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Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.

Chimera-gui posted:

For those wondering why Oleander is afraid of his father, there is a semi-canon backstory for the first game though I'm going use spoiler tags since it gets pretty hosed up:

Oleander was reportedly the youngest of three brothers though he saw himself as being just as big and strong as his older brothers. One day, his father saw him playing with a bunny. Though Oleander wasn't in trouble, his father advised him not to get attached to the rabbit as it was the runt of of the litter meaning it couldn't be sold for meat or fur and was thus considered useless: Incapable of doing anything but sucking up feed and is therefore to be slaughtered and fed to the pigs.

Out of fear of being seen as the runt like Mr. Bunny, Oleander worked harder than his brothers doing three times the chores and doubling his study time. At school he demonstrated a level of discipline unheard of for his age, scheduling his time with a chart system, asked teachers for extra credit work, did every extracurricular activity available, started clubs, organized guest speakers, ran for class president & treasurer, and graduated top of his class meaning he could have gone to the college of his choice had he not attempted to join the military.

The reason he tried to join the military was due to his father, Butch, being a former Marine and so by joining, Oleander could prove that he wasn't worthless in his father's eyes. Unfortunately as we saw in the game itself he was rejected by every branch, due to his height, who told him the same thing: "Not big enough. Can't drive a tank. Can't jump over a foxhole. Can't do nothing but suck down rations." After this, he was recruted by the Psychonauts however they did not deploy him due to the aggressive tendencies he developed as a maladaptive coping mechanism.

This came to a head when, as Coach of Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, he received news that his father had passed away which coupled with his prolonged exposure to Psitanium caused something to snap.


Where did you get that info?

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Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014
Gaming University made a video on the Meat Circus where he described Oleander’s backstory from the Li-Po Backstory Document: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjxHCL1irs

He did note that said backstory should be treated as semi-canon at best but given what we saw in the game itself, I do think that the backstory lines up with what was confirmed (Oleander’s father killed a rabbit in front of him and he was rejected by the military) quite well and fits the themes of the Meat Circus itself.

Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.
What's the "Li-Po Backstory Document"?

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014
EDIT: Ariong explains it better than I could below.

Gaming University also referenced it in his video on the Milkman Conspiracy.

Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Mar 17, 2022

Ariong
Jun 25, 2012

Get bashed, platonist!

It’s a document that was created during the development of Psychonauts 1 and used to keep track of the backstories of characters in the game. “Li-Po” was the development codename for Psychonauts. When the Majesco exclusivity deal expired and Double Fine regained publishing rights for the game, they set about porting it to PC. During a minor bugfix update they accidentally included a bunch of internal documents, which they very quickly removed in a follow-up update. This would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t tor Suspicious Dish, an eagle-eyed user of an obscure dead gay comedy forum.

The Li-Po document is in an interesting place in terms of being canon. Basically, it isn’t, but a lot of the canon stuff in the first game was written in accordance with the contents of the document. A big reason the characters in the first game are so fully realized is because they have entire backstories that the player never gets to see, and the Li-Po document is where many of those backstories are found. However, because it was never meant for public release, it is not technically canon, and some of the stuff in it is no longer compatible with canon as of Psychonauts 2.

For this reason, I will not link Suspicious Dish’s thread or the document until given approval by the OP. Since the document predates Psychonauts 2 by almost 2 decades it does not have any spoilers per se. However, by taking note of where the document mismatches the canon of Psychonauts 2, one can infer what changes they made to character backstories for the second game and in turn infer certain things about the game’s plot that haven’t happened yet.

EDIT: That being said, you really don't need any of the extra stuff from the Li-Po document to understand what's going on in the Meat Circus. The mental vault you find there is sufficient.

Ariong fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Mar 17, 2022

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014

Ariong posted:

EDIT: That being said, you really don't need any of the extra stuff from the Li-Po document to understand what's going on in the Meat Circus. The mental vault you find there is sufficient.

Oh absolutely, while the context it provides does help better connect the Memory Vaults The Big Top from the Meat Circus and Oleander's Shame from Basic Braining; it is not required to understand either which, coupled with the dubious canonicity of the LiPo document itself, was why I used spoiler tags even though the backstory itself is completely unrelated to Psychonauts 2.

Samovar
Jun 4, 2011

When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese.


Neat!

