Portal 2 Criticism

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Another Bad Pun
516 Posts
Posted Jun 16, 2012
Replied 1 hour later

http://www.moddb.com/mods/rexaura

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FelixGriffin
2,680 Posts
Posted Jun 16, 2012
Replied 36 minutes later
It seems like Conversion Gel was only put into the game for that one level, in order to give them an excuse to create scripted portal walls later (exempli gratia, in the final boss battle). I agree, they should have used it more, or not at all.

I also think that they should have used the Adhesion Gel instead, which they could have made into many more tests than they did the Conversion Gel. (I mean, does double-flinging not cause nausea as it is? What kind of reason is that?)

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portal2tenacious
393 Posts
Posted Jun 16, 2012
Replied 40 minutes later
I thought that the BTS area at the end of sp_a2_turret_intro was a bit misleading. I thought that I was escaping aperture and GLaDOS didn't know. When I found that I was heading for a new chamber, I was really disappointed and wondered what the point was.
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Lpfreaky90
2,842 Posts
Posted Jun 16, 2012
Replied 4 minutes later

FelixGriffin wrote:
It seems like Conversion Gel was only put into the game for that one level, in order to give them an excuse to create scripted portal walls later (exempli gratia, in the final boss battle). I agree, they should have used it more, or not at all.

I also think that they should have used the Adhesion Gel instead, which they could have made into many more tests than they did the Conversion Gel. (I mean, does double-flinging not cause nausea as it is? What kind of reason is that?)

Personally I think that white gel is only added for the story (moon dust) and the final portal ofc. The first test with the white gel is something I didn't solve properly until I saw my bf playing it. I've used some sort of sick quadruple fling to get up where I wanted to be instead of the much easier tower->tower fling thing. And that's the biggest problem with white gel; it can get anywhere, get everywhere and kill every puzzle. So people can spent ages to get an unintended solution to work without seeing the intended one ever.

On the point of sticky gel: yes, double flinging could cause some nausea, but if you have constant gravity switches it gets a lot lot worse, try to play a game like "And Yet it moves" and you will notice how gravity changes can completely cause some nausea. But specially combing those two gravity changing things makes it extremely confusing.

Standing on the ceiling, jumping up to fall down, then go into the portal on the floor to get fling through the portal on the other side, to fling onto a wall, land, walk there, rotated 90 degrees in comparison to the floor, then walk over the edge and get to the normal gravity again. Nausea guaranteed.

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MasterLagger
1,695 Posts
Posted Jun 17, 2012
Replied 11 hours later
My only criticism for Portal 2 is that most non-testing/puzzle areas were pretty linear. I like having the opportunity to explore a little bit (which is something I try to do in some of my maps). Although there are some areas you could explore, it was very limited.
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zivi7
649 Posts
Posted Jun 17, 2012
Replied 6 hours later
Maybe I was just too stupid but...
...I hated how the end fight was just trial and error to find out which of those panels would fire the bombs past Wheatley's defenses in his different defense states.
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Mevious
205 Posts
Posted Jun 17, 2012
Replied 32 minutes later

Another Bad Pun wrote:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/rexaura

Is this in response to something, or are you just suggesting that people play it?

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FelixGriffin
2,680 Posts
Posted Jun 17, 2012
Replied 32 minutes later

CamBen wrote:
No more Combine balls

This, presumably.

Also, it is just a cool mod.

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Brainstone
401 Posts
Posted Jun 18, 2012
Replied 18 hours later

zivi7 wrote:
Maybe I was just too stupid but...
...I hated how the end fight was just trial and error to find out which of those panels would fire the bombs past Wheatley's defenses in his different defense states.

The first from any wall panel.
The second from the floor.
The third first from one wall panel and then the next quickly from the opposite point.

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Kaleido
272 Posts
Posted Jun 19, 2012
Replied 12 hours later

Brainstone wrote:
zivi7 wrote:

Maybe I was just too stupid but...
...I hated how the end fight was just trial and error to find out which of those panels would fire the bombs past Wheatley's defenses in his different defense states.

The first from any wall panel.
The second from the floor.
The third first from one wall panel and then the next quickly from the opposite point.

Yea, it's DEFINITELY NOT random, nor does it require any trial and error. The panels do a tremendously brilliant job conveying where the weak points are...

