THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => CLIKC => Topic started by: Johnny C on 22 Apr 2011, 02:13
-
welcome! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Vg2YS-sFE)
here is the thread where we collectively lose our shit over this spectacular game + also just hash it out. like bros.
first thing: oh my god that fucking ending. it was jaw-dropping, and i mean like in the literal sense. my mouth was actually hanging open.
second thing: for a humourous game, portal really takes you through like a pretty surprising range of emotions. glados' character arc is obviously really spectacular, but although i guess it's related cave johnson's short arc goes from being quirky and kind of off-the-wall to being fairly tragic (the line that was something like "caroline, could you bring me some more pain pills" hit me really hard for some reason), and wheatley's occasionally fairly menacing and petty and angry and intentionally not funny, which kind of surprised me. valve are really fucking good at writing characters!
third thing: okay this doesn't need to go in the spoiler thread i guess but how amazing is valve's sense of scale in this game? they really aren't happy unless you're pausing to look at stuff every fifteen minutes or so. one of the dev commentaries (which i'm kind of mixed on, this time around) explained that they did initial runs of the game to test the pacing of it by having all the levels designed in separate areas and then rigging them together using hidden portals – as in, you open a door and go into another room, but those rooms aren't actually physically connected. the developer explained that they did this instead of moving every level around every time they wanted to switch the order around, and when they were finished they strung the levels together and took the portals out. all except, he said, one. i think i figured out which part it is – the bit where you fire the portal across the enormous expanse and fall into the trap room – but i have no idea, cause it's hidden so well. anyways, point: massive, clever.
-
also w/r/t the moon
-what twigged me wasn't just the white gel, but like i knew the second i saw the moon what was up because of all the weird lunar imagery in the rat man murals. moons fucking everywhere!
-i could be wrong on this but this is a nice touch i noticed in the dev-run playthough: the second time you wake up in the hotel room and the room is all shitty and dark, the art with the sun in it looks like art with a moon in it. they cue you to it from like the first moments of the game. that's pretty spectacular.
-
I love the concept of "Science" that Cave Johnson was obsessed with (and subsequently had forced upon the AIs) and how it would be the destruction of Aperture. You have this device that can create a portal between the Earth and the fucking moon, but what's way more important is test chambers. That's what makes the science. Aperture could've revolutionized everything with any one of their products, but first they had to do more science. I don't know why that intrigues me so much as a satirical concept, but it just does.
But yeah, this game was GLaDOS's. She was the main character and there was an incredible amount of emotional depth to her dialogue and her story. She was genuinely frightening immediately after you wake her up. Like "Oh fuck, I'm so sorry GLaDOS please don't do this." scary, which gradually gives way to simply passive-aggressive and cruel (though one of the commentaries mentioned they originally had GLaDOS that scary through to the part where Wheatly takes over, but testers were TOO scared). Then her pitiful form and journey of self-discovery makes her such a surprisingly sympathetic character that...I don't know. It might be one of the most effective heel-face turns I've ever seen, read, or played. There's a moment near the end where she's talking about how for the longest time they attached different cores and different voices to shout at her and try to control her, but now that she wants to help you it's actually her voice and she's terrified of that and it was just amazing. Though, her solution to that problem was even better.
-
just finished the SP last night. god. damn.
i actually fired my portal at the moon so i could jump through and escape to my cold space death, rather than die slowly and painfully at the hands of Wheatley. Didn't want Chell to suffer, ya know?
It didn't even occur to me initially that the vacuum would suck him, me, and everything else not bolted down through the portal. But then it all worked out and we got a happy ending. I really did not expect this game to end happily. Not at all.
Now to go through it again with commentary on for the rest of the secrets/trophies I missed the first time. I still need to finish up the co-op too, but with the PSN down for count atm, I have to wait for a splitscreen partner. Either that or download my free Steam version, but that'll take like 12 hours so....I'm not exactly chomping at the bit on that one.
-
I had so much fun with this game. So much fun!
How many of the secret side rooms did you find? They were much better hidden this time around than in Portal, the first I found was by pure accident, and the second one was after looking around for ages for solution to one of the bridge puzzles, and seeing an opening in the wall.
