• 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

The game and story continues even after the credit roll.
While going back to get missed stuff I'm finding characters with more to say.
I got all findable in all the real world areas with the exception of 2 scavenger items. On the lookout for Deck of Cards and Astronaut Ice Cream.
Now to go Figment hunting, with bag tags and other stuff I missed in the head levels.
 

mcjmetroid

Member
Believe I'm near the end but it's incredible so far. Game of the year for me hands down.

It's also a very easy game to run. I was surprised I could get it 120Hz 4K on my GTX 1660. Very rare for newer games.

Russians seem to be review bombing it Metacritic sadly. There is no Russian translation apparently
 
Last edited:

Esppiral

Member
Believe I'm near the end but it's incredible so far. Game of the year for me hands down.

It's also a very easy game to run. I was surprised I could get it 120Hz 4K on my GTX 1660. Very rare for newer games.

Russians seem to be review bombing it Metacritic sadly. There is no Russian translation apparently
And I quite understand it, the game is very story driven there are dialogs constantly, the game should have been dubbed to as many languages as possible, but they didn't even got subtitles. MS always cheaps out on localizations... That's my biggest disappointment with the game, as a non native English speaker I have hard time following everything is going on on screen even dough the game is fully translated to my language the lak of Spanish voice over is a let down.
 
Last edited:

mcjmetroid

Member
I absolutely love insomniac but ratchet is far from game of the year. I actually can't believe the amount of places that gave it 10 out of 10. I platinumed it in one weekend and I never platinum games.

It's completely paint by numbers ratchet and even a few months later completely forgettable.

Returnal though.....returnal....now we are talking but I also stand by it takes two and resident evil 8.

Holy shit I thought I was in the game of the year so far thread but I'm in the Psychonauts 2 thread haha.

Back on track, can't wait to play this.
I don't even need to play Ratchet and Clank to know it's not better than Psychonauts 2.
If I had a PS5 I probably would have bought it and its most likely a 9/10 game to be fair like the reviews are giving it because it's exceptionally well made and does what it says on the tin.... BUT

Uninspiring, technical showcase comes to mind when I think of the game.

Psychonauts 2 is a lesser polished game that takes chances and constantly thrills you and has unforgettable moments. It feels like it has passion behind it.
I know which game I'm going to prefer.

I haven't played Returnal but it looks awesome from what I've seen!
 
Last edited:

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Believe I'm near the end but it's incredible so far. Game of the year for me hands down.

It's also a very easy game to run. I was surprised I could get it 120Hz 4K on my GTX 1660. Very rare for newer games.

Russians seem to be review bombing it Metacritic sadly. There is no Russian translation apparently
Ah so that's the reason. Well those who don't know English or latin alphabet for that matter, are SOL.... I too can't read Cyrilic.
 
I find it strange that Ratchet & Clank is somehow in the conversation with Psychonauts 2.

Rift Apart is a soulless game. I played it three months ago and have trouble recalling a single zone or story beat. Every aspect of it feels manufactured. The writing, the art direction, the combat, and platforming. It's a game that seems to want you to sleepwalk through it as it offers no resistance anywhere. It really feels like the hype is all from it being on a new console and taking advantage of PS5 features like 4k/60, no loading and the dualsense. It's a game Insomniac could churn out again and again if Sony wanted them to. Psychonauts 2 is a game that is brimming with ambition, passion and creativity. People will forget Rift Apart as a middling R&C game in five years while people will be begging for Psychonauts 3.
 

cormack12

Member
When do you unlock the last two psi powers. For reference:

Ive beaten then questionable area, done the cooking bosses and am going to see otto mentallis for the last nick/brain objective in the quest.
 

Robb

Member
Just beat the game, it was a great ride! They really don't make many games like this today, it feels very very special to me. I definitely understand where people are coming from when they say Double-Fine would be able to make a great Banjo Kazooie game.

Love how they just went all-in with the visuals as well. There are some very neat visuals/textures that I don't think I've seen in any other game. Some parts are rougher than others, but e.g. when you get the view inside of one of the characters heads (in terms of anatomy) the artsyle really shines and it looks absolutely outstanding.

I'm hoping they have more ideas for this series because I definitely want a 3rd installment after this.
 
Last edited:

xClout

Member
Just beat the game, it was a great ride! They really don't make many games like this today, it feels very very special to me. I definitely understand where people are coming from when they say Double-Fine would be able to make a great Banjo Kazooie game.

Love how they just went all-in with the visuals as well. There are some very neat visuals/textures that I don't think I've seen in any other game. Some parts are rougher than others, but e.g. when you get the view inside of one of the characters heads (in terms of anatomy) the artsyle really shines and it looks absolutely outstanding.

