Remaster was always a dumb word to me. Just call them what they are: ports. Yes, enhanced ports, but you get enhanced ports on PC all the time and no one calls them remasters.
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Remaster or Remake? We need more terms
- Thread starter Unknownlight
- Start date
A common misconception, but it's actually not. It's not "Remake" it's actually the Japanese term "re-ma-ke"... which roughly translates to "Ham Sandwich".
I think. This stuff is confusing.
I think the difference between Remake and Remaster is clearer with examples. I'm more interested in new games and would rather play them for the 1st time, antything that is far from a remaster.
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I've always gone by the following:
I'm well aware that a lot of "remasters" are downgraded to ports, and "remakes" to remasters under these guidelines, but I don't really care. Marketing is always going to try to convince us the thing they're selling is more premium than what it is.
- If it's a new release on a different platform with little more than an increase in resolution, some engine tweaks, sometimes some cleaned up textures, it's a port. (Okami HD, Last of Us Remastered, etc)
- If it has shiny new assets for its presentation layer, building on top of the same old game design and direction, it's a remaster. (Ex: Shadow of the Colossus, Xenoblade Definitive Edition, Crash N. Sane Trilogy, etc.)
- If it completely overhauls everything, from aesthetics to game design, it's a remake. (Ex: Resident Evil remakes, Metroid: Zero Mission, FF7 Remake, etc.)
I'm well aware that a lot of "remasters" are downgraded to ports, and "remakes" to remasters under these guidelines, but I don't really care. Marketing is always going to try to convince us the thing they're selling is more premium than what it is.
For me it's always been:
Remaster: Same game, improved textures, resolution, sometimes improved models: Grim Fandango, Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, etc.
Some ports may count as remasters depending on how much they improve the visuals.
Remake: Exact same game, mechanics, etc, but with completely redone assets: Crash, Spyro, Ocarina of Time 3D, Xenoblade Chronicles DE, etc.
May have smaller QoL features or new/previously cut content as well.
Reimagining: A different take on an existing game, most likely changing the gameplay, artstyle, etc: REmake 2, Final Fantasy 7R.
Reboot: Similar to a reimagining, but tries to be a new starting point to a series, usually ignoring previous entries: Tomb Raider 2013.
Remaster: Same game, improved textures, resolution, sometimes improved models: Grim Fandango, Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, etc.
Some ports may count as remasters depending on how much they improve the visuals.
Remake: Exact same game, mechanics, etc, but with completely redone assets: Crash, Spyro, Ocarina of Time 3D, Xenoblade Chronicles DE, etc.
May have smaller QoL features or new/previously cut content as well.
Reimagining: A different take on an existing game, most likely changing the gameplay, artstyle, etc: REmake 2, Final Fantasy 7R.
Reboot: Similar to a reimagining, but tries to be a new starting point to a series, usually ignoring previous entries: Tomb Raider 2013.
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Don't forget the dreaded Requel. Requel (reboot-sequel), or soft reboots, tend to come after a series is rebooted, and keeps a sorta spiritual feel of a reboot (new characters and being more friendly to a newer audience) but take place in the same canon of the ORIGINAL series, disregards the previous attempt (or attempts) at rebooting the series and sometimes disregards previous sequels.
Though that's mainly, right now, a movie thing. I don't know if it's been done in video games yet.
Though that's mainly, right now, a movie thing. I don't know if it's been done in video games yet.
OP
OP
I was just about to ask. What you're describing is The Force Awakens or something. It's not the same, but Breath of the Wild is a debatable example.
How? Why is it not a remake?
Yes those are new assets. Upgrading assests but keeping the same base game and engine(or slightly updated) is a REMASTER.
Crash is remade from the ground up to mimic old gameplay.
Remaster = Take something old and give it a new coat of paint. Underneath is the same it just looks newer
Remake = Build it from the ground up with new materials. So its all new
Its really fucking simple not sure whats hard to get.
So... which side you are on with Xenoblade. It has a new engine, much of the assets have been completely remade from scratch. A lot of the terrain has been significantly redone.
It has an updated version of the previous engine and it certainly wasnt made from the ground up so its a remaster. Simple.
......yeah I'm just gonna keep calling it a remake buy you do whatever makes you happy.
Its ok to be wrong as long as you arent telling people its right.
So who died and made you in charge of determining what qualifies as a remake?
Re2 and FF7R should be considered Reimaginings in my opinion, particularly 7r since it is so extremely different from it's original.
Its the way its defined. This game wasnt remade it was updated for a new console.
Remaster is more specific and descriptive because enhancements are part of the definition. A port could mean anything from a straight 1:1 port with stone age graphics to a 4K remaster.
Like if reusing assists and engines disqualifies a game as a "remake" then what the fuck are sequels that reuses those kinds of assets?
I fully admit I'm not a programmer but from my understanding that's not an uncommon practice. So should those games be called something besides sequels then?
I fully admit I'm not a programmer but from my understanding that's not an uncommon practice. So should those games be called something besides sequels then?
Nope. Original XC and the group consisting of XCX-XC-Torna and probably XCDE have completely different engines.
Doesnt this happen with DOOM 2016 and God of War (2018)?
