Playing Portal

[etiolate]

At about 35 minutes in, I'm at level 15. How many levels are there? Some neat puzzles so far, like the momentum jump parts. Also, I thought the game was supposed to be funny? Or am I thinking of something else?

orange box unf unf

[Joe Molotov]

It's about 3-4 hours long. Just wait until you get to Level 18, you haven't seen nothing yet.

[Himu]

best game last year*

* - but P3 was still goty

[demi]

Yeah, it's a pretty awful game

[chronovore]

I think there  are 19 test chambers, and then things get tricky.

The humor is dark, and not necessarily gut-busting.

[Grecco]

My seccond favorite game of 07 behind Galaxy and ahead of ME

[Don Flamenco]

Great game!   I replay it every few months to keep it kinda fresh.  the advanced puzzles are fun too.  There are fan made puzzles, but I don't know why I haven't installed any yet.

[Great Rumbler]

"Did you know you can donate one or all of your vital organs to the Aperture Science Self Esteem Fund for Girls? It's true!"

"Unbelievable. You, **subject name here** must be the pride of **subject hometown here**."

"The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak."

"Please be advised that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol, but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grid, which may, in semi-rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel and teeth."

GLaDOS

[Don Flamenco]

"This next test is impossible"

[Mondain]

Yeah, it's a pretty awful game

[Great Rumbler]

Mondain hates it, so it must be good!

[Vizzys]

hating portal is like being on a new plane of contrarian existence

[Himu]

how the fuck can anyone hate portal

[demi]

how the fuck can anyone hate portal

Go listen to the GDC keynote, plenty of reasons why

[laesperanzapaz]

Haze

[etiolate]

I don't find the game's script funny at all.

I do find the game fun! A rather simple mechanic that you can do a lot with.  This is gameplay design I approve of. The learning curve is pretty nice so far as well.

I need to start up on HL2 main game as well though, but I'll stick to Portal for now since I can do it in short bursts.

[Tucah]

I found it both funny and a lot of fun.

Probably the best 3 hours of gaming spent in 2007.

[TakingBackSunday]

Finally beat it today.

Once you get past level 19, it gets funnier than you think the game is now.  Funnier, but creepier.

[Draft]

Amazing game.

Done a disservice by all the fawning praise it receives. Creates backlash.

But it really does deserve most of the praise it receives.

How must it feel, to be some neckbeard typing away feverishly at your macbook pro, and to have your 100,000 word game epic outdone by an hour of narration written by the dude from Old Man Murray.

[Himu]

Wasn't it written by the dude who co-wrote Psychonauts?

[The Fake Shemp]

Game was hysterical.  I'm not sure how anyone couldn't get the humor.

[cool breeze]

Wasn't it written by the dude who co-wrote Psychonauts?

And the guy who was such a fan of God Hand that he traded a companion cube plush for a Clover signed poster.  Erik Wolpaw is amazing.  Ending was also inspired by God Hand.

Portal is an amazing game.  Not even the 'fan base' overusing choice lines and items from the game couldn't bring it down.  I seriously think that Portal has some of the best narrative in any game.  Actually, it is probably the best.

[Joe Molotov]

I seriously think that Portal has some of the best narrative in any game.  Actually, it is probably the best.

And without a single 45 minute long cutscene, imagine that.

[pilonv1]

Amazing game.

Done a disservice by all the fawning praise it receives. Creates backlash.

But it really does deserve most of the praise it receives.

How must it feel, to be some neckbeard typing away feverishly at your macbook pro, and to have your 100,000 word game epic outdone by an hour of narration written by the dude from Old Man Murray.

I haven't read Old Man Murray in years. Didn't know it was him! WOW

[Himu]

Wasn't it written by the dude who co-wrote Psychonauts?

And the guy who was such a fan of God Hand that he traded a companion cube plush for a Clover signed poster.  Erik Wolpaw is amazing.  Ending was also inspired by God Hand.

Portal is an amazing game.  Not even the 'fan base' overusing choice lines and items from the game couldn't bring it down.  I seriously think that Portal has some of the best narrative in any game.  Actually, it is probably the best.

Portal is how you tell a story in a game; using player emotions to toy with them to build a narrative and sense of atmosphere. Portal is one of the few games that has an amazing story and actually uses the advtange of the medium to tell it instead of giving us cutscenes.

[cool breeze]

Portal is how you tell a story in a game; using player emotions to toy with them to build a narrative and sense of atmosphere. Portal is one of the few games that has an amazing story and actually uses the advtange of the medium to tell it instead of giving us cutscenes.

