Revamped Graphics for Windows/Xbox

[Mirage]

4-8 bills to pay for upgrades? Not sure what you're talking about here now.

I think you are looking at things a bit one sided, though. There are plenty of reasons for some people to have several cars, for example. It is not always a waste to have them, even if it is for some people. Not all cars are suited for all sorts of uses.

Maybe some people would want to not pay for extra luxuries in todays economy, but there are still a fair amount of people who still have decent incomes, so why shouldn't they?

My turn to be on topic:

While gameplay is the most important part, of course, I don't think there is any reason for a game to not look as good as the budget allows (while still spending enough on gameplay). In FF11's case, it is not just about the graphics, though, but also the performance. The game runs very inefficiently on many of today's systems, because newer and newer cards care less and less about keeping the compatibility with old games up, leading to loss of performance in some of them, which FF11 is a good example of.

The game can still end up outputting 20 fps in port jeuno, even if the total poly count, textures, and special effects are *waaaaay* lower than in any modern game that would easily run at 60fps. This is something an engine overhaul could fix. 3D models, textures, etc would remain the same, while the game just managed to render them a lot more efficiently.

Additionally, an engine overhaul could allow for 60 fps gameplay, which really is pleasant to look at, even in games where gameplay is slow, such as FF11. Battle animations can still have rapid movement in them, and 60 fps would definitely be noticable there.

As I understand things, recreating assets (textures, 3D models, etc) is what usually requires by far the biggest amount of resources in the graphics department of a game. Improving the graphics engine, for so to reuse the already existing assets, is a much smaller undertaking. This is why practically all "HD editions" of old games only see a resolution increase with antialiasing, and not more detailed character models and textures.