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I don't understand why people would think Portal 1 is better. Because there was less of it? Because the graphics were worse? Because the mechanics were far more limited? Because now they feel that the puzzles are easy? Well no s**t Sherlock, they played the first game, small wonder the first few puzzles are obvious. The later ones cracked my brain just as hard as the ones in the first game.

I mean, I still love Portal 1, but I'm reading some ridiculous stuff around the net. For instance, someone in Ars Technica wrote an article claiming Portal 1 is much superior because it made him feel alone in the game and that was real scary. Um ok dude, whatever rings your bell, but "horror" isn't what I'd use to describe Portal. Suspense maybe, but even then...

Portal 2 is an bigger Portal 1 with an overarching story. More specifically, it doesn't have anything less than the first, so I honestly can't understand the complaints. I guess it's one of those cases where you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I don't understand why people would think Portal 1 is better.

I think it's because it was such a fresh surprise; it was released, if I recall correctly, alongside TF2 and one of the HL2 episodes? I'd guess that diluted pre-release hype somewhat, making the game more of a discovery than something expected. Conversely, Portal 2 is riding on the heels of a wild and unexpected ride, on its own, with a fairly solid marketing campaign behind it and it alone.

That said, I haven't played Portal 2 yet, either, so I have no opinion.

morphine wrote:

I don't understand why people would think Portal 1 is better. Because there was less of it? Because the graphics were worse? Because the mechanics were far more limited? Because now they feel that the puzzles are easy? Well no s**t Sherlock, they played the first game, small wonder the first few puzzles are obvious. The later ones cracked my brain just as hard as the ones in the first game.

I mean, I still love Portal 1, but I'm reading some ridiculous stuff around the net. For instance, someone in Ars Technica wrote an article claiming Portal 1 is much superior because it made him feel alone in the game and that was real scary. Um ok dude, whatever rings your bell, but "horror" isn't what I'd use to describe Portal. Suspense maybe, but even then...

Portal 2 is an bigger Portal 1 with an overarching story. More specifically, it doesn't have anything less than the first, so I honestly can't understand the complaints. I guess it's one of those cases where you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

because it wasn't 50$. because it had more freedom. because it was harder. If you had trouble in this second game, then IDK what you're smoking. there wasn't a SINGLE puzzle that took me more then 10 minutes to complete, start to finish, in number 2. Since there is only 1 way to beat them, in the second game, and only 4 or so ways of interacting with stuff, it doesn't take long. I have not played the coop. i hear it's mildy better, but it took my bro not long to complete, and with the 5-6 hours the main game took that doesn't give it much game time. and the replayability on these games is non-existent. once you know, you know. coop, from what i hear, is no fun second time around. just like the first game is no fun the second time around.

I liked merchant. in fact i love him. I think he's one of the funniest people alive. he's a pleasure to listen to. I also love J.K. Simmons. Both of them are hilarious.

Maybe i'm not part of the target demographic. I didn't listen to the annoying glados song on purpose from the last one. I didn't buy cake shirts or say "the cake is a lie", as that's just nerdsterbation to me, and retarded. I play games to win. I play games for a challenge. I enjoy a story, but only if the gameplay and challenge are with it. I commend them on getting top talent for voice overs, but the game wasn't hard, at all. and was too short. They have announced the mod tools, but that's just getting somebody else to finish what they should have done in the first place. I like mod tools, but i like them to come from a complete game, which i didn't feel portal was.

I don't think portal 2 is a bad game. i think it's an overrated game, made by an overrated developer, and overpriced. Those are my issues. it's a good game, but not worth 50$ IMO.

sweatshopking wrote:

because it wasn't 50$.

I can agree there, as the game is still pretty short. I also don't accept 6-8 hours being good enough, as has become the norm, so...

sweatshopking wrote:

because it had more freedom. because it was harder. If you had trouble in this second game, then IDK what you're smoking. there wasn't a SINGLE puzzle that took me more then 10 minutes to complete

And here we disagree. I don't know what "freedom" you're referring to. The freedom of, in a couple or three puzzles, having more than one way to solve them, with the second way usually being an unintended glitch? Is that freedom? In the second game, you have freedom too, once you get the white stuff, you're free to solve puzzles a lot of ways. How's that any different? In the first game, you had rooms and you had to get out. In the second game, you had rooms and you had to get out.

Maybe I'm dumb or something, but at least three puzzles took me over an hour to find the solution, especially the one where you had to transport the fluid in the tractor beams instead of yourself. Perhaps it's been too long since I played the first so the mechanics weren't fresh, but hey.

morphine wrote:

sweatshopking wrote:

because it wasn't 50$.

