Portal 2: The Cake Is Still A Lie

[The Linker]

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Oh and how do you get the 'no hard feeling achievement' i think I missed the oportunity for that one.

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There's a section just before you sabotage GLaD0S' turret production where there's conveyor belts with pieces of turret lying around, the converyor belts sliding into incerator-y areas. There's one whole turret with a blinking laser sight. Pick it up. Achievement! You can't miss it, you literally have to jump over it in order to ignore it.

I had no idea there was an achievement attached to it, but I totally grabbed that thing and chucked it off the edge regardless. 'Saved it' my ass, wanted that thing to die in a hole.

[RPharazon]

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Stick around after you save the turret from redemption. It has some interesting things to say. Just move around a bit but don't move on past the catwalk at the bottom. I would have freaked about what it says on the first run-through, but I ended up fumbling it into a chasm as well. Made me feel like a jerk.

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On my second run-through I put it into the fizzler. It made me feel like even more of a jerk.

[Kyouhen]

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Out of curiosity, does it always say "I'm different" while it's being conveyed to it's doom? I turned around and saw the thing's laser and immediately went to duck for cover when it said that, so I went and saved the poor guy. Left him sitting in a nice safe corner.

[BRC]

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That turret was adorable, it made me so happy that I could finally save one. I always feel a little bad when I take down the Turrets.

Also, I just reloaded and listened to Adventure Sphere's lines until it blew up, then I reloaded again, beat the final boss, and watched the end sequence all the way through.

What do people think about the song? It's not as good as Still Alive, but it's still pretty good, and rather fitting for the ending.

[Kyouhen]

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That turret was adorable, it made me so happy that I could finally save one. I always feel a little bad when I take down the Turrets.

Also, I just reloaded and listened to Adventure Sphere's lines until it blew up, then I reloaded again, beat the final boss, and watched the end sequence all the way through.

What do people think about the song? It's not as good as Still Alive, but it's still pretty good, and rather fitting for the ending.

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Personally I rate it at least as high as Still Alive. Not entirely sure why, I just think it's a great song. Might have something to do with the fact that the ending song's changed from "Haha, you didn't kill me!" to "GTFO"

[Phantom123]

excellent game. Loved it, not gonna spoil it for anyone!

Anyone up for co-op tomorrow?

[Scuzzball]

Wish i had found this place.

That is all.

I did find that. Then I spent ten minutes looking around on my computer for something to record it with. Then I gave up. It's freaking awesome.

[The Linker]

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I like the new ending song quite a bit more, personally.

[Frankelshtein]

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I'm in SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!

I may have something of a pro-Portal bias, but Portal 2 was the best thing ever. Even better than space. But with all seriousness, the game was everything I wanted, and more. Length was a tad short, but I feel the quality of the experience compensates for that. All of it... simply awesome.

And who else experienced a moment of spontaneous joy upon seeing the Companion Cube at the end?

[Just_Ice]

Man, I've enjoyed pretty much everything about this game.

Glados was a little lame in the second half (though I understand why, and the commentary even reflects on it), but besides that the single player was pretty solid (except one very short section in the deep underground where it looks like you can get over but you have to go through a door instead).

The multiplayer has been crazy good (I'm half-done the fifth course) but I had to solve a couple tests in a decidedly un-scientific manner.

The main problem is replay value. Still, 20 hours or so for 40 bux is completely worth it.

[chiasaur11]

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Personally I rate it at least as high as Still Alive. Not entirely sure why, I just think it's a great song. Might have something to do with the fact that the ending song's changed from "Haha, you didn't kill me!" to "GTFO"

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Liked it.

Had a nice Plumtree feel somehow, I thought.

And as I'm sure has been said, the ending.

Man alive. Could it have been better?

I posit it could not.

[Inyssius Tor]

The main problem is replay value.

There's supposed to be a dedicated level editor coming at some point, presumably like the one Left 4 Dead got.

Assuming a moderate level of community input, that should increase your value-per-hour by a lot.

[Jibar]

I'm listening to the Coulton credits song again, and wow my credits freaked out apparently.
This video... mine was nothing like that. Has to be one of the most subtly bizarre bugs I've ever encountered.

[The Linker]

What... what did yours do?

[Jibar]

What... what did yours do?

Spoiler warning for this since we all know there's a song at the end but you may not know the content.
But you see how all the text is on either side of the screen? Mine was all bunched in the middle, overlapping a little. And the logo and data thing in the top right was on the top left.

