Impressions of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center

[Necronopticous]

I've been eagerly awaiting Valve's Portal for a long, long time. This morning I had the pleasure of indulging in all of its glory. I don't even know what to say about it. Video games shouldn't be this good. I'm still sort of in a shocked state of awe.

One thing I will state right away: best ending credits in the history of video games.

[edczxcvbnm]

Better than super monkey ball's ending credits?

[Necronopticous]

I guarantee it.

[Heath]

I am insanely jealous. Portal is one of the few games I'd really like to play and don't have any means of doing so.

[Slothy]

I finally got Portal running on the desktop upstairs after many failed attempts to get it running on my PC (seems there was an update that leads to me seeing through some walls in TF2 and Portal with my old video drivers which actually made Portal unplayable since I couldn't see where to go in the first room, and when I updated them it now crashes my computer as soon as it finishes loading the menu screen). All I can say is this is an incredible game. It's Narbacular Drop on steroids and one of the best puzzle games ever. I'm not that far in thanks to a midterm I have tomorrow, but I know what I'll be staying up until 4 in the morning playing tomorrow night.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I agree, the ending credits were awesome. I enjoyed the little spots of humor throughout the game

Remember when you were on the platform and we said we'd kill you in the pit of fire. HA HA HA

THE JACKEL

[Captain Maxx Power]

I absolutely laughed my socks off at the AI for most of the game, until it went all SHODAN on my ass. I also like how they mixed it into the main storyline.

[Slothy]

Midterm be damned; those credits rocked.

[Necronopticous]

I love the personality of all the robotic devices in the game, especially the turrets.

The cake is a lie
The cake is a lie
The cake is a lie
The cake is a lie
The cake is a lie
The cake is a lie
The cake is a lie

[Yamaneko]

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.

It explains quite a bit about the relationship between Aperture and Black Mesa.

The game was long enough to hold my attention and thus never got boring. I'm totally going to try and speed run it now.

EDIT: BASTARD!

[Captain Maxx Power]

The bonus missions are difficult. The advanced maps are frustrating but doable, but my word the challenge maps are nye on impossible! Even attempting to blaze through for the time challenge I couldn't even make the 40 second mark. The number of portals is easy enough. Steps is very difficult, I reached the first tier but the second seems actually impossible (20 steps? Get out of here!). I imagine someone will do them, but for now they do actually seem improbable for anyone but the most dedicated of players.

[Necronopticous]

I still haven't tried any of the bonus material. Half Life 2: Episode 2 comes first, and unfortunately, my busy school schedule comes even before that.

My Friday is booked for Valve, though.

[Shoeberto]

Minimum Requirements: $50, Time.

As much as I hate to put it off this may have to wait for Christmas.

[JKTrix]

Has anyone played it on the 360 yet? That's the version I'm most likely to find/buy. If it controls too unreasonably I will go through the extra trouble of Steam-ing it.

[XxSephirothxX]

Everything I've read says it plays fine, but that the D-pad is a little awkward for cycling through all the weapons. I really want to buy it, but so soon after Halo 3 came out I can't really justify spending more money. :p

[ljkkjlcm9]

The bonus missions are difficult. The advanced maps are frustrating but doable, but my word the challenge maps are nye on impossible! Even attempting to blaze through for the time challenge I couldn't even make the 40 second mark. The number of portals is easy enough. Steps is very difficult, I reached the first tier but the second seems actually impossible (20 steps? Get out of here!). I imagine someone will do them, but for now they do actually seem improbable for anyone but the most dedicated of players.

My impression of the challenges:
Speed: Some of the times are just crazy... probably the hardest one
Warps: Go through it once, make sure you learn the level, know what you have to warp to and such, and take your time, there's no rush with this one
Steps:Use warps for everything. Need to move about 2 feet to grab that cube? Warp 2 feet. Basically, only walk when completely necessary.

I think speed is the hardest one, by far

THE JACKEL

[Necronopticous]

I propose a challenge to you all:

Complete test #13 using only three portals.

[Yamaneko]

Aperture, btw.

[Necronopticous]

Good call on the extra A.

[Yamaneko]

Test Chamber 14 with two portals on Normal. Not possible on Advanced.

[Necronopticous]

Has anyone been able to do Testchamber 13 in ten steps or less? My best is 11, but 10 seems outright impossible to me. When I got 11 I felt like I cheated the game. I can get to basically the very end with 6 steps or so, but just walking into the elevator always takes 5-6 steps by itself.

[Tasura]

I saw the preview for this at my friend's house, it made me drool, I wants it.

[Slothy]

Has anyone been able to do Testchamber 13 in ten steps or less? My best is 11, but 10 seems outright impossible to me. When I got 11 I felt like I cheated the game. I can get to basically the very end with 6 steps or so, but just walking into the elevator always takes 5-6 steps by itself.

