Can we get a classic backgrounds option or toggle?

[TTVmalexich]

I am playing the game and while some of the new redone backgrounds look okay some are really not as good as the original. Just slapping the original graphics in the game would really improve it.

[NewMoonShadow]

Първоначално публикувано от Underprivileged White Male:

Yeah I have to say I thought Octopath was one of the ugliest games I've ever seen. It just looks blurry and fake. I'd take basically any SNES era game over it any day.

What the heck does "fake" even mean in reference to art?

[Underprivileged White Male]

Първоначално публикувано от NewMoonShadow:

Първоначално публикувано от Underprivileged White Male:

Yeah I have to say I thought Octopath was one of the ugliest games I've ever seen. It just looks blurry and fake. I'd take basically any SNES era game over it any day.

What the heck does "fake" even mean in reference to art?

It feels like it was chasing that SNES/PS1 era JRPG aesthetic but it layered on so many levels of weird visual filters that it ends up looking like Instagram the PS1 clone.

I mean look at any scene from Octopath. Underneath it you have solid sprites and locations, but the whole look just doesn't work for me because on top of it you have an edge vignette filter, a DoF filter, a bloom filter, a fake parallax cloud shadow filter, an edge sharpening filter, an orange light filter, a contrast filter and what feels like half a dozen others.

It's like taking fine dining and covering it in ketchup, or a masterpiece painting restoration and spraying it will dollar general clear coat.

My primary dislike of a lot of the modern aesthetic as a primarily retro gamer is the sheer amount of junky post processing effects they layer on because they prefer that look. To me it just looks subjectively awful. I'll take nice crisp sprites and clean lines any day.

It's much like how so many people disliked Flash art due to the weird outlines and unnatural, metallic looking, color gradients.

[General Titmouse]

Първоначално публикувано от Self Destructive:

Although I don't mind the HD backgrounds, I'm hoping someone makes a mod to reduce the resolutions of them.

I made a quick mockup of what it could look like. Hopefully modders and just downsample the background textures and then resample them back up to get the pixelated look.

https://imgsli.com/MzU5NDkw

https://imgsli.com/MzU5NDg4

Oh wow, yea, I much prefer the downsampled backgrounds. If that was a mod, I'd for sure jump on the remasters.

[Tenshu]

Първоначално публикувано от Azure Fang:

Първоначално публикувано от Furry Wrecking Crew:

People literally trying to get mods to downgrade the visuals LOL...

This looks a million times better than the PS1 version. You should get your PS1 out of the closet, dust it off, and realize how wrong your memory is.

Don't have to. I can boot my image in RetroArch/Beetle with no upscaling and be reminded. Yep, my memory was right, still like the original better.

Upscaled, remastered =/= "Better". "Better" is a subjective opinion. When I see classics, especially crowns of a consooe like Suikoden I+2, Final Fantasy VI, etc., ported to PC, I expect them to be altered as little as possible. Textures, backgrounds, etc., should be upscaled to be visible on modern displays, but retain equivalent fidelity. Music should only be re-recorded to remove compression or critical issues (like Valkyrie Profile on PS1) but retain original composition. Translations should only be updated to fix errors. And then an "HD" toggle should be added alongside secondary QoL features that can be ignored/disabled.

Why?

These games are driven by nostalgia. The primary audience for these ports is people who want to play/preserve the original games. This audience has proven, time and again, that HD facelifts is undesired and sometimes insulting to the legacy of these games. However, having these changes as an option (and yes, texture swapping in Unity is extremely easy and this is built in Unity) is fully acceptable to reach a wider audience.

If pixel art and detailed, low-poly visuals are "inferior" then why do so many modern games chase that aesthetic? Because there's a certain charm to "retro" that, if lost, changes and worsens the experience. So no, the "HD" remake is not "a million times better". It's just different. And some of us don't appreciate the difference.

Except your memory isn't right, it's biased. You mean to tell me your CRT displayed Suikoden at 1080p (don't try to say you put it on the lowest res, the lowest res on a monitor is still bigger than a CRT's) with no scanlines or interlacing AT ALL?

[Norbii Testee]

Hope this happens in a few years like how the GTA Definitive Trilogy added "Classic Lighting".

[Nohman]

Първоначално публикувано от Underprivileged White Male:

Sadly the best way to play these games is still on original hardware, or emulated.

Ehhhhhh, im a relatively big purist who still dips his toes into these remasters. I think the bug fixes make this a better version to play than on the PSX at least. I heard the remaster was based off the psp ports but I don't think they ever had an English patch. Star Ocean 2 on the PSX is different enough I still play that version but I can't say the same for Suikoden 2 at least. I haven't replayed it on hardware in a LONG time but I remember missing music, sound and other stuff.

On the remaster I'm still on the original so I can't comment much on the graphics yet. I just run reshade's guest advanced crt shader to help make the sprites look a bit better. What bugs me more are the portraits..wtf Milich has a a mustache?! Kasim looks like he's on drugs too. I MUCH prefer the psx's art style when it comes to that.


For people without hardware I don't think this is a bad way to experience the games at all though. If you're curious I'm the kind of person that plays remasters, emulates and tries out the OG hardware when I can.

[RunningWild]

People don't like the Windows XP era art style? Marie is prime wife status.

I think a better mod would be restoring the Windows 95 version of Suikoden's hud.

[Tenshu]

Първоначално публикувано от RunningWild:

People don't like the Windows XP era art style? Marie is prime wife status.

I think a better mod would be restoring the Windows 95 version of Suikoden's hud.

Marie THICC tho...

[Underprivileged White Male]

Първоначално публикувано от Tenshu:

Първоначално публикувано от Azure Fang:

Don't have to. I can boot my image in RetroArch/Beetle with no upscaling and be reminded. Yep, my memory was right, still like the original better.

