But actually, yes, I do enjoy paying $40 for the remake of an old classic, if it’s done well.
Yeah, but quite often it's not done well, and is still explicitly intended to replace if not displace the original.
Comment on Gatekeeping for profit
Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 months ago
I agree with the goal of this, but don’t necessarily agree with its specific assertions.
Like yes, 100% we would be way better off if companies would actively support emulation by selling super-cheap any games that they otherwise have no interest in anymore.
But actually, yes, I do enjoy paying $40 for the remake of an old classic, if it’s done well.
The Spyro remaster from a few years ago was extremely well-done and I loved being able to play a favourite from my childhood on my computer. It was exactly the same game, only with modernised graphics. Well worth it.
Even better, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. It upgraded the graphics, but also added an enormous amount of new content and (most importantly) quality of life features, all done in consultation with the community that had been playing the original game for 20 years at the time DE came out. It would be best if you could still buy the original 1999 version for five bucks, but frankly I doubt many people would if you could, because the Definitive Edition was done so well.
amio@kbin.social 10 months ago
Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Yeah for sure. That’s actually another reason that old abandonware should be kept available for people to play. If they come up with a replacement that’s good enough to displace the original, that’s awesome. But if they come up with a replacement that isn’t worth it, they shouldn’t be able to artificially prop up that version by making the original unavailable.
Templa@beehaw.org 10 months ago
I personally hated the Definitive Edition for AoE2 :(
Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Huh, that’s very interesting. I’m genuinely curious to know what it was that you didn’t like about it.
Because the truth is that you’re seemingly in the extreme minority. While 2013’s HD edition seemed to split the community and received a bit of a mixed reaction, since 2019’s DE has been an unmitigated success in terms of both finances for the devs, and in terms of unifying and growing the size of the community.
Jesus_666@feddit.de 10 months ago
I’m still unhappy about them initially locking content behind time-limited challenges. Didn’t buy the game early enough or just didn’t happen to play at the right time? No 256x tech mode for you!
It’s blatantly coercive design and even though it appears they’ve since unlocked the content for everyone I still have a negative opinion of the game because of it.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Yeah that’s not great. To be honest for the most part I really like it. Most of the stuff you unlock is pure cosmetics (profile pictures or alternate looks for units—which only display as different for you, not your opponent). They’re just some good fun, and I find my completionist nature enjoys jumping into the game to get them.
But there have been a few of the things unlocked as part of the challenges—that 256x mod is one of them, and there have also been a couple of cheat codes more recently—that did feel like more substantial things to miss out on if you happened not to be able to play while they were on offer. I wasn’t playing when the 256x mod was around, but when the cheat codes first appeared I recall thinking it was pretty disappointing for anyone who might have wanted them that would miss out for whatever reason.
Templa@beehaw.org 10 months ago
I was expecting they wouldn’t change the visuals and feel of the game so much, I guess. Don’t know if it was the idea but I tried for a few hours and ended up refunding it because I was expecting the same “feel” I had from the original/hd version and everything felt so… different. Maybe I need to give it another try but I remember at the time I decide to stick with the HD Version because it was what felt more familiar for me.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Yeah fair enough. That sort of thing is definitely subjective and it would be impossible for anyone to say you’re wrong.
Personally, I find the new QOL features impossible to live without now. Shift-queueing absolutely any task, being able to queue multiple techs or techs and units, villagers keeping one resource until they actually start gathering—rather than losing all the gold they’re carrying just because you accidentally clicked a tree—farm autoreseeding. To me, none of these really change the fundamental way the game feels, they just make it feel like a smoother, more polished version of the original game.
HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Did the spyro remake give you a headache too?
Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Uhh, no, not for me. Was that a problem quite a few people were reporting?
HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Just something I had, made me need to stop playing it. Wondered if the refresh rate or motion blur was off or something.
ConsistentAlgae@reddthat.com 10 months ago
If you own it, you should be able to copy it for your enjoyment.
If it was or is critical to work, you should be able to copy it.
Licenses back when this all started were perpetual. I use it for the entirety of my life. So long as I breathe I have a license for it. Emulating that shouldn’t be illegal at all.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 10 months ago
No disagreement from me whatsoever.