There is cake: Portal 2
- Thread starter Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
- Start date
Right now I only have two disappointments: the first one is FSAA problem in some places, which is probably unsolvable due to its DX9 nature, and the second one is the texture resolution. I'd really like some labels to be readable 
Otherwise, all is well. Even the relatively short game length is not a serious problem to me. A nice and short experience is much better than long but dreadful game play.
Otherwise, all is well. Even the relatively short game length is not a serious problem to me. A nice and short experience is much better than long but dreadful game play.
I wouldn't call Portal 2 "short". If you got exceptional spatial awareness and attention to details like an eagle, letting you wade straight through all the test chambers, then maybe you could finish the game kinda quickly (still talking many hours of gametime here really), but if you're like me you can spend upwards of 45 minutes, if not more, on just one of the more radical chambers.
I'm currently stuck as hell on according to Wheatley,
I'm currently stuck as hell on according to Wheatley,
the third-from-the-end chamber, the one where he laughs maniacally right at the start. There's three turrets to the right of the entrance behind a glass screen, and a blue gloop dispenser straight ahead from across a chasm.
I've tried bloody everything (except what I'm really supposed to do, obviously), and it always ends with me getting shot up by the turrets or falling to my doom down the abyss below. Very frustrating.
I've tried bloody everything (except what I'm really supposed to do, obviously), and it always ends with me getting shot up by the turrets or falling to my doom down the abyss below. Very frustrating.
I haven't played coop mode yet, but from some reviews it's said that the coop mode is about as long as single player mode. I think that's roughly 14 ~ 18 hours for a game, which is not that bad, but considering the replay value of this game is somehow not very great, I'd say it's on the short side, but as I said it's more important to be enjoyable than to be long.
Also a small hint for the chamber you mentioned:
Make those turrents bounce! Bounce!
Well that sounds good at least. Portal was so easy I was very dissapointed. Some of the fan content was actually a challenge and it sounds like number 2 should at least make me think a bit. That is a good thing. I still don't plan to buy it though until I can get it for < 30 with no gimmicks like the best buy 10 back and buy for 30 plus tax and shipping that comes out to $30 anyway...
I'm pretty sure I spent 18+ hours on the single-player experience alone, and if the coop mode is about the same size I'm more than satisfied with the game length.
Presumably, with two brains working at the same problem the coop game might go quicker (especially if one has played through single-player first and learned the ropes on the new gadgets and devices), but even so, I think there's going to be more than sufficient game in this one.
At least for the first playthrough. Replay value might be a bit iffy as stated earlier, I dunno.
Also... Now we gotta wait another four, five years for Portal 3!
Thanks!
I could finish the game after that without too much trouble. The ending was...crazy. Lol. And, I preferred "Still Alive" as the ending song. This one was okay I guess, but it's not going to be as easily absorbed into internet pop culture as the original. Then again, not sure anything could, again. Portal was a new phenomenon, and even though Valve did their best to be original it's still just more of the same-ish in P2...spacemonkey
Newcomer
Have been playing for a couple of evenings now - great game! The voice acting is brilliant! So, when is the DX11 patch coming?
Story question...
Story question...
How did the pigeon with the potato make it through the giant sealed hatch?
Lol... Do also note that you find the Gladospud almost 4km below the surface. Last I checked, birds generally don't live that deep down beneath the earth.
This is a plot loophole I'm sure Valve would either not want you to point out at all, or explain away with that there are cracks/vents that creates bird-sized passages around the giant sealed hatch...
This is a plot loophole I'm sure Valve would either not want you to point out at all, or explain away with that there are cracks/vents that creates bird-sized passages around the giant sealed hatch...
Svensk Viking
Regular
Finished it and liked it...One of the few Valve games I have fallen for
But the loading screens...I swear, if it was any other game, the loading screens would make all scream console port
But the loading screens...I swear, if it was any other game, the loading screens would make all scream console port
spacemonkey
Newcomer
This PC screenshot pretty much dispelled my doubts...
(kind of like "PRESS START TO BEGIN" in the PC version of Crysis 2)
Still an awesome game though.
green.pixel
Veteran
i think that line of text, according to a Valve poster on Steam forums, was due to a mix up during the certification process
Hey now, no need to insult console games. :smile:
Portal 2 has entirely way too many loading screens when compared to console games. That is not an issue caused or limited by consoles. It is a limitation on how Valve coded it up.
Played through the single player portion, kind of a disappointment considering the cost. The run time may be longer than the first game, but if you were to strip out the loading times, catwalk walking and scripted sequences where you're not actually 'playing', then it's probably not substantially longer than the first game.
The game was definitely easier than the first game. The total lack of puzzles requiring timing reduced the tension a lot. The lack of turrets and other things that can kill you reduced risk. The lack of walls that portals could be used on removed the freedom/power that I remember feeling in the first game.
