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S2 Ep145: Psychonauts
77 Plays5 years ago
MAJOR SPOILERS: Psychonauts
Join Dave and Jake for a long awaited episode - the absolute finest of Double Fine's finest - summer camp with the Psychonauts!
Thoughts? Comments? Requests for new episodes? Feel free to email them in!
SoapstonePodcast@gmail.com
Like our podcast? Like our podcast! We'll post when new episodes are uploaded!
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Join Dave and Jake for a long awaited episode - the absolute finest of Double Fine's finest - summer camp with the Psychonauts!
Thoughts? Comments? Requests for new episodes? Feel free to email them in!
SoapstonePodcast@gmail.com
Like our podcast? Like our podcast! We'll post when new episodes are uploaded!
https://www.facebook.com/SoapstonePodcast/
Recommended
Transcript
Opening Banter with Officer O'Lungfish
00:00:02
Speaker
Ah, top of the mornin' to ya, ma'am. And good day to you, Officer O'Lungfish. How are you today? Oh, damp and happy, can't complain. And what are you and the wee one up to on this lovely day? Oh, just obeying the law as always. All posted directives. Followed to the letter. Ah, good to hear. Not who one of us want any trouble. Let's fish on. Ah! Ah! Hold!
Introduction and Gaming Updates
00:00:41
Speaker
How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soapstone. My name is Jake. I'm joined by my co-host who's always Dave. How's it going today, Dave? It's going weird, which is my blanket statement for the day's overall good, but I feel a little bit weird. I feel a little bit spacey.
00:00:57
Speaker
That's fair. Probably played through some confusing or stylistically interesting perception-altering games recently, as well as had life events, right? Yup, I played The Witness again. That is correct. This is going to be a very short episode if we talk about The Witness.
00:01:22
Speaker
Did you like it? Eh, kind of pretentious, but puzzle seemed interesting. See ya. All right, man, we're good. That was actually a review of all Jonathan Blow games. Yeah, I got second dose of vaccine today as of a couple hours ago. So we'll see where that goes. But I'm told I will be 95% COVID proof
00:01:49
Speaker
In two weeks, you have to just like, you can dunk yourself in it and be basically immune. But.
00:01:57
Speaker
I mean, I'm probably going to try and visit more people, but I mean, just because I'm immune doesn't mean I couldn't carry something. Yeah.
Post-Vaccination Precautions and Reflections
00:02:05
Speaker
Like a mask or hands or... Dr. Fauci said that if both people are vaccinated, they could safely meet. I was like, I should hope so. Well, one, you know, that's kind of positive. It's good to always hear like a medical professional actually confirming something that makes sense.
00:02:22
Speaker
But if that wasn't the case, if you're like, all right, now that you both have vaccinations, continue to isolate, stay away from each other, you're like, what did I get?
Road Trip Rituals and Wawa Adventures
00:02:33
Speaker
Chips, you got microchips. The thing is, like, the chip is fairly painless. That's good.
00:02:42
Speaker
But we'll see what side effects are, like I said. But yeah, that's literally all I've done today. Because it was, I had to drive to another state, and it was far away. And traffic was kind of weird. But I listened to music the whole way, and I got wah-wah for lunch. So take that how you will. That's pretty good. That's actually like, I think there's a minor amount of conditioning for me. I don't really drive places anymore, because who does? Right.
00:03:11
Speaker
But when we were going on road trips, say we were going to land party or something like that, I always had this, and it may just because I'm fat, but a positive Pavlovian response to the beginning of the trip because I know I could stop at Wawa first, pick up a nice sugary coffee and snack. Yeah, it's like the trip doesn't officially start until you've gotten gas or whatever the fuck else you need at Wawa and road snacks or food. Yeah, exactly.
00:03:40
Speaker
Like I will always, if I'm driving and getting Wawa versus, you know, just going there for lunch and bringing it home, I will always try and grab something that's more portable and handheld, like a hoagie. So while I'm driving, I can just be like swerving and inviting. You can't see the hand motions, but it looks like I'm angularly jerking off two dicks. I'm going to stop that. As the boat rocks back and forth, Dave's accommodating.
Podcasting Through Vaccine Side Effects
00:04:08
Speaker
No, it's, uh,
00:04:11
Speaker
It's very much true. And yeah, I just I find that that helps that helps trips. Unfortunately, I know you're feeling a little bit. I don't know if like immune compromises isn't the word, but a little under the weather like post shot, but I guess that's to be expected, right?
00:04:30
Speaker
Yeah. It's supposed to vary per person, but they said typically it is good if your body elicits an immune reaction. So my stuff works kinda. Um, but like right now I just feel like mildly tired and very, very slightly out of it, but not like,
00:04:52
Speaker
I can't work today. Right. We're not there. Which is great because I was just recording the podcast is work obviously.
Exploring 'Psychonauts': Initial Impressions
00:05:01
Speaker
Um, we do this, we do this for the people, um, our consumers, the people that consume us. Um,
00:05:11
Speaker
So I really wish we had video just because I feel like my facial expressions get lost as I react to certain statements. They literally do, especially if I forget to move the camera to the middle screen here. So they're lost to me as well. There we go.
00:05:25
Speaker
But yeah, Psychonauts. Why are we covering this game? I mean, it's been on the list for a while because I went through games in my library and said which things are good that I actually want to talk about. And of course Psychonauts was up there because I was really my first experience with Tim Schaeffer's style and it's fucking amazing.
00:05:51
Speaker
I think it's a pretty good game. I think it's a solid game that I enjoy playing with some caveats. Yeah, I'm not saying it doesn't have any flaws. I'm just saying overall, I really do love it. And even going back and playing it again over the past week, because I think it was probably
00:06:16
Speaker
let's say four years ago, because nobody can fact check me on this, that I actually beat Psychonauts. And it was three years before that that I first played Psychonauts. Yeah. Because I played through most of it, got to like the last level, specifically with the water rising. And I just couldn't get past this one jump. I think I was liquid. Yeah, it was just a struggle bus thing. But then I finally beat it later. And now I've beaten it again.