DOOM 2016 was marked as a reboot but heavily suggests that it takes place after Doom 64 and GOW 2018 straight up is God of war 4
It's actually a whole new engine from the other version. This engine is a modified version of the xenoblade x engine.
They are sequels... you said it yourself.
From everything Ive read its a modified version of Tornas engine with an updated rendering pipeline. Not a completely new engine.
So? That makes it a new engine as far as Xenoblade 1 goes doesn't it?
No it makes it an updated version of it. Like they updated the graphics. You know a remaster. Certainly wasnt remade.
There isn't a percentage of asset utilization in which it goes from remaster to remake, you are either updating an existing game or making a new one.
Remakes are intended to be a new games, like film remakes, which use a new script.
Remakes are intended to be a new games, like film remakes, which use a new script.
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I dont understand the obsession with tagging everything into boxes (OP, are you from USA?). What matters is how much effort the developer put in relation to price, technical and artist quality and addressing fans complaints. This is not peer review science where you need technical terms. You can explain Crash being a new game engine, etc, actually that needs to be explained in the review, every time, in every specific case.
So they used the same engine for Xenoblade 1 to Torna? Honest question I don't know.
For me that are two kinds:
Remaster is the same game, no matter how prettier it looks.
Remakes are news game that try to recreate the original.
Remaster is the same game, no matter how prettier it looks.
Remakes are news game that try to recreate the original.
Remastered , and remakes is all that's needed. Adding more terms for the same thing just makes things needlessly murkier.
Completely new as not the same as the original XC engine, as other poster just said above you.
It's just marketing terminology.
Modern Warfare Remastered and Shadow of the Colossus PS4 are technically the same kind -- they both replace all the graphics and art assets but play identically to their original versions under the hood. Yet, one is marketed as a remaster and the other is marketed as a remake.
Modern Warfare Remastered and Shadow of the Colossus PS4 are technically the same kind -- they both replace all the graphics and art assets but play identically to their original versions under the hood. Yet, one is marketed as a remaster and the other is marketed as a remake.
It's a completely different engine compared to the original xenoblade....
A remaster for me is simply, take the base game, put everything in HD, kind of like the blu-ray of a movie, maybe increase the framerate, minor stuff like that.
Xenoblade is a remake. It uses a new engine, making it look like Xenoblade 2 / Torna visually, it's not just the original game in HD. And on top of that we have completely new character models, reorchestrated music, remade menus, new content, etc.
The last of us on PS4 is a remaster. XC DE is a remake.
Xenoblade is a remake. It uses a new engine, making it look like Xenoblade 2 / Torna visually, it's not just the original game in HD. And on top of that we have completely new character models, reorchestrated music, remade menus, new content, etc.
The last of us on PS4 is a remaster. XC DE is a remake.
That's not a remaster. The PC version of the original Tomb Raider came out at the same time as the console versions. Steam is just selling that version with no changes.
Lol, op was sick of the discussion on Reddit, so he bought it to here.
I have a simpler definition. Remaster reuse assets, and adds from that, while remakes take full advantage of the new hardware capabilities to expand the original game.
Companies have a even simpler definition: remaster cost up to 50$, remakes are 60$
I have a simpler definition. Remaster reuse assets, and adds from that, while remakes take full advantage of the new hardware capabilities to expand the original game.
Companies have a even simpler definition: remaster cost up to 50$, remakes are 60$
Remaster-Foundation of the game is the same with upgraded resolutions/textures (SOTC PS3)
Remake-Remade from the ground up, doesn't reuse anything. (SOTC PS4)
There's no need to make a new term for something like FF7R because it's not common enough, that's a straight up different game.
Remake-Remade from the ground up, doesn't reuse anything. (SOTC PS4)
There's no need to make a new term for something like FF7R because it's not common enough, that's a straight up different game.
Oh, you're right. I just read up that the remaster that was supposed to end up on Steam didn't actually release.
The point that was being made there is the Xeno 1 was never using that engine to begin with. It is now.
OP
OP
A new engine does not a new game make, people. The Last Remnant was remastered to be on Unreal Engine 4 instead of UE3, but nobody's going to try to claim that's a remake.
Xenoblade Chronicles is clearly built upon the original. It is updated, significantly more than probably any other remaster ever has been, but is implicitly the exact same base game. As another user said, there's no percentage of asset changes that flips it from remaster to remake, a remake makes an entirely new game. It's not built on the same code, same assets, same vocal tracks, etc, but rather made from the ground up as a new game.
I appreciate XC is a unique example, but despite the huge QoL, graphic, audio updates, it is still what it is. The work put in clearly justifies it's price as a full fledged title, but not the moniker of something it isn't.
Xenoblade Chronicles is clearly built upon the original. It is updated, significantly more than probably any other remaster ever has been, but is implicitly the exact same base game. As another user said, there's no percentage of asset changes that flips it from remaster to remake, a remake makes an entirely new game. It's not built on the same code, same assets, same vocal tracks, etc, but rather made from the ground up as a new game.
I appreciate XC is a unique example, but despite the huge QoL, graphic, audio updates, it is still what it is. The work put in clearly justifies it's price as a full fledged title, but not the moniker of something it isn't.
Yes this sounds very good!
Port: Last of Us (PS4)
Remaster: SotC (PS4), Xenoblade (Switch)
Remake: FF7 Remake, RE123 Remakes
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