Fatherland Follies is a level in Psychonauts 2. It takes place inside the mental world of Gristol Malik, the former Gzesarevich of Grulovia.
Description[]
Gristol's mental world is essentially a theme park dark ride clearly inspired by the "It's a Small World" ride in various Disney theme parks. The ride depicts events from Gristol's own life as he has come to understand them, using various animatronics and cardboard props. It mostly glorifies Grulovia's royal family and Maligula's actions while vilifying Ford Cruller and any of the Gzar's political opponents. At least before the finale of Psychonauts 2, there were apparently plans to expand the ride with scenes of Gristol's future successes in life after bringing back Maligula to work by his side, but these plans are most likely shelved after Gristol's schemes are completely foiled by the Psychonauts. Aside from the ride itself, however, Gristol's Mind doesn't seem to contain much else: most of what exists outside it are backstage areas that sit in a dark void.
The ride includes a place to queue up and a booth with an operator at its entrance, and a gift shop at its end. In keeping with Gristol's nationalist sentiments, the entire ride is only accessible to Grulovians, as well as having a minimum required height for passengers.
From the ride's entrance, the Ride Operator (or anyone else with access to the controls) can control certain portions of the experience. This includes opening doors, draining the water in some rooms, stopping and starting the ride, and even calling security, in the form of enemies like Censors, Doubts and Judges. The control panel also changes the position of the "Diasp-o-rama", an installation that shows the Malik family's flight through inhospitable terrain, behind which is a memory of Gristol's room at the Lady Luctopus Casino the inner Gristol often hangs out in.
Points of Interest[]
- Dressing Room: A room dedicated to Gristol's disguise as Truman Zanotto. A large plaster bust of Truman with a golden bust of Gristol inside of it was in this room, surrounded by a mirror, some blackboards with simple facts about Truman to memorize, and costume supplies.
- Ride Entrance: The area the Ride Operator's booth is in. A line made up of figments is outside the ride in a roped-off queue area. The luxurious walls of the ride's entrance bear many portraits of the Malik family in gilded frames.
- The Fall of Grulovia: The first sub-area of the ride; this section depicts Grulovia as a thriving and happy nation that was torn apart by warmongering Psychonauts. It includes dancing cardboard Grulovians, a set piece of Ford attacking Maligula, and some animatronic Maliks.
- Life in Exile: The second sub-area of the ride. In this section, the Malik family's fate after fleeing from Maligula's rampage is illustrated. It includes the Diasp-o-Rama and a room illustrating, according to the Propagandaneer, the "unimaginable riches" the people would share in if Gristol were made Gzar. This room is mostly filled with gilded egg-shaped jewels based on Fabergé eggs.
- Luctopus Suite: A memory of Gristol's room at the Lady Luctopus Casino. It can be accessed through the "Adrift at Sea" background on the Diasp-o-Rama.
- Infiltrating the Psychonauts: The third sub-area of the ride, which depicts Gristol's exploits after learning that Maligula was still alive.
- Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp: A portion of the third area that looks like Whispering Rock, where Gristol went to try and interrogate Ford Cruller. It includes facsimiles of the Whispering Rock entrance gate, message board, Kids' Cabins, Main Lodge, and even some figments shaped like some of the camp kids.
- Gift Shoppe: The attraction's gift shop, where the ride ends. There's an egg-shaped booth near its opulent entrance that dispenses photos taken on the ride. The shop sells decorative eggs, plates, mugs, t-shirts, and dolls of various people relevant to the plan including Raz, Lili, Nona, and most of all, plushies of Truman with briefcases made of real metal (priced at $25), available in large piles.
In Psychonauts 2[]
Razputin and Ford were in the middle of attempting to seal Maligula inside Lucrecia's psyche once and for all, when Raz is pulled out of her mind by Truman Zanotto using Smelling Salts. Truman then begins attempting to get Lucrecia loose from the Astralathe. Suspicious of her father's recent behavior, Lili pulls out her Psycho-Portal and drags Razputin along to check inside Truman's mind.
