Overview: An adventure game where you're a travel agent for the dead named Manny Calavera.
Grim Fandango Remastered (PC) (2015)
*Grim Fandango (PC) (1998)
Relevant Links:
Grim Fandango Remastered Website
Grim Fandango Remastered (Steam Store Page)
Grim Fandango Remastered (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Grim Fandango (Wikipedia.org)
20160128 Evening:
A friend of mine loves this game, and so I had some high expectations going into it.
Setup: I started out playing the game with a mouse (that felt most natural to me).
Then, because the game supports using a gamepad, I switched over to my Steam Controller with a gamepad configuration. However, by that point I had grow fond of some of the mouse controls and so I set the right pad to function as a mouse. Perfect.
Tip: Double click to get Manny to run (when using mouse input)
Steam: 60 minutes (total game time)
20160128 Night:
I continued from where I left off and at some point doze off on account of fatigue. Waking up with the game still on, I felt refreshed and pressed on. The game's puzzles, however, were quite difficult and it took me a while before I finally figured out how to move the story forward.
Hint: There's a reason for having multiple deflated balloons.
While I was elated with the solution, I ran myself into the next wall. Stuck and frustrated, I decided to look at a Steam guide.
I read the following:
After a couple more minutes, I decided to take a break from the fun, but difficult Grim Fandango.
Steam: 4.7 hours (total game time)
20160129:
I resumed the game today and after retracing all available rooms I caved and looked at another guide - this one was spoiler-free. Interestingly, the unsolicited information from yesterday was related to the solution I was last looking for today:
After reading a single sentence, I immediately understood what had to be done. As such, I managed to uncover some of the story and work my way up to the next wall. Fortunately, at least this time I was able to play for a bit before hitting the wall.
Steam: 6.2 hours (total game time)
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Great soundtrack and story
+ A classic with smoother graphics, extra lighting effects, and new control scheme
+ Options available to play using original graphics and/or original control scheme (tank)
Neutral:
~ Some puzzles have been frustratingly difficult
~ *Fake* widescreen. Why is this even an option?
Recommendation:
Grim Fandango is a solid adventure game that has thus far been both captivating and frustrating at the same time. As such, if you like adventure games and enjoy solving puzzles, then I would highly recommend this game. Of course, this game is good enough to warrant some play by anyone.
20220919 Snapshot:
The game time appears to be off by 0.1 which is a common problem with Steam reporting the game time depending on where the user checks the stats (e.g., from the game's page or the recently played page). The 6.1 hours here comes from the game page, so I'll use that for calculating the next play session.
Steam Game Time: 6.1 hours
Last played: 20160129
20220919:
I decided to getting back into this game, and so first I skimmed this blog post on the offchance that I took any notes that would help orient future play. In this case it did a little: I had made a note emphasizing Manny's teeth.. I did in fact manage to figure out the solution. In part, I would thank the game for blocking the player off from an earlier section of the game (reducing the amount of places to look for clues). The solution required the following: mouthpiece from the office and fill-a-dent from the auto area.
Steam Game Time: 6.7 hours (total game time) / 0.6 hours (session game time)
20220920:
Thus far I've knocked out some key tasks:
Naranja: knocked him out using the booze
Metal detector: drank the gold liquor from Calavera Cafe; I gave it to the Membrillo, the coroner, but didn't get anything out of it
Lighthouse: got the key from the cigarette case via the bomb containment device, and used the key to enter the lighthouse; the lighthouse gives a photo which I figured out is used for retrieving Lola's jacket from Calavera Cafe. The jacket provides a mystery number. Perhaps related to the winning ticket.
Various notes to self:
The ticket taker spots the race tickets as imitations. As such, giving him these race tickets doesn't do any good. It only makes sense that someone else must be the recipient of these race tickets.
The cat display specifies a week but no race number or day.
Not sure how to get down the elevator (blocked by the sleepy worker)
What is the can opener for?
The following areas and/or persons are sorted by whether I suspect are done or not:
Open: gambling area, coroner, police jail cell, union workers, get passport, Maximino's office
Done: coat area, Glottis, poem area, kitchen of poem area, lighthouse, Carla, tattoo artist
Anyways, I'm gonna take a break.
Steam Game Time: 11.0 hours (total game time) / 3.3 hours (session game time)
20220922:
Knocking out some more key tasks:
Union card: many puzzles solved led to this, but notably it all started by examining a specific inventory item. That key inventory item was the VIP card.
Betting ticket booth: I stumbled* on this booth today; I actually saw it once before when I first entered the racing area (20220919), but it is deceptively similar to the booth on the other side. In fact, upon obtaining Lola's photo, a cutscene plays that alludes to the shared similarity. The cutscene suggests that both booths are run by the same employee, named Doug, but Doug is kind of crazy (he appears to have two different personalities.
Setup: partway through playing, I switched the aspect ratio from widescreen to 4x3 with borders. That is how I would have preferred playing, but the default when I launched the game on the Steam Deck was widescreen. I believe 4x3 with borders is how I probably played the game when I first started it a long time ago (screenshots from around that time agree with this suspicion).
