Skyrim Vs Remastered

[Nayme Cutforth]

Seriouslythe game from 2011 already looked fantastic in the first place and never needed a re-release. I get that they also had engine upgrades and better technical support and things of that nature, but I've seen the two editions. They look 95% identical, except the original coloring is changed to be less gritty and more saturated, which was the trend in mid 2010s. Then they re-release it again 10 years later? Just why? And more importantly, why is the original version hidden from the Store on Steam and missing on GOG?

The CEO even came out and said, look guys, the reason I keep doing this is because you idiots keep buying. Why should I bother making a new TES game when you still pay full price for a re-packaging of the previous game?

I don't mean to single out Elder Scrolls, because this is the entire industry right now. At what point did it just become acceptable, even almost celebrated, to give companies easy money for milking out literally the same product in slightly better graphics?

Not too long ago, we used to expect innovation. Not just in graphics, but in gameplay, narrative, a.i. as well. Then starting in the 2010s once Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed became mega-blockbusters with yearly, iterative releases, consumers settled for getting endless sequels of slightly better versions of the same thing. Now in the 2020s it's reached the point where even the sequels are unnecessary, because companies can just re-release the previous games verbatim in more modern graphics, sold at full price, and they sell just as well as a new entry would. Perhaps even better.

Counter-Strike is another perplexing instance of this. They recently did the newest update to CS, and every iteration since the original mod in the 90s still has all the same maps and guns. I'm sure there's minute differences between the versions that the hardcore fans will point out, but they're all literally the same but with prettier visuals. Just...why? Who the fuck cares? What's the point? At least Call of Duty, the king of unoriginality pumps out clone games with new stories, new settings, and new maps. Well...they used to, anyway. Now apparently the newest Call of Duty is just 100% recycled maps from the previous games. And not like in the past, where they would bring back a couple familiar maps with the same flow but at least give it a completely different re-design or makeover. Nope, they will both play and look exactly identical as in the previous games.

Doom wads are appealing to me for exactly the opposite reason. The engine and fidelity of the visuals doesn't change dramatically; it's all id Tech 1, but every project will have its own creativity behind it. Unique set pieces and ideas. Mods like Complex Doom and Brutal Doom completely change the feel of the gameplay.

When I first discovered mods, for Star Wars Battlefront II, it blew my mind. There was everything--so many new types of units (called "era mods"), custom campaigns, all sorts of new maps, new heroes, new space encounters, etc. Many if not most of these have since become forgotten, but the biggest mod for the game today is just a remaster. Granted, this particular remaster by HarrisonFog is impressively high quality and goes above and beyond with trying to squeeze in as many little references to the movies, but still. It just goes to show that the kind of mods that appeal to people today vs in the past has changed.

CS still get re-balanced, and because CS:GO was very popular competitive wise, they have they dedicade pool of maps to train and enjoy in a more competitive way, that's the double sword of full comp or game for viewships, as they can't relay of fun maps or newer ideas maps, because if they break the meta they are just not played. (And also, bad move of valve just shadow removing CS:GO but hopefully that's something they can fix, with the same idea of having the maps and workshop working on it for the community servers do they thing, as they are doing in 1.6 and source yet alive by the fans).

for CoD, i don't know very well, but the maps being re-released are just modernized versions of the ones of MW3, and i don't know if this maps area like a bonus for buying early or to fill the map pool, but yeah it's activi$ion, what you expect for them.

Counter-Strike is another perplexing instance of this. They recently did the newest update to CS, and every iteration since the original mod in the 90s still has all the same maps and guns. I'm sure there's minute differences between the versions that the hardcore fans will point out, but they're all literally the same but with prettier visuals. Just...why? Who the fuck cares? What's the point?

I agree with your post for the most part but this is just bizarre. There has been a total of 5 (hell, 4 if you're not counting the disaster that was Condition Zero) mainline Counter Strike games since (and including) the first title. That was all the way back in 2000. That is a completely acceptable amount of sequels. The thing about them including the same maps and guns also makes no sense, isn't it a good thing when sequels don't remove content? They did actually remove some content in Counter Strike 2 if I recall correctly and it caused some controversy given that Valve are essentially replacing CS:GO with it and making it difficult to access that title now.

