Games that should get remade

[TedEH]

I think if you skipped Jedi Academy, that would have been the bridge - that one was my entry to the series, so it's how I tend to think of them all. Those games slowly progressed from Doom clone to 3rd person lightsaber action adventure over each iteration. If you follow that path, to me something like Fallen Order fits into the pattern. IMO.

 

[Marked Man]

I totally remember those although I didn't play them, I was a devout reader of PG Gamer and other mags back then, I started playing Doom in 1993, thats when I got my first PC

It would be great for them to re-make those games.

To this day I still occasionally read/buy classic '80s/90s D&D modules just to read the modules and back stories. I only played the original D&D board game on a single day as a young kid, but my friend with this game moved away, and the video game versions came out soon after, so that was that.

Which reminds me, I'd really love to see a modern, high budget game series of the Ravenloft/Strahd von Zarovich world. I'd be all over that.

 

[Jonathan20022]

I know this is the remake thread, but is anyone else sick of them at this point?

I missed the square enix announcements at e3 and watching a recap video had me do a double take, why are they remaking Life is Strange? That game is barely 6 years old, and the updates look marginal at best, so how is it not just some massive cash grab.

I feel like the only company that can reasonably port/remake content is Nintendo to make up for the colossal fail of the WiiU. It just feels like if a game isn't a decade old or completely unavailable from all ways to play it, it shouldn't be ported/remade

 

[thebeesknees22]

I don't mind the remakes. There's only one I really want, and that would be a full remake from the ground up of FF6.

I don't see square ever doing it though. It's a generation too old for anyone to really care.

 

[TedEH]

I tend to complain pretty often about the state of games - how we're slowly transitioning to just remakes and the odd iterative sequal, how once-good franchises are turning into lootbox-filled cash-grabs, how online requirements are giving games an expiry date for no reason, how single player experiences have taken a back seat to competitive genres and cramming battle-royale modes into things like we used to do with zombie modes, how games are all becoming "services" instead of one-off products to make sure we can continue to monetize after initial sales, how DLC often sells you on the feeling of not having a whole product, how "early access" has normalized the practice of selling incomplete products, how the market is so flooded with samey time-padded titles and mountains of indie games that the consumer feels guilt at not completing their blacklog that they paid for while combating the urge to keep up with the community, and how modern games tend to only target the latest and greatest despite those being luxury items and leaving those who can only afford to be a generation behind to deal with crummy, sometimes unplayable, experiences, how we deal with preservation poorly, how we deal with scalpers poorly, etc etc etc.

But hey, what do I know.
Games are great. But they also suck. But they're also great.

I almost kinda wish that rather than remaking games, we could remake platforms that we could use the play the games we already have. Like if MS sold the ultimate Win 98 machine with proper drivers and support so that you didn't have to hunt down grimey old parts or fiddle with VMs. They could package it up as a VM / sandbox and if you happen to break it you just nuke it and restore to the image.

 

[Choop]

I don't mind the remakes. There's only one I really want, and that would be a full remake from the ground up of FF6.

I don't see square ever doing it though. It's a generation too old for anyone to really care.

To add to the impossibility pile, I've always wanted a sprite-based demake of FF7, in the same sprite style as FF6 haha. It'd be so charming! Horrible business decision, but w/e.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Really disappointed with the D2:resurrected announcements, seems there's no intent to make the game compatible with newer mac OS and the Single Player community is being summarily ignored because they don't have any high profile streamers pulling down ad revenue on youtube.

Honestly all graphical and quality of life updates can piss off, I'd settle for them supporting the original release for the platforms it's supposed to work on.

I'm getting to the point where new games don't interest me and all the ones i used to like are getting harder and harder to run on new machines and I'm getting carpal tunnel from work so it's not in my bester interest to play them anyway. HARRUMPH!

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

What Ted said. The problem is that the gaming industry isn't exactly known for their preservation. It's also evolving at a much faster rate than most medium. Lack of backwards compatibility for years certainly didn't help since it shuns away the past. Old games be it good (retro classic) or bad (unplayable or obsolete) are good learning lessons for modern or upcoming games. But with backwards compatibility often shunned until only recently, the only way to preserve the games is to remaster or remake them. Odd prospect but that's where we're at. I actually don't mind repaying for a remastered game I've played (or never got the chance to play) a decade or 2 prior, especially when it comes to the 5th gen games that seem to have aged worse than the 16 bit era. But I also won't pay 20 bucks for Balloon Fight.