I'm also really amazed with the level design. The chambers were fun, challenging and at times pretty intimidating. What really struck me is that they've grown far, far larger than in Portal (except two of the later chambers), so you don't really see everything once you walk into a room, but you have to look around to get the overview.
-
That actually reminds me of the only other complaint I had about the game: loading. The loading times weren't long but they seem absurdly often. Is the Source engine really incapable of these massive rooms and sheer amount of...stuff going on in them that a loading screen is required after every test chamber? I don't know. It just seemed strange.
-
the loading only threw me off a bit because it kind of disrupted the sense of seamlessness. for whatever reason, the old half-life 2 model, with the freeze-frame, makes it feel more like a one-take game.
-
I really hope they implement a simple to use test chamber creation system, be it something like Sketchup or an in-engine game mode where you can spawn items and architectural parts with a physics gun like Gmod has. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who want to make their own test chambers, but don't want to have to learn Hammer. The co-op play is just asking for it; just add an extra lobby room to the hub and replace the level selector with a community maps browser. Of course we'll end up with about 25,000 Wheatley chambers, but including a like/dislike rating system would make it easier to filter through them.
That actually reminds me of the only other complaint I had about the game: loading. The loading times weren't long but they seem absurdly often. Is the Source engine really incapable of these massive rooms and sheer amount of...stuff going on in them that a loading screen is required after every test chamber? I don't know. It just seemed strange.
Source can support some pretty big maps and many simultaneous physics objects, but they did have to stay within the system RAM limitations of the 360 and PS3. (512 MB and 256 MB, respectively, minus whatever their operating systems take.) The load times are shorter than on some of the older Source games (TF2 before they backported some of the Portal 2 changes was pretty brutal), but it still breaks the flow a bit. :(
-
"Developer Valve has announced that those who are planning to pick up the upcoming first-person puzzle game Portal 2 on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony will be able to get access to the mods and other custom content that those getting the game on the PC will have the ability to create using specific tools."
so, sweet.
-
i am really hoping they do some worthwhile dlc for this – e.g. i'd really like to see the levels they'd designed around the personality cores.
also when i replayed it for dev commentary, i tried to hear as much of the final boss dialogue as possible, and it was beautiful. i think if you hear certain lines they wind up as conversation triggers? i don't remember the danger core, for example, doing a "thorn in my side" response the first time i played through. plus the space core has some of the funniest lines i've ever heard in a video game. "dad, i'm in space! 'i'm proud of you, son.' dad, are you space? 'yes, now we are a family again.'" i had to pause the game, i was laughing so hard.
-
After finishing co-op, my roommate and I agreed we had so much fun just playing together that all we want is more co-op puzzles, regardless of any dialogue or story or anything. Just more puzzles to die laughing as we struggle through.
-
I'm replaying just now, and I suddenly remembered how much I loved the "fat and adopted" jokes. Especially the fat ones, as that's the running gag in my group of friends (unless anyone actually heavy is around). I don't think I've ever heard anyone apply so many layers to such simple jokes - "you look.... healthy" had me roaring with laughter.
Also, in the first room where you destroy turrets with lasers, there's a turret behind some grating. You can destroy it with the lasers, although that involves you turning around, so I missed it on the first playthough. Seriously, if you didn't do that, go back and do it - you'll find the best thing. Also, the secret room on the bridge room I mentioned earlier has a second secret room within it. That's pretty awesome, although it doesn't take you anywhere special, just to the room overlooking the chamber.
-
all the easter eggs in this game are like, totally worthwhile.
in terms of callbacks – there was actually a really spectacular one that i didn't even think about until my second time through. wheatley shines the light on the conveyor belt and mentions the replicas of the "murdered" robots, who always scream and nobody knows why. then at the end GLADoS mentions putting wheatley in the room she built of robots who just scream at you. the second time through, when wheatley mentioned them, i was astonished. there's SO MUCH that they set up only to reference it again several hours later. really clever.
