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Alpha Protocol, (the spy who loved everyone) - Page 4

post #151 of 200
6/25/10 at 12:53pm
You hated it so much you beat it twice, Snaieke?
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post #152 of 200
6/26/10 at 5:22pm
He hates himself most of all.

I no longer have any worries about Fallout: New Vegas. It may not be widely loved, but I'm sure I'll dig it. Obsidian just gets me.
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post #153 of 200
6/26/10 at 5:27pm
OK, I'm gonna plop down 49 bucks on Steam for this today, mostly based on what I've read here. If I hate it, I'm gonna go all Red Dead Redemption on you guys.
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post #154 of 200
6/26/10 at 5:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer View Post
OK, I'm gonna plop down 49 bucks on Steam for this today, mostly based on what I've read here. If I hate it, I'm gonna go all Red Dead Redemption on you guys.
Should we not tell you it was $33 on there yesterday?
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post #155 of 200
6/26/10 at 6:32pm
See, I thought I saw that online this morning, but my freakin' internet was out from Thursday afternoon until about 11:00 am today.

Argh. Story of my life.
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post #156 of 200
6/28/10 at 10:03am
This'll be one of those games where I level up to around 5 or so, and then start a new character once I figure out how to play the fucking thing.

I'm in Saudi Arabia right now, and I'm doing ok, but I'm not nearly as stealthy as I'd like to be. I get into way too many shootouts for my taste. Still, enjoying it so far -- seems to be a fairly deep RPG experience.
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post #157 of 200
6/28/10 at 3:30pm
At the end of Saudi, you can respec your character.
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post #158 of 200
6/28/10 at 3:35pm
Ah, sweet. Thanks.
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post #159 of 200
6/29/10 at 1:28pm
If you want stealth, focus entirely on it at first. You need the first few skills to succeed at all. Once you get it upgraded a bit and get the hang of it, it's a blast.
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post #160 of 200
6/29/10 at 1:51pm
Yeah, go with Stealth at first, but sacrifice some points in Handgund and the hacking/lockpick skills; a silenced gun with some stability/accuracy mods and a good stelath/hakcer/thief charcter is blast to play.
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post #161 of 200
6/29/10 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xion View Post
Three posts in a row? Has anyone else beaten this game yet or what? Seems like enough people bought/played it to warrant a bit more discussion.

In the end I think this is a great game which takes ME's semi-revolutionary conversation system and runs with it into the next country. Had it come out 2-3 years ago, people would be shitting their pants but now it seems sort of old-hat though some of the complaints (graphics especially) make very little sense to me.

I will replaying this one a lot and given it's length and diversity of missions, choices, etc I think it will be easier if not as rewarding as replaying DA:O or the ME games.
I beat it for the first time last week, basically the "everyone liked me"/"Thorton, Inc." ending (except I ditched Leland at the end...though I just reloaded and tried the other option just to see what happens). Got the "Ask Questions First, Shoot Later" achievement. Generally used non-lethal methods for most (but not all) of the game.

Playing through on Veteran now as Agent Psycho McStabbenshooty, just to see what the ending's like if you pretty much kill everyone you come across (or allow them to die as the case may be).

Of course, my second playthrough got a little sidetracked when I started re-playing Crackdown prior to the sequel.
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post #162 of 200
6/30/10 at 3:15pm
I got sidetracked by ODST and Bioshock 2 myself. I think I wanna lend AP to some people before playing it again. It's got a lot of love to give and needs to be shared around since no one I know bought it and too many people believe the bad reviews.
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post #163 of 200
6/30/10 at 3:19pm
This might have been one of the worst games I have ever played in recent years. Tried playing the first mission and plugged a dude in the face with a shotgun twice. The first time, I completely missed yet my reticule was right on his mug. The second blast hit him and pushed him back, not dead.

I dropped my controller and said, "done."

Glad I just rented it on gamefly instead of actually buying it.
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post #164 of 200
6/30/10 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pompoussory Estoppel View Post
This might have been one of the worst 5 minutes of time I gave a game I have ever played in recent years.
Better.

As has been mentioned (repeatedly) in the thread, reticule accuracy is not as important as allocated skill points in gunplay. Off-putting, just as in Fallout 3, but not a game-breaker.
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post #165 of 200
6/30/10 at 3:30pm
It's like some of you people have never played videogames before.
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post #166 of 200
6/30/10 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer View Post
Better.

