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.
No, I know what you meant by polish. However bugs have been another major point of yours and I wanted to address that. My point was that if a developer/publisher is popular enough people tend to overlook game breakers and lack of polish simply because of that developer/publisher's reputation. I think that may come back to haunt AP, which is too bad. However that doesn't necessarily mean it won't see a sequel. Red Faction: Guerrilla didn't have the best sales (or reviews, I think it's average is like 82-85), but THQ has announced a sequel. <3
I really don't know how to address being "tricked". I'd have to read that myself. I know what you're getting at though, you're afraid the few negative comments you're seeing will negatively reflect the game. I wouldn't worry that much about it, MW2 is another unpolished game (it was so bad Game Informer a few months back actually wrote about all the bugs, glitches and short comings and it's a pretty large list. However, they said that because the game was so popular it was to be expected.). Yet it sold a **** load of copies and people continually buy the DLC despite it being the biggest swindle in gaming history. I doubt the 3 CoD games (not including the CoD MMO iirc) they'll be releasing in 1 year will all be polished, yet they'll still sell a ****load of copies 'cause of Activision and Treyarch's rep (some other devs are doing the other games, but my point still stands they'll sell 'cause of Activision's rep).
I guess, I'm just wondering how much of the unpolished/bug complaints are legitimate and how many are just simply because of Obs past and the fact they aren't as well known as bigger companies.