Zodi Plays: Psychonauts (This One Time, At ESPer Camp...)

[Ebon_Drake]

That reveal of Mr Pokeylope's Barry White voice was one of only two proper belly laughs I had while playing the game. It was so unexpected and ridiculous that it cracked me up.

The other one I had was while playing the Meat Circus, where I broke down into laughter at how unremittingly awful it is. What finally got me was that I'd struggled through the escort section and the next section to reach the boss and thought "sure that was bad, but at least it wasn't all that long". But nope, it just keeps going.

I agree that the actual design of the Meat Circus is good, but I do also think it went a bit too far into the grotesque. In particular, the sword swallowers' horrid spitting-up sound makes my skin crawl.

I have to say though, I ended up replaying the circus again afterwards because I'm some kind of idiot masochist*, but I didn't find it that bad on second play? It's a lot more bearable once you actually know what you're meant to be doing in each of the sections.

* From what I read, the key change in the difficulty reduction patch was that you now don't lose projection layers if Lil Olly dies, you fall into a bottomless pit or you fail the timed platforming section. I did all of those plenty of times in my first play-through, so wanted to see if I could get through it while treating those as a proper deaths still. It turned out I could, but if you're right that Lil Olly's health originally didn't refill at each tier then holy crap that would've been insane.

[DataNinja]

...man, I hate timezone stuff. Didn't get up until noon where I am, so missed most of the day. Whoops. Guess I need to catch up on stuff now, 12 hours later, while I'm still wide awake.

So, sure, I can accept Pokeylope's a talking turtle, Psitanium mutation or experimentation or whatnot and all... but if that's his brain, uh, is that, like, taking up the entirety of inside his shell?

...wait, whose brain is that, then?

You'd think that they'd be a little less nonchalant about the fact his brain could be inside one of his death machines.

Well huh. You'd think this would be the final battle.

I wonder if this mind meld's going to end with something to do with Raz's dad. Because I seem to remember it being mentioned that he was a psychic, too.

Or maybe not.
Also, ouch. Escort.

Oof. That is a lot of time on that third tier where you can literally do nothing to help your escortee...

[HalfTangible]

Escort missions

If there was ever a game mechanic that was pure evil...

[smuchmuch]

Edit:Oh yes, sorry bout that, obvious spoilers in the link posted below.

Funny thing, you can actualy complelty avoid that whole section in a spedrun by cheesing levitation.. I wonder if that was patched up

[LaZodiac]

Funny thing, you can actualy complelty avoid that whole section in a spedrun by cheesing levitation.. I wonder if that was patched up[

I don't imagine it is. Also if people want to avoid spoilers, don't look at this video, obviously, cause it's a speedrun of the whole game.

[LaZodiac]

The circus is in town. Let's go to the circus.

Zodi Plays: Psychonauts [26] [FINALE] Daddy Issues

Video Length: 31:40

Today, we finish meat. The next segment we have to deal with is a rail grinding one, and aside from two instances of having to make the game VERY cross with me by jumping backwards up the rails, this is actually a perfectly fine and decent challenge. It is also, sadly, the last time I can say that in this game. But then it IS the finale, we're gonna get a lot of that. We find the last cobwebs here as well, as well as the last baggage, and the last memory vault was last time. So we've finally 100% cleared the game, and achieved the fabled Rank 101 in the PSIcadets. Our reward for doing so is a...cute(?) scene showing us how Sheegor escaped alive with Mr Pokeylope, and how it turns out Linda McLungfish are lovers. Thanks game.

With all the collectables finally finished off, and our power at maximum, we can now continue to the third and final part of Meat Circus...the final boss fight! It's against Little Ollie's Dad, The Butcher, and I swear this is NOT Tim Curry doing his voice, it's not, I checked! But he does a pretty damn good "nasty Tim Curry" impression, and that's REALLY cool actually. And that is the only positive I have to say about this boss fight. Well that and the fact that it's really fast, he takes a lot of damage and you only have to cycle through his attacks three times...if you remember how to fight him, that is. Dodge his violent swings, avoid the overhead smash, then climb up his arm to whack him in the face. But that's not all...after beating him, he rips open a tear in the mind and throws Raz away, along with a carefully wrapped meat package. Which turns out to be, dun dun duuuun, Raz's Dad!

