Let's talk about the Magic elephant in the room...

[Frission]

https://prnt.sc/BJjNTgFMFNgi

Anyone else spot the difference? XD What the heccy? As far as I can tell, Magic is the only merc to get this treatment, too.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

https://youtu.be/p6fRdjjYOOY?feature=shared&t=8705
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USNmRFKF4lk

definitely a slight change in style, but probably way more significant in other mercs. also as non-american i fail to notice any local dialect.
still nice to hear after all those years.

from a pure picture viewpoint, i´d take the change in overall color & artstyle from other mercs in consideration too.
for example Vickys change from JA2 to JA3
or
Ices changes from JA1 to 2 to 3
or
Thors change from 2 to 3.
just to name a few.
dont remember his JA2 ingame model.


anyway, JA1s magic picture is still the best, simply bc it´s grim aF.
not a fan of the cap.

[Echo]

Definitely not a fan of the cap either.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

since we get a map editor for free and this is the only current year not-disappointment-videogame, i´d pay a couple of bucks for different picture artstyles, if they come with a full body shot and possibly some different outfits. give the art guys something to do.

sure mods exist, but so far, i haven´t seen a single merc-mod that´s fitting, quality wise.

[Big Mad Wolf]

The curly black hair is the most obvious indicator for Magic always being black, rather atypical for a caucasian origin dude, if I am not mistaken.

Also Mercs are still people, so changes is not unreasonable in the time passed between games.

[Keyboard Cowboy]

The cap and leather jacket makes him look like a 70's pornstar.

[spineduke]

lookhowtheymassacredmyboy.gif

Its probably the worst redesign out of all the mercenaries. Most landed really well but Magic is some weird statistical anomaly of what the eff. I'd love someone to redo his artworks to be more in line with his original designs, because the goofy hat and all is so out of character.

The OG character exuded a ton of charisma and danger, this one looks like he should be up on a Broadway theater.

[Echo]

Originally posted by spineduke:

The OG character exuded a ton of charisma and danger, this one looks like he should be up on a Broadway theater doing some tap dancing.

Yep, that pretty much nails it.

[Trolleur_Durden]

Come on, Magic is fine, he just started playing golf with all the dough he made in JA2, hence the cap.

The worst redesign for me is by far Scully, before he had the style of Patrick Swayze from Point Break, and now he looks like an Australian safari manager.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

i kinda agree with the OP on the case of magic, but as said, this might be down to the artstyle. also fidel didnt spent a lot of time in the sun in recent years. so counterexamples exist, but that doesnt mean anyone has to like those changes. it´s more of a case of "it is what it is" (until you change it).

some merc pics have a more positive/"smiley" (not the annoying one) or at least neutral look to them. obviously not reaper, but extremly noticeable in scully, magic or wolf, hell even fox.

that´s also kinda noticeable in the dialoge.
story-wise (from memory at least), a years-long dictatorship under deidranna obviously will have more of an impact on the population than "just" a recent "milita" taken over a section of the country. both obviously have nothing to do with the mercs themselves, but aligning their attitude a notch towards the "less grim" scenario seems understandable. havent really have an opinion on how more JA2-ish attituded mercs would "feel" in JA3.

also since dialog is obviously affected, simply changing the pictures should increase a clear disconnect from "what the picture looks like" vs what´s said.
haven´t played all mercs, so i dont know if huge disconnects already exists, but since one of the most important factors of this IP is >the mercs< themselves, changing pics might actually hurt the game.

personally not somethind i´d risk by simply adding alternative pictures without a clearcut warning that this is not what the game was intended as; like the hit-% thing, but actually WAY more impactful when it comes to soul.

also since it´s current year (but also the IPs history), we can all be quite thankful that the devs managed to make a good game, rather than f___ing up like pretty much everyone else.

[BT]

Originally posted by Kryten:

Magic was never white, sorry. The old pictures maybe show some lighter tone than now, but clearly not white even in the first one. Besides him getting a bit older, I do not see much difference.

I thought that he didn’t look like Magic when I saw his new portrait but never bothered to check the old ones.