Portal 2 Catch-All

About the story

Spoiler:

Did you guys care about the story? I enjoyed random pieces of dialogue but I didn't think the actual plot was very interesting. This stuff about GLaDOS having been a person, Chell being the offspring of Cave Johnsson or w/e, I don't think it's impactful because it wasn't preceeded by enough stuff. Chell is barely a character, why would I care who her father is?

I'm not even disappointed with the story, it just seems to have generated way more discussion than I would've expected.

kyrieee wrote:

About the story

Spoiler:

Did you guys care about the story? I enjoyed random pieces of dialogue but I didn't think the actual plot was very interesting. This stuff about GLaDOS having been a person, Chell being the offspring of Cave Johnsson or w/e, I don't think it's impactful because it wasn't preceeded by enough stuff. Chell is barely a character, why would I care who her father is?

I'm not even disappointed with the story, it just seems to have generated way more discussion than I would've expected.

Spoiler:

You sound like GLaDOS.

Glados is like a perfect amalgam of my nasty, abusive ex boss; my bipolar former girlfriend; and my uber passive aggressive former roommate all in one.

Non-spoiler comments - hilarious! Ah, the personality they have given this game is very entertaining.

Some puzzles had me stumped at times, they REALLY have you thinking outside the box a few times. Tip: See a 45 degree wall somewhere... you're getting some air time.

Overall, I was pleased with the puzzles and entertained by the personalities you run into. It might have been a little short (15 hrs I think) but it's not exactly an RPG.

I finally enjoyed a boss fight! I hate boss fights but this one was doable -- by me! I don't have the patience to learn boss fights especially when you eat it and have to restart and they force the cut scenes on you... takes 15 minutes to get back to the fight to die in 10 seconds.

Spoiler:

The story was nice to be there... I think they could have littered the environment with recordings (ala Bioshock) but I think the story plus personalities was pretty nice.

Before Wheatlely tries to whack you... very funny. I got a Family Guy vibe from the humor or manner of speaking from him.

Hidden things... the first Portal had a few places you could go "behind" the scenes and see things written there. Not so many this time. I found a few... there was one that had it's own theme song... sat there a while and listened to it. Not bad.

J.K. Simmons - voiceover in the old section of Aperture as Cave Johnson... absolutely hilarious, he delivers the jokes so well. Be sure to hit the voicebox on the doors... funny stuff (as well as an achievement if you're into that stuff).

Cave cursed those bastards at Black Mesa for stealing ideas!

"If you're allergic to peanuts... next test turns your blood to peanut water.. If you lose your skin, we'll sew it right back on you".

Thinking outside the box... there was the one puzzle in the old section where you just end up at a catwalk overlooking the water and two white platforms. I was stumped... until I tried something... i shot a portal down a gel tube onto the ground.. went down there and positioned the portal under the gel spout and painted a 45 degree surface with it and launched myself.

Frankencubes! A bit creepy... but so's Wheatley.

The MOON? Really? I couldn't believe when the ceiling opened, I was aimed at the bloody moon and I pulled the trigger thinking... hah! Then... I'm on the bloody moon...

"I'm in space!" - LOL.

I was a little annoyed that they didn't explore Caroline more. Deleted her and... move on. Just when GLadOS started to seem nice...

AnimeJ wrote:
Spoiler:

You sound like GLaDOS.

Reading forum posts in GlaDOS' voice makes everything more fun, and sinister.

Raelic wrote:
Spoiler:

The story was nice to be there... I think they could have littered the environment with recordings (ala Bioshock) but I think the story plus personalities was pretty nice.

Frankencubes! A bit creepy...

Spoiler:

The lack of "here is some story for you to consume" is great. Portal seems to me to be the opposite of games where it seems a writer is force feeding you, because the story they wrote is so awesome there's no reason you wouldn't right, and also if you miss some tiny detail you're worse off. In Portal you can pay as much or as little attention as you want to the story, it's a secondary aspect that adds to the core of the game.

I loved the cuberrets, such poor helpless twisted little things. Even better when you would put one down and it would crawl off that spot.

Radical Ans wrote:

One thing to note for the PC crowd. Voice is not push to talk. It's voice activated. I found this out after my game w/ Stele earlier in the day, so I'm pretty sure he herd me talking on the phone w/ my wife ;).

There's a Steam setting for that. Go to your Steam settings from the client, then the far right tab is voice. You can change it there.

More turret awesomeness (spoilers): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NRNi...

So, beat it!

