Review RPG Codex Review: Alpha Protocol

[St. Toxic]

I wish AP would start on my PC!

That was another thing. I was surprised how AP could be an even buggier piece of shit than BL. I mean, heck, at launch BL would crash every hour on the dot due to memory leakage. Couldn't even launch AP before they put a fix out.

 

[Brayko]

Why compare the two? They're both buggy and they're both pretty cool despite the fact so who gives a shit about the difference in architecture?

 

[Stinger]

AP was great. I found it just ok at first but on a replay when I really got to see the scope of my choices I could appreciate it far more. Plus the replay allowed to see the intricacies of the plot and motives of every character whereas I'd initially just written it off as fairly generic evil PMC Spy stuff.

The combat's lousy but it's one of the few games to make dialogue feel like a legitimate gameplay mechanic. The Dossier system and giving every character a reputation meter that has real consequences beyond romance makes me wish we could see more of that in other Obsidian games.

Maybe Eternity could make good use of that kind of intricate Dialogue trees that don't hold the player's hand.

 

[villain of the story]

Bloodlines presents you small and self contained hubs where a lot of things happen but don't necessarily restrict you to a linear path. "A lot of walking" is hyperbole. Locations are very small to begin with. Most importantly, it's oozing atmosphere and is full of interesting characters who aren't mandatory but add to the game a lot.

This makes better gameplay, how? Atmosphere isn't gameplay.

I explained how it makes better gameplay and you just chose to ignore it. How about this: what makes AP a better game or gives it better gameplay? Nothing, that's what.

tl;dr It should have been a visual novel.

No, more like they should have had a freaking design document explaining who it was for and what features it was going to have instead of bungling around like headless chickens for a couple of years.

I am not certain that would help. Obsidian has a fundamentally flawed understanding of stealth and espionage in general. It sucks in all of their games sans FNV (thanks to FO3). They set out to create a shitty corridor shooter. They got themselves a shitty corridor shooter.

 

[Lancehead]

Maybe Eternity could make good use of that kind of intricate Dialogue trees that don't hold the player's hand.

The only problem I see with AP dialogue mechanics is that it can be pretty difficult to tell what the pc is going to say from the tonal options given. But that was necessary for real time dialogues, won't be necessary for static ones.

 

[villain of the story]

Maybe Eternity could make good use of that kind of intricate Dialogue trees that don't hold the player's hand.

Don't make me laugh. PE will be a dungeon romp with banal & straightforward dialogue trees with nothing special to them.

 

[villain of the story]

Maybe Eternity could make good use of that kind of intricate Dialogue trees that don't hold the player's hand.

The only problem I see with AP dialogue mechanics is that it can be pretty difficult to tell what the pc is going to say from the tonal options given. But that was necessary for real time dialogues, won't be necessary for static ones.

No it wasn't necessary because real time dialogues weren't a necessity to begin with. Just a retarded consoletard gimmick. Good job obscuring player choice, Obsidian!

 

[Lancehead]

They went for cinematic approach, yep.

 

[sea]

This review is right on the mark - the writing in the game is excellent (weird characters and themes but still easy to take seriously), the mechanics all show a lot of potential, great voice acting especially, incredibly detailed choice & consequence, but just poor core gameplay that basically makes experiencing the story a test of endurance rather than enjoyable. I think the ending is quite fleshed out for an Obsidian title, and has a lot of outcomes, which makes me more forgiving of it too.

Alpha Protocol is not a game I think I will ever replay, but for a once-through, I could ignore the shitty gameplay long enough to enjoy the game's high points. I appreciate it as a failed experiment and I do think it's worth giving credit where it's due where the game does shine.

 

[Brayko]

For those bitching about the combat try using a gamepad, might improve the control a bit.

