Topic: Is Portals worth buying?

[ScaryTooth]

It seems like it probably is. I'm thinking of buying it off steam right now, it's really the only game in the Orange box I care about really. Is it worth the price of admission itself?

[sirean_syan]

I thought it was, but generally I'm not the kind of person who considers how long a game is when I buy it.

[gpw11]

How much is it?

[ScaryTooth]

Is it really short?

It's $50.

[gpw11]

I think that's the price for the whole orange box.  Portal should be a lot cheaper.

[ScaryTooth]

I figured I'd just go for the whole orange box. I haven't played episodes 1, and 2. And I figure TF2 might be fun. Maybe I will just go for portals.

[gpw11]

Ah, Ok.  Honestly, I'd say the Orange Box is worth it.  I was pretty much in the exact same boat you are and was pretty satisfied with the Value.

EP 1 and Ep2 were both pretty entertaining if you liked HL2 a fair bit and haven't played it in a while.  Portal is great (although short) and I believe fully accessible to the mod community so there could be more maps out there.  As for TF2, I'm a HUGE MOTHERFUCKING TF2 FAN. 

Um, sorry.  Yeah the game grew on me a lot and I find it very entertaining.  I usually play for 1-1.5 hours a night before going to bed.

[idolminds]

Its $20 by itself on Steam. I feel its worth that. I played the story mode 3 times, spent a lot of time in the challenge missions, and havent looked into the custom maps yet.

If you're going the whole orange box, gimmie a sec. I know its cheaper if you order it from some places. I think Best Buy will have it for $40 next week even.

[MysterD]

If you're looking for Portal alone, it is around $20 over STEAM -- to pay-to-download from them.

It took me like 9.5 hours to finish. LOL. Test Number 18 killed me for hours and hours, trying to get it right w/ the timing and all. I was taking my time, but yeah -- probably would've took me 5-7 hours, otherwise! Some have finished it in like 3.5 hours! So, I dunno -- probably on average, 4 to 6 hours for most to finish Portal, I bet. I really should try the extra "expanded" maps, some time. heh -- they unlock when you beat the game.

About $50 for The Orange Box and the other new content, TF2 and HL2: Ep Two are pretty good stuff.
If you ain't played HL2: Ep One, it's in there -- though, not as good as HL2; not even close. Weakest part of The Box, by far.
HL2's in the box, too -- and if you ain't played that, you really should; it's a very good shooter.

Honestly, you should've probably ordered The Orange Box right from BestBuy.com for $25 (with free shipping) when it was on sale during Thanksgiving Day -- oh, and Black Friday, too. Easily worth that.

[gpw11]

Honestly, you should've probably ordered The Orange Box right from BestBuy.com for $25 (with free shipping) when it was on sale during Thanksgiving Day -- oh, and Black Friday, too. Easily worth that.

Oh, don't be one of those people.

[idolminds]

I just checked, both Circuit City and Best Buy will have Orange Box for $40 next week.

[ScaryTooth]

I'm trying to decide between this, and Crysis. I will eventually get both. But I'm trying to decide which to get first. With buying Christmas presents and such, money is a bit tight at the moment.

I was thinking about buying over steam, but I think I'm actually going to run to the store and actually get a hard copy tomorrow. Now just to decide.

[Quemaqua]

For me the Orange Box isn't worth it at all.  Ep 1 and 2 mean nothing to me whatsoever, TF2 is pretty much the same old shit except not as good, and... yeah.  I don't know.  I want Portal, but I don't have an extra twenty bucks, so... guess I'm out of luck.

[idolminds]

I wish I could turn these useless HL2/EP1 gifts into a single Portal gift. Much more useful.

[gpw11]

Pssst.  Buy this now and buy crisis when you have 3 8800gt cards in SLI.

[ScaryTooth]

I can run the demo pretty good. High, at 1152x864. It's very playable. Only really slows down when there are a ton of explosions, and environment damage.

[gpw11]

I need to know where you bought your quantum computer.

[ScaryTooth]

It's a 2.2ghz Intel Core Dou 2, 2gigs ram, and a Gefore 7950 GT 512MB. It's pretty beefy. I can't max it out, but it certainly looks pretty.

[Pugnate]

I figured I'd just go for the whole orange box. I haven't played episodes 1, and 2. And I figure TF2 might be fun. Maybe I will just go for portals.

I find the Orange Box to be one of the best deals ever. Should definitely go for it.