00:06:46
Speaker
Right. What are we talking about? Sorry. Yeah, so Psychonauts came out a long time ago. This was Double Fine's first game. 16 years. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay, that fits as my first experience with them. 16 years ago, so.
00:07:05
Speaker
significant amount of time has passed. I don't think that there is much in the way of updates since then, so I was a little bit surprised. When loading it up this time, I could natively switch it over to 1440p. It just supported that resolution, which was nice.
00:07:22
Speaker
Let me say yes, I am happy about that, but I am not happy that it took me like six levels in to find that setting. Yeah, no, it's- Because initially, everything fell a little bit wide. I'm like, oh, it's an older game. It makes sense. And then I finally fixed the resolution later. I'm like, oh my God, I can see things now.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah, it's a it had a weird opener for me. And they have like the interactive menu thing where you can like run around on the brain. Yeah. And then like pick an option to continue game, create a game, whatever. But you haven't been prompted at any point to like adjust your settings.
00:07:59
Speaker
So you have to hit the escape menu, go into settings, adjust things. I remapped some of the controls because like, I don't know if like this would be an early Xbox game or what, but the controls were just weird with an Xbox 360 controller on PC at least. I rebound, confirm to A and back to B and then things sort of made sense. So I was jumping with A.
00:08:25
Speaker
That's how it is for me. What were your default confirming back buttons? I don't know. I think they were reversed for some reason. It confused the heck out of me. But anyways, when you start it up, it's like press Y to start the game. And I'm like, what? Isn't there a button for that?
'Psychonauts' Gameplay Mechanics and Challenges
00:08:42
Speaker
Isn't there a button named that? Yeah, why? But maybe that was actually
00:08:51
Speaker
Given some of the thought put into this game, maybe that was intentional. It's like you need to play this game with an open mind.
00:08:57
Speaker
If you're not asking why when you start the game, what are you doing? I feel like that is looking at a thing of child's art and saying, wow, this is really deep and it has many levels to it instead of it just is what it is and somebody fucked up. Jonathan Blow, basically. Yeah, you're given more credit than it deserves. Yeah.
00:09:23
Speaker
Um, but how would you describe the gameplay of Psychonauts? It's definitely an adventure game. Like is its primary genre, I think, but how would you, how would you sell this? Yeah, it's adventure platformer, third person. So you're running around, running around, exploring levels, looking for collectibles, uh, some interaction, uh, some puzzle stuff mechanically for like the powers you get throughout the course of the game.
00:09:48
Speaker
Yeah, I would still solidly say third person adventure platformer. Yeah. Because there is a lot of platforming. Yeah, probably. I mean, yeah, it's the entirety of the game. Well, I was going to say, like, I'm not a huge fan of platformers. I'm going to say probably too much to me, but everyone would just.
00:10:09
Speaker
If people have been listening, they know they don't usually like platformers that much, especially if it's precision. This is immediately getting into a little bit of a criticism, I guess, but the game feels pretty loosey in the way that you jump and move and stuff like that.
00:10:24
Speaker
And it's not bad. There's games that are way worse in this regard. But it does feel weird. I had one point where there was two tight ropes that intersected. And the point was you're supposed to walk from one tight rope to the next one. And I jumped in the center and then Raz, who's Rasputin, the protagonist, grabbed on to an invisible bar and started swinging back and forth. And I was like, there's no bar there.
00:10:50
Speaker
And I couldn't jump forward and I couldn't like jump off. I had to drop from it and then redo the whole thing. It was freaking weird. But I didn't get that bug specifically. But yeah, there's definitely some loosey goosiness to it. I think just because it was older.
00:11:06
Speaker
And it's not precision like of recent discussion of blasphemous where you have to land specifically, jump specifically, ledge grab.
Narrative and Humor in 'Psychonauts'
00:11:17
Speaker
It's not that brutal, but there are some interactions where you think you're going to jump up somewhere or be somewhere and it's not entirely what you expect and you kind of learn to work around it slightly. I don't want to put anybody off, but it is slightly weird.
00:11:32
Speaker
It's got a little bit of the Skyrim slide to it, depending on the powers you're using. I don't know that dance. It's like, you know how in Skyrim, if you're going to climb a mountain, going straight up doesn't work? Yeah. But if you go like diagonal, you can like make it up. It's got a little bit of that on some of the geometry. So you can slide a little bit, but they make up for it by just being like,
00:11:54
Speaker
It seems like they realized that the collision wasn't 100% there, so they just get people really crazy mobility powers and super jump and all this nonsense, and they can just skip the puzzles if they want and run through the game.
00:12:10
Speaker
like excellent recovery made. Yeah, I feel like the game is actually probably pretty short. You're definitely gated by certain puzzle things and figuring it out. But if you're not going for the collectibles, I probably could have shaved off an hour and a half to two hours. Yeah. But I just- How long did it take you to beat it? This time around, I think it was more between six and seven.
00:12:34
Speaker
Um, but that was kind of based off of remembering how I played before and be like, Oh, this is what I have to do here. Yeah. So it wasn't as fresh of an experience. So it might be a little bit longer for a completely new player.
00:12:47
Speaker
It took me like seven plus, um, not much longer. And I did have one AFK session where I alt tab and ate some food while watching YouTube. So that might've counted a little bit too, but it's yeah, there's a massive difference between going for completion in this game and not like you said. Um, so outside of mechanics, uh, another thing with all Tim Shafer games, but really exemplified here is the writing and the characters.
00:13:14
Speaker
When we get those kissy noses in, it's so good. I mean, Raz makes them too, right? Toward the end of the game, you hear it a lot. But like the whole setting is you're a kid who breaks into a camp for psychics.
00:13:32
Speaker
but like all the humor is like you're a kid. So if you're making comments, it's from a kid's perspective and it fits. And some of the adults or other characters just have zany trophy interactions, but it fits like the campground summer vibe, I guess.
00:13:52
Speaker
Yeah. No, that's a good way to put it. I think like, so Raz is 10 years old, um, in Psychonauts and he's like the wittiest 10 year old I've ever heard because he's written by adults that were also witty, but they do it in such a way that it's just endearing and great. Um, I wish I could think of a specific example.