And with that we enter the second worst part of this stage. We need to climb our way up the tent while Raz's Dad peppers us with attacks, all while the water is raising upwards. If it reaches us, if we run out of time, we have to restart the entire section. In the non patched game, if we game overed I'm pretty sure we'd have to restart this entire final boss. Either way, considering the fact that the platforming CONTINUES to be really bad and clunky, a timed platforming segment is right up there with escort mission segment as "why would you do this???". And the unfortunate thing is, unlike the escort bit, this part has potential. I like the idea of actually exploring Raz's own inner demons, and the set up clearly could of stripped away all our psychic powers so we could only platform. The way the game is now that would be horrendous, but if the game was better they could definitely do that and it'd be a really cool, iconic moment of the game. But instead we get what we got, and you can see a few times how Raz Dad kinda ruined my time here. Thankfully, we're able to push through and make it too...

Phase two of the boss fight! Butcher Dad is powered up with fire, and Raz Dad is helping out with flaming exploding clubs. Thankfully for us this is also his weakness, we can TK them at The Butcher to knock him down, letting us punch Ollie's dad directly in the face. A few rounds of that, and we're finally done, the two Dad's being tossed into the meat grinder! The dream dads slain, we finally see what that spooky ghost screaming our name is; our actual Dad! He's been trying to contact and help us, since as it turns out Raz's dad is not even remotely as bad as he thinks, because he's ten years old. We have a nice little conversation, and Raz maybe gets a happy moment...before the combined meat dad appears. It's time for the final fight, Raz's actual Dad empowering us with gigantic burning man psychic powers! The final, truly final phase of the boss fight is here, and ultimately not that big a deal. You just have to run around until the super power is charged, then go big and hit him a few times. It's not really compelling or fun, tragically, but it's workable. We finally kill the meat father, and with that we can finally separate Oleander and Raz's brains.

And that's it. We have our ending. Oleander doesn't go to jail since he was suffering mental trauma, which is...fine I guess. I get that, and Psychonauts can literally rewire your brain to fix brains so that's fine. We get our last little bit of gross ship teasing with Raz and Lilli, Raz becomes the Psychonaut child soldier he always dreamed of being, and it seems like it's time to leave...until, dun dun duuun, we learn that the Head of the Psychonauts has been kidnapped! And it's Lilli's Dad! So we fly off to save the day, sequel hooking fans of this game forever...until like twoish years ago where a VR puzzle game came out that is a sequel to this. But yeah, that's it. That's the end! Hope you all enjoyed!

------

And so Psychonauts ends. My thoughts? I'm...not the biggest fan of this game in the world! When I first played this, I was very slowly (but surely) soured on the experience because of all the terrible, terrible glitches that exist, and how the game is just really put together weirdly. It is a game that is heavily flawed, and has not aged well, and really wasn't aged well at the time of release. But it's better than I remember it being, and the patch to Meat Circus made it way more possible. So on the whole, this was a good experience, and I'm glad I LPed it! And I hope you're all glad to have watched this little piece of game history. I feel like playing this, when I did, was actually pretty good. The last big project I did (ie not Kirby) was Sly Cooper, a really well put together collectathon style game from the same era as this, and it really allows for a contrast. Sly Cooper is, as far as I can tell, barely talked about and yet it's so good. Psychonauts is decidedly flawed, but for some reason this is the game that endures and becomes a hyper cult classic that everyone rave's about. That's always interesting to me, is all I'm saying.

But yeah. That was Psychonauts. I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you guys next time. But what'll we do next time, you may ask? Well, I said in the video I was taking a week off, but to be honest I'm still itching to go on my next project so I'm fine with not doing that. Next up, it's time to wake up. Same Zodi time, same Zodi channel, get ready for...Furi!

[DataNinja]

Well, that seems like a rather boring an anticlimactic boss. Reminds me of just the giant censor, without the minions.

I actually like the ladder because it feels like it belongs in a mental world. But, yeah, rest of this stage? Seems like a horrible design with what this game has shown its strengths to be.

Oh boy. Slightly changed boss. Also, huh. Floating creepy face is still floating and creeping. Guess it wasn't a representation of Raz's dad like I though it might be.
...or not.
Well, it was a representation of the real dad, so... half points?

Well, at least they changed up the mechanics for the final final boss? Even if those mechanics are... really unwieldy.

Yeah, from seeing this played, this game seemed to have its ups and downs. But it mostly just depended on taste.

Oh, hey. This is the first time that you're going to be playing a Taste Of game for a full playthrough, isn't it? (Unless I'm misremembering. Or this is a different Furi.)

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Well, that seems like a rather boring an anticlimactic boss. Reminds me of just the giant censor, without the minions.

I actually like the ladder because it feels like it belongs in a mental world. But, yeah, rest of this stage? Seems like a horrible design with what this game has shown its strengths to be.

