Which is Tim Scafer's Best Game?
I seems that everything that Tim Schafer touches becomes gold. He has helped produced nothing but timeless classics (arguable among some). But which game, that he has worked on in, takes first place in your books?
1987 - Maniac Mansion - Point-and-click Adventure - tools programmer, SCUMM (LucasArts)
1990 - The Secret of Monkey Island - Point-and-click Adventure - co-writer, programmer, additional designer (LucasArts)
1991 - Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - Point-and-click Adventure - co-writer, programmer, additional designer (LucasArts)
1993 - Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle - Point-and-click Adventure - co-designer, co-producer, co-director, co-writer (LucasArts)
1995 - Full Throttle - Point-and-click Adventure - project leader, writer, designer (LucasArts)
1998 - Grim Fandango - Adventure - project leader, writer, designer (LucasArts)
2005 - Psychonauts - Action/Platform - creative director, co-writer, designer (Double Fine, Majesco)
2009 - Brütal Legend - Action - creative director, writer, designer (Double Fine, Electronic Arts)
Note: You are voting on which game that Schafer worked on, even to the smallest degree, is the best. It was unfair to call all of the games listed "Tim's games".
1987 - Maniac Mansion - Point-and-click Adventure - tools programmer, SCUMM (LucasArts)
1990 - The Secret of Monkey Island - Point-and-click Adventure - co-writer, programmer, additional designer (LucasArts)
1991 - Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - Point-and-click Adventure - co-writer, programmer, additional designer (LucasArts)
1993 - Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle - Point-and-click Adventure - co-designer, co-producer, co-director, co-writer (LucasArts)
1995 - Full Throttle - Point-and-click Adventure - project leader, writer, designer (LucasArts)
1998 - Grim Fandango - Adventure - project leader, writer, designer (LucasArts)
2005 - Psychonauts - Action/Platform - creative director, co-writer, designer (Double Fine, Majesco)
2009 - Brütal Legend - Action - creative director, writer, designer (Double Fine, Electronic Arts)
Note: You are voting on which game that Schafer worked on, even to the smallest degree, is the best. It was unfair to call all of the games listed "Tim's games".
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
The first two monkey islands were fantastic puzzle games, although they have dated a little, with a bunch of puzzles requiring you to click on tiny objects in the background. However, it was pretty damn good, but once it's finished that's it. There's no replay value.
Day of the tentacle isn't as good as MI, but it's still pretty good. But it doesn't do anything special to stand out from the other adventure games.
Full Throttle had a cool setting and good graphics, but the puzzles were simple and it was ridiculously short.
Grim Fandango had some devilishly hard puzzles and an AMAZING story, but the controls are horrific. If you're not an adventure game lover, they will scare you away.
Psychonauts is really funny but had a weird difficulty curve and the actual gameplay was pretty simple.
But Brutal Legend manages to be funny and have all of Tim's charm, but features a fantastic multiplayer aspect as well. Sure, single-player is short, but it's longer than Full Throttle and only a bit shorter than Psychonauts. It's got heaps of stuff to collect (like psychonauts) but the multiplayer is really strategic and a lot of fun. If it didn't have matchmaking issues it would be perfect. It needs to be ported to PC so game servers can be set up, but it's really good when it works.
Just ones that he worked on. I'm sorry for the title being a little misleading but I think the poll title makes up for that.
Only a few of them were considered "Tim's games".
Anyway, if I'm to name my favourite LucasArts game, I would say Monkey Island 2. If I were to name what I considered Tim's best game, I'd say it's a tie between Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango (only because Grim suffers from the controls, otherwise it's a better game). But since MI2 is on the list, it would be counterproductive of me to vote when the question is phrased like that.
You might as well ask which is Dave Grossman's best game, or Peter Chan's best game, or Mike Stemmle's best game. To me, it seems they had equally as much involvement in most of those games as Tim Schafer had.
That's why I said "It seems that everything that Tim Schafer touches becomes gold" and by "touch", I meant "work on".
Lucasarts adventure games that I did not list:
Labyrinth
Loom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
The Dig
The Curse of Monkey Island
Escape from Monkey Island
I mentioned half...
He was involved in the games commonly referred to as the classic ones.
Anyway. I've made a small edit to avoid confusion. I apologize (for the second time) for the slightly misleading title. But I feel that the text in the thread and the title of the actual poll more than make up for it. I know that there are a couple of times where I referred to all of the games as "his games" and I'm sorry about this, but I cannot edit these.
I bought Psychonauts from the XBox Live Marketplace for 1200 points the other day because I'd heard it was good, but I can't play it because it freezes all the time. You'd think that a game bought directly from Microsoft would be playable
You could always buy PC version of it for $2 off Steam (today only).
You didn't read the first post!!!!
Thankyou
I agree completely. I still have my original copy in the box, as well as a copy of the (2001?) rerelease, and the bandanna that they gave away at CompUSA when it was new.
That game is my favorite game.
Thanks!
