How exactly did they nerf the meat circus?

[Dewutt]

Heard it was nerfed for steam version, but I couldn't find exactly what they changed, just that it was made easier with no details what exactly they made easier

[D-ray]

It's a mystery for me aswell, but I've asked to many people and researched in many threads and I'm 90% sure that the only thing they changed was the amount of checkpoints.

[tripbillie]

First thing: when you lose all your mental levels (aka lives) in any other brain, you get kicked out of that brain and have to re-enter. You re-enter at the beginning, but can use the booger teleportation guy to get further through the level (if you've reached the other points that the guy is located at, of course). The change is you no longer lose mental levels in the Meat Circus (aka never get kicked out).

Second thing: the first checkpoint of the Meat Circus used to be after the rail grinding section. Now it is before the rail grinding section. The first booger teleportation guy (not counting the one at the start) is still after the rail grinding section though.

What happened when I first played Psychonauts on PS2: The Oly escort mission caused me no end of grief (Oly dying = you lose a mental level, period), and I got kicked out of the Meat Circus multiple times. I'd manage to finally get past the escort mission, but with 1 or 2 mental levels. The rail grinding requires some specific speeds at certain points, and at least one figment in that section requires most people to basically fling themselves off the level to get. I'd lose my last mental levels and get kicked out. Upon re-entering, I'd be back at the start of the Oly escort mission with nowhere to teleport to, and the escort mission would need to be redone.

I can't remember if there was a similar situation between the "dad" acrobatics section and the boss fights (aka needing to re-do the acrobatics to get back to the boss fights), and I'm not inclined to pull out my PS2 to check.

There may have been other tweaks, but these are the ones that make the Meat Circus more palatable and are the ones that are the most obvious.

[D-ray]

Originally posted by tripbillie:

First thing: when you lose all your mental levels (aka lives) in any other brain, you get kicked out of that brain and have to re-enter. You re-enter at the beginning, but can use the booger teleportation guy to get further through the level (if you've reached the other points that the guy is located at, of course). The change is you no longer lose mental levels in the Meat Circus (aka never get kicked out).

Mmmh... interesting.

[Casinocaster]

Originally posted by tripbillie:

First thing: when you lose all your mental levels (aka lives) in any other brain, you get kicked out of that brain and have to re-enter. You re-enter at the beginning, but can use the booger teleportation guy to get further through the level (if you've reached the other points that the guy is located at, of course). The change is you no longer lose mental levels in the Meat Circus (aka never get kicked out).

Second thing: the first checkpoint of the Meat Circus used to be after the rail grinding section. Now it is before the rail grinding section. The first booger teleportation guy (not counting the one at the start) is still after the rail grinding section though.

What happened when I first played Psychonauts on PS2: The Oly escort mission caused me no end of grief (Oly dying = you lose a mental level, period), and I got kicked out of the Meat Circus multiple times. I'd manage to finally get past the escort mission, but with 1 or 2 mental levels. The rail grinding requires some specific speeds at certain points, and at least one figment in that section requires most people to basically fling themselves off the level to get. I'd lose my last mental levels and get kicked out. Upon re-entering, I'd be back at the start of the Oly escort mission with nowhere to teleport to, and the escort mission would need to be redone.

I can't remember if there was a similar situation between the "dad" acrobatics section and the boss fights (aka needing to re-do the acrobatics to get back to the boss fights), and I'm not inclined to pull out my PS2 to check.

There may have been other tweaks, but these are the ones that make the Meat Circus more palatable and are the ones that are the most obvious.

Wow! Having played only on Steam in 2022, that sounds bonkers. Excellent explanation, thanks tripbillie

[Hotel Security]

I don't remember it being so bad it needed nerfing. Yes, you died a bit more but it's the last frickin level. It's not supposed to be easy. I found more trouble in just getting the figments than getting through the level.

[tripbillie]

Originally posted by Hotel Security:

I don't remember it being so bad it needed nerfing. Yes, you died a bit more but it's the last frickin level. It's not supposed to be easy. I found more trouble in just getting the figments than getting through the level.

Different people have different capabilities. I've never been someone with hyper fast reactions that can play stuff like Super Meat Boy or Mario Kaizo.

The difficulty jump between the last minds (Black Velvetopia, Gloria's Theater, and Waterloo World) and the Meat Circus was so massive that it almost made me stop playing. I've also only completely beaten the punching game once, and that was on PS2. And hearing the music used in the Meat Circus in Psychonauts 2 made me cringe the first time.

Don't get me wrong, I love both Psychonauts 1 and 2. But the Meat Circus is something that I still don't like to play, even today.

[Malagon]

Originally posted by Hotel Security:

I don't remember it being so bad it needed nerfing. Yes, you died a bit more but it's the last frickin level. It's not supposed to be easy. I found more trouble in just getting the figments than getting through the level.

It needed to be nerfed, it was badly designed.