Psychonauts 2014 discussion (also Rayman 3, apparently)

[Varrok]

MOD EDIT: This thread split off from here.

I refuse to believe that there are people who still don't have Psychonauts

[OANST]

I talk to people who play a lot of games who have never even heard of it. I just don't know what to say to them.

[Wings of Fire]

Having owned it three times over, Psychonauts is my second most bought game that I've never finished.

[Phylum]

I've owned it for years and never played it.

[Nate]

Heresy! I'm going to ban you all! I don't give a shit if anyone on here hasn't played the Oddworld games, but you sure as hell must play Psychonauts.

[MeechMunchie]

It's actually pretty good. I wish it had difficulty modes so I had more reason to play it again.

[Nate]

The decreased difficulty mode is simply 'playing it again'. I find Meat Circus actually quite easy now.

Also:

What's up with Meat Circus is that you're a sissy. Sure, sure, invisibility is very important when Raz's dad is trying to knock you off those tight ropes. And your shield will bounce the knife thrower's blades right into those spinning target wheels. And also you can throw a confusion grenade at that bunny and then just go pick it up, instead of trying to grab it with Telekinesis. Those things are also true. But the main point I'm trying to make here is that first one, about you being a sissy.

[OANST]

I never had trouble with Meat Circus, and was always confused by the fact that people did. The only thing that was a pain for me in that level was getting all of the figments in the section where you surf the rails. There's one figment that you have to jump at exactly the right time to get, and it was kind of a bitch, but not really too bad.

[STM]

I still don't even know what Psychonauts is about and I doubt I'll ever get it of my own volition.

[OANST]

Psychic boy runs away from life in the circus to go to a summer camp for psychic kids. Someone starts stealing the children's brains, forcing you to eventually cross to the other side of the lake where there is an "abandoned" mental hospital. You then need to go inside the minds of the left over mental patients, and solve each of their particular insanities. It really is one of the greatest achievements in video games, and I can't imagine you not loving it.

[STM]

Hmm, maybe but I have so many games I need to finish right now and can't be bothered; State of Decay, Spec Ops: The Line, bloody Dark Souls, which has disappointed me thus far.

One day maybe...

[OANST]

A lot of people who seem to have some trepidation about getting into Psychonauts have usually had some experience with Double Fine games where they felt like the game hadn't lived up to its potential. So far, (and I am a die hard Double Fine fan) they have only made two games that completely lived up to its potential. The first being Psychonauts. The second, Iron Brigade. Please, don't judge Psychonauts, not even a little bit, on experiences with Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, or any of their other games. Psychonauts is just absolute perfection. So is Iron Brigade, for that matter.

[Varrok]

But Brutal Legend was great.

Also, you've learned "trepidation" word from Hack N Slash trailer you posted.

[OANST]

Ha. I knew I had heard it recently.

Also, I like Brutal Legend. I had a lot of fun with it. But it did not give me the sense of being a complete experience the way that Psychonauts did. I think I was mostly disappointed with the side quests. The lack of them, and lack of depth to the ones that were there, being my main issue.

[Varrok]

Oh yeah, the side quests were terrible. And the fact that you never need to travel far enough to listen to full car radio OST which is godlike (the OST. Not the fact)

[STM]

I'm not pre-judging, I've never even seen gameplay that I can remember.

[MeechMunchie]

The decreased difficulty mode is simply 'playing it again'.

I meant harder difficulties, you dolt. You can win every fight with the same few powers, and it'd be nice to have some enforced variety, like cooldowns or something.

Much like OANST, it wasn't until several months after beating it that I found out Meat Circus was supposed to be some infamous difficulty spike.

I'd say it's a bit too much to call Psychonauts perfectly refined, though, considering how it ends. Rayman 3 had the same problem - a great game throwing out all of the best mechanics when you wanted them most.

Incidentally, OANST, if you want a game that feels a bit like Psychonauts to play: Rayman 3. Crooked art style, funky music, 3rd-person platforming and brawling, weird powerups, and the occasional setpiece level to break things up.

I personally consider it to be the best-paced game ever made - a smooth difficulty curve, lots of variety, and every strenuous level carefully paired with a silly, fun one afterwards.

The writing (what little there is) isn't as funny as Psychonauts, but no-one writes games in the style Double Fine does anyway.

[Phylum]

GET ON UP

Rayman 3 was amazingly set out. These days it drags a bit by the end of the Desert of the Knaarean, but The Longest Shortcut is so simple and refreshing that it pulls me right back in. It's one of those really special games that's always fun, even after countless replays.

I'm really craving some 3rd person platforming right now actually. I was going to blast through Jak and Daxter again, but I might finally start Psychonauts instead.

[Nate]

I meant harder difficulties, you dolt. You can win every fight with the same few powers, and it'd be nice to have some enforced variety, like cooldowns or something.

Oh, yeah. That was kinda stupid of me. I guess I thought you wanted to churn through the combat quickly, given that it's hardly the highlight of the game.

[Job McYossie]

I keep coming here thinking someone posted a new sale.

I keep being disappointed too.

[OANST]

I'd say it's a bit too much to call Psychonauts perfectly refined, though, considering how it ends. Rayman 3 had the same problem - a great game throwing out all of the best mechanics when you wanted them most.

