The most ambitious sequel about a sequel

The interns popping up in the finale felt wrong to me too. Had a similar feeling in Borderlands 3. We get side characters that are mostly absent from the story popping up as if they're fundamentally important.

I know people joke about how the Psychic Six/Seven needed to see therapists, and they do, but I wonder if they realize that they're also themselves essentially very, very, very eccentric therapists. I wonder how much the obligations that came with that, the need to be the stable party who takes care of other people, someone who gives help rather than receives it, caused them to shun other Psychonauts and therapists until things got so bad that a literal child had to get involved.

I kind of wish Psychonauts 2 had included a level revisiting Raz's mind, the way we did in the original game. It's understandable, but given the game's themes and what you've pointed out about the parallels between Raz and Gristol Malik, it seems a waste not to confront it. Alas, that's not the game that exists. Black Velvetopia's still the best level in the first game, though.

The interns are, for me, the biggest missed potential (with the rest of the Aquato family apart from Lucy and Augustus beeing close) in this game. They either come off either as annoying (specially Norma) or underutilized. Sam is the best not only because of her personality but because she has the advantage that we know her brother and grandfather, we have a more context on her behavior and posible backstory compared to all other interns. There should've been more interactions with them that tie into the story, like them introducing to the player certain things like grindrails and trampolines for the first time or having character growth as you progress through the game of the same quality as the campers' in the first game. For me the most underutilized of them all is Adam, the yoyo dude. I weirdly remember his name since I was quite interested in him at first due to him actually beeing a chill dude. Saddly that's mostly all he has apart from his pyschic yoyo that we rarely see him use. He doesn't even have a sidequest.

I think it would've been cool if specific Interns joined you in certain minds throughout the game. Like getting Sam to join you in Comptom's Cookoff or Adam in Cassie's library. It would allow us to explore a character while also getting a chance to push the story forward. They don't even have to be a companion class NPC supporting during fights. They could've operated like Lily during Fatherland Follies.

The bit about the NPCs can best be demonstrated by this: Name a camper at Whispering Rock, and a fan of the first game will likely be able to tell you a good bit about them. Name an intern other than Sam, and a fan of the second game might have to ask you which one that is. Some of the minor NPCs you can find wandering the Motherlobe have more interesting character arcs than the interns.

With that spoiler warning up front, I'm gonna stash this video in my Watch Later list; I'm only about an hour into the game. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts sometime in March when I've finished playing!

Great video about a great game! I'm glad you mentioned the whole Romanov symbolism, I loved the Gristol twist but it also left a weird feeling in the back of my mind due to the whole... innocent royal children being murdered thing. It's a complicated, sad topic that left framing Gristol as potentially irredeemable as a bit off-key. But like you said, within the context of the game world it works well. It obviously wasn't intended as a 1-for-1 comparison anyway.

My biggest issue with PsychoNauts 2 (and the interns, specifically) is so small but holds such weight in my mind. It's that new sign that gets added to "The History of the PsychoNauts" at the end of the game. "The Heroic Interns" or whatever it's called. I'll explain. It is very clear that sign on display was left blank so that it could be filled in after finishing the game's story. The fact that it is part of a display that details the history of the PsychoNauts gives it importance within the world the game takes place in. The fact that it is clearly meant to be filled in after the story is completed gives it importance to the player. This sign was always meant to depict a symbol that represents the entirety of the player's journey through this game. An image the player can go back to that will call upon the events of this new game. The sign should've been of the Psychic 6. The Psychic 6, Raz, and Lucy. That's what this game was about. That's what the player will always remember. Those are the characters this game took time to develop and had the player form relationships with. The interns were flat, static, annoying characters that barely have any importance on the plot, form no real connection to Raz or Lucy, and are just generally unpleasant to interact with throughout the entire game. I get that they could be seen as realistic teenagers, and there is no need for them to apologize for their treatment of Raz.... SO LONG AS they are treated as the background characters they were written as. But instead the game seems to think they are more important than they actually are. It annoys me greatly and I am relieved to find out I am not the only person that thinks this way. TL;DR The Interns were written as annoying background characters, but were treated as main characters and stole attention away from the characters that were actually developed.

Funny that crows on a train in Hat and Time look, talk, and act in similar fashion as milkman's spies. I'm sure it was an intentional homage to Psychonauts!

