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Game News Alpha Protocol Not Elite Enough for a Sequel

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Davaris

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I haven't played the game because the Codex has been bagging it so much, but it can't have been worse than Fallout 3? And if Fallout 3 sold a ton of copies, why did this not sell well?

I have a couple of ideas, if the above is true.
 
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AP wasn't a high profile release. FO3 was. It had absurd marketing and such that Obsidian and Sega can't do. F:NV will be a big release and sell a lot.
 
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Davaris said:
I haven't played the game because the Codex has been bagging it so much, but it can't have been worse than Fallout 3? And if Fallout 3 sold a ton of copies, why did this not sell well?

No, its much, much better then Fallout 3. Its simply not dumbed down enough for consoletards.

In actuality, its basically Obsidian's take on ME. Looser gameplay mechanics, better story/characters, more bugs and annoyances. Not great, but not horrible. Somewhere between mediocre and fairly decent depending on how much its flaws and strengths affect you.
 
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Twinkle said:
Its simply not dumbed down enough for consoletards.

LOL

You laugh, but go read those xbawkx reviews. I bet there is not a single one that isn't whineing about how weak all the weapons are unless you, gasp, put skill points into weapons. Among other things.
 

Roguey

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The really odd thing about that is that it wasn't even part of the design back in 2008:
Jonric: How would you describe the combat system you're implementing? How will it function, and will it include any unusual or otherwise interesting elements?

Ryan Rucinski: The combat system is pretty straightforward most of the time. If you have skills in particular firearms, equipment and martial arts, you will clearly do more damage with them when they are being used. This does not preclude or hinder using those that the character is not specialized in.

For example, if Thorton has 10 points in a pistol, every shot he fires will deal significantly more damage than if he only has one in it. This doesn't mean missing more often though. I have played some other games where because I didn't have a high enough skill in a particular weapon, it decided I missed even if I had a reticule directly over the target's face. It really cheesed me off that some hidden dice roll overruled my aiming skill.
I guess Sega and/or Parker decided that frustrating action gamers was worth the risk? Well, shows what they know.
 

Twinkle

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Overweight Manatee said:
Twinkle said:
Its simply not dumbed down enough for consoletards.

LOL

You laugh, but go read those xbawkx reviews. I bet there is not a single one that isn't whineing about how weak all the weapons are unless you, gasp, put skill points into weapons. Among other things.

Well, let's see.

- Dialogue wheel (now as QTE!) - Check

- Minigames totally unrelated to core gameplay - Check

- Dumb, sloooow enemies - Check

- Forced boss fights - Check

- Crappy radial interface with no hotkey support - Check

- Jerky mouse controls - Check

- Superabilities that make no sense - Check

- Cover system - Check

- Narrow FOV with no way to change it - Check

- And last but not least zero modding potential.

Xbawks reviews are somewhat right on shootan issue - you are either total gimp who can't hit or damage shit from point blank or a god among men while using special ability (especially true for pistols and shadow operative) with no middle ground.
 
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Davaris

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Overweight Manatee said:
No, its much, much better then Fallout 3. Its simply not dumbed down enough for consoletards.

In actuality, its basically Obsidian's take on ME. Looser gameplay mechanics, better story/characters, more bugs and annoyances. Not great, but not horrible. Somewhere between mediocre and fairly decent depending on how much its flaws and strengths affect you.


Well if that's the case, it is as I felt when I first saw screen shots of the game. I was concerned it wouldn't sell well, because I didn't believe it had a visual style that would appeal to the masses.

As for what 'back to sportforredneck' said about marketing, that is true as well. If they had an established license like James Bond and good marketing, they would have gotten away with it.

If I were them and had no existing license to work with, I would go for something that is unique and cool, but is not overexposed. If I did not have an existing license, I would definitely not set a game in the real world. It must have fantasy or sci-fi elements, with a unique look.

As people are visual creatures, studios need lead artists that are good at creating original and compelling visions. I assume people like that, are not easy to find or recruit.
 

Azarkon

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Silellak said:
Azarkon said:
Silellak said:
Xor said:
I guess this washes away any hope for a patch, as well.


And what's with all the Obsidian hate? You guys would really rather have them go bankrupt? FFS.
I don't want them to go bankrupt. What I would like for them is to hire better programmers, designers, and project managers, so that they can actually make games worthy of the ideas they have.

And you think this is going to happen once their games financially flounder...
I do? Please continue; I'd love to hear what other opinions I have.

I had you confused with the hive mind. My apologies.