Counter-Strike has indeed been quite the perplexing case when it comes to remasters. As it is to me, apart from turning Global Offensive into their milking cow, Valve seems to utilize the franchise mostly for the sole purpose of demonstrating their latest engines and tech. It's quite rare for them to even try to derive from the formula; at the core base, it's always the same game, but on a different engine.

Condition Zero was going to derive heavily from 1.6's formula, featuring a massive plethora of new weapons and maps and a single-player campaign. Valve however, for whatever reason kept juggling the title around until it eventually just became 1.6 but with a fresh coat of paint. So yeah, it's just a remaster of a remaster that keeps getting remastered for the sole purpose of demonstrating the latest tech (at least it is to me.)

Apart from that, Skyrim's consistent remasters can easily be attributed towards a developer discovering their cash crop, and doing their best to milk it dry. Rockstar did so with Grand Theft Auto 5 and Online, Valve did so with Global Offensive, and Blizzard did so with Overwatch. Since people would keep on buying their cash crop product, they will continue to remaster it.

Because people are still buying it.

Its not even that good. As someone who enjoyed it a lot when it came out, i since then explored better games and realized that skyrim is merely passable and good enough.

Hate to be that guy, but morrowind is great. I should get back into that aswell

First was the Special Edition that backported Fallout 4 improvements, notably 64bit that dramatically improved stability for most people especially with heavy mod loads. Also, my favourite feature, no more rain clipping through solid objects. Worth the price of admission alone. This was completely free to PC players, and it was released on new consoles where the game previously had no presence. It is not uncommon to see older games released on newer consoles.

A VR version was also made. Again, nothing unique to Skyrim, and also not a remaster. Anniversary Edition was a content update. A bit cynical perhaps, but no one is holding anyone at gunpoint and forcing them to buy it. This is no different to the old "game of the year" releases that started decades ago which bundle new content in for a fresh release.

Don't you think this all sounds a bit like another game we all know that's been around a long-ass time and been released on pretty much every platform in the known universe, often as commercial re-releases on new platforms it previously was not on?

The existence of a creative work does not affect you in any way shape or form. Just because you don't understand it or want it, doesn't mean a lot of people don't and are wrong for doing so. This very forum just hosted a post where people expressed their desire to see remasters and/or re-releases of the Serpent Riders games.

I actually do not entirely disagree with you, I am just taking issues with some of your wording. You have effectively answered your own question in your post. Companies exist to make money, and they will often take the path of least resistance to do so. You have singled out Skyrim because it is the industry punching bag, when it's not even really the most egregious offender. I do think re-releases and remasters can have some validity, but not always. Getting the game to newer consoles is a good example.

I would be curious to see the sales figures of this year's big AAA releases compared to previous years, and to see how the sales of remasters and re-releases compare. Certainly, remasters and re-releases have become a big thing of late, but I am not convinced that it has really affected game company's abilities to release new games. Innovation is a bit scarce in the AAA market anyway and has been for some time. One needs to look to indies for that.

Seriously, the game from 2011 already looked fantastic in the first place and never needed a re-release. I get that they also had engine upgrades and better technical support and things of that nature, but I've seen the two editions. They look 95% identical, except the original coloring is changed to be less gritty and more saturated, which was the trend in mid 2010s. Then they re-release it again 10 years later?

Alot of remastering comes from the fact that console generations usually have hard cutoffs to access to certain games. Remasters are very often just a port to newer generation console to keep the game accessible with actual upgrades to graphics being mostly just something extra to make it more worthy package to sell. Remasters on pc are generally always essentially pc ports of console remasters or old pc games upgraded to be functional on modern hardware. So answer is, if they're already making console remaster, why not make a pc version too and sell it there as a new product too, like they do on consoles?

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