00:14:15
Speaker
to really mention. But basically, even his approach in the camp, when he shows up the first time, he's hiding in a tree. And they're going to just kick him out as soon as they find him.
00:14:28
Speaker
Um, and he gives this whole, like he, he quotes the like motivational pamphlet to like get kids into the camp. And so like, uh, coach Oleander, like sheds a tear or whatever. And it's like, get that man a bunk. And it's like, it's, it's, it's just great. I love the, uh, the writing is like the highest point. I think. And in this game, like it covers a lot of, if without the writing, I don't know if I would recommend Psychonauts.
00:14:56
Speaker
nearly as highly. I feel like it would just be a game. Also with the impassioned speech, before coach Oleander says, get that man a bunk, as Rasputin is towards the end of the pamphlet reciting, the shot goes back to coach Oleander, who's just mouthing along with the words. Yeah, yeah. Because it's brought back to the forefront of his memory. It's sweet. Yeah. It's a little shit like that.
00:15:27
Speaker
It's the style and the writing really go together really well for this game. And the mechanics don't leave it all hanging either. I guess we can talk a little bit about the... Oh, actually, I was going to say another thing for writing. I love there's a little clip at the beginning where you get Indian arrowheads for the first time, which is the currency around camp.
00:15:50
Speaker
Yeah. And they're like, one of the kids is like, oh, it's because it's an Indian burial ground. And Raz is like, because they bury their dead here. And the kid's like, what? No, it's an Indian arrowhead burial ground. And it's just so good. I love it. Yeah, it's a lot of times they'll set up these, this is what the expected thing is. And then they'll like do a quick subversion. Yeah. And it just keeps it very light hearted.
00:16:17
Speaker
Where other times you think things are gonna be more serious and then they just kind of pull out the rug and it's like it's just a game relax Yeah
00:16:24
Speaker
And personality wise, Raz is like, he's upbeat and he makes these quips and things like that. But he also is like the most focused, serious 10 year old ever. And that he really wants to, you know, be a Psychonaut, which is this like graduated class of psychics, right? So psychic agents, basically. Psychic spies, more or less.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yes.
Collectibles and Character Depth in 'Psychonauts'
00:16:53
Speaker
But gameplay wise, once they actually drop you into the camp, you don't have a whole lot when you start off. This is very much a progression game, like a lot of adventure games are, where your initial kit is very limited and then at the end, you're web-slinging into the city. You fight God. Yeah, you fight God. It's not Persona.
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah, but the first level is like just basic braining. Everyone goes into Coach Oleander's mind for like an obstacle course. So you kind of get used to the platforming and basic mechanics of here's the level, these are your collectibles. Yeah. They first explain emotional baggage here, which is something that people have. Nod, nod, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. But you can find the associated tag for the baggage.
00:17:42
Speaker
And I think it's just a collectable. I don't think you would get anything specific from it. Yeah. Trying to think if there is, I think if you collect all of them, then you get a concept art unlock or something like that. Oh. Well, in this day and age, you can now just Google that later if you're not a completionist. It's fine. Yeah. But there's also memory fragments, which are kind of like 2D scribbles throughout the levels, which
00:18:12
Speaker
is cool to collect, but at the same time, certain ones will kind of have like a move pattern that goes through the floor or walls. So it's easy to miss a couple. And then mostly optional too. Oh yeah. Like they respawn I've seen in certain levels. You can literally go back and collect more of them later. So I don't think they're meant to be counted off.
00:18:38
Speaker
No, it just it contributes towards your side rank. Yes. Which you can then go talk to. Are you forgetting his name? I don't know. Wesley Snipes. You can go talk to Wesley Snipes to actually unlock new psychic powers to help you progress through the game. But a lot of it you kind of unlock naturally just from playing. It's definitely Agent Crowler. Yes. But he's not as Agent Crowler at the time.
00:19:08
Speaker
Yes.
00:19:12
Speaker
Do you want to talk about anything about basic branding or you want to just kind of like go through the levels and the progressions of mechanics and some characters? It's actually I think it's one of the more slightly. Forget about maybe not forgettable, forgettable is the wrong word. It's basically like you're making your way through like a D-Day front sort of scenario of a lot of obstacles and military things. Coach Oleander is like trash talking to you the whole time.
00:19:38
Speaker
You have to guide, is it Ollie or something like that? No, not Ollie. The kid with the tinfoil on his head. Yeah, I'm blanking on his name, unfortunately. There's so many named kids in this game, actually. It's a lot. Basically, one of the kids is too afraid to go through the mental minefield, so you have the option to guide him through.
00:20:03
Speaker
where he will follow your path or maybe you have to call to him. I skipped over it this time, so I don't recall. Yeah. So like you get partway through and he'll start to like panic. And if you don't talk to him, he'll just wander into a mine and stop following you. Okay. You have to run up and talk to him and then you'll keep following you.
00:20:20
Speaker
So if you get too far ahead, then you won't be able to get the talk prompt in time.
Character Exploration in 'Psychonauts'
00:20:26
Speaker
But you guide him through and then he gives you some upgrade or something like that. I don't know, extra ammo. I don't know what it was, but it didn't really matter. But what it does is nice in that it reinforces that
00:20:40
Speaker
Like Raz is a very helpful person, which is very much reinforced throughout this game. But also these kids he just met, he's already kind of like looking out for him. He's a very likable character, which is important in a game like this. Yeah, a lot of his.
00:20:57
Speaker
wit and snark really only comes up if he's being pushed. He's just very goal oriented and wants to become a side cadet. But he's trying to like rush through the training because he's not supposed to be at the camp. He kind of broke into it and they're like, well, we're going to call your parents, but like you can stay here for an hour or two until they can come pick you up.
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah. So he's just very much trying to like help everybody out and be a cool kid before his evil parents come take him away. Yeah. Because his dad hates psychics, right? Yes. They're acrobats and a psychic, like a psychic gypsy or someone like that cursed his family to die in water. So that's his dad has a bit of an aversion.
00:21:44
Speaker
And actually, Raz does, too, in his interactions with water throughout the game. Yes. I got to stop saying yes. Yes. I agree. No. You just say no. No. No. No. No. That's not true. That's not correct. Nope. That's not how it happened. But yeah, like.