 

[Average Manatee]

NO NO NO. The game is not meant to be played with a stealth character. It's not Deus Ex. It's Mass Effect with better characters and a plot. Pick some guns, raise stats to max, shoot shit up, be awesome. The game works fine for that. Guns are plenty powerful when you have them leveled. Stealth is a horrific cludge, the game is not meant to be played that way.

Minigames are easy as fuck. I think I failed 1 or 2 the entire time. If they are hard for you then level the skill that makes them easier and take the EMP grenades that skip them for free. What else are you going to use that item space for? You can carry a dozen of those late game.

Never had the game crash on me. Fix your shitty computer.

 

[RK47]

I do expect DXHR to get a more positive review, but having finished a recent playthrough, I didn't feel it was that great of a game.
Gunplay was lacking, the augs were either under-utilized or trivialized some setups. I succeeded in most Persuasion mini-game - without the aug by just being a tough talking guy (except with Sarif that is.) It surprised me when I recall the Police Station conversation battle, it basically boils down to U! NO U! back n forth exchange before the desk sarge broke down on the 3rd exchange - U R RITE. I LET U IN. So the guy decided yes, he shouldn't blame himself etc, and decided to break the law by letting Jensen trespass...nice leap of logic there.

Hacking mini-game complaint was valid, there's just too much of them and the amount of EXP drops they kept giving is like popping those vacuum pack bubbles over n over. Especially with the exploration EXP given from entering every small back room in Hengsha hub. What was up with that?

As for AP. It was fun. But it'd take a lot of heart to forgive the atrocious gameplay blunders. This is why the game wouldn't sell.
Nobody would buy an action RPG and be convinced it's a good game if the controls are clusterfucked.
I'd say that's the reason why I stuck with Binary Domain too. It had control problems, but not so terrible it ruins the whole experience.

 

[Jaesun]

I could never finish DX:HR because it felt like a compartmentelized version of DX within a shitty console + and cover combat. They had the right idea, but had to submit to the turd slurping console shit. Which it what ultimately ruined it.

At least the areas are a slightly larger than the shitty levels of IW. But no where near of DX.

 

[Lancehead]

And the game has too many fucking skill points. You wouldn't know what to do with all the praxis points you get in the game.

 

[Gurkog]

I found AP to be a fun game as long as you don't try to do a perfectionist stealth run. There are just so many little bugs or unpolished parts that make it frustrating... and don't get me started on the buggy shit that is the checkpoint system. I thought the story and characters were B movie material, but done in a B movie way that never broke the mood by becoming hyper serious or absurd, and that competency kept my interest through the aggravating checkpoint shit for one play through. here is hoping that OE and other developers take some inspiration from what AP does right in the story reactivity department. Little nuances that are altered by player behavior feel very gratifying, to me.

AP was a shit covered gem, but it takes the right kind of willpower/determination/stupidity/fanboyism to enjoy it.

 

[RK47]

Eh, I made pistol chain shot mastery mandatory. Cause the combat is complete ass.
Hacking was easy.
Lockpicking too.
I often just replay it as Spy / Techie.
Soldiers are just boring as heck.
Unlike the other hiking simulator or vampire - there's no community to mod fix these crippling flaws.

 

[BLOBERT]

BRO I AM STARTING MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH ON RECRUIT JUST FUCKING MURDERING EVERYONE

 

[Volourn]

7 brofists punks? Stop spamming such bullshit. That might be a record for me. And, all I had to do was suck at the tit of a Troika game. Pathetic dweebs.

 

[RK47]

BAKA! ITS NOT THAT I LIKE BLOODLINES OR ANYTHING!

 

[Gord]

Parts of the game open or close depending on your choices. There are parts of the game you don't ever see because they don't open due to your choices.

Regardless, it all felt very insignificant.

Really? Which ones? I only remember the museum right now and didn't notice really big differences in my two playthroughs. Admittedly, I did behave similarly towards Heck and the Redhead journalist both times, so esp. the meating with the journalist might not happen if you are an ass towards her, I guess.
Still, the differences should be minor, shouldn't they?