What irks me is the belief, obviously held by some posters in this thread, that better RPGs will be produced once the current batch of subpar ones fail. No, it doesn't work that way. What will really happen is that companies will stop making RPGs.

The demise of Obsidian will not bring back BIS. It will leave a gaping hole - like the fall of Troika did.
 

Redshirt #42

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Aug 13, 2009
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It is a shame. Who knows, maybe if the game was successful, they would have fixed some issues in the sequel. Obsidian seemed to have acknowledged the flaws.

Davaris said:
the Codex has been bagging it so much

Well, the Codex can be hypocritical, at times.
 

Deleted Member 10432

Guest
Naked Ninja said:
There's also the absolutely idiotic way the checkpoint system will save as I finish a mission and when I start it, but not between. So I can finish a mission, answer some emails and then decide to quit for the day...and when I start again I need to answer the emails again.
You can save in the safehouse, even if in missions you are bound by checkpoints. I found that out pretty much as soon as I got passed the Greybox. You did... play the game, right?

Darth Roxor said:
Volourn said:
"I'm done defending AP"

Good. Because its indefensible.

Much like NWN :smug:
And Moron Effluence, for that matter.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
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"AP wasn't a high profile release."

Yes, it was. It was not FO3 level of course, it was mostd efinitely high profile.


"better story/characters"

Bullshitz.
 

Cassidy

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Volourn said:
"better story/characters"

Bullshitz.

I hate to partially "agree" with Volourn, but AP writing ranges from mediocre to average, with a few headdesk moments in between. If ME is worse than that, then I can't really imagine how horrible ME dialogue would be.
 

Silellak

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Djadjamankh said:
Naked Ninja said:
There's also the absolutely idiotic way the checkpoint system will save as I finish a mission and when I start it, but not between. So I can finish a mission, answer some emails and then decide to quit for the day...and when I start again I need to answer the emails again.
You can save in the safehouse, even if in missions you are bound by checkpoints. I found that out pretty much as soon as I got passed the Greybox. You did... play the game, right?
You can save your last safehouse checkpoint. You can't check e-mails, buy equipment, etc. and then save those actions, because the checkpoint was before you performed those activities.

You did...play the game, right?
:retarded:
 

Deleted Member 10432

Guest
Silellak said:
Djadjamankh said:
Naked Ninja said:
There's also the absolutely idiotic way the checkpoint system will save as I finish a mission and when I start it, but not between. So I can finish a mission, answer some emails and then decide to quit for the day...and when I start again I need to answer the emails again.
You can save in the safehouse, even if in missions you are bound by checkpoints. I found that out pretty much as soon as I got passed the Greybox. You did... play the game, right?
You can save your last safehouse checkpoint. You can't check e-mails, buy equipment, etc. and then save those actions, because the checkpoint was before you performed those activities.

You did...play the game, right?
:retarded:

Yes. In fact, I just tested this, and it does save your clearinghouse and email actions. In the Saudi safehouse, anyway. It also moves the pc to standing by the dining table for some reason. But it definitely saves clearinghouse/email activity.

fakeedit: works in Taipei, too.
 

Mangoose

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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity
Djadjamankh said:
Silellak said:
Djadjamankh said:
Naked Ninja said:
There's also the absolutely idiotic way the checkpoint system will save as I finish a mission and when I start it, but not between. So I can finish a mission, answer some emails and then decide to quit for the day...and when I start again I need to answer the emails again.
You can save in the safehouse, even if in missions you are bound by checkpoints. I found that out pretty much as soon as I got passed the Greybox. You did... play the game, right?
You can save your last safehouse checkpoint. You can't check e-mails, buy equipment, etc. and then save those actions, because the checkpoint was before you performed those activities.

You did...play the game, right?
:retarded:

Yes. In fact, I just tested this, and it does save your clearinghouse and email actions. In the Saudi safehouse, anyway. It also moves the pc to standing by the dining table for some reason. But it definitely saves clearinghouse/email activity.

fakeedit: works in Taipei, too.
I call troll. I definitely tried to do this multiple times and it didn't work.
 

random_encounter

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Can't say I'm surprised.

Drakron said:
Oh and I get bonus points from using a Sega game as a example.
One that I'd rate much higher than FFXIII. I'd rate Beyond the Beyond higher than FFXIII from a pure gameplay perspective.

