When are remakes or sequels appropriate?

[TheDarkestDerp]

I don't know about you, but until Nintendo stops snorting cocaine to try and find new pokemon, I would rather have remakes.

Fear the bane of mankin:

Don't look into his eyes, he will haunt you.

LOL. Somebody told me about this but I didn't believe it.

Still, why go through the same adventures when all new ones could be developed. Nintendo sort of shot themselves in the foot once they made a habit of releasing new pokemon all the time because they are obviously running out of ideas. So, why didn't they just stick to pokemon adventure spin offs or go back in time to when caveman were capturing pokemon by beating them with clubs? In fact, who came up with the science behind the pokeball anyway? These are the ideas Nintendo could be playing around with. Instead, we're getting haunted ice-cream.

Thing is, ther have been! Thousands of Pokémon spin-offs! Ranger, Mystery Dungeon, Dash and Rumble, just to mention a couple of their great titles.

OT, a sequel should be made when the first game had issues blocking it from being awesome (see - Scribblenauts), is awesome and has room for expansion (Pokémon), can be set in another area (TES), or has a story which hasn't finished, and would be great to expand on (Mass Effect).

So yeah, there's a lot.

Edit: Forgot about remakes. They're very good for dated games - Daggerfall, Pokémon, old Zeldas, etc.

Just a notion, but I would be much more interested if you were to be trying to catch any number of the old "Garbage Pail Kids" instead...

 

[Macrobstar]

Remakes are never appropriate. Sequels are only okay when the series is actually worth expanding upon or doesn't give any closure at the end of the original.

What do you mean, surely its appropriate if people want a developer to make it so they can play, you are suggesting very tight constraints on what developers can do, with those rules for sequels we would not have many good games, saying that a series is worth expanding on is entirely subjective , a developer or its fanbase could decide that Call pf duty 9 was worth expanding on

 

[Macrobstar]

I don't see peoples problems with remakes, no one is making you buy them and they're at least making 1 person happy so why try to stop them?

 

[gigastar]

I think it can be justified if its both a full remake with extras and its been no less than 15 years after the original has been released.

 

[mireko]

If you have a good idea for a sequel, go for it. If you have a good idea for a remake, go for it.

Whether players will buy your game is an other matter. I don't see how "is this appropriate?" enters into this discussion, unless you've got some entitlement issues.

[sub]Not you, OP. Take it easy.[/sub]

Okay, that's 2 games in total. The Silver and Gold remakes are basically the same, give or take a few exclusive pokemon. I played FireRed and I immediately stopped so I could replay Red, which felt more fulfilling for some reason.

And now I'm upset because the arrival of this Devil Survivor: Overclocked is probably going to overshadow the original Devil Survivor, which is my favorite tactical DS game. I want the overclocked version but I'm am not willing to buy a 3DS. So unfair.

I'll go ahead and add Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, Yggdra Union, Final Fantasy Tactics and Phantom Brave to this list. There, now you have more than five.

EDIT: Rez HD, Wipeout HD and Maken Shao too, so we don't get marooned on handhelds.

 

[Vern5]

If you have a good idea for a sequel, go for it. If you have a good idea for a remake, go for it.

Whether players will buy your game is another matter. I don't see how "is this appropriate?" enters into this discussion, unless you've got some entitlement issues.

[sub]Not you, OP. Take it easy.[/sub]

Okay, that's 2 games in total. The Silver and Gold remakes are basically the same, give or take a few exclusive pokemon. I played FireRed and I immediately stopped so I could replay Red, which felt more fulfilling for some reason.

And now I'm upset because the arrival of this Devil Survivor: Overclocked is probably going to overshadow the original Devil Survivor, which is my favorite tactical DS game. I want the overclocked version but I'm am not willing to buy a 3DS. So unfair.

I'll go ahead and add Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, Yggdra Union, Final Fantasy Tactics and Phantom Brave to this list. There, now you have more than five.

EDIT: Hang on: Rez HD, Wipeout HD and Maken Shao too, so we don't get marooned on handhelds.

I don't really believe its about entitlement as much as it is about use of time. The time taken to make remakes is time taken away from developing new material. Instead of remakes, I think the industry should have put more investment into backwards compatibility. Unfortunately, its a little late for that idea.

I think the only good use of a remake is the kind that is also a port. Ports to handhelds are probably the most important new development in the market (relatively new). Direct, non-port remakes are not always that interesting.

 

[FalloutJack]

You have to wait a few years for fans to miss it.

 

[mireko]

I don't really believe its about entitlement as much as it is about use of time. The time taken to make remakes is time taken away from developing new material. Instead of remakes, I think the industry should have put more investment into backwards compatibility. Unfortunately, its a little late for that idea.

I think the only good use of a remake is the kind that is also a port. Ports to handhelds are probably the most important new development in the market (relatively new). Direct, non-port remakes are not always that interesting.

In that case, I think the question would be better put as "When are remakes or sequels worthwhile?". "Appropriate" implies that the developers have a moral obligation to make games for someone in particular. At least I think so, I'm probably just reading too much into it anyway.

Remakes can be developed side-by-side with new content, though, just look at Atlus. I'm pretty sure Catherine and the recent Persona ports were developed separately and simultaneously, and they still hit their release dates. It would maybe be ideal if everyone was developing new content, but this isn't bad either. The remakes/ports mentioned have all added at least something new to the games upon which they were built.

But since we're talking about remakes, what exactly is a direct, non-port remake? They never remake anything for the same platform as the original game, so do you mean ports between console generations and HD updates?

I can understand being irritated at a developer for doing this, but even those don't seem like that much of a big deal to me. Getting a good game in widescreen and HD is usually worth the trouble. But yeah, there are other things they could be doing, so you have a point there.

[sub]I have now seen the word "remake" so many times it has lost all meaning.[/sub]

 

[Moromillas]

When it's actually a new game, with new artwork, new sound, new gameplay elements. Rather than, a levels pack, that could have just been added to the original game. It's also not appropriate to change the gameplay into something else, for example, making the next God of War a DDR game. Or, remaking X-Com into... whatever that monstrosity is.

 

[aescuder]

Iv'e figured it out! The way developers know they can develop new franchises is through the market price of old vintage games! Check out some of these PS1 games:

Threads of Fate - $99.99
http://www.amazon.com/Threads-Fate-Playstation/dp/B00004U4R4/ref=pd_sim_vg_4

Grandia - $149.99
http://www.amazon.com/Grandia-Playstation/dp/B000034DBS/ref=pd_sim_vg_21

Parasite Eve II - 199.99

Thousand Arms - $199.99
http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Arms-Playstation/dp/B00001ZUHJ/ref=pd_sim_vg_22

Tales of Destiny II - $275.99

Legend of Mana - $299.99
http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Mana-Playstation/dp/B00004SWM0/ref=pd_sim_vg_32

Suikoden II - $379.95 (new)
http://www.amazon.com/Suikoden-II-Playstation/dp/B00001X50L/ref=pd_sim_vg_8


There are tons more! How can developers possibly ignore these numbers?? A remake or sequel of any of these will make an insane amount of money (if done well of course). Imagine if the value of your game just kept rising years after its release.

 

[Valknott]

As long as it's still fun. I mean I've been buying dynasty warriors since it came out, and how much has that game really changed? And it never gets old.

 

[ValentineUK]

I think that remakes are appropriate when the developers don't try to change anything major about the game and just want to bring an old jem into the modern (eg. Final Fantasy 3 DS). I think a sequel is appropriate when the developers of the previous game have actually created a story that actually leaves itself open to a sequel (eg. Baldur's Gate).