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Ariong posted:

For this reason, I will not link Suspicious Dish’s thread or the document until given approval by the OP. Since the document predates Psychonauts 2 by almost 2 decades it does not have any spoilers per se. However, by taking note of where the document mismatches the canon of Psychonauts 2, one can infer what changes they made to character backstories for the second game and in turn infer certain things about the game’s plot that haven’t happened yet.

I'm okay with you posting the link, but please tag it as potential spoilers.

Ariong
Jun 25, 2012

Get bashed, platonist!

1. Li-Po Backstory Document. :siren:Spoilers for Psychonauts 1 and 2.:siren:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IwTcL82rGelH6jU0N-EtwuOtduInBGOMlcZktnOhXvA/edit

2. Suspicious Dish's original thread. Spoilers for Psychonauts 1, none for 2 I don't think but will put behind tags anyway. Sadly all of the OP's links are now dead, but there's still some cool stuff in here and it is an interesting bit of history. Archive access required.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3567802#post418954175

When I was looking up information about the Li-Po document for my post earlier I was surprised to discover it was originally put onto the internet via an SA Forums thread, then I was doubly surprised when I read the thread and saw I posted in it. I have zero memory of this.

Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.

Ariong posted:

1. Li-Po Backstory Document. :siren:Spoilers for Psychonauts 1 and 2.:siren:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IwTcL82rGelH6jU0N-EtwuOtduInBGOMlcZktnOhXvA/edit

2. Suspicious Dish's original thread. Spoilers for Psychonauts 1, none for 2 I don't think but will put behind tags anyway. Sadly all of the OP's links are now dead, but there's still some cool stuff in here and it is an interesting bit of history. Archive access required.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3567802#post418954175
Thanks for sharing this. I'll look at it once Psychonauts 2 finishes.

quote:

When I was looking up information about the Li-Po document for my post earlier I was surprised to discover it was originally put onto the internet via an SA Forums thread, then I was doubly surprised when I read the thread and saw I posted in it. I have zero memory of this.
Have you been to any circuses in the years since that thread? Met any... fortune tellers?

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Mraagvpeine posted:

Have you been to any circuses in the years since that thread? Met any... fortune tellers?

Better stay away from water, just to be safe!

However, we can't stay away from our responsibilities... and that means handling Compton Boole. But I do like what they did with the level.

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014
I honestly love the Mental Processes chosen to be enemies, honestly some of my favorite enemy designs in any game.

Talking about the Mental World itself: If Hollis was a nod to Edgar and Boyd, Compton is comparable to Fred Bonaparte as Compton's low confidence has led to him also having learned helplessness hence why Raz is helping him.

Samovar
Jun 4, 2011

When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese.


Oh, poor Compton. He's so tense.

Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.
I feel bad for him; seems like a decent guy (at least around animals), but is unable to handle leading a big organization like the Psychonauts.

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-
Definitely more sympathetic than some other characters. He even isolated himself willingly when he saw himself a danger.

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-
Now the video's been up a bit, I wanted to say that I really like Compton's Cookoff. It's not incredibly long and doesn't overstay its welcome; the themes are well done; it manages to integrate enemies somewhat well. The judge in particular has a fantastic introduction.

With regard to the enemies, I'm unsure how much I think the fighting segments feel a little bit shoehorned in, but at least the level does give a "story" reason for them to exist. And I'm not gonna complain about the reskins. You know what? That's fine. I've seen much worse, and I'm entertained by the whole thing.

Samovar
Jun 4, 2011

When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese.


At least the reskins are aesthetically coherent. Though I will say the boss is... Eh.

fractalairduct
Sep 26, 2015

I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream!

You can avoid the goat vomit just by staying on the Lev ball. It counts as a hazard you can bypass like the electrified floors in Hollis' mind.

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

fractalairduct posted:

You can avoid the goat vomit just by staying on the Lev ball. It counts as a hazard you can bypass like the electrified floors in Hollis' mind.

For some reason I had problems when using the levitation ball when I first tried it, maybe by being unlucky and getting hit right as I was using it. I tended not to try again after that. Thanks for letting me know!

