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Grim Fandango Remastered |OT| The Excelsior Line Edition

Elios83

Member
I'm actually on year 3 now

Aahaha you must know the game from memory.
While I'm pretty much in the same boat as you for year 1 (until you're past the forest), I really don't remember the solutions to the rest of the puzzles so a good chunk of the game will still feel somewhat new to me =)
 

Boem

Member
Finished year 1, walked around Rubacava a bit. I'll save the rest for later, I'm supposed to be doing other things and these games are more fun for me if I take it slow. It's really great so far. I've missed Manny.

The only slightly buggy thing (Steam version) I ran into was
that the 2 commentary tracks in the Lost Souls Alliance would stop too early. Turned out it was because of the radio in that room - when the radio starts making the sounds the commentary stops. You'll have to make Gloria(?) stop fiddling with the thing and then you can listen to the commentary.

Apart from that the game runs supersmoothly for me. Love the new graphics, I'm always switching back to the old look for a bit when a new character shows up. Love the difference it makes.
 
Aahaha you must know the game from memory.
While I'm pretty much in the same boat as you for year 1 (until you're past the forest), I really don't remember the solutions to the rest of the puzzles so a good chunk of the game will still feel somewhat new to me =)

The thing is, I think you probably don't forget the solutions to some of the incredibly difficult puzzles because it was such a huge relief solving them back in the day.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Man, I think "remastered" is a bit of a stretch here. They improved the renderer but, for the most part, it really isn't a big upgrade.

I suppose there isn't much that could have been done, though. I doubt they have the original assets used to create the backgrounds so they were stuck with 640x480 pre-rendered assets. The models, though, could have been improved further, I think. The filtering used on the backgrounds isn't great either - there aren't a ton of great options there, I suppose, but I think it could have been handled better.

The Vita port also runs quite poorly which seems insane to me.
 

Haxxona

Banned
LOL that part is universally hated :p



It's not a technical problem though, it has more to do with the fact that SCEA and SCEE are two different companies and they handle updates independently.
It sucks that we have to wait an extra day for some games but most people don't care or even know, they just look at their regional store.
When I told my friends that I (also) have a US account and I have to buy PSN cards from play asia to buy stuff on the US store they think I'm some kind of crazy hacker to go to that extent....and actually it's a pretty simple thing to do.
I know its not a technical issue but a company should have a little more sense to things like these. The companies are sister companiea and should therefore have something like this in sync. There is no excuse and creating a US account shouldn't be necessary.
Nontheless its a cumbersome situation which shouldnt exist.
 
Aahaha you must know the game from memory.
While I'm pretty much in the same boat as you for year 1 (until you're past the forest), I really don't remember the solutions to the rest of the puzzles so a good chunk of the game will still feel somewhat new to me =)

I actually haven't played for like a decade. Past Year 1 I have no idea what I'm doing. I just played without stopping for over 6 hours.
 

Number45

Member
Man, I think "remastered" is a bit of a stretch here. They improved the renderer but, for the most part, it really isn't a big upgrade.

I suppose there isn't much that could have been done, though. I doubt they have the original assets used to create the backgrounds so they were stuck with 640x480 pre-rendered assets. The models, though, could have been improved further, I think. The filtering used on the backgrounds isn't great either - there aren't a ton of great options there, I suppose, but I think it could have been handled better.
I'll play it on the Vita then...

The Vita port also runs quite poorly which seems insane to me.
Damn it!

Hmm, what to do. It doesn't help that I suck at working out puzzle games like this. >_<
 
I'm surprised that I'm missing some of the trophies. I'll have to a quick playthrough after I beat to play with tank controls and pick up anything I missed.

Also the Sea Bees achievement is annoying
 
Ugh... I think I fucked up
I was one of the people who preordered and preloaded the game on PS4, so this morning I turned on the PS4, deleted Grim Fandango and then noticed there was a "Buy for free" button on its page. Thinking that would fix it, I clicked it, and now I have the license for it but it hasn't downloaded anything onto my PS4, there's nothing in the "System storage management" to suggest that Grim was downloaded, and when I click "Start" on the store page, it just says "this content could not be found". :/ anyone else had this issue?
 
Ugh... I think I fucked up
I was one of the people who preordered and preloaded the game on PS4, so this morning I turned on the PS4, deleted Grim Fandango and then noticed there was a "Buy for free" button on its page. Thinking that would fix it, I clicked it, and now I have the license for it but it hasn't downloaded anything onto my PS4, there's nothing in the "System storage management" to suggest that Grim was downloaded, and when I click "Start" on the store page, it just says "this content could not be found". :/ anyone else had this issue?

A lot of people had this issue. Try downloading from your download queue on the web store and see if that fixes it.
 

cheesekao

Member
Ugh... I think I fucked up
I was one of the people who preordered and preloaded the game on PS4, so this morning I turned on the PS4, deleted Grim Fandango and then noticed there was a "Buy for free" button on its page. Thinking that would fix it, I clicked it, and now I have the license for it but it hasn't downloaded anything onto my PS4, there's nothing in the "System storage management" to suggest that Grim was downloaded, and when I click "Start" on the store page, it just says "this content could not be found". :/ anyone else had this issue?
Try downloading the game through the SEN web store.
 

