What Made Psychonauts Special
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ก.ค. 2024
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Let's look at how Double Fine weaved characterisation into level design, in the 2005 cult classic Psychonauts.
Recommended viewing:
Psychonauts Retrospective // The Color of the Sky in Your World
• Psychonauts Retrospect...
Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance):
Psychonauts (Double Fine Productions, 2005)
Grim Fandango (LucasArts, 1998)
Day of the Tentacle (LucasArts, 1993)
Full Throttle (LucasArts, 1995)
Banjo Kazooie (Rare, 1998)
BioShock (Irrational Games, 2007)
Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007)
The Last Guardian (genDesign, 2016)
Music used in this episode:
animeistrash
Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp (Psychonauts)
animeistrash: animeistrash.bandcamp.com
Contribute translated subtitles - amara.org/v/C3BFF/ - เกม
Raz is one of my favorite videogame protagonists of all time. Not only does he adapt to the mental worlds he's in with a cheery boy-scout gusto, he always seems genuinely sympathetic to the mental trauma that his various "patients" have endured. (And I would personally nitpick that Pyschonauts doesn't trivialize mental illness by having Raz "cure" most of his patients, rather he seems to relieve that outside circumstances (masked tokatsu villains, harsh inner critics) that have made their life a living Hell.)
It would've been so easy for Pyschonauts to have a 'tude infused protagonist who gives the player an aside glance at "wow, what a basket case, am I right, guys?" but Raz demonstrates both critical curiosity and empathy, both traits for an actual therapist trying to help an actual patient.
well said
I'm now imagining Raz pulling a Sonic-style one-liner with that stupid sideways smirk, and it's not pleasant.
@@cupriferouscatalyst3708 well he did, most of it in black velvetopia where he says 1 liner after every fight with the wrestler.
YA! WHAT YOU SAID!
Add on the fact that the voice actor is the same as Invader Zim :D
It's worth mentioning that the clairvoyance is pretty underutilized after the level it's introduced, but can be used later in passive way on all of the characters you meet in the camp. Lili sees you as a handsome prince, Milla sees you as an infant, etc.
Not to mention literally every enemy has their own image for you too, and it can be used to to make finding one of the scavenger hunt items easier, AND by using it on lil's little bracelet you can see a cutscene of her and the mad dentist. Power actually sees some good use. It's just mostly story and easter eggs.
It's actually pretty surprising how much work went into just the multitude of ways you could use your powers to interact with other characters. For instance, the confusion grenade usually causes the victim to spout random gibberish but, when used on Boyd, it causes him to become temporarily lucid about his situation.
I never knew this and I've played Psychonauts a lot of times. I think it might be because both the confusion grenade and clairvoyance aren't used much after they're introduced. Or it's that they don't explicitly say you could or should use your powers in that way. Awesome.
Yeah, Clairvoyance is so much fun to just play around with. After I saved all the kids on the second half, I just ran around the campground trying to find them all and see what they see me as.
And in combat the grenade is still great because stun. I don't need to elaborate. Just stun. Also try using it on ford in his psychic sanctum. You'll briefly destabilize him and make him comment worriedly about needing a bigger rock under the glass. Powers are SO fun.
One of the cool things about Psychonauts is that literally every single item will produce *unique dialogues* on *every single character.* Even the interactions that are impossible in the game, like Confusion Grenades on Boyd (Which would paradoxically make him lucid enough to almost realize he's a conspiracy theorist before dropping back into paranoid insanity).
"The Milkman Conspiracy" gives us a terrifying glimpse inside the mind of Alex Jones.
The Milkman doesn't deserve this odious slander.
Paranoia Agent was my jam!
The government...is in *bed* with...uh...THOSE GAY FROGS...and...wait, wait, no...China...is pulling the strings...yes...
Please. You'd go insane far quicker if you knew and saw and had to deal with what Mr. Jones does.
@Parker Faux
Yes, because it's NOT like China is running Hollyweird to the point where they literally hired Michael Bay to make a movie called 'Little America'. Seriously! The Chinese have been dumping so much capital into Hollyweird, they actually hired Michael Bay to make a movie that might as well have been called 'Americans Have Small Wee-Wees and are stupid round eyed foreigners!' Joseph Goebbles is swooning at that level of subversive propaganda being so flagrantly flaunted with so little resistance!
