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  Psychonauts 2 was developed by Double Fine and published by Xbox Game Studios. It was released in August 2021 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with ports for Mac/Linux The original Psychonauts was a platformer labeled as "Action-Adventure," but it was way more than just that. It won over a lot of people—myself included—with its charm, voice acting, and incredible style, even though it was a commercial failure for several years after release. It jumped in popularity when Double Fine got the rights back and published it on modern platforms. Tim Schafer had interest in a sequel, and here we are. Psychonauts 2 continues in the tradition of the first with better graphics and some quality-of-life upgrades we've come to expect from games these days. Mind you, the sequel is not a perfect game; combat can be a bit lackluster, ability selection becomes cumbersome and frequent, not everyone liked the collect-a-thon aspects, there are aspects of the story pacing I found a bit weird, and there are other paper cuts here and there. But overall, I loved playing through the game, and experiencing the story. Psychonauts 2 was also one of the first games funded on fig, a crowdfunding platform for video games created in 2015 by the former COO of Double Fine Productions. The funding was successful though. The game was going to be published by Starbreeze Studios, which fell into bankruptcy in 2018. Microsoft acquired Double Fine a bit later, allowing Double Fine to complete the game to their liking. To be honest, I didn't follow much of this. I told myself I'd play the game when it's done, and left it at that. Wasn't there another game? Double Fine also developed a VR game which set between the events of 1 and 2, called Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin. The story leads right into 2's plot, but the game provides a helpful video detailing the events of the past games. And if you haven't played the original Psychonauts, there's an LP of it on the Archive!  The game is linear, but it has a lot of fun content! I want to show off as much of the charm Double Fine stuffed into the game, so expect a a whole lot of dialogue as we talk to just about every NPC I can. This ain't a speedrun. I'll also be going for 100%, which was more tedious in the initial release until they added a tool to help you find all those collectibles. Seriously, that patch came out right before I finished the game. It was great. I'm aiming for weekly updates, with shorter updates between videos from recordings I had to split up. Constructive criticism welcome Feel free to criticize the game or point out errors/things I missed in the LP. Lord knows neither are perfect, and I'm sure I'll miss a thing here or there.  NO SPOILERS Speculation and discussion are fine, but keep spoilers to yourself until we've reached that part of the LP. MENTAL HEALTH WARNING There is a big fat warning in the game's Extras section, and it's worth repeating here. This game is meant to be a light-hearted adventure about mental issues and healing, but some of the subject matter can be very heavy, or toothy. As in literally depicting teeth. If you find yourself having problems with the subject matter, please take care of yourself first. Step away, take a break, whatever you need to do. If find yourself in a bad mental health situation, please reach out for help. E/N can help you find resources or, if you're in the US, this page also has resources to help you in a crisis situation. Still with me? Then let's jump right in!  -----                                      
Anaxite fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Jun 29, 2022 |
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Feb 10, 2022 16:00
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EXTRAS Here's a bunch of extra stuff posted during the Let's Play that doesn't quite fit into the narrative, or that I just missed. There may be spoilers! Chimera-gui discusses the enemies. Chimera-gui posted:Now that we've met the last regular enemy, I want to talk about the enemies in greater detail to understand why I think theming them around mental processes was brilliant in terms of visual storytelling: I play through the Psychonauts 1 Meat Circus, since we got to see what the real Aquatodome looks like. Posted after episode 10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kh842b5v5E April Fool's Day 2022 - posted before episode 14  I made the Strawberry Jam Croque Madame, and it didn't suck!. Best to wait until you watched Ford's levels to get the references.  Using clairvoyance on your projection? To the archetypal boy, a boy is a boy.  In the videos, I didn't show off the text on the fans you can slow down with Time Bubble. quote:There are five fans in the game that I know have writing on them for sure. The first four are in the Eye Shrine, the last is the Cake Summit. fractalairduct found a Twitter thread that translates the Latin in Cassie's level. It's very relevant to plot points, so big fat spoiler warning if you're at the first videos! https://twitter.com/bluwacky/status/1431614496439775236?lang=en "Consilium Apium", or "The Bees' Plan" Once a wasp said "I'm going to eat a beehive." Six brave bees began to buzz. The first bee told a story. It was bad. The second sang a song of peace. The wasp did not like it. The third asked for help from the ants, but they said no. The fourth bee used a vine, but the wasp broke free. The fifth bee tried to freeze it, but the wasp didn't notice. The sixth bee at last won the day. But he lost his mind. The first bee, she was utterly distraught. From the many who failed, she was the first. "I will make myself stronger". She put her kindness away on top of a bookshelf. She left the beehive and made another one. But in the beehive, she is alone. She terrifies strangers. And she lives there to this very day. --- With the right pins, the funicular becomes the Fast-icular! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzY51nbHNk --- Bringing up the rear, a few videos for when the game is over: I encountered a weird enemy duplication glitch when fighting a panic attack. It looks like it may have made the fight unwinnable, but I'll never really know.  What happens if you stack your pins to speed up the maligula fight? Not as much as you might hope.  AND BECAUSE NOBODY ASKED FOR IT YOU'RE WELCOME  
Anaxite fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Jun 29, 2022 |
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Feb 10, 2022 16:01
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Need to get up to speed? Game's got you covered. -----
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Feb 10, 2022 16:04
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I'm looking forward to this.
