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Alpha Protocol, (the spy who loved everyone)

post #1 of 197
7/24/09 at 8:19pm
Thread Starter 
Well, time to spread the word perhaps?

Comes out in October this year, Published by Sega and developed by Obsidian Entertainment (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2 and it's 2 expansions), staffed by former members of Black Isle(Fallout!) and Troika(Arcanum and Vampire: Bloodlines), come play a game that goes against the grain of the usual RPG hack'n slash and space opera.

Motherload of footage:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/alpha-protocol/9237

Recent article:
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/al...view-1859.html

Everything you do has a reward and consequence, pissing someone off might be beneficial in the long term, though it might not seem it at the time. Perks are rewarded for however you play, dialogue is timed so you have to choose the style of response (Professional, Suave and Aggressive, with a 4th option for various knee capping, shooting and head slamming etc)

THese guys know CRPGs, and i'm still burned by the fact that the Alien's RPG got canned on them, still Fallout: New Vegas is by them (for Bethesda).


October, unfortunately, is a packed month, but i'm making this #1 for me.
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post #2 of 197
7/25/09 at 1:14am
It's near the top of my rental queue, and I have high hopes that I'll just be keeping it after it arrives. This is the best RPG developer in the business (if only they had the power to stop getting screwed by publishers), so even though I've yet to see anything mind-blowing about this one, I can't imagine it being less than really good.
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post #3 of 197
7/25/09 at 4:07pm
Well that sounds so up my alley it basically IS my alley.

Thanks for putting this firmly on my radar Syn. Any release dates for Australasia as yet? Gamespot doesn't seem to have any.
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post #4 of 197
7/25/09 at 4:27pm
I can't wait for this one. I haven't played many RPG's but after playing Fallout I really hope this rocks.
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post #5 of 197
7/25/09 at 4:29pm
That looks amazing, like Mass Effect mixed with No One Lives forever. I didn't even know about this game til this thread, but I'm going to be keeping an eye on it from now on.
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post #6 of 197
7/25/09 at 9:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
Well that sounds so up my alley it basically IS my alley.

Thanks for putting this firmly on my radar Syn. Any release dates for Australasia as yet? Gamespot doesn't seem to have any.
I figure that down under here in NZ and in Australia, they'll start to list it by September at the latest. No way am I gonna miss this.
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post #7 of 197
8/11/09 at 3:34pm
The customization stuff has me hooked in a big way. This has the potential to out-Mass Effect Mass Effect. Which would be nice considering they seem to be aping it and incorporating some of the features Bioware fucked up.

Early reviews will determine whether I buy this shit outright or not. I'm hoping they are good and that I do.
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post #8 of 197
8/12/09 at 4:26am
It's an original RPG by Obsidian. With Chris fucking Avellone as creative director. Of course I'm going to buy it. Reviews be damned.
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post #9 of 197
8/12/09 at 12:57pm
So yeah, really interested in this, haven't really heard/read anything before the links given in this thread. I love the little joke stat at the end of the mission: Orphans Created.
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post #10 of 197
8/13/09 at 10:57pm
It's been my 2009 most wanted for a good few months now, can't wait...
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios View Post
It's an original RPG by Obsidian. With Chris fucking Avellone as creative director. Of course I'm going to buy it. Reviews be damned.
Damn straight.
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post #11 of 197
8/13/09 at 11:39pm
I just watched all the videos I could find on this, and wow, I am extremely excited for this. I love the multiple handlers aspect of the game, leading you through different paths, but never actually taking a path away from you.
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post #12 of 197
8/17/09 at 1:22pm
I went from "judging solely by the title, this game sounds really generic" to "wow, this game sounds really interesting" over the span of a couple articles. I may consider giving this game a shot instead of Dragon Age: Origins which I've actually found myself becoming less interested in.
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post #13 of 197
8/17/09 at 6:43pm
The pure fact that the setting for this isn't based in sci-fi or fantasy raises my interest level in it. If they can make it as engaging as Mass Effect in the conversations, give it a good story, and give you plenty of opportunities to customize your character...I think it could be a sleeper hit. I'll be interested to see how it turns out.
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post #14 of 197
8/17/09 at 7:34pm
Interesting thing I read about the game last night.