My biggest grip was that by the end of it all, the interns and raz all became juniors when I feel like Raz is definitely deserving of a higher placement due to saving the world twice already practically by himself and because out of everyone he has the most experience being a psychonaut

I will say, I think the interns are the part that most feel wasted. As you said, they, thematically, make sense within the world. the campers were all Raz' age, all people just starting out on their trip down the road to being psychics. Half of them had little to no control. Meanwhile, Raz, by the end of a single day, had surpassed all of them to the point of being able to assist full Psychonauts with an emergency. Not one of the others, other than MAYBE Lilly, and possibly not even her, could have done that. The interns are the next step up. They are in full control of their abilities, to the point of toying around with it, pushing ever so slightly against the ceiling of how far their powers can go, and seeing if they can get them out just that little bit farther. However, they're still not at Raz' level, something the game itself acknowledges. Or rather, Raz is a generalist, each of them is a specialist. It allows them all to fill a role in an operation, but not to be slotted into ANY role at the same time. And that kind of holds them back, as a generalist is what's needed for so many of these minds and missions. It sounds like, from the talk of the office around, that each full Psychonaut has an area where they're adapt or a master, but they also have a basic ability in the other areas. That's what the Interns are here to learn, and something Raz has already mastered, again, putting him just a step ahead, which is why the promote him at the end of this game, while also giving the other interns a leg up too.

You’ve worded everything I’ve been feeling after I first played Psychonauts 2. I enjoyed the game, but the experience felt almost too compact and the ending felt so abrupt. I didn’t think I cared about the Raz and Lilly storyline until Psychonauts 2 when they barely interacted. I keep comparing the interns to the campers. I loved the way they fleshed out the campers by placing them around the map and having you overhear their conversations between each other. They also did a lot of unique things like Chloe testing a paper airplane, Nils spying through a peephole, Bobby torturing a fish, etc. They defined themselves through their actions. I felt like the interns were always just in the Motherlobe talking and doing very little else. There’s nothing particularly terrible about them, but they’re hard to remember when thinking about Psychonauts as a whole. I kinda feel that way with almost every character introduced in Psychonauts 2, but I only just started my second playthrough. I’ve grown to like Psychonauts 2 a lot more with my second playthrough. It has a lot to like and the levels do a great job in terms of design. However, Psychonauts 1 will probably always top its sequel imo. Psychonauts 1 was much more experimental to me, certainly not as polished, but I didn’t care as much about that when I experienced all the fascinating ideas and the wonderful details Edit 2: I also found the ending for the villain strange too. It seemed a little messed up that Milla and Sasha were so comfortable and joking about the idea of doing unethical experiments on a prisoner, and when talking to Nick in his cell, his dialogue shows that he sees the Psychonauts as an unfair and authoritarian agency. The unethical operations of the modern Psychonauts are not explored at all, and I think it’s strange that the franchise approaches the issue from such a one dimensional viewpoint. It makes more sense now that I’ve seen the brief history lesson for the context behind this part of the game, but still rubs me the wrong way.

For me it was pacing of how raz reacted to everything was just steamrolled, the second batch of kids wasn't well integrated to the world, the mind world's were great,the main world need to be some relandscape. I just wished we could had seen more from his family.

OK but that Drag Me Down AMV at the end is everything I could've ever wanted. EVER.

Don’t forget that the famous figure of Rasputin died due to drowning after various other attempts on his life.

The interns, to me, mostly felt like the tutorial brigade. They show up in the beginning as a minor obstacle, you win (most of) them over at the climax of the second level, and then their purpose in their narrative is done, allowing them (sans Norma) to fade into the background. Norma showing up again to betray you is fine, since it's plenty foreshadowed, but after that, their chapter is well and truly closed. They don't need to be any more than that (even if some extra conversations on the hub world would have been nice). The first act antagonists showing up in the finale feels silly. It has all the gravitas of a hypothetical version of the final battle of Psychonauts 1, where instead of Augustus showing up and cashing in all of his narrative build-up, it would have been Kitty and Franke riding in on a giant friendship bracelet while triumphantly yelling "All right Raz, it's time we pay you back for those arrowheads you gave us on the bridge!" It's especially egregious since having the Psychic Six show up instead would have allowed them to earn redemption for themselves and move past their old failure, which would have been a really nice capstone on their character development. I honestly thought, with all of them being present in the room prior, that's what was being set up. As it is, it feels a bit like that group was robbed of their narrative climax.

