Unofficial Tex Murphy

I figured if i'm going to make a thread after a relatively lengthy hiatus that I may as well stir the proverbial pot. Not that it is my primary intention to throw a cat among the pigeons as i'm here to say a very genuine hello at the same time.

Hello!

Now onto the thread...

I'm mainly starting this thread because Tim's firm, Double Fine, are continuing to develop projects and each, with the exception of the remasters (another point upon which I will discuss), is becoming less and less endearing.

Allow me to say this about Tim before I expound upon the thread title. I absolutely applaud Tim for the work he did in the 1990s. For now i'm not referring to specific titles. Instead, i'm talking about his overall contribution toward gaming, point and click adventures in particular. There's no denying that the Monkey Island series was seismic in its ability to help transform the adventure game from a basic text and graphics adventure to an experience with personality and character. While not the biggest fan of Monkey Island (i've played two full titles in the series and it's not really for me), Full Throttle, Maniac Mansion. and Day Of The Tentacle are absolute staples of my gaming experiences. As a writer, Tim nailed tone, story, style, and immersion. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the remasters of these titles. But that's where my praise ends.

I'd go as far as saying that my dislike of Tim begins as early as the beloved Grim Fandango. Articles such as http://kotaku.com/grim-fandango-has-age ... 1685304319 praise the game for its characters, artistic style, originality, and overall setting. True, these are absolutely noteworthy aspects of Grim Fandango which make the game memorable. But there's one thing missing that makes it difficult for the experience to be timeless - the game. Frankly, the gaming mechanics are uninspired, tepid, and downright frustrating at times. I managed to get through the game where only needing a walk through for about 20%. I just do not get why this game is lauded outside of the nods to classic romantic noir cinema as such Casablanca. Frankly, Tim is to gaming what Jimmy Fallon is to entertainment. That is, we praise Tim not for the intrinsic aspect of the game itself but rather for the sugar coating that is sprinkled over the game in the same way that we allow Jimmy Fallon to host an unfunny television program because he's a nice guy. Or perhaps more to the point, is Tim Schafer the Tim Burton of gaming in that we praise his style more than his actual content?

Let's consider what has come since 1999's Grim Fandango. Broken Age is by far the most noteworthy of the post GF releases. While enjoyable, it's hardly a game that would boost a lay developer's identity to "legendary" or "revolutionary" status in the same way a title like Doom did for John Carmach in the 1990s. If not for having Schafer's name attached, would Broken Age be anything more than a pleasant indie title? Probably not. Much like Grim Fandango, Broken Age is splendidly artistic to watch and is delightfully quirky. But as a game, does it really hold together? At the end of the day, it's interactive art.

The remainder of Schafer's legacy seems to rest upon remasters of titles that the gaming community already adores. True, I am one of these gamers who will be paying again to play the games. But given that Schafer's true heyday is behind him, not to mention that his return to prominence is the result of crowd funding, is it really fair that he overshadows other developers of his ilk? No.

I think Schafer's legacy ought to rest with someone like Warren Spector, the genius behind the likes of System Shock, Deus Ex, Wing Commander, and Ultima. This man has shown far more diversity, far more reinvention, and far more relevance to the face of gaming today. Go on. Try and have a Mass Effect or even Gears of War or even Metal Gear Solid without Spector's contributions to gaming. That's why i'm enthusiastic for Warren's return to gaming, System Shock 3: http://www.wired.com/2016/02/warren-spe ... m-shock-3/

It's also why I applaud John Carmach for leaving ID software. He knew that there was little he could do to split the atom. Carmach's worthy comparison is James Cameron - bold, adventurous, experimental, and never looking back. Tim, on the other hand, seems to be stuck in a very old model of gaming. Even Telltale have done more, in their short time, to evolve the tone and style of their adventure games.

Just to finish, I'm not here to bash Schafer. Again, many after school gaming sessions and school holidays were spent obsessing over his games. I will always be thankful for those games, and will revisit them. But, I cannot help it feel that Schafer is more of an artist than he is a noteworthy game designer whose gimmicks are becoming more and more recycled. By all means, the industry is still a better place with Tim doing what he does because the revival of adventure gaming in the late 2000s was partly motivated by his contributions.

But has the time come to stop unconditionally crowning the man?

Yes...by a good decade.

Wow, Joel, when you bottle up, you unload alot!

Not that I'm going to dispute you too much here, but I do like Grim Fandango. One of my favorites, not because of the storyline, but for those beautiful graphics.

Grim Fandango is a stunning piece of art that Tim Burton would gladly sacrifice a lung and a kidney in exchange for the said creation. I'm also drawn to the visuals and characters which is why I think Tim would be better as an animated film maker or a comic book artist.

I like the story Grim Fandango A LOT because of its nods to Casablanca. But again, i'm also here to play a game. I have similar criticisms of L.A Noire (a game which I adore, especially as it's Australian made) but some of the gameplay is sacrificed for paying tribute to L.A Confidential a little too brilliantly for its own good.

Well, I'll go further, much further. I haven't liked a single game by Schafer; not one, ever.

I despise the style of Monkey Island and its ilk. I actually bought the revamped Grim Fandango, but never finished it. In fact, I didn't get past the roof top thingy where you have to get the pigeon or whatever. The graphics make me ill to look at, and the game play is abysmal (you have to do the stupidest, inane things to advance the game). What a waste of money!

If I had a copy of each of Schafer's games, I'd toss them in a pile on the floor and take a dump on them.

