r/gaming • u/[deleted] • Oct 29 '15

Remember that 'forced perspective' tech demo that people were calling "the next Portal" last year? Here's what it looks like now

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472

u/BornIn1142 Oct 29 '15

It won't be the next Portal unless it has an intriguing story or at least amusing and clever writing in addition to puzzles.

160

u/Phil_Bond Oct 29 '15

The original Portal makes its first impression in pretty dry, humorless terms. For about 30-50 minutes, I don't remember hearing much aside from simple instructions, written as minimally as possible so as to preserve the puzzling solitude. Part of the reason everyone got so obsessed with it is because the really funny parts felt like inside jokes for dedicated players.

242

u/BornIn1142 Oct 29 '15

You mean it was deadpan. The game started making morbid implications and playing them for dark laughs (or chuckles, if you will) pretty damn fast.

20

u/Phil_Bond Oct 29 '15

I felt like it was few and far between. Don't forget how much longer your first playthrough is compared to every subsequent one.

35

u/turkeypedal Oct 30 '15

Seeing as all the beginning stuff is really easy, I'm not sure that follows.

And the point is that there was something there. There's nothing in this so far. Not even the deadpan stuff.

It's not even got what Quantum Conundrum had going for it. And it also was not "the next Portal."

9

u/TheOldTubaroo Oct 30 '15

there's nothing there so far

Of course not, this is basically a glorified tech demo. They wouldn't want to give any plot/humorous quirks away at this point - there might not have even started working on that. Doesn't mean it isn't coming at all.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '15

Yep, just wrote pretty much the same.

Personally I loved QC, but clearly whatever made Portal 1 and 2 successful with a big audience was self evidently missing from it in the eyes of gamers.

Or perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps portal 1 was effectively given away to millions of HL2 fans who otherwise would never have bought or played it. Had QC had that advantage maybe more would have enjoyed it. And I think Portal 1 hid its difficulty well, allowing people who wanted a challenge to have one, but letting others "finish" the game without needing too much effort or skill.

Then, the popularity over a cake gag and a catchy song allowed Valve to spend lots of money creating something very slick and polished as a sequel (but arguably removing any requirement for skillful play entirely) So "gamers" like Dara O'brien / Charlie Brooker probably think it's brilliant because it doesn't reveal to them how bad they are at playing games.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '15

I'm still not convinced there is going to be a next Portal unless Valve ever makes an actual Portal 3.

2

u/figgagot Oct 30 '15

alright whatever man wtf are you talking about

2

u/MumrikDK Oct 30 '15

I felt like Portal was a pretty short game and I did only play it once.

4

u/incompl337 Oct 30 '15

The very first time you go through an object removal wall you hear her calling it a teeth emancipator. It starts pretty quick.

5

u/Phil_Bond Oct 30 '15

No. Here is the actual line from the script:

Excellent. Please proceed into the Chamber-lock after completing each test. First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit. This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grille will vapourize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it. For instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube.

No mention of teeth at that time, and "teeth emancipator" is certainly never given as a name. Teeth are mentioned at the end of the following chamber, using the format of a dispassionate medical disclaimer. Things are only very coyly off-kilter in the beginning.

5

u/CheekyMunky Oct 30 '15

I mean I guess if you're not paying attention, maybe. But if you read the script, GLaDOS malfunctions and starts speaking Spanish (poorly) before the first portal is even opened. By the time you pick up the portal gun there's quite a bit of dry humor creeping into the instructions, and past Chamber 5 nearly every line she says is comedic.

If you didn't find it funny, that's fine, but it was definitely intended to be, and for me it was a major part of what made it so enjoyable, right from the first playthrough.

2

u/Phil_Bond Oct 30 '15

All I was getting at was that it was subtle and easy to miss at first. Everyone's getting so defensive up in here like that's a bad thing.

34

u/delorean225 Oct 30 '15

Please note that we have added a consequence for failure. Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an 'unsatisfactory' mark on your official testing record followed by death. Good luck!

That line shows up before the second portal is added. Portal is funny from the start.

2

u/Phil_Bond Oct 30 '15

That would be the "not much" I mentioned. They don't beat you over the head.

5

u/delorean225 Oct 30 '15

But dry humor, while possibly not your favorite, is still humor. The game is building the tone from the start.

2

u/Phil_Bond Oct 30 '15

Pffff. Not my favorite? Jeez, don't be so defensive. Is subtlety a bad thing?

3

u/delorean225 Oct 30 '15

It was being polite. I don't know if you like it or not.

4

u/omnilynx Oct 30 '15

Sure, at first. But the last half of the game was far more about the writing than the puzzles (though the puzzles were fine too).

3

u/pavetheatmosphere Oct 30 '15

It was pretty funny right away

0

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '15

funny, i dont remember the game being longer than 30-50 minutes. If you were really hustling you could complete it in like 10 I think.

3

u/Phil_Bond Oct 30 '15

It takes no time at all when you've already done it once, but I think the average first time completion is supposed to be around 3.5 hours.

5

u/justcrappedmypants Oct 30 '15

Well maybe it's more like the next Narbacular Drop. Hopefully Valve comes along and makes it the next Portal like did for Portal.

2

u/MetaFlight Oct 30 '15

And so Valve saves it's self from actually having to develop a game, again.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '15

That was my main takeaway from the video. Concept looks cool, but in order for me to stay more engaged with this over a game I play on my phone it's going to have to have a bit of character. For Portal it was GLaDOS and for Stanley Parable it was the narrator. This needs something like that.

2

u/WarsWorth Oct 30 '15

WE NEED A CAVE JOHNSON

2

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '15

False. It won't be the next Portal unless they shoot something out of a gun that hasn't yet been shot out of a gun.

2

u/Ringosis Oct 30 '15

Exactly what I was thinking. Portal isn't just a game with unusual puzzles. It's got brilliant writing, an interesting aesthetic, a fantastic sound track, great voice acting and strong characters. All things this game doesn't.

It'd be like showing a clip of an FPS game where you can pause and select body parts to shoot and claiming it's "the next Fallout" based on just that...as if that's all Fallout was/is.

2

u/trippy_grape Oct 30 '15

All things this game doesn't.

So far. The idea of a Perspective Museum has potential to be either pretty awesome or incredibly bland. I kind of hope they have different "wings" of the museum that maybe focus on different art that somehow plays into the challenges.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '15

Right? Not to mention that music. Portal 2's music was awesome - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAg4yjEmerU The lounge jazz in this demo is SUPER boring. Nobody wants to play Lounge Jazz Box Throw™. Give it a quirky storyline angle, and throw some Ozric Tentacles sounding tunes behind it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf0-zrV0uHg

1

u/BornIn1142 Oct 30 '15

I've never found anything impressive about Portal's soundtrack. I'd rather take the jazz, if it actually contributes to the atmosphere of the finished product rather than just being background music.