Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle remastered versions ing cheap on PS4 store

[St_Eddie]

I noticed the latest How Did This Get Played? podcast covers Day Of The Tentacle

I listened to the whole thing and it's garbage; obnoxious guffawing hosts with horseshit opinions (the most egregious moment being an annoying woman who sounds like Roseanne Barr hypocritically dismissing the game's voice acting as being grating. People in glass houses...) and irritating jingles galore.

As a mouth (ear?) cleanser, here's a lovely Retronauts podcast on Day of the Tentacle, featuring lead designers Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman.

[St_Eddie]

I have just purchased and spent an hour playing a fantastically original adventure game titled Gorogoa.  It's a beautifully presented game involving a very unique puzzle mechanic.  I heatedly recommend it.

Trailer.

Links to the relevant store pages on GOG and Steam.

[St_Eddie]

I've now completed Gorogoa.  It is a very short game (around 2 hours) but I don't hold that against it at all.  It's right up there alongside the likes of What Remains of Edith Finch?, Flower and Journey in the short but stunning interactive artistic experience stakes.

[The Culture Bunker]

I did play a short but lovely point-and-click type game on PS4 a few weeks ago called 'Rainswept'. Storyline wasn't that original (city cop goes to small town to work a murder/suicide case - but was it? Ahhh...) but the generally atmos of the setting worked well, helped by a good soundtrack.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Gorogoa is great, and a real labour of love. Stumped me a few times. I played it on Switch. I think touch screens have been very good for adventure games. Things like Gorogoa and The Room have a tactile appeal on Switch or tablet. Shame it's such a ballache to get ScummVM on iOS, but there are actually quite a few cool adventure games on Apple Arcade. Tangle Tower is a good one, and I liked what I played of Jenny LeClue though it takes a while to get going.

[madhair60]

As a mouth (ear?) cleanser, here's a lovely Retronauts podcast on Day of the Tentacle, featuring lead designers Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman.

Retronauts!? What a bunch of hacks!!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I finally made a start on Day of the Tentacle last night. I only played it for an about an hour, so I've yet to really get into the swing of things. By crikey, though, it gave me a vigorous poking in the nostalgia glands - and I'd never even played a proper point and click before.

[St_Eddie]

I finally made a start on Day of the Tentacle last night. I only played it for an about an hour, so I've yet to really get into the swing of things. By crikey, though, it gave me a vigorous poking in the nostalgia glands - and I'd never even played a proper point and click before.

Ah, nice.  Please do keep us updated on your thoughts about the game as you play through it.  I'd be curious to hear them.

[madhair60]

I need to go back to it too. Got the furthest I've ever managed.

[The Culture Bunker]

I see Full Throttle is on sale for £3.59 on PS Store - reckon I'll snap it up at that price.

[madhair60]

I see Full Throttle is on sale for £3.59 on PS Store - reckon I'll snap it up at that price.

Best Lucasarts game imo.

[Mister Six]

I see Full Throttle is on sale for £3.59 on PS Store - reckon I'll snap it up at that price.

Oooooh thanks for the heads up! I'll bag that myself.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I would buy it but...

Best Lucasarts game imo.

[St_Eddie]

madhair60 is entitled to his wrong opinions.

[The Culture Bunker]

It's a fun little game, but that it's over in a couple of hours stops it well short of "classic" status.

[madhair60]

It's a fun little game, but that it's over in a couple of hours stops it well short of "classic" status.

That's part of why I like it so much; never has time to get irritating.

[St_Eddie]

That's part of why I like it so much; never has time to get irritating.

Not even during the awful action segments (bike fights and the demolition derby)?

[popcorn]

I don't know why LucasArts felt it necessary to put so many of those shite arcade minigames into their games.

[madhair60]

never had a problem with them

well aware I'm the outlier here (and with most gaming stuff).i swear I'm not a contrarian, my shit opinions are very sincerely held

[St_Eddie]

I don't know why LucasArts felt it necessary to put so many of those shite arcade minigames into their games.

They didn't really though.  The only LucasArts adventure games that had arcade mini-games in them are...

* Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - even though it's technically possible to avoid the fights for the most part, the player is unlikely to do so, at least on their first playthrough.  However, I think the game ought to be cut some slack for being such an early title in the developer's history (the game predates The Secret of Monkey Island and even Loom and was developed under their Lucasfilm brand, before they even become LucasArts).

* Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, though it must be stressed that the game allows the player to choose the 'puzzle' path and avoid all fist fights and the car chase scene altogether - they won't even be an option.  If the player engages in action scenes, it's because they actively made the choice to do so at the start of the game.

* Sam & Max Hit the Road - but this is really stretching the definition of mini-games; all are entirely optional distractions, mostly there just for something fun to do when you're stuck on a puzzle.  The sole exception being the fun and entirely untaxing Whack-a-Rat game, which only needs to be played once for about 30 seconds in order to acquire the key item doing so yields.

* Full Throttle (the worst offender for mini-games by a country mile).

* The Curse of Monkey Island - the 3rd chapter contains the section where you sail the high seas, firing cannons at other ships but even then, it's an easy and short section and there's an option for an even easier mode of the mini-game, if one just wants to concentrate on the puzzles.

Seriously, it's only Full Throttle that's an issue, the rest of the mini-games in their titles are either so simple and slight that it's a complete non-issue, or they're entirely optional.

Regardless, that still leaves Maniac Mansion, Loom, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Escape From Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, The Dig and Grim Fandango as LucasArts adventure games with no arcade mini-games within them whatsoever.

That's 9 games with no mini-games.

3 games with either optional or such basic, inconsequential mini-games that its extremely pedantic to even bring them up as an issue.

2 games with actual annoying, mandatory mini-games (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Full Throttle).

[Timothy]

My top 3 Lucas Arts Games:

1. The Curse of Monkey Island
2. Sam and Max Hit the Road
3. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Full Throttle was great but hated the combat/drive sections and eventually it was too short.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Not really a minigame but can we take a moment to kick Escape from Monkey Island's Monkey Kombat? Total dog shit. Remember the insult swordfighting from MI1 and MI3? What if it was that but instead of jokes it's just monkey noises.

[Mister Six]

I hated Curse of Monkey island. Lovely graphics, great opening chapter and a half, and then the story goes to shit and the puzzles just become the worst kind of illogical nonsense. And it's nowhere near as funny as the first two either.

[Waking Life]

I don't think I finished either Curse or Escape but the name Ozzie Mandrill and his voice are permanently scarred into my memory. I know the ending of 2 had its critics  but number 4 really shat over the (relatively loose) storyline. I wanted to play the fifth one just to see if they tried to retcon any of it.

[madhair60]

And it's nowhere near as funny as the first two either.

Jesus, it must be absolutely stinking.

[St_Eddie]

The Curse of Monkey Island is generally regarded as one of the finest adventure games ever made and with good reason.  It's not perfect, to be sure; the last act is disappointing and it's quite the departure from the style of the first two games but man, overall it's just so damn good.

I don't think I finished either Curse or Escape but the name Ozzie Mandrill and his voice are permanently scarred into my memory. I know the ending of 2 had its critics  but number 4 really shat over the (relatively loose) storyline. I wanted to play the fifth one just to see if they tried to retcon any of it.

Yeah, Escape From Monkey Island is really bad.  As you say, it completely shits all over the existing canon. The graphics are hideous as well and the puzzles are ridiculously obtuse at points.  Furthermore, it doesn't even try to be a pirate adventure; Starbucks and Planet Hollywood parodies?  A gigantic kaiju robot?  Fuck off.  Also, as mentioned above, Monkey Kombat is dreadful.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Are the Telltale ones any good? I own them and have started the first episode a few times but it hasn't really grabbed me

[Mister Six]

Only played The Walking Dead. The first "season" of that has some of the best characterisation I've seen in a game (and contains actual puzzles!) but the writing staff all fucked off after that one, and the second is appalling. Haven't played any others.

(Actually I did play a couple of the early Sam & Max games, and they were fun.)

[Jerzy Bondov]

Oops sorry, I meant the Telltale Monkey Islands. I've played two seasons of The Walking Dead (good, then rubbish), the first Sam & Max (alright), the first season of Batman (surprisingly good), and The Wolf Among Us (quite good).

Is the Wallace & Gromit one good? I don't think you can buy it anymore.

[St_Eddie]

Tales of Monkey Island is official fan fiction and I mean that in the worst possible way.

Is the Wallace & Gromit one good? I don't think you can buy it anymore.

It's alright, nothing special.  It's available on GOG, by the way.