[The Linker]

That's certainly odd. Maybe it's a bug relating to aspect ratio and/or resolution -- the text placement was set for a small resolution while the text size and the screen itself was set for a bigger resolution. [/sillytheories]

[Jibar]

Speaking of spoilers actually, something bugging me:

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So was Wheatley following you after you get thrown into the tests again? Because I distinctly remember getting into a Rat Man den, and watching a personality core slide away behind a panel. And I know that was the first time, I saw one behind a panel out the corner of my eye before that.
I never saw the colour of the iris though, so I've no idea who it was. Freaked me out.

Also oh my god

[pffh]

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During the part when you sabotage the turret production I placed a defective turret into the scanner and defective turrets started showing up all around the place. Do you have to place the defected turret (I just grabbed and placed it with no one telling me) or is the game slightly different if you jsut remove the non-dfective model?

[The Linker]

Speaking of spoilers actually, something bugging me:

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So was Wheatley following you after you get thrown into the tests again? Because I distinctly remember getting into a Rat Man den, and watching a personality core slide away behind a panel. And I know that was the first time, I saw one behind a panel out the corner of my eye before that.
I never saw the colour of the iris though, so I've no idea who it was. Freaked me out.

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Between the time GLaD0S crushes him and he helps you escape? Oh, very much yes. He shows up in the chamber with the companion cube (I just referenced my recordings, actually), removing a small panel and peeking out for a bit.

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During the part when you sabotage the turret production I placed a defective turret into the scanner and defective turrets started showing up all around the place. Do you have to place the defected turret (I just grabbed and placed it with no one telling me) or is the game slightly different if you jsut remove the non-dfective model?

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If you just remove the non-defective one, the thing just starts working off memory and continues producing sentries normally; you have to place the defective model in there to progress.

[Draconi Redfir]

How do you veiw your achivements? i can't find it anywere.

[The Linker]

You can shift-tab and go through the Steam overlay.

[Alchemistmerlin]

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During the part when you sabotage the turret production I placed a defective turret into the scanner and defective turrets started showing up all around the place. Do you have to place the defected turret (I just grabbed and placed it with no one telling me) or is the game slightly different if you jsut remove the non-dfective model?

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There's also a cheevo for standing in the scanner yourself, though that doesn't change the turrets at all.

The gameplay is great, barring that one slow bit I mentioned maybe 2/3rds of the way through (the area leading up to it and the area immediately after are kinda slowish, so it's just one stretch where you spend maybe 30-45 minutes). It's fluid, intuitive, there's almost none of that annoying "hit a panel while you're falling 50 miles an hour through a floor-ceiling portal loop."

See my problem was the opposite of this. I loved falling 50 miles an hour through a loop, I loved the hard puzzles.

This entire game was very very VERY easy. If I wasn't interested in the dialogue, I could have beaten it while watching a movie or something.

[BRC]

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Liked it.

Had a nice Plumtree feel somehow, I thought.

And as I'm sure has been said, the ending.

Man alive. Could it have been better?

I posit it could not.

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The ending was great. The thing is, this song dosn't have the universal value of Still Alive. Still Alive was a fun song no matter what. This song only works if you understand GLaDOs's Character arc.

[Thufir]

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I had no idea there was an achievement attached to it, but I totally grabbed that thing and chucked it off the edge regardless. 'Saved it' my ass, wanted that thing to die in a hole.

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I saw I'd got the achievement, and then just dropped it back on the conveyor belt.

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There's also a cheevo for standing in the scanner yourself, though that doesn't change the turrets at all.

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No there isn't. I did that, and no special achievement.

[The Linker]

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No there isn't. I did that, and no special achievement.

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There totally is. I actually specifically went back there yesterday once I read through the achievement list and saw it listed there -- stood in the scanner, got the achievement. You do have to let it scan you to actually get the cheevo.

[Hyudra]

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No there isn't. I did that, and no special achievement.

There is. I got it.

[Alchemistmerlin]

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No there isn't. I did that, and no special achievement.

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Possibly Steam exclusive? Its called "Scanned Alone"

Edit: Ninja'd! It took me too long to sneakily check on my phone for the name of the achievement.

[Valaqil]

My Review: I think it was a solid 8.5/10. It was a good game, funny, and easily worth the money. I finished SP once last night, will definitely play commentary and co-op. It's a strong game. Mostly I don't rate it higher because everything was good but little (to me!) was great.

