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March 29, 2024, 07:14:14 AM

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Psychonauts 2 is out!

Started by Rev+, August 26, 2021, 03:40:56 AM

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Christ, this game is massive. I've been playing for approx. 30 hours now, and I think I've *finally* reached the endgame. However, I've been thinking that for the last 5 hours or so, but I think this is finally, finally it. So for anyone having read that this game is short, don't listen. It is fucking HUGE!

Granted, I like to explore and pick up what I can get (you can probably knock about 5 hours off from exploring the big open world area), but I'm no completionist, and I haven't really been stuck on any bosses, and it's still taken me this long. And boy, has it been worth it!

brat-sampson

Yeah, I saw the credits at around 24-25 hrs, by which point I'd collected probably over 90% of all the stuff. Debating going back in to finish it off, just because the worlds are nice enough to be in, there's a bunch of post-game dialogue and hey, I'm so close already. Hunting down figments is definitely an arse though, I recommend youtube guides. Found one where a commenter had even cross-referenced times in the video with which figment it was on the list, which became probably my fav. youtube comment of all time.

brat-sampson

Well, a couple of hours later...


Quote from: brat-sampson on September 02, 2021, 09:21:12 AM
Well, a couple of hours later...



Oooh, nice! After 3 more hours of playing from last night, I'm finally done. And while I've probably picked up between 90 to 95 percent of items in general, I'll leave it at that, and won't go back to 100% the game. As good as it is, I just can't be bothered.

I'll write some more about it later, but for me, this is game of the year, no question, and the best game I've played since Nier: Automata. And is it better than the first? Hell, yes, it is!

Blue Jam

Really. struggling with this tbh. It looks great and it's inventive and it's utterly charming, but I'm finding the combat and the levitation so clunky and frustrating. The boss fights seem to be more about dodging and circle-strafing more than getting skilled with all that oh-so-inventive psychic weaponry. It feels a bit like playing Control but with less, er, control.

Also I'm finding Raz's voice really fucking annoying. At this stage hearing him scream "AAAAARRRGGGH!" is my main motivation for not dying.

I want to love this, I really do, but I'm past the casino and back at the hospital fighting the Big Censor now and it hasn't clicked for me yet- is that point not far off, or is this just not for me?

Quote from: Blue Jam on September 09, 2021, 07:11:19 PMI want to love this, I really do, but I'm past the casino and back at the hospital fighting the Big Censor now and it hasn't clicked for me yet- is that point not far off, or is this just not for me?

You're not far from the point when the game really opens up. Well, you've still got a few areas and a big boss fight to go, but after that, you get access to a massive area outside the Motherlobe where there are no enemies to fight, just a big, open, platforming-based world to explore, with tons of items and secrets to find. To me, that was the best part of the game.

Top tip: Max out the pyromancy power as soon as possible. It's very powerful in combat and comes in very handy when exploring, especially when you want to gather Psitanium.



bgmnts

I actually quite like the combat as it has a good depth to it for what it is.

Blue Jam

Cheers for the tips, SFO!

Just got to the roulette table/maternity ward bit. Blimey, that couple
Spoiler alert
gambling for a baby (ie, IVF) when "the house always wins"
[close]
- that's really quite sad and poigniant!

Blue Jam

#38
Just met with Lady Luctopus and nah, that's me out, sorry. Had a few goes trying to grab those heat bulbs and throw them only to find nothing happened at all or they just blew up in my face, and I'd have done fuck all but somehow lost three fists' worth of health. Plus so many times when I thought I'd timed a simple jump perfectly only to hear Raz's reedy "AAAARRGGGH" for the fifty billionth pissing bastard time... nah, fuck this- I don't care if a game is beautiful and worthy and oh so very clever, if the controls are so clunky it's no fun to play it can get to fuck.

Go and play Control instead. As people have said here before it's nothing really new or innovative but it all just works really well. Lots of lovely psychic powers which you can actually fucking use.

"A wonderful world stuck in a frustrating game" is exactly what this is:

https://www.gameinformer.com/hands-on-preview/2021/07/19/psychonauts-2-preview-a-wonderful-world-stuck-in-a-frustrating-game

C_Larence

Quote from: Blue Jam on September 12, 2021, 01:09:43 AM
Just met with Lady Luctopus and nah, that's me out, sorry. Had a few goes trying to grab those heat bulbs and throw them only to find nothing happened at all or they just blew up in my face, and I'd have done fuck all but somehow lost three fists' worth of health. Plus so many times when I thought I'd timed a simple jump perfectly only to hear Raz's reedy "AAAARRGGGH" for the fifty billionth pissing bastard time... nah, fuck this- I don't care if a game is beautiful and worthy and oh so very clever, if the controls are so clunky it's no fun to play it can get to fuck.

Go and play Control instead. As people have said here before it's nothing really new or innovative but it all just works really well. Lots of lovely psychic powers which you can actually fucking use.

