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Forum: Games
Topic: Portal 2
started by: Leisher

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 20 2011,10:08

Anyone get it yet? I'm thinking about it. I'm hearing great things.

Before you get it you can read < this story > which is what happened when the first one ended up until the second one starts.

Posted by WSGrundy on Apr. 20 2011,10:12

Even if it is 10 times longer then the first I can't pay $45 for it. I will wait until the Xmas sale when they have it for $20 or $15.

Posted by Leisher on May 18 2011,11:29

I heard very negative things about Portal 2 at lunch today.

-It was developed for consoles, and is nothing more than a port. (Really fucking nice considering PC users are the ones who made Portal famous.)
-The graphics suck (again, it's a port)
-The single player is 4 hours long.
-It's nowhere near as charming as the first game.

Now that was all from one source who happens to be a nerd who does a lot of internet surfing. He says he's read these reviews from users, NOT gaming site/mag reviews.

It's also important to note that Valve didn't develop this game. Which begs the question, what has Valve been up to for all this time? I realize they're pushing new stuff out for Steam, TF2, and Left4Dead, but what is the Half-Life team doing...?

Posted by TPRJones on May 18 2011,11:52

I bought it. It is by far the best value I've ever had in entertainment per dollar spent, even at full price. And I'm not normally someone that buys new games at full prices.

* It is not a port from console. I remember that myth started because of some single word in a configuration file somewhere that someone thought sounded like it was referring to a console thing instead of a PC thing. I may have to google that up to find details again. Regardless, game quality is not just equal to but better than the first Portal, so no worries here.

* Nope, graphics are - again - better than the first Portal. Some people complain that they don't like the styles of various parts of it, but then they often end up arguing over which parts they think suck. Me, I think it was all spectacular. But I do have my favorite sections in terms of art style.

* On my third replay I rushed through everything as quickly as I could and timed it, and finished in just under 8 hours. I'm no slouch, but I'm not perfect either, so I could see someone finishing the whole thing in about seven hours if they really pushed it and shaved off every single bit they could in a high-speed perfection run. My first play-through took 15 hours, but I was taking my time a little. The four hours thing started because Steam can't tell time. After playing through it for 10 or 12 hours the first time, when you are done Steam will say you just played for four hours. But look at the clock, look outside to see that the sun has gone down and you just lost an entire day, and you'll realize it was more than four hours.

* It's plenty charming. The story compliments the first game beautifully, and is a rich tapestry of plot and characters that is breathtaking to behold. The game is also full of dozens of tiny little semi-hidden character moments that if you are paying attention will make you smile. But if you are one of those people that are trying their damndest to cram 12 hours of game into 4 while hating on the look of it because you only like ugly brown/grey fps games, then I could see where you would probably miss out on the true depth of the story here.

Your source's sources are idiots that wouldn't know a good game if it were to grab them by the balls and introduce itself. And Valve did indeed develop this game. It's been their single largest production effort ever since a couple of months after The Orange Box came out.

Anyone who enjoyed the story and gameplay experience of the first Portal should immediately purchase the second one at full price. Period. The only exceptions would be people that didn't care about the story and really only enjoyed playing the challenge modes to see how they could glitch the game. I can see where that really hardcore group could possibly dislike the slower pacing and massive amounts of story in the new game. It also relies more on puzzle-solving and less on twitch skills, which also might annoy some hardcore players. But they should stick to COD:BLOPS or whatever and leave good games like Portal 2 to those who can appreciate them.

Posted by Leisher on May 18 2011,11:55

Awesome. Thank you for clearing that all up.

It made me confused as to why everyone was giving it great reviews. I hadn't seen anything negative so far.

I was especially starting to get pissed that we've heard nothing about Half-Life if Valve wasn't developing Portal 2.

Posted by TPRJones on May 18 2011,11:59

Sorry I didn't post a review sooner. Ever since I bought Portal 2 I keep playing it and forgetting to review it. I think I need to play it again tonight. For the ... eighth time? I'm losing count.

The multiplayer is a blast, too, I should mention.

Also, the SDK tools were just released last week. Already < community maps are coming out >, and some of them are quite good. Most are crap, of course, but that's the way it usually works. The 10% that are good are very good.

