WorstUsernameEver

^ http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?showtopic=54971 There appears to be a solution to the mouse problem (look in the last posts, Alvin Nelson's reply). Hope it helps.

1) Have you forced any setting like AA or AF through the drivers interface? 2) Have you overclocked your card? While it doesn't sound (from your description) or look like it, there is still a possibility that is a graphical artifact derived from over-heating. Of course, if other games don't give you problems, it probably isn't the case.

Morgoth, do you think it's feasible to survive boss fights relying on pistols and gadgets/grenade/whatever ? I'm not sure if I want to put points in assault rifle too...

To be honest I don't remember any DA:O bashing at all. Here's one example. Oh yeah, I remember it. They still give it an 8 in the end for some reason though, and that's one thing that stuck with a lot of people. They don't seem so afraid of giving Alpha Protocol bad scores.

To be honest I don't remember any DA:O bashing at all.

Mmh.. I hope I'm recalling correctly but I remember someone else correcting a similar problem by redoing the activation problem. Unfortunately I still haven't got the game, so for now I'm afraid I won't be of much more help, sorry.

If BG2 were made in the present day, I bet there'd be a gratuitous threesome with Viconia thrown in for good measure. R00fles! Bioware still was at the beginning of their shining romance career, cut them some slack...

I'm pretty sure you won't answer this, but how do you feel about the reception Alpha Protocol received so far? I don't remember if you actually worked on it or not, though. I worked on the CQC/martial arts system. It is interesting that the response is so varied. Different reviewers obviously focus on different things, but I don't think I've seen anything that's an unreasonable critique. From J.E. Sawyer Formspring's thingy. Also, since it was me asking the question : thanks Josh, you surprised me with your honesty.

Oner.. you know that he was the last user to post in that thread, right?

European reviewers seem to fixate less on technical issues & look more at the overall package. It was the same story with games like Risen & Divinity II. The spread wasn't quite as big with Risen & Divinity II as far as I remember though.

I'm wondering if that's simply because americans are more used to spy flick and television series... Also a 2.0, no matter how incompetent is the reviewer, is basically an enormous stain on the game and developer's reputation. I really wouldn't like being in Obsidian's shoes. Granted, they're nice guys, but again, considering the number of devs and the polish of their game, I'm wondering if they shouldn't start reducing the number of projects and teams. Two teams working on two different projects seems like the limit for this developer, and instead they're always working on no less than three projects, not to mention they have to devote at least a little team to patching the games they've published. Ambition is fine, but remember what happened to Icarus...

He also has green hair.

Yup, but love it or hate it should NEVER be based on how much patience has a gamer to endure all the technical glitches the game has fun throwing to them. Now, I don't want to sound like I think the programmers put bugs in the game to have fun, but Obsidian, as a company, should really think hard about how they're managing this stuff.

True, but it's also supposed to be for Xbox360.. not to mention that this kind of pre-order packs are hastily done, so with the time that Obsidian seems to have for the game, I don't think they really did want to devote their artists attention to a pre-order item.

The sense of intrigue is so empowering it

Melissan.. another villain that deserved a better build-up and a less obvious revelation.

Assuming that's true, I may have to think very carefully about giving my money to Obsidian again. This time they had 4 years, there are simply no excuses.

An 'unfinished' game? That's pretty hard.

It would feel a bit strange to have completely different models of vault suits though, especially since apparently Nevada's suits are the same as the east coast's one.

=/ We had the specs for a long time though, have you never noticed before Oner? Still, mid-tier video cards that are much better than yours are much cheaper now.

Sorry, I didn't explain myself clearly at all. Polish is basically a multi-faceted word and tackles almost every component of the game. Granted, glitches are always present in a game, other area in which Alpha Protocol apparently feels unpolished are graphics, gameplay (wonky balance, bad AI and bad minigames design), camera controls, and apparently, if the Bit-tech review is to be believed, area design/layout. Also, Obsidian has a reputation of buggy games (the unfinished KOTOR2, Neverwinter Nights 2 which was far too ambitious for Obsidian's possibilities and came out full of bugs with a couple of nasty gamebreaking bugs too) which colors the perception of the game. Many people will probably be unconsciously be looking for bugs when they play and trust me, they will remember them. There's also the matter that some feel the game 'trick them' and don't like the stat-driven shooting mechanics because they stretch too much their suspension of disbelief and the fact that the writing and choices & consequences has been almost ignored by the reviews (with a couple of exceptions) so far. I also want to add that I'm actually looking forward to my Alpha Protocol's playthrough. It's not about the game itself that I'm worried (though I hope I don't encounter issues eheh) but rather about its reception and what influence this will have on the future of Obsidian and western rpgs.

True, but it's a good marketing ploy. I remember people complaining about the absence of collector's edition bonus items on Bethesda's blog and forums, and even on The Vault. Yeah, but mostly console players. On a PC, with mods, they're pretty pointless. They're pointless, but then again, not everyone mods the game even in the PC crowd. Actually I'd argue that a fair portion of the PC crowd doesn't even know how to mod the game.

Looking at the comments of some sites (I'm talking about sites like RPGWatch, not casual sites), some comments about the technical polish and bugs here, plus some fairly major gaming sites and mags slamming the game could hurt the game. Also, to be pretty honest, three unpolished games in a row (at least they finished this though, but it took 4 years) it's not a good track record and reduces a lot my expectations for new Obsidian projects. Sad but true.

Looks like my negativity was pretty well-justified.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we? Last year (it was september IIRC) I began a GURPS campaign with some of my friends, set in an urban fantasy incredibly stereotype version of Los Angeles, when pretty much every walking NPC except the plot-important ones are either hobos, incredibly racist gun nuts, gangsters and morbidly obese police officers. Now why, I'm sure you're asking me, the hell have you opened this topic? Well, various reasons, but mainly for feedback, detailing what happens in the campaign, suggestion to make the campaign and my DMing skills better and insults to the italian government. So now I'm going to detail the basic ideas behind the setting, what has happened until now and what could possibly happen in the future assuming I don't change my plan and that the players don't completely change the outcome of the story (it already happened once). I'll post about the setting soon, for now feel free to suggest me bits of USA pop-culture to enhance the setting and make it feel less cookie-cutter.