Scots Taffer on 25/11/2007 at 23:03
TTLG Gen Gaming: Foil wrapped discussion for freshness
HybridVision on 5/12/2007 at 23:12
Anyone else think Portal was a fair bit too easy? I mean, the first 10 levels were just explaining the mechanics of portal use, without presenting any sort of a challenge.
There was a minimal amount of thinking required, not more than a couple seconds per level. Obviously, that's not to find the optimal solution, but rather any solution that works.
Pyrian on 5/12/2007 at 23:13
Now try the challenges.
HybridVision on 5/12/2007 at 23:16
Quote Posted by Pyrian
Now try the challenges.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the challenges about efficiency/ speed?
That really doesn't float my boat :/ If there is an ugly solution, I'll use it. I don't really care that it could be done 15 seconds faster or with 5 fewer portals ;)
[edit: plus there is no GladOS in the challenge modes, which removes a fairly large part of the atmosphere. For me, a large part of the drive of any game is to see the ending. Once I've seen the ending, I lose interest. Which is why I try to play games on hard mode first time round.
All I was saying is that it would have been nice for the challenges in the story "campaign" to have been a mite harder.]
SubJeff on 5/12/2007 at 23:23
They could have put in some harder stuff, yes.
If you want tougher Portal check the fan missions.
Pyrian on 6/12/2007 at 00:26
Quote Posted by HybridVision
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the challenges about efficiency/ speed?
There are those. Then there's the advanced chambers, which are "the same only different" - i.e., no restrictions on what you do but the chambers themselves are much tougher.
Personally, I enjoyed the "few portals" challenges, it's basically like having limited ammo. The "steps" challenges are kind of annoying, and the time-based ones are oddly difficult - they set the bar way too high (er, short) for the bronzes, IMO.
I guess I just think it's really weird that all these people complain it's too easy when I haven't been able to complete even the "Basic Science" (all bronzes) achievement. I got everything else...
Given it's popularity, I can hardly imagine that there WON'T be a sequel.
Quote Posted by HybridVision
[edit: plus there is no GladOS in the challenge modes, which removes a fairly large part of the atmosphere. For me, a large part of the drive of any game is to see the ending. Once I've seen the ending, I lose interest. Which is why I try to play games on hard mode first time round.
All I was saying is that it would have been nice for the challenges in the story "campaign" to have been a mite harder.]
The GlaDOS text in the challenge modes are exactly the same as the main story mode, which makes them kind of jumbled, really.
Anyway, okay, I'll buy that having the Advanced Chambers optionally be part of the main storyline if you set it to "Hard" would've been a good option.
Twist on 6/12/2007 at 00:48
Quote Posted by HybridVision
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the challenges about efficiency/ speed?
Maximum speed and efficiency often requires an extra bit of cleverness.
But outside of those attributes, solving them with the fewest portals possible feels quite a bit like solving chess problems. Some of them really do provide some satisfying mind benders.
I didn't mind the relative ease of my first play through as it provided a quick, compact and yet satisfying experience. I was too busy having fun to worry that I was never getting stuck. ;)
But, like Pyrian suggested, I would've enjoyed playing through the campaign again at a higher difficulty, either with some of the more advanced versions of the chambers blended into the sequence and/or with some of the achievement restrictions imposed on the gameplay.
One other note: This is the most wife-friendly PC game I've played in quite some time. That's always good. :thumb:
steo on 19/12/2007 at 02:36
It seems I'm in quite the minority in thinking that portal is a sorry excuse for a game. It was good, don't get me wrong, but there really wasn't enough content to make it passable, both in the sense that it took under three hours to complete first time around and in that there wasn't very much in the way of gameplay mechanics. Even if they had made it five times as long, there's only so much you can do with portals, buttons, blocks and turrets and a number of (poor quality) textures which I could probably count on my fingers and toes. GLaDOS was great, the game would seem completely empty without her, but again she just has too few lines (even though she is speaking for most of the game).
From what I gather, HL2Ep2 also has an outlandishly short playtime of around five hours and I think interest in TF2 will be short-lived. It seems to me as though the whole Orange Box is not so much for gamers but more a tech demo to promote the source engine, so that valve can sell it to other developers.
Amusingly, the flash game is a hell of a lot longer than the actual thing.
Jason Moyer on 19/12/2007 at 03:12
Quote Posted by steo
I think interest in TF2 will be short-lived.
I find that highly unlikely.
