Portal 2

[KindGrind]

Is anyone playing this? I physically had the game in my hands at lunch today, and left it on the shelf. Now I'm home with a little time on my hands and of course I wonder why I haven't taken it.

[Udderdude]

Because it's going to be $5 by the end of the year, and have a bunch of free DLC by that point anyway.

(The paid DLC is all looking retarded, paying for co-op gestures? Seriously?)

[xris]

I've delayed getting it as well. Instead I Just played through the first. Which of course made me want to play the new one, but I'm just going to play Half Life 2, then the episodes that are also on the Orange Box. Seems to be working, and I'm just going to use the ammo cheat. It'll be fun to just push my way through it.
I have been looking at a bunch of the promo videos for Portal 2, and some of the screenshots. I really do like the look of it. I like that it also seems like they have tried to have a bit more story, or at least characters. A little concerned with the possibility of it seeming a little to complex at times. Looks like they want you to do some crazy stuff. Just playing the first, it was a little easy to get through, but it was more like I remembered what to do from other play throughs. My spatial reasoning seemed to work well enough, I believe I'm up to the task of running the test course again. I do hope to get this really soon.

[Zeether]

I've delayed getting it as well. Instead I Just played through the first. Which of course made me want to play the new one, but I'm just going to play Half Life 2, then the episodes that are also on the Orange Box. Seems to be working, and I'm just going to use the ammo cheat. It'll be fun to just push my way through it.

Why would you use the ammo cheat? The game gives you plenty of ammo, hell, there's even ammo boxes with unlimited amounts of SMG/rocket ammo in places.

I started on Portal 2 and in around 3 hours I got to chapter 7, so I have 2 more to go before the end. The puzzles are a little tough but not too hard.

[captpain]

I got it today. I played about halfway through the single-player campaign, and then wound up marathoning the co-op campaign with a friend.

I've been enjoying the hell out of it. The single-player is a lot different than the previous game -- it's less of a puzzle game and more of an adventure game (action-adventure style, not adventure game genre style) with Portal puzzles. Like in the first, there's no combat... just problem solving. It's received quite a bit of technical and graphical polish. This is easily the best-looking game on the Source engine, paired with some of the best art design in any FPS. It's as humorous and lighthearted as the first one... I've laughed out loud several times, and I very rarely do that with video games.

There is really nothing out there quite like the multiplayer. It's a separate, two-player campaign that doesn't spoil any of the story from the single-player (although it does contain all of the same gameplay elements, so if you consider the reveal of say a "jump pad" feature a spoiler then I guess it has spoilers) The stage design is consistently clever, and teamwork is absolutely necessary.

I never pay full price for games. The last time I did that was for Half-Life 2. I didn't regret it for this... I haven't been so engaged by a non-shmup game since the last Portal!

[KindGrind]

Well, store gave me almost 45$ in-store credit for my copy of COD:BO, so I grabbed Portal 2. Will play it tonight on the PS3 with a friend on his PC. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

[Elixir]

I want to buy this even though I sat through a 7 hour stream of somebody playing through the entire game.

The story seems rather confusing although the dialogue is pretty good, Glados comes across as weird and reminds me of that chick out of that Louie cartoon. I dunno, the ending just didn't give me enough, I wanted to know what happened post-Portal and pre-Portal 2 as well as post-Portal 2, which wasn't explained in any sense. At least, I think. I realize that game and movie directors aim for this if they intend on creating a sequel, but to me I was asking myself how does this situation even exist a few times.

I think what made Portal so interesting was that it came across as a bonus when buying The Orange Box. That thing packed so much content that Portal just felt like a nice surprise, which introduced something that wasn't really present before. With Portal 2, everyone knows what they're in for, except for full price, so the impression isn't the same.

Also there is that whole lack of any post-game content, purchasable hats (heh, western developers are finally looking up to Idolmaster), and other non-content additionals that don't really add to the experience. I don't have much incentive to play through singleplayer unless there's stuff you couldn't possible figure out first time or alternative routes.

[Udderdude]

Give it a few months. If it's anything like TF 2 and L4D/L4D2 there will be a ton of free DLC.

[BulletMagnet]

With Portal 2, everyone knows what they're in for, except for full price, so the impression isn't the same.