Posted by WSGrundy on May 18 2011,13:24

(Leisher @ May 18 2011,11:29)

QUOTE

It's also important to note that Valve didn't develop this game. Which begs the question, what has Valve been up to for all this time? I realize they're pushing new stuff out for Steam, TF2, and Left4Dead, but what is the Half-Life team doing...?

Not getting enough done with HL2:EP3 because there will be no Valve games at this years E3.

Posted by GORDON on May 19 2011,11:40

I read somewhere that Valve seems to have their hands full running Steam, and isn't committing a lot of time to game dev.

Posted by Malcolm on May 19 2011,11:46

My buddy bought this mofo this past weekend, for a lack of decent 2 player co-op FPS shoot 'em up 360 games available.

QUOTE

It was developed for consoles, and is nothing more than a port. (Really fucking nice considering PC users are the ones who made Portal famous.)

Played the 360 version. Didn't crash, didn't freeze, didn't trap us in the environment (I'm looking at you, Bethesda, why can't your shit do that)?

QUOTE

The graphics suck (again, it's a port)

Bullshit. Graphics looked better than most FPSs I've seen.

QUOTE

The single player is 4 hours long.

Co-op mode took longer than 4 hours to beat, but that's probably because I hadn't played the first game and had to acclimatize myself to things. I'll say the co-op mode definitely comes in at under ten hours if you know what you're doing. 6-7 levels broken into 6-9 parts each or so. And that's just what I've seen so far in standard co-op.

QUOTE

It's nowhere near as charming as the first game.

Never played the first one, but the dialogue the computer voice has is relatively amusing. The robots, without having any spoken dialogue, seem to have actual personality and depth, particularly when you execute commands from the "gestures" menu in unison.

Posted by Leisher on May 20 2011,11:40

QUOTE

I read somewhere that Valve seems to have their hands full running Steam, and isn't committing a lot of time to game dev.

I'd say that's obviously BS.

The people who make the games are different from the people who work on Steam. Besides the engine for Steam has been done forever. Everything now is patches and updates.

Plus, as TPR pointed out, Valve did design Portal 2, and they apparently didn't half-ass it. They're constantly updating TF2, L4D2, etc.

I remember reading that Valve sort of stopped at Ep2 because they didn't like where things were going. I don't think they meant story, but rather technology and the episode format.

Let's also not forget that the portal gun in a game charger in terms of level design. If they bring that over to Half-Life, which is rumored, no matter how much they had designed before, they'd have to completely start over.

Posted by Malcolm on May 20 2011,12:13

Portal gun + gravity gun + grappling hooks/climbing thingy would lead to some fucked up M.C. Escher-looking levels.

Posted by TPRJones on May 20 2011,14:07

There's a community map for Portal 2 that has gravity switching effects, changing the direction of gravity in certain regions of the map. It's not good enough yet to be Escheresque, but give them time.

Posted by Malcolm on May 20 2011,14:46

I miss Quake's grappling hook and Thief's rope arrows. And Thief's AI actually went in the direction a sound was made instead of Fallout 3's omniscient AI that always zeroes in on your position unless you do serious stealthing.

Posted by GORDON on May 20 2011,15:12

(TPRJones @ May 20 2011,17:07)

QUOTE

Sounds like Prey.

Posted by TPRJones on May 26 2011,15:28

Technically spoilery, but not really. Not in any meaningful way. Just funny, and an indication of the sort of fun to expect in parts of Portal 2:

Typography | Cave Johnson Lemons

Posted by TPRJones on Jun. 27 2011,13:32

From Portal 2 I also learned that the "Gay Ben" that I've been listening to do Valve commentaries for many games now is actually "GabeN", aka Gabe Newell.

Huh. That would make more sense. It seemed a little odd just how aggressively out of the closet "Ben" was for a video game commentary.

Posted by Leisher on Sep. 19 2011,10:33

This guy creates a tech demo of what Portal 3 could include. It's pretty awesome.

Posted by TPRJones on Sep. 19 2011,11:15

There's a lot of potential there. It would make for some really REALLY insane multiplayer.

In case you didn't notice, a stealth update to Portal 2 went through last month in preparation for some DLC to be released soon. I keep checking back every day, but nothing yet...

Posted by Leisher on Oct. 04 2011,20:04

Portal 2 with some DLC is $14.99 on Steam today.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2012,18:52

Finally played it.

