(no subject)

[egypturnash]

So instead of worrying about an art slump probably due to fatigue I cleared some other unfinished crap off of Rik's machine (goodbye, Thief; goodbye, Planescape) and got Portal. It made me think delightfully sideways; even though I played it through twice last night (Nick got home just as I was winning, so I had to run through it again for him) I feel like I got my twenty bucks worth of fun. There's still all the challenges to play with, too. I can barely tolerate FPSs but Portal gets a big happy thumbs-up from me. In part because it's so short.

Plus, hey, I got cake.

Comments

[jackfurlong.livejournal.com]

The free webversion of "Portal" is a lot of fun as well.
Gets tough after level 14, tho.

http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

Hah. Is there actually any interactivity to that at all or do you just watch the cube fall faster and faster? I couldn't figure out any controls if there were any.

[xyzzysqrl]

Once it's done falling, it's loaded and you can play.

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

I mistook the loading screen for the whole thing. I am smort n.n

[coyoteseven.livejournal.com]

Better cake than death.

And I prefer Cake over Beck.

[barberio.livejournal.com]

When can we expect the Weighted Companion Cube fan art? ;)

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Someone already drew Chell snuggling the WCC while GLaDOS looks on sadly.

[ff00ff.livejournal.com]

There is a puzzle in that game that I wish to know how you handled. Near the end of the game, not long after you encounter the first rocket firing turret, there is a room where the only exit is through an air duct which is just out of your reach to be able to jump into. Just above this air duct is one of the pneumatic tubes that transports cubes.

I learned from the commentary track of the game that intended way to solve this puzzle is by making a portal in the rocket turret room, and causing it to fire a rocket through the portal so it collides with the pneumatic tube, creating a hole that a cube can fall through, and then you can jump onto the cube and jump into the air duct.

Maybe I play too many shooters, because that wasn't my solution at all. I'm quite accustom to breakable objects being very specifically designated. Everything else just absorbs a rocket blast like nothing happened, even if thats not remotely how it would work in the real world. I had only seen the rocket shatter thin glass previously, and didn't presume it would have any effect on the pneumatic tube. Instead I backtracked across the level grabbing everything that wasn't tied down, and returning it to the air vent, creating a pile, nay, a mountain of sideways chairs, binders and computer cases until I could stand atop it and hop into the air vent.

I'm curious which solution presented itself to you first.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I started doing the pile of stuff thing too, but Rik was looking over my shoulder as I started jumping uselessly, and while I was doing that, he was off looking at a FAQ, which brought me the Correct Solution.

The 'correct' one was not at all obvious to me; most other puzzles came pretty quickly.

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

Portal's a flawless game as far as I'm concerned. I think if it were too much longer it'd be in danger of getting tedious, but it's just right. I was expecting just some clever puzzles, but I was overjoyed to discover an actual story and tension and a demented sense of humor, that even slots into the Half Life universe. People who have played HL Episode 2 will know of what I speak.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

It's long enough to explore the mechanics of the portals and not long enough to get boring. Its welcome is not worn out.

How it fits into HL2, I don't know or care. I learnt my lesson about playing the 'main' story when it's the 'side' one that got my interest from the Soul Reaver/Kain games.

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

HL2 is definitely not going to be your cup of tea, it's a "pure" FPS, the action is entirely shoot-ey. But besides just being an excellent FPS, it is noteworthy for being an animation triumph, the developers having paid some pretty incredible attention to characterization and facial expressions. It beats the uncanny valley problem of a lot of video game character facial animations.

[trikotomy.livejournal.com]

Aww, no finish Thief? May as well go watch all the YouTube spoilers (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=36F99BFB80C672EC&page=1) then, yeah?

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it held my interest for about three or four levels, then I just felt like I'd seen everything it had to offer in terms of gameplay. Plus I was having some trouble, for a bit, with it not playing any of the level intro movies, so I didn't have the narrative pulling me along...

[euqen.livejournal.com]

It made me think delightfully sideways;
Wait, you weren't before?

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course not! But it made me think in a particular sideways I'd never done before.

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

It made her think in an integral number of dimensions for once. ;)