Games to be remade from the past

Custer's Revenge

Oh, what about Alternate Reality? Or maybe I should just go find a karaoke mod for Skyrim….

P.S. Oh no! Searching on karaoke gives NO results!?

Darklands!

Originally Posted by Zloth
Oh, what about Alternate Reality?

http://www.crpgdev.com/arx.html

Oh, I enjoy remakes of classics as much as the next guy - and I'd be very happy indeed to see something like System Shock get remade.

But, really, I find it quite sad that the entire entertainment industry has become obsessed with remaking the same things over and over. Are we THAT lacking in talent and vision? It's like 90% remakes, re-imaginings or the exact same formula being applied with fancy new visuals.

How about we evolve from where we peaked? System Shock hasn't been evolved since the first game back in 1994. System Shock 2 did improve some of the elements - but took significant steps back in key areas (linear level design, for one).

Evolution can't be stuck forever, I hope.

I think the idea of remaking things from the past is exciting.

I would love to see Final Fantasy 6 be made with today's graphics. Or Chrono Trigger. Or any number of NES and SNES games. Even some PS1 games like Final Fantasy 7, Tactics Ogre, etc, would be awesome with shiny new graphics. Or how about Morrowind?

That said, I can still enjoy those games without shiny new graphics, but if someone decided to remake them, I would definitely not complain about it.

One of my first threads I started here (wow 2007) was on borrowing from the past as a good design concept. Pirates, Wasteland/Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and MM6 all did this in one degree or the other.

Looking at the latest Pirates one thing to note on those old games is most of them were really, really stat heavy. Something almost invisible in most games today. Particularly SSI games (makers of the Gold Box), you can see the influence of tabletop games of the 70's and 80's in their design. So many of their combat simulatiion games involved number crunching before they got the D&D contract,

Originally Posted by Luethar
With the success of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it got me thinking which games could use a true remake?

Here is my list:

Battles of Destiny -QQP
Wizard's Crown -SSI
Pool of Radiance - SSI
Colonization - Microprose

If these were re-made, and just the graphics and platform updated, I would be very happy. These were games from the past that I believe deserve a remake. I am not talking just a re-do using the Dragons Age or Neverwinter Nights 3 engine. I am talking a rebuilding with corporate backing.

What are your thoughts?

Lue.

Don't forget Pool of Radiance was already remade and it was the bestselling new game for its first two weeks.

Originally Posted by Gorath
Welcome to RPGWatch!

Didn't Colonization get remade a short time ago as a Civ 5 expansion or so?

The problem with the SSI games is probably the necessary license.

It was Civ4 - its a great hack but not much of a game. I first played a version Colonization as an open source project. Many game remakes start out that way.

Originally Posted by Nameless one
Best remake so far imo:King's bounty.

Its not really a remake - they just bought the name to stop the lawsuit over HoMM. Still..both versions are two of my favourites - same with the first three HoMMs.

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The first game remakes I can remember were Ultima I and II - so maybe another innovation that the Ultima series came up with. After the success of Ultima III Garriot&Co. reworked the graphics for them before releasing Ultima IV (they were originally written in BASIC - I don't know if they were recompiled into assembler or rewritten).

edit: here's a fascinating article that answers my questions on finding U1's source code

One of the things about re-releasing reworked games is they don't generally have a great track record for sales. King's Quest for example flopped.

The opposite has been true for porting to different platforms. I think much of Pirates success came from being a console port.

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If there's one game I'd like to see remade - Seven Cities of Gold.

Edit: wow - that old thread is such a good read. And its nice to read old names - I had just realized that Squeek left us.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
Don't forget Pool of Radiance was already remade and it was the bestselling new game for its first two weeks.

Uh, if you're referring to Ruins of Myth Drannor, no way that was a remake. It's a revisitation of the gameplay perhaps, yes - but it's not a remake per se, more of a loosely made sequel. Both games even have their own novel.

My feelings on this topic tend to be a little different than most.
I tend to agree in some ways with DArtagnan in part - I find it a little frustrating that more ways aren't being created to evolve existing gameplay dynamics/styles and improve upon the established older classics in particular sub-genres.

One great example of that is the depth of world environment interaction found in Ultima Underworld I+II. Rather than see a remake of these already great games, (ok, I'll admit I'd love to see a sequel too) I'd much prefer a new game attempt to evolve and improve the gameplay found within them.

Ultima 7.

Originally Posted by hisvin
http://www.crpgdev.com/arx.html

Ohmygosh!!!! He's even planning to finish the whole series!!

Definitely would put the Might&Magic series on that list. Those graphics were considered ugly when the games were new.

I'll also throw out Wizards and Warriors. It needs a visit from the Orkin man more than the fresh coat of paint, but that was certainly a game with unrealized potential.

I would have to say Ultima VII. Pains me to say it, but even with Exult its a bit difficult to play these days. Just certain controls, combat, etc. haven't aged well.

Really I'd like Ultima IX more than anything to be remade as originally intended!

Originally Posted by Hurls
Darklands!

+1.

I'd add Wings and Midwinter (or any of the sequels).

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
Its not really a remake - they just bought the name to stop the lawsuit over HoMM. Still..both versions are two of my favourites - same with the first three HoMMs.

True but it uses similar core mechanic(leadership,open world without base).I think this kind of "remake"is better for some games.I would like to see true remakes(Alpha centauri,tiberian sun) for some games but for some I would prefer to see modern iterations(Masters of magic).

Spelljammer, maybe ? Fully overhauled, of course … That setting is just too unique to ignore …

Originally Posted by Zaleukos
I'd add Wings

Were you aware of the (failed) Wings remake Kickstarter campaign?

I do think that they intend to continue with the project despite the unsuccessful Kickstarter so you might want to keep an eye on this development.

Originally Posted by dteowner
Definitely would put the Might&Magic series on that list. Those graphics were considered ugly when the games were new.

You have to be talking about the later 1990's versions. Those first three had cutting edge graphics that even put Bard's Tale's animated city to shame (on the title screen on MM# I had a horse that chomped on the hedges in time to the mechanical data reading "clicks" the disk drive put out).

True, Lucky. The first 3 were considered to have very good graphics for their time. 4 and 5 didn't get much comment either way, 6 and 7 started the complaining phase, and 8 was crucified for using the same engine.

While I had a good time with the earlier entries in the series, 6 and 7 will always be what I'm thinking of first when I mention Might & Magic.

Agree with dteowner:
Might and Magic 4/5/(6/7 preferred)
Wizards and Warriors

SunDog: Frozen Legacy