I can see why it got PC Gamer's "Best Game Ever Made" award.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2012,18:56

Considering when I played Portal... I'll post back in 5 years

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2012,19:03

Really... this is one that does not disappoint. You should play it immediately.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2012,19:03

Sweet, you gonna watch my kids?

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2012,19:03

woman's work

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2012,20:42

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 16 2012,06:44

If you want someone to play the coop with give me a holler. I think it's been long enough that I won't have it memorized. Or if I do still remember I can play dumb and let you figure it out if you prefer. Whatever. It's always fun to play it again with someone who's not a random pub moron.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 16 2012,08:06

I just started playing Portal 2, and so far, it's awesome.

The insults GLADIOS throws at me every level are hilarious.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 16 2012,08:50

Ah, in that case you and GORDON should do coop together once you're both done with the main game. It really is better if first played with someone else who doesn't already know all the solutions.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 16 2012,08:58

Does the coop maintain the same humor?

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 16 2012,09:00

Yes, although it's less dense. But there are certainly some very nice touches here and there, and there's even an overall story going on if you pay attention.

Mostly it's just fun to figure out puzzles for four portals instead of just the mere two.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 17 2012,06:28

Cave Johnson!

Just got the Vertically Unchallenged achievement before calling it a night.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 17 2012,08:03

I love Cave Johnson. Best character of the game, IMO.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2012,08:08

One of the best characters in any video game.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 17 2012,08:15

Really? Don't spoil this for me, but I'm guessing I'll be meeting him or something because so far I'm just listening to some funny recordings. "Wait, legal just told me not to talk about the control group."

I did notice that his company was always runner up in the government contractor category. Another Black Mesa joke.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 17 2012,08:31

Let me know when y'all are finished so we can get all spoilery.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2012,08:32

Yeah, I was about to announce that I am done discussing it until he is done.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 19 2012,06:21

Got home late from the bar a bit buzzed so I didn't want to play LoL, thus I jumped into Portal 2.

I am "back up top" with the walking boxes. I hesitate to say more because I think we should have spoiler warnings. However, I now know things about Gladios...

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 19 2012,06:23

"Why does that voice sound familiar?"

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 19 2012,22:00

I'm Cave Johnson, and we're done here.

This game is BRILLIANT!!!!

I cannot wait for Portal 3. I will buy it on the day of release. This development team deserves it.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2012,04:39

"Oh, it's you. Hey, you like murdering things... can you get this bird to stop eating me?"

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 20 2012,06:18

Wasn't it spectacular?! And such wonderful attention to detail all through it.

Played coop yet?

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 20 2012,06:50

I could quote this game all day in many, many situations. I played this game a year (2?) after it was released and heard all the hype, and it not only lived up to it, it exceeded it. Simply amazing.

Even if you don't play games normally, these aren't normal. They're puzzles games that tell a great story and are filled with intelligent humor. I cannot recommend these games enough.

The song at the end of Portal 2 won't make its way to my playlist, but to beat the last game's song would have taken a miracle. Still EVERY other part of the game was improved, entertaining, and genius.

Even the extras were really cool. The advertisements for Aperture products were great.

Who was the guy in the comic that saved Chell?

I see so many possibilities for a sequel...

You just know they saved Cave.

By the way, the fight against Wheatley? Incredible. Nothing in the game gives you the slightest hint that such a thing could happen, but once it does, everything else makes sense.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 20 2012,12:33

(Leisher @ Apr. 20 2012,08:50)

QUOTE

Who was the guy in the comic that saved Chell?

That would be Ratman. He's a surviving scientist that was still around hiding during the time of the first Portal game. Throughout Portal 2 there's six or seven little side areas tucked away where you can see his story told, if you can find them.

You definitely need to play this game one or two more times and see it with more knowing eyes. There's so many many things that will stand out as OMG moments now that you know the full story.

And, of course, coop.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2012,12:33

I found the hidden portrait last night.

I REALLY want to find the lost experiment.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2012,12:52

Finished the second run-through, I wanted my kid to see the ending stuff. He almost passed out from laughing at the very last little bit, as the one thing was circling the other thing.

We watched the Extras-videos several times. In the "Turrets" one, you see a quick diagram of the turrets... they have an "Empathy Generator" followed immediately by an "Empathy Suppressor." That so elegantly explains why they are so polite and innocent as they try to kill you that I just want to shit.