As has been mentioned (repeatedly) in the thread, reticule accuracy is not as important as allocated skill points in gunplay. Off-putting, just as in Fallout 3, but not a game-breaker.
Yeah, I don't get it. In a game supposedly steeped in reality, it's incredibly unrealistic. If I put a reticule on a body part and I fire, I should hit it. Plus, depending on the body part I hit, it should take according damage. If I shoot a shotgun point blank at a security guard's face, he should go down regardless of skill points. A 12 year old kid with no experience shooting a gun at all could fire a shotgun and kill someone.

Skill points should never, ever trump reality. Maybe skill points should be adjusted to something more like the size of the reticule or the speed of moving it?

I realize it's a video game, but it shows horrible game design. It's nothing like Fallout either cause in the beginning of the game you could shoot a guy in the face with a gun and still kill him.

I went from Red Dead Redemption to this since I heard good things about this game early on. Instead of going from one week in May to the next, it felt like going from 2010 to 1998 in gaming. Weak sauce.
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post #167 of 200
6/30/10 at 4:27pm
Oh, I understand that. Lord knows this game got screwed in the development cycle. But after sticking with it for a while I've found it fairly enjoyable. But I have to agree with your point about how retro it feels after something like RDR.

I wouldn't begrudge anyone not liking AP. I'm just glad I gave it a chance, is all.
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post #168 of 200
6/30/10 at 5:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xion View Post
You hated it so much you beat it twice, Snaieke?
I didn't hate it, I just found it lacking. It was a quick game that I beat in about 8 hours of game play and it didn't have a lot of replay value. First time through with martial arts was a little fun but the second time through with stealth and pistol was like playing in god mode.
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post #169 of 200
6/30/10 at 8:55pm
Try playing it in hard mode and tell me that.
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post #170 of 200
7/1/10 at 8:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pompoussory Estoppel
Yeah, I don't get it.
It's a role playing game. That's it.

The reticule determines what you're aiming at, your skill with the gun determines whether you can actually hit it. Also aiming - holding the target until the reticule shrinks to its smallest size makes you about 100x more accurate in Alpha Protocol.

It's funny how a mechanic that's been used thousands of times in other games suddenly seems so foreign to some people because it's coupled with gunplay. Nobody was freaking out in games when their hero's sword swung right through the enemy yet they missed...

Your loss. There are plenty of games I can play when I want a shooter. But none of them, Red Dead included, have anything close to actual role-playing. Rockstar's trying to open up their storytelling, but in that respect they're still a decade (or two) behind Obsidian.
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post #171 of 200
7/1/10 at 10:54am
Red Dead Redemption couldn't be further from Alpha Protocol if it was played with a phone and notepad. Their genre, setting, playstyle and philosophy have zero points of contact. One's perceived quality should have zero effect on the other.
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post #172 of 200
7/1/10 at 12:41pm
I loved that the first four missions in Rome didn't require me to fire a single shot. It was all sneaking/hacking/talking/spying. And that Marbury, who is ostensibly my enemy, respects and trusts me because of the conversations we've had.

This'll definitely get a second playthrough. Gotta try the other result in the museum...
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post #173 of 200
7/1/10 at 3:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios
Red Dead Redemption couldn't be further from Alpha Protocol if it was played with a phone and notepad. Their genre, setting, playstyle and philosophy have zero points of contact. One's perceived quality should have zero effect on the other.
There actually is an overlap between the two: Rockstar continues to play at making a true role-playing game (one where your choices matter), but they can't quite manage it. RDR gives you choices without consequences, rendering them moot. Alpha Protocol is one of a very few games that manages to make your decisions determine your story, and that is an aspect that for me lifts a game's story far above what a linear narrative can manage.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer
This'll definitely get a second playthrough. Gotta try the other result in the museum...
I don't know which you did, but I can say that saving the museum was over-the-top crazy. Reading a tiny bit on the endings just to see whether they were different enough to warrant a replay made me see the museum choices are just the tip of the iceberg. Characters can be turned or killed that I didn't think possible at all. For me, that kind of thing is the only true replayability.
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post #174 of 200
7/1/10 at 5:14pm
That's one of the things that makes this otherwise severely unpolished game so great: entering into a conversation with someone can be easily as suspenseful as any gunfight. That meeting with Marbury at the outdoor cafe, the music, the unspoken menace -- just great stuff. Hell, just answering freakin' emails can be a puzzle -- 'should I reply directly, send a copy to HQ, how should I answer, should I be honest or bluff' -- that sort of thing.

