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[Oneself]

Warning, negative comments about Psychonauts

What I don't like about some figments for example, is that you have to wait for them to come by most of the time. You have to stay in the same room for minutes just jumping around doing the same thing over and over in order to get them all... that, to me, is annoying.
The bag, the health and fire power ups run away from you. It's no big deal, but it's added "gameplay" for nothing.
What I think is fun in a platformer is exploration (wich means, not stopping by every 10 seconds in order to collect something) and "platforming". And after massive "loading free" games like GTA:SA, GOW, Jak or well hidden like in Ratchet.. frequent loading screens are a bit annoying indeed.

 

[pj]

Warning, negative comments about Psychonauts

What I don't like about some figments for example, is that you have to wait for them to come by most of the time. You have to stay in the same room for minutes just jumping around doing the same thing over and over in order to get them all... that, to me, is annoying.

...

Then don't get those figments. Moving ones are the exception, not the rule, and they're moving to give the people who actually like getting 100% a bigger challenge while they do it.

The bag, the health and fire power ups run away from you. It's no big deal, but it's added "gameplay" for nothing.

No, they don't. They hop around in a circle that intersects your current location. If you stand still for half a second, they come to you.

What I think is fun in a platformer is exploration (wich means, not stopping by every 10 seconds in order to collect something) and "platforming". And after massive "loading free" games like GTA:SA, GOW, Jak or well hidden like in Ratchet.. frequent loading screens are a bit annoying indeed.

Is today hyperbole day or something? "frequent loading screens" my ass. There's the initial one for every level, and maybe one or two within levels (all of them are very short, on xbox at least). And the ones in jak and r&c are not well hidden. It's pretty obvious that when a door takes 10 seconds to open, or when it shows a 10 second cutscene of you flying between planets, that it's loading. The only thing "hidden" about them is the lack of the word "Loading..." on the screen.

 

[CrimsonSkies]

fugly? hideous design? annoying fans?

Are we talking about Psychonauts or MGS?

 

[Oneself]

pr325ick: Stop reading this thread and go play Psychonauts, it's the best fucking thing ever. Once the game is over, kill yourself, there'll be no need to live anymore.

 

[pj]

pr325ick: Stop reading this thread and go play Psychonauts, it's the best fucking thing ever. Once the game is over, kill yourself, there'll be no need to live anymore.

Right, because defending it against insults with little basis in reality means it's the only game I like and will ever like.

 

[etiolate]

It can be 10-15 seconds when you're heading to a new brain.

=/


I'm debating between the PS2 version and the PC version. I just worry about how it will control on PC, how good is the logitech DS2 clone?

 

[Oneself]

Right, because defending it against insults with little basis in reality means it's the only game I like and will ever like.

And here's something you should know at your age. Even if you like something doesn't mean there's no room for improvements. Your parents must have forgot to teach you that, don't blame them.

Now move on, this thread is about Psychonauts, it's not about how stupid you can be.

 

[Mejilan]

If I had a way to play with my ps2 controller on my pc, I'd do it. There are ways, I'm just lazy.

"The way" involves spending 5 minutes in Radio Shack.

 

[Mejilan]

I bought mine at Radio Shack. It's a little thing that plugs into any USB port. Simple as that. It's called 'PSX to USB' and works perfectly with the PS2 Dual Shock 2. Hell, it's how I played Ys I & II Complete on my PC.

Edit - It's a black box with a blue crest thing on it.

 

[pj]

And here's something you should know at your age. Even if you like something doesn't mean there's no room for improvements.

I'm sorry, can you point me to the post where I said Psychonauts is perfect? It has flaws, the things you invented are not among them. Here's something you should know at your age, when you're losing an argument, it's better to just admit you're wrong than resort to insulting a person's upbringing and intelligence.

 

[Speevy]

I am your sister in grief.

*plays flower like a guitar*

 

[Speevy]

I rely on prescription medication to get through my day.

 

[ImNotLikeThem]

I just actually saw a Psychonauts commercial last night. What, were they waiting for the PS2 version to come out before they were going to advertise it at all?