Give me games like:

Tex (of course, goes without saying);
The Longest Journey series;
Syberia (1 & 2);
The Gabriel Knight series;
The Myst series;
The Phantasmagoria series;
The Journeyman Project series;
Both Portal games;
Sanitarium

BTW, I hear Syberia 3 is due for release this year (although it's been delayed 2 or 3 times so far).

Chandler wrote:Well, I'll go further, much further. I haven't liked a single game by Schafer; not one, ever.

I despise the style of Monkey Island and its ilk. I actually bought the revamped Grim Fandango, but never finished it. In fact, I didn't get past the roof top thingy where you have to get the pigeon or whatever. The graphics make me ill to look at, and the game play is abysmal (you have to do the stupidest, inane things to advance the game). What a waste of money!

If I had a copy of each of Schafer's games, I'd toss them in a pile on the floor and take a dump on them.

Phew...I thought I was the one to get lynched when starting this thread.

Joel wrote:

Chandler wrote:Well, I'll go further, much further. I haven't liked a single game by Schafer; not one, ever.

I despise the style of Monkey Island and its ilk. I actually bought the revamped Grim Fandango, but never finished it. In fact, I didn't get past the roof top thingy where you have to get the pigeon or whatever. The graphics make me ill to look at, and the game play is abysmal (you have to do the stupidest, inane things to advance the game). What a waste of money!

If I had a copy of each of Schafer's games, I'd toss them in a pile on the floor and take a dump on them.

Phew...I thought I was the one to get lynched when starting this thread.

I'll go further. While taking that dump, I'd hope it was at a time I had diarrhea.

Tim Schafer is a wonderfully out of his mind artist, however most of his games are held up by their premises, and not necessarily the gameplay, or the full plot. I love the ideas behind Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, and Grim Fandango more than I love ice cream, but eventually the stories start to wear thin, or are weakened by the gameplay, or control schemes.

I still applaud and rave the originality of his and Double Fine's work, and I can't believe that they re-tooled Grim Fandango to be playable on modern systems, when it wasn't even playable on my Win98. That one was especially painful way back when because the premise was so unique and wonderful, but it was damn near impossible to play. Monkey Island 4 had very similar problems, and was a chore to play, with the game around it being pretty dull as well. It's a shock, because Curse of Monkey Island was beautifully animated, ran perfectly, and was a breeze to play. Full Throttle is a classic, however, and even more praise goes for Monkey Island 1-3. The SCUMM system really allowed for a lot of creative freedom, and it seems as technology has increased to polygons, it brought a lot of new limitations to work with.

I view people like Aaron Connors/Chris Jones and the staffs of Interplay, and Sierra (shoutout to Presto Studios), to be much more capable of actually making a game with a fantastic idea, and constructing an extremely high quality story for it, and making a game that functions to support it perfectly. Games like the Star Trek series (25th, Judgement Rites, Starfleet Academy), Phantasmagoria and the GK series, and every Tex game know how to create a balance while making sure the story shines through the most, and is the best part. There is a lot of humor in Jack Black running around 80's Heavy Metal Hell, but if there isn't a great story, then the idea probably isn't worth doing. The aforementioned companies ensured that the stories and plot were the focus, and a game was built catering to the plot.

Games like that are rare in this day and age indeed. Sorry for the long post, but I'm tired and this kinda stuff happens when I get tired. xD

OMG, chandler! When you say it, you don't mince words. lol!

I'm no critic, so I can't really offer much in disection of a game. If it's fun, got some comedic aspect to it, and aesthetically pleasing to my eye, then I like it. Those are my personal qualifications for a good game. If my kids want to watch or play, it has to be mild as well (okay, rude humor is kinda allowed. Sometimes it's funny to me, but definitely with a 7 year old boy).

None of the 1st person shooter games ever make that list. Still can't fathom why people like them; Killing, in any capacity, doesn't give me pleasure.

I forgot something else. After finishing that dump, I'd box it all up and send it to Schafer by Fedex overnight, just to make sure he got the full 'experience'

Thanks Joel for articulating so perfectly how I feel about Tim Schafer.

I too am in the category of people who have played nearly all of his games and have yet to truly enjoy any of them. I got Grim Fandango when it was first released and kept playing and trying to convince myself of how much fun I was having...except, well...I wasn't.

For years, Grim Fandango was a game I was embarrassed to admit I didn't like. After all, saying you don't think it's that great is sacrilege in most circles. Have you ever seen a major "Official Greatest Adventure Games" list where Grim isn't top 5? I haven't. It's like the Citizen Kane of adventure games to most of the "experts."

I still think Day of the Tentacle is his best game, and even that one I have issues with (Maniac Mansion is still better to me.)

Well, I am glad that there are still fans of adventure games. So, what do you think about "Paradise", "Sinking Island", "L'Amerzone" and "Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals" ?
BTW, I wait for "Siberia III" release.
Oh, guys, how could you forget about "Full Throttle"?

I don't know Paradise or Sinking Island or Nikopol. For me, Amerzone was an OK game; not a great one, but a good one.

I've heard of Full Throttle, but never played it. It doesn't sound like an adventure game, at least not from the title.

Well, have a look http://store.steampowered.com/app/333430/ and http://store.steampowered.com/app/11370/
BTW, you have mentioned Gabriel Knight series. Did you play the Jane Jensen games?

Those 2 games certainly get very mixed reviews, don't they? Unfortunately, the criticisms I read are exactly the kinds of things I really hate in games, particularly the pixel hunting.

What do you think about these games? http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2102/