u/Hour_Trade_3691

From what I've seen, there are exactly 4 Portal fan games that are considered really good, although not quite living up to the reputation of Portal 2.

Portal Stories

Aperture Tag

Portal: Reloaded

Portal: Revolution

There's also Blue Portals and Thinking with Time Machine, But those seem to be treated more as fun little warm-ups.

I did a quick Google search to see if there were any other Portal Fang games in the work and found that there actually was quite a few, but I couldn't really find any direct information on it. It's hard to tell which ones are exactly the most hyped, how long these games are supposed to be, and what exactly they are.

I wrote about this story before, but honestly it just keeps coming back to me and I just want to keep writing about it because it always sticks in my head as the ultimate beacon of strange Pentecostal culture.

There was a Pentecostal group that I was a part of for about a year and a half. It was a lot of fun for the first few months, but problems began to show as time went on. I left because I started to realize how toxic it was, and from what I heard, the population of that group has apparently gone down to just 10 people, which is way less than the $70 that used to go. When I first started attending. It was always their goal to apparently have at least a thousand people showing up to their group every week, and I feel like it was their lack of gratefulness for the people they already had that is leading them down a tough path now. Also, apparently the current leader has been accused of a bunch of crap in his currently fighting that in legal court and doesn't have time to run the group anymore, so that's interesting.

Anyway, back when I was still in the group, it was Canada Day and I heard that they were doing some evangelism downtown, so I found them and joined them for a bit. I didn't actually evangelize to anyone, but I just followed them around.

Then some random guy came up to me. I had never seen him before, and I thought for a moment that he thought that I was someone who could be evangelized to, so after a quick introduction I quickly explained that I was already part of the group. But he didn't seem convinced, and I can't help but wonder if someone from the group actively told this guy that I was: 'struggling with my faith,' And to talk to me about it, because he started asking me what I thought about Jesus. I tried to be as honest as possible, and when he asked me why I wasn't completely converted to Pentecostalism, I said it was mainly the idea of Hell that turned me off the basic Christian idea of the afterlife.

For some reason, when I said that, it seemed to genuinely surprise him, as if he had never heard that before.

Anyway, I expected to never really hear from him again, but then once when I visited the regular thing that the group does every week, he happened to be there, greeted me, and then asked me almost immediately if the fact that I was there now meant that I was now converted.

I was honestly surprised with how oblivious he was. One of the very first things I said to him in conversation was that I was already integrated into the group, and yet he didn't seem to realize that that obviously meant I attend their weekly events. Nevertheless, I went ahead and said no not really, and when I said that, he literally seemed mindblown, asking me almost out of desperation what I could possibly need to be convinced, and if I needed Jesus himself to come down and talk to me directly.

I told him that I didn't really want to talk about that right now, because I figured getting into any sort of conversation with this guy was not going to result in anything good or fruitful.

One thing that really weirded me out was that the guy started asking about this random woman who was also evangelizing downtown on Canada Day. I knew who she was talking about, and honestly I didn't really like her that much, but this guy asked if I knew where she was, and I said I didn't and that I wasn't that close with her, and then he straight up smiled and looked at me saying:

'She's very beautiful, huh?'

I physically cringed before simply responding:

'Okay.'

Apparently this guy is also a pastor. I honestly can't imagine what kind of sermons he gives, or what the church that he attends is like.

The conversation ended shortly after that, and as people were leaving for the day, I realized that someone was desperately looking for a ride home, and I personally love to give people rides when I can, so I offered.

Unfortunately, apparently this guy, And the pastor guy were a two-in-one. When I agreed to drive that guy home, it apparently also meant the pastor was coming with us.

As we were driving home, the pastor asked me if we could stop by a Tim Hortons and I said sure. I don't drink coffee or anything, so I don't really know anything about ordering stuff at Tim Hortons Beyond sandwiches and donuts and frozen lemonades, and the pastor guys simply said to order a: 'double double,' for him.