I was disappointed by the lack of character growth based on world state compared to the first game. I was really hoping we'd get to know the campers a bit more and we'd see them get closer to and grow to respect Raz and the lack of Lilly and Raz specifically and Raz's family felt a little lacking. A lot like you, Psychonauts is everything I'm in to, from it's macabre edges to its adventure game trappings to its aesthetic, partly because Psychonauts was my introduction to a lot of those things. I played it at launch when I was eight and it was the first thing I ever encountered that made me want to make THINGS. Art, music, stories, anything as long as I could capture that spark Psychonauts made me feel. I love the game and I feel so vindicated that almost seventeen years of waiting was mostly worth it, but I really wanted more after the credits. I felt a little weird at the end having that feeling, like I was being a little greedy, but even though I love the game I ultimately can't help but want another game that gives me more and pushes things in ways that first game did. I don't think I'll ever get that, but I can't help but want it.

Psychonauts Needs a 3, where Raz goes on missions of his own with his own team

you legit got me thinking tim was actually in face/off for a second

I think the biggest surprise for me was how great the story was. I wasn't expecting for it really hit me in the feels in the way it did, especially with the twist and the delivery of the line "I lost her Rasputin". There is just this mix of emotions welling up inside where I was incredibly disgusted with what was done to this family but at the same time understood why it was done in context. It's nice to see Rasputin fully reconciled with his entire family after so many years since the first game since He and Augustus finally got a chance to start understanding eachother near the end. And that score too. Some movie quality tracks for sure. By the end I really want to see whats next. How can Psy3 go bigger? Where can it go from here? Are water levels and swimming a possibility now for levels? Dunno, guess we'll have to see after they're done with that new project and I'm confident Brutal Legend 2 will be made before Psy3 (Not that I'd be complaining).

HOLY SHIT, I never realized how much that mermaid song from RoR fits Ford's past until you did the montage at the end.

Rewatching this video after watching 25 parts of PsychOdyssey, I have to say: this All Paul music video comes with a really good essay.

Its because its fucking amazing. Such a richly designed, vibrant and fun world. I forgot games could have colours.

My god. My GOD, B-Mask. This video was phenomenal. I would have never considered some of the things you did when you discussed the final act. And I am totally where you are with that last conversation Raz has with his dad. I think it really suggests that some of Raz’s attitudes you mention towards *REDACTED* is something Raz has to let simmer in the back of his mind too. Really your video just cemented for me how much I loved, and how affected I was by, and how grateful I am for soooo much of what Psychonauts 2 was doing.

I sympathize with loving the first game, but not quite loving this one, and that made this video really cathartic. I'd been feeling conflicted about this game ever since I finished it, and while asking for even more in certain areas is unreasonable, as you implied, I think the points you brought up in the 'Critical thinking' chapter are nevertheless quite strong, and they helped me figure out why I felt underwhelmed in the end, especially when it comes to the climax. It ain't no asylum and meat circus, that's for sure. On the other hand, there are many ideas and details you highlighted which I either didn't notice or didn't quite process on my playthrough. I thought I was being slow and diligent, but maybe I was still moving a bit too fast to pick up on all the distinct merit of the game. Possibly also a bit dismissive of some themes that didn't resonate with me. To summarize, this video helped me lay a lot of my problems with the game to rest, and made me appreciate it more as well. For that much - thank you, B- Mask!

I read a comment saying that Laika should make Psychonauts movies, and now, you will forever think about it now

1:02:25 - fun fact: napoleon’s great nephew, jerome bonaparte moved to the us and started a linage of american bonapartes that as far as i can tell goes onto this day, meaning were going to enter the psychonauts timeline any day now

I think the biggest difference for me was how the story and mechanics were structured. In the first game, it felt like a mystery you were solving, like an actual SPY. The second game felt more like a superhero story kinda? Its hard for me to explain, im not a writer, but I think other people will understand what im trying to get at. Like a platformer/point&click game. Psychonauts 2 is more like a Platformer/action game in the way everything is presented. You arent using deduction to solve a puzzle, your mostly just moving forward to the end of the story. You solve PUZZLES but you arent putting the pieces together. Your getting a new ability, then using those as basically a key to get to the next part. Its really hard to explain because they're so close to being the same thing, but not exactly. Like cousins of each other.