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Feb 10, 2022 16:53
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Still can't believe we got this sequel. Ground floor, bag of popcorn  let's do this.
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Feb 10, 2022 20:57
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During Nidoking's LP of the first Psychonauts, it was noted that a Psychonaut following actual procedure wouldn't be clumsily bumbling through the persons mind with potentially disastrous consequences like Raz (the kid was trained as an acrobat, not in psychology) nor would they knowingly manipulate the person with malicious intent like Oleander and here we see Sasha Nein construct a fabricated world to peacefully coax the truth out of Loboto as subtly as much as game allows since we as the audience needed to be clued in to what our heroes were doing.
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Feb 11, 2022 00:49
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Yes, actual psychic modification of a person's mind is one of those trigger warnings for things that will be discussed later in the game. Here, I believe the office setting is just an enclave Sasha built in Loboto's mind for the purpose of cutting out any distractions from the rest of his mind and focusing on finding the identity of his boss. When he got suspicious enough to break the illusion, we can see his own mind start to take its normal shape as the office construct disintegrates, bit by bit. It is a bit of a misdirection for the opening, and a lot subtler than the earlier draft that's hidden in the game as an Easter egg. There's actually a lot of that in this game, and it's fun to try to pinpoint the moment when you realize what's actually going on in any given plot thread. You can get more than you'd imagine out of a replay.
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Feb 11, 2022 04:26
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Hell, Linda could be considered the first example of true modification of a person's mind compared to the office since, unlike with Oleander and Linda, Sasha wasn't trying to control Loboto but instead convince him to reveal his boss's identity voluntarily and it's implied that Loboto would willingly cooperate if his boss hadn't instilled fear in him through the image of Maligula. As Loboto said, he's trying to protect himself. As the original game demonstrated with Edgar, it is fully possible to construct a mental world to hide a painful truth as Black Velvetopia was a complete confabulation in response to the former being dumped and subsequently losing a match. Even Milla's Dance Party was constructed as a way to move on from her trauma by wrapping herself in things she enjoys like partying, dance and television though unlike Edgar, she isn't trying to completely and strictly repress her nightmares either but instead only sections it off from the camp kids as she believes that it would be irresponsible to let her young students be exposed to her trauma and even then there is a clear door to said cage. Recall Sasha's warning about completely suppressing things like censor energy, it's implied that he learned to release rather than repress completely so the implication is that Milla recognizes this as well and thus would be more willing to explain her grief/trauma to another adult such as a therapist. Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Feb 11, 2022 |
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Feb 11, 2022 07:57
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Despite the several parts of this game which I feel could have been much tighter, this was a really good game.
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Feb 11, 2022 08:27
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Now I understand why there was a content warning about teeth 
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Feb 11, 2022 09:09
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Teeth/dentists are one of the most common phobias/triggers, right? I could see people bouncing hard off this level. I'm glad I don't have that problem (with a drill on my teeth I have to be careful not to fall asleep from boredom, that's how unbothered I am) because I'm a bigger baby than my actual 2 years old niece with anything involving noses* or eyedrops. *like a loving Covid test 
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Feb 11, 2022 09:44
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I only just realized last night that the first time in Coach Oleander's mind in the first game, Elton says that the recruiting office reminds him of a dentist's office. I never made the connection because Dr. Loboto being a dentist was such a throwaway joke, but with this game bringing that profession to the forefront, but I have to believe that was intentional because Psychonauts was one of those games that didn't waste any details. It's also incredibly weird to me seeing Coach Oleander as a good guy in this game after so many years of him being a villain reformed as a coda.
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Feb 11, 2022 11:41
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You mean this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm2soKWS2Dk&t=124s  I never made the connection either. That's amazing.
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Feb 11, 2022 13:39
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Anaxite fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Feb 15, 2022 23:20
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I really dislike the interns. They are all much meaner than even the bully from the first game, and have no real redeeming qualities in my opinion. Just arrogant jerks from beginning to end!