[PyroMenace]

For me the Orange Box isn't worth it at all.  Ep 1 and 2 mean nothing to me whatsoever, TF2 is pretty much the same old shit except not as good, and... yeah.  I don't know.  I want Portal, but I don't have an extra twenty bucks, so... guess I'm out of luck.

1.) Have you played it? If yes go to 2, if not, Im afraid I have to whoop out a big STFU.

2.) Please go into further detail as to why its "shit".

Sorry, but I hate comments like that.

[Quemaqua]

I didn't say it was shit, I said it was the same old shit.  It's TF2, meaning it's TF except with a 2 on the end.  It just doesn't do anything for me.  I'm all for those who like it and whatever, but it's just sort of beating a dead horse on my end.  Plus I kind of like the original better.  But again, I'm not saying TF2 sucks, I'm simply stating why the Orange Box is more or less worthless to me personally.

[MysterD]

I find the Orange Box to be one of the best deals ever. Should definitely go for it.

If you don't already have HL2 and HL2: Episode One, then yes -- I'd agree, it's a great deal....

[Xessive]

The original Half-Life 2 comes with Counter-Strike: Source, however the Orange Box does not. Not that I'm a CS:S fan, I was just hoping I'd be able to gift it to my bro.

I think I got a good deal out of it since I hadn't bought Episode One, so I got a lotta "new" stuff. Apparently I finished Episode One in 2.5 hours, taking my sweet ass time. That's frickin' short! Considering how long it took for E1 to come out, that would have been a major disappointment for anyone who paid any more than $5 for it! Which pretty much confirms the comments on Valve totally missing the point of episodic content.

I've just started Episode Two, and I can already see a few good visual enhancements i.e. flashlight casts better shadows etc. There are some minor UI improvements as well. I just hope this is much longer than E1 since this one took a while to come out too!

Portal is one of the best bits of the Orange Box. According to my account I finished it in 2.3 hours, just enjoying it and taking my time to appreciate it. Although it's short I definitely respect it a lot more than Episode One! Individually, Portal costs $19.95. Keeping the other content in mind the Orange Box is a pretty good deal.

[MysterD]

Besides BethSoft's Official Map, are there any good user-made Portal maps out yet?

[MysterD]

Portal has been updated by Valve w/ new "radio transmissions" thrown into the game and a new "Achivement."

Portal gamers are going to town, trying to crack the code...
Steam Forum Thread - On The Transmission Change.
Steam Forum Thread - Image Processing.

It's believed this could be Valve trying to announce a game here...

[gpw11]

Ha, awesome.  I love it when stuff like this happens.

[MysterD]

SPOILERS included in these links.
Valve adds more to the ending of Portal with a new update.

EDIT:
Check out the original Portal ending and the new extended Portal ending here.

[Pugnate]

I really liked the Orange Box, and I like Valve's games... but check out the comments from the link D posted.

People seem ready to deliver handjobs or something. Valve seems to get this religious worship, I don't get.

edit:

I really can't wait for Portal 2. Like, that burning "Jesus christ, I need this game" kind of wait.

Valve is INCREDIBLY clever with their advertisement and the way they interact with their player-base.

Sets a great example for other companies. What better way to hint at a sequel then updating the ORIGINAL game with new hints?

Yeah Valve is an amazing company. Can't wait for Portal 2! Hope they give more, like more maps. Maybe even multiplayer? Shooting through the holes at each other would be fricking sweet

This is one ending I could watch over and over and over again.

OK NOW here is a comment that I completely agree with and makes sense:

A sequel to Portal. Awesome, I know.

HOWEVER, the way it's being presented is less than ideal: instead of going along with the story they created, Valve has literally 'updated' the game with an ending that would be more suitable for a sequel. Imagine if 2K Boston (aka Irrational) 'updated' the ending of Bioshock to be more receptive to a sequel. People need to stop idolizing Valve if this is the way they've decided to go about things.

Guess what... it was disliked and voted down so many times, it has become nearly invisible.

And then read this:

Uh...dude. It's VALVE. Why are you ranting about them NOT being like everyone else?

And if you don't like the ending, don't download the update.

WTF is wrong with people.

The guy is right. This is a bit of a cop out.

[idolminds]

And if you don't like the ending, don't download the update.

Thanks to Steam, you have no choice. Ok...you do, but the other options are "Leave Steam in offline mode forever" or "Never play the game again".

