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[Josiah Tobin]

What was with the singing turrets, and what was that larger one among them (not the "animal king" one)? That whole sequence was cute, but really out of place in my opinion. Just weird.

Did you know that Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS, is an opera singer?

Oh, yeah I do, I'd forgotten about that. Doesn't really change that it felt sort of odd and out of place to me, though.

But, you know, I've noticed I have a tendency to go on about and sort of exaggerate whatever perceived flaws I noticed in a game, movie, whatever, as soon as I finish it and start to talk about it with others. I'm really not sure why, and I do much prefer talking about the parts of something that I liked, so I find myself a little irritated with... myself.

I immensely enjoyed the game, though perhaps my biggest regret is actually playing through it so quickly. In retrospect, I wish I would have taken it slower and savored it longer so I'd have more of a chance to appreciate things as they happened. As it is, I feel I almost wasted my experience going through it so fast (first two thirds in one sitting, last bit the next day). Oh well, at least I'm pacing myself now with the commentary.

~Josiah

[sublinimal]

I loved the second part of the game, it was the weakest part but still amazing. I liked how even though it was still "test chambers", they were old and broken so there were mini-puzzles between them due to the catwalks being out. Pure genius there.

The best thing about it was how the different areas represented different decades. Cave's announcements reflected that, as did everything from the equipment (wooden cubes on clumsy square buttons) down to the poster designs, so you were kind of exploring a time capsule of the facility's history. Even the loading screen had retro-styled logos for Aperture Science. I mean, that sort of attention to detail never fails to impress me.

I wasn't really a fan of the large spacious areas, though - they're neat eye candy for sure, but it felt kind of cheap to me how you had to search for proper locations for portals. It wasn't "puzzling" and only artificially challenging. I know it's supposed to create the impression that you're actually exploring, but it was all too carefully designed and linear that it still felt like someone's holding your hand. The portal concept works the best for me in test chamber environments.

Did you notice the first few were "stupid" because of wheatley's stupidity? I thought that was pure genius. As was all of wheatley's dialog about watching you solve them, it was really meta about puzzle game design right there. One of my favorite parts of the game.

I can get behind this.

Also, I suggest you guys watch the developer commentary. It's become somewhat of a tradition in Valve games, and usually works as an interesting peek behind the scenes once you've completed the game, like a New Game Plus. There's technical stuff, thoughts on design and "did you know..." sort of info, generally it gives some perspective on how much effort projects like that require.

[Zaphos]

Fun, but somewhat disappointing. It's too short and there's a definite lack of challenge towards the end. These issues were more forgivable in the first game because it was just a fun bonus for the Orange Box and because it was a novel concept. They played it a bit safe with Portal 2, it seems.

re length, did you play the co-op as well yet?  It's basically a whole additional game (dunno the length though, haven't finished it yet), which was a pleasant surprise to me

[starsrift]

Roughly the first half of the game totally had me, just everything I wanted and beyond, loved every minute of it. As soon as I realized the underground segment was just more test chambers, though, I got this weird twinge of disappointment... That second part was my favorite bit atmospherically, just brilliant stuff to me, but the fact that it was mostly a re-skinned test chamber formula didn't quite work for me.

This was my biggest beef with it, too. At the first few levels, I was like, "You know, these are the Portal 1 levels", and then I thought for a minute, and went, "Oh. Yeah. They're the Portal 1 levels because that was possibly the best tutorial on how to play ever, and a small minority won't have played Portal 1."
But the best part of Portal 1 was after the test chambers, getting into the "behind the scenes" atmosphere. There was never really that change in atmosphere in Portal 2, just different sets of "testing chambers", and that was, I feel, a mistake. Particularly, I thought the levels where alternately Wheatley, and then GlaDOS, keep saying "Just keep testing while I think of something" was pretty weak, and told me that those levels could have been cut. A lot of the Cave Johnson levels seemed to be unnecessary, too, but I think the biggest fat was the early GlaDOS levels while you're "looking" for Wheatley and GlaDOS is telling you you're fat and adopted.
I would've liked something with those extra levels stripped out to shrink the main game throughout and then extend the game with something like GlaDOS helping you ascend to the surface after Wheatley's fucking around with the nuke power plant has made the giant elevators inoperative.
Such a premise could've explored the GlaDOS v. Caroline angle a bit better, too. And maybe introduced Blue and Orange to tie them back to the single player a bit better than a couple lines of dialog.

