Zero Punctuation: Grim Fandango - Does It Hold Up?

Adultratedhydra

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StreamerDarkly said:
So what if it's a remaster and Double Fine is firmly a medium sized studio? I smell a 2016 IndieCade grand prize winner here.
Remakes/Remasters should never be candidates for any sort of award. Also are you suggesting Tim Schafer is indie? Thats like saying Napoleon was still an Island hermit after he took control of France for a second time.
 

Fsyco

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Carl Morris said:
Fsyco said:
Or, y'know, because that fancy software you mentioned requires the original game files, and if you don't have a copy of the original game, you either have to pirate it or try your luck getting a working CD from Amazon or eBay. Oh, and the cheapest I found a used copy of GF on Amazon was about 30 bucks, which is twice what the remaster costs. Plus, it seems a lot more of a pain in the butt to fiddle around with Residual VM than to just get the remaster.

I'm not sure it counts as 'blatant' misinformation, since it seems like a really obscure, niche sort of software. They've probably just never heard of it, because they had no reason to attempt to replay Grim Fandango. You seem to be very passionate about this, though, considering that you joined today and that this is your only comment.
Of course it requires the original game files, that was the point; people saying the original doesn't work (meaning they have the original and tried to get it running).
And I don't really see how it can be considered obscure, when googling 'grim fandango on modern computer' or 'grim fandango modern pc', the first page of results brings it up or brings up a website that has a mention of it (including this very own website [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121253-Residual-VM-Stable-Release-Brings-Grim-Fandango-to-Modern-PCs])

And, well, yes, I've decided to register and comment about it here because I figured that Yahtzee, who is known to like adventure games (unlike most other reviewers I've seen who just pay lip service) will at least be one of the people who would know about this.

So yes, playing the remaster is easier, and i have no issues with it being released, obviously. But still, saying that the original is unplayable is a misconception and disinformation. If the reviewers don't know whether or not it's playable, best not to say anything about it, than to assume it's not.
Thing is, though, Grim Fandango is notorious for being unplayable on modern systems due to (among other things) a timed puzzle that was based on your processor's speed. It's one of the most common examples brought up about technical issues making older games hard to run, and as such is kind of ingrained in everyone as truth, even if a workaround exists. Besides, anyone who still owns the original game and really wants to play it would probably have come across it anyway, and why would they need to read a review about a remaster of a game that they already own? And why would the reviewer care enough to look it up, unless they specialize in the particular niche that is old-school adventure games?
 

StreamerDarkly

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Adultratedhydra said:
Remakes/Remasters should never be candidates for any sort of award. Also are you suggesting Tim Schafer is indie? Thats like saying Napoleon was still an Island hermit after he took control of France for a second time.
I myself find your remarks entirely unassailable, but IndieCade 2014 would like a word.
 

Darks63

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Interesting how you spoke on how a crash would w/o a save would cause you to quit because that's what happened to me in year two of the game.
 

Jennacide

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I still adore Grim Fandango, and was mostly pleased with the remaster. It's got a few bugs, but it is less buggy than the original version was. And some of the bugs introduced are really nothing to whine about, just minor annoyances that came about from the remaster process, like a few of the newer models not being rigged completely accurately. Case in point, when talking to the mailroom demon, you can see his part of his lower lip doesn't sync with the rest of his mouth, making a weird jagged triangle when he opens his mouth. Game is still great fun, has awesome characters, good voicework, and is geniunely funny. The last part I can't think of anything int he past decade I can claim that of, except for Psychonauts, another Schaffer work.
 

pearcinator

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The best part of 'The Dig' was when you cut that dudes hand off :p

I played through Grim Fandango Remastered (I am a big fan of Adventure games but seemed to have missed Grim) and it was pretty good. I especially liked the story and art-style but there were a few puzzles that were kind of annoying. The game crashed on me too a number of times. It's not the best adventure game I have ever played (Curse of Monkey Island) but it was good.

Are you going to review Majoras Mask 3D? I want to see what you think of the Zelda game that deviates from the norm.
 

