Poll: Portal 2 Ending (MASSIVE F**CKING SPOILERS)

[Megacherv]

Just to be more on the safe side, also putting this in a spoiler box.

Spoiler: WARNING: FOLLOWING TEXT DESCRIBES THE ENDING OF PORTAL 2! IF YOU HAVE NOT YET COMPLETED, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING ON HERE? GO AND PLAY IT!

Right, now that the all-caps are off:-

Portal 2 was easily one of the best games I've played in ages, and I've only played through the single-player so far. Now, as utterly fantastic as the Lunacy and Turret Orchestra were, I am slightly disappointed by one thing:-

What happened to the Half-Life references?

Now, okay, I may have been expecting something that wasn't expected to be in the game anyway, which is understood, and I obviously have no right to dictate what they should have put in, but I'm just slightly disappointed, especially by a couple of things:-

-The Ship Overboard achievement? Simply a hidden easter-egg with no connection to the plot
-Only references to Black Mesa were one pre-recorded message from Cave Johnson
-The apparent G-Man silhouette on the launch site might have just been an over-active imagination
-When Chell walks outside at the end, it's simply an empty field (and a strangely small one as well), no sign of any thing from the Half-Life universe (although it seems that we won since Earth is still there)

Now, these may be in DLC in the future possibly, I dunno. They also don't change how utterly fantastic the entire game was. They may also be referenced in the co-op levels, although I don't see that happening.

I shall add a poll, and will label the options as 1-to-3:-

Were you disappointed by the lack of references as to possible events in Half-Life?
1) I am disappointed
2) I'm glad they kept it separate
3) Bah, not too bothered

 

[Dr. Paine]

I'm not that bothered.

I was expecting... actually, I wasn't expecting any connections to Half Life, period, I was very surprised at the Black Mesa mentions/Borealis. If they decide to keep only this slight connection, I won't be that upset, if they decide to cross over in a major fashion, I'd love to see it.

We'll just have to wait. (Personally, I'm still thinking Chell will end up on the Borealis/back in time/something to get her to the HL story. I can see the Device being handy for taking down Advisors. ... still working out just how, but it's a gut theory.)

 

[NathLines]

How many Half-Life references were there in the first Portal? I can't think of too many. Anyway, I chose 2. I didn't expect any Half-Life references and it's absolutely not something that I look for in Portal 2.

 

[AngryMongoose]

I am disappoint.

But to be fair, Portal 1 is largely concurrent with HL2, whereas portal 2 is nearly 200 years ahead. It does make the nice fields you see at the end interesting in terms of Half-Life cannon, but does rather justify keeping them separate.

Another reason keeping them separate here works is because otherwise the Portal 2 ending is extremely bittersweet. You spend years trying to escape from that hellhole, you finally reach the surface and smell the clean air, and the suddenly get stomped by a strider. Not fun.


Thankfully, the ending of Episode 2 suggests that the Half-Life continuity will find the Borealis, and thus all of Aperture Sciences stuff in Episode 3.

 

[Dr. Paine]

I love the Retcon, I mean when you first 'die' at the end of Portal you end up in a street/entrance to aperture. What happened to all of it? Is this some sort of 'Side' entrance or a backdoor?

Also WHY DID THIS GAME MAKE ME SAD?! The game was very very very fun mind you but, after playing the ACT 2 portion and learning about Cave Johnson, Bring your Daughter to work day and how GLaDOS was forced into the robotic position, it just... seems sad. Also I have a very strong feeling that GLaDOS is Chell's mother. Adoptive mother mind you.

Don't forget Chell's fate.

While it's possible there are humans out there, it looks pretty overrun. If there were people, they would have found Aperture, and done something. GLaDOS might have let Chell go, but the poor girl is most likely facing a slow decent into madness and starvation, depending on how well she could survive in the wild.

As for GLaDOS... I've always thought she used to be human, to some degree, and it was rather bittersweet to get the near-confirmation. Worse still with some new thoughts- if it had been shown that using a human mind would work for something like her, why not do it again? The Cores, original and defective, could have well had human origins. Whether she is/was related to Chell or not, I can't say (I, personally, don't think that. It just doesn't manage to line up right. I figure the science experiment thing was more of an Easter Egg than any hard canon fact).

... so yeah, Portal 2 is a pretty damn depressing game ._.

 

[Muta Ro]

I love the Retcon, I mean when you first 'die' at the end of Portal you end up in a street/entrance to aperture. What happened to all of it? Is this some sort of 'Side' entrance or a backdoor?

You do remember they changing the ending of Portal 1 at the end of the Portal ARG that built up to Portal 2. You get dragged back in by the Party Escort Bot

 

[Quiet Stranger]

For everyone wondering, Chell is still at Aperture, the clouds are painted on and the sun is fake, remember those art pictures we were shown of the giant chicken farms? Yeah, that's right. Why wlese would they have a elevator to the "outside"?

 

[Sharalon]

Leave half life at home! Wait for episode 3 if you want more half life.

What's wrong with aperture? Always thought they were the most interesting part of the half life universe anyway...

 

[razelas]

Forgot to mention another epic song ending. So I'm happy.

Spoiler

It's honestly not surprising that there's very little cross-over to HL, since the AS complex was a sealed insane asylum.

However, here's some food for thought: At the end of Portal 1, Chell woke up in a parking lot while in Portal 2 Chell walks out into a field of wheat(?). So it depending on where AS's complex is, which seems to be in the US because 1)LHC [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LHC] is in Europe already occupying several countries' worth of undeground space, 2) AS's US government funding, 3) the unfinished SSC planned to take up 87.1 kilometres (54.1 mi) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider].

