I'm surprised that we have to wait until June/July/August for it to come out, it looks like its pretty much finished. From what I've heard, the 'Big Fans' who got to see the game saw a pretty much complete game, so I don't see why they wouldn't release it in time for Easter.
Everything looks much better than SMI:SE in every way. Guybrush, Elaine, Largo, the backgrounds; it reminds me a bit of the sketchy Monty Python illustrations in their movies. I'm pleased.
The environments looks spectacular! I read they were hand drawn, and they look it. Amazing.
Also - question - does Guybrush look a bit *too* different than MI1:SE? I'm happy with the hair, but even his face and eyes don't look the same. Maybe I just need to hear the voice...just let me hear him say, "Thrifty-Dig"
Running round shouting at top of my voice yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D :guybrush: :guybrush::winslow::guybrush::winslow::guybrush: :winslow: :guybrush: :winslow:
Now Ill have them all to play on my pc because originals would not play on my pc.
Alexandra Boyd who plays Elaine knows something about LCR SE look:
I know noone will really know the answer but there will be subtitles in the SE right? Im only asking coz in some of the pics that show the old compared to the new pics there are subtitles in the old but not the new pics.
Augh! What a time for my mom to take my dad's laptop and for him to take my computer for three hours! I've never had such a hard time containing my excitement enough to read three pages of forum posts.
I mean, we all knew this was coming, but it's still so damn exciting to see it confirmed.
It's great to see they've been so faithful to the original artwork but I do think the new art looks a bit washed out and plastic-y. I prefer the grittier look of the originals. I'm getting old though, so it might just be my nostalgia talking.
Still, this is a major improvement over SMISE.. And they lost the surfer hair, which is good!
The cover art is meh though. But then again, they would have to get Purcell to do it to make me happy.
Now I have a larger version, and I can put a microscope up to the crap. Unsurprisingly, crap is still crap under close scrutiny, but up close you can analyze WHY crap is so unpleasant to look at. First, notice the...
1. LOGO. Embossed, plastic, Web 2.0 sheen. The LeChuck's Revenge looks awkward, just SITTING there, without the parchment of the original. The monkey doesn't look quite finished. Also, his bandanna is inexplicably made out of what appears to be hard, shiny plastic. In fact, so does...
2. THE SHIP. Pirate ships are not made of plastic. While it's most obvious right in front of LeChuck, the whole ship lacks the shading and texture of wood. Also, there are no...
3. IMPERFECTIONS. Everything in the new cover is perfect. Notice ESPECIALLY on LeChuck, how his hat and coat don't have the small tears or wear that characterize the original. Notice that even LeChuck's FLESH is imperfect, bits of it dangle from his wrists. On the other hand, imperfections are not the same as...
4. INCOMPLETE ART. Note the ropes on the right side. They just kind of give up on the ropes partway up. They become poles. They didn't even finish the art on this before it shipped, it's obvious, and it sucks. Look at that! It's pathetic! About as pathetic as...
5. GUYBRUSH'S EXPRESSION. He's more serene than in pain. I don't BELIEVE in his emotion, and because of that, a great deal of the emotion of the original is robbed. Guybrush's partner in crime, though, is...
6. LECHUCK. The guy looks horrendously goofy in this shot. He looks psychotic and ready to kill in the original cover, wide-eyed and just plain CREEPY. Not to mention the imperfections talked about above that made the composition simply "work" as a whole. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the...
7. LIGHTING. It's amazing how close you can get, while being so far. The light is even generally going in the right DIRECTION and casting the right shadows, but wow is it bright. The darkness of the tones of everything in the original aids in the emotion, in the fear, in the drama of the moment. There are little details here that should be noticed, especially that skull pin. They shine, as though to tell us "Hey, LeChuck got some brand-new Voodoo tools!" You know, this could likely be filed under "imperfections" too, as part of the problem of everything looking so NEW and SHINY. Maybe that's the POINT, I don't know, but it just doesn't WORK with the same art. Oh, hey, almost forgot....
8. THE MONKEY. The one on the mast. In the new art, he's more INTERESTED than he is horrified at what he's looking at. The horrified, or at least sad and somber onlooker aided the tone of the overall piece.
The original LeChuck's Revenge box art is my favorite piece of promotional video game artwork ever. I love it, I've examined it closely. I admire everything about it. Brushwork, textures, minute attention to detail, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, it captures a tense, powerful, and dramatic moment right at its most intense climax. LeChuck means fucing business. That's what the art communicates. We are in deep, this is going to be a dramatic, epic adventure.
