Fireside Chat: Alpha Protocol reception and New Vegas
- Thread starter Brother None
- Start date
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
you horrible, horrible man.
In my first playthrough, I couldn't kill anyone. I am just way too much a goodman... Everyone was able to talk himself out of death... except the end game bosses.
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
I spared everyone on my first playthrough, and thought I'd be able to kill everyone on my second. it's hard though. they're all so likeable.
For those keeping score, you can 'romance' (that is, boink off-screen) Mina, SIE, Scarlet and Madison. You get a bonus perk for every one you bed and a further one if you bed them all in one playthrough.
But yeah, can we all agree on the fact that Sis is the center of fetish fuel for this game? Unless Mina's constant jabbering about how SIE is older than Mike only makes you more attracted to her (or her voice actor -- Mary Elizabeth McGlynn should be the only reason for this game to have MGS-style character/voice actor introductory scenes).
And for the rest, on both playthroughs, I've slain Brayko during the coke-rage phase. Once with the Fury skill and melee, once with the shotgun because the Clear Room skill makes him jump back (instead of collapsing like normal mooks do) and that doesn't let him cut you unless you pause to reload.
But yeah, can we all agree on the fact that Sis is the center of fetish fuel for this game? Unless Mina's constant jabbering about how SIE is older than Mike only makes you more attracted to her (or her voice actor -- Mary Elizabeth McGlynn should be the only reason for this game to have MGS-style character/voice actor introductory scenes).
And for the rest, on both playthroughs, I've slain Brayko during the coke-rage phase. Once with the Fury skill and melee, once with the shotgun because the Clear Room skill makes him jump back (instead of collapsing like normal mooks do) and that doesn't let him cut you unless you pause to reload.
Deng was cool too. Here same like with Sis, I wish there would have been some more interactions.
Morbus
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
I think that's only fair. I would have done the same. Specially if she was ugly.
Well, there is a (miniscule) endgame scene with Deng, though sadly non-interactive and accessible only for a particular sequence of events.
What really shows in the replays, though, is how the order you tackle the cities in affects the story -- how if you do Rome before Taipei, then [spoiler:8e43588d56]Sung's speech is about the museum bombing[/spoiler:8e43588d56], or SIE comments on your meeting Marburg; whichever city is first, the locals think you a marginally unknown quantity while in the third city Thorton can't help but brag about what he did before (which, in Heck's case, improves the situation somewhat).
That, and the small details for the Recruit and Veteran modes, those alter several details not only related to people reading Thorton's dossier out loud (though Westridge's remarks on the Veteran are... enjoyable, yes), but, for example, his reaction to finding the PDA in the opening sequence in the first place.
What really shows in the replays, though, is how the order you tackle the cities in affects the story -- how if you do Rome before Taipei, then [spoiler:8e43588d56]Sung's speech is about the museum bombing[/spoiler:8e43588d56], or SIE comments on your meeting Marburg; whichever city is first, the locals think you a marginally unknown quantity while in the third city Thorton can't help but brag about what he did before (which, in Heck's case, improves the situation somewhat).
That, and the small details for the Recruit and Veteran modes, those alter several details not only related to people reading Thorton's dossier out loud (though Westridge's remarks on the Veteran are... enjoyable, yes), but, for example, his reaction to finding the PDA in the opening sequence in the first place.
Ausir said:
I love it when writers do that.
I spared here because, well, I try to limit my violence towards women. Call me sexist, but guys just have it coming.
Edmond Dantès
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Although most of the criticism leveled against this game is, to a certain degree, justified, I don't think it detracts from the game as much as reviews think it does. At least, not in my experience.
Sure, the animations are a bit stiff sometimes, and especially the sneaking animation is just goofy, but it's not as if it makes me constantly focus on those elements and go all 'oh my God look how horrible! I can't enjoy any aspect of the game anymore!'. The same goes for all the other complaints really. The graphics are dated at times, but graphics barely add anything to the experience. I'd rather have developers focus and spend their time on something other than trying to get the newest cutting edge graphics. Apart from a perspective switch (2D, 3D, isometric) I don't think graphics ever brought fundamental gameplay changes.
As for the AI complaints, the AI simply didn't bother me much, probably because of the overpowered stealth system in the game. When you have two abilities to go invisible for a short/prolonged period, there isn't much interaction with the AI to talk of. On the other hand, whenever I did enter a full fire fight, there wasn't anything about the AI that impressed me, at all. So improvement in that area would've benefited the game greatly, especially for the run-and-gun crowd whose main gameplay involves battling the AI.
I was in the process of writing a lengthy piece on how the action-oriented nature of hybrid games nowadays (think of Deus Ex: Invisible War, Mass Effect, AP) makes it impossible to achieve a good balance between their stealth and action abilities, but I noticed I was getting into trouble and couldn’t really build a cogent theory. Let me just say that I don’t think massive amounts of easily disposable enemies work well in a stealth-game (especially in small area’s; you’re forced to subdue instead of being truly stealthy), whereas the lethality of enemies in a proper stealth game (think of Thief) would either be too difficult for an action-oriented approach, or would detract from the constant action newer games wish to achieve.
Now, on to my favorite part of the game: C&C and conversations. I still dislike the lack of showing you full sentences so that you truly know what you’ll say, but it does give a conversation more of a natural flow rather than the disjointed feel of both characters just standing there mute indefinitely. I like the save system, strangely. In a save-at-all time system, I would’ve been tempted to go back and attempt to improve on a conversation if it didn’t go perfectly well. But now that there’s actually some effort and time at stake, I got used to going with the flow and just go on regardless of consequences. (this, though, reflects badly on the sometimes confusing one-word pointers as to what you’ll be saying).
