I just finished this as well, and I have to say... I stopped playing last night at Chamber 18 to go to bed, and I checked before I started playing again today... And was disappointed that there were only 19 chambers. Then again, the last one was pretty damn big, and kind of made up for it.

The AI was awesome, as previously mentioned. As well as "Still Alive". :tpg:

Oh, and...

the cake is a lie
the cake is a lie
the cake is a lie
the cake is a lie

I think the game is pretty sweet and full of character. I don't mind the shortness or what have you, cause I still play NES and SNES games which have just as much or less content then this so the game is DEFINATELY worth it.

The standards of content now are far different than they were 20 years ago. What kind of point are you trying to make?

You know, in the 70s, special effects weren't all that great. So if Pixar movies were rendered on Apple IIs, that'd be totally acceptable by today's standards, because things used to be that way, right?

What's my point. Well I guess that it's easier to entertain me then the average person I suppose. As long as it's doing something new or interesting that is.

I know that the industry standards have incresed over the years, however mine have not. I was simply speaking on a personal note.

The difference is that Portal was a small game included with basically an expansion. If you bought the game (at $15, too) and expected an epic-length undertaking, then you didn't evaluate the sale being made properly. I figured this would be a quick game, and it was.

$15 is a damn drop in the bucket. If you played it from beginning to end and enjoyed it, then it's worth the money.

Okay, so.

I really think the first 13 or 14 levels of the game should have been condensed into Tutorial 1 and Tutorial 2, and then a LOT of levels closer to the difficulty of the end should've been there.

However, what saves the game is that while the puzzles weren't hard, the humor and personality just OOZES out of every pore of the game. I seriously think that computer is the best video game character I've run into in years. It's sadistic, sardonic, flatout MEAN, and clever as all fucking getout.

And for crying out loud, that is the best end credits song ever made. Ever. EVER. EEEEEEVER. After the end of the last level, which was hilarious and creepy at the same time, that credits song has amazing effect and charm.

THE WEIGHTED COMPANION CUBE WILL NOT THREATEN TO STAB YOU.

Which reminds me, wouldn't it be incredibly disgusting if someone Rule 34'd the weighted companion cube? :(

I'm pretty sure most will agree with you about the length and ease of the game. At least the vanilla game as it is now. Steam is showing me as having spent only 6 hours playing. So is it short? Yes, totally worth the value like you said though, coming out to only a bit over $1 per level, or about $3 an hour to play.

I think it's been mentioned before though, but we will likely see some great community created puzzles and such if you want increased difficulty. Not that this excuses the ease and length of the vanilla game, but just saying that when you figure it's $20 standalone, or more realistically, you spent $45 on the Orange Box, coming out to only ~$11 per game included, this is a spectacular game, and quite simply a steal.

Gech; It's not unreasonable to expect a game to last more than 2 hours and change, I'm sorry. Low price point or not. There's plenty of cheap content or stand alone products one can buy for that price that lasts a LOT longer than 150 minutes.

Krazy interpretted my point properly though, so thanks.

I think he's saying short games are good and long game suck ass. And he's right.

His point I think was just that he was saying he can enjoy a game regardless of length. Your point, Skills, is valid, that games now are expected to be longer, but that's exactly why he brought up SNES games. Because they weren't expected to be as long.

If I'm not mistaken, isn't portal supposed to be a community game at it's core. You're supposed to create and share puzzles with friends and online communities. Sort of like Little Big Planet, except with a less streamlined interface. Still, Portal is quite an amazing game for a small team of college students who started the game as a final project.

P.S.
I've payed double the price of Portal for movies that are only an hour and thirty-minutes. So perhaps it's just my twisted logic of trying to justify everything, but I just can't seem to spin Portal into being a negative thing.

You beat the game in under two hours? On your first play-through? I find that hard to believe.

The game took me three or four hours to beat, and I was solving the puzzles pretty darn fast. Plus, that's not taking in to account the fact that I'll probably replay the game again in a few days just to enjoy it. $15, Skills =( And they throw gold at us.