Sorry if this rant doesn't add anything to anything. I'm actually looking forward to this Special Edition, and I'm going to buy it. I just think that Purcell's original deserves a lot better than this.
Rather Dashing, I pretty much agree with everything you said about the cover art. I think it's a shame, it was a masterpiece and the new one is, well, you said it.
The game looks promising though.
WHY THE COVER ART FOR MONKEY ISLAND 2: SPECIAL EDITION SUCKS
8. THE MONKEY. The one on the mast. In the new art, he's more INTERESTED than he is horrified at what he's looking at. The horrified, or at least sad and somber onlooker aided the tone of the overall piece.
About that.. Maybe it's because it's now looking at LeChuck's ass, rather than at what he's doing?
Now, I don't wanna sound like a queer or nuthin'.. But maybe Lechuck has a pretty sweet ass (now that it's made of plastic)?
...Anyway, The fact that the new artwork is all digital where as the original cover was hand-painted and has been scanned has a lot to do with the plastic look, but I do agree with all of your points. It would make a decent cover for Lego Monkey Island though!
Dude the game looks awesome. You're going to be seeing the game more than the title graphic anyway. Concentrate on the GORGEOUS GAME!!!! My GOODNESS is that a good-looking game!
I'm sorry I'm still flipping out....ask PariahKing. We're still chatting about it when I should be going to bed right now.
And honestly, I'm surprised they stuck as closely to the original artwork as they did. The in-game graphics definitely make up for the slightly short-handed cover art.
I don't really care about the box art issue. The original art is a masterpiece so there's no way a re-illustartion is going to win.
Let's move on to the positive shall we: the actually in-game art and character design. Wow, does it ever look terrific. I appreciated SOMI: Special Edition because of it's effort, even if I wasn't crazy about the designs (especially the characters). This one, however, really looks like it's nailed it! It's cartoony, but not too stylized (with the exception of the box art).
The only design that I'll have to get used to is Guybrush's who doesn't really match his original sprite. But I'm still cool with the design since he looks more like the Guybrush in all the other games (something that the original MI2 sprite never has, for better for for worse).
To top it off: the designers actually took into account the comments and complaints made about the last Special Edition (option for sound in original game, better character designs). Pretty gutsy considering what a fickle, impossible-to-please crowd we all can be.
Oh god no they ruined the cover art for a game that will never see physical release.
...
Hey guys, I'm back in reality here. I just realized they pretty much blew millions of dollars creating a faithful rendition of the best adventure game ever made and I've proceeded to crap out the obligatory bricks from my behind.
While you guys order posters of the new cover so you can burn them, I'll be busy playing the most important adventure game to release since Grim Fandango.
EDIT: Musical Inspired, you cheeky bastard, I told you of my secret sarcasm plans on AIM and you used the opportunity to steal my thunder.
Yknow, I was never old enough to appreciate (or realize) the importance of the releases of these games in the 90s. Now I actually feel like a part of it.
But you guys are right, the cover art isn't really very important. and as I said, it would take a Purcell piece to make me happy.. :rolleyes:
The in-game artwork is what's important here, and it looks very good! They really stayed true to the original (and we all know there would be mayhem if they didn't ).
My only gripe is that it seems a bit too bright and glossy, but that's probably because of the increase in resolution and amount of colours (Also, childhood memories aren't easy to compete with). I can't wait to see it all in action, and even more so I look forward to the new soundtrack! The thought of it really tickles my pants.
I just hope they have been a bit more thourough this time, the copy-paste graphics in SMISE was really terrible at times. Like the Melee Island forest. Seems they have listened to the feedback they got though, so I'm really not that worried.
I hope we get to see some sort of trailer or something similar to what they did at e3 (Stage Demo, is it?). I'm also interested to see if they still do a tease for the intro like SMISE, or if they just go SE straight off. Speaking of the intro, the music in that is gonna be tough to beat.
Yeah, the cover art isn't that great, but I don't really care about that.
As for the game itself, I can't wait.
I'm having a hard time getting used to Guybrush's blank dead stare, but other than that, the art seems actually awesome. I'm hoping summer means May, but they probably mean September.
Maybe you've noticed how on the official site, when LeChuck comes on the screen, the background goes bleak and gloomy and the sound changes. I really hope it's like that in the game too. It's pretty awesome.
It was really too much to ask to expect nobody to moan about anything.
LA have really gone out of their way to listen to fans criticism of the first SE. Massively improved artwork, redesigned Guybrush, voice over included in classic mode. But wahhhhh, what have they done to my beloved box art???
