Interview Chris Avellone reveals that Alpha Protocol 2 would have been wackier, included multiplayer elements

[Tigranes]

I wouldn't have minded that, though the MP shit sounds dumb and overambitious. Obsidian's signature talent is being derivative of given tropes. I don't know if we'd get any spiritual AP successor, though. I mean, would Onyx be up for it? And what's the lifespan on Onyx now?

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Makes me glad AP didn't do so well - I'd have hated to have seen Obsidian make a lulz game. One South Park is enough, thanks.

Would love to see them come up with their own modern-day RPG, I'm sure they can do it.

 

[Castanova]

RPGs and the fictional spy genre don't really mix. Spies are, by definition, jacks-of-all-trades, masters of all which entirely defeats the purpose of having a character build. A good spy game would involve solving puzzles, exploration, sneaking, dialog, and brief/rare combat encounters that you win easily but make you feel cool (hence why they're brief and rare).

 

[tuluse]

What definition of spies is that?

How is that different from the average Bethesda protagonist?

Why not do a spy game like Mission Impossible, where it's a team of specialists?

 

[Tigranes]

Obsidian-made Ocean's Eleven style heist RPG where you have a safe house, manage different specialists and inter-NPC influence / tensions, you specialise in your own thing, multiple forms of reactivity for any given heist (even AOD-style choose different sides and encounter rival forces)..

That would be the real AP successor.

 

[CyberWhale]

I would actually rather prefer some kind of MGS-esque setting above anything similar to Kill Bill. With its heavy emphasis on base infiltration, global politics and espionage it is a better fit and a more suited direction after the first AP. It still has all those "realistic themes" with a bit of Sci-Fi and some zany and over-the-top characters. Minus the half-hour cutscenes and with a lot of choice and consequence, obviously.

 

[Excidium]

AP2 would've been p. cool.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Only if they got rid of Obisidian's Fundamentally Flawed Understanding of Stealth™

What definition of spies is that?

The Bauer/Bourne/Bond one

That said, it is the most videogame friendly definition.

 

[Roguey]

I wouldn't have minded that, though the MP shit sounds dumb and overambitious. Obsidian's signature talent is being derivative of given tropes. I don't know if we'd get any spiritual AP successor, though. I mean, would Onyx be up for it? And what's the lifespan on Onyx now?

Onyx is dead, Obsidian is no longer devoting resources to updating it. South Park will be the second and last game to use it.

 

[CyberWhale]

Roguey Which engine(s) are they planning to use on next-gen games?

 

[Roguey]

Roguey Which engine(s) are they planning to use on next-gen games?

I think there have been hints that the current next-gen project they're working on uses cryengine 3.

 

[2house2fly]

As annoying as Alpha Protocol's failure was, it hopefully has steered Obsidian permanently away from popamole.

doubt it, since the main criticism I've seen of AP is that people don't like the RPG elements.

 

[Azrael the cat]

As annoying as Alpha Protocol's failure was, it hopefully has steered Obsidian permanently away from popamole. Although if anyone's following the thread on Obsidian forums, it does seem their secret next-gen project is an action-RPG of some sort.

It really wasn't playing to their strengths, was it. Same with Bioware making ME, but Bioware is a much larger studio with much greater capability for importing knowledge through poaching staff.

When you get down to it, what experience do Obsidian have making shooters? Technically there was more rpg about the gameplay in AP than Deus Ex, but if you don't know the action game model in itself, those rpg elements will feel very peripheral (conversely, Deus Ex gets a hell of a lot of mileage out of some very simple rpg elements).

 

[Azrael the cat]

Roguey Which engine(s) are they planning to use on next-gen games?

I think there have been hints that the current next-gen project they're working on uses cryengine 3.

At this point I'm calling Roguey as a Sawyer sock-puppet.


...that totally didn't mean to come out the way that reads....

 

[Infinitron]

Roguey Which engine(s) are they planning to use on next-gen games?

I think there have been hints that the current next-gen project they're working on uses cryengine 3.

At this point I'm calling Roguey as a Sawyer sock-puppet.


...that totally didn't mean to come out the way that reads....

Nah, this is known information, from something people spotted on LinkedIn I think. Duraframe300 (the REAL Obsidian stalker) can tell you more.

