That being said, it is nearly identical to the original PS2 game’s visuals and technical performance, sometimes to a fault. All versions of Nocturne HD Remaster are capped at 30fps - even the PC version. Although it no longer has the frame dips from the original release, the image quality still takes a nosedive with how heavy the motion blurring is implemented. Some rooms, like the stairs in front of the Mantra Headquarters in Ikebukuro, look awful to navigate through. The image quality is dirty, grungy, grimy, and not pleasant to look at in specific instances unfortunately. I remember this effect playing more nicely on a smaller CRT monitor back in the day; it is not a visual effect that displays well today.
Nocturne's game footage in its title loop opening movies and in-game cinematic scenes have not been updated at all in this remaster, so they look pretty awful unfortunately.
Another significant bummer that carries on from the original release of Nocturne is that all the battle music remains heavily compressed; they still sound distant in the heat of battle. This seems to be an unsolvable problem that the developers were unable to address and improve upon in Nocturne HD Remaster.
A prevalent issue that pervades Nocturne HD Remaster is an easily reproducible flickering bug as well. Every time I move the camera immediately after interacting with a chest or a NPC, a quick split-second flicker to a black screen occurs. I’ve spoken with colleagues working at other outlets and it seems to be a universal issue, if not a large majority at the very least. It is deeply annoying because it happens so frequently, especially in more populated areas of the game.