Grim Fandango Remastered

Much as remember I loving the original game and it's cinematic ally superb, the interface in the remastered one has been driving me nuts - did anyone else find this? (Specifically the inventory which seems to randomly select what object comes up when you call it.) Also even running sometimes Manny takes forever to reach some places.

Have I just become more impatient as I've grown older? (I thought you were supposed to develop patience!!)

Almost completed it now but there's absolutely no way I would have done so without looking up hints. It's no wonder Zak McKraken took my sister and I 2 years to complete in the days before just being able to look up hints / walkthroughs online!! Although weirdly I remember us completing The Secret of Monkey Island in one long, glorious sitting - didn't get much else done that day!

I haven't played the Remastered version so can't comment on the interface. For sure, though, I felt that the game was quite difficult.

Heck !!
I am expecting less frustration with mouse control

It was the navigation (plus one major bug) that made the original difficult for me - but I did get through to the end .... in the end

I haven't played the Remastered version, but I remember the inventory was a pain in the original. If I remember correctly, the first few items of inventory could be accessed directly using the "F key" associated with that particular item. But for remaining inventory items you had to use a key to advance through the inventory, one item at a time, until you got to the item you wanted, and could select it.


As for being "more impatient," it depends somewhat on whether the game makes up for any inconveniences in other ways. I thought the original Grim Fandango was worth playing despite the clumsy interface.

I also tend to be more patient with older games than with newer ones because I feel the newer ones should "know better" and "have fixed those problems by now."

@Mad - well in some ways it is better I guess, but there mouse control is overlaid with the original keyboard commands still functioning if you want them. It's a verb-coin - which is fine, I'm not a fan of verb-coins but this one works pretty well. Screen exit points are sometimes a bit unwieldy. It's not awful I guess, just feels like it could have been a lot better.

@Jenny100 - agree on the older / more modern game thing, which is I think what my issue is here - a modern "remaster" should surely feel smoother than the original? I didn't like the keyboard controls much on the original but seem to remember getting used to them pretty quickly.

I thought most people did think the controls in the Remaster were an improvement.
I don't know how the controls compare in the Remaster vs. the mouse controls in the original Grim Fandango when played using ResidualVM.


I didn't have much problem with the navigation. If I got stuck on something I just backed out.
I did have troubles with the inventory, which I thought was annoyingly fussy.

Interesting, I found the controls a lot easier in the remastered version. I'm glad I played the original, as it got me used to keyboard controls in the first place. However, the original is still a pain to navigate, a lot more so than recent keyboard controlled games. (With the exception of the new Black Mirror. That game has the worst controls I've ever encountered.) I found the remake a lot easier to get through, particularly in the section where Manny has to face the lever. Instead of having him fall off numerous times and going back to saved games, all I had to do was click on the lever, and it was done.

@venus - It is a LOOOOOOOONG time since I played the original, so it's quite possible that I was busily cursing the controls back then!

CaptainD, that's understandable. I replay old games all the time, generally several times, but I realize this is not standard behavior.

Hope you're still enjoying it, in spite of the interface.

Despite my irks with the interface and annoyance at a few of the puzzles it was still an epic journey getting to the end of this, there are some really good puzzles, fantastic characters, voice work and music, the graphics more than do their job and yes, we still enjoyed playing it (I tend to play adventure games along with my wife, we make a pretty good puzzle-solving team ). Just grumbled at it a fair few times along the way!

Glad you and your wife had fun, CaptainD. It's always fun to play with someone else and solve things together. I think a little grumbling is pretty normal for just about every game, even our favorites.

Haha I think you're right there - even SoMI gets me annoyed with the number of locations that are really only scenery! (Some people are just impossible to please eh?!?)

All adds to the fun, eh ??