Ok, so it has been about 20 years between playing but I played a LOT when I was a kid.
I pretty much remembered everything in worrying detail from all those years ago.
We played since the 1st edition, replaced with the 2nd and expanded through Expansion, Adventure & Dungeon.

About a year ago, a random conversation led me to think once again of
Talisman, which lead to an internet search, which lead to Talisman Island, which led to news
of a new version, which lead me here....

As some may have realised from earlier posts, I am fussy about art work. It was one of the things that first
drew me to Talisman in the first place.

Have the new Dungeon sitting there but not played yet. My son is only one year old and would
rather eat the cards than tactically deploy them so games are limited as he keeps us busy.

So as I don't get to play it, I will talk about it...

So, if you are interested, this is what I think of the new version. ( My opinion only, not fact )

I'll start with the good news:

The construction is pretty good, in fact the stock used for the board, box and cards have a lovely feel to them
vast improvement over the 2nd edition.

Deck Cards

These are fantastic, the artwork is great, great feel. Size slightly smaller than 2nd edition
but not a problem. Characters are especially good, some of the objects are a little weak (Amulet springs to mind)
Very happy and Reaper and Dungeon expansions, just as good. I like the backs too. Some of the colouring is a little
similar but no mix-ups yet.

Board

It's BIG! My word it is big. About 50% by the looks of it. Just about fits on the table,
not too sure how it will cope with the L-shaped expansions. The scale works for me though, you get
the sense of a whole realm and from a distance looks great.

Once you get closer however, I am still not comfortable with the artwork on the board.
The corner spaces in the outer region are ok (Tavern,Village,City,Chapel) and I really like the Sentinal.
Middle region only really has the Portal of Power and even Black Knight is not as bad as I had feared but that is about it.
Vampire's Tower is good and I like the Crown of Command but I think it takes up too much space.
(Room for a future expansion maybe?)

The Storm River is alright, I think more could have been done to make it look less like a stream
but the concept of the Fire Mountains have gone completely.

The Parchment effect for the description of each space is actually pretty readable which is at a cost to the
colour scheme that designated each area before (Outer=Green, Middle=Blue, Inner=Red) and I am not too sure,
it feels like an artificial barrier. I can see how it makes for better readability though.

But my biggest complaint are the normal spaces. Each one seems to have the need for something in it. Plains have a big tree in the
middle of it, or a random gallows or 40 foot signpost. Woods and Forest don't have any trees in them at all! There is a
compulsory path that traverses every space which is actually really annoying. The fields look like they were drawn in
crayon.

I think they have tried to include a coast which has altered the perspective but then they have littered the space with
objects that break that perspective. Sorry, it just does not work for me.
The one-off spaces like Hidden Valley, Oasis, Ruins etc are so weedy. There is a huge space and then a tiny picture in the middle.
This is even worse in the Inner Region as the Mines and Crypt look like you can just walk straight past. What happened to the Fire
in the Valley of Fire?

The Dungeon however is a vast improvement, the art fills the space and gives you a feeling of where you are.
I think that maybe FFG took the main board from the BI version? I would have preferred if they had their own artists do it
as they seem to have done a better job. Lord of Darkness looks brilliant but would have liked him to be bigger and more dominating.

Characters

Oh dear. I'm sorry but what on earth happened here?
I am going to take a wild guess here that these too were carried over from the BI version.
I am also going to guess that the Druid and Sorceress were done first, possibly some time before
the rest of the characters. The reason for this is that they are actually drawn pretty well.
The others, well generally, they aren't. I think that one artist was used for those two and was not available for the remainder.
It is such a shame, I love the card stock, the larger size is great, everything about the character cards
is great, apart from the image. The miniatures are actually a lot better than the art they are based on.

Sadly, this is an area that the expansions have not really improved on. Dark Cultist is good. Amazon, not. Really not.
It is such a shame, the deck cards in the expansions are superb, really classy.

So, that is it, my wife has just come in an laughed at me for being such a geek, she likes the board and thinks the art is great.
What does everyone else think? Agree? Not? Not bothered?

I must say that the art on the main board is too easy in comparison to the dungeon board.

The dungeon looks so much better !

Haven't seen the dungeon up close, so can only compared based on samples and promo shots; it's obviously superior to the main board visually.

As to size... the cliche is "it matters"; the problem is that bigger is not better. The BI made their board bigger, then FFG had to one up them. Sound like a p***ing contest? This is about the time that the two studs find that every woman in the place has left with with someone else.

There was no need to overwhelm my entire dining room table and leave me little to no room for expansion boards. It served no purpose, especialy for the step down in art... and contrast... and color scheming... with 2nd edition being perfectly readable at nearly half the square footage. Yet the adventure cards were made smaller... hmmm? Ah, but then the Character Cards .... gotta make 'em BIG... BIGGER! I'm so confused now.

And overall, the changes are pointless, superficial, sometimes inconvenient, and really unnecessary for anything except company (re)branding.

I would like to by the new Dungeon... it looks wonderful... but I literally have no room for it on my table. And my knees can't take hours on the floor anymore.

I enjoy the art of the second edition characters. The art of the fourth edition characters is interesting, I did not like them at first but have grown to actually really like them. The miniatures are great and bring fantasy theme to the game.

Just recieved Dungeon in the mail today and was blown away at the amount of attention that was put forth into the board art. Excellent work.

So far I still have the hairs on my neck stand up when the game is at its mid way point, just looks absolutly awsome.(Anf thats without the Dungeon)

The artwork of the Dungeon Board suffers from being too detailed for a cramped space IMO. The main board is larger and more open with the art. Both are good though.