Also, "Glados Wakes." I love the line, "Remember when you tried to kill me? I am willing to put that behind us, for science. You monster." Just so unbelievably awesome.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2012,12:54

(GORDON @ Apr. 20 2012,15:33)

QUOTE

I found the hidden portrait last night.

I REALLY want to find the lost experiment.

There was a part near the end when I was in a light tube behind the scenes, and I saw a catwalk and an openable door a bit away... and I have no idea how I was supposed to get to it. Dammit.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 22 2012,16:18

Hey TPR... I beat a couple of your times in Challenge Mode....

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 23 2012,05:58

I noticed that last night. I'm playing it again, once I've run through it I'll have to go and rebeat you.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 23 2012,10:42

Need to get Leisher's numbers into the mix. Leisher... challenge mode just seems to be running various levels for the best time, and the lowest number of portals needed to finish it. It shows all of your Steam friend list buddies in the scoreboards, so we can easily compete amongst ourselves.

Also, Leisher, we should go through the co-op game together since we never have before.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 23 2012,10:43

(TPRJones @ Apr. 23 2012,08:58)

QUOTE

I noticed that last night. I'm playing it again, once I've run through it I'll have to go and rebeat you.

I know where to find the Missing Experiment.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 23 2012,11:33

Cool. I was starting to wonder if I should offer hints.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 23 2012,12:03

QUOTE

I'll take a peek at that when I get out of this week.

QUOTE

Also, Leisher, we should go through the co-op game together since we never have before.

Totally up for that. Again, after this week.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 23 2012,18:49

SPAAAAAACE!

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 23 2012,19:37

(TPRJones @ Apr. 23 2012,21:49)

QUOTE

SPAAAAAACE!

My son almost laughed himself unconscious during that final bit.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 25 2012,13:10

I STARTED PLAYING IT... but cant read this thread for fear of spoilers.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 25 2012,13:13

(TheCatt @ Apr. 25 2012,16:10)

QUOTE

I STARTED PLAYING IT... but cant read this thread for fear of spoilers.

This is correct.

Do you know what happened in the first game, so you know what your character woke up to?

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 25 2012,17:14

Yes, I played Portal like 5 months ago.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 25 2012,17:26

Than have fun.

You monster.

Posted by GORDON on Jun. 17 2012,18:05

Crossposting from another thread, this should be here.

"You know what rhymes with science? Compliance. You know what doesn't rhyme with compliance? Neurotoxin." One of the best lines in video gamedom.

Posted by Leisher on Sep. 14 2012,06:37

< I want this for Christmas. >

"I'm Cave Johnson, and we're done here."

Posted by GORDON on Sep. 14 2012,08:54

(Leisher @ Sep. 14 2012,09:37)

QUOTE

< I want this for Christmas. >

"I'm Cave Johnson, and we're done here."

I want Cave Johnson to do my answering machine message.

Posted by TPRJones on Sep. 14 2012,08:58

This is where I laugh at you for still having an answering machine, and mockingly ask if it runs off of an 8-track tape.

Posted by Leisher on Mar. 11 2013,08:19

Saw this on the interwebs:

QUOTE

In one of the early chambers of Portal 2, there are clear disturbing (some say rape) noises if you stand next to the wall with graffiti.

What?

Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 11 2013,08:48

(Leisher @ Mar. 11 2013,10:19)

QUOTE

Saw this on the interwebs:

QUOTE

In one of the early chambers of Portal 2, there are clear disturbing (some say rape) noises if you stand next to the wall with graffiti.

What?

I think I remember hearing you get the audio clip of the chick who becomes GLaDOS getting forcibly merged into an AI or something by the director. < Check #7 >.

Posted by GORDON on Mar. 11 2013,09:49

Interesting.

QUOTE

Players who decided to hunt through Portal 2's sound files found recorded lines of dialogue that aren't in the game -- more specifically, an increasingly agitated woman saying "I don't want this!" If you've played the whole game you can guess that's actually (spoilers ahead) Caroline protesting her transformation into GLaDOS, but it still sounds kinda rape-y if you don't know the context.

In fact, J.K. Simmons, who provides the voice for Caroline's boss, purportedly refused to record his half of the scene because it was so disturbing. The developers actually agreed and dropped it from the final game.

It made him uncomfortable, and he played a Nazi rapist on Oz

Posted by Leisher on Feb. 07 2014,11:09

< Portal is coming to Portal 2. >

Also, Portal 2 in Legos: