Portal 2

[mekanor]

You're located in Australia? I'm in Japan so if you fancy a co op session let me know. My Steam username is Higashibashi.

Hey man, can't find you for some reason. I'm mekanor if you want to try adding me.

[Golgo]

Just finished this amazing game. Can't find any real fault with it tbh, apart from perhaps the ridiculous loading situation. But Valve have always been unbelievably crap at that (can't blame PS3 RAM this time), with a habit of loading halfway down corridors etc. The puzzles might have been a bit more challenging too. Only got stumped once, towards the end

->Open Spoiler<-

in the bit that had you need to take out three turrets with repulsion gel then bounce over the gap. Solution, as ever, was staring me in the face.

But then again the puzzles were all extremely enjoyable and by not being too brain-busting they kept the plot moving ahead at a decent pace.

Maybe we'll get some advanced challenge chambers in the DLC, as well as a level editor? I'm being greedy.

Most of all I enjoyed

->Open Spoiler<-

the descent-into-Aperture-history sections. Running through the chambers from the '40s through '70s was amazing. So cool to learn how facility evolved, and Valve are so clever in marking the different decades with different types of office furniture, posters, typography, fashions (via paintings), etc. Was also surprised and quite moved to learn of the rather sad origins of Glados, and ended up feeling sorry for her, which I didn't expect. The atmosphere they created in these sections - through posters and pep talks - about mankind's faith in science/glorious technological futures and so on was very Bioshock.

I think Valve have played that game a lot. Still, no one does environmental story-telling as good as Valve and it got me excited for Episode 3 all over again.

I didn't feel Stephen Marchant was as godly as people are making out, but maybe that's because I've got a low tolerance threshold for the mock-hesitant/self-deprecating-but-not-self-deprecating wittering that he and his bloody awful mates have made a fortune out of. The actors for Glados and Cave Johnson were awesome, though, as was the ubiquitous Nolan North in his few bit parts.

Can't wait for PSN to come back online for some coop. If anyone wants to tackle it with me please send msg to my PSN id (at left) or ping me with yours. I'm usually on evenings from 21:00-ish (BST) but can put in a few hours at other times too. I'd like to play through coop with gestures alone instead of headsets as I think that'd provide more in the way of slapstick mayhem.


ps. QUESTION: can you unlock trophies via the 'developers commentary' section, or has it got to be done as part of a campaign?

[Charlie]

I don't know for sure, but no previous Valve game allows you to unlock achievements in Commentry Mode so suspect Portal 2 follows suit.

[Brad]

Finished single player. Got stuck a few times. Resolved each time by taking a break. I have a habit of creating a solution other than the one they want me to have and that invariably means I end up having to perform insanely precise speed and timing. Sometimes I spot Valve's intended solution before getting too frustrated, other times not. Final bit had me screaming

->Open Spoiler<-

WHAT ****ING BUTTON!!!!???

[Golgo]

Indeed:

->Open Spoiler<-

what ****ing button?

Can't remember getting troubled by one of those...

[Brad]

Chatting to guys in the office and we all got stuck on 2 or 3 bits but they were all different. Flawed genius. Glados and Wheatley were superb and the humor turned Portal 2 from a great series of puzzles into something quite special. I only knocked a point off because on a couple of occasions I felt the designers assumed I'd spotted something or knew about something that I didn't. YMMV.

[Golgo]

@ FSW:

-1 for the designers affording the player the dignity of exploring and finding their own way out rather than hand-holding them to the exit??

[Brad]

No. I didn't say that.
They tell you how everything works all the time ans that makes it jarring when they don't. The implication 99% of the time is that you are told how all the tools work and your challenge is to use all those amazing tools to solve the puzzles. If they never told you about anything then I'd have automatically been more experimental.

I take it you'd award a perfect 10?

[Bort]

Just finished the SP. Good good.

Do I still need to be wary of spoilers for the Co-op story (if there is one) or can I freely binge of all of the media that has been produced since release now?

