Portal 2's Cut Protagonist | Mel | FULL Portal Lore & Cut Content
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
- Portal 2 is one of Valve's best games - however, during the development of the highly anticipated sequel of Portal, the team originally had a different protagonist in mind to explore Aperture. This character was called Mel and she went through many versions of the story but was ultimately cut from the game.
Why was Mel cut? What story did Valve have in mind for her originally? What legacy did she leave? In this video, I explore the lore and story behind the cut character of Mel in the Portal Series.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:01 Version 1 (F-Stop - Portal)
06:24 Version 2 (Early Portal 2)
08:31 The Cooperative Testing Initiative
09:50 Portal Stories: Mel
15:25 Legacy
17:18 Closing Thoughts
Portal 2: Creating a Sequel to a Game That Doesn't Need One
• Portal 2: Creating a S...
Portal 2 - Post Mortem (GDC)
• Portal 2 - Post Mortem...
Portal Stories: Mel
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Standard Sources
Game Manuals
Half-Life Series Playthrough Research
Portal Series Playthrough Research
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
Half-Life: Alyx Playthrough
Portal/ Half-Life Fandom
Old Valve Forums
Marc Laidlaw's Twitter
Breengrub Twitter
Reddit AMA (w/ HL: Alyx Developers)
Portal Stories: Mel
AUDIO USED
Portal 2 OST: Technical Difficulties
Portal 2 OST: There She Is
Portal 2 OST: 9999999
Half-Life 2 OST: Triage at Dawn
#Chell #Lore #Portal - Ігри
The ending of Mel’s story made me realize (for the first time, somehow) that the story of Half-Life 2 is outside of Aperture. The Combine, war, awful living conditions. There’s so much suffering out there for both Mel and Chell upon exiting Aperture. Kinda sad… 😢
Its Believed that The combine are No Longer on the earth when Chell wakes up from Stasis, because of the amount of time that is believed to have past, also because of the healthy wheatfield and sky.
imagine being allergic to the wheat when you wake up at the end of the world
@@ugly-scp-tato4055 damn so Chell has 0 idea about all the shit that happened in Earth.
@@ugly-scp-tato4055 Yeah, and thanks to a map in HL:Alyx we know that the place where Aperture was supposed to be in US is totally destroyed, so a lot had to happen to the place where Chell ends portal 2 to be that nice.
At this point staying in Apeture science facility is much better choice than facing the Combine and Zombies and all that madness out there 💀 it's like you would rather be live in Prison or be free in a world with higher chance of being killed
One of the most shocking parts of Half-Life Alyx is so subtle. No audio cues, just incidentally spinning a globe in Alyx's apartment that you could have easily bypassed. A globe which features the entirety of the Americas crossed out by heavy marker scratches.
What kind of world did Mel wake up in? Can she even find a way to make contact with anyone else if there isn't another human being in the continent? How long can she breathe that air before suffocating?
Someone had a theory that the entirety of North and South America is just Xen shit now and unrecognizable.
As Black Mesa was in New Mexico, this is where the most Xen shit would be.
Maybe we can get a mod where Mel tries to survive out there.
Imagine being Mel, going to a shady company that screws you up and leaves you to sleep for a couple decades you wake up. Escape from the facility that tried to kill you and only then do you find out that not only is everyone that you know probably very old or dead but that humanity is now fighting against the alien overlords of earth. Wild escalations.
Sounds like a normal day in the 2020s to me. xD
@@Grocel512bros from the future
Well it ins't know but from what is theorised the time between portal 1 and 2 is probably counted on the tens....of thousands allegedly over 50.000 years. In wich is also belived the combine has long gone. So if there's any civilization left, it would've been interesting to see what they know and could tell both Mel and Chell about those events.
Sry for the long text.