00:22:05
Speaker
It comes up multiple times that like when you're interacting with water, there's like oftentimes you get like two balances where like a hand, watery hand, sort of like the boss from Water Temple and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time will try to grab you. And then the third one, it actually does grab you and it gets washed up on shore or whatever with reduced health or something.
00:22:28
Speaker
What's cool though is that throughout the levels, anytime they have water that's deep enough, even if it's just two dimensional water or water for like a set, like a stage set, it still has that same effect. So it's really cool that it's consistent throughout.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, there's something psychological going on Surprise for the game named psycho last thing I wanted to mention about Basics for collectibles. Mm-hmm. I think in each level there's one to two
00:23:01
Speaker
locked away memories. Yeah, like memory vaults. Yeah. So if you hit that and open it, you can kind of go through a quick slideshow of their memories for which whoever's level you're in. But it gives a really succinct explanation of who the character is. So for Coach Oleander, you just see him kind of like grinding out through school and all his military successes. And he's just very much defined by his military service and leading. Yeah.
00:23:31
Speaker
And as they're introduced like in some of the other characters, I didn't really go out of my way to get the vaults unless I saw them. So I'm sure I missed some. But a lot of times they also like depict tragedy.
00:23:43
Speaker
Uh, to an absurd extent. Yeah. Like, uh, one of the characters, I can't remember her name. She's one of the Psychonauts. Gloria. No, one of the Psychonauts, I'd be, uh, Mila. Um, yeah, Mila. Yeah. Hers is, hers is like the standout one. And then her memory is like, she ran an orphanage and all of the kids burned alive inside of it. And now she's just haunted by their screams. You're like,
00:24:09
Speaker
The reason I'm laughing right now is because I find that funny. It's because. What in the world is that doing? It's like when that's the video game, you know, right? There's actually like a sort of Easter egg area off the beaten path for her, where you enter like it's a cage with like ghosts outside and they're all the kids saying like Mila save us and like all this stuff repeatedly until you leave.
00:24:37
Speaker
And Mila actually remarks when you go in there. She's like, you shouldn't be here. It's like, but like, thankfully I have like my traumas under control or something like that. And that's what the cage is, keeping them out. You're like, this is a kid's game. This is rated. It's rated T.
00:24:57
Speaker
See, they do cover a lot of themes like that where people have regrets or tragedy or loss. In the case of Gloria, when you go through her memory vault, she was very forcefully raised as, you have to be an actress, you have to be a performer, you have to succeed. And this is all done by her mom. And then she's about to go perform, and then she's a news article that her mom committed suicide.
00:25:27
Speaker
And that kind of threw her off the deep end emotionally. So a lot of times as you're going through these levels, you're entering people's minds, you're clearing their mental cobwebs and you're essentially helping
00:25:41
Speaker
their problems. It's like fake therapy. Therapy, fictional therapy. You're helping conquer their inner demons, typically. Yeah, helping them face it, which is nice. It does add some cohesion to it. Yeah, and that it escalates a lot later. But I want to we should jump into the next levels. Sure. You want to talk about sausages at all? Or do you think that's skippable? Yeah, I think so. Very few.
00:26:08
Speaker
The level design, at the very least, is probably mentionable for every single level. They all have some unique aspect. It usually relates to a gameplay mechanic, too. For Shasha, his mind is very organized, and he's on the equivalent of a Borg cube, the outside of it.
Unique Level Designs in 'Psychonauts'
00:26:28
Speaker
You could just say a cube. You can say a cube. A cube. Yeah. Word Borg there doesn't actually help. And his thing is just like you can run around the sides of it and gravity shifts so that you can you don't fall off the cube regardless of where you run on it. And the level is pretty small. And I actually really like that because compared to like running around classic adventure game level, did you get all of the hidden secrets, whatever? It's all visible. It's like it's all right there.
00:26:59
Speaker
And they give you like, is this the first power? Yes. This is where you get the psychic shot to target and release your energy.
00:27:11
Speaker
Release your anchor. Yeah. Which is kind of an old standby. It's one of the most reliable weapons for enemies that aren't bosses. But I will say that the targeting, it feels like it's from a 16-year-old game. To caveat slightly, when I watched you play the other day, I didn't see you ever targeting. I did use it sometimes. OK.
00:27:40
Speaker
I probably didn't when I was streaming it. So the way it works is Raz shoots forward by default, but you can target enemies and then flick, I guess, Dark Souls or any other game with standard targeting to different enemies. But the issue I had was just that
00:27:58
Speaker
you only really target enemies that are in front of Raz. So if you need to like do a quick spin to grab like target on somebody and then fire at them and do the sidestepping, backflipping, all of that stuff, it's hard to do it quickly. And whenever you start like attacking, be that melee or ranged or what have you, Raz is kind of locked into that direction until he finishes the attack animation.
00:28:25
Speaker
Yeah, they didn't figure out that archival is canceling for a long time. Right. Well, the reason it kind of matters is there's like a segment in one of the levels where you need to like hit a bunch of targets that are popping up around you. And it becomes obvious that when the targets are popping up quickly and you're trying to like attack and then switch your position and attack that if you attack too quickly, Raz just keeps heading in front of him without any rotation. This is a very minor thing.
00:28:53
Speaker
uh, in a 16 year old game, but it's just something I sort of noticed. Um, so I do a lot of jumping away from enemies until I get enough space that I can look at them, you know, stare them down, target them and then shoot them. I mean, I, I definitely do the same. I don't think it, I noticed it as much as an issue. I just kind of put it in the bucket of, yeah, it is an older game. Yeah. So it's not as mechanically polished.
00:29:23
Speaker
Yeah. I wouldn't say this is a major grievance on my part. But the power is pretty good. It's got like limited ammo. And you regenerate it with like mental aggression you pick up from enemies that die. You also get health, right? It's called mental health. Yes, actually. Blue pickup for mental health, which is effectively your health bar when you're in a level, a.k.a. in somebody else's mind.
