Note: Any time you see this screen in this video, it is because that part was not covered by demo files. This includes the map loading screens for instance.
Once again, the statusboard symbols are randomized. Even the list is a random subset out from a larger list. I should stop reading them.
Portal 2 is awfully gray. I wanted to improve the contrast in postprocess for this video as well, but it would have increased the encoding time by hours, so I did not do it.
Sometimes you hear the portal gun sound effect twice. That's because it comes from the video camera and also from the demo file. It was a lot of work to synchronize these two. For some reason, the demo replay plays at a slightly different speed than when it was recorded, and the difference is not consistent enough to compensate for automatically.
At this point, I did not know which parts of the puzzle can be later returned to. You can only fall down, not up after all. So I spent time considering my decision here.
Because you can only fall _down_ after all. Potential energy is power. You don't want to waste it. If the two-wayness was more obvious, I would not have wasted time here.
Sometimes you will see the camera view spaz like that for a bit. It repeats a fraction of a second of the video.
This was actually intentionally caused by video editing, whenever I manually resynced the replay with the microphone-recorded audio. I had to do that periodically, so that the replay will remain in sync with my reactions. Because for some reason the demo replays at a slightly different rate than it was played on.
You can faintly hear two background songs simultaneously here. The song is also randomly selected when the map loads. One comes from the camera microphone, and the other from demo replay. Or two parallel realities.
This is the loading screen.
Well, not. But you don't see any loading screens when you use "startmovie" + "playdemo", so this screen substitutes for that.
I forgot to start demo recording here!
I am very sorry. You can sort of hear me playing, and you can see my camera view, but the gameplay view comes back when I die the next time (which is around 14:20). I still recommend you listen to my commentary here :-) If it's not too boring.
And the cube is even properly oriented! That was surprising. I know that their startup angle is predictable, but I was fully prepared to have to manually place and orient the cube in the funnel.
Well of course I want to solve your chamber using a bug! Thanks for asking!
And I know one bug that I _could_ use to solve this chamber is the funnel flying glitch. I didn't feel like using it though.
I was testing whether I could place the vertical bridge to block my movement in the funnel.
Note: Going to the console pauses the demo recording. I inserted this pause screen here to compensate for the delay; otherwise the demo would resume from here immediately and be desynced from what actually happened.
I'm flying back to where I was before activating noclip. I'm only using noclip to make observations, but I'm not going to cheat on the solution.
I forgot to enable recording, again.
After you load/die, you must always go to the console and start it manually. Which I forgot to do.
Again, I am sorry. But this period of videolessness is shorter than the last time, about 20 or 25 seconds.
My theory was that the cube dropper needs both the "ON" signal and the "OFF" signal (i.e. a descending edge) before it drops the cube.
Which I should have known is not the case, from plenty of experience, but I'm not always thinking clearly.
I am so glad you didn't put a pool of goo right next to the angled panel.
Still, stairs would have been so much nicer.
I know what it is for! But at that moment I did not remember that I used it in the beginning of the chamber. Funny how you forget little details while you are solving the puzzle. Like you can clearly look at something and even comment on it, and then promptly forget about it ever having existed.
This was a design flaw in my opinion. It is probably not intentional from you to trap* the player in this room if they accidentally replace the portal.
*) Not trapped really, but the path of returning involves extra work.
Hey, I remembered to activate demo recording this time!
This is my "you've gotta be kidding me" face.
When you see me using noclip for something else than scouting around (i.e. moving myself from part of the puzzle to another and actually doing stuff), you know I am getting frustrated.
And by the way, I forgot to re-enable demo recording once again.
Video resumes at about 36:20. You can safely skip there. This entire section is me trying to figure out why the cube does not line up with the laser receiver (not my fault by the way) and thus the exit remains locked.
By now I was becoming rather unhappy with this chamber.
For an observation room, this room has surprisingly bad view to the things it is supposed to be for observing.
I typed "restart" on the console at first. It usually results in map reloading. This time it didn't. So I tried the "Restart" menu option, which did not work either.
I had to choose the map again from the single-player maps list.
A manual resync of the video caused this déjàvu, too.
A pair of stairs (ascending from both sides) would alleviate some frustration here.
Well, except for the problem with getting the laser to hit the laser receiver. This was sort of you and the game engine, both at fault.