Trivia: I'm not sure if its related but the name Mel is also associated to Portal's sister series, Half-Life. Here's the deal. There's an urban legend in the U.S. known as Mel's Hole, a purportedly bottomless hole in Washington state near Ellensburg. A guy named Mel Waters called in about it several times to the radio show Coast to Coast AM between 1997 and 2002. Over time the legend took on more details like strange creatures flying out of it at night, animals avoiding it and shafts of light shooting out of it. Coast to Coast AM began to get a reputation as a hub of tall tales and in January of 2008 it got a call from one "Gordon", a self-proclaimed theoretical physicist at an unnamed research facility that was experimenting with some matter of portal technology. While the show's host George Noory embraced the yarn uncritically, Half-Life fans quickly recognized it as sham for obvious reasons. Were the minds behind Portal 2 aware of this when they conceived of Mel for the game? I don't know, maybe; the timing could line up. Or maybe they just wanted something that rhymed with Chell.
someone paraphrase im on a tight schedule
@@poolbwoy6585 bro it's like a 2 minute read
@@poolbwoy6585 Mel's Hole. Radio. Gordon Freeman.
@@mayoplayingwumbologistmd4389 dont got 2 minutes cmon chop chop
@@poolbwoy6585 Bro, if you can take a few minutes to type, you can take a few minutes to read. Lazy.
Y'know it'd be really cool to see fanmade mods get covered like Entropy Zero, since you talked about Portal Stories: Mel!
Well, there Portal Reloaded since the secret or the Second ending is going outside and facing HL2 Zombies
I may have to replay through EZ again.
@@Skyrionn the lore of bad cop would be a great watch
@@Skyrionn Entropy Zero 2 is a masterpiece man you will love it. Also expands on another character that met Gman
@@Omega-jg4oq Funny, until reading your comment i didnt realise not escaping was an ending 😂. But then I seem to do everything in the untended ways
I have something that's very dear to me that people hardly ever talk about, if you're looking for video, Lego dimensions has a portal level with all the original voice actors. It was hell to get it to work with an emulator but the story picks up right where it left off, though there's not MUCH story, I thoroughly enjoyed it and all the references. It was like a love letter to Portal.
I also consider Portal Stories: Mel to be canon, I especially love the intro and style of the 1950s
but...its not
@@TheMazarineIsRealhis opinion not yours
@@coltforceplayer That's not an opinion. It's a lie.
@@D_YellowMadness so u saying it is canon?
@@coltforceplayerhe said he considered it not valve
A star walks into a black hole but doesn't seen phased. The black hole then turns to the star and says, "I don't think you understand the gravity of this situation."
im disgusted with you. take my like, you scoundrel
w h y
Star: is an american cop
Cute!🎉
???
What this joke have to do with this video man?
It's rare to see a company NOT taking the opportunity to publish games for profit. Valve really is sitting on a golden opportunity and yet they refuse to take it.
They have steam they have 0 money concerns
Have you played Portal Stories: Mel?
Sadly i didnt 😂😂😂😂
never beat it but I'm getting into mods again so might pickup it up
just finished getting all achievements, by far my favourite portal mod
yes
yep I have played it it's my favorite portal mod except for-
portal epic edition :)
Love the cut valve content! Valve is my favorite game dev but I wish they made more games with portal and half life universe. Fingers crossed?
Great video as always Skyrionn :)
Yeah they need to leden how to count to 3
I'd really wish that they would complete F-Stop
im shocked that you manage to upload such high quality videoss so often, these videos feel almost official, like they're decades old, hope it grows
I take a week off posting about once a month to catch up/ get ahead of content. Even after a couple of years, I still love creating content about this series. Thanks for watching!
@@Skyrionn how do you still have lore portal ended so long ago your a legend for still going
I like to think when Mel escapes she meets the human resistance and helps fight the combine.
Imagine If Mel meets Gordon Freeman and Alyx and specially Dr. Kliener he would gather a lot more information about apeture science
@@Omega-jg4oq exactly
The perfect crossover
Maybe it happened that way, maybe it didn't. We can't say. ;)
Another masterpiece of a video it’s worth the wait for your videos
Catching up to your last content, love it. Lo e your voice and tempo
Great video as always brother
Glad to be here, Glad to watch your videos, Keep it up, Mate!
Thanks Link!
Ps:m is, in my opinion, canon. It fits perfectly into the series, tieing in other less alaborated subjects within the games without sacrificing continuity or being to outlandish.
