This is without a doubt one of the most faithful remakes ever made, especially considering how modern day remakes love to modernize the game so much it ends up feeling like a new game altogether, but all this Mario RPG remake does is upgrade the visuals (which are VERY pretty) and add quality of life improvements, mainly to the battle system. That’s it.
Even the soundtrack stays true to the original, opting to simply remake the tracks but with higher quality samples and an orchestral arrangement, barely rearranging them or adding new sections, and that’s fine, because the remade tracks sound so lovely. Some don’t hit as hard as the originals, particularly the battle songs, but thankfully there’s the option to switch to the original SNES soundtrack if you want to. I do appreciate how the battle tracks add a layer of percussion when you successfully keep up a combo chain though, it’s always satisfying and it gives this extra oomph to the battles.
Speaking of battles, the game was made considerably easier than the original, mainly due to the quality of life improvements it introduced, such as perfect timed hits damaging multiple enemies, being able to swap between all five members, and the Triple Moves, but those changes make the game feel more enjoyable, because it could get pretty unfair and frustrating originally. There’s still some nice challenges to be found too, especially with the postgame rematches, another new addition. Would’ve been interesting if they added a hard mode, though. They added an easy mode, so why not the other way round too?
The aforementioned rematches are the only new content they added to the campaign, which is pretty dang short for RPG standards. Even if it’s your first time playing, you’re unlikely to take more than 15 hours to finish. It would’ve been nice to have more content added, but it’s still a most enjoyable ride, makes it more replayable, too. It’s impossible to not get enamored by the overflowing charisma of this game, be it in its varied locations and its colorful cast of characters, and of course the engaging battle system, not to mention the absurd amount of secrets it has, most of which you’re likely to encounter only across multiple playthroughs.
My only nitpick about this game is its biggest strength - its faithfulness to the original game. This remake is so faithful almost to a fault, because certain aspects of it could have benefitted from some improvements, mainly in the sound design department, with some moments having no sound effects at all when the characters are doing certain actions, so it feels wrong having these be silent. The dialogue boxes having no SFX is also weird nowadays imo. All those things were like that in the SNES original, so they opted to not improve it, but even the new CGI cutscenes also lack sound design, so they just feel empty. Some of the overworld movement can also be a bit tricky because of the isometric perspective, sometimes even frustratingly so.
But obviously those are just small nuisances that don’t drag this game down at all. Certainly one of the best remakes of recent times.
Even the soundtrack stays true to the original, opting to simply remake the tracks but with higher quality samples and an orchestral arrangement, barely rearranging them or adding new sections, and that’s fine, because the remade tracks sound so lovely. Some don’t hit as hard as the originals, particularly the battle songs, but thankfully there’s the option to switch to the original SNES soundtrack if you want to. I do appreciate how the battle tracks add a layer of percussion when you successfully keep up a combo chain though, it’s always satisfying and it gives this extra oomph to the battles.
Speaking of battles, the game was made considerably easier than the original, mainly due to the quality of life improvements it introduced, such as perfect timed hits damaging multiple enemies, being able to swap between all five members, and the Triple Moves, but those changes make the game feel more enjoyable, because it could get pretty unfair and frustrating originally. There’s still some nice challenges to be found too, especially with the postgame rematches, another new addition. Would’ve been interesting if they added a hard mode, though. They added an easy mode, so why not the other way round too?
The aforementioned rematches are the only new content they added to the campaign, which is pretty dang short for RPG standards. Even if it’s your first time playing, you’re unlikely to take more than 15 hours to finish. It would’ve been nice to have more content added, but it’s still a most enjoyable ride, makes it more replayable, too. It’s impossible to not get enamored by the overflowing charisma of this game, be it in its varied locations and its colorful cast of characters, and of course the engaging battle system, not to mention the absurd amount of secrets it has, most of which you’re likely to encounter only across multiple playthroughs.
My only nitpick about this game is its biggest strength - its faithfulness to the original game. This remake is so faithful almost to a fault, because certain aspects of it could have benefitted from some improvements, mainly in the sound design department, with some moments having no sound effects at all when the characters are doing certain actions, so it feels wrong having these be silent. The dialogue boxes having no SFX is also weird nowadays imo. All those things were like that in the SNES original, so they opted to not improve it, but even the new CGI cutscenes also lack sound design, so they just feel empty. Some of the overworld movement can also be a bit tricky because of the isometric perspective, sometimes even frustratingly so.
But obviously those are just small nuisances that don’t drag this game down at all. Certainly one of the best remakes of recent times.
Corrugated_Fox
4 months ago