Preview Alpha Protocol Video Walkthrough

[poocolator]

[Insert 'bluff' comment here]

 

[kris]

First video I seen of the game and my earlier enthuiasm have died. It really do look like a game you just kill your way through. Many other details like how you are in a big firefight outside that building, but when you enter most of the ones inside seems totally oblivious to that firefight having happened. It had the "RPG" skills "kill" and "kill".

 

[thesheeep]

First video I seen of the game and my earlier enthuiasm have died. It really do look like a game you just kill your way through. Many other details like how you are in a big firefight outside that building, but when you enter most of the ones inside seems totally oblivious to that firefight having happened. It had the "RPG" skills "kill" and "kill".

Errrh.... wasn't that an E3 presentation?
Do you really think anyone would show anything that is not mainly combat there?

Just saying that this video is probably not representative for the whole game

 

[catfood]

I tried to watch the video but I couldn't because all those stupid arrows, cubes, square, circles all sorts of geometrical objects colored in all the colors of the rainbow, inane messages like "PRES X BUTAN TO JUMP HEAR", health bars, and other such garbage kept popping up on the screen. Shit, it was worse than a IE window after visiting porn and warez sites.

 

[Rosh]

I tried to watch the video but I couldn't because all those stupid arrows, cubes, square, circles all sorts of geometrical objects colored in all the colors of the rainbow, inane messages like "PRES X BUTAN TO JUMP HEAR", health bars, and other such garbage kept popping up on the screen. Shit, it was worse than a IE window after visiting porn and warez sites.

They have to make it shiny and simple, given their target audience.

People who might have liked Mass Effect but were too stupid to understand the setting.

Mass Effect Solid

 

[kris]

First video I seen of the game and my earlier enthuiasm have died. It really do look like a game you just kill your way through. Many other details like how you are in a big firefight outside that building, but when you enter most of the ones inside seems totally oblivious to that firefight having happened. It had the "RPG" skills "kill" and "kill".

Errrh.... wasn't that an E3 presentation?
Do you really think anyone would show anything that is not mainly combat there?

Just saying that this video is probably not representative for the whole game

then they better show that. I think that one showed quite a bit about the direction. Big shiny things to pick up, mindless enemies that is nothing more than a swarm of mosqitos. More than one path? Absent. Non-violent solution? Absent.

 

[circ]

I'm liking what Anthony is saying about being able to kill just about anyone and diverging story lines. But I'm not liking the really jaggedy character moves. Hopefully that's in the polishing stages.

And please please someone at Obsidian redo the gun addons. I don't want to be reminded of ME in that too. Look at JA2 mods if you want to see what you can do with gun addons. Also, throw a jacket on the russian spy, and add exhalation vapor? If it's snowing I'd think it's cold enough for that. Also the guns in some angles look downright shitty. If viewed from the front, in that addon screen, it looks way too thin.

Way too much combat filler though.

 

[Rosh]

I don't want to be reminded of ME in that too.

What isn't there to remind you of ME in this title, since it's an ME clone?

Oh, my! Non-lethal takedowns! Yet that is far more time-consuming and comparatively worthless to just going in guns blazing. Why spend a couple of minutes sneaking around enemies when you can just kill them in a couple of seconds?

Face it, Obsidian is full time BioWare puppet now. A pity, too.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

"Oh luk im low on health, im gunna press button for health kit hyuk hyuk"

?

Oh, my! Non-lethal takedowns! Yet that is far more time-consuming and comparatively worthless to just going in guns blazing. Why spend a couple of minutes sneaking around enemies when you can just kill them in a couple of seconds?

?

 

[entertainer]

Ass effect2

?

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Oh, my! Non-lethal takedowns! Yet that is far more time-consuming and comparatively worthless to just going in guns blazing. Why spend a couple of minutes sneaking around enemies when you can just kill them in a couple of seconds?

The same can be said about almost any game that offers both stealthy and commando approach, including Fallout, Arcanum, Torment and Bloodlines. Deus Ex is pretty much the only exception I'm aware of, and once you max out the Rifles skill, even it can be played as a corridor shooter. Double standards?

 

[Rosh]

?

From all the displays so far, Deus Ex appears to be an improvement in that regard. In Mass Effect Solid, it doesn't look like a default option but instead something you need to tailor your character towards. That kind of limits the amount of ability to avoid killing...for whatever reason avoiding killing might have in this game.

"I avoided killing all of your guards. Can I have a cookie now?"

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

From all the displays so far, Deus Ex appears to be an improvement in that regard. In Mass Effect Solid, it doesn't look like a default option but instead something you need to tailor your character towards. That kind of limits the amount of ability to avoid killing...for whatever reason avoiding killing might have in this game.

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Are you complaining about Alpha Protocol requiring the player to invest skill points into stealth/hacking/lockpicking in order to be good at it? :headdesk:

 

[Rosh]

The same can be said about almost any game that offers both stealthy and commando approach, including Fallout, Arcanum, Torment and Bloodlines.

Avoidance != non-lethal takedowns. In fact, none of the above have non-lethal takedowns.

Deus Ex is pretty much the only exception I'm aware of, and once you max out the Rifles skill, even it can be played as a corridor shooter. Double standards?

