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zkylon

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Posts posted by zkylon

    A Masterpiece

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    You're pretty hyped about a game that will probably never be developed?

    I don't want to be too harsh, but considering the reception to the game has been lukewarm, and the criticism, Alpha Protocol would need some big sales to get a sequel.

    Then again, I'm not in the mind of the higher-ups.

    Wether it's announced or not, i'm hyped for another AP. I don't see what's so weird about that. I think all criticism is remediable.

     

    I actually think Bioware did that one right :ermm: IMO the male/female Shepard options in ME show how it could be done. In the end the main difference is, that you need two voiceactors doing all the lines, you have to change the romance options about a bit, you have to rewrite some dialogue to refer to the player characters sex and (perhaps the biggest job) you have to create all the armor graphics for male and female characters.

     

    Yes it is additional work but imo creating your own character is a big and important part of every RPG. While I could accept the small amount of options AP gives I would have been happier if there was more choice. Being able to play a female agent and more character customization is my biggest wish for a sequel, if we ever see one.

    I think that Bioware did that right too but Obsidian doesn't seem to have the resources for it. I'd like them to avoid further developement hell as much as possible...

    A Masterpiece

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    I would not throw the word masterpiece around so easily.

     

    AP is a fantastic game to be sure, but I would say it is short of being a masterpiece.

     

    With nonlinear levels, character face/body/sex customisation, improved AI and more environment interaction then yes I would class it as a masterpiece. I have high hopes for AP 2 now, lets hope Obsidian sell enough to continue the franchise.

     

    Well done Obsidian, fantastic game. :)

    I'm with you on everything but changing the sex/body/face thing. While some changing is fine, AP relies heavily on how strong the characters are. If you turned them into generic Shepards or something like that, Mike/Female Mike :p would lose a lot of personality and Obsidian would have to work twice as much into making romancing options, etc. I think that making Mike a he was a smart move by Obsidian and they should stick to that. Make the game A LOT more nonlinear and just enhance every aspect of it and the masterpiece starts to shape. With reviews as mixed as these, Obs should really restrategize and try to just perfect instead of enlarge. I'm hugely hyped for AP2, but i don't want it to go the way of Deus Ex.

     

    And finally, i agree, well done Obsidian, Alpha Protocol's a fantastic game :)

     

    While I personally share the sentiment that AP is better than ME2 this will largely depend on your personal impressions of that game.

    For me ME2 was a big letdown after the first game as Bioware threw out most of the RPG aspects to make a 3rd person shooter with dialogue, cobbled together an irrelevant and mediocre main storyline (the companion quests were quite good on the other hand) and garnished it with horrible scanning and traveling mechanics.

    This.

    How to lenghten dialogue countdown

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    Check the ini files (forgot where they were, i think x:/documents and settings/application data/alpha protocol/). There's a load of stuff there ranging from keyboard mappings and graphical settings to experience needed to level up and AI behaviours. Do a search for "dialogue" or something and might find it. I'd do it myself but i'm not at home atm...

    Early Impressions

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by zkylon

    I'm at the last mission in Saudi Arabia and i'm loving it. I've had some frustration, since my Tech Specialist character seems not to have been the best of choices, specially since most gadgets reveal my position away. I hope that in my next hub i find some more useful gadgets. Can't wait for the sound generator...

     

    Though it's a good thing i can bypass the hacking...

    My own bug report

    in PC Support

    Posted · Edited by zkylon

    Awareness seemed to be 'passive' for me. I maxed stealth but I was getting awareness all the time for most of the game. I don't think it's an activated skill.

     

    It would indeed be nice to be able to use mouse wheels in emails and missives, controls are clunky in a few places - hopefully it can be patched in.

    It is an active skill. I used it during the Tutorial but then it worked no more. I poured some points on stealth to get it to master level and it's working again.

    The Reviews

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    I think i can say now that the negativity is real. I get the feeling it's got the unnecessary harshness for not being a big brand. Like Kane & Lynch. My problem with it is that big brand games are far from perfect (MW2's SP was absurde, if ME2's "streamlining" isn't dumbing down i don't know what that is, Fallout 3 was a mess all around). But yeah, the negativity unfortunately is real. I sure hope it doesn't go down like Troika.

    The Reviews

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by zkylon

    I just beat the first mission of Saudi Arabia and i haven't found any gamebreaking bugs. I do think the game's too linear for my taste so far, though some open areas are very cool. And i like my safehouse and all, but i miss towns :shifty:

     

    The most annoying thing so far is how long does it take to buy equipement. You buy grenades one at a time and it hangs about 5 seconds every time i buy something or just want to look at the next item. It's just the shop menu that feels unoptimized, because the other menus run beautifully. It's a pity because i'm considering ditching Tech Specialist for something that involves less menu browsing (and because i pretty much just love to sneak in the game anyways).

     

    About the Bit-Tech guy, maybe he has a grudge against someone at Obsidian or something. Stiff characters? Overlong dialogue? Has this guy ever played an RPG before? So far i'm surprised by how likeable i found Mina and Darcy.

    AI and hacking

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    This AI thing is weird. People are calling out horrible AI, and I've even seen it myself on the preview vids. But then when I play it myself, it's not that bad, and there are other people that are fine with it...

