lotusleif:

I said this theory before but it bears repeating because it hurt my brain.

So, Psychonauts 2. How would that work? Conclusion at the end.

For one thing, we can assume it’s likely to be a direct sequel. While seeing a prequel of Sasha and Milla’s awesome Psychonaut adventures would be sweet, there’s nothing saying they can’t do stylish Psychonaut adventures just as well in a sequel, and it would fulfill the sequel hook at the end of the first game nicely. It could even have a trifecta of main characters, Sasha, Milla, and Raz, for the player to choose from, ala Birth by Sleep. Plus, it would allow us potential to explore such untapped elements as the Hand of Galochio or Ford’s broken psyche without having to play as an effectively ‘reset’ Raz or having Sasha/Milla involved in investigating the curse and conveniently forgetting about it by the time the first game comes in.

Second, there is reason to believe, if one were to play as Raz (which seems fairly likely, considering his adventure’s implied to have really only just begun, and he’d serve as a good player avatar for getting ‘used to’ the Psychonauts in a way Sasha/Milla wouldn’t), there is a potential the game would actually take place a few years after the first. For one thing, one of the complaints I’ve heard frequently is that games are supposed to be a form of wish-fulfillment or escapism, and playing as a 10-year-old, to many… isn’t. While the psychic powers are a plus, with a character the age of the viewer they can relate to them, and with one a bit older they can look up to them or aspire to be them, but to one younger (and as the game is rated T, there aren’t a lot of 10-year-olds playing), it feels a little like regressing or babysitting the avatar. In the first game having an older character wouldn’t work because children’s summer camp, but once Raz is in the Psychonauts, there’s no such restrictions. Just so long as he maintains some of that… Razziness… there’s no real reason he couldn’t be 16 or 18 and already with a good few missions under his belt. (Granted, this would make it harder to follow the sequel hook shy of a shoddy quick summary, but there are several ways around that.)

And finally, one can conclude that the art style would be far better, and more aesthetically appealing. With the first game the company was just a fledgling, and the rendering, while plenty quirky, seemed to me like it didn’t know how exactly to go about translating 2D concept art to 3D in regards to characters, which, combined with the limited graphics, made things look… weird. But looking at Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, Stacking, it’s fairly clear that the team has more or less gotten the hang of balancing quirky, distinct art with visual appeal, which, plus the advanced graphics of current console systems, means that the game would likely take several hours less to get used to. Not to mention that, in order to make the game marketable and turn a profit, they’d probably be trying to make it stylish and unique, to attract attention without scaring people off.

And from there we can conclude that with Raz as the protagonist, the timeline a few years in the future, the style being ‘prettier’, and the game aiming for market appeal, Raz will become a sparkly bishonen.

YOU’RE WELCOME.