00:29:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:54
Speaker
So you always need that. And then the mental aggression you can get from killing enemies if you need to reload your shot. But without that, you still have mentally projected hands. So you can literally just punch things. It's a one, two, three combo. It's pretty simple. You can also jump and pound the ground with it for like a nice little AOE. I will do that if there's like four people on top of me. Otherwise it's take a step back.
00:30:27
Speaker
I was just going to say, it's like the level is mostly just kill a bunch of enemies and then escalate and then kill a bunch more enemies, then overload everything until you're fighting a boss made up of the folding enemies. But it's cool and I like it. It's succinct. It doesn't take a lot of time. It teaches you the mechanic 100% by the end of it, which I think is the focus of a lot of these.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah, I feel all of the early levels are, hey, here's a new mechanic, have fun with it, explore, take your time. But I hope you mastered it because later it's gonna fucking suck. So the next one for Mila's, she's very much like a 70s groover type lady.
00:31:13
Speaker
and you're learning about levitation. Yeah, so levitation in this game is your biggest advantage for mobility because you essentially ride a energy ball and then you can jump off of it and then you can hold on to it to kind of float down. So you really have a lot of options for moving around or repositioning. But the whole level is
00:31:36
Speaker
grinding on things, it's jumping up, going through fan platforms. At some point, you even get to race one of the other campers, which I really enjoyed because he's a shit and it feels good to beat him. What's funny is it's not even just him. There's a set of people that are in the race, but the objective is to beat specifically him.
00:31:57
Speaker
Because he's like the camp bully. Yeah, he's one. He talks like aggressively with a lisp, has face acne like a big ginger afro and his name's Bobby. And then he has a combination of tropes. Hench cousin character who's like the. Yeah, let's get out of here, Bobby, man. Bobby, how do you hang out these nerds? Yeah, yeah, they're not they're not human proportioned. These characters, for the most part,
00:32:25
Speaker
are not the most natural looking. They're just very stylized. Yeah. Going back, I think I was playing some the other day and then Lucy was watching and she's like, these characters look weird. I'm like, yeah, I can't really dispute that. I really like her level though. It's got cool music. It's got a good beat. Levitation, as I said, is the best ability in the game because it's like,
00:32:51
Speaker
better basic jump, speed increase, like the ability to just like, yeet yourself away from enemies. See you guys, like nothing will hit me if I'm moving away from you and jumping on this. Also you can upgrade it to essentially barrel roll through people where the ball will deal damage.
00:33:11
Speaker
Yeah. And one thing I actually do like about the game is levitation is almost teased and that like Raz starts the game with double jump. It's like one of the only things he really has at the beginning. And he double jumps on the orb that eventually becomes the levitation orb.
00:33:31
Speaker
So like, they kind of tease it a little bit. And I don't know if that was just because of from a development perspective, they're like, we need to give people double jump at the beginning of the game. Just leave it in. Right. Yeah. Or what? But it makes sense that he's just getting better with the psychic abilities. He's already rudimentarily rudimentarily.
00:33:51
Speaker
He has some familiarity with, um, so I, in my head cannon, you know, his, uh, hone his psychic powers with regards to a sense. Exactly. And I use this, I use this ability to skip like puzzles as much as possible, do little trick jumps, anything like that, anything to like, not play the actual platforming.
00:34:18
Speaker
So the next level, I think, is easily my favorite as far as design. As the plot unfolds, you have to go underwater to look for some stuff. I'm going to keep it vague. Just play the fucking game at this point or look it up. But you go inside the mind of this giant lungfish and you go to a place called lungfishopolis.
00:34:46
Speaker
But in this level, you are essentially a Godzilla-like character. And all of the lungfish are small, normal people, like going about their happy daily lives. And you are this monstrosity that has come to wreak havoc on the town. So as you go through, it's all the writing is fucking great, but they'll have like these little news snippets of your character is called Gogalor in this level.
00:35:12
Speaker
And they'll say like, oh, is Gogolord doing drugs? And they're like doing other things to like cast dispersion or shade on your character who just appeared. It's all fucking good.
00:35:26
Speaker
It's really good. I think that one thing to take a step back for Longfishopolis, one thing that it shows is that the writing is one of the driving forces of this game. Because the gameplay in Longfishopolis is okay. It's fine. It's nice being a giant for a little bit, but he climbs slower and does all these other things a little bit more slowly.
00:35:50
Speaker
And if it was just, you're a giant in the city and none of the writing was there, it would have been a lot less engaging. They literally interrupt. This is something like, I don't think most games can or should do, but as you're moving forward through Longfishopolis, they literally interrupt the gameplay with these news broadcasts.
00:36:09
Speaker
They're like, they take away control. You're not playing the game for a time as you listen to this. And this is actually like the most extreme version of something like the communicator in the ear sort of thing, where it's like, hey, we're going to hit you with some narrative right now, right? But because the writing is so engaging and because the situation is like novel, it doesn't feel bad.
00:36:37
Speaker
You're not like, geez, another person's talking at me and I can't continue, right?
00:36:42
Speaker
Yeah, I would only skip through dialogue or cutscenes in this game if I had already played through it and literally didn't want to see it again. Because as it's going, like they're always funny or interesting. It never takes away. It is weird though if you in another level, if you have an item out and then a cutscene happens or something and then it unequips your item.
00:37:07
Speaker
Like I'm going to, oh, okay, cool. Those can be slightly jarring, but yeah, I still agree with you though, that the, the gameplay itself of long fishopolis is not the greatest because it's just kind of a bigger, slower level. Right. It's just that like each level is so fucking unique. None of them are the same at all.
00:37:35
Speaker
It's very much a game where it's like we're in a new area or a new like mind or what have you. Like what's going to be the gimmick for this one? What's the gameplay mechanic that's different for this one? Like a lot of them share the same core platforming, but they'll throw in
00:37:51
Speaker
you know, you're being chased by something and the camera pans to that creature's eyes. So you have to run away in third person or something like that. Like there's a lot of instances where they they subvert the standard gameplay expectations, which is what helps keep it keep it fresh, I think. Which is good, because like the abilities themselves. Are like the psychic powers, which we haven't gotten into a lot of detail on, but we've mentioned some of them.