Progress thus far:
Photo of Nick and Olivia: check
Tools for Glottis: unknown
Naranja: check
Coroner: unknown
Ogden: unknown
I'm going to take a break.
Steam Game Time: 13.5 hours (total game time) / 2.5 hours (session game time)
*Technically the accident may have been in part due to changing the aspect ratio from widescreen to 4x3 with borders.
20220930:
Gameplay Log:
- Re-examined items
- Retraced steps (making sure to examine and talk and try out interactions): tower > coats > gambling area > and so on
- Managed to catch a lead. Details: Naranja was snoring. Checked him. Got his tags. So obviously take this to the coroner and plant it. So that has a direct result and the coroner closes shop. Great one down.
- The last thing needed is tools. And one of the last major opportunities seems to be the lawyer. Alternatively, I'm trying to think about how I would get Glottis to leave... And I still haven't interacted with Ogden really. How to get him to leave is perhaps related? I also know there's talk about fixed roulette tables. but that doesn't seem to stop Ogden from a lucky streak. I figure it wouldn't be possible to have a lucky streak if it was fixed. Unless fixed just means the odds are in the house's favor.
- Oddly I was able to give Lola's jacket back to Lupe and that was it. Having items which persist beyond need can be annoying...
Steam Game Time: 15.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.8 hours (session game time)
20231107:
Gameplay Log:
- After 0.4 hours, I decided to look at a walkthrough for "Tools for Glottis"
- The guide first mentioned an item called Salvador's message. I had no idea what this was. The guide indicates it is located in Manny's office.
- While entering Manny's office, I discovered the ability to fix the roulette table.
- In any case I make use of that ability and I follow the guide to show the message to the guys in the Blue Casket, take the Red Book, and showed it to the worker bees. The part I read of the guide stops there. - LOL. I chanted with them and the result was an achievement.
- Velasco says I need to get Glottis. I try to walk to Glottis but he's giving the same dialogue so I go back to the walkthrough: "Leaving Rubacava". I think this one, if I had time to play games, I would have figured out. However, there's just so much backtracking involved that I've already done and I'm ready to move the game along. Speaking of which, this completes Year Two.
Steam Game Time: 16.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.0 hours (session game time)
Grim Fandango Remastered (PC) (2015)
*Grim Fandango (PC) (1998)
 |
| Manuel "Manny" Calavera |
Relevant Links:
Grim Fandango Remastered Website
Grim Fandango Remastered (Steam Store Page)
Grim Fandango Remastered (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Grim Fandango (Wikipedia.org)
20160128 Evening:
A friend of mine loves this game, and so I had some high expectations going into it.
Setup: I started out playing the game with a mouse (that felt most natural to me).
 |
| Manny meets Glottis. |
Then, because the game supports using a gamepad, I switched over to my Steam Controller with a gamepad configuration. However, by that point I had grow fond of some of the mouse controls and so I set the right pad to function as a mouse. Perfect.
"This deck of cards is a little frayed around the edges. Then again, so am I, and I've got fewer suits."
Tip: Double click to get Manny to run (when using mouse input)
Steam: 60 minutes (total game time)
20160128 Night:
I continued from where I left off and at some point doze off on account of fatigue. Waking up with the game still on, I felt refreshed and pressed on. The game's puzzles, however, were quite difficult and it took me a while before I finally figured out how to move the story forward.
Hint: There's a reason for having multiple deflated balloons.
While I was elated with the solution, I ran myself into the next wall. Stuck and frustrated, I decided to look at a Steam guide.
I read the following:
FOUND SOLUTION TO THIS: How to keep the door open after Brennis finishes the repairs.Unfortunately, choosing to read the spoiler only resulted in running into another wall.
UNSOLICITED INFO: Use Eva's hole punch for an achievement.
After a couple more minutes, I decided to take a break from the fun, but difficult Grim Fandango.
Steam: 4.7 hours (total game time)
20160129:
I resumed the game today and after retracing all available rooms I caved and looked at another guide - this one was spoiler-free. Interestingly, the unsolicited information from yesterday was related to the solution I was last looking for today:
FOUND SOLUTION TO THIS: How to deal with air pressure.
THE SOLUTION: Use the hole punch on the playing card
 |
| Juan Brennis fixes the message tube system. |
After reading a single sentence, I immediately understood what had to be done. As such, I managed to uncover some of the story and work my way up to the next wall. Fortunately, at least this time I was able to play for a bit before hitting the wall.
NEED SOLUTION TO THIS: What to do next? All these two characters are telling me is I can't leave because my teeth are important.
Steam: 6.2 hours (total game time)
 |
| Glottis suped up a company car. Pimp my ride. |
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Great soundtrack and story
+ A classic with smoother graphics, extra lighting effects, and new control scheme
+ Options available to play using original graphics and/or original control scheme (tank)
Neutral:
~ Some puzzles have been frustratingly difficult
 |
| Mercedes "Meche" Colomar |
~ *Fake* widescreen. Why is this even an option?
