The Librarian
Banned
Oh yeah. Forgot about that. So GLaDOS went crazy because Caroline didn't want to be GLaDOS? Just making sure I understand that's what you're trying to get at.EmCeeGramr said:
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The Portal 2 Spoiler Thread of Lunacy
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Fimbulvetr
Member
EmCeeGramr said:
That and the programming forcing her to do certain things, as well as the 5 other cores speaking in her head.
Fimbulvetr said:
Right. But that writing is accomplishing lots of different things at once, in Portal 1. Besides making the player laugh, it is also very very unsettling from an in-game point of view. It's sinister as hell. It makes the player laugh, and makes them question WTF is going on, and freaks them out. And makes them wonder why they never see people behind the frosted glass, etc.
Portal 2 isn't that smart. It just makes fat jokes.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Maybe. That seems like it might be part of it, along with the testing compulsion and the attachment of other cores.Dax01 said:
I think Valve made the right decision going more towards outright farce.
Portal created some great uneasiness with the writing on the wall, the ambiguous figures behind frosted glass, and the entire sequence at the end with the rusted, nasty guts of Aperture. There's no way they could re-create that experience in Portal 2. All the mysteries have been revealed.
Instead of dreaming up some new mystery, like a cave of light that Glados is guarding, they drop the foreboding stuff and go right for the comedy jugular. That might have been a misfire, except they KILL the comedy.
The game is so successful at being funny, and IMO going full bore comedy was the only logical thematic choice.
Portal created some great uneasiness with the writing on the wall, the ambiguous figures behind frosted glass, and the entire sequence at the end with the rusted, nasty guts of Aperture. There's no way they could re-create that experience in Portal 2. All the mysteries have been revealed.
Instead of dreaming up some new mystery, like a cave of light that Glados is guarding, they drop the foreboding stuff and go right for the comedy jugular. That might have been a misfire, except they KILL the comedy.
The game is so successful at being funny, and IMO going full bore comedy was the only logical thematic choice.
Hot Coldman
Banned
How can anyone 'resent' Portal 2 being made a comedy when comedy games don't even fucking exist for the most part? OK, yes, Telltale do some funny stuff but that's more corny humour than outright hilarity. We just don't get this kind of thing, we should be thankful for it.
Portal was great but it's tricks can't be repeated (as has been said). The best direction to go in when forcibly faced with a blank slate and huge expectations from your fans is to be unbelievably ridiculous. Portal 2 took that route and became possibly the funniest game ever because of it. I wouldn't want anything more.
At least you can get more of the original experience when replaying Portal 2 than you do when replaying Portal.
Portal was great but it's tricks can't be repeated (as has been said). The best direction to go in when forcibly faced with a blank slate and huge expectations from your fans is to be unbelievably ridiculous. Portal 2 took that route and became possibly the funniest game ever because of it. I wouldn't want anything more.
At least you can get more of the original experience when replaying Portal 2 than you do when replaying Portal.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Really.GDJustin said:
The Librarian
Banned
"Dean told me I couldn't fire a guy just because he's in a wheelchair. Did it anyway! Ramps are expensive."GDJustin said:
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Why was there a need for Portal 2 to be more subtle? It is a matter of tone. I would've preferred Cave Johnson to be a believable misanthropic tycoon rather than a cartoon character.
Fimbulvetr
Member
GDJustin said:
But the sense of wonder is already dead because it's a sequel. A SEQUEL.
They literally couldn't go anywhere with it anymore because everyone and their grandma already knew what was going on.
Did you really just want them to un-develop Glados' character and then pretend the entire narrative didn't happen? Because that's treating the player like more of a moron that what you're suggesting.
Treefingers
Member
Well that's one way to dismiss all of the thought that went into Portal 2's humor.GDJustin said:
Exclamation-One
Member
That's not really canon, though.EmCeeGramr said:
With those lines removed, and when you combine the portrait of Caroline and Cave's instruction to "Hell, just put her in my computer", it's less twisted sci-fi/horror and more of a subtle love story.
