Why do Suikoden II's character portraits just look worse?

[NewMoonShadow]

I can't even quite put my finger on why, but they just look uglier than any of the portraits in Suikoden 1. I know the two games had pretty different art-styles, and I appreciate them attempting to keep that distinction in the remaster, but somehow the much, MUCH darker outlines and detailing in the Suikoden II portraits just don't seem to translate as well or something.

Some characters almost look like they're embossed or something, like the mouths and eyes are sticking out from the head itself rather than being part of it.

[Action-Bastard]

The Suikoden 1 portraits were completely redone for this remake. The Suikoden 2 portraits are more or less original.

The original Suikoden 1 portraits did not age well...

[NewMoonShadow]

Ah, that makes sense. I noticed the character art used in the Suikoden II intro wasn't changed either, while Suikoden's was. I guess Suikoden 1 just got the lion's share of the attention, though it did definitely need it more. That's a shame, though. Suikoden II deserves more love than an awkward upscale.

[Ancient Toaster]

Originally posted by NewMoonShadow:

I can't even quite put my finger on why, but they just look uglier than any of the portraits in Suikoden 1. I know the two games had pretty different art-styles, and I appreciate them attempting to keep that distinction in the remaster, but somehow the much, MUCH darker outlines and detailing in the Suikoden II portraits just don't seem to translate as well or something.

Some characters almost look like they're embossed or something, like the mouths and eyes are sticking out from the head itself rather than being part of it.

You should go back and look at what the original Suikoden 1 portraits looked like in comparison to these remasters.

The portraits in Suikoden 2 are pretty much the same as they were in the original and those were already head and shoulders above the quality in the first game back on the Playstation.