Exactly.  Even how fast or slow you are willing to burn the companion cube is genius story telling that involves you into the game.  Just that one part says more than hours of cutscenes and dialog.  I know when I first got to that part, I was looking around to see if I can trick the game into letting me save it.  I am sucker for games that use the video game medium to tell a story in a way only it could (there are few of these), and I am sucker for games that use the first person perspective in all its potentially (again, very few games do this).  Portal nails one of them and manages to keep me happy in the other department.  I can only hope Mirror's Edge has some nice narrative to it, because it has the first person perspective locked down from the looks of things.

It always kind of bugs me whenever I hear a developer talk about how they want their game to be cinematic.  Dyack does this a lot with Too Human.  Kojima does with MGS, and despite my immense liking of MGS, it is all so confusing.  Just like going to see a movie and having it be all text on a blank screen sounds weird, so should movies/films being used to tell a story in a video game sound weird.  I am content with cutscenes and all that stuff in games, I just think that there could be so much more, and Portal does that.

[Himu]

There are few games I can think of that use narrative only a game could do.

Portal

uhhh

Silent Hill 2

uhhh


we need to come up with a list

[etiolate]

Finally beat it today.

Once you get past level 19, it gets funnier than you think the game is now.  Funnier, but creepier.

Ah I'm only at like level 17 so far.

[Great Rumbler]

There are few games I can think of that use narrative only a game could do.

Portal

uhhh

Silent Hill 2

uhhh


we need to come up with a list

System Shock 2
Bioshock
...
...
*scratches head*

[Himu]

yeah i'm drawing a blank

[Tieno]

ICO? Mainly through the interaction with Yorda and the animation.

[Himu]

Thanks for reminding me

ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Another World (Out of this World)
Flashback
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time?

[Great Rumbler]

Man, I would kill for a 2D update/sequel of Flashback.

[tiesto]

I preferred the MGS stories over Portal's, sorry... but I liked the gameplay of Portal well enough. The thing that was best about it was that the game ended just as it seemed like they were running out of puzzle ideas, and rather than make you repeat the same puzzle over and over, they ended it.

[Himu]

isn't that a good thing? the game wasn't too long, and it's infinitely replayable.

[cool breeze]

Thanks for reminding me

ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Another World (Out of this World)
Flashback
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time?

I don't know about Prince of Persia, but Shadow of the Colossus and others are good examples.

[Himu]

well, i can't remember too many cutscenes in pop. I'm mainly talking about the great dialogue with the prince and farah without even having a cutscene. that in game dialogue was priceless.

[Himu]

i admit i haven't played pop: sot in years though, so I could be wrong

[demi]

Thanks for reminding me

ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Another World (Out of this World)
Flashback
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time?

crap
crap
crap
ok
good

seems to be a trend with this type of thing

[Great Rumbler]

does mondain ever tire of being so wrong?

It's probably the only fun he gets to have in life.

[chronovore]

There are few games I can think of that use narrative only a game could do.

Portal

uhhh

Silent Hill 2

uhhh


we need to come up with a list

System Shock 2
Bioshock
...
...
*scratches head*

well, i can't remember too many cutscenes in pop. I'm mainly talking about the great dialogue with the prince and farah without even having a cutscene. that in game dialogue was priceless.

This style of storytelling from those games, it rarely breaks the player's control to tell a story; in SS2, there's an ending cutscene, but other than that there's only one moment in the game where they take control away from the player to show a "cutscene," and it scare the be-fucking-jesus out of me the first time I played through it.

Another series of games like that is Marathon; most of the story was told through the text in the computer terminal stations.

[Great Rumbler]

The Half-Life series does that to extent, in that there are never in static cut-scenes. It's not quite the same as the other ones though.

[Himu]

half life stories are boring as fuck though

[Great Rumbler]

half life stories are boring as fuck though

What's boring about it? It's just a simple story told in a somewhat unconventional manner.

[Himu]

well, i mean, compared to the rest we're discussing. it doesn't scream  nearly as memorable

[cool breeze]

I think the biggest problem with HL2 story is how the AI is pre-canned and outside of headtracking are oblivious to your movement.  You can pretty much be jumping around like a dumbass and standing on their head and they won't act different or anything.  If you stand in their predetermined path, they will push you away.  It all breaks the illusion instantly.  I don't know if I can really be so harsh considering the games listed that do this well usually have you alone with little human interaction, but still.

[Tieno]

Thanks for reminding me

ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Another World (Out of this World)
Flashback
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time?

crap
crap

seems to be a trend with this type of thing

[JustinP]

well, i mean, compared to the rest we're discussing. it doesn't scream  nearly as memorable

you must have an awesome memory deficiency. 

[Himu]

i'm not a big fan of half life 2.

half life 1, however.

[Great Rumbler]

well, i mean, compared to the rest we're discussing. it doesn't scream  nearly as memorable

Okay, I see what you're saying. I don't agree with it though, because the atmosphere and the way the story slowly unfolds through conversations and world details really pulled me into the game. If you pulled the story out of all that, no, it wouldn't be nearly as good.