Also, yes. There are chemicals in the water of AT LEAST the United States that are capable of making frogs like that. You've heard time and time again of the increased estrogen and other chemicals in the water supply brought in by people flushing things down the toilet, right? Well, a lot these sources of water naturally are placed that attract amphibians like frogs who are far more sensitive to that kind of thing and, hence, can be affected to the point where they do become gay and even change genders.
I am the milkman. My milk is delicious.
Bill Clod i was searching for this
Bill Clod Hey kid want some explody dream kind of milk or normal milk
best level ever
Do not folow, the milk is not ready and you are not ready fo the milk.
I will not rest until I have made my final delivery.
Possibly my favorite thing about Psychonauts is its use of symbolism, and also its use of foreshadowing. The latter is especially well done because in a lot of instances, it's not very obvious and you actually have to look for it. For example, in Oleander's "basic braining" level, there's a fairly straightforward moment where Lili prevents Raz from crashing into the ground because he would have crushed an unusual plant she was attempting to communicate with, and that plant very clearly shows up later in the game. But further into the level, there's a snowy field full of rabbits wearing army helmets, which seems somewhat random, and if clairvoyance is used on the rabbits, they see Raz as a big scary butcher. This is foreshadowing the final levels of the game in which Raz and Oleander's minds are intertwined and it's revealed that Oleander is deeply traumatized by his father, a butcher, who killed a rabbit Oleander wanted to play with.
Pieced the rabbits and Oleander when I saw the pic of them in the credits. Great foreshadowing indeed
the first room of his mind is a dentist’s office, which is some major foreshadowing.
This game made me, years later, a real life psychologist
The best part of Psychonauts to me, is the theming. Long gone are the days of Mario’s water world, sand world, cave word, etc. Everything is a combination of multiple, very specific and fresh themes.
Exact!
Whoa... I never even noticed that Boyd's mind didn't have censors. That's deep.
Oleander's mind doesn't have censors either
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only asylum inhabitant with censors present in their mind is Napoleon? I don't remember seeing them anywhere else.
@@cupriferouscatalyst3708 Gloria's Theater had censors on the catwalks, but not on stage. Boyds mind eventually gets censors after you've helped him overcome his issues, but they're entirely absent before then. Edgar's censors knocked you off of roofs and stuff like that.
@MissLooni
I believe since the coach was the beginning badge to earn the rest if the badges and since he constantly had children training, he probably had a way to siphon off the sensors elseware in his mind, where the children weren't present. Kind of like how sasha had complete control of his mental plane, (very closed off, organized) and had raz close off all the censor ducts (unhealthily) , but oleander probably had a specific place for the children in his psyche and kept the sensors elseware.
To be fair, boyd did have sensors, they arrived at the end of his level, when things got...messy.
Also the whole thing with Raz's "curse" dying in water, I've always thought of it being his own powers manifesting his fear.
I think that isnt 100% clear yet, maybe we will have a proper answer in Psychonauts 2
@@AlexxxMYLSince2013 Milla literally says it's all in his head.
@@DaDavid1193 yeah i know but there are people who think that the curse is real.
just watched a trailer with tim schafer on psychonauts 2 and he confirms this
@@diamondpython8034 so the curse isn't real?
One level that gets mentioned less frequently than any other in Psychonauts is Waterloo World. Sure it doesn't have any re watchable fully rendered cut scenes. But its design is as interesting as any of the other levels in the game. My theory on it is that Fred Bonaparte is indeed a descendant of Napoleon, but he doesn't have the same love for war as his ancestor. He decided to be an orderly to help people at Thorny Towers home for the Disturbed. The different peasants that you have to recruit as soldiers in Fred's army represent the many people that Fred would have helped as a nurse, and when Fred wasn't able to beat Crispin, another patient in the strategy board game he grew up loving, Fred became obsessed and he lost the ability to care for all his patients.
That's honestly one of my favourite levels. It's almost like a mini-open world on its own.