Logience

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TKretts3 said:
Logience said:
What I meant Was: "Why did Escapist have to fire literally everyone but Yahtzee? One angry cynic does not a Website make."
In this case it kind of does. I get the sentiment from a lot of people myself, and I admit I carry it as well, that Yhatzee is the only reason they visit the Escapist for videos. I still read Critical Miss and Experienced Points, but those are take-it-or-leave-it for me. Without """""""Yhatzee""""""""""" I probably wouldn't be on this site anymore.
And that's the thing. Escapist has structured itself solely around Croshaw to the point where it seems they fired all their previous hangers-on less for public controversy, but more because Croshaw was escalating his paycheck. It's incredibly near-sighted, and the man could just ditch this entire site and make it die in an INSTANT if he ever gets bored with it.

Show of hands, everyone: Who would stay on this website if Zero Punctuation ended for any reason whatsoever?

Personally, I found a couple of the recent layoffs in the last couple months to actually be more entertaining than Croshaw. Every show left now is just news updates and/or clickbait, like No Wrong Answer. If Croshaw died today, I would leave, but if he died last month, I would stay.
 

Dalisclock

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I enjoyed the original game greatly and it was nice to play it again with the remake.

I'm also less annoyed at DF for perpetually delaying the second half of broken age....for the moment.

Give it a month or so without having hit beta and I'll be back to really annoyed again.
 

Metalrocks

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lol, crashes? i never had a single crash what so ever. the game ran flawlessly since i got it from day 1 on. but it was good to play it again on a modern system since the the original doesnt work at all for me.
 

Miral

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Dalisclock said:
I'm also less annoyed at DF for perpetually delaying the second half of broken age....for the moment.

Give it a month or so without having hit beta and I'll be back to really annoyed again.
They actually just announced that it hit beta yesterday. Although it's the weird sort of "in house beta" that some people claim isn't beta at all, so take that however you like.


And not that Yahtzee ever reads the comments, but he should really finish The Dig sometime. It gets a little cheesy at the end maybe but it's a great ride. Still one of my all-time favourite adventure games.
 

CaitSeith

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pearcinator said:
The best part of 'The Dig' was when you cut that dudes hand off :p
For some reason that sounded way more creepy than I remember.
 

4Aces

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Logience said:
why does this entire site revolve around Yahtzee, again?
Perhaps due to the fact that he is the major draw. The others are/were interesting and informative, but Yahtzee is what keeps brining us back.


"Miserable Foxtrot" - nice!
 

l0lwut

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Good point about the save system. I fully applaud save anywhere games and applaud them wherever they go, but without auto save to serve as backup I just find myself paranoidly saving every few minutes. Wouldn't be so bad if it had quicksave but, well, it doesn't. I also don't get the frequent crashes, surely Double Fine has the capacity and the expertise to properly test this product before release?

All in all a bit of a poor update of an otherwise great game that for me was one of the pinnacles of adventure gaming (the last one even). Would still recommend to those who haven't played it before or those who wanted to replay it but just couldn't get over the horrid tank controls (like me!).
 

Blackbird71

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Logience said:
Show of hands, everyone: Who would stay on this website if Zero Punctuation ended for any reason whatsoever?
I'm probably in the minority, but personally I never bother with ZP; I come for Shamus.
 

Dragonbums

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Logience said:
Show of hands, everyone: Who would stay on this website if Zero Punctuation ended for any reason whatsoever?
I mean, I really don't come here for Zero Punctuation at all. I really dropped the show after the shit he pulled in the Link Between Worlds review, where it was horrendously obvious to everyone that 1. He never even played the game because he was rehashing the same talking points prior to the games release and made no mention of the 3D-to-2D aspect of the gameplay, and 2. He spent all but 40 seconds of his video talking about the game only to go on yet another tangent about Nintendo and the Wii U.

Also that instance where he called his audience unimportant stupids, that have no business commenting on his stuff because they aren't paid to comment therefore their comments are worth less than shit on a toilet paper.

I mainly came for Jim, and honestly the only thing keeping me here is the fact that the forums still kind of pull me in, but that's honestly it.
 

sunshine89

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the harp strikes again. *sigh* he'll eventually get it right... right?

yup, i'm still here and still doing this. man, i should get a job...