 

[Infinitron]

Maybe Eternity could make good use of that kind of intricate Dialogue trees that don't hold the player's hand.

Don't make me laugh. PE will be a dungeon romp with banal & straightforward dialogue trees with nothing special to them.

Nothing special? Not exactly. http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...d=17931&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post407851261

So is this game going to have Deus Ex/Alpha Protocol style cinematic conversations with three/four choices, or is it going Baldur's Gate style conversations?

On a basic level, IE-style. However, a lot of IE conversations had false choice/BS options that I would not want to reproduce today. If there are six genuinely different ways to respond to a node that don't get washed out as soon as the reply is selected, by all means, write away, writers.

 

[villain of the story]

Sounds like good old dialogue trees to me. Nothing special. And I wouldn't take Sawyer's word for granted on flavour choices either.

Parts of the game open or close depending on your choices. There are parts of the game you don't ever see because they don't open due to your choices.

Regardless, it all felt very insignificant.

Really? Which ones? I only remember the museum right now and didn't notice really big differences in my two playthroughs. Admittedly, I did behave similarly towards Heck and the Redhead journalist both times, so esp. the meating with the journalist might not happen if you are an ass towards her, I guess.
Still, the differences should be minor, shouldn't they?

Just a few parts but I barely remember any more, the game was so forgettable. One segment that I can remember right now is from the pre-release game videos where the player fights Sie. Then I played the game and I never went through that part in the game.

 

[Captain Shrek]

snip.

Vots, this is something that is forgivable. A game can not realistically accommodate too much non-linearity. I think we can safely say that we will have at least dialogues that will make sense from the delivering characters, which themselves will be interesting.

 

[Gord]

Just a few parts but I barely remember any more, the game was so forgettable. One segment that I can remember right now is from the pre-release game videos where the player fights Sie. Then I played the game and I never went through that part in the game.

Ok, whom you will fight in missions sometimes depends on your previous choices, true. I was refering to entire missions opening or closing to you.
I don't know how exactly often that happens, but not very often. Maybe one example would be the meeting with Albatross/Sis, which would likely depend on your previous actions, but even there I'm not sure.
Anyway, this would be minor cinematic "missions", not action missions.

 

[Roguey]

Meaning, what, that if you string a bunch of combat-missions together with some non-interactive cutscenes the same effect can be achieved and core gameplay remains unaltered? I mean, anything to avoid walking, right, we wouldn't want to inadvertently insult a bunch of fat people. And having to find things rather than just having them pointed out to you is so inconsiderate to human vegetables, while really adding nothing of value to the game.

Walking is time-padding filler. "Having to find things" is no big deal.

But actually, you did do a lot of investigative prep-work in BL; hunting for clues, hacking computers, talking to people. Had a real noire detective-vibe to it. There was always the option of slugging it out with nothing but combat, but I can't imagine that being particularly fun, kind of like AP just, well, wasn't.

"Investigation" in this case is "go here, do that, come back."

I explained how it makes better gameplay and you just chose to ignore it. How about this: what makes AP a better game or gives it better gameplay? Nothing, that's what.

I ignored it because I don't think atmosphere, interesting places to look at and "optional content" (which also exists in AP) make for better gameplay. I think they're both pretty much the same as far as gameplay's concerned.

I am not certain that would help. Obsidian has a fundamentally flawed understanding of stealth and espionage in general. It sucks in all of their games sans FNV (thanks to FO3). They set out to create a shitty corridor shooter. They got themselves a shitty corridor shooter.

Stealth gameplay was something they added in 2008 after all the levels had been blocked out; the best they could do was make a few stealth passes on levels that were built for shooting. Had they had a design document, it might have been a pretty good shooter (or they might have had stealth to begin with).

Gord the availability of the mission where you chase Surkov depends on whether or not you talk to Brayko before you shoot him (if you shoot him at all).