 

[Ironclad]

What happened in it? I haven't seen it.

It was just a bunch of clips from the game. Some scenes from Oleander's mind, some scenes from around the camp, you get the idea. There is an announcer pitching the game as well. Basically describing the setting of the game. The advertisements started rolling before the game was released on Xbox/PC.

Anyways, Himuro, wait until you get to Waterloo World. Excellent level with some funny dialogue as well. Then again, which portion of the game didn't have funny dialogue?

 

[jet1911]

Though I often smell of excrement, I deserve your respect because I provide a valuable service.

Over time my husband will desire me less sexually, but he will always enjoy my pies.

:lol

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Though I often smell of excrement, I deserve your respect because I provide a valuable service.

Over time my husband will desire me less sexually, but he will always enjoy my pies.

:lol

This game is like the Tao.

 

[Ironclad]

When is this?

It's essentially in the same area as the Milkman Conspiracy level. What level are you on right now?

 

[6.8]

Yeah, it's 2-3 levels after.

 

[Ironclad]

I just beat the Milkman Conspiracy, went back to the Asylum, and talked to a crazy woman who screamed at me because...she thought I was going to steal her trophy.

Okay, well, that woman screaming at you is Gloria. You'll learn all about her soon enough. After Gloria, you enter the asylum where you meet a few inmates. One of them is named Fred. He is tall and has a split personallity. Enter his mind and you will be thrown into Waterloo World. I take it you can already imagine what the theme of this level is going to be. It is one of my favorite levels. The music is great. An amazing rendition of the 1894(?) Overture. The dialogue is great, especially when you return to the level after you beat it.

"And now nobody is left on the battlefield but you cows, crazy world isn't it?"
"Don't you think it's crazy?"
"Hey, I am talking to you cow" :lol

 

[ikalugar]

Picked this game up yesterday and put in about 2 hours so far. I'm really liking it a lot so far, the characters are cool and likable, the artsyle is excellent and it seems to run smoothly on ps2. The only downside is the load times, but they are not so bad. Great game.

 

[FoneBone]

Okay, well, that woman screaming at you is Gloria. You'll learn all about her soon enough. After Gloria, you enter the asylum where you meet a few inmates. One of them is named Fred.

That part actually isn't as linear as you're making it sound -- you can complete those three levels (the Theater, Waterloo World, and Black Velvetopia) in any order.

 

[dock]

I'm trying to phase out my xbox, so I'm considering picking up the PS2 version of this instead (when they come out in the UK). Is the PS2 good enough to not be missing out, or should I really try to keep my xbox around for this title?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I'm trying to phase out my xbox, so I'm considering picking up the PS2 version of this instead (when they come out in the UK). Is the PS2 good enough to not be missing out, or should I really try to keep my xbox around for this title?

Read some reviews. It seems to have a few light framerate issues, but nothing major. I'm sure it's like a lot of the multiconsole games, not as bad as some apparently. Unless you're really anal about it I wouldn't worry.

 

[Ranger X]

First mini impression after 1 level:

This game is awesome but if framerate is a turn off for you, you may not like the PS2 version. It's the same and look ALMOST as good as the Xbox version but it's the framerate that is quite horrible sometimes.
I still hate the delay in the jump and some other controls.
The game is more on the collect-o-thon side WHATEVER YOU MAY ARGUE.

On the positive side, the level design is great and the game is fun to play. The little scenario is nice so far and the characters are really nice! Also the art rules! The sound is "normal" but fits well with the game.

So far this game feels like a GREAT game. Not excellent but great!

 

[The_Sorrow]

Why are you people not buying this?

I just got the PS2 version tonight. I am really liking this game so far. I just finished going through Coach Oleander's brain. Everything about the game is so well done. The art, the voice acting, the graphics, the gameplay. It just all screams high quality. Can't wait to play some more of it tommorow.

How much did it sell on Xbox BTW?

 

[Speevy]

About 100 million units less than it should have.

 

[Ranger X]

About 100 million less than it should have.

I support this comment

 

[6.8]

use confusion skill.

