Octopus Overlords

The "harmless" vids were funny until the first time they looked...threatening. Tomorrow (er, today) is going to be very difficult at the office.

Anyone up for some co-op tonight? I need to play it from the beginning.

Depending on the time I am down. But I heard there are spoilers to the single player game, anyone know of this for sure?

I'm up to I believe the 4th set of levels in the co-op campaign and if there are spoilers so far I haven't noticed them.

Just finished single player. Marvelous game.

Chris and I just finished co-op. Very fun. The last few tests require insane coordination to pull off.

Co-op is a frickin' blast! Me and Archinerd got through the first 4 worlds last night and it was just awesome. What a difference having 2 minds thinking about the problem make.

Highlight of the night: there's a chute which rapidly ejects cubes and spheres when I press a button. Archinerd goes to catch one and steps in front of the chute. Wham! The force of the cubes tosses him into the goo, killing him. "I'll try it from the side this time." Laughed my ass off.

Also, you really need a mic for co-op. I couldn't imagine planning this stuff without one.

BTW, I'm the one that told miltonite that there were spoilers in the co-op. I was going by this Rock Paper Shotgun: Wot I Think review of Portal 2.

After about the first hour, everything in Portal 2 is a spoiler. Even the co-op.

He even says it again in even stronger words later in the review. As I haven't played co-op yet, only single player, I'm only guessing that the spoiler is

Lordnine wrote:Chris and I just finished co-op. Very fun. The last few tests require insane coordination to pull off.

Read: Lordnine dropped me into deadly goo a bunch of times.

Coop was a lot of fun, had some *very* minor campaign spoilers, but nothing you would really catch if you weren't looking for it.

Overall the game is certainly a 9.5/10. The *only* problems with it are the length (leaves you wanting much, much more) and a bit of story dragging in the middle. That's about it for complaints from me.

cheeba wrote:Also, you really need a mic for co-op. I couldn't imagine planning this stuff without one.

Even with mics *and* putting down markers on the map *and* seeing through your partner's eyes it can still be hard to plan things out.

Yeah, good times cheeba. I'm looking forward to making our way through more of it tonight. And while you may have enjoyed knocking me into the sludge water, my favorite moment of the night was when we accidentally coordinated our jumps to solve the level. It was just a whim on my part, but after we made it I realized we would have died had I not done it.

Another fun detail in co-op. It keeps track of how many steps each of you have taken, making something very mundane into a fun little contest.

Archinerd wrote:Yeah, good times cheeba. I'm looking forward to making our way through more of it tonight. And while you may have enjoyed knocking me into the sludge water, my favorite moment of the night was when we accidentally coordinated our jumps to solve the level. It was just a whim on my part, but after we made it I realized we would have died had I not done it.

Ah yes, that was brilliant! I had no idea and bam, we solved the puzzle accidentally, lol.

Archinerd wrote:Another fun detail in co-op. It keeps track of how many steps each of you have taken, making something very mundane into a fun little contest.

While the original didn't have co-op, this is a carry-over from the Challenge maps. Being able to complete a map in the fewest steps was one of the challenges.

theohall wrote:

Archinerd wrote:Another fun detail in co-op. It keeps track of how many steps each of you have taken, making something very mundane into a fun little contest.

While the original didn't have co-op, this is a carry-over from the Challenge maps. Being able to complete a map in the fewest steps was one of the challenges.

I never played the challenge maps in the original! I guess I've got a bit more Portal to hold me over while we wait for Portal 3.

I finished the SP campaign last night in just a bit over 8 hours and had a blast.

I can completely see why some people will say Portal was better, but the cast and writing in the new one really stood out for me. Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons were both brilliant. I also liked that there were enough new items to interact with that I never felt tired of something. In the first one it almost felt like they were so pressed for content that they beat all the different items into the ground.

Personal highlights (paraphrasing):

Damn, I was gonna wait for a sale, but the forum effect is growing and I would like something new to play this weekend.

Freezer-TPF- wrote:Damn, I was gonna wait for a sale, but the forum effect is growing and I would like something new to play this weekend.

I would get it now so that you could easily find someone who has not yet played co-op to play with. God that's a crappy sentence. Either way, I would think playing co-op with someone who has already played it would suck if you haven't played it yet. Well it might not suck but it definitely wouldn't be as fun.

Bought it at Best Buy tonight for $50 - $15 in reward zone coupons = $35 and got a $10 BB gift card with the purchase. W00t!

Also here's a bonus for people who despise physical media but may find it on sale that way - the game fully integrates with Steam so when you pop in the CD it uses Steam for activation and everything else. The only thing the CD does is provide the actual install source for the media vs having to d/l it through Steam. The physical box doesn't even come with a manual.

Finished the single player campaign tonight. It's by far my favorite Valve title although I do think there were some minor pacing issues in its second act.

Archinerd and I finished co-op last night. Thought "world" 5 was easier than 4. Still, awesome experience. They need more co-op! I thought co-op gameplay was better than single-player.

Sepiche wrote:I finished the SP campaign last night in just a bit over 8 hours and had a blast.

I can completely see why some people will say Portal was better, but the cast and writing in the new one really stood out for me. Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons were both brilliant. I also liked that there were enough new items to interact with that I never felt tired of something. In the first one it almost felt like they were so pressed for content that they beat all the different items into the ground.

Personal highlights (paraphrasing):

Spoiler:

Cave Johnson: "Small problem... control group C you will not be being injected with mantis DNA as planned. You will instead be fighting an army of mantis-men. So pick up a rifle and follow the yellow line!"
----
Wheatley: "Oh, you fell! Do you see a portal gun down there? ... Are you alive?? Should have asked that first... yes, are you alive?"
----
AI: "SPAAACE!!"
Wheatley: "Yeah, that's right mate, we're in space."

ibdoomed wrote:

Sepiche wrote:I finished the SP campaign last night in just a bit over 8 hours and had a blast.

