09-18-2016, 05:31 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-18-2016, 04:16 PM by RepentantSky.)
We've seen a lot of remakes and ports, some HD, some just on handhelds, but with all the one we've seen recently, I thought it would be interesting, despite what I have to say maybe not being popular opinion, to talk about ports and remakes that exist for a reason versus one ones that don't. So what I'm going to do is talk about a port or remake, HD or otherwise that has no point versus one that does and then you can all feel free to inject your opinion into the matter.
An HD remake/port without a point, The Bioshock collection. In 2013 we got the last game of this series to be released new, possibly forever since Levine decided he didn't want to risk making another AAA title. This year, for no more reason than to make some money, all three Bioshock games came to the current gen systems. Even with all the single player DLC included, I don't really see a reason for this to exist outside of money, probably to fund something that would be better done with crowd funding outside of kickstarter since that hasn't gone well lately. Like I said, the last game came out 3 years ago, it seems kind of pointless to HD port the games into gen 8. I saw the reveal for it, the lack of time to market it, and I thought, why? Why would you make something like that? There's nothing about it that makes sense accept for money.
A port/remake with a point, God Eater: Resurrection and God Eater 2: Rage Burst. This port makes sense. Not only does it take the game off of the PSP exclusive list that no one plays it for per-say, but it allows everyone to play the games before the anime starts coming out on Blu-Ray in two parts in November and January, plus there's the big reason of a God Eater 3 game that was announced at TGS this year. So, not only does this make sense from a marketing standpoint, but it also allows for fans of the games to play them again and refresh their memories, but also it let's new fans get the games and get caught up before the 3rd game releases, whenever that happens to be. Plus they can also go back to the games for a refresher if the 3rd one is far down the line. Finally, God Eater 2 had never been released outside of Japan, so to have the game out here now when the 3rd one is on the way, it just makes sense.
A port/remake without a reason, Batman Arkham Asylum/Arkham City. It seems to be a point to remake great games, or just give them the HD treatment without any other reason but money as a motivator. The Arkham games are a bit older, but it's also pretty unlikely a lot of people played Arkham Knight who hadn't at least played city beforehand on the last generation, so there's really not a whole lot of point to doing this. Maybe if the telltale game for batman has an easter egg or a connection to the Arkham trilogy then maybe their might be the slightest reason to port it, but honestly, it looks like another cash grab to me during the holidays and that's just not good enough.
A port/remake with a reason. Tri-Force hero's for the 3DS family. This one is kind of odd because it came out just about a year after the Wii U version, but it makes sense. There was a good amount of demand for it, it used the second screen better than the original version did, it gave people who didn't even own a Wii U a chance to play it, and it came out with new content that gave 3DS owners a reason to buy it. Also, despite not being able to have as many foes on screen as the home console version, it still felt like a W-Force game and a 3DS title all at once. Perhaps the season pass adding ever more DLC wasn't the greatest idea, but all in all, I can see that move making sense. There's a reason not a lot of people never complained about this port, because it just added up.
A port/remake without a reason, Skyrim for the current generation of consoles. This one makes, no sense. The game comes out and what, you play a game from a few years back that people are still playing, and why exactly? Because people want a new Elder Scrolls game and Bethesda has no info about it except it's a long ways off. But hey, here's a remake for 60 bucks to tide you over for 5 more years, I guess. I mean seriously, is it a great game, sure, is there a lot of add-on's because of the DLC being added, sure. But it's an old game, that honestly took way too much time to work right on consoles but was completely overhyped and pretty much lead to 2014 happening the way it did and it doesn't need a port. People are still playing it on previous consoles, again and mods have kept the game looking almost exactly like a current PC title since it released. Porting games that are known for being great and are popular among the gaming community is not a good enough reason to do it.
A port/remake with a reason, DQ7 and DQ8 for the 3DS. I mean, this one is pretty self-explanatory, but, I mean, they happened because of a petition in France that actually convinced dev's to port them all over the west. These ports not only allow old fans to play the games again, but they also allow new ones to try them out for the first time and maybe get a better understanding of why turn based battle systems were so popular back in the day. Also, DQ7 never released in Europe, and the Franchise itself didn't really blow up in Japan until Dragon Quest 8 on the PS2. Dragon Quest 8 makes sense as a port because it's basically the International edition of the game Ala Final Fantasy or the Final Mix version Ala Kingdom Hearts. The game is going to include more story about what happened with the main antagonist Dhoulmagus, as well as more story for the main character you play as, and it's going to have added features in it's combat as well as a few other little bonuses. Not it's not an improvement in graphics because the PS2 was just a bit stronger than the 3DS is, but it's still going to explain things better and generally be a better game then the original was.
Now there's a lot more ports I could talk about, but these in particular I wanted to talk about because it bothers me how torn I am between good ports and remakes and bad ports and remakes. Sometimes there's a reason, sometimes there's not, and it's just odd that even though some of the best games of the last generation are coming to the newest console generation if they aren't here already, there's not really a reason for it. Meanwhile, a lot of other games without that claim to fame are also being ported and they have a very good reason for existing. Also, making a post this long is kind a test of sorts because I already know that when it comes to making the games of the year list I plan on having, it's going to be really long, and I want to make sure beforehand that it this kind of thread with this many words isn't going to deter people from joining in on the conversation. Also, some of the games I've mentioned here today are probably going to be included in that somewhere so I thought I should get some general feelings about them out there before that list happens because that'll shorten my overall post when the time comes.
