I can’t get past the first challenge in Test Chamber 15, I’ve followed directions like this:
to no avail. I still land in the first part of the test chamber. I’ve been stuck for a week, at least. I’ve tried different FAQs, but they all say essentially the same thing. I’m pulling my hair out. That doesn’t help either. What am I doing wrong? Or are my reflexes just not quick enough any more?
So if I’m reading the walkthrough right, this is the first chamber that trains “flinging.” If so, that one can be quite a bitch. I find it easier to put a portal on the panel sticking out, falling and seeing where I land, and then shooting a portal under me without moving. This means that it requires approximately 0 reflexes to do the fling (in this room at least, wait until later).
You can watch Youtube walk-throughs of every test in both games if you’re so inclined.
A few weeks ago, someone round here linked to the Universal Hint System. It may be able to help you out.
OK, I’m past that first problem, and I think that I can figure out the second problem by myself. Thank you. No cake in sight yet, but I’m not at the end of the level.
I usually count on GameFaqs for my game info needs. In fact, when I was playing Final Fantasy IX, GameFaqs had more info than the official game strategy book. More hint/faq sites are always welcome, though.
I’ve found for Portal, nothing works better than a Youtube video. As for FFIX, that official book was infamous for being absolutely useless and sending you to the Internet for anything actually useful. Literally, they’d write URLs in the book and expect you to go there.
And of course, often the URLs were no longer working correctly, even in 1999. They are completely useless now, of course, and you have a $13 POS to read.
I just started playing Portal last night too. I had to hand the controls over to my husband for that bit - I just did not have the coordination to do what needed to be done (I almost never play video games and I’m not used to using a keyboard for games).
It’s a fun game, but the sounds/music are creeping me out. The noise the elevator makes reminds me of the radio static on Silent Hill and I keep expecting zombies to jump out and attack me (I didn’t play SH, but watched the storyline unfold as my husband played!)
My husband couldn’t understand why I broke out into nervous/scared laughter when the instructional voice said (paraphrased) “at the end of this training, you will be missed.”
I thought she said minced, which is a terrifying thought! :smack:
I take these things way too seriously.
Oh, you have so much fun ahead! 
For whatever it’s worth, Test 15 was my most frustrating Portal test. Especially the second half with all the running and portaling and button pressing.
Oh god, please no radio-static-four-legged-no-head-zombies!
'minced" :eek:
Though I like games where you don’t get laughed at for dying (wah-wah-wah GAME OVER you sissy). Anything with a time trial gets completed by my husband and I struggle massively with 3D game worlds (you should see me shoot at anything that moves in FPS…online teammates hate me when I try to play)… heck, I struggle with 2D games too!
Can you tell why I don’t play a lot of video games?
I love the puzzles in Portal so far and it’s a style of game that I really like (the one and only game I’ve completed 100% by myself is Grim Fandango). I’m going to try it with a game controller rather than a keyboard - I screw up a lot just based on forgetting which button to click for what. :smack:
My terminology:
Blue portals are innies. Orange portals are outies.
And cake. Don’t forget the cake.
You can’t always choose which way you’re going to go through a portal pair (well, you can, but it requires excellent reflexes and aim, and makes the game much harder). Sometimes, it’s far, far easier to reuse a portal you just came out of as the “in” portal for the next jump.
Another tip: There are multiple ways to do most things in the game, and for most of the things you need to do, there’s at least one way that does not require lightning reflexes. So if you ever find yourself saying “This is impossible; I’d have to be a robot (or a teenager) to do that quick enough!”, start looking around for other ways to do it. The robot (or teenager) method might indeed be possible, and that might be relevant for doing a map in Challenge Mode (where you’re trying to minimize your time, or the number of portals you use, or the number of steps you take), but it’s not necessary for the regular game.
Not to worry. That exact thing you said is definitely not in the game.
Oh yeah, I realized that, but the names pretty much got assigned in one of the first levels where the orange portal was already set, so they’ve stuck.
It helped me remember which mouse button to click - somehow “innie” and “outie” for left and right was easier to remember than “blue” and “orange”.:dubious:
Oh. Good, then.
::slightly scared of what comes next::
The game is installed on my husband’s computer, and so I won’t really play without him… he’s working late shifts this week, so more middle-of-the-night gaming. He thinks it’s hilarious that I’m so nervous playing this game!
After you finish Portal you’ll have to tell us what you think! I love this game! Also, you MUST get Portal 2, its like 10 times better!
There was a reason for that. Square-Enix, I think they were just Squaresoft at the time, wanted to move on to a more web-based system, probably one using their own company’s web portal, as a substitute for the typical strategy guide. Before that, gamers were used to the company itself creating a massive and comprehensive strategy guide for their Final Fantasy games. But it didn’t work, gamers liked having a strategy guide in their hands, so Square never did it again. That’s why you won’t find any official strategy guides from Prima or Brady Games or whatever for FFIX, but there are ones for FFVII, VIII, X, XI, XII, XIII, etc.
Portal 2 is already purchased and waiting for install from Steam 
We bought both during the holiday sales. Asking to play Portal got my husband to stop playing Orcs Must Die! which I am beginning to hate hehehe.
I’ve downloaded a number of fan-made levels, but I have little patience for the ones that require mid-air split-second multi-level flings. I like to think my way through puzzles, not rely on hitting some 0.1-second window, missing, spending another minute getting back into position, miss it again… two or three failures and it’s time for the cheat codes.
Yes, I just went out and bought the largest bottle of extra strength Advil I could find. A video game is not worth taking Vicodin for.
I really like puzzle games, as long as they are not twitch games. I used to adore the old Infocom games. There’s nothing quite like working on a puzzle for several days, and then realizing the solution. I am mostly really enjoying this game, and I probably will have to get Portal 2 after I finish Portal. I received a YouTube link in an email for the ending of the game, with “Still Alive”. I could not get it out of my head, and that’s why I got interested in the game. Yeah, there’s some spoilers in the song, but it’s worth it, I think.
Heh. That’s not what they said, but it’s far more believable than the letter I received from them:
:)