Damn portal is amazing

Srsly, just played it all the way through. One of the best gaming experienes i had in ages. Pacing was weird though. Most levels stupidly short and the last one about as long as the first half of the game.

I dunno why ppkl say the xaje was a lie when it clearly wasn't. Has some amazing dialogue to.

And are you kidding? The pacing was perfect. The design was perfect. The last part wasn't a level in the same way that the levels in the first half were. Like I said in my original topic:

Right, so, more.

The gameplay mechanic of portals alone is a big reason to play it. Pretty unique, and confusing at first. A little nausiating as well actually, especially when you've half wrapped your head around what's going on. And just about the time you get it momentum leaps are introduced, where you jump down through one portal and come flying out the other one. And then there's times when you have portals opposite eachother (when you get the full portal gun you can just stick portals anywhere and experiment) and you can see yourself just up ahead running into the portal right in front you.

The learning curve is great too, really meticulously designed to not confuse you and teach you everything bit by bit. Each test chamber (up to a point) introduces something new and the later ones are pretty big and can be quite complex, especially the ones with momentum leaps. You need to think about those quite a bit before making the jump.

Speaking of test chambers, about the story. There are no cutscenes in the game (apart from a little at the end), and everything you know about the story comes from the MC's eyes and ears as you progress through. You wake up in a little glass room, wih no prior knowledge of anything, as a computerized voice welcomes you to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, and you're guided by the voice through a series of tests without knowing why.

It's all covered with an atmosphere of tension and oppresion and imprisonment, although at times you forget about that since the puzzles are pretty absorbing. But you may find things along the way that clue you in just a little, and also freak you out a tad too.

All of that is what kept me gripped. The portals just made the game a unique and fun experience that I wanted to keep playing, and the mystery of what exactly was going on and why made me want to reach the end. It's only a short game too, so I figured I might as well keep playing. The game also gives you relatively little in terms of guidance in the later chambers (there's 19), so there's always a sense of accomplishment. And it's an awesome game.

Spoilers ahead. Seriously, MAJOR SPOILERS. Don't read it unless you've played the game or never plan to play it because it'll totally ruin it and also tell you what to do at a very important part of that game, and it's so totally satisfying to figure it out yourself

Spoiler:

Maybe i'm using the wrong word. Either way i was more referring to how one level was that long compared to the rest of the game. even if it was considered two levels i'd have just accepted considered that more normal (although i know i'm nit picking).

Yeah the last section is awesome. There are a lot of nice touches. The computer panicing, the end of the companion cube level just made me laugh. Even the end song was just brilliant. I can imaigne how fun multiple playthroughs of this would be. In some respects this reminds me of mirrors edge, in which case the game is easy enough if you've completed it but completing a level slickly and quickly is part of the fun. I'll probably just wait for portal 2 though. I;m curious how they could improve this game without it essentially being a add on.

I also just love the way when you enter a room two things commonly happen:

1. you think oh i got this its easy and realise you completley had unaccounted something and go back to the drwaing board
2. you look at a level and think this is impossible i got no clue and then suddenly figure it out.

there's not m any games you feel as rewarded as this when you do complete a level.

Anyways i need to finish the rest of the orange box now i wonder if the rest is as good.

I nearly creamed myself watching the trailer for Portal 2. Not even because it showed anything particularly great. It was just the voice and seeing the setting again.

As for multiple playthroughs, I honestly only played it once. Got through it in one sitting, realised it was the best game I had ever played, and haven't really touched it since. I tried the extra Still Alive levels that came with the XBL version, but I didn't spend a lot of time with it after completion.

Oh, there's demo footage of Portal 2 on youtube from E3. I had no idea about that. Don't want to watch it though really. I want it all to be a surprise.

Superbuu3 wrote:

Srsly, just played it all the way through. One of the best gaming experienes i had in ages. Pacing was weird though. Most levels stupidly short and the last one about as long as the first half of the game.

I dunno why ppkl say the xaje was a lie when it clearly wasn't. Has some amazing dialogue to.

3 words....YOUR FUCKING SLOOOOOW

and and 5 more words THE CAKE IS A LIE!

You're, not your.

Skip wrote:

You're, not your.

Good man.

Though in a topic with the word xaje in it, I'm not sure grammar is going to be a strong point.

Haha, while that may be true, I'm sure that Buu knows that isn't how you spell cake. Xalas on the other hand probably doesn't know that your is different to you're as he said 3 words and you're is a conjunction of you and are. Otherwise he would have said "2 words and a conjunction" or "4 words"

/grammarnazi

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:

the best game I had ever played

I'll second that. Aside from being a tad short the game is pretty much perfect, even said length meshes perfectly with the content so you never feel like things are dragging on.

xalas wrote:

Superbuu3 wrote:

Srsly, just played it all the way through. One of the best gaming experienes i had in ages. Pacing was weird though. Most levels stupidly short and the last one about as long as the first half of the game.

I dunno why ppkl say the xaje was a lie when it clearly wasn't. Has some amazing dialogue to.

3 words....YOUR FUCKING SLOOOOOW

and and 5 more words THE CAKE IS A LIE!

i think i'd gotten up to the companion cube level like 3 times over the last couple of years, but i think i playwed this game on several different systems. First time i had the oppotunity to go through properly.

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:

I nearly creamed myself watching the trailer for Portal 2. Not even because it showed anything particularly great. It was just the voice and seeing the setting again.

As for multiple playthroughs, I honestly only played it once. Got through it in one sitting, realised it was the best game I had ever played, and haven't really touched it since. I tried the extra Still Alive levels that came with the XBL version, but I didn't spend a lot of time with it after completion.

If i got time to i might go through it again and see if it is the case.

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:

Oh, there's demo footage of Portal 2 on youtube from E3. I had no idea about that. Don't want to watch it though really. I want it all to be a surprise.

They will probably change it a lot. If you look at demos of the original portal jumping mechanics were completely different as well as throwing. The new mechanics or things you can do would be nice to see and learn for yourself as well then seeing gameplay vids.

All I know about Portal 2 is that there's going to be bouncy goo stuff that you can shoot through portals, creating pools that you can ricochet off.

Actually i'll take back what i said about chamber 19 being too long i just realised i merged 18 and 19 in my head, the first part of 19 is really short.

Have you guys done advanced mode it looks really hard, dunno if i'll do it. The commentary is quite interesting to i just listened to the bits for the first part of 19.

Oh, I did go through again and listen to the commentaries. I forgot about that.

So did anyone have any ideas about the plot?

I'm actually wondering if that was the real glados, i mean the song at the end suggests otherwise:

Spoiler: