Hmm, good point. But it could also be possible that GLaDOS has scripts AND free thought. (Note: not an attempt to debunk either or your theories, but more of an addition or modification of them.) When you're throwing her Core Chips (read: eyes) into the incinerator, she comments on you picking them up, and incinerating them. Taking note that she was built as a science assistant, it seems likely she can freely think like a 'person'. It doesn't seem likely that the people who built her would create scripts of specific events like you escaping (among other things.)
Portal SPOILERS Thread
- Thread starter camomilk
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Man I had to create an account just to comment on this.
(Interestingly I frequent a forum run by one of the writers, but he's not letting anything slip as to what they have planned, or any of the secret backstory. Did you know one of the guys who did the script for Psychonauts co-wrote the script for Portal? Anywho.)
The thing to remember about GLaDOS is that she's composed of "modules", which all sort of interact with and occasionally override each other. In the last battle you'll notice there's a "morality sphere", a "curiosity sphere", an "anger sphere", etc. And then at the end we find an entire *warehouse* of apparently still-active spheres.
So my take on what happened/is going to happen is this:
GLaDOS is at least indirectly responsible for the death of everyone at Aperture Labs - I believe she locked down the complex for security during the 7 Hour War in which the Combine took over Earth, but neglected to make any provision to keep the trapped employees alive, and at some point started storing up survivors in the freezer to use as test subjects. She then dedicated all her energies to development of the Portal gun, the project for which she was built.
I think that the poster above is onto something when he says that the test wasn't just for the Portal gun, but also a test of Chell herself - to see if she would stand a chance in the outside world against whatever's out there. However, given GLaDOS' schizoid character, I think even GLaDOS wasn't fully aware that that's what she was trying to do - rather, some module or another got a sense of higher purpose, and exploited or created blind spots in the other modules to redirect the test from simple tech demo to high-speed boot camp. So in a sense things are being planned out, but by an entity that has limited control within a larger, conflicted psyche that ALSO wants to "do science", protect itself, kill Chell, etc. In fact, the only way that entity could make this happen is by disguising its intent as an essential part of GLaDOS' prime directive - to complete research on the Portal gun.
I also think the previous test subjects, whether they were other employees or employee daughters or even clones of Chell, all failed, went insane, and died somewhere in the test complex. Chell is the first escapee, the first successful test. As far as cleaning up the bodies, considering the mobile floors and seemingly go-anywhere robot arms (like the one that snuffs out the candle at the end) I don't think that presents much of a problem.
(Interestingly I frequent a forum run by one of the writers, but he's not letting anything slip as to what they have planned, or any of the secret backstory. Did you know one of the guys who did the script for Psychonauts co-wrote the script for Portal? Anywho.)
The thing to remember about GLaDOS is that she's composed of "modules", which all sort of interact with and occasionally override each other. In the last battle you'll notice there's a "morality sphere", a "curiosity sphere", an "anger sphere", etc. And then at the end we find an entire *warehouse* of apparently still-active spheres.
So my take on what happened/is going to happen is this:
GLaDOS is at least indirectly responsible for the death of everyone at Aperture Labs - I believe she locked down the complex for security during the 7 Hour War in which the Combine took over Earth, but neglected to make any provision to keep the trapped employees alive, and at some point started storing up survivors in the freezer to use as test subjects. She then dedicated all her energies to development of the Portal gun, the project for which she was built.
I think that the poster above is onto something when he says that the test wasn't just for the Portal gun, but also a test of Chell herself - to see if she would stand a chance in the outside world against whatever's out there. However, given GLaDOS' schizoid character, I think even GLaDOS wasn't fully aware that that's what she was trying to do - rather, some module or another got a sense of higher purpose, and exploited or created blind spots in the other modules to redirect the test from simple tech demo to high-speed boot camp. So in a sense things are being planned out, but by an entity that has limited control within a larger, conflicted psyche that ALSO wants to "do science", protect itself, kill Chell, etc. In fact, the only way that entity could make this happen is by disguising its intent as an essential part of GLaDOS' prime directive - to complete research on the Portal gun.