I enjoy the other games he's been involved with, but Psychonauts is the one I'd pick over all the others to play, so in that sense, I think it's his best. But to be honest, I think we've yet to really see his greatest game. Give it five years and we'll see something of such awesome genius it'll put everything else to shame.
...maybe.
After Monkey Island 2, I don't see anything special about Schaefer's games, though. Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango are easily three of my least favorite LucasArts adventures. And while Brutal Legend and Psychonauts have great style and humor, they fail on a gameplay level. Psychonauts because it's really just an average platformer, and Brutal Legend because it refuses to keep things simple and streamlined, and it does not want to figure out what it is supposed to be.
That's why it would've been nice if LucasArts could've produced a sequel good enough to publish and release.
My three favorite is his three last games; Brutal Legend, Psychonauts, and Grim Fandango.
Grim Fandango has the best story. A very poetic, and elegant tale, though the puzzles and controls get frustrating at times.
Psychonauts has the best humor and most creative situations; no other game has had bacon as a communication device. But the overall story isn't really as big or epic as GF or BL, and most of the levels in the asylum (Gloria, Boyd, Fred, Edgar) had nothing to do with the overall story except that 'Raz has to finish them to get a special item to proceed'.
Brutal Legend has the best setting and design. Gameplay is a lot more creative than the previous two, and it just feels like a different experience than any other game to be honest, like there's cleverness ready to spring out at every corner of the level. While the story and humor are really great, it felt kinda short, and the humor kinda fades throughout the second half.
These has also my favorite main characters; Manny, Raz, and Eddie. These guys have two things in common; 1) The main storyline of the game is that their dreams/goals have come true, but not without complications:
Manny finally quit his job and left town, but he also became an agent to an underground revolution, and has several responsibilities to fulfill before he can truly end his journey.
Raz finally meet his idols and has a chance to become one of them, but he also uncovered a secret plot which only he can stop.
Eddie ended up in the world where he always wanted to be, but he is immediately given responsibility to save it from total oppression.
and 2) They all have two sides; goofy, and heroic.
Sometimes, Manny talks in such a deep way, like he sees the big picture of life and death unlike any other. At other times, he's this unlucky guy who can't seem to have things going his way, and fate seems to complicate every step he takes (After being asked for a gun by Meche; "Okay, here you go... (pauses)... Okay, the problem is, I don't have a gun").
Raz is brave and ambitious. Among his camper friends, he's the only one who actually wants to be a Psychonaut. But among the camp counselors, he's just this giddy kid, who acts like he met the Justice League and constantly idolizes them ("Hey, Coach, in a life or death battle between Sasha Nein, and a great white shark, where the shark could see the future, and Sasha was blindfolded, who do you think-")
Eddie is powerful and intimidating. He's never scared of whatever challenge he faces. In fact, it's the exact opposite; he is too excited to this world he entered that sometimes he can't contain it ("That demon nun chick back there? She was HOT!")
I have played Full Throttle and Day of The Tentacle. But I never thought they were as amazing and powerful of a story and game as the three I mentioned above. They were good, but not my favorites.
Now, if I have to choose... I'd choose Brutal Legend, I guess. Simply because of the larger scale.
So Psychonauts is really that good? That you would almost consider voting for it over Grim Fandango? Damn, I'm in for a treat when I start playing!
Psychonauts
Actually, I thought that was the point the game was trying to make. The dad had difficulty expressing his emotions to Raz, but he still loves him, unlike how Raz interpreted his intentions.
Also, did everyone really had a hard time in Meat Circus? I beat it in three hours the first time.
What he said.
I'd definitely go for Grim Fandango as Schafer's defining magnum opus, but to actually classify one as the "best" is a lot harder. Day of the Tentacle is strong runner for that, I'm surprised more people haven't gone for it. I don't think Monkey Island is valid; while Schafer is co-designing and writing, its still Gilbert's vision and at the end of the day his game rather than Schafer's. Its Gilbert's name on the box, ultimately, not Schafer's. Same goes for Maniac Mansion.
They were going for that, but then when you finally meet him he seems like a pretty sweet and supportive dad so it kind of doesn't work. I can see why he was portrayed the way he was, but I think having him yell a little at Raz first might have made more sense. Yeah, he'd kind of seem like a jerk, but it would be a natural reaction from an authoritative, over-protective father. Later, when he's calmed down and agrees to let Raz become a Pyschonaut you show him as being awkward with his feelings and trying to clumsily let Raz know he does love him.
And I got through the Meat Circus without even dying, I think. I've played many platformers and action games, though, so maybe I was more prepared for the final level being harder? I think it also depends on how much you played around with Raz's powers before the final level. If you just ran through the game without fiddling around with the extra challenges you probably won't be as experienced with the limits of each power and how best to use it, and would then find the ending more difficult than someone who got every scavenger hunt item and psi card.
You got a point there. The attitude they used in the game makes it look like as if Raz had no basis on the way he sees his father. Making him a bit angrier does let the players see Raz's point.
And oh boy it's what I expect to play most.
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
- Full Throttle