Redshirt #42 said:
It is a shame. Who knows, maybe if the game was successful, they would have fixed some issues in the sequel. Obsidian seemed to have acknowledged the flaws.
Ever wonder why sequels to existing properties are often favored over original IPs? This is one reason why.
 

themadhatter114

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No, it's totally illogical given the game's save system that you'd be able to keep e-mail activity. The game saves checkpoints, and if you turn off the game before getting another checkpoint, your actions aren't saved. The only way that your actions are saved is if you get another checkpoint. This always irritated me, so I always started the next mission after checking my e-mail, then turned everything off.
 

Silellak

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Djadjamankh said:
Silellak said:
Djadjamankh said:
Naked Ninja said:
There's also the absolutely idiotic way the checkpoint system will save as I finish a mission and when I start it, but not between. So I can finish a mission, answer some emails and then decide to quit for the day...and when I start again I need to answer the emails again.
You can save in the safehouse, even if in missions you are bound by checkpoints. I found that out pretty much as soon as I got passed the Greybox. You did... play the game, right?
You can save your last safehouse checkpoint. You can't check e-mails, buy equipment, etc. and then save those actions, because the checkpoint was before you performed those activities.

You did...play the game, right?
:retarded:

Yes. In fact, I just tested this, and it does save your clearinghouse and email actions. In the Saudi safehouse, anyway. It also moves the pc to standing by the dining table for some reason. But it definitely saves clearinghouse/email activity.

fakeedit: works in Taipei, too.
You must have some sort of "make the game better" button, because this sure as fuck doesn't work on my game. The only way to save the game after doing any email/shopping is to start another mission.

GAME DESIGN IS HARD.
 
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Azarkon said:
What irks me is the belief, obviously held by some posters in this thread, that better RPGs will be produced once the current batch of subpar ones fail. No, it doesn't work that way. What will really happen is that companies will stop making RPGs.

The demise of Obsidian will not bring back BIS. It will leave a gaping hole - like the fall of Troika did.

No one said better RPGs would be developed if Obsidian stopped making them. Fewer shitty ones will, though, and that's a plus. I'd rather companies stopped making "RPGs" (are we officially calling AP an RPG?) then releasing bad ones.
 
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Just noticed that Alphaturd has online verification as well. Is it a plus being able to 'rent' the game rather than own it?

So much going for it...I just don't know what to say.
 

Jaesun

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When I read they had to gut and re-do (most all)? of Mitsodas work/ideas from Alpha Protocol, that kind of raised a red flag to me on this title.

Not really surprised at all there will be no sequel for this. It is sad, but not surprising.
 
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Flying Spaghetti Monster said:
Azarkon said:
What irks me is the belief, obviously held by some posters in this thread, that better RPGs will be produced once the current batch of subpar ones fail. No, it doesn't work that way. What will really happen is that companies will stop making RPGs.

The demise of Obsidian will not bring back BIS. It will leave a gaping hole - like the fall of Troika did.

No one said better RPGs would be developed if Obsidian stopped making them. Fewer shitty ones will, though, and that's a plus. I'd rather companies stopped making "RPGs" (are we officially calling AP an RPG?) then releasing bad ones.

You do realize the message this failure passes is "Bio's/Beth's way of doing RPGs is better", right? You'll just get more, even shittier rpgs.
 

Drakron

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random_encounter said:
One that I'd rate much higher than FFXIII. I'd rate Beyond the Beyond higher than FFXIII from a pure gameplay perspective.

I picked FF XIII because it had a Metacritic score lower that the one he used to say its considered a "success".

As much I would love to see FF XIII be considered a failure its not, at least not a financial one as its one of the highest selling PS3 games and I unfortunately used VGChartz data but I only did because I used then to inflate Valkyria Chronicles sales.

I also picked Valkyria Chronicles because it was named "the best game nobody played", it had terrible sales despite getting high scores from the critics.

In fact the did made Valkyria Chronicles II for the PSP and using VGChartz numbers again it sold even less, about 170,000 units.

Point is from a financial aspect nobody wants Valkyria Chronicles but Final Fantasy XIII since what matters are sales, someone that is at the head of a publisher saying otherwise is lying.

If he said "too soon, not enough sales data to make a decision" it would be one thing, also "not going to happen due to disappointing sales" would be another but what it said was "sorry, its not high enough in metacritic for us to do it" makes him either a idiot or makes him think we are idiots.

Considering its Sega, chances are he is a idiot.
 
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Volourn said:
"AP wasn't a high profile release."

Yes, it was. It was not FO3 level of course, it was mostd efinitely high profile.
Come on, Volourn. It didn't have nearly as many previews and pre-release things as FO3. Even random games have advertising on game websites, much like Alpha Protocol.
 

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