Fonds

Member
The thing is, I think you probably don't forget the solutions to some of the incredibly difficult puzzles because it was such a huge relief solving them back in the day.

I really hope I've forgotten most of the solutions... If the Monkey Island SE's are any indication, probably not though.
 

Calmine

Member
So any word on it being up on UK store yet? I would really like to play tonight. Sucks that if not. Extra day is horrible.
 
The thing is, I think you probably don't forget the solutions to some of the incredibly difficult puzzles because it was such a huge relief solving them back in the day.

I forgot everything outside of the first 25%. I was also like 10 when I first played.

The FUCK? I...I was totally planning on playing this exclusively on my Vita.

I preordered this shit.

Don't play with remaster graphics and it should be fine. It's 30 FPS though.

I still have the countdown timer on mine. What's the fix for this?

Try downloading the free version in the PSN store and then verifying your licenses via settings - PSN. If that doesn't work delete the game from your PS4 and redownload through the SEN website.
 

Ambitious

Member
Really excited for this remaster. I'm going in blind; all I know about the game is the basic premise and like three or four screenshots.
Not sure whether to play it on PS4 or Vita. But apparently it supports cross-save, so why not both?

edit: Just saw this:

The Vita port also runs quite poorly which seems insane to me.
 
Update: downloading through the site didn't work because I have two PS4s in my house. The one in our bedroom is activated as Primary and the one in the living room (the one I'm trying to download it on) is secondary. So I can't force it to download via the website.

I really, really wish they'd do away with the Primary/Secondary nonsense and put it back to the PS3 way of two primary, fully activated systems.
 

Aaron D.

Member
Started my Steam download before heading out to work this morning.

Only hurdle now is to remain productive for the next 8 or so hours.
 
Update: downloading through the site didn't work because I have two PS4s in my house. The one in our bedroom is activated as Primary and the one in the living room (the one I'm trying to download it on) is secondary. So I can't force it to download via the website.

I really, really wish they'd do away with the Primary/Secondary nonsense and put it back to the PS3 way of two primary, fully activated systems.

Can you download it on your bedroom PS4? If so can you switch the living room to primary temporarily so you can send it to that PS4 for now?
 
So I have never played or even heard about Grim Fandango before until last year. What is the story like and how good is it? Whats the gameplay like?

Basic premise is you play as a grim reaper who works for the Department of Death. You find recently deceased people and sell them travel plans to the afterlife. You are currently stuck because of sins committed when alive and are working to get to the afterlife. The story and writing are top notch. Some of the best out there in gaming. The gameplay is a standard point and click style but done in 3D with direct control of the protagonist.
 
Reading the Steam forums (I know, first mistake) it appears to be quite buggy. Everyone on PC feeling fine playing the original?

Btw, first impressions on the remastered graphics.... That it?
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
So I have never played or even heard about Grim Fandango before until last year. What is the story like and how good is it? Whats the gameplay like?

Its an adventure game. Point & Click style (besides this one is not point and click originally). Those adventures to collect stuff and solve puzzles.

About the story I dont know cause never played. But people claim to be one of the best Lucasarts games, so it may be pretty damn good.
 
So I have never played or even heard about Grim Fandango before until last year. What is the story like and how good is it? Whats the gameplay like?

It is written by Tim Schafer, so the humor is legitimately good. Good writing is the strength of the title in that sense. The story tells the tale of a disgruntled public servant living in a corrupt Film Noir world of the dead inspired by Dia de Los Muertos. But that doesn't affect much what you do, like most point and click adventure games the gameplay is about solving puzzles that revolve about finding items.
 

Wolff

Member
Update: downloading through the site didn't work because I have two PS4s in my house. The one in our bedroom is activated as Primary and the one in the living room (the one I'm trying to download it on) is secondary. So I can't force it to download via the website.

I really, really wish they'd do away with the Primary/Secondary nonsense and put it back to the PS3 way of two primary, fully activated systems.

Are you trying to download the game from the PS Store page of the game? If so that might be the problem. I was trying to download from there but it doesn't work.

You have to put your cursor on top of your ID on the upper right corner of the page, go to "download list" and ask to download from there. Then it will be added to your download queue.

OP should add this detail there, because it seems many people are trying to download from the game's page, which will not work.
 
Btw, first impressions on the remastered graphics.... That it?

For a $15 re-release I don't see it being that big of an issue. Too high of character models on the low quality 2D backgrounds would have been really off-putting and no access to the original 2D backgrounds made upping them too big of a project for the small release they were aiming for. It would have required a full remake for that.

Overall I'm just glad that I can actually purchase the game again.
 
Are you trying to download the game from the PS Store page of the game? If so that might be the problem. I was trying to download from there but it doesn't work.

