The Escapist Game Circle: Psychonauts

[Geoffrey42]

Don't feel bad CantFaketheFunk; knowing the right question is half the battle!

Of course, knowing how to answer the question is the other half... but 1 out of 2 ain't bad?

So, umm, Russ... since I found it for you, do I get to be an intern?

 

[Goofonian]

The cool thing about reaching 100% collection in this game is that you're rewarded with greater insight into the characters that populate the game. There are some pivotal narrative moments tied to the collection quests. Not ones that further the plot, but certainly ones which enrich your emotional experience.

Ok so you've convinced me to head back and try and get the baggage and cobwebs and stuff. But can someone please ease my mind and tell me there is no worthwhile reason to collect each and every figment. I hate those things!!

 

[TomBeraha]

I'm loving the game. But I had to take a break, the milkman conspiracy's constantly changing perspective is making me queasy.

 

[Aquilon]

Ok so you've convinced me to head back and try and get the baggage and cobwebs and stuff. But can someone please ease my mind and tell me there is no worthwhile reason to collect each and every figment. I hate those things!!

I'll clarify a couple of things as to what you get from collecting the various items throughout the game. **There are no direct spoilers here, but if you prefer to discover for yourself what the items do you should stop reading.**

Vaults: Perhaps the most interesting thing to "collect". You'll be rewarded with several images which describes the characters memories and gives you a lot of fascinating background information.

Emotional baggage: When you've collected all the emotional baggage available in a given level you will get access to an additional series of images, similar to those you can watch after opening the vaults. These images are usually character and design sketches associated with that level.

Mental Cobwebs: The Cobwebs can be returned to For Cruller's Sanctuary and traded for PSI Cards (1 cobweb = 1 PSI Card), the only reason to collect _all_ of them would be to reach PSI Cadet Rank 100.

Figments: These items helps you to gain PSI Cadet Ranks, the only reason to collect _all_ of them would be to reach PSI Cadet Rank 100.

PSI Cadet Rank 100: If you manage to reach this rank you will be rewarded with a short film clip at the end of the game. Don't despair if you're not willing to subject yourself to endless hours of jumping to reach this rank though If you own the PC-version you can view this clip even if you don't reach rank 100 through some "fixing", and the clip is (at least it was) available on the net.

The interesting information and the deeper involvement in the game that you get from collecting all this is not so much through the direct rewards given to you, as it is from what you might discover and experience in your search for these items.

 

[Cordelia]

You know, there was one PSI card that I could see, but never figure out how to get to...drove me batty, that did. It was at the top of a flagpole in the camp by the lake.

Anyone else hate the dance party level?

 

[Russ Pitts]

You know, there was one PSI card that I could see, but never figure out how to get to...drove me batty, that did. It was at the top of a flagpole in the camp by the lake.

Anyone else hate the dance party level?

I'm aware that other people hate that level, but I loved it.

Full disclosure: I've played this game at least three times through. And it took me until about halfway through the second time to really get the feel of the hoverball.

I know you're in a hurry to make things happen when you're at the front end of the game, but I'd recommend hovering around the campground a bit collecting psicards before you get too far. The game requires a handy bit of acrobatics and a little practice doesn't hurt.

So, umm, Russ... since I found it for you, do I get to be an intern?

Fortunately for everyone involved, I don't make these decisions.

 

[Cordelia]

I'm aware that other people hate that level, but I loved it.

Full disclosure: I've played this game at least three times through. And it took me until about halfway through the second time to really get the feel of the hoverball.

I know you're in a hurry to make things happen when you're at the front end of the game, but I'd recommend hovering around the campground a bit collecting psicards before you get too far. The game requires a handy bit of acrobatics and a little practice doesn't hurt.

Actually, I tried snagging it well into the game (right around the time of the Lungfish), so I was pretty comfortable with the controls at that point. I don't think it was a matter of physically being able to do what needed to be done (control-wise) but rather that I just couldn't see the situation properly to know what I needed to do. Perhaps if I played through it again, I'd have an "a-ha!" moment. (At which point, a rotoscoped pop band from the 80s would undoubtedly jump out of the game.)

 

[Russ Pitts]

Perhaps, but I never had any trouble wit that level, so I can't honestly say what would or wouldn't make it easier. But that raises one of the most interesting aspects of this game: the levels are so different, that that even if you completely can't "get" one of them, the next is sure to be pleasing in some way.

 

[Goofonian]

Does anyone else find the controls in this game to be a little sloppy? Or is that just the dodgy PS2 port that I've been playing?

Just finished the game last night and found the last level to be some of the most frustrating, poorly designed "platforming" I've ever played. Mostly because on many many occasions, Raz just wouldn't respond to my button presses and I'd end up falling to my doom and having to start again. That and the camera has a nasty habit of going behind things so I couldn't see what I was doing.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Does anyone else find the controls in this game to be a little sloppy? Or is that just the dodgy PS2 port that I've been playing?

Just finished the game last night and found the last level to be some of the most frustrating, poorly designed "platforming" I've ever played. Mostly because on many many occasions, Raz just wouldn't respond to my button presses and I'd end up falling to my doom and having to start again. That and the camera has a nasty habit of going behind things so I couldn't see what I was doing.

As I understand it, the PS2 port is most likely to blame for the sloppiness you're experiencing. The Xbox and PC controls are quite tight and responsive.

And yes, that last level was created by Satan himself. Or rather (as the developers have acknowledged) a designer up against a deadline who assumed that the amount of playtesting they were able to perform in the time alloted was "enough." He was wrong. That last level is complete shit.

