Someone suggested I post this comment from an older topic as a new thread. It contains a comparison between theold and new versions of the game. Here it is:

I have played both. Only upgraded to the new version recently. I have to say, despite some early misgivings, this version is better. In fact, the developer (it's basically one guy) has already answered questions about the new version extensively. Basically, any feature that was removed was broken in the original game to begin with. Let me summarize.
CHANGED FEATURES:
- you can't slaughter pigs and sheep anymore: according to the developer, this was broken in the original game; you could slaughter pigs and sheep but could never acquire more. So, now, you slaughter your herd, which, also according to the developer, is a mix of cows, sheep and pigs, with cows being the most important;
- no more inner/outer patrols: this feature was also broken in the original game, presumably.
- same idea for number of crafters, which you cannot change now; still, after playing the new version, I accumulate goods quite well, so this does not bother me;
- same idea for types of crops; i assume that the feature was broken and thus was removed. it was kind of fun to switch between barley, rye and wheat occasionally, so it's unfortunate that this was removed.
- the image of the tula, in which you can see your temples, herds, etc at the end of each year. has been removed. I admit that that image was fun, but it did not have that much practical value. I see why people are upset (kind of), but come on!
- can't save games anymore; savegame is automatic and you can revert to the beginning of an earlier year if you screw up; i tend to savescum and hate it, so for me this is actually a pro
CONS:
- when you reorganize your clan ring, you can't see an icon of each ring member's god. this is slightly annoying and i would say is the main issue in the new version, but it's very easy to scroll thorugh your ring members and check that you do not have members representing the same god; only wastes a couple of seconds i guess.
- can't adjust resolution and difficulty anymore unfortunately
PROS:
- new content
- better graphics
- tutorial (you play through it for one year. then, you can exit and start a new game with a new tribe and no tutorial, or continue your tutorial clan. EDIT: there was a tutorial foer the old version apparently; you needed to load a special savegame file to initiate it)

To summarize, I really enjoy the new version, although I had some misgivings initially. And, the developer, who invested so much time and effort into this, thinks that this new version is more like what the game was supposed to be like initially. So, yeah, I understand the nostalgics who prefer the old version, but the differences are minor and the new content and graphics, as well as the removal of some broken features make the new version well worth it.

Thank you for the detailed information, it's always good to know about these things!

My major (and only real) problem with the "remastered" version is simply that the game's aesthetics lose nearly all of their former "holistic" and integral appearance: In the original game even the most functional things like buttons had the proper appearance for the thematic background, everything was carefully crafted in that regard of immersion and nothing drew me away from the illusion of being the clan chief of a tribe in the exotic lands around Dragon Pass. The whole artistic composition was perfect for that reason in my opinion.
Now in the "remastered" so much seems out of place for me and many details - like for example the evocative season illustrations or the runic monolith - are gone and replaced by rather profane and functional menus and tiny pictures. So while the "graphics" indeed may be "better" from a purely technical viewpoint (higher resolution) the overall image doesn't appeal to me. I'd like to play the new events and enjoy the enhanced soundtrack but I think I'll still stay with the original game which still is one of my favourite games of all times. Thankfully GOG gives us both the original and the "remastered" version of the game. :)

No, no "new" and "remastered" games anymore, please.

I just love the old good KotDP or Baldur's Gate or whatever else in their original state. For the "happy" owners of gigantic monitors there are various fan-made widescreen mods aplenty.

I'm rather pleased with the remastered, because I have a small monitor and the writtings were too tiny in the 1st game.

nothing wrong with remastering a game as long as you only fix the old problems and don't create new ones. For the most part people who don't remaster a game correctly want to add in their own content, something that they think is good but might not be. The basic strategy for remastering a game is … graphic upgrades nice, fixing broken mechanics good. Changing useless or boring mechanics or graphics or gameplay good. Thinking that this and that addition to the game would be cool , that's modding a game, not remastering a game. Update graphics, music, controls, fix bugs and broken or useless stuff, etc.

Havent tried the game, "story" type games aren't appealing to me but ill keep an eye out on it.

I too didn't try the remaster for the longest time, but now that I have, I probably won't go back.

In general, the new version streamlines stuff by removing superfluous stuff that didn't add to anything - like having to manually set crafters, adjust crop types, adjust patrols - these were just pointless false options, so it's good they're gone. Gives us more time to enjoy the stuff that does actually make a difference.

The UI has improved in some ways too - especially when it comes to finding out about another clan/tribe (especially important in events).

However, I do miss the screen at the start of the year, which shows an overview of your village. Sure, it's not necessary (we get the stats, which is the important thing) - but it was kind of cool seeing how the village evolves.

The other thing is that the original's graphics/UI were more organic without being convoluted. The new UI is even more easy to use and understand, but it also lacks that "carved onto stone" look. Mainly the way the blessings appeared in the original was better than the way they're just presented as a list here. Basically what Wolfram_von_Thal mentioned.

I have wonderful memories of this game, but when I tried the remastered version, I was driven insane by the interface. Just reorganizing the ring was a lengthy pain. Maybe it's just my video card, but nothing worked right. I'd sort by, say, animal knowledge, painfully scroll to the top end, and by the time I got there, it had switched to sorting by something else... just a total pain.

I tried installing the old version, but cannot get it to run. It changes the resolution on my computer, and then does not launch. Oh well.

Yeah that sorting is annoying - seems every time you switch categories, you have to scroll to the end. Although at least you don't lose focus for the person you selected last, which was likely the reason it was implemented like this.

Scrolling to the end shouldn't switch what you sort by, though it took me a while to figure out you had to click and drag the list of candidates in order to scroll it. As long as you keep your mouse on the candidates and don't touch the categories it shouldn't switch on you.

There's a couple threads in here about getting the old version running. Basically launch task manager and analyze wait chain on the KoDP process. The old version is very touchy about what else is running in the background. It's usually quite stable once you get it to launch.

Strange. I never had any problems with the classic version on newer systems. Did you try the "640x480-mode" via the compatibility settings?

I'm Linux user and tried to get remastered version working under wine or in win7 under virtualbox - it fails, the only way I can run it is from win 7 native. Old version had no such issue and can be run under wine.

I wonder if anyone was able to run remastered version from Linux or maybe it uses some code to make it impossible?
If I'll go for classic version I suppose it is perfectly playable and mentioned bugs wont prevent me from good gaming experience?

thank you for explanation! Will start with the old version then.

Old is hard to run on newer windows, but is more artsy pleasing, more stylish and better feel, imho.

Bugs, only what I can point out, at least two artifacts behave weird enough to be considered bugs. Thing that claim to speed up explorer travel stops fog from being removed from map, definitely a bug. Thing that claim to prevent bad luck, also prevents good luck; not strictly necessary a bug, but you don't want to have it. Probably there some more, but in the overall randomness of the game really minor bugs are easy to miss.
Maybe the fact that all immigrants children are considered newborns may be seen as a bug too.