Remakes and Ports

[Martel]

What is your take on these? Are you likely to buy the remake or the port of a game if you enjoyed it the first time around, or is once enough? Is the extra content or enhanced graphics enough to get you to purchase a remake again, or do you prefer not to waste your money on an ancient game you've essentially already completed? Would you buy a port of a game on a different console because of it's convenience (i.e. getting a PSOne Classic for PS3/PSP when you've still got the PS1 disc) or would you play it on the original platform?

Speaking for myself...I'll almost inevitably end up buying remakes of games. Games these days are too short and too easy, and quite often remakes involve just updated graphics and slightly more polished, faster gameplay...sometimes they make the game even harder than what it was before. Annoying as it is, I usually get more enjoyment out of remakes than anything else, and I'll end up buying them because I know the game will be good or, if I didn't get the chance to play the original game, at least it'll be longer than the pitiful 8 hours most new games these days last four, and it might provide a challenge.

As for ports...the game has to be VERY good for me to buy it again. For example, I bought Link's Awakening DX off the 3DS store even though I have a cartridge copy, simply because I don't play my GBA SP anymore. Similarly, my PS1 is tucked away in a box and, rather than getting it out, I just bought Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid and FFVIII off the PSN, because I actually play my PS3 and PSP. For me to buy a port, I'd want to have not played the game for at least five years, as well...and I wouldn't pay full retail price, either.

 

[Will Graham]

Well my purchase of the game is pretty much always dependant on whether or not I still have a copy of that game. For example I might purchase Ocharina of Time for 3DS simply because I have no idea where my copies of that game are.

In general though I wont buy a port regardless of extras, no extra is worth the price of a brand new game. The graphics on a port also tend to only be superior by a minimal amount. The Ico/SotC bundle is a prime example of this, nothing new there at all.

Remakes are a different story though, they are much more persuasive. You are normally talking vastly improved graphics, possibly mechanics, and countless improvements. Naturally I am unable to think of even one instance to support my case though, and am too lazy to go looking

 

[Linnaete]

I think this will be a pretty standard kind of response. If a certain game is constantly ported over to another machine - such as FFIV - and I've already played at least one of the versions, then it's very likely that they won't be getting my money. I don't care what flashy new dungeons there are as it wouldn't really be worth paying the full price just to get your hands on what is essentially a game I already have. As much as I like FFIV, I'm not that obsessed to go purchase every version of it that has ever graced the shelves. A port may appeal to me if say, it's an RPG like Chrono Trigger that is going over to a handheld. I typically find it easier to stick to an RPG on a handheld than I do on a home console, so that would be the incentive to buy DS ports like Chrono. If a game has been ported and I haven't played it for a long time and/or don't have the original copy anymore, then chances are I'll probably buy it, particularly if I've thoroughly enjoyed it beforehand.

Remakes are definitely more tantalising, particular if a rather old game is being remade, because with this current generation producing titles that are ultimately more underwhelming than in previous generations, old is good. I may be sceptical at first, because I'm aware of the fact that remade games can possibly be for the worse, and on various occasions, there is no real need to remake a game in the first place. But if it offers a real incentive for me to buy it, such as the convenience of having it on a handheld, promising fresh new visuals, refined gameplay and generous sprinkles of extra content, then they may get my money.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

I don't particularly have a general opinion on remakes/ports overall, I tend to take it on a game by game basis, games like ICO/SoTC, MGS, RE, Sly Cooper etc which are all getting HD remakes fully deserve the remakes they get but I'd only buy them if they were decent games in the past but you can guarantee somewhere down the line Microsoft/Sony will massively jump on the bandwagon for HD remakes are will end up remaking crap ones as well. As long as they don't go down the Square-Enix route of remaking a game 4 or 5 times I'm not too bothered.

 

[bearsfwd]

For me, it depends on the game. However I do believe I currently own all the versions of the main series FF games that came out in the US (except FF and FFVI...I do not own their NES and SNES versions respectively). Based upon that, I would probably buy one. Other game series, I'm not so sure about.

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

I don't usually buy games that I already have unless they are remakes, have decent extras, or offer something the first one didn't, like portability. For example, I owned both Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable because they offer different advantages. I'm not sure if P3P is a remake or a port, I'd probably consider it a bit of both.

But if it's just another port, I won't but it, no matter how much I love the game.

 

[Ohri-Jin]

Bought 2 ports off psn - FF8 & FF9
Played them on ps3 for like ten minutes and never again...

Bought splintercell chaos theory HD and pandora tomorrow HD from psn
Finished pandora because I never got to play that one.
Stopped playing Chaos theory because I was stuck and couldnt be arsed to continue...

I never played Ico and Shadow of the Collossuss in the ps2 era so I bought it for ps3.
Finished Colossuss, but havent really continued iCO...


Conclusion: remade games/ports will be extremely dull for me if I have played them before...... however I will still buy them anyway

Waiting for FFX HD atm...
Still playing black ops cod...

 

[Praeliator]

Depends really, if a game has been ported to another console but I already the game on a different console then there is no point for me to buy the port. I would only buy a ported game if I don't own the original copy.

However with remakes, it's a different story and it also depends on what game is remade. If it's say for example a FF6 remake that's not rushed at all and that the developers took the time to do as much as possible then I'll definitely purchase the game.

 

[Lirael]

I'll only buy a port if I don't have the game already. There are way too many good games available, so buying any more than once seems rather silly (for me) at the moment. I haven't finished Final Fantasy IV, VI, or VII even once! and there are about 30 more games on my shelf that need completing/playing through properly.

Having said that, I did buy the remake of Pokemon Silver and Gold in the form of Soul Silver, but that's 'cause it was my favourite game as a kid and I wanted to relive the exprience without deleting the savefile on Crystal. I also find THOSE graphics a little hard to get along with now.

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

i think re-releases on a different console are fine. it keeps the game alive and since most people don't keep their older consoles, it lets you play games from a while ago that you wouldn't otherwise get to.

ports are a waste of time and money though. the reason the psp has been such a massive failure in my eyes is because the majority of the games are just scaled down and smaller versions of bigger titles.