Portal 2 Launch Day!!!!

[JRD]

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I went loco with P1 and am looking forward to have my own copy... just reading this post is making me really anxious to try those puzzles again!!

PZ... P1 is the kind of twisting-mind game you either love or drop after the third puzzle... if you manage to go a bit far into the game it'll suck you in so bad you won't stop playing even when you feel absolutely stuck... at first it was kind of a side game to the Half Life series but soon it proved worth of it's own series. P2 should bring back all the atmosphere of the original game plus all improvements the community must've asked during the last years.

Great read guys... can't wait to play it  :-X :-X

[Art Blade]

 :-D :-X

[spaceboy]

I've just got started through the beginning chambers and it is so great to see the old place all rundown as mmosu mentioned.  I'm very glad I played the first before this one.  Right now I know I have a much deeper appreciation for what's going on.. and yes, for GLaDOS herself,  "you monster" 

[PZ]

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^+-+ Now, that's the JRD I know!

[fragger]

 :-D He's baaa-aaaack!

[fragger]

After a five-minute install and a one-hour update from Steam ( >:(( ), I'm finally in!

So far, it was worth the wait! :-X The intro sequence was a hoot. Binnatics did a great job of describing it so I won't go over it again. I've puzzled my way through the wreckage of the test environments and have just fallen afoul of the reawakened GLaDOS. She's certainly out to get her own back... The dialogue is hilarious, both from her and my chatty little portable robotic eyeball and part-time helper, Wheatly.

Favourite line so far, from GLaDOS: "You and I both said a lot of things you're going to regret!"

The graphics and sounds are fantastic and the puzzles to come look set to become downright fiendish. At this point in the game, GLaDOS' halting efforts to rebuild herself and reconfigure the environment promise to evolve into something quite nasty later on...

Valve have done a terrific job with this. I had to take a breather to briefly report here and to steel myself for whatever GLaDOS is going to throw at me next.

OK (phew) - once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...

[spaceboy]

excellent.  glad to hear another Portal fan enjoying this awesome game! 

[fragger]

Back again. Man, this game is AWESOME!!!

I had trouble tearing myself away from it, I'm still not finished yet. It seems to be a somewhat bigger affair than the original. I won't give anything away, but it follows a similar pattern to Portal 1 - puzzles, some of which are pretty tough, followed by some twists (more than one this time). Some of the non-test-chamber puzzles are very cleverly conceived. And the game's funny as hell, I haven't laughed this much in a game ever. 'Nuff said, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but just let me say that in the later stages of the game (at least I think they're later stages, I have no idea how much more there is from where I am now) there is some amazing level design featuring some jaw-dropping structures.

Here's a few screenies:

[smg id=3210 align=center width=400]

Me, looking hot (eat your heart out, Lara)

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Some whopping structures

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Fantastic game, I'm enjoying it immensely :-D

Portal fans should be all over this one :-X :-X :-X

[Binnatics]

I am at these whopping structures now!!! Damn, so big in there. Funny to see how Portal is moving it's tchnology to the outside of chamber-testing. I'm just too curious waht will follow  :-D

[spaceboy]

you're smokin' fragger!  yum  :)

nice shots there.  I hope to continue my testing tonight.

[fragger]

You can look but don't touch, boy!

Happy testing :-D

[Art Blade]

Has the game got a screenshot function or were those taken using an external program?

sorry but it hasn't been answered yet..

[Binnatics]

Oh sorry Art, I red it but forgot... It doesn't I guess, but I use ctrl-prtscn and then paste the image in Paint. Works great, long live Paint for the moment ;)

[Binnatics]

Finally.... pumpstation ALPHA....

Edit: Did I just mentioned I "Finally reached" Pumpstation APLHA? Look at this....
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[Art Blade]

thanks for the reply :) Most games these days don't allow PRNTSCR captures, so it is nice to know that Portal2 at least allows that to get a screenshot.

If you get irfanView (freeware) then you'll be able to paste it and, other than paint, save it as jpg (among a lot of different formats) and even change the quality and resize it. :)

By the way, about time you get a widescreen monitor.. hehe :-()

[Binnatics]

The waiting is for the tax-refund  :-\

You know... Portal 1 was just a test. Do they like this style? .....Yes? Well, here is the real deal then: Portal 2!!!!!!

[mmosu]

Is this allowed?

PORTAL 2:  SECOND IMPRESSIONS
Well, I'm doing it anyway  :-D

Not all the way through yet, so I don't feel like I can yet do "final thoughts", but I can't wait until the end either!  As some of the other guys are hinting, there are some big twists and surprises in the story, and one big double cross that blindsides you and sends an already high-flying plot rocketing straight through the upper stratosphere and lands it on an upside-down world where there's no way to predict what could happen next.  Suffice to say we are WAY outside the box right now.
The longer I play, the more I become aware of just how much of a masterpiece this game is.  It looks fantastic, it plays like greased lightning, and it has one of the most well thought-out presentations I've ever seen.  No hitches, glitches or snags – just fantastic visuals and sounds all the way, a superbly enjoyable experience  :-X
Let's get objective:  there are multiple, drastic shifts that occur and completely alter the feel the game from playfully humorous, to a much darker feel (yet still humorous, in a slightly more twisted way) and back again.  Sound is used very effectively, and ranges from the ambient creeks and groans being emitted by the aging Aperture Science facility, to dramatic and sweeping orchestral pieces, to pounding synth beats when you're progressing toward the solution to a big puzzle.  There are lots of liquid and particle effects that may be better than anything I've ever seen on console - it even gives Killzone 3 a run for it's money!  One thing I always use to gauge the graphical quality of a game is whether or not the water looks real.  I'm a good part of the way through the SP campaign, and I can honestly say that I'm having trouble remembering a game with more realistic looking water than this!  The jury is technically still out, but all things considered, this is one of, if not the best game I've ever played – no kidding  8)       

[fragger]

Has the game got a screenshot function or were those taken using an external program?

sorry but it hasn't been answered yet..

