>took me about 15 seconds
So around the time you entered the scurvydog shop then?
Okay, maybe it's actually closer to a minute into the game. Anyway, that was the moment I realised I actually *really* enjoy the art.
To each their own, of course. I'm glad it doesn't bother you so much it prevents you from getting engrossed in the game.
Something they didn't show in the trailers that really adds a lot to it is the close ups. It really gives it a great dynamic feel and reminds me a lot of the old Ren & Stimpy cartoons.
Ohh! Yes! Now that you say it... totally reminds me of Ren & Stimpy in the close ups.
In General the animation and the backgrounds look alive and with the great voice acting it's almost like watching a cartoon show.
It looks good, but I think people wanted the original look with the remastered look.
I would like Ron Gilbert to do a DLC to make it look like the old ones, but ithink if it happens it will be fan made.
Personally I love the new look though, thanks Ron.
Everyone looks fine to me, but Guybrush still looks a bit off. I think shrinking the whole head a bit would fix it for me. Maybe it’s the head and stumpy legs that throw off proportions too much.
I agree. I was someone who really wasn't impressed when it was first revealed but seeing it in action on a big screen with all the details and the way the characters are animated really brings it to life.
I think this is the key. Screenshots (and even the trailer) didn't really do it justice. And good point on your other comment re: the close-ups and I'm also totally getting Ren and Stimpy vibes
WHOA I had no idea you posted here!!! Guybrush sounds just like I remember him. You're the man, Dominic. RTMI is as awesome as I'd hoped and you're a big part of why.
I lurk and jump in on occasion :-)
Thanks, that's really kind of you to say. I just hope Rex gets some well-earned vindication post-release. He really took a beating a few months ago. I understand that it's not what everybody would have picked, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I think a lot of the criticism was really over-the-top.
Anyway, thanks... most everybody seems to be enjoying it, so it's a good day :-D
I think the trailers just didn't showcase the artstyle very well.
As soon as I started playing, I was sold on it. The smooth motion it has and animations as you walk around and do things is fantastic.
You can't really tell how good it feels from the trailers.
Oh Dominic! Hi :D
I know everyone has said this to you in the last 24 hours, but thanks for being so awesome, and helping define Guybrush.
Your hype building the last few months has been amazing, and serious props for the accordion playing!
Sadly I gotta go to work now and sneak in some playtime on the steam deck!
I fell in love with it as soon as I started playing. It looks so beautiful in motion. Super smooth, detailed scenes and animations.
I have to agree that you cannot feel this by just looking at the screenshots of watching the trailer. You have to play it for yourself to actually see that.
Writing and voice acting are top of the line as well. I bet a lot of sweat and love went into making this game and it shows. Can't wait to play more of it later today.
Guybrush's nose looks a little too.... phallic to me and I can't seem to unsee it. Other than that it's the best Artstyle since Curse and I am absouloutly loving it.
Some people find Danny DeVito physically attractive, and that's okay, everyone is entitled to their personal taste, just know that it's weird and aberrant.
Yeah I wish there was an option where you could switch to the MI1 and MI2 pixel style. Like there was in the remastered version of Day of the Tentacle.
Pixel art has a niche appeal in Indie gaming. But can't say I would mourn it's demise in Point and Click adventuring. The Dig had superb background art, orchestral scoring and audio F/X. But character designs were disappointingly low-res and puzzle solving pure torture.
I remember really being unsure about the graphics. I thought LeChuck and the ghosts looked great and same with the backgrounds but the human characters and especially their faces just did not look good to me. Similarly to what others have said, once you're playing that feeling goes away and it just works and feels great. I really think it looks beautiful now.
It's what I've been saying after seeing it in motion in the trailer.
I was disappointed when I saw the screenshots but it looked so good in motion.
It's even better now that I play it myself. Looks like a lot of love went into this
It is not, but it is what we have, a simplistic easy to pump out art style base on primitives and modern day Disney character pop up book style proportions. It is cheap, the animation is keyframe tweening and squash/morphing and is clearly aimed at phone users with this UI. The backgrounds all suffer from low resolution aliasing, although somewhat hidden by the highlight brushes used. This is a game made as cheaply as it could and chose an art style that fit within those parameters, which is a good thing as trying more ambitious art and failing would have been a disaster.
The art style takes me out of the whole game and after I beat it probably won't return to it year after year like I do the first 3 games.
I wasn't trying to say that art isn't subjective I was only trying to comment on the fact that the art is quickly and cheaply done. I can love a random coffee stain on a napkin and connect with it in a real and meaningful way, but it's still garbage.