The boardgame-level to me was one of the best levels in video-games period! I even think it is way better then the fan-favourite milkman conspiracy
Waterloo World is my favorite level visually. The best part is how you can see the board game outside the windows in the starting room and then view the room from the outside inside the board itself, implying that the world is both infinitely big and infinitely small and loops in on itself forever!
Sardonicus
I only got that figment because the game conditioned me to check EVERYWHERE. I had more issues with the stupid birds. The Meat Circus was hard; but, Waterloo was tedious. I’d rather get headaches from fighting back the urge to throw the controller, than waking up from a pseudo-coma after two hours of figment collecting like I did with Waterloo.
Also, would have totally gotten 100% if it weren’t for this stupid glitch where Raz was slightly misaligned when collecting cards from the card-weaver. I noticed it once and reset only to find out, after collecting everything that I was missing 2 or 3 cards for the last Psi Challenge Marker. The game listed everything as collected, I just didn’t get the stupid cards and I didn’t notice. Still a bit bitter about it.
Jared RB Garrison I could have sworn they were trying to hint that Fred was a descendant of Napoleon. Although, I like to imagine that in some capacity, he somewhat looked down on the Thorny Towers patients. Not that he's better than them overall, but more intelligent, as he was sane. His Memory Vault often showed him playing Waterloo-O with the patients, most likely because since, well, they weren't sane. Crispin, despite being a patient at the asylum, was able to beat Fred multiple times and, like you mentioned, Fred became obsessive, not being able to comprehend out an insane asylum patient was able to beat him.
Grieving Widow: "The dead people are underground. And I have brought flowers because...I am sad."
Haha, what a great game. I still have mine and kinda wanna play now.
bro i don’t think that was a real widow
just a hunch
"You may call me by my true name. The name given to me by my fellow lung fish. Linda."
I was so lucky to play this as a child. I was like 10 or 11, and in my house on Easter my mom doesn't just give us a shit ton of candy instead gifts and a single chocolate bunny. And she brought home a new football and this game I had never heard of. She just bought it cause she said the cover art looked cool, and then I got to play it. And it easily became one of the games of my childhood I look back on constantly and sometimes replay every year or so and have as good a time as i had as a kid. Something I probably never would've asked for but my mom just so stumbled upon a gem that I hold next to the jak and Daxter series and the ratchet and clabk series, the only other game I constantly look back on with fond memories of from my childhood
Psychonauts is one of my all time favorite games. I did an in-depth analysis of Gloria's theatre over on my channel like a year ago, and this is making me want to go back to it.
Shameless self promotion
@@exetone ?
Aren't you glad the sequel is coming out this year
I'm so hyped
also I love your show recommendations and I think when it comes out you should look at covering psychonauts 2
Oh my god I did not expect to see the anime man over here :O (well not THE anime man but yk)
When I play tye game, I will consume that video like there is no tomorrow, cause I loved your jojo vids
What made "The Milkman Conspiracy" so amazing for me was the fact that while playing it, the curvature of the level actually gave me vertigo and made me feel sick. But for some reason I still enjoyed it. I feel like the dizziness I felt while playing that level ties into the Milkman's character which is really cool because he's supposed to be insane, his mind is supposed to be all out of whack and disorderly.
Nice vid. One mistake I noted though is that Edgar had OCD, not rage. The bull was the manifestation of his obsession to do things over and over again.
Huh. Too long ago for me to remember, but that would make sense.
That's a good point. You may very well be correct there.
Ok, but i think the bull is also a manifestation of rage. It's name "El Odio" litteraly means "The Hatred" in Spanish. It seems to me it is this hate that drives him to his OCD, which explains why the bull destroys his creation again and again.
When i first played Psychonauts I understood the bull as a representation of him being kept back by his constant anger, not being able to carry anything (his work, etc) to conclusion.
To be fair, it could be both. OCD isn't exactly a calming disease.
Of course, i just think the name's a bit too direct to ignore the rage, but of course, this bull is "his". Just because he calls it anger doesn't mean it's all he has
I just finished this game as I saw Pychonauts 2 being advertised so I wanted to check the 1st one out beforehand and this game holds up surprisingly well due to it's unique art style and great level design.
