Resident Evil 1 Remastered

[Jimmy_Jazz]

it's not just a case of having the original assets. Re-rendering the backgrounds alone at a higher res wouldn't get rid of the low res textures in the mid-fore ground. Textures would need to be updated, which takes Artists & time. At some point someone had to make a call on how much to spend on this project based on how well they think it will sell.

Let's hope it does brilliantly and we get a better REMaster of 0 and the chance of a traditional-style RE sequel.

[News Bot]

it's not just a case of having the original assets. Re-rendering the backgrounds alone at a higher res wouldn't get rid of the low res textures in the mid-fore ground. Textures would need to be updated, which takes Artists & time. At some point someone had to make a call on how much to spend on this project based on how well they think it will sell.

Let's hope it does brilliantly and we get a better REMaster of 0 and the chance of a traditional-style RE sequel.

"Original assets" includes the raw textures. Many of the textures in the 2000-2002 era games were simply taken from photographs the developers took around Spain. Then they simply downsized and tweaked them for the game. Most competent developers would keep the original files in a digital dump to save the time and money from having to travel and gather more. The cost of redoing these textures isn't exactly huge.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

I never said the cost was huge, just that it will take Artists and time. Therefore it's just as feasible that money is reason behind the backgrounds being upscaled (rather than re-rendered) as it is for Capcom not wanting to re-render the backgrounds or not having access to the original assets.

I would loved to have seen the game running in full 3D though, even the PS3 and X360 could handle those backgrounds in realtime, and if the next-gen versions had full PBR.

As for what the actual time cost would be for for re-doing each texture, it would depend on how much work (making them tilable, if need be, removing excess lighting info, generating normal and spec maps) was done on the source images at their original resolution, how much at the final GC texture resolution and what the resolution for the REMaster would require. It is also possible that the required res for wall textures in the REMaster could go above resolution for the original photo source images. I could imagine jumping from 1-2k textures in the GC version to 4-6k on the REMaster.

[Gradon]

I really hope this sells very well.

Me too.

[Wrathborne]

I hope it does OK, not entirely sure I want it to succeed that well because I doubt that if it sold incredibly well it'd have any effect on future titles.

[Kaine]

I hope it does OK, not entirely sure I want it to succeed that well because I doubt that if it sold incredibly well it'd have any effect on future titles.

You don't think if this sold well, we would get remakes of 2 and 3?

[Wrathborne]

I don't.I would love to think that this is a possibility, but I honestly doubt that it would happen. They've essentially remade RE2 with "darkside chronicles", and even if they did remake RE2 I'm not confident that the same care and precision that they used in REmake would be as present.

I have no clue what the focus or the direction of the Resident Evil Saga is anymore, going back and remaking the better titles in the series feels like they're be using a bandage to stop the bleeding on a severed limb.

[djepic112]

If this sold well, the most immediate effect would probably be an "HD" port of Zero in the same vain. A future possibility would be a remake of RE2 and/or future titles returning more of the classic elements to gameplay.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

Creating the REMaster makes sense. The series is stuck in bit of a rut at the moment and Capcom can use a critically acclaimed remake of the first entry, which originally was only bought by Gamecube owners, and to test the water with a return to the series' original gameplay. There was also alot added to the REMake that wasn't in the original (mainly Trevor, Crimson Heads and new mansion rooms) which will feel fresh to those who have just played the Playstation originals.

If that does well, a port of 0 would also make sense, since it's not reached a wider audience yet either and the upscaling process of the GC backgrounds and models shouldn't be a big job.

But remaking 2&3? The cost of rebuilding them from scratch would be significant and would take longer than porting 0&1 to current consoles. And it's not clear what they would offer over the originals, which are available on PSN for a few quid each. I'm not sure the more streamlined progress of either titles would benefit from the introduction of Crimson Heads.

If the REMaster is successful then I hope it shows Capcom that there's still value in the approach taken by the originals. I would prefer it if they move forward with the series with that in mind, not just trying to squeeze cash out of the first three games.

However, if Capcom have to release something tied to the original trilogy, it better be 1.5 ;-)

[Deathlygasm]

It seems on youtube many people are saying they're gonna buy multiple copies so we might get lucky and have this remaster sell well.

[Rombie]

People saying that on the internet doesn't actually mean it will happen though.

[Deathlygasm]

Butcha never know buddy!

[Jimmy_Jazz]

It'll be interesting to see if Capcom are shooting themselves in the foot by making this a "Digital only" release.

[Kaine]

It'll be interesting to see if Capcom are shooting themselves in the foot by making this a "Digital only" release.

I was wondering this too. Would it have cost them a lot more money to put it on a disc?

[Undead Sega]

You have to remember that simply re-rendering the game's backgrounds alone wouldn't have solved that blurriness on medium distance & foreground objects. Alot of the blur comes from the filtered textures that were designed for working with 640x480. Capcom would have had to create higher res textures for every room to solve this. Although it would have been fantastic if they did.

I think there's an amusing irony in that originally 3D models in pre-redendered games stuck out because they were lower detail and the backgrounds rendered at a higher res then downscaled to create smooth edges but with the REMaster it's the characters that are higher res that the backgrounds.

I know I'm abit late into the recent discussions but a simple re-rendering of the backgrounds in a much higher resolution than what it is will definitely solve some of the technical issues that the game somewhat suffers. also believe the console is doing something else to the backgrounds which introduces more artifacting to them (it is evident in the animated ones) which makes them slightly worse than the original files on-disc.

And going back to re-do the textures (assuming that they do have the original assets) and tinkering with the actual models would infact brings this closer to an "enhanced-remake" than a simple remaster (of this remake in itself). The point of all of this is to simply bring the game as it is from the original source to current generation OR to a new platform/medium that will take advantage of it technicalities and not to limited by them i.e. re-rendering the backgrounds in HD is the right way to do this, why repair something that isnt broke?

Bring it "as it is" or "how it was made". Think of it like when film studios remaster their films for DVD/Blu-ray that were once originally done for VHS. A 35mm film made in 1963 (my example would be "From Russia With Love" ) that was transferred for VHS in 1997 would've went through a process where that film would be transferred to a high-quality master-tape which will be used for mass production. For the DVD/Blu-ray release, you simply wouldn't use that master-tape for a HD release would you??? No. It would go through a remastering stage where they would dig out the original camera negatives and scanned them in 4K. The results are absolutely outstanding! Baring in mind...the film was made/release in 1963 but it still looks better than when it was original projected on its premiere release and its subsequent analogue/digital Standard-definition releases.

Yeah...I hope that makes sense