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things that need remakes more than devil survivor.
So by now, I think most of the Atlusfriends reading this have probably heard about Devil Survivor: Overclocked, an enhanced port of the original DeSu to be released on 3DS.
To say that I am somewhat frustrated at this news would probably be an understatement. Because the porting of a game that's maybe two years old is just one more example of the many frustrations I have with the current state of the game industry, but at the same time, I know I'll end up getting it sooner or later because 1) I'm a Megaten collector, and if it touches US shores (or often, even if it doesn't), I am determined to own it*, and 2) because I did really enjoy the original DeSu, got attached to the story and characters, and thus am very curious about that promised Day Eight.
* Well, okay, I'm still missing DemiKids and Last Bible, but let's face it, nobody cared about those anyway, and they're on my to-do list.
I'm not against ports and remakes on general principle, but this is really another example of too much, too soon. Atlus, I love y'all, but seriously, what the fuck are you doing.
So instead, let's talk about things that would be much better candidates for ports or remakes than Devil Survivor! Some of them may even be games that were actually made by Atlus. Many others are just me taking this convenient chance to bitch about things that have nothing to do with Atlus, and that simply should be remade but aren't.
Shin Megami Tensei I/II/if...: These are the remakes I've wanted since I first touched Etrian Odyssey. EO built a new engine for first person dungeon crawling that made the genre easier to jump into than it has ever been -- other difficulties of EO aside, it made the task of actually navigating the dungeon into a remarkably smooth, enjoyable experience, and once you've known the feeling of having your map right there on the touchscreen, it's hard to even think about going back. This would take care of one of my biggest problems with the original SMT in a nutshell -- you live and die by the map in a first person dungeon crawler, but when that map is buried two menus deep, or even just a button press away on a separate screen, you spend way too much time switching back and forth to keep your bearings. Add fixes for the glitches that plagued the original and a general cleanup of mechanics/streamlining the rest of the interface, and you've got a winner. SMT2 and if... could similarly benefit.
Ys 4 and 5: I'm really loving this sudden trend of Ys releases on PSP, and I'd love to be able to fill the hole in my shelf where 4 and 5 belong. Admittedly I think Ys is a bit better off on consoles (some of the bosses make my hand cramp pretty horribly when played on the PSP), but the fact that we're getting Ys games at all is pretty great.
Live A Live: If Squeenix has time to put out three to five versions of your average Final Fantasy game, can't they find the time to just do one remake of Live A Live? Come on, guys. The original wasn't without its flaws, but it was creative, took some cool risks in what it tried with both storytelling and mechanics, and explored settings that are rarely, if ever, touched in JRPGs.
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2: Yeah, okay, port/remake might not be the right word for this one, but I'm just bitter that Ouendan got a sequel, but its culturally adjusted counterpart for America, Elite Beat Agents, didn't. I admit it.
Jack Bros: Going back to "better uses of Atlus's time than remaking DeSu," I imagine there's probably a decent profit to made in a game starring Jack Frost and Pyro Jack on a system than people actually own. And while I haven't played the original before, when you came out for Virtual Boy, I have a feeling that there's nowhere for you to go but up.
various SaGa games: There seems to be some kind of unwritten law at Squeenix that SaGa remakes have to be really fucking good. The SaGa 2 remake on DS is excellent update of a flawed classic; I've yet to play the SaGa 3 remake, but the gameplay videos have me salivating because it appears to be everything the original should have been. And I seriously consider Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song to be one of the finest remake jobs I've ever seen, because it takes all of the good parts of the SaGa games that came out after it, adds them in, and tweaks the game to make it feel like they were there all along. Similar treatment for the other RomaSaga games would be pretty amazing. Or how about a version of SaGa Frontier that's, I dunno, finished? Fuse says hi.
Growlanser: haha actually this did get a port but nobody is fucking releasing it I'm going to go cry in the corner.
Megaman X7: A REMAKE MIGHT MAKE IT PLAYABLE.
Etrian Odyssey: If Atlus wants to remake a DS game for 3DS, I think this is actually a better candidate than DeSu. There was an EO game listed on the list of 3DS titles in development that went floating around the internet a while back; while I hope for a new game, I'm expecting something more like Etrian Odyssey 3D -- but if it has to be a port, I think the first game would actually do better than the third. Not only because the third game just came out last year, but because the third game is much more lacking in severe flaws that make it hard to play. EO1 was wonderful, but when I think how much the playability would be improved by a simple addition of being able to draw arrows on your map, I get all teary-eyed. And maybe they could actually allow enough icons and notes on the map to make Claret Hollows...actually feasible? Just a thought.
Fire Emblem: Thracia 776: A Seisen no Keifu is fine too, but I'd love to see Thracia implement the ridiculous range of difficulty levels present in the recent FE remakes. I don't think that having a difficult game is a bad thing (I love you, Radiant Dawn ♥) but I'd like to see it possible to turn down FE5 just a touch, because maybe then I could rec it to people without feeling like a douchebag. Throw in lunatic reverse for all those masochists who think this would be sacrilege, and we're all happy!
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: I expect this one to be announced after the Innocent Sin remake, actually, and if it doesn't happen (and subsequently get picked up for an American release) I will weep bitter tears. I enjoyed EP more than IS, and while for a localization of its time, it wasn't bad, the thought of EP being relocalized by the Atlus USA of today makes me feel all tingly inside.
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue: This one is less "the world desperately needs another version of Lunar 2" and more "the world needs another version of Lunar 2 more than it needs yet another version of Lunar 1." Seriously.
Final Fantasy VII: ...okay, this one is just me joking, but it would still make more sense than DeSu because at least it has the fact that it's over a decade old going for it. If I trusted Squeenix to just remake it straight instead of putting Genesis and shit in there, I might even want to play it!