I'm so happy this game got a good PC port on Steam. I might not have played it otherwise, and that would have been a shame as it ended up being one of my favorite game.
PC really is the archive library of masterpieces. It's sad to me when I see a game not get a PC release, because then there's a chance it's going to be abandoned and forgotten. We're seeing how bad that feels now with online games that can't be archived going down, never to be played again.
It's been some time, so... did you know you can have it on GOG ? I just played it and finished the story with PSI level 60 or so.
Always cool to see stories in which mental instability and illness aren't portrayed as just something evil in need of a beating or nothing but an evil counterpart of a person, might give this a try.
FrMZ
It's amazing.
Black Velvetopia was just beautiful.
Agreed! I spent a few hours running around that level after beating it just because of how visually attractive it is. It's such a shame you can't revisit the levels after beating the game (at least not in the PS3 version).
This game tripped me out as a kid and absolutely blew my mind in the best way possible. I still have yet to play a game that is so unique. The story, the colors, the surrealist level and character design. Man, this game was truly one of a kind. It really stimulated my imagination as a kid, and because of that i really hold it in a really high regard.
On top of that, exploring the Whispering Rock Summer Camp and listening in on all the campers' interactions is endlessly entertaining. They nailed childhood!
Yeah the summer camp setting was 100% accurate, I loved it
"Although over time, my husband will desire me less, sexually, he will always enjoy my pies."
Brian Bierlein I like making pie
I am on the road crew. This is my stop sign.
Mambodog 532 Yes, we are all on the road crew. Our backs are killing us.
Cream pies?
Ah yes, the G-man housewife ;)
Psychonauts biggest problem was that it was released in a time when no one cared about platformers anymore.
and the awful controls and horrible controls
didn't play it on console, had no problems on PC after rebinding two or three keys. They were not the greatest controlls, but they were functional.
But yeah, the rise of the console shooter made it pretty hard for other genres to compete.
Can't speak for console, but on PC I was able to play it perfectly fine after rebinding buttons off of the mouse. I literally only had one platforming section that ever felt hindered by the controls or camera (that spiral fence during the Meat Circus).
00dDodo Exept Not true, Sly Cooper, Jack, and Ratchet and Clank all came out then too!
00dDodo What originally hurt it was it was an Xbox exclusive for about rmonths on the Halo console before finally porting it to the PS2. All tbe Platformers were on GameCube and PS2, it had fallen off grid by the time it reached PS2, even got a 5/5 from X-Play at the shows Hype.
Psychonauts really is a masterpiece of a game. But seriously, the Meat Circus can go to hell.
Oh my God, the meat circus. I never finished the game because of that one jump onto the flaming mesh wall. My first time there, I tried that one jump for over an hour. Never managed to get through it - uninstalled the game because of the rage induced from that one level. Absolutely LOVED the game though.
Oh yes, the meat circus is harsh and gruesome. I've played the game three times nearly to completion but the first two times I ragequited the game at the meat circus. It was on my third run of the game when I finally managed to beat this obnoxious level.
My favourite part of the game actually was the climbing of the asylum. While the milkman conspiracy was good and the board game level was just genius, the way the asylum got bended as you proceed hit every single note of a brilliant horror setting for me.
Is that the spiral with dad in the middle ? That's a tricky one, yes. The easiest way I find, is to climb to the top left corner of each section, and jump off (away from the mesh), directly into psy-float and float back to the second panel. Rinse and repeat. Trying to do this without psy-float is very... VERY difficult. Psy-float gives you the time to navigate a bit, and rotate the camera.
Yeah. Using that balloon thing (is that psy-float?) I find that by the time I jump and activate it, I'm at the bottom of the mesh, there's nothing to grab and I plunge to my death. I'm probably just old and too slow ;)
@@Zerzil1974 and double jump? :) but yeah you have to be kinda fluid with it. The first time I played it I cursed to hell and back. The second time, it was a walk in the park, as was the 3rd, once I remembered to float ;)
One of the best games I've ever played. Anxious for the sequel!!!