My issue with the game was the antagonist, Maligula, and that she was stripped of all her agency and just ended up becoming a "puppet" for someone else. That's a weak antagonist and I was left unsatisfied by the games conclusion because this woman killed people, regardless of her mental state, but we are pushed towards feeling sorry for her because there was a rich boy who was somehow much worse despite not having done anything as bad as she? That doesn't sit right with me.

My biggest and really only "Minor" complaint was that the new PSI abilities didn't really have a SUPER useful "Exploration" potential. Yeah there's a few. The logs in the Mystery Zone, Slipping into mail slots as paper Raz. But that's ALL they are. They're "keys" to certain locks. And not much else. Combat it pretty much always going to handled the same way.

God I love this channel. Psychonauts 2 felt a bit, flat(?) compared to the energy of the first game, and I just can’t put my finger on why. Visually it’s just as creative, tons of effort went into making the mechanics actually have better feedback and everything, but we’re still missing something. My personal feeling is that the summer camp vibe of the original is what made it so special. The kids were grounded by their flaws, and the adults were all larger than life heroes to them, despite being messes themselves. It feels like everything that happened in the camp happened internally, from characters you already knew. As an agent, anything could happen, but the experience feels remarkably less personal, despite exploring a lot about Raz’s backstory. Still, love you for turning these gears over in my head, and for the reminder that it was still a great game even if it was a little disappointing

psychonauts 3: raz finally goes to therapy

Thank you so much for this, I think it's really helped me appreciate 2 on it's on merits a lot more. I think most of my (and a lot of people's, actually) issues with 2 stems not from the game itself, but rather the fear it could be the last installment. If there was just explicit confirmation that this series and it's wonderful core concept had more games to come, I think we would all be a bit more confident that, even if it wasn't represented in 2, the specific element of the setting we want to see explored (such as a specific kind of mental world) could eventually get it's day in the sun, at least in some fashion. But I fully understand that just making a second game at all was an absolutely herculean effort on Double Fine's part, and I couldn't be more thankful. If 2 really is Psychonauts's last bow, then the team more then delivered.

Holy fucking SHIT B-Mask you knocked it out of the park with this one, my brain is filled and I can appreciate this story in even more ways then I could before, let's hope we do get a Psychonauts 3 lmao cause this world is so large and has so much to it, still, very glad Double Fine's taking a break first. Man though, what a video, really had my jaw agape at points with the conclusions you came to that I didn't

Only came to buy this game last month and finished it just yesterday. First thing I did after logging it was watching this video that I missed from B-Mask last year. So glad I did because the added context of the Gzar and how that reflects on the message the game conveys made it that much more interesting for me. Great video reflecting on a great game. Thanks B-

This is truly amazing. Your videos have been a joy ever since I got hooked on your videos about the Sly Cooper trilogy. Good to see you back B- Mask!

Raz's idealization of the Psychonauts in the first game reads like a starry-eyed child on career day being told how "cool" it is to be a firefighter or a cop. His fixations on the power fantasy and aesthetics, the impression that achieving this nebulous goal would, in his mind, grant him some form of stability and comfort in his identity as a psychic. It's like how a lot of confused, insecure kids hope that one day, when they're older, they'll just have life figured out, and Raz often feels like he's trying to act above his age in a rush to hit that point. The immediate aftermath of Agent Forsythe's level felt like the first real step towards maturity for him, forcing a harsh lesson about the way he wields his powers, but still allowing him to press on, his excitement about the Psychonauts in tact, but now tempered by a well-earned sense of responsibility that informs his actions throughout the entire rest of the game. It's such a great step for the character and the moment that I realized Psychonauts 2 was really going to be something special.

"Raz, there's no such thing as magic curses, PLEESE! This is science." In a world where people lift things, blast things, mind bend, astral project, etc. with their brains, among other crazy phenomena. Honestly it does feel like it would've been better if the curse couldve just been left a curse, especially if they do another game.

B, you really outdid yourself with the "Jigsaw Puzzle vs Rubix Cube" analogy there. Never have I ever heard of an analogy so eloquent, unique, and insightful all in one! Bravo, B, bravo.

