Quote from Sword of Apollo on May 15, 2011, 6:31 pm

LLQuinten wrote:

OK now I'm stuck. Can't figure out how to continue from the fast ridong platform. [spoiler]Tried to put a portal on the moving blocks where the train stops and fling out the platforms that sink in the ground. But I can't manage to get through the portal with anough velocity to fling upwards.[/spoiler] Is this the right solution and do I need to practice or am I completely on the wrong track?

Some help please!

LLQuinten, please use spoiler tags when describing problems late in the level in detail, or talking about your solution attempts for puzzles. (Please go back and edit this last post to add the spoiler tags, so it looks like my quote.)

[spoiler]You are on the right track. You want to go through the portal before the platform stops, so adjust your position accordingly.[/spoiler]

Quote from mxylplx on May 15, 2011, 10:42 pm

I didn't think it was possible but this map has made me sick of playing Portal. Completing this map without the use of cheats isn't even remotely imaginable.

Edit: Don't mean to come off as dickish. This is the best and most expansive map I've ever seen. It's mind boggling.
[spoiler]What's the deal with the colored lasers? At first I thought it might be a pattern based on the colors from the hallway but the colors don't match. Cyan in the hallway and orange in the temple?[/spoiler]

I feel like I could spend a lifetime working on this

Quote from Sword of Apollo on May 15, 2011, 11:38 pm

On getting through the last door:

A poster on another site tells me about his attempts to get through the last door of the chamber with the glass box. He has been attempting the solution that I intended, but still can't make it. Here is my advice:

[spoiler]No, you are doing the right thing. I have to say that I would prefer to make the intended solution easier to execute. I would add an extra half second to the timer, but the problem is that an extra half second would open up an alternative solution that I don't want. I wanted the door to just slam in the player's face if they did the best they could on the alternative solution (portal in the corner,) but just slide in in the nick of time if they used the intended (flinging) solution. But it is makeable as it is, if you do the following:

Make sure that your portals are pre-placed.
Test to find the best/furthest place from the button that allows you to activate it. This is going to be part way down the stairs on the right side of the platform.
Press the button, turn right, sidestep, move forward and jump immediately, in one motion. You are going to fly right at the door, and will probably hit the wall slightly above it. Make sure that you are pressing forward as you land.
If you do it fast enough, you will slide right in the door.
(You can't really take the time to gauge your jump, so it may take you more than one try to make it into your first portal, but as soon as you do, the battle is won. Also, if you miss to the side, you can replace the portal at the last moment.)

When I do this part, I make it a large percentage of the time (over 50 percent,) but then, I have had a lot of practice. I intended this map for experienced Portal players, so I figured my target player base would be good enough technically with the controls for this last part to not be too big a frustration. But knowing what I know now with player feedback, if I had the initial release to do over again, I would rework the geometry a little to hopefully make it easier, yet prevent the alternative solution.

Anyway, if in the end you find you really have to noclip through the door, I see no shame in that, since you do know how it is supposed to be solved, and the only thing that is preventing you is control.[/spoiler]

Quote from LLQuinten on May 16, 2011, 3:26 am

Thanks again for this great map. In the end even the last puzzle was simple. The execution was a bit tricky but that is how its supposed to be. Keep up the good work.

Have you made other maps? Can't wait to play another one.

Quote from mxylplx on May 16, 2011, 3:34 am

I'm at a standstill.

Caution, spoilers contain info about map and plot secrets

[spoiler]http://imgur.com/Fpt8y

That's all Greek to me. I was able to get to the books no problem, got all the portals linked up and have 3 books in place. In the 2nd hidden room in the main puzzle room, not the one with the book, there's the money arch room. That seems to be a dead end, there's a grate above the arch with a duct in it, but there is no portable surface inside the duct. I had to use the portal never fail cheat to get to this nexus room. Now that I'm here and have the glass plate in place to try to decode the combination, I can make neither heads nor tails of it. I first tried a literal translation from Greek, no go. I tried a translation based on your grid, no go. I'm looking at 4 axis, each point can represent 4 letters. I was thinking the symbols in the corners may be a primer or a key or some type, but I can't wrap my head around how it's supposed to work.

