The Genius of 'Black Velvetopia' (Psychonauts)
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- Do not use any of the Information contained within this video diagnose yourself or others. If you have concerns regarding your mental health, please see a professional opinion.
With Double Fine's Psychonauts 2 around the corner I want to re-explore the genius level design of Black Velvetopia as it gives us an in depth look into the mind of Edgar Teglee, an individual coping with the ghosts of his past, unable to break free of his obsession with the bull, the matador, and his lost love. The level is able to cleverly illustrate Edgar's intense rumination and hatred for his past, creating a world of art in his mind to escape into. Edgar has in turn repressed the actual events of his life in favor of leaning into his obsessions. So let's dive into the mind of Tim Shafer and the rest of the Psychonauts team's work and see what makes this level so incredibly special.
I do want to note that all counselors will come at situations from different theoretical orientations, backgrounds, and belief systems. My opinions correlate with my own education and professional experience up to this point in my professional life.
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• Psychonauts Part 25 (n...
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#Psychonauts #Psychonauts2 #TimShafer
I hope you enjoyed the video! What was you favorite level in Psychonauts? And are you planning on getting Psychonauts 2?
The meat circus, and I sure hope so
Yes
My favorite was the probably the Milkman Conspiracy due to how memorable it is. Gameplay wise I actually really like the first level, Basic Braining, as well as Meat Circus.
I'm really looking forward to the sequel! I can't believe it's finally coming out!
My favourite level is probably black velvetopia, would love if you could get raz's black velvet skin outside of the level. I can't wait for psychonauts 2 just 3 weeks to go. Since it's going to have a greater emphasis on mental and emotional health I imagine there will be even more for you to analyse. We already know there's levels looking at mental association, anxiety, identity crisis and addiction. Not to mention enemies symbolising doubts, regrets, judgement, panic attacks and enabling.
Favorite level/part HAS to either be destroying lungfishopolis, or kicking jasper's ass in Gloria's theatre
"In the end, Razputin, are we not ALL just dogs playing poker?" -Edgar
Truer words have never been spoken.
Finally, a Psychonauts level analysis video that isn't about The Milkman Conspiracy! It's a good level, don't get me wrong but it seems to be all anyone talks about.
The Milkman Conspiracy is definitely an awesome level (probably my personal favorite tbh), I think people focus on it a lot though because it’s so in-your-face about what’s going on. That said, all of the levels have just as much going for them, they’re just not always quite as explicit.
and our good'ol bubble already covered it lol : 3
@@ThoughtBubbleYT Are Fred and Gloria gonna get their own videos too?
yeah as much as i love the milkman conspiracy the other levels are genius aswell and deserve to be talked about and im really glad that is a video about my personal favorite level
Its the easiest to break down mentally is why
I liked the breakdown of what a compulsion was. It makes a lot of sense re: El Odio, given that nobody's happy about him being there, and his entire shtick is that, once hit by him, you're forced to retread your steps. It's a frustrating gimmick sometimes, but thematically appropriate.
Really excellent to see people taking a serious analytical look at Edgar! He's my favorite of the inmates and more relatable than he should be. High school trauma is still trauma, and the fact that Edgar is never once made fun of for his trauma having stemmed from a teenage relationship means a lot to me.
Hey, we had the same thought!
Psychonauts as a series in general is very respectful when it comes to relationships, happiness, pain, and anguish in all.
Black velvetopia is personally one of my favorite mental worlds in psychonauts, I know Boyd’s milkman conspiracy mental world is the fan favorite but I like black velvetopia the best because of the vibrant colors, the artwork and the level design.
I feel like it's probably the most visually striking in the game!
O like the Napoleon one
Waterloo is my personal favorite.
But man, that bull. El Odio is a nightmare!
Never thought of Edgar's level being interpreted in this manner, I always thought it was just a huge anger problem that went out of control. But then again, El Odio is literally "the hatred", so for someone to hold a grudge for that long isn't exactly just mere anger issues. Guess I learned something new today.
