Portal vs The Ball

[TPiddy]

Let's see:

1. Portal is great because it didn't do anything poorly. Story, narrative, game play, sound, controls, I can't think of anything bad in Portal. It was short, fun, and humorous. Greatest game ever? No. It's length detracts from that somewhat, but then again, I can't play a straight up puzzler for more than a few hours at a time anyhow. Adding challenge rooms helps.

2. Does Trials HD count as a puzzle game?

3. Ball? Meh... one thing puzzle games don't need? Boss fights. How are you supposed to objectively think about how to solve a puzzle while dodging some giant worm?

 

[crunchieman]

The Ball doesn't look great.
I sort of get the feeling that people are hating on Portal because it's popular.
And yeah Portal wasn't made as a full game just like TF2, if you understand what I'm trying to say.. which I don't.

 

[WOPR]

a slow paced game can be short, I mean look at contra, that's about 1 hour at the most and that's fast paced, portal is slow paced but is also about an hour long

and yes I beat all the "challenge" maps, they too were insultingly easy...

Off Note: No, I have not tried mods, but I don't think you can measure the value of a game by a mod you have to download that isn't by the games creaters

My point is that if you finished the game that quickly you must have been going at a breakneck speed. Most people take at least 2-3 hours their first time through (much more if
you include the challenge levels).

well including the challenge puzzles it took me 2 hours (mind you I had to pause a lot too)
But as for break neck speeds, you can only go so fast in that game, but I'm the person that can figure out puzzles in 5 seconds, and has multiple world record speed-runs (so I can get it done over with and out of the way)

 

[WOPR]

Portal was awesome. Mostly because of the way it was presented, kinda like Bioshock.

When you go into the first gravity flinging room (I dunno what to call it) the level design was so perfect that the only instruction needed was Glados' broken transmission saying "*garble* momentum *garble*", and you immediately knew exactly what you were supposed to do (i.e. catapult yourself).

Then after a long period of training with the game mechanics, you are let out to test out the gun in unconditional circumstances, and STILL the level design made it almost easy to know exactly where to go.

If the game itself wasn't hard enough, there are a bunch of challenges which get pretty tricky near the end, and have you racking your brain for a bit. And if you like mind numbing levels of difficulty, you can try and get all gold medals on the challenges.

Add in the fact that it costs a third of what a normal game costs ($20), and you literally can't say the game isn't awesome (or at least worth the buy).

This ball game could be fast paced as shit, but I sincerely doubt it can deliver the original environments, sense of humor, or quality of level design I got from Portal.

Alright, my only problem was the "priced for a game" thing
yes a BRAND NEW FULL LENGTH game is $60 but lets just look this over really quick
360/PS3 = $60
Wii = $50
PC = ~$20-~$60

PC games have a vast price range
Spore was $40 new (here at least)
SC2 was $60 new (the collectors $100 new O_O)

So I'm just saying that price is all in opinion

being poor; if I spend $20 on a game, it's going to last awhile
example of just me being me in Target
"Do I get Portal a 2-3 hour game for $20? or do I get the 5 Game StarWars Collection including KotOR which is 10 hours by itself at the least for $20"

(not this only applies to games I like)

I mean (yeah I know I'm going WAAAAAAAY off topic) I paid $10 for No More Heroes, and I have 50+ hours of gameplay time on it, while portal was $20 (actually I got it for free through some "difficulties") but gave me less then 1/10 the enjoyment time

so yes, even if portals good (which yeah it is) is it really worth the bang for your buck? (same argument applies to Limbo those of you that play it, yes it's good, yes it's well priced, but good GOD It's short, even for $15!)

 

[WOPR]

Let's see:

1. Portal is great because it didn't do anything poorly. Story, narrative, game play, sound, controls, I can't think of anything bad in Portal. It was short, fun, and humorous. Greatest game ever? No. It's length detracts from that somewhat, but then again, I can't play a straight up puzzler for more than a few hours at a time anyhow. Adding challenge rooms helps.

2. Does Trials HD count as a puzzle game?

3. Ball? Meh... one thing puzzle games don't need? Boss fights. How are you supposed to objectively think about how to solve a puzzle while dodging some giant worm?

1) okay
2) YES IT DOES THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING IT!
3) look at soul reaver, all the bosses are puzzles (except kain...) it actually works pretty well and it keeps you moving and on your toes

 

[WOPR]

snip

Ok...

i got gooseboomps with the portal 2 video...

I JUST LOVE THE VOICE OF GlaDOS, dear god!!!

