Freezerr

I don't really care whether it's more or less of an incentive for SEGA to release AP at this point. Like I said, I have to assume the delay is because game is absolute sh*t at this point and not worth buying.

Cancelling my preorder as well. It's frustrating to be treated this way by SEGA. Honestly, I have to assume the worst at this point - it's been delayed 8 months for a reason so bad they can't tell us. Come June, hopefully we'll have some information and I'll be able to make an informed decision. This fall lineup keeps getting thinner and thinner.

That's a reflection on SEGA's bungling with this. It's awkward when I'm hearing about a delay from Amazon and not the publisher, especially when I've preordered the game.

The Orange Box also had 5 games in it. The quantity, quality, and diversity of content was unrivaled. I'm not sure that 99 achievements in any other game would work.

Very nice review. Pretty much confirms exactly what I've been seeing about the game so far - there's potential for this to be a really phenomenal title.

Nno-o, most people get their Christmas shopping done at about five minutes to closing time on Christmas Eve, or if feeling organised in the week leading up to Christmas. Guess you've never heard of Black Friday, then. To the topic at hand, Alpha Protocol will certainly be an underdog this Christmas, but really, there are so many AAA games coming out next year that delaying it probably won't help sales. (Unless the game needs a delay for more polish)

I strongly dislike the whole ingame pre-order bonus phenomenon. I had already preordered the game before I found out about it, and obviously I'll keep my pre-order, but if anything, these sorts of things leave a bad taste in my mouth. Pass that on to Sega if they ever ask about fan reactions.

I think there's still quite a bit of room for Alpha Protocol to do well, even with all the buzz that Conviction is generating. AP is positioned very well in the RPG release timeline; with Mass Effect 2 coming 2010 and no Elder Scrolls V this year, the only real competition will be Dragon Age: Origins (which is looking to be a bit of a disappointment). And while I certainly hope that AP sells well so that Obsidian can expand and continue making interesting games, I'm mainly excited just to play this game. Whether it sells well or not, AP is looking like it will be one of my favorite titles this gen.

Jeff Gerstmann over at Giant Bomb wrote up some impressions of Alpha Protocol. It's mostly old stuff, but there was one piece of information that I was previously unaware of: "You'll be able to trigger abilities in combat, such as Room Sweep, which makes you fire your shotgun twice as fast for a short period of time." Sounds like a cool ability, even if I probably won't be using the shotgun much 1st playthrough.

Yea... I think people don't understand this concept. There is no "right way". Play how you want to play. In the recent walkthrough preview, the narrator mentioned that a particular character "was a fan of being treated aggressively". That's where my concern stems from. If someone is a fan of being treated aggressively, how much is the player punished for using the suave or professional stance? It's slightly different. "Guess which stance will get you free guns" is not the same as "Guess which dialogue option is read in a sarcastic tone". If I have to guess the tone of the dialogue, then that impedes my role-playing experience and makes it harder to realize the character I've imagined I want to play, let alone trying to guess which option the NPC wants me to use. Both are annoying, but "guess the stance to use" is a puzzle, hopefully with available clues, while "guess what tone this is read in" is poor design for an RPG. I'm very excited for what Alpha Protocol can bring to the table with dialogue, even if it's not implemented perfectly.

One of the big advantages of choosing an attitude (as opposed to specific dialogue) is that you'll be sure of the tone that your character will use. Most conversations are more about how things are said, and less about what is said. For example, there were at least a dozen times in Mass Effect where I chose a dialogue option and my character read it in a totally different tone than I was expecting (until I realized that top = paragon / bottom = renegade). This happened less in Fallout 3, but there, the interactions were generally mundane. My main concern with AP's stance system is that it will just turn into a puzzle of "guess the stance to use here". I'd like to be able to play the whole way through as a, say, Suave character without it making the game unpleasantly difficult.