Monkey Island 1 in High Def

misadlouhy · Post by **misadlouhy** » 09 Jul 2009, 22:04

Read about it here

Watch it here

Buy it on Steam (available from 15.7.2009)

mengzor · Post by **mengzor** » 11 Jul 2009, 11:55

oh awesome.
ive always wanted to play the original monkey island games but the graphics have somewhat put me off

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 11 Jul 2009, 15:27

There's nothing wrong with Monkey Island's graphics as they are. The game was completely playable in 1990 - it's not like any aspect of it got worse.

The new sprites and character artwork are absolutely hideous, BTW, and the animation is really stiff. In that regard, I'd say the original actually looks better. The new backgrounds look nice, though. Voice acting could be a pleasant addition, or a distracting nuisance - I've heard potential examples of both in the trailer. I'll have to wait to play the game to say for sure, though.

mengzor · Post by **mengzor** » 12 Jul 2009, 00:43

not saying it would be unplayable or anything , but 640x480 or whatever the game runs at would look terrible on 24".
You could probably turn off the voices but idk , the voice acting in Tales of MI was all pretty good imo.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 12 Jul 2009, 00:57

It doesn't look bad at all on my 24" monitor. Just make sure you're using hardware upscaling. If low resolutions automatically looked "terrible" on a 24" monitor, then DVDs (which are basically 640x480) would be utterly unwatchable on your 40" and 72" HDTVs. Clearly that's not the case.

Tales of MI is a completely different game - the dialog was written to be spoken, while Secret's dialog was written to be read. When the latter kind of dialog is spoken anyway, sometimes the results are great, and other times the results are really annoying (even if the voice acting is of high quality).

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 12 Jul 2009, 02:40

It doesn't look bad at all on my 24" monitor. Just make sure you're using hardware upscaling. If low resolutions automatically looked "terrible" on a 24" monitor, then DVDs (which are basically 640x480) would be utterly unwatchable on your 40" and 72" HDTVs. Clearly that's not the case.

hu ... not really either...
most consumer Video DVDs are either 720x480 or 720x576 depending if the system is PAL or NTSC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Video http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD

there's also a big difference between movie upscaling & video game upscaling since in a video game you may have more static images which are more prone to showing lack of details... not even considering the difference in upscale algorithms.

And First HDTVs had absolutely horrible upscaling btw ...

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 12 Jul 2009, 04:43

most consumer Video DVDs are either 720x480 or 720x576

Like I said, basically 640x480. Ever-so-slightly more if you're running PAL. If 720x576 upscaled on an HDTV is watchable, 640x480 upscaled on a 24" monitor won't look bad either.

there's also a big difference between movie upscaling & video game upscaling since in a video game you may have more static images which are more prone to showing lack of details

What's that got to do with upscaling? If your game is lacking in details, it's lacking in details. Upscaling will neither fix nor aggravate this.

not even considering the difference in upscale algorithms

PC video cards use state-of-the-art upscaling algorithms. If you can be satisfied with results from a HDTV's upscaler, you can be satisfied with results from a PC video card upscaler.

misadlouhy · Post by **misadlouhy** » 14 Jul 2009, 22:22

Only 1 day before release of this Jewel (in my opinion). I also would like to see Guybrush more fat (as he was fatter - he had normal proportions in original game, now he is too thin) but I still think everything will be huge positive step up from the level of detail of the original (that I played and comleted as child several times). I am not as negative about the improvements as some of you are. I admire it and am looking forward to play it in new look and with that awsome music + DUBBING...

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 14 Jul 2009, 23:25

there's also a big difference between movie upscaling & video game upscaling since in a video game you may have more static images which are more prone to showing lack of details
What's that got to do with upscaling? If your game is lacking in details, it's lacking in details. Upscaling will neither fix nor aggravate this.

Motion hides the fact that upscaling gives way less image quality.
That's what I meant by that.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 15 Jul 2009, 03:01

But upscaling does not give "way less" image quality. Not if the upscaling is done right. Proper upscaling neither increases nor decreases the quality - it simply enlarges the picture.

Bad upscaling certainly reduces image quality, as PC monitors and early HDTVs are known to do, but if you enable hardware scaling on any decent video card and are using DVI, this isn't an issue.

Post by **dopefish** » 15 Jul 2009, 05:15

I got the 360 version yesterday morning. I took a few screenshots.

http://imk.cx/screenshots/xbox_360/the_secret_of_monkey_island:_special_edition/

Post by **dopefish** » 15 Jul 2009, 05:26

I uploaded some 4:3 shots just now.

Other than the title screen being squished in 4:3, the menu is Hor- in 4:3, and the rest of the game is anamorphic with the HUD elements just moving around.

The game is not pretty in 480p. They use some really poor method of downscaling the art. It's like they use nearest neighbor. It's very pixellated and when you move around, everything just looks bad. The game is definitely meant to be played in 720p or higher.

StingingVelvet · Post by **StingingVelvet** » 08 Aug 2009, 10:31

I just wanted to revive this to say it was the coolest announcement and release ever, and I was freaking thrilled. I couldn't play it until just recently, and was very happy to do so.

Here's hoping Lucasarts continues to enhance and rerelease their amazing catalogue titles.

mengzor · Post by **mengzor** » 11 Aug 2009, 23:37

im also playing it through for the first time , in 1080p
Im glad i never played it before , the game is amazing , almost all the voices fit fine and ive no qualms with the artwork.

The ability to switch between old and new styles almost always stuns me

yogibbear · Post by **yogibbear** » 12 Aug 2009, 15:18

i really really really want the curse of monkey island... that would be awesome. this was pretty good... but that would be orgasmic.

StingingVelvet · Post by **StingingVelvet** » 12 Aug 2009, 17:20

i really really really want the curse of monkey island... that would be awesome. this was pretty good... but that would be orgasmic.

It would also be a whole lote more effort and developing cost... I mean, it's possible depending on the profit made from the original rerelease, but it might be somewhat down the line on their consideration.

I would like to see Day of the Tentacle, personally.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 12 Aug 2009, 17:56

Curse of Monkey Island would not benefit from an SE-style remake. Its artwork is perfect the way it is (not to mention better than Monkey Island SE in every single way).

On the other hand, if they found the original art materials and re-scanned them at a higher resolution (like they did with Dragon's Lair), *that* would rule.

StingingVelvet · Post by **StingingVelvet** » 12 Aug 2009, 19:05

Can they just scan them like that? I know on consoles they did an HD remake of Street Fighter and they said it required them to completely redraw the game art.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 12 Aug 2009, 19:38

It depends. With Street Fighter II, I would bet the sprites were drawn pixel by pixel, which would mean the sprites you see are the original artwork.

Curse of Monkey Island, on the other hand, I'd guess was very likely animated traditionally, and the cels were scanned in and digitized at 640x480. If that's how they did it, and the original artwork wasn't discarded or destroyed, then it's definitely possible to just scan them like that.

StingingVelvet · Post by **StingingVelvet** » 13 Aug 2009, 12:01

I would pay a lot of money for that.

A lot.

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