Spoiler:

Yeah, the thing with the moon is pretty much bananas for any number of reasons. The biggest, nerdiest reason being... how exactly does that hole in the ceiling work? The fight takes place very deep underground, as evidenced by the long elevator ride to the surface. Strikes me as very poor design for a huge rift to randomly open in your secret underground base, directly exposing its very heart and mind (unless Wheatley picked a REALLY bad place to hang out). Either way, baffling and surprising way to end the game and one I did not see coming, because I typically do not consider "the moon" to be an option for killing my foes.

The turret opera thoroughly confused me. Is it supposed to just be another cute ending? A non-canonical element, similar to GLaDOS singing after her death in Portal 1? I noticed the gigantic "animal king" turret in the back which was a nice touch, except I remember wondering why the animal king was a turret when it first showed up in that helpful animation on the wall.

I think I would have liked the ending better if they'd left it with the turrets aiming at Chell and then not firing. At that point I imagined GLaDOS was really considering killing her and made that call on the spot. The ending would have made more sense to me if it was a simple, "I'll let you live, and here, take your damn WCC with you."

Guess that's a lot to ask after killing someone with the moon.

My other question, more technical:

Spoiler:

So, I take it that there's some sort of lunar sediment required for the portals to "stick," as demonstrated by the globs of extremely suggestive white gel squirting everywhere late-game. That makes sense to me, and explains why I could only shoot portals at white surfaces within the test chambers. Except if that's the case, why could I stick portals to so many other surfaces outside the test chambers? Did they randomly paint small portions of wall with moon dust? Even before they actually had the portal technology?

I understand why it had to work that way from a game design perspective but I still don't quite get the narrative logic. My best guess would be that the portal gun actually reacts to a specific element or set of elements that just so happen to be very common in moon sediment. Basically, it may or may not work on certain Earth surfaces (depending on chemical composition) but always works on moon-based surfaces.

From a visual design perspective, I thought it was a bit inconsistent. The early areas are breathtaking and incredibly detailed. It's like the entire facility is suffering and rotting away. I also appreciated how things got cleaner the deeper I got, like the "corruption" didn't reach that far. Still, there's a point at which clean, white walls just looks like... less. In Portal they used it to great effect as you spent so much time exclusively in this sterile, pristine environment only to eventually peek behind the walls and see how much more is back there. I don't think it really works in the opposite direction.

Still...

Spoiler:

Stuff collapsing and exploding and smashing together is pretty neat.

Heh, not having finished, the thread is turning into a bunch of spoiler boxes. Wonder if it's time for a spoiler thread.

LobsterMobster wrote:

My other question, more technical:

Spoiler:

Did they randomly paint small portions of wall with moon dust? Even before they actually had the portal technology?

[spoiler]It's implied that portal tech has been available from the earliest test chambers, one of the first posters you walk past in the 50s section has a diagram of a person wearing a backpack sized portal device[/quote]

LobsterMobster wrote:

My other question, more technical:

Spoiler:

I understand why it had to work that way from a game design perspective but I still don't quite get the narrative logic. My best guess would be that the portal gun actually reacts to a specific element or set of elements that just so happen to be very common in moon sediment. Basically, it may or may not work on certain Earth surfaces (depending on chemical composition) but always works on moon-based surfaces.

Spoiler:

This is probably the most sensible reading. Johnson's first talk of moon rock and making a gel out of it he says "it turns out it's a great portal conductor" which implies that portals (and knowledge of conducting materials) precede the use of moon rock.

LobsterMobster wrote:

From a visual design perspective, I thought it was a bit inconsistent. The early areas are breathtaking and incredibly detailed. It's like the entire facility is suffering and rotting away. I also appreciated how things got cleaner the deeper I got, like the "corruption" didn't reach that far.

Spoiler:

It's getting cleaner because at that point GladOS is awake again and is repairing the facility ahead of you, she more or less says as much a couple of times

MannishBoy wrote:

Heh, not having finished, the thread is turning into a bunch of spoiler boxes. Wonder if it's time for a spoiler thread.

Or maybe we should inform people there will be spoilers in this thread. It's a very dense game. There's very little that isn't best experienced for the first time in person.

I would vote for a spoiler thread.

I still like reading people's reactions without needing to worry about being spoiled, being locked out before getting and finishing Portal 2 would make me a sad Devil. And this thread helps as a hook up for co-op and getting group invites too.

Thank you for all being cognizant that not everyone has been able to make it through the game and spoiler tagging appropriately. I am about halfway through and have really been enjoying it, and have no idea what is coming next!