Man. You have put into words everything I've felt about this game

It felt like, a good 1/4th of the game was/miss missing. Which is sad because we know it isn't. doublefine was able to produce all the content they wanted to do for the game thanks to microsoft buying them. What I mean is like, you have the beginning: getting to the HQ and meeting the interns. Then you have the middle: psi king, ford, and Compton. finally the ending section. However in-between like the middle and end, or even the beginning and middle... there is feels like a gap. Like some way to connect us more with the other interns, who we just got to knowing. Which is the weird thing. Psychonauts1 follows the same structure. the beginning of getting to camp and meeting the campers. The middle of milkman and lungfish, and then the ending 3. Yet despite both games following the structure, I don't like the world of Psychonauts 2 as much. I love the characters and Raz's personal story is absolutely satisfying. However the overall story progression just feels a bit disjointed. Like there was a bridge needed to connect the middle+ending to the beginning and it just isn't there.

In my experience it's difficult to hold flaws against a piece of media that shows it was made with love and care. It can be easy to create unfortunate implications when expressing complex ideas in increasing complex ways but I see the empathy and wanting for the audience to understand mental health better. I think most people who played it did and that's most important to me

Great video, loved how you grappled with your own feelings towards the games and its themes. Loved that ending music video and the Maligula drawing for thumbnail looks really good.

Great video. The problem I have with Gristol's mind is that, while it serves its narrative function, I think is the most torturous part of the game to "play" through. The whole mind felt like one large unskippable cutscene that spoonfeeds you the lore in the most boring way possible. The "It's a Small World" aspect gets tiresome really quickly after the first room. Also, while it makes sense for Gristol wanting to bring back Maligula, I wish that there was more to Maligula/Lucy/Nona in terms of her relation to Raz and what that meant to him. I feel like Psychonauts 2 has a very well-constructed story, but as you said yourself, is more about Ford than it is about Raz. We don't get to explore Raz's mind at any point in this story, which I feel is a largely missed opportunity to connect him more to the narrative emotionally. As far as I was concerned, Raz was just sort of thrown into the Maligula plot without any real stakes. Yes, we learn that Lucy is Raz's "fake grandma," but not much is expanded upon with either that or the explanation of the water "curse" as you also addressed. In Psychonauts 1, there's freaking tanks with brains in them that are being created by the dude that somehow mixed his brain with your brain. We don't really get that level of connection between protagonist and antagonist or sense of potential destruction in the "real world" of Psychonauts 2, aside from that giant whirlpool at the very end. It was difficult for me to stay invested in the Maligula story after hearing it being retold in countless ways without seeing firsthand the kind of destruction she was doing, as well as how she was connected to Raz aside from her being distantly related. It felt sort of tacked on to me. In short, I love both games. But I get the feeling I'll be coming back to 1 a lot more because of how the story is constructed as well as how that interacts with the gameplay.

Man, you dont know how happy i am to see a new video from you, i really, REALLY like your content

I think an easy solve for the games issue with the interns is to have them join you in the minds that aren’t ford or Lucrecia , maybe even adding minds like Augustus and Otto. Sam could’ve come to help Compton, Lizzie to Cassie, Lilly to Bob, Norma to Augustus.

"A psychic kid leaving home to discover others like himself" is accurate, but I must point out for anyone in the comments looking for additional insight that this passes over the fact that Raz is a kid who ran away from the Circus. I personally find this infinitely hilarious as a subtle subversion of the idea that kids that say they would run away from home and join the Circus and the jokes and stories that center around that.

So glad to see you making videos again! You're one of the best video essayists on the platform! Psychonauts holds a real special place in my heart, and I'm always glad to hear people more eloquent than I am explain what makes it special, flaws and all

54:05 I can’t believe it took me this long to realize that’s why his alias is Nick!

With every video we draw closer and closer to the Frasier retrospective

I'm always very surprised by how pleasant to listen to you are (in addition to making deep, toughtful and interesting content) I'm glad you're back

First off, it's a blessing that both games are excellent and that they are so different from one another. To think that both titles could generate enough conversation and analysis is absolutely a testament to Tim and his team. What's fascinating about 1 vs 2 is, if there's one area where a game is lacking, the other game is FAR superior to it in that area. So combining both games together, you get a diverse experience that is tremendously satisfying. My least favorite part of Psychonauts 2 were the memory vaults. I think they made the wrong call to reiterate what happens in the vaults in the main storyline, as the vaults were primarily used in the first game to reveal something MAJOR that may entirely change the way you view the character, and it was satisfying and worth tracking down these vaults because you knew that they would not be mentioned anywhere else in the story. Knowing they can be missed is a HUGE incentive. These games are fascinating and I can go on and on about them, but then I would just be reiterating the contents of this excellent video analysis.