YouTube - Portal - Challenge 13 - Least Steps - 9 steps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsUdOvyRRDM)

Youtube is your friend. I've also seen it done in 5 if you want to feel totally inadequate like I do.

Necronopticous: Here's challenge 13 done in 2. YouTube - Portal challenge chamber 13 using only 2 portals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa57zbUiq1Y)

Heavy use of some exploits, but damn. The fact that people were figuring this out within two days of release is impressive.

[ljkkjlcm9]

this one is crazy:
YouTube - Portal challenge chamber 14 in 5 seconds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2qiGe-OYLc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efohguild%2Eorg%2Fforums%2Fother%2Dgames%2F31120%2Dportal%2D6%2Ehtml)

THE JACKEL

[Madame Adequate]

Chamber 14 is fun to do fast. :)

Portal is a goddamn brilliant piece of gaming. I wholly and utterly support its existence.

Best end credits without a doubt.

I want a Weighted Companion Cube ;_;

[JKTrix]

After I finished Portal on Sunday I immediately went online and found the MP3 for the song in the credits. Though short, I had a really good time playing Portal. The game is *funny*.

[Captain Maxx Power]

Has anyone gone through with the developers commentary? The woman who did the voice for GLaDOS is complete out of her tree. Seriously she's as nutty as the AI she voices.

[Necronopticous]

Necronopticous: Here's challenge 13 done in 2. YouTube - Portal challenge chamber 13 using only 2 portals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa57zbUiq1Y)Wow. Using this guy's strategy I might be able to do it with no portals at all. He didn't use a couple of the tricks that I used.

[Slothy]

If you could do that then you'd be a god to me Necronopticous. I don't know how you'd do it with no portals since you have to get yourself and the cube through the first door, but if you could pull it off I'd be amazed.

[Rostum]

I really need to buy the Orange box to get this, it looks fairly fun. :D

[Madame Adequate]

Has anyone gone through with the developers commentary? The woman who did the voice for GLaDOS is complete out of her tree. Seriously she's as nutty as the AI she voices.

I think I may be in love with Ellen McLain, tbqh. She is fantastic. But Realm Lovejoy has by far the best way of speaking. Not enough of her explaining things. I would pay to hear her read the dictionary, tbqh.

Edit:


I really need to buy the Orange box to get this, it looks fairly fun. :D

The Orange Box is almost worth getting solely for Portal, and you can finish it in under three hours. But there's some other good stuff in there too. TF2 is pretty great, and the HL2 stuff... probably doesn't need explained. :p BTW I dunno who knows it, so I'll point it out - if you already own HL2 and/or Episode 1, and get the Orange Box, you can pass the ownership to a friend, thereby meaning you've not really wasted money in purchasing two copies. Not that you can really fault the value of The Orange Box.

[Slothy]

BTW I dunno who knows it, so I'll point it out - if you already own HL2 and/or Episode 1, and get the Orange Box, you can pass the ownership to a friend, thereby meaning you've not really wasted money in purchasing two copies. Not that you can really fault the value of The Orange Box.

Indeed. Even if you're only getting three games for the price of one (less than the retail price of one if you get it on Steam), then you're still getting three awesome games for the price of one. I can't believe the people who actually complain that HL2 and Ep:1 are included because they already own them. You can't beat this value, even if you are passing on two of the games to friends.

[Necronopticous]

If you could do that then you'd be a god to me Necronopticous. I don't know how you'd do it with no portals since you have to get yourself and the cube through the first door, but if you could pull it off I'd be amazed.Unfortunately there is no way to break the camera without using portals, so my plan to do it with 0 portals didn't work. ;[

[Tidus Andronicus]

"The Enrichment Center reminds you that the weighted companion cube will never threaten to stab you, and in fact, cannot speak."
hehe, God I love Portal... I've played it all the way through like 4 or 5 times now... done many of the advanced maps, and some of the challenges... I've also done many of the accomplishments... although I still got plenty more to try... I've also been messing with the game itself. hehe

Steam Community :: Portal :: NikoKun (http://steamcommunity.com/id/NikoKun/stats/Portal)
^16.8 hours (It's actually been almost 20 total) (game takes 2 hours to beat, infinity hours to mess around in though. lol)

I've also messed with the ending a little, and added my own twist to it! >=3 hehe

Check this out! (warning kindof spoilers, for those who haven't beaten it yet)

Secret Ending - The Cube
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/NikoKun/HappyEndPortalCube1.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/NikoKun/HappyEndPortalCube2.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/NikoKun/HappyEndPortalCube3.jpg


Also, I have some packs of sound clips from the game, for you all!

http://idisk.mac.com/clarkrmoreland/Public/GLaDOS_Quotes.zip
^also contains the ending song.