Lili and Raz find themselves in a sort of dressing room with an enormous plaster bust of Truman. Lili notes that none of the paraphernalia in the room is consistent with her father's personality at all, and Raz finds a crack in the bust. Breaking it open, they see that underneath the plaster is a golden bust of the man they know as Nick Johnsmith, the Motherlobe employee in charge of the mailroom whose brainless body was shipped to Truman's office earlier that day. The both of them are immediately sucked into a vacuum that cleans up the broken bust, and deposits them outside the ride entrance. As Lili concludes that this is not Truman's mind and Raz wonders whose it is, the two of them are shoved aside to allow passage for Nick Johnsmith himself, who the ride's operator introduces as "Gzesarevich Gristol Malik, future Gzar of Grulovia". He gets on the ride and goes through the doors, while Raz and Lili decide to pursue him.
The Ride Operator refuses Raz and Lili passage because they are too short to go on the ride, but even when Raz edits the sign to make himself seem the appropriate height, Lili is not allowed on due to not being Grulovian. She decides to stay behind, knocking out the operator and taking control of the ride behind the scenes while Raz scouts it out on the inside.
Razputin gets into the ride and gets taken through a room that depicts Grulovian history according to Gristol, claiming Grulovia was a happy and prosperous nation that was defended by general Maligula, until a bloodthirsty Ford Cruller attacked and incapacitated her while the royal family had to flee. Razputin, well aware by now of the truth surrounding the Battle of Grulovia after learning about it from practically all of the Psychic Six, disagrees with this depiction of the events, though he notes that he's no longer completely sure of who to trust after having learned about Ford's actions.
After repairing an electrical problem and taking out some enemies, Raz moves on to the next room, which depicts the Malik family's plight after fleeing the country. One installation explains that Gristol's father Theodore told him Maligula was alive on his deathbed, after which Gristol hatched a plan to regain Maligula's help and return to power. The ride then stops in front of another door. Raz asks the nearby Propagandaneer for help, but he is more concerned with one of the installations, which misses a large jeweled egg. Raz goes off to try and find one, and in doing so he asks Lili to rearrange the Diasp-o-rama, behind which is a memory version of Gristol's luxurious suite at the Lady Luctopus. Inside the suite, Raz finds the inner Gristol, who recognizes a fellow Grulovian and offers him some caviar. As the view zooms in on his spoon, Raz appears next to one of the eggs, hops on, and goes through an obstacle course made up of symbols of opulence while balancing on top of it, that culminates in the egg ending up in its correct place on the ride, though he also wrecks the installation of Theodore's deathbed in the process.
Past the second door, the third room of the ride is dedicated to Gristol's plan to recover Maligula. The first portion depicts him at Whispering Rock in an attempt to interrogate Ford Cruller. When that did not work due to Ford's mind being shattered at the time, he came up with his current scheme: to infiltrate the Psychonauts and swap his brain with that of Truman Zanotto, then manipulate Raz into fixing Ford. The installation that explains this suddenly closes on Raz, however, thrusting him into an area full of angry Grulovian peasants where he must fight off a large number of enemies. Once he's taken care of those, he has to find his way back to the ride through some dark backstage areas floating in the void, which contain animatronics that depict Dr. Loboto performing the brain swapping procedure.
Back on the ride, the remaining section gets increasingly abstract, as Gristol appears to have no concrete idea about how exactly he will achieve the scene at its finale, which is him on top of the world backed by Maligula. Raz then immediately gets transported to the ride's "gift shoppe", where he confronts the inner Gristol. Gristol, of course, has no intention of listening to Razputin's arguments, and binds him to the ceiling like a puppet. Raz uses Time Bubble to slow a fan in the wall, which allows Lili to enter the shop and tackle Gristol, then set the shop on fire and beat the Gzesarevich up with a plush toy that looks like her dad. Its mental briefcase gives Raz and Lili an idea of where Truman's real brain might be, then both of them exit Gristol's mind to deal with the escalating problems out in the real world.
Upon revisiting Fatherland Follies, Raz comments that the place hasn't changed, and wonders aloud why he even thought Gristol would have. When he enters the gift shop again, not finding Gristol there, he wonders again if Gristol might be rethinking his way of life, before concluding that's "probably too much credit". Finally, he actually can find the inner Gristol in the memory of his Luctopus suite, where the failed Gzar does appear to be thinking about the implications of some of the harsh truths he's had to learn, though he is not yet able to realize any moral failing on his own part.
