A note on Spirit Engine 2: 
 
A lot of people seem to think that grinding is a necessary part of RPGs.  They really aren't, but they are for a certain type, where the level system demands a certain plateau of ability from the player characters.  Grinding is often demoralizing for me if I don't enjoy the combat, and at times (on Hard) I've had to grind a bit in Spirit Engine to have the right level abilities (or enough points to rearrange my character's skills satisfactorily).  What I like about grinding in SE2 is it usually has a game point beyond leveling.  Because the game is predominantly side-scrolling, you're trying to get from one edge of a screen to the other.  If you can't quite make it, but at least beat a few hordes of enemies, you still gain experience, and through smart use of save points, you keep that experience.  If you continue to do this, eventually you'll be strong enough to get past them.  But in the process of this grinding, you can also beat the screen.  In other grinding scenarios, you tend to wander about randomly, picking on weaker creatures to have the strength to beat the harder guys.  In Spirit Engine 2, it's all compacted into the same experience, so that if you figure out a new strategy to beat the boss or the really hard monster when you run into them again, you've suddenly removed the need for any grind.  If you don't, you die, and you load with all the experience from your last save, ready to charge straight at them again, rather than having to go off to some other forest to do it.  SE2 really works nicely in that way.
 
The thing I originally wanted to announce, in a few sentences:
 
Hooray, I've finally managed to borrow the XBox version of Psychonauts!  It's time for me to see what people have been yammering about for the past...  however many years.

A note on Spirit Engine 2: 
 
A lot of people seem to think that grinding is a necessary part of RPGs.  They really aren't, but they are for a certain type, where the level system demands a certain plateau of ability from the player characters.  Grinding is often demoralizing for me if I don't enjoy the combat, and at times (on Hard) I've had to grind a bit in Spirit Engine to have the right level abilities (or enough points to rearrange my character's skills satisfactorily).  What I like about grinding in SE2 is it usually has a game point beyond leveling.  Because the game is predominantly side-scrolling, you're trying to get from one edge of a screen to the other.  If you can't quite make it, but at least beat a few hordes of enemies, you still gain experience, and through smart use of save points, you keep that experience.  If you continue to do this, eventually you'll be strong enough to get past them.  But in the process of this grinding, you can also beat the screen.  In other grinding scenarios, you tend to wander about randomly, picking on weaker creatures to have the strength to beat the harder guys.  In Spirit Engine 2, it's all compacted into the same experience, so that if you figure out a new strategy to beat the boss or the really hard monster when you run into them again, you've suddenly removed the need for any grind.  If you don't, you die, and you load with all the experience from your last save, ready to charge straight at them again, rather than having to go off to some other forest to do it.  SE2 really works nicely in that way.
 
The thing I originally wanted to announce, in a few sentences:
 
Hooray, I've finally managed to borrow the XBox version of Psychonauts!  It's time for me to see what people have been yammering about for the past...  however many years.

I'm finally getting around to Psychonauts too! I've had a PC copy of Psychonauts (5 CDs!) that was given to me by a buddy 3 or 4 years ago. All the Brutal Legend publicity reminded me I had Psychonauts up in the attic and I'm finally giving it a playthrough.
 
What I didn't like: The first 4 hours... I'm not a huge fan of the character design and the start of the game is cutscene city. But it grew on me after that, and once I hit the Goggleor section I was hooked. I'm nearing the end and although I'm not crazy enough to go back and find *every* last collectible item, I really enjoyed it.