Charas-Project

Off-Topic => All of all! => Topic started by: Razor on May 11, 2012, 01:53:43 AM

Title: Portal 2
Post by: Razor on May 11, 2012, 01:53:43 AM
So, that new Portal 2 DLC came out a couple days ago.
Any of you clever munchkins been getting down and dirty with the puzzle maker?
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Archem on May 11, 2012, 02:55:42 AM
Yes, but I'm a slow and lazy dude, so it'll take a few days before I finish my first room.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 11, 2012, 06:30:34 AM
Another two games I should have played.

So to summarize it, it allows you to make your own puzzles / maps? Sounds like youtube is gonna be crowded soon.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Razor on May 11, 2012, 06:44:18 AM
Pretty much. It's VERY easy to use. I would say without any research that it is the easiest 3D map maker ever.
It has its limits though. There's only one artstyle, and you can't make things smaller than the one square unit. That's what Hammer is for.

And if you don't have Portal 2 yet it's only $6.80! http://store.steampowered.com/app/620/
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 11, 2012, 07:02:08 AM
Hmm. Might just do that have some days to kill before diablo 3 launch.
Should one play portal 1 before portal 2 or is it one of those things that doesn't matter? Saw that they had an offer for both games. (of course they have, it's steam.)

Also, the coop mode in portal 2. Is it any good? I believe someone said it could be done online so I might just introduce a buddy to play with me.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Archem on May 11, 2012, 08:25:20 AM
It's not essential to play the first game first, but there are a lot of references and jokes that hinge on events from the first game. Really, it's better to play them sequentially if possible, as they're both great, and you learn a lot of things from the first in preparation for the considerably longer and harder (and possibly more sexual) sequel.

Oh, and that $6.80 price tag? There's a bundle with both games for only $8.49, so it would be best to get both. Two amazing games for under $10 USD? Steal. Valve is wicked with their sales, that's for sure.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 11, 2012, 09:00:24 AM
There's a bundle with both games for only $8.49, so it would be best to get both. Two amazing games for under $10 USD? Steal. Valve is wicked with their sales, that's for sure.

Funny it's the same € price. Got it anyway. Figured I might as well, waiting for the download now though.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: SaiKar on May 11, 2012, 10:45:10 AM
Play 1 first. It's short, but well made and hilarious to boot. Plus 2 is noticeably harder, so ramping up to the curve with 1 is a good move.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Moosetroop11 on May 11, 2012, 10:50:55 AM
Hmm; I haven't played number 2 yet either. I watched someone play some of it, annoyingly, so I know some of the stuff that happens...
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 11, 2012, 02:07:27 PM
Just finished portal 1. It was indeed short. Had a good time with it though. Now for the sequel!
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 12, 2012, 12:07:28 AM
So, I tried playing portal 2 with my friend. But player 2 (orange) is lagging like mad. When he invited me to the party I was the lagging like mad and then the other way around. I move but gets poked back to where I was like 15 seconds ago. Much like the laggspikes in diablo 2.
Anyone over here knows how to fix this? Minimizing the graphics had no effect whatsoever.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Archem on May 12, 2012, 12:37:35 AM
Yeah, that's all connection. Need good internets.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: zuhane on May 12, 2012, 02:33:21 AM
Yes, Purple! You need to play both. The first is really brilliant, but the second is just an absolute work of art. I literally tore my own face off
and jumped in front of a car because it's THAT GOOD. When my exams are over, expect to see a metric tonne of maps from me!
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Razor on May 12, 2012, 04:18:21 AM
Yes, Purple! You need to play both. The first is really brilliant, but the second is just an absolute work of art. I literally tore my own face off
and jumped in front of a car because it's THAT GOOD.
That's... that's extreme.

Uh yeah Purple all you really need is good internets and preferably not be several continents/oceans apart.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 12, 2012, 07:35:59 AM
Yeah portal 1 was rad, but those challenges were tricky as hell. Also that advanced map with the caged turrets. I donno if I even solved it in any way efficient when I stacked cubes in front of them so I could pass by undetected.

Also, we have some pretty good internets. Most online games like Wow, diablo 3, starcraft 2, heroes of might and magic 5/6 ect work just fine when we play together. And it's like an hours train ride between us. Might just've been yesterday. Will try again some day.
Currently playing portal 2 and loving how they added the laser that demands less timing than those energy balls.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Meiscool on May 12, 2012, 09:58:22 AM
I found them more fun to watch than to play. Definitely unique games though.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 14, 2012, 12:00:11 AM
Just finished portal 2, a lot better than the first game. Storywise and puzzlewise. Good game.
Also, coop worked without the slightest lagg today. Must've just been a bad connection day. Nothing beats coop that makes you want to punch your friend in the head.

