Bad Reviews

[zizoezz]

Anyone else notice most of the negative reviews are complaining that the game is too hard?

Excellent work Portal Stories team!

I personally love the challange

[quat]

Come on, it's a puzzle game. It's supposed to be hard.

[blueasis]

Its PUZZLING to me why people think puzzle games are supposed to be easy. sure Portal 1 and 2 were fairly straight forwards, this just delivers abit more a challenge, i guess there people didnt get to quickscope anyone or be in a clan, with their clan tag as [♥♥♥♥] so their brain cant handle it.

[Power of Seven]

I've been worried about that, actually. In all seriousness, do any of the puzzle solutions involve click-ninja skills? If I have to spam the mouse button like the Least Steps Challenge Missions in Portal 1, then there's no way that I can play this game.

[warmed_over]

Originally posted by Power of Seven:

I've been worried about that, actually. In all seriousness, do any of the puzzle solutions involve click-ninja skills? If I have to spam the mouse button like the Least Steps Challenge Missions in Portal 1, then there's no way that I can play this game.

I think the issue is the lack of build-up or training involving the methods required to solve certain portions of the puzzle. In Portal & Portal 2, the player is gradually taught all the techniques they will be required to utilize in order to advance. In Portal Stories: Mel, the player is thrown into the game under the assumption they have already played Portal 2 at the least, and have completed many of the community made puzzles available for it. The only instruction you receive is unneeded and comes in the form of a AI core telling you where to go or what to do; even though it is obvious.

That is what I think of the puzzles anyways, Some solutions I have never used anywhere before; though when I found the Portal Stories: Mel solution, I smiled at the simplicity of the idea.
That said, there will be a few instances where timing is key and you will only have one chance to do it. I haven't found a test that I was able to trap myself in, so there is that silver lining.

I am off to finish it right now. I think the server room level is frustrating, since I am unable to move properly or place the turret without it falling over because the room is cluttered & cramped.

[Leuf]

Level design isn't easy. Ideally you want the solution to be non-obvious yet once you've figured it out it seems obvious. That's hard to pull off. Once having reached the testing rooms I thought the first three tests were "too hard" though I think part of that was just my portal solving skills being rusty. However I believe a good level has to constrain you enough that you are directed towards the solution. If the wrong solution is so close to working that you think you just aren't doing it well enough and the right solution is a game mechanic that you've never seen before that's not a good level design. It would really help to have a situation somewhere earlier in the game to introduce you to that concept or make the wrong solution more obviously wrong.

Once I got past those three tests I haven't gotten stuck since, so far. Well, I've gotten stuck for 10 minutes thinking what I think I'm supposed to be doing is impossible only to have that "Duh!" moment, which is exactly what is supposed to happen.

[Dune Jumper]

I love it!

[Cymelion]

I think the learning curve on this is improperly balanced.

No doubt this was tested by fellow Portal map makers and as such they could get into the head of the map maker and figure out the maps pretty quickly. Sit someone down who hasn't played Portal 2 in ages and the game is suddenly just a ton of brick walls that is going to just have people walk away.

Now granted it being Free is a massive point in the devs favour. I'm going to try and finish it but like Apature Tag If it just gets too annoying I have 200+ more other steam games to play and finish.

[Harry101UK]

Yeah, the tests in this are designed for people familiar with the Portal 1 / 2 mechanics. We assume players know the fundamentals and have played Portal 2 to completion; since you need to own Portal 2 to download Mel anyway. ;)

For any new techniques, we do try our best to showcase the skill (such as putting out fire with water, or picking up a physical box to enter a room) and these skills often carry on to the next tests.

Absolutely none of the tests require 'ninja' reflex skills or super precise clicks though; we've seen many people happily complete the game using controllers with slow analog speeds and we playtested it a lot to ensure this was possible. There are also no 'timed' tests that require you to do things quickly to succeed.

If people complain that they need those ninja skills to succeed, it's very likely they're attemping to solve the test in a crazy, unintended way. (we've seen a lot of people doing this on streams and let's plays) =P

That said; we have seen people complete the chambers in a lot of funny and unintended ways, but rest assured, they're all perfectly solvable with some logical thinking. (some people have even completed a few of the chambers without firing a single portal! Just jumping and using gels!)

From the feedback we've received, and seen first-hand on streams; the "AHA!" moment when people figure them out is extremely satisfying. ;)

[M]

Originally posted by legend65:

Level design isn't easy. Ideally you want the solution to be non-obvious yet once you've figured it out it seems obvious. That's hard to pull off. Once having reached the testing rooms I thought the first three tests were "too hard" though I think part of that was just my portal solving skills being rusty. However I believe a good level has to constrain you enough that you are directed towards the solution. If the wrong solution is so close to working that you think you just aren't doing it well enough and the right solution is a game mechanic that you've never seen before that's not a good level design. It would really help to have a situation somewhere earlier in the game to introduce you to that concept or make the wrong solution more obviously wrong.

Once I got past those three tests I haven't gotten stuck since, so far. Well, I've gotten stuck for 10 minutes thinking what I think I'm supposed to be doing is impossible only to have that "Duh!" moment, which is exactly what is supposed to happen.

This is the side effect you get when level designers and testers are all expert portal puzzle solvers. But who else could got and stay involved in making FREE portal mod during 4 years?
The good thing is the puzzles don't seems as hardcore as many, many community chambers (but still are sometimes very non-obvious).

[Stoob]

I'm by no means a Portal 2 puzzle solving expert. I've completed the 2 titles but not really messed with community maps. The 50s puzzles aren't too bad, though involved quite a lot of head scratching. I think sometimes the solutions are 'inelegant' compared to the original games, which is why they aren't as obvious.

The testing chamber where you had to soak the cube in the speedy gel and let it slide down the slope, that concept I'd never encountered and I doubt I would have solved it without looking it up.

Edit: None of that's a complaint, BTW. Great conversion and I don't mind if I have to look stuff up now and again. The ride is still good. :)

[Naxreus]

Hard = Better, fun, skill and brain work. I love this mod and dificulty, didnt found a chanllenge like this from long time ago :)

[Eridinus]

The game is brilliant. But it really lacks any build up as previously said. It throws you in the deep end and you're stuck in one room looking back and forth thinking "Now what the hell do I do" and it's only after raging and coming back an hour later that you see something you missed before. I think it needs to said that this game is challenging and not intended for people who are not familiar with the game, and that this should be played straight after completing Portal 2 otherwise you wont be familar enough with the test concepts to get past the first level.

[Daedro]

2 Stoob:

This thing was in Portal 2 coop, at least i remember it, and i didn't have serious problem with it.

[Daedro]

But, yeah, some puzzles was really hard to solve, i was about to give up and watch how people did it :D

BUT, i encountered some small but not good bugs =( and because of the bug with gravitation tunnel in one chamber(i think in chapter 3, Mel continued to fall somehow from gravitation tunnel, from 5th time it worked. IDK, random?!), and its stuck me for 30 minutes..

And second bug, in chapter 4, in one of the last hard chambers, i just fell through hole in the broken floor :D and have to reload last save

But that's it. 2 small bugs for 12 hours of gameplay, that's really nothing)

[5 Bears On Patrol]

Couldn't solve the first puzzle, the jumps are too awkward and there's so much crap to catch the collision hull on. No to mention the tedious backtracking on failure. No thanks.