-
Source can support some pretty big maps and many simultaneous physics objects, but they did have to stay within the system RAM limitations of the 360 and PS3. (512 MB and 256 MB, respectively, minus whatever their operating systems take.) The load times are shorter than on some of the older Source games (TF2 before they backported some of the Portal 2 changes was pretty brutal), but it still breaks the flow a bit. :(
This makes a decent amount of sense, but wouldn't it have been really impressive if they had figured out a system to control how much of the game loads in a single loading screen based on yr available RAM? Like, just a little slider in options.
Oh, that reminds me of another minor thing I disliked: for some reason every time you tinker w/ graphics settings, it needs to remind you what each setting is. Thanks guys, but I got this.
-
also, what cheap cunt at Sony figured that 256MB was plenty for a system?
I heard a Bethesda podcast the other day where they mentioned that they had an actual full house party when Microsoft decided to bump the 360 up to 512, so they could actually make Oblivion run on the thing.
-
Just reading back the moments that made you guys happy is making me happy again. This is one hell of a game.
-
Is it odd that I find the turrets adorable. Like I said in the other thread I felt really bad letting a still alive turret get thrown into the furnace. WHY DO I CARE SO MUCH ABOUT THE THINGS THAT ARE TRYING TO KILL ME?!?
-
You mean the only working, whole one on the turret redemption line? There's an achievement for rescuing it.
-
the first time i grabbed it, the second time i sent that motherfucker to its death
-
The more I think about it, the more I realize just how much better they did in making a narrative w/out cutscenes than even in Half-Life or HL2. Just, listening to the fall of Aperture and Cave Johnson across three points in time was brilliant and told you everything you needed to know, perfectly. THough, I can't believe it didn't click to me why Aperture was involved in Senate hearings on missing astronauts the first time I entered the 1970s level.
-
Man I just beat the game last night. So great.
God it was amazing how they set up that Moon thing.
Like Cave Johnson talking about how ground up Moon rocks could be used to make Portal Surfaces. And then later on when you are presented with the moon it all suddenly makes sense what you have to do. The whole Cave Johnson character was just awesome. The whole rant about lemons and burning your house down was just amazing.
And the empty ship building yard where the icebreaker was built!!!! Amazing! It's so freaking awesome that they included that!
And like saving that one turret and having it thank you and mention Caroline.
Oh and big "thanks" to Tommy who told me that Chell died at the end of the game so that was in the back of my brain for the entire ending and I thought I was dead meat in that elevator. And when the door opened back up at the end I was sure I was dead again.
-
And the empty ship building yard where the icebreaker was built!!!! Amazing! It's so freaking awesome that they included that!
FUCK, man! that just made me want episode 3 even more.
-
although let's break it down: in hl2: ep2, it's said that the borealis disappeared along with a piece of its drydock. actually finding the place in game, it's like, so far from even being near water, and cave johnson's recording mentions something about it being a "teleportation experiment." so of course aperture's method of getting a ship from drydock to ocean involves teleportation, rather than just building the ship next to the ocean.
-
wheatley's occasionally fairly menacing and petty and angry and intentionally not funny, which kind of surprised me. valve are really fucking good at writing characters!
When he started to talk about how Chell wasn't the first human he tried to use to escape during the final battle...man that was a moment. I suddenly realized that this idiot had gotten a half dozen people killed maybe more.
-
I started the game over in dev commentary mode and paid more attention during the opening container scene. Do you realise that he's knocking other containers over the whole time, which probably have other test subjects in them? And then there's busted up husks of other containers all over the place, especially nearer to the place where you bust through the wall. I just didn't think about it on the first playthrough, but if there's other people in the containers he kills probably about 10 people in the opening scene, and he's probably done this dozens if not hundreds of times during the time you have been in stasis.
And yeah, there is that one line where GlaDOS says something about one of the researcher's Nobel prize certainly not neing awarded for being immune to toxic nerve gas.
-
You mean the only working, whole one on the turret redemption line? There's an achievement for rescuing it.
I know, but at the time I didn't know that. I just grabbed it cause I felt sorry for it, the achievement popped up, and I carried him until it got forced out of my hand.