"Dont dissapoint me... or i´ll make you wish you could die!"

also... yeah... "the ball" looks like it sucks... itself twice (heh) seriously, its a frikken escort mission with an inanimate object!, not the most originall idea already being done in several games and in every single one of them it was a pain in the ass, i dont see my self playing this for over a few minutes before i chucked it in frustration because the "damn ball" doesnt want to do what it´s told, or i´m not standing in the exact "PIXEL" so that the ball moves as it should, also, regarding the "puzzles" they dont seem as interesting as with "Portal", and if i recall correctly, i loved portal because i felt a great joy when i solved a puzzle and the phisics were a joy to toy around with.

Look more into it, I don't think you can "escort mission" an object you can spawn at any time

by your logic I could argue that portal is an escort mission with all the dang cubes

but please, don't bash a game you've never played, just because you're butt-hurt that yours got insulted

 

[WOPR]

but please, don't bash a game you've never played, just because you're butt-hurt that yours got insulted

But that's what you're doing...

okay lets look this over
they're bashing a game they never played
I've said multiple times that I've BEATEN PORTAL 100% IN 2 HOURS
And I'm making actual points not just trolling out something like "portal sucks" and saying nothing more

so either you can't read, or you just don't want to, because I've stated that I own and have beaten portal and here you are saying that I'm bashing it (which I'm just making points) and that I've never played it (which again I have you can check my steam)

 

[Count Igor]

I loved it.

If you want real reasons:

It's funny.
Nice length.
Extra maps if you want it.
It changes.
Not a huge fear of death in it.
Not very much fear, like, at all.
Hard puzzles at points.
Interesting plot.
Unique style.

Things like tetris count, of course, but we still come down to the same goddamn point

Some people like games that others don't!
It's a matter of personal opinion

2) Favourite is portal, probably.

3) Doi?

 

[Rock Beefchest]

I agree with you on one issue. Portal was far too short and far too easy on the first time through. The only difficulty I ever had was when I tried those par challenges were you have limited portals to achieve the result.

That said, I have never seen a post so filled with comments by the original poster. Is that how people get so many posts here?

 

[Dapper Ninja]

1. Portal was an absolute blast to play. I loved every minute of it from start to finish. Luckily I managed to get my hands on it before every dumbass with an internet connection started spouting "LOL the cake is a lie STILL ALIVE OMG!!1", so I got to play it as a creative, funny, and new puzzle game rather than that meme that no one will shut up about.
2. Shadow of the Colossus. One of my favorite games ever, and that's not a title I'm very willing to hand out to anything.
3. The Ball looks... eeehhh. It looks like someone took the gravity gun from Half-Life 2, based an entire game around it, accidentally spilled coffee all over the graphics, and made a really dull trailer about it.

Looks kinda one-trick, tbh. Puzzle solving of the sort I've already seen in HL2 and Portal, just with one big gimmick and poorly presented in such a way that it looks uninspired :/ I mean, compare the two puzzle sequences in that vid with the Portal 2 coop trailer -significantly better trailer snip-

Which sells itself better? Which do you think I'm more excited for?

Basically this.

 

[atol]

As for the cake being a lie... well thanks to yahtzee I've been able to drown out the "THE CAKE IS A LIE" joke with the "fine but I'll enjoy my girlfriends "cake" (smug smile)"

Have you thought that one through? It makes it sound like the quotation marks should instead be around "girlfriend".

 

[WOPR]

As for the cake being a lie... well thanks to yahtzee I've been able to drown out the "THE CAKE IS A LIE" joke with the "fine but I'll enjoy my girlfriends "cake" (smug smile)"

Have you thought that one through? It makes it sound like the quotation marks should instead be around "girlfriend".

yeah I did, if you don't get the joke watch Yahtzee's review of Super Mario Galexcy 2 (god I can't spell today...)

 

[omega 616]

Did you just call tetris a first person puzzle game? There isn't even a person!

Portal is ok, the robot thingies voice was really annoying though.

The ball looks like it started out as a straight FPS, then some bright spark decided "hey, if we make the player control this ball the whole time it will make it harder and add a twist", what he didn't take into account is how annoying it would get.

I also had to skip half the trailer to watch any gameplay, whats that about? Little bit of pretension, I assume.

 

[ZodiacBraves]

well including the challenge puzzles it took me 2 hours (mind you I had to pause a lot too)
But as for break neck speeds, you can only go so fast in that game, but I'm the person that can figure out puzzles in 5 seconds, and has multiple world record speed-runs (so I can get it done over with and out of the way)

So you admit to being better at puzzles than most everyone, and then post a thread stating that portal was too short and easy? What was the point of that? If it was to bring people's attention to "The Ball" you could have compared it to Portal just as easy without seeming so condescending.

