Portal 2

[Sully907]

Played about an hour of the coop with a friend on the PS3 version today, going to do the campaign on PC tonight. The steam functionality works very well on the PS3, I was surprised. I was able to message PC people in game very quickly. It didn't lag or anything.

[K-bohls!]

So if you check out the Team Fortress 2 blug you will notice they jokingly said they snuck hats into Portal 2, obviously this is just that, a joke. But it seems that if you own certain hats in Team Fortress 2 then you get them in Portal 2, which is very exciting if you think about it. Could Valve implement all the TF2 hats into Portal 2? Could Valve set up some sort of cloud system that would store your hats for future Valve games? Hmmmm?

I am talking about a system wide mass hat repository for all Valve games (with an option to turn hats off, of course).

[CaptainFish]

I haven't beaten the game yet, but (chapter four or five spoilers?)

I got chills when everything got fully repaired and was fully operational. There's just something ominous about GlaDOS achieving full power.

This was definitely a big moment for me too. Just finished the game. Loved it. Ending was crazy. I was really impressed at how much throwaway dialogue (soliloquy is more accurate) is in the game. It really helped the sense of immersion.

Mechanic appreciation spoiler:

Those gels were totally bad ass. It felt awesome sliding along at full speed.

The hats/colours/gestures store is kinda weird. Especially the fact that their combined cost is more than the game itself, they seem to incur no gameplay bonuses and the only multiplayer is co-op. More disappointing is the fact that they're charging for all those gestures. I know they're more technically involved, but it feels almost like charging for the lines the L4D survivors say. Some of them seem to be achievement based as well, but that raises the question of how much you'll enjoy those small throwaway animations after you've grinded a bunch of cheevos.

I haven't played co-op yet to try and see how much stuff is in there by default.

[Orv]

. . .Wow. . .

I have to admit. Valve has been hailed as a "great storyteller" but I've never seen it. I don't like Half Life. I adore the characters of L4D (1) and TF2, but the story of L4D1 is rather bland to me. (What there is.)

Portal was fantastic. Easily my favorite Valve game, probably my 8th favorite story in a game. Portal 2. . .1st or 2nd, easy.

The two greatest single "bits" of the game for me are;

J.K. Simmons opening lines, specifically the "Mantis man army" schtick.

"Aristotle Vs GIANT SMASHY PLATE" which needs to be the name of a band.

I, man. I'm not great at puzzles of this sort. Logical puzzles, rhetoric puzzles, sure. Physical/spatial? Nyet. And I still enjoyed this once I was past the slightly iffy last portion of Aperture Science.

Oh, also!

The gravity-elevator trick where you ride one to the ceiling and then fall into the hole and place another on the way in? Fuck that trick. It was neat the first time, and then it became sort of a crutch for at least 3 other puzzles. That pissed me right off the third and fourth times.

Edited April 20, 2011 by Orvidos

[Jayel]

Man, the presentation is flawless. I really dig the dynamic music stuff. Lighting, shadows, atmospheric effects all do amazing job conveying the sense of scale.

No half-life references. made me sad.

[Squid Division]

Portal 2 as a sequel:

It's impossible to recreate the feeling you had when you first played the original Portal, but 2 is a perfect sequel in about every way. However, it seemed like it kind of jumped in very quickly and presumed you pretty much already knew what you were doing as far as how Portal works. It's not an unsafe presumption, but I feel like the first game did a MUCH better job introducing you to the concepts. I suppose it's for people who beat Portal 1 back when it came out (and not people who beat it a few days ago like me) to get used to the mechanics again - not for new people to jump into them.

[Thompson]

Man, the presentation is flawless. I really dig the dynamic music stuff. Lighting, shadows, atmospheric effects all do amazing job conveying the sense of scale.

No half-life references. made me sad.

Cave Johnson says "Black Mesa"

[Orv]

Cave Johnson says "Black Mesa"

Yeah,

Cave Johnson accused Black Mesa of stealing his (Apertures) inventions, and invited them to bite his something. He was interrupted by his assistant, sadly.

[Korax]

Yeah,

Cave Johnson accused Black Mesa of stealing his (Apertures) inventions, and invited them to bite his something. He was interrupted by his assistant, sadly.

Also, you can find the dry dock the Borealis was in: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/596935194069235686/6FDE8064FE3541D35B074979BA88445377E23DD7/

[Gwardinen]

Jeez this thread is starting to look like a governmentally redacted military file. Portal 2 arrived for me today and I've played a little bit of it on PS3 and am downloading the PC version now. I love it so far and Stephen Merchant did an even better job than I was anticipating.

Can't wait to try out the coop, so anyone can feel free to throw me an invite. I don't think I have one of those fancy one word Steam IDs, but this is my profile URL: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972105562

Alternatively you might be able to find me by searching for the player name Gwardinen.

[Jayel]

Yeah,

Cave Johnson accused Black Mesa of stealing his (Apertures) inventions, and invited them to bite his something. He was interrupted by his assistant, sadly.

!

can't believe I forgot about that part.