Im shocked you didnt use any footage of the leaked f stop. But it was a great video..!
happy to see that you got over 100k subs now
Thank you!
This explains why Portal Stories: Mel felt like a Valve developed game.
Thats so cool!
In my mind, knowing this makes Portal Stories: Mel even better!
I'm so happy you posted about this character and the game!!! It's my favorite Portal content besides portal 2. I have drawn so many pictures of it and even got comments from the creators! I hope you exposed this to more people who might not know what it is.
It really is an amazing addition to the Portal community. If anything, I found PS: Mel harder than Portal 2. It's amazing that such a community exists with artists like yourself :)
Right as I done Portal Stories: Mel 100%
Perfect timing!
@@Skyrionn Yea!
This gives me more ideas now to work with in my projects now
Good luck with them!
wonderful as always 😌
Thanks Zeke!
Aperture Tag and Portal Stories: Mel are such nice mods.
skyrionn fantastic video as always!!, ( i love portal/half life format)
I didn't even know this game existed. I wonder why it wasn't recommended by the Steam algorithm?
Thanks for the information.
I love the aesthetics of the old Aperture labs. The 70/80's look is so cool.
17:11 missed opportunity to have Wheatley and the space sphere make a cameo.
wooo, good job, i love this, great job!
Thanks for watching!
What a stunning work
Thanks Aiten!
I would love to see the robot uprising story explored, perhaps another Portal Stories.
Aperture Desk Job was a welcome return to this universe, however brief.
There's so much more I want to see from the Portal/Half-Life universe.
So so much!
Honestly i think it would have been better if the music in the background was one of the soundtracks from Portal Stories: Mel.
Wow, I definitely want to check out Portal Stories Mel, it looks super High-quality!
It's the best Portal mod I've played :)
It's my favorite portal mod. Very high quality, good voice acting, entertaining characters, and awesome gameplay. I have about 100 hours on it because I keep replaying it
Thank you for bringing the story. 16:10 True.
The four regions of Valve who created Mel lived in harmony.
...Until the playtester nation attacked.
This made me laugh more than it should have
1:43 No, she did not! Everyone knows the Party Escort Bot drags her losing-consciousness body back inside Aperture Science. Chell is put into Long-Term Relaxation (as shown in Portal 2: Lab Rat) and wakes up latater as in the first minute of gameplay in Portal 2. She then goes back to sleep for 50,000 years and wakes up, where she meets Wheatley. Chell never escapes Aperture. Alive, anyway. Chell dies when she and Wheatley go to the moon. GLaDOS drags her back inside Aperture and speaks to a dead body for a few minutes, then lowers her to the surface, not before a few turrets sing to her. A Wighted Companion Cube is sent up, right after Chell reaches the surface. Chell is dead, but hey, it was fun while it lasted.
A Portal video? In my recommended? Uploaded only 12 minutes ago? Damn, UA-cam actually did something right for me for once
The algorithm seems to be doing something right for a change. I hope you enjoyed it!
been stewing on some ideas regarding a sequel to Portal Stories: Mel, where she runs into a survivor of a Combine Attack, and teams up with them to survive in a Metro: Exodus type environtment outside of City 3. plan is to build a story that sees her return to Apperture to get another protal gun, finding a prototype and using it at the same time Gordon and Alyx travel from the Combine Prototype Portal back into City 17, which interferes with the process causing Alyx and Gordon to arrive later in time as well, and which also relocates Mel from the Apperture labs outside of City 3 and 4 to City 17's outskirts right as the Portal Storm hits that devestates City 17.
Wasn't Mel cut and replaced by Chell during the Core Hub era of P2s development, which means the story Mel underwent with GLaDOS wouldn't have been similar to the retail version like this video portrays?
Other than that I'm content with the fan content tbh. Desolation, Abyss and Catalyst all look promising.
somehow i only now noticed to my absolute horror that i don't follow you...... after watching so many of your vids
your'e literally doing gods work here , i cant express how great ur vids are , keep it up !!!!
Can't wait to watch this one!
I hope you enjoy it Cody! You're the first comment too!
@@Skyrionn I always do! Yeah I couldn't resist commenting first !