Collectibles[]
Figments[]
There are 98 figments in Fatherland Follies. Most are various sorts of set dressing for the ride.
Figments of Interest[]
Among Gristol's figments, some that stand out include:
- Figments depicting some of the Psychic Six—Ford, Cassie, Compton, and Bob—in awe of Maligula's power.
- Figments lining up for the ride, which are the only figments to be heard talking (in disapproval, as Raz cuts in line) across the entire series. One of them is a dog in a crown labeled "Spotty", which is a figment designed by a backer.
- Figments shaped like campers at Whispering Rock, including Dogen, Bobby, Mikhail, and Clem and Crystal.
- A Figment depicting Gristol sleeping with junk food and a magazine littered around him, found on his bed in the memory of the Luctopus Suite.
- A Figment shaped like several future autobiographies.
Emotional Baggage[]
- Steamer Trunk
- Suitcase
- Bag: Located in the Gift Shop section inside the shop on a lower shelf next to some figurines. This bag can only be obtained on a revisit.
- Tag: Located in the Life in Exile section behind a grave.
- Hatbox
- Bag: Located in the The Fall of Grulovia section, head to the part of the ride where Ford Cruller and Maligula are fighting. Near Maligula's feet is a tunnel for a train that leads to a small area with a platforming section. Use Time Bubble to complete the section and get the bag.
- Tag: Located in the The Fall of Grulovia section, head to the part of the ride where the Malik family are waving and jump in behind them. Behind the clouds are trampolines, follow the trampolines up to find the tag.
- Dufflebag
- Bag: Located in the The Fall of Grulovia section, head to the part of the ride where the Malik family are running away from their home and jump in behind them. Search this room to find the bag on the floor.
- Tag: Located in the The Fall of Grulovia section near where the ride forces Raz to get out. Turn around from looking at the door and open the small steel door with the red light above it. Follow the Mental Connection nodes to get the tag.
- Purse
- Bag: Located in the Life in Exile section next to the king-sized bed of the former Gzar of Grulovia, Theodore Malik.
- Tag: Located in the Life in Exile section, head to the mural that Raz can control and change the backdrop to be snow-themed. Jump through the hole in the mural to find the tag.
Memory Vaults[]
- Glory to Grulovia! - Located in the The Fall of Grulovia section, head to the part of the ride where Ford Cruller and Maligula are fighting. Near Maligula's feet is a tunnel for a train that leads to a small area. Turn left to find the vault.
- A Land without Caviar - Located in the Whispering Rock section, head through the door of the first cabin on the right. Head through the cabin to find the vault.
Half-A-Minds[]
- Located in the The Fall of Grulovia section behind the water wheel.
- Located in the Life in Exile section, head to the mural that Raz can control and change the backdrop to be desert-themed. Jump through the hole in the mural to find the Half-A-Mind.
Nuggets of Wisdom[]
Every Nugget in Fatherland Follies is shaped like an egg.
- Located in the Life in Exile section inside the room with all of the decorative eggs and the massive egg cup.
- Located in the Life in Exile section in the Lady Luctopus room. Burn down the poster that led to the secret room in the real world and follow the path to the Nugget.
- Located in the Whispering Rock section, head through the door of the first cabin on the right. Inside the cabin is the Nugget.
Enemies[]
Trivia[]
- Other than Loboto's Labyrinth (which is the tutorial) and Ford's Fractured Mind (an exception that consists of four smaller levels), Fatherland Follies is the only mental world in Psychonauts 2 to not have a boss fight.
- One of the side areas in the backstage portion of the "Infiltrating the Psychonauts" area—the one that contains the Steamer Trunk Emotional Baggage—also has one of the nesting dolls Stacking, another game by Psychonauts developer Double Fine, off in the corner.
- There are no Regrets in this mental world, possibly showing that Gristol does not have any guilt for his actions.
- Use of the "plucky" pin in Fatherland Follies picks up a heavily decorated egg from the ground.