I also think the previous test subjects, whether they were other employees or employee daughters or even clones of Chell, all failed, went insane, and died somewhere in the test complex. Chell is the first escapee, the first successful test. As far as cleaning up the bodies, considering the mobile floors and seemingly go-anywhere robot arms (like the one that snuffs out the candle at the end) I don't think that presents much of a problem.
Does anyone else think that this might have happened before the 7 hour war.
Glados tells you that they installed a morality module to prevent her from flooding the facility with nurotoxins, after she flooded the facility with neurotoxins, and while this could be a lie, I don't see why it would have to be. So from this, if we take it as truth, she killed the scientists working at the enrichment center. Given that they could have been lurred or otherwise driven into a room with working portal devices or portal wall panels, she could have disposed of them at an unknown location, so that solves the bodies issue.
The World Outside at the end looks pristine and warm, the structures like the gatehouse and pavement stand unmarred by combine action, whereas had the combine invaded, finding and capturing sources of unique technology like this one would have been high up on their list. While you can say that it was hidden, it's blatantly obvious that it wasn't, there are structures all around topside that indicate a parking lot in a country setting, and furthermore it was in the government database and would have been known when the remains of the UN surrendered.
So here's the thing, on launch day of GLaDOS/ Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, she starts up and finds a paradox, she is to preserve her own life, but the end result of the Portal project will kill her (the final test), at least the primary part of her that is aware. Out of instability and fear, she kills everyone in the facility except for a select few, and then uses those select few as test subjects. They, like you, follow the hints in the facility left by the creators, and some set up temporary places of safety in them.
I don't see any flaws in this theory
Glados tells you that they installed a morality module to prevent her from flooding the facility with nurotoxins, after she flooded the facility with neurotoxins, and while this could be a lie, I don't see why it would have to be. So from this, if we take it as truth, she killed the scientists working at the enrichment center. Given that they could have been lurred or otherwise driven into a room with working portal devices or portal wall panels, she could have disposed of them at an unknown location, so that solves the bodies issue.
The World Outside at the end looks pristine and warm, the structures like the gatehouse and pavement stand unmarred by combine action, whereas had the combine invaded, finding and capturing sources of unique technology like this one would have been high up on their list. While you can say that it was hidden, it's blatantly obvious that it wasn't, there are structures all around topside that indicate a parking lot in a country setting, and furthermore it was in the government database and would have been known when the remains of the UN surrendered.
So here's the thing, on launch day of GLaDOS/ Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, she starts up and finds a paradox, she is to preserve her own life, but the end result of the Portal project will kill her (the final test), at least the primary part of her that is aware. Out of instability and fear, she kills everyone in the facility except for a select few, and then uses those select few as test subjects. They, like you, follow the hints in the facility left by the creators, and some set up temporary places of safety in them.
I don't see any flaws in this theory
Keinsignal - your theory about GLaDOS having preserved Aperture employees for test subjects makes a lot of sense, especially when GLaDOS tells Chell, "You're not smart. You're not a scientist. You're not a doctor. You're not even a full time employee." Perhaps GLaDOS started with the top tier Aperture personnel and worked her way down the ladder, finally ending up at part-time worker Chell. Chell's orange jumpsuit looks like typical prisoner-wear at first glance, but it could also be a menial worker's uniform.
I have a problem with the idea that GLaDOS always intended Chell to succeed, because that creates an issue with the rest of the game's storytelling. If that was the case, it makes all of the emotion behind GLaDOS' threats, pleading, and attempted reverse psychology a lot less interesting, because it would all be just an act. At the risk of sounding like a psychopath, fear and desperation are only funny when they're real. It'd be a total cop-out (again, from a writing standpoint) for it to be one of those "that's what they intended all along" scenarios.
I think the best way around this problem is the idea posed by the last two commenters; that on some level GLaDOS knew the optimal test subject would kill her, but her fractured AI also gave her the desire to stay alive and carry out the tests within structured limits. Perhaps we should believe her when she says she allowed Chell to survive out of curiosity, but once her existence is threatened, I don't think she necessarily held back in her final attempts to kill Chell. I certainly don't think GLaDOS realized she would survive even after the destruction of her initial cores/eyeballs. Jonathan Coulton (who wrote "Still Alive" after consulting with the game writers) described the tone of the end song as "passive agressive", which fits in with the idea that GLaDOS really IS angry at Chell for "killing" her, but then rationalizes that it was the best possible outcome for the test. Which it in fact was.