1. I think Portal was extremely well done. Brilliant dialogue, great atmosphere, amazing dark comedy and some unique puzzle solving elements. Do I think its worth the regular price? I don't really know, but it is a worthy gaming experience. However, I do agree that it is being cheapened by all the Portal memes circulating.

2. I wouldn't say puzzle games are really my preferred genre, but my favorite would be "Shadow of the Colossus"

3. I have looked over The Ball and it seems interesting. It doesn't seem like it will have the charm and polish portal had, but it looks like it could succeed in other ways. I will have my eye on it as more reviews come out, but there were better ways to get me to research it than blatantly bashing Portal.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

Portal is fun, I dont treat it as a "god game" in which you referred to it.
Its fun when Im bored

 

[Spudgun Man]

Wow, someone learned how to glue bits of king kong onto portal, and changed the weighted cubes into a ball, which was also a bonus level on portal...

And there's more enemies than irate turrets, might be worth a look in about a year when i've finally finished my Fo:NV binge.

 

[HentMas]

snip

Ok...

i got gooseboomps with the portal 2 video...

I JUST LOVE THE VOICE OF GlaDOS, dear god!!!

"Dont dissapoint me... or i´ll make you wish you could die!"

also... yeah... "the ball" looks like it sucks... itself twice (heh) seriously, its a frikken escort mission with an inanimate object!, not the most originall idea already being done in several games and in every single one of them it was a pain in the ass, i dont see my self playing this for over a few minutes before i chucked it in frustration because the "damn ball" doesnt want to do what it´s told, or i´m not standing in the exact "PIXEL" so that the ball moves as it should, also, regarding the "puzzles" they dont seem as interesting as with "Portal", and if i recall correctly, i loved portal because i felt a great joy when i solved a puzzle and the phisics were a joy to toy around with.

Look more into it, I don't think you can "escort mission" an object you can spawn at any time

by your logic I could argue that portal is an escort mission with all the dang cubes

but please, don't bash a game you've never played, just because you're butt-hurt that yours got insulted

excuse me??? "butt-hurt" is hardly the term

I just stated what i thought, and what i felt from seing the video, thats all, i dont care what you think about "Portal" because well, in the end i like it, you dont, deal with it

"don´t bash games you´ve never played" well, don´t compare games that arent even out with games that are already done!, as i staded before, all proof you "showed" was a video, the video looks "exactly" like what i said, and it didn´t created enough interest in me to investigate it further

also, for the sake of keeping things civil, I dont remember ever calling YOU anything, please refrain on using derogatory names on peoples oppinions

 

[niege]

Okay, to make it easy for people to understand I'll try and keep this short

*deep breath*

Almost everyone in this area has Portal and treats it like it's a "God" game, they never support why other then "It's like... a FIRST PERSON PUZZLE SHOOTER" then I say "It was 1 hour long, insultingly easy, and just plain boring up until the last chamber, and it's SOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOW PAAAAAAAAACED" argument goes back and forth, they ask me to name a better action/puzzle game I name a few (Tetris, Soul Reaver, etc) they say "those don't count"

So I find a trailer for a game titled "The Ball" and I look at it going... "is... is this a puzzle shooter? that's fast paced and GOOD?!"

So I guess what I'm asking is the following

1) Your opinion on "Portal"
2) Your favorite "Puzzle" game
3) Your impression on "The Ball"

1.I don't think it is a "GOD" game but i think it is a good game but to short but the puzzles were to easy
2.I must say... i don't play them (agrees on tetris)
3. i must say that "the ball" is a small copy that instead of a companion cube you have the ball and instead of those annoying speaking turrets you have enemiees that charge you
Conclusion : I personally like portal but the ball seems interesting to but i only got portal cuz it was free download on steam...i am a cheap bastard i know

 

[Chewster]

I don't hate that Portal was "overrated". It was well made and clever and treated the humour aspects with a bit of absurdity and tact, which is something that most games don't seem to do. So it deserved the praise it got.

I do hate how everyone talks about the cake being a lie. Anyone who mentions it outside of a Portal discussion deserves to get shot in the balls.

 

[Legendairy314]

Wait... the entire game is an escort mission? I'm sure it'll do fine but that really puts me off of it. Even if it's used as a weapon.

Also, me and many other people love Portal for many reasons that probably don't need to be stated again.