I did that and we went through the drive-thru and when he got his order, he actively seemed pissed off. Not at me or anything, but he was actively frustrated that he ended up getting a coffee. Even the other guy who I was driving pointed out that ordering a double double will probably result in a coffee. Nevertheless, the pastor was frustrated, because he was hoping to go to sleep when he got home to get an early morning, but coffee would obviously keep him up. I asked him if he wanted to go back inside the store and see if he could exchange the order, but he said it was okay. So I began to drive away, only for the other guy in the car to shout at me to stop. There was some random guy in the parking lot, probably homeless, without a shirt, and a shopping cart full of clothes. For some reason this guy felt an extreme calling to go in evangelize to this random person.

I said I wouldn't stop him, but I wasn't coming with him. So me and the pastor ended up waiting in the car while the guy went to go talk to this random person. He came back a few minutes later, simply shouting:

'Repent!'

As we took off out of the parking lot, the probably homeless guy was literally rolling around in the parking lot, and the guy who I was driving home verbally said that he took this to assume that the guy was literally suffering a demonic encounter, or that he was having a calling with the Holy Spirit after what he just said.

As we continue to drive home, the pastor talked about how he was touched by what the leader of the group we were just at was preaching about, and how apparently the preacher mentioned that at one point he was worried that he was going to lose his house. The pastor for some reason thought that of all concerns to losing your house, the biggest one would be losing his wife too.

I didn't question the pastor about this, but I kind of wish I did, because I found that very odd. These types of hyper-conservative Christians are usually the types to say that once you're married, you should never get divorced ever, and yet, this random Pastor apparently had no problem with the assumption that if the preacher lost his house, his wife would simply leave him.

He also mentioned that the preacher apparently said something like: 'strong men are forged through fire.'

And apparently the other guy who I was driving was completely mind-blown by this quote;

'WWWOOOOOWWWWW!!!! FORGED THROUGH FIIIIIIIRE BRO!!!'

When I dropped them off, the pastor asked if we could exchange numbers, and I said sure. The call, he told me to keep reading my Bible before quickly stopping himself and saying:

'Oh, right, I forgot, you... Nevermind. Okay, goodnight!'

A few days later, I got a text from the pastor asking if I wanted to meet up. I responded saying that I didn't mind meeting up with him, but that I hope that us meeting up wouldn't be under the false pretense of him trying to preach to me more, and I said that I've investigated a lot into the Christian faith and that I was going to feel pretty uncomfortable if his intention was to convert me.

He simply responded:

'Okay.'

A few minutes later, he sent another response simply saying my name.

'Yes?' I responded. I didn't get a text back.

Then about 6 months later, he messaged me again literally asking who I was. He had apparently lost all memory of me, and said he was going through his contacts trying to figure out who everyone was.

I responded, kindly, explaining who I was and where we met.

Once again, I didn't get a response back.

This was a couple years ago, so I assume I'm not hearing from him again.

This is just something that I've seen a lot, but haven't properly noticed until now.

I saw a YouTube video recently of a guy in the States happily greeting, some cops that have arrived specifically because he walked into a Starbucks, asked why they had a pride flag up but no American flag, despite being in the: 'greatest country in the world,' and when they didn't comply and were a little reluctant about making him his order, he apparently got mad and tore down the pride flag and threw it in the trash.

It was kind of an awkward video to watch, because the guy was very clearly trying to make himself look good, and probably regretted what he did, but it's kind of sad how after his whole genuine story, the cops just go ahead and arrest him because... Well, he just straight up confessed to the whole thing. And then he very clearly was internally panicking, asking if he could get in touch with a buddy of his who once worked for the police force, but then at one point he just straight up asks:

'Am I able to call my wife?'

And that was the moment where I started to rapidly lose any sympathy for the guy.

There are, of course a lot of Christian people who aren't in relationships who are also homophobic, but it seems like the ones who are married are the MOST homophobic.

But also the most fake. They portray their marriage as entirely perfect, that they couldn't be happier, having kids as fast as possible, which makes me think that they have trouble controlling their own lusts anyway.

I'm genuinely trying to rationalize why Christians who are married tend to be more homophobic, when you would think they would be less homophobic. I mean, they're already in a committed relationship, and if they portray their marriage as entirely perfect, it makes them look even worse, they're because it essentially proves that they have literally anything that they could ever want, so what right do they have to criticize other people who don't have that?

I noticed it seemed to be the exact same music used when Kouenji is demeaning Yamauchi. It's pretty funny for how dramatic it is, but it seems pretty hard to find in the soundtrack playlist

I'm not sure whether to put anime or light novel as the flare here, because I'm technically talking about both. It's just something that I'm thinking about.

