Topic: Portal Companion Collection

@Rambler
It's 1st person. But it's SOOOOO good.

Be sure to go into settings and enable gyroscopic aiming. No need to change any sensitivities. They're perfect as is. Just enable and roll out.

This is a game you'll be telling stories about 20 years from now, explaining to the new generation of gamers how it's one of the greatest video games ever made.

@JaxonH
I just love the idea of a game made up of environmental puzzles. Having the gyro must make for very fluid gameplay

My dislike of 1st person, I think, come from CoD, et al. I really like Doom (the first version), so it can't be the gameplay, more like what my brain thinks it represents.

@Rambler
There are some really excellent 1st person games. Portal 1/2 are first person puzzle. Metroid Prime 1/2/3 are first person adventure/metroidvania. Ghostrunner is first person platforming/melee combat. Neon White is first person platforming/card-based shooter. But even games like Doom Eternal are first person shooter and really fun.

It just comes down to the game.

Having said that, I actually love Call of Duty, at least, I love the single player campaigns if played with gyro aiming.

@JaxonH
I never got round to Metroid Prime. Tell a lie - I had a quick go many years ago, and the change into 3D really put me off. Obviously too short to have a proper insight into it, but it just didn't feel right.

I'm sure that some sort of re-release will be happening (soon) so if Portal does float my boat, I'll see about getting that (rather than the Wii out of storage, and getting a 2nd hand game).

Doom Eternal looks really interesting, but I think the endless gore would wear me down.

Having said that, I was a big fan of Narc back in the day, but the last time I played it, it just seemed pointlessly bloody. That's more likely due to a game design fault though

I've been looking forward to this for ages but I'm busy as a metaphor explaining ideas for the next few weeks annoyingly. I could have used this coming out a few weeks ago as I had loads of travel time to kill recently.

@Rambler Don't worry, after a few hours of non-stop testosterone pumping rage and action where you're chainsawing demons in half and blasting evil in it's evil face you become desensitized to the gore in Doom. The bigger problem is trying to let the aggression go after playing!

Well, some games are, frankly, gratuitously violent, @Rambler .... I like some MKXI occasionally, primarily for the fatalities & other gruesome moves
Narc sounds familiar, was it PS2? In the era when a fair number of games were best known for being OTT?
& Perhaps your tastes have changed since then? Along with more experience of better games?

@BruceCM
Narc was an arcade game from... er... late 80s. It was notoriously violent - you played as police essentially massacring drug addicts. You could arrest them (and get more points) but was easier to blow them up with a rocket launcher!

Don't get me wrong - lopping heads and breaking arms is great fun, but yeah, in my old(...) age that's confined to fantasy violence. There is an argument that it is all fantasy, but you know what I mean. Orc and bokoblin good - people bad (Doom Eternal might actually be fun then).

For example, one of the reasons I didn't get on with The Last of Us was due to the fighting. GTA as well.

I don't care about it ethically: there seems to be enough meta-analyses of studies to prove video game violence has no detrimental effect on society. So it's just me

Edit: yes - gaming has definitely expanded and allows a greater choice of actions and consequences. So while I'm only getting older, gaming has matured allowing for a plurality of games and choices.

@Jump - that sounds like chucking out time when I was a teenager.
I like the way the gore seems really inventive, it's just the sheer amount!

Oh, well, I'm pretty sure I heard of it as a PS2 era game, so I guess that was remade, @Rambler .... I generally prefer fantasy violence to 'realistic' but then MK isn't realistic, lol
I never got into the GTA games, although I do want to play The Last of Us if that does come to Steam at some point
But I'm sure the vast majority of people playing games can distinguish between them & real life. Or I should casually walk into people's houses uninvited & help myself to stuff like in RPGs!
I certainly wouldn't even want to do the things I do in video games in real life, if you magically made me really able to & I'm pretty sure that's the case for most people
Or they at least know they won't be likely to succeed fighting real life police, if nothing else

@BruceCM
Oh definitely. That's the best reason for RPGs - getting to play out the more mischievous sides of your personality.

I don't think I'll be setting fire to fields or blowing up woods any time soon!
That's why GTA is much more fun than Small-to-Medium Business Simulator - just could do w/o killing people, even if they are baddies.

MK is total fantasy and massively inventive! I'm just rubbish at all the versions I've played!

Anyways - how does the two player couch co-op mode work in Portal 2? Split screen so you both can be anywhere on that level?

Yeah, I only play it offline against the computer, @Rambler .... Dunno about Portal, I'm sure someone does, though

Anyone here playing these games for the first time?

I just wanna see those glowing reactions from new players 😀

@JaxonH Portal's always been the series for me that I've adored as an outsider looking in. Maybe now I'll finally give it an actual go once my other priorities come out because I love the world they've built up and the pure idea of 'shoot a portal, then walk through said portal', it's just so simple yet so incredibly fascinating. I've been saving up for Splatoon 3 in September so a lot of the stuff I get in the interim has to be something that'll last me a looong time. I'm thinking Capcom Fighting Collection personally (maybe in that bundle deal with all those SF games?) but Portal's definitely one I'm interested in grabbing down the line!

I still can't believe that these games are on Switch though. I know they're on PS3 and whatnot, but the last place I would've expected a Valve game would be on a Nintendo console. And for it to be such a great conversion? All the bloody better.

I wonder if the Half-Life stuff will get on Switch eventually. lol

I've never played Portal. I've been thinking of getting it for family beach vacation, thinking my brother, nieces and I will take turns with rooms/objectives. (Outside beach time & pool get the priority, but we also play my switch at night. I take that switch! And my bike!)

This is my first time playing portal 2. But I’ve seen playthroughs before, so its not a totally new experience.

I have to admit I love playing dumb and hanging around to hear wheatley run out of dialogue.

@JaxonH I'm not playing for the first time, but it almost FEELS like it. I bought both Portal games on Steam years ago. Beat the first one, wasn't impressed. Played Portal 2 a little less than halfway through and got bored of it.
However, I think that my impression had more to do with the fact that I can't stand playing games on PC with mouse & keyboard. Decided to buy the collection on Switch and I am LOVING it. Beat Portal 1 and thought it was terrific, and I'm a little more than halfway through on 2 and it's phenomenal.

@sketchturner
Controls can make or break an experience.

Did you toggle on the gyro aiming in the Settings? That makes it feel absolutely superb when aiming.

@JaxonH No, I'm playing in handheld and I feel like motion controls would be weird. If I were playing with the Pro Controller on the TV I'm sure I'd like it, but moving around the screen I'm looking at seems odd. Am I wrong about that?

You don't need to move the console a lot, I mostly use it to adjust my aim.

Though yeah if you do end up moving a lot (for whatever reason you may have to), then the camera will spin around and you'll need to adjust it.