What the Hell is Psychonauts, Anyway?

Category:Psychonauts -> What the Hell is Psychonats, Anyway?

I'm glad you asked.

THIS PAGE WILL CONTAIN FULL PLOT SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES! PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Note: In the plot section, the description for Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is short because I have yet to play the game myself, and all of my information is secondhand. I will update it with a better description if I am ever able to play the game.

Second Note: Anything marked with spoiler tags (these) purely just showcase additional info and are not spoilers. spoilers are unmarked.

Background

Psychonauts is a series of video games developed by the game studio Double Fine. Founded by Tim Schafer, Double Fine was founded after Schafer departed from LucasArts. Psychonauts was the studio's breakout title, and it went through severe production hell. While Psychonauts was slated to be published Microsoft for the up-and-coming Xbox console, it was dropped because of clashing ideas about how the game should play, look, and feel. It was later picked up by Majesco Entertainment, and workers at Double Fine went through extreme crunch to produce the game. The crunch was so horrible, it is often considered one of the worst crunches in video game history.

Plot

The series follows 10-year old Razputin "Raz" Aquato, a young psychic. Born into a circus family, he dreams of leaving the circus and joining the elite spy organization known as the Psychonauts. He has looked up to them for a very long time, however he was ridiculed among his family members because of his psychic abilities. As the story goes, Raz's family was cursed by psychics in the past to die in water. Because of this, his family developed a stigma against psychics and always repressed Raz's powers. Against his family's wishes, Raz ran away from home to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp to begin his Psychonaut training. While at Whispering Rock, Raz meets a few important Psychonauts Agents Camilla "Milla" Vodello and Sasha Nein, Coach Morceau Oleander, and Psychonauts Founder Ford Cruller, along with the daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, Lili Zanotto. Raz and Lili later on begin dating. During his time at camp, the brains of his fellow campers get stolen in a joint-crime between Coach Oleander and Dr. Caligosto Loboto, the "doctor" at the nearby asylum. After recovering all of the children's brains, Raz ends up having his own brain removed and combined in an egregore with Coach Oleander. It is here he learns of Oleander's past, and faces their combined fear of their fathers. The game ends with Raz's father, Augustus, revealing to his son that he himself is in fact a psychic, and allows him to proceed with his Psychonaut training.

In Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, Raz, Lili, Sasha, Milla, and Oleander catch word that Grand Head Truman Zanotto has been kidnapped and is being held within the Rhombus of Ruin. His kidnapper is revealed to be Dr. Loboto, and Raz, along with the other Psychonauts, are able to retrieve both Truman and Dr. Loboto and bring them back to the Psychonauts Headquarters, the Motherlobe. However, Truman appears to be very sick, and Dr. Loboto refuses to share any information.

In Psychonauts 2 the group from the previous game arrive in the Motherlobe, where a new question presents itself. Dr. Loboto doesn't have the mental capacity or know-how to kidnap someone, so who hired him? While Raz wants to help out in answering this question, he is instead placed in the Psychonaut Intern Program to hone his abilities. His time in the intern program started off rocky, as he was hazed by his fellow interns Adam Joseph Gette, Gisu Nerumen, Lizzie Natividad, Morris Martinez, Norma Natividad, and Sam Boole and his mentor, Nick Johnsmith, is not only a non-psychic, but also the Head of the Mail Room. His mentor is initially missing, until he is found in a box, brainless, with a key to the Lady Luctopus Casino in this pocket. While he begins navigating his way through the intern program, a second problem arises: there is a group of people (known as 'Deluginists') trying to revive known psycho-terrorist and mass murderer Maligula. Raz is seemingly the only person worried about this. In Raz's first (and only) class session, he is peer-pressured to rewire the mind of his teacher, Hollis Forsythe, to allow himself and his classmates to go on a mission to the Lady Luctopus to uncover Deluginist activity. However, this rewiring turned his normally strict-yet-motherly teacher into a gambling addict Hollis' Classroom. This newfound addiction allowed the interns to go on the mission to the casino. Raz spends half of the mission putting Hollis's brain back together Hollis' Hot Streak, which she is angry about. While she lets him go, she does not let him forget it. The other half of the mission is spent infiltrating a penthouse suite in the casino, where Raz uncovers paranoid ramblings and newspaper clippings related to the Psychonauts and Maligula, as well as a note that conceptualizes turning Lili against her father. When Raz tells Lili about the note, she is upset, briefly accusing Raz out of fear. Later on, Truman wakes up, and explains to Raz that Maligula is coming back and Ford Cruller needs to be brought back so she can be defeated. While trying to bring back Ford, Raz learns that what he thought was the Psychic 6 Ford Cruller, Otto Mentallis, Compton Boole, Cassie O'Pia, Bob Zanotto, and Helmut Fullbear (the original Psychonauts,) turned out to be the Psychic 7 the seventh member is Lucrecia Mux. After learning this, Raz is tasked with reuiniting all of the "aspects" of Ford Cruller, esentially assisting him in final fusion. Before he can do this, however, his family (Oldest > Youngest) Donatella, Augustus, Dion, Frazie, Mirtala, and Queepie visits him in the Motherlobe and begin residing in the Questionable Area?. Throughout his completion of this task, he also aids Psychic 7 members Helmut Fullbear who is technically deceased, though his brain is inside the body of Nick Johnsmith PSI King's Sensorium and Compton Boole Compton's Cook-Off. While doing his task, he discovers that Ford and Lucrecia used to be a couple, before she went home to Grulovia to fight in a war. While in Grulovia, she was appointed General and became Maligula. After reuiniting Ford's aspects, Ford reveals to Raz that Lucrecia never died, and instead took the place of Raz's grandmother who Maligula accidentally killed. Lucrecia is actually Raz's great aunt. After uncovering this information, Raz and Ford go to the Green Needle Gulch (the original home of the Psychic 7) to fix a device called the 'Astralathe' to prevent Maligula from re-forming inside of Lucrecia. However, the Astralathe is covered in vines and bees, thus requiring the help of Psychic 7 members Cassie Cassie's Collection and Bob Bob's Bottles. After helping both Cassie and Bob, Lucrecia is placed inside the Astralathe. However, in order to bring out Maligula so she can be defeated, Raz and Ford must go inside her mind and break the locket holding her back Lucrecia's Lament. While inside her mind, Raz learns that Ford used the Astralathe on both Lucrecia and Augustus and later on himself to rewrite their memories and make them believe they are mother and son. Raz also learns that the figure that gave him the Whispering Rock flyer back in Psychonauts was actually Lucrecia. After unlocking Maligula, the rest of the Psychic 7 arrived in the Green Needle Gulch to make sure the situation doesn't get out of hand. Along with them is Truman, Lili, and Norma who reported Raz to Truman. Lili tells Raz that Truman woke up, but he's been acting strange. The two of them go inside of his mind, and learn that her father's brain is not inside his body, but instead the brain of Nick Johnsmith Fatherland Follies. Soon after, Nick Johnsmith is revealed to actually be a fake identity, with his actual identity being the Gzesaverich heir to the throne of Grulovia, Gristol Malik. Gristol is the mole in the Psychonauts, and he infiltrated Truman's body in order to revive Maligula and bring her back to Grulovia. After exiting Gristol's mind, Raz has to confront Maligula inside her mind and finally put her to rest. The interns help him out, but his main helper is Lucrecia, who gave him the last push he needed to finally put an end to Maligula's terror. Truman's brain is returned to his body, Gristol is placed in psychoisolation, and the interns (including Raz) are all promoted to Junior Psychonauts.