[Golgo]

Yes I would (and did) 'award' 10/10. Despite occasional niggles. The total quietness of the AI and/or reocrded messages in those moments when the game allows you to get totally stuck just added to the atmosphere of the situation, in my worthless opinion. I stood looking at Wheatley's mute face for ages in the last handful of stages, as well as at potato friend, expecting them to help me out. Even thought on one occasion the game was glitched because there was no way out. Obviously there was. Took me 1 1/2 hours to find it mind. How refreshing to be left to one's own devices!

@Bort: Thanks, kindly spoiler tag everything! Us humble PS3 owners know nothing of the co-op game of which you speak

[Bort]

@Bort: Thanks, kindly spoiler tag everything! Us humble PS3 owners know nothing of the co-op game of which you speak

I've played the SP but not the Co-op (in the same boat with the PS3 and no one local that would join me in the near future).

Spoiler tagged if necessary but can the co-op be spoiled story wise? (Puzzle spoilers aren't too much of a worry)

[Golgo]

Don't know about there being coop story spoilers, I was just playing it safe.

->Open Spoiler<-

Although end of sp campaign suggested there might be some story there? Bott replacements now that Glados has gotten rid of Chell?

Anyway, will hit you with coop invite when/if PSN ever goes live again...!

[Brad]

@Golgo - fair enough mate. It's a different experience for everyone. I guess during playtesting they didn't have anyone as stupid as me that didn't think to

->Open Spoiler<-

look outside the main final arena bit for the button they were shouting about

. My 9/10 is for my, personal experience because I got frustrated a few times for reasons that IMO could have been avoided. In terms of the actual puzzles that were presented, absolutely first class, along with all the dialog and story.

[EightRooks]

I wondered about a 10, but it would be 9 for me too. A few too many points where in retrospect you're obviously meant to be doing X but in the heat of the moment it simply was not remotely obvious - sometimes the game covered for this beautifully, like

->Open Spoiler<-

the bit behind the scenes in the factory

, but the more hectic set pieces ran slap bang to a halt at least twice. Sorry, it's simply not good enough (by Valve's standards at least)

->Open Spoiler<-

to make you run into a closed room then hunt around identical-looking gaps in the wall for the one where you can see a tiny patch of nondescript wall you can portal out to

. Not when it's supposed to be part of a breakneck chase sequence. I assume

->Open Spoiler<-

Wheatley himself was meant to be the signpost, but I could see him from several places

, so how was I supposed to know that particular point was any different?

I'm always deeply, deeply suspicious of anyone saying 'Oh, it's so awesome to find a developer who doesn't insist on holding your hand' because I find it's used far too often to justify ****ty level design, quite honestly. Leaving the player wandering around lost and confused is okay in some circumstances (and after all, you can't make sure no-one ever has any problems finding the 'exit'), but it needs very careful handling. Valve are so good at this normally (I mean, listen to their commentaries and you realise they're one developer who basically never leave anyone 'to one's own devices'!) that the moments they slip up feel that much more obvious.

I mean, hey, I wouldn't agree that the point FSW singled out was one of those -

->Open Spoiler<-

you've been through the exact same thing already at a key point in the game, so why would you not instantly understand to try and do what you did the first time?

So yes, YMMV and all that... but I completely agree with anyone who thinks there are moments it doesn't quite work. And I'd argue until I was blue in the face it's not a 'perfect' perfect game.

Still bloody amazing though. Ah, Valve. It's been too long.

[PeteJ]

There isn't much story at all in coop, nothing that you'd get upset about if you found out about it before hand.

However, for coop you do get:
-The best puzzles in the game
-Some (more) great lines from GladOS.
-The ability to portal your mate into certain death when they aren't looking

As for the flaws in single player - yep, they are definately there. Sometimes it was pretty difficult to work out where you were meant to go next. At times I actually felt like I was breaking the game, only to find I'd found the correct path. At the time these sections felt completely at odds with the rest of the experience, but looking back I can appreciate them as a change of pace.

To extend Portal into a full length campaign, and to include a successful coop mode, I think Valve have absolutely done the best that was possible. I still put this as a 10/10. However, aside from more puzzle room DLCs I think I can live without Portal 3, or the Portal gun making an apperance in the next Half Life.