And yeah, there is that one line where GlaDOS says something about one of the researcher's Nobel prize certainly not neing awarded for being immune to toxic nerve gas.
I laughed so hard it woke people up
-
And yeah, there is that one line where GlaDOS says something about one of the researcher's Nobel prize certainly not neing awarded for being immune to toxic nerve gas.
Beyond that, near the end there's the part where GLaDOS says Wheatly will run out of tests because she didn't stockpile chambers, then he announces he found hundreds of chambers to use full of skeletons to which she says something like "Skeletons? Right. I guess I did stockpile chambers. As souvenirs."
-
Portal 2 was pretty good but I didn't like the way that every single puzzle had one solution with one place to put your portals for it to work.
-
As with Portal One, I'm sure some enterprising young chaps will figure out ways around that for speedrunning and whatnot. Like Test Chamber 17 (companion cube one) with only two portals.
-
spaaaaaaaaace
-
yes, we're in space
-
But yeah, this game was GLaDOS's. She was the main character and there was an incredible amount of emotional depth to her dialogue and her story. She was genuinely frightening immediately after you wake her up. Like "Oh fuck, I'm so sorry GLaDOS please don't do this." scary, which gradually gives way to simply passive-aggressive and cruel (though one of the commentaries mentioned they originally had GLaDOS that scary through to the part where Wheatly takes over, but testers were TOO scared). Then her pitiful form and journey of self-discovery makes her such a surprisingly sympathetic character that...I don't know. It might be one of the most effective heel-face turns I've ever seen, read, or played. There's a moment near the end where she's talking about how for the longest time they attached different cores and different voices to shout at her and try to control her, but now that she wants to help you it's actually her voice and she's terrified of that and it was just amazing. Though, her solution to that problem was even better.
I disagree, I think Wheatley was the star of the game. I think GLaDOS is a little too familiar from the first game, there's only so many times that she can make a fat joke or mock you for having no parents or passive-aggressively mention how you killed her before it starts falling a little flat. I also thought that the Caroline-is-GLaDOS twist was incredibly telegraphed, to the point where it lost a lot of its emotional impact. From the moment she recognizes Cave's voice it's really obvious where they're going with it. That being said, I thought her deleting Caroline as soon she gets back in her own body was an effective moment. Nothing gets in the way of science. The potato transplant and some of the jokes that resulted from it worked better in my opinion, but if I think back on the things I enjoyed most about the game, nearly all of them involved Wheatly and the others were mostly Cave.
I'm being critical, but I still loved the game and thought it lived up to the first in every way. I absolutely understand why GLaDOS was there from a story perspective and she's still obviously a very well-written character. I just think the new characters were fresher and therefore funnier.
-
I thought it was fairly obvious too, but I thought the point of the Caroline arc was more about how it affected GLADoS than about her backstory. Her being Caroline I saw coming; Caroline's existence giving GLADoS something like empathy, I didn't.
-
I thought it was fairly obvious too, but I thought the point of the Caroline arc was more about how it affected GLADoS than about her backstory. Her being Caroline I saw coming; Caroline's existence giving GLADoS something like empathy, I didn't.
At first I was a little surprised, but I guess I originally missed the part where he talks about storing people's memories and personalities and then talks about Caroline running the place when he's gone.
-
I figured it out the moment GLaDOS said "Yes, Mr. Johnson!" alongside Caroline's recording.
Seriously, fuck, god, this game is so good! Too bad PSN is down, I really want to beat the co-op!!
-
The coop is great.
-
Yeah the Caroline thing is telegraphed but they meant it to be. You're not supposed to figure it out at the "reveal", they drop hints along the way so you are super creeped out by the whole deal and wondering how the fuck it happened.
-
(http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u330/Dreamcastguy/qujsf.jpg)
-
My favorite part of the ending? The Animal King takeover. Fucking awesome.
-
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkszxfXhT11qzn4eho1_500.jpg
-
alright, i got nothing but time right now, so if someone else wants to play co-op with me, just shoot me a message over live. i am like desperate to play the co-op mode.
