Does Portal Stories: Mel have GlaDOS? I mean not the original voice actor I realise but at least someone else doing a passable version? I mean for me, without GlaDOS it’s really nor Portal.
I have arrived at the final battle, and can get most of the way through it. The things you have to shoot are in one large room, and two upstairs rooms. I’ve got the main room cleared out, and one of the upstairs rooms, but I haven’t figured out how to get into that last room yet. I’m still working on it.
I’m not having too much trouble with the turrets, actually. Sometimes they even fire when I’m holding one, which is a good time saver and eliminates the stability issue.
No GlaDOS, but it’s still not bad.
GlaDOS was a magical thing in a game that just came together with amazing writing and a really effective voice actor.
Stories does not reach that level, but they did do a very good job. It’s puzzles, dare I say, are harder and superior than some in Portal 1 and 2.
It’s story is weaker, of course, but still well done for a free game. Many times better than the stuff you find in most free games.
I haven’t finished yet, so grain of salt and whatnot. Some of the puzzles are harder, I’ve also come across a couple of rips, but I won’t say superior. Some require things the originals would not have had you attempt it also seems less forgiving, requiring perfect placement a couple of times.
I am enjoying the game and hope they make more. Maybe Valve can co-opt Prism for Portal 3.
Finished it last night, but for some reason the sound cut out for the final scenes, so I ran the last bit again just now to hear what was said.
A good game. I have to admit that I did look up some online help a couple times, but it was on two of the earlier levels. Kinda seemed that once I grokked how these puzzles were constructed that I was able to solve them. I don’t know that it was more difficult than either of the previous Portals, just different. Seemed like these puzzles had more things going on at the same time, and half the battle was in just figuring out what you had to do next, grab the cube, disable the fizzler, whatever. I don’t remember that happening so much in the earlier games.
Some nice stylistic touches in this one. I liked how one of the prongs on the portal gun was a bent paper clip. And at final battle when you blow up the computer memory banks, there are magnetic tape and reels among the debris.
I kept expecting the references to the Nuremberg Olympics to be relevant somehow. Is it just an example of how far in the future this is, and how much history has been forgotten?
I’m so happy more people are checking out the free “Mel” game!
There is actually another one, though they managed to charge for it. Steam sells it, so Valve must be OK with it.
Aperture Tag
It’s good, nowhere near as good as Mel. You only use the bouncy gel and the other gels. No portals. It actually has some good puzzles, but was really easy in many ways.
OK, I’m at my wits’ end on one of these puzzles. It’s near the beginning of Virgil’s track. There are two big rooms, separated by a ledge too high to jump over with a big fizzler over it completely separating the rooms. The first room has a speed-gel dispenser and a pressure plate mounted on a side wall to open the exit. The second room has a funnel beam up high, a cube dispenser, and a pressure plate mounted on a side wall to disable the fizzler. So far, what I’ve figured out how to do is:
[spoiler]Use the speed gel to get to the second room. Feed the cube to the funnel, and follow it at a little bit of a distance, then re-arrange the funnel so it takes the cube to the fizzler-disabling button. As soon as the fizzler is disabled, make the funnel come out of the first room, and ride the new funnel back through a funnel loop into the first room. Use the funnel in the first room to press myself against the button to open the exit door. But of course, that’s not enough, because the door is only open as long as I’m up there, and if I go down to try to go through it, it closes again.
What I really need is to have the me, the funnel, and the cube all three in the exit room. Then I could have the funnel pushing the button, while I went through the door.
But this doesn’t seem to be possible, because to get the funnel into the exit room, you need to shoot through where the fizzler is, which means the fizzler needs to be turned off, which means that at least one object (you or the cube) must be up against that button. But as soon as you place that portal into the exit room, whatever was up against the button falls to the floor, and there’s no way to get back up to the beam without using both portals in room 2.
I’ve also considered the possibility that you’re supposed to go off-track at this point. At the beginning of this chamber, ATLAS removes a wall to try to keep you contained, leaving an opening to a big void. Maybe you’re supposed to try to go through that void to somewhere? But I haven’t figured out any way to do that, either.
Just on general principles, I’ve covered every available surface, plus the cube, with speed goo, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference: The only use I’ve found for the goo is in getting from room 1 to room 2 in the first place. I suspect that the key bit I’m missing involves the goo somehow, because that’s not really enough to justify putting in a goo dispenser, but I can’t see what else I could do with it.[/spoiler]
Obviously I don’t want to be spoon-fed the answer, but can anyone give me a teensy hand, here?
…And, as soon as I type that, I think I might have figured it out.
Put the portal in room 1 at ground level, and then swap the portal in room 2 for a floor portal, under the beam. Take the cube into room 1, and then run on the speed gel into the portal, to launch up into the beam. Once in the beam, put the room 2 portal back on catching the beam, and you’re Bob’s niece.
Thanks for the help, everyone!