The Shortcomings of Portal 2

[Soviet Heavy]

I'm not gonna lie, of the major games I've bought this year, Portal 2 is still by far the best one I have played by a long shot. The singleplayer is paced perfectly, the puzzles are creative, and the humor and dialogue are unmatched. But still, I feel a little letdown by the replay value.

This is the same problem I had with Portal 1. While those three hours were a blast to play, they do not lend themselves well to replay at all. Once you get the pattern down, you can blast through rooms that were originally tricky in a matter of seconds in some cases. This in turn causes an issue with the pacing. When you finally figured out a puzzle in the game, you would be rewarded with more hilarious dialogue like a reward. But the faster you go, the more you hear the phrases repeated, the less impact they have.

Portal 2 has this even worse, being story focused over the puzzles themselves. There are still some devilishly tricky puzzles in the game, but once you know how to beat them, that's it. You don't get the same WOW factor playing through them a second time like you did the first. This is where longevity would have really helped I think. While the short game pattern for the Portal series has done well to help endear itself to people, it also limits its replayability, because breaking the flow of the game adversely affects other parts of the experience as well.

So that's just my take on it. Playing through the Portal series with the awareness of one who has beaten them already leaves a lessened experience than what a newcomer will have.

 

[Palademon]

I sometimes forget how to solve them, and have replayed both games several times regardless of basically skipping through puzzles as if they were nothing. I think the humour and the whole story brings me back anyway.

Portal isn't meant to be played a second time. Play it once, be astonished, go to the internet and use a tired boring meme out of context, feel proud of yourself, THEN GO PLAY SKYRIM!

THEN TAKE AN ARROW TO THE KNEE!

THEN GO PLAY SOMETHING ELSE!

 

[Fasckira]

What is the point in this thread, aside from to promote your own opinion for a game thats been out for some time? Its not even as if you're making the half-hearted attempt to ask others to share their views on Portal 2, its literally, "Heres my view, EOF".

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I sometimes forget how to solve them, and have replayed both games several times regardless of basically skipping through puzzles as if they were nothing. I think the humour and the whole story brings me back anyway.

See, the way I play is that I view the comedy as a reward. If I accomplish a tricky puzzle, I get a prize of listening to Cave Johnson. But without a challenge to overcome, it diminishes the impact. And there isn't enough content within the game to stretch out in order to make a longer experience worthwhile either.

Take the downloadable maps you can get for either game. Yes, they are fun, and sometimes manage to surpass the official maps, but without the other competing elements blending together, the maps themselves aren't as fun to play. You will rarely get a top quality voiceover to reward you for beating a tricky fanmade map.

Portal 1 and 2 are really games you have to play after loooong breaks in between, or if you have been blessed with the ability to forget everything about a game and play it like it was new.

 

[Otaku World Order]

I think the co-op DLC will probably help keep Portal 2 going for a while at least.

Portal isn't meant to be played a second time. Play it once, be astonished, go to the internet and use a tired boring meme out of context, feel proud of yourself, THEN GO PLAY SKYRIM!

THEN TAKE AN ARROW TO THE KNEE!

THEN GO PLAY SOMETHING ELSE!

THE ARROW IN THE KNEE IS A LIE!

 

[everythingbeeps]

I don't really mind. Yeah, I'll already know most of the solutions on a second play-through (I'll certainly have forgotten a few), but simply being in that world again, hearing the dialogue, and seeing the environment around me will be reason enough to play it again.

 

[Mallefunction]

I'm not gonna lie, of the major games I've bought this year, Portal 2 is still by far the best one I have played by a long shot. The singleplayer is paced perfectly, the puzzles are creative, and the humor and dialogue are unmatched. But still, I feel a little letdown by the replay value.

This is the same problem I had with Portal 1. While those three hours were a blast to play, they do not lend themselves well to replay at all. Once you get the pattern down, you can blast through rooms that were originally tricky in a matter of seconds in some cases. This in turn causes an issue with the pacing. When you finally figured out a puzzle in the game, you would be rewarded with more hilarious dialogue like a reward. But the faster you go, the more you hear the phrases repeated, the less impact they have.

Portal 2 has this even worse, being story focused over the puzzles themselves. There are still some devilishly tricky puzzles in the game, but once you know how to beat them, that's it. You don't get the same WOW factor playing through them a second time like you did the first. This is where longevity would have really helped I think. While the short game pattern for the Portal series has done well to help endear itself to people, it also limits its replayability, because breaking the flow of the game adversely affects other parts of the experience as well.