By the way. Are there a lot of hidden stuff in these games? Noticed some achievments for finding secret broadcasts or something. Also something about a missing experiment and a portrait. Only "hidden" thing I found was that laser room with a turret in an air shaft. I lasered the turret in the shaft and could enter to find a choir of turrets singing.
Other than that I thought the closed testing centre was hidden, turns out it was the next part of the story.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Archem on May 14, 2012, 01:23:10 AM
Yeah, Valve likes to hide things in their games. This game is rich in hidden awesome.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 14, 2012, 07:04:58 PM
Just fixed the missing experiment which was more or less an empty dock. Don't know the point of that though. Glados didn't have anything to say about it. And the last viral test doors where down the same path so I got that one as well. Gotta love when science wants to decrease your water level to 20%, also when you start bleeding gasoline or why not.

Messing around with the testroom editor. It's pretty well done. Just takes some time to load when you're doing larger stuff. Also, I miss doors. I like doors. Just realised that glass could be converted into fence as well.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Archem on May 14, 2012, 09:14:29 PM
Just fixed the missing experiment which was more or less an empty dock. Don't know the point of that though.
Ah, the Borealis. It's a reference to the Half-Life series. It's said that Portal and Half-Life exist in the same universe (Aperture Science is supposed to be a rival company to Black Mesa, the research facility that the protagonist from the Half-Life games worked in before things went to hell). The Borealis was in the leaked Half-Life 2 beta, and was a cargo ship trapped in an ice field that was covered in zombies. Many hints suggest that, while the level was cut from the final game, it's due to reappear in Half-Life 2 Episode 3. This Easter Egg suggests that it's an Aperture Science ship, and that part of the reason for the ship's significance is that it held some big, important technology on-board. Perhaps portal devices.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Razor on May 15, 2012, 02:26:26 AM
By the way. Are there a lot of hidden stuff in these games? Noticed some achievments for finding secret broadcasts or something.
Gather 'round friends, I have a story to tell.
The secret broadcasts thing, if you only played Portal 1 once (which I suspect is the case) then this would come across as confusing. But here's why.
So Portal 1 was released and it was a great game and everyone loved it. Valve started working on Portal 2, and as time came closer, Valve decided to do this huge ARG for it. Amongst a lot of other things they did, one of their first moves was to patch Portal 1 a bit. With that patch, they made it so that on any playthrough after your first, a bunch of radios would appear all throughout the game. With these radios, you had to do a certain something and they would change their tune to some weird noise. The noise in question contained hidden morse code IIRC, and once you solved all the messages and morse code, you were left with a long hexadecimal code. Decoding that would give you the address to a very old bulletin board, like you would have in the days of old dialup modems - in fact you needed one of those old modems to even access the board. Now on this board there were a whole bunch of images that were themselves encrypted or something, these images were vague and scary screenshots of Portal 2!

Also, they patched the ending of the game. Originally, when you ended up outside, you'd fall unconscious and the game ended. But they retconned it with the party escort robot, and you getting dragged backwards before you fell unconscious.

The end. Go home.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Meiscool on May 15, 2012, 02:31:20 AM
Sounds like a lot of work for some screenies.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Archem on May 15, 2012, 03:04:07 AM
And the Valve fans ate it up. ARGs are cool, and everything that you have to work towards feels like a more significant reward.
Title: Re: Portal 2
Post by: Prpl_Mage on May 15, 2012, 08:15:33 AM
Gather 'round friends, I have a story to tell.
The secret broadcasts thing, if you only played Portal 1 once (which I suspect is the case) then this would come across as confusing. But here's why.
So Portal 1 was released and it was a great game and everyone loved it. Valve started working on Portal 2, and as time came closer, Valve decided to do this huge ARG for it. Amongst a lot of other things they did, one of their first moves was to patch Portal 1 a bit. With that patch, they made it so that on any playthrough after your first, a bunch of radios would appear all throughout the game. With these radios, you had to do a certain something and they would change their tune to some weird noise. The noise in question contained hidden morse code IIRC, and once you solved all the messages and morse code, you were left with a long hexadecimal code. Decoding that would give you the address to a very old bulletin board, like you would have in the days of old dialup modems - in fact you needed one of those old modems to even access the board. Now on this board there were a whole bunch of images that were themselves encrypted or something, these images were vague and scary screenshots of Portal 2!

Also, they patched the ending of the game. Originally, when you ended up outside, you'd fall unconscious and the game ended. But they retconned it with the party escort robot, and you getting dragged backwards before you fell unconscious.

The end. Go home.

That sounds excessive. But a rather smart move. People couldn't complain about plotholes then and they had a reason to replay the game once more.