Granted that there has been some great remakes that keep the spirit and feel of the original (Strider). And you got Stardew Valley, which is just Harvest Moon, but has evolved to a game much better than either Harvest Moon and Story Of Seasons in their current state. Arguably you can also throw in every subsequent Zelda game ever since they're all just remakes of the previous game harkening back to the first (not counting Zelda 2 or the CDR abortions).

 

[TedEH]

Old games be it good (retro classic) or bad (unplayable or obsolete) are good learning lessons for modern or upcoming games.

While I hear this kind of thing a lot - excuse me while I switch into grumpy old man mode again - I honestly don't think people care that much about trying to learn from old/obsolete/obscure games. They're interesting curiosities and make for good youtube content snippets, but for all the devs I've known, not a single one has ever gone back and said "ok, I need access to some obscure NES title that nobody liked, for research, so I can figure out how to do better". No - we want preservation so that we can play classics and ride the nostalgia thing without feeling like we're being gouged for it (or in some cases we just want free crap).

 

[wankerness]

Arguably you can also throw in every subsequent Zelda game ever since they're all just remakes of the previous game harkening back to the first (not counting Zelda 2 or the CDR abortions).

Uhh...there's a very, very big difference in gameplay between say Link's Awakening (remake or original) and Wind Waker, vastly more so than the average difference between 3D action games from different publishers. Or even much closer relatives, like Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, are VERY different from one another. MM is absolutely not a remake of what came before. You could rather disingenuously argue that all 2D zeldas are the same and that thus only the most recent is worth playing, or that OoT/WW/TP/SS are all iterations of each other, but I've never heard of anyone that ranked them in quality in order of newest to oldest. And BOTW is absolutely not the same thing as the previous games due to the total change in how power/item acquisition/dungeons worked, and how it shifted all the focus to exploration. Zelda games are really not much more "the same game" as any members of games in the same genres from different publishers.

I think you're stretching the term remake a lot farther than it should be!

 

[TedEH]

You could rather disingenuously argue that all 2D zeldas are the same and that thus only the most recent is worth playing

I wouldn't fault someone for this one - the 2d Zeldas are pretty formulaic. I just finished Oracle of Ages and it kinda felt like a slightly-worse retread of Links Awakening. Not a bad game, but not exactly a super distinct experience.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Uhh...there's a very, very big difference in gameplay between say Link's Awakening (remake or original) and Wind Waker, vastly more so than the average difference between 3D action games from different publishers. Or even much closer relatives, like Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, are VERY different from one another. MM is absolutely not a remake of what came before. You could rather disingenuously argue that all 2D zeldas are the same and that thus only the most recent is worth playing, or that OoT/WW/TP/SS are all iterations of each other, but I've never heard of anyone that ranked them in quality in order of newest to oldest. And BOTW is absolutely not the same thing as the previous games due to the total change in how power/item acquisition/dungeons worked, and how it shifted all the focus to exploration. Zelda games are really not much more "the same game" as any members of games in the same genres from different publishers.

I think you're stretching the term remake a lot farther than it should be!

A stretch perhaps but if you break the mainline Zelda series to it's core and they're no different. You're the legendary hero off the save the princess by exploring Hyrule, grabbing the usual sword and slicing the usual pork chop. Same formula. Everything you said are secondary built and elaborated in that foundation. Zelda 2 had the gall to change the main gameplay, which is something most modern games wouldn't dare to try today... okay they're usually called spinoffs like Halo Wars but in the context of the late 80s it was a quantum leap.

Storywise Zelda was never sophisticated but Links Awakening and Majoras Mask became more interesting than the mainline titles since they ditched the usual formula and put Link in new and different situations. Zelda 3 is just Zelda 1 but bigger. Ocarina is just Zelda 3 in 3D but replace parallel world with a time jump. Twilight Princess is just Ocarina with the Emo meter jacked up. The derivatives are a welcome change, even if it doesn't always work (Spirit Tracks).