I can completely see why some people will say Portal was better, but the cast and writing in the new one really stood out for me. Stephen Merchant and J.K. Simmons were both brilliant. I also liked that there were enough new items to interact with that I never felt tired of something. In the first one it almost felt like they were so pressed for content that they beat all the different items into the ground.

Personal highlights (paraphrasing):

Spoiler:

Cave Johnson: "Small problem... control group C you will not be being injected with mantis DNA as planned. You will instead be fighting an army of mantis-men. So pick up a rifle and follow the yellow line!"
----
Wheatley: "Oh, you fell! Do you see a portal gun down there? ... Are you alive?? Should have asked that first... yes, are you alive?"
----
AI: "SPAAACE!!"
Wheatley: "Yeah, that's right mate, we're in space."

Spoiler:

I came up with a solution that works out best for one of both of us.

Just got the game last night and I'm dying to go home to play some more. I think I'm on chapter 5 or so. Damn why do I have to be working today. I could do something constructive like playing Portal 2.

I'm on chapter 7 at the moment. A few times I've found myself frustrated and cursing some kind of dexterity thing they're asking you to do. Then I usually figure out the step I was missing and realize the thing I was trying to do was wrong all along. The writing has been awesome all along. I do miss GlaDOs pretending to be pleasant though. That was one of my favorite bits from the first one. I can't wait to try the co-op after I finish the SP.

Getting it was kind of a pain. I switched my $35 Amazon order to a Best Buy store pickup order because they were effectively offering another $20 in gift cards ($10 immediately, another $10 in reward zone points). On Mon, got the email saying to pick up on Tuesday.

Tuesday, I go in, and they can't find the game anywhere, though they spent 30 minutes looking. The customer service girl apologized profusely and took my number down to call if they found it or got more in. I decided to give them until Wed night to find it, because the price difference between that order and the other options was now pretty large. I was annoyed though. On Wed afternoon they apparently found the box that had been misplaced, and I was able to go get it. The girl also gave me another $10 gift card for the inconvenience, which was nice.

So for $35 out of pocket, I got the game and $30 in gift cards. Not too shabby, I suppose, but man, was I pissed on Tuesday.

Oh my cephalopod! LordMortis and crew earn many demerits for not mentioning the fact that Aperture Labs is based in upper Michigan!

GLaDOS doesn't have any yooper accent. It must have been programmed out of her. The "GL" in the front of the name just screams "Great Lakes".

You have all been voluntarily volunteered into the next testing cycle.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Spoiler much?

Isgrimnur wrote:Spoiler much?

Context much?

I'm pretty far into the game, and I don't recall seeing anything referring to what you are referencing. If it's supposedly common knowledge and not a critical element, I apologize, but it was something of which I was not aware.

It's displayed as a newspaper headline maybe halfway through the game.

Finished the single player. 9.9 hours, according to Steam's achievements page.

Holy shit, that just happened. Awesome ending. And the new song is growing on me, too.

- Ash

killbot737 wrote:Oh my cephalopod! LordMortis and crew earn many demerits for not mentioning the fact that Aperture Labs is based in upper Michigan!

Hmm...a jab at the Michigan-based Stardock, perhaps (prior to their sale of Impulse to Gamestop, at any rate)? Valve is to Black Mesa as Stardock is to Aperture? Does that make Brad Wardell Cave Johnson?

- Ash

Just to reiterate, yeah co-op is friggin' great. Most fun Ive had in a MP game in...well, in a long time.

GungHo wrote:Just to reiterate, yeah co-op is friggin' great. Most fun Ive had in a MP game in...well, in a long time.

I would have to agree. Last night me and TScott got up to level 4 and had a blast doing it. It would totally suck if one person played through before though.

Yeah, it's pretty fun and rewarding playing co-op with someone. When one of us gets stumped the other seems to have a good idea of how to do it. We were both sort of stumped for a bit a couple of times, but before too long one of us would have an ah-ha moment and we'd both wonder why we didn't see the solution before. It was a pretty memorable experience and I can't wait to finish out the campaign, though I'll be sad when it's done.

The only complaint I've got about Portal 2 is I couldn't get the voice chat to work. I thought I enabled it, and mapped the talk button to my usual "mouse-4" but it didn't work. So after completing the intro area without voice chat, miltonite and I hopped on Vent and used that to communicate instead. I'd hate to know how it would have gone if we had no voice communication at all...

For some reason voice chat will default to "disabled" under some circumstances (I think if you re-bind the key). I was wondering why Archinerd wasn't talking so I chatted to him and he said he couldn't hear me. So I looked in my audio options and there it was, set to disabled, even though I hadn't made any changes since the previous day when it worked fine.

It didn't bother me, I would actually rather use vent because we could still talk during the loading screens.

This web comic reminds me of something:

http://abstrusegoose.com/359" target="_blank

For about the past week in the morning while I'm struggling to wake up I conclude that it would be easiest to drop a blue on the wall and an orange on the bed. I'd be up and moving with hardly any effort. Never seems to pan out, though.

The Potatoe made me do it.

There will be DLC and it will be free. Yes.

As much as I love this game, I think there was a little too much hand holding in the single player campaign. I look forward to seeing something more challenging and that may integrate the game elements together a bit more than they were in single player.

I was watching some of the E3 videos from the game page at Steam, and I honestly felt that the stuff they were showing then was about two levels harder than most of the stuff the game asked us to do in terms of timing and precision. I look forward to having to stretch myself to get stuff done in a more elegant, choreographed manner.