I'm going to break it down because I want to add my thoughts to the mix and not have to type this later when someone asks what I think of it. Spoilers shouldn't overlap. Reading about puzzles won't tell you about plot. As one of the only non-spoilers, the environments were varied and well-designed. Major kudos to Valve for that.

By Sections:

Puzzles

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The puzzles in the beginning were too easy, but it was the beginning. I don't fault the game for that. Many of the puzzles in the middle of the game felt "gimmicky" because they followed the form (1) New element. (2) Two-Three puzzles. (3) Repeat. It felt much less gimmicky in the late game when I was using them to get to the "boss", but that's how it started. I think the last third of the game was the best for puzzles. None were particularly hard. They all felt like they fit together well, and the gameplay mechanics that were introduced earlier suddenly "fit". It really made things feel cohesive.

The use of vertical space was frustrating at times. I didn't always think to look upwards.

GLaDOS

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I much preferred her in the second/third acts when she was making jokes about her current state and calling Wheatley a moron. The jokes about me being fat and a horrible person quickly grew tiresome for me. They were funny at first, but I started to just feel like "Yes, yes, get on with it. I realize you hate me. Let's go." She was awesome by the end, though. Especially her very last threat/joke to you, on the elevator, without even a word said.

Was I the only one who didn't want to escape with Wheatley? Probably. I got an achievement for wanting to continue testing. I thought "This is why I bought the game! I don't want to go with you! I want to see what she has next!" Then she killed me. Oh, GLaDOS. You silly thing.

Wheatley

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Honestly? He was funny. He really was. But I kept telling my wife as I played, "He's a moron! Such an idiot! He's going to get me killed!" Then... the second half of the game happens. I felt so extremely vindicated. I feel kind of bad for him, even if he tried to kill me. He was... sympathetic. I never felt too threatened by him, just sad for him. Merchant did a great job with the voice acting, and Wheatley's lines were probably the best in the game, except maybe Cave.

Oh, and Wheatley's first puzzle is the best ever.

Cave : He was funny, and I love JK Simmons anyway. What else can I say?

"One-use" characters

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These were actually the funniest characters in the game, for me. I lost the boss battle multiple times while listening to the cores. The turret you save, or the broken turrets, were also great. In spaaaaaace. I could listen to the space core for hours. I don't know why.

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I had no idea there was an achievement attached to it, but I totally grabbed that thing and chucked it off the edge regardless. 'Saved it' my ass, wanted that thing to die in a hole.

I did that exact same thing! I picked it up, and threw it straight off the edge. My wife told me to reload because I missed something, and the lines were hilarious, but my first instinct was to kill another turret, given the chance.

The Ending

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I liked the ending. The whole "chase" between us and Wheatley was the best section of the game. It felt very cinematic, until I was killed by a crusher. The battle was decent. I saw the bombs and wished I could avoid them. I always quicksaved and then obliged Wheatley when he asked me to die. It was always worth it. Finally, the "last portal" shot? If it was a film, I'd say it was "shot well". It looked good and was a truly "epic" moment. On the other hand, it felt a bit hamfisted ("TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR PRECIOUS MOON." "What? Oh, right. That's what I should do.") and it seems like they went for the ridiculous ending instead of any other that would have also made sense.

Oh, and one extra thought! The bit where we had two puzzles to go, then suddenly... NOW! was the best timing ever. I didn't expect that one bit.

[Fawkes]

Wheatley is the best hacker.

[The Linker]

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I liked the ending. The whole "chase" between us and Wheatley was the best section of the game. It felt very cinematic, until I was killed by a crusher.

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I died to that one crusher about six times, sad to say. I really, really repeatedly missed that one wall moving into position past the crusher.

Of all the lines to have to listen to six times in a row, though, that was a pretty good one. "Holmes versus Moriarty. Aristotle versus MASHY SPIKE PLATE!"

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Oh, and one extra thought! The bit where we had two puzzles to go, then suddenly... NOW! was the best timing ever. I didn't expect that one bit.

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I liked all the points where I got tricked, really. Especially when it was something that interrupted a test out of nowhere, like when Wheatley comes to rescue you from Glados, the power turns off and you and the cube you're after fall off the light bridge you were walking on. "AAAHHH WHAT'S GOING ON"