Preview Alpha Protocol Video Walkthrough

[Darth Roxor]

Huh? Did healing items become last-gen and unwanted when I wasn't looking?

 

[Wyrmlord]

I don't want to a big part of the bitch crowd.

People on both sides have talked about this game more extensively than I have.

But I must mention that this looks like a game that plays itself for you.

 

[Rosh]

BioWare engine?

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

Maybe I should clarify that: Engine handed to them by BioWare. Same with half of the design, by the looks.

 

[Azrael the cat]

BioWare engine?

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

Maybe I should clarify that: Engine handed to them by BioWare. Same with half of the design, by the looks.

Without weighing too heavily into the discussion, I'm intrigued by Rosh's description 'L91 PK asshole'. Specifically that it's listed as his 'location', rather than in his 'description' line. Whose crevice are you residing in, Rosh? And since when did PK'ers start making net access available from their anus?

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

Maybe I should clarify that: Engine handed to them by BioWare.

That's not true. Obsidian licensed UE3 straight from Epic, no middlemen.

 

[Rosh]

That's not true. Obsidian licensed UE3 straight from Epic, no middlemen.

And then used BioWare's development libraries. Either that, or they spent a great amount of effort to clone the shit out of Mass Effect on their own, which would be just as sad.

Azrael the cat: There wasn't a profession field, so I had to make do. There, changed. Happy?

 

[MetalCraze]

I can't believe how many dumb morons are on the Codex now who consider a typical console shooter to be a "RPG" gameplay and minigames - perfect RPG "skills". Wonder how much time will it take before people will start to argue that Oblivion and its spinoff are good g.... OH!

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I can't believe how many dumb morons are on the Codex who consider Planescape Torment a typical RPG, when in truth it was only a point-and-click Adventure with RPG elements.

 

[Anthony Davis]

There is a very severe limit to the number of health kits you can carry and they don't heal you for full or maximum, and they don't heal you instantly.

Obviously things can change as we tweak the game.

As far as the time it takes to do a non-lethal take down, it is the same as a lethal take down. You sneak up on them and hit one button to knife them in throat, and another button to knock them out.

 

[Anthony Davis]

That's not true. Obsidian licensed UE3 straight from Epic, no middlemen.

And then used BioWare's development libraries. Either that, or they spent a great amount of effort to clone the shit out of Mass Effect on their own, which would be just as sad.

Azrael the cat: There wasn't a profession field, so I had to make do. There, changed. Happy?

Wut?

The idea that Bioware would just give away libraries for other developers to use is completely ridiculous.

Are the similarities? Of course, they are both RPG/shooter/action games BOTH of which were made using unreal 3. They both have guns in them, they both have skills in them, people die in both of them, both of them have a story, hey wait...you know what other game was made with unreal and had the rest of these elements in them too? Deus Ex.

Oh...and Bioshock.

As a matter of fact, here is a whole page of games developed with the unreal engine!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:U ... gine_games

Maybe we were trying to make the next Harry Potter game!





On a serious note, if your problem is with the genre, or with consoles, or if you think we just make crappy games, fine - but resorting to such wild, hyperbolic, and infantile statements only serve to lessen any credible argument or statement you would make.

It reminds me of those same jackholes who call Microsoft "M$", and I say that as a guy who lost MILLIONS in the internet war because of Microsoft's business practices.

 

[MetalCraze]

It reminds me of those same jackholes who call Microsoft "M$", and I say that as a guy who lost MILLIONS in the internet war because of Microsoft's business practices.

 

[bat_boro]

Hey, mr. Davis, what was the difficulty in this demo?
The game seemed pretty easy and I wouldn't like to see something like that in the final version - I hope I could crank up the difficulty
Another thing - what about that dumb A.I. that was just standing there and firing on you after 2-3 second delay. Same with snipers - the player got in their field of view and they shot at him after a large period of time


What is your comment on that and what are you going to do about it?

