Stuck in Psychonauts: Waterloo World

[Wormsie]

I'm sure it was $150 (or whatever monetary unit the game used), which was quite a long and boring process to collect!

It was 300 arrowheads.

[Wormsie]

Maybe you just suck at finding arrowheads.

How is it possible to suck at

1) running around, looking for purple objects and pressing F

2) running around with a rod, and pressing F in succession whenever the pitch of the whining sound is high enough?

If sucking at it means not wanting to spend three hours running around, then I'd gladly suck at not finding arrowheads, as it's boring as hell. The collecting aspect of Psychonauts is a bit tedious, yes. Though I've noticed I've got used to it now, collecting a few hundred arrowheads isn't such a difficult task afterall, but it has taken me ages to rank up.

[Roderick]

Truth be told, it's taking you ages just to beat this game

[elmuerte]

I didn't spend 3 hours finding arrowheads

[Wormsie]

Truth be told, it's taking you ages just to beat this game

I've been playing it for two months now, with a break that was probably one month long. But even if that is a long time, I don't mind.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I didn't spend 3 hours finding arrowheads

Care to boot it up again and time yourself?

[elmuerte]

lemme think... no

[Nachimir]

The magnet did seem frustratingly out of reach at the very beginning, but I found enough arrowheads for it while playing through the first missions. I think it was probably about 3 hours of gameplay before I hit the first psi-tank (which really annoyed me without the magnet), but I got loads of arrowheads, psi-cards and treasure hunt items done at the same time.

The dowsing rod was the most useful item for the summer camp bits; until I picked that up everything in the shop seemed ridiculously priced.

[ThunderPeel2001]

lemme think... no

Would that be because traipsing around a forest collecting 300 arrowheads is actually NOT fun?

[elmuerte]

no, it's because I don't feel like playing p-nauts

[ThunderPeel2001]

no, it's because I don't feel like playing p-nauts

Heretic! Burn him! BURN HIM!!!

[Roderick]

Actually, all this talk about collecting arrowheads made me want to play Psychonauts again. Now all I need is an Xbox 360, because I don't want to give it another go on my PC (it worked fine, but I want to try out the console version).

[ThunderPeel2001]

I was just thinking of installing it again yesterday. It's funny how even discussing the worst bits of the game still manage to make me feel nostalgic for it.

One thing that I don't get, why on earth didn't they just use the ingame engine for the cutscenes? It would have made the install about fifth the size and they didn't use any higher quality models or any special effects that the engine couldn't do in the videos. It would have also made them look better as there wouldn't have been any compression artifacts.

[Roderick]

Good point. I guess it's because if you do things pre-rendered, you are able to do slightly more extreme things; splashing around lots of characters, effects and sudden movements, whereas if you do things in-game, you're still struggling with a limit to how far you can go. I for one am also glad with the decision because I now have a DVD of all the animations, which is awesome.

I like cinematics.

[Thrik]

I don't mind the pre-rendered cutscenes as it does ensure all the music and everything syncs together nicely, which has become a problem with some people. Posts on my Psychonauts forum indicate that sometimes the mouth goes totally out of sync with the audio and stuff, which is weirdly something that's also been a frequent problem with Grim Fandango over the years.

What I do mind, however, is that the cutscenes are compressed quite intensely which makes the sound have a weird 'purr' to it if your speakers/headphones are revealing enough, and even though Psychonauts can natively run in widescreen (and looks beautiful while doing so), the cutscenes are simply stretched sideways which looks absolutely terrible.

Still, the cutscenes remain a total joy to watch, and in all honesty the 'purr' thing hasn't bothered me since I switched to primarily using speakers instead of headphones. I just play in 4:3 instead and have black bars down the sides, because there's no way I'm having stretched cutscenes.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Still, the cutscenes remain a total joy to watch, and in all honesty the 'purr' thing hasn't bothered me since I switched to primarily using speakers instead of headphones. I just play in 4:3 instead and have black bars down the sides, because there's no way I'm having stretched cutscenes.

Damn, it's a shame about those cutscenes not being widescreen. I've just bought a new widescreen monitor Stretching them sounds awful!

I don't know about the audiovisual sync, I guess you could be right, but with games like Sam & Max doing their cut scenes so well, it makes you wonder if it really would have been a problem.