Unfortunately DA2 has portions spoiled for me due to people not being as considerate in that original thread.

Finding the

Spoiler:

Launch point of the Borealis

gave me hope for the eventual release of Episode 3.

Stele wrote:

Oh yeah the coop had an awesome tagline at the end as well. Spoilers.

Spoiler:

You saved science!

I think I enjoy that more than the single player end quotes.

Spoiler:

I'm in space!

The single player end quote was the best one I think. I was laughing my but off.

MannishBoy wrote:
Radical Ans wrote:

One thing to note for the PC crowd. Voice is not push to talk. It's voice activated. I found this out after my game w/ Stele earlier in the day, so I'm pretty sure he herd me talking on the phone w/ my wife ;).

There's a Steam setting for that. Go to your Steam settings from the client, then the far right tab is voice. You can change it there.

I have push-to-talk set up in my Steam options and it's still voice activated in Portal.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Spoiler:

The turret opera thoroughly confused me. Is it supposed to just be another cute ending? A non-canonical element, similar to GLaDOS singing after her death in Portal 1? I noticed the gigantic "animal king" turret in the back which was a nice touch, except I remember wondering why the animal king was a turret when it first showed up in that helpful animation on the wall.

Spoiler:

I though it was was a nice continuation of the singing turret easter egg room. It lets you take a peek into what the turrets do in their spare time. I actually wondered if the opera even happened for people that didn't find the room.

You guys know you can change to push-to-talk in the options of the Portal 2 menu, right? It's not hidden. You can also change the key-binding (I switched from C to V, since I'm so used to TF2)

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Spoiler:

I though it was was a nice continuation of the singing turret easter egg room.

The what now?

Gaald wrote:
Stele wrote:
Gaald wrote:

Just finished Co-op with Xeknos. Holy crap was that fun. I swear to god we spent 20 minutes trying to figure out this one puzzle tried all sorts of stuff, and than we realized what the solution, and smacked our heads.

Which one? SwissCheese and I had a couple we stared at for a while, but I think only the very last one took us a lot of time, and we overcomplicated the solution.

Spoiler:

It was one of the light bridge levels. It was out in the open you are faced with some rather large steel girders. The exit is straight in front of you but raised high and several feet away with nothing connecting to it which meant you had to vault yourself there. The solution was for you and your partner to fly through the air at the same time colliding in midair so that you could fall straight onto the landing. We kept trying to do it one at, and looking for ways to slow the persons momentum before the final portal launch.

Oh yeah. We got totally lucky on that one.

Spoiler:

We were just setting up each jump, and happened to go through together the first time, and crashed into each other. Then we were all hi-fives and hugging cause we got so lucky. :lol:

DanB wrote:
iaintgotnopants wrote:
Spoiler:

I though it was was a nice continuation of the singing turret easter egg room.

The what now?

Spoiler:

There's a room where you find a bunch of turrets singing earlier in the game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NRNi...

And pants, it does happen.

Tannhauser wrote:
iaintgotnopants wrote:
Spoiler:

What chapters are the Pit Boss, Final Transmission, Good Listener and Ship Overboard achievements in? Again, I'm really surprised I managed to miss all of these.

Big Spoilers:

Spoiler:

Ship Overboard - There is a hidden doorway behind a cabinet in the beginning of the 70s area, just check the corners of all the office rooms until you find it. This is also the location of the last 3 vitrified doors.

More help for Ship Overboard and Door Prize in this video, if you need it.

I got Pit Boss last night, it was epic. And I am sure Good Listener will be too.

I don't think the NAME of an achievement can be a spoiler. There are no "hidden" ones in this game, like you get in a lot of console-only games.

Nevin73 wrote:

gave me hope for the eventual release of Episode 3.

Spoiler:

Despite the fact that you were a mile underground?
edit: Clearly I'm not thinking with portals

I think Valve are toying with anyone who's wants rapid progress on HL. The links between the two series are quite thin, and I don't think they're ever going to come to much. I think it's a nod at best. Valve will just work on whatever they want, and to be honest if games like P2 are the result of that, then I no longer care (much) if Ep3 never sees the light of day.

I'm sure Ep3 will turn up eventually, but I'm not sure in what form. The episodes were originally short expansions, Ep1 by itself, and Ep2 as a third of the orange box. I can't help thinking if Ep3 was just the final chapter of similar length to 2/3, then it would be done already, so I think something else has happened, either it's been shelved for other projects or it's grown to be something other than 'just' the end of the Episodes story arc. Heck even a comic to tie up the story would be cool as far as I'm concerned, if they've got no interest in making the game.