 

[poocolator]

[Insert 'angry' comment here.]

 

[Rosh]

Wut?

The idea that Bioware would just give away libraries for other developers to use is completely ridiculous.

So the truth comes out, okay. Rip-off clone of Mass Effect it is, then. Or as it is becoming known around the industry "A Mass Effect clone with spies."

I do apologize, I confused it with the rest of BioWare Jr's work that fed from the BioWare tit.

Are the similarities? Of course, they are both RPG/shooter/action games BOTH of which were made using unreal 3. They both have guns in them, they both have skills in them, people die in both of them, both of them have a story, hey wait...you know what other game was made with unreal and had the rest of these elements in them too? Deus Ex.

Oh...and Bioshock.

Yeah, except all of those titles weren't sniffing BioWare's ass and weren't cloned from Mass Effect to the point of looking like it. Really, from the stat screen and more, even the mass gaming media has this pegged as a Mass Effect clone. You guys aren't even bothering to try fooling them anymore, so why are you bullshitting me?

Sure, the mini-games might be different, but the rest is pretty much the same thing. Until I see otherwise, I have little reason to believe otherwise. You know, we have to see to believe, the same argument Feargus and his cronies have recycled since, oh...Descent to Undermountain.

On a serious note, if your problem is with the genre, or with consoles, or if you think we just make crappy games, fine - but resorting to such wild, hyperbolic, and infantile statements only serve to lessen any credible argument or statement you would make.

No, I think I struck a nerve.

Oh, speaking of hyperbole, maybe we should consider hypocrisy in there as well?

It reminds me of those same jackholes who call Microsoft "M$", and I say that as a guy who lost MILLIONS in the internet war because of Microsoft's business practices.

Sucks to be you. I have to wonder what you did to accumulate millions in order to so easily lose it all in such a foolish manner.

 

[MetalCraze]

It is a story of a man...
Who had everything...
Who had MILLIONS...
But evil corporation took it all away from him...
Ruined his life...
Forced him to live through a nightmare...
Internet War...

Now he was forced to initiate...
Alpha Protocol...
And go undercover to work at Obsidian on NWN2 camera...
To take his revenge one day...

Coming this fall...

 

[Imbecile]

I'm increasingly getting the impression that some people decide whether or not they like a game based on gut feel, and then go about validating that tirelessly, like some kind of Codex terminators.. Admittedly, we'd have much fewer entertaining threads without that mentality

 

[Rosh]

I'm increasingly getting the impression that some people decide whether or not they like a game based on gut feel,

Nah, it's been a recurring issue since Feargus was assclowning around. After that, we've grown used to pointing and laughing as BIS/Obsidian does little but follow BioWare around like a good little puppy.

and then go about validating that tirelessly, like some kind of Codex terminators.. Admittedly, we'd have much fewer entertaining threads without that mentality

You missed some hilarious stuff back in 1998-2001. It is why we still give them shit for well...their shit. If they did impressive work again, then we might be impressed, but it somehow never sees the light of day...

 

[BearBomber]

I can't believe how many dumb morons are on the Codex now who consider a typical console shooter to be a "RPG" gameplay and minigames - perfect RPG "skills". Wonder how much time will it take before people will start to argue that Oblivion and its spinoff are good g.... OH!

True.

I can't believe how many dumb morons are on the Codex who consider Planescape Torment a typical RPG, when in truth it was only a point-and-click Adventure with RPG elements.

Also true.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

There is a very severe limit to the number of health kits you can carry and they don't heal you for full or maximum, and they don't heal you instantly.

Obviously things can change as we tweak the game.

There would be no need to tweak it when the designers would give the whole thing a proper thought before. Also what`s up with those arrows which show the location of enemys behind walls... this beats even the retarded enemy radar from Fallout 3.

 

[circ]

Are the similarities? Of course, they are both RPG/shooter/action games BOTH of which were made using unreal 3. They both have guns in them, they both have skills in them, people die in both of them, both of them have a story, hey wait...you know what other game was made with unreal and had the rest of these elements in them too? Deus Ex.

