Yeah, it sucks. The companion cube was spoiled by every single preview, so I didn’t even have a chance to determine for myself if I found it funny.
It’s like someone explaining the mechanics of a joke to you before you’ve even heard it.
“OK, so the word ‘bar’ is used to mean ‘a place that sells beer’ as well as ‘a metal rod,’ so when we say, ‘A man walked into a bar. Ouch!’ it’s a pun using those two meanings, and it’s also a parody of all these other jokes that start with that phrase.”
Finished Portal again on a whim, it’s still great :)
I have to say though that what most interests me about Portal 2 is the story and any continued links to Black Mesa and the Half-Life storyline. Using portals is a great gameplay mechanic and one I look forward to more of, but I was never totally blown away by it, so my ultimate Portal is one where there’s a lot more storyline elements built into the gameplay. So less basic test chambers and more last section of Portal I guess.
I’m just making it through Portal now for the first time. I’ve gone past the point where I can create both types of portals and, while the puzzle-nature of it is fun, it seems like one big tutorial so far. I’m guessing the main game is still to come?
Answering this question would spoil the experience. Keep at it.
The general rule about Portal is: Just finish it, then come back with your impressions ;)
It’s not exactly like it’s a long slog to the finish, the game is pretty short as it is.
So, I decided to give the “Portal Prelude” mod a try and am struggling a bit. Maybe I’m just bad at “thinking in portals”, but thats not an easy game… Anyone else give it a go apart from the two/three posters 2 years ago?
Finished Portal today. Entirely unique (to me) gameplay had a lot of appeal although I definitely thought there’d be a more interesting pay-off than there was. I’m surprised that only 45% of people actually finished the game (according to the Steam achievement stats) considering how short it was, but I can see someone wanting to give up during the early to mid “tutorial” phase (which is about the time I asked when the main game is supposed to start).
I also finished a couple of the Advanced rooms and one of the Challenge rooms just to see what they were about. I may go back and play some more, since I like the ones that force you to think a bit. I don’t care for timed gameplay, though, so I doubt I’ll try those.
All in all, definitely worth a play, but I honestly don’t see where all the excitement about it came from. Aside from some chuckles from crazy dialogue and puzzles using the portals, well, it was not quite enough for me to go nuts about.
A lot of the excitement when the game first came out was from the fact that it was only ever marketed as a puzzle game. The fact that it had a plot and story layered on top of the puzzles is what sent everyone ballistic. That, and the great writing.
So a bar walks into a physicist -
Oops, wrong reference frame.
I think that people are right about it only being marketed as a puzzle game, but you also have to remember that it was completely unique. Totally new. Now, the whole gaming subculture has been sort of supersaturated with Portal ideas and spoilers, people talk about it, you had the Cake is a Lie meme… when it was first released there was none of that. It was a complete shock - like having watched trailers for a movie and going in and seeing something completely different that you hadn’t expected.
Personally, I feel it is one of the finest games ever made, but I think that’s because it was the first Valve one I played, so I’d never seen their style before. And Chet and Erik’s writing is spectacular.
This being a steam-ish thread, I thought I’d ask: Is there a Qt3 group on Steam? Having just downloaded the mac version a whole new world has opened up to me.
Yes, there is. Also subgroups for games like Left 4 Dead 2 or Blood Bowl.
The name of the group is “QuarterToThree”.
Thank you so much. I look forward to seeing some of you in games, for once.
Here’s a list of all the Qt3 groups: link. Notice that two of them start with “Quarter to Three” and not “QuarterToThree” like most of them.
(this link will become outdated as new groups are created)
Oh, and one more that was named in a third way (inevitable, I guess): QT3 Borderlands
It’s being replaced by a “surprise” though. L4D3 would be a surprise. One possible surprise.
You know what else would be a surprise? Episode 3. And also, Portal 2 would be a surprise, now that the event has been canceled.
The really surprising part is that Episode 3 is a DotA clone.
Bingo!
Posted 04-30-2010 at 06:19 PM by IceFrog
Q: When will we hear more about you and Valve? Some people say it will take 2-3 years, can you give us any clues? (from Zeyall)
A: It certainly won’t take that long. There are a lot of very talented people here at Valve that are working hard on it every day to ensure high quality in a timely manner. We’ll be making an announcement soon actually, and based on the feedback I’ve been getting since the last mention, I’m sure you all will be as excited as I am.
Nope. The surprise is that Ep 3 is a MMO, where players have the ability to play either humans or Combine. However, there’s co-op play between the two sides, since there’s a mysterious 3rd race that threatens both. PvP achievements include Quisling.
???