Thorton may be a "generic" spy, but I'm roleplaying the fuck out of him.
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post #175 of 200
7/2/10 at 6:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xion View Post
Try playing it in hard mode and tell me that.
did it, still was quite easy.
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post #176 of 200
7/3/10 at 1:20pm
I kind of love this game. Such fantastic writing and I don't have an issue, at all, with the combat. It makes you take a quieter, more considered, role to situations and makes you take your time with fights.

Got a Thorton who was a Recruit, is pretty talented with Pistols, Sabotage and Stealth and can bring the physical pain when he wants, who ingratiates himself to his enemies and tries to to play nice with everyone. I've done Saudi Arabia and I'm halfway (?) through Rome.
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post #177 of 200
7/4/10 at 6:36pm
Caved and got this today. You bastards.
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post #178 of 200
7/5/10 at 3:54am
The deluge of games I got over the Steam sale kind of put my assault rifle totting, be an asshole to everyone I'm not trying to fuck, palythrough on the back burner, sadly. It's going to happen though.
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post #179 of 200
7/5/10 at 2:24pm
I think everybody buys this game is sort of waving a flag for more of this type of game in general, if not from Obsidian themselves. That is a good thing. Bioware needs to take a couple notes from the AP playbook for their next Mass Effect or next franchise of the type.
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post #180 of 200
7/5/10 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xion View Post
I think everybody buys this game is sort of waving a flag for more of this type of game in general, if not from Obsidian themselves. That is a good thing. Bioware needs to take a couple notes from the AP playbook for their next Mass Effect or next franchise of the type.
Whilst I prefer the dialogue in Alpha Protocol, I think Dragon Age and Mass Effect both hand the game it's ass in terms of characterisation, world building and general gameplay.

Not that I don't <3 Alpha Protocol.
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post #181 of 200
7/6/10 at 2:47am
I reckon I'm getting close to the end of this game (done with Saudi, Rome, Taipei, have 1 mission left in Moscow). Some of these 2, 3, and 4 ratings from critics are insane. I'd probably give it an 8 right now. This game does so much right (writing, voice acting, story, choice, some of the missions are actually pretty interesting) but quite a bit of it is sloppy as well (graphics, AI - I chain shotted a circle of enemies around a guard & he just stood there afterwards like nothing happened). I really have no problem with the mechanics of combat - just play for a bit, level up, and put some goddamn points into your weapon of choice. You can DOMINATE this game with a pistol for crying out loud. For some reason I find firing headshots from behind cover extremely satisfying. Also, can we get a crossover game and/or sitcom starring Steve Heck and Brucie from GTA IV? That would be awesome.
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post #182 of 200
7/6/10 at 12:57pm
No sequel for us!

Well, shit.
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post #183 of 200
7/6/10 at 1:07pm
If they were going to ridiculously mismanage the sequel, the way they did with this, it's for the best.
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post #184 of 200
7/6/10 at 3:00pm
Spike, I agree with you. I just think the mechanics of the dialogue system in AP are the best version up to this point. Both ME games as well as DA:O are categorically BETTER games than AP. But AP does just the one thing better than any of them. DA:O might be exempt from this since they didn't really alter the retro-Bioware style. ME, however, pioneered the approach to dialogue that AP vastly improved upon. ME2 did not really improve on it at all, leaving the same problems with different player input leading to the same responses, lack of the interrupt feature yet again, few if any contextual options, etc.

AP really gives ME/ME2 a run for their money as a "choose your own adventure" choice-driven RPG. It's the best example of a choice-driven game to my knowledge, period.
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post #185 of 200
7/6/10 at 3:04pm
Also nothing in Mass Effect or Dragon Age is as amazing as Steven Heck's introduction.
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post #186 of 200
7/7/10 at 2:58pm
Steven Heck fucking rules.
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post #187 of 200
7/22/10 at 12:55pm
PC version of this is easily gettable for $20 on Ebay right now (buy it now auctions). Oddly, I would have paid $20 for it when Steam had their big sale on and now I find myself compelled to try to find an Ebay auction for $15 or so.

Xbox 360 version still seems to be a bit higher.
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post #188 of 200
8/4/10 at 9:24pm
OK, the last levels of this game fucking suck. Once again, boss battles that have absolutely nothing to do with all the skills you've been perfecting over the entire game are enormously irritating. A ridiculously rugged missile-proof chopper that can see you even when you're "invisible"? Gee, glad I invested points in that skill.

Loved it up 'til the end. Doubt I'll finish it.
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post #189 of 200
8/4/10 at 11:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer View Post
OK, the last levels of this game fucking suck. Once again, boss battles that have absolutely nothing to do with all the skills you've been perfecting over the entire game are enormously irritating. A ridiculously rugged missile-proof chopper that can see you even when you're "invisible"? Gee, glad I invested points in that skill.