Also, considering this game is on FIVE discs, why were the videos compressed so much? I seem to remember them being soft and with some visual artifacts to boot.

I'm a bit bummed out hearing about the widescreen issue though

[elmuerte]

I used the european version the last time I installed it, much easier...

why on earth is it still common to ship multiple CDs in the US instead of a single DVD?

[SiN]

why on earth is it still common to ship multiple CDs in the US instead of a single DVD?

Haven't you heard? Here in North America we don't have DVD drivers!

Or at least that's what publishers seem to think. It's very annoying.

SiN

[Thrik]

That's pretty mental. Or at least it seems so considering the move to ubiquitous DVDs occurred here something like five years ago, with little complaint from... well, anybody.

[Wormsie]

I don't mind the pre-rendered cutscenes as it does ensure all the music and everything syncs together nicely, which has become a problem with some people. Posts on my Psychonauts forum indicate that sometimes the mouth goes totally out of sync with the audio and stuff, which is weirdly something that's also been a frequent problem with Grim Fandango over the years.

What I do mind, however, is that the cutscenes are compressed quite intensely which makes the sound have a weird 'purr' to it if your speakers/headphones are revealing enough, and even though Psychonauts can natively run in widescreen (and looks beautiful while doing so), the cutscenes are simply stretched sideways which looks absolutely terrible.

Still, the cutscenes remain a total joy to watch, and in all honesty the 'purr' thing hasn't bothered me since I switched to primarily using speakers instead of headphones. I just play in 4:3 instead and have black bars down the sides, because there's no way I'm having stretched cutscenes.

I'm glad I haven't noticed any of those things (including stretched cutscenes), but I can understand how that can be troubling (although now that I think about it, sometimes audio is out of sync with the lip movements, but then again, the audio output rustles as well, but I think it's becuse of slight incompatibility issues with my MacBook). I remember how the rattling audio used to bug me in EMI whereas some people didn't hear it.

[elmuerte]

Haven't you heard? Here in North America we don't have DVD drivers!

Or at least that's what publishers seem to think. It's very annoying.

So... by the time either BluRay or HD-DVD (or whatever) has become mainstream US PC gamers will no longer have to play the disk swapping game (with CD-Roms)?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Ok, I installed Psychonauts last night because of this thread! I gave it a quick go before I went to bed and............. (maybe it's time to burn me as a heretic) ........aside from the groovy opening video, and the cool set up, I have to say I've just been reminded that it's not an immediately gripping game. It's actually not that much fun to explore the camp... Sure, there's plenty to interact with, and there's some funny lines from the characters, but it doesn't necessarily feel like the nice warm and friendly place it wants to. I know it gets better, I know it's a brilliant game, but I've just been reminded of the beginning feeling.

The characters are a little strange, too. Their dialogue isn't really as amusing as it thinks it, either. The two kids arguing about what to name their band is actually more character driven than humorous, which given the fact that their characters are never really explored or expanded upon, seems odd. The same goes for most of the other kids, too. And the kid who's "practising" spying on the girls, well, it's just a bit odd considering how young everyone comes across. And that's when you go around "punching" people just to hear their reaction.... Hmmmm.

Please don't kill me.

[DanJW]

BANNED

Although it must be said that everyone knows, since forever, that the game onby really grips you from Lungfishopolis onwards.

[Moosferatu]

Dicking around in the camp is probably my favorite part of the game...

[Noyb]

which given the fact that their characters are never really explored or expanded upon, seems odd. The same goes for most of the other kids, too.

Really? You get to see all of the kids in multiple (3-4? Don't remember the exact number.) situations before nightfall. And even in those brief instances, the characters' relations to each other, as well as certain personality aspects (I love the mobster kid) change dramatically. It's like what showed up later in Bioshock: rewarding exploration with backstory and development of some of the minor characters.

And the kid who's "practising" spying on the girls, well, it's just a bit odd considering how young everyone comes across.

He's trying to act "mature" based on what he sees in the movies, hence the "My mother lets me see R-Rated movies, so I think I know more about this than you do" quote. Plus, it's just a funny glimpse into the mind of a prepubescent "ladies man."

And that's when you go around "punching" people just to hear their reaction

Okay, I love how you can use practically everything you have in the game on the kids to see their reaction. From tickling them with the feather to trying to firestart them to the amazingness of seeing exactly what they think of you with clairvoyance does wonders for fleshing out their characters.