And yet, it fails, for me anyway, to overshadow the brilliance of the rest of the game. I only finished it once, in the three times I played the game. The first time I just couldn't bring myself to self flagellate any longer. The second time I finished it to prove that I could, and the third, I just didn't care enough.

 

[Goofonian]

And yet, it fails, for me anyway, to overshadow the brilliance of the rest of the game. I only finished it once, in the three times I played the game. The first time I just couldn't bring myself to self flagellate any longer. The second time I finished it to prove that I could, and the third, I just didn't care enough.

After the soul crushing experience that was the ending, I figured I'd be done with the game and move onto the next in my pile of unfinished titles. Yet I find myself with a strange urge to put it back in and start again. I get the feeling that I'll be able to appreciate the early game a lot more now that I'm familiar with the characters and the setting. And I suppose it couldnt hurt to play through the milkman conspiracy a couple more times

 

[Cordelia]

Agreed. The last level is a complete nightmare and utterly unfun. It's a mark of the game's overall brilliance that such an exercise in frustration fails to dim my intense affection for the title. I'll still Psychonauts' praises to who'll ever listen...I just warn about the ending.

 

[Logan Frederick]

In related news, Tim Schaffer is speaking at GDC this year. Has there been any news on what the Psychonauts team has been doing lately?

 

[Lara Crigger]

Unlike almost everyone I've encountered and everyone here, I actually really liked that last level. It's the only time Psychonauts felt like an actual platformer to me - as in, twitchy, reflex-based gameplay - rather than a traditional adventure game (a label which I by no means use pejoratively). I'd even argue that the increase in difficulty and switch to reflex-based gameplay makes tremendous sense in context, considering the theme of the level and how it pertains to Rasputin.

But most of all, I think that the images (and bosses) you encounter in that level are some of the most surrealistically frightening I've ever come across in any media, ever. I'm a former vegetarian, and that last level made me s*** my pants. Jesus.

While I definitely can see where the criticism comes from, I think had the rest of Psychonauts played more like a traditional platformer, we probably wouldn't have seen as negative a reaction toward that level as there is. Certainly the gameplay was no more difficult than you might find in the latter stages of Jak & Daxter or Prince of Persia: SoT. But since the rest of the game felt so much like an adventure game, there wasn't enough build-up to it, and the final level seemed to come out of left field.

Oooh! I'm so excited about replaying this game now. I'll have to go get it reinstalled right now.

Oh, and yes, Goofonian, I can confirm that the final level is ten times harder on the sucky PS2 port than on the PC version. The sticky controls that had been plaguing you all game (I'm sure you REALLY noticed them in Waterloo-world, especially if you tried to get all the Fragments) really come to a head in that final level. But it makes the PC version much easier to play in comparison.

 

[Cordelia]

The big issue with the last level (for me, at least) is that it's an escort mission. Give me a whole series of tricky jumps, fine, rain hellfire down upon my head, throw a whole squadron of bad guys my way, I don't care...but doing all of that and making it an escort mission, too? Ugh. The dodgy camera sure didn't help matters.

 

[Goofonian]

aahh escort missions.... the bane of gamers all over the globe.

 

[Goronmon]

Finally got a chance to load up the game on my PC yesterday. The wireless 360 controller works pretty damn well, and I really enjoyed the first hour or so I was able to plug into the game. Definitely looking forward to get in some more time tonight.

 

[DrRosenRosen]

I've played this game through to the end twice, once on the PC and once on the Xbox. The first time through, I didn't bother collecting everything and had a great time. The second time, I collected everything and while it wasn't necessary, it gave me that extra bit of challenge to actually finish the game again.

In terms of some of the complaints that I've read so far, I think they're valid. But really, not one of those things was so frustrating to me that I put the game down. In fact, if I had to point out one thing that kept my hands glued to the controller and also puts this title in my top 10 favorite games, it would be VARIETY. I never got bored at seeing the same objects or textures ad nauseum. I'm playing Doom 3 right now and for me that is boredom incarnate in terms of maintaining my enthusiasm for what I'm looking at. The scares are great, but man am I sick of looking at metal walls and grates. But I digress.

I truly appreciated the variety in this game. Every level was unique. In terms of gameplay, it added or removed different pieces of the control scheme for effect. The first time I got to smash buildings as Goggolor was sublime and I smashed away with the glee of a five year old with a sand castle. In the dance party level, rolling the ball along the race course and playing a little 3D version of pinball was a good change of pace. It was these small tweaks to the gameplay which forced me to continually change my style of play to suit the environment that made this game sustainable.

The other elements of the game also helped to cement its status in my mind. The visual themes and styles were always changing giving my eyes some new candy every hour or so. The voice acting was first rate, also. There was rarely, if ever, a missed line or a character that wasn't memorable. When I missed rescuing Dogan the first time through, I actually felt bad. That kid is cute. The music was just right, too. It acheived a good balance between memorable melodies without crossing the line into annoying territory.

There really aren't many games I'll play more than once. But every single one on my top 10 list gets dusted off now and again for another go and Psychonauts is definitely in that category for me.

 

[Ajar]

I just met the guard who has implied that I need to find the Milkman. Unfortunately I've never gotten anywhere near the 800 arrowheads needed to purchase the cobweb duster. Time to start dowsing, I guess. Bleh.

 

[Russ Pitts]

I just met the guard who has implied that I need to find the Milkman. Unfortunately I've never gotten anywhere near the 800 arrowheads needed to purchase the cobweb duster. Time to start dowsing, I guess. Bleh.

Anyone else run into this wall? I don't remember if I ever did or not, but by the third time I played it through, I was enjoying the dowsing so much i always had plenty of arrowheads.