• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Psychonauts 2 |OT| Mindraker

elliot5

Member
I'm gonna be real. When I saw the reviews etc. I thought it was being over scored to balance the recent Ratchet and Clank.

Now coming to the final level, this game is fantastic. It's like a medley of madness returns, kingdom hearts, littlebigplanet and completely my jam.

First of all the bad. The cut scene exposition and timing is horrible. There was another game recently that struggled with the same issue, it might have been ghost of tsushima actually. I think they could have been more cohesive and directed into much smaller and digestable parts.

The combat concepts were fine and very creative but the control scheme and swapping was awful. Levitation and roll could have been a face bind as its too useful to ever unequip. Same with telekenisis. That would just leave juggling psi, pyro, clairvoyo, mind jump as the four combat abilities.

I genuinely thought id struggle with the art and character design, as I prefer the modern and realistic end of the spectrum. Some of the texture and sharp polygon stuff is enough to bother me and some choices like the hair aren't my thing but overall the game looks beautiful.

I know thats only one sentence but i was blown away by the psi king levels, the correspondence level, casino, bowling alley and the library. Some of the levels are a little overlong just like the hatter level in madness returns. The 2D levels are minimalistically fantastic and that cooking show level. My god. Cannot praise it highly enough at the moment. Definitely this years version of control for me personally. In that my expectations were middling and its probably going to be in my top three games at least.

I would like to see another entry and I do think a bit better cut scene direction and segue as well as working out better combat management would elevate it even further.
just fyi it's a bit hidden but you can map the levitation ball and balloon to the jump button via accessibility settings (triple tap for balloon, press again to "drop" onto the ball, two distinct settings).
 
I suspect I’m around halfway done (OMG, flailing nose hair) and this makes me sad because I don’t want it to end.

One of the best platformers of all time. Not every aspect of the game is perfect, but the sum of it’s parts pretty much makes for a near perfect game for me. If this is any indicator of what XGS wants to put forth in terms of quality then sign me up!
 

Isa

Member
Nice to see all the positive impressions and reviews. I'm not far into the game, as I've been taking my sweet time exploring every single nook and cranny. Also going for 100%. But yeah this game is seriously something special. Like Rubberwald said, the game utilizes so much of the medium's strengths to tell the story both in and out of gameplay. But its the gameplay that really shines to me, like Nier Automata. Its one rollercoaster ride of not knowing what to expect and its glorious. The team that made this have not only a love of videogames, their own ip and the fans, but also the skills to design well crafted worlds and gameplay. I can only imagine how many assets they had to create for each area and world. Not to mention all the shifting game rules. My girl has been floored by the imagination and art.

Its kind of amazing that Double Fine was able to get the cast back after so long and they not only sound like the og characters but have that same passion. Excellently done. The music is great too. This game really is a diamond in the rough, and its heartening to see that a western dev still has that touch. I also want to state just how lovely the game is. Beautifully cohesive art design and graphical prowess. I prefer games with less of a real world design, whether cartoony or some other variation or style in the sea of possibilities. This game carries that torch well. I miss the decades prior when art was far more prominent in games, I feel its a lost art form.

I guess more than anything I'm glad my fears of how the game would turn out were assuaged. Its like the game could have released 15 years ago without skipping a beat, and yet it just does so smoothly. I hope Double Fine sees some recognition and success with this game. And that we get to see the fruits of their labor sooner rather than later with a less troubled development cycle. I suspect this game will be on my year end list, hopefully with Tales of Arise.
 

Chukhopops

Member
Just finished it and yeah that was incredible, especially the story and writing. I was in for some good platformer but that was way, way more than that.

What an absolute trip, in the entire game there were only two levels I would consider average (the tutorial level and the festival), everything else was top tier. Bob’s and Cassie’s levels are just masterpieces in how level design can tell a personal story about a character.
 
Finished it earlier this morning and it's GOTY for me. Absolutely oozes personality, platforming is dope, one of the most fun overworlds to explore ever in a game. Double Fine really outdid themselves with this one. Throughout Tim's career he's always had to leave a lot of ideas on the cutting room floor and it felt like this was the one where he just said "fuck it, I'm getting every idea I've got into this game" and the results are glorious. If you like platformers, narrative heavy games, or just cool things in general you've gatta play Psychonauts 2.

How good this turned out will make it all the more tragic when Double Fine is developing Kinectimals 2 in a few years.
 

TaroYamada

Member
Beat it, it's a very good game and a worthy successor to the first title. It feels very content dense and the team at Double Fine should be proud of themselves.

Bodes well for the future of Microsoft's first party strategy under Phil Spencer and I'm excited to see Double Fine follow up on Brutal Legend, remake the first Psychonauts, make a new IP and generally move beyond the smaller games they made periodically and self-published. They were fun sometimes and I appreciated them but I prefer to see them making something meatier like Psychonauts 2.
 
