Discussion Remasters or originals? Your preference?

Jul 27, 2020
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This really sucks. I have paid launch price for some games (MGSV and Control, in particular) and never got around to playing them due to, well, life. More and more I'm finding out that games I wanted to play and own are getting REMASTERED(!!!). In most cases, the publishers are kind enough to upgrade their old games to the remastered versions without charging extra (like BIOSHOCK).

On the one hand, it's great that I will get to experience better sound and graphics. But on the other hand, how much of the game's essence is lost in the remaster? Any egregious examples? How many are facing the exact same situation of AAA titles collecting digital dust? Anyone here that actually does not want games to be remastered?
 

Igo69

Senior member
Apr 26, 2015
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Remasters of course. Don't want to play a game with old engine and extremely ugly graphics. Look at Black Mesa what a game! And the Xen world in it was/is awesome. I payed $10 for it but It felt like I was playing modern AAA at $60 or more. Never again I will play that ugly original Half Life.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
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This really sucks. I have paid launch price for some games (MGSV and Control, in particular) and never got around to playing them due to, well, life. More and more I'm finding out that games I wanted to play and own are getting REMASTERED(!!!). In most cases, the publishers are kind enough to upgrade their old games to the remastered versions without charging extra (like BIOSHOCK).

On the one hand, it's great that I will get to experience better sound and graphics. But on the other hand, how much of the game's essence is lost in the remaster? Any egregious examples? How many are facing the exact same situation of AAA titles collecting digital dust? Anyone here that actually does not want games to be remastered?

I'm not that bothered by that dilemma so much as it just makes it clear to me how wasteful/irrational I am about buying games and then not getting around to playing them before they are rendered obsolete one way or another.

My problem now is not only do I not have time to play the things, I don't even have the disk space to install them.
 
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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
12,974
7,891
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Remasters of course. Don't want to play a game with old engine and extremely ugly graphics. Look at Black Mesa what a game! And the Xen world in it was/is awesome. I payed $10 for it but It felt like I was playing modern AAA at $60 or more. Never again I will play that ugly original Half Life.

Black Mesa's good, though I still haven't played it again since they completed the Xen part, so haven't seen that bit. Remember watching them creating it in what felt like it might be a Duke Nukem Forever or Half Life 3 style situation. Fair play to them for actually getting it done (against all expectations!).
 

GodisanAtheist

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Nov 16, 2006
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Recently played through the original Kingdoms of Amalur which was remastered.

Didn't find anything egregiously wrong with the original, and some UI stuff that was updated for the remaster actually worked out better for the original.

Most games 360 era or newer generally supported the gamut of PC features and resolutions without having to resort to all kinds of trickery. The really old stuff that was native to DOS or something (Quake, for example) that doesn't support modern resolutions etc I have no issues paying for a remaster.
 

DAPUNISHER

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I'm not that bothered by that dilemma so much as it just makes it clear to me how wasteful/irrational I am about buying games and then not getting around to playing them before they are rendered obsolete one way or another.
I am not certain what you are saying here. Do you mean the graphics looked aged? You can't play them on your hardware? Both? Something else? Because good gameplay is never obsolete. Getting old games to run is much easier than just a few years ago too.

As to the OP: I want both. The hardware I am using at any particular time, may dictate I play the OG. It is also nice to be able to play the new version in all its glory, on a higher end PC, too.
 
Jul 27, 2020
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As to the OP: I want both. The hardware I am using at any particular time, may dictate I play the OG. It is also nice to be able to play the new version in all its glory, on a higher end PC, too.
The mess of Windows/DirectX compatibility makes running some older games hit and miss, especially abandoned ones that won't receive any official patches anymore. I once gave feedback to Microsoft that they need to design a game VM for Windows so a game built to run on that VM would be guaranteed to run perfectly on any future Windows version.
 
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DAPUNISHER

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The mess of Windows/DirectX compatibility makes running some older games hit and miss, especially abandoned ones that won't receive any official patches anymore. I once gave feedback to Microsoft that they need to design a game VM for Windows so a game built to run on that VM would be guaranteed to run perfectly on any future Windows version.
That's a fact. It is certainly better than it used to be though. I usually buy the really old stuff from GOG, if I don't have a physical copy. Have not had a bad experience yet.