Upscaled, remastered =/= "Better". "Better" is a subjective opinion. When I see classics, especially crowns of a consooe like Suikoden I+2, Final Fantasy VI, etc., ported to PC, I expect them to be altered as little as possible. Textures, backgrounds, etc., should be upscaled to be visible on modern displays, but retain equivalent fidelity. Music should only be re-recorded to remove compression or critical issues (like Valkyrie Profile on PS1) but retain original composition. Translations should only be updated to fix errors. And then an "HD" toggle should be added alongside secondary QoL features that can be ignored/disabled.

Why?

These games are driven by nostalgia. The primary audience for these ports is people who want to play/preserve the original games. This audience has proven, time and again, that HD facelifts is undesired and sometimes insulting to the legacy of these games. However, having these changes as an option (and yes, texture swapping in Unity is extremely easy and this is built in Unity) is fully acceptable to reach a wider audience.

If pixel art and detailed, low-poly visuals are "inferior" then why do so many modern games chase that aesthetic? Because there's a certain charm to "retro" that, if lost, changes and worsens the experience. So no, the "HD" remake is not "a million times better". It's just different. And some of us don't appreciate the difference.

Except your memory isn't right, it's biased. You mean to tell me your CRT displayed Suikoden at 1080p (don't try to say you put it on the lowest res, the lowest res on a monitor is still bigger than a CRT's) with no scanlines or interlacing AT ALL?

Who needs memory when you can just look at examples? lol

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fy7se5qieq55y2czsbw6mura/bafkreic6re4dtx6unygvcbwtph76au4r7v7sr42kxhxqpr5angxzkuh5lu@jpeg

https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comments/om0ws3/suikoden_2/

Suikoden 1&2 looked amazing on CRT's

It's pretty hard to capture CRTs on camera without weird patterns, but it still looks better than the remake with the mix matched elements. Particularly the sprites which look awful in HD.

People forget that you don't see pixels on CRTs lol. The art style was way better in the original. The Remaster looks like flash art.

[Nohman]

Първоначално публикувано от Underprivileged White Male:

Първоначално публикувано от Tenshu:

Except your memory isn't right, it's biased. You mean to tell me your CRT displayed Suikoden at 1080p (don't try to say you put it on the lowest res, the lowest res on a monitor is still bigger than a CRT's) with no scanlines or interlacing AT ALL?

Who needs memory when you can just look at examples? lol

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fy7se5qieq55y2czsbw6mura/bafkreic6re4dtx6unygvcbwtph76au4r7v7sr42kxhxqpr5angxzkuh5lu@jpeg

https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comments/om0ws3/suikoden_2/

Suikoden 1&2 looked amazing on CRT's

It's pretty hard to capture CRTs on camera without weird patterns, but it still looks better than the remake with the mix matched elements. Particularly the sprites which look awful in HD.

People forget that you don't see pixels on CRTs lol. The art style was way better in the original. The Remaster looks like flash art.

Awww, is that your samsung? I own a little 14 incher myself and have the 50$ retrovision cables but I don't currently have a modded PSX to play backups right now...just an SNES. That looks so gorgeous.

I play with emulators a lot but even the best shader at 4k can't compare to a relatively cheap, consumer level CRT. Its sad.

[Furry Wrecking Crew]

Първоначално публикувано от Underprivileged White Male:

Първоначално публикувано от Tenshu:

Except your memory isn't right, it's biased. You mean to tell me your CRT displayed Suikoden at 1080p (don't try to say you put it on the lowest res, the lowest res on a monitor is still bigger than a CRT's) with no scanlines or interlacing AT ALL?

Who needs memory when you can just look at examples? lol

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fy7se5qieq55y2czsbw6mura/bafkreic6re4dtx6unygvcbwtph76au4r7v7sr42kxhxqpr5angxzkuh5lu@jpeg

https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comments/om0ws3/suikoden_2/

Suikoden 1&2 looked amazing on CRT's

It's pretty hard to capture CRTs on camera without weird patterns, but it still looks better than the remake with the mix matched elements. Particularly the sprites which look awful in HD.

People forget that you don't see pixels on CRTs lol. The art style was way better in the original. The Remaster looks like flash art.

That looks absolutely awful. Did you smear vasoline on the TV screen?

[Nohman]

Първоначално публикувано от Furry Wrecking Crew:

Първоначално публикувано от Underprivileged White Male:

Who needs memory when you can just look at examples? lol

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fy7se5qieq55y2czsbw6mura/bafkreic6re4dtx6unygvcbwtph76au4r7v7sr42kxhxqpr5angxzkuh5lu@jpeg

https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comments/om0ws3/suikoden_2/

Suikoden 1&2 looked amazing on CRT's

It's pretty hard to capture CRTs on camera without weird patterns, but it still looks better than the remake with the mix matched elements. Particularly the sprites which look awful in HD.

People forget that you don't see pixels on CRTs lol. The art style was way better in the original. The Remaster looks like flash art.

That looks absolutely awful. Did you smear vasoline on the TV screen?

Its kind of hard to take decent CRT photos, my own looks really good but in photos its eye scorchingly saturated.

[Tenshu]

Първоначално публикувано от General Fugu:

Първоначално публикувано от Furry Wrecking Crew:

That looks absolutely awful. Did you smear vasoline on the TV screen?

Its kind of hard to take decent CRT photos, my own looks really good but in photos its eye scorchingly saturated.

QuantumTV style

[Sturm]

I think all these games should have an option to toggle on the old graphics for those that prefer it. I'm a fan of what they've done visually too but I'd love a classic filter.

I can't imagine it would be that hard to implement either. If Halo can do it I'm sure there is the technology to do it for older classic titles.

[Nohman]

The new portraits bug me way more than the backgrounds TBH.