So I finished this yesterday and got 985/1000 achievements. The one I'm missing is "Shared Regret" where you just grab a Regret's hammer out of the air and kill an enemy with it. I did this multiple times while playing but never tripped the achievement, and once I finished the game the only place with a Regret I've found is the Sunken Motherlobe section of Bob's bottles but again grabbing his hammer and killing a Censor with it failed to trip anything and now the Regret no longer spawns in that area.

It's an easy achievement to get (over 20% have done it) so I'd like to get it wrapped up before I move forward. Any ideas?
 

PhaseJump

Banned
So I finished this yesterday and got 985/1000 achievements. The one I'm missing is "Shared Regret" where you just grab a Regret's hammer out of the air and kill an enemy with it. I did this multiple times while playing but never tripped the achievement, and once I finished the game the only place with a Regret I've found is the Sunken Motherlobe section of Bob's bottles but again grabbing his hammer and killing a Censor with it failed to trip anything and now the Regret no longer spawns in that area.

It's an easy achievement to get (over 20% have done it) so I'd like to get it wrapped up before I move forward. Any ideas?

I am not sure, but I think I saw them spawning when fighting again in the side rooms outside the Librarian's Desk, after running through the books again. They should be in the first stage though, Loboto's.

I would try doing it with different pins equipped, in case something like that is modifying or breaking it.
 

Krathoon

Member
I don't like the way this game saves. Sometimes you have to quit after a cutscene and then you have to go through that cutscene again.
 
8sfDTgL.png

Whew! Got em All.
 

LordCBH

Member
Still can’t understand why this isn’t on the PS5. You would think given the ‘drought’ of great games the console currently has it would comfortably sell more units than the cost to port it over.

Because Microsoft isn’t going to develop a native PS5 version. There wouldn’t be a ps4 release if it wasn’t crowd funded.
 
I am not sure, but I think I saw them spawning when fighting again in the side rooms outside the Librarian's Desk, after running through the books again. They should be in the first stage though, Loboto's.

I would try doing it with different pins equipped, in case something like that is modifying or breaking it.

Finally got it. If the anvil damages multiple enemies it doesn't count. I think it just needs to damage a single enemy for the achievement to pop. I was grabbing the anvils and just tossing them into the groups of other enemies.

I ended up finding a good spot at the asylum in Loboto's stage, thanks for the reminder!
 
I really didn’t have high hopes for this, but wow - it’s awesome.

More creativity in one level than the last five big platformer releases combined. Feels old school and modern at the same time, well played Double Fine!
 
Last edited:
I’m sorry I don’t mean to be negative, but is anyone else bothered by all the tropes around being a 10 year old new kid in class? I like the style but the story has been kind of meh for me so far - I’m only at the casino level, does the story get better? Like I said it feels a little bit too “trope”y so far and I feel like I only play for 2min between cutscenes. Maybe this game isn’t for me :/
 
I’m sorry I don’t mean to be negative, but is anyone else bothered by all the tropes around being a 10 year old new kid in class? I like the style but the story has been kind of meh for me so far - I’m only at the casino level, does the story get better? Like I said it feels a little bit too “trope”y so far and I feel like I only play for 2min between cutscenes. Maybe this game isn’t for me :/

Story gets much better.
 

Concern

Member
I’m sorry I don’t mean to be negative, but is anyone else bothered by all the tropes around being a 10 year old new kid in class? I like the style but the story has been kind of meh for me so far - I’m only at the casino level, does the story get better? Like I said it feels a little bit too “trope”y so far and I feel like I only play for 2min between cutscenes. Maybe this game isn’t for me :/


Im a little past that and feel the same. Gameplay wise I'm enjoying it but the story is cringey af so far imo.

About how long is this game?
 

Roberts

Member
I’m sorry I don’t mean to be negative, but is anyone else bothered by all the tropes around being a 10 year old new kid in class? I like the style but the story has been kind of meh for me so far - I’m only at the casino level, does the story get better? Like I said it feels a little bit too “trope”y so far and I feel like I only play for 2min between cutscenes. Maybe this game isn’t for me :/
It is the very beginning and the real story hasn’t even really started yet. It’s actually a pretty serious story about trauma and war, but told in such a heartfelt and funny way. Wait till you get to the Jack Black level - if that doesn’t hook you up, then I guess the whole game is not for you.

P.S. anyone else felt the enormous relief when it turned out you could destroy the gramaphones in Fatherland Follies level? Raz’s comment about it was priceless too.
 