Memorable quotes:

• "The Human Mind: 600 miles of synaptic fiber, five and a half ounces of cranial fluid, 1500 grams of complex neural matter... a three-pound pile of dreams. But I'll tell you what it really is. It is the ultimate battlefield--and, the ultimate weapon. The wars of this modern age--The Psychic Age--are fought somewhere between these damp, curvaceous undulations. From this day forward, you are all psychic soldiers. Paranormal paratroopers! Mental marines who are about to ship out on the adventure of their lives! This is our beachhead! And this is your landing craft. You shall engage the enemy in his own mentality--you shall chase his dreams, you shall fight his demons, you shall live his nightmares! And those of you who fight well, you will find yourselves on the path to becoming international secret agents-- in other words... Psychonauts!! The rest of you... WILL DIE."
- Coach Morceau Oleander
• "The truth is, real octopuses hate gambling!"
- Sam Boole
• "Oh, you'll find something, alright. But it's neither man nor milk."
- Boyd Cooper
• Despite my best efforts, you interns have seen some... really inapproopraite things. But I think you've learned a truth that every Psychonaut should know. That there are flaws in our most venerated institutions, in our heroes, and in ourselves. We all make mistakes... And we all need help sometimes... But we all deserve a second chance. You've seen us at our worst, and we've seen you at your best. And I'm proud to say that you have all... GRADUATED FROM THE INTERN PROGRAM!
- Hollis Forsythe
• Finish that sentence and it will kill your mother, Razputin.
- Donatella Aquato

Mental Morsels:

• Adam's name during production was Aaron.
• The shortest human character in Psychonauts 2 is Queepie; the tallest is Cassie.
• Sam's original backstory would've involved her killing her father (on purpose? on accident?) and living with Compton.
• Morris was originally planned to be Milla's son, possibly being the only survivor of the orphange fire.
• Adam was originally planned to be Lili's ex-boyfriend (yikes?)
• Instead of being sisters, Norma and Lizzie likely would've been part of a hivemind.
• Morris is my favorite intern!
• Dion has a cut line where he would apologize to Raz after saying that the Aquatos would be better off without him. I do not know why they cut this line (and i wish they kept it in)
• DionGisu is nothing but shipbait (still awesome though)
• Some characters have obvious specialities; Raz = Clairvoyance + Hydrokinesis, Lili = Herbaphony + Pyrokinesis, Milla and Gisu = Levitation, Sasha = Marksmanship, Sam = Zoolepathy, Norma = Pyrokinesis, Lizzie = Cryokinesis, Morris = Manifestation of some sort, Adam = Telekinesis, Hollis = Mental Connection, Cassie = Mental Projection, Compton = Zoolepathy, Bob = Herbaphony + Phytokinesis, Lucrecia = Hydrokinesis, etc.
• It is illegal to enter the mind of minors using any type of entryway, ie Psycho-Portals or Astral Projection. Psycho-Portals were made in accordance to section 3, paragraph 1 of the "Young Minds Protection Act," which states that "Any device created for the purpose of invasive psychic procedure must have built-in safeguards which make its use upon anyone under the age of eighteen (18) impossible."
• Sam's full name is Samantha Boole.
• Raz hates the Filet-O-Fish at McDonald's (extremely random)
• Truman has a degree to practice and teach Herbaphony, but this ability is never seen in-game (at least not to my knowledge.)