YAY! THANKS SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS! I SO CONSIDER PSM CANON TOO! MEL IS SO UNDERATTED...:( GREAT WORK AS ALWAYS THOUGH. I LVOE ALL THE STORIES OF HER, BUT THE PRISON-GAMES ONE TO ME IS THE MOST UNIQUE.
ON THAT NOTE, I WONDER HOW VIRGIL CAME TO BE...I GUESS THATS UP TO SPECULATION HUH? XD! I ALSO COULD NOT FIGURE OUT IF VIRGIL WAS THE ONE WHO WOKE HER, OR IF SHE WAS WOKEN UP BY AN EARTHQUAKE OR SOMETHING, I'M WONDERING HOW LONG THOSE DRUGS STAYED IN HER TBH TOO.
IF HE DID WAKE HER, WHY DIDN'T HE DO IT SOONER? MAYBE HE DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS THERE? PLUS I'M SURE IT TAKES FOR EVER TOG O THROUGH TEST SUBJECT LISTS. MAYBE I'M OVERTHINKING THIS? XD!
ALSO IDK IF I SHARED THIS INFO, (SO IF I DID PLESE FORGIVE ME AND DISREGARD THIS). BUT JUST A SIDE HINT ON VIRGIL FOR THOSE WHO WANNA KNOW: HE'S VOICED BY "STIG SYDTANGEN" ("DRAGONNOR" ONLINE), HE ALSO VOICED THE PROTAGONISTS "SIMON" FROM WHAT WAS ORGINALLY A HL1 MOD: "CRY OF FEAR" AND "GREY" FROM THE HL2 MOD OF THE SAME NAME AMONG A FEW OTHER CHARACTERS.
ALSO GOD I LOVE THE TIE-IN TO PORTAL 2 AT THE END OF PSM, I KIND OF WONDERED IF THERE WAS A CERTAIN REASON (ASIDE FROM THE FACILITY FAILING THAT IS), AS TO WHY THE "RESERVE POWER" RAN OUT. ON THE ENDING THOUGH...POOR MEL...I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW HORRIFYING IT MOST'VE BEEN TO FEEL EVEN MORE ALONE THEN BEFORE...AS AWFUL AS IT IS, I KIND OF LKE THE SOMBER TONE IT GAVE US RATHER THEN HOW P2 ENDING, IT'S A GOOD REVERSE CARD. YOU'VE ACOMPLISHED SOEMTHING BUT...YOUR ALONE, EVERYONE YOU KNOW IS DEAD...I IMAGINE HER EMOTIONS WOULD BE RAGING BY THAT POINT...:(
MY PERSONAL HEAD CANON IS...WELL, SINCE THEY'RE TWO "UNKNOWN"/UNDERATTED PROTAGONISTS, MAYBE MEL FINDS ADRIAN SHEPHARD AND THE TWO FORM A BOND OR SOMETHING, BE IT ROMANTIC OR OTHERWISE, AS HE HELPS HER FIGURE THINGS OUT. ON THE NOTE OF THE PS VERSION OF MEL: I'VE SEEN SO MANY FAN-ART OF HER, AND MOST PEOPLE WOULD GIVE HER RED HAIR. SO (ESPEICALLY AFTER LOOKING AT HER TEXTURES), I COULD NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME FIGURE OUT IF HER HAIR WAS RED, AUBURN OR BROWN LOL! SO THANKS FOR POINTING THAT OUT! SAME GOES FOR HER AGE, SOME PPL SAID SHE'S MIDDLE AGED BUT TBH IDK IF I BELEIVE THAT.
I ALSO FORGOT ABOUT THE F-STOP VERSION TBH, SO I'M GLAD U MENTIONED IT, SUCH A SHAME SHE WAS CUT TBH. SAME GOES FOR THE P2 MEL'S, BUT THIS TIME I DIDN'T FORGET 'EM LOL! BUT TBH, I'M SORT OF GLAD WE HAVE THE SECOND GAME AS IS, BUT I AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT THE MULTIVERSE STUFF, NEVER THOUGHT OF IT UNTIL NOW, SO YEA MAYBE THIS ALL DID HAPPEN!