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I guess I have to be the contrarian here and say that I really don't like Compton's Cook-Off. Why is it a cooking show? Every mind we've ever been in has been reflective of the person outwardly as well as encapsulating their inner problems. Coach Oleander's mind was a battlefield because he was obsessed with the military, and everything in it was a prop because it was all fake. He never made it. Sasha's mind was a cube floating in the void because he didn't seem to care for flashy things and kept everything organized to the extreme, and the scenes buried in it were moments from his childhood that had a big impact on his development. Milla's mind was a dance party because - well, just look at her, darling! And her problems were safely caged away behind the scenes, where they belong. Linda the lungfish's mind was a hectic city filled with neon because (as was directly explained in the game) the mind control device didn't belong and was overwriting the natural lungfish mind with human stuff that just couldn't be ignored. Boyd's mind appeared to be a normal neighborhood, but everything in it was spy stuff because he's a conspiracy theorist, and he thinks everything is sinister. (How much of all of that is purely a Coach Oleander construct is up for interpretation.) Gloria's mind was a school theater stage because her failed acting career was at the center of pretty much all of her problems. Fred Bonaparte's mind was a giant game board because he was obsessed with having lost a game, and possibly also with his heritage just a bit. Edgar's mind was a city made of black velvet because he loved to paint, with a rampaging bull made of his anger, wrestlers keeping his queens from him, and a high school locker room in the sewers - if you know the backstory, the meaning of all of this is obvious. Dr. Loboto's mind was a dental examination because he's a dentist, partially overwritten with an office because that was Sasha's mental construct. Hollis's mind opened into a classroom, which she used to teach her class, and then took an ambulance ride to the hospital where everything went wrong for her, starting in the morgue. After Raz gives her an obsession with gambling, the whole thing turns into a casino.

So what about Compton Boole suggests food or cooking in any way? Maybe there's something I'm missing, but on a literal level, the framing device just doesn't make any sense to me. I get the judgment aspect, but there are other framing devices that would make more sense for Compton and (possibly) avoid the gross-out factor, which I'll circle back to in a bit. How about an animal show, where Raz has to make the animals presentable and possibly save them from some random doomed fate that awaits them? Or a talent show, where Compton feels like such a failure that he can't perform without some help? Or even just a literal courtroom, emphasizing the self-judgment aspect even further? I think I grasp the imagery - he's disgusted with himself and projecting that disgust on the people who care about him. But it seems like there are other ways to do that, and it wouldn't be hard to tie in the Grulovia angle at the same time. While there are thematic ties in the names of some of the dishes you make in this level, I think some of them are really stretching, and since when has Ford liked pancakes more than bacon?

The mechanics of the level are a bit of a mess too. I like the idea of moving around between the different cooking stations and using the audience as ingredients, but I've seen a lot of people confused about how it all works, and the timer doesn't lead to a desire to explore, especially when you see that the leftover time from the first round is your timer for the second. You get a fresh timer for the third, but not knowing that going in, I was in a rush. Then it doesn't even let you grab the prize before kicking you into a battle where you're grabbing random ingredients with no obvious way to tell whether the one you need is even available. And if it's not, or you throw the wrong ingredient in the wrong direction, you'll have to sit through another cycle of enemies and attacks. And then the piece de resistance - you don't get much time to serve the dish once it's cooked. The prompt for "Action button to throw food" only appears when you get close, so my first time, I wasted too much time trying to grab the food with Telekinesis (you know, the power you have specifically for throwing things) and had to redo the whole round. I guess it's trying to symbolize the frantic nature of Compton feeling like there are too many things he has to do, but in practice, you're only doing one thing at a time anyway. Ingredients sit at most of the cooking stations for such a long time that you have to go do other things while you wait. That's the opposite of frantic.

There are other things I could probably say, but they relate to parts of the game we haven't seen yet, so I'll save them. This is probably also more than enough negativity for one post.

Ariong
Jun 25, 2012

Get bashed, platonist!


The cooking show is a metaphor for the way Compton views the world. He lives in a state of constant anxiety and fear that he is being judged and found wanting. He hides away from everyone and everything because he feels that even his friends and colleagues are constantly scrutinizing him, seeing the flaws that he sees in himself, and thinking he's useless. Raz builds Compton's confidence by showing how the judges' opinions are hollow and not based in reality, and ultimately builds up his confidence enough to help him realize that those judges aren't saying what his friends are thinking, they're just parroting his own insecurities back at him.