 

[BluWacky]

WHAT THE FUCK?

I'm in the painting still, there's a Cobra Wrestler, and I can't hit him, so Culler tells me I need to confuse him some grenades. WHAT GRENADES?!

WHAT THE FUCK?

Did you go in the fourth painting straight away, or head up to visit the Matador?

Got my copy yesterday, am off up to the final level now. It's a bit short, innit? I'm sure other recent platformers have taken me much longer to get this far in. It's still a great game, though.

 

[Lord Error]

I just got a PS2 version and had a chance to compare the camp and tutorial part of the level to the PC demo that contains both portions. Not a bad port. Not bad at all. I'd say graphics have been downgraded a bit across the board (for example, framerate chugs sometimes, textures are lower res, some characters look worse in closeups) but no part seems to be degraded so much to completely stand out compared to PC, except of course resolution if you play PC version in 1280x1024 - but still image quality in PS2 version is not bad at all, it has nice mip-mapping for example. I remember someone in this thread made a comment that transparent figments looked much worse, but I'm not sure if they look visibly worse. Maybe I should fire up PC demo again.

Judging by some screenshots I was expecting PS2 version to look pretty bad frankly, but that's really not the case. The look and feel of the game seems to be preserved just fine (at least so far) with no significant sacrifices to speak of. Other than graphics, I can't see much of a change at all. Level structure is identical, and so is the sound. Controls are actually much better mapped to a DS2 controller than to the PC keyboard/mouse, you have much better feel of character control.

In a nutshell, if you don't have Xbox or a capable PC (with a gamepad on a PC) but want to play this (and trust me, you should play this), don't hesitate to buy this version if you are on the fence being worried that the quality of the port is not up to snuff. Personally, I can't wait to have some time to play it, and will probably start as soon as I'm done with Heart of Darkness.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

These take a little while to load but here's some stuff from the Milkman Conspiracy

I am a helicoptor pilot.

I work for the road crew

I am a phone worker

I am a waste management technician

 

[Crispy]

The way the PS2 port looks reminds me of N64 games, washed out muddy looking textures, chuggy frame-rate (which sometimes hinders the responsiveness of the controls) and it has a bit of a cardboard look to it all. Also I find most of the levels really...chaotic. It's hard to put my finger on it, but I don't have the feeling I can play comfortably.

I'll try the PC demo to compare, if I can find a site where I can download it at a decent speed.


EDIT: just tried the PC version....the difference is huge for me, it looks so much better! The controls are a bit better with a (PS2)gamepad though.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Hey! It's a Tim Schafer radio interview on NPR about Psychonauts, psychology, and Freud.

Interview

Listening to this reminds me of just how fucking impressive the voice work in this game really is.

 

[pj]

Hey! It's a Tim Schafer radio interview on NPR about Psychonauts, psychology, and Freud.

Interview

Listening to this reminds me of just how fucking impressive the voice work in this game really is.

That was terrible. Thank god the government is cutting funding to public broadcasting

But seriously, they really know how to produce a segment

 

[Sanjuro]

I'm still waiting to play this game. I'm taking the Beyond Good and Evil approch and grabbing a used copy at its $19.99 price drop.

 

[Tarazet]

I really want to buy a new copy for Xbox, but I'm really hesitant to buy anything at full price anymore, especially if it has bombed in the marketplace. If it hits 30 bucks anywhere I will buy it.

 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Bump.

I beat the Waterloo, and I think that's it before the last leve, so I'm getting all extras in all the levels before the point of no return.

After the asylum climb you'll be headed into the most dreaded part of the game - the Meat Circus. Watch the difficulty skyrocket.

 

[siamesedreamer]

I picked this up yesterday and have put in about 1 1/2 hours. Right now I can't figure out what all the fuss is about. It really not funny like the reviews make it out. I mean IGN said it was fall on the floor funny. Haven't seen that so far. How long has it taken everyone to beat it?

 

[severian]

Character profiles for campkids on myspace.com, made by Tim. Pretty great.

