Grim Fandango Is Still Absolutely Amazing. (A Retrospective.)

[@thesummerofmark]

Great video brother

[@arkham666]

@@thesummerofmark thanks as always mate.

[@TheArtkaw]

The ending as the train departs and the orchestra swells never fails to make me shed a tear.

[@arkham666]

It's really beautiful for sure.

[@evilweevle]

my biggest grim fandango revalation was by chance catching an episode of "ugly Betty" on TV and realising that Bettys father is played by none other than Tony Plana himself (the voice of Manny Calavera). Such an iconic voice. If you grew up in the 90s and played PC games im sure his voice would stand out to you in an instant like it did for me.

[@ladyazalea6131]

This gave me the biggest hit of nostalgia- I thought I had imagined a point and click game where you controlled death as a child; but as soon as I saw that name everything came back. Thank you for reintroducing me to this masterpiece

[@arkham666]

@@ladyazalea6131 that was the plan lol. 90s gamers unite.

[@NordkapSounddesign]

I remember back in the 90s in IT class we had to create/write a website. We had free hand about the topic. Mine was about grim fandango, with character section, story, synopsis, gallery and more. It got me a best grade. 😅

[@arkham666]

@@NordkapSounddesign I believe the kids today call that based.

[@ilostabuttonhole]

This was well put together, thank you. Grim forever

[@Deadforge]

Shit I need to play Grim Fandango now, haha. It's been too long, my friend. It's good to be back and see you making heartfelt videos.

[@Deadforge]

It might sound weird, but your voice and all that you do here is intrinsically linked to my own journey towards what I love creating on KZbin. It's always good to see you release a video, man.

[@arkham666]

@@Deadforge I have a similar thing with Avalanche. He was the first guy I found not making rant based review content and made me realize it could be done and people actually wanted to see it.

[@misterkefir]

Great channel you have here, man. Really good videos. Cheers.

[@arkham666]

@@misterkefir thank you.

[@nielsvandalen32]

Incredible video. One of my favourite games of all time.

[@arkham666]

@@nielsvandalen32 truly one of the best ever.

[@DuggyDarko]

Your experience with this game mirrors mine almost exactly. Grim Fandango is one of my favourite games of all time. The characters, the story, the writing, the music, the art direction are all perfect to me.

[@arkham666]

@@DuggyDarko stop it or I'll have to replay it again

[@DuggyDarko]

@@arkham666 I'm due a replay. I haven't played it through entirely since I originally finished it back in 1998. I have the remaster but never got around to playing it.

[@shanewhite6994]

This is the video I've been waiting for someone to make for years now. Thank you.

[@arkham666]

@@shanewhite6994 check out Ragnar Rox's coverage too. It's a great video

[@rubyradar]

Fantastic video, I really enjoyed this and it's definitely got me itching to dust off my own copy again. Loved the mention of Primordia's hint system too, definitely felt like it's your style of game, a shame it's so short! Thanks for the wonderful nostalgia trip, I'll be looking forward to that halloween special 😁

[@arkham666]

@@rubyradar thank you glad you enjoyed it.

[@ouaueaioh]

The only thing bad about your video, is that now I will add another game to my never ending backlog!

[@arkham666]

@@ouaueaioh or, hear me out here, bump this one right to the front of the line and finish it this weekend. You'll thank me later.

[@InfoGuyGaming]

Adventure games from the 90's did have some great humor, fun video.👍

[@seanfager8063]

A lot of what you said in your review : a love for quality point and clicks, the nature of what "good graphics" changing over time, intuitizing the interface for the user, the importance of having a strong director who doesn't need to compromise their vision, the value of good pacing... Makes me think you might enjoy "McPixel 3". I fell in love with that game this year - you can sometimes get it on sale for about 2 US$, I'd recommend going in entirely blind when it's down to the 'I can afford to take a bet at this price' level.

[@arkham666]

@@seanfager8063 I'll keep an eye on it.

[@christopherjamesster]

another great one!

[@arkham666]

@@christopherjamesster thank you

[@attackofthelobotomites]

Fantastic video!

[@arkham666]

@@attackofthelobotomites no you!

[@drshemp1]

Love your coverage of the old classics bro! keep it up!

[@arkham666]

@@drshemp1 thank you

[@CassHadleyMusik]

Truly glad to see this tonight! Keep it up! I’d love to see you take on more PC adventure games in the future

[@arkham666]

@@CassHadleyMusik I've got a whole backlog to get through lol.

[@danielsavage7123]

What a game. Imagine simultaneously being the best game in your genre, and also the game that killed the genre (for a long while anyway). Truly impressive. Great video, mate. Subbed.

[@arkham666]

@@danielsavage7123 thank you. Thankfully indie devs are now making all kinds of wonderful graphical adventures again

[@danielsavage7123]

@@arkham666 I'm sure you've already played it, but Unavowed is my favourite modern point and click.

[@arkham666]

@@danielsavage7123 I have yet to play it but Primordia was published by the same people, though developed by a solo dev. I'll pick it up when I get chance.