Of course, nothing that I say in this post matters if the Anime isn't even renewed for Season 5. But regardless, they're currently airing the peak arcs of the story. So far. When most people talk about how they feel, the light novels have gone downhill, and you ask them what their last: 'Good,' Volume was, they will almost always say Year 2, Volume 5.

Granted, Year 2 Volume 5 Is also my favorite volume, and it's a very powerful one. Season 5 would have a very strong arc to kick off, but after that, I really don't see where they would cut Season 5, unless if they were to stretch it out to Year 2 Volume 10 and end on the cliffhanger of another Special Exam. Thing is, even that one isn't really anything to get too hyped about, unless if they're going to drop some hints that >!a student might get Expelled.!<

There are only two real hype moments left in the story after Year 2, Volume 5. >!Ryueen VS Sakayanagi!< and >!Ayanaokoji switching Classes.!<

There is hope that the light novels will start picking up the pace, but even if they do, that's a large chunk of Anime that's surely gonna make the general audience feel let down in some capacity.

This concept I have is a little complicated, so I'll try and explain it with a few examples.

When I was a teenager, my stepmom tried to get me into The Big Bang Theory, but I actively hated the show, and my main reason for hating it so much was the character of Penny. She was very clearly a bad person, but the show kept framing it as if she was somehow above the main characters.

My stepmom disagreed with me, and we ended up making a bet where we would keep track of her deeds. Anytime. Penny did something good, my stepmom would get a point, and anytime she did something bad, I would get a point.

Unfortunately, that bet lasted about one episode before my stepmom quit, because she very quickly realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as she thought. She was actively trying to do things like use the fact that Penny once said: 'Thank you,' to a compliment given by Leonard as a good deed.

There was no way that I was going to let that slide. You aren't considered a good person just because you said thank you when someone said something nice to you. That is literally as bare minimum as it gets when it comes to human decency. What would be considered a good deed? Is actually doing something nice for Leonard back, and if she DIDN'T say thank you, that would be considered rude and thus a bad dude. Simply saying thank you was a neutral option.

I was also inspired to make this post because I saw a meme new story going viral of a woman. Apparently refusing to give up her seat on a plane to a crying child just because it was a window seat. Apparently she's now suing the airline for invasion of privacy, and I, just like everyone else, thinks that the woman had every right to stay in her seat.

Would it have been nice if she Did give it up? Yes, of course it would. That would be considered a good deed. But that doesn't mean that simply refusing to give it up is thus a bad deed. It would be considered a bad deed if She had taken the seat that the child was supposed to sit in, or did some sort of verbal or physical abuse towards the people asking her if she could move. Simply declining to give up. The seat is a neutral option. It's neither good nor bad.

Just to give one more example, holding a door for someone is a good deed. But that doesn't mean that simply not holding the door for someone is a bad deed. It would be considered a bad deed if you tried to close the door in their face, or actively inconvenience them in some way. Simply not going out of your way to do something nice doesn't mean that you're doing something bad.

I wrote this all out using voice recorder, so if there is some grammar mistakes, I'm sorry.

I feel like this happens a lot, and to be fair, believing another person just doesn't get your situation isn't always a bad thing.

I feel the problem is when you resort to this line of thinking without actually getting to know the other person.

If a person is behaving in a way that you don't like, there are several reasons why they might be doing it, and one of the reasons is that they genuinely might not realize how their behavior is coming across.

There are a lot of people who seem genuinely disinterested in confronting other people and telling them that they're making them uncomfortable. They're quick to simply ignore the person and distance themself, or try to get someone else to confront them instead. However, trying to get a different person to confront someone about a problem that you personally have with them will naturally cause an awkward discussion, because the person that you're sending as your proxy naturally will not see the situation from exactly the same lens as you, and might even accuse the person of doing certain things that they actually haven't actually done, which will lead the person to get defensive and once the shields are up, it's very hard to reason with someone.

Then there are people who do actually take this step, achieve Level 1, and actually go up to someone and confront them about their behavior.