Incidentally, OANST, if you want a game that feels a bit like Psychonauts to play: Rayman 3. Crooked art style, funky music, 3rd-person platforming and brawling, weird powerups, and the occasional setpiece level to break things up.

I personally consider it to be the best-paced game ever made - a smooth difficulty curve, lots of variety, and every strenuous level carefully paired with a silly, fun one afterwards.

The writing (what little there is) isn't as funny as Psychonauts, but no-one writes games in the style Double Fine does anyway.

I had no problems with the end of the game, and really, if you actually use all of the skills that you acquired throughout the game, The Meat Circus is a lot easier. You just don't absolutely have to use those powers to get through it. Also, I really enjoyed the thorny tower section that leads up to The Meat Circus.

I'll try to give Rayman 3 a try at some point, but I hardly ever play games anymore, and I doubt I own anything that I could actually play that game on.

[dripik]

First, I was just going to say that it's worth checking the Humble pages these days, because apart from a game being available to pick up for free for 24 hours every Monday, there are some good deals going on right now. Then I saw the Psychonauts discussion.

Psychonauts was the first game I played that was done by DoubleFine, so I didn't really know what kind of stuff they do beforehand. Then I started playing the game, and realised that it's awesome. I loved the style, the world and the characters (also the fact that if you explored enough, you found additional information about characters; some pretty grim stuff most of the time).

I honestly don't know why I haven't beaten the game yet. Attempted it twice already, but I only got as far as the board game in the asylum. I guess it might the controls: I have it for PC, played it with mouse and keyboard, and switching powers around didn't really feel fluid for me (I'm assuming some of you played it on console, so you probably have a whole different experience of it).

Brütal Legend I completed without taking a break from it. It certainly wasn't the combat that kept me playing: again, it's just the world in general and the writing (and the music, that was great too).

[OANST]

Yeah, I could see the controls not being a ton of fun on a keyboard. I've only played it on consoles, and I actually love the controls for the game. Once you get the power of levitation, the entire world becomes this big, bouncing toy for me.

[dripik]

Once you get the power of levitation, the entire world becomes this big, bouncing toy for me.

That I would also count as being one of the highlights of the game. And the Bacon as well.

[Varrok]

I had no problems with the end of the game, and really, if you actually use all of the skills that you acquired throughout the game, The Meat Circus is a lot easier. You just don't absolutely have to use those powers to get through it. Also, I really enjoyed the thorny tower section that leads up to The Meat Circus.

I'll try to give Rayman 3 a try at some point, but I hardly ever play games anymore, and I doubt I own anything that I could actually play that game on.

A PC maybe

[OANST]

Like I said, I doubt I own anything that I could actually play it on.

[MeechMunchie]

Keyboards are a liability in everything but strategy games, or anything with lots of hotkeys.

However, I think mice are pretty great, so I tend to end up using one anyway. There are alternatives; blocks of plastic with knobs and buttons that sit under your left hand, but I've never heard anything good about them.

I had no problems with the end of the game, and really, if you actually use all of the skills that you acquired throughout the game, The Meat Circus is a lot easier. You just don't absolutely have to use those powers to get through it.

No, I mean the end end. The final boss that's just hammering the "punch" button alternated with running in circles.

It wouldn't seem like such a bum note if it weren't for the previous forms of that boss being so well thought-out, making necessary use of almost every power you've collected, like all the actors in a play taking a bow. It wraps up the game nicely... and then that happens.

I also think it's fair to say that exploring Whispering Rock is one of the most enjoyable elements of the game, and in an ideal world they would've let you wander around again for tea and epilogue after you completed Meat Circus.

And this isn't a fault, but it would've been really great if there'd been some kind of climactic assault on the camp that required you to exercise your accumulated knowledge of shortcuts and platforms to get around fast enough. But that would've been a different game, really.

I'll try to give Rayman 3 a try at some point, but I hardly ever play games anymore, and I doubt I own anything that I could actually play that game on.

Fair enough on the former, doubtful on the latter.

Failing that, let's see how this Steam Box PC thing turns out; It's on GOG.com (like Steam, better service but with fewer games). Or I could send you the discs in the post.

[OANST]

Oohhhhh. I didn't know it was on the 360. Maybe! I moved the 360 out of the bedroom, and never use it anymore, but I'll be moving it again when Costume Quest 2 comes out. Maybe after that! It does look fun.

I would have definitely loved getting to screw around in that world a bit longer, but I guess it didn't really fit the narrative that they set up for the ending. Also, I spend sooooo much time messing around with that world before the game ends, there is literally nothing left for me to do in it.

I get that the giant Raz part at the end wasn't the most brilliant thing ever put in a video game, but combat was never all that important to the game. I wouldn't put it down as a fault (for me), but I can see other people being less than impressed with that section. BUT ONLY THAT ONE SMALL SECTION! EVERYTHING ELSE IS PERFECTION AND I'LL HIT YOUR TEETH IF YOU SAY IT ISN'T!!!

[Wings of Fire]

After six years of his posts and actually vocally talking to him a handful of times, I think that post showed me a side of OANST I'd never seen before.

[OANST]

Is it my cuddly side?