Psychonauts 2: Fatherland Follies Walkthrough | SPOILERS

You know a dude's messed up when their mental vault, the things that in literally everyone else's mind shows you a horribly painful life-changing trauma... and it's him running out of caviar...

What creeps me out about Nick is that he believes that nobody in his country was suffering because he himself was living a life of luxury, which shows a total lack of empathy. “It was amazing! I had a cotton candy maker in my bedroom!” It’s worse than believing that other people exist to serve him, he actually believes that he is the yardstick of truth and happiness in the world.

Gristol's mind is a pretty good example of how a person can believe a lie or their own perspective so much that it colors their mind and memories.

When you attack "Nick" in the mailroom while he's debrained, he'll sometimes shout "I'm telling my dad!"

Gristol served caviar to Raz on a metal spoon because he's a peasant, Metal absorbs into caviar and taints the flavor, so you either eat it with your fingers or use a spoon made of mother-of-pearl or plastic. Serving Raz caviar on a Metal Spoon is pure evil.

To me, Gristol is something of a dark reflection of Raz. Both worship heroes, Raz the Psychonauts and Gristol Maligula. Both want to be heroes, Raz wants to be a Psychonaut and Gristol wants to be the "saviour" of the fatherland. They are also both underestimated, nobody believed that "Nick Johnsmith" was a threat and people constantly looked down on Raz till they see what he can do. Thoughts anyone?

The most consistent theme in Nicks head is the Faberge Egg, it even decorates his door in the collective. The Faberge egg was once used by Razorfist as a analogy for spoiled but sensitive children. Ornate on the outside but hollow on the inside, people who were raised on the idea that they were meant to be something, but lacking in the effort to do that themselves. Gristol is a incredibly clever and capable person. He tricks psychic special agents and implants fears into Loboto (somehow?). But ultimately, theres a reason Nicks mind is a narration of his backstory and not a representation of who he is. Because all Gristol IS, is a sense that he deserves better. Hes opulant, hollow, and is obsessed with the idea he never "Hatched" into the Gzar. But hes not a real egg, hes a jewel toy.

A very minor, yet pretty neat touch in the mole’s mind is that is one of the mental worlds where there aren’t any regrets to fight against. Kinda makes sense since you’re traveling through the mind of a self-absorbed sociopath EDIT: this is pretty minor edit, but this level of small detail is pretty on par to the milkman’s conspiracy’s absence of censor enemies

never noticed till now but when lili comes to raz's rescue, his knees go weak - a nod to the first game when lili first sees raz at camp and her knees go weak

Analysis videos NEED to be made on this level. This is the ultimate look into the brain of a narcissistic sociopath. There are some details I’d like to point out here that reflect the psychology of a covert narcissist, the kind of narcissist Gristol seems to be: - A covert narcissist is a narcissist who doesn’t display the outwardly grandiose tendencies many believe are the only presentation of narcissism. They instead portray themselves as selfless and humble, in an effort to coax out other’s compliments from a place of sympathy which is a source of attention. Notice how much everyone says Nick is so nice, and he would never do such a horrible thing. Nick Johnsmith is Gristol’s false self he presents to get the attention he craves. -His mind clearly shows a totally different story to what Nick Johnsmith’s mind would have in it. Gristol conceals his true grandiose fantasies in his mind. Covert narcissists usually take on the role of a victim seeking retribution, denied their right to the grandiosity they crave. This is why Gristol says he’s “homeless” despite living in a penthouse. He sees himself as inherently deserving more than even the luxury he has now. -This is also why Gristol blames literally everyone else but himself for the unfortunate things in his life. Ford, the psychonauts, and even his own father take the fall. The one person who should most obviously be blamed for the literal destruction of the country, Maligula, is not blamed, but instead said to be “neglected in her time of need”. He is showing her empathy because he still needs to use her to meet his ends. -Many would point to his childhood as the prince as the reason for his warped perspective, but regardless of their traumatic pasts narcissists are ruthless. If he was simply in this for his country, what he wants us to believe, then he would’ve have had empathy for his father and mother throughout the story, not just when it suited him. He also would’ve honored his parents more. Instead he blames his father for not keeping the country from being flooded so he could take the throne. -Lilli’s dad not liking him is a nice touch, because it shows Truman is a man of good character. He likely has met many people like Nick Johnsmith because of his powerful place in the psychonauts. Truman gained a bullshit detector because so many people attempted to get on his good side to achieve higher status. Often covert narcissists only show respect to people who have more power than them, in order to get that power by association. -Gristol taking advantage of Loboto, a literal lobotomy victim with the inability to practice proper decision making due to brain damage, shows just how ruthless and disgusting he is. He felt like he could get away with it, and no consequences should befall him for using this traumatized man as his scapegoat. Even though the moment Lilli assaults Gristol, he acts like a little pissbaby coward again. That’s what he is when he has to finally deal with his consequences. This is getting long but I wanted to say something.

Considering Gristol isn't psychic himself, He must have used some BRUTAL torture methods on Doctor Lobotto!

Holy crap. This level is probably the most terrifying level of the whole series, at least for me. I'm gonna assume the developers did a lot of research into just what someone with a sociopathic level of narcissism would think like; Gristol reminds me a lot of Handsome Jack from Borderlands, someone so wrapped up in their vanity and obsessions that they believe that any decision they make, regardless of the consequences to themselves or others, is the morally right thing to do. The whole "everyone is the hero of their own story" thing perverted to complete self-absorption. The whole world can go to hell, as long as he can plug himself back into the Matrix and live in luxury once again. Double Fine really outdid themselves here.

I find this extra chilling because while he denies the bad parts of grulovia he seems to at least be faintly aware of them ("the people's complaints drowning in prosperity", the horde of angry peasants that comes out of nowhere from that vault), and the ending of the ride implies that he has no problem with the destruction maligula will unleash on the world as long as he gets what he sees as his.

Welp. I spent the whole game feeling like each mind was an (interactive) Theme Park Ride and then they made one that is quite literally a theme park ride.

It's darkly hilarious how Gristol's side of the story as shown by the ride is utter BS.

You never encounter regrets in Fatherland Follies, and you only encounter Doubts and Panic Attacks in what is implied to be a memory of Gristol narrowly escaping death as a boy. The Doubts because the reality of the angry mob contradicts his delusions of the Maliks being loved by the people, and the Panic Attacks because it's the only real traumatic memory for him.

I really appreciate the wordplay they used for the delugionist. It sounds awfully similar to delusional, which, I think given Gristol's internal world, is kind of spot on. Speculating he kind of seems to be a representation of a narcissistic personality. He has to remind himself with big statues and boards that he is Truman and to recall important (pretty simple) information that is unrelated to him. Not to mention the statues he's put up through out his mind to himself. The whole propaganda ride is also interesting take on how narcissists tend to take what they think and apply it to everyone: "Histories think it was his greatest mistake" = Gristol thinks it was his father's greatest mistake "Gristol Malik was their voice" - Obvious there This game was a ride, and the little details really made it fascinating.

Elijah Wood did such a good job as his voice.

Way better villain than Coach/Lobato in the first game. I really wasn't expecting Nick/Gristol to be the mole and it really surprised me in a good way. What a great final level!

Something I noticed is that if you look at the casino penthouse both in the real world and inside Gristol's mind, there are clues suggesting that he was actually pretty broken up about his father's death. For one thing the place is in a shambles with stacks of beer cans, and in the mental realm version there's a figment of Gristol lying on the bed surrounded by empty junk food packets while he himself is at the bar looking just as miserable. And when he says "my father died today" he sounds genuinely sad.