And as for your question if I'm excited for Psychonauts 2:
YAAAAAAAAAAAAS >A
Definitely, and I think that makes a lot of sense because they do show him being very frustrated, but it's more a byproduct! And I'm really excited for it as well!
What I loved about it is how it walks a good line of pointing out how Edgar is humanized rather than just being portrayed as a spiteful loser.
Yeah his girlfriend had the right to date someone else, but did it in the douchiest way possible so Edgar has a pretty valid reason for resenting them.
Between Psychonauts 1 and 2, this is still by far my favorite level. The revelation that El Odio was Edgar all along was something I didn't expect and made me really think back on the whole level
Always enjoy the perspective from a clinical professional on these.
Would love to see you do your thoughts on all of the stages eventually.
It’s definitely a possibility but I don’t want to make any promises!
Terrific analysis! My personal favourite level is Waterloo World because I just love the aesthetic of the board game world, but Black Velvetopia is probably the best level overall if you'd ask me. It's just always been oddly overshadowed by the Milkman Conspiracy despite being at least as clever (and like you said, Raz is also notably more successful and compassionate at helping Edgar through his issues than Boyd).
Of course I'm looking forward to P2, as I have been for quite a few years now... I'm hoping you'll end up doing some more analyses on the worlds of the sequel too, at some point down the line. Even just judging by the trailer footage, we've already got some strong contenders.
I definitely would like to make content on the sequel once it comes out!
No wonder I like Edgar so much, he was so relatable without me even realizing it
I really liked this level, though my favorite out of the Asylum would probably be Waterloo World. It's the only level in the Asylum I never got stuck on even a little bit. It just felt like it had a good flow and didn't let you miss critical information, while there are some fairly obtuse moments in the other levels.
Unfortunately, Fred is the only one of the inmates where I can't really nail down what's supposed to be going on. Boyd has paranoid schizophrenia brought on by psychological tampering, Gloria has bipolar disorder brought on by trauma, and you explained Edgar here better than I ever could. What's going on with Fred? He lost a board game a bunch in a row and his desire to win split into its own personality in order to torment him? It definitely seems like he's supposed to have DID, but that's not how DID works at all. Sure, the issues of the other inmates are exaggerated, but it's fairly obvious that the devs did their homework and went out of their way to portray them as tastefully and accurately as possible. Except, seemingly, Fred. What the hell is going on with Fred?
@@screamingcactus1753 Boyd has schizophrenic paranoia. Fred is just schizophrenia
One thing I honestly wonder is how much is the Bull thwarting the tower... intentional. How much is he aware of the truth but always sabotaging himself so he doesn't see it?
I think that it’s very possible that he’s self-sabotaging and that’s honestly something I hadn’t considered!
I frankly can't choose my favorite stage! From a design standpoint I really like the tower as you climb up it-I can't help but imagine that the warped state of it developed once it was abandoned as a result of the warped minds of the residents and that dang psychic rock. I'm VERY much looking forwards to the sequel, though I don't know all that much about it. I've only seen the Brain in a Jar trailer, on purpose. Two weeks left!
I actually had a much harder time with this level than the milkman conspiracy. That dang bull would kill me every time I fell down
I'm excited to see what new stories are written within the minds when Psychonauts 2 comes out
The way the games handle mental worlds honestly intruiges and fascinates me, how various issues and problems can physically influence the world in subtle manners.
I agree! I think it’s amazing how much they’re able to tell you about a character simply through level design!
This is my favorite level in the entire game! So glad to see someone finally analyze it!
I'm happy you enjoyed it! It was definitely a fun one to make!
What I wonder the most is how much of what we see in the minds we enter are genuinely metaphors for the subjects’ psyches, and how much is a product of Raz perceiving and interacting with those psyches.
Considering how Edgar behaves right before you enter the psy-portal, it’s possible that Black Velvetopia is, to some degree, a dream that is shaped by Edgar’s mental state. Edgar might never have actually deluded himself into thinking he’d ever been married to a flamenco dancer who was seduced away from him by a matador, that was merely the dream-story formed from his memories. I also don’t think that the Edgar we see building that card tower is the real Edgar, I think that was a dream-embodiment of the feelings he had for Lana that he refused to let go of, just as El Odio was the embodiment of his anger and hatred towards her. The real Edgar didn’t appear in the mental world until the fight with El Odio, where he’s completely aware of the fact that it was his high school girlfriend who dumped him for the cheerleading captain, and when he truly confronts the painful memories that he’d repressed for so long, and realized that they only had the power that he himself gave them.
