Portal

[Masamune]

I was expecting my brain's ability to understand space and physics to be completely stretched out upon playing Valve's new Portal game. But these puzzles are pretty easy so far. :(

[GamerMan]

Are they in the arcade or are thease made and played someware else?

[Breaker]

I beat it. It didn't get hard until the second to last level.. but they're not extremely difficult and the concept isn't too complicated to grasp after a few attempts.


Are they in the arcade or are thease made and played someware else?

Portal is a game included in the Half-Life 2 Orange Box for the PC and 360.

[GamerMan]

I beat it. It didn't get hard until the second to last level.. but they're not extremely difficult and the concept isn't too complicated to grasp after a few attempts.



Portal is a game included in the Half-Life 2 Orange Box for the PC and 360.Oh ok,I don't have a 360 yet but soon I will get one,should I look into trying thease games if I infact get a xbox360?

[rock_nog]

Oh wow, that was a blast, though. It was short, for the most part it was easy (those last couple of levels were tricky the first time around), but dang, it was fun. And that end-credits song... LMAO. I heard that they're planning to release map packs later, or something to that effect... I really hope they do, and I'm also hoping the mod community puts out some good fan-made maps, too.

[DarkDragoonX]

It's not that hard, no... it IS fun as hell, though. I want more! And yes, the song during the credits was just plain awesome.

EDIT: Actually, you know what? Fuck the ending song. It's almost obscene level of catchiness (is that even a word? It is now!), has left me listening to the damn thing for the past half-hour. God dammit.

[MasterSwordUltima]

I love you for your edit reason, DarkDragoonX. Oh so much.

Also, is Portal not included in the PS3 version? Or is it just because PS3 is teh s uck?

[Warlock]

I have really been thinking about getting this lately. I'll be honest, I've never played Half-Life at all. But I always hear how great it is. And this game in particular (Portal) sounds fun as hell.

I think I'm going to check when I get home to see if 360 has a demo available, at least to get a feel for how the game plays. Course, I have so much crap to play right now, especially with Mario Galaxy coming in less than a month.. ugg..

P.S. - anyone who has it, can you tell me if the Xbox 360 version controls well? I really do think that's the version I want - partially because I hate booting up my computer, dealing with potential game lag (since obviously it's not going to be optimized to everyone's machines like the 360 version will be), and so forth. Also, Achievements! :D But I'm hoping that the controls are at least good without a mouse/keyboard setup.

[Breaker]

I have it on the 360 Elite, Warlock. The graphics and controls are pretty nice.

[AlexMax]

I have it on the 360 Elite, Warlock. The graphics and controls are pretty nice.

How in the blue hell are you supposed to do some of the puzzles with two sticks? Especially the end of 18, and some of the time-based challenges.

[Breaker]

How in the blue hell are you supposed to do some of the puzzles with two sticks? Especially the end of 18, and some of the time-based challenges.

Very carefully?

[AlexMax]

I just remember having a lot of trouble with that even with a keyboard and mouse. But apparently people are completing it, so it must not be that bad...

[Warlock]

Argg.. I still cannot decide whether I want the PC or 360 version.. a lot of people are saying PC, but 360 also has the nice advantage of achievements and not having to mess with a ton of crap just to play the game. I don't know...

Does anyone know what the mod situation is like on PC? Are there a lot of great mods that would make that version more worthwhile?

[Grasshopper]

Portal has achievements on the PC too.

[Warlock]

Yeah but who's gonna look at them? :P Unless they can be combined w/ the 360 achievements

Edit: Haha, this is a good pro for the PC version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKg3TUPQ8Sg

Mod to put the portal gun in HL2. That looks like so much fun.

[Warlock]

Finally picked this up today for PC. Does anyone else have a problem with the HUD in HL2 not displaying ammo correctly? Here is a picture (not mine, found it in the Steam forums from one guy with the same problem... but the stupid forum won't authenticate me automatically so I can't ask there right now until "someone approves me" -_-):
http://i23.tinypic.com/1zeuyae.jpg

It's like it's using the wrong font. Anyone know how to fix that?

Edit: Figured it out over the weekend but the boards were down. Apparently it's some graphical bug when you switch resolutions. If you quit out of the game and start it again, it goes away.

[Rainman]

Man I want to play this, but I don't have the money to buy the Orange Box at this moment. (I want to get the other games in that too.)

Actually my birthday is coming up so maybe I can ask for that. You guys say it's short, but a puzzle game seems like it's easily moddable. Hopefully, we can get some new fan-made puzzles.

[Warlock]

Yeah, Portal is friggin' awesome. It's kind of short, but I honestly think it's not as bad as people claim it is. Had they made it any longer, I think it would have become tedious. And technically, level 19 is really something like 5 or 6 levels. You hit the loading screen several times during it.

Also, people complain that the first several levels are very easy, which I guess is true. I just don't personally see any other way they could have done this. They need to teach quite a bit about the game, and especially stuff like flinging, I'm not sure how they could have otherwise conveyed that. In any case, to seperate this stuff into a seperate tutorial would have really taken away from the story of the game. So I don't know.

In any case, yeah, I'm sure plenty of map makers will do some crazy fun stuff with it.

[Darth Marsden]

I've just finished it, and I only got stuck once, on Experiment 18. And that was because I didn't realize that the pole was actually a button I needed to press. Duh.

Awesome game. And I love 'that' song. But two spolierish questions:
-=SPOILER=-

[Dark Nation]

-=SPOILER=-

[Grasshopper]

If you like room 18, play that on the advanced map. I completed those after a few times, but the challenge maps are insane.