However, there is yet another issue. Because just because you confront someone about their behavior doesn't mean that they will instantly conform. They Might, Especially if you tell them how it feels from your personal perspective, but there's also a chance that there's another layer for the other person as to why they're acting that way. Maybe they have actually thought a lot about what they're doing, and have just come to the conclusion that the judgment of others is worth it. For example, if a person is autistic, they might naturally do things that you find bizarre, such as rapid pacing, rubbing your hands together, galloping, or other things. And that might just genuinely be their way of calming down.

The most dangerous of discussions occurs when someone confronts someone about their behavior, only to find that their behavior is a direct result of their personal treatment. Perhaps they even have a grudge against that specific person, and is getting revenge.

If two people end up in a discussion whether trying to condemn the other person's behavior, and neither one of them is willing to say sorry for anything, then there's simply no point in trying to have a discussion.

And when the other person isn't quick to conform, a lot of people are quick to just hold up the hand and assume that the person: 'just doesn't get it.'

As a result, no one learns anything, and the behavior either remains the same, or is even increased.

I can think of 2 prime examples of this.

The first is D.W. 's Baby, where in the course of 5 minutes, D.W. goes from being beyond excited to have a sister, to literally wanting to get her into so much trouble that her own parents would disown her.

The other, which I think is far more frustrating and less relatable, is Dad's Dessert Dilemma where Arthur has completely blinded himself to the idea that his Dad's cooking might be Good, that he tries to sabotage his Dad's own masterpiece by hiding it amongst the other cakes. As Mr. Ratburn takes a bite, Arthur has no thoughts in his head beyond being condemned by the school for bringing the cake, only for Mr. Ratburn's reaction to be so positive, that Arthur COMPLETELY goes the other way and literally objectifies his own Dad as a dessert making machine. He later apologizes for doing that, but never seems to have any sort of self-reflection in realizing that he unjustly never gave his Dad's food a chance.

No Spoilers by the way

Portal is honestly a miracle in gaming. It's the only video game I actually played from beginning to end and I played it during the pandemic, which was an incredibly scary and lonely time for me, and the surreal sense of being trapped in the Backrooms with a portal gun and a mysterious voice guiding your every move just worked for me.

Thing is, Portal seems to have a similar status to the show The Good Place in that its one of the few franchises out there that ran its course and then finished without being cancelled or run into the ground.

Portal 1 was a miracle that even Valve wasn't expecting; it was supposed to be a bonus along with the Orange Box. But it got so popular, Valve made a sequel that was about twice as long, and stood on its own as its own release. And somehow, Portal 2 surpassed expectations, going down as one of the greatest video games.

And the thing is, Portal 2 has so many features and this grandiose plot that ties all the loose ends- Could Portal 3 even work?

There's really 2 routes Valve could take it. They could make a simple story that takes Portal back to its roots and just attempt to make something that works as an extra Portal game. But if they do this, it will be compared to all the fan games that have come out recently (Portal Stories, Apateur Tag, Reloaded, Revolution), and will probably be considered inferior to them purely out of nostalgia.

Then there's the ambitious route, where Valve attempts to outdo, or at least match Portal 2. But considering the high expectations and nostalgia factor Portal 2 has, I feel trying to capture lighting in a bottle a third time would be a hopeless task.

I think Valve's best bet would be to try something in the middle and make something grandiose and fun, without Quite aiming to match the factor Portal 2 had.

I think if they get a good soundtrack, anything can work. I know a lot of people rule their eyes when the concept of music helping to make media work is brought up, but I truly feel that music can make or break a franchise. In Portal 2, the music that hits when you solve certain puzzles is amazing, and so is the music that plays when you first start using the blue and orange substances. The fact that that's such a poor component the game, and yet isn't even introduced until halfway through, speaks so much as to how great Portal 2 is.

Honestly though, it seems clear why Valve isn't planning to make Portal 3. If they weren't even expecting Portal to be as big as it was, I can understand why they would be kind of annoyed that people want them to keep continuing it. From their perspective, they released a game that was supposed to be a one and done quick thing, and wasn't even meant to be that popular, and yet it just blew the entire Orange Box out of the water, and they were essentially forced to make a Sequel. And yet, despite not even being as invested in it as the fan base was, they managed to deliver a sequel that pleased everyone and also managed to tie up all loose Ends and act as a finale for a great Duology. That's quite a feat.

And besides, if Portal 3 got made, that would piss of the Half Life fanbase even more. 🥲