So, I'm not sure not everyone agrees with me here, and I am more than happy to hear why, so get cracking if you are interested.
An HD remake/port without a point, The Bioshock collection. In 2013 we got the last game of this series to be released new, possibly forever since Levine decided he didn't want to risk making another AAA title. This year, for no more reason than to make some money, all three Bioshock games came to the current gen systems. Even with all the single player DLC included, I don't really see a reason for this to exist outside of money, probably to fund something that would be better done with crowd funding outside of kickstarter since that hasn't gone well lately. Like I said, the last game came out 3 years ago, it seems kind of pointless to HD port the games into gen 8. I saw the reveal for it, the lack of time to market it, and I thought, why? Why would you make something like that? There's nothing about it that makes sense accept for money.
A port/remake with a point, God Eater: Resurrection and God Eater 2: Rage Burst. This port makes sense. Not only does it take the game off of the PSP exclusive list that no one plays it for per-say, but it allows everyone to play the games before the anime starts coming out on Blu-Ray in two parts in November and January, plus there's the big reason of a God Eater 3 game that was announced at TGS this year. So, not only does this make sense from a marketing standpoint, but it also allows for fans of the games to play them again and refresh their memories, but also it let's new fans get the games and get caught up before the 3rd game releases, whenever that happens to be. Plus they can also go back to the games for a refresher if the 3rd one is far down the line. Finally, God Eater 2 had never been released outside of Japan, so to have the game out here now when the 3rd one is on the way, it just makes sense.
A port/remake without a reason, Batman Arkham Asylum/Arkham City. It seems to be a point to remake great games, or just give them the HD treatment without any other reason but money as a motivator. The Arkham games are a bit older, but it's also pretty unlikely a lot of people played Arkham Knight who hadn't at least played city beforehand on the last generation, so there's really not a whole lot of point to doing this. Maybe if the telltale game for batman has an easter egg or a connection to the Arkham trilogy then maybe their might be the slightest reason to port it, but honestly, it looks like another cash grab to me during the holidays and that's just not good enough.
A port/remake with a reason. Tri-Force hero's for the 3DS family. This one is kind of odd because it came out just about a year after the Wii U version, but it makes sense. There was a good amount of demand for it, it used the second screen better than the original version did, it gave people who didn't even own a Wii U a chance to play it, and it came out with new content that gave 3DS owners a reason to buy it. Also, despite not being able to have as many foes on screen as the home console version, it still felt like a W-Force game and a 3DS title all at once. Perhaps the season pass adding ever more DLC wasn't the greatest idea, but all in all, I can see that move making sense. There's a reason not a lot of people never complained about this port, because it just added up.
A port/remake without a reason, Skyrim for the current generation of consoles. This one makes, no sense. The game comes out and what, you play a game from a few years back that people are still playing, and why exactly? Because people want a new Elder Scrolls game and Bethesda has no info about it except it's a long ways off. But hey, here's a remake for 60 bucks to tide you over for 5 more years, I guess. I mean seriously, is it a great game, sure, is there a lot of add-on's because of the DLC being added, sure. But it's an old game, that honestly took way too much time to work right on consoles but was completely overhyped and pretty much lead to 2014 happening the way it did and it doesn't need a port. People are still playing it on previous consoles, again and mods have kept the game looking almost exactly like a current PC title since it released. Porting games that are known for being great and are popular among the gaming community is not a good enough reason to do it.
A port/remake with a reason, DQ7 and DQ8 for the 3DS. I mean, this one is pretty self-explanatory, but, I mean, they happened because of a petition in France that actually convinced dev's to port them all over the west. These ports not only allow old fans to play the games again, but they also allow new ones to try them out for the first time and maybe get a better understanding of why turn based battle systems were so popular back in the day. Also, DQ7 never released in Europe, and the Franchise itself didn't really blow up in Japan until Dragon Quest 8 on the PS2. Dragon Quest 8 makes sense as a port because it's basically the International edition of the game Ala Final Fantasy or the Final Mix version Ala Kingdom Hearts. The game is going to include more story about what happened with the main antagonist Dhoulmagus, as well as more story for the main character you play as, and it's going to have added features in it's combat as well as a few other little bonuses. Not it's not an improvement in graphics because the PS2 was just a bit stronger than the 3DS is, but it's still going to explain things better and generally be a better game then the original was.
Now there's a lot more ports I could talk about, but these in particular I wanted to talk about because it bothers me how torn I am between good ports and remakes and bad ports and remakes. Sometimes there's a reason, sometimes there's not, and it's just odd that even though some of the best games of the last generation are coming to the newest console generation if they aren't here already, there's not really a reason for it. Meanwhile, a lot of other games without that claim to fame are also being ported and they have a very good reason for existing. Also, making a post this long is kind a test of sorts because I already know that when it comes to making the games of the year list I plan on having, it's going to be really long, and I want to make sure beforehand that it this kind of thread with this many words isn't going to deter people from joining in on the conversation. Also, some of the games I've mentioned here today are probably going to be included in that somewhere so I thought I should get some general feelings about them out there before that list happens because that'll shorten my overall post when the time comes.
So, I'm not sure not everyone agrees with me here, and I am more than happy to hear why, so get cracking if you are interested.