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[ScOULaris]

I'm someone who played and enjoyed the original PS2 release of Odin Sphere quite a bit despite its shortcomings, and I'll be the first to acknowledge what an excellent job Vanillaware did updating it with Leifthrasir on PS4 and Vita. It's one of the most thorough, robust, and generous "remakes" of a game I've ever seen. I say that in part because of how thoroughly the game had been overhauled for Leifthrasir's new standard mode, but I also say it out of respect for the team having included Classic Mode.

The inclusion of Classic Mode is interesting, IMO. In most cases when a game is remastered, we're playing the same game with improved visual fidelity and in some cases better performance in the way of framerate. Classic Mode offers this for Odin Sphere, but held up next to the new standard mode in Leifthrasir it probably feels too slow for most people. And I totally understand that.

The original style of gameplay was pretty radically different from the fast-paced character-action gameplay of Leifthrasir. It was more methodical and required a greater amount of resource management both in terms of stamina (needed to attack) and item management. The game was also just flat-out more challenging than its Leifthrasir updated counterpart. It also made the player choose between focusing on leveling up their attack damage or their health by making them separate upgrade paths. Leifthrasir streamlined and simplified many aspects of the original (e.g. health and strength level up together, can consume/grow multiple items at a time easily, more intuitive item selection and management, etc.), and to its credit that was fantastic. Leifthrasir definitely feels like a more polished, fast, and streamlined game than the original ever did.

So I'm wondering if anyone on GAF actually prefers Classic Mode over the new mode in Leifthrasir. I don't expect many people to chime in and say that they do, but I feel like there must be some of you out there. It's a curious thing, Classic Mode. I find it to be a rather generous inclusion considering how few people probably ever played it, opting instead to play the new-and-improved Leifthrasir mode and then having no reason to replay the same story with slightly different mechanics and level design in Classic Mode.

tl;dr - Refined Mode = Devil May Cry, Classic Mode = Dark Souls

Video Links:

• Classic vs Refined mode comparison
• Playthrough of the Valkyrie chapter on Hard Classic Mode

 

[Marcel]

The original was such a chore to play on PS2. Frequent load times, required item and EXP grinding, and calling the combat "methodical" is a generous way of saying slow and laborious. I'm glad they made the extensive changes for the remake but Classic Mode is a nice inclusion for those 12 people that actually enjoyed OG Odin Sphere's gameplay.

 

[ScOULaris]

The original was such a chore to play on PS2. Frequent load times, required item and EXP grinding, and calling the combat "methodical" is a generous way of saying slow and laborious. I'm glad they made the extensive changes for the remake but Classic Mode is a nice inclusion for those 12 people that actually enjoyed OG Odin Sphere's gameplay.

At least Classic Mode stands in as a really solid remastering of the original. It's the original game but in 1080p without the slowdown and long load times that plagued the PS2 release.

But yeah, I totally understand why 95% of people would prefer the enhanced gameplay of Refined Mode.

 

[theechrisfox]

I thoroughly enjoyed Leifthrasir but never touched Classic Mode. I had read a few things at that point that led me to believe it wasn't worth trying as a new player.

 

[McArkus]

I thoroughly enjoyed Leifthrasir but never touched Classic Mode. I had read a few things at that point that led me to believe it wasn't worth trying as a new player.

Same here, really liked the game but didn't do a classic run. Maybe offtopic but loved to combo the bosses to infinite, sometimes they didn't even touched the floor once you started.

 

[Adam Sadler]

Not going to lie i am sure there is someone who enjoyed classic mode but when I played the original game it wss probably one of the worst gameplay Ive experienced in an RPG and it was even moreso disappointing because I really enjoyed EVERYTHING ELSE. The original game kept me from playing anything else from these developers until my friend forced me to play another game lol

 

[Begaria]

Ha! Heh.

No.

I much prefer the refined gameplay mechanics over Classic mode.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

I loved OS when it came out but only ever got as far as finishing Gwen's scenario because, as is stated already, it was a bit painful to play at times because of loading (even from a HDD) and it having some framerate issues. It was just painful after a while. Leifthrasir helped that a lot, but I haven't gone back to it much yet because of backlog issues.

I would hope for a potential third go at Muramasa, honestly, if they give it the overhaul OS got. The Vita version is much better than the Wii version, which was already a fine game, but I feel like it deserves a more fair chance at existing.

 

[ScOULaris]

I would hope for a potential third go at Muramasa, honestly, if they give it the overhaul OS got. The Vita version is much better than the Wii version, which was already a fine game, but I feel like it deserves a more fair chance at existing.

I just finished my third playthrough of Muramasa, actually.

Played through Kisuke's story on the Wii version years ago.
Played through Momohime's story on the Vita version a year so ago.
Played through Kisuke's story again on the Vita just last week.

It's probably my overall favorite Vanillaware game due to the setting and art alone.