Psychology of Psychonauts | Cruller's Correspondence 

I've always liked Mail Cruller's line of "It's not like she was marked 'Fragile'." Though wordplay with multiple meanings like that one are something I always appreciate.

Part of me feels like the reason that they made him a mailman is because of all of his unaddressed issues. Literally unaddressed. Like mail

All of Ford's personalities in this game are rooted in memories of his past that he's trying to keep suppressed because their too painful for him to face. When looking at all of them as a single mind it becomes very clear that Ford is a broken man that's letting his grief and sorrow destroy him from the inside.

"You see? The mail just doesn't matter." This line is kind of chilling tbh

“Nothing Important, just that I loved her.” Is such an incredibly raw and heart breaking line on so many levels. Ford realising that, like the video says, his letters were never going to get to the right person. But it also brings up something else, Ford is an old man, all of the Psychic 6 are elderly with grandchildren (with Compton) and grandnieces (with Bob) all of them should be well into proper retirement with their own families and friends by their side, but the tragedy of it all is that his love, possibly his only love, died and he has such terrible guilt (deserved or not is another question entirely) and the subsequent shattering of his mind that Ford likely never loved again. He almost seems bitter about it, in a way. An understandable reaction but still. When you’re young, you believe that love can conquer everything, that if you love enough that you’ll overcome any trial, but time often, unfortunately, proves that wrong. I have no doubt that all of us have loved someone so incredibly much despite ourselves and that love just wasn’t enough. It’s unlikely Ford ever properly processed that given the shattering of his mind, and if he did then it’s entirely possible he came out worse for it, at least until the end of the game but that’s for another day.

Cruller’s line “I’ve done a terrible thing, Raz. And so have you” really stuck with me. I love the utter coldness in his voice.

"There are no good and bad emotions - only good and bad reactions to them". This is 100% right on the money. All too often when we're not in a good place mentally we tell ourselves we "shouldn't" be feeling this way, which is the perfect recipe for making it even worse because all it does is compound the existing depression or anxiety with further feelings of guilt and shame. And you *cannot* reason your way out of the way you feel. If you try you'll just end up in a pointless battle with yourself and your own feelings, and a battle like that always ends with both sides losing. This is actually my least favourite level in the game, and not because it's a bad level - far from it (though I've always found the whole area around the typewriter really frustrating). It's because I'm autistic and the relentless noise and movement in the main area really bothers me. I have to put on headphones to stop myself from getting agitated. (I'd LOVE to see a level in Psychonauts 3 which is inside an autistic person's mind. No doubt I've said that before at least once).

It’s the small details that I love about psychonauts

I said it in previous videos, but I say it again... I love the detail of Raz not just being happy that he brought another piece of Ford's shattered mind back together, but actual sadness about Ford's situation. About what he felt back then.

I’ll always wonder what the state of that dam was like Prior to the rain that finally broke it.

This entire series has put into perspective my own mental stuggles, as my own maladaptive feelings/actions have resulted my very reserved and emotionally stunted person. I'm trying to get better, as I try making friends at such a late stage of my youth (22). Wish me luck, as it only get harder for me.

You know, I think this is the first time I've seen a robot's head explode without it being funny.

That last letter from Maligula though 😢 Seriously, all the Ford levels are so deep and so amazing

Psyconauts had always impressed me with its design, it's very impressive the way every aspect of a level is thought out to represent a certain concept or part of the psyche. But more than that its one of very few games I've watched or played that can illicit such a strong emotional reaction in me, even just hearing the out of context lines "I wrote a letter once, maybe it would've saved a thousand lives, maybe just one, but I couldn't know, I never sent it" is written and acted so well that it almost has me tearing up. Even just by the cleverness of the metaphors these games have to be some of the greatest ever made in terms of storytelling and messaging.

12:00 "If you will pardon the pun." There's no need to apologize for any sort of pun. This is Pshyconaguht we are talking about!

This is so great! I love your analysis of all the levels so far! If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were on the team yourself lol!!

Always great when a new Psychology of Psychonauts episode drop. Can't shake the uneasy feeling that the series is about to end after all these years though.

How the hell are you not more popular? Content as high quality as this deserves millions of views!

Guess what Car Cruller Drives....A FORD lolol. Respect and keep up the epic work.

I like how you address the psychology of the mental levels of Psychonauts and the characters. The next one the tomb of the Sharkophagus is next and reveals the dark truth of Ford’s memories

I wanna express how good the ford cruller levels are, like... initially you dont make much of it until you realize every single detail in them is connected to his experience. This one in particular how he is freling confused and tries his best to put every bit of his memory back where it belongs, and the fact he tries to hide or destroy that single letter is really telling of how much he loved lucrecia, and my god those cutscenes where he talks with parts of himself are just pure perfection

i had to pause the video because i didn’t know you could address the letter to lucrecia and it would still work??? that’s so cool

One small detail i like, is how one of the emotional baggage was right next to the letter where Lucrecia was accepting the name of Maligula, probably due to Ford seeing it as a major point of Lucy leaving "lucy" behind

Ford Cruller is my favourite character in literally anything I'm so glad you're making these videos Feels like therapy lol

Damn my insomnia making me awake at 4 am has some pros in order to catch this as it’s out.

