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Why remakes have inferior graphics compared to the original?

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GeorgyBoy - 14 October 2019 09:23 AM

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, both original MI also look better to me but I doubt many people playing them for the first time now would use the retro mode.

Do you think the kids of today would want to watch Ben Hur from 1959 when they have the new version? Of course not, this is normal in every media. Those who dig further will find the original and can perhaps objectively judge if it’s “better” than the remake. Remake is not just a “remake” - it’s much more than that - firstly, it allows older games to be playable with ease on modern systems, and secondly it brings in the spotlight and old game bringing more audience to it. Both of those are very valuable features of a “remake”. However, artistically it just doesn’t live up to the original. Not many remakes do, both in games and movies.

     

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diego - 14 October 2019 10:18 AM
GeorgyBoy - 14 October 2019 09:23 AM

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, both original MI also look better to me but I doubt many people playing them for the first time now would use the retro mode.

Do you think the kids of today would want to watch Ben Hur from 1959 when they have the new version? Of course not, this is normal in every media. Those who dig further will find the original and can perhaps objectively judge if it’s “better” than the remake. Remake is not just a “remake” - it’s much more than that - firstly, it allows older games to be playable with ease on modern systems, and secondly it brings in the spotlight and old game bringing more audience to it. Both of those are very valuable features of a “remake”. However, artistically it just doesn’t live up to the original. Not many remakes do, both in games and movies.

I always play/watch original versions, if they are available.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any game or movie that would be better as a remake than original. I think it’s a very bad starting point to think that something more recent is automatically better, just because it has less years in it, and possibly newer technology behind it.

What old games need is a software tool (ScummVM, DOSBox,etc.) that allows new computers to run them. What old movies need is restoring and re-releasing (Blu-ray, 4K, etc.) so that they can be viewed like they were back in their initial release time.

     

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GateKeeper - 14 October 2019 10:43 AM

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any game or movie that would be better as a remake than original.

What about the Sierra remakes which turned the parser into mouse icons and (many would say) improved the graphics?

The remakes of Shady Brook and Lifestream were also, I thought, improvements on the previous engine.

     
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Vehelon - 14 October 2019 01:48 PM
GateKeeper - 14 October 2019 10:43 AM

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any game or movie that would be better as a remake than original.

What about the Sierra remakes which turned the parser into mouse icons and (many would say) improved the graphics?

Personally I don’t mind using parser, and I like pixel arts, so no.

(Also, see my profile pic, guess which version it is from.)

In the general sense those remakes were a commercial failure too, and they stopped doing them after few attempts, so they weren’t what the masses were expecting either.

As for the sequels later on, they were probably doing the right thing by having the point and click interface and more detailed graphics. At least it gave their series few more years, and in some cases even the best entries of the series (like Space Quest V).

     
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GateKeeper - 14 October 2019 10:43 AM

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any game or movie that would be better as a remake than original.

There are always exceptions & for a movie I can think of Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong - I watched the original & think PJ seemed to keep very accurately to it & capture the essence of it. Thumbs Up

As for games I thought Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father - Anniversary Edition was a great update -  yes, I played the original & it has a great story now to be played through more easily.  Smile   

Vehelon - 14 October 2019 01:48 PM

The remakes of Shady Brook and Lifestream were also, I thought, improvements on the previous engine.

I still have the discs for the original versions of Shady Brook & Lifestream + The Filmmaker (don’t forget that one!)
Improvements? I’m not sure but I wasn’t disappointed with the remakes.  Smile

     
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GateKeeper - 14 October 2019 10:43 AM

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any game or movie that would be better as a remake than original. I think it’s a very bad starting point to think that something more recent is automatically better, just because it has less years in it, and possibly newer technology behind it.

I’ll let the battle lines fall where they may re: games. But there are scores of movie remakes that are better than the originals. One I watched just the other night is the 1984 movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which was a remake of the 1964 movie Bedtime Story. The movies’ two writers were the same for both, 24-years apart. Obviously they thought they could improve on the original.

     

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Just to point that when I was opening this thread I had only graphics in mind - I would gladly take all these remakes how they are once again, because of all the good things they bring. It’s just the graphics - I can’t think of a single game that improved the graphics. Improving for example like VGA versions of certain games (King’s Quest, Monkey Island) improved compared to the CGA/EGA versions.

     

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GateKeeper - 14 October 2019 10:43 AM

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any game or movie that would be better as a remake than original

Since we’re close to Halloween, The Fly and The Thing would like a word with you Yum

But seriously when it comes to games is more tricky. I feel like in the Adventure genre is hard to remake a game not only because of nostalgia, but because I think the originals had bigger budgets and probably more people working on them than the actual remakes. As opposed to AAA remakes where you can get something like say RE Remake or Resident Evil 2

     
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I just think that that there are some great older games that need a little help - from my perspective everything works if you can get an older game to work in the first place but my monitor is now much larger than the screen it was intended to be viewed upon so yes, unfortunately improving graphics for me would be great. It would be good though if it could be done without changing anything else like remaking it altogether.  Smile

     
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chrissie - 16 October 2019 04:41 PM

I just think that that there are some great older games that need a little help - from my perspective everything works if you can get an older game to work in the first place but my monitor is now much larger than the screen it was intended to be viewed upon so yes, unfortunately improving graphics for me would be great. It would be good though if it could be done without changing anything else like remaking it altogether.  Smile

Are you talking about physical size or resolution?

If it’s the former, then simply using some scaler will fill the screen with nice pixel arts. If it’s a matter of wanting a better resolution, then it’s obviously a bit trickier thing, but at least ScummVM has some algorithm that tries to make the graphics less pixelated. It looks awful, but it exists for those who want it.

http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/User_Manual/Appendix:_Graphic_filters

     
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I think chrissie is referring to the fact than many of us, who are of a certain age, started playing 16-bit games on an 8” RGB cathode monitor. And now we’re playing 64-bit games on on 24-28” flat screen LED monitors. Nothing makes those old games look good on current equipment ... even when you can successfully get them to play. So, I agree. If you’re going to do a remake, graphics have to be the number one priority.

     

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I started playing games in 1996 on a PS1 linked-up to a 14” portable TV & am completely unfamiliar with RGB cathode monitors (& btw Tim, you do have a few years on me!)  Laughing
But yes, until recent years games were made to be displayed on much smaller screens so don’t look so good on the much larger monitors!

GateKeeper - 18 October 2019 01:56 PM

Are you talking about physical size or resolution?

If it’s the former, then simply using some scaler will fill the screen with nice pixel arts. If it’s a matter of wanting a better resolution, then it’s obviously a bit trickier thing, but at least ScummVM has some algorithm that tries to make the graphics less pixelated. It looks awful, but it exists for those who want it.

Resolution. I dislike the current trend for ‘pixel art’ & the less pixellated a game appears the better!

     
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There is also a huge technical difference in how pixels are drawn on LCD and CRT monitors. Chunky pixels of the old games tend to look better on CRT screens.

Here’s a good example of the same pixel art shown on CRT and modern HD LCD screen:

It comes from this article showing how art was designed back in the day: https://vgdensetsu.tumblr.com/post/179656817318/designing-2d-graphics-in-the-japanese-industry

     
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I have played many remakes on my iPad. The vast majority improved the graphics and some the game play,

We need an Aggie for best remake, some of these are pretty amazing.

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Mikekelly - 20 October 2019 10:44 PM

I have played many remakes on my iPad. The vast majority improved the graphics and some the game play,

Well that may be good for you and your iPad. Bud the majority of us are still confined to playing our games on our PC. And retro graphics are still ugly as all get out.

     

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