[@MonkeyKingsformerroomate]

I watched "Three Amigos" Two days ago. I had no idea Jefe (Tony Plana) was in this game and the lead.

[@arkham666]

@@MonkeyKingsformerroomate he's quite the legend.

[@COZYFORREAL]

Oh yes, this one we will watch

[@arkham666]

@@COZYFORREAL glad to hear it. It's an absolute classic.

[@eerieghosts]

My fall-asleep vid for tonight 🫶 Thank you! 🙏

[@arkham666]

@@eerieghosts you're welcome.

[@DavidStrife7]

Completely forgot about the remaster! Guess it's time to pick it up. Good video.

[@arkham666]

Yeah its the best of the double fine games remasters. A lot of people didn't like the graphical "upgrades" to the old Scumm engine ones.

[@kaidorade1317]

My end of the weekend video. Thank you!

[@arkham666]

You're welcome.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

19:15 this part is so well-said

[@iiiuuuiii]

such a classic. amazing ost too

[@arkham666]

@@iiiuuuiii yeah I wish I knew more about music I never feel like I do the soundtracks justice in my videos.

[@TheArtkaw]

Wild to think this game ran on a modified Jedi Knight engine. I do have a feeling you’ll find Beneath a Steel Sky fascinating and really enjoy sequel Beyond a Steel Sky…

[@arkham666]

@@TheArtkaw I've played a good chunk of it and I've got the sequel on gog. I plan on driving in eventually.

[@bogdanflorin9335]

Commenting for the algorithm.

[@sueflewelling3657]

Great video ps have you heard of overlord

[@arkham666]

@@sueflewelling3657 yes but I've yet to play it.

[@sueflewelling3657]

​@@arkham666do you know overlord 2 and overlord dark legend

[@arkham666]

@@sueflewelling3657 I've heard of them. looks like 2 is on G.o.G

[@sueflewelling3657]

​@@arkham666will you get the chance to play them

[@arkham666]

@@sueflewelling3657 i mean never say never but it's not a high priority at the moment anyway.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

I remember this, but I never played

[@arkham666]

@@ProjectRedfoot if you didn't figure it out from the video, I recommend that you do.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

@@arkham666 lol I understand and I take your recommendation to heart

[@nairae2501]

notification gang >:)

[@arkham666]

@@nairae2501 someone senses a skelly

[@Mafon2]

IMHO, the game could have been slashed in half. Its mid section is tedious. It also lacks the artistic expression, saddly, those angular designs look cool on paper, but in 3D they are just crude low-poly, the prerendered backgrounds also look sterile. Add to this overall atmosphere that is far too mature for an average gamer, and it's no brainer that it failed to capture the mass market.

[@arkham666]

As you can no doubt tell from the tone of my video this is a point we disagree on. I enjoyed this from start to finish but I'm not gonna kid myself that I'm the main stream audience and as I talk about in the intro, games in 1998 were very different from this. So you're definitely right that something didn't work at the time. Still the game did find its audience and got a well received remaster in the end.

[@Mafon2]

@@arkham666 I'm not sure there's a point we disagree on xD (maybe on the subject of puzzles?). It's a good game, and many years after finishing it I'd been naming my main char "Manny", but the descision to go 3D blockbuster route was clearly a mistake. I reckon, LucasArts could have pushed a few more adventures, if they scaled back to AA budgets.

[@JanVP1]

Gamespot's 1998 pc (!) game of the year (on consoles it was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

[@arkham666]

I'm curious if you were actually feeling as smug as you come across when you felt the need to drop this earth shattering fact bomb on me? I hope it made your day.

[@JanVP1]

Not my intention (I just turned 50 and not good at socials) - just fan of the game too.

[@arkham666]

@JanVP1 you know what I'm gonna eat this one. Completely my bad. I read this when I'd just woke up and instead of putting my phone down, typed out the first response that came to mind without any consideration. Sorry mate. I should know better myself by now.

[@JanVP1]

I meant: not "adventure game of the year" but across all genres. Nice send-off for the genre.

[@arkham666]

@JanVP1 yeah I understand now. Again mate I'm sorry. I should know better than to go with my knee jerk reactions to these comments and actually take a minute to think it over or just step away from my phone or PC for a while instead of writing that stuff out. I succeed about 80% of the time I'd say, you caught me on an off morning.

[@jimmyryan5880]

I don't need the life story. Tell me more about the subdivisions of the British educational system.

[@arkham666]

Unfortunately my British license has been called somewhat into question as I haven't lived there for 9 years now. As such handing over more national secrets could lead to permanent exile under threat of beheading from our glorious king.

[@LettersAndNumbers300]

I love many Lucasarts games, never got the love for this one specifically. The story makes no sense, the UI and controls are atrocious, the puzzles convoluted, the guidance limited. Best in its class? Sorry, no.

[@arkham666]

Whenever I get a comment like this my first thought is always *if you don't like this game, why did you click on a link to a video that's clearly a love letter to it?" You're very welcome to your opinion mate but I can't imagine watching this video was any kind of fun for you and if you didn't watch the video, again I'm wondering what you're doing here.

[@forcelightningcable9639]

4:36 one week! Since you looked at me..