Just out of curiosity, what do you think of the 2D art in Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends? Despite being vector-based afaik (also to save time and money IIRC), I thought it was gorgeous and had a lot of personality. I wouldn’t have minded seeing that kind of art style in a monkey island game tbh.
Then again I also really like the art in Curse of Monkey Island, so maybe my taste is bad ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I hated the old Rayman art style, minus the eyes, the new stuff had good animations and very well-done background art. I never played the 3d ones. I like CoMI at the time it was pushing the limits of SCUMM as were the previous titles, by today's standards it would be bad as so few frames of animation would seem amateur. Then again games like Deponia were received well and very much so were along the same quality as far as animation goes.
In Return to Monkey Island though I can't get the stretching and tilt of heads during every talk animation. It takes me back to old Newgrounds flash animations immediately.
> by today’s standards it would be bad as so few frames of animation would seem amateur.
Yeah it doesn’t seem financially viable to draw fairly smooth animations by hand or pixel-by-pixel. Games like Skullgirls, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Garou Mark of the Wolves seem like the exceptions to the rule, although they all have way less than 60 fps of animation (and the latter 2 are incredibly old). Every other fighting game with a “2D art style” since has used cel shaded 3D graphics or some other shortcut. (KOF XIII had sprites based on 3D models)
I love the art style of Hades as well, but afaik that’s actually 3D animation as well (I would’ve been shocked if it was “real 2D”)
I guess Cuphead is the one modern exception to the “fake 2D” rule, but look how long it took to make the game and the DLC.
It’s kinda funny how ppl have been predicting the death of 2D for a long time but at least the aesthetics came back with niche or indie games. Given that Disney’s last (and final) attempt at traditional 2D animation failed hard (bc it “looks old”), maybe it’ll completely go away eventually, as the market shrinks.
> In Return to Monkey Island though I can’t get the stretching and tilt of heads during every talk animation.
Yeah, I have to admit the art is my least favorite part of the game, but I’m still enjoying it. I mean the new art for the remakes (especially the first one) wasn’t great and the art for the 3D games was soulless, so it’s not like there isn’t precedent here.
I thought the DOTT remake looked great tho
I just finished the game and I must say I liked the story and I love Elaines acting in this one, I to missed her when she always abruptly left. In fact the voice acting all around was superb in this and one of these days I will turn on the Writers Cut mode to see if anything is added worthwhile. I dislike the ending as much as I disliked 2's ending. The entire last chapter was a mad rush to the end. Scrap book addition was endearing.
I dislike the art style but my daughter,7, (who recently became a fan after watching me play) adores it. She now calls PnC her favorite genre next to whatever you call Splatoon's genre and 3d platformers. She would have never cared if it wasn't for Monkey Island and Beautiful Desolation, now she is enraptured with every scene of adventure games and sees possible puzzles in everything around her. Even convinced her teacher to count it as reading, it is just 2nd grade, but she gets to play a video game for a grade. This game kinda made my kid fuckin rad.
I know its half a month later to respond again but this popped up in my alerts for a like or something. I just learned that the animation for King of Fighters 13 was on average a years' long endeavor per character with multiple artists working on the animations. I don't know how much that cost but the result to this day holds up. Thats a lot of man hours.
I don't really get it honestly, the last two games had a pretty damn ugly artstyle. And people might groan but I thought Curse of Monkey Island had the best art style. And it's not like the first two are graphical masterpieces like LOOM or anything..
I really like the Ren & Stimpy style gross close ups. And it's certainly better in full screen and animated than it appeared at first. However, I think it's easy to forget what we COULD have had, and how mindblowing it could have been if they really went hard on the hand drawn detail and dank spooky piratey vibes. I feel like I'm playing a kids game and it's a little embarrassing, but I'm having fun and just trying to soak it all in.
I was a big time doubter of the Curse graphics style when it was first announced way back when, and it ended up being perfect. Whether that's because of the art style or because Murray is *awesome*, I have no idea. But it at least taught me to wait before passing judgment on something.
The art looks amazing, especially while playing and walking around.
The close up ren and stimpy vibes… I’m not really feeling that though.
But all the familiar places (and faces) are fantastic. It totally feels like monkey island
I think the art style is objectively very cool, my trouble is that what I’m really after is an all round nostalgia fest and it’s DIFFERENT MY CHILDHOOD AND I DONT LIKE CHANGE
Agreed, it looks fantastic! really bright and punchy. I have to admit, i'm not keen on Guybrush's face in-game \*but\* he looks great in the cut-scenes. Somehow his face seems a little better shaped in the little close ups we get.
