unskilled-

Dossier: 20% complete. Wonder who we'll need to speak to to unlock more dossier info... and that "secret" intel.

OMG I was sooo expecting Mike to punch Darcy in the face when he went back to calling him Mikey 2 or 3 sentences later but that never happened....so much for the editor's cut lol lol yeah, what I wouldn't give for a renegade interrupt on Darcy "Hey Mike..." *POW*

WHAT? YES! Pre-Alpha version of the game that the journalists (pampered by Microsoft) didn't even get to play! Clearly calls for at least game of the show award or it's gonna be worse than all Uwe Boll movies combined. I never said this game was going to suck, I was merely saying I am skeptical about it. Key word: I, as in me, not you, or anybody else.. as much as I would like to think that I speak for the majority of competitive gamers who are looking for games that require real skill to master, I don't. Now, as to why I am skeptical about this game: Firstly, as much as I enjoyed the first game, seeing that there are now specific classes to play (from the looks of things, if I am wrong about this then please correct me) would mean that the player character is railroaded from the minute they pick their character to play. From this I would assume that the combat animations and play styles for each character would be very specific with no room for personalization. They'll space out your skills and offer different ways to different skills through leveling up, that is only natural.. but the overall feel of the character will remain the same throughout (again, my assumption). Secondly: Well, I'm a pessimist. Third: BECAUSE I CAN! :| Granted, this is all without seeing what the new engine can do. If its able to offer a visceral combat experience that is unique with every encounter (ie, you don't use the same 3-4 attacks in repetition) then I will be the first one to get down on my knees and kiss the feet of the developers!

Oh no... if he was right about this... what else could he be right about?! Everything. He's right about alot of things, although that doesn't make them *all* true, 'cept the acoustic kitty one.. haha. Speaking of the kitty, I forget what movie referenced it..

Btw, how much do 'working women' cost?

Yes, the dozens of us on the forums who have finished Hard quite easily must be gaming Gods. That must be the only explanation? You finding a particular challenge excruciating has more to do with getting used to the game and finding the right strategy. It's always the people's extinct to blame the game first, though. you are a moderator? you sound like a troll man..... WARNING: THESE POSTS MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN HEAVY DOSES OF SARCASM: DO NOT: I REPEAT: DO NOT ASSUME EVERYBODY IS A **** TOWARDS YOU: IT WILL ONLY ENGENDER HATRED TOWARDS YOU AND TOWARDS OTHERS. EVERYTHING IS COOL MAN: MOVE ALONG: NOTHING TO SEE HERE. On a serious note: I've never played on hard mode.. I figured after I beat Crysis on Delta Mode I didn't need to even bother with these sissy "hard" modes... Seriously tho, the fact that hard mode seems to require a specific set of skills and attributes to pass (confirmation please!), means that hard mode is only for those who want to play a certain way and not a challenge for those who want to play their own way (stealth/h2h build or what have you). But, if I am wrong about this.. don't flog me too hard

A few of the veteran dialogue choices are essentially Mike saying "I'm a badass, I saved the world once and I don't take **** from nobody, ESPECIALLY you Darcy!" I paraphrased a bit so don't take it as GOSPEL!~~~~~~~~ (this is the proper way to do it circa 1998)

Looking at the reviews of the previews given by others.. I am a bit skeptical about how this game will turn out.

From a high level, it's important that the people who are developing combat mechanics have a thorough understanding not only of the moment-to-moment player experience but also what is required from the engine to support that player experience. Onyx has been in development for about 4+ years and we've (especially Nathaniel and the programmers) put a lot of effort into ensuring that the core combat game play can be well-supported by the engine. But the other side of this is ensuring that individual area designers are using the core game play mechanics well. On DS3, that's Nathaniel's responsibility. On F:NV, it's mine. So is the Onyx engine going to improve on what everybody has been doing for the past 10 years? One-click combat is getting old I must say. Or it is going to totally dedefine what an ARPG (or CRPG) is, with a completely unique combat system?

As long as I can accidently get children to somehow end up between my bullets and my enemies, and also somehow mysteriously end up losing your spouse but getting alot of money as a consolation.. I think I'll be ok with the game.

Clothing: Belt, 3sp Riding Boots, 3gp Cloak, Good Cloth (Color: Brown) 8sp Breeches x 2, 4gp Knife Sheath, 3gp Sword Scabbard, Hanger, 4gp Tabard, 6gp 28 gp, 3sp Other: Backpack, 2gp, 2lbs Beltpouch, Large, 1gp, 1lbs Fishhook x 2, 2sp Map or Scroll Case, 8sp Boltcase, 1gp, 1lbs (I'm assuming this is to hold my bolts for my crossbow?) Soap x 3, 15sp, 3lbs Tent, Small, 5gp, 10lbs Torch x 3, 3cp 3lbs Whetstone x 2, 4cp 2lbs 11gp, 7cp 22lbs Armor: Ring Mail, 100gp, 30lbs Helmet, Basinet, 8gp, 5lbs Shield, Medium, 7gp, 10lbs 115gp, 45lbs Weapons: Longsword, 15gp, 4lbs Light Crossbow, 35gp, 7lbs Light Quarrel x 10, 1gp, 1lbs (Bolts for crossbow?) Knife, 5sp 51 gp, 5sp, 12lbs Total: 205gp, 8sp and 7cp Total weight: 79lbs Money Left over: 44gp, 91sp, 93cp

Oh yeah, where should I roll my character?

Sweet, I'll get started right away.. kinda psyched about it And, uh.. red? It so clashes with my black cloak and black armor and black everything else.. (going for cliches here, watch out!)