Allow me - F5 takes a screenshot :)

For those playing, the screenshots are stored in:

<drive letter>:ProgramFiles/Steam/steamapps/common/portal 2/portal2/screenshots

[fragger]

I agree mmosu, this game looks and sounds fantastic :-X And yes, the best-looking water I've seen to date. It looks positively wet :-()

It's a rollicking ride! Just when you think you're near the end, you get gobsmacked into a whole new arena. The atmosphere and the underlying threat of unanticipated nastiness is quite palpable at times.

And smooth as silk, no frame drops, no glitches - and on my aging rig, running the game full widescreen at 1920x1080 res, that's saying something. Just goes to show, superb graphics need not be chip-crippling 8)

This is definitely going to warrant a replay or six, just for the look of it and the laughs :-D

[fragger]

Man, how wrong was I? :-[ "Later stages" of the game indeed, I don't think I was even halfway through it when I said that! This game is huge, definitely way bigger than #1.

There are some very tough areas, and some of the puzzles are brilliant and diabolical, with much lateral thinking required. Sometimes it's a case of "Of course, why didn't I think of that before!" followed by a slap on the head, other times it's "OK, now how the hell do I get to there?" I'm at one of those points now actually, hopelessly stuck...

Some of the locations are vertically gigantic. Not a good game to play if you suffer from vertigo - sometimes I look back down from a place I've reached and the ground is a long, long way away... The size of some of the play areas is very impressive.

There's a great subplot emerging concerning the origins of GLaDOS, and the recorded comments of "Cave" Johnson, the now long-dead CEO of Aperture, are hilarious. Turns out this outfit has been operating in secret since the late 40s and I'm currently making my way through the crumbling original complex, which is a vast series of truly enormous abandoned structures, in some cases with offices full of 60s-era computers and hardware. An older Aperture logo is visible around the place which also has an antiquated look to it. Superb level design, I can't get over it.

It's a stunning game in all respects :-X Now if I can just figure out how to get up to that bloody catwalk...

[fragger]

Still stuck - there's got to be cause for a head-slap around here somewhere...

[spaceboy]

I'm going to take a stab at where your at fragger.  In the first bit of the old Aperture facility you need to get to a broken bit of catwalk. across is more catwalk with an angled bit of roof.  you need to fall down the elevator shaft with a portal at the bottom and fly out of the angled roof part to that bit of catwalk and door.

That may not be where your at, but it sounded familiar.

Just loving this game.  Cave's recordings are priceless.

[Art Blade]

Thanks, fragger ("F5") :)

About Portal/Portal2: From my position it's like this:

Games I've played have been combat or race related. There were usually opponents I could either beat up or shoot dead or beat them on a track racing. The exception to that, having to progress using "chat" have been FPSRPG like Oblivion, Stalker, MassEffect(1), AlphaProtocol and maybe HalfLife(1) which is a predecessor of sorts with regards to Portal if I'm not mistaken, yet they all had combat at their core. As soon as games involved puzzles I felt the urge to rather blow that door up than to find out how to pick that lock. Lock-picking, well, was ok, but I remember other games now, IndianaJones, LeisureSuitLarry, DayOfTheTentacle -- in those games I needed to gather bits and pieces to knit together to solve riddles or puzzles; these were called "adventure games." I lost interest in those long ago.

Now I keep hearing you guys how you enjoy meandering around in that level design of Portal2 and how cool the story is and how great the graphics are but the general idea of the game, "find a way through a 3D maze" doesn't really appeal to me. Like Mirror'sEdge which definitely was unique and all but it didn't appeal to me to run through a maze of small bars and rooftops at a dizzying height (no vertigo problem here, though).

Although I'd like to see that water and hear the sounds and enjoy witty comments of little helpers with a British accent, I still don't think it would be a good idea to buy that game just  to see and hear, to see it all I'd have to play it. I like the general idea of playing coop and mastering situations together in such an environment, but I still don't feel the slightest interest in really going in.  :-\\

[spaceboy]

I get where you're coming from Art,  these puzzles though involve being catapulted through the air, avoided turret fire, etc.  It's really like nothing else.  This wasn't even on my radar 2 months ago, but a spot opened up in my "schedule" lol and I rented the first, loved it and was enticed by an excellent $20 off deal at Amazon.  Now I am so happy I got into "thinking with portals".

If there's a cheap way for you to play the first (Steam has it for $10) then I'd say try it out.

[Art Blade]

Thing is, I am quite busy with TDU2, open world game with free roam, races, multiplayer community, and with the casino dlc there is yet another dimension to it, particularly playing poker tournaments against other human players and afterwards we meet for a cruise into sunset or sunrise in Ibiza or Oahu..  ;)