Personally I don't think the level loses anything for not directly representing something we know is/was part of Compton's life. The Milkman conspiracy took place in a neighborhood that Boyd never mentions and that never shows up in his memory vaults, but it's still impactful because the neighborhood clearly represents Boyd's manner of thinking. That's my general rebuttal to your post overall, but I also have a few specific disagreements:


Nidoking posted:

While there are thematic ties in the names of some of the dishes you make in this level, I think some of them are really stretching, and since when has Ford liked pancakes more than bacon?

I assumed the Honey Pepper Pancake Stacker is Ford's favorite dish because it includes Honey Pepper Boar Bacon, which was previously established as being something he loves.


Nidoking posted:

The mechanics of the level are a bit of a mess too. I like the idea of moving around between the different cooking stations and using the audience as ingredients, but I've seen a lot of people confused about how it all works, and the timer doesn't lead to a desire to explore, especially when you see that the leftover time from the first round is your timer for the second. You get a fresh timer for the third, but not knowing that going in, I was in a rush.

That's not true. You always get 10 minutes for the first dish, 7 minutes for the second, and 5 for the third.

Other than that though, the gameplay for this portion can be problematic, and the boss battle is definitely one of the weakest if not the weakest parts of the whole game in terms of gameplay. Conceptually I loved it, but in practice the food grabbing/throwing gimmick was clumsy and there was a lot of stuff that could go wrong just via bad luck. Most galling are 1. None of the lumps that spawn have the food you need and 2. you try to throw away an incorrect food but it bounces off something weird and goes into the pipe anyway. I also felt it dragged on a little, and the final wave with the heavy censor and the chef felt more like busywork than a climactic final round.

Oh, here's another speedrun fact: In the speedrun for this game, the Compton's Cookoff boss is the big make-or-break moment for a run. If the runner gets the right ingredient on the first or second try every time, that's a potentially great run. If the runner gets a round where none of the lumps have the right ingredient, then it's time to abandon the run and try again. The heavy censor and chef I mentioned earlier are not a problem there though: Speedrunners just use Wrecking Ball to knock them off the stage.

Mraagvpeine
Nov 4, 2014

I won this avatar on a technicality this thick.
The contest angle is crucial for the anxiety connection, but why a cooking contest? I think Compton feels guilt over the sacrifices that were made in failing to stop Maligula, so having ingredients volunteer themselves to be "sacrificed" feeds into Compton's guilt complex.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.

Ariong posted:

The cooking show is a metaphor for the way Compton views the world. He lives in a state of constant anxiety and fear that he is being judged and found wanting. He hides away from everyone and everything because he feels that even his friends and colleagues are constantly scrutinizing him, seeing the flaws that he sees in himself, and thinking he's useless. Raz builds Compton's confidence by showing how the judges' opinions are hollow and not based in reality, and ultimately builds up his confidence enough to help him realize that those judges aren't saying what his friends are thinking, they're just parroting his own insecurities back at him.

Yes, I agree with all of that, and I think I said as much in my post. You also forgot to mention food again after the second word in this paragraph. I think that's enough of a demonstration of how central to the theme of the level the food idea isn't.

Ariong posted:

That's not true. You always get 10 minutes for the first dish, 7 minutes for the second, and 5 for the third.

That's not how I remember it, but that could be one of those things they changed in the patch. Or maybe I took exactly three minutes to make the first dish and assumed that it was the leftover time because seven is a pretty weird number of minutes for a round.

Mraagvpeine posted:

The contest angle is crucial for the anxiety connection, but why a cooking contest? I think Compton feels guilt over the sacrifices that were made in failing to stop Maligula, so having ingredients volunteer themselves to be "sacrificed" feeds into Compton's guilt complex.

Very incredibly stretchy, but for reasons I can't talk about yet. I will say, though, that I can't imagine Maligula having a lot of willing sacrifices, so again, it's quite a weak metaphor when I can think of plenty that would be much closer to what's actually bothering Compton, and would also involve much less goat vomit. The only reason I can possibly think of for the theme they chose is that "less goat vomit" didn't strike someone as a positive attribute for a game.

Ariong
Jun 25, 2012

Get bashed, platonist!