And then these:
http://idisk.mac.com/clarkrmoreland/Public/GLaDOS_Quotes_2.zip
http://idisk.mac.com/clarkrmoreland/Public/Turret_Quotes.zip
^voices of the gun turrets XD
Probably could make a nifty windows sound theme or something... lol

I also have the lyrics to the ending song... hehe


God I love Portal, it's my favorite game of all times now! lol
Even this guy likes Portal, and can't find anything to complain about. lol
The Escapist : Zero Punctuation: The Orange Box (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/2541-Zero-Punctuation-The-Orange-Box)

I miss my weighted companion cube!
Still alive...

[Slothy]

Just so everyone knows; Valve has apparently said they'll release a weighted companion cube toy (I'm assuming through their Valve store). I don't care if it's $50, I'm not missing out on it like I did the head crab hat.

[Tidus Andronicus]

Just so everyone knows; Valve has apparently said they'll release a weighted companion cube toy (I'm assuming through their Valve store). I don't care if it's $50, I'm not missing out on it like I did the head crab hat.
haha, yeah I heard about that... I sooooo want a Companion Cube... But they're making a plushie toy out of it... and I would prefer a solid Weighted Companion Cube Paper Weight. lol cause that would make so much more sense.

Tshirts would be cool too though.

So anyway, From what I heard in the developer commentary, This is just the first portal game. "In this first Portal game, we ...etc etc..." Sounded like they plan to make more.

Also I'm quite interested in seeing what they do with Episode 3 of Half Life, considering they Talk about Aperture Science near the end of Episode 2. lol Could we see the ASHPD in HL2:E3??? That would be so fucking sweet!

[Necronopticous]

I'm psyched about the Companion Cube toy.

I would rather have a solid model, also, but I'm cool with a plush toy. It's cuter, and I can see why they went that route.

[JKTrix]

Easter Egg: Apparently you can get the recipe for the cake from one of the screens in the game (http://www.gamebrink.com/blog/2007/10/21/portal-cake-with-recipe). They link to the recipe from that article.

I can't click the recipe link.

Is it a lie? I've been burned once before.

[Behold the Void]

According to the game script, the recipe is as follows:

1 18.25 ounce package chocolate cake mix.
1 can prepared coconut pecan frosting.
3/4 cup vegetable oil.
4 large eggs.
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.
3/4 cups butter or margarine.
1&2/3 cups granulated sugar.
2 cups all purpose flour.

Don't forget garnishes such as:
Fish shaped crackers.
Fish shaped candies.
Fish shaped solid waste,
Fish shaped dirt.
Fish shaped ethyl benzene.
Pull and peel licorice..
Fish shaped volatile organic compounds
and sediment shaped sediment.
Candy coated peanut butter pieces, Shaped like fish.
1 cup lemon juice.
Alpha resins.
Unsaturated polyester resin.
Fiberglass surface resins.
And volatile malted milk impoundments.
9 large egg yolks.
12 medium geosynthetic membranes.
1 cup granulated sugar.
An entry called 'how to kill someone with your bare hands'.
2 cups rhubarb, sliced.
2/3 cups granulated rhubarb.
1 tablespoon all-purpose rhubarb.
1 teaspoon grated orange rhubarb.
3 tablespoons rhubarb, on fire.
1 large rhubarb.
1 cross borehole electro-magnetic imaging rhubarb.
2 tablespoons rhubarb juice.
Adjustable aluminum head positioner.
Slaughter electric needle injector.
Cordless electric needle injector.
Injector needle driver.
Injector needle gun.
Cranial caps.

[Tidus Andronicus]

According to the game script, the recipe is as follows:

1 18.25 ounce package chocolate cake mix.
1 can prepared coconut pecan frosting.
3/4 cup vegetable oil.
4 large eggs.
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.
3/4 cups butter or margarine.
1&2/3 cups granulated sugar.
2 cups all purpose flour.

Don't forget garnishes such as:
Fish shaped crackers.
Fish shaped candies.
Fish shaped solid waste,
Fish shaped dirt.
Fish shaped ethyl benzene.
Pull and peel licorice..
Fish shaped volatile organic compounds
and sediment shaped sediment.
Candy coated peanut butter pieces, Shaped like fish.
1 cup lemon juice.
Alpha resins.
Unsaturated polyester resin.
Fiberglass surface resins.
And volatile malted milk impoundments.
9 large egg yolks.
12 medium geosynthetic membranes.
1 cup granulated sugar.
An entry called 'how to kill someone with your bare hands'.
2 cups rhubarb, sliced.
2/3 cups granulated rhubarb.
1 tablespoon all-purpose rhubarb.
1 teaspoon grated orange rhubarb.
3 tablespoons rhubarb, on fire.
1 large rhubarb.
1 cross borehole electro-magnetic imaging rhubarb.
2 tablespoons rhubarb juice.
Adjustable aluminum head positioner.
Slaughter electric needle injector.
Cordless electric needle injector.
Injector needle driver.
Injector needle gun.
Cranial caps.
While some of it was ok... There's some down right weird things in that recipe... xD

[qwertysaur]

The Aperture Science Center would like to remind you that the weighted companion cube will not threaten to stab you, and in fact, cannot speak.