I personally couldn't be more made up over what I've seen so far. Now, has anyone noticed how atrocious Guybrush's new hair looks? :P
I have to say, "boxart" is rubbish compared to the original, but so was SOMI's, but everything looks improved upon, the backgrounds look incredibly faithful to the original artwork, the character models arn't that bad anymore, the new LeChuck is awesome (happy to hear Boen to!) and all the new extras are there! We get a commentary, we have voices in the original, it looks like they've paid attention to the animation, judging from LeChuck and Guybrush on the website at least, looks less stiff to what they had in the first game and shown on the website.
I'm very impressed with it, and it's coming to the PS3 along with the original! Gives me even more reason to play them again!
It was really too much to ask to expect nobody to moan about anything.
LA have really gone out of their way to listen to fans criticism of the first SE. Massively improved artwork, redesigned Guybrush, voice over included in classic mode. But wahhhhh, what have they done to my beloved box art???
I'm sorry if I've somehow ruined your enjoyment by not orgasming over crappy, unfinished promotional art. Perhaps the world would be a lot better if everyone thought everything in the world was simply amazing. Until then I guess you're going to have to survive in a hellish nightmare of a world in which people can think things, YES even ancillary, unimportant things(like, say, video games as a whole), are shit.
Personally, my first reaction wouldn't be to write an exhaustive dissertation on why the cover art sucks. Call me old fashioned, but each to their own... :rolleyes:
Personally, my first reaction wouldn't be to write an exhaustive dissertation on why the cover art sucks. Call me old fashioned, but each to their own... :rolleyes:
He does come across as a bit of a Comic Book Guy, doesn't he? Complaining about the monkey's expression *is* pushing it...
Rather Dashing, I think you don't realize how, well, STRONG you come across. You use some heavy words.
Very, very impressed with this, my all time favourite game gets the well deserved treatment loving the art, visuals and examples of music, wonder when the trailer will be up. I can't wait to play the original version with voices its gonna be heaven what would have made it even more better would be the option to select either the PC or Amiga soundtrack for the original version too.
Roll on summer, I'm hoping they get approval from Microsoft quicker this time as last year when the first SE was announced at E3 it was already finished and they were just waiting for the green light, I hope for a May/June release but less likely.
The Secret of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition announced for XBLA, PSN, PC, iPhone
No-one else notice anything glaringly obvious? No Mac support? With all the fuss surrounding Mac ports recently, I'd have thought it was a no brainer to convert too...
I find it odd that unbridled excitement not even remotely tempered by noticing how extremely lazy and unfinished a bit of promotional art is can be considered harsh. Even if the reasons the promotional art is wretched are explained well. In fact, one would think that this would be better, because at the very least the opinion is well-informed and grounded in an actual interest in reasoning rather tossing up a blind nay for the sake of a nay, but OK then. Perhaps I should find my way over to the quiet box where good little boys go when they get no-no thoughts.
Basically, it's a feature of newer processors. Adventure games published these days might well utilize it, but very few actually REQUIRE it. SOMI:SE is one of those few. For that reason, it's the first adventure game -- including ToMI -- not to work on my computer. And I can't just upgrade my processor, either. I'd need a new motherboard and video card in the process, and right now that's just too expensive. It would be one thing if there were features of SOMI:SE that wouldn't function with basic SSE processing, but that's not the case. They just chose not to program it that way, and have so far ignored the outcry from us "stone age" gamers who've requested a patch.
Same, I'd need to get a whole new computer to play this, which I will do someday, it's finding a one that'll accept my 6 month old hard drive (it's not a sata drive). When did they say this was coming out lol?
(or I could just play on my 4 year old laptop again )
Anyways this has made my morning, so excited Haven't seen any vids yet (is there any), I hope they get Mr Boen back again.
I think the best part of this announcement is that we may finally see people stop claiming this is a cheap cash in.
Not only did they put in the same level of care this time--but far exceeded it.
Commentary, voice on both versions, direct control of Guybrush? I pretty much love this and suddenly I'm a little anxious to see just how much Monkey love this perpetuates going forward.
Everyone agrees with you RD that the cover sucks. No one thinks you are wrong about that or are wrong to point it out.
BUT it does seem like you don't even care they did a good job with everything else. You are overreacting to the cover and underreacting to the actual game.
No seriously, RD, you're just bitter. You always come off as the guy who sees the glass as half empty, instead of half full. And then you tell everyone that the glass really IS half empty, and that we're all just a bunch of sheep. Not to mention how everything you don't like is lazy and unfinished to you. I'm just happy it looks so much better than the first. I only see two things in the designs I don't a gree with, but nothing that really bothers me. First, as you say, the original cover looked better, but that means about as much to me as the hair I lose when I get a haircut. Slightly more important is that Elaine doesn't look like Elaine, but Sophia Hapgood. The clothes seems out of place (especially compared to the original), and makes her look like a female Indiana Jones instead.