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zivi7
649 Posts
Posted Jun 19, 2012
Replied 5 hours later
Never said it was random, it just took me some trial and error to finish it. Sorry I critized your beloved panels.
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RubyCarbuncIe
303 Posts
Posted Jun 19, 2012
Replied 1 hour later

zivi7 wrote:
Never said it was random, it just took me some trial and error to finish it. Sorry I critized your beloved panels.

Well if you think about it than it shouldn't require any trial and error. For example when he isn't covering underneath him place a portal there, when his back is open, place one behind him, and so on and so fourth.

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zivi7
649 Posts
Posted Jun 19, 2012
Replied 9 minutes later

zivi7 wrote:
Maybe I was just too stupid ...

Well, it was obviously that then.

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Kaleido
272 Posts
Posted Jun 19, 2012
Replied 14 hours later

zivi7 wrote:
zivi7 wrote:

Maybe I was just too stupid ...

Well, it was obviously that then.

hahahaha

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ebola
59 Posts
Posted Jul 18, 2012
Replied 29 days later
I just realized that I received responses to this thread. Thanks for the help everyone!
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The Irate Pirate
236 Posts
Posted Jul 19, 2012
Replied 8 hours later
The main issue I had with the second game was that each section of the game felt incredibly rushed.

You meet GLaDOS, BOOM, a couple of chambers later you feel like you've done some tutorials for the new test elements and then suddenly the next act begins!
BOOM! You do a couple of underground chambers and then it ends suddenly.
BOOM! You get to the incredible Wheatley chambers which are undoubtedly the best in the game, just as the difficulty finally begins to increase when you get to the final couple of tests (the one with the blue gel) BOOM! It ends suddenly.

They had the opportunity to actually put in some damn decent tests that really challenged your naos, instead the entire game felt, in the same was the first, like a test bed. A series of unfinished tutorial levels for something bigger and better. Ultimately it was the custom maps that saved Portal 2 for me.

Another issue was the change in "atmosphere", whereas the first game had an ominous dilapidated look (massively helped by the weird ambient soundtrack) with test chambers covered in dust and Ratman's cryptic messages and back areas open to view, the second one in its bid to be bigger and better had huge open chambers which lost that claustrophobic underground feeling and replaced it with shiny black walls and deliberately comedic dialogue, it was inevitable really.

The only test chamber I had any serious trouble on was the final Wheatley one with the blue gel, the funnel and the turrets.

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MasterLagger
1,695 Posts
Posted Jul 19, 2012
Replied 7 hours later

The Irate Pirate wrote:
The only test chamber I had any serious trouble on was the final Wheatley one with the blue gel, the funnel and the turrets.

The one where you can get a turret to shoot the Wheatley screen?

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portal2tenacious
393 Posts
Posted Jul 19, 2012
Replied 13 minutes later
I agree that the feeling of the game was weird. I really miss that one soundtrack from portal that played in test chamber 14. That "do do do do, doooo do do dooo..."

Or something like that.

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HMW
806 Posts
Posted Jul 20, 2012
Replied 21 hours later
I think I know the one you mean. The really desolate sounding music that also plays in the first fling room?

My favourite soundtrack from P1 is the one that plays in the room where you get the blue portal gun. (The file is called "taste of blood", after the comment GLaDOS makes about the fizzlers.)

I used that one in the first large part of Manic Mechanic because it fits that environment perfectly. I hope it's possible to use P1 music in P2, because I have plans for another stark futuristic environment with lost of glass

The P2 soundtrack sounds a lot more polished, but it lacks character IMO.

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Alexander Bell
306 Posts
Posted Jul 20, 2012
Replied 48 minutes later
What distracted you from the gameplay?
What forced you to stop playing the game for a while?
Which puzzles made you stupid even after you figured it out and why?
When you feel misled or betrayed by the game at any point?
Where you feel bored at any point in the game? Underground, especially when there was conversion gel involved
What sequence(s) let you down after psyching you up? Old Aperture after the Stalemate room
Where you feel a lack of ingenuity and why?
What did you feel Portal 2 missed?
If you could remove three features from Portal 2, what would they be? Old Aperture, Conversion gel, Repulsion gel
Where did you feel like there was too little reward?
Where did you feel like there was too much reward? (Dangling a carrot?)
Where did you lose your suspension of disbelief and say that can't possibly happen at any point?
Where did the storyline fall short?
Did the transitions between puzzles feel awkward? Where did it interrupt gameplay? Going from the BTS Aperture to the underground
Where did the game feel repetitive after a few times? The gel puzzles.

As you can tell, I hated underground Aperture.