So, two of the difficulty settings are Recruit and Veteran.

If you play at Recruit, when you try to intimidate people, some will just laugh it off because you're a newbie.

On Veteran, most people will immediately be intimidated, except for a few who want to prove that they're hard asses.

Very cool.


Also, you can kill every character in the game and some Russian broad they've been showing in previews, if you don't do a side mission early on, you'll never even meet her in the game.
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post #15 of 197
8/18/09 at 5:40am
Those kind of details are quite possibly what is going to make this the next STALKER for me.

Broken as hell, but impossible not to love.
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post #16 of 197
8/18/09 at 9:23am
Why do you assume it will be broken? And it's very, very possible not to love STALKER, because that game is beyond repair.

I'm almost excited for this just because it's an action RPG without any fantasy or sci-fi trappings. Plus, I'm a huge espionage action junkie.
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post #17 of 197
8/18/09 at 9:38am
Yeah the idea of an espionage game with Mass Effect style dialogue has me massively interested in the game and Obsidian, despite the farce surrounding KotOR II, tend to be very good writers.

Also from the gameplay footage I've seen and chats with people who've played preview code I'd suggest the game's going to be no more broken than any other game. From what I can tell the graphics engine isn't amazing, but it's been optimised for size and stability.

I think there's some weird PC Gamer instinct which means they can only truly love a game when they have to download fan made mods and patches to get it running properly.
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post #18 of 197
8/18/09 at 9:42pm
Yeah after watching the videos for this, I have to echo the thoughts that I'm very very excited to get a copy. Outside of Batman, this may be the only game thats on my 'must buy' list.
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post #19 of 197
8/19/09 at 6:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad Millette View Post
Why do you assume it will be broken? And it's very, very possible not to love STALKER, because that game is beyond repair.
These boys are infamous for bugs. Sure we get some great games out of them (it's the crew from the original Fallout games) but broken is how they come. In fairness, it's usually because they attempt open-ended things like this, but still.

STALKER was buggy as hell, but I played from start to finish with no more problems than I had with Fallout 3 or Oblivion and it was fantastic. It's not quite Fallout 3's level of polish (that's financing for you) but it was a massive accomplishment for a company who mostly made strategy games. It's beautiful, has customisation that would make most RPG fans quiver and there's some really compelling missions - that's before you even get into the atmosphere they create in the bunkers which puts Fallout 3 to shame.

ETA: This does not in any way imply AP is going to be STALKER-levels of broken, but it's not a stretch to think it could hit Fallout 3's. The irony of calling out GSC's development issues over Obsidian's is simply silly.
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post #20 of 197
8/19/09 at 9:14am
STALKER was broken on a fundamental design level, not just a coding level.
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post #21 of 197
8/19/09 at 12:56pm
What design decisions caused the game to be unplayable?
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post #22 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:08pm
The utterly piss poor combat coupled with pinpoint accuracy from your foes, the backwards mission system, the completely random way character AI reacts to the player. It's a very ambitious game by a developer that had no idea how to implement any of it.
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post #23 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad Millette View Post
It's a very ambitious game by a developer that had no idea how to implement any of it.
I have to agree. Time-based missions in a large land mass with tons of random enemies, fenced-off areas with only one way through, and lethal radiation zones? By the time I'd failed my 5th side-mission because time had expired I just said fuck it.

I still have it on my hard drive, because I keep telling myself there's a lot there to love, but every time I go back to it it's just frustrating.
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post #24 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:23pm
You fight with the game more than you play it, and that's poor design. For such an open world, it funnels you into tight little corridors and makes you do things in such specific ways (when it decides to let you do them at all, instead of just arbitrarily populating an area with heavily armed mercenaries that will shoot you on sight that weren't there when you quicksaved THANK YOU VERY MUCH). It's like being trapped by some sadistic AI and tortured for its pleasure. Anti-fun.
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post #25 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:33pm
The combat worked, it was just harsh. The AI reacts no worse to your presence than it does in Fallout and the enemy's fire accuracy is linked with your difficulty level.

Radiation zones are to prevent you going and grabbing the hot goods too early in the game without proper protection.

The timed missions are a gripe I can agree with, but since they're only for loot it wasn't worth going back for them anyway.