You mean like most of the Rome hub? Things like this make me wonder if people actually played the entire game before coming here to complain about it. Oh, and Obsidian mentioned multiple times that they were going for "action movie espionage," not realistic espionage. That doesn't automatically make the game a failure. If we didn't play the game we certainly wouldn't be discussing what we feel are disappointments. The mission where you assassinate Al-Bara would have made perfect sense from an action movie standpoint. Think about it, your inside his heavily guarded mansion and you have to identify him and then assassinate him. Whether you do it or not your cover will probably be blown at some point leading to a tense shootout, cause as Mina keeps telling you.. people around here are well connected.. you take them out and you'll have their friends looking to take you out. What would make this situation even more tense would be if Marbug decided to go all out and storm the place, thus placing you in a situation of either: GTFO or stop the assault and save innocent lives. But instead you just look at 8 people for roughly 10 minutes while Mina talks about how they have nothing to do with the story, and thus are essentially a waste of time.

Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid would be two similar games in regards to modern settings and stealth gameplay.

Good lad. Character and equipment list? Suppose I'll be totally original (sarcasm) and be a Male Human Fighter! As for equipment, err.. well you have any resources i should look over before picking something? Looking at all the squishies everybody picked, figured there should be someone to soak up arrows and and fireball spells. As for the loot, only if there's a good weapon or cool looking armor, aside from that.. just make sure I get paid! :|

I was able to beat surkov's mission on my first playthrough as a stealth/martial arts expert. Most of the time I was running at enemies then proceeding to beat them down, only when I was near death and waiting for my armor to recover did I whip out my AR and start shooting down enemies (no points put into it). Second playthrough I smartened up and brought the sniper rifle and it was easy as pie. As for Surkov taking cover, well.. I think thats more or less him trying to take cover despite the amount of enemies firing at him. Oh sure in that particular screenshot it looks like he's not even trying, but when an enemy outflanks you in this game you don't have much choice in Surkov's situation but to stand ground and fight back. I think the biggest complaint surrounding the whole "i don't get to play a real spy" was the absolute downer of a mission when you "assassinate" al-bara. He gets all dressed up in a tux to stalk around the grounds in which nobody see's him.. so why bother putting him in a tux? To tease us about the fact they had a "bond-like" mission in the works but were unable to complete it due to time constraints? Bah!

Right mouse button works perfectly for getting out of the screen. I think escape works as well.

The music makes Endar Spire feel much more then a tutuorial level! (finish KOTOR few days ago, wanting KOTOR2 :|) I don't know why people are banging the AI, cause its pretty solid if you don't go overboard using the shadow operative and then taking out everybody in a room while stealthed.. cause that just makes it look bad!

Rename to Syphon Filter: Alpha Protocol Rename lead to Gabe Logan. Finito.

Design oversight maybe? Could be they were just pressed for time and had to cut out alot of stuff regarding weapons, but left their main intention; the modding of weapons.

Like what? Hand to hand combat? Please. Saying that this game is an environment that isn't realistic is a cheap cop out and also wrong in its entirety. Because if the game was set in an "unrealistic" environment, then why have it set in modern times with modern political intrigue and other such hoopla? In this game, you can literally make yourself invisible. You can fire 5 shots instantaneously from your pistol. You can slow down time for other people while you run around and beat them up. It's not a copout, it's the truth. This game does things in the extreme. It's meant to be played around with and have fun. I love chainshot because I feel badass when using it. But it's wholly unrealistic. I enjoy sneaking around invisible, KOing people right in front of others because I feel badass when doing it (though Shadow Operative is a bit too ridiculous). Your assault rifle can only fire in 3 round bursts. SMGs only come in pairs, and can limitless magazines for a short duration of time (after which you MUST reload, even if you didn't fire a round). I like the weapon mods, even if they are not realistic. I don't bother myself with "Whoa, this gun is supposed to shoot a .50 round... the picture of it doesn't seem appropriate." That's just falling into Gun Porn and nitpicking minute details. But contrary to you, I am absolutely not wrong in my entirety. This game IS over the top. The game may have a story that is plausible and applicable to real time, but the game is no where near realistic. Yeah, sorry about that.. you're right about the game doing things in the extreme, which would lead to an unrealistic feel about it, regardless of setting. The weapon mods are "realistic" in a sense that it is something a person could do with his or her weapon if they were a qualified weaponsmith. I would gather that the majority of stuff you can buy for your gun in game is something you could probably do to a real gun in real life. I suppose the point I am trying to make is that either the developers were pushed for time, and thus felt that while certain guns are different, they should all use the same ammo. Or they got lazy and didn't feel like having to code in different ammo for your guns.. it could go either way although I'm leaning towards more being pressed for time.

Eh... have to disagree there. While she's serious on the missions and only sends you one flirtatious e-mail, she also responds positively to tasteful jokes in your e-mail responses (for instance, the one in which you ask if she's going to have to show on the doll where Darcy wanted to touch her, and suggest that sending Darcy on a wild goose chase to Siberia might get him raped by a polar bear) indicating that she's increasingly at ease with you. Scarlet's is more subtle, but she definitely has her moments that are easy to miss - the "hot lesbian sex" e-mail she sends you comes to mind. SIE is a hoot, although I don't know if I'd like her so much in real life. Madison was pretty boring, imo. "I found a file that suggested that Marburg wanted to assassinate you, so I had to warn you. Sleep with me." Close, more like with Madison "I'm only here to provide Marbug with that extra dose of evil juice."

I totally agree. In my opinion, they intended for the Combat Armor's to have some damage reduction to them, or should anyways if that is not the case. That would explain for the extra loss in sound dampening.

Like what? Hand to hand combat? Please. Saying that this game is an environment that isn't realistic is a cheap cop out and also wrong in its entirety. Because if the game was set in an "unrealistic" environment, then why have it set in modern times with modern political intrigue and other such hoopla?