Oh boy. Slightly changed boss. Also, huh. Floating creepy face is still floating and creeping. Guess it wasn't a representation of Raz's dad like I though it might be.
...or not.
Well, it was a representation of the real dad, so... half points?

Well, at least they changed up the mechanics for the final final boss? Even if those mechanics are... really unwieldy.

Yeah, from seeing this played, this game seemed to have its ups and downs. But it mostly just depended on taste.

Oh, hey. This is the first time that you're going to be playing a Taste Of game for a full playthrough, isn't it? (Unless I'm misremembering. Or this is a different Furi.)

This wasn't a Taste Of, this was a full-on Let's Play. She's alternating between Zelda and Not Zelda so she doesn't get burned out on the series by playing All Zelda All The Time (tm).

[Knight9910]

Come on, Zodi. You missed the most obvious joke!

At the end, you say that Psychonauts as a game is fine.

Don't you mean... it's DOUBLE FINE?

[DataNinja]

This wasn't a Taste Of, this was a full-on Let's Play. She's alternating between Zelda and Not Zelda so she doesn't get burned out on the series by playing All Zelda All The Time (tm).

I know. I was referring to the next series, which is going to be Furi. Which was previously Tasted on the channel, unless there's another Furi that I'm unaware of. (A quick google didn't show anything, but I'll admit that it's entirely possible I could be mistaken.)

[Ebon_Drake]

And so ends Psychonauts. I haven't always agreed with your opinions on the game, but you definitely have some valid criticisms of it. I'm also genuinely thankful for you giving me an impetus to try the game out again.

As a post-script, I don't think the children's Campster pages have been mentioned? I didn't bring it up earlier since it has some spoilers, I'd intended to mention it after the rebraining but then promptly forgot. The pages give a bit more background on the various campers, including things that don't get much screen time in the actual game - not least Crystal and Clem's issues. They're also a kind of hilarious time capsule for the early 2000s. Enjoy!

[LaZodiac]

And so ends Psychonauts. I haven't always agreed with your opinions on the game, but you definitely have some valid criticisms of it. I'm also genuinely thankful for you giving me an impetus to try the game out again.

As a post-script, I don't think the children's Campster pages have been mentioned? I didn't bring it up earlier since it has some spoilers, I'd intended to mention it after the rebraining but then promptly forgot. The pages give a bit more background on the various campers, including things that don't get much screen time in the actual game - not least Crystal and Clem's issues. They're also a kind of hilarious time capsule for the early 2000s. Enjoy!

To be honest I didn't even realize that was a thing. As you may of noticed from the Milkman Conspiracy level, I've been incredibly burned on every Double Fine game, without fail. So I'm not what you'd call the biggest fan of them. So yeah, that's pretty cool though!

Also yes, the Furi in question is the Furi I did a taste of so long ago. We'll get to see the rest of it! And next time I post, wheter it be the new video or in a response to this one, I'm also going to be starting a new poll to determine what my NEXT next LP is. Because after Furi is a new Zelda, and then it's POLL TIME.

[Qwertystop]

...So the official Psychonaut uniform is a black turtleneck?

Also, I've got to wonder where Raz got that idea of his Dad – there's absolutely nothing addressing what might have been done to get Raz thinking his Dad hated psychics to anywhere near that degree.

(and how does "trauma about being unable to save rabbits" become "take over the world"? All the other craziness had at least a tangential connection.)

EDIT: Yeah, going back to that two-part review/retrospective I linked on the first page (see also)... it looks pretty accurate? Not perfect, there's some points that he missed that impact the critique or that I disagree with, but I think that "Psychonauts would have worked better as a Saturday-morning cartoon than as the Monkey-Island-dressed-up-as-Banjo-Kazooie that it actually is" is spot-on.

[HalfTangible]

...So the official Psychonaut uniform is a black turtleneck?

Also, I've got to wonder where Raz got that idea of his Dad – there's absolutely nothing addressing what might have been done to get Raz thinking his Dad hated psychics to anywhere near that degree.

(and how does "trauma about being unable to save rabbits" become "take over the world"? All the other craziness had at least a tangential connection.)

EDIT: Yeah, going back to that two-part review/retrospective I linked on the first page (see also)... it looks pretty accurate? Not perfect, there's some points that he missed that impact the critique or that I disagree with, but I think that "Psychonauts would have worked better as a Saturday-morning cartoon than as the Monkey-Island-dressed-up-as-Banjo-Kazooie that it actually is" is spot-on.

I relate a fair bit to Raz's thoughts on his dad. From the sounds of it, he probably never told Raz he had psychic powers.

