Anarchosyn

I've only started the game but two mechanical / game play elements I miss are: 1) being able to slide into cover (i.e. hit the cover button when within a certain distance to cover and he'll slide to it, even from a crouched position). 2) The ability to climb over chest high walls (especially from cover, ala Gears of Splinter Cell: Conviction). Perhaps I'm just a little dense and this is already in the game (I certainly hope so) but, so far, it doesn't seem like it exists. Stealth seems decent enough, however I'm uncertain whether crouching helps with stealth. Can anybody confirm whether the game confers bonuses to stealth when moving in a crouched position vs. moving at a relatively similar speed whilst standing?

For what little it might be worth, I just picked up a copy of Alpha Protocol and though the animations might be a little stilted and the environmental level of interactivity might be a little regressive by modern standards, I like the game. Granted, I'm still hyper early in the story and I was initially dismayed (despite knowing what to expect; I came from playing Red Dead which is a title whose excellence thoroughly surprised me since I can't stand GTA IV anymore). However, by the end of the tutorial element I was happy. My only criticisms? I wish there were more customization options for Thorton's look (clothing would be nice, perhaps with a disguise element) and, more importantly, I really (really) wish the dialog system was more conventional (i.e. text and not voiced). I actually like the timer and respect the fact full text would inhibit this a bit but often Michael will go off and say something snarky that I wasn't expecting, or -- worse yet -- say something I was expected and then follow it up with something that seemed ancillary to the choice description. It seems, at least in the early portions I've played, Thorton has an annoying propensity to say things I don't want him to (like, for example, when talking to the espionage trainer he automatically takes a kind of thickheaded stance with his expository dialog). Again, I've yet to really even go on my first mission so I'm sure my criticism list will grow but, for an early impression, it's worth the cash I spent (retail, not used.. I love Obsidian).

True 'nough... However, Derek Flint could take all three... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Like_Flint

I violently disagree with this. AC was originally design without the HUD and if you tried to play it sans that invasive / fun killing inclusion you'd have discovered just what an amazing game it was. You remember all that design repetition people complained about? IMHO, It was to train a HUD-less player into navigating through the world. Every quest type had distinct audio and/or visual cues that could be recognized and exploited to get through the game. Half the fun for me was figuring out what these cues were - cues, mind you, that I was blind too when I used the hud.. ps: I can't produce the interview off the top of my head, but back before AC 1 launched I found an interview with Patrice which made the claim the HUD radar (i.e. what I'm talking about) was a late game design inclusion and he spoke as if the decision wasn't something the core development team wanted to do initially. I will admit that the game's difficulty would scale to an insane degree without it provided you were new to the title. However, if you played through the first few "zones" you'd probably get enough experience with the design repetition to manage well enough without it. Seriously, give it a shot.. it really makes the world come alive to have to use your ears to find certain quest types or NPC (or your eyes to find the safe house, etc).

Mercenaries was a stinker from the beginning judging from the demo I played. Content not withstanding, the core game play and interaction with the game world felt floaty and just "off." I've got $50 that says anything cut from the game was content far too ambitious for the obviously inexperienced programmers they had assigned to the project (translation: it was cut because it didn't work or caused problems in other aspects of code deemed far more necessary). Nobody cuts operational content out of their game just for kicks. Nobody. Covert Action. One of my favourite games ever. I feel old. Heh, some of us remember playing text based Infocom games so don't feel so bad. I never did play Covert Action but I remember Xenophobe (also by Microprose). Man, that was a killer title..

Did anybody think the retailers had any better notion than we do? Do they ever? Hard dates tend to get released publicly as soon as they're available to private institutions. It's a well known aspect of the retail business that they make up dates all the time for book keeping purposes. I'm rolling with the supposed June 2010 date since it works better with my schedule but AP could drop in November for all we know..

Actually, Oblivion had a speech skill... Just saying. ps: Oh, and attributes.. but, well, that's a given.

June is better than October. 1. Less games to clog up the market so AP stands out better. 2. Less games equates potentially more impulse purchases by starved consumers. 3. Regarding school, June is better than October since the latter is further into the academic session.

