Well Portal is massive, and so is Portal 2, my friends all like it, everyone raves about it, Todd Howard himself said he clapped in admiration when he finished the game, everyone loves Portal, and yet i played the game (haven't played Portal 2) and was left feeling like someone having fine art explained to them, not really understanding the concept at all but nodding furiously in agreement in the hope my ignorance on the subject will not be discovered, because i just can't see what all the fuss is about.

It's a puzzle game, sure it's pleasant, polished, it's short, and then uhm...thats pretty much it, i don't see it's difference to quite a few other puzzle games, i certainly don't see it's greatness compared to many other video-games that i do consider to have been greats over the years, it just seems so lightweight in comparison, yet the hype and expectation for Portal 2 was colossal, so Portal must be considered by todays gamers as one of the greatest games ever made, yet to me it's just a decent little game that killed off 8-10 hours of my time, once, and then i never looked back.

Anyone else feel the same? or i am the lone caveman staring at a priceless vase, unable to see it's true value?

Portal 2 one of the best games iv ever played in my life
and can easily be put in the top 3 best games ever created and noboby would have a problem with it...but what does it have to do with Skyrim?

This thread has what to do with Skyrim exactly?

uummmm....this is the skyrim forums......

we need someone to move this or lock it

Sorry about that, originally posted in the wrong forum

What yould you want it to be? don't you like puzzle games? If not then why did you play it? If yes, then wut?

I've never played either game so I don't know what all the fuss is about wither... all I know is that the cake is a lie.

Sure i like puzzle games, i was just under the impression that portal was considered by most to be above most games of any genre, being considered special, great, awesome, incredible!

He simply didn't understand why everyone was so excited about it, clam it down dude.

yes you are the only person in the world who doesn't "get" portal

I agree Mr. OP. I've beaten both Portal 1 and 2. For a puzzle game, it's average at best. The only reason I had any inclination to play this over any other puzzle games was for the good dialogue. GLaDOS is amazing and I would have her babies. Or something like that.

Yes, hence my questions.

OP it is a very well made puzzle game and it is accessible. Peeps love these games, look at what happened when 7th Guest was released.

Obviously, being (primarily) a puzzle game it's going to be fairly limited in most aspects, but I can honestly say I've never laughed so hard in any game and I doubt I ever will.

It's a solid experience. A cool concept that is well-executed and has some of the funniest dialogue that I have ever heard in a game.

For one, it's very funny.

Secondly, it was very well done, simple yet not so simple people looking for something complex couldn't pick it up.

I especially like the portal to Skyrim that opens at the end of the game.

It is a pretty good game. Portal, I mean -- I haven't played Portal 2. P1 is a bit short, but it is fun. There are not too many games like it on the market right now - that is, a very creative physics-based, 1st person pov game. There are no space aliens or terrorists to shoot. In fact, your gun can't actually damage anything. So, Portal's concept is pretty unique - using physics (acceleration, mass, inertia, gravity, all that stuff) to propel yourself, enemies, and objects to a desired goal or destination. Another attractive feature is that Portal's challenges can be solved in many different ways - it is not a 1-solution-only game, it allows for you to think and use the portals in any way you want. That sort of freedom to creatively make your own solutions is, at least for me, a quite enjoyable aspect of the game.

Portal 1 is more focused on the puzzles than Portal 2 is. The reception of Portal 1 took everyone, including Valve, by surprised. People loved the puzzle mechanics and people loved GLaDOS. It was a puzzle game that seamlessly blended them both. But the game wasn't intended to be a full, $50 gaming experience, as Valve has said themselves. Portal 2 was, and it turned out to be an amazing game, but the puzzles aren't the main focus, the characters and story are. And while most people find the game to be hilarious, if you aren't interested in the characters or story, then you wont "get" the praise the game gets.

Other than that, you may be suffering from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HypeBacklash. If you're playing the game specifically looking for the things that people are praising, then it's preventing you from actually finding them. What someone who knew nothing about the game would find awesome means nothing to you if your reaction is "Is this why people like it?" Maybe you should just forget about it for and try out Portal 2 once you've stopped trying to find out why people like it so much.

It's one of those nowadays rare games that puts its own humour in front and doesn't rely on a meta level to be funny. Also one of the even rarer games which narrate through elements unique to the medium of video games. It's an example of polish and love flowing into every facet of it.
You probably just don't have the same attitude towards the medium, that's all. It's like people "not getting" Citizen Kane or paintings of van Gogh. Just not the right attitude to reflect on it.

you make a good point there, i didn't even know hype backlash existed but it made perfect sense, this is from the link you just posted:

Rabinowitz: What are you reading?
Topper Harley: Great Expectations.
Rabinowitz: Is it any good?
Topper Harley: It's not what I'd hoped for.

That cracked me up, thanks for that :tops:

I didn't enjoy Portal much, either. I think it was popular because it makes you feel smart, it had humor, and it was accessible.

I played Portal 1 and I loved it. Don't ever see myself playing it again though.

The fuzz is that Valve made it. If it had been developed by someone else than Valve or Blizzard, noone would have noticed it.

Well, not really, the puzzles are well designed and there is plenty of humor in the game. It doesn't really lock itself in and a very large audience can enjoy it, and not only those who are "gamers".

It's so popular because it's an "epic" puzzle game. Few puzzle games have the production values of a high-octane thriller, and Portal brings exactly that to the table. I don't understand all the fuss either, but we live in an age of gaming where http://images.wikia.com/callofduty/images/d/db/Modern_Warfare_2_cover.PNG is considered AAA.

In the games' defense, I will say that they have a truly spectacular sense of humor. It's easily the strongest aspect of the Portal series.