Please finish the rest of these. They're great, and I've been waiting for Cassie's Collection for months.

Had a feeling this was coming soon but this is still a brilliant surprise!

The fact that you even find Bob's letter.

Finally, my favoriite level! gonna have a blast :D

Another splendid analysis.

This is definitely one of the games of all time!

FINALLY ive been waiting for this one lol so.... who's next i hope Bob

These videos are great and so insightful!

this is a small detail but, i like how in this level ford said he deeply regretted not sending the letter to lucrecia telling her shes not herself, then later on when maligula appears ford tries to tell her to stop, it shows he learned from that mistake and tried without hesitation the second time

Fun fact - there also a hidden message in level that can be found only though datamining "Theodore Lucrecia has gone too far. The people hate her, but also fear her more than you. She is a threat to your crown! Singed, a friend" And weird part is, that this letter is written with Lucrecia's writing, like, it written same way she writes

The basic message of psychonauts 2 “ war is hell”

God I love your Psychonauts videos and always a joy to see a new psychonauts video. Your Alan Wake videos are interesting but I'm thinking of getting and beating the game first before I watch them.

Half of me wishes that they had made him a bellhop and had him store out emotional baggage instead of letters. It could be an interesting metaphor for sorting out those sort of issues that he had to contain

I've been waiting for this 💕

I love this series of video-essays! Very enterntaining, interesting and educational!

Hon, wake up, a new psychonauts psychology episode is here 🤩

Fun Fact about the mailroom, you can type both Lucy and Lucrecia on the envelope

I would explain the whole process of emotion / feeling / action, and the barriers between them, with an analogy we all-being here-probably know. Video games, and being angry at them. Something annoys you in a video game. Then, annoyance is turned into anger. Finally, you punch your monitor. The Freudian barrier tells you "don't be angry, it's just a game", whereas the Rogerian Filter tells us "don't let your anger cause you to break things"

I wonder many times how much of my personality and actions are mine? Growing up with autism and watching alot of TV Growing up, I can remember things of interest well almost like a tape recorder,( like with your video's sir!) But I worry about my unique personality and whether it's mine or just something I reinterpreted. Also now I know the difference between emotions & feelings, I know mine are close enough the difference is almost irreverent. Always interesting learning about new things to discover/fill my mental world.

i really love these videos , i never looked much into psychonauts 2 but your reviews really opened up my love for that game , its great to see someone really dive into everything in such a nice way! thank you very much

Woot! Welcome back.

Awesome job on this one! 👏

unrelated to the video but i just wanna say, when you eventually do an episode on the bob's bottles level i think you should touch on the topic of how bob actively tries to help you, or atleast hes neutral to raz's help since the bulb bob things literally try to help you get through and are generally happy about their situation, meaning he probably subconsciously wants you to help him with the seeds, the real bob at the end tries to stop everything during the boss and knows the moth isnt really helping him, and he also doesnt even stop you from giving him the seeds, he gets a little bit hesitant but he doesnt really tell you to stop or that its harmful even after giving him a couple, out of all the minds in psychonauts 2 he actually tries to better himself instead of not even knowing anythings wrong or trying to deny it, its just that hes so lost after losing helmut and the rest of the psychic 6 that he cant really fully go back to normal by himself and needs some support, but the part of his mind telling him to ignore it (the moth) has more influence than him trying to fix it (since bob is stuck on an island, and the bulb bobs literally cant move by themselves and they definetely cant give bob the seeds) its just a observation i made during the level and i really wonder if other people saw it like that or if theres more interesting things implying it that i missed

love seeing this stuff, happy it came out!

Love this series, still excited to see next episode. Hope it drops soon 👌

Watching your past catalogue, its great to see your editing improve. You've come a long way, yourself!

Ford and Lucrecia's relationship reminds me of that episode of Rick and Morty called A Rickconvienent Mort. You know, the one where Morty dated Planetina?

Finally, it’s here

Ey my favorite series returns again! Can't wait for the next episode

This one must've skipped right by me, I'm glad I caught it, I usually watch these the day they come out

Yay! New Psychonauts video!

Hoo boy this hits hard much like Fred’s mental world and his problems. The next part of this also hurts too.

So want a game focused on Ford's past.

I do wonder what the mental worlds of the other personalities, the ones from the first game, would've been like?

For what ever reason I like typewriters (I’m less than 21 years old)

They learned the hard way that some doors in ith mind are closed for a reason.