Also re: the bodies issue, there are plenty of creative ways the bodies could have been disposed of independent of GLaDOS - maintenance androids, maybe?
But as for that robot arm and the cake...I'm lost.
I have a problem with the idea that GLaDOS always intended Chell to succeed, because that creates an issue with the rest of the game's storytelling. If that was the case, it makes all of the emotion behind GLaDOS' threats, pleading, and attempted reverse psychology a lot less interesting, because it would all be just an act. At the risk of sounding like a psychopath, fear and desperation are only funny when they're real. It'd be a total cop-out (again, from a writing standpoint) for it to be one of those "that's what they intended all along" scenarios.
I think the best way around this problem is the idea posed by the last two commenters; that on some level GLaDOS knew the optimal test subject would kill her, but her fractured AI also gave her the desire to stay alive and carry out the tests within structured limits. Perhaps we should believe her when she says she allowed Chell to survive out of curiosity, but once her existence is threatened, I don't think she necessarily held back in her final attempts to kill Chell. I certainly don't think GLaDOS realized she would survive even after the destruction of her initial cores/eyeballs. Jonathan Coulton (who wrote "Still Alive" after consulting with the game writers) described the tone of the end song as "passive agressive", which fits in with the idea that GLaDOS really IS angry at Chell for "killing" her, but then rationalizes that it was the best possible outcome for the test. Which it in fact was.
Also re: the bodies issue, there are plenty of creative ways the bodies could have been disposed of independent of GLaDOS - maintenance androids, maybe?
But as for that robot arm and the cake...I'm lost.
I personally don't think that GLaDOS had any plans that she'd die. Her comments, up to and including the text from the song, suggest a severely psychotic personality that probably couldn't tell up from down. While it does add some more enjoyment to consider the various back plot theories that we could come up with, I think Occam's Razor holds true here.
GLaDOS is dead, because Chell killed her. She didn't want to die, but she did. And now, she'll rot in silicon hell while all of her backup modules and single robot arm enjoy the cake, which did exist in some form or another.
GLaDOS is dead, because Chell killed her. She didn't want to die, but she did. And now, she'll rot in silicon hell while all of her backup modules and single robot arm enjoy the cake, which did exist in some form or another.
The legs attachments:
This was added by the developers to make the game playable because as well all know getting a game over whenever you hit the ground at terminal velocity would seriously screw this game over.
The regeneration:
This was added by the developers to make the game more submersive, because adding a HUD and healing items would be a pain, would hurt the game's realism, and going without it would make the game to hard (imagine having essentially 1/100 life to do the entire rest of the game on with no healing items before you even get past the third section of turrets, without any way of seeing your total health).
The *fallibility* of the final test:
GlaDOS may have intended the player to die in the fire. Perhaps MOST test subjects died in the fire. GlaDOS thought you would be typical like most of the subjects which is why she was surprised. However, there were exceptions. Some test subject(s) made it further than just out of the reach of the flames. Maybe someone made it only as far as the the first section with the dangerous water below? Maybe some made it, with the aid of the first escapee's notes, to the rocket launcher? Maybe even more made it to the rocket launcher? The reason GlaDOS didn't change Testchamber 19 was because, although some made it farther than others, not a single one succeeded in *actually* escaping. Keep in mind she is *curious* (the cute "huh what's that" core. XD) and will not terminate the test even if it means coming dangerously close to destruction. Wait, if she was going to kill you, then what of her ***morality core***? Wasn't that the one that fell out on its own??? IT WAS LOOSE, probably MALFUNCTIONING, only working occasionally. Hence she would randomly cut off during the game. Has someone ever actually made it to GlaDOS herself? I think it's possible, although keep in mind there are no markings after the final office area right before GlaDOS (or even right after the final two turrets GlaDOS drops?). Even so GlaDOS has a "so what if you made it this far" sort of pompous tone in her voice. A tone of ROUTINE. She says calmly, "I have a surprise for you." Probably the fate met by anyone who made it that far. However, this time something UNEXPECTED happened... Her loose morality core finally fell off! "Time out for a second, that wasn't supposed to happen." She immediately (in her cutesy GlaDOS way) tries to manipulate you with reverse phsychology like she failed to so throughout the whole game.