That would be very disappointing. AP is already 3,5 years in development (with an existing engine), if Obsidian even needs more time then they're doing something wrong. 3.5 years? Where are you getting that? According to http://www.x360magazine.com/qa/obsidians-c...alpha-protocol/ they only finalized the story 1.5 years ago (though, to be fair, they could have been developing the tech for a lot longer). Still, where does your figure come from? Can you source it?

Oh come off it. Did the Gold Box SSI games have charming skills? Did Wizardry? Did early Bards Tale titles offer all that? Many of the titles I just cited didn't have side quests either. Deus Ex was a hybrid which means it was part RPG. The simple fact that character skill took precedence over player skill at low weapon levels is enough to separate it from the conventional shooter pack.

In my opinion, and across the majority of reviews one can find published on the net, both NWN2 and KotOR2 were better written and structured then the originals they were based on (bugs notwithstanding). This especially holds true for KotOR2 which has some of the most mature dialog (philosophically speaking) to ever grace the Star Wars canon. Since the general structure of those games were created by Bioware you shouldn't have expected them to reinvent the wheel. Now, per your last sentence, I'm at a loss.. Mass Effect is a sub par RPG to say the least - reduced and compartmentalized in features to allow a free flowing console experience. Hell, if nothing else it has infinite ammo! Weren't you just complaining about that in regards to Alpha Protocol? Don't get me wrong, I like Mass Effect too.. However, it's a little weird for you to laud the depth of Black Isles and then turn around and say something like "ghee, glad I just picked up Fable." alanschu - Well said.. well said, indeed.

Shemer, it's worth noting that Obsidian is trying something new regarding dialog and I'm not merely referencing the timer. Rather, the timer is just a manifestation of a larger design philosophy which involves keeping the intensity, immediacy and realism in the dialog flow. In addition to the timer they've (at least claimed to have) removed dialog loops as well (i.e. those dialog "hubs" which exist in pretty much every other dialog enabled RPG where the player can reask a question and unrealistically cycle back through the conversation). I'm definitely not a fan of timers in games myself. However, given the overall philosophy of the game I am willing to give Obsidian a chance and reserve judgement. As a final thought, think about this scenario: Let us say you're under some kind of pressure to stop a terrorist attack which is due to launch any minute. You found somebody to interrogate that knows where the bomb is located but you need to get the information out of them through coercion. In a television program like 24 you have the inescapably linear and continuous flow of time to communicate the sense of urgency to the audience. In a video game, especially a RPG, that sense of urgency is lost since time doesn't inherently flow in a continuous manner. The timer is a means to approximate this intensity. Or, rather, it's a means to keep the dialog flow realistic (i.e. I believe the time in the timer is roughly an amount of dead air which approximates a realistic pause in the discussion, so - to the player - these conversations will flow like watching a movie). It also allows the developers to keep the player locked into a time reference they can anticipate (and design around). For example, they can realistically make the scenario outlined above since they can calculate ranges for how long it should take a player to go through the options. This way the bomb really can keep ticking and - who knows - maybe the intensity will be more palpable for the player as a result (i.e. give us a reason, besides role playing, to use more violent means to attain our ends). A counter example to Obsidian's approach would be the severe lack of urgency felt in games like Oblivion. The plot, on paper, is one where your immediate action would make sense (Oblivion gates are opening across the land; one must save kvatch on the eve of its fall!). However, this urgency is purely theatrical. You can wait around for a month of in-game time and nothing will have changed.. the grand evil is just sitting there awaiting your arrival. Alpha Protocol is attempting to rectify this unfortunate cliche in modern RPGs. ps: The only other game I've played that had a timer system like this was Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit in Europe). Suffice to say it wasn't a problem in the slightest. However, it did result in me not turning to that game unless I was relatively awake and sober. pps: If it wasn't evident let me be explicit - that scenario (and my conjecture on how the developers could use it) was pure fiction from the backwaters of my imagination. However, speculation or no, it gives me pause on complaining about the timer's inclusion till I play through the game.

... has me worried. Not sure I'm following. Mass Effect did have branching dialog and a plot deeper than the average console cRPG. Their of those accolades explicitly said Mass Effect was a good game, if that's your problem.

Yeah, and thank you for that.

http://www.x360magazine.com/qa/obsidians-c...alpha-protocol/ Feast, my starving brethren! *eDit: Humm.. the story has only been finalized for a year and a half. This will be about the turn around for Fallout: New Vegas as well.. Interesting.