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Alpha Protocol: Well-written?

  • Thread starter Fucking Quality Poster
  • Start date

Fucking Quality Poster

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Although I was less-than-impressed with the game overall, I have to say that some aspects of Alpha Protocol were extremely enjoyable.

Case in point: dialog.

I expected AP to feature lackluster dialog, considering the nature of the game, but I thought the 'Suave' lines that I used pretty much throughout were, on more than one occasion, humorous and clever. Of course, this shouldn't have come as a surprise, Obsidian employs several top-notch game developers, and making dialog well-written should come easy to them. NPC dialog, I thought was satisfactory and got the job done. I'm just wondering if I'm in the minority here, or if anyone else agrees. What about those of you who used lines other than 'Suave', what can you say about Michael Thornton's dialog? I realize that they aren't going to vary that greatly, but the lines that I enjoyed the most were the ones that I got to choose, so perhaps there is some disparity in the quality of writing between 'Suave' and other choices.
 

I.C. Wiener

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I haven't played very far into it, but I'm still going to complain. The lines that make Mina (the chinese chick) like you make Thornton sound like a total chump. That's where they lost me.
 

Fucking Quality Poster

Guest
I used 'Suave' lines and Mina was still taken with me, so I guess it just works out that way with any dialog option you pick, as long as you aren't being a total dick.

So much for the deep C&C in relation to characters that everyone was harping about in the other threads.
 

Monocause

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Lebanese Warrior said:
I thought the 'Suave' lines that I used pretty much throughout were, on more than one occasion, humorous and clever. Of course, this shouldn't have come as a surprise, Obsidian employs several top-notch game developers, and making dialog well-written should come easy to them. NPC dialog, I thought was satisfactory and got the job done. I'm just wondering if I'm in the minority here, or if anyone else agrees. What about those of you who used lines other than 'Suave', what can you say about Michael Thornton's dialog? I realize that they aren't going to vary that greatly, but the lines that I enjoyed the most were the ones that I got to choose, so perhaps there is some disparity in the quality of writing between 'Suave' and other choices.

There was a disparity in quality indeed.

Login: Th0rnt0n
Password: M1lfluv3r

Seriously dude, almost all of the suave lines made Thornton sound like an adolescent jerk, not "suave" at all. The language barrier can be your only excuse.
 

Fucking Quality Poster

Guest
Monocause said:
Seriously dude, almost all of the suave lines made Thornton sound like an adolescent jerk, not "suave" at all. The language barrier can be your only excuse.

I thought they were actually quite subtle. To each his own, I guess.

The language barrier can be your only excuse.

lol
 

bhlaab

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Considering that James Bond does nothing but bad puns and is still considered suave it works out alright.
 
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"For the record, no, you didn't shoot my girl or fuck my dog."

Overall I like the dialogue. Corny at times, but it still works.
 

DriacKin

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bhlaab said:
Considering that James Bond does nothing but bad puns and is still considered suave it works out alright.
Considering that Sean Connery can take the silliest pun and make it sound suave, Michael Thornton still fails.
 

Fucking Quality Poster

Guest
Lebanese Warrior said:
I thought they were actually quite subtle. To each his own, I guess.

What I mean to say is, subtle in a B-movie kind of way. As in the characters intend for it to be subtle but the result is something a lot more...awesome.
 

dr. one

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Lebanese Warrior said:
I used 'Suave' lines and Mina was still taken with me, so I guess it just works out that way with any dialog option you pick, as long as you aren't being a total dick.

So much for the deep C&C in relation to characters that everyone was harping about in the other threads.

i´m quite sure suave doesn´t work on her at first, she basically takes some time to warm up to you (which you can help with by using professional stances), then suave usually works. you can loose rep with her fast if you lethally take down certain dudes here and there (like CIA). if she dislikes you, you get different handler perk and it´s also one of the ways how to get affirmed it was her who set you up to become rogue.

and yes, characters respond differently to your stances and it does make a difference, immediately or cumulatively. they mostly react consistently to specific stances, just not mechanically all the time. mixing it up in specific cases and when appropriate may pay off.

not to mention sometimes you get the additional dossier-based option and characters also react to your previous actions (i got +2 rep with SIE for having killed Marburg in Rome before, for example).


i agree that dialogues were generally very well written, though incidentally i consider some of the suave iterations to be its weakest point :).
 

themadhatter114

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It really doesn't matter what you say to Mina. What matters with her more is your actions. If you act in a professional manner, if you put your trust in her rather than in other women, if you always complete the extra objectives, and if you avoid civilian/American casualties, she will pretty much always be taken with you. At least from my observation.
 