-
Finished the game recently. Gonna have to pick out a bunch of quotes here. But first: I don't know what's more unbelievable, the fact that you portal to the moon, or that GLaDOS saves your life. Both of these are the biggest 'wow' moments in the game, I think.
all the easter eggs in this game are like, totally worthwhile.
in terms of callbacks – there was actually a really spectacular one that i didn't even think about until my second time through. wheatley shines the light on the conveyor belt and mentions the replicas of the "murdered" robots, who always scream and nobody knows why. then at the end GLADoS mentions putting wheatley in the room she built of robots who just scream at you. the second time through, when wheatley mentioned them, i was astonished. there's SO MUCH that they set up only to reference it again several hours later. really clever.
Yeah, I loved the way Wheatley was telling that as if it were a horror story. "At night you can still hear the screams. Of their replicas. All functionally identical to the originals. No memory whatsoever of the incident. No one knows what they're screaming about. There's obviously nothing paranormal going on."
You mean the only working, whole one on the turret redemption line? There's an achievement for rescuing it.
That was the Oracle Turret! After you pick it up it quotes Cave Johnson a few times. "Get mad! Don't make lemonade!" It also mentiones a Greek titan myth: "Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving the gift of knowledge to man. He was cast into the bowels of the earth, and pecked by birds." That last bit is a massive understatement, seeing as the myth tells that his liver was eaten by an eagle each night.
I vaguely suspected that the Oracle Turret hinted at how GLaDOS and Wheatley get attacked by birds, but I never suspected the whole plot actually goes along the lines of the Greek myth. Prometheus, god of foresight aka GLaDOS is cast into the pit when Wheatley, aka Epimetheus, god of hindsight takes over. PotatOS is pecked by a bird at the bottom of the pit, plus you can see the word 'Tartarus' painted on one of the buildings in the distance down there. It's incredibly well set up, but don't give me credit for it, I just read it somewhere else.
I started the game over in dev commentary mode and paid more attention during the opening container scene. Do you realise that he's knocking other containers over the whole time, which probably have other test subjects in them? And then there's busted up husks of other containers all over the place, especially nearer to the place where you bust through the wall. I just didn't think about it on the first playthrough, but if there's other people in the containers he kills probably about 10 people in the opening scene, and he's probably done this dozens if not hundreds of times during the time you have been in stasis.
And yeah, there is that one line where GlaDOS says something about one of the researcher's Nobel prize certainly not neing awarded for being immune to toxic nerve gas.
Not true! The other people in the cryo containers are all already dead. You can read about it in the comic. Essentially, destroying GLaDOS in the first game knocks out the main power grid, and Chell's chamber is the only one that's still on life support. As for GLaDOS, she gassed all the Aperture employees before the events in the first game, although I don't remember why.
Wait. Does this mean Chell was actually responsible for the death of the only remaining human beings in the facility?
Huh.
-
That was the Oracle Turret! After you pick it up it quotes Cave Johnson a few times. "Get mad! Don't make lemonade!" It also mentiones a Greek titan myth: "Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving the gift of knowledge to man. He was cast into the bowels of the earth, and pecked by birds." That last bit is a massive understatement, seeing as the myth tells that his liver was eaten by an eagle each night.
I vaguely suspected that the Oracle Turret hinted at how GLaDOS and Wheatley get attacked by birds, but I never suspected the whole plot actually goes along the lines of the Greek myth. Prometheus, god of foresight aka GLaDOS is cast into the pit when Wheatley, aka Epimetheus, god of hindsight takes over. PotatOS is pecked by a bird at the bottom of the pit, plus you can see the word 'Tartarus' painted on one of the buildings in the distance down there. It's incredibly well set up, but don't give me credit for it, I just read it somewhere else.
holy fuck. That goes beyond anything I could have even conceived.
-
Hey I got the extra big box version of Portal 2!
(http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u330/Dreamcastguy/Portal2_0002.jpg)
(It's just an empty display box I got from Gamestop because they were going to throw it out.)
-
Not true! The other people in the cryo containers are all already dead. You can read about it in the comic. Essentially, destroying GLaDOS in the first game knocks out the main power grid, and Chell's chamber is the only one that's still on life support. As for GLaDOS, she gassed all the Aperture employees before the events in the first game, although I don't remember why.