I think what makes Gristol work for me is that they show he chooses to wallow and place himself above others despite his time in exile. Where some would use this opportunity in order to grow as a person and understand the perspectives of the commoners, Gristol is a narcissist who only wants the improvement of himself over everyone else and only considers himself as worthy. Even Lucrecia and Morona had differing opinions on how to make Grulovia a safer, more peaceful country and their patriotism was admirable because they considered the country before themselves. Gristol has no regards for the common people and only wants to be a royal again for status and luxury.

This just reminded me that I desperately need to play this game. Thanks!

One thing at this point I don’t like about the series is Raz simply does not get his respect. Like look at his feats at what he was able to overcome. I mean in the 2nd game alone he fixes all the psychic six (seven technically, which is something literally the six couldn’t do in regards to fixing Lucy) he fixed Ford, something that literally NO OTHER physic was able to do up until that point, and he defeated Maligula (sure not by himself but mostly) the most powerful physic threat known up until this point. This is the same Raz who was said to have weak physic energy at the beginning of the game by the casino scanners. Sure you can say they did that for the gag, but the game consistently does no give him his respect. I believe the agents (Sasha, Milla, and even Coach) know just how powerful he is or rather his potential is, but the game constantly downplays him. He should quite literally be seen as an absolute prodigy who undergoes unique training at this point, not a junior psychonaut or whatever it is they have ALL the interns at the end. Edit: I’d go as far as to say Raz as an adult would be like a god compared to everyone else

amazing video dude! It's wonderfully structured and the ending was *so* powerful!

Opinion, compared to Steven Universes botched attempt at redeeming villains, I feel Psychonauts potentially made the call to remove a possible botched redemption arc due to possible time constraints, leaving it unfortunately less than as jam packed as we expected, maybe tim didn't have a good idea so decided to scrap it. As you said, corners were smoothed out, and I feel this is a purposeful choice as not to get scrutinized like rebecca's sugar has, he possibly knew his limits, I'm assuming of course.

It's great to see you back B-Mask! I hope you're doing well in these scary times- When I saw my first playthrough of Psychonauts 2, I felt as if it would go on forever but it was much more shorter than I thought. Time crunch is real, and the fact that they didn't crunch at all is a triumph, even though it resulted in Psychonauts 2 having some holes that you shed light on.

I really do not like Adam, because he's set up to be one of the coolest interns, only for me to forget he exists during 80% of the game. And I dislike Gisu's design the most, because she looks way too "normal" compared to the others, lacking that distinct, wonderfully ugly, lumpy look that og Psychonauts is known for, like she could be plopped into another game with a similar style and not stand out.

After 100%ing the game, I felt like the game was missing something. Unlocking no cooldowns was neat, but there was no reason to use it as there was nothing left to discover, let alone most enemy encounters no longer spawn once dealt with. The game lacked hidden zones and easter eggs for the most part. You're correct on things feeling a bit too linear. After that I ended up cheating and using jump cheats to see if I could find anything extra outside the map and could only find a loading box outside the brain hub, and that was it. Which is neat, I guess. a Developer left fun text on it. Learned a bit how they designed their loading zones and where they hid interiors, how they dealt with distant terrain and whatnot. Because of this linear nature, it just feels like there's no replay-ability to the game. I feel as though it'll be the same experience every time. And I loved the game, but for me, it's just a one show pony. Unless they come out with DLC, of course.

I loved this game, I REALLY loved it. It had some changes, some understandable [certain powers not returning] but also, some changes still weird. It had some issues, I won't deny those [it feels like the Interns aren't as fleshed out as the campers and they sort of vanish from the plot for most of it.] But I love the sequel, it was pretty much worth the wait and was an amazing experience.

I feel like Gristol feels shallow because Otto's been fucking with his mind to make him the big loud fallguy.

