The remake looks like it uses actual hair splines or something:https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/30/16946392/shadow-of-the-colossus-review-remake-ps4-playstation-sony Look at one of the full frame shots halfway down the page, those hairs are individual, most probably a LOD though.
the combed look of colossus' fur was achieved by offsetting the various fur layers gradually from root to tip. sounds like a ton of work back then but with the smooth silhouettes we expect today i assume you're also looking into some sort of styling tool. 6 or 8 layers won't cut it and with alpha diithering it will…