I have to concur with this - from what I've played of the game so far it's just as fun as the first, but it does lose something when you already know the premise, the gimmicks, GLaDOS, etc., instead of discovering them for the first time. That's not the game's fault, of course, but it is still a factor.

[captpain]

With Portal 2, everyone knows what they're in for, except for full price, so the impression isn't the same.

I have to concur with this - from what I've played of the game so far it's just as fun as the first, but it does lose something when you already know the premise, the gimmicks, GLaDOS, etc., instead of discovering them for the first time. That's not the game's fault, of course, but it is still a factor.

I think they made up for that somewhat by changing the overall scope and style of the game. It's definitely more of an action-adventure than the first.

[KindGrind]

It does indeed feel like an action adventure. My g/f walked past and asked: "A new metroid game?"

[Khan]

Alot of people on my steam friends list bought it and keep saying how great it is, trouble is I dont wanna fork out £30 then in a couple of months its like £15 on a sale...besides im in no rush since i got around 100+ games on steam ive yet to play ;D

[njiska]

With Portal 2, everyone knows what they're in for, except for full price, so the impression isn't the same.

I have to concur with this - from what I've played of the game so far it's just as fun as the first, but it does lose something when you already know the premise, the gimmicks, GLaDOS, etc., instead of discovering them for the first time. That's not the game's fault, of course, but it is still a factor.

You haven't completed the first act yet have you? It intentionally feels a great deal like the original, but once you get past that the world opens up and things start to really get interesting. You'll get a lot more plot information on Aperture and GlaDOS. A couple new characters are introduced including Aperture's founder Cave ohnson. You'll also get introduced to the effect gels, light walls and gravity tunnels which open up new avenues for puzzle solve.

I just completed the entire 9 hour campaign and the game managed to keep me interested throughout. Things definitely felt a little too familiar at the start, but I realize now that there is a very good reason for that. Tried my hand at co-op tonight as well. Puzzles are well designed and teach strong co-operation skills. Did cross-platform Steam-PS3 play and it worked flawlessly. Cross platform voice chat was even supported.

[dcharlie]

Portal 1 was , on it's own, the best gaming experience i've had in the last 5 years. Portal 2? Game is fantastic so far. Valve are monsters. Let's see how this weaves into HL.

[BulletMagnet]

You haven't completed the first act yet have you? It intentionally feels a great deal like the original, but once you get past that the world opens up and things start to really get interesting.

It's true that I'm not very far yet (I stopped my session at the start of Chapter...4, I think?), but I'm not talking so much in terms of the actual gameplay as the admittedly more superficial stuff: back when the first game came out nobody had seen anything much like it before, so the mere existence of the portal gun, the abandoned lab, GLaDOS' sarcasm, etc. were enough on their own to go a long way towards defining the experience, at least for me. As I said, I'm still having fun with the second, but the original's "whoa, what IS this?" factor is obviously gone (though as I said that's not really a "fault", it just comes with the territory). That said, I do plan to play some more tonight, so maybe that part will "click" as you suggest.

[Skykid]

I sat through a 7 hour stream of somebody playing through the entire game.

Somewhere there's a life that wants to be reunited with you.

[Observer]

I sat through a 7 hour stream of somebody playing through the entire game.

Somewhere there's a life that wants to be reunited with you.

Man, I was about to go to sleep and that made me laugh so much that now I can't!

So, the single player campaign lasts around 9-10 hours right? How about the co-op? Is it lengthier or looks like it'll be expanded via mods, maps or whatever? How does it work? (2-people only or you can get more people around?)

[njiska]

So, the single player campaign lasts around 9-10 hours right? How about the co-op? Is it lengthier or looks like it'll be expanded via mods, maps or whatever? How does it work? (2-people only or you can get more people around?)

I did about half the co-op campaign in about 3 hours. Probably 6-7 hours in total depending on how good you are. It's only two player, each player has 2 portals for a total of 4. Puzzles genuinely require teamwork and like the original game it goes out of its way to teach you how to think. Right now there's no real area for mods/maps yet, but it's possible something will be added down the line.

[ncp]

The co-op is seriously insane fun if you play with a friend (w/ mics).

Been a long time since I had that much fun.

[Jockel]

So, the single player campaign lasts around 9-10 hours right?

