Unpopular opinions

[madmardi]

@elTee When does the sun set? And does it actually change colours, or is it all of a sudden night at some point?

[Thrik]

Use a nice CRT shader for the ultimate experience. It’ll smush the pixels together in a way consistent with the tech of the time, which one of the artists Mark Ferrari confirmed was something he exploited to make the dithered areas look smoother.

[Jayel]

24 minutes ago, madmardi said:

Not really an unpopular opinion... but I thought this would be the most appropriate thread where I could admit that I have actually never played the EGA version of SOMI. 

 

I grew up on the VGA (not CD) version and for me that's the one that will always be the most nostalgic I guess. I even have troubles playing the CD version, as seeing the MI2 style interface seems... wrong? (not sure if thats the right word).

 

Anyways, I guess the unpopular part would be that at one point in my childhood I did find out about the EGA version, loaded it up once, and thought it looked terrible. I then went back and replayed the VGA version again.

 

That being said, I read an old Mojo article today that talked about the differences in the portraits between the two versions, and I was I was really surprised, as I had no idea there were so many changes. Seeing as the EGA is the original version I felt like I should really go back and play it. So I just started it up in ScummVM and have to say that I have a newfound appreciation for it. It looks a lot better than I remember, and I think I really need to give it a shot.

 

 

Same... I grew up with VGA floppy version and never played the EGA version. It surprised me the other day to read that Ron doesn't like the VGA portraits. Have I been playing the non-director's cut all this time?

 

I just started playing the EGA version last night (using Aaron Giles' excellent DREAMM) and I actually prefer the EGA backgrounds. The VGA version looks like somebody went hogwild with gradient fill and look almost amateurish (felt the same way about Loom VGA conversion). I think I might still prefer the VGA portraits though...

[Jake]

The EGA portraits are fun in how clearly they’re drawn by Purcell, and more closely match the look of everything else. The VGA portraits are less to my taste but they’re no slouch - they’re one of the first pieces of work Ian McCaig did at Lucasfilm, while waiting to start up at ILM. Props to Mojo for interviewing him about the work. 

[elTee]

36 minutes ago, madmardi said:

@elTee When does the sun set? And does it actually change colours, or is it all of a sudden night at some point?

The sunset disappears when you go into the second area of Melee town - where the shop/alley/church/jail is. After this, when you go back to the dock the sun on the horizon has been replaced by a sprite showing a flat horizon, and some colours in the palette are set to different colours to create the effect that it's now darker.

[Udvarnoky]

For those interested in names, the original art team is credited as follows:

 

Backgrounds: Steve Purcell, Mark Ferrari, Mike Ebert

Animation: Steve Purcell, Mike Ebert, Martin Cameron as "Bucky"

 

The subsequent VGA conversion is credited to the following people:

 

-Tami Borowick

-James Dollar

-Bill Eaken

-Avril Harrison

-Iain McCaig

-Jim McLeod

-Michael Stemmle

-Sean Turner

 

In an old interview we did with Eaken, he remembered that the process was given about a month, which may explain why LEC unleashed such an army of people at the conversion, though the fact that programmers are among those names may suggest that some of those folks were doing touchup or technical work.

[Jake]

Avril Harrison drew the classic Deluxe Paint King Tut illustration. What a powerhouse team Monkey Island had in seemingly every version. 

[Thrik]

15 minutes ago, Udvarnoky said:

For those interested in names, the original art team is credited as follows:

 

Backgrounds: Steve Purcell, Mark Ferrari, Mike Ebert

Animation: Steve Purcell, Mike Ebert, Martin Cameron as "Bucky"

 

The subsequent VGA conversion is credited to the following people:

 

-Tami Borowick

-James Dollar

-Bill Eaken

-Avril Harrison

-Iain McCaig

-Jim McLeod

-Michael Stemmle

-Sean Turner

 

In an old interview we did with Eaken, he remembered that the process was given about a month, which may explain why LEC unleashed such an army of people at the conversion, though the fact that programmers are among those names may suggest that some of those folks were doing touchup or technical work.

All things considered, they did a good job.

[ThunderPeel2001]

On 7/1/2022 at 4:33 PM, Jake said:

The EGA portraits are fun in how clearly they’re drawn by Purcell, and more closely match the look of everything else. The VGA portraits are less to my taste but they’re no slouch - they’re one of the first pieces of work Ian McCaig did at Lucasfilm, while waiting to start up at ILM. Props to Mojo for interviewing him about the work. 

 

I have to admit I've always loved the VGA versions -- there's something so "real" about them that grounded the game for me. I reached out to Purcell and asked if he knew who was responsible for them (I couldn't find the answer online anywhere). He pointed me to Ian McCaig, I reached out and he was brilliant enough to share all those little details about his time at LucasFilm Games. What a great surprise it was!

 

Also: Did McCaig use himself as a model for Guybrush? Interesting when you compare their faces!

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by ThunderPeel2001

[Udvarnoky]

Since none of the original artists were part of the VGA version, it makes me wonder if Gary Winnick himself did the "high-resolution" version of Maniac Mansion. The credits are kind of weak on the really old games.

[OzzieMonkey]

Apropos of the new Mojo banner for the Ackley/Ahern interview, I feel I should confess something...

 

...I don't like slaw.

Edited July 11, 2022 by OzzieMonkey

[BillyCheers]

23 minutes ago, OzzieMonkey said:

Apropos of the new Mojo banner for the Ackley/Ahern interview, I feel I should confess something...

 

...I don't like slaw.