Are you seriously saying you can't see the OBVIOUS similarities between ME and AP? This isn't a case of them both being "RPG"/shooter games. This is a case of them both being third person shooters partially (it happens). Both having the same "novel" dialogue system. Abreviated responses, with a "novel" wheel/button system. Only Obsidian added a timer. Nice. Same BioWare Cinematic Viewpoint(tm). Characters animated the same way when drawing weapons. Is there another way to animate weapon handling? I'm sure there are hundreds that aren't as obviously "inspired" by ME. Your aim aid zooms in just like in ME. I'll continue after a question: Are you still not seeing the similarities? There are shooter archetypes, and then there are ME archetypes, and you're pretty much using every ME archetype there is. Menus are largely the same. Skill sub menu especially. Skills are largely the same. Sure you need weapons there, maybe, but you couldn't think up anything else than stuff ME had, and you even added sub skills for weapons and other skills, just like ME. I'm sure there's a need to compromise, but no one plugged an idea to have a condensed weapon skill instead and other original skills? This is just the icing from the previews, who knows how many similarities there are in the finished product, or in the E3 previews.

On a serious note, if your problem is with the genre, or with consoles, or if you think we just make crappy games, fine - but resorting to such wild, hyperbolic, and infantile statements only serve to lessen any credible argument or statement you would make.

The genre of shooters with RPG elements I'm not completely sold on, but it's an evolving(?) genre, so who can say what will happen. Consoles I have no problems with. Obsidian well, so far, you've just made crappy games. Albeit KoTOR II was more of a case of - Oh lawd, I wish they had done this and this and added this instead, where as NWN 2 was more like - WTF is this shit? I just gave you a half a dozen examples or so, trying to keep to a mature tone throughout. I hope there's not much hyperbole there.

 

[poocolator]

[insert 'bluff' comment here.]

 

[kris]

I can't believe how many dumb morons are on the Codex who consider Planescape Torment a typical RPG, when in truth it was only a point-and-click Adventure with RPG elements.

Also true.

On the Planscape:Tornment box: "RPG/Adventure game"

 

[themadhatter114]

So it looks like Mass Effect. Who cares? Was the look of Mass Effect what made it a bad game?

Hey, are there going to be hundreds of crappy guns and a terrible inventory screen? Is there going to be this really horrible vehicle that you drive around barren planets? Is the game going to include inane quests like "Hey Mike Thorton can you negotiate peace between this religious civilian guy and the police officer who wants him to move off the street?" "Can you resolve a dispute between this retired General and his whore?"

My goodness if you're complaining because the dialogue system is similar and because the skill screen looks the same you need to get a life. There was nothing wrong with the actual Mass Effect dialogue system. It was really no different than any other. Claiming that it's actually cool and innovative is annoying, but the system in and of itself was fine. Alpha Protocol's system might be worse because of the timer and the stance system, but that doesn't make it like Mass Effect.

The game itself was in production well before Mass Effect was released. They both use UE3 and they're both 3rd person RPG/shooters. Most of the other elements that they'll have in common will be shit that they have in common with just about any other RPG. Oh my gosh Thorton uses guns and so did Shepard! It's the same fucking game!

 

[circ]

So it looks like Mass Effect. Who cares? Was the look of Mass Effect what made it a bad game?

You're missing the point, yet again. Codex says AP looks like ME. Media says AP looks like ME. Anthony Davis denies similarities. That's the point. And yes, if it retains some of its ME influences, like gun addons, I'm going to be saddened.

 

[Rosh]

There was nothing wrong with the actual Mass Effect dialogue system. It was really no different than any other. Claiming that it's actually cool and innovative is annoying, but the system in and of itself was fine. Alpha Protocol's system might be worse because of the timer and the stance system, but that doesn't make it like Mass Effect.

Quoted for posterity.