Seems like most of the work was upscaling texture files without context, seeing this.
Could also be that those textures were used somewhere else and adjusting it to a place would make them break in another one... There are many variables.

Originally posted by Brenno:

Seems like most of the work was upscaling texture files without context, seeing this.
Could also be that those textures were used somewhere else and adjusting it to a place would make them break in another one... There are many variables.

Yeah, i know. I was just hoping they actually worked on this. Tall order, i guess.
I mean, it's not the end of the world for sure. A bit dissapointed, that's all.

Sure, they AI upscaled certain textures rather than making every single texture from scratch. They did the important things. Modernized controls and camera, shadows, shading, lighting, new high poly models and textures for every character and enemy, full widescreen support and up to 144hz support, new features, new cutscenes etc. As far as remasters go, this and the Tomb Raider remasters are some of the best remasters we’ve ever gotten.

Remakes are in their own category, so those don’t apply when speaking about remasters. We’ve had loads of lazy remasters in the past. A remaster used to simply be “output to 720p or 1080p (4k being the target resolution these days) and some slightly upscaled textures” with some getting a framerate boost to 60fps. Hell, some “remasters” are just straight re-releases. Crash, Spyro and Tony Hawk got remakes, for example.

This is one of the least lazy remasters of an old game that we’ve gotten. The problem is your sense of entitlement; you think you’re owed more than this. That you deserve a better product, because some textures aren’t 4k or completely remade. You’re always going to feel that way.

Anyway, the facts are there. This is an excellent remaster. Nobody is going to change your mind. I suggest taking the time to enjoy yourself and the games you play, rather than looking for things to be upset and complain about. Mindset is 90% of the problem in life and 100% the solution to that problem.

Good eye.
There might be an argument for saying this remaster is an improvement while staying true to the original, visual mistakes and all.

Nightdive has definitely spoiled us. Shame they didn't get to work on this one, I suspect stuff like this would have been fixed.

Originally posted by Bozz Collin:

Sure, they AI upscaled certain textures rather than making every single texture from scratch. They did the important things. Modernized controls and camera, shadows, shading, lighting, new high poly models and textures for every character and enemy, full widescreen support and up to 144hz support, new features, new cutscenes etc. As far as remasters go, this and the Tomb Raider remasters are some of the best remasters we’ve ever gotten.

Remakes are in their own category, so those don’t apply when speaking about remasters. We’ve had loads of lazy remasters in the past. A remaster used to simply be “output to 720p or 1080p (4k being the target resolution these days) and some slightly upscaled textures” with some getting a framerate boost to 60fps. Hell, some “remasters” are just straight re-releases. Crash, Spyro and Tony Hawk got remakes, for example.

This is one of the least lazy remasters of an old game that we’ve gotten. The problem is your sense of entitlement; you think you’re owed more than this. That you deserve a better product, because some textures aren’t 4k or completely remade. You’re always going to feel that way.

Anyway, the facts are there. This is an excellent remaster. Nobody is going to change your mind. I suggest taking the time to enjoy yourself and the games you play, rather than looking for things to be upset and complain about. Mindset is 90% of the problem in life and 100% the solution to that problem.

As i've said, i'm not really upset, just a bit dissapointed.
I can readilly confirm that gameplaywise, this remaster clears the original releases, of course.
At the same time, i don't think it's fair to say that feeling iffy about AI upscalers = being entitled.

The screenshots you uploaded look like what the game looks like with the old graphics on, though. If you press F1 you'll see the remaster graphics.

That's the way it was back then. One texture was used in several places, and so it was often not look good in some spots. I guess it just couldn't be fixed without breaking anything, specially because they use original upgraded engine. Don't be picky, at least you can play it without issues

Originally posted by semp:

Originally posted by Bozz Collin:

Sure, they AI upscaled certain textures rather than making every single texture from scratch. They did the important things. Modernized controls and camera, shadows, shading, lighting, new high poly models and textures for every character and enemy, full widescreen support and up to 144hz support, new features, new cutscenes etc. As far as remasters go, this and the Tomb Raider remasters are some of the best remasters we’ve ever gotten.

Remakes are in their own category, so those don’t apply when speaking about remasters. We’ve had loads of lazy remasters in the past. A remaster used to simply be “output to 720p or 1080p (4k being the target resolution these days) and some slightly upscaled textures” with some getting a framerate boost to 60fps. Hell, some “remasters” are just straight re-releases. Crash, Spyro and Tony Hawk got remakes, for example.

This is one of the least lazy remasters of an old game that we’ve gotten. The problem is your sense of entitlement; you think you’re owed more than this. That you deserve a better product, because some textures aren’t 4k or completely remade. You’re always going to feel that way.