Okay, this thread had to get out of hand at some point... 😶😅

 

I don't know if it's an unpopular opinion, but I think Elaine should have remained a pure cameo character after MI2 (like Stan for example). Mostly she's just ballast for the story anyway, or rather the story is written with her in mind specifically.
Tales did spice things up with Morgan (love her!), but in the end it was all about Elaine again and I didn’t like her character here either.

 

I'm very curious how it all behaves in ReMI and whether I might change my mind about her.

[ThunderPeel2001]

1 hour ago, OzzieMonkey said:

Apropos of the new Mojo banner for the Ackley/Ahern interview, I feel I should confess something...

 

...I don't like slaw.

i don’t like carrots. Slaw contains carrots. I also don’t like slaw. 

[ThunderPeel2001]

47 minutes ago, BillyCheers said:

I don't know if it's an unpopular opinion, but I think Elaine should have remained a pure cameo character after MI2

I think most people would agree that she should have been made more use of Curse, not less. So yes I’d say it’s an unpopular opinion. 
 

I do wish they’d used Charity James’s voice in every iteration though. Boyd’s voice just doesn’t have any chemistry with Armato’s. 

[Scummbuddy]

Well, I wish they used Boyds voice for Elaine throughout.

 

We... are at an impasse.

Edited July 11, 2022 by Scummbuddy

[Thrik]

I can take or leave Elaine. While her role in the first game is clear and essential, that isn’t really the case for MI2 (where it feels like more of a cameo) and she’s virtually a MacGuffin in CMI.

 

They clearly tried to do more with her in EMI and TMI, but it always felt a bit ‘how do we make this character actually good’ to me and those are my less preferred games in any case.

[Lagomorph01]

I wish they used Boens voice for Elaine throughout.

 

In all seriousness though, I think the direction Ron had for the character (or at least her relationship with Guybrush) was way more interesting than what they ended up doing in the sequels. I hope he can make her interesting again.

 

[Vainamoinen]

19 hours ago, Lagomorph01 said:

I wish they used Boens voice for Elaine throughout.

 

I am okay with that, but only if they use stock material of Gilbert Gottfried to voice LeChuck.

[OzzieMonkey]

On 7/11/2022 at 6:35 PM, ThunderPeel2001 said:

i don’t like carrots. Slaw contains carrots. I also don’t like slaw. 

I'm fine with carrots, it's the mayonnaise for me, too sweet. Though strangely, I'm fine with it in burgers. My tastebuds are whack. 

[Kroms]

Controverial-ish opinion: The Day of the Tentacle theme is probably the best one LucasArts did.

 

Telltale's Strong Bad is underappreciated. It's been a long time and I've forgotten it, but it's a pleasant haze. 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Kroms

[Jayel]

On 7/11/2022 at 4:39 AM, ThunderPeel2001 said:

I do wish they’d used Charity James’s voice in every iteration though. Boyd’s voice just doesn’t have any chemistry with Armato’s. 

I thought I preferred Elaine's voice in EMI but I played through it last week (for the first time in 2 decades) and she sounds very different from what I remember. I think I was mixing it up with the Dainty Lady Figurehead's voice in my memory.

[ThunderPeel2001]

1 hour ago, Jayel said:

I thought I preferred Elaine's voice in EMI but I played through it last week (for the first time in 2 decades) and she sounds very different from what I remember. I think I was mixing it up with the Dainty Lady Figurehead's voice in my memory.

 

I still think she has much better chemistry with Guybrush based on the videos I watched recently.

[Garystu]

8 hours ago, Kroms said:

Telltale's Strong Bad is underappreciated. It's been a long time and I've forgotten it, but it's a pleasant haze. 

 

That was the first game by Telltale that I played! I was really into Homestar Runner at the time, naturally. I played it on the Wii, and played each episode over and over.

 

Its because of Strong Bad that I'm even into Monkey Island and the old Lucasarts adventures lol.

 

Which is fair enough, really. Even the web cartoon was full of adventure game references and love and it even had its own short adventure game (Peasents quest).

 

I did do a rematch of SBCG4AP a few years ago on YouTube. Unfortunately, it has a slow beginning and takes a few episodes to hit its stride. Didn't all Telltale games at the time. But its full of comedic convoluted plots which I love. The ending is Epic. Translating the 2D characters into 3D models looks jank on some characters and that never goes away, but its fine. It holds. It still makes me smile.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Guybrush Transmasc

[KestrelPi]

2 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

 

I still think she has much better chemistry with Guybrush based on the videos I watched recently.

 

I don't mind the chemistry and I think you have a point that she vibes well with what Guybrush is doing. It's the writing that bothered me. I could believe that version of Elaine if her main thing wasn't always ordering Guybrush around. Or even at the start, being weirdly expectant of a hero's welcome back to Melee then comically put out when she doesn't get one -- this is supposed to be the same Elaine who seemed to be frustrated by the attention that she got from the pirates of the island, and keen to distance herself from them, the same Elaine who was nervous about even publicly revealing her relationship with Guybrush, the same elaine who in MI2 threw exclusive parties for people she didn't know, and apparently didn't even bother to turn up to them. Why's she gonna care if people are celebrating their arrival or not. If anything she'd be looking to arrive as quietly as possible so that she could resume the business of governing as if nothing happened.

 

But yeah, there's something in the core of your unpopular opinion there, I think. Whatever else you thought of elaine in EMI, her energy does work with Dom's.

[Lagomorph01]

Don't know if this is an unpopular stance or not, but I stopped following the news (and the RtMI thread) shortly after the trailer hit. I don't want to know anything more about it before the game hits! (Except where I can order my boxed copy!)