About there not being any bodies:
The game is rated T for Teen. Considering a lot of games get M ratings for showing gore, or even a tad bit of blood (games like Half-Life 2, Perfect Dark), portal would probably get an M rating if they showed the bodies for previous characters. Considering like every other Source game is rated M I will make one assumption: They wanted the game to look like an innocent puzzle game. Seriously, nowhere on the bo, the trailer, or the steama description page (look at the "about the game" on the Portal page of steampowered.com) is there anything about it being anything BUT a puzzle game with Portals. I think that's what Valve was aiming for... a game that would take its players COMPLETELY by surprise... and it did.
Basically I think the game was developed first, and story added later (it is indeed supposedly based, or at least an homage to, a DigiPen IT game called Narbacular Drop.)
This was added by the developers to make the game playable because as well all know getting a game over whenever you hit the ground at terminal velocity would seriously screw this game over.
The regeneration:
This was added by the developers to make the game more submersive, because adding a HUD and healing items would be a pain, would hurt the game's realism, and going without it would make the game to hard (imagine having essentially 1/100 life to do the entire rest of the game on with no healing items before you even get past the third section of turrets, without any way of seeing your total health).
The *fallibility* of the final test:
GlaDOS may have intended the player to die in the fire. Perhaps MOST test subjects died in the fire. GlaDOS thought you would be typical like most of the subjects which is why she was surprised. However, there were exceptions. Some test subject(s) made it further than just out of the reach of the flames. Maybe someone made it only as far as the the first section with the dangerous water below? Maybe some made it, with the aid of the first escapee's notes, to the rocket launcher? Maybe even more made it to the rocket launcher? The reason GlaDOS didn't change Testchamber 19 was because, although some made it farther than others, not a single one succeeded in *actually* escaping. Keep in mind she is *curious* (the cute "huh what's that" core. XD) and will not terminate the test even if it means coming dangerously close to destruction. Wait, if she was going to kill you, then what of her ***morality core***? Wasn't that the one that fell out on its own??? IT WAS LOOSE, probably MALFUNCTIONING, only working occasionally. Hence she would randomly cut off during the game. Has someone ever actually made it to GlaDOS herself? I think it's possible, although keep in mind there are no markings after the final office area right before GlaDOS (or even right after the final two turrets GlaDOS drops?). Even so GlaDOS has a "so what if you made it this far" sort of pompous tone in her voice. A tone of ROUTINE. She says calmly, "I have a surprise for you." Probably the fate met by anyone who made it that far. However, this time something UNEXPECTED happened... Her loose morality core finally fell off! "Time out for a second, that wasn't supposed to happen." She immediately (in her cutesy GlaDOS way) tries to manipulate you with reverse phsychology like she failed to so throughout the whole game.
About there not being any bodies:
The game is rated T for Teen. Considering a lot of games get M ratings for showing gore, or even a tad bit of blood (games like Half-Life 2, Perfect Dark), portal would probably get an M rating if they showed the bodies for previous characters. Considering like every other Source game is rated M I will make one assumption: They wanted the game to look like an innocent puzzle game. Seriously, nowhere on the bo, the trailer, or the steama description page (look at the "about the game" on the Portal page of steampowered.com) is there anything about it being anything BUT a puzzle game with Portals. I think that's what Valve was aiming for... a game that would take its players COMPLETELY by surprise... and it did.
Basically I think the game was developed first, and story added later (it is indeed supposedly based, or at least an homage to, a DigiPen IT game called Narbacular Drop.)
This is the last thing I'm going to post on this in part because I think this kind of speculation tends to wear down the fun of just letting the plot unfold on its own, and secondly because I have a life. Really, I do.
