I'm delighted that my worries were unfounded, the remaster looks pretty good:
They've clearly redrawn every frame of animation, but they've kept the actual animations identical to the 1995 version which means it retains the classic look.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 6:54 pm
by Medicine Man
It's what every good 'remaster' should be. Nothing fancy, it just looks like your memory of it.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 7:18 pm
by Raid
Yup. My only issue is that they could have done something a little more interesting with the ground texture, but once you do that you'd be making unnecessary changes to the original I suppose.
One larger voice role however, was the part of EVA. Kia Huntzinger worked at Westwood, and our Audio Director Paul Mudra thought she might be a good fit based on hearing the recorded voice messages she left on our phones and paging she did over the intercom system. In many ways, she was the unofficial voice of the company once you made it past the front door because we listened to her throughout the day. She was excited to give it a shot, and the original voice session was recorded in a padded closet! Everyone liked the quality of her voice in that role, and the rest is history.
Unfortunately the original tapes of Kia’s performance were not found – but that being said, there is definitely inherent noise, and noticeable rumble throughout the original games files, which would have needed a lot of clean up. So we did the next best thing – we hired her to reprise her role, this time in a professional recording room! And fortunately for us, she still sounds very close to the way she did years ago.”
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 4:33 pm
by Raid
Is that supposed to be a comparison between the old and new recordings? If it is, then the old ones don't sound like they're of lesser quality than the new.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 6:02 pm
by Mantis
I'm not even sure which is which. The first delivery of the lines sound better to me but I can't remember if that's how they were in the original or if they're the new ones. The second versions sound like they have too much reverb on them and you can hear the harshness that needs taming with a de-esser.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 6:57 pm
by Raid
The first of each set is the original recording, I've heard those samples so many times that the exact cadence is burned into my brain. What I can't tell is whether those are the original files created in the nineties remastered, or whether they're just there for comparison, because they just don't sound worse than the "new" ones.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 7:18 pm
by Alan
There is a difference in quality that’s noticeable if you’re listening for it but in game nobody would notice at all. If anything I kind of prefer the slight static on the original’s.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 7:36 pm
by Raid
I had to listen to the video through a good set of headphones to hear it, but you're right, the old ones are marginally worse. There's a little bit of crackle and background hum. There's no way you could hear that when mixed together with music though, which is how the majority will hear them I would think.
I appreciate their attention to detail, but this one's going a bit far I think.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:16 pm
by Medicine Man
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 6:18 pm
by DjchunKfunK
Looks awful, should have left it alone.
Re: Remand and ReConquer?
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:31 pm
by Raid
Ehh, I think it looks alright; I was expecting this sort of AI-driven reconstruction of the FMVs anyway, so this isn't really a surprise.