[Warlock]

-=SPOILER=-

-=SPOILER=-

In any case, if you want some more information:

http://www.aperturelabratories.com/

Type: LOGIN
User: CJOHNSON
Pass: TIER3

Then type "NOTES". This gives a history of the company. You can also type HELP for a list of commands.. APPLY has you take a weird quiz and THECAKEISALIE has some other message.. the rest are mostly worthless.

Or else the wiki article has an abridged version :P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_%28video_game%29

[Banon]

I so want this game!! It looks awesome, and is really creative!:googly:

[Masamune]

-=SPOILER=-

[Warlock]

-=SPOILER=-

-=SPOILER=-

We totally need to just mark this topic as spoilers at this point :D

[Grasshopper]

-=SPOILER=-

[Warlock]

yeah but that's the point.. this topic is kind of becoming one big black box :P

[Darth Marsden]

Thanks guys, it all makes a bit more sense now.

[DarkDragoonX]

yeah but that's the point.. this topic is kind of becoming one big black box :P

-=SPOILER=-

[Darth Marsden]

This made me laugh harder then anything else I've encountered for a good long while:

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/071025.jpg

[punkonjunk1024]

I lol'd. A little.

No seriously, I downloaded a pirated copy of portal, and I love it so much I'm buying it with my next check. For the first time in my life I feel that 1, a videogame is actually a good deal - 5 games for 50 bucks is sweet. and 2, that game was so impressive... I haven't laughed that hard at a game since... last time I laughed that hard at a game. but it's been a while. I really, really hope we see continued developement.

That game was amazing. Soooo amazing.

[Darth Marsden]

Have you listened to the commentaries? Always entertaining, those.

[ShadowTiger]

Anyone try the Portal Flash (http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/) game yet? I didn't really have any problems with it until level 34 or so. The timing-related puzzles are by far the worst, I think.

[Warlock]

I didn't like how the portals alternated with the left click instead of using both mouse buttons in that. It made some puzzles way more annoying than they should have been, because I'd click and get rid of the wrong portal.

I don't remember how far I got - somewhere in the 20s probably.. I just got bored of it and quit :P

[Darth Marsden]

Q for the Blue portals, E for the Orange one. Once you get the hang of that, the game becomes somewhat simpler.

I gave up around level 15... it was just before you got to those force fields, I know that much (I had to check the video walkthroughs for one of the levels :(). They certainly got the spirit of Portal right, but the level design was a tad too harsh.

[ShadowTiger]

I managed to finish it this morning without too much trouble. The worst of it was the timing, and that was only really bad with the zapping floors/ceilings. Those were annoying.

BTW the cake...
-=SPOILER=-

[punkonjunk1024]

I think I'm going to play it again when I finish HL2E2. Which is also awesome.

[Warlock]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/05/bethesda-designer-makes-portal-level/

First downloadable map (that I'm aware of anyways). PC version only obviously.

[Darth Marsden]

Owned. (http://www.portalmaps.net/browse.php)

[Warlock]

Well that one was done by Bethseda (sp?) aka the Oblivion people. So there :P

Actually I played it and it was just a bit too rediculous to me. Too much timing and aerobatics involved with some of the puzzles :P Didn't seem worth it... I did like the idea of a flipped room though.

[Darth Marsden]

Yeah, but mine included that one (it's at the top) AND dozens more. So THERE. http://smilies.vidahost.com/cwm/cwm/killtard.gif

[ShadowTiger]

(Minor Spoiler) - You should finish the Portal Flash. The cheats are even enabled. "God" and "Noclip" are functional codes. (http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b117/BH4/Random%20Images/TheCakeIsNotALiePortalFlash.gif)

[Darth Marsden]

What level number is that? If I knew how many levels there were, I might have more drive to go back and finish it.

[ShadowTiger]

There are 40 levels in all. That's just the big empty room right after L40. L40 isn't as hard as 33 - 39, I thought. I actually even noclipped through the "Frustration" level. Didn't think it was mentally challenging.

[Warlock]

http://www.nofrag.com/2007/nov/08/27246/

Portal speed run video.. he beat it in 20 minutes! It's hilarious how he bypasses the puzzles completely in some levels.

[War Lord]

Just wanted to chime in as a user who has this for the 360 and the PC. I haven't even touched the PC versions of any orange box titles. I have however beat Portal on the Xbox and the advanced stages ans not once did I see the joystick as a problem or even think about it.

I need to get down on some HL2 again so I can play both episodes as well. Been a while since I've playing any so I need a refresher.

[Darth Marsden]

I suppose by the time you get to the later levels you're used to the controls and they've almost become second nature. Do you play a lot of console FPS's, War Lord?

[Warlock]

Well I'm happy with the PC version given that it runs silky smooth on my system (which I was worried about), with the exception of Episode 2 that is somewhat laggy at times (I could turn my settings down but then it'd look like crap :P I really just need more RAM I think). Plus, PC version = new maps and mods :D

[Masamune]

Well I'm happy with the PC version given that it runs silky smooth on my system (which I was worried about), with the exception of Episode 2 that is somewhat laggy at times (I could turn my settings down but then it'd look like crap :P I really just need more RAM I think). Plus, PC version = new maps and mods :D

That bothered the hell out of me. It seem like they're taking the same game and upping the system requirements without much change. To me, episode two doesn't look very different from the original HL2. But when I run it on my laptop with the same settings, HL2 performs well, while episode 2 gets video lag. It's the same with counter strike source and team fortress 2. counter strike source runs fine, while TF2 lags. And it doesn't look much better graphics wise.