[Orv]

Co-op. Man. Just wow. Some of the shit they have you do in that is. . .jesus. Cannot recommend it enough.

[Thompson]

Co-op. Man. Just wow. Some of the shit they have you do in that is. . .jesus. Cannot recommend it enough.

We did some wild shit indeed. Good times.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Seems that 4chan is behind fucking up the Metacritic score. Not surprised.

Someone on RPS posted this: http://i.imgur.com/cGgFk.png

Good. I'm glad they did that. If some kids can change a score to what they want, a massive corporation like EA could do the same. Metacritic need to get their shit together if they want to be taken seriously.

Edit: Oh. It seems I may have gotten the wrong end of the stick. Hmm. Lame.

Edited April 20, 2011 by ThunderPeel2001

[ThunderPeel2001]

Don't know about Thompson completing it in 5 and half hours... I got a good 10 out of it (at least according to Steam's counter), and I never really got stuck. I did listen to every bit of dialogue, read every poster, and explore every nook and cranny, though... (I got at least three achievements from doing that.) It's still a big difference in time.

Anyways, I thought it was a FANTASTIC game. Loved the world, the characters, and the story. And I loved working my way through Aperture, learning more about their history. Did everything a sequel is supposed to do, adding, expanding, improving. (It makes the original look quite bland by comparison!)

As others have said, Stephen Merchant was good, even if he was just doing the same character he always plays -- it worked for the game. J.K. Simmons was brilliant, but I think we all knew that from the videos. Great balance between "test chambers" and more organic environments.

Also a superb use of sound and music throughout the game -- wonderfully effective stuff. From the subtle score (which just added to the game instead of drowning it out) to the way they got sound effects to become part of the score. A gigantic improvement over the boring HL sounds that were everywhere in the original.

Best Valve game? For me, yes. I always find their games a bit too clinical for their own good (I hate the "lead character never speaks" thing they do), but this time the world and other characters were so vibrant I was having too much fun to notice.

Best game I've played this year

Now onto co-op...

[Jayel]

Been thinking about it a bit more. Wondering why, even though it's superior to original in almost every way, I didn't enjoy it as much as the original. Could be just expectations, but there might be more to it than that.

I guess it's a bit analogous to what Wheatley goes through as you continue to solve his puzzles. It'll never be like the first time.

[Thompson]

Don't know about Thompson completing it in 5 and half hours...

Also a superb use of sound and music throughout the game -- wonderfully effective stuff. From the subtle score (which just added to the game instead of drowning it out) to the way they got sound effects to become part of the score. A gigantic improvement over the boring HL sounds that were everywhere in the original.

Best Valve game? For me, yes.

Best game I've played this year

*Shrug*

The music is amazing, the way they weave it into things they want you to do... man, genius.

Best Valve game, yes.

Best game so far this year? Pretty easily yes, in fact apart from maybe Battlefield 3 I don't see much unseating Portal 2 as the best game of 2011.

[Brannigan]

*Shrug*

The music is amazing, the way they weave it into things they want you to do... man, genius.

Best Valve game, yes.

Best game so far this year? Pretty easily yes, in fact apart from maybe Battlefield 3 I don't see much unseating Portal 2 as the best game of 2011.

While I don't doubt battlefield will be fun, I doubt it will unseat it for me. The sheer charm and character portal 2 oozes trumps pretty much everything for me. No game has really left me so enthralled, inspired, and just plain happy like portal 2 has.

[ThunderPeel2001]

So are we all connected via Steam or what? I've never really looked after my Steam account as much as my XBL one. I'm ThunderPeel2001. Please add me if we're not already connected.

[a purple future]

Also, you can find the dry dock the Borealis was in: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/596935194069235686/6FDE8064FE3541D35B074979BA88445377E23DD7/

where is that by the way? i completely missed it my first time through.

[BigJKO]

I missed a lot of things, I think.. I can't remember any of Ratman's little holes, except the big one with his mural of Chell (the one from the comic) so I'm pretty sure I missed The National's Portal song. :-/

I'm definately going through this thing again. So many awesome sections I wanna replay. Sadly, there's no "Select a Chapter.." option in the Main Menu.

[a purple future]

I missed a lot of things, I think.. I can't remember any of Ratman's little holes, except the big one with his mural of Chell (the one from the comic) so I'm pretty sure I missed The National's Portal song. :-/

I'm definately going through this thing again. So many awesome sections I wanna replay. Sadly, there's no "Select a Chapter.." option in the Main Menu.

if you click "new game" you can pick a chapter. unfortunately some of those chapters are long and there's no mid-chapter points to pick.

[BigJKO]

if you click "new game" you can pick a chapter. unfortunately some of those chapters are long and there's no mid-chapter points to pick.

GREAT! Thanks!

[Squid Division]

Anyone else freaked out/kind of disgusted by

Wheatley's sentry/cube abomination? It's always looking right at you squirming around and making weird sounds. It's unnerving.

[Erwin_Br]

I'm somewhere in the middle of Chapter 6 with 8 hours clocked in. Got stuck 2 times so far, but not for very long. Didn't need any hints yet, which I think shows how great the level design is.