Anxious is kind of how I feel about the sequel, but a tad more negative. I mean, I love Psychonauts to bits, but... Tim Schafer has been shown to have been rather poor management decisions in the past with Brutal Legend and Broken Age. Holding my breath that this one works out.
I suppose in this case, they have a template of what they want the game to be like? True, it could end up feeling too derivative, but... that's better than some of the alternatives.
Brutal Legend's gameplay (and a lot of its celebrity voice acting) sucked, though it does feature my favourite title menu in gaming.
Broken Age was fine, mostly, if generic, but there were a few situations of puzzles that just didn't work. Especially the one instance of having to use information from playing the other character with no indication that you had to complete them by switching characters.
A big problem of mine is Doublfine overdependence on crowdfunding and things like that. Psychonauts 2 didn't have to be crowdfunded (and it also took really long for the game to be funded, Schafer even had to edit the campaign, which shows that consumers aren't really happy with the way he runs his company), and it seems Psychonauts 2 being crowdfunded was more of a marketing gig to promote his own crowdfunding platform.
I wan't the game to be good.... but I don't hold my breath. Doublefine has disappointed me a bit too often :/
I've got a feeling we can expect something like Yooka Laylee. Something disappointing, but still maybe worth a bit of enjoyment?
c'mon, don't remind me of all the criticism of Yooka Laylee... I don't want to be disappointed by that game :/
This is still among my all time favorites. I really hope they don't screw up the sequel...
If we even get one, though
There's a sequel in development but it won't be out until at least 2019
I hope that it turns out better than the other two (I included the interlude thing). It would suck if we have to wait two years and not get something satisfying. I'm all for not rushing the game to completion, but the opposite could happen
@@wghtmf 2020, still not out lel
@@alex0017 They announced it will release in 2021 due to the virus.
You know, when I first subscribed to your channel Mark, I thought that the message or lesson you were trying to get a across with all these videos was to incorporate all these different aspects of game design into any game you make. I have recently realized that is not the case.
I don't know if you are trying to get one complete message through with these videos, but the one thing I learned more than anything else is that a game needs to pick a focal point. Something that everything from the plot to the mechanics to the art-style should revolve around.
(Keep in mind I haven't played Psychonauts). To me, this game did more than showing character through level design (even though that is a feat on its own). everything about this game supports and emphasizes the relationship between the levels and the characters. The wacky art-style lines up with the wacky way people's minds work. I couldn't imagine showing someone's mind in any other way.
To me, after what I've seen from the game. It successfully immerses the player in it's world. And that to me signifies a good game.
Internet video man
Oh man, I didn't realize until I saw this video that the G-Men in the Milkman Conspiracy were voiced by Steve Blum (voice of Spike Spiegel and so many other things)
If you haven't played psychonauts, do it. It is a fantastic game and one of my all time favorites. You will not regret it.
Brilliant video as always. I regret not playing this game, but also wonder whether I would have got that much out of it. Younger me would have probably just treated it as another 3D platformer. The deeper side of the game would have been lost on me.
its available on gog and steam if you want now
it's honestly not that deep, just interesting symbology and thematics. But yeah, not something I thought about either early on. And it depends on how you deal with questionable controls and obsession over collectibles.
M a g e n t a Thanks. I don't play on PC much, but I'll add it to the wishlist.
Nazareadain Controls might be a problem. I'm not a huge fan of collectibles in big open world games, but I never had a huge problem with them in 3D platformers.
In terms of pure gameplay, it's a pretty by-the-numbers 3D platformer -- even kinda boring. The strength is absolutely in its writing and the way it integrates symbolism into the level design and objectives. It's worth checking out for that at least. I never finished it, never even got to the level he talks about with bulls and wrestlers, but I am glad I played it.
I was thinking about the whole "curing them" part of the review.
Way I see it, what looks to us like beating up a denmother for the girl scouts, is In reality(the games reality anyway) us getting rid of the biggest censor of all. Boyd was hypnotized by oleander into thinking he was the fate keeper, when he was actually the milk man. We got rid of the unhealthy censor that kept him controlled.
