For those Monkey Island fanboys out there, the Special Edition of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is official (http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland2/#/home).
Just posting this here in case anybody hasn't yet seen it. LA did take note from the fans regarding Guybrush's hair in the SoMI:SE and have vastly improved on their work, as can be seen in this image:
(http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/1688/lcrmise2.png) (http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland2/#/gallery)
Also displayed in the image is the new SE logo which creates a fair amount of ambiguity as to the actual title of the game. Originally the title was "Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge". The LCR bit was placed on top of the MI2 bit for aesthetic reasons, but it worked just fine. In the new logo however, the "Special Edition" has been jammed in the middle of the "Monkey Island" and the "2". So, as you can see in the image the title now reads from top-to-bottom as "LeChuck's Revengeâ,,¢: Monkey Island: Special Edition 2". So whichever you prefer I suppose. I'll just stick to LCR:SE.
One more notable feature that I saw listed in the "Features" section on LA's site is that the voiceovers will be available in the "Classic" mode, unlike SoMI:SE.
There's also a new control mechanism to avoid having to point-n-click to walk around and you can directly control Guybrush. We'll see how that plays out. :)
All I can say is that this looks incredible. :o
You can both use either PandC or direct control.
I am just a little excited right now.
Quote from: Privateer Puddin' on Thu 11/03/2010 08:42:08
I am just a little excited right now.
I shit my pants with excitement. This was almost like the announcement of a Hitchhiker's movie. Though MI2 tops everything!! :D
Oh, this is beautiful! Me wants! ;D
It's not out till the summer though. :-\ Roll on summer!
Fawful I did understand that about the controls though I realize the way I mentioned it might indicate otherwise.
I know for many people LCR is their favourite among the MI series. Not so much for me. Nevertheless though, I did try clicking on the "BUY NOW" button despite the fact that I don't have any money to spend..and I was rather disappointed that yet again LA is delaying purchases. Haven't they ever heard of pre-ordering?
Edit: Oh, by the way, according to the official site it seems that the "official" title of the game is in fact "Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge". Try figuring that out from the logo. :P
The art style seems to have improved which is good. The horrid flash art style of the first game is what really turned me off buying it. It's good to see this Guybrush more closely resembles the in-game closeups of the original games rather than those horrible huge-eyed abomination closeups they remade for part 1.
Also, on their website animation, does anyone else notice that the leader of the pirates sitting on the barge seems to be missing his peg leg?
Yay! I loved all the monkey islands in 2D. I even have the CD ROM version of The secret of monkey island or Monkey island 1.
But I still haven't even played the Remake of that one still. But i will one day. Good news though.
Cool! Probably won't play it as I love the originals the way they are, but it's nice to know the Special Editions are out there.
I like the updated background art alot. The original MI2 Guybrush sprite is still the coolest though. But at least the new Guybrush is a big improvement compared to MI1:SE. That aweful tuft of hair and that moronic facial expression were :-X
Much better looking than the first remake. I'm not gonna jump at it and buy it, I played MI2 last year and while I love the MI series, I'm not an hardcore hardcore MI fan, but if I ever feel like replaying MI2 several years from now, I'll certainly give that remake a try.
*** It's sooo beautiful *sob* :') ****
He looks very pasted on in that background.....
But yeah, nice to see that they actually respond and improve themselves with the criticism.
(http://www.imagesforme.com/upload/07fad08b.png)
Interesting how low res characters seem to look more natural than their high res variations.
Anyway, can't wait to hear the bone song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbTTyacCO5c) in it's new version (and the other themes as well).
I think it is because they´ve got the lighting done wrong. I hope it is just a matter of still photographs looking out of place while the thing as a whole is okay.
I don't the cartoony style of some of the characters. Herman Toothrot stuck out really badly in the first special edition and a lot of the background characters (and Largo) seem to have gone the same way. I always translated Monkey Island's pixels as being realistic, especially with the human-looking close-ups in MI1 and painted backgrounds in MI2, whereas Sam and Max and DOTT were the cartoon games.
Apart from that it looks great. I'll probably end up doing what I did with the first one - waiting until it's really cheap in a Steam sale, playing through the special edition once and deciding that I prefer the original which I now own in a handy digital downloadable format.
Also I really like the sound of commentaries!
Edit: The fact that they've put the new hairstyle on the old Guybrush in the Phatt Island wanted poster amuses me.