I've been all over the map for hours now, and it certainly appears that the grate over the money room arch is the proper way into that room, but there is no way to do that without cheating. That grate MUST be the entrance because it's impossible for it to be an exit. Once you're standing on that grate, there is NO WAY out of there without cheating as the walls aren't portable.

When I found the observatory in the room above the door button off the main puzzle room, I was BLOWN AWAY!
tl;dr I can't decode your Greek cipher puzzle![/spoiler]

AMAZING MAP! Just incredible. I have a feeling that I'd have a better appreciation for it if I were a Randian.

Quote from test_subject_name on May 16, 2011, 10:23 am

This one is a hardcore map (for me), loving it this way! BIG UP Sword of Apollo!! btw, [spoiler]i managed to get to the last button in 2 portals with no air portal placing. Required some trial and error portal placing and air steering[/spoiler]

The Last Room i was like "WTF!!!" but a minute later i was like "ah-ha, i see what you mean ".
Took me 80minutes to get through the map, the hardest part was figuring out the energy ball redirection, spent areound 20 minutes running around looking at walls

Also, no idea about that greek room, will check it out again

EDIT: any hints on the greek hall pls?? i only found the blue book

[spoiler]UPD: ok, with a little noclip help i found that very well hidden teleportable surface in the laser floor room and got the second book and eventually got amazed at the BOOK HALL. this is awesome. The question is, are the other secret passages hidden as well as the first one? because i would never find it without noclip Oh and is the book hall made only to amaze people?[/spoiler]

Quote from mxylplx on May 16, 2011, 7:55 pm

[quote="test_subject_name"]

EDIT: any hints on the greek hall pls?? i only found the blue book

Location of secrets
[spoiler]There are two more secret rooms accessible from the test chamber with the energy pellet.[/spoiler]

Method to getting to them. This will reduce the fun of discovery, but if you're using noclip it should be pretty easy to find these.

[spoiler]After hitting the button to open the door to the collapsing bridge hallway, a panel on the wall above the button opens up. It's hidden behind 2 broken small cubes. You can portal in. After that, you need to take those 2 small cubes and get on top of the black structure behind where the ball dispenser is. Use the 2 small cubes to get up farther and drop down into another room. After you get the books in these rooms, the switched portals lead to another chamber above the greek chamber. I haven't found the last book or figured out how to open a hidden door in the 3rd secret room.[/spoiler]

The problem I'm having is that after these, I'm totally stuck.

[spoiler]I think there's another secret entrance somewhere that I missed[/spoiler]

Quote from Sword of Apollo on May 16, 2011, 8:10 pm

Okay, everyone who hasn't cheated everywhere yet, but is tempted to cheat to find secrets: If you can hold on a little longer, I'm working on an update that will make the secrets a little more obvious, along with fixing a couple of exploits and other issues.

Quote from mxylplx on May 16, 2011, 10:15 pm

Giving up for now. Going to let someone else figure out the last? puzzle.

Don't read this unless you are Sword of Apollo or are nearly finished with the map.

[spoiler]Great map but the crypto puzzles spoil it for me. I did the colored lasers in the order of the color of the rooms on my way to the laser room, didn't seem to do anything. I tried a number of combinations from things I had seen all over the map but mostly in that area and I never figured out if it did anything. If it did work there should be an affirmative tone or something. The greek crypto puzzle totally ruined the experience. The mechanics of picking up those glass plates is just horrendous in Portal. It took me probably 5 minutes to get each plate lined up correctly before I could slide them into the thing. After that, I tried to solve the puzzle but I must be missing something. There are too many possible combinations (F/R|E/Q/J/V|A/M|C/O|C/O|F/R) to try and brute force considering how long it takes to input them. If I break it down further using the colored icons as a key (Red star means top row, yellow star means bottom row, etc.) I get a possible R|R/E|A|O|O|R, neither of which worked. I'm disappointed that I didn't finish it, but I've got close to 12 hours into this map and the last 2 were spent staring at the glass plates. Oh and I still don't have any idea what unlocked the glass plates from the walls. One of them had a handle, but the other 2 seemed to just unlock of their own accord. I figured they weren't meant to come out, I left and be-bopped around the map for a while and when I came back they were unlocked. There is just no connection between actions I'm taking and the results. I'll give it an 8/10.[/spoiler]