do the former, it makes no sense as an example in your post. If you didn't do the latter, then you're flat out wrong.

Given this, where are the stories for Vagrant Story (tied to Ivalice), Saga Frontier, or any other game that once made Square a juggernaut in RPGs?

I just... What is this supposed to mean?

This is an honest question.


If you don't like ports and remakes fair enough, but you are not doing a very good job of making your point, and that you get basic facts wrong makes it hard for me to take your point seriously.


Beyond this, remakes are hardly harmful for a company. That they keep being made says that clear as day. Fans love them and want more of them, and as I said the resources are less than making a completely new game, so the risk is smaller. Square Enix's current faults have absolutely nothing to do with remakes and have everything to do with the new projects they have been putting out. Final Fantasy XIII did well, but not as well as they wanted given the investment they put into it, and Final Fantasy XIV just outright bombed. Both original games and "steps forward" for the franchise.