So after doing more research I have decided to leave Grim Fandandgo a great game from my past. The final nail in the coffin was the review from Yahtzee. Nostalgia can carry you very far but only so far. I wouldn't want to turn on of the greatest adventure games into just another fumbled cash grab.
RIP Doublefine the publisher. Leave the managing to a real publisher, because you have proven that you get lost when on your own.
Edit:
groze: This has been said countless times before in this subforum, but here it goes again:
As for Broken Age, lots of mistakes were made, and Double Fine were always the first ones to say so. The team was still learning how to make 2D adventure games from scratch, the supposedly huge amount of money they raised from the Kickstarter ended up not being enough to pay for how expensive it is to develop a game in their area, plus paying employees month after month, with mandatory medical and dental insurance plans covered. The vast majority of backers are still happy with the end result and the studio has always been telling them the state of things via their development documentary videos.
I would blame Spacebase DF9's unfortunate development and unfinished release on Steam's Early Access model, more than on Double Fine themselves. I don't know exactly what happened, but from my understanding the director of the game just got fed up with it and quit the project altogether. Double Fine could have just made like so many other Early Access developers do, and run away with the money, never even releasing the game, or leaving it in Alpha or Beta stage in Early Access forever. The fact that they still released the game makes me believe they're actually concerned with the customers, even though they admitted the game was not properly finished. Then again, it would never be, so...
Now, for Grim Fandango. It has been the same debate ever since GOG started taking preorders for it. Does it add anything new, graphical or gameplay-wise? Some minor graphical bells and whistles and polish aside, the short answer is: no. And it was never meant to do so. The thing, here, is that this is a remaster of a game, not a remake. You get in game galleries with exclusive concept art, a remaster mode with better models, the option to play with mouse controls or camera relative keyboard control, in addition to the original tank controls, developer commentary and an option to switch to the original game at any time, if you so choose. I understand that lots of people were expecting a remake, and not a remastered edition, but you're not getting a remake with this version of Grim Fandango. It's still the same (great) game. If you think the price point is high, well, good luck trying to find a working physical copy of the game that sells for less than $80.
The game does have issues, though, and I would recommend waiting a few weeks to see if all or at least most of them are addressed. Some crashes, choppy sound, a somewhat ridiculous OpenGL 3.3 requirement (even though every other requirement is pretty low), compatibility issues with some OSes... to name a few (the list is ever-growing). So, unless you're a die-hard Grim Fandango fan, or you want to show your undying Double Fine support by buying the game despite all the problems it has in its current state, I wouldn't recommend getting it as of now. Wait some time and see if they address most of what's bugged with it, then get it.
After you add all of that up, I am to believe that they only have one strike with Broken Age... You can blame steam early access all you want for spacebase-DF9, but in the end, it comes down to a failure at planning. Income versus staffing. They claim that they planned for years of development yet their staff was incredibly over sized. Prison Architect is being developed by two people, looks great, and is updated monthly. Spacebase-DF9 only got five or six updates before they realized their model was not going to be feasible. They also dragged out the announcement and continued to claim it was being developed right until they pushed it from alpha 6 to 1.0 at a very high price point for an alpha level game. It was the definition of mismanaged. So two strikes.
Then we get to Grim Fandango, one of the greatest adventure games to date. HD updates are great when done properly and priced accordingly. Grim Fandango looks somewhat underwhelming, still contains bugs, and is priced at $15 for a graphical update with commentary. Beyond Good & Evil HD showed us that just updating graphics on a great retro game is just not enough for most games. Leaving in bugs (and creating a plethora of new ones), poor mechanics, story plot holes, and original bad design decisions hurts the game unless you played it originally because of nostalgia. I couldn't recommend Beyond Good & Evil to anyone for $10 as great and original as the game was and remains, even if you played the original. Not every game is the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You have to fix things before you present the game again. I do not know how you can call Grim Fandango Remastered anything but a cash grab. Even the name should have just been HD because they didn't even try to remaster the game. Unless we are going purely by definition and only mean decent visual updates and sound with no real attention to engine compatibility on the newest OS.
Sorry but three strikes and you are out in my book Doublefine. At least EA if upfront about their business practices. You pretend to be a good guy, yet fail to deliver time and time again. Please leave the past games in the past and move on. Stop trying to relive your glory days because they are over. Maybe your intentions were good, but in the end, your delivered at best good games and at worst very bad games after a long time. Stick with a publisher that will guide you back to great games.