Also:
Edgar’s ruminations have taken the form of a bull; a _ruminant._
This is an amazing, I would totally watch more videos of the rest of the levels of this game and it's sequel
There's a looooot of levels in the second game that definitely need analysis videos, PARTICULARLY the last level of the game.
This is very interesting because in real life mental health diagnosis, one of the most tricky situations to distinguish between is severe OCD with no insight and straight up delusional disorder or schizophrenia (e.g. psychosis of varying degrees).
I’m super happy that people are noticing psycho nauts more because of the new game! Nice video btw :D
With regards to the discussion at the end about how Psychonauts isn't about helping people but about giving them the tools to help themselves, it's worth noting that when the developers were asked what the core theme of Psychonauts is, they always gave the same answer: It's about *empathy*.
I got ocd and it sucks! I was having a bit of a rough day today, but idk it's kinda comforting seeing a character going through something a bit similar, making it out ok and having someone break it down! Thanks for making this dude. Hope this video gets alot of recognition and I'd love to see more videos of the psychonauts.
What a great channel, if I didn't get a degree in 3d animation I would of loved to go into counseling. Can't wait for the sequel.
Thanks so much! Counseling is definitely a great field, but I hope you're loving 3d animation!
look at that cute, reasonably stocked video game shelf. never seen one of those on youtube before
Really? Well I'm glad you like it!
An excellent piece on an excellent character/level, thank you for this. It is rather difficult to pick a favorite level as they are all so striking in different ways, Velvet is definitely on the top of the list.
I am late to watching this so already have Psychonauts 2, and it has continued to do amazing things with the layout of the mental worlds I think =D
Honestly, I'd watch a video series about each level in Psychonauts (and two, please?). You do a great job catching stuff that I've never even considered and I've played this game a LOT since release. One of my favorite games from my teens.
I'd love to see you look into Bob from the sequel. It's a stark look at what alcoholism can do.
0:10 Whoops.
I really liked this world. Reminded me of a couple mini-golf places that used black light.
13:08 Well, actually the wrestlers will show up in the garden after you've defeated them regardless of if you've finished the level or not.
I absolutely LOVE these Psychonauts videos. I finished the game yesterday and can't get enough of it. Subscribed
Oh my god, I dont know if it was intentional or not, but.
A dingo stole his baby.
You know, it never occurred to me that there would be story bites in the minds of other characters after their stories were resolved. Next time I replay the game, I should look into that.
If a psychology professor gave a class a project of playing this game and learn what each mind represented, it would be a great lesson
Good, wholesome brain food on one of the best PS2 collect-a-thons. Subbed
I’m really glad you enjoyed it! Psychonauts is such a gem from the PS2 era.
This level was just beautiful
As a fun little bit of trivia, the etymology of rumination is the Lain ruminari, meaning to chew over, which is also the origin of ruminant, a mammal that has multiple stomachs and partially regurgitates its food to give it another chew and break down the plant cellulose. An archetypal ruminant ... is a cow.
I don't know if this was intentional, that the symbol of Edgar Teglee's ruminations is a bull, but knowing Tim Schafer, it probably is.
very interesting in depth look at a childhood game of mine that i gave no second thought to the intricate detail the game developers employed into the game. I am excited for psychonauts 2 and would be stoked to watch a video breakdown on the levels if you decided to make them.
I would definitely love to cover Psychonauts 2 when it comes out!
There's probably an extra level of symbolism in El Odio... as a bull, would he technically not be a Ruminant eater?
Black Velvetopia has to be my favorite level from an aesthetic standpoint.
It’s my favorite to it’s a fantastic mind
You can use telekinesis to throw censors and other enemies into el odio's path, mowing them down in an instant.
