Grifter_Grifts
07-20-2007, 08:39 PM
Hello, everyone!
I'm glad to see that people still have an interest in Grim! I'm new to the game... Sort of. I'm also new to the forums. Great place you have, here! I'll contribute a hello, and a story:
I'm an avid gamer, and have countless flight sims and shooters, but almost no adventure games. To be honest, they never really interested me much... One day, in the summer of 1997, I opened my latest issue of PC Gamer Magazine and stumbled across an excellent review for an adventure game called Grim Fandango. I read it, and instantly fell in love with the game without even playing it. The storyline and images were powerful, and at that moment, the game reached out and grabbed my attention like no other. At that point in time, I was 14 and money was scarce. I would pull a copy from the shelf at the store and stare at it, only to put it back until I could afford it. Of course, when I did come across some money, it was spent on my flight sim collection, or on parts for my bike. Grim Fandango was popping into my mind less and less frequently. Eventually, it was all but forgotten...
A few months ago, I went over to my parents' house and came across a box of some of my old belongings. Stuffed in the bottom, was that 1997 issue of PC gamer. The memory of Grim Fandango immediately came flooding back, and I flipped to the middle of the issue to read it again, 10 years later. This time, it held even more fascination for me, as the curiosity had brewed subconsciously for a decade, only to be compounded, and fully realized at that exact moment in time. I had to get this game, once and for all!
Of course, it's not terribly convenient to find an old game that is too technically obsolete to be of much interest to today's gamers. It appears that most people who purchased it had cherished their copy, and weren't willing to give it up. Naturally, Ebay had some selection, and I do shop there on occasion, but something made me uneasy to go that route. It was the easy way out, and I was willingly punishing myself for not buying it when I should have. I decided I would have to work for my copy of Grim... So, for the last several months I woke up at 6am every Sunday, scouring every flea market and yard sale in a 50 mile radius. It became quite a mission, but I never gave up. I didn't want a copy, I wanted my copy! I knew it was lying in a heap of junk somewhere. I just had to find it...
Well, yesterday I was driving home from work, and heard on the radio that construction was slowing traffic at my usual route, so I decided to take another way home. On the way, I saw a crude cardboard sign advertising a yard sale in a small subdivision. I almost didn't go, as the day had been wearing me down, but the mental image of poor Manny wandering through the land of the dead made me to go for it. I turned, following the signs to a small house tucked away unassumingly at the end of a street. I got out of my car and walked to the nearest table, manned by a young boy. I smiled at him, then proceeded to rifle through the mountains of typical yard sale junk; old, worn furniture and baby toys that were probably considered deadly by today's standards. After several minutes of wandering aimlessly about, I admitted defeat and headed for my car. As I was getting my keys, a CD case sticking out from under an old Lego box caught my eye. I barely found the energy to go over to it, as not one other item had made any indication that these people even owned a computer. Figuring it was probably an old music CD, I shuffled unenthusiastically towards it. I reached the table, pulled out the case, and there was Manny, staring me right in the face! I was stunned... My obsessive search was finally over, and I didn't know what to do. The father of the family must have seen the look on my face, because he started laughing, asking what I was doing, just standing there like a moron. I told him of my quest as I gave him 5 dollars, and to my surprise, he didn't find it strange. He told me to wait, and went into his house, coming back with the original box. He told me that Grim was his favorite game, and had been putting off selling it for years. Knowing that it was going to waste in his closet, he made the tough decision to sell it, and had kept the box out of respect, but now felt compelled to give it to someone who would love it as much as he did. He also forced my 5 dollars back on me, saying I'd paid enough already, by hunting a copy down.
Of course, I raced home to install it, and was pleasantly surprised to find out it runs fine under Windows XP, in compatibility mode. There are 2 brand new games sitting here, unplayed... They can wait. Heck, this one waited patiently for 10 years! It's ironic to me that I spent hundreds of dollars building a top of the line dual-core gaming machine, only to find the most pleasure from an old Lucasarts game called Grim Fandango. It really is the little things that count... I have proof! I'm glad I shunned all the anonymous, abandoned Ebay games... I finally have my very own, cared for copy that was loved and enjoyed by someone, and passed on to me, in person! It's great to know the history of my copy, and to know that it was indeed purchased at the same store I would have bought it from had I done it when I was 14. It could quite possibly be one of the boxes I pulled from the shelf to look at. I'm still in a state of euphoria, and really must get back to my game. Manny has just entered the woods... Who know what's in store for him? Probably all of you, come to think of it. But not me! Wish me luck...