For the actress in, the entire level is the therapy, at the end of the level, the play ends. That's it. It's over.
The critic (part of her mind that kept it all going for all those years) is gone, and she can move on from the theater.
I do t remember the painter that well, so I can't comment on that one.
Fred went crazy because an inmate kept beating him at Waterloo. Constant loss drove him to obsess over the game. His mind was a constant battle between the part of Fred that didn't care about the dumb game, and the "Napoleon" personality that demanded victory. We beat the level and cure him by winning the game, satiating the part of him that demanded victory, and allowing Fred himself to finally move on.
We are "curing" them by tackling their problems directly, in the most literal sense.
Is psychology, the doctor has to address the issue, and over a course of months, maybe years, help bring the patient to a state where they can function.
Imagine a man with a super controlling mother. You go into his mind, and see him cowering I'm hiding, as a giant woman towers over the area, screaming for him to come out. You defeat the woman, and kill her.
In his actual mind, the voice of his mother, the "mother always said that..." Voice has finally been silenced. He can finally think for himself and his own opinions aren't drowned out by mother's edicts.
I was 14 when I played this and this is the first game I managed to beat on my own. I will never forget this game. I still remember the Waterloo level, milkman, and the butcher. I miss this game so much.
Played it back at around 2005-2007 and loved it on the Xbox and then got it on PC then a few months ago I bought it in steam and just a day ago bought it on the PS4 and Platinumed it
he wasnt a football player he was a male cheerleader
Whoops, cheers!
is that a thing?
Unfortunately, yes.
Im just a fuckin idiot, i read this to the theme of sk8er boi by avril lavigne
@@mariahmendoza9844 i think thats totally possible and thats cute
Another great "hidden gem" that i know of is de Blob. I LOVE that game
YES
i got into Psychonauts when i was a review for it on xplay, got it the next week. and man it blew my mind the first time i played it
Psychonauts is my favorite game! Love it
I have this game sitting in my steam library, looks like I should play it.
I've know of Psychonauts for a long time but never actually knew what made it so special. As a huge fan of platforming collectathons, this game seems to take that gameplay style to another level with the depth of the storytelling. Thank you so much for your in-depth analysis Mark, I think I'm going to have to pick this one up! (Especially with the sequel potentially coming out next year)
The angry bull is called "El odio", wich means "the hatred" in spanish.
Woah.
I can’t wait for Psychonauts 2!
Mark, not sure if you know this but Double Fine did a series of videos on their youtube channel where the dev team plays it and gives commentary. You should check it out!
I played through this game for the first time about a year ago. I'd say it still holds up pretty well today, it has some issues, but it was a very fun and unique experience.
Nothing better than one of your favorite channels covers one of your favorite games. Thanks Mark.
Mark, you've quickly become one of my favorite channels on youtube. The Last Guardian episode was beyond anything I have seen in a while and everything since (and before, honestly) has been of the same standard. Thank you
Great video as always, but a quick correction: Dean LaGrante, the guy Lana Panzoni left Edgar for was a cheer captain, not a football player.
Alright everybody, Psychonauts is getting a second chance, BUY IT.
What I loved from the sequel is that it explains Psychonauts don't go into the minds of other people to change or cure them, but to help them fight their own demons.
Psychonauts 2 is even more careful with the way it portrays it's characters, smarter too. I really hope people give it a chance.
Happy to see a video from you on this game! The connection between level design and narrative/characterization is perhaps the most interesting thing, IMO, that videogames can do.
*I am the milkman, my milk is delicious*
I love Game Maker's Toolkit, and I love Psychonauts.
This video really brightened my day when I saw it in my sub box.
Chad Zilch mine too!
So glad you did this episode Mark Brown. Psychonauts is in my top 5, and for so many reasons.
Psychonauts is easily one of my favorite games of all time. Having experienced mental illness and knowing others with it has made this game more relatable than most 3D platformers, I love that collecting wasn't about unlocking the next level but rather leveling up RPG style and learning more about the diverse characters.
BEEN REPLAYING IT. SO FUCKING GOOD. I BOUGHT IT IN 2005 and FUCKING LOVED IT.
Psychonauts was also the last real classic by Double Fine and Tim Schafer.. You can't force creativity, and you can't produce brilliance like a factory produces products.
Brutal Legend?
Of course it's all subjective, but I'd give that honor to Costume Quest!
i liked brutal legend though, but it was real short and the side quests where super boring. but the rts like stage mechnanic was genius.
i liked brutal legend even more than psychonauts... though granted i played brutal legend when i was much younger and have a sort of nostalgia for it, but i didnt play psychonauts until much later on. but even if psychonauts is maybe better in an objective sense, i think they both deserve to be mentioned in the same breath!
OMG you were literally my favourite channel already and then you do a video about my favourite Double Fine game??? Lawd. You are the best.
So, I've been watching all of these videos for the past 2 days and I have to say, you're REALLY good at what you do 👌😄
This was the game that taught me that 3D platformers should never be played with a mouse and keyboard
I bought a controller at EB Games aka Gamestop and I played through Psychonauts on it every time and I can't play Psychonauts without a controller. Sadly the moving stick broke some years later and they don't sell them or anything like it anymore and the xbox 360 controller doesn't work either :(
I never had an issue on PC. not one.
Thats just preference
I have played it with keyboard and controller, and isn't thay unconfortable to control with keyboard, the only issue that I have was lock-on an enemy and shoot it.
Literally everyone in the game has mental problems. The folks in the asylum are just more severe.
Also, most mental health professionals cannot literally enter someone's mindscape to fix the problem, which, I assume, would save on years of therapy.
I know this is 4 years old, but milla is an example of a healthy mind, she moved on from the tragedy, but it still pops up from time to time
Most people have some kind of mental issue imo.
I love this game so much, thanks for making a video about it.
I got this game on my birthday several years ago. Probably one of the best games I've played, and I've been meaning to give it another go. Thanks for the inspiration mate.
You are seriously the best youtuber on youtube...
I was really hoping you'd mention how cool it actually is to play the Waterloo level, but great video anyway
André Perez Segato Lungfishopolis is also wonderful.
Another fantastic video. Now to dive into those reading and playlists I've been missing!
Not a patreon, I apologize, tough to make ends meet during current times. BUT. I LOVE your content Mark. Keep up the good work. You are thorough, concise and easy to watch. Seriously appreciate your videos man. Keep on keeping on my dude.
Ah yes, Internet video man's toolkit. My favourite web series.
I N T E R N E T V I D E O M A N
The Milkman and Lungfishtopia ('opolis?) are two of my favorite levels in any game, ever.
This video actually got me into PsychoNauts. Which is now one of my favorite games, so thanks Mark.
Hey Mark are you going to cover shadow of wars system based story as a follow up from that other video about system based story's like you did with Prague of deus ex and the video about small worlds
Probably!
PSYCONAUTS 2 TRAILER HAS BEEN RELEASED!!!!!!
Recently discovered your channel and I can't get enough. I'm currently studying Theatre at Uni and I've actually been thinking about how I can apply some of the 'story-telling through design' concepts you discuss to my script-writing. Thought you'd be glad to know that someone out there is finding a use for your videos outside gaming :)
This is a true gem. 12 years ago a friend of mine recommended that i try it out, and the rest is history. It's really one of my favourite gaming experiences of all time and I found myself returning and finishing it maybe five times since. Every time i ponder on which games I enjoyed the most - Psychonauts always comes to mind. I wish Raz would use his psychic abilities to erase my memory just so I can experience this masterpiece freshly again. Never looked for a game as much as Psychonauts 2 (well, maybe BG&E2). CAN'T WAIT!
Awesome video buddy. Keep it up.
Ight just got the game like a week ago and can someone tell me how to get 800 arrowheads fast
I am the milkman, and my milk is delicious.
Great video as always!
Clicked on the video because I'm in the middle of Psychonauts 2 after finishing the first one, and I was like : this video is so good, I should subscribe to this channel. Turns out, I already did subscribe, two years ago, because this channel is THAT goood.
That was awesome. For a platformer, Psyconauts is dishwater dull but the characters are unparalleled!
