Interview Branching dialogues and player growth in Alpha Protocol

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Alpha Protocol; Obsidian Entertainment

Obsidian Entertainment <a href="http://au.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/alphaprotocol/video/6201453/alpha-protocol-dev-diary-1?hd=1&tag=topslot%3bimg%3b1">have done of those video interview thingy's on GameSpot</a>. Chris Parker, Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone and Ryan Rucinski (in that order) appear and talk about how they wanted to make an RPG which had a lot of cool action elements. Like there haven't been enough of those since Diablo was born. There's a lot of in-game footage too and they talk about the motivation, which apparently you choose yourself (revenge vs patriotism vs cowboy with guns).
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Spotted @ <a href="http://rpgwatch.com/">RPGWatch</a>
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[Annonchinil]

This seems to lack the edge that some other Obsidian/Black Isle games have. I mean why go for a 20 something attractive looking male as the lead? I think a spy rpg set during a different period would be much more interesting, like say Stalin's Purges.

 

[Forest Dweller]

It has Oblivion's lockpicking minigame.

 

[FalloutBR]

Dialogue choices before 2 hour-long shooting sequences:

Patriot -> Yes, sir!
Revenge -> They'll pay for what they did!
Cowboy with guns -> Woo-hoo!

Rephrase that same set of 3 options before and after the long action sequences and you got your RPG dialogues...

 

[crakkie]

Yes, you nailed Chris Avellone's writing.

 

[phanboy_iv]

This seems to lack the edge that some other Obsidian/Black Isle games have. I mean why go for a 20 something attractive looking male as the lead? I think a spy rpg set during a different period would be much more interesting, like say Stalin's Purges.

Now see, that's a good idea, but too gritty and not nearly sexy enough to be a mainstream success, I'm afraid. Pity. I could see how that setting could go places.

 

[poocolator]

This has got to be the best game evar developed because zombie Chris Avellone is working on it!!!111 BTW why are they interviewing the developers/producers in what appears to be a prison cell block?

 

[dagorkan]

Current interest in this game: near zero
Interest in this game after viewing video: decreased

 

[Longshanks]

Yes, you nailed Chris Avellone's writing.

He's the one who prefers pictures to words, right?

 

[Vibalist]

I'm usually not one to criticize products before giving them a try, but this shit looks really stupid. Obsidian should stick to RPGs.

 

[poocolator]

Yeah this looks like Mercenaries 2 or whatever. Is Alpha Protocol supposed to be an RPG or something?

 

[Forest Dweller]

BTW why are they interviewing the developers/producers in what appears to be a prison cell block?

ATMOSPHERE

Yes, you nailed Chris Avellone's writing.

He's the one who prefers pictures to words, right?

He's the one who wrote Torment. You can fuck off now.

 

[elander_]

This has got to be the best game evar developed because zombie Chris Avellone is working on it!!!111

Was he hit in the head and lost his writing talents or something?

 

[Barrow_Bug]

I hope this game is good. Hey, at least it's not another Fantasy RPG!

 

[dagorkan]

Yeah, that's what will give it a free pass. Anything goes but fantasy, right?

 

[Barrow_Bug]

No, I not saying that. It's just that it's refreshing to see another non-fantasy is all. The game's quality will be based on it's merits, not it's setting. However, I have to admit I just don't dig elves and dwarves in every RPG I come across.

 

[Texas Red]

No, I not saying that. It's just that it's refreshing to see another non-fantasy is all. The game's quality will be based on it's merits, not it's setting. However, I have to admit I just don't dig elves and dwarves in every RPG I come across.

It's not refreshing in the case of AP because its setting doesn't fit the RPG genre at all. RPGs, for me, are a chance to live in a wildly different, bizarre world where human dreams, fears and such are transformed in to races of elves, dwarves and magical kingdoms. I DON'T want to relive this boring, gray world in an RPG.

See, FO 1 got it perfectly right. You, the Vault Dweller, have to leave the safety and familiarity of your vault and explore a new world where there is wonder at every turn. In AP this aspect of exploration and escapism will simply be missing.

They could have gone, as already mentioned, with another age. At least Cold War. A spy in a Victorian setting would be ridiculously good and retain the aspect of wonder. They could have added wild conspiracies of aliens and Cthulhu like otherworldliness but I have only heard about mundane spy stuff.

 

[Pseudofool]

"mundane spy stuff." Would you rather have melodramatic spy stuff?

I think this game in particular is hard to cannon-ball before seeing the actual project. Obsidian can tell a good story, so there will always be that.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

No, I not saying that. It's just that it's refreshing to see another non-fantasy is all. The game's quality will be based on it's merits, not it's setting. However, I have to admit I just don't dig elves and dwarves in every RPG I come across.

It's not refreshing in the case of AP because its setting doesn't fit the RPG genre at all. RPGs, for me, are a chance to live in a wildly different, bizarre world where human dreams, fears and such are transformed in to races of elves, dwarves and magical kingdoms. I DON'T want to relive this boring, gray world in an RPG.

See, FO 1 got it perfectly right. You, the Vault Dweller, have to leave the safety and familiarity of your vault and explore a new world where there is wonder at every turn. In AP this aspect of exploration and escapism will simply be missing.

They could have gone, as already mentioned, with another age. At least Cold War. A spy in a Victorian setting would be ridiculously good and retain the aspect of wonder. They could have added wild conspiracies of aliens and Cthulhu like otherworldliness but I have only heard about mundane spy stuff.

Whilst I appreciate escapism as much as the next person, Fantasy falls flat 9/10 times. Especially High Fantasy. Art Direction, Design and quests are all terribly cliched and tired. Games like Bloodlines and Deus Ex are far more effective because they have a twist on a modern setting. However I don't believe there will much exploration in AP, but it will do something a little different nonetheless. High Fantasy as a genre, is one of most brain numbing settings anyone can implement in a RPG.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I didn't know MCA was a homosexual, I thought it was just a joke but now it makes sense because loves to write. He is either gay or just really feminine.

 

[dagorkan]

So Planescape was masterminded and designed by a faggot... makes sense.

 

[Texas Red]

I didn't know MCA was a homosexual, I thought it was just a joke but now it makes sense because loves to write. He is either gay or just really feminine.

Poops, do you like to wear revealing clothes?

 

[Bluebottle]

It's pretty impossible to call this one pre-release. The way I see it, it could vary from Mass Effect with VtMB quality writing (which I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at) to, well, Mass Effect. There's a lot of potential in the writing talent that's on board (or at least has been on board at some point in the project), so there's at least the chance of something worth a play. On the other hand, like others, I can't say I'm blown away by the setting. I guess I'll have to give it a chance in that department, if only so as not to provide justification to those who claim any non fantasy RPG is too hard to sell to be worth it.