So I finished this yesterday and got 985/1000 achievements. The one I'm missing is "Shared Regret" where you just grab a Regret's hammer out of the air and kill an enemy with it. I did this multiple times while playing but never tripped the achievement, and once I finished the game the only place with a Regret I've found is the Sunken Motherlobe section of Bob's bottles but again grabbing his hammer and killing a Censor with it failed to trip anything and now the Regret no longer spawns in that area.

It's an easy achievement to get (over 20% have done it) so I'd like to get it wrapped up before I move forward. Any ideas?
Did you kill a different type of enemy? I think it needs to be.
 

cormack12

Member
So I finished this yesterday and got 985/1000 achievements. The one I'm missing is "Shared Regret" where you just grab a Regret's hammer out of the air and kill an enemy with it. I did this multiple times while playing but never tripped the achievement, and once I finished the game the only place with a Regret I've found is the Sunken Motherlobe section of Bob's bottles but again grabbing his hammer and killing a Censor with it failed to trip anything and now the Regret no longer spawns in that area.

It's an easy achievement to get (over 20% have done it) so I'd like to get it wrapped up before I move forward. Any ideas?

You have to kill the regret with its own weapon. Some spawn at the end of the last section on lottos labyrinth iirc.

Also fuck these figments. Absolute twat to find some of them.

I’m sorry I don’t mean to be negative, but is anyone else bothered by all the tropes around being a 10 year old new kid in class? I like the style but the story has been kind of meh for me so far - I’m only at the casino level, does the story get better? Like I said it feels a little bit too “trope”y so far and I feel like I only play for 2min between cutscenes. Maybe this game isn’t for me :/

Doesn't really start until after the casino boss. Then it loses the shool daze feel. The humour is still the same but its infused with more backstory and deeper story strands.
 

wvnative

Member
Can someone explain what's up with the glide ability?

Despite holding the button, sometimes it pops just a second or two after I deploy it. Sometimes...I can actually glide long distance.

It seems soooooo inconsistent. What is going on here?
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Lots of lovely little touches in this game and some of the extra dialogue that you don’t even have to listen too is brilliant. Just got past the casino boss earlier.
 
Can someone explain what's up with the glide ability?
It normally pops after a few seconds. UNLESS there is an updraft which will hold the balloon while your in the draft for as long as your in the draft. the drafts also power up the balloon so that it lasts longer when you leave the draft.
I've said draft so many times it no longer sounds like a real word. draft, draft
 
Last edited:

wvnative

Member
It normally pops after a few seconds. UNLESS there is an updraft which will hold the balloon while your in the draft for as long as your in the draft. the drafts also power up the balloon so that it lasts longer when you leave the draft.
I've said draft so many times it no longer sounds like a real word. draft, draft

Thanks...

There was a section where it seemed at first I was trapped because it didn't last long enough. Thankfully I found an alternative path.

It just seemed weird to me.
 
I'm stuck after getting the fast travel. I can only visit places that don't progressto anywhere. It says to meet Lili in Truman's Office.
Edit: nvm. I had to exit the collective unconscious brain. It's weird you can only exit it through the pause menu.
 
Last edited:

PhaseJump

Banned
I'm stuck after getting the fast travel. I can only visit places that don't progressto anywhere. It says to meet Lili in Truman's Office.

The office is in the motherlobe, go to the main computer room, the nerve center or whatever it's called. There's an exit to the side that leads to an elevator that takes you up to the office. There's a fast travel pipe up there too.
 
Just played the first 30+ minutes. Is this representative of what the whole game will be or should I stick in there?

I find the story/cutscenes close to interesting but the gameplay to be pretty bad at this point. Thus far, it would make a much better Tim Burton movie or Netflix show imo.
 

cormack12

Member
Just played the first 30+ minutes. Is this representative of what the whole game will be or should I stick in there?

I find the story/cutscenes close to interesting but the gameplay to be pretty bad at this point. Thus far, it would make a much better Tim Burton movie or Netflix show imo.

You have no powers really at the moment. Play at least until the end of the casino level. And I would recommend going a bit further and doing comptons cookoff. But the real creative levels probably start with ford.
 
You have no powers really at the moment. Play at least until the end of the casino level. And I would recommend going a bit further and doing comptons cookoff. But the real creative levels probably start with ford.
The cookoff is my favorite level. Liked them all except the PSI king stuff.
 

cormack12

Member
The cookoff is my favorite level. Liked them all except the PSI king stuff.

Psi-King was just too long and spread out. I'm leaving that one until last for the cleanup cos I just can't be assed with it. Though I did like the change in art and the little hippie bus part
 
Psi-King was just too long and spread out. I'm leaving that one until last for the cleanup cos I just can't be assed with it. Though I did like the change in art and the little hippie bus part
I had a problem with the colours, really hard to find all the collectibles. Still missing 8 or so.
 
Top Bottom