Gameplay Mechanics: Psychic Powers
00:38:22
Speaker
I find that they're they're oftentimes underutilized like or they're just kind of utility and you don't need to use a lot of them yeah they're very situational like disagree so the projectile thing um you almost never need to use that because you have a melee option there's pyrokinesis to set things on fire and you can use that to damage enemies but typically
00:38:47
Speaker
You really only need it for very specific puzzles where it's like, I wish I could light this candle. I wish I could burn through this pile of sticks. And then you have to use pyrokinesis. It has a long startup animation. It's the longest. I've never used it in combat unless it was accidental. It's like the volcano kick of Psychonauts. Did I equip? Oh, fuck. It's going to take forever. There was for one of the later levels in the game,
00:39:15
Speaker
a series where you have to fight a bunch of many bosses in a specific in a squared circle, if you will. And I think that's the word for wrestling ring. I don't know. Fire is really good against them because it's a dot and they can just burn out. Yeah, I did that. But also with those for each wrestler you face, they gave you a different combination of powers you had to use.
00:39:42
Speaker
And they would usually be really good about actively saying what the hint was. Right. Yeah. So for certain parts of the game might say like, oh, they don't want to see me right now. And it's like, hey, use invisibility. Yes. Because they literally fucking told you. But it also fits is just, oh, they don't see me right now. That's just a standard sentence. Right. Or if you're really getting stuck on something, they will kind of say, hey, maybe he doesn't like being set on fire. You're like, I should probably set on fire.
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good call. So yeah, I feel like we don't have time to go through every single level. But what was one that really stood out to you outside of long fish opera, unless you want to detail it more, or one that you really liked?
Iconic Levels: Milkman Conspiracy
00:40:28
Speaker
Um, hmm. So I already said me was dance parties, one of my favorites, but the um,
00:40:35
Speaker
I would like to discount your first answer entirely so we can talk about another level. That's fair. That's fair. I feel like so milkman conspiracy is probably the most iconic level in the game for most people. I'm the milkman. My milk is delicious. Actually, I want to steal this for a second and preface this with
00:40:57
Speaker
The game does have as a minor, minor criticism. It has a point probably after lung fishopolis where like it really takes a right angle into like, I'm not completely sure who these characters are. They've never been introduced before, but they're now very relevant and you need to like.
00:41:18
Speaker
the whole like asylum and all of the people in there. None of them are introduced beforehand. You know, they're not reusing characters, not doing any of that. It's like very much throwing in just new ideas, playing this space, playing this space, playing this space. And it's fine. But I got the impression that like they probably, if given more time, could have tied some of these pieces together a little bit more.
00:41:43
Speaker
Yeah. If there is maybe some like illusion to it, because like the fact that you end up on an asylum in the middle of the lake next to the camp. Yeah. Wasn't fucking talked about. It's just, that's where the long fish brings you after that level. And you're like, okay. And the long fish actually is alluded to several times previous in the game. Right. But that's kind of where the foreshadowing sort of ends.
00:42:10
Speaker
Um, and then it just, so it's dark souls. That's what you're saying. Yeah. The first part of the beatings seems fairly connected. And then I don't know what happened. We checked the items for lore. I would agree with you though. I don't, I wouldn't criticize it for that.
00:42:27
Speaker
because it's just another fun, new, unique experience. And like as the character is introduced, you get to learn about them and give a bit of a shit about them in the moment. But yeah, they're kind of just there. Yeah, they're fairly arbitrary. They could have switched any of the patients out with any other patients and the game would have proceeded kind of as it did. I guess what that says about their design focus though is that they were willing to prioritize
00:42:56
Speaker
like a novel style gameplay mechanic, something like that, as opposed to making everything contextually cohesive,
Balancing Fun and Storytelling in 'Psychonauts'
00:43:06
Speaker
right? They're like, make it fun, make it interesting. If we can make it fit, that's a plus. So at the end of the game, if you're trying to recollect everything you did towards the end of the game and why you did it, you might have some trouble there, but it was probably a fun experience.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's very true. I think it's partially because all of the levels are inside of somebody's mind. There's not really a connecting overworld, so to speak. I mean, there is an overworld where you can run around the camp and do other stuff. You can go back and replay levels, but- They're all connected to the brain tumbler.
00:43:50
Speaker
Did you find yourself? Okay. I'm going to answer your question first. Okay. Yeah, sorry. Uh, milkman conspiracy is a great level because of item use and level design. I think that's my take. I would agree. It's also really good. Did you find anything about that level, like particularly good or memorable other than the, the, the quotes of the milkman himself, who has a great character.
00:44:19
Speaker
I mean, the milk man is always funny. One thing I do like is as the clairvoyance is when that power is introduced where you can essentially read somebody's mind and see what they see, think what they think, and the camera focuses on you.
00:44:40
Speaker
Well, it's from their perspective. Yeah. But all of these secret agents throughout the level who are looking for the milkman, they'll all have certain jobs where if they're holding a phone, they work on the phone lines. If they're holding a gun, they're an assassin. So you need the respective prop to be seen as that in their eyes. But as you're seen, you're shown as like a shitty 2D cardboard cutout. Yeah. And it changes based on whatever you're holding.
00:45:09
Speaker
So little things like that, you technically don't ever have to clairvoyance secret agents.
00:45:17
Speaker
outside of, I guess, one door. But just getting the benefit of that in something is kind of cool. Yeah. It's like a cute little nuance. I think clairvoyance is a perfect example of sort of the utilitarian nature of a lot of the skills, because there's a few points in the game where it's like, here is the mechanic, use clairvoyance.
00:45:40
Speaker
right? But those are far and few between, very rare. But you can use clairvoyance on like literally anyone, even if they're not an enemy. And like, if you use clairvoyance on Agent 9,
00:45:54
Speaker
He shows up, Raz shows up as wearing like an outfit that is like just a smaller version for a kid of Agent 9's outfit. Like he sees, he sees Raz as like the next generation of Psychonauts. For like Lily, you're like a knight in shining armor. There's like, it's those little things. It's just like, how does this person perceive me? Let's just make it a little 2D drawing of this and put that in the game.
