there were definitely some “enhancements” that didn’t exactly match the authorial intent of the original.
Like what? I haven’t and probably never will play the remaster, but my understanding was that it was meant to be as close to the original as possible only with nicer graphics. I read that they were even trying to match the timings of combat exactly.
Mostly art things. I’m far from qualified to speak to it as an expert, I haven’t played either version yet, but have friends who are very passionate about the topic.
I think the easiest way to explain it is to refer to this Miyazaki quote:
Most people don’t believe me when I say this, but a certain kind of refinement, elegance, and dignity are very important to me. I’ll usually tell the designers that flat-out grotesque or splatter type designs will not get past me. This has everything to do with my own personal sensibilities, and it is something that I apply to every design that I approve.
Even if you just look at the tutorial boss (I clipped a a YT side-by-side for you here), the changes they’ve made here to add detail are basically all… grotesque. Gross hanging flesh, some weird hanging nipple thing, it’s a very different interpretation of the original than what I believe was intended.
This is obviously just one example, but it’s this type of change that bothers purists. Now, mind you, I don’t think this makes the remake trash or anything, but if you’re interested in Demon Souls historically as the beginning of the Souls franchise, this kind of change is essentially revisionist history, and it’s disappointing to me that the original game isn’t also available in some way besides buying an old PS3 or emulating the game.
That’s pretty tame, IMO. I feel like Souls bosses like the Leechmonger or the Gaping Dragon, are originally much more grotesque than the changes made to the Vanguard demon. Even the Asylum Demon in Dark Souls is based on the Vanguard demon and seems more unsettling than that.
I feel like this guy works out at least. It’s the tutorial boss that you’re expected to die to. By the time you meet him, you’ve been playing the game for about 10 minutes, you probably haven’t really got a feel for the controls or how to fight a boss, and he shows up to scare you, and you die to him, most likely in about 5 seconds. The original stony version does the job, and so does this one IMO. You fight another one later on in the game as a slightly-stronger-than-average enemy, but by then you’re equipped to handle him, and it’s a pretty quick battle again.
I know I’m not someone who cares that strongly about the integrity of the original vision, but I feel like given the 15 years between the original and the remake, even if Fromsoft themselves had remade it, we would probably be seeing similar changes.
