Oblarg

Second playthrough now, I'm shooting everything up with my SMGs and being a total smartass to everyone I come across. Just hit the first Marburg convo, and instead of shooting to +5 reputation, I went to -5. It was great. Completely different conversation, and hilarious, to boot.

"Everyone who likes the game is a fanboy." Mods, please? Trolling doesn't get much more blatant than this.

"A copy of Catcher in the Rye was found in Wen's apartment, sparking internet conspiracy theories..." I was laughing so hard at that point.

Indeed. I heard the gunfire and thought "Ohhh shiii...." and saw Heck in a firefight. Hilarious. "You said you wanted a distraction!"

I was wondering when someone would throw in the ____ is fine, l2p argument. Stealth is great, until the game gives you a scenario where it's just not feasible. If I'm supposed to be in control of the game, why can't I face fights my way? I'm not comparing this game to other games persay, but more towards what I was told I could expect. 'Choice is my weapon' is a little bit of BS. And yea, the guns eventually deliver, eventually. Many lvls down the line before they begin to cater to the playstyle I was hoping for. This game is years behind the curve in pretty much every aspect. And yes, the mini games in ME were obscenely easy too, but as it was the first time I had to deal with them, it wasn't a big deal. But if you're going to copy something so stupid, can you at least do it better? I can't think of a single aspect where this game shines over any other, but there are a number of places in which it lags behind. And personally, I think the 'foreshadowing' is stupid. It gave away the outcome of one scenario before I even moved into the area (Rome). I know I'm ranting, but I'm pretty disappointed in this game. I was hoping for something ground-breaking. I've been excited for this game since the first article I read more than a year ago, when it got pushed back I was hoping it was because they weren't satisfied with the product and really wanted to push it farther, personally, I'm not sure it ever should have been released. It's completely lack-luster and offers nothing new to the genre, whatever genre it's a part. FPSPRG? And I can't hold 'shift' to run, as Im on the 360, which makes me wonder if a lot of the control issues I'm having are because they didn't do a good job adapting things to the controller as it seems you are on the PC. It hardly gave away Rome's outcome. Especially because Rome has multiple possible outcomes. And I gave an example of how to stealth through that fight above, however "your weapon is choice" does not mean you will be able to resolve every single situation in multiple ways. Overall, the amount of choice given to you in how to complete the missions in Alpha Protocol is still far beyond what is available in other games. For the vast majority of the missions, stealth is viable for the entire duration, unless you haven't sunk the necessary skillpoints into it (I could see a few parts being impossible without shadow operative). I found the minigames to be much more challenging than those in ME (1 and 2). Hacking can get pretty suspenseful when you hit the short strings and tight time limits. 12-circuit bypasses are by no means trivial, either. As for the curve being too steep on the guns - I agree, but it's hardly gamebreaking.

1. That's just not true. There are several things that change largly and its impact on world stability and the characters based on what you do. These are just two things I wanted to say since the choice thing is just not true. Every gamer who played this twice and differently can tell you that. So, give it another go at least or watch some playthroughs. Edit 1: Revised originally statement since that was a little too opinion based. I can give you one mission that embodies most of the problems with this game. You go to save someone and the end of the mission is defending them from getting shot. You get a flow of about 15 guys charging face first at you. Well gee, I'm trained in Stealth and Pistols so I'm just all sorts of effed. I made my character to play the way I want, but the game does not respond accordingly. 1. Pop shadow operative 2. Run around and press spacebar whenever you reach one of them. 3. ??? 4. Profit Oh yeah, and if your pistol skill was high enough that fight should have been easy.

Not sure which pistols you were using. I was dropping people with one headshot from across the room once I had them maxed out, bro. And I could line the headshots up from cover. Hold shift to run. It's pretty standard in games these days, and you move pretty quickly. Are you really complaining that the hacking isn't as difficult as *actually* hacking a computer? At least you're not complaining that it's impossible, but if this is too easy for you, what does that make ME2's hacking? Cover could have been improved, but it still worked. Better than ME1s cover, by far, and I didn't see that getting universally panned by critics. All of the flashforward dialogue is sufficiently ambiguous that it doesn't really spoil anything - it foreshadows nicely, though, and provides a nice backdrop. I was impressed at how well it was done. And I'm tempted to think your trouble with stealthing is just your lack of ability. I stealthed fine, and I ran through the entire game with an unsilenced pistol. And I never maxed my stealth skill - for most of the game it was about half of what my pistol skill was.

