Remakes - Same Old, Same Old?

[Mike Cook]

I love Final Fantasy. Not in a scary, follow-it-home-from-work-and-call-it-in-the-middle-of-the-night kind of way. I love it like a brother, or a particularly repetitive pet cat. It's a simple template, yes, and for some people it's immensely frustrating, but the stories, the running jokes, and the calm flow of the game is something really special. It almost offers no challenge, really - your characters inevitably get better, and the difficulty curve is usually quite tame. But you're not playing it for the challenge, you're playing it because it's Final Fantasy. Because there are cats that dance, and camp villains.

There is a point to this, hold on.

Pocket Gamer reviewed IV, V and VI and loved them all, and the thing that occured to me whilst journeying through Final Fantasy VI was how well the retro graphics came out on the GBA's modest screen. Crisp, bright but still with that 2D charm. The GBA is, in many ways, an ideal format for rereleasing classics that are ten or fifteen years old (and people still lap it up, leading to the huge emulation scene on the newer handheld consoles).

But my question is this - do you think it's fair to charge so much for these games? Is it fair to make people pay as much now for a game as it was ten years ago? Or should these games be released at much cheaper prices to reflect their age?

Indeed, do you really care for old games at all, or would you prefer people concentrated on making something new?

For me, retro gaming is a great by-product of the current generation of games consoles - I'm about to finally invest in a homebrew kit for my DS so I can enjoy the likes of SCUMM VM and get to revisit some of my favourite adventure games. I think it compliments perfectly the new, exciting designs and games of today. But it is just money for old rope?

[Owain]

Hi Mike

Thanks for your thoughts, and for kicking off the Game Boy section. Let's hope we get some game boys and girls in here

I guess it's not money for old rope if you weren't there the first time? 10-15 years ago was probably before many of the current Game Boy demographic were born. I'd rather they were playing Square classics than ropey movie platformers, if they're to be converted into true gamers.

Haven't got any figures for GBA average age, but it's a strong hunch.

Owain

[splat]

well ironically it looks like Square's going to remake all the FF games it remade for GBA for DS and charge £30 a piece for them. Personally I thought the DS FF3 wasn't very interesting - didn't even use the second screen in many situations.

[cyberpsychic]

Hi Mike, well though out and spokewn observation. I agree whole heartedly. I just posted in this section about the GBA Micro, which I just recetly found affordable as the go for about $60. (USD) on Ebay. Even though I have two DS's (Don't Ask) which I buy at least 2-3 games for each month (I actually find that many I enjoy monthly) I also own a psp and a 360 and play each of them daily, but to my own amazement, my fav's are the ones on the GBA Micro! I gravitate toward strategy so you can imagine I'm playing Advance Wars 1 & 2, Fire Emblem, FFA Tactics, Sword of Mana (love the Brownie Brown Artwork). The clean screens, responsive buttons, quick ON/OFF and lack of load times makes these old games/systems feel new all over again, and I have recently found myself much more excited to play THEM than my library of 30 DS games, all of which I adore more than I should for it being 'things', inatimate objects.

You should know I'm a disabled US veteran, have real bad mobility and am home bound due to health troubles most of my time. I worked since about 11 years old and I guess you could call this my first childhood. When I was about 14 I recall my friends playing PONG and my best frind being the first on the block to buy a packman machine that had all the kids on the block over watchnig, at that time I could care less about those types of things [games] as I was already working, employed.

But to get back to your excellent topic, yes, they [new gamessystems] have created a really romantic (and the word IS used properly here)quality to those old games. I just recently bought my first cheat code cartidge thingy from Datel ,(like my descriptions?) not because I wanted to beat the game but because I feel some games need the rules tweeked/changed; for example in an RPG; like a total periodic restore of MP/HP before next battle, I mean, wouldn't you rest before another real battle in real life[conditions permitting] ? This also adds great interest (for me) to the older games. I'm not as sharp in my 40's as I was in my 30's, I'm just leveling the playing feild I guess.... Entertainment should be so much like work, in my mind...in order to enjoy it.

As far as the price? well they are works of media and art, soooo They are as valuable, today as they were then however, if these companies really wanted to stimulate interest in gaming as an entire art/entertainment form, they should consider more accessable pricing for older games, yes. It would attract /create new gamers by allowing newbies to try something new and feel like thier investment had less risk of failing as an entertainment , in thier minds(if that makes sense to you, as it does to me...)
ANYWAYYY great topic.