"A wonderful world stuck in a frustrating game" is exactly what this is:

https://www.gameinformer.com/hands-on-preview/2021/07/19/psychonauts-2-preview-a-wonderful-world-stuck-in-a-frustrating-game

I played the original this week for the first time and had the same experience. Was hoping they would have improved the control issues in the intervening decade and a half, but it sounds like they haven't. Won't be adding this to the top of my pile as I was expecting to before I played the first game.

bgmnts

Strange I had a piss easy time with it and thought the controls were gloriously accessible.

Weird.

MojoJojo

The first game was pretty much defined as brilliant world, shit gameplay*. I think it wouldn't feel like a sequel if it wasn't the same.


(*although I found it OK. Maybe playing 8 bit platformers meant I was used to it?)

MojoJojo

Oh, is there any easy/cheap way to get this on Ps4?

Zetetic

I'm horrendously mal-coordinated, found Psychonauts (1) very frustrating, and I'm getting on with this one pretty - something of the luck of the draw?

(I can't compare to Control because it keeps crashing on my computer.)

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

Quote from: bgmnts on September 12, 2021, 08:30:50 AM
Strange I had a piss easy time with it and thought the controls were gloriously accessible.

Same.

brat-sampson

They've rolled out a really nice Quality of Life patch for this, allowing for Raz to spot missing collectables far more easily in the post-game with a new camera filter, as well as checkmarks in the within-level fast-travel area list to say when you have all the collectables in that area. I already got my 100%, but this would certainly have made some of that a bit easier. Also some optional extra ramdomised combat challenges in the post-game so again clear off achievements or use all of your levelled up abilities some more.

Good stuff.

Mister Six

#46
Just finished up this game, and I'm absolutely in love with it. Best game since Prey, and definitely my game of the year.

It probably helped that Tim Schafer has a reputation for letting production get out of hand and ending up with games that are either kind of messy and unfocused or have to be hacked down from their over-ambitious plans - or both, in the case of poor, sweet Brutal Legend. I was fully expecting Psychonauts 2 to be either stupidly janky or just kind of stop at what felt like the halfway point.

But no! It's glorious - a proper epic adventure that builds and builds towards an exciting climax that neatly ties up all threads and character arcs while never overlooking the little details. It's the last part that really charms - hearing all the different dialogue from the characters as events change, using Clairvoyance to see how all the characters view you, even following a little romance between a Psychonaut agent and a bacon-obsessed oddball.

(It's entirely worth using the little magical camera you get from Otto to look around at the environment - one of the funniest jokes in the game is a flatshare advertisement pinned to a noticeboard in the Psychonauts' HQ.

It's absurdly beautiful, too - not just in the gorgeous concept-art-come-to-life design philosophy, but in the richness and robustness of the world. I don't know how they managed to do all those reflective surfaces, but they did. I think it's probably the best-looking game on the PS4, and that's saying something.

My only real complaint is that the story relies heavily on familiarity with the world and characters established in Psychonauts 1, and continues on directly from Rhombus of Ruin. I replaced Psychonauts 1 for the first time in 20 years a couple of months ago, so that wasn't a problem, but having people make references to some bloody VR game I'll never own and almost certainly never play is really irritating.

I'd also have liked to see a bit more experimentation in terms of gameplay, along the lines of the spy-filled suburbia and the Godzilla level from the first game. Here it's all variations on platforming, albeit with really, really lovely platforms.

I did have another qualm - that something felt off about the jumping , and that I was constantly sliding off platforms and bouncing into water - but about three minds from the end I suddenly realied I'd totally forgotten you could double-jump, and I'd just been hamstringing myself by being the stupidest twat in the world.

Anyway, it's amazing. And so funny to see people at the start of this thread complaining that it went on sale for 55 quid, which is an absolute bargain.

Jerzy Bondov

I have the same problem with this as the first one which is that I love absolutely everything about it except the fucking combat. Can't get my head round it. Banging it down to easy mode now honestly, fuck it.

Mister Six

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on October 06, 2022, 10:31:58 AMI have the same problem with this as the first one which is that I love absolutely everything about it except the fucking combat. Can't get my head round it. Banging it down to easy mode now honestly, fuck it.

1- Always be riding your bouncy ball thing,

2- Use the fire attack, and prioritise boosting it up to the max, at which point it nukes a vast area (it's also the best way to destroy scenery for, psytanium and health),

3- Your secondary attack should be Psy-blast,

4- The psychic punch is only effective on judges, and even then only if you hit them with the time bubble and run up behind them (and you still want to be hitting them with Psy-blast on the way),

5- Telekinesis is only effective against those little cat things that spit bombs; grab the bombs (ideally in midair - just point at the baddie and press the button as soon as they open their mouths and you'll pluck the bomb right out of them) and throw them back in their faces.

That's about it. Staying mobile and not using the psychic punch except when it's necessary are the key points.

Jerzy Bondov

Thanks, that got me through the bit I was struggling with. Back to enjoying the game now.

Mister Six

Hooray! Have fun, it's a fantastic game.

Thursday

You are now leaving the questionable area???

Mister Six

Check your car for squirrels?