edgarcuk

I had DA:O on the PC, and it, too, was buggy as hell. There you go, the Joystiq guy didn't say the same of DA:O on PC... just shows how good the PR ($) is working... Yes.... when all else fails, blame BioWare and accuse them of bribery. DA:O was buggy (and boring) but by western RPG standards it was fairly well polished. The console versions were hammered fairly. AP is unpolished and buggy and I can see why it's getting a bad reception. The combat and AI is last gen, the visuals are bland and outdated, the story and writing and branching paths is as good as I expected but Thorton is a lame protagonist with some really poorly delivered lines, the plot twists are kinda predictable, hacking minigames every 3 minutes, the "stealth" in this Espionage RPG is a joke, the boss battles are absurd, very limited enemy variety, the game is short.. at first I thought this would be a disappointing mess, then when they started releasing more trailers and videos it looked like it might actually be great, and now I can say I agree with the scathing reviews.... this is easily Obsidian/BlackIsle's worst game. It just isn't very fun in the end and I feel so let down for actually changing my mind and preordering awhile ago. This game doesn't change my mind about New Vegas though, I'm sure that will be great. But yeah....AP is very, VERY disappointing. Just an opinion. Exactly, I don't understand why people here are making excuses for this game being recieved poorly. This game sounds awesome on paper, but in motion it easily looks like obs worst game. There's a good rpg in the mix of this mess, but I might wait for a price drop. Ehem, first, the point was to not take all those "professional" reviews too seriously, as BW, and other game companies, push their PR in order to gain acceptance... and sorry, the DAO version was "hammered" quite poorly in consoles, I've got the Xbox version and it's buggier than Fallout 3, so far the PC version is the one that has received all the patches and else. With regards of AP being buggy and has another member said, perhaps is bad luck but I only know I've got no bugs (citing DAO). So, at the end of the day, you like the game, you play it... you don't like it, you can return it (in the case of Xbox and PS3). If the gameplay, killing bosses and "polishing" is really important, you should try Demon's Souls, that is a real challenge on combat system, but not available on PC/Xbox only PS3.

I had DA:O on the PC, and it, too, was buggy as hell. There you go, the Joystiq guy didn't say the same of DA:O on PC... just shows how good the PR ($) is working...

My reference is DAO reviews, anyone who gave it 8+ and trash AP is out of consideration, it just showed bias at the lowest. I have DAO on Xbox and it is plagued with bugs... If there's some "professional" review that trashed DAO as well as AP, then I would give some credit. But the tendency is evident, US reviews trashing and European reviews praising.

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. As I mentioned in another post, according to the reviews it seems that Obsidian is exceptional in creating the depth, content and mechanics of a true RPG, but at the time of the presentation, it is not good... as getting a new car with the latest Mercedes engine but inside a Ford Fiesta... it's like the engine is there, but due to the car model or the implementation (in this case) you cannot really use the full potential, and since many people buy by the looks or the marketing... An ideal product could be a combination of AP with ME2, taking the AI, graphics and combat of ME2 with the depth, dialog and character development of AP... I think Obsidian have done the hardest part but they need to make a great presentation... if it is a Mercedes engine, put it in a Mercedes model.

I've been playing for 3 hours with an Xbox copy, so far here are my impressions: - Superb dialog system and very good dialog animation or cinematics. - Very good relation between skill upgrading and gameplay, I mean, pumping pistols does make it accurate. - High replayability, so far I've done the first mission with 3 different builds. - Immersion and interaction with others characters On the enhancement side: - the hacking is a little difficult for me (I need to use my glasses) but it would help to change the colour or the font of the passwords. - the graphics are... sort of weird, I mean, Batman Arkham uses the same engine (unreal) and the graphics does look different, perhaps changing the textures might help... Since I use cover and stealth a lot, it does work for me in the game, but trying to do the Rambo thing is difficult early in the game, I suppose once you upgrade the skills for the arm of your choice, it should be easier. According to the reviews it seems that Obsidian is exceptional in creating the depth, content and mechanics of a true RPG, but at the time of the presentation, it is not good... as getting a new car with the latest Mercedes engine but inside a Ford Fiesta... However, I'm very please with this game, it has fulfilled my expectations.

From the "professional" reviews, it seems that everyone was expecting a shooter game rather than a RPG game, reason why they complain about the combat system and AI. Those guys talked about some "RPG elements", which they don't give any reference of such "RPG elements", after years of playing RPG's games, I think some of the characteristics of a RPG game are narrative, character development, replayability and immersion, among others. So far, from the descriptions and reviews from the members of this forums, AP does have character development, replayability and narrative... There complains about the AI, merely from a combat point of view. If it is similar to ME2 AI, I know what to expect (I spent half of the combat repositioning my companions). IMO, the best AI is in Demon's Souls, foes are unforgiving and very very hard to kill, but again, many people do not like that and find the game frustrating. The eurogamer preview pointed out that if you want to play a la Rambo (storming and killing everything that moves) you need to invest in those gun skills... so far, none of the reviews said anything about max the guns skills and experience terrible combat mechanics , in terms of shooting... many members here mentioned that the stealth approach is working fine.

My Xbox copy should arrive tomorrow. According with the reviews here, it seems it is a good purchase according to what I expect: high replay and high character development. I really don't mind the graphics, since the term "dated" is very subjective, there are plenty of games that were done 10 years ago and the graphics don't look "dated" (specially japanese made games) on the other hand, taking ME2 as example of graphics (which I like it, clear lines, bright) some people complained that looked as an arcade game. As for the "professional" reviews, that one from bit-tech has been the crappiest and most superficial game review I've ever read in ages, if the reviewer would say " I hate this game because I love shooting and I don't like RPG's", it would sound more honest. On the Gamespot side, as I agree that it is bad publicity for Obsidian, due to the large audience Gamespot has got, it is not reliable and objective, taking for example the 9.0 for Dragon Age Origins in PS3, they just claim minor bugs and glitches... which in reality, there ARE many bugs and lots of glitches with a quality of 3 in PS3. I think Gamespot's value is only promotional and for advertising, and perhaps Obsidian would have done more PR...