Zed

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I liked the girl who had no dialogue at all because she was mute.

Could you sex her up, by the way?
 

Zed

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No sex, no dialogue.

Great character.
 
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Zed said:
No sex, no dialogue.

Great character.

The sad thing is, Sis, Albatross and even G22 as a whole had this really bad feeling of "These characters had much better developed/more important stories, but we had to cut them short for time or whatever other reason."

I mean Sis is on the cover of the game, the whole story behind the Pendant, or why she gave it to Thorton, is just dropped after one scene. It's never explained where she came from, or why she's involved with G22. Never any kind of development for her outside of the few scenes in-game with her, when it could be easily done with the email system or something else.

Then G22 really reeked of cut-short plot arc. At one point you find it mentioned that Alpha Protocols base name is G19. Thorton is wondering how Albatross knew so much about Alpha Protocol apparently, yet those possible ties were again, just dead after finding them.

Alsoplustoo: If ME2 can have awkward Tali sex, why no lovin from Sis.
 

Azarkon

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For a game with a lot of dialogue and text, the quality of AP's writing is quite high. The best part about it, though, is how well it synergies with the actual scenes - how well it's directed, in other words. AP is a cinematic game - of this, I have little doubt - and if that was Obsidian's intent, then they've succeeded.
 

Fat Dragon

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Then G22 really reeked of cut-short plot arc. At one point you find it mentioned that Alpha Protocols base name is G19. Thorton is wondering how Albatross knew so much about Alpha Protocol apparently, yet those possible ties were again, just dead after finding them.
Are sure it's because of cut content, and not because G22 is meant to be the highly secret black-ops group people know little or nothing about?
 
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Fat Dragon said:
Then G22 really reeked of cut-short plot arc. At one point you find it mentioned that Alpha Protocols base name is G19. Thorton is wondering how Albatross knew so much about Alpha Protocol apparently, yet those possible ties were again, just dead after finding them.
Are sure it's because of cut content, and not because G22 is meant to be the highly secret black-ops group people know little or nothing about?

I just mean, nothing ever comes up about it, outside of the mention of AP being G19. No kind of interaction with Albatross, no other files or anything found on it, it just seems like there would be a little bit more.
 
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Azarkon said:
For a game with a lot of dialogue and text, the quality of AP's writing is quite high. The best part about it, though, is how well it synergies with the actual scenes - how well it's directed, in other words. AP is a cinematic game - of this, I have little doubt - and if that was Obsidian's intent, then they've succeeded.

:facepalm: Video games: The cinematic experience.
 

Azarkon

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Why :facepalm: over the emergence of a new genre of entertainment - interactive movies? Video games are not some sort of holy grail. Obsidian might be better off making interactive movies.
 
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Lebanese Warrior said:
Although I was less-than-impressed with the game overall, I have to say that some aspects of Alpha Protocol were extremely enjoyable.

Case in point: dialog.

I expected AP to feature lackluster dialog, considering the nature of the game, but I thought the 'Suave' lines that I used pretty much throughout were, on more than one occasion, humorous and clever. Of course, this shouldn't have come as a surprise, Obsidian employs several top-notch game developers, and making dialog well-written should come easy to them. NPC dialog, I thought was satisfactory and got the job done. I'm just wondering if I'm in the minority here, or if anyone else agrees. What about those of you who used lines other than 'Suave', what can you say about Michael Thornton's dialog? I realize that they aren't going to vary that greatly, but the lines that I enjoyed the most were the ones that I got to choose, so perhaps there is some disparity in the quality of writing between 'Suave' and other choices.

No, I thought the dialogue and the C+C were both excellent. Having said that, I also though the 'suave' dialogue was easily the weakest, so we might have different tastes. For me, the 'suave' dialogue was only tolerable by mentally swapping 'suave' for 'arrogant douchebag'. Now as 'arrogant douchebag' dialogue it was excellent - suitably humourous without breaking suspension of disbelief. Having said that, it's clear that the writers couldn't pull off early-Bond-cool, so they fell back upon what they were better at - late-Bond-douchery.
 

Fucking Quality Poster

Guest
I'm the first to admit that my tastes may not be as refined as some others, as my English is not very strong. To be honest I found the crass nature of the Suave options to be entertaining, as well as the smartass tone that Thornton would use when making them.
 

alkeides

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How do you kill Marburg in Rome?
 

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