I counter with Thief, where the difference between lethal and non-lethal takedowns was handled excellently.

 

[Rosh]

Are you complaining about Alpha Protocol requiring the player to invest skill points into stealth/hacking/lockpicking in order to be good at it? :headdesk:

No, it involves you to put the design points into context. Deus Ex offered non-lethal takedowns because of the story and setting.

With Alpha Protocol, you have to put points into a skill in order to make the undercover NSF agents like Paul happy. Therefore the gameplay would be railroaded into being one or the other, not whichever might be needed for the situation, and so there would be little player choice. Skills determining gameplay decisions like this is a little weak, almost like Mass Effect's dialog railroading.

There's no choice and consequences, unless you count the choice of where to put the skill points.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

I counter with Thief, where the difference between lethal and non-lethal takedowns was handled excellently.

There was a significant difference? You sneak up on a guy and hit him with a sword/arrow/dagger -> he dies. You sneak up on a guy and hit him with a blackjack -> he is knocked out.

With Alpha Protocol, you have to put points into a skill in order to make the undercover NSF agents like Paul happy. Therefore the gameplay would be railroaded into being one or the other, not whichever might be needed for the situation, and so there would be little player choice. Skills determining gameplay decisions like this is a little weak, almost like Mass Effect's dialog railroading.

There's no choice and consequences, unless you count the choice of where to put the skill points.

I'm at a loss of words. I really am.

 

[Rosh]

I counter with Thief, where the difference between lethal and non-lethal takedowns was handled excellently.

There was a significant difference? You sneak up on a guy and hit him with a sword/arrow/dagger -> he dies. You sneak up on a guy and hit him with a blackjack -> he is knocked out.

I'm at a loss of words. I really am.

There's no choice and consequences, unless you count the choice of where to put the skill points.

I'm at a loss of words. I really am.

To a non-stealthy character there would have been no way to make Paul or the NSF happy. Your choice and consequences would have been railroaded just like the dialog in Mass Effect. But that's okay. According to Obsidian, there will be a path for the stealthy guy and a path for the guns blazing kind of guy.

That way Paul won't be angry if you kill the terrorists in corridor B.

Convenient, eh?

Anyways, it's a fairly moot point until Obsidian actually shows some reason for it, because in all of their videos so far, stealth would have been a waste.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

I'm at a loss of words. I really am.

Explain what you liked about how Thief handled killing/knocking people out.

To a non-stealthy character there would have been no way to make Paul or the NSF happy. Your choice and consequences would have been railroaded just like the dialog in Mass Effect. But that's okay. According to Obsidian, there will be a path for the stealthy guy and a path for the guns blazing kind of guy.

That way Paul won't be angry if you kill the terrorists in corridor B.

Convenient, eh?

Do some research before you start bitching. There are tranquilizer rounds for firearms in Alpha Protocol.

 

[Dionysus]

I don't think Deus Ex did the best job of handling skills, but it did have great level design, and I've seen absolutely no evidence of that sort of thing in AP. In order to reward stealth, they need to put some friction in the levels (like Deus Ex's bots and turrets) or at least have some quests that can only be performed by characters that focus on stealth. Although the latter option is probably impossible to balance because most of the skills are directly related to combat. I doubt you will sacrifice much by focusing on only one or two of the five "kill" skills.

I am happy to see that they've got a lot of enemies that throw grenades. It's unfortunate that they seem to think that the player needs a pop-up whenever a grenade lands near him. This seems like another case in which PC devs underestimate the capabilities of the console gaming demographic. Plenty of people bought Halo, and that didn't have pop-ups when an enemy tossed a grenade. In fact, all that crap on the screen might turn a lot of people off.

 

[Rosh]

Explain what you liked about how Thief handled killing/knocking people out.

What, aside from the whole noise and leaving a mess difference? One would leave a static spot to alert the other patrols, the other would keep the guards completely unaware.

Do some research before you start bitching. There are tranquilizer rounds for firearms in Alpha Protocol.

Fair enough, I suppose. I can't wait for sniper rifles with tranq rounds.

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

What, aside from the whole noise and leaving a mess difference? One would leave a static spot to alert the other patrols, the other would keep the guards completely unaware.

Fair enough, I suppose. It's more of an AI problem, though, and it's something I'd like to see improved too.

 

[Rosh]

Fair enough, I suppose. It's more of an AI problem, though, and it's something I'd like to see improved too.

AI, in a BioWare engine? You're kidding, right? :D

 

[racofer]

Alpha Protocol moar liek Omegass Deepanal amirite?

 

[Wyrmlord]

Fair enough, I suppose. It's more of an AI problem, though, and it's something I'd like to see improved too.

AI, in a BioWare engine? You're kidding, right? :D

BioWare engine?

It's a common engine they use that was made by another developer.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

"Oh luk im low on health, im gunna press button for health kit hyuk hyuk"

?

Your point? Fallout wasn`t a perfect game, everytime you used a stim pack it should cost you some AP for each, when going into the inventory you could use it without limitations. My guess is that this was overseen by the designers while in AP they intentionally want to make it that easy. Of course it all depends on how much of these medi packs you`ll have, by the look of it probably it`ll cost 100$ or so and your budget will be 50k$. I`d also prefer it if the health regeneration is slower. Untill then -> FOTY award.