I've heard a lot of people saying Guybrush looks bad in Tales of monkey island. Similarly, the general art style of the new game seems to be receiving a lot of criticism.
I personally think that, bearing in mind the Guybrush from the second and third Monkey Island games, this new Guyrbush is a way more faithful incarnation of him. He has the beard and coat of the second game, and the lankiness of the third.
The one thing I will say is that the bone structure of his face makes him seem less like Guybrush somehow... he seems slightly less comedic and clumsy now (but that was where he was going in the second game, so that might be a good thing). I'm pretty sure most of these feelings will subside or become positive within a few hours of play (and of hearing Dominic's lovely voice caress my ears like the inside of an up-market suit).
People have also been complaining about the general art style of the game.
Some have said it should be in 2D. I do agree with this to an extent; the 2D style of CMI was amazing, probably the best graphics of any game I've ever played (and I've played Video Olympics for the Atari 2600).
That being said, however, I feel that if they had gone with 2D, the fans would almost definitely hate it. If they just went with the exact same style of CMI then a lot of people would moan about their lack of originality etc., if they tried to come up with something new, it would probably be pretty poor. For one thing, CMI set the bar too high for more 2D graphics to be acceptable.
2D art is, in a way, limiting in that it's so novel. 2D art is unusual for games these days, and so for a game to have 2D graphics now, those graphics will have to be pretty outstanding. For games with 3D graphics, however, not so much is expected.
Another drawback of 2D being so uncommon is that, sadly, the large majority of gamers simply wouldn't accept it these days. It would look like a low quality budget game - people would be shocked that it didn't come free with a game of normal graphics (normal: dull greys, photorealistic bumpmapping, generally depressing - something which the Tales of Monkey Island graphics have avoided nicely).
2D gaming is pretty much dead right now, we can only hope that it will make a comeback (I'm sure it will, but I don't think we're ready yet).
And some of you may be thinking "what does it matter that 2D doesn't sell well? Monkey Island has always been a cult thing; we don't really want it to be a huge commercial success". Well, for those who were thinking that, it's pretty uncanny that I typed out exactly what you were thinking, right? How awesome is that? And in response to it, it's unfortunately important that these games make a lot of money in order for more MI sequels to come out (which we will probably be wanting once we've finished these MI episodes). And with the fact that a lot of people will be pirating these games, it's even more essential.
People have also been complaining about the graphics of Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. Personally, I think that they kind of look like they belong in a flash game rather than a commercially available computer game, and the portraits of Guybrush and Elaine aren't overly faithful to the original.
But imagine if they were. Imagine if it was all just a higher resolution version of the original games. What would be the point? The reason the new graphics have been implemented is (from what I've seen) is to "refurbish" the old MI with something a little closer to the more recent games, but not too far from the original graphics. And I think they've achieved this pretty well.
And why should we complain about the graphics anyway? The main attraction of the Special Edition is the implimentation of voice-overs, something we've hoped for for a long, long time. The new graphics can be seen as just an optional add-on to the voice-over'd Secret of Monkey Island. I for one am grateful, and welcome our newly voiced/drawn overlords.
Share your opinions of the graphics in this thread. These are just my personal opinions, and like my general appearance, are probably wrong on many levels. I'll be happy to argue them, though. I do hope that people will stop being so harshly critical, though. I'm pretty pleased with what they've done, things could have gone a lot worse (see: Escape from Monkey Island).
i am worried about the game control
GOOD GOD, IF IT'S NOT ONE THING...
well my opinion is we really shouldn't moan about tales of monkey island but the keyboard direct control pisses me off really. everything is acceptable except this. well i hope its not like this
The Sam & Max episodes were a lot of fun. I'm not worried at all about Tales of Monkey Island. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how that turns out I think.
The only thing I want to complain about, is the look of the three main characters in The Secret of Monkey Island, Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck. Mostly Guybrush, his hair is just over the top rediculous.
Though, this arguement is kind invalid since you can switch to the old grapics. And I love LucasArts for that!
ppl gets changed per day :P
for me as an artist i like changing the faces the hair and stuff. its really fun
so by my side i am not worried about this at all
ppl gets changed per day :P
for me as an artist i like changing the faces the hair and stuff. its really fun
so by my side i am not worried about this at all
Yeah, they used their artistic licence and took a risk, something which I think shows their strength and confidence. It is a little over the top, but nothing too bad, especially since Guybrush's quiff is a running joke (one that no one has ever really mentioned, but I insist on calling it that anyway!).
As for the controls, I'm not too worried. The Sam & Max games were pretty good in that area. The only thing that the Sam & Max games lacked is good puzzles, which I hope will be better in the new MI (probably will).
sam & max games are point & click but when i watched the interview with dave grossman there was someone playing guybrush in the background.
and that game wallace and ... something grand adventures is new game it contains that kind of control (direct keyboard control (to move)
and mouse to look at stuff and pick em up.
by my side point & click is funnier easier and classical.
According to this page:
http://www.miwiki.net/Tales_of_Monkey_Island) input is keyboard and mouse, which is kind of a good sign. Hopefully it will be configurable.
The fact that there's a Wii version makes me think that the mouse will be a pretty big part of gameplay (I doubt they'd change the control dynamics so radically just to port the game to console - the PC version probably uses a similar method, which would translate as the mouse).
well hope it will be fine
I dunno man, I loved Guybrush's look in Tales, he sucks in the SE of SMI.
I think his new look in Tales is gonna take some getting used to (like, maybe about 12 minutes of gameplay?), I think the Special Edition Guybrush is pretty good, though.
I'm glad that they actually took the chance of changing him so much, I don't want them to be scared of change. Change produces brilliant things (like CMI).
as i thought...about the control
check this out
http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6211409/)
As I noted in my preview of the game (
http://www.mixnmojo.com/features/read.php?article=tmipreview), the arrow keys were used to control Guybrush, but I was told not to assume that would be the final control scheme. So that makes me think point and click.
About the new looks, I think he looks great in Tales, but his hair is a little wonky in SoMI SE.
As I noted in my preview of the game (
http://www.mixnmojo.com/features/read.php?article=tmipreview), the arrow keys were used to control Guybrush, but I was told not to assume that would be the final control scheme. So that makes me think point and click.
Yeah, I read that. T'was good. There was another guy who previewed it who said a similar thing I think, so I'm thinking point and click too (that, or it'll be a changeable option or something... or maybe they will just settle on keys, but I hope not).
About the new looks, I think he looks great in Tales, but his hair is a little wonky in SoMI SE.
I think it looks pretty good in-game. He looks a little bit like an 80s punk in some of the close-ups, but overall I'm happy with it.
It would be weird if it wasn't point-n-click. I mean the other teltale games were and all the MI games were, so why change it?
EMI wasn't and it was let down a lot by that fact.
It would be weird if it wasn't point-n-click. I mean the other teltale games were and all the MI games were, so why change it?
EMI wasn't and neither are the Wallace & Gromit series.
EMI wasn't and it was let down a lot by that fact.
That game would still exactly the same if it was p n' c. Would you say Grim Fandango would be a better game if it was p n' c?
I'd blame the graphics. Grim Fandango's primitive graphics were perfect for its use, since there were no humans in the game. In Monkey Island though, everything just looked terrible.