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Feb 16, 2022 02:12
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Chronische posted:I really dislike the interns. They are all much meaner than even the bully from the first game, and have no real redeeming qualities in my opinion. Just arrogant jerks from beginning to end! To be fair, Bobby was supposed to be completely outclassed by Raz to show just how toothless he really was as a bully whereas the interns are meant to actually be on par with if not better than Raz to show that Raz's talent is not enough anymore and thus why he needs to be trained to properly utilize his abilities. Raz may have been the true strongman at Camp Whispering Rock but now he's the underdog that no one but Lili, Ford, Sasha, Milla and Oleander respects. Chimera-gui fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Feb 16, 2022 |
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Feb 16, 2022 06:34
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Chronische posted:I really dislike the interns. They are all much meaner than even the bully from the first game, and have no real redeeming qualities in my opinion. Just arrogant jerks from beginning to end! Mmm. They are one of the... weaker parts of the game. I feel that they were supposed to be more fleshed out? But with the exception of one of them, they feel less realized than the kids at camp, by a long shot.
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Feb 16, 2022 06:42
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Chimera-gui posted:To be fair, Bobby was supposed to be completely outclassed by Raz to show just how toothless he really was as a bully whereas the interns are meant to actually be on par with if not better than Raz to show that Raz's talent is not enough anymore and thus why he needs to be trained to properly utilize his abilities. I mean, if Raz has these people in his corners, the interns should very quickly get a clue?
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Feb 16, 2022 07:16
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Well, Lili is also about on par with the interns in terms of actual privilege - yes, she's the Grand Head's daughter, but she was still sent to Whispering Rock Summer Camp with all the trainees. Ford is officially Not Really Important as far as the Psychonauts are concerned - at least from the subtext I picked up in the first game, even though he manages the camp and monitors the world's situation, it doesn't seem like he's doing it for the organization, which is why only Sasha and Milla handle his missions. The plain text of this game so far bears that out as well. I have a feeling that if Oleander were more respected as a Psychonaut, he wouldn't have developed megalomania. As for Sasha and Milla, they do seem to be significant figures to the organization, but they were also assigned to the summer camp, and when they called in to the Motherlobe in Rhombus of Ruin, they were blown off - possibly related to the mole interfering with the command infrastructure somehow, but also possibly because they're not important enough to take their calls when there's a priority mission happening. I've considered the character development in this game one of the weaker parts, since I found almost none of the new characters to be particularly memorable after playing most of the game, but I also expect that I missed a lot of detail that might have helped. The Psychonauts agents largely felt like they were intentionally indistinct, although I did pick out a few names that kept popping up, and as for the interns, nearly every time they showed up, I found myself asking "Who the heck is that?" Part of the reason I've been looking so forward to this LP is to see more of the plot threads that I had to dig for in the first game over many playthroughs, so perhaps more of these faces will become characters for me.
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Feb 16, 2022 12:06
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I think the tone and pacing of the second game are different enough that it changes the NPC interactions... for the better? Worse? It's subjective, but I still really like the writing.Chimera-gui posted:To be fair, Bobby was supposed to be completely outclassed by Raz to show just how toothless he really was as a bully whereas the interns are meant to actually be on par with if not better than Raz to show that Raz's talent is not enough anymore and thus why he needs to be trained to properly utilize his abilities. There's also some of that. I mean, we are the newest kid here, and while we're the protagonist of this adventure, this time everyone else is more the protagonist of theirs.
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Feb 16, 2022 20:06
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Nidoking posted:I have a feeling that if Oleander were more respected as a Psychonaut, he wouldn't have developed megalomania.
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Feb 16, 2022 20:49
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The character work is definitely a weak point of the game, especially when compared with Psychonauts 1 where it was one of the game's biggest strong points if not the biggest strong point.
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Feb 16, 2022 20:57
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personally i think that the game hits its stride with the characters whose minds you actually go into and the interns largely are very whatever
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Feb 16, 2022 21:34
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Kinu Nishimura posted:personally i think that the game hits its stride with the characters whose minds you actually go into and the interns largely are very whatever Agreed. All the really good characterization and storytelling is inside the brains, while the interns are just sort of there. I got the sense that they were originally meant to be a bigger part of the story.
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Feb 16, 2022 23:08
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It's not that there aren't good characters in the game, necessarily. Certainly not. Compared to most games this one is great on that front. However, it is the sequel to a game in which every single character was a slam dunk. The interns are the most glaring example because they invite direct comparison to the campers from the first game, and that is about the least charitable you can make between this game and the last. Again, it's not that the interns are bad. I like them. It's just that they're just about the weakest part of the game, as compared to the campers which were one of the defining features of the first.