EmCeeGramr said:
Yeah man, really. I've already said I think Portal 2 is a better overall product when compared to Portal 1. But that doesn't mean the game is above any kind of criticism!
Portal 1 was, in my opinion, very much a "smarter" game than Portal 2. It was much more subtle, as I've stated. I just lament that the comedy has been made so much more broad, overall.
Hot Coldman
Banned
StuBurns said:
The fact she was so bitter about you killing her in self-defence, despite the fact her actions in Portal 1 were obviously fucked up, was the funny part. When the stabs themselves were also actually funny, notably the fake phone call to Chell's parents, it made for brilliant writing.
theinfinityissue
Member
In those huge ass pics up above, love how Aperture won "runner up" best defense department contractor twice. I suppose we all know who won first.
Why is more subtle smarter though? I agree the original is more sinister and subtle, but I don't know why that makes it smarter.GDJustin said:
Exactly, it's the character of Glados, and how she's been altered from Chell. "Like an Eagle, piloting a blimp" is a funny line, but the joke is part of the premise of her just wanting to fuck with you, wind you up as much as possible.Green Scar said:
EmCeeGramr
Member
Also it's not like Portal 2 just went with "chell you shirt look like a dishrag you fat."
The initial set up ("Congratulations on beating the odds, by the way. Not on the test. Test subjects in relaxation usually emerge," etc.) was a clever way of tying it into what GLaDOS is saying, then follows it up with the "broken" aerial faith plate gag (where she tries to pretend to be polite by saying "generous...ness"). The "pale spherical thing full of bullets" line was inspired, and then she cuts it off mostly for a while until Wheatley comes back and just tries to imitate her with the "Fatty fatty no parents" thing while she ends up defending you.
Then it suddenly re-emerges in Want You Gone for one final zing. It's actually well done and not just "boy that glados sure is a jerk who calls you fat."
The initial set up ("Congratulations on beating the odds, by the way. Not on the test. Test subjects in relaxation usually emerge," etc.) was a clever way of tying it into what GLaDOS is saying, then follows it up with the "broken" aerial faith plate gag (where she tries to pretend to be polite by saying "generous...ness"). The "pale spherical thing full of bullets" line was inspired, and then she cuts it off mostly for a while until Wheatley comes back and just tries to imitate her with the "Fatty fatty no parents" thing while she ends up defending you.
Then it suddenly re-emerges in Want You Gone for one final zing. It's actually well done and not just "boy that glados sure is a jerk who calls you fat."
EmCeeGramr
Member
Oh, that's sad. But impressive. They must have worked at the phone company.Green Scar said:
Hot Coldman
Banned
EmCeeGramr said:
Sidenote, but this part was great, with Wheatley blabbering away like a moron :lol
EmCeeGramr
Member
Speaking of GLaDOS's insults, the one that actually made me mad at her was, "Well, you don't have to solve them that slowly." I was fast, damn it! 
BannedEpisode
Member
Just wanted to through a couple cogs into the Chell is Cave and Caroline's daughter theory.
1. Both Cave and Caroline are dead by bring your daughter to work day. This means they weren't her adoptive parents. If they were it means someone at work then adopted her after their death, which is beginning to sound like a stretch.
2. If its claimed that she is their biological daughter Chell is obviously of a different ethnicity than Cave and Caroline.
3. The translated turret opera holds little weight as they can be seen practicing and rehersing at a couple points during the game before GlaDos knows she is Caroline.
4. If you reeeeaaaally wanted to put a face or identity to her parents it's most likely Ratman although that doesn't make a ton of sense either due to the comics. At the very least each of the Turret rehearsals are nearby one of his dens.
Personally I prefer the idea that she was the daughter of two faceless aperture employees and was simply captured by GlaDos when she went rogue.
1. Both Cave and Caroline are dead by bring your daughter to work day. This means they weren't her adoptive parents. If they were it means someone at work then adopted her after their death, which is beginning to sound like a stretch.
2. If its claimed that she is their biological daughter Chell is obviously of a different ethnicity than Cave and Caroline.
3. The translated turret opera holds little weight as they can be seen practicing and rehersing at a couple points during the game before GlaDos knows she is Caroline.
4. If you reeeeaaaally wanted to put a face or identity to her parents it's most likely Ratman although that doesn't make a ton of sense either due to the comics. At the very least each of the Turret rehearsals are nearby one of his dens.
Personally I prefer the idea that she was the daughter of two faceless aperture employees and was simply captured by GlaDos when she went rogue.
Jack Scofield
Member
GDJustin said:
It was bad enough hearing this hyperbole back in 2007 when Portal just came out and people were too excited to see it's numerous, numerous faults and shortcomings, but people are still saying it in 2011? People actually believe this stuff about Portal 1? The game that tries incredibly hard to be funny but fails?
Portal 1 is like an unfunny person trying his hardest to be funny. It just comes across as awkward and embarrassing.
Hot Coldman
Banned
StuBurns said:
Yeah, dawdling on the catwalks, although I figured that was more to do with the hobos they were using being less than co-operative.
EmCeeGramr
Member
so jack did you enjoy the important key piece of the half life 2 plot that valve forced you to buy this game to experienceJack Scofield said:
Hot Coldman
Banned
guys, replying to jack scofield is lunacy on a level that makes shooting a portal onto the moon look like a friendly conversation with your mother
The Librarian
Banned
I only played through the game once, so I don't know if I'm not remembering this conversation happening, but I find it strange that Wheatley, after finding out that Chell was the one who took down GLaDOS, didn't comment on it after they teamed back up.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
GLaDOS's character arc in Portal 2 is absolutely amazing and there is more pathos (PaTHOS?) in the Portal 2 story than we could ever expect from a video game. It's not as creepy as the original--it's not creepy at all, really--and it seems like that's what you're missing most, the malevolence that underlies the humor in the original.
But that ship has sailed, and I'm amazed at what the writers have managed to do with a story that was apparently their back-up plan. By the end of Portal 2, you've resurrected your arch-nemesis, defeated her, saved her, helped her reach an emotional epiphany, teamed up with her to defeat a new enemy, are saved by her, and then freed because the love/hate relationship she's formed with you is too overwhelming for her to handle and she just wants you to go away so she can [REDACTED].
And it's all consistent and natural and believable and even kind of moving, despite the fact that she spends a good chunk of the game as a fucking potato.
Portal 2 is definitely sillier than Portal. It's also deeper, more dynamic, more emotionally complex and just better-written overall.
But that ship has sailed, and I'm amazed at what the writers have managed to do with a story that was apparently their back-up plan. By the end of Portal 2, you've resurrected your arch-nemesis, defeated her, saved her, helped her reach an emotional epiphany, teamed up with her to defeat a new enemy, are saved by her, and then freed because the love/hate relationship she's formed with you is too overwhelming for her to handle and she just wants you to go away so she can [REDACTED].
And it's all consistent and natural and believable and even kind of moving, despite the fact that she spends a good chunk of the game as a fucking potato.
Portal 2 is definitely sillier than Portal. It's also deeper, more dynamic, more emotionally complex and just better-written overall.
You know, I wish they had time-based responses for that sort of thing.EmCeeGramr said:Speaking of GLaDOS's insults, the one that actually made me mad at her was, "Well, you don't have to solve them that slowly." I was fast, damn it!
But it'd probably be too punishing for those people who take all day
Hot Coldman
Banned
tsef said:
Yeah, but it makes no sense unless you've been through the game (or at least the first 7 chapters) already. Thank God, otherwise that would be a troll on a scale larger than Ship Overboard.
BannedEpisode
Member
tsef said:
I loved the Prometheus bit for the reason you mentioned (Hindsight!) and because the turret says it shortly after Wheatley is apologetically praising humans and mentions that robots love human folklore.
In my commentary run I noclipped through that level and she still said it. Dammit, GLaDOS! What more do you want?EmCeeGramr said:Speaking of GLaDOS's insults, the one that actually made me mad at her was, "Well, you don't have to solve them that slowly." I was fast, damn it!
divisionbyzorro
Member
I don't think that Glados is at all inconsistent in her tone and style of conversation with you between Portal 1 and Portal 2.
