Old games for a new audience

[Jagos]

Originally Posted by NonCon

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

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.

That's debatable, because the companies get entrenched in certain ideas unless they progress the games forward. And honestly, how much have people been clamoring for Radical Dreamers, Chrono Break, or (a good) Crono Cross instead of the one remake of a game from 20 years ago? If they're going to update a franchise, it should be more in line with making new iterations into a series and a few side stories. Even then, the need to port only increases the further it's been since the game was introduced.

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!"

What I'm more or less advocating is playing the game through, say, an emulator, keeping the game's integrity intact. I'm thinking of a platform that could show off all of the Zelda games and how it's progressed through the years. Does that mean people aren't interested in replaying those games? With the advancement of GoG, I'd say that's a confirmed yes.

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.

They're all part of the same vein of games. They're presented in the same world, but we've yet to get FFXIII-2 or Versus. Square wants to tell an epic Star Wars story, but the question is, how long can this go on? Meanwhile, they neglect their older games that could appease people and actually help Square. I'm more or less criticizing how Square focuses on this one epic while neglecting the other games they have. I believe for the past 4 or 5 years, it's been almost exclusively the Final Fantasy series with little thoughts into other properties or branching out.

What is this supposed to mean?

This is an honest question.

Where are the older games in newer platforms that made them a good company today? Where do they allow games to be played outside of the two or three that they're currently working on? That's the question here. Square has forgotten about Valkyrie Profile along with the others mentioned. Square's biggest problem, as I think most other companies that have been existing over two generations of consoles, is keeping those games updated for newer audiences. I recall a story on Escapist that in order to play Kingdom Hearts 1, you would have to search it down, along with all of the side games that help you keep up with it.

What I'm thinking of is something like Steam that shows all of these old games.

The problems with ports is that companies do horribly with them. Even Valve, who I like a lot, can't always get their own ports right. Sometimes, it might be better for fans to update the game and test their own skills (like the Valve Timed Black Mesa game). Hell, The Warriors might be a good game on PS2, but the ports still suck on PSP.

With remakes, the magic may be lost on redoing a game. There's very few that honestly need an update. It might be better to just do an entirely new game instead of living in the past. Yahtzee actually goes into an example (Silent Hill) that shows this better. While the companies can do it, it still takes resources and manpower from any future projects. Good ones take more time, and even then, I believe, new problems arise such as with Ocarina of Time 3D and the wonkier camera and targeting issues.

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.

I'm not saying remakes can't be made nor that I won't play them if they're good. I would just like to have all of the parts to the story on one platform if possible or find ways to bring back older games that were pretty special gems in the day. What are the chances of a rerelease of Illusion of Gaia or Spunky Knight? Would you honestly want to see these remade into "updated" versions as the industry moves on? Or would you want to play them as they were on your console of choice?