Wake up babe, new B-Mask music vidro dropped

Psychonauts 2 is weird, because while I think I enjoyed it, it sort of feels so different in both tone and story than the first. Something clearly being lost in the transition. It feels softer, almost as if it is aiming for a younger demographic, hell I'd even say it was less funny. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination. But it's sort of missing something that makes me go back to 1 over it.

This was a fantastic video, I have very similar feelings towards this game, I think objectively, it's the better game out of the two. I can easily recommend this one to friends, it's tight, creative and masterful..... but I miss the disjointed wacky charm of the first game and how so much love was put into every inch of it so you can always experience something new on revisits. I get a lot of people struggle with the first one but I hope that people fall in love with the excellent characters and style and storytelling enough in the second one to want to pick up the first one again and be able to look past some of the problems (clunky combat and handling etc) and really appreciate it for what it is.

I get the sense that the final battle was originally going to take place in Grulovia and Nick was going to take her there after Fatherland Follies, but then they ran out of money and time. I also don't like how the Delugionists turned out to be one person.

As usual all the other comments have said pretty much everything I could about how amazing this analysis is, so I'll just tack on that I love when you do those little music videos at the end of these kind of things - they're always so good!

I'm so happy how good and worthy of a sequel Psychonauts 2 was. I would LOVE an animated series.

Okay but that “Drag me Down” or whatever that All Paul song is called AMV at the end was amazing-

If your video doesn't reach 1 mil by the end of the month, I will personally rewatch this video until it reaches that number. It's SO GOOD.

I think my only issue with Psychonauts 2 so far. (I only just got to the casino) is that characters like Hollis have a totally normal voice and everyone in 1 seemed to have a really silly voice. Then again maybe I'm wrong because you got Raz's dad and Fred Bonaparte talked pretty normal....hmm might need to rethink this whole thing.

one of many things i love about you and this channel is you don’t post your thoughts to catch onto the hype train, you let it simmer, make sure you feel your feelings are completely thought through. that self control is extremely admirable

I just gotta say I’ve been through a lot of shit over the years and I don’t mean to be parasocial or anything but your vids have helped me through a lot. I have CPTSD and this one reminded me of some important stuff the other week. Keep being you

Your videos are so great! Thank you so much for covering the themes of the both games and how they explore our minds and reflect our reality. I am Russian, and the plot has hit home really hard... especially now( But I am happy to know that world is still filled with beautiful people and great works of art - these games and your essays are definitely those ✨

B-Mask, bravo. This has given me enough to think about for... years. Thank you so much. Well done

On one hand, I think it's a bit refreshing to have a villain to defeat in Psychonauts that is irredeemable. It's in line with Raz's disillusionment with the Psychonauts and the ideals he has about "fixing people" like the asylum inmates that get shot down after messing up in Hollis' mind. It's a hard lesson to learn that sometimes certain people cannot be rehabilitated, and deserve punishment. You can't help everyone, especially when they aren't willing to take it. But I think that's only part of the issue. Gristol's affected just as much by the central event of the game as every other mind you enter, it's just that his particular upbringing turns his coping mechanisms to manipulation and a narcissistic personality, whereas the Psychic 6/7 deflect the blame almost entirely on themselves. In a way, they're really not so different, just people dealing with intense trauma in different ways. I think it's important that a line is drawn between the aggressive and non-aggressive coping mechanisms, but I think it goes a bit too far in making Gristol completely unsalvageable as a person. I don't know exactly how to reconcile that with my feelings about enjoying having an awful villain, but I think approaching him from the point of view as a person with whom you should try to empathize, which is what the point of these games tends to be, writing him off as forever bad is kind of dangerous. It's true, narcissists hurt people and it's not the responsibility of people in their lives to try to "fix" them. Same can be said about plenty other serious disorders. But this portrayal doesn't really show much of how he got to that point, or offer much hope for him in the future. There's this amazing scene in his level, where you more or less relive a traumatic memory of his attempted assassination by a crowd of protestors and get thrust into a huge, dangerous battle that sort of comes close to saying something, but the rest of the level takes great strides to paint his experiences as exaggerated and pathetic instead of pointing out what underlying problems might have led to them. We've actually made progress in treating things like Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which up until the past decade or two were thought to be incurable, to the point where some are able to build healthy relationships and develop empathy. For Psychonauts, which is normally really, really good at showing personal growth in all of its characters, it just seems kind of antithetical? I think maybe the message that should have been communicated was "it is not your responsibility to fix or help this person, but they are not beyond help if they learn to seek it out." It's kind of a hard thing to accept but treating bad people like monsters only keeps them that way, and allows them to keep hurting other people. Jesus I did not mean to turn this into a ramble.