I always felt that Tim Schafer was a better world-builder than a game designer. People can overlook the occasionally frustrating mechanics that tend to be in his games simply because the characters and world are just too interesting to ignore.
I guess he got bored of point and click adventure? xd. I feel like he could make a really good telltale-type game lol. He made broken age but it was a little bit of a confused game in the second half.
Yes. Brutal Legend and Psychonauts were great games DESPITE their terrible controls. Double Finne games could become real masterpieces if they could just archieve an acceptable level of technical quality instead of making as suffer to enjoy them :P
I disagree. I felt that the game is a top notch platformer as well
yeah it handled better and more satisfyingly than literally any other 3d platformer without Mario in the title.
do you think we'll finally learn the purpose of the goggles?
I love Psychonauts more with every passing year. I haven't played it in a while... maybe I ought to do something about that.
Great video, Mark.
As always, great analysis, Mark! And....HOLY CRAP! I cannot tell you how uncanny it is that I've been trying to remember the name of "Full Throttle" for some time now! I remember playing it long ago at a store, but I didn't understand how awesome the game was...childhood memories
I'm the milkman. My milk is delicious.
persona 5 use similar way of level design! levels represents the unconscious of “corrupted people” whose hearts need to steel
Bikit 13 I think I should look into persona 5
if you like turn based jprg it definitely worth to try! no, you definitely like it, but p5 have very slow intro tutorial...
+Bikit 13
Yeah, I'm 5 hours in and feel like I'm still in the tutorial ^^"
But it's still a great game so far!
Bikit 13 Yep. Persona 4 does it too.
luca13knt, i know dude! but p5 do level design in more better way
Complete Psychonauts is the only reason to wake up everyday
Such a creative concept for a game. I normally don't care about a game's story or characters as much as the gameplay, but this one has peaked my interest to learn all about these characters.
Next year's April Fool's, rebrand the complete channel to the "Internet Video Man" theme. Become that persona. You know you want to!
Free on Humble Bundle right now
I had never caught the fact that Censors were not in Boyd's mind, which makes total sense when you think about the character. Thanks for the new nugget today, and keep up the good work.
What a grand adventure. This game will always hold a fond spot in my heart.
But... Psychonauts has sold nearly 1.7 coppies as of 2015 :o
As of 2015. When it came out, it likely flopped.
Plus the /huge/ majority of those sales were in bundles with several other titles. The actual number is closer to 474k.
Dom The Elegy still these days I think calling Psychnauts a cult classic today is a bit of a stretch. No matter how it was bought it sold well over a million copies by today. Many people have played it and its subsequently been ported to more platforms and sold out on more digital stores. Its probably double fines best selling game
I think any game dev would be bummed out if only one guy bought their game and the other didn't bother to finish downloading.
that's the definition of a cult classic, vash. in movies they call that "vindicated by the home video release"
if it sold little when it first came out, then CONTINUED to sell poorly, it wouldn't be cult or classic, but just old and forgotten.
Played the demo back in the day around 2005. Bought the game played it and don't understand why this makes people wet their pants.
I think it's entirely because of who made it.
unassumption Tim Schafer's not THAT popular.
Explanation is in this video..
I played this for the first time when I was about 7 and it's still one of my favorite games
I think the game that got closest to depict this subconscious state of mind was the highly underrated Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. It introduced some interesting mechanics relating the psychological profile of the main character and the world-building. I think you could make a video on it, maybe on SH2 too. Great channel by the way! The best of this kind. I'm binge-watching you right now and I'm pleasantly surprised!
What Zelda game is this?
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Acid Trip
Tim Burton's: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to Their Pasts
Soumein Best one yet!
Mark Brown
I thought that was Majoras Mask. :P
Twilight Princess
*Sigh*
Reinstall.
i remember around 8-9 when i first played this game it was my birthday and my older cousin didn’t even bothering wrapping it, just plop the game right in my ps2 and told me play. I’m 21 now and i still find my self replaying the shit out of this game since nothing really now a days feels to capture me in wow and aw like the old ps2 games
Great video as always. Will have to add Psychonauts to my ever growing backlog, apparently! :)