Comments on: Mind Games: Psychonauts Gets GoG Release

By: Vinraith

Vinraith — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:49:11 +0000

It MIGHT run, if your clientregistry.blob file has been updated recently enough, but unless you specifically set offline mode before you lose your internet connection there’s simply no way of knowing.

It’s never come up for you? Wow, what’s your ISP?

By: MastodonFarm

MastodonFarm — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:11:45 +0000

Really? So a Steam game won’t start if I try to run it while my Internet is down? I guess that situation hasn’t come up yet, but oh boy is that gonna piss me off when it does.

By: Shadrach

Shadrach — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:39:54 +0000

What a great game Psychonauts is… I have it on CD but good to know its on GOG, if I feel like playing it again its easier to buy it there than find the old cd.

By: Alloflifedecays

Alloflifedecays — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:33:13 +0000

Oh no. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh no. Not this time. I’ve bought Psychonauts TWICE – on disk and on Steam – in an effort to make it work on my PC, and it still doesn’t. I don’t know why it hasn’t but dammit, I’m not buying it again just in case it works…am I?

By: nabeel

nabeel — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:42:44 +0000

Sorry, I swear I linked it correctly, maybe there’s a bug in the markup handling.

By: jalf

jalf — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:17:35 +0000

it was really bloody smart. It is. It is really bloody smart.

Hum, I think that what turned me off the game was that it *didn’t* really seem all that smart. It seemed like it tried to be smart. It seemed to be smart the way a 3-year old might, by coming up with lots of “wouldn’t it be cool if”‘s, that didn’t really do much *new*. It just seemed like window-dressing and new graphics on top of the same old stuff. Which would have been fine, of course, if the game hadn’t tried so hard to come across as the goddamn War and Peace of games. I just didn’t see any depth in the story/setting, whatsoever.

That fits very much with my impression of Brütal Legend… Lots of fun ideas, that never really become more than a new, colorful skin, over the old gameplay mechanics. Guitars instead of weapons and staves, but they still just deal damage or heal allies. A bit of RTS thrown in because “wouldn’t it be cool if”… I’m sorry, but I don’t think Tim Schafer is a very good game designer. When mixed with others (as happened in Day of the Tentacle), his random ideas can produce something magical, but when left to himself, no thanks, I just don’t see what’s so awesome…

Then again, in the game’s defense, I never did finish it. Something else (maybe BG&E?) popped up and distracted me. And it was a few years ago. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right platforming mood when I tried playing it. Perhaps I just had too many other unfinished games calling out for my attention. Maybe I was just wrong.

I might have to get it on GoG. It’s so universally acclaimed, it’s probably worth giving it another chance.

By: Urthman

Urthman — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:59:06 +0000

I haven’t played Mario Galaxy, but I realize it is universally adored as one of the best 3D platformers ever.

But other than that, could you tell me what other 3D platformers you think are lots better than Psychonauts and what they do better?

(P.S. If you say Rocket – Robot on Wheels I will LUV YOU IN ALL CAPS. That’s the only 3D platformer I love more than Psychonauts.)

By: Miles of the Machination

Miles of the Machination — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:35:57 +0000

I think it’s a bit of a shame that the game encounters quite a few pitfalls regarding bugs, and the areas of lacking gameplay, since the rest of the game is just so damn incredible. In fact, if the game wasn’t as good for the sake of improved gameplay, I’d probable be disappointed.

By: Cooper

Cooper — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:42:15 +0000

I downloaded the demo of this a year or two back. Loved it, never got round to buying it though. I’m not a big platforming /3rd person action/adventure fan. Also, when I do get these games and enjoy them it’s the only time I seem to become that obsessive gamer that MUST GET 100%. I only got Beyond Good & Evil last year, loved it, and it ate my spare time like it was made of still-warm-and-gooey-in-the-middle brownies (the choclate based desert, not young Girl Guides). I’ve been scared to get this because I know it will take over my life…

By: aoanla

aoanla — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:33:58 +0000

Anonymous Coward said:
Stunning game.

I don’t really get why people complain about the platforming. I’m hardly a big platform gamer, but i had no issues with it at all. Meat Circus was of course kind of tricky, but it was the last level!

I think a lot of people complaining only played the demo, which was the worst level in the game, and before you got any powers. Once you have the psi-ball to roll around on and the ability to float, the platforming is great.

Well, in my case, I bought the full game, but didn't get tremendously far in it (I definitely didn't do more than one "inside-people's-brain" level), because of the platforming.

(This isn't because I dislike platformers, or because I'm bad at them. It's one of the genres I'm okay at, actually, and I enjoyed, for example Super Mario Galaxy… it's because Psychonauts' implementation of 3d platforming is just very annoying to me.)

By: Malagate

Malagate — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:24:00 +0000

Was just recently playing though Psychonauts again actually, just beat Black Veletopia and have moved on into Waterlooland. Easily some of my favourite levels, if only for the gorgeous look of Black Veletopia. Albeit I'm doing a completionist run, so there's a measly three figments I still need to find in Edgar's head ./.

Of course, when I take a moment to think, almost every level is one of my favourite levels…but the minds of the Asylum dwellers win out for me (although I do like the part when you find a firey cage of nightmares, just something really quite disturbing in an other bright and cheerful place).

I even liked the Meat Circus, although escort missions are rubbish. I hate babysitting in games so much that I couldn't stand Black & White, I would have been so happy if I was just a Godly Hand and didn't need some stupid animal thing to represent, however I still enjoyed "la cirque du viande" despite li'l Oly.

And I finished it first time too.

Whilst using keyboard + mouse.

By: Vinraith

Vinraith — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:39:15 +0000

“fairly friendly”

The thing is, it’s really not. I mean, it requires that the game phone home every time it’s started to verify that it’s legitimate. That’s some of the most intrusive DRM on the market, in truth, it’s just that Valve’s made it so convenient, and tacked on so many features, that people generally don’t notice or mind.