PLEASE FORGIVE ANY SPELLING ERRORS OR ANY GRAMMAR MISTAKES IF ANY, AND SORRY IF THIS AS A LONG ESSAY YET AGAIN LOL, JUST HAD TO SHARE MY THOUGHTS, THANKS FOR POSTING SKYRIONN, YOUR DOING THE HALF-LIFE/PORTAL COMMUNITIES PROUD. :D
P.S: GOD I WANNA SEE A DOUG RATTMANN GAME SO BAD! I WANNA SEE THAT POOR GUY GET OUT OF THAT HELL HOLE, MAYBE WE COULD PLAY AN EARILER VERSION OF HIM, AT THE START, BEFORE EVERYTHING WENT TO HELL, SO WE CAN SEE HOW HE ESCAPED BEING MURDED SO MANY TIMES. TBH IT MITE BE KIND OF MORE HORROR THEMED GIVEN HIS HALUCINATIONS AND DETATCHMENT(S) FROM REALITY, THATS GOTTA BE TERRIFYING...POOR GUY.
Wow that’s long
why in all caps
@@Neeb-tt9hn YEA SORRY ABOUT THAT, I EXPLAIN THINGS...WAAAAAY TO MUCH, I OVERDUE IT TBH. REALLY GOTTA STOP, IT IS ANNOYING. I TRY TO LOOK FOR SHORTER WAYS OF SAYING THINGS BUT...SOMETIMES I CAN'T THINK OF ANY.
Portal 2 is one of my most favourite games of all time, and even then... I still wonder how different it could have been if playtesters hadn't kept asking that it be a direct sequel with little innovation
"Astronaut, War Hero, And/Or Olympian" sounds like Cave is thanking his Patreon tiers
You may have given me an idea
Portal Stories:Mel is isn't actually free, you need to own Portal 2, but that's probably a given for many that have a steam account.
Oh shit! New Skyrionn video and it’s about Portal? Today’s a good day.
Thanks for watching!
Mel’s first story sounds so cool.
what about the current portal 2 mod "F-Stop" is quite fun and uses the camera mechanic
11:30 let's just be glad this wasn't the sleep machine that makes a monster out of the grime in your eyes after just one night.
Somehow Neptune just doesn't seem far enough away for that one. :)
Cool video
Thanks!
This is great
What if mel realizes how much the combine has fucked the world, and goes back into aperture to upload herself into an AI bc there’s no one else in the world nearby, then Chell returns to Aperture one day and finds Mel having been rebooted in glados or sum. portal 3 lol
I hope someone tries to make a "Half-Life Stories: Mel." I would love to see that, honestly
Honestly that would be so cool considering that the half-life and portal universes are connected to each other lore-wise.
Damn it ValvE just count to 3!! If toddlers can do it you can too!
NUMBERS ARE SCARYYY
We need to wait Half of our lives for another game
You forgotten about or didn't know that Mel woke up in a damaged relaxation Vault? she listened to Pre-recorded messages and then sucked up on a vacuum tube. then after that she'd Return to the Portal 1 Relaxation Vault like chell woke up there originally and she would complete 12 test chambers and since chamber 13 is broken she would make her way to GLaDOS's Chamber and the pre-recorded messages would trick Mel into reactivating her. Once she Reawakens it's revealed that She lost her memories and doesn't remember what happened in Portal 1 (Probably because chell killed her) and GLaDOS will give you a mission finding cores around the facility and making the place to themselves.. Once she completes these chambers. she would find cores and return to GLaDOS's Hub and then repair GLaDOS
My headcanon is that Mel helps Gordon defeat the Combine.
Along with Chell
how can you get so much lore from so little information are you god
I hope you do a video on portal reloaded at some point.
Didn't see this one coming, but amzing anyway.
Glad you liked it!
man can't wait for portal 3 where they either are on the ship or it explains why there appears to be no combine interference with the entire facility
Amazing how a cut character could be revived in a high quality fan game. And even for her end just like Chell, they arrive to a Combine conquered world.
It's a game we need to play
I knew it ! Entire game always felt like there was something still to discover, Especially with those hidden rooms with the graffiti in them as you go
Any chance for a video about the complete story of hl2 beta?