And all this is off the top of my head. I'm sure you guys can think of even more!
To say that I am somewhat frustrated at this news would probably be an understatement. Because the porting of a game that's maybe two years old is just one more example of the many frustrations I have with the current state of the game industry, but at the same time, I know I'll end up getting it sooner or later because 1) I'm a Megaten collector, and if it touches US shores (or often, even if it doesn't), I am determined to own it*, and 2) because I did really enjoy the original DeSu, got attached to the story and characters, and thus am very curious about that promised Day Eight.
* Well, okay, I'm still missing DemiKids and Last Bible, but let's face it, nobody cared about those anyway, and they're on my to-do list.
I'm not against ports and remakes on general principle, but this is really another example of too much, too soon. Atlus, I love y'all, but seriously, what the fuck are you doing.
So instead, let's talk about things that would be much better candidates for ports or remakes than Devil Survivor! Some of them may even be games that were actually made by Atlus. Many others are just me taking this convenient chance to bitch about things that have nothing to do with Atlus, and that simply should be remade but aren't.
Shin Megami Tensei I/II/if...: These are the remakes I've wanted since I first touched Etrian Odyssey. EO built a new engine for first person dungeon crawling that made the genre easier to jump into than it has ever been -- other difficulties of EO aside, it made the task of actually navigating the dungeon into a remarkably smooth, enjoyable experience, and once you've known the feeling of having your map right there on the touchscreen, it's hard to even think about going back. This would take care of one of my biggest problems with the original SMT in a nutshell -- you live and die by the map in a first person dungeon crawler, but when that map is buried two menus deep, or even just a button press away on a separate screen, you spend way too much time switching back and forth to keep your bearings. Add fixes for the glitches that plagued the original and a general cleanup of mechanics/streamlining the rest of the interface, and you've got a winner. SMT2 and if... could similarly benefit.
Ys 4 and 5: I'm really loving this sudden trend of Ys releases on PSP, and I'd love to be able to fill the hole in my shelf where 4 and 5 belong. Admittedly I think Ys is a bit better off on consoles (some of the bosses make my hand cramp pretty horribly when played on the PSP), but the fact that we're getting Ys games at all is pretty great.
Live A Live: If Squeenix has time to put out three to five versions of your average Final Fantasy game, can't they find the time to just do one remake of Live A Live? Come on, guys. The original wasn't without its flaws, but it was creative, took some cool risks in what it tried with both storytelling and mechanics, and explored settings that are rarely, if ever, touched in JRPGs.
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2: Yeah, okay, port/remake might not be the right word for this one, but I'm just bitter that Ouendan got a sequel, but its culturally adjusted counterpart for America, Elite Beat Agents, didn't. I admit it.
Jack Bros: Going back to "better uses of Atlus's time than remaking DeSu," I imagine there's probably a decent profit to made in a game starring Jack Frost and Pyro Jack on a system than people actually own. And while I haven't played the original before, when you came out for Virtual Boy, I have a feeling that there's nowhere for you to go but up.
various SaGa games: There seems to be some kind of unwritten law at Squeenix that SaGa remakes have to be really fucking good. The SaGa 2 remake on DS is excellent update of a flawed classic; I've yet to play the SaGa 3 remake, but the gameplay videos have me salivating because it appears to be everything the original should have been. And I seriously consider Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song to be one of the finest remake jobs I've ever seen, because it takes all of the good parts of the SaGa games that came out after it, adds them in, and tweaks the game to make it feel like they were there all along. Similar treatment for the other RomaSaga games would be pretty amazing. Or how about a version of SaGa Frontier that's, I dunno, finished? Fuse says hi.
Growlanser: haha actually this did get a port but nobody is fucking releasing it I'm going to go cry in the corner.
Megaman X7: A REMAKE MIGHT MAKE IT PLAYABLE.
Etrian Odyssey: If Atlus wants to remake a DS game for 3DS, I think this is actually a better candidate than DeSu. There was an EO game listed on the list of 3DS titles in development that went floating around the internet a while back; while I hope for a new game, I'm expecting something more like Etrian Odyssey 3D -- but if it has to be a port, I think the first game would actually do better than the third. Not only because the third game just came out last year, but because the third game is much more lacking in severe flaws that make it hard to play. EO1 was wonderful, but when I think how much the playability would be improved by a simple addition of being able to draw arrows on your map, I get all teary-eyed. And maybe they could actually allow enough icons and notes on the map to make Claret Hollows...actually feasible? Just a thought.
Fire Emblem: Thracia 776: A Seisen no Keifu is fine too, but I'd love to see Thracia implement the ridiculous range of difficulty levels present in the recent FE remakes. I don't think that having a difficult game is a bad thing (I love you, Radiant Dawn ♥) but I'd like to see it possible to turn down FE5 just a touch, because maybe then I could rec it to people without feeling like a douchebag. Throw in lunatic reverse for all those masochists who think this would be sacrilege, and we're all happy!
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: I expect this one to be announced after the Innocent Sin remake, actually, and if it doesn't happen (and subsequently get picked up for an American release) I will weep bitter tears. I enjoyed EP more than IS, and while for a localization of its time, it wasn't bad, the thought of EP being relocalized by the Atlus USA of today makes me feel all tingly inside.
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue: This one is less "the world desperately needs another version of Lunar 2" and more "the world needs another version of Lunar 2 more than it needs yet another version of Lunar 1." Seriously.
Final Fantasy VII: ...okay, this one is just me joking, but it would still make more sense than DeSu because at least it has the fact that it's over a decade old going for it. If I trusted Squeenix to just remake it straight instead of putting Genesis and shit in there, I might even want to play it!
And all this is off the top of my head. I'm sure you guys can think of even more!
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