For me, the one thing that made it feel off was the lack of stylization in the over world and background characters. There’s a deformation of sorts in all the original characters but the inters felt too normal and the background characters looked like muppets from Sesame Street.

I'm not *disappointed* that there isn't more... But I *want* more. And that's a good place for a game.

im still at the begining of the video, just wanted to pop in and say the puzzle visual aids are very effective and adorable:)

My Thoughts on Psychonauts 1: A great Plattformer with decent Overworlds, great Mind-Levels (especially the Milkman Conspiracy), Side-Quests, Comedy, good Soundtracks, mixed Boss-Fights, unique PSI-Powers (for the most Part) bad Combat with the most rushed Climax i´ve ever seen. My Thoughts on Psychonauts 2: A 9.?/10 Sequel with better Overworlds, better Mind-Levels, darker Tone, better Boss-Fights, returning & new PSI-Powers, better Side-Quests and one of the best Storys in Video Game History.

Watching this 8 months later, all I can think is...I'm really excited for your return to monkey island video. Your first MI video articulates exactly how I'd felt about the series up until that point amd I'm really curious to see if you liked Return as much as I did (it actually made me cry at the end)

I was close to finishing the game but when I saw a new video, I went full steam ahead and finished the game. I’m glad I did. Great video as always!

Made a b-line for the new b-mask. Very excited for this one!!

The music video at the end was just the cherry on top.

This is a TREMENDOUS analysis. Truly truly great job.

I feel that P's levels being as diverse and experimental as they are is in itself an integral part of the games's identity so 2's lesser emphasis on that front hurts it plenty, especially seeing as to how the greater leap in technology could've helped push the envelope in terms of just how diverse the levels could've been.

Great video and well worth the wait! I very much view the first and second game as two different entities where the first was a quirky cult hit and the second is a more emotionally driven game. The "History" chapter of the video was very interesting and loved hearing the treads/insight from it. Keep up the great work!

So, rewatching this after a year. Man I still love this video. So glad we had your take on the whole game, maybe it got to double fine and they will reach you to take some notes on the next entry (?) One can dream.

You hit on a lot of what I felt when I was playing this. While I did enjoy it a solid amount, especially as it got further into things, I couldn't help but feel the same points of contention that you illustrated. I also missed the more scrungy look of the first game, where everyone looked off and semi-surreal. In this game, they scaled that back majorly and made the characters much "cuter," with only the occasional quirk or irregularity (sometimes they almost came across more like plush toys than crafted models). I also definitely noticed a change in the vibe and humor, with it losing a lot of the more "meaner" aspects that gave the original game a certain bite (no more "squirrel roast dinner," I suppose). I figured some of this might be a reflection of how things have changed since the 2000s, maybe most folks wouldn't really want that sort of thing in a game like this anymore, I don't know. Anyway, I'm glad you covered this, especially after your great video on the first one, which I very much appreciated. It's good to have you back, though I'm sorry you've had to go through so much recently.

Happy to have ya back B. Been a long fan of your stuff since I discovered your Sly Cooper Retrospective, and out of curiosity watched all your other stuff. Glad you're doing better and can't wait to see a Jak & Daxter video in the future, whenever that happens.

oh I need some buckets, this video is dripping with quality

I like what you said about the ending. It made me uncomfortable too.

I'm imagining an intro mission for the third game could be Sasha putting Raz through the Brain Tumbler in an experiment to try to help him gain more conscious control over the Hand of Galoccio, which would both serve as a recap of the events of Psychonauts 2 and give us a glimpse at some of Raz's own personal issues that the plot could address, and maybe *then* maybe by the end after Raz and his own relationships and personal demons get some attention/development/closure as needed, we could see him using Hydrokinesis in a final boss fight taking place in realspace as opposed to inside someone's mind.

Raz’s family should have been a bigger focus since this game destroys the water curse.

I can, what a let down after nearly two decades of wait.

An amazing and sincere video from ya B. Can tell you put a lot of time and heart into this to put your feelings out about this game.

That little music video at the end is so cool!

I love this video so much, and im inspired by your take on reality vs fiction!