Wait. Does this mean Chell was actually responsible for the death of the only remaining human beings in the facility?
Huh.
Play the co-op.
-
I can't! Stupid PSN is still stupidly down >_<
-
I need some people to play Co-op with. I WANT MY HUGS DAMNIT.
-
What's your Steam name? I've got a couple of achievements I need to run back through co-op and get. I've got some free time tomorrow night.
-
Yeah....Xbox
-
I'm up for some co-op via Steam, although it would be nice to play with someone naive to the co-op levels, so one person isn't slowing down the other who's already done the puzzles.
-
If PSN were back up I'd play Co-op with you guys over Steam.
-
Yeah....Xbox
hit me up. anyone on xbox hit me up.
-
Play the co-op.
And now I have.
Well, shit.
-
I apparently missed the PSN being online for a few hours, which would've been plenty of time for me to activate Steam on my PS3 and use that to download my PC copy and use that to play co-op. But I missed it, so I still cannot play co-op.
-
I just beat this. Bought it a few days ago to play co-op with my brother, got most of the way through singleplayer the first night (and the first 5 hours of the morning), and finished tonight. I was really bugged by how much of some points were just "Find the one panel that you can put a portal on in this giant room", and I feel like the gel test chamber was designed poorly, since the only thing I could figure out was turn everything white and then see where it gets me. But it was a lot of fun for the most part, and starting right around the part where he kills you, it gets downright awesome.
I have to say I was really surprised at the ending, when GlaDOS actually saved you. I didn't see that coming.
The boss fight was a lot tougher than the first one, or maybe I just was having a hard time performing under the time limit when it is more complicated than rocket + portal = victory.
edit: Also, this pretty much describes quite a few points in the game for me: http://awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=050111
-
Haha yeah that happened a few times to me aswell, totally forgetting that you actually have a portal gun because of all the other stuff going on :psyduck:
-
Happened to me at least once every five test chambers.
-
Haha yeah that happened a few times to me aswell, totally forgetting that you actually have a portal gun because of all the other stuff going on :psyduck:
Yeah, it reminded me how they were actually thinking of getting rid of portals entirely, and just using stuff like that.
-
Valve released part one of the soundtrack (http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php) Go get it
edit: and there will be two more apparently.
-
Valve released part one of the soundtrack (http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php)
You, sir, are a king amongst men.
-
This thread makes me sad that no one else on my Xbox Live friends list has Portal 2, and my girlfriend refuses to play it with me. I really want to get through it. It's been about three weeks since I bought and finished the game.
-
Can't say I really enjoyed that soundtrack. It's a bit too obnoxiously techno for ambience.
-
This thread makes me sad that no one else on my Xbox Live friends list has Portal 2, and my girlfriend refuses to play it with me. I really want to get through it. It's been about three weeks since I bought and finished the game.
We do have a thread that lists some of the forumites XBL names, you could try there
-
The winners of the Portal 2 mapping contest have been announced. Download the winning maps at http://www.thinkingwithportals.com/
-
I really am enjoying the influx of new players, I really am. But with that said, man, is playing PUG hero as a medic annoying now. There's nothing quite like unleashing the kritzkrieg on a heavy only to have him stop and start eating a sandvitch.
-
Has anyone else not played the co-op yet? I've been meaning to play, but all my friends have beat it already.
I really am enjoying the influx of new players, I really am. But with that said, man, is playing PUG hero as a medic annoying now. There's nothing quite like unleashing the kritzkrieg on a heavy only to have him stop and start eating a sandvitch.
Wrong thread?
-
I've been playing with imagist lately, but the times we manage to get together are a bit spotty. I'd be down to play though, just tell me when you have the time.
-
I haven't played much co-op, but mostly because I'm hesitant to play online. It seems like one of those things that's only fun when the other person's in the same room as you.
-
It works great with microphones. Kind of hard without any.
-
My mic is actually really shitty so I manage without.
-
A combination of typing before taking action and using the "beacons" seems to work out just fine.
-
I didn't say it wouldn't work, it just doesn't seem as much fun.