Someone made a translation from Italian. From my few years of schooling, everything seems correct (though the one masculine usage is odd, but it's definitely what is sung). Boy howdy, that's interesting.

Spoiler:

cara bel, cara mia bel (dear beautiful, my beautiful dear)
ah mia bambina, oh Chell (ah, my child (feminine), oh Chell) che la stima x2 (that she holds in esteem)
e cara mia addio (and goodbye my dear) oh mio bambino caro (oh, my dear child (masculine))
perche non passi lontana, si lontana da scienza? (why not go far away, yes far away from science?)
cara x2 mia bambina ah mia bel ah mia cara x2 ah mia bambina ah cara cara mia

EDIT: more fun with Conjectures! This from the Steam thread.

Spoiler:

Chell could very likely be short for Michelle. The meaning of the name Michelle is 'Who resembles God". Maybe Cave named her Michelle out of pomposity - the man was a powermonger - or maybe this is simply a clue by Valve to say Chell is the daughter of GLaDOS, an AI who manipulates and controls the lives of the humans in her facility. I'm not sure, but it's interesting.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Michelle

But here's a REAL kicker. The meaning of Caroline is - wait for it - 'free man'. No, really.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Caroline

Patch!

Fixed unrecoverable black screen in elevator save
Fixed infinite loop on Mac OSX server
Fixed Mac OSX font rendering and glyph corruption
Fixed GC memory leak
Various localization content improvements
Support for English subtitles in Turkish builds
Minor string/interface glitches
Fixes for multiple crashes
Improved detection and handling for various errors and/or crashes
Activated UI to enable joystick in-game

In bad news, PSN has been down for the last 12-13 hours or so. I'm afraid to go trophy hunting without PSN/Steam running, in case it doesn't sync over.

Minarchist wrote:

Someone made a translation from Italian. From my few years of schooling, everything seems correct (though the one masculine usage is odd, but it's definitely what is sung). Boy howdy, that's interesting.

Spoiler:

cara bel, cara mia bel (dear beautiful, my beautiful dear)
ah mia bambina, oh Chell (ah, my child (feminine), oh Chell) che la stima x2 (that she holds in esteem)
e cara mia addio (and goodbye my dear) oh mio bambino caro (oh, my dear child (masculine))
perche non passi lontana, si lontana da scienza? (why not go far away, yes far away from science?)
cara x2 mia bambina ah mia bel ah mia cara x2 ah mia bambina ah cara cara mia

EDIT: more fun with Conjectures! This from the Steam thread.

Spoiler:

Chell could very likely be short for Michelle. The meaning of the name Michelle is 'Who resembles God". Maybe Cave named her Michelle out of pomposity - the man was a powermonger - or maybe this is simply a clue by Valve to say Chell is the daughter of GLaDOS, an AI who manipulates and controls the lives of the humans in her facility. I'm not sure, but it's interesting.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Michelle

But here's a REAL kicker. The meaning of Caroline is - wait for it - 'free man'. No, really.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Caroline

That last part is just plain fun.

impossible spot
Spoiler:

I thought it was the pipe you fall down when GLaDOS first turns into a potato and you drop for like 2 mins.

Spoiler:

I though it was was a nice continuation of the singing turret easter egg room. It lets you take a peek into what the turrets do in their spare time. I actually wondered if the opera even happened for people that didn't find the room.

It does.

Stele wrote:

In bad news, PSN has been down for the last 12-13 hours or so. I'm afraid to go trophy hunting without PSN/Steam running, in case it doesn't sync over. :(

Trophies sync. Progress does not.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Stele wrote:

In bad news, PSN has been down for the last 12-13 hours or so. I'm afraid to go trophy hunting without PSN/Steam running, in case it doesn't sync over. :(

Trophies sync. Progress does not.

So if I play offline and get my trophies, when I log back in to PSN/Steam they should count still? I just wasn't sure if it would sync without being logged in, I wouldn't want to have to redo the achievements on PC. So far everything has counted for both. I don't think I've ever played any games without being automatically logged in, so I wasn't even sure if regular trophies counted. I assumed they do, but never tried it.

I've already beat the game. And despite saves not transferring, the game seems to track progress by achievements. Because I can start a "new game" on any chapter on my PC version, despite only finishing the game on PS3 so far.

Apparently PSN could be down for a couple days, there's all kinds of weird back and forth on twitter/facebook/forums on whether this is another Anonymous hacker attack or what. Perhaps another topic for that... what a mess.