But these are extremely minor issues that I'm not bothered with at all.
Comments
Everything looks much better than SMI:SE in every way. Guybrush, Elaine, Largo, the backgrounds; it reminds me a bit of the sketchy Monty Python illustrations in their movies. I'm pleased.
Also - question - does Guybrush look a bit *too* different than MI1:SE? I'm happy with the hair, but even his face and eyes don't look the same. Maybe I just need to hear the voice...just let me hear him say, "Thrifty-Dig"
Now Ill have them all to play on my pc because originals would not play on my pc.
Alexandra Boyd who plays Elaine knows something about LCR SE look:
The cover of a downloadable game isn't really important. Why pour time and money into something that'll never grace your shelf?
(Unless they sell posters.)
Yeah! His animation (from the official site) is great too.
This x100!!!!!
I'm even more excited than I was for SMI:SE!
I can't see it happening.
I mean, we all knew this was coming, but it's still so damn exciting to see it confirmed.
Still, this is a major improvement over SMISE.. And they lost the surfer hair, which is good!
The cover art is meh though. But then again, they would have to get Purcell to do it to make me happy.
It's a buy though!
WHY THE COVER ART FOR MONKEY ISLAND 2: SPECIAL EDITION SUCKS
Reference materials:
The Original
The Crap
Now I have a larger version, and I can put a microscope up to the crap. Unsurprisingly, crap is still crap under close scrutiny, but up close you can analyze WHY crap is so unpleasant to look at. First, notice the...
1. LOGO. Embossed, plastic, Web 2.0 sheen. The LeChuck's Revenge looks awkward, just SITTING there, without the parchment of the original. The monkey doesn't look quite finished. Also, his bandanna is inexplicably made out of what appears to be hard, shiny plastic. In fact, so does...
2. THE SHIP. Pirate ships are not made of plastic. While it's most obvious right in front of LeChuck, the whole ship lacks the shading and texture of wood. Also, there are no...
3. IMPERFECTIONS. Everything in the new cover is perfect. Notice ESPECIALLY on LeChuck, how his hat and coat don't have the small tears or wear that characterize the original. Notice that even LeChuck's FLESH is imperfect, bits of it dangle from his wrists. On the other hand, imperfections are not the same as...
4. INCOMPLETE ART. Note the ropes on the right side. They just kind of give up on the ropes partway up. They become poles. They didn't even finish the art on this before it shipped, it's obvious, and it sucks. Look at that! It's pathetic! About as pathetic as...
5. GUYBRUSH'S EXPRESSION. He's more serene than in pain. I don't BELIEVE in his emotion, and because of that, a great deal of the emotion of the original is robbed. Guybrush's partner in crime, though, is...
6. LECHUCK. The guy looks horrendously goofy in this shot. He looks psychotic and ready to kill in the original cover, wide-eyed and just plain CREEPY. Not to mention the imperfections talked about above that made the composition simply "work" as a whole. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the...
7. LIGHTING. It's amazing how close you can get, while being so far. The light is even generally going in the right DIRECTION and casting the right shadows, but wow is it bright. The darkness of the tones of everything in the original aids in the emotion, in the fear, in the drama of the moment. There are little details here that should be noticed, especially that skull pin. They shine, as though to tell us "Hey, LeChuck got some brand-new Voodoo tools!" You know, this could likely be filed under "imperfections" too, as part of the problem of everything looking so NEW and SHINY. Maybe that's the POINT, I don't know, but it just doesn't WORK with the same art. Oh, hey, almost forgot....
8. THE MONKEY. The one on the mast. In the new art, he's more INTERESTED than he is horrified at what he's looking at. The horrified, or at least sad and somber onlooker aided the tone of the overall piece.
The original LeChuck's Revenge box art is my favorite piece of promotional video game artwork ever. I love it, I've examined it closely. I admire everything about it. Brushwork, textures, minute attention to detail, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, it captures a tense, powerful, and dramatic moment right at its most intense climax. LeChuck means fucing business. That's what the art communicates. We are in deep, this is going to be a dramatic, epic adventure.
Sorry if this rant doesn't add anything to anything. I'm actually looking forward to this Special Edition, and I'm going to buy it. I just think that Purcell's original deserves a lot better than this.
The game looks promising though.
About that.. Maybe it's because it's now looking at LeChuck's ass, rather than at what he's doing?
