Mention of various Lunar demos across the years came up in the thread for the HoSS demo, and as it turns out I've been doing some investigating into the non-playable MegaCD Lunar 2 demo lately. I watched a video of it online and asked myself, 'are those text portraits different'? I found an ISO to get a closer look, and discovered that yes, those text portraits are different. They all use a lighter palette first of all, and some of them were even redrawn completely in the final version.
What Hiro would look like as the protagonist of a Shonen Jump comic...? And for once, Hiro has the green eyes! ^_^ The prerelease one matches his sprite better too.
De-fanged! Re-mouthed! Re-eared too! Looks like in the final the space between her forelegs didn't get recolored, was that an accident?
Same basic idea but completely redrawn. This is the earliest green-eyed Lucia in-game I've seen. Seems too zoomed-in, though I like the gentle expression. Maybe too nice for Lucia...?
Subtle. Different cheekbones, looks less care-worn than the final version.
Every change in the final version is for the better, except for the eye color. What's with the chubby cheeks, what's wrong with her smile? And that nose is too small. For the record, Jean has green eyes in cutscenes on M/SegaCD.
Like Lucia, the same basic idea but completely redrawn. That doesn't look like a very comfortable way to hold your head. Eye-color goes from green to blue, even though her eyes are usually green.
That's what I singled out, but I'm curious if someone more knowledgeable about programming (DevNall?) can find more. The demo isn't playable but it does seem to run the game engine to function, so I'd like to think there's interesting stuff hidden away in there.
Hm, I'm sure I wrote up some comments when I first got the demo a couple years back, but I have no idea where, now. But I'm sure I completely overlooked the character portraits; I probably hadn't played the original game in a while. The main thing I remember from the demo is that the party formation was more or less a wedge, which you can still see in some of the sprite cutscenes. I'll have to do some digging to find my other notes.
I think most of the character portrait changes were for the best. Hiro looks kind of terrifying with his mouth open. As far as subtle character is concerned, Lucia's is probably the most important change. In the demo one she looks too calm and self-confident -- really, the portrait looks like it's of Althena (not Luna). Her final portrait is apprehensive and serious, matching her character better.
Lemina's demo portrait also looks nicer and more like Mia, perhaps at odds with her brash personality. It's possible I would like her better as a character if she'd kept the demo portrait.
Okay, all I'm getting from your comment is that you're saying that since you, the self-appointed purveyor of Lunar videos, deemed the changes you saw to be too unimportant to mention, that they're too minor to be discussing here. And I know that can't possibly be what you meant to say, on this board, where talking about these things is what we do. So I'm not getting what the point of your post is.
Alunissage wrote: Okay, all I'm getting from your comment is that you're saying that since you, the self-appointed purveyor of Lunar videos, deemed the changes you saw to be too unimportant to mention, that they're too minor to be discussing here. And I know that can't possibly be what you meant to say, on this board, where talking about these things is what we do. So I'm not getting what the point of your post is.
What I got from liquidpolicenaut's comment was a set of his own opinions on the magnitude/significance of the changes. The point was really just to elaborate on his own views, kinda like what everyone else does around here.
I'm glad they put Ruby's teeth back in. Those differences are pretty neat, and I agree, most of the changes were for the better. I wonder why the previous portraits were so bright?
I wouldn't of noticed either of them except for maybe Ruby's. I for one like some of the brighter ones well mostly Luna's and Jeans. It just seems more suitable for their character.
I would guess that the brightness of the earlier versions may have seemed too bright in contrast with the rest of the screen. Need to re-watch the demo to see them in context.