I know the answer to that. Double Fine does (or did, not sure if they still do them) these things called Amnesia Fortnights that are basically two-week long internal game jams. Everyone in the company takes the two weeks to become part of a team and work on a prototype for a future game. During Amnesia Fortnight 2017, one of the prototypes that emerged was called The Gods Must Be Hungry. The game was to take place in a world under siege by ancient gods and indestructible titans awakening from their eons-long slumbers to consume all of civilization. The player's objective was to utilize giant ingredients and appliances to create giant dishes so delicious that the monsters decide to eat them instead of humanity before going back to sleep.

They decided not to expand it into a full game, but they incorporated the concept into Psychonauts 2 as Compton's Cookoff.

Ariong fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Mar 25, 2022

Miz Kriss
Mar 17, 2009

It's only an avatar if the Cubs get swept.
So, to preface, I watch a lot of cooking competition shows. Food Network used to be a staple in my home back when I had cable.

That being said, why the hell would Compton's mental construct be a cooking competition?

Making the construct a cooking competition showcases the extreme constant pressure on one's self. These shows always have an extremely limited time limit to do something extravagant (20 minutes to make an appetizer with these 4 random ingredients; 3 hours to perfectly recreate this cake design that normally would take all day; 2 hours to bake this dessert that you've never heard of, and the instructions are very limited at best, to name a few) and you have to plan, prep, cook, and present everything yourself. If something goes wrong, it's entirely your fault. There's no argument that could sway the jury like in a court case, there's no animal being a jerkass like in an animal show. Everything is on you, and you alone. You gently caress up, you lose, that's it. Even in more wholesome competitions such as The Great British Bake-Off, the original hosts were rumored to drop explicit language, lewd jokes, and unsponsored products when the contestants were breaking down and crying just so the show couldn't air footage of the contestants at their worst. The judges in these shows are always people who are highly esteemed experts in cuisine, so it makes sense that the judges in Compton's Cook-Off are the three agents that are not only his coworkers, but those he regards as "the best of the best": Ford, Otto, and Hollis.

So for someone filled to the brim with guilt (not only for Cassie's demise, but for the dogs as well) and extreme self doubt like Compton, a highly pressurized showcase that constantly tests his ability to do something as simple as cook a meal makes sense. He even mentions that "Cassie was always good at stuff like this," so perhaps he was the type to let others shine and he naturally takes a step back, even if that creates a loop of self doubt. The constant voices he hears on the outside overwhelm him because his mind is still trying to make that perfect Grulovian Drowned Egg, that even when Raz stepped in and made it, it was still "better than a box of nails." Even when he succeeds it isn't good enough, as a possible metaphor of "we won, but at what cost."

I do agree that the boss portion was weak. While I appreciate that it forced Compton to step up and realize that he is capable on his own, the excessive goat vomit was well, excessive. Though, I don't know what could be done to get that point across and have a boss section. Maybe a tower defense where all those bad thoughts are trying to get to Compton, who has to create an original dish himself, but Raz has to run occasionally to grab ingredients to give him (not covered in goat vomit, of course).

I do wonder though, if Compton's true construct is simply a television studio that has been warped over time to this cooking competition due to his anxiety.

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Nidoking posted:

I guess I have to be the contrarian here and say that I really don't like Compton's Cook-Off.

Ariong posted:

They decided not to expand it into a full game, but they incorporated the concept into Psychonauts 2 as Compton's Cookoff.

The criticisms are valid. I haven't really talked too much about the boss because other people's criticisms match how I felt: it's not great. From my perspective the fight drags out, there's annoying randomness, and as long as you pick up health you're not in too much danger so itmainly feels too long for what it is. It's a lot more entertaining if you don't have to play through it since you can watch Compton get really frantic up on the big screen, which is part of the whole fun!

With regard to the cooking aspect of the whole thing... yeah, I can see how it doesn't make sense and could be replaced with a different kind of level. I do think cooking works well enough to illustrate the difficulties Compton is going through, and it makes sense that Double Fine would use the Amnesia Fortnight to decide what the level would be, but they could have done something different and nixed the cooking. I won't dispute that. But as Miz Kriss talks about, a cooking competition resonates really well with many people so even if it wasn't the most appropriate setting for Compton's level, a lot of players will understand what it represents. I sure did, and I do like The Great British Bake-Off!

The way I saw the whole level made me think that cooking represented some of the experiences Cassie and Compton shared. If that's the case, the game could do a better job of explaining that in a memory vault, in conversations, or in some other way that cements their relationship. As it is, I don't recall the game really doing that, which is unfortunate.