Would be cute to know how many portals the average person shoots during their first play through in Portal 1, and contrast that with Portal 2. Despite having half the run time, I would bet that Portal 1 would have a lot more.
The game was definitely easier than the first game. The total lack of puzzles requiring timing reduced the tension a lot. The lack of turrets and other things that can kill you reduced risk. The lack of walls that portals could be used on removed the freedom/power that I remember feeling in the first game.
Would be cute to know how many portals the average person shoots during their first play through in Portal 1, and contrast that with Portal 2. Despite having half the run time, I would bet that Portal 1 would have a lot more.
I wouldn't say that. Once you fall down the looong shaft, puzzle difficulty ramps up A LOT. The only space that really had me stumped in the original game was the second-before-last test chamber where there's four turrets placed on individual platforms above a high pit full of acid, and energy spheres bouncing around.
There were several puzzles in the later part of P2 that really had me wrack my brain to come up with a solution. (Meaning, maybe I'm just not very good at these types of games, or, maybe you're very good at them.
)Hm, there's at least two timed puzzles in P2, and there's of course stuff including moving platforms and such as well. But yea, those kind of challenges are less common. I guess that's to accommodate (*sigh!*) console players and those using joypads, which as we know feature limited turning speed and reduced aiming precision.
I came pretty far without dying in P2 (I fell into the acid in one of the first test chambers in the original, but I remember being kinda sloppy on purpose to find out if you'd really die if you did that... Glados was being such a tease initially before you find out her real agenda.
)Yeah! This I did react to. You're given this unique portal gun and there's almost no places to place portals on... In the first game you often feel as if you're forging your own path and coming up with your own solutions to the situations you encounter, and in P2 it's like, you're SUPPOSED to put one portal there, and then another way way over THERE, and you run and jump from that ramp there...and there's no other way to solve the puzzle. You're a lot more locked in, in the sequel. There's basically just one solution to the puzzle.
I remember the chamber where you first started learning double-flinging in the original game, and the angled corridor with acid floor that interconnected two of the rooms there. You could smoothly move through that corridor with just a few portals by alternatingly shooting orange and blue portals, one to the far end of the corridor section you had view of, the other next to you. That way you could step onto the platform just coming into view, fling a new portal up ahead and re-step into the one you just came out of.
...Or, you could just fiddle a lot, screw up, fall into the acid a ton of times, miss your marks meaning riding the platforms back all the way to the beginning of the corridor and falling into the acid again and so on...like I did the first time I came to that spot.
There aren't many such places in P2, where I get the feeling that I am the one setting the pace and forging my path. It's a bit of a letdown that there's such a lack of portable surfaces.Just finished coop, and I got to say I loved it way more than the solo campaign. Just pure puzzle goodness, the singleplayer felt overly drawn out with long narrative halls to run through, especially the section where you arent dealing with GlaDos or Wheatley. It was just a matter of figuring out which way you have to go really, puzzles were toned down compared to Portal 1.
But coop... coop... even though I played with a total stranger it worked rather well, finished it a single less than 5 hours session (I really dint plan to play more than 1-2 hours). There was only one puzzle where we really had trouble figuring out the way around. the added depth of having 4 portals probably helped, but the puzzles just generally where harder than in singleplayer I think.
But yes, primary problem was that you had very little options to place portals, and the game generally seemed to replace physics with "boolean logic", portals often get aligned right and jumping through will send you on the exact trajectory you need. Unlike the first game where you sometimes had the right idea but often needed a few tries to execute it good enough, Portal 2 often gives away the solution while you are still naively playing around.
But coop... coop... even though I played with a total stranger it worked rather well, finished it a single less than 5 hours session (I really dint plan to play more than 1-2 hours). There was only one puzzle where we really had trouble figuring out the way around. the added depth of having 4 portals probably helped, but the puzzles just generally where harder than in singleplayer I think.
But yes, primary problem was that you had very little options to place portals, and the game generally seemed to replace physics with "boolean logic", portals often get aligned right and jumping through will send you on the exact trajectory you need. Unlike the first game where you sometimes had the right idea but often needed a few tries to execute it good enough, Portal 2 often gives away the solution while you are still naively playing around.
The first game`s maps felt like they added unportal-able surfaces where necessary to maintain the integrity of the puzzle, where as the sequel feels the opposite - like they added portal-able surfaces only where necessary. It`s rare in portal2 where you enter a new room and you are given a chance for your imagination to start whirring away with the potential combinations of portals, jumps, angles, falls, etc.
The game rides on rails to the point where they don`t even want you portaling through the non-test areas more quickly than scheduled, (likely to fit in their voice over work.) Where portal1 allowed you a bit of freedom to move through these half-life-esque environments with your new toy, portal2 feels like they substituted portaling for catwalk-walking.