 

[Coop]

Bobby spelled Randy Rhoads wrong. kind of funny we both want to meet the same person

 

[BluWacky]

I picked this up yesterday and have put in about 1 1/2 hours. Right now I can't figure out what all the fuss is about. It really not funny like the reviews make it out. I mean IGN said it was fall on the floor funny. Haven't seen that so far. How long has it taken everyone to beat it?

Took me about 10 hours - didn't collect everything in the world EVER, but that's because I hate collectathons (although I must admit, at least the old Rare games lasted a bit longer...)

The humour is...odd. I certainly don't find any of Tim Schafer's games laugh out loud funny, but they're just generally weird and occasionally humourous - Psychonauts isn't not funny in a bad way or anything, it's just not like watching a comedian or anything. It drops most of the humour in favour of general surreality by the end anyway.

 

[etiolate]

I just got the PC version, but there's no thread-o for that. So far it's great and I love the characters. The premise offers for absolute invetive wackiness with the levels as well.

 

[Azih]

The game is more on the collect-o-thon side WHATEVER YOU MAY ARGUE.

Man a game is only a collect-a-thon if it forces you to collect tons of stuff in order to progress. All the crazy random crap happening in Psychonauts levels are optional (figments especially). Though you will want to chase down the vaults. The vaults rock.

And hah if you think the game is just 'great' after the first few hours... man will your tune get way more positive when you get to Lungfishopolis. Sadly the last level sucks.

 

[Gek54]

I just finnished the game and I liked the last level, maybe not the most imaginitive of them all but enjoyable. Great game.

 

[etiolate]

How long is the game? I just got to the

Spoiler

lungfish

and died from general confusion at first. How close am I to the end?

I think it is a lot of collecting, but I think the fact that stuff like figments are not the same exact item makes a difference. I mean, if figments were just little brains throughout the game I wouldn't enjoy it as much as they are now, themed and varied little drawings that sort of tell about the brain you are inside.

 

[VALIS]

How long is the game? I just got to the

Spoiler

lungfish

and died from general confusion at first. How close am I to the end?

50% maybe.

 

[Ironclad]

You still have quite a few brains to go through and the best is yet to come. I would say that you're 30% done as far as the main quest goes. This is when the game starts to get really, really good. From the lungfish chase portion on is when you really start to see how excellent, and beautiful Psychonauts really is. Enjoy.

 

[Mifune]

Just bought this yesterday. Am up to Lungfishopolis. This thing reeks of quality. Best script in a game since, well, Grim Fandango. Oh, and it's fun, too. You would never know that Tim hadn't made a platformer before.

A shame it hasn't sold better.

Oh, and a hilarious quote from the man himself:

"One of the good things about the state of the games industry right now is that it's incredibly easy to be original. I mean, if you released a game these days that didn't have any army guys in it, people would freak out. 'Where did they get the idea to not use army guys? Are they taking drugs?'"

 

[Baron_Calamity]

I've been gaming for 31 years and Psychonauts is in the top 5 games for sure. I've complete the whole game 3 times. Once on xbox, another time on pc, and the last time on PC going for 100% of everything. I'm getting the ps2 version but since I don't have a ps2, not going to play it for awhile. Maybe with the PS3. The only annoying part of the game is I have a 100% of everything and I still was a few levels short of 100. It suppose to be possible but I haven't a clue how to reach it. (I imagine its in a FAQ but I refuse to look at one for a game I've beaten 3 times) My favorite level was Lungfishopolis and my least favorite is Sasha Nine's shooting gallery. So..... the other night night before uninstalling of my pc, I decided to go back a save and try to beat meat circus as fast as I could. I ran through the level 5 times and my fastest time was 6 minutes 57 seconds with no life lost. Mostly because I had a heck of a time getting the timing down of the first boss. I believe I could get it under 5 minutes.

Now.. Do I want to speed run the entire game?... hmmm...

 

[etiolate]

I was absolutely loving it, especially Mr Pokeyslopes and then

Spoiler

the Meat Circus happened and I want to choke Tim Schafer, I want to choke him badly.

And I think I was closer to the end than I thought, because I got to this point fast. Now I can't go back and mess with the kids.