I can agree there, as the game is still pretty short. I also don't accept 6-8 hours being good enough, as has become the norm, so...

sweatshopking wrote:

because it had more freedom. because it was harder. If you had trouble in this second game, then IDK what you're smoking. there wasn't a SINGLE puzzle that took me more then 10 minutes to complete

And here we disagree. I don't know what "freedom" you're referring to. The freedom of, in a couple or three puzzles, having more than one way to solve them, with the second way usually being an unintended glitch? Is that freedom? In the second game, you have freedom too, once you get the white stuff, you're free to solve puzzles a lot of ways. How's that any different? In the first game, you had rooms and you had to get out. In the second game, you had rooms and you had to get out.

Maybe I'm dumb or something, but at least three puzzles took me over an hour to find the solution, especially the one where you had to transport the fluid in the tractor beams instead of yourself. Perhaps it's been too long since I played the first so the mechanics weren't fresh, but hey.

Well, we've got some agreement, and historically, between me and you, then we're doing alright!

in the first game, the walls were mostly portalable (that's not a word), but in the second one, the walls were all not portalable, only 1 small patch or it requires the Aryan fluid. The actual levels with the aryan fluid are only a few. and whilst i thought they really could have used it to create some really interesting levels, just as soon as they bring you the interesting powers and abilities, the games over. there's not really THAT much you can do with it, as MOST of the levels with it are pretty limited.

IDK, it wasn't a bad game. If i got it for 20$ i might be happy. I do find it mildly annoying that it's getting such AMAZING reviews without being amazing. I think valve are getting better reviews than their games deserve, but i think it's been that way for a while. I like it, i just don't think it's incredible.

sweatshopking wrote:

IDK, it wasn't a bad game. If i got it for 20$ i might be happy. I do find it mildly annoying that it's getting such AMAZING reviews without being amazing.

The problem probably lies more with the first being far overrated. Make something bigger than what it really is, and you'll be sure to be disappointed when you get more of it, I guess. I love the series and think they are awesome, but reading stuff around the 'net would lead one to think that Portal was the second coming of (insert deity here).

sweatshopking wrote:

I think valve are getting better reviews than their games deserve, but i think it's been that way for a while.

It's true enough, but in my book it's well deserved. Of the big publishers, Valve and Blizzard are the only two from which I expect a quality product straight from the launch day, with great support to come afterwards. That's a far cry from other publishers. *cough* Ubisoft *hack* EA *cough*.

I agree the first was overrated. I'm not sure I agree that blizzard and valve always release great games. I didn't think the episodes were good at all, and sc2 still isn't as good as 1 imo. Too many useless units (ravens) and as far as bugs it destroyed a number of NVIDIA cards, though that is probably nvidias fault. Ubisoft was on a role a few years ago during the first farcry, but they started sucking a lot for the past few. Ea always sucked.

I will freely admit to being horribly stuck in one of the puzzles in Portal 2 for over an hour.

I eventually gave up and Shift+Tab'd to the overlay, went to YouTube, and watched someone beat the level. I was comparing, and I knew I had done it right.

So I Shift+Tab'd back and looked where he put his last portal. Yeah, a wall had decided not to render for me (I saw a couple of bug fixes in patches that may have been this one). Save/quit/restart/load - there's the wall. Puzzle solved.

How does somebody come up the name "fakealgore"?

on the steam front: http://chzmemebase.files.wordpress.com/ ... orking.jpg

sweatshopking wrote:

How does somebody come up the name "fakealgore"?

That's a good question.

I was messing around on my clan's CS:S server back in 2006 changing my name to stupid **** for amusement. At one point, I put in [EtS] Al Gore. "You wouldn't headshot a former vice president, would you?" I got some laughs. I forgot to change it back and joined another server later that night. People loved it, so I kept it. I eventually added "fake" just to get people to shutup about inventing the internet and hanging out in Antarctica with a hair dryer or some such nonsense. Now I've invented the fake internet (did it for the porn).

And to be honest, I have a lot of respect for the real Al Gore. I met him a couple of years ago, and he's a really nice guy.

FakeAlGore wrote:

sweatshopking wrote:

How does somebody come up the name "fakealgore"?

That's a good question.

I was messing around on my clan's CS:S server back in 2006 changing my name to stupid **** for amusement. At one point, I put in [EtS] Al Gore. "You wouldn't headshot a former vice president, would you?" I got some laughs. I forgot to change it back and joined another server later that night. People loved it, so I kept it. I eventually added "fake" just to get people to shutup about inventing the internet and hanging out in Antarctica with a hair dryer or some such nonsense. Now I've invented the fake internet (did it for the porn).

And to be honest, I have a lot of respect for the real Al Gore. I met him a couple of years ago, and he's a really nice guy.

I got mine by running a sweatshop in africa. I made my workers call me king. No joke.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=1941696

DX11 and a Hi-Res texture pack are coming Monday.

Early info implies that a 64bit OS will be a requirement of using the Hi-Res textures.