Now, I don't wanna sound like a queer or nuthin'.. But maybe Lechuck has a pretty sweet ass (now that it's made of plastic)?
...Anyway, The fact that the new artwork is all digital where as the original cover was hand-painted and has been scanned has a lot to do with the plastic look, but I do agree with all of your points. It would make a decent cover for Lego Monkey Island though!
I'm sorry I'm still flipping out....ask PariahKing. We're still chatting about it when I should be going to bed right now.
And honestly, I'm surprised they stuck as closely to the original artwork as they did. The in-game graphics definitely make up for the slightly short-handed cover art.
Let's move on to the positive shall we: the actually in-game art and character design. Wow, does it ever look terrific. I appreciated SOMI: Special Edition because of it's effort, even if I wasn't crazy about the designs (especially the characters). This one, however, really looks like it's nailed it! It's cartoony, but not too stylized (with the exception of the box art).
The only design that I'll have to get used to is Guybrush's who doesn't really match his original sprite. But I'm still cool with the design since he looks more like the Guybrush in all the other games (something that the original MI2 sprite never has, for better for for worse).
To top it off: the designers actually took into account the comments and complaints made about the last Special Edition (option for sound in original game, better character designs). Pretty gutsy considering what a fickle, impossible-to-please crowd we all can be.
...
Hey guys, I'm back in reality here. I just realized they pretty much blew millions of dollars creating a faithful rendition of the best adventure game ever made and I've proceeded to crap out the obligatory bricks from my behind.
While you guys order posters of the new cover so you can burn them, I'll be busy playing the most important adventure game to release since Grim Fandango.
EDIT: Musical Inspired, you cheeky bastard, I told you of my secret sarcasm plans on AIM and you used the opportunity to steal my thunder.
For a zombie anyway.
Yea I always thought so too.
But you guys are right, the cover art isn't really very important. and as I said, it would take a Purcell piece to make me happy.. :rolleyes:
The in-game artwork is what's important here, and it looks very good! They really stayed true to the original (and we all know there would be mayhem if they didn't
My only gripe is that it seems a bit too bright and glossy, but that's probably because of the increase in resolution and amount of colours (Also, childhood memories aren't easy to compete with). I can't wait to see it all in action, and even more so I look forward to the new soundtrack! The thought of it really tickles my pants.
I just hope they have been a bit more thourough this time, the copy-paste graphics in SMISE was really terrible at times. Like the Melee Island forest. Seems they have listened to the feedback they got though, so I'm really not that worried.
As for the game itself, I can't wait.
I'm having a hard time getting used to Guybrush's blank dead stare, but other than that, the art seems actually awesome. I'm hoping summer means May, but they probably mean September.
Maybe you've noticed how on the official site, when LeChuck comes on the screen, the background goes bleak and gloomy and the sound changes. I really hope it's like that in the game too. It's pretty awesome.
LA have really gone out of their way to listen to fans criticism of the first SE. Massively improved artwork, redesigned Guybrush, voice over included in classic mode. But wahhhhh, what have they done to my beloved box art???
I personally couldn't be more made up over what I've seen so far. Now, has anyone noticed how atrocious Guybrush's new hair looks? :P
I'm very impressed with it, and it's coming to the PS3 along with the original! Gives me even more reason to play them again!
He does come across as a bit of a Comic Book Guy, doesn't he? Complaining about the monkey's expression *is* pushing it...
Rather Dashing, I think you don't realize how, well, STRONG you come across. You use some heavy words.
Roll on summer, I'm hoping they get approval from Microsoft quicker this time as last year when the first SE was announced at E3 it was already finished and they were just waiting for the green light, I hope for a May/June release but less likely.
No-one else notice anything glaringly obvious? No Mac support? With all the fuss surrounding Mac ports recently, I'd have thought it was a no brainer to convert too...
...I thought you meant the use of "Secret of Monkey Island 2", rather than just a plain "Monkey Island 2" as it should be.
Same, I'd need to get a whole new computer to play this, which I will do someday, it's finding a one that'll accept my 6 month old hard drive (it's not a sata drive). When did they say this was coming out lol?
(or I could just play on my 4 year old laptop again
Anyways this has made my morning, so excited
I love the style, the characters, the look, everything!! ^^
I can't wait until summer!!! This is so great!
Not only did they put in the same level of care this time--but far exceeded it.
Commentary, voice on both versions, direct control of Guybrush? I pretty much love this and suddenly I'm a little anxious to see just how much Monkey love this perpetuates going forward.
BUT it does seem like you don't even care they did a good job with everything else. You are overreacting to the cover and underreacting to the actual game.
But these are extremely minor issues that I'm not bothered with at all.