Have you seen BoJack Horseman? I recently watched it and I honestly think it has some of the best coverage on mental illness and many different topics in general I've seen in any media. It sounds like something you'd cover. Btw good job on the recent content
I’ve never seen it, but thanks for letting me know about it!
Ended up randomly stumbling across this video, and it's a very excellent analysis from a trained psychological viewpoint! Black Velvetopia is my personal favorite level in the first game because of how much I relate to it.
To answer your question at the end of the video, I definitely agree with a majority of the video. One thing I feel could have been examined more is how El Odio also works in a more... I guess metaphorical sense? This is something I noticed long ago and how it could possibly represent something, and I haven't really seen many others talk about it.
In the main level, El Odio is constantly pushing you back from making progress, sometimes all the way to the very beginning of the level. El Odio could easily be seen in this case as a representation of the past trying to push you back. If you want to move on, then you need to learn from the mistakes you made and push yourself forward to get past it no matter how difficult it may be.
I'm sure many people can resonate with that concept. It's so easy to think about all the stupid things you've done and said, all the promises you couldn't keep, all the relationships you've had with others that couldn’t be maintained or repaired. It doesn’t matter how recent or long ago they happened, it's always going to be difficult to forget about. But at the end of the day you just can’t let those thoughts of what happened in the past keep pushing you back. You need to keep moving forward and continue on trying to be better than you were before, or else those thoughts could possibly completely consume and paralyze you to the point where you can no longer properly function in society... much like what happened to Edgar here.
And as Psychonauts shows, it's okay to get help from others along the way so you can eventually reach the end of that street.
... At least, that's what I personally got out of the level haha. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on this concept, since it's something I feel isn't explored enough regarding how El Odio's meaning works from a gameplay point of view.
I think I got more insight from this video than I have in years of therapy.
new psyconauts video lets gooo
I hope you enjoyed it!
This video is so underrated
Love your videos, I never really looked too deep into some of the mental worlds until now. This may be a year old, but have you considered doing a video on 'Gloria's Theatre'? The level and Gloria's character is pretty interesting and I would love to hear your interpretation of it.
I don't know if you do requests, but I would like to see you cover the other patients at the insane asylum.
By far one of my favorite video game levels...ever!
I haven't played the game in forebut I always loved this level the most from any game mostly for the art style
I’m at my grandparents house where they have the original Xbox, and I 100% PSyconauts here 3 days ago. It was super fun, and I’m sad it’s over. I spent so long finding all the figments and everything lolz
Props to you for 100%ing the game! I'm terrible at stuff like that.
@@ThoughtBubbleYT if you actually try and have the time, it’s not that hard and doesn’t take as long as you think. Although in the milla race level I felt like I was gonna puke. Also the Napoleon one Waterloo world had one outside the map. Anyway, this was my childhood. All my cousins were all on this game with the oldest 2 taking turns playing and the rest of us watching. We all grown up now and can’t wait to have a reunion with the new one! Anyway, your content is pretty cool and I subbed, appreciate the entertainment
@@ThoughtBubbleYT also I remember it being 100% less dark when we were kids LOL. When you 100% and get the vaults you really can experience the whole genius of the game which is good for all ages to be honest
@@ZachWackAttack also i heard the new one is gonna be twice as long i mean the first one felt a bit on the short side but that is really exciding
More of this please!
very interesting video! Thank you! I really enjoyed it!
I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I was happy with how this one turned out!
Please make more of these! Theyre very insightful! :)
The true genius of not just this level but every level in the entire series is that the minds you enter are not evil, these people are just sick and need help, even the minds of the counselors are hiding some deep trauma, makes it all the better when you are finally able to help these people
That fact is also why the last level in 2 works so well. We finally enter the mind of somebody who is actually a bad person.
id love to see more of the Psychonauts worlds. another channel did a lot of the worlds but decided to stop. id love to see your take of all the worlds
Really? I hadn’t realized another channel was making similar videos! What channel is it?
@@ThoughtBubbleYT the channel is called Gaming University. They went over all of the levels up to the Milkman Conspiracy. I asked if they were gonna finish before Psychonauts 2 comes out but they said they'd probably only do one more level
I really like this video and the one on the milk man. I hope you do these videos for more psychonaught characters and for psychonaught 2.