You have to put your cursor on top of your ID on the upper right corner of the page, go to "download list" and ask to download from there. Then it will be added to your download queue.

OP should add this detail there, because it seems many people are trying to download from the game's page, which will not work.
Nah, from the download list. It's just it only lets you download to your primary PS4 which is not what I'm trying to do. So I have to switch which of my PS4s are activated as primary for a moment just to do this.
 
Overall I'm just glad that I can actually purchase the game again.
Oh me too, believe me- I guess I would just say I'd rather they saved the effort and just made it compatible with modern PC displays, releasing it months ago instead of hype-training it up.

But then again, I'm realizing there's a large portion of people who haven't heard of Grim Fandango as the holy grail that it is.
 

Boem

Member
Reading the Steam forums (I know, first mistake) it appears to be quite buggy. Everyone on PC feeling fine playing the original?

Btw, first impressions on the remastered graphics.... That it?

Never had any problems, played a couple of hours (just beyond the start of year 2). I guess the system requirements are higher than people expected? The new lighting takes a bit of a toll I guess, but you can turn it off (and you can also go completely back to the classic look) but that'd be a shame, it looks really good with everything turned up.

No crashes/glitches/whatever on my part. The only bug I encountered was one room where the commentary track wouldn't completely play because it'd stop when another sound (from the environment) started playing. It was easily solved, I just had to make sure the sound stopped playing and then I could listen to the commentary. (Light) Spoilers for where it was (it was in year 1):
In the Lost Souls Alliance, the sound of the radio overrides the commentary. Talking to the character operating the radio stops the radio sounds, which means you can listen to the commentary.

Apart from that, like I said, no problems at all.

As for the graphics, I think it's actually quite the improvement. They have always been honest about how much they were going to change, and the high-res character models really add a lot for me. If they changed the backgrounds (which still look good today) they would have to basically rebuild all of it - I would have rather had them spend that time and money on making a new adventure game. The backgrounds didn't really need updating - and looking at how bad the Monkey Island special editions turned out - I'm very glad they didn't try to 'fix' what didn't need fixing. The character models didn't age as well, so I'm glad they got an update. The concept art (a lot of which wasn't made public before), commentary tracks (which is a goldmine for those fans who want to know all those crazy forgotten details) and updated soundtrack is just icing on the cake for me.

Extremely happy with this.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Reading the Steam forums (I know, first mistake) it appears to be quite buggy. Everyone on PC feeling fine playing the original?

Btw, first impressions on the remastered graphics.... That it?

I kind of feel that it'll be wrong to do too much to it, because it's such a classic partly because of its fantastic art style that still really holds up.
 
Apart from that, like I said, no problems at all.
catBREATHING%20INTENSIFIES.gif
.
 
The only thing I found disappointing so far is that they weren't able to separate the matte from low poly characters in the pre-rendered cut scenes where there is a locked off camera. It's slightly jarring going from one to the other. If they had the original animation mattes it might have been possible. For instance when Gladdis slips out of her shack it's quite poor.

Perhaps that's more work than it seems though.
 

epmode

Member
Man, I think "remastered" is a bit of a stretch here. They improved the renderer but, for the most part, it really isn't a big upgrade.

It's a lot more hands-off than many remasters but I'm eternally grateful for the fixed audio (I get a bunch of audio pops in residualVM) and the redone score. I'm much happier with this than I'd be with a straight 640x480 rerelease of the original version.

It helps that the great art design makes up for the other technical shortcomings.
 

chronosic

Member
So I just bought this on PS4 and it won't let me download it. It just gives me the option to start, I hit that and it says "application cannot be found, find on PlayStation store?". I hit that and am presented to just start the game again, which has not downloaded. What gives?
 
So I just bought this on PS4 and it won't let me download it. It just gives me the option to start, I hit that and it says "application cannot be found, find on PlayStation store?". I hit that and am presented to just start the game again, which has not downloaded. What gives?

Try downloading the free version in the PSN store and then verifying your licenses via settings - PSN. If that doesn't work delete the game from your PS4 and redownload through the SEN website.

.

Same problem here, bought it today (about 6 hours ago).
Clicking to download on the website doesn't work to.

Did you go through your download list or through the listing on the page?
 
So I just bought this on PS4 and it won't let me download it. It just gives me the option to start, I hit that and it says "application cannot be found, find on PlayStation store?". I hit that and am presented to just start the game again, which has not downloaded. What gives?

Same problem here, bought it today (about 6 hours ago).
Clicking to download on the website doesn't work to.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
One big question is and I don't know if this has already been mentioned here, why didn't the developers add in an auto-save feature? Why only 8 slots to save your game? More so with the many reports saying the game is buggy and can crash.

And why no hint system? Hell even Broken Sword 2 re-mastered had that!
 

cheesekao

Member
So I just bought this on PS4 and it won't let me download it. It just gives me the option to start, I hit that and it says "application cannot be found, find on PlayStation store?". I hit that and am presented to just start the game again, which has not downloaded. What gives?
Try downloading the game through your download list on the SEN web store.
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