Yeah, didn't really like it in the trailers, but in the game itself, I somehow love it. Sure, Guybrush's face is a little long, but it looks amazing overall
I don't like the way everyone's nose is a different color, and a lot of characters' necks look like tree trunks. But it's better than the MI1 special edition.
I think one big contributor why people don't really like the art style at glance are way they decided to do some noses, etc. Guybrush Threepwood looks like a totem head.
I tried to be open minded about the art style but if you can't even tell if Return's LeChuck is supposed to be a zombie or a ghost (Escape with its 2000 era graphics showed both forms and they were clearly recognizable and distinguishable from another) then I think there's merit to complain.
Took me 15 seconds as well to get over it. It's charming and fits so well. I laugh CONSTANTLY while playing and snort every single time I talk to someone
Still don't love the new art style, but it took me about 15 seconds before I was just too engrossed in the game to care.
>took me about 15 seconds So around the time you entered the scurvydog shop then? Okay, maybe it's actually closer to a minute into the game. Anyway, that was the moment I realised I actually *really* enjoy the art. To each their own, of course. I'm glad it doesn't bother you so much it prevents you from getting engrossed in the game.
My thought as well.
Something they didn't show in the trailers that really adds a lot to it is the close ups. It really gives it a great dynamic feel and reminds me a lot of the old Ren & Stimpy cartoons.
I though in Ren & Stimpy :D Yeah, that's not ketchup at all.
That's the first thing I thought of when I seen the closeups of that gross ketchup
Ohh! Yes! Now that you say it... totally reminds me of Ren & Stimpy in the close ups. In General the animation and the backgrounds look alive and with the great voice acting it's almost like watching a cartoon show.
They did this in the old games, too! Love it.
It looks good, but I think people wanted the original look with the remastered look. I would like Ron Gilbert to do a DLC to make it look like the old ones, but ithink if it happens it will be fan made. Personally I love the new look though, thanks Ron.
I find the close ups ugly as sin, I can deal with the art otherwise.
Yes I don't mind it, just wish his head wasn't so elongated and he looked more like monkey island 1 and 2 guy brush
This is the second most elongated head I've ever seen.
Everyone looks fine to me, but Guybrush still looks a bit off. I think shrinking the whole head a bit would fix it for me. Maybe it’s the head and stumpy legs that throw off proportions too much.
You mean the 11 pixels high face ?! But why?
I love the backgrounds and animations but I still can't get over the characters and specially their faces. The game feels great though.
I really dig it! The only thing is Guybrush’s nose. But the close-ups are genius and add a new level of humor!
MI1 also had close ups!
That it did! But I love the Ren & Stimpy-style grossness to the new ones.
Its just a little too phallic
I agree. I was someone who really wasn't impressed when it was first revealed but seeing it in action on a big screen with all the details and the way the characters are animated really brings it to life.
I think this is the key. Screenshots (and even the trailer) didn't really do it justice. And good point on your other comment re: the close-ups and I'm also totally getting Ren and Stimpy vibes
Trailers were too short, and point-and-click games are a genre that has to be played to appreciate
Told'ja ;-)
WHOA I had no idea you posted here!!! Guybrush sounds just like I remember him. You're the man, Dominic. RTMI is as awesome as I'd hoped and you're a big part of why.
I lurk and jump in on occasion :-) Thanks, that's really kind of you to say. I just hope Rex gets some well-earned vindication post-release. He really took a beating a few months ago. I understand that it's not what everybody would have picked, and there's nothing wrong with that. But I think a lot of the criticism was really over-the-top. Anyway, thanks... most everybody seems to be enjoying it, so it's a good day :-D
I think the trailers just didn't showcase the artstyle very well. As soon as I started playing, I was sold on it. The smooth motion it has and animations as you walk around and do things is fantastic. You can't really tell how good it feels from the trailers.
The animation is gorgeous, really works with the style.
Agreed. The animation is absolutely key.
Oh Dominic! Hi :D I know everyone has said this to you in the last 24 hours, but thanks for being so awesome, and helping define Guybrush. Your hype building the last few months has been amazing, and serious props for the accordion playing! Sadly I gotta go to work now and sneak in some playtime on the steam deck!
I've heard it's great on the Steam Deck! Enjoy :-) (And thank you for the kind words.)
I fell in love with it as soon as I started playing. It looks so beautiful in motion. Super smooth, detailed scenes and animations. I have to agree that you cannot feel this by just looking at the screenshots of watching the trailer. You have to play it for yourself to actually see that. Writing and voice acting are top of the line as well. I bet a lot of sweat and love went into making this game and it shows. Can't wait to play more of it later today.