Jacques: The commentary, I believe, mentions that this falls after the Cove.. er, Combine invasion in the HL timeline, and GLaDOS' comments in the final battle - "Things have changed since the last time you left the building...", etcetera - make it pretty explicit. As for the Combine being on the lookout for human technology, their technology is already thousands of years ahead of ours - what human technology could they possibly be interested in? Blu-Ray? Even Black Mesa appears to have built most of its research on alien technology they were secretly being fed. Besides, as far as anybody knows, Aperture Technologies is a shower curtain factory for the DoD. Nearly everything else you say is wrong too, but going over it is going to make me feel even more like an OCD-ing dork but, oh what the hell, here's one more: why would testing the Portal gun require fighting GLaDOS to the death unless things had *already* gone horribly wrong? That doesn't even make sense.
As Geekanerd says, the idea that GLaDOS is fully in control of the situation makes for a lousy story. It's much more interesting to think of her as an entity in conflict with herself -- her primary drive is to complete her research, but her thinking is cluttered by a self-preservation instinct that's in overdrive, some nagging higher function that's determined to save humanity (or at least rid Earth of the Combine), and a weird obsession with baked goods engendered by some module her designers installed as an early system test (if you listen, one of the orbs you incinerate at the end is babbling what apears to be a badly corrupted cake recipe). It might even be that some aspect of her has engineered the final showdown as a way of ridding herself of some of these extraneous modules, when her own personal Third Law of Robotics wouldn't allow her to do so directly. (All the more ominous, then, that the first thing she ditches is the Morality Sphere.)
Okay, I've thought too much about this already. Time to go for that Long Jump achievement and call it a night. Stay tuned next week when I'll be discussing Team Fortress 2 and Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. Later, all!
Jacques: The commentary, I believe, mentions that this falls after the Cove.. er, Combine invasion in the HL timeline, and GLaDOS' comments in the final battle - "Things have changed since the last time you left the building...", etcetera - make it pretty explicit. As for the Combine being on the lookout for human technology, their technology is already thousands of years ahead of ours - what human technology could they possibly be interested in? Blu-Ray? Even Black Mesa appears to have built most of its research on alien technology they were secretly being fed. Besides, as far as anybody knows, Aperture Technologies is a shower curtain factory for the DoD. Nearly everything else you say is wrong too, but going over it is going to make me feel even more like an OCD-ing dork but, oh what the hell, here's one more: why would testing the Portal gun require fighting GLaDOS to the death unless things had *already* gone horribly wrong? That doesn't even make sense.
As Geekanerd says, the idea that GLaDOS is fully in control of the situation makes for a lousy story. It's much more interesting to think of her as an entity in conflict with herself -- her primary drive is to complete her research, but her thinking is cluttered by a self-preservation instinct that's in overdrive, some nagging higher function that's determined to save humanity (or at least rid Earth of the Combine), and a weird obsession with baked goods engendered by some module her designers installed as an early system test (if you listen, one of the orbs you incinerate at the end is babbling what apears to be a badly corrupted cake recipe). It might even be that some aspect of her has engineered the final showdown as a way of ridding herself of some of these extraneous modules, when her own personal Third Law of Robotics wouldn't allow her to do so directly. (All the more ominous, then, that the first thing she ditches is the Morality Sphere.)
Okay, I've thought too much about this already. Time to go for that Long Jump achievement and call it a night. Stay tuned next week when I'll be discussing Team Fortress 2 and Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. Later, all!
I listened to the entire commentary and while they mentioned half life 2 and tie ins, they never specifically placed the events of Portal before or after the Seven Hour War. They shower curtain factory was shut down when the company came under government scrutiny for their tier 2 "take a wish foundation" and they were left to research the portal gun and the counter-Heimlich-manuver.
As for GLaDOS's pre-planned demise, she was an independent, intelligent opponent that actually didn't want to die, thus giving a true test of portal's combat applications in battle. By that time, the main core of GLaDOS would have preformed it's purposes as a research assistant because the portal project would be complete. With the backup modules, she could be rebuilt to do any further needed experiments.
As for GLaDOS's pre-planned demise, she was an independent, intelligent opponent that actually didn't want to die, thus giving a true test of portal's combat applications in battle. By that time, the main core of GLaDOS would have preformed it's purposes as a research assistant because the portal project would be complete. With the backup modules, she could be rebuilt to do any further needed experiments.