I'm glad to see that people still have an interest in Grim! I'm new to the game... Sort of. I'm also new to the forums. Great place you have, here! I'll contribute a hello, and a story:
I'm an avid gamer, and have countless flight sims and shooters, but almost no adventure games. To be honest, they never really interested me much... One day, in the summer of 1997, I opened my latest issue of PC Gamer Magazine and stumbled across an excellent review for an adventure game called Grim Fandango. I read it, and instantly fell in love with the game without even playing it. The storyline and images were powerful, and at that moment, the game reached out and grabbed my attention like no other. At that point in time, I was 14 and money was scarce. I would pull a copy from the shelf at the store and stare at it, only to put it back until I could afford it. Of course, when I did come across some money, it was spent on my flight sim collection, or on parts for my bike. Grim Fandango was popping into my mind less and less frequently. Eventually, it was all but forgotten...
A few months ago, I went over to my parents' house and came across a box of some of my old belongings. Stuffed in the bottom, was that 1997 issue of PC gamer. The memory of Grim Fandango immediately came flooding back, and I flipped to the middle of the issue to read it again, 10 years later. This time, it held even more fascination for me, as the curiosity had brewed subconsciously for a decade, only to be compounded, and fully realized at that exact moment in time. I had to get this game, once and for all!
Of course, it's not terribly convenient to find an old game that is too technically obsolete to be of much interest to today's gamers. It appears that most people who purchased it had cherished their copy, and weren't willing to give it up. Naturally, Ebay had some selection, and I do shop there on occasion, but something made me uneasy to go that route. It was the easy way out, and I was willingly punishing myself for not buying it when I should have. I decided I would have to work for my copy of Grim... So, for the last several months I woke up at 6am every Sunday, scouring every flea market and yard sale in a 50 mile radius. It became quite a mission, but I never gave up. I didn't want a copy, I wanted my copy! I knew it was lying in a heap of junk somewhere. I just had to find it...
Well, yesterday I was driving home from work, and heard on the radio that construction was slowing traffic at my usual route, so I decided to take another way home. On the way, I saw a crude cardboard sign advertising a yard sale in a small subdivision. I almost didn't go, as the day had been wearing me down, but the mental image of poor Manny wandering through the land of the dead made me to go for it. I turned, following the signs to a small house tucked away unassumingly at the end of a street. I got out of my car and walked to the nearest table, manned by a young boy. I smiled at him, then proceeded to rifle through the mountains of typical yard sale junk; old, worn furniture and baby toys that were probably considered deadly by today's standards. After several minutes of wandering aimlessly about, I admitted defeat and headed for my car. As I was getting my keys, a CD case sticking out from under an old Lego box caught my eye. I barely found the energy to go over to it, as not one other item had made any indication that these people even owned a computer. Figuring it was probably an old music CD, I shuffled unenthusiastically towards it. I reached the table, pulled out the case, and there was Manny, staring me right in the face! I was stunned... My obsessive search was finally over, and I didn't know what to do. The father of the family must have seen the look on my face, because he started laughing, asking what I was doing, just standing there like a moron. I told him of my quest as I gave him 5 dollars, and to my surprise, he didn't find it strange. He told me to wait, and went into his house, coming back with the original box. He told me that Grim was his favorite game, and had been putting off selling it for years. Knowing that it was going to waste in his closet, he made the tough decision to sell it, and had kept the box out of respect, but now felt compelled to give it to someone who would love it as much as he did. He also forced my 5 dollars back on me, saying I'd paid enough already, by hunting a copy down.
Of course, I raced home to install it, and was pleasantly surprised to find out it runs fine under Windows XP, in compatibility mode. There are 2 brand new games sitting here, unplayed... They can wait. Heck, this one waited patiently for 10 years! It's ironic to me that I spent hundreds of dollars building a top of the line dual-core gaming machine, only to find the most pleasure from an old Lucasarts game called Grim Fandango. It really is the little things that count... I have proof! I'm glad I shunned all the anonymous, abandoned Ebay games... I finally have my very own, cared for copy that was loved and enjoyed by someone, and passed on to me, in person! It's great to know the history of my copy, and to know that it was indeed purchased at the same store I would have bought it from had I done it when I was 14. It could quite possibly be one of the boxes I pulled from the shelf to look at. I'm still in a state of euphoria, and really must get back to my game. Manny has just entered the woods... Who know what's in store for him? Probably all of you, come to think of it. But not me! Wish me luck...