Fireside Chat: Alpha Protocol reception and New Vegas

Brother None said:
Why? Because combat shouldn't be the core focus of an RPG
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I respect your opinions and I can even see what you mean in most regards - it simply boils down to personal taste and preferences. but the above just won't fly. this is an action RPG based on you being a bad-ass agent. of course combat is the core focus. what, did you expect to be able to talk your way out of every mission in the entire game?

Brother None said:
RTwP cover-based shooting seems inherently designed to draw out rote, trash mob encounters into an eternity of tooth-aching boredom.
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I can somewhat agree with this and it becomes a bit frustrating in some games. but the way I played AP these kinds of firefights are few and far between. most of the time I sneak up on enemies and take them out or snipe them from cover. and the few times these open firefights do take place, they're over very quickly. of course this changes depending on how you play the game - but the option is there, and if you choose to play it in a way that makes it frustrating for you, then you might need to rethink that choice. I for one don't choose to play Fallout as a martial arts expert, because I think unarmed combat is completely useless and boring in that game.

Brother None said:
OakTable said:
It's an action RPG. Why do you NOT want to kill people?
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Oh I love killing people. Positively adore it. But if you're going to keep sending little buzzy messages at me telling me I can survive with stealth and melee (that's right, I didn't pick any weapon skill in my build, fuck that noise, ese), then don't start throwing random curveballs at me for artificial challenge.
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mini-bosses can be stunned with a flash-bang and killed instantly by sneaking up to them. at least I managed to do this. won't work on main bosses though. on the other hand, you'll be overjoyed you went for melee skill on some bosses.

but yes, this is one of the actual dislikes I have - there are a couple of situations where I can imagine you're almost screwed if you don't have any skill whatsoever with guns and/or gadgets. you're not going to like the Moscow embassy mission. not one bit.
 
did you expect to be able to talk your way out of every mission in the entire game?
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Well, I did expect some missions where you could talk your way through. The lack of social stealth was pretty disappointing imho.
 
Ausir said:
did you expect to be able to talk your way out of every mission in the entire game?
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Well, I did expect some missions where you could talk your way through. The lack of social stealth was pretty disappointing imho.
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oh, I agree with that. not that I thought I would be able to talk my way through an entire mission. but at least that I would be able to use conversation more effectively to avoid or at least affect the outcome of combat. it's hard to say how much of that there is in the game though, because there certainly are a few occasions where your words do matter, but I can't really tell to what extent.
 
I haven't seen any so far, but aren't you telling me right now there are?
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I'm saying that there are situations which can be considered as such, but there are no unsolveable situations. At least, not if you're unopposed to the idea of dying and reloading seven or eight times because you're rushing into something that will mos def kill you dead.

Well, I did expect some missions where you could talk your way through.
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Well, there are several. [spoiler:66ca35d784]The fact that you can talk half the endgame bosses out of fighting you is alone worth the bother of collecting dossiers.[/spoiler:66ca35d784]
 
Brother None said:
Wow the shooting is bad, btw. I mean...WOW BAD.
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It's not that bad... :?

I find it reminiscent of the Deus Ex aiming system, how you have to wait for the aiming reticule to be steady then shoot, and the aiming depends on what skills you invest in. I honestly don't have any real problem with it so far.
 
To be honest, I didn't knew that my shooter skills are really that good. Because... well... I didn't got any problem with the shooting stuff in AP. I liked it. That pistoles are rather useless in later game or when facing more than one enemy is absolutly true, etc.. but beside this, I didn't vomited while using guns.
 
Lexx said:
To be honest, I didn't knew that my shooter skills are really that good. Because... well... I didn't got any problem with the shooting stuff in AP. I liked it. That pistoles are rather useless in later game or when facing more than one enemy is absolutly true, etc.. but beside this, I didn't vomited while using guns.
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I guess you didn't hear that chainshot pistol ability is an instakill?
 
Ausir said:
You haven't met Brayko yet, have you?
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He reminded me of flowers!
Oh wait no, that was just the jacket...

Hah, oh wow. Hate to be the one to break this to you, but man, he is not difficult. At all.

[spoiler:c55d094f1f]Sure I wasted a couple of reloads to figure out you can't engage him in close combat (you just can't, I don't care how good your char is, the game is essentially cheating, so meh) and then to see the pattern in the three cycles.

After that, all I used to take him out was a basic golden automatic machine gun (whatever, they one you can get as a reward, forgot its name) and - get this - the same pistol I've had the entire game. I barely had any heavy slugs for it, that might've been the only thing that would've made the fight...well...shorter. My pistol skill's at what...4, 5? Just after unlocking the chain shot skill, you do need that to win. Y'see, here's what I did.

First cycle: he lazily wanders around the stage, just hid, let my chain shot reload, chain shot him in the head. Used normal slugs here since I didn't want the heavies to run out.

Second cycle: when he's raging on coke, just run, no point engaging or shooting at him
Three or four basic goons keep spawning but c'mon, they're basic goons, just used my rifle to clear em out. Everyone now and again one would be alive for the next coke-rage cycle, I'd just pop a few in there while running around.
Anyway, while the goons are around 80s man runs around on the balcony, later jumps down, perfect time to slug him a few, since the skill recharged by then

Third cycle: same as the first, but without the goons.

Yawn. Admittedly it takes a while, especially the first cycle, I actually had a newspaper open on my lap to browse whilst Mickey was recharging his PRIMAL RAGE. Sloppiness meant he caught up to me...I think 3 times in total, hence I had to use both medicine cabinets and one medkit. But that's it, my armor is the only thing I bothered upgrading so far and it's still weak-ass stealth armor, so your basic pistol will do it against Brayko, really. Really basic pistol.
But this isn't a difficult boss. He's daft, he's brainless, stuck in a cycle, and not a very complex one at that. Anyone who's played a good old-fashioned platformer knows cyclical bosses can get a lot worse than that.

Not a terrible design for a boss considering their shitty AI. Nice setup, funny stuff with the music and stage and shit.

Oh yeah, the blinding lights. They annoyed me. But they so show Obsidian was like "shit, this is just a basic, two-step cycle, way too easy, we gotta do something!" "BLIND THE PLAYER!"[/spoiler:c55d094f1f]
 
well, i guess you are not allowed to do a FPP or TPP RPG in RT with games without sacrificing RPG mechanics for FPS mechanics, otherwise you will be crucified.


seems to happen to pretty much every game
 
I've played it for 12 hours straight and love it. Sure, it's unpolished, but it's not as horrible as many make it out to believe.

For now, random poll: Who'd you have sex with? Mina? Sis? SIE? Ms. St. James? Brayko?
 
even though the game doesn't say it, I read she's supposed to be 16. so a romance with her might not be a good idea.

still.... I'd tap that.
 
I found Sis as character pretty interesting. Sadly, I couldn't find much out about her, not even in the dossier.
 
Yes, this gives a reputation exchange and a pretty cool scene, which is really worth the points exchange.

But beside this, I wished to see more interactions in any kind of way or things to get more info about her, etc.
 
yeah, that was a great scene. and I guess it's the most personal info you can get on her.

wouldn't surprise me if she's a bigger part in a sequel, if they make one.
 
aenemic said:
even though the game doesn't say it, I read she's supposed to be 16. so a romance with her might not be a good idea.
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If I recall correctly, her age was changed like 3 times during the development of the game. Can't quote a source for this but I think at first she was "mid teens", then "late teens" then "early twenties" or so.

[spoiler:0ab42c7196]There's nothing wrong with her being 16 if I'm like, the same age, right? 8-)[/spoiler:0ab42c7196]
 
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