I'm hoping they have more ideas for this series because I definitely want a 3rd installment after this.

Game is a lot better than Yookah Laylee thats for sure.
 
Finally beat part 1! Jesus christ that final level lol ....

Bagtn5R.gif
 
Had to 'cheat' and look up on the interwebs where to get the Astronaut Icecream and Playing cards. These two items are just a tad unfair. You can't just find them laying around like all the other items, you have to do things before they even show up. :messenger_smirking:
 

mcjmetroid

Member
And I'm finished.

It's the game of the year for me. Loved it.

I could never finish the first game, I enjoyed the idea of it and got most of the way through but the obtuseness started to wear me down eventually. Especially the milkman stage.

Few small general complaints in the game:

There has to be a better way of organising your powers. The Wheel and button mapping is a little clunky to use.
The combat is OK but it's not often you had to deal with it. I found it quite button mashy. I get the feeling the devs knew this too so there wasn't too many combat sections.
I do wish the game look a little more advantage of the clairvoyance power though which I got a kick out of in the first game.
They should probably add a hint on or hint off setting ( If it isn't there I never looked)
The game while it looks excellent it still has that.. overly post produced Unreal Engine look sometimes I'm not too fond off. This is not in that colourful stage and not as harsh in some stages.


Almost everything is better in the second game.
 

Genx3

Member
Loving this game. GOTY contender for sure.

Double Fine deserves respect after this.

I hope MS allows Double Fine to expand to 2 teams so that they can develop a new IP as well as give us Psychonaughts 3.

Thanks to Tim Schafer and the team at Double Fine for such an excellent game.
 
Last edited:

Genx3

Member
Believe I'm near the end but it's incredible so far. Game of the year for me hands down.

It's also a very easy game to run. I was surprised I could get it 120Hz 4K on my GTX 1660. Very rare for newer games.

Russians seem to be review bombing it Metacritic sadly. There is no Russian translation apparently

Pathetic really.
Imagine review bombing all those great Japanese games because they didn't have English or other language translations in the past.

Not having a proper translation should not affect a review.
 

elliot5

Member
Pathetic really.
Imagine review bombing all those great Japanese games because they didn't have English or other language translations in the past.

Not having a proper translation should not affect a review.
putin would probably outlaw the game in russia anyway because of the contents
 
34 hours in. I've managed to 99 percent the figments. I'm missing 4 from Bobs Bottles.
100 percent everything else. Tags, Bags, half brains, memory vaults, nuggets of wisdom. All done.
Got to 100 Rank while searchig for brain stuff. Still need to buy all the pins and then work on remaining secret achievements.
 

SpokkX

Member
I find it strange that Ratchet & Clank is somehow in the conversation with Psychonauts 2.

Rift Apart is a soulless game. I played it three months ago and have trouble recalling a single zone or story beat. Every aspect of it feels manufactured. The writing, the art direction, the combat, and platforming. It's a game that seems to want you to sleepwalk through it as it offers no resistance anywhere. It really feels like the hype is all from it being on a new console and taking advantage of PS5 features like 4k/60, no loading and the dualsense. It's a game Insomniac could churn out again and again if Sony wanted them to. Psychonauts 2 is a game that is brimming with ambition, passion and creativity. People will forget Rift Apart as a middling R&C game in five years while people will be begging for Psychonauts 3.

yeah pretty much exactly how i feel. Even posted something alonh these lines in the ratchet review thread

 

cormack12

Member
34 hours in. I've managed to 99 percent the figments. I'm missing 4 from Bobs Bottles.
100 percent everything else. Tags, Bags, half brains, memory vaults, nuggets of wisdom. All done.
Got to 100 Rank while searchig for brain stuff. Still need to buy all the pins and then work on remaining secret achievements.

im-right-behind-you-kevin-costner.gif
 

Roberts

Member
I’m still playing, now inside Cassie’s head, but, man, this game is something else. There is nothing on the market (Hades comes real close) that uses all the unique medium’s strengths for storytelling purposes this well. All the other games are either trying to imitate Hollywood or telling a basic story to get from A to Z. This is so much more than that. It also feels deeply personal, emotional and at the same time fun and perfectly hilarious when it wants to be. I wish I had more free time to play, because as a gamer I’m having time of my life playing it. 10 out 10.
 
Especially regarding the powers, there has to be a better/smoother way to change those on the fly.
Since I used most all of the powers throughout the game there are a few things I would have changed.
The Dpad could have been used for powers (left and right)
The radar detector and the photo taker could have been put in the menu.
I would have put the dopple ganger paper dude (exsqueese me) on the left dpad.
But I got good at switching abilites on the fly eventually so it all worked out in the end.
 

cormack12

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.
 
Top Bottom