Loved it up 'til the end. Doubt I'll finish it.

nail all the guys before you go for the chopper (cheese it if you have to using the part where the chopper can't get you (fires missiles into the wall). Then go from rocket launcher to rocket launcher and hid from the missiles direct path in the guard towers. You should only need a few bullets after all the rockets have hit the chopper. When you hear the beep, get something between you and the missile.

Like any old cheesefest game boss of yore. Then not much longer to go.
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post #190 of 200
8/4/10 at 11:31pm
The chopper's not that hard, it is annoying though.

Just hide behind scenery (I used the area right before the stairs up to the main courtyard) until your stealth is ready (so you can skip the soldiers), and run for the next rocket launcher, fire a rocket, then go for the next one or run back to your safe spot. It's a pain, but I had way more trouble with the jerk in the tower right before that. I hate that jerk and I'm glad he's dead.
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post #191 of 200
9/1/10 at 1:27am
I rented this game for a week and ended up keeping it for close to a month. Yes it's full of problems but the good parts overwhelm them.

I'm quite happy to see many here liked it. The positive comments in this thread got me believing in the possibility of a sequel and then my hopes got crushed by the Kotaku link ryoken posted.

Concerning the mostly terrible reviews, it pisses me off how they all focus on the bugs and flaws while Red Dead Redemption gets near perfect scores everywhere by ignoring the same kind of problems.
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post #192 of 200
9/7/10 at 3:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer View Post
Once again, boss battles that have absolutely nothing to do with all the skills you've been perfecting over the entire game are enormously irritating.
This is my main gripe about many Video Games. See the final levels of Halo 3 for more examples.
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post #193 of 200
12/14/10 at 12:42pm
So this is much better than I'd been led to believe. The combat isn't perfect, but the character interactions and upgrade system make this a very Mass Effect-y experience. It's on the short side and is a little too modular, but now I'm a little bummed that we won't be seeing a sequel.
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post #194 of 200
12/14/10 at 12:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor View Post
So this is much better than I'd been led to believe. The combat isn't perfect, but the character interactions and upgrade system make this a very Mass Effect-y experience. It's on the short side and is a little too modular, but now I'm a little bummed that we won't be seeing a sequel.
Definitely agree about the Mass Effect comparison. A friend of mine is getting a PS3 and I'll recommend he plays Mass Effect 2 first and then get Alpha Protocol.

What's bumming me out about not getting a sequel is that they could've eliminated all the little problems and made a great game with the added experience.
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post #195 of 200
12/14/10 at 1:05pm
I'm still early into this. My first conversation freaked me out though, when I suddenly realized I had to pay close attention and make conversation choices on the fly. I was so expecting it to be Mass Effect-ish that I was totally unprepared for that. Luckily a few early nearly blind choices seemed to work out for the best.

Been trying to stealth around and the learning curve there seems steep. Things that seem like they would raise alarms sometimes don't, and things that seem completely stealthy will sometimes result in me getting lit up.
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post #196 of 200
12/14/10 at 1:48pm
I also think Marburg is probably one of the most effective videogame villains I've seen this year. I kind of love the dialogue in this and how each character reacts differently, but believably, depending on your relationship. I think the finale is really wrong headed though. Just a really irritating way to finish the game off after how great Taipei, Rome and Moscow were.
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post #197 of 200
12/14/10 at 6:02pm
Regarding a sequel, while it is unlikely and was ruled out by Sega, it actually isn't their choice to make at all. All rights remain with Obsidian so if they feel like giving it another go, they can. That said, it'd be a risk and, given the wildly different possible outcomes, a direct carry-over-decisions sequel, or even one using any of the same characters is practically an impossibility. Then again, Steven Heck's the only guy you need anyway and he's still around no matter what.
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post #198 of 200
6/8/12 at 2:12pm

Does it matter which order I do Taipei, Rome, and Moscow?

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post #199 of 200
6/8/12 at 2:33pm

It can tweak the story, yes.

 

Other than giving you replay value in seeing the different paths the story can take, there's no big differences.

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post #200 of 200
6/8/12 at 9:16pm
Thread Starter 

yeah you can have  different handler for certain missions depending on the order you take them in, hell you even get a different response for visiting the safe houses in different orders, like the Taipei one after Rome and Moscow's swanky apartments.

 

 

They did describe he choice and structure of the game as a Henticle like mass. http://blip.tv/panels-from-pax/pax-east-2010-obsidian-entertainment-but-thou-must-choice-in-games-3510743

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