On the story, I’m a bit disappointed they didn’t offer more freedom. It would’ve been nice had it been possible to effectively thwart Halbech’s agenda as well. Also, they took the conspiracy thing a bit too far, mainly regarding the identity of the President Sung assassin, and the person responsible for making you a rogue agent in the first place. That was just over the top. Apart from that, I really like the depth they’ve given conversations, and the effort they’ve put into the consequences.
All in all, the game does what good games should do: to try and actually innovate. I'm willing to see past its blemishes for what it achieves in C&C and conversation depth.
[spoiler:03debb5681]I ended up 'killing' Shaheed, because I wanted to take him in which means he dies in the explosion. Madison... I just didn't like her and took the practical route of saving the hypothetical bunch of other people that was supposed to die from the other explosion. Sis survived, cause I just didn't want to kill a girl and I took her attack as sortof an over-the-top greeting. As a spy with respect for its kind, I just had to go and rescue Albatross as well. I think all the Russians survived as well in my game. First time through was pretty much aimed at making friends and not killing people.
I didn't kill Marburg, but I didn't get him to join me either because I forgot to select the dossier option. Darcy I of course killed, as you seem to just have to do when you meet him. Deng joined me, as well as a bunch of other people I might not remember.
The only guy I personally executed was Leland, cause he just started to piss me off. Strangely, he really liked me.[/spoiler:03debb5681]
Sure, the animations are a bit stiff sometimes, and especially the sneaking animation is just goofy, but it's not as if it makes me constantly focus on those elements and go all 'oh my God look how horrible! I can't enjoy any aspect of the game anymore!'. The same goes for all the other complaints really. The graphics are dated at times, but graphics barely add anything to the experience. I'd rather have developers focus and spend their time on something other than trying to get the newest cutting edge graphics. Apart from a perspective switch (2D, 3D, isometric) I don't think graphics ever brought fundamental gameplay changes.
As for the AI complaints, the AI simply didn't bother me much, probably because of the overpowered stealth system in the game. When you have two abilities to go invisible for a short/prolonged period, there isn't much interaction with the AI to talk of. On the other hand, whenever I did enter a full fire fight, there wasn't anything about the AI that impressed me, at all. So improvement in that area would've benefited the game greatly, especially for the run-and-gun crowd whose main gameplay involves battling the AI.
I was in the process of writing a lengthy piece on how the action-oriented nature of hybrid games nowadays (think of Deus Ex: Invisible War, Mass Effect, AP) makes it impossible to achieve a good balance between their stealth and action abilities, but I noticed I was getting into trouble and couldn’t really build a cogent theory. Let me just say that I don’t think massive amounts of easily disposable enemies work well in a stealth-game (especially in small area’s; you’re forced to subdue instead of being truly stealthy), whereas the lethality of enemies in a proper stealth game (think of Thief) would either be too difficult for an action-oriented approach, or would detract from the constant action newer games wish to achieve.
Now, on to my favorite part of the game: C&C and conversations. I still dislike the lack of showing you full sentences so that you truly know what you’ll say, but it does give a conversation more of a natural flow rather than the disjointed feel of both characters just standing there mute indefinitely. I like the save system, strangely. In a save-at-all time system, I would’ve been tempted to go back and attempt to improve on a conversation if it didn’t go perfectly well. But now that there’s actually some effort and time at stake, I got used to going with the flow and just go on regardless of consequences. (this, though, reflects badly on the sometimes confusing one-word pointers as to what you’ll be saying).
On the story, I’m a bit disappointed they didn’t offer more freedom. It would’ve been nice had it been possible to effectively thwart Halbech’s agenda as well. Also, they took the conspiracy thing a bit too far, mainly regarding the identity of the President Sung assassin, and the person responsible for making you a rogue agent in the first place. That was just over the top. Apart from that, I really like the depth they’ve given conversations, and the effort they’ve put into the consequences.
All in all, the game does what good games should do: to try and actually innovate. I'm willing to see past its blemishes for what it achieves in C&C and conversation depth.
[spoiler:03debb5681]I ended up 'killing' Shaheed, because I wanted to take him in which means he dies in the explosion. Madison... I just didn't like her and took the practical route of saving the hypothetical bunch of other people that was supposed to die from the other explosion. Sis survived, cause I just didn't want to kill a girl and I took her attack as sortof an over-the-top greeting. As a spy with respect for its kind, I just had to go and rescue Albatross as well. I think all the Russians survived as well in my game. First time through was pretty much aimed at making friends and not killing people.
I didn't kill Marburg, but I didn't get him to join me either because I forgot to select the dossier option. Darcy I of course killed, as you seem to just have to do when you meet him. Deng joined me, as well as a bunch of other people I might not remember.
The only guy I personally executed was Leland, cause he just started to piss me off. Strangely, he really liked me.[/spoiler:03debb5681]
a bit stiff, the animations are sooo last gen it could still be directly from the stone age where they painted games on the wall and you had to wait till they draw a new picture to continue gaming 
Any game that a majority of people are inclined to play through more than once, especially back-to-back, I would consider a good game. This is assuming, of course, that the people in question are not mindless matrix drones.
Not for an instant did I consider replaying FO3. I was glad to be done at the 13 hours.
Not for an instant did I consider replaying FO3. I was glad to be done at the 13 hours.
Mutoes
Mildly Dipped
Have any of you happen to stumble across good lets plays of the alpha protocoll. Id prefer it to be in video format (i think ill get better idea if id like to buy it that way)
So what’s the chance that AP will be seen as a hidden gem in a few years…somewhat like Planescape Torment?