Anyway, the facts are there. This is an excellent remaster. Nobody is going to change your mind. I suggest taking the time to enjoy yourself and the games you play, rather than looking for things to be upset and complain about. Mindset is 90% of the problem in life and 100% the solution to that problem.

As i've said, i'm not really upset, just a bit dissapointed.
I can readilly confirm that gameplaywise, this remaster clears the original releases, of course.
At the same time, i don't think it's fair to say that feeling iffy about AI upscalers = being entitled.

Fair is fair. There’s not really anything to be disappointed about. It’s better in every conceivable way. Expectations are out of sync with reality and the developers’ intent. Entitled may not be the most accurate term, but you feel bothered enough by it to create a thread, to tell everyone about your disappointment. It’s all mindset.

Originally posted by Bozz Collin:

Originally posted by semp:

As i've said, i'm not really upset, just a bit dissapointed.
I can readilly confirm that gameplaywise, this remaster clears the original releases, of course.
At the same time, i don't think it's fair to say that feeling iffy about AI upscalers = being entitled.

Fair is fair. There’s not really anything to be disappointed about. It’s better in every conceivable way. Expectations are out of sync with reality and the developers’ intent. Entitled may not be the most accurate term, but you feel bothered enough by it to create a thread, to tell everyone about your disappointment. It’s all mindset.

Every concievable way is a stretch. sr2 intro looks awful. I don't know what upscaler they used, but it's blurry and choppy. You can look at it yourself.
There are other issues too, like the first human enemy in sr1 being completely braindead. His AI appears to be disabled for some reason.
But that's just early game, of course. No clue if there are any issues later.

Originally posted by semp:

Originally posted by Bozz Collin:

Fair is fair. There’s not really anything to be disappointed about. It’s better in every conceivable way. Expectations are out of sync with reality and the developers’ intent. Entitled may not be the most accurate term, but you feel bothered enough by it to create a thread, to tell everyone about your disappointment. It’s all mindset.

Every concievable way is a stretch. sr2 intro looks awful. I don't know what upscaler they used, but it's blurry and choppy. You can look at it yourself.
There are other issues too, like the first human enemy in sr1 being completely braindead. His AI appears to be disabled for some reason.
But that's just early game, of course. No clue if there are any issues later.

Sounds like a bug that will be fixed. The games will undoubtedly be patched. If it’s anything like the Tomb Raider remasters (same publisher, same style of remaster, same level of support), they might even improve textures and other small things as they patch the game. As for the intro videos, I’ll check it out once I get home. I bought these games on PS5.

Originally posted by semp:

but this isn't what i'm here for. as far as sr1 goes, every visual mistake the original made is still present in the remaster.
/quote]

there is a chance this is because its a remaster, not a remake.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they "fixed" the camera, nor the controls for that matter. The only "controller" that has worked so far is the steam deck itself. The speed at which the viewpoint shifts is WAY TOO FAST for the game itself. I'm not really seeing the problems with the visuals, that's one thing that looks good to me but my eyes have been through a lot and I can't see with the fidelity that I used to anymore. The camera and the gameplay are often out of sync and the camera has to play catch-up because the game moves like lightning now where on the PSX you could clearly tell and in a sense feel the game slowing down a bit progressing through tunnels and around bends, corners, etc. Not a critical issue for me so long as it's playable with the new graphics but I get the feeling that I probably should have waited for the Switch version for a more comprehensive all-around better performance at the cost of hearing Windows snobs complain about the video quality on the Switch.

Same. I'm honestly torn. I appreciate the price point, the "better" camera and including the lost levels a nice touch too.

But I feel this series deserved so much more. Soul Reaver is probably my favourite game.

There's also some baffling decisions i've discovered within the extras too. The lore page for example. It isn't a lore page. Instead of a quick run down its all terrible rhyming poems. Just why? It's tacky.

Also don't get why they included a ton of concept art for what I assume was a cancelled reboot of the series. They also included peoples cosplay pics and fan art... Which is imo kinda cringe.

It's less of a visual 'mistake' and more of a limitation with the engine. Soul Reaver rendered the world out of squares and triangles, much the same way that the original Tomb Raider games did, which meant when it came to applying textures, that texture would deform to fit the shape of the surface it was placed upon. In order for this to not be present in the remaster, they would have had to make entirely new and unique textures just for that bit of wall, and craft it in such a way that it wasn't obvious that the wall was made out of misshaped squares.
Given the scale of the games, and the regularity that these deformed textures are present, it simply wouldn't have been practical to do something about it. They instead chose to stick to the integrity of the original product, and simply made everything look crisper, sharper and nicer to look at, while also making it run on modern hardware with modern peripherals, which is, in essence, what a remaster is. To have made the world have proper geometry with textures, sub-surface scattering and ambient occlusion would have warranted a remake, not a remaster.