I'll settle for 'ambitious', since i'm clearly off topic here.
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post #26 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:36pm
Calling STALKER an open world game is wrong. Sure the world is open, but there is no game at all. What has caused such a good reaction to STALKER is mostly its still unmatched atmosphere and the fact that it refused to hold your hand at any time. It probably went too far but in this era of glorified rail shooters (I'm looking at you COD4) disguising themselves as FPSs, it was something refreshing.
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post #27 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:46pm
I'd much rather take the focused constricted experience of something like Modern Warfare over a muddled, broken, "freeform" mess like STALKER.

I still fail to see how Obsidian's games are even close to being as fundamentally fucked up the ass as STALKER, though. Sure, you can call KOTOR 2 unfinished, but at least every Obsidian title I've played has fucking worked.
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post #28 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad Millette View Post
I'd much rather take the focused constricted experience of something like Modern Warfare over a muddled, broken, "freeform" mess like STALKER.

I still fail to see how Obsidian's games are even close to being as fundamentally fucked up the ass as STALKER, though. Sure, you can call KOTOR 2 unfinished, but at least every Obsidian title I've played has fucking worked.
I'd probably do it take it, too. It's just that this treatment of COD 4 as some sort of supreme FPS rubs me the wrong way. Anyway this is off topic.

As for the second part I completely agree. In fact considering Obsidian's pedigree and their place in the history of computer gaming, putting them on the same level as GSC is kind of insulting.
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post #29 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:53pm
COD4 is definitely a supreme multiplayer FPS.
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post #30 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:54pm
I'd take CoD4 over STALKER too - and i'd even go so far as agreeing with both of you that it's not even really fun. I enjoyed the experience, it's a fantastic environment, atmosphere and hell - even the story aspects kept me involved, but it's definitely a struggle to call it 'fun'. It's an open-world game with too many bugs and variables, that someone's going to have that utter bugfuck experience that ruins it for them.

I also did say that i'm not implying AP will be anywhere near as fucked as STALKER. Since you're essentially a rape victim though, i'll let it slide.
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post #31 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:56pm
I wouldn't know, Brad. My threshold at having someone call me a gay nigger over and over instead of fucking playing the damn game is non-existent.
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post #32 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:56pm
You lot are really hung up on rapes today.
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post #33 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:57pm
I mean is that today's meme or something?

"Oh, he didn't like it! MUST HAVE BEEN RAPED."
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post #34 of 197
8/19/09 at 1:57pm
You're the one talking about ass fucking. You didn't sound like it was a voluntary process. Isn't that rape?
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post #35 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:00pm
I said the game was fucked up the ass. You know, with bugs. Because it was coded on a wet paper bag.

I'm sorry if I insulted your little boyfriend, Dan.
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post #36 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:01pm
Sorry, with all this talk of the game torturing you I just assumed it went all the way.
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post #37 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:01pm
So anyway spies are cool.
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post #38 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:04pm
Unless they try to fuck you in the ass.
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post #39 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:05pm
As long as everyone's game, it's cool.

PC or console for y'all?
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post #40 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:05pm
PC definitely.
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post #41 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:06pm
It depends on which one has more ass fucking.
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post #42 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:07pm
PC then.
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post #43 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:09pm
PC = Penetrated Colon
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post #44 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:12pm
My PC has sex with me, but it's completely consensual.
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post #45 of 197
8/19/09 at 2:17pm
Faggot.
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post #46 of 197
8/19/09 at 6:53pm
And that concludes our interpretive dance performance of "Every time I play on Xbox Live"! Thanks for coming, everyone!
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post #47 of 197
8/21/09 at 10:06am
You guys do know that you can mute people on Live, right?
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post #48 of 197
8/21/09 at 1:02pm
Hahaha, probably one of the best exchanges in CHUD history. Thanks, guys.
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post #49 of 197
8/28/09 at 8:04pm
Thread Starter 
http://twitter.com/mikethorton

and

http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/...p=51&ch=1&sd=0
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post #50 of 197
9/28/09 at 1:50am
http://kotaku.com/5368298/retailers-...protocol-delay

Next summer? Goddamn it... this was one of only 3 or 4 games I was actually looking forward to in the next few months.
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