If you needed 6 hours for the first one, yes.

The game is still criminally short and can easily be beaten in one sitting if you are dedicated.
I'm kinda baffled to hear some dude needed 7 hours to clear it and actually streamed that whole mess.

That's not to say the game isn't amazing, it still is.

[Udderdude]

Good, maybe the next one will be even shorter, with a scoring system and highscore board .. >_>

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Full price for a 6-8 hour game with not alot of replay value is too steep for me, im gonna wait until it drops below £20. Thats not to say the game is crap far from it, dispite what those loony valve fans will tell you. LOL its good / bad to see that video game fans can act so bloody retarded at times. It makes me wonder if Cave fans will ever go nutty in the future, if / when Cave do something to piss off its fandom

[Elixir]

I'm kinda baffled to hear some dude needed 7 hours to clear it and actually streamed that whole mess.

He was awful at puzzles, and most of the time had people on Skype talking him through some of them.

Even someone completely awful at puzzles manages to get through this within a few sittings, which is not value for money.

The game is short, has no replay value, has no post-game content, has a vague ending with no elaboration, no elaboration post-Portal, and is comparable to a linear Japanese RPG.

The co-op is short, has no replay value*, and has non-content such as hats and gestures.
*playing through co-op knowing your way around isn't the same as figuring it out with a co-op partner first time.

The original Portal was a quick slap job turned success, was an unexpected, new, breath of fresh air in a genre filled with generic war simulators. The sequel is catering to an audience which didn't exist prior, but the singleplayer is not necessarily a bad game, it's just fun while it lasts. If there were alternative routes or means to play through multiple times, I might have a more favourable opinion.

I can only see Valve milking this by selling hats and further co-op levels. Hopefully the co-op levels are already in production, people are going to get bored of hats pretty quickly (giving the public the benefit of the doubt here, and assuming that they haven't already).

[dcharlie]

Finished the single player, staggered over a few nights and from 5am this morning. Loved it.

I can see why there'd be differences in times - if you didn't play the first one then i'd imagine a lot of puzzles could stump you but i didn't really have any issues with any of them.

has a vague ending with no elaboration

felt the complete opposite ! Without getting all spoilery it explained a lot about.... something else

[GaijinPunch]

but the singleplayer is not necessarily a bad game, it's just fun while it lasts. If there were alternative routes or means to play through multiple times, I might have a more favourable opinion.

This is exactly why I'm buying it. I can't really devote my soul to games any more, so this sounds like it's right up my alley. Just gotta wait for it to get here.

people are going to get bored of hats pretty quickly

Oh, I don't think so.

[njiska]

The game is short, has no replay value, has no post-game content, has a vague ending with no elaboration, no elaboration post-Portal, and is comparable to a linear Japanese RPG.

My first play through was around 9 hours. I didn't exactly stumble at the puzzles, but there were a few trickier ones towards the end. Most of the time though I was just enjoying myself, taking in the atmosphere and exploring the little hidden areas the game has. If you stop and really look at the world around you there's a lot of back story to be learned. Can't see how you found the ending to be vague. It was very to the point and wrapped up everything nicely. The developer commentary warrants at least a second playthrough and to be honest the story is good enough I can see myself going back and playing through this again in a few months just to relive it.

The co-op is short, has no replay value*, and has non-content such as hats and gestures.
*playing through co-op knowing your way around isn't the same as figuring it out with a co-op partner first time.

Co-op took me about 5 hours to get through and that was playing with competent partners. A lot of the fun from this mode comes from just fucking around and doing stupid shit to betray your friends. Surprisingly it also has a story, albeit a much smaller one then the main quest. Going to play through it again tonight with another friend. Valve has already stated that Portal 2 will be getting addition content and the game will be opened up for user created content. This will apparently be available on the consoles as well.

[Despatche]

Better mention this while I'm not laughing.

Instead of playing for the highest score, play for the lowest time.

[dcharlie]

Instead of playing for the highest score, play for the lowest time.

yup, not sure why there's no speed run leader board.

[BulletMagnet]

Just finished this (single-player, anyways) last night: at the end of the day I mostly agree with the accompanying write-up to this Nerf Now comic.

[KindGrind]

That's exactly it indeed.