     

    Leads me to wonder if there are distance issues involved? If you're playing a shootery type character and fight from a distance, are there more AI issues then if you're getting up close with a stealthy character like mine? Dunno, this is strange. Or maybe it depends what platform you're playing it on? Although that shouldn't happen?

     

    As for the hacking, I think it works out ok... if you put points in sabotage anyway :x

    I find that the AI is not the brightest it's more of moments where the AI just goes crazy and does weird thing while for the most part it manages to whoop your ass. At least they sure bring down hell when they spot my stealthy pacifist Mike...

    Early Impressions

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    I've been playing the game for a short while now and so far, i love it. It's a little not-so-comfortable and i've ran across some stupid AI and more than a few bugs (though none gamebreaking) but so far it's pretty awesome. Only thing i mind is that even if the game runs at 60fps it stutters a little bit everytime i enter a room or move the camera fast. It led to me getting seen once so it's kind of annoying and it's my biggest grievance so far. Other than that, i still think the game looks great (even if the motion blur is off the charts and i had to turn it off), being stealthy is really fun and i'm surprised by how much more tense the dialogue is when you don't have all the time in the world to answer. Haven't ran across a chance to use my tech expertise but so far it's one of the greatest tutorials ever lol (yeah, i know, i'm totally biased :x)

    The Reviews

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by zkylon

    I think a lot more people "get" AP then you think. You can't blame every negative review/impression on the person not "getting" it. There are many impressions on other forums where the player is disappointed. At best, it seems this is most likely a flawed gem type of game.

     

    :o - at the Deus Ex/Half-life comment

    I mean that they were looking for the wrong thing in Alpha Protocol. Maybe it's the over the shoulder camera or the modern setting, but with so many people playing it like a shooter, i can see how people can find it dissapointing. But people that knows what Obsidian's all about want something entirely different, which isn't mentioned in a lot of reviews.

     

    I mean, i don't think anyone here expects Uncharted-like action in AP. We want the great writing and characters and so far the reviews have concentrated their criticism in aspects that are somewhat minor to AP.

     

    The 1.0 user review doesn't even mention dialogue. The 5.0 user review is barely readeable and the 7.0 is just a few hours in. Those aren't either conclusive nor trustworthy reviews. And Gamestop is a number and a debatable quote. At the same time, there's about 5 foreign professional (though arguably :() reviews giving it mid-high 80s.

     

    I don't see that much negativity. Kotaku, IGN, the real Gamespot review, 1Up, etc. don't have their reviews up yet and 3 user reviews is hardly quorum.

     

    By the way, Gametrailers contest:

     

    Fill your summer with music with Official Alpha Protocol branded iPod Touch from SEGA. We will choose TWO lucky winners from all the correct entries to BOTH the trivia questions below. You MUST message TriviaKing. Have "Sabotage" in the subject line. Enter by Tuesday 6/1 11:59PM PST to qualify. Open to all citizens of this planet in good GT standing.

     

    Q: In Alpha Protocol, there are many ways to dispatch enemies, but only for core weapons (fists not included), what are they?

     

    Q: In our first reveal trailer entitled Rendezvous, what is the name of the character who is narrating the video?

    The Reviews

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    What? There is a lot of negitivity and it is starting to turn people away from the game. Also, it is not just the bugs, the dated graphics and gameplay in general seems to be the focus of a lot of the complaints.

    But that was expected. Unfortunately, not everyone 'gets' Alpha Protocol. Just like not everybody gets Deus Ex or Half Life. There's just been a lot of people not getting it. So far, everyone that was expecting an Obsidian RPG outta AP has expressed being pleased.

    The Reviews

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    To be honest, seeing the reception Alpha Protocol is receiving compared to Fallout : New Vegas I'm wondering.. is it because New Vegas it's a sequel to Fallout 3 and Fallout 3 was awesome so Fallout New Vegas will be more awesome (for the mags, at least), is it because Bethesda is backing them up (they're drooling over Hunted too..) or is it simply because?

    I mean, I expected a mixed reaction, but I didn't expect this much negativity.. makes me wonder if Obsidian really made the right choices.

    I don't think there's that much negativity. I mean, we all knew it'd come to wether the reviewer sees past the bugs (which is something longtime fans of the genre have always somewhat overlooked). Bethesda or Bioware are just more influencial. I don't know if they payed off reviewers, but i can't believe for the life of me the same reviewers couldn't find as many bugs in Fallout 3 or Mass Effect 2.

    The Reviews

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by zkylon

    Ditto, I don't know how someone can say these graphics look like PS2. They don't look top notch but they don't look that bad either.

     

    Gamespot has put up a score of 6.0 but no real review as of yet.

     

    http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/rpg/alphaprotocol/index.html

    Well, they gave Bloodlines a 7.7 (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vtmb/index....ult%3Btitle%3B0) so it's pretty clear they don't know what makes RPG gamers tick.

    The Reviews

    in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion

    Posted

    the reviewer failed for me as soon as i read the ps2 graphic comparison... i wonder what he did mean with this:

     

    "silent attack on an enemy is almost always successful."

    Felt the same way with the PS2 comparison. Even just the normal maps set this generation's graphics miles apart from last generation's, not to mention shaders and higher poly models. Agh, i hate those uneducated disses.

     

    The other day, actually, i showed one of those videos of Mike talking to deep throat Balaklava to a friend and his only comment was about how great the game looked, specially the facial animations. And i agree.

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