Recommendation:
Grim Fandango is a solid adventure game that has thus far been both captivating and frustrating at the same time. As such, if you like adventure games and enjoy solving puzzles, then I would highly recommend this game. Of course, this game is good enough to warrant some play by anyone.
 |
| Salvador "Sal" Limones |
20220919 Snapshot:
The game time appears to be off by 0.1 which is a common problem with Steam reporting the game time depending on where the user checks the stats (e.g., from the game's page or the recently played page). The 6.1 hours here comes from the game page, so I'll use that for calculating the next play session.
Steam Game Time: 6.1 hours
Last played: 20160129
20220919:
I decided to getting back into this game, and so first I skimmed this blog post on the offchance that I took any notes that would help orient future play. In this case it did a little: I had made a note emphasizing Manny's teeth.. I did in fact manage to figure out the solution. In part, I would thank the game for blocking the player off from an earlier section of the game (reducing the amount of places to look for clues). The solution required the following: mouthpiece from the office and fill-a-dent from the auto area.
Steam Game Time: 6.7 hours (total game time) / 0.6 hours (session game time)
20220920:
Thus far I've knocked out some key tasks:
Naranja: knocked him out using the booze
Metal detector: drank the gold liquor from Calavera Cafe; I gave it to the Membrillo, the coroner, but didn't get anything out of it
Lighthouse: got the key from the cigarette case via the bomb containment device, and used the key to enter the lighthouse; the lighthouse gives a photo which I figured out is used for retrieving Lola's jacket from Calavera Cafe. The jacket provides a mystery number. Perhaps related to the winning ticket.
Various notes to self:
The ticket taker spots the race tickets as imitations. As such, giving him these race tickets doesn't do any good. It only makes sense that someone else must be the recipient of these race tickets.
The cat display specifies a week but no race number or day.
Not sure how to get down the elevator (blocked by the sleepy worker)
What is the can opener for?
The following areas and/or persons are sorted by whether I suspect are done or not:
Open: gambling area, coroner, police jail cell, union workers, get passport, Maximino's office
Done: coat area, Glottis, poem area, kitchen of poem area, lighthouse, Carla, tattoo artist
Anyways, I'm gonna take a break.
Steam Game Time: 11.0 hours (total game time) / 3.3 hours (session game time)
20220922:
Knocking out some more key tasks:
Union card: many puzzles solved led to this, but notably it all started by examining a specific inventory item. That key inventory item was the VIP card.
Betting ticket booth: I stumbled* on this booth today; I actually saw it once before when I first entered the racing area (20220919), but it is deceptively similar to the booth on the other side. In fact, upon obtaining Lola's photo, a cutscene plays that alludes to the shared similarity. The cutscene suggests that both booths are run by the same employee, named Doug, but Doug is kind of crazy (he appears to have two different personalities.
Setup: partway through playing, I switched the aspect ratio from widescreen to 4x3 with borders. That is how I would have preferred playing, but the default when I launched the game on the Steam Deck was widescreen. I believe 4x3 with borders is how I probably played the game when I first started it a long time ago (screenshots from around that time agree with this suspicion).
Progress thus far:
Photo of Nick and Olivia: check
Tools for Glottis: unknown
Naranja: check
Coroner: unknown
Ogden: unknown
I'm going to take a break.
Steam Game Time: 13.5 hours (total game time) / 2.5 hours (session game time)
*Technically the accident may have been in part due to changing the aspect ratio from widescreen to 4x3 with borders.
20220930:
Gameplay Log:
- Re-examined items
- Retraced steps (making sure to examine and talk and try out interactions): tower > coats > gambling area > and so on
- Managed to catch a lead. Details: Naranja was snoring. Checked him. Got his tags. So obviously take this to the coroner and plant it. So that has a direct result and the coroner closes shop. Great one down.
- The last thing needed is tools. And one of the last major opportunities seems to be the lawyer. Alternatively, I'm trying to think about how I would get Glottis to leave... And I still haven't interacted with Ogden really. How to get him to leave is perhaps related? I also know there's talk about fixed roulette tables. but that doesn't seem to stop Ogden from a lucky streak. I figure it wouldn't be possible to have a lucky streak if it was fixed. Unless fixed just means the odds are in the house's favor.
- Oddly I was able to give Lola's jacket back to Lupe and that was it. Having items which persist beyond need can be annoying...
Steam Game Time: 15.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.8 hours (session game time)
20231107:
Gameplay Log:
- After 0.4 hours, I decided to look at a walkthrough for "Tools for Glottis"
- The guide first mentioned an item called Salvador's message. I had no idea what this was. The guide indicates it is located in Manny's office.
- While entering Manny's office, I discovered the ability to fix the roulette table.
- In any case I make use of that ability and I follow the guide to show the message to the guys in the Blue Casket, take the Red Book, and showed it to the worker bees. The part I read of the guide stops there. - LOL. I chanted with them and the result was an achievement.
- Velasco says I need to get Glottis. I try to walk to Glottis but he's giving the same dialogue so I go back to the walkthrough: "Leaving Rubacava". I think this one, if I had time to play games, I would have figured out. However, there's just so much backtracking involved that I've already done and I'm ready to move the game along. Speaking of which, this completes Year Two.
Steam Game Time: 16.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.0 hours (session game time)
Date/Time
Thursday, January 28, 2016
@
19:30
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