Never knew you could use her full name! But then again it makes sense considering it’s a post office mind, but that takes longer and is a tad formal for who the letter is for

I find it amazing that you spelled out Lucretia on the letter instead of Lucy

Lets go bois, a new upload!!

I just want to say that this series made me get up and play psychonauts and thank you for getting me into such a creative wellspring of environmental storytelling

Absolutely love these videos. Have a great day!

Another awesome analysis, cool. But I find out one interesting detail, that you missed. If you remember, in Strike City only enemies (expect Censors, but they, well, everywhere) we must dealt with is Doubts(which is makes perfect sense, considering(according to memory vault) nothing bad didn't happened yet), in Ford's Follicles, we also must fased Regrets(again, makes sense considering, what this world represent) but only in this world we see one and only enemy, who have rights to be exactly here, both from game and story perspectives: Panic Attack. From game perspective, we already see Panic Attacks in Helmut's mind and know how fight with them, but from story perspective, I have no doubts, that after such news Ford didn't feel actual panic attack. Small detail, but interesting. Sorry for grammar, English is my second language.

I am mentally caught on that you called that snake poisonous when poison is basically you bite it you die, but not the other way around because that would be venomous!

I look forward to what the next analyzed psyche will be, could be Tomb of the Sharkophagus, Cassie's Collection, Bob's Bottles, Lucretia's Lament or Fatherland Follies.

I viewed it this way, mail is packages right? Letters are just packages of a different sort. Don't we spend all game sorting mental baggage? Mental packages so to speak. These so much guilt, insecurity, and regret in fords life. He brought Lucy to the Motherlobe. he helped expand her powers, he let her leave and didn't bring her back. He shattered and disguised her mind. All this broke his heart, friend group, ultimately his mind. People make their own decisions. Lucy went back to Grulovia. The Psychic 6 had their own falling out through their own actions. Still can see why Ford feels as he does.

I did not know about the letters addressed to his friends so that's a neat detail

when you put it like that its kinda. sad. i didnt quite realize the emotion packed into all these characters. but if you dig a little you can see their entire life story all implied behind the scenes, huh?

I just thought of something what is the reason? Compton doesn’t have a letter is because I he was in isolation of his own Will plus a the three parts of his mind can be done in any order so it doesn’t really make sense for Compton to be saved. It’s not have a letter if they did psyching first to get the time bubble.

I cant wait for the next one!!! Are you going to do a analysis on the other interns too?

What are the things I’m kind of curious about is, with the barbershop level, what is this whole thing inspired by molecular actually viewing the people as fleas or was that what crawler thought she thought of them. This also kind of coincides with the final level inside Lucy’s head. How much of the flea circus was her own mentality that was slightly altered by Ford. and how much of it was changed to reflect with Ford thought it already was ?

After the tomb, I have no idea what you’re gonna do for Lucy, but for Cassiopeia you’re going to do the parts of one’s personality for Bob alcoholic and nick Peter Pan syndrome, and probably every disorder that’s self-aggrandizing and possibly nostalgia. I mean that’s pretty much what the first part of the ride is about.

Although the word invaded was a front by the Monarch to get Lucy back to grulovia to deal with the protestors.

Yay new video

The whole "return to sender" problem kinda falls apart if you think about it too much

How much longer until the next video? I'm ready to take the plunge.

Never thought to type out Lucretia. Most typed out Lucy

I wonder about the other personalities from the first games represent.

I did not know the end would trigger if you typed Lucretia as well as Lucy. I thought i tried that in my own playthrough, but i guess i spelled it wrong.

17:20 boy, this conversation namely what postman ford said is well the truth of it is the utmost high plot point of psychonauts 2, namely how maligula was born, due to what they did with the astrolabe.

What is sad about Ford is he blames himself fully for what happened, the entire Gulovia incident he pins on himself for failing to stop the massicre of it's people, the fall of the country as well as what happened to Luci and in doing so he shattered his mind as penance after it all.

Ahhhh, the “thinker”print! I thought you Said fingerring, bacuce thats what the subtitle read😂.

That's a good ending

I didn’t know that Lucretia also works. He always called her lucy so I thought you had to address it to lucy

Ahem, if locked in a room with a poisonous snake, it's time to chill with the snake and not eat the snake. If locked in a room with a VENOMOUS snake, it's time to panic.

Can you make a playlist of your psyconaifhts videos

when will the next part of this series arrive?

Now I'm curious @Gaming University (or, y'know, anyone who wants to answer) if you were a character in a Psychonauts game what do you think your mental world would look like?

Just curious after you raid the tomb will you beat looking at bob or Cassie next?

Why is snake guy holding up 8 fingers?

… You… you can spell out her Full Name? I thought the letters you found was all you needed 😅 LUCY

wow.

i'm not afraid of a posionous snake, it can't hurt me, now a venomous one, that would be dangerous! (look out graham! a POIiiisonous snake)

What other games you think GU should do psychology?

Life is Strange series is a good game to cover aswell

Yippeee!