I got the game years ago and heard it was good but I have been pushing it off. I just completed it yesterday and am ready for Psychonaughts 2!
Really looking forward to psychonauts 2
pychonauts 2 is coming out soon and I can't wait too see what minds we get too see the eye one seems extremely interesting.
I hope there is a level in the sequel you are excited to talk about, my personal favorite is PSI King's Sensorium
amazing vid, i love your psychoanalyses! just a month before psychonauts 2! 🎉🎉🎉
I’m so ready for it to be here!
I hate obsession & “hopeless romantic” crap. It’s super unhealthy but society ends up teaching it to people through out so many mediums.
This series is fascinating
There's definitely more to come!
Aweseome vid!
Tim Schafer must be pretty fond of Hispanic culture because he used a lot of it in this level and in Grim Fandango.
HYPEE!!! Any future plans on covering other levels from Psychonauts 1 or 2?
Mia's dance party is a good level to disect
Please do more Psychonauts videos. Both 1 and 2.
Hoping you do some videos on psychonauts 2!
so *that's* why it's a bull
Rumination. Represented by...
a ruminant
El Odio is Edgar's fursona
just noticing something about the sewer area. the liquid in the sewer appears to be wine. maybe this repression came with a dose of alcoholism?
4:38 Notice Edgar making the Bull gesture? Hmmmm.... Now where have we seen a bull before? ;)
yeah, the school being in the sewers made it clear to me it wasn't just him being in love with the idea of romance
he was just genuinely happy with her and then boom, his school life became sewer garbadge
I always thought the Dogs Playing Poker painting had just 4 dogs
Do Waterloo world too.
do you intend to do videos on the other inmates because id love to watch those
We’ll have to see! I’ll never say never!
El Odio means The Hatred
I loved the visual design in Black Velvetopia, but thought the resolution was kind of weak. Seeing a flamenco dancer sobbing while doing a bad cheer routine is funny and all, but I would have preferred Edgar realizing something more introspective than "actually they sucked all along".
Oho! he's a representation of rumination and he's a ruminant; do you think that was intentional? Also, El Odio sounds like odious and he feels stupid for holding his hatred for so long, from highschool to when he's middle-aged and growing gray hairs, that's a lot of years, that's really sad.
Do all the other ones to the Danes demand it
If I’m completely honest, I would definitely consider this brain as the second worst brain in either psychonauts game, after the meat circus because of how horrible that climbing section was.
Are you planning on analysing all the levels in Psychonauts 1?
You mean my favorite level and the best level?
Please, can you make all levels from Psychonauts ?
Maybe not all the levels, but there will definitely be more Psychonauts content coming soon.
Can you find out what Tari from Meta Runner has?
Hey, do you plan to do other mental worlds like Glorias theater or meat circus?
Maybe, I'll never say never! I'm definitely going to be dipping my toes into Psychonauts 2 worlds pretty soon though!
is that an autograph from the counselor from P5R?
Yes it is! I got an autograph from Maruki’s voice actor!
@@ThoughtBubbleYT that’s very very cool.
I thought his name was Teglee, not Leteeg?
The inspiration for Edgar's name came from a guy named "Edgar Leteeg". If you scramble "Leteeg" around you should get "Teglee", or smth close to it anyway
Great video
Btw u cute
:-)
god i hates this world. it looks ugly as hell, the mechanics and bosses are boring and all the bull fighting thing is very disgusting
I mean, in the bull fight, the matador is explicitly the antagonist, and the bull is the person you're trying to help. After the first phase of the fight, you literally fight the matador with his own spears while protecting the bull
The rest of what you said is entirely subjective, but it's not like it glorifies bull fights or bull fighters
As an anti-bull fights spaniard, this level doesn't promote it at all. Everything related to bull fights is related to the antagonist Dingo, no glorification of it, no nothing. It is very stereotypical, with all the seemingly unnoticed mixture of spanish and mexican element, but I have not particular issue with that, and it may be intentional, since it's all a fabrication.