00:46:24
Speaker
Yeah. And it's, it's entirely bonus. You can skip over the entirety of that and not have it, but it's kind of like with blanking here, Hollow Knight. When you get the ability to read minds, you could do it on pretty much every character, but you don't have to.
00:46:41
Speaker
Like the whole true ending boss is off of using the dream nail. But again, you could entirely miss it. So the fact they're putting in that extra detail they don't need to, love it. That's really one of the defining focuses, I think, in the game, is just add all of the optional interesting stuff, even if it doesn't.
Different Playstyles in 'Psychonauts'
00:47:04
Speaker
Even if mechanically, we're not using it for a lot. Throw a bunch of powers in there.
00:47:12
Speaker
and just let them stick. And I think that...
00:47:16
Speaker
I actually, that was the one that I didn't have on my list clairvoyance. Oh, I was looking at it. I was like, huh, it's not even on my list. Interesting. Dave came up with it just now. We're improvising. Um, but yeah, it's that power in particular is emblematic of like the design decision in the game to make things interesting for the people that are exploring, which is funny. Cause I mean, like we were kind of rushing through the game to a certain extent, I think to.
00:47:48
Speaker
get, you know, complete the game, have renewed our experience of it so we can talk about it with some authority, as we always do, obviously, versus, uh, this 30 minute play through watch on YouTube said this. Um, but in a way, the way that we played the game, like in this accelerated pace is the opposite of how the game was designed. Right. Like.
00:48:13
Speaker
to really get the Psychonaut experience, you should be using clairvoyance on like everything. How does a crow see me? How does that person with the phone operator say me? How does Lily say me? Stuff like that. And can I set the crow on fire? Right. And the answer is yes. Ras is kind of like a sociopath, actually. His voice lines, if you like.
00:48:35
Speaker
Uh, use your powers on forest creatures are, are interesting. He like mixes apologies and like, it's like, sorry, squirrel, but you had it coming. He's going to have, he's going to be an interesting adult. Yeah. Psychonauts too at some point, baby. Let's go. Um, supposed to be this year. Big, big squint on that, but I would like it.
Climactic Final Level: Meat Circus
00:49:03
Speaker
I think it's on Steam, not released, but it has a listing on Steam. I'm the backer, so I will get emails about it at some point. We'll see, big shrug. But another standout level is the culmination, and this is at the very end of the game.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah. And it can only be described as its true name, meat circus, which is as horrifying as it sounds, especially if you are a young kid just checking out video games. Right. So basically, plot wise, your mind and the child mind of Coach Oleander are kind of blending together.
00:49:50
Speaker
So you have some issues with your dad and him not wanting you to be a psychic and wanting you to be still in the circus, being an acrobat, and then a little Ollie's childhood trauma of wanting to have like pet bunnies, but his dad being a butcher and wanting to kill the bunnies.
00:50:12
Speaker
So it's a lot of crazy platforming and trying to protect this kid while there's like horrific carnival and bunny and meat stuff going on. It's very, very uncomfortable. Yeah. Um, but there's a lot of platforming you have to do. You have to utilize a lot of powers.
00:50:35
Speaker
Not as much things like clairvoyance or confusion. Um, but it's kind of like, Hey, we need you to use everything in your arsenal to platform through this and then do these fucking boss fights. Yeah. Speaking of.
00:50:50
Speaker
Do you remember your first reaction or re-reaction for seeing Oli's dad? Yeah, I didn't remember him from the first playthrough, but I didn't remember being this big for sure. I was like, this is a very large boss. I understand why the arena is relatively simple.
00:51:11
Speaker
He's like a giant butcher, is literally what he is, with two meat cleavers. He's a Dark Souls boss. He's got hooks coming off of him, kind of like pudge, and a loud booming voice. And he laughs at you and taunts you and tries to carve you to pieces. It's fairly gruesome. He says, come here, little bunny. And then he also has this animation where he very quickly chops the two cleavers on the ground.
00:51:40
Speaker
I happen to have the ESRB rating summary up for this and he made it into their summary. The melee style combat could be frenetic at times with impact sounds, cries of pain, and screen shaking effects. One boss character is depicted with large bloody cleavers and blood stains on his clothing.
00:52:00
Speaker
One area depicts a giant grinder with bloodstains on its blades. This is the same area actually. Yeah, it is. ESRB like splits it so that you don't get spoilers or whatever, but let's see. Let the parents read that copy and make the choice for themselves. Right. I mean, I know no parents that actually read rating summaries, but they should. Oh my God, no. They absolutely should.
00:52:25
Speaker
If I was a parent, I don't think I would either. Yeah, I based off the box art. Yeah, the box art for second. That could tell a very different story. Yeah, the final level, though, is like it's pretty crazy. A lot of it's timed or like defense oriented, like you said. So there's more stress on it than your average levels.
00:52:50
Speaker
But I found that it was pretty cohesive at least. Like there was a path you need to take and you know, when you're making path forward, it also like is one of the few areas in the game where they checkpoint you. Thank God, by the way. Yes. Yeah. Because otherwise they have no problems letting you reattempt puzzle sections and stuff.
00:53:14
Speaker
They're like, yeah, they'll figure that shit out. Versus towards the end of that meat circus, the water is actively rising. This is, again, a throwback to your family was cursed to die in water. So you are constantly trying to ascend through the meat circus on these wires. And it's essentially the acrobatics portion. It's you facing against your mental projection of your dad.
00:53:42
Speaker
It's just really cool how everything is tied to either Raz or someone else trying to deal with their issues. Yeah, it ties it to the characters. They give it more justification, which is nice.
00:54:00
Speaker
How did you feel about the Rasputin cries throughout that level? Oh, right? Yeah. I like that. I think the game could have used more connected pieces like that. Just be like, hey, here's some foreshadowing for what happens later. And some games fall apart in the ending. Psychonauts starts to get weird in the middle-ish. And then it brings stuff together toward the ending, I think, which is nice. So they can at least finish strong.