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Feb 16, 2022 23:52
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i kinda hated like half the characters' minds in the first game so it's a tradeoff between more fun npcs and more fun actual story characters for me
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Feb 17, 2022 01:17
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Chimera-gui posted:To be fair, Bobby was supposed to be completely outclassed by Raz to show just how toothless he really was as a bully whereas the interns are meant to actually be on par with if not better than Raz to show that Raz's talent is not enough anymore and thus why he needs to be trained to properly utilize his abilities. They are hardly 'on par' with him, since he not only does all the work in THIS game too (noticing things they should have noticed ages ago), but he has learned more in a few days than they have in however long they've been interns. They're just arrogant and, frankly, stupid jerks. I like the first game's levels significantly more than this one, none of Psychonaut's 2's levels stand out anywhere near as much as those of the first game. Some are on-par with, to be fair, the first three levels but none make the extra leap to match the REAL levels! That isn't to say that they are bad, because they are still stylish and fun, but they just don't quite make it. That said, the real world exploration is a lot more fun than Whispering Rock, but we'll get to that later.
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Feb 17, 2022 02:25
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Chronische posted:They are hardly 'on par' with him, since he not only does all the work in THIS game too (noticing things they should have noticed ages ago), but he has learned more in a few days than they have in however long they've been interns. They're just arrogant and, frankly, stupid jerks. Has he though? With the exception of Clairvoyance and Psi Blast, literally everything Raz starts the game with is something at least one of the interns is not only confirmed to already have but is likely more proficient in than Raz (Levitation, Telekinesis, Astral Projection and Pyrokinesis). As for Raz doing all the work keep in mind that not only is that technically a gameplay conceit, bare in mind that even the adult Psychonauts didn't catch the things I assume you're referring to even though they should have even before the interns, but we'll see that unlike with Sasha and Milla last game Raz isn't the only one investigating the mole situation.
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Feb 17, 2022 03:47
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Anaxite fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Feb 18, 2022 20:24
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Yeah not counting the main villain, Norma is gonna be our recurring antagonist going forward just as Bobby Zilch was in the first game since she's looking for the mole too and, unfortunately, Raz is at the top of her list of suspects.
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Feb 18, 2022 22:45
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I think the interns also fill in the whole Mean Teens trope. Every show with kids at school had the episode where the smart kid gets sent to high school. (Deluginist is a grade S pun tho) Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Feb 19, 2022 |
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Feb 19, 2022 11:24
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We're definitely in the big kids corral now! I went back and looked at the kids' models from the first games for fun. We definitely got a graphical upgrade, even if the intern program is that much smaller. 
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Feb 20, 2022 00:45
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I mean, purely technical fidelity aside, every character in Psychonauts had so much unique visual flair, even relatively background characters, while with lots of the characters in 2 that had no counterpart in the original, it's clear that they were made by a different team at a different time, they tend to share the same... blobby aesthetic that just doesn't stand up to the charming creativity of the first game.
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Feb 20, 2022 01:02
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Okay, I'm gonna guess that Colin's the mole, and someone has filled up his head with thoughts of bacon to distract Ford Cruller from reading his mind.
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Feb 21, 2022 20:08
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Anaxite fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Apr 30, 2022 |
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Feb 21, 2022 22:12
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I do like that how Hollis remarks "Oh, you think the human mind is safe?" Even before we start this Mental World, we know that psychics can royally gently caress up a person's mind thanks to not only Oleander conditioning both Linda and Boyd but also because Raz's own bumbling both unleashed the product of the latter's conditioning as well as nearly got the aforementioned Edgar killed. The former doing an example of loving up someone's mind out of malice while the latter as well as this are examples of doing so out of ignorance and/or clumsiness. I also like that Sam is the first to realize "Oh gently caress me, this can only end very badly" Like she's the only one who doesn't directly goad you into changing Hollis's mind but rather asks you to not kill her mind.
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Feb 22, 2022 02:38
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I get the feeling that when we do enter more minds further on in the game, Raz is definitely going to pull another Edgar and almost kill someone, again.
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Feb 22, 2022 06:53
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I agree that Delugeinist is an astounding pun.
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Feb 22, 2022 10:07
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It's a fantastic pun! And far from the last pun.Chimera-gui posted:I do like that how Hollis remarks "Oh, you think the human mind is safe?" In some ways the story "grew up" between Psychonauts 1 and 2, and this is one of the parts I find evolved with a good result. This level is a fantastic way for the game to show off not only new mechanics, but also how it weaves light-heartedness and darker ideas together. Because let's face it, Loboto's Labyrinth was just a taste that left us teething.
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Feb 22, 2022 15:59
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Anaxite posted:It's a fantastic pun! And far from the last pun. And we all thought Meat Circus was bad enough. Teeth don't normally bother me, and yet I like how in just one level, this game shows us how disastrous jumbling around someone's brain can be, which as someone previously mentioned, was only lightly grazed upon in the first game. It only took a few hops to turn the head of the whole Psychonauts organization from a cautious, albeit strict, leader to "SCREW THE RULES, LETS GET MONEY."
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Feb 22, 2022 21:14
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