I'm working up to it slowly. I tend to cover the smaller topics completely to get a bigger idea over the timeline. The issue with the beta is that there were multiple variations of the story. I know the main points, it's just putting in the middle bits.
One day!
This is why I really wish I could make games.
Portal 3, Portal Stories: Mel 2, Portal: Reloaded 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 3, Half-Life 3, Entropy: Zero 3, Opposing Force 2 etc. etc. etc. . . .
I think you should do a full telling of the Halo series. I really like the way you narrate your videos, it's very calming.
1:56 that one chair that doesn't line up perfectly
My theory on why we don't no much about F-stop is because they're still thinking of making it as some sort of spinoff
new Skyrion video yippeeeeee!!!
Ah yes, the famous Chel and her sister in law Mel.
Imagine a portal sequel without portals, that woulda been crazy.
Funny to see a hungarian tram ( a Ganz UV ) in a game mod taking place presumabely in the remanis of USA. Oh wat, at that time stamp it is far from the Combine's destruction.
either im getting used to it because i hear it so much or im going insane but the low calm voices on youtube are getting to my head
Ngl I'm curious to see how f stop would play out. The devs were so happy about it, so why not make a spin off that is what f stop was supposed to be, but in an alternate universe?
Why does nobody add the story of Portal prelude to videos when they talk about portal timelines?
That cut storyline feels loosely similar to the plot of Stray, I wonder if there was any overlap in devs or writers
when is the TF2 Mercs video coming?
9:12 im convinced at this point the playtesters were the same ones from the cuphead journalist thing
>chance for a new, insane story
"how walk? moving hard :C -80 out of 5, i need my nappy"
goddamn that is still infinitely above where i see them to be but i *cant* even bring into words how dumb im lead to believe they are
every turn for this to be viable
>baby shynts pants
>valve follows suits, incinerating the previous plans
hey dipshit, never assume any game isn't someone's first game
that's an important rule for play testing and qa
Tbh, Should have turned it into a DLC (Or a expansion pack, but that's an old name for it) Even tho there is already a game of it which i haven't finished yet, the concept art and features were pretty cool. But it's great it wasn't the actual release version, cuz it just isn't portal.
If it could be brought back in some way, I would be very happy.
Portal stories by most is considered canon?
Wasn't Lima Whiskey aka the portion which Chell is after Wheatley betrays her, flooded?
In the end, Mel stops the flooding, however and this is a big however, she doesn't... "unflood" Lima Whiskey.
I WANNA SEE YOU TALK ABOUT AIDEN WALKER. PLEASE I NEED THIS SO BAD.
Mel's story sounds like Fallout 4 towards the end
Whenever i get a PC i'll download portal stories mel.
It'll be absolutely worth it!
Nice of them to use Virgil as Mel's guide. Nice little nod to the classics.
We could’ve got a brother of Chell
a comment to be early you have found in the wild
Valve is sitting on a gold mine. Yes, but in order to get the gold they need to learn how to count higher than 2.
Maybe one day they will get there.
Portal Stories: Mel is by far my favorite of all the Portal games/mods out there.
I know that the voice actor for Wheatley worked on PS:M
Half-Life and Fallout 4 hold the best fanmade content mods.
100%
Well, it’s a good thing someone was there to take the “eggus” 😂😂😂😂😂
I for one would like you to cover portal revolution it's a portal 2 DLC it's free on steam
valvue should hire the man who made that game lol
Oh, I need to replay mel again?
Never stop.
wait is this the first time the video opens without the Half-Life OST?
haha! Every Portal/ Doom/ TF2 video opens to their own soundtrack :D
Yoyo
yoyo
@@Skyrionn yoyo
Is portal stories mel an alternate universe
No no, it's totally our very universe. Can't you see the combine soldirers and a woman in a jumpsuit shooting portals here and there outside your window??
but we have a fan game portal story s mel
I like to think that Mel and Chell might meet at some point, Chell exiting Aperture too isn't that far (in time and space), right?
And together perhaps involved in one of the many remaining mysteries.
And why not in a cross over with Half-Life events ?
I know, I'm dreaming loudly =D