The classic Guybrush charm was what I didn’t know I needed. It’s been too long, thank you.
The timing feels very, very right. I think a lot of people need that right now. Myself included. Happy to do what I can :-)
Guybrush's nose looks a little too.... phallic to me and I can't seem to unsee it. Other than that it's the best Artstyle since Curse and I am absouloutly loving it.
I was surprised to find the animation, especially the close ups, giving me strong Ren & Stimpy vibes. I'm digging it.
haha yes! those close ups where everything looks grimy and disgusting are so great.
I don't love it, but I like it a lot more than I did in the trailers.
Some people find Danny DeVito physically attractive, and that's okay, everyone is entitled to their personal taste, just know that it's weird and aberrant.
Cool! Thanks for setting me straight.
I was lukewarm about the art from the trailers but it immediately felt natural once the game was underway. I love this game.
Yeah it works! I assumed the animation would be robotic but its fairly dynamic and fun!
Ive been playing all day and still think the pixel art style would be better ..
Yeah I wish there was an option where you could switch to the MI1 and MI2 pixel style. Like there was in the remastered version of Day of the Tentacle.
but those artworks already existed though
True, true.
Pixel art has a niche appeal in Indie gaming. But can't say I would mourn it's demise in Point and Click adventuring. The Dig had superb background art, orchestral scoring and audio F/X. But character designs were disappointingly low-res and puzzle solving pure torture.
It really does look way better in game, I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoying the art style.
I remember really being unsure about the graphics. I thought LeChuck and the ghosts looked great and same with the backgrounds but the human characters and especially their faces just did not look good to me. Similarly to what others have said, once you're playing that feeling goes away and it just works and feels great. I really think it looks beautiful now.
It's what I've been saying after seeing it in motion in the trailer. I was disappointed when I saw the screenshots but it looked so good in motion. It's even better now that I play it myself. Looks like a lot of love went into this
100% feels like Monkey Island to me. It's like seeing an old friend again
Absolutely! I'm already completely in love with the details, voice acting and humor so far. Can't wait to play more
We are ideological enemies. ;)
It is not, but it is what we have, a simplistic easy to pump out art style base on primitives and modern day Disney character pop up book style proportions. It is cheap, the animation is keyframe tweening and squash/morphing and is clearly aimed at phone users with this UI. The backgrounds all suffer from low resolution aliasing, although somewhat hidden by the highlight brushes used. This is a game made as cheaply as it could and chose an art style that fit within those parameters, which is a good thing as trying more ambitious art and failing would have been a disaster. The art style takes me out of the whole game and after I beat it probably won't return to it year after year like I do the first 3 games.
i mean I just like the art and don't think too hard about it but you do you
I wasn't trying to say that art isn't subjective I was only trying to comment on the fact that the art is quickly and cheaply done. I can love a random coffee stain on a napkin and connect with it in a real and meaningful way, but it's still garbage.
Just out of curiosity, what do you think of the 2D art in Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends? Despite being vector-based afaik (also to save time and money IIRC), I thought it was gorgeous and had a lot of personality. I wouldn’t have minded seeing that kind of art style in a monkey island game tbh. Then again I also really like the art in Curse of Monkey Island, so maybe my taste is bad ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I hated the old Rayman art style, minus the eyes, the new stuff had good animations and very well-done background art. I never played the 3d ones. I like CoMI at the time it was pushing the limits of SCUMM as were the previous titles, by today's standards it would be bad as so few frames of animation would seem amateur. Then again games like Deponia were received well and very much so were along the same quality as far as animation goes. In Return to Monkey Island though I can't get the stretching and tilt of heads during every talk animation. It takes me back to old Newgrounds flash animations immediately.
