Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
When rumors first came out that The Last of Us was being remade there was a lot of discussion on whether that made sense, especially because it was released as a PS4 remaster already.
I think these discussions should lead us to discuss when it is appropriate to remake a game. In the case of The Last of Us, I think the original PS3 game was quite dated, looked marvelous however on the PS4 in the remaster, the game is still dated. Here Naughty Dog has an opportunity to probably remake the game with assets from The Last of Us 2. The odd thing here is that most of us won't be surprised if the Last of Us Remake is cross-gen, meaning that the remake and remaster would be on the same console. I think that is where things get sticky with cross-gen in general, but that's a topic for another thread.
Let's look at some successful remakes (either critically or financially):
Demon's Souls - The original game came out in 2009 and the remake came out in 2020. So just over a decade later and was a "faithful remake"
Halo: Combat Evolved - The original game came out in 2001 The Anniversary remake came out in 2011 and was a "faithful remake"
Resident Evil 2 - The original game came out in 1998 and the RE2 Remake came out in 2019. Over two decades later, this was not a "faithful remake"
Final Fantasy 7 - The original game came out in 1997 and the FF7 Remake came out in 2020. Again over two decades later, and not a faithful remake by any means.
So it looks like at least with the examples that I've given so far that 10 years allows for a similar type of game to be made whereas with 20 years some might feel like a game needs to be completely revamped. If God of War (2005) was remade, they'd probably use the Ragnarok engine rather than just give it a visual makeover at this point.
Let's bring it back to The Last of Us. The game was originally released in 2013. Coming out in Q3 or Q4 2022, puts it at almost a decade after the original game came out. It also allows for a unified experience along with LOU2 and perhaps on both PS4 and PS5. I think that the remasters existence on the same console says less about LOU and more about how long the previous game generation has lasted (and in my opinion outlasted). If you compare Resident Evil 1 and 2 (original releases), they have very comparable Metacritic scores from both critics and users. If you look at the Metacritic scores for the PS4 RE HD remaster and RE2 Remake you'll notice significantly higher scores for the remake. What becomes more interesting is that the GameCube (original remake) scores are in line with the scores from Resident Evil 2 remake on PS4. Personally, I got roasted by some purist fans of Resident Evil for not wanting to play any games with tank controls, maybe rightfully so, but I know I'm not alone in that feeling.
I think as time goes on, people's expectations shift dramatically.
As a general rule, I'd say this. Any game can be remastered from generation to generation and a remaster in many cases when done right feels better than just getting a next-gen patch or slight game enhancements (IMO). And as far as remakes the window for faithful 1:1 remakes start to diminish after 10 years. As much as I would have loved a more faithful remake of FF7, maybe the market wouldn't have bore it and I should have just played the port on PS4 or PC. I think that is where a faithful remaster ahead of a remake can and should make purist fans happy. Had FF7 received a remaster on PS2 looking and playing as good as FFX, I would have been happy with it, maybe throw it on PS3 and add some voice acting and even better, and hell even that probably would have received its own HD remaster at a later date, and I'd be even happier.
What do you think?
I think these discussions should lead us to discuss when it is appropriate to remake a game. In the case of The Last of Us, I think the original PS3 game was quite dated, looked marvelous however on the PS4 in the remaster, the game is still dated. Here Naughty Dog has an opportunity to probably remake the game with assets from The Last of Us 2. The odd thing here is that most of us won't be surprised if the Last of Us Remake is cross-gen, meaning that the remake and remaster would be on the same console. I think that is where things get sticky with cross-gen in general, but that's a topic for another thread.
Let's look at some successful remakes (either critically or financially):
Demon's Souls - The original game came out in 2009 and the remake came out in 2020. So just over a decade later and was a "faithful remake"
Halo: Combat Evolved - The original game came out in 2001 The Anniversary remake came out in 2011 and was a "faithful remake"
Resident Evil 2 - The original game came out in 1998 and the RE2 Remake came out in 2019. Over two decades later, this was not a "faithful remake"
Final Fantasy 7 - The original game came out in 1997 and the FF7 Remake came out in 2020. Again over two decades later, and not a faithful remake by any means.
So it looks like at least with the examples that I've given so far that 10 years allows for a similar type of game to be made whereas with 20 years some might feel like a game needs to be completely revamped. If God of War (2005) was remade, they'd probably use the Ragnarok engine rather than just give it a visual makeover at this point.
Let's bring it back to The Last of Us. The game was originally released in 2013. Coming out in Q3 or Q4 2022, puts it at almost a decade after the original game came out. It also allows for a unified experience along with LOU2 and perhaps on both PS4 and PS5. I think that the remasters existence on the same console says less about LOU and more about how long the previous game generation has lasted (and in my opinion outlasted). If you compare Resident Evil 1 and 2 (original releases), they have very comparable Metacritic scores from both critics and users. If you look at the Metacritic scores for the PS4 RE HD remaster and RE2 Remake you'll notice significantly higher scores for the remake. What becomes more interesting is that the GameCube (original remake) scores are in line with the scores from Resident Evil 2 remake on PS4. Personally, I got roasted by some purist fans of Resident Evil for not wanting to play any games with tank controls, maybe rightfully so, but I know I'm not alone in that feeling.
I think as time goes on, people's expectations shift dramatically.
As a general rule, I'd say this. Any game can be remastered from generation to generation and a remaster in many cases when done right feels better than just getting a next-gen patch or slight game enhancements (IMO). And as far as remakes the window for faithful 1:1 remakes start to diminish after 10 years. As much as I would have loved a more faithful remake of FF7, maybe the market wouldn't have bore it and I should have just played the port on PS4 or PC. I think that is where a faithful remaster ahead of a remake can and should make purist fans happy. Had FF7 received a remaster on PS2 looking and playing as good as FFX, I would have been happy with it, maybe throw it on PS3 and add some voice acting and even better, and hell even that probably would have received its own HD remaster at a later date, and I'd be even happier.
What do you think?