 

[theriddlen]

I'm not that bothered.

I was expecting... actually, I wasn't expecting any connections to Half Life, period, I was very surprised at the Black Mesa mentions/Borealis. If they decide to keep only this slight connection, I won't be that upset, if they decide to cross over in a major fashion, I'd love to see it.

We'll just have to wait. (Personally, I'm still thinking Chell will end up on the Borealis/back in time/something to get her to the HL story. I can see the Device being handy for taking down Advisors. ... still working out just how, but it's a gut theory.)

Valve had clearly said no to Portal Gun in HL3(or ep3, but it's unlikely after this amount of time). I can't quote anything, but i vividly remember that it was stated somewhere long time ago.

 

[Anezay]

I don't mind the lack of crossover so much. The game is in itself so damn good, it doesn't need the Half-life universe to hold its hand anymore.

 

[philosophicalbastard]

I love the Retcon, I mean when you first 'die' at the end of Portal you end up in a street/entrance to aperture. What happened to all of it? Is this some sort of 'Side' entrance or a backdoor?

The facility is very large, expanding miles down and across, not to mention the fact that Portal 2 takes place hundreds of years after the first so the above ground establishments were probably overgrown.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Dun bother me. I didn't expect any Half-Life allusions in a non Half-Life game. That little snippet Cave Johnson said was good enough for me.

 

[Woodsey]

Its set 100s of years after the events of HL2. How many references can they make, considering the facility hasn't been exposed to the outside world (or had only been a tiny amount)?

The ending was perfect for me: Chell was allowed to go free, the turret opera was hilarious, and we found out more about Portal's slice of the Half Life universe. I read Eurogamer's review, and I think they gave the game's story/writing a bit of a disservice by referencing the B-Movie presentation of the L4D games. Its very sharply written, and the ending is fairly poignant really.

I think Portal 2 had more references to Half Life then Portal did anyway.

I love the Retcon, I mean when you first 'die' at the end of Portal you end up in a street/entrance to aperture. What happened to all of it? Is this some sort of 'Side' entrance or a backdoor?

The facility is huge, and the area with Cave Johnson recordings is some 4000 metres below the surface. Considering what they were doing, they would want a fairly inconspicuous entrance too. Bear in mind the time difference too - who knows what's happened to the planet in that time? There's certainly been enough time for a field to grow over a forgotten facility.

 

[Daverson]

Spoiler

Valve get more points than anyone ever for not succumbing to my pet peeve and putting the whole Lunar Lander there. The crew bit on the Lunar lander isn't there anymore! That's the whole point of the lunar lander! That the crew module leaves! The plan isn't to put man on the moon, then leave him there, is it? That's the sort of thing the Soviets were planning...

Look, here's a video that proves it:
Apollo 17 Lander Takeoff [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOdzhQS_MMw]

Spoiler

So it depending on where AS's complex is, which seems to be in the US because 1)LHC [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LHC] is in Europe already occupying several countries' worth of undeground space, 2) AS's US government funding, 3) the unfinished SSC planned to take up 87.1 kilometres (54.1 mi) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider].

Spoiler

The Enrichment centre is based in an abandoned salt mine in Michigan. There's a newspaper clipping in the 1950s bit which says this

Some other things I noticed:

Spoiler: Personality cores

There's another Personality core, like Wheatley. I thought it was Wheatley, at first, like a zombie Wheatley, but I'm pretty sure it isn't. I don't want to say it's Rattmann, but hiding in walls, watching your every move.... he's the only Portal Character who'd do something like that. (Unless someone wants to try and tell me G-Man became a personality core, but that's just dumb)

It shows up throughout the the GLaDOS testing phase, and seems to be trying to hide from you, rather than GLaDOS. I don't think it's noisy or stupid enough to be Wheatley... ("He's not just a regular moron, he's the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together with the express purpose of building the dumbest moron who ever lived"

Favourite personality core: "Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!"

Spoiler: Turrets

Anyone know what's up with the fat turret? It shows up in an elevator near the start, then at the end. Was it an enemy that didn't make the final cut?

Favourite turret: Animal King Takeover Turret

The redemption turret ("I'm different!") says "Her name is Carolyn", long before this becomes a plot point.

Spoiler: Smooth Jazz

Apparently Smooth Jazz is funny to everyone, ever. Who knew?

 

[CleverNickname]

Slightly annoyed, because I desperately wanted some references. However, I never really considered how much time has passed, so it was probably extremely unlikely to run into Gordon, Alyx or a Combine once free. The/A Citadel would have been nice, but again, wrong timing.

So with everything dead and gone, what could they have referenced. Except in 1 GlaDOS made a passing reference to outside events, why not another one in 2...

So ultimately it's a shame they set Portal 2 so far into the future. Though I still don't know where people get their numbers from. I guess Valve made it deliberately vague to leave everything open for HL's story.
But Chell definitely needs time travel now. And more than just trace amounts...

 

[razelas]

Spoiler

The Enrichment centre is based in an abandoned salt mine in Michigan. There's a newspaper clipping in the 1950s bit which says this

Spoiler

Huh, never knew that. Scratch whatever I just said.

 

[razelas]

Spoiler

The ending was perfect for me: Chell was allowed to go free, the turret opera was hilarious, and we found out more about Portal's slice of the Half Life universe.

Spoiler

I don't think this is the end of Aperature Science, just Chell's story. There is, after all, the Aurora Borealis.