A bit of a letdown story wise...

[V-Man339]

I know this sounds even worse than my cake thread, but did anyone feel this was kid of lacking in the story department?
The only thing Half Life related was the fact that Aperture Science was a rival of Black Mesa, and that's a small amount.

This is worse somewhat than, dare I say it, a third party mod.

Discuss.

 

[Chabo]

Gabe said something in the Portal commentary; something along the lines of "There isn't much you find out in this iteration of Portal."

This tells me a couple things:
1) More Portal games are coming! :cheese:
2) The story isn't MEANT to be told in this game, really. It's merely supposed to hint at events to be unveiled.

As for third-party mods, there is some rather stiff competition (Minerva). Personally, I'd be surprised if he doesn't get hired by the completion of his series.

 

[Yorick]

I don't know, a lot of the Half-Life series (HL2, Ep1, Ep2) often have large sections of the game that you have to search out for story. They put it in for people who are interested, but really don't shove it down your throat. I think Episode 3 will be adding more to it.

 

[bbson john]

The best story told is a story not told.

 

[Acepilotf14]

It lets us think, and speculate, so that we will anicipate Portal 2(if so) and Ep.3 even more.

 

[Tyguy]

It was more than I expected. I thought it was just an idea valve had which they thought would be cool to incorporate into the orange box. I had no idea there would be a deeper meaning to it

 

[Sulkdodds]

In terms of relating to the HL universe there wasn't too much.

But it was one of the best stories I've seen in any recent game, and one of the best told, with some of the best writing. What's not to like?

 

[ríomhaire]

GLaDOS is all you need for a good story.

 

[theotherguy]

I would say exactley the opposite. This game has some of the best writing and story development of any game I have ever played. It was brilliantly well written.

 

[jbjwanderlust]

As far as story included during gameplay of Portal, yes not much tie in to HL.
But during ep2...

Spoiler

...Aperture Science Labs and their research vessel The Borealis (lost during the 7hr war if I understand things correctly) are set up in the story.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

In terms of relating to the HL universe there wasn't too much.

But it was one of the best stories I've seen in any recent game, and one of the best told, with some of the best writing. What's not to like?

What that man said.

 

[Grand Architect]

I would say exactley the opposite. This game has some of the best writing and story development of any game I have ever played. It was brilliantly well written.

This. The great story hit me out of the blue, I was just looking at it as a simple puzzle game at first.

 

[Apocalypse89]

Yeah, I just played through it completely today, and it had a lot more plot than I ever expected. The whole section of the game after the final test just hit me by surprise.

 

[Cube]

In terms of relating to the HL universe there wasn't too much.

There was enough.

There was quite a lot to the story in Portal. It's just that it wasn't told via cutscenes - you have to put it together yourself.

Which is how a story in a video game should be told. It reminds me of Metroid Prime in a way.

 

[Shakermaker]

Most gripping story in a game for ages. Loved every minute of it.

 

[Sulkdodds]

There was enough.

There was quite a lot to the story in Portal. It's just that it wasn't told via cutscenes - you have to put it together yourself.

Which is how a story in a video game should be told. It reminds me of Metroid Prime in a way.

As far as I can see it mainly represents a sort of addendum to the world of Half-Life - an addition rather than much of an illumination of things already gone by. Then again, I haven't yet played Episode 2.

I agree that much of Portal's plot is brilliant in how elusive it is. It's not told, and in a way it's not shown - but realised.

 

[Shadow-warrior]

There was a story?

Girl escapes clutches of baddie robot - not exactly deep was it.

 

[Cube]

There was a story?

Girl escapes clutches of baddie robot - not exactly deep was it.

If you don't pay any attention at all to the game, that's the story.

 

[nbk]

shadow sounds about right. Someone explain >.>

coming from the stand point of just portal itself; you are just trying to escape.. is the only other story link the writing on the walls? You're only introduced to the blackmesa in the end song AFAIK.

 

[taviow]

You're only introduced to the blackmesa in the end song AFAIK.

Oh really? :naughty:
Play again

 

[Blue_Screen]

If you want to be told everything straight up, in detail, go read a book. Video games (namely First Person games) are different. Rather than explicitly tell you everything, they try to implicitly tell you things. In Portal, rather than inform you that Black Mesa and Aperture are rivals, you are told by the slide shows and final song. You find out that there are other escapees by finding their hiding spots, instead of being forced to realize it. Personally, I find the indirect storytelling devices of VALVe's first-person games much more satisfying than most other modern entertainment....

 

[Psychanalysis05%]

I have not been entertained this much by a game in a very long time.
The story was presented in a fantastically sinister and secretive fashion, in such a way that you can only find out what's going on if you actually look for it.
I don't own Portal yet, but with my next paycheck the Orange Box is getting ordered on Steam immediately. This weekend however, my friend brought over his 360 and he had just bought The Orange Box earlier that day. We sat with another friend of ours and my wife and played it from beginning to end, alternating puzzles with me playing through the final chapter. We were laughing our asses off over GLaDOS' cracked out commentary, getting creeped out by the garbled speech when she recalculates her statements ("At the end of the test proceedings you will be-bzzrtTHANKED"), and being blown away finding out that what we expected to be a simple puzzle game with an awesome new gimmick was linked to the Half-Life universe when we noticed 'BLACK MESA' on a projection screen in an office.
Following this, we explored every nook and cranny for every bit of information we could find, bringing up forum posts to see what was written on the slides, and finding out as much as we could from the Aperture Science website after we were finished with the main game.
I also have to say me and one of my friend were in tears from the Aperture Science website's application process. If anyone actually read the choices for the 'What interrogation technique is most likely to work on you?' question, they probably understand why. (Death Eats a Sandwich, if anyone was wondering)
GLaDOS' references to the state of the world outside were also very interesting, seeming as though she felt like she was 'protecting' the test subjects in her own twisted way.

No game has managed to captivate me this much for a very long time, and no game has managed to make me laugh my ass off like this since TimeSplitters: Future Perfect.
EDIT: GLaDOS may also be the greatest villain ever.

Also, as a side note:

Which is how a story in a video game should be told. It reminds me of Metroid Prime in a way.

Portal didn't so much remind me of Prime, but the antlion extract chamber in Episode 2 made me think of the Prime series... I kept trying to look for my Scan Visor button T_T

 

[Sulkdodds]

I also have to say me and one of my friend were in tears from the Aperture Science website's application process. If anyone actually read the choices for the 'What interrogation technique is most likely to work on you?' question, they probably understand why. (Death Eats a Sandwich, if anyone was wondering)

'Good Cop, Ventriloquist Cop' sounds terrifying.