00:54:29
Speaker
um yeah but it definitely takes a turn because it goes from campground adventure where it's just like summer camp to the children's brains have been kidnapped and you're the last one
Character Arcs and Resolution in 'Psychonauts'
00:54:41
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah shit like that. It just it goes off the rails quick. It really does. I do like the the kind of redemption story At the end it's like oh, no Raz is actually confused about his past because of the psychic manipulation going on and he so Raz thinks his dad hates him because he's a psychic. Mm-hmm, but his dad doesn't hate him and
00:55:04
Speaker
his dad is also a psychic and his dad just wants what's best for him.
00:55:11
Speaker
the justification for Y res thought all of this is he's, he's a kid. He's, he's 10 years old, right? Like he ran away cause he just didn't understand his emotions. Do you remember when your parents first yelled at you and you're like, Oh, I fucked up. I think they hate you forever. But no, you probably just got in trouble and being disciplined for something. Cause you were, I want to use myself in this example. Cause I was probably being a little shit. I don't want to put that on you. Right. Right. No, I was, I was.
00:55:37
Speaker
Um, but even like as an adult, I still fall into that where I can overly read into something or just kind of like mentally spiral off into like, I fucked something up. Oh, they hate me on the worst. And it's just, you just need to talk to somebody else to be like, no, that's not actually a reality. That's just a projection. It's really important to have someone to keep you from running off the joint psychic summer camp. Like we all need somebody like that in our lives.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's oof, but I do like it though. Cause they took, um, like, even though there's plenty of dark twists for other characters, backstories, things like that. Raz hasn't really experienced this trauma that his brain is manufacturing. He's a kid and like his parents just want to look out for him. His dad literally like reaches into his mind to help save him at the end. So, and gives him a super power. That's great.
00:56:35
Speaker
Yeah, it was. I really liked how it wrapped up, but I always forget how crazy it gets from like you're here, like a seven. You're like, this is the game. And then it jumps to a 12. You're like, what the fuck? Yeah, man, really, really. What's the line? Really crap. It's like accelerated there. Popped off there. It's like the sign for the scene from Anchorman. It was like, yeah, Brett killed a guy.
00:57:05
Speaker
It's like, wow, that accelerated quickly. That escalated quickly. Yeah. Well, I've ruined the pacing, but that's fine. I made my reference at the end of the day. Um, so.
00:57:19
Speaker
I feel like my take is, if you're a fan of adventure games at all, Psychonauts is still probably worth the recommend.
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
00:57:27
Speaker
As long as you've got a controller, I imagine PC controls are garbage. That's actually why I didn't beat that last level for the longest time. Because moving the mouse and jumping with space really fucked me up for the disjointed mesh with fire.
00:57:41
Speaker
Yeah. I can recommend it to literally anybody or if you just like good witty writing, even if platformers and adventures not entirely your thing, I'd still say check it out because it's a win. Like we didn't talk about the level at all, but it's called a black velvetopia. This is where you're facing the wrestlers.
00:58:09
Speaker
It's very neon and black themed and Spanish. And this guy is kind of a tortured artist. And in his mind, he's like building up cards to re-meet his true love. Yeah. So there's the cards there. And there's like these dogs will sell you paintings throughout the level, which can be used to unlock other areas or bonuses. I didn't have enough arrowheads to do it.
00:58:37
Speaker
But at the end of the level, like you see like, oh, he's like, oh, I finally finished my masterpiece. I finally worked past my issues and can achieve my true art. And the picture, I don't know if you noticed, is of four dogs playing poker. That's that's what that whole buildup was.
Looking Forward to 'Psychonauts 2'
00:58:57
Speaker
It's being great. Yeah, I have.
00:59:05
Speaker
I have a lot of mixed feelings and hopes for like Psychonauts 2. It needs to be like really good and
00:59:18
Speaker
Some people in our friend group, I think, are more fans of Double Fine than I am. I've enjoyed a few of their games. Brutal Legend is a standout one as well. But they always seem to struggle to get the game released after fixing bugs or to really build a cohesive experience. One of the examples I just wanted to put in here is called Amnesia Fortnite 2014.
00:59:49
Speaker
I'll let you elaborate on that one. That's all I got. I just read the title and I already know I don't like it. I came out in 2014, so that's good. But yeah, they've had they've had a really mixed success and just talking about like the Psychonaut franchise. Like this was their.
01:00:10
Speaker
If they did not have Psychonauts to build the rest of their releases off of, I don't know how Tim Schaeffer would have, you know, got the momentum that they got. What he got. Um, yeah, it's.
01:00:25
Speaker
He came back from the days of like, I almost said Super Monkey Ball, of Monkey Island and like LucasArts games where it was a point and click adventure. And really all you had, because that kind of game is boring as fuck. Honestly. Did I put the ham in the key? Ham in the keyhole? Ham in the book?
01:00:47
Speaker
Ah yes, the 7th page ham. Like it really comes down to the writing to get you interested and having those witty quips. Or, I would never put ham in a book, that's stupid.
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah. So like he really excels at that. So as long as that solid for Psychonauts 2, I believe I will be happy. But to be fully sated, I would like for, as you're saying, to have it be a cohesive experience and also mechanically good. So I'd have the incentive to go back and play it again. Yeah.
01:01:20
Speaker
And hopefully they get there. It's like they released Psychonauts and the Rhombus of Ruin, which was a point and click adventure game that's supposed to bridge Psychonauts 1 and 2, apparently.
Series Continuation and Closing Remarks
01:01:30
Speaker
I didn't even know about this. This is news to me because it's a point and click game. And I don't play those for the most part. It received average reviews. So like, I don't know, it feels like they're going to need to
01:01:47
Speaker
to step up their consistency a little bit for two. But the screenshots look good, so. I want to believe. If there's a series that you have to apply, I want to believe for. It's like Psychonauts, maybe Fallout. There's a lot more recently, but Psychonauts 1 is good. Can't take that away. You cannot. Also, this podcast episode will live forever, so good luck.
01:02:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know what that means. But yeah, speaking of living forever, if you guys want to live forever, you can send in your feedback and that will live on Google's servers forever at soapstonepodcast.gmail.com or for temporary feedback, you can send it posted to our Facebook group, which will exist until Facebook is taken down in three years.
01:02:42
Speaker
at facebook.com slash soapstone podcast. And as always, we'll see you in the next one.
01:03:09
Speaker
so