There is a silencer that doesn't reduce damage eventually as well. It's still a loss when compared to the other barrel upgrades available, though.

Oh, so sabotage is the hacking skill? I thought it was technical aptitude.

Well, if you're just going to ignore most of what I said (and most of recent world history, for that matter), there's no point talking to you.

Favorites: Heck - Absolutely hilarious Marburg - Chillingly awesome, I wish I had gotten the chance to actually kill the bastard, even though my reputation with him was *very* high. Darcy - He's so convincingly unlikeable that I have to respect the writing. Albatross - Very well-written, and always helpful. Least favorites: Westridge - Just found him rather boring, and he didn't really have a major role Madison - Not developed enough

Indeed. The graphics are on par with (if not better than) DA:O, and that game didn't get panned for looking like a PS2 game. I'm not sure what all the American reviewers were thinking.

Ah well, all the writing is brilliant. The suave reply to Heck's conspiracy theory email was hilarious - I had to choose it, even though I was mainly doing a professional playthrough.

Played entire way with mouse and keyboard. The blocks were a wee bit unresponsive to the mouse in the hacking minigame, but it was still easily doable. No control problems to speak of, other than that.

Russia isn't even a particularly large world power anymore. They have too many of their own problems to deal with to go around harassing (or killing) foreign dissidents, or even domestic ones if there are enough of them, I wager. One outspoken man who is likely to be heard by a large number of people is completely different from the situation you're describing.

What about Russia? Do you honestly thinking talking **** about Russia over the internet is going to get you poisoned with polonium? Because that's possibly the dumbest thing I've heard in months.

That was polonium, not uranium, you dunce.

I just loved trying to stealth through the hotel level and then suddenly Heck pops out and starts shooting the crap out of everything. Good times. Still, who is he? He's not CIA, obviously. Avellone must have had a wonderful time writing his lines.

Because anything that is even remotely challenging makes them frustrated and frustration leads to crying... Hacking was my favourite minigame, sure the blocks could have moved faster but other than that it was way better than any other hacking minigame i've seen in the rpgs lately. Yeah, my main problem with hacking was moving to the blocks rather than identifying them. Actually, it led to some fairly suspenseful moments when time was running out and I was frantically trying to wiggle the mouse-controlled block into place. It felt *really* satisfying to finish the hack, even though I was completing around 80% of the 5-character block hacks correctly on the first try. I actually found the 11-circuit puzzle to be more of a struggle to complete on time than the hacking (though even that was certainly doable). The only minigame I didn't love was the lockpicking, and that was mainly because the tolerances were too small and the amount my oversensitive mouse moves while clicking was sometimes enough to throw it off and trigger an alarm. Even that is a minor gripe, though - it didn't happen very often.

Main concern: The scopes on the pistol look ****ing stupid. Please replace them with an under-barrel laser sight. Joking aside (though the pistol scopes do indeed look stupid), I'd like to see pistols toned down and SMGs buffed. Alarms also go off a wee bit too often - it would be nicer if they were harder to trip.

Why do people have such a hard time with hacking? I found it nice and engaging - it can get suspenseful if the time starts running out and you haven't placed the second string yet, especially if they're the hard 5-character strings. It's hardly impossible, though - quite the opposite, I found the long strings to be too easy.

I'm really not sure which problems the PC version is "riddled with." I've played through the game once so far, and only seen one or two (minor) bugs. The AI isn't as terrible as most people make it out to be - certainly no worse than the AI in ME1. The graphics aren't stellar, but they're on par with, say, DA:O. The minigames were all fun and (with the exception of lockpicking) sufficiently challenging to make choosing to turn off the cameras a nontrivial decision. They were by no means impossible. If you haven't played the game, what position are you in to comment on its state of bugginess?

I'm not sure what to make of this guy. Anyone have any ideas who he actually is?

Yeah. I had a few fun shootouts. I kept my pistol unsilenced, logic being that if I had to use my pistol I had already ****ed up my stealth run. It was great, I was able to stealth through a few missions undetected, and even if I was caught I was always able to fight my way out of it due to the maxed pistol skills and a few points in toughness.