The addition to the ending is extremely minor, but does change the "feel" a bit. I don't think its so terrible, but then I don't get the massive praise for it either. I agree with that one guy that its a little off-putting that they can come in and retcon the games after the fact. The fact that Steam means you can't opt out of these changes just plain sucks. Its something I've complained about the substantial updates TF2 got. While that support is nice, if you aren't happy with the way the game has changed you are unable to stick to an origial/previous version that you paid for.

[gpw11]

I pretty much agree with Idol's post completely.  I don't see the big deal with the ending either way.  It didn't really change the nature of the ending, just tacked on an extra 3 seconds as a promotion for something forthcoming. If they didn't it would have just been covered in the start of the next game anyways.

And yeah, I agree with him about not being able to opt out of updates as well.

[W7RE]

Yea the ending isn't really changed as far as what did and did not happen. The original ending just faded out before what happens in the new ending. It's an addition, not a change.

I don't particularly hate Valve or Steam, but these guys are seriously slobbing some Valve knob.

[Pugnate]

I actually didn't see it, but someone said...

(click to show/hide)

... they basically changed her fate from escaping to being recaptured. If that is true, that is pretty stupid. It is like they didn't want to spend the time and resources designing something with a portal gun in a new more open setting, and instead tried to find a way to put her back in the facility to have an easier time designing portal 2.

[gpw11]

No, nothing that drastic at all.

(click to show/hide)

from my understanding, it just showed that GladOS is still alive...which isn't a surprise at all considering the entire ending song

[Pugnate]

Ahhh... that's fine then.

[idolminds]

Actually...

(click to show/hide)

The original ending had GlaDOS blow up, and you end up outside on the ground where flaming debris falls from the sky. The facility blew up or something, but you escaped. It fades to black.

All of that happens still, but before the fade to black we hear a robotic voice (not GlaDOS, something else) that says something like "Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position" and then you are dragged backwards one step at a time. Then it fades to black.

So yeah, its only a few added seconds but it does sort of change the feeling from "escape" to "recaptured".

[Pugnate]

Ahhh... that's poor then.

[gpw11]

Actually...

(click to show/hide)

The original ending had GlaDOS blow up, and you end up outside on the ground where flaming debris falls from the sky. The facility blew up or something, but you escaped. It fades to black.

All of that happens still, but before the fade to black we hear a robotic voice (not GlaDOS, something else) that says something like "Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position" and then you are dragged backwards one step at a time. Then it fades to black.

So yeah, its only a few added seconds but it does sort of change the feeling from "escape" to "recaptured".
[/quote

Ah, okay that makes sense. Guess I misinterpreted it.

[MysterD]

Here's what I like about the change/addition:
It suddenly adds interest to an older game and a possible sequel. Maybe it'll sell some more copies or get people playing again, just to get people check out some of the new stuff - especially since it's FREE. It's good to keep older game alive by updating, adding content, etc etc.

Here's what I dislike:
Since this is a linear game w/ no real decision-making or anything and all (unlike say a deep Bioware RPG might allow) - it basically changes the game's one ending entirely.

(click to show/hide)

So, instead of escaping, now you're being captured.

So, now it feels like I'm suddenly transported into another parallel universe, as if the original ending I received meant pretty much not as much as it should. There there isn't any options. No option in which I can select at the start of the game the option to receive "Original Ending" or "New Ending." There isn't someway in-game, in which my how well I'm playing or bad playing, I can earn either ending - whether it's b/c in how many hours I finish the game, not dying at all earns me a certain ending; or whatever. There is no special difficulty setting to end a different ending (like Max Payne 2 does - giving you a much happier ending if you beat the game on its hardest difficulty).

So, now I'm stuck w/ the new ending period - especially since Steam forces updates on you for you to actually keep playing. Obviously, the "New Ending" is the set-up for the direction of a possible sequel.

Kudos for Valve trying something different to keep interest in an older game and for a possible sequel - but "bleh" on them for the poor execution of this attempt.

[gpw11]

To be fair, in the original ending, it just ended...this adds a couple of seconds.

(click to show/hide)

I get what people are saying about escaping or being captured, but this isn't the same thing as a retcon.  A retcon would be if you never got out of the facility - that's all the first game showed.  There was no final shot of your tombstone with "She lived free from captivity for the last 50 years of her life" on it.

[sirean_syan]

Really, all this does it add what would be the first five seconds of a sequel or a trailer for the sequel. Once that sequel does come out, this will change nothing in the overall storyline. In that, it's kind of a novel way to do what that trailer would do.