iām curious, for my psychonauts followers, whatās your guysās favorite and least favorite level from either of the games?
(yes, this is just an excuse for me to rant)
personally, i think my favorite would be millaās dance party! now let me explain, because i feel like ive seen it get a bit of hate before š
i think millaās mind stands out as an odd one to a lot of people because itās the only mind where you arenāt given a problem to solve. youāre just meant to complete millaās course, get your badge, and get out. thereās not really a narrative of someone having a mental problem that raz helps them overcome, like almost every other level in the game. but i think that in of itself is very interesting.
i cant for the life of me find where this was said, but millaās level is supposed to represent a healthy personās mind. i think having that frame of reference in this series is important, like think about it: you never see a healthy personās mind in this series, except for milla. that makes her mind unique to me, and itās interesting to see that concept explored, even if the level doesnāt really focus on that. itās probably because, if i recall correctly, the original idea for her mind was scrapped. sooo im assuming they had to come up with another idea really quick for her but shhā¦her level is still coolā¦
also, iāve seen people complain about collecting all of the figments in that level. which. yeah no that was painful. BUT. iād argue that finding all of the figments in any of the levels in pn1 is just as painful š the camera filter that they give you at the end of pn2 to see all the figments is a GODSEND i feel like we donāt appreciate that enough. but yeah, collecting the figments is painful because youāre looking for bright lines on a bright background and a lot of them are on a race track, which makes it really obnoxious.
but. playing psychonauts 1 in general is painful. one time i nearly soft locked myself because i was using the boat on the lake and i accidentally wedged myself between two rocks and almost couldnāt get out. then on my first playthrough i think i did actually soft lock myself by getting raz stuck permanently falling in place on a piece of geometry in the milkman conspiracy, and i had to reload my save. losing your mind due to jank is just part of the experience when playing psychonauts 1 it would not be the same without it
but i love millaās dance party because i love using levitation, i think its so fun, and i like doing all of the platforming in that level with the lev ball, and the look of it is just so fun and colorful and the music in the background goes like š¶hemenejewenawompā¦huahuaunnghh yeaAAeahEAhhhā¦š¶ it just scratches my brain right
OKAYYY thats enough about my favorite, now to my least favorite. i think my least favorite would be strike city from pn2. i had to look up the name of it.
itās my least favorite because i genuinely always forget that it exists š and i think thatās because the theme of the level is very weak in my opinion. thereās too many conflicting ideas. youāre in a bowling alley, so thereās bowling balls and bowling pins. but then ford is also spraying a bowling shoe? okay. so thereās germs everywhere. sure. and weāre in a city. because the germs dying is like an apocalypse movie thing that would happen in aā¦city? on paper it doesnāt sound too bad, i just think in the actual level everything feels too disconnected. the germs and the bowling and the city just donāt feel cohesive with each other, it kind of feels like itās all just slapped together into one level.
and besides, weāve already HAD a level based around a city! it was lungfishopolis! so when i think āpsychonauts city level,ā i think of lindaās level, because that oneās much more iconic, and part of that is due to its cohesive theming.
i donāt think iām alone in this opinion, cause i swear, i have never seen ANYBODY mention anything about this level, like ever š do you even remember that it exists??
i think it also gets overshadowed by fordās other levels, which in my opinion, are a lot more solid art-wise and plot-wise. all thatās revealed in the bowling level is that ford and lucy were in love. which yeah, thatās important, but the realizations of āford couldnāt reach out to lucy before she died (she didnāt die, but you know)ā and āford had to witness lucyās descent into madness and what raz does in this level reflects lucyās terrible atrocitiesā is a little bit more memorable, at least to me.
i just think itās such a shame, because i really like this level from a gameplay standpoint! i remember having a lot of fun with this one. i really liked the ālevitation ball but biggerā mechanic that they added in psychonauts 2. like millaās level, it was really fun to go through the level and do all the platforming. i justā¦wish i could have anything more to say about it besides āoh yeah, that level. i wasnāt really crazy about its art direction. it was really fun though! wish i could remember its name.ā
those are just my thoughts, though! iād love to hear what any of you guys think! maybe thereās a strike city lover out there. or maybe thereās a millaās dance party hater out there somewhere. i had to physically restrain myself from ranting about other levels in this game btw itās currently 2am as i am typing this help (posting it later š)
I like the "blackVelvet Topia" level cuz man the music, the aesthetic are just so amazing
but Psycho Odyssey's level is peak!! I understand it might be a bit overwhelming, but that's been my favorite level artistically; it's a gem. šāØļøāØļøāØļøāØļø
If I'm talking about the least favorites, I'd say " The Lanternfish" (I don't like it to the point of forgetting the name haha) It's my least favorite because it's too short qwq
Favorite and least favoriteā¦ Hmmmā¦ Iām really indecisive and also really forgetful with names agh
If I had to pick a favoriteā¦ Maybe Waterloo World? I like all the different layers of interaction. Hollisā Hot Streak was pretty fun for similar reasonsā¦ And Cassieās Collection was nice too, I liked the general vibes of that one. Maybe I just like going in and out of shit lol
As for my least favorite levelsā¦ Well. I gripe about Meat Circus and Comptonās Cookoff every now and then. I do not do well with time limits. And the goat vomit was so so so gross and I felt sick that whole time. And the grotesqueness of Meat Circus as a whole was a bit much for me. But if I were allowed to take my time more, I honestly think they would be much higher on the list, because the gameplay itself was pretty fun. Sashaās Shooting Gallery would probably take their place as least favorite because of uh. Well. Thereās not much to explore? I like exploring. And not just jumping around shooting things. And it was hard to explore what was there because there were always censors to worry aboutā¦ This doesnāt mean I actually disliked any of these levels, though! Least favorite doesnāt necessarily mean I donāt like it!