Nidoking posted:

The prompt for "Action button to throw food" only appears when you get close, so my first time, I wasted too much time trying to grab the food with Telekinesis (you know, the power you have specifically for throwing things) and had to redo the whole round. I guess it's trying to symbolize the frantic nature of Compton feeling like there are too many things he has to do, but in practice, you're only doing one thing at a time anyway. Ingredients sit at most of the cooking stations for such a long time that you have to go do other things while you wait. That's the opposite of frantic.

From a thematic standpoint, "opposite of frantic" works well in the game's favor. Compton is overwhelmed by everything going on. As a player, you feel you need to do so much in a particular order to get everything done the right way in the right amount of time and it gets really stressful. When you realize that there are periods where you just have to wait, and you don't have to be frantic every minute, there's this "A-ha!" moment when you no longer feel as rushed... and Compton could stand to realize that. It's a matter of perspective and we're helping him remember/learn.

This parallels some of my cooking. I'm decent at cooking and baking, but for unfamiliar dishes or dishes with lots of ingredients, or when I'm stressed, organizing everything feels like a huge mess. Once I've done a recipe a few times, however, it's not nearly as hard, and there can be a lot of downtime. No need to be as frantic as I feel I should be.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
The arguments have been persuasive. I now think the level design is just uninspired relative to the rest of the game, rather than completely inappropriate.

Anaxite posted:

From a thematic standpoint, "opposite of frantic" works well in the game's favor. Compton is overwhelmed by everything going on. As a player, you feel you need to do so much in a particular order to get everything done the right way in the right amount of time and it gets really stressful. When you realize that there are periods where you just have to wait, and you don't have to be frantic every minute, there's this "A-ha!" moment when you no longer feel as rushed... and Compton could stand to realize that. It's a matter of perspective and we're helping him remember/learn.

Maybe, but that really doesn't seem to be the lesson here. Compton learns to stand up for himself against his self-deprecating judgment and dispelled his inner critic in much the same way Gloria did, but I really don't see a tie-in with his sensory overstimulation anywhere. (I was going to hold off talking about that until a bit later, because it makes the most sense in comparison to a mind we haven't seen yet.) It would have been interesting to end with a timed challenge that the player isn't supposed to be able to complete in time, and to make the result of running out of time part of the story of Compton's mind. Maybe whatever normal consequence there would be for failing at an earlier objective begins (normally leading to a restart/loss), but Compton is able to hold it back to give Raz time to fix the damage before it gets out of hand. Realizing that the goal was unreasonable from the start, that failure at a specific objective doesn't have to cascade, and that removing the artificial pressure makes even a more difficult task easier would all be great lessons for Compton, could easily tie in with the cooking show theme, and would relate much better to his broader mental issues, in my opinion.

Bootcha
Nov 13, 2012

Truly, the pinnacle of goaltending
Grimey Drawer

Miz Kriss posted:

That being said, why the hell would Compton's mental construct be a cooking competition?
...
I do wonder though, if Compton's true construct is simply a television studio that has been warped over time to this cooking competition due to his anxiety.

Well, there's an argument to be made that life imitates art.

In absence of a straight analogy, either circumstantial or purposeful, a metaphor can be twisted to occupy the vacuum.

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014

Miz Kriss posted:

Cassie's demise

I think you mean Helmut as Cassie is very much alive, she just went into isolation like Compton hence why he goes off to find her once he gets a confidence boost.

Miz Kriss
Mar 17, 2009

It's only an avatar if the Cubs get swept.

Chimera-gui posted:

I think you mean Helmut as Cassie is very much alive, she just went into isolation like Compton hence why he goes off to find her once he gets a confidence boost.

Right. I knew someone died due to the Maligula fight and I must have misremembered it as Cassie due to the memory vault

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-

Nidoking posted:

The arguments have been persuasive. I now think the level design is just uninspired relative to the rest of the game, rather than completely inappropriate.

