The Companion Cube

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Prok
5 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Was I the only one disappointed in the short role the companion cube played in Portal 2? I won't go into details about how I'm angry with how easy the game was this time around, but the companion cube level was so short, although i enjoyed the jokes they made with fizzling it. Compared to Portal 1 when you had to carry the same companion cube through a fairly long level, and such a big deal was made out of killing it.
I don't know, with how much of the fan base seems so love the idea of the companion cube (including myself) I was disappointed with how little was done with it. thoughts?
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ASBusinessMagnet
490 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 4 minutes later
Obviously Valve doesn't want the same Portal 1 memes (cake, Companion Cube, Hoopy the Hoop, etc.) to stay in Portal 2, because that way there would be no sense calling it "Portal 2" if there is nothing new. So, instead of "memes", they made almost movie-like story elements (metamorphosis, different protagonists/antagonists, etc.)
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WinstonSmith
940 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 4 minutes later
I see where you're coming from Prok, but I think a big issue is that the attachment to the WCC came about in the original game more because of necessity than a storyline device. The dev commentary says that they had the WCC take on a friendship role because they wanted to trick the player into carrying it with them through the chamber so they could ultimately incinerate it (people were solving the puzzle without the cube period). Plus, I give them credit for not returning to plot devices in the sequel. I think the number of references in Portal 2 was just right considering the role it played in the original game.

Plus, I'm now just as attached to the FrankenTurrets as I was to the WCC. More, perhaps.

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ASBusinessMagnet
490 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 4 minutes later

WinstonSmith wrote:
Plus, I'm now just as attached to the FrankenTurrets as I was to the WCC. More, perhaps.

Really? How about PotatOS?

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Prok
5 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 7 minutes later
Eh, I can see where you're coming from. My problem isn't with that they didn't play up the companion cube, that part I can understand with Portal 2 being its own game. I just really enjoyed the type of puzzle in the first which you had to cling to your one cube to solve multiple parts of the puzzle, and was disappointed with the lack of this type of puzzle I suppose. :/
Still really enjoyed the game hopefully some custom mappers can fulfill my need for a worthy companion cube level
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WinstonSmith
940 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 5 minutes later

ASBusinessMagnet wrote:
WinstonSmith wrote:

Plus, I'm now just as attached to the FrankenTurrets as I was to the WCC. More, perhaps.

Really? How about PotatOS?

I would, but the sting from that slow clap processor hurts. It really hurts man.

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Nightgunner5
75 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 2 hours later
Hoopy the hoop and the companion cube both show up in the game, but with very minor roles. Also, you get the original companion cube you thought you incinerated back at the end of the game.
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WinstonSmith
940 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 26 minutes later
I think Hoopy the Hoop was a bit of a forced meme to be honest. Never latched on to it as much as I did all the other memes from Portal.
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msleeper
4,095 Posts
Member
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 7 minutes later
What the fuck is Hoopy the Hoop.

And yeah, I'm actually really happy there was that room where GLaDOS bold faced says that the Companion Cubes aren't special and that they have "warehouses full of the things".

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WinstonSmith
940 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 3 minutes later

msleeper wrote:
What the fuck is Hoopy the Hoop.

And yeah, I'm actually really happy there was that room where GLaDOS bold faced says that the Companion Cubes aren't special and that they have "warehouses full of the things".

Last player-view scene of Portal (outside, just before the PESP bot drags you away). A flaming hoop falls from the sky at one point and apparently people latched onto it.

I did like the "They're sentient, of course. We just have lots of them." bit.

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Remmiz
631 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 43 minutes later

WinstonSmith wrote:
msleeper wrote:

What the fuck is Hoopy the Hoop.

Last player-view scene of Portal (outside, just before the PESP bot drags you away). A flaming hoop falls from the sky at one point and apparently people latched onto it.

This can't be for real.

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WinstonSmith
940 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 1 hour later

Remmiz wrote:
WinstonSmith wrote:

msleeper wrote:

What the fuck is Hoopy the Hoop.

Last player-view scene of Portal (outside, just before the PESP bot drags you away). A flaming hoop falls from the sky at one point and apparently people latched onto it.

This can't be for real.

Mmhmm. Funny part is it apparently originated with the devs.

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hanging_rope
435 Posts
Posted Apr 25, 2011
Replied 3 hours later
Yeah hoopy the hoop was intentionally done to be a meme, but nobody except the evs saw it as one, so...
On topic, I like what they did with the comapanion cubes, they made a joke about people who became emotionally attatched to the cube, which was better than if they tried to pull the "carry it with you" trick again. (Think about it, would chell want to incinerate ANOTHER companion cube? She'd probably refuse to hurt it. They are sentient, of course