Oly's trauma with his dad happened to him when he was extremely young, and as we see from the other memory vaults, Oly's size (both then and later in life) was the biggest impediment to him getting what he wanted. I find it odder that he suddenly became a good guy again after Raz jumped into his head, like it was JUST THAT EASY!!!

[LaZodiac]

After some long hard thinking and my Mom asking me for 20 000 dollars to help push off the landlord for her bar, I've come to a conclusion about Raz's thoughts on his Dad.

Mostly in that, as an adult of 26 years old, I'm still finding new ways to be excited by, impressed by, and dissappointed by my parents. Raz probably got hit by a club once during catch, overheard his dad cursing psychics for killing someone he liked, and his little ten year old brain worked it's broken magic.

[DataNinja]

I relate a fair bit to Raz's thoughts on his dad. From the sounds of it, he probably never told Raz he had psychic powers.

I'm fairly certain Raz mentioned that his dad was a psychic early on. I want to say it was probably mentioned after a Brain Tumbler or Merit Badge trip, to either Ford or Sasha. I know that I'd had that idea in my head, and I knew nothing about this game before this LP.

[HalfTangible]

I'm fairly certain Raz mentioned that his dad was a psychic early on. I want to say it was probably mentioned after a Brain Tumbler or Merit Badge trip, to either Ford or Sasha. I know that I'd had that idea in my head, and I knew nothing about this game before this LP.

I kinda-sorta remember Raz saying his whole family was psychic

But then in his mental world he asks how his dad can hate psychics if he is one.

[LaZodiac]

I'm fairly certain Raz mentioned that his dad was a psychic early on. I want to say it was probably mentioned after a Brain Tumbler or Merit Badge trip, to either Ford or Sasha. I know that I'd had that idea in my head, and I knew nothing about this game before this LP.

He mentioned to Ford that he THINKS his Dad his psychic. He doesn't know for sure.

Anyway, fulfilling the thing I said last time, it's time for AN POLL. So, the next LP is Furi, and after that is Phantom Hourglass. But what'll be after THAT? It's time to determine that, through VOTE. So let's lay out the options.

But first, here is the Strawpoll itself, right here!

1: Zodi's Choice (Iconoclasts) - A game by Konjack, maker of the famous indie gem, Noitu Love and it's sequel. An amazing game, about a mechanic who just wants to do her best to help people.

2: Kid Icarus Uprising - The triumphant return of Pit, the angel who can't even fly on his own. Join him and the great goddess Palutena as they return, as does the evil monster Medusa who they might stop once and for all!

3: Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis - A tactical RPG, showing a hidden story in the Tactics Ogre world. Join a young man as he adventures to find himself, among other things.

4: EVOLAND - An RPG about RPGs, from the early days to current. I've never played this, it would be blind!

5: Harvest Moon More Friends Of Mineral Town - The girl variant of everyone's favorite farm sim that isn't Stardew Valley. Will we become a successful farm, and will we find love?

6: Custom Robo - A world where people solve every conflict with miniture, psychically controlled super death robots. We have a mysterious bracelet and a mysterious Dad Past. I don't actually have a good way of presenting this game because it's very weird. We need a job basically.

7: Ronin - Your father is dead. You have nothing but a tech suit and a katana. Kill everyone responsible. A turn based 2D action game, very interesting.

8: Bayonetta - A character action game staring Bayonetta, an umbran witch with intense power. She's here to chew bubblegum and kill angels. And she's got plenty of both.

9: Bioshock - Under the sea, everyone is free. A First Person Shooter with vaguely RPG elements, inspired by System Shock. Can you survive the underwater utopia of Rapture?

10: Drakengard 3 - A character action game, staring Zero, a woman with one of her eyes replaced by a flower. Her and her dragon have one goal; brutally murdering Zero's sisters. Extremely violent and concerning. This would be mostly blind.

11: Final Fantasy 12 - A sort of bad but still good RPG staring the optional character in a regular RPG. An epic plot that is very different from a lot of what Final Fantasy does, while being exactly the same.

12: A Hat In Time - An adorable time traveler must get a bunch of objects to fix her hat based time machine. A collectathon style game, and one people like a lot. This would be blind!

So yeah, please vote on this poll! Which game will be after Phantom Hourglass? Let's find out! This poll'll be open until NEXT FRIDAY (July 27th).

[DataNinja]

He mentioned to Ford that he THINKS his Dad his psychic. He doesn't know for sure.

Oops. Guess I thought it was slightly more certain than that.

[LaZodiac]

I hear thunder. Pitter patter. Time to wake up.

Zodi Plays: FURI