 

[Jarpie]

Alpha Protocol had very similar tone with Burn Notice and I like them both, not sure would've (even) wackier sequel worked.

 

[Jaesun]

Obsidian-made Ocean's Eleven style heist RPG where you have a safe house, manage different specialists and inter-NPC influence / tensions, you specialise in your own thing, multiple forms of reactivity for any given heist (even AOD-style choose different sides and encounter rival forces)..

That would be the real AP successor.

 

[Kane]

Obsidian-made Ocean's Eleven style heist RPG where you have a safe house, manage different specialists and inter-NPC influence / tensions, you specialise in your own thing, multiple forms of reactivity for any given heist (even AOD-style choose different sides and encounter rival forces)..

Payday with 14 year old randoms.

 

[cherry blossom]

Obsidian-made Ocean's Eleven style heist RPG where you have a safe house, manage different specialists and inter-NPC influence / tensions, you specialise in your own thing, multiple forms of reactivity for any given heist (even AOD-style choose different sides and encounter rival forces)..

Payday with 14 year old randoms.

And it wouldn't even be fun to play as made by Obsidian.

 

[cherry blossom]

To be honest, I wouldn't have said this at the time - but the dominance of 'realistic' military cover-shooters is such that I wouldn't mind a Kill Bill vibe instead. 'Big Crazy Characters' doesn't have to mean psychologically implausible writing. Often it means the opposite - by drawing the characters into stylised archetypes....then FUCKING with those archetypes....you can often end up with something more interesting (and easier to tie with the thematic content) and less cliche-driven than if you hadn't built it from the crazy cliched archetypes at all.

When you get down to it, that's every Tarantino film in a box.

It's also every good piece of writing that MCA and Obsidian have produced. PS:T was the KK--RRR--AAAA-ZZZ--YYYY-est of the IE games, and heavily archetypal (again, while being aware of those archetypes and fucking with them; compare Bioware's attempts at realism and resulting uber-cliches made all the more irritating by the sense that the writers don't KNOW that they're cliches). MotB was largely the same. KoTOR2 is when you take an entire setting built on archetypes and deliberately break it.

It's also Deus Ex and System Shock. Great characters that remain internally psychologically plausible, but are a lot more Kill Bill than the Hurt Locker.

I'd also say it's the characters that worked from AP1. Sure, if he means 'every character is Steve Heck', then obviously that's going to be shit. But I can tolerate one Steve Heck....who am I kidding he was close to my favourite character in the game and I lolled hard when he screwed up my stealth run with his 'distraction'. But you've got to keep that shit to one character max, and it only avoided being a Crazy-Sue because of the high likelihood of him actuallly fucking things up for you. If he means 'stylised characters from crazy archetypes...but knowingly and playing with those archetypes' - i.e. Kill Bill - than I can see that working.

Saints Row might now be a bad analogue for modern gamers either - as a distinction from GTA.

"Realistic" military shooters are all grimdark grittymature machismo crap. Original premise of Alpha Protocol was a thoughtful game that would pay homage to the likes of Syriana. My expectation based on that initial promise was that the game would involve a lot of adventuring, information collection, a lot of undercover questing with a lot of moral grays and different perspectives. A down to earth, honest mature game, unlike the shit they pass in "realistic military shooters".

A Tarantino inspired game could be sweet but I wish we'd get a game based on that original premise soon discarded for the funky console corridor shootan game with mediocre set pieces.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

I don't really think going "crazier" with Alpha Protocol would have helped much, unless they actually managed to pull off a consistent tone, too, and make the game clever and funny (No One Lives Forever is a good example of a game that has all three). Alpha Protocol felt as if it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be kind of serious, tongue-in-cheek mock-serious, or all-out wacky, and ended up being for the most part neither too clever nor very funny at all in either writing or characterization. What I'd really like to see would be MCA's take on something much more low-key, moody and down-to-earth, closer toThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Even his more personal stories usually use a set of characters with either downright hyperbolic or at least very extraordinary traits; it'd be interesting to see whether he can do without that crutch. (Plus, the world doesn't really need a full-on Austin Powers RPG, at least not from Obsidian).

 

[deuxhero]

Alpha Protocol was SUPPOSED to have varying moods, just like the 3 JBs have (Though I'd really like to know why they went with MT instead something with the initials JB).

 

[2house2fly]

Probably his real name starts with JB.