I, like yourselves, have played countless games of Talisman. I've extensively played the 2nd edition, slightly less the 4th, and least of all the 3rd. I have likes and dislikes about all three said versions, however, my favorite by far is the 4th w/ revision. I'll mainly be discussing herein the 2nd and 4th, and more specifically, the artwork of those editions.

I was incredibly excited when I found out that Black Industries was going to revamp my favorite board game. I pre-ordered it as soon as possible and waited anxiously. I couldn't be happier with the box top artwork and the game board itself. The adventure, spell, purchase, etc. cards are also great. My discontent arrived when I began looking through the character cards. Not all of them are causes for grumbling, but some (elf, warrior, prophetess, [football-headed] ghoul) are not quite true to the description of the characters.

Take a look at your character cards, or google them (most are on BGG).

1.) Who does the Warrior think he's going to damage in that preposterous position? Remember when he donned a horned helmet and looked remotely warrior-ish?

2.) The prophetess used to be darker and more mysterious; now she looks empty headed - not a quality a prophetess should possess. "Ooh, look at this pretty glowing ball."

3.) Elf looks like he's posing for school pictures.

4.) Ghoul's head, although not the biggest qualm, is a green, spotty, football.

5.) Sorceress: better off ugly?

The rest of the characters are pretty good. Anybody agree? Disagree?

I think I am on record here before saying that I thought that the artwork of the characters seriously lets down the game.

The cards are in general excellent but the characters range from pityful to awful.

I think that they are left over from the original 4th edition but then the new characters from the expansions are no better.

I don't have them to hand but could not remember any that I thought were any good.

the character cards range from acceptable to horrible in my book. Mega is right on with his descriptions. I would add one more that is a pet peeve of mine, the wizard doesn't look nearly as evil as he used to, unless you think Santa Claus is evil. The only redeeming feature is that his magic book is floating in front of him which is way better than the 2nd editions wizard whose primary ability appeared to be pot-rattling. If only there was an artist talented enough to draw the 2E wizard with a floating book....