Maybe, but that really doesn't seem to be the lesson here. Compton learns to stand up for himself against his self-deprecating judgment and dispelled his inner critic in much the same way Gloria did, but I really don't see a tie-in with his sensory overstimulation anywhere. (I was going to hold off talking about that until a bit later, because it makes the most sense in comparison to a mind we haven't seen yet.) It would have been interesting to end with a timed challenge that the player isn't supposed to be able to complete in time, and to make the result of running out of time part of the story of Compton's mind. Maybe whatever normal consequence there would be for failing at an earlier objective begins (normally leading to a restart/loss), but Compton is able to hold it back to give Raz time to fix the damage before it gets out of hand. Realizing that the goal was unreasonable from the start, that failure at a specific objective doesn't have to cascade, and that removing the artificial pressure makes even a more difficult task easier would all be great lessons for Compton, could easily tie in with the cooking show theme, and would relate much better to his broader mental issues, in my opinion.

I wonder if Double Fine had a retrospective look at this game and gave their opinion on how this level works. Like you point out, there are different (arguably better) ways things could have been handled, even though I'm okay with the current level.

That said, I think it inspired me. The Strawberry Jam Croque Madame is an incredibly doable recipe and I've got the ingredients.

CapitanGarlic
Feb 29, 2004

Much, much more.
The meta-narrative I took away was that Compton started at "I cannot do this without Cassie" and his learning/turning point is him telling himself "I *enjoy* doing this *with* her," motivating that he will go and be proactive rather than just navel-gaze about the whole situation.

Also that he blew up a lot of pets, but you can't make an omelet without cracking a few dogs right

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
Another option would be to have written Compton's character to be more in line with the mind they had planned. If he were more obviously competitive, like maybe there were background chatter about how people hated bowling with him because he got too obsessed with the score, the contest theme would be more topical. Or if he were obsessed with food (but ideally not just fat - maybe the kitchen lady mentions that she hates having to prepare his meals so perfectly), then the food angle would make much more sense. It doesn't need to be in our faces the whole time, but there are so many ways to make his mind seem more relevant without making any sweeping changes to anything.

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-
:chef::siren: CROQUE MADAME HAS BEEN MADE :siren::chef:



Because this is gonna be one helluva video to edit of spoilers I have to wait to post the actual video... but the verdict is in: it's surprisingly acceptable! The ham and cheese work okay with the strawberry jam. In fact, the egg is the part that could cause the most taste issues, but it also drowns out the strawberry jam. Fresh strawberries might have worked even better.

Samovar
Jun 4, 2011

When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese.


Anaxite posted:

:chef::siren: CROQUE MADAME HAS BEEN MADE :siren::chef:



Because this is gonna be one helluva video to edit of spoilers I have to wait to post the actual video... but the verdict is in: it's surprisingly acceptable! The ham and cheese work okay with the strawberry jam. In fact, the egg is the part that could cause the most taste issues, but it also drowns out the strawberry jam. Fresh strawberries might have worked even better.

Looks pretty good!

Reminds me of the joke of if a croque madame speaks to another croque madame about something other than a croque monsieur, that’s called passing the béchamel test.

Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014

Nidoking posted:

Another option would be to have written Compton's character to be more in line with the mind they had planned. If he were more obviously competitive, like maybe there were background chatter about how people hated bowling with him because he got too obsessed with the score, the contest theme would be more topical. Or if he were obsessed with food (but ideally not just fat - maybe the kitchen lady mentions that she hates having to prepare his meals so perfectly), then the food angle would make much more sense. It doesn't need to be in our faces the whole time, but there are so many ways to make his mind seem more relevant without making any sweeping changes to anything.

I think the issue is that because Compton spends the first two Mental World's worth of gameplay in Psychoisolation, we have to extrapolate his personality based on the two people who'd presumably know him best: His granddaughter Sam and his intern Lizzie.

Since Sam is shown cooking, maybe there should've been a dialogue option with her where she talks about him having a love of cooking that got passed down to her. Maybe have that be why Oleander tells her to make him pancakes, she's made them before using the proper Mother Lobe kitchen and he enjoyed them.

Ariong
Jun 25, 2012

Get bashed, platonist!

Hey yeah you’re right, they even put in a dialogue option where you ask where she learned to cook and she says she learned from her mother. Why the heck didn’t they have her say she learned it from Compton?

Anaxite
Jan 16, 2009

What? What'd you say? Stop channeling? I didn't he-
Or even that she tried to learn from her Grandpa but it didn't work out.

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Chimera-gui
Mar 20, 2014
Or hell, I wouldn't be against the idea that Compton was the one who taught Sam's mother before he went into isolation if they weren't going to have him teach Sam directly.

Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Mar 28, 2022

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