In Portal 1, you're just another test subject. One of thousands that she's run through the course and watched die (until you go off the rails and she starts desperately trying to get you back).
In Portal 2, you're special. You're the one who killed her, and now she's back in control. She's "off the script" with you, and so you get a totally different experience and are exposed to a different side of her "personality."
In Portal 1, you're just another test subject. One of thousands that she's run through the course and watched die (until you go off the rails and she starts desperately trying to get you back).
In Portal 2, you're special. You're the one who killed her, and now she's back in control. She's "off the script" with you, and so you get a totally different experience and are exposed to a different side of her "personality."
balladofwindfishes
Member
I thought that particular aspect was done very well.Fimbulvetr said:
When Glados is in her purist form as a potato, she's like a totally different character. Potato Glados is basically Caroline.
The Librarian
Banned
Yeah, I remember that. I thought it would surprising enough to mention when you get back together in Chapter 4.StuBurns said:
I would absolutely love a source attribution to the JK Simmons refusal thing. If it's true, it would have actually helped explain a lot of GLaDOS' personality - her innate hate of humans isn't some cold unfeeling response, but rage at what those at Aperture did to her. It gives legitimate reasons for the Neurotoxin event. It paints her character in a totally different light.
As it stands in-game we have an AI who just goes nuts and kills everyone in the complex because, you know, EVIL! Then we put her in a potato and she's supposed to be taken seriously as a normal, sane, everyday character.
As it stands in-game we have an AI who just goes nuts and kills everyone in the complex because, you know, EVIL! Then we put her in a potato and she's supposed to be taken seriously as a normal, sane, everyday character.
balladofwindfishes
Member
That's explained.Campster said:
She doesn't have any of the personality cores clouding her head, nor does she have any of the AI programming quirks like the testing itch. Her in potato form is the purist of her personality.
and even then, she still has that slight "evil" edge to her.balladofwindfishes said:
probably because she's been gladdos for at least over a decade+
then watching her own death on repeat for the last two centuries
but it fades away slightly when she realizes who she really is.
then comes back anyways when she's back in the body but whatever
The Librarian
Banned
I'm doing my commentary run, and it's really weird how Wheatley knows that someone took out GLaDOS, but not know whether or not if she's alive. Or did I hear him incorrectly?
EmCeeGramr
Member
I'm not sure that when the writers planned out "you know it'd be funny if the evil AI got stuck into a potato battery and then you learn her backstory and she learns some heartfelt lesson but then just deletes it" they were going for "normal," "sane," or "everyday."Campster said:
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Some random thoughts:
1. Did anything in the plot require this to be centuries after the original game? It seems the only purpose was to show vines and decay throughout the facility... for the purposes of the story it could have been 1 year or 300 years and it wouldn't have changed one bit.
2. GlaDOS criticizing Chell's weight really "feminizes" her character. Passive-aggressive comments about appearance is a very common female way to insult another female.
3. The combination of humor and advanced sci-fi really pushed Portal 2 into Red Dwarf or Douglas Adams territory.
It's all just rumors and legends amongst the AIs of Aperture as to what happened to GlaDOS. I can see them knowing that a test subject beat GlaDOS, and not much else.
1. Did anything in the plot require this to be centuries after the original game? It seems the only purpose was to show vines and decay throughout the facility... for the purposes of the story it could have been 1 year or 300 years and it wouldn't have changed one bit.
2. GlaDOS criticizing Chell's weight really "feminizes" her character. Passive-aggressive comments about appearance is a very common female way to insult another female.
3. The combination of humor and advanced sci-fi really pushed Portal 2 into Red Dwarf or Douglas Adams territory.
Wheatley assumes its a man, actually.Dax01 said:
It's all just rumors and legends amongst the AIs of Aperture as to what happened to GlaDOS. I can see them knowing that a test subject beat GlaDOS, and not much else.