That said, I'm looking forward to the co-op, and I'll be hunting for someone to give the Professor Portal achievement to next Monday.

[Peter]

Fun, but somewhat disappointing. It's too short and there's a definite lack of challenge towards the end. These issues were more forgivable in the first game because it was just a fun bonus for the Orange Box and because it was a novel concept. They played it a bit safe with Portal 2, it seems.

re length, did you play the co-op as well yet?  It's basically a whole additional game (dunno the length though, haven't finished it yet), which was a pleasant surprise to me

Ah yes, of course. Forgot about that. Played a little bit of it, and it was awesome. Much more challenging than SP. Looking forward to playing the rest.

[Ashking]

Aghhhhh, you guys are making me want to play it again and I don't want to waste another day playing it

Did anyone else notice that, as the mechanics built up with more ways to use portals (repulsion/prepulsion gels, etc.), they partially forgot the basics, so you end up contemplating over a puzzle endlessly before realizing that the answer is right under your nose?

For example, in the lift area where you see the inactive elevator, I took forever to notice that I could just drop to the bottom and use my momentum to jump up to a ledge and keep moving.

I also really didn't like those areas where it was all wrecked and everything. The atmosphere was great, sure, but all it really was was running along these trails, stop, look for portal surface, portal, keep running. No real challenge or puzzles.
I personally feel that the game was the perfect size- the test chambers always last long enough to introduce mechanics and explore their possibilities, while not making you do the same thing over and over with the same mechanic. It kept things fresh, and it kept me playing.
All in all, I may actually echo Glaeil's sentiments- this is definitely one of my favourite games of all time, for the writing, the gameplay, every little bit of it.
<3

[Mipe]

I guess Portal 2 was made too hard for some people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hYOi-DfqlU&t=7m

 

[starsrift]

I guess Portal 2 was made too hard for some people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hYOi-DfqlU&t=7m

 

For once, a youtube commenter summed it up just nicely for me: "You KNOW it's going to be bad when Weatley is the fucking brains of the operation"

[Dragonmaw]

Ah, I see. From what I read I thought that the actual music itself was procedurally generated.

It is. Have you never played the Bit Trip games? Everyday Shooter? Procedurally generated music is (generally) a background track with foreground riffs/sounds triggered by player actions.

[Peter]

Just finished co-op. That's where the real fun lies, imo. The puzzles get quite fiendish, and I don't think I've felt this sense of teamwork in any other game, except for the co-op missions in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, maybe.

Having finished single player (with and without commentary) and the co-op campaign, I've clocked in at 18 hours. I suppose that's decent for a full-price title nowadays. Still, despite the game being absolutely brilliant and, as it turns out, a decent length, I feel underwhelmed.

Needed more Simmons maybe.

[14113]

I'm not sure I can watch any more people playing it on youtube without tearing my own eyes out in frustration. I know that sounds snobby, but when you've watched people ignore all the onscreen hints, and things which they really should have noticed more then about 2 times it gets really frustrating.

[Peter]

I'm not sure I can watch any more people playing it on youtube without tearing my own eyes out in frustration. I know that sounds snobby, but when you've watched people ignore all the onscreen hints, and things which they really should have noticed more then about 2 times it gets really frustrating.

This. So, so much. I'm surprised that some of the people playing even finished the first game seeing that they don't understand which surfaces portals can't be placed on and that portals work both ways.

[Peter]

What is this

http://www.thefinalhoursofportal2.com/

[Sakar]

What is this

http://www.thefinalhoursofportal2.com/

http://www.gamedaily.com/games/portal-2/playstation-3/game-features/the-final-hours-of-portal-2-teaser-site-launched/

Seems like a teaser some sort of inside look at Portal 2's development or something

[Peter]

What is this

http://www.thefinalhoursofportal2.com/

http://www.gamedaily.com/games/portal-2/playstation-3/game-features/the-final-hours-of-portal-2-teaser-site-launched/

Seems like a teaser some sort of inside look at Portal 2's development or something

Nifty. I like how Valve shows its players the development process of their games, be it the commentary or features like this.

Why other developers haven't picked up the developer commentary idea is beyond me, btw.