Look back at the game in a few months when there are some mind-rapingly difficult custom levels and maybe you'll be more pleased with the purchase.

(o wait. 360 blol)

In their defense, if you go through the commentary on one of the first levels the guy goes

"We wanted to more rapidly introduce portal techniques, but it normally just ended up confusing the player testers when we tried to do 2 or more concepts in one area."

So in an effort to increase the "pick up and play" value of Portal, they had to spread out the tutorial levels quite alot. It was a good move though, considering how short the game is, you don't want a couple hour long learning curve.

It took me about two hours and fifteen minutes. Strife in the OP said it took him just a few minutes more than that. I know I've read other posts elsewhere where people easily beat it in under three. I've got a save file with that time frame on it. =\

You're the first person I've seen that said four though. Probably not nearly as fast as you thought you were, buddy.

I'll play more for the challenges (use a certain number of portals, time attack, etc), but it's still super short on content. I'm not saying all games should be long, and I'm not saying it was bad, all I'm saying is it was much too short on content, regardless of pricepoint. There's games from Popcap for God's sake that have more content for the buck, that's all.

I realize I miss out on user content because of my platform choice, but that doesn't invalidate my point.

But whatever, tell me if you do go back and play the main game ever again in a few months. I'm willing to bet most of you won't.

The main game is short, Skills, but I don't understand why you're discounting the extra levels in the length. You're not saying you beat those AND the main game in 2 hours 15 minutes, are you?

Skills, I'm referring to the game AND the bonus levels within that amount of time. And I said three to four. Meaning somewhere in that ballpark; I never said over four hours or four exactly.

Because GCFScape is pretty kewl:

http://gb2gt.com/audio/gff/Portal_Soundtrack.rar

And for anyone who wants the looping menu version (great for ring tones):

http://gb2gt.com/audio/gff/looping_radio_mix.wav

Game was awesome. Sure, most of us beat it in less than 15 minutes, but it was one of the more interesting things I've played in a long time. If not for solving the mostly-obvious puzzles, then for the humor and novelty of the whole thing. Never has a game with only one gun been so entertaining.

Why are you being so defensive about this? You don't need to convince anyone that they should like it less.

Can't we all just agree that it is the funniest game ever made and move on with our lives?

I don't mean to be, I just find it weird that the short length wasn't brought up as a negative before I showed up.

It's a great game, don't get me wrong. It's polished, a shitload of fun, and a great idea, I just don't think there's enough of it there to satiate me. I only wish it were harder, and those stating that the main game is long enough because of how much it costs is simply confusing to me.

Why? You never hear the term, "you get what you pay for"?

Look at it this way. The average game today is $60-70. Portal is 15 if purchased online and 11 through Orange Box. Because I believe that most will get it through Orange Box I'm going to use the $11 price point. Let's say that the game takes 3 hours to complete. That's the equivelant of 18hours of gameplay for $66, to ratio that is. Most offline games that we're paying $60-70 for today arn't even 18hours long. So really Portal for the $11, is more then fine.

And it's still double the length of a movie rental for the same price. ;)

All of the writing for the game was done by the Old Man Murray guys. (They were hired by VALVe after they stopped working on the website) Their website was pretty funny, and you can kinda see some of that humor in this game.

Skills, the length shouldn't be a problem. Most likely your real beef with the game is the lack of challenge and puzzle complexity, and since they directly affect the amount of playtime that's where the short length results from. And I agree, the game is too easy (for the main playthrough, that is) and would greatly benefit from next-to-impossible puzzles that make you claw your scalp into a bloody mess, fling your controller into the screen and leap from a tenth storey window.

From a math standpoint, I'll give it to you. Perhaps part (most) of my anger comes from the disappointment gained form the fact that I was expecting more length and more difficulty to the thing. It's just too much like eating one tiny bite of a sandwich when you're hungry though. Delicious, but leaves you wanting way more.