So that's just my take on it. Playing through the Portal series with the awareness of one who has beaten them already leaves a lessened experience than what a newcomer will have.

I guess I don't have that problem. See for me, replay value is also evident in the atmosphere, gameplay and writing. I enjoy listening to Wheatley and GLaDoS. I enjoy using the portal gun, I enjoy the puzzles even if I already know what to do.

Replay value is whether or not you have fun replaying the game. Not 'oh, I know what to do so it's thuper easy'

 

[Shadow Geo]

That's where extra content comes in!! (Peer Reviews)

 

[lacktheknack]

Yep.

It's a puzzle game.

Just like how an RPG is inherently bad for "play-for-five-minutes", a linearly designed puzzle game is inherently bad for replay value. It's a genre thing. Hopefully you weren't expecting anything else.

 

[Zhukov]

Well... yeah. Isn't that the inherent nature of a puzzle game?

It's like reading a mystery novel the second time around. You already know the answer.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Yep.

It's a puzzle game.

Just like how an RPG is inherently bad for "play-for-five-minutes", a linearly designed puzzle game is inherently bad for replay value. It's a genre thing. Hopefully you weren't expecting anything else.

I wasn't expecting anything else. i knew what to expect going into Portal 2, and I still love the game. It just doesn't hold up well for multiple playthroughs unless you spread them out over a very long period of time.

 

[skywolfblue]

I wish they had included Challenge Modes like in Portal 1. I'm surprised they haven't released a DLC for that, it should be a pretty simple affair #count_steps #count_portals.

 

[Dendio]

I didnt like how the enviorment became rusted and brown. I get that its meant to show time passing, but it took away from the clean look I enjoyed in the first game. The undrground levels were pretty dull as well. Couldnt wait to get out of the caves and back in to the training rooms

 

[Kingme18]

I think the co-op DLC will probably help keep Portal 2 going for a while at least.

Portal isn't meant to be played a second time. Play it once, be astonished, go to the internet and use a tired boring meme out of context, feel proud of yourself, THEN GO PLAY SKYRIM!

THEN TAKE AN ARROW TO THE KNEE!

THEN GO PLAY SOMETHING ELSE!

THE ARROW IN THE KNEE IS A LIE!

OT: I played through it once, then once more for the commentary. I agree with you though, it is only meant to be played once.

 

[floppylobster]

I'm just playing it through for the first time right now so I can't read the other comments but I'm up to the point *spoiler* where you pick up GLaDoS in the potato. I have to say I'm severely underwhelmed by the whole experience so far. I enjoyed Portal (though didn't think it was the greatest thing ever), but it was original, fresh and didn't out-stay its welcome.

As for Portal 2, I don't seem to be as enamored with the script and voice acting this time around as some fans seem to be. A lot of the jokes were repetitive or followed exactly the same structure and so lost their impact (i.e. "Don't do this it's dangerous, oh, you've already done it, just ignore what I said etc...". Other jokes relied solely on the charm of the voice actor to pull them off, and in my case this caused some of them to fall a little flat. There was some good stuff, but overall it's a sad indictment on game writing when this is considered the best of the best because as good as it is it still doesn't equal the best writing in other fields.

As for the story... As I said I haven't finished yet so I can't comment fully, but so far I could summarize the story in about three sentences so I'm not sure what amazing twists and turns are about to happen to create this amazing story I've heard mentioned.

In terms of game play, Portal 2 no longer felt fresh. Which was a huge part of the appeal of the original game. As I was playing I was thinking they should have started the game with the retro flow gel sections, then moved to the light bridges, then the standard portal puzzles. The way the elements were introduced took away some of their impact. If I had started the game and everything was new I would have been more forgiving when they brought in elements copied from Portal. But as it is they start out with the old standard puzzles and you're left waiting for the new elements. It felt like going to concert and having to sit through all the radio-friendly hits you've long grown tired of before getting to the interesting songs that have more depth.

But keep in mind that while I enjoyed the first I didn't love it, (as short as it was I even got a little bored during it but it was saved by a good ending), so don't take my opinions too personally. I don't think as a non-fan I can really make an accurate criticism of a game because clearly I didn't really 'get' all the elements that made the first one so great in some people's minds. Guess I'm just not into science, but thanks for the opportunity to vent the thoughts I've been having while playing it.