Remastered edition

[TigerQuoll]

#4116

Just wondering who’s played the remastered edition, and what do you think about it?
I played the original a lot back in the day and a few times since, and I’m just playing the remastered one for the first time now. My first impressions are a bit underwhelming. The music does sound better, but I think it’s clear they just did a straight MIDI recording of the original with a roland or something.
The graphics look rushed, and have a kind of upscaled vectory look to them compared to the gorgeous handpainted (if blocky) original. It looks good at a distance, but sort of sloppy in the details. The fonts especially look like they are just the result of a very lazy upscale.
I’m also not a fan of the new “wheel” interface. It seems to be an example of style over substance, and while slick is actually really annoying to use.
What I do like is the easy and seamless way to switch between original and new, and the ability to individually choose what elements of each you want to use.

[firefyte]

#4117

I’ve played it, you can use the original graphics, sound, etc.

You can also have the new graphics with a verb interface.

It has longer load times, but you can sort of extract the old version and play it on scummvm (doublefine explorer).

If you want a more authentic experience, I would more go for a scummvm or authentic dos release (the floppy version had copy protection!).

[f2bnp]

#4119

I see what you mean TigerQuoll. It’s certainly not without its detractors. When I first saw screenshots of the remaster, I too thought they had perhaps used some kind of upscaling filter like xbrz.

However, on closer inspection once it was released, it became fairly obvious that they actually did touch up on the visuals in significant ways and redraw details on characters and backgrounds, perhaps they even rescanned the originals?
I think it’s a testament to DOTT’s visual composition that it still looks so fantastic after all those years that we’re even having this debate!

I can’t recall where I first heard of it, it might have been in an interview or perhaps the audio commentary of the remastered version, but Monkey Island 2 moved away from the original’s pixel drawn backgrounds and instead used hand-drawn backgrounds from Peter Chan that were scanned in the game. Unfortunately, back in 1991, the technology wasn’t really there and while I love the look of Monkey Island 2, it is fair to say that the artist, Peter Chan, felt like his artwork got mangled in the process.
For the next game, he went ahead and studied the issue and decided to draw things in a way that would look much better on the 320×200 resolutions and 256 VGA colors of the day.

I think the wheel interface is fine. As much as I love the verb interface due to nostalgia, I think usability suffers a bit, although I almost always use keyboard shortcuts for the verbs these days.

DOTT Remastered has a few tricks up its sleeve though:

– First off, the audio commentary is superb and I recommend it to anyone that has a love for this game and other Lucasarts adventure games from that era, it is a curtain into how they went about developing it back then. Also, it can be pretty hilarious!

– Not certain on the music as I haven’t played it since release, but the voices are of higher quality than was possible on the old CD release. In the process however, they replaced pretty much every sound effect which really annoys me as they were iconic and came from sound effect libraries that have been used worldwide for decades (aren’t they royalty free by now?).

– The subtle hint system which definitely helps without having to resort to a walkthrough.

– The fact that you can, as you said, mix and match with original and remastered elements, something that was missing from their Grim Fandango remaster.

Overall, I think it is a more than decent effort. Double Fine really pulled it off with the Full Throttle Remaster however, that truly was a labor of love and it shows, one of the finest remasters I’ve ever seen.

[TigerQuoll]

#4121

I definitely agree that the commentary is great. I’m playing through that version now! (Just finished a “straight” playthrough with the new graphics)

To be clear, I can see how a lot of people would prefer the remastered graphics, especially if they’re not a fan of low-res, chunky pixels. I just can’t help but be bothered by some of the small details that are a bit messy.

[Rambutaan]

#4124

Yeah having played the original, the remastered version doesn’t bring too much to the table but it makes it more accessible for those that have never played the game before. I also enjoyed listening to the commentary as well.

[Mike]

#4136

Agreed with everyone else. I prefer the original graphics but I think the commentary mode, hint system, and bonus concept art are nice touches and with it providing the options to switch to the original game, it doesn’t feel like the original game is being erased.

[dr_st]

#4137

Having played the remastered version just a couple of months ago, I must have missed the ability to use the verb interface with the new graphics, and the hint system…

[firefyte]

#4139

You can go into the settings menu to find all the stuff, also, you can play it with a controller (WHY?).

[yozy]

#4140

I started a new game with the remastered version but in the retro mode with verbs. I don’t think the new graphics bring much, compared to e.g. the Full Throttle remaster.

Nevertheless it’s quite painless to play on a tablet and I’m looking forward for the commentary track, once I’ve finished at least one playthrough.

[Shattered]

#4182

I beat the remastered edition this afternoon. Felt pretty lucky, I don’t normally get a lazy afternoon of video games any more as a father but the weather’s not great outside and the kids seemed content to watch and play. I forgot about the few “damn”s in it, but they didn’t really notice.

I checked Steam and the last time I’d played through the game was in Jan 2017 which was recent enough to be able to play through the entire game without being stuck. I couldn’t find the black cat or the extension cord for about 10 minutes, but other than that the game was basically muscle memory. There were definitely parts that I knew the solution to, but didn’t really remember why they needed to be done that way. I knew Hoagie had to mail a letter, but wasn’t sure why it wouldn’t work in the present or what tells you that it wouldn’t work. Anyone else know that part?

I’d occasionally switch the rendering to the original version but my daughter would pretty quickly notice and yell “Dad! Put it back! It’s all squarey!” This new generation has no appreciation for the classics I tell you. 🙂

[dollarone]

#4185

Started playing last night with the commentary – some really cool insights in there.

I’m playing on classic mode as I went through the game on the remastered setting a couple of years ago – man, the graphics don’t just hold up, they are works of art. Those backgrounds, man. This is my jam right here.

Almost completed the game in one sitting, but decided not to rush to the end so I can enjoy it more 🙂

Absolutely love the classic cartoon jokes, like when Bernard is rescuing Dr Fred 😀

[firefyte]

#4186

“I knew Hoagie had to mail a letter, but wasn’t sure why it wouldn’t work in the present.”

I know that the stamp is a pony express stamp, so it wouldn’t be valid in the modern era.

[bluntman3000]

#4190

“also, you can play it with a controller (WHY?)”

It’s part of the Game Pass service on PC and Xbox One since October 2020, therefore it makes sense to have the controller option.

I’ve played DotT a looooong time ago on my PC (still have the disks in the basement) and now I’ve replayed and finished it a few weeks ago, thanks to the Game Pass library. It’s still a great game and in my opinion the new graphics fit almost perfectly with the cartoon / partly slapstick character of the tentacle madness.

The only thing I have to complain about is this FXXKING achievement, for which it’s not allowed to skip any of the cutscenes (except the Maniac Mansion part). I obviously ignored that FOR ONE TIME at the beginning… And so I’ll play it again over the weekend 🙂

[dr_st]

#4201

I actually really dislike all these “achievements” that now seem to be a mandatory part in every game, including re-releases of old games. They seem too arbitrary.