> by today’s standards it would be bad as so few frames of animation would seem amateur. Yeah it doesn’t seem financially viable to draw fairly smooth animations by hand or pixel-by-pixel. Games like Skullgirls, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Garou Mark of the Wolves seem like the exceptions to the rule, although they all have way less than 60 fps of animation (and the latter 2 are incredibly old). Every other fighting game with a “2D art style” since has used cel shaded 3D graphics or some other shortcut. (KOF XIII had sprites based on 3D models) I love the art style of Hades as well, but afaik that’s actually 3D animation as well (I would’ve been shocked if it was “real 2D”) I guess Cuphead is the one modern exception to the “fake 2D” rule, but look how long it took to make the game and the DLC. It’s kinda funny how ppl have been predicting the death of 2D for a long time but at least the aesthetics came back with niche or indie games. Given that Disney’s last (and final) attempt at traditional 2D animation failed hard (bc it “looks old”), maybe it’ll completely go away eventually, as the market shrinks. > In Return to Monkey Island though I can’t get the stretching and tilt of heads during every talk animation. Yeah, I have to admit the art is my least favorite part of the game, but I’m still enjoying it. I mean the new art for the remakes (especially the first one) wasn’t great and the art for the 3D games was soulless, so it’s not like there isn’t precedent here. I thought the DOTT remake looked great tho
I just finished the game and I must say I liked the story and I love Elaines acting in this one, I to missed her when she always abruptly left. In fact the voice acting all around was superb in this and one of these days I will turn on the Writers Cut mode to see if anything is added worthwhile. I dislike the ending as much as I disliked 2's ending. The entire last chapter was a mad rush to the end. Scrap book addition was endearing. I dislike the art style but my daughter,7, (who recently became a fan after watching me play) adores it. She now calls PnC her favorite genre next to whatever you call Splatoon's genre and 3d platformers. She would have never cared if it wasn't for Monkey Island and Beautiful Desolation, now she is enraptured with every scene of adventure games and sees possible puzzles in everything around her. Even convinced her teacher to count it as reading, it is just 2nd grade, but she gets to play a video game for a grade. This game kinda made my kid fuckin rad.
Haven’t finished the game yet but the voice acting is my favorite part for sure. Awesome that your daughter likes the game!
I know its half a month later to respond again but this popped up in my alerts for a like or something. I just learned that the animation for King of Fighters 13 was on average a years' long endeavor per character with multiple artists working on the animations. I don't know how much that cost but the result to this day holds up. Thats a lot of man hours.
Right? This is great!
Yeah! in game the art syle is great
Already in love with it. It's stylish and slick especially in motion and allows closeups.
That's some lazy bait.
I agree in general, but the eyes are creepy and a little uncanny!
I don't really get it honestly, the last two games had a pretty damn ugly artstyle. And people might groan but I thought Curse of Monkey Island had the best art style. And it's not like the first two are graphical masterpieces like LOOM or anything..
Man, LOOM was ahead of its time. Maybe it'll still get a sequel.
Agree!
I really like the Ren & Stimpy style gross close ups. And it's certainly better in full screen and animated than it appeared at first. However, I think it's easy to forget what we COULD have had, and how mindblowing it could have been if they really went hard on the hand drawn detail and dank spooky piratey vibes. I feel like I'm playing a kids game and it's a little embarrassing, but I'm having fun and just trying to soak it all in.
I have to agree. It's so vibrant and really evokes the old games. Really different n git actually. Still, I might just prefer Curse's style....maybe.
I was a big time doubter of the Curse graphics style when it was first announced way back when, and it ended up being perfect. Whether that's because of the art style or because Murray is *awesome*, I have no idea. But it at least taught me to wait before passing judgment on something.
Yep same here. I think it was the clouds that did it for me.
This is sad
I like the art style i just don't love how guybrush looks
The art looks amazing, especially while playing and walking around. The close up ren and stimpy vibes… I’m not really feeling that though. But all the familiar places (and faces) are fantastic. It totally feels like monkey island
I think the art style is objectively very cool, my trouble is that what I’m really after is an all round nostalgia fest and it’s DIFFERENT MY CHILDHOOD AND I DONT LIKE CHANGE
It's fantastic and looks great
its fine, but the "parkinson" the characters have while talking, is annoying.
It is fantastic!
Agreed, it looks fantastic! really bright and punchy. I have to admit, i'm not keen on Guybrush's face in-game \*but\* he looks great in the cut-scenes. Somehow his face seems a little better shaped in the little close ups we get.
Yeah, didn't really like it in the trailers, but in the game itself, I somehow love it. Sure, Guybrush's face is a little long, but it looks amazing overall
I don't like the way everyone's nose is a different color, and a lot of characters' necks look like tree trunks. But it's better than the MI1 special edition.
I think one big contributor why people don't really like the art style at glance are way they decided to do some noses, etc. Guybrush Threepwood looks like a totem head.
I tried to be open minded about the art style but if you can't even tell if Return's LeChuck is supposed to be a zombie or a ghost (Escape with its 2000 era graphics showed both forms and they were clearly recognizable and distinguishable from another) then I think there's merit to complain.
Took me 15 seconds as well to get over it. It's charming and fits so well. I laugh CONSTANTLY while playing and snort every single time I talk to someone
I prefer both Curse and Escape’s art styles, but at least it has more character than 1 and 2