Obviously there are some elaborate ways Nintendo shaking things up like Wind Waker's vast ocean or Skyward Sword's crappy skybox and forced motion controls, or Breath Of The Wild's open world, which if you strip down to it's core is really just a modern day Zelda 1... or a curent gen A Link Between Worlds.

I guess I'm saying some new ideas would be welcome for a series known for re recording the same song for 40 odd years. The Dynasty Warriors pastiche games are a dip in new waters since it allows you to play with different characters and not the same elf dude, so that opens new possibilities. Even Mario has dipped in to different territories like the Paper and Yoshi series. Zelda and co could do the same.

 

[TedEH]

For as much as I like the Zelda formula, I'd be down to see what happens when you turn it into an RPG or something.

Or someone should turn it into a shooter somehow. The Legend of ZelDoom.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Here's one off the top of my head:

Zelda stealth game based on the Gerudos. Take elements from the first 2 Thief games and have them go around stealing stuff from different corners of the world, doesn't have to be Hyrule.

And to make it different from a Thief pastiche, weave Ganondorf's origin into the story, and not as a primary focus either.

 

[Choop]

It's cool to see how older games (albeit solid classic older games) inspire newer games from a different perspective. Take the dungeons from a Zelda game but make that the entire game, throw in rogue lite elements and tongue-in-cheek humor with creepy occult symbology and boom! You got The Binding Of Isaac.

Sorry if it's been said already, but a couple game series that would be neat to see a remake/reboot/sequel of would be the Legacy of Kain and MediEvil games! Got spooky games on the brain today. I imagine a Legacy of Kain game now would probably play (and look) similarly to Darksiders.

 

[TedEH]

Agreed on the general point, but I'd be perfectly happy straying from the sort of "fad" genres that indies seem to latch onto. There are mountains of rogue-likes/lites and metroidvanias now. I kinda feel like we're due for a new genre of game.

 

[Choop]

I like rogue-lites to an extent, like with anything else it just depends on how it's done (there are definitely a bunch of lazy rogue-lite infused games out there). Not sure what a new genre of game could possibly be at this point, but that could be fun to think about! Maybe a possible new thread idea.

 

[wankerness]

A stretch perhaps but if you break the mainline Zelda series to it's core and they're no different. You're the legendary hero off the save the princess by exploring Hyrule, grabbing the usual sword and slicing the usual pork chop. Same formula. Everything you said are secondary built and elaborated in that foundation.

If you boil it down THAT far and say gameplay mechanics are "secondary," you get HUNDREDS of games that would qualify as being the same game! After all, at their core, they're almost all navigating a fantasy world to solve some arbitrary goal while shooting/stabbing things. I think "setting of Hyrule" is more secondary to a game actually being a different experience than actual gameplay mechanics, not the opposite, as you suggest. Like, Majora's Mask has the time limit thing as the main part of the gameplay experience in a lot of ways, and BOTW's experience for a lot of people is vastly more "explore the world" than "save the princess."

They ARE part of the same series, so I don't get what you want from them and how you'd be able to define them as something other than "remakes." What's a game series that ISN'T a bunch of remakes, in your opinion? Sounds like some of the big major long-running series wouldn't count for you.

Ex Metroid - "they're all the same cause you're always Samus shooting things with lasers"
Mario (discounting side-series like Paper Mario) - "they're all the same cause you're always a character and you always can jump"
Final Fantasy - "they're all the same cause you're always in a fantasy world with teammates"
Halo, Uncharted, etc actually ARE pretty much the same game over and over. But the Nintendo things seem like a stretch.

 

[bostjan]

I actually hate games nowadays. Everything has to be connected to the internet to work, it's too much pay-to-win when it's multiplayer, tutorials are too long and boring.

I was just over at our sons' house, and our oldest was playing a new game he just got, and, I timed it- more than 30 minutes before there was even an option to skip a cutscene. Then it was several minutes of quick-time events, and then, after all of that, a tutorial. That's ridiculous! Just watch a movie, then.

I think a great game could be made in any genre, but cutscenes, quick-time events, and tutorials should be only used when it adds something to the experience, not something to pad the play time and bog progress down.

 

[TedEH]

tutorials should be only used when it adds something to the experience

Sometimes people look at me funny when I say this, but I think the same of crafting. Too many games have crafting for no reason and it makes the game worse.