It is the lighting. The rendition is polished into absurdum, making for a droolingly slick outlook, yet it makes for a cardboard cutout appearance. Abstraction, amusingly enough, gives much more immersion. I guess it is the mind filling in the blanks, and good artists know how to exploit that.
Still, I fins it gorgeous in still shots. The first bg above had a massive impact on me.
I kind of got that impression also 2ma2. Since the engine doesn't support full dynamic lighting (like, for example, a 3D environment would) then sometimes the characters seem to be floating on top of their background, even if a lighting level is applied.
I think on the whole the project will work out okay, but I think there will probably still be scenes where this issue will remain.
Frankly I wasn't impressed at all with the special edition of Monkey Island 1. I thought on the whole that it wasn't done very well. I think if you're going to remake a game, you should go all out.
The problem was it felt exactly like the original, just in a higher resolution. Which is a bit meh :/ I would have liked to have seen more animations, and since there was speech included, I would also liked to have seen better comedic timing.
Yay! It's coming! Can't wait...must get now....somehow.... ;D I think guybrush should look in that dress with boots, and...
"Ahoy, Cap'n Dread"
"Yo, mon"
P.S. It's my favorite part of MI, I waited for LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time...
Should be interesting to see all the characters at the costume party.
Should be interesting to see Guybrush's parents and Chuckie..
Why isn't it summer yet? I want to buy this! :(
*is impatient*
I know I've not been around for a little while, but I'm pretty sure this is new news.
(http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/object2/932/0/n78883723363_6344.jpg)
Lucasarts have started to make another monkey island special edition, I know some people didn't like the remade artwork and stuff, but personally I enjoyed the remake. And they're making another, and I think they are doing an even better job with the artwork. I know some people will hate the departure from the original style, and since this is viewed by many (including myself) to be the best game in the series, what do people think of the changes? I think it looks great. I am excited.
I think it might help get a new audience to adventure games, especially with the advent of the iPhone and the iPad, there are more and more platforms out there that suck up adventure games. I played the remade Monkey Island on my iPhone, and it looks and works great.
For more info check out the gallery on joystiq. (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/09/even-more-monkey-island-2-special-edition-screenshots-surface/)
or go to the monkey island facebook page for lots of pictures and before/after screenshots. (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3877775&id=78883723363#!/pages/Monkey-Island-Adventures/78883723363)
(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs514.snc3/26979_375227158363_78883723363_3880394_3935528_n.jpg)
Quote from: Zooty on Mon 12/04/2010 15:12:31
I know I've not been around for a little while, but I'm pretty sure this is new news.
Not so new (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=40351.0), actually. :=
oh, sorry, my feeble searching skills didn't come up with that!
Ignore me then.
That's strange. I don't know if it's LucasArts that spends less money on marketing or if it was the announcement of Tales Of Monkey Island that increased the coverage to the first remake but a friend of mine, who's pretty hardcore when it come to adventure games, him too had no clue about the MI2 remake nearly 18 days after the rumors and announcement.
Even with the new Guybrush I still think the art misses most of the charm of the original. I really hope they're not adding that god-awful Gaussian blur to all foreground objects. My biggest peeve though: Why oh why did they have to redraw Steve Purcell's wonderful covers?
Looks like a flash game.
Merged this topic into the other, older, one.
Quote from: GarageGothic on Mon 12/04/2010 18:50:49
Even with the new Guybrush I still think the art misses most of the charm of the original. I really hope they're not adding that god-awful Gaussian blur to all foreground objects. My biggest peeve though: Why oh why did they have to redraw Steve Purcell's wonderful covers?
I agree with your feelings. The art looks great in lots of places, but the paintovers are lacking a sense of distinctive art direction. And MI2 and CMI were great examples of good art design, TMI is not a bad effort either.
Most niggling are the rough areas like the foreground objects. The originals looked like detailed drawings defocused. And only the nearest items were out of focus. These look like they were never drawn properly, and the blur is uniform even though the paintpot is nearer to the camera than the stove pipe.
Maybe that's nitpicking. but I find it weird that they put so much time and skill into the project, without drawing it all together and making the backdrops work as cohesively as the originals.
The first special edition had graphics that reminded me of a 180 from the late 90's when Lucasarts (and others) were trying to get their artists rapidly up to speed on 3d (and you could tell). It's almost like the reverse is happening, where their 3d artists are struggling with 2d art.
Of course I could be wrong, but if true it's an amusing observation :).