E3 developer walkthrough video

[Oblarg]

Another walkthrough video

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/global-c...-protocol/51868

 

The AI looks really bad in that video. You blew up a propane tank, and the guy in the next room had no idea anything wrong was happening.

 

Towards the end, mike was in cover and someone was just standing there with his gun pointed at the cover. Enemies should actively try to flank you when you're in cover.

Edited June 24, 2009 by Oblarg

[Silvernite]

I also concur with the enemy AI being bad. Were they supposed to be intentionally stupid for the demo? Because I could count nearly 5 or 6 times where MT was in PLAIN SIGHT and the enemy just STOOD there scratching his ass waiting to eat lead.

[Zoma]

I also concur with the enemy AI being bad. Were they supposed to be intentionally stupid for the demo? Because I could count nearly 5 or 6 times where MT was in PLAIN SIGHT and the enemy just STOOD there scratching his ass waiting to eat lead.

 

Its stated that that is one of the early levels in the game which the enemies have much poorer range of sight and hearing in comparison to later levels. Which I think its alright as I believe that the first couple levels of the game shouldn't be too punishing for a new player as they still need to adjust to the gameplay style.

 

Though I think that at the train yard scene where MT had to move the crane, there is a sense of breaking illusion as he uses a non-silenced rifle to take down enemies in the same area yet the ones on the second level in plain sight were not alerted to it. I hope Obsidian would continue tuning it since its simply still in Alpha stage.

 

 

 

Unfortunately considering that the game is unlike Mass Effect, which solely only focuses on action, AP has the stealth gameplay which requires LOTS more of work in the AI department

 

Regarding AI issues, indeed it would be better if Obsidian could continue polishing it. Flaws noted are (The ones stamped with a star are integral to the AI features):

 

-AIs not actively seeking for cover*

 

-Not flanking often enough*

 

-Should take initiative to use melee stance against player if its close enough to break the player's bearing

 

-No capability to alert others or call in reinforcements

Edited June 24, 2009 by Zoma

[Oblarg]

I also concur with the enemy AI being bad. Were they supposed to be intentionally stupid for the demo? Because I could count nearly 5 or 6 times where MT was in PLAIN SIGHT and the enemy just STOOD there scratching his ass waiting to eat lead.

 

Its stated that that is one of the early levels in the game which the enemies have much poorer range of sight and hearing in comparison to later levels. Which I think its alright as I believe that the first couple levels of the game shouldn't be too punishing for a new player as they still need to adjust to the gameplay style.

 

Though I think that at the train yard scene where MT had to move the crane, there is a sense of breaking illusion as he uses a non-silenced rifle to take down enemies in the same area yet the ones on the second level in plain sight were not alerted to it. I hope Obsidian would continue tuning it since its simply still in Alpha stage.

 

This really bugged me, along with the aforementioned obliviousness to the tank exploding, and the enemy during the fight with SIE who just sat there staring at Mike's cover when he could have been able to shoot Mike had he moved a few steps forward.

 

It seems to me that there are some arbitrary boundaries between "sections" of enemies, and you can only alert one section to your presence at a time with one action. I don't like this design scheme.

 

Also, when the enemy is alerted to Mike's presence, they should actively start looking behind possibly cover in an attempt to find Mike. If they know Mike's position in a firefight, they should try to get an open shot rather than waiting passively for Mike to pop up.

 

I also hope that the demo was in easy mode, and that you (and your opponents) can't soak 20-30 bullets on hard difficulty, it really breaks immersion.

 

Overall, the combat looks fun, but needs some polishing.

[Zoma]

To be fair, its not fun for a player who plays as stealth character fubarred one of his stealth moment and alerted the entire enemies present in the said complex. Hence the areas are divided into sections similar to FEAR in that the AIs only function within the boundary and possibly incapable of moving out of the said boundary. Its also possible that its easier to code such AI and does not take too much memory.

 

This design scheme I think, is less punishing than a true simulated stealth gameplay.

[Oblarg]

To be fair, its not fun for a player who plays as stealth character fubarred one of his stealth moment and alerted the entire enemies present in the said complex. Hence the areas are divided into sections similar to FEAR in that the AIs only function within the boundary and possibly incapable of moving out of the said boundary. Its also possible that its easier to code such AI and does not take too much memory.

 

This design scheme I think, is less punishing than a true simulated stealth gameplay.

 

This can be alleviated by having the awareness decline as you get further from the action in a continuous manner, and having alertness to Mike's presence not equate to knowing where Mike is (which it seems is already a feature).

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

... there were a few instances of the AI not shooting you on sight and waiting two or three seconds. They're just not quick enough on the trigger. Please tell me that's being fixed.

 

EDIT: Oh, and while I'm nitpicking, the fire should be darker. As in, orange and not pale like it is right now. It just looks better and gives more colour.

Edited June 24, 2009 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[Tigranes]

Another walkthrough video

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/global-c...-protocol/51868

 

Fun stuff. Graphics look real good now, actually - everything fits together well.

 

02.00-04.00:

First thing I notice about the gunfights is how sluggish/slow the enemies seem here - like they're pretty thick guys. They don't shoot instantly when they see you, and if you're competent with your aiming and reactions (like the previewer was) you end up taking them down quite easily even in gung-ho mode. Of course they're meant to be distracted by Sie's men, but you'd want them to be a lot sharper in anything more than default difficulty. Making the AI have a wild burst in your direction as soon as they get shot (i.e. you get shot from the left, you're going to spray some bullets looking left THEN see what's happening, not turn around, have a look then decide to shoot or not) would help.

 

2.30-3.00, 4.30-5.00:

Interface looks clean, sharp and responsive. All good stuff. Wish it looked a little less sterile and with more personality, but ah well. That's a complaint I've had since the KOTOR and NWN series.

 

04.00:

The hacking thing, where you're meant to pick out the right nodes that are on the end of twisted lines; cool, but once again the biggest thing about these minigames is, you want them to be in real-time. You don't want them taking up the entire screen, you want to be able to swivel your camera and see everyone still run around as you're trying to solve this puzzle; and if anyone attacks you you're interrupted. I think we can be 99% certain that time stops when you play these minigames now - and that's rubbish. I wonder what happens if you fail? Does the thing lock you out and you can never get past the door (or need to find another way)? That at least would be a redeeming factor. If you can try as many times as you want, then the minigames have zero positive contribution to the game.

 

5.00:

A thousand African children spontaneously combust as our intrepid hero witnesses arrow markers for characters showing through walls. Nooooooooo

 

5.17:

Probably what Will was talking about, nearly 2 seconds of the guy pointing the gun at your head and not firing. If that is not just for the press preview there will be bloody crates all over come October.

 

5.28:

You can see one of the enemies on the tower get 'stuck' next to the railing, running against the railing on the spot while the scope swivels wildly. Not a big deal though, as he soon un-sticks himself. They still take longer to shoot you than the Americans take to issue green cards.

 

7.17:

"R" to leap over. Jumping is not allowed everywhere, then? Hrmmm.

 

8.00-9.00, 9.23:

Despite what some preview hinted at recently, health does not seem to regenerate automatically over time. Unless it only does when you're in cover, which would make.... not much sense. So hopefully none of that nonsense. Health kit use at 9.23 shows that the health bonus is almost instantaneous - and the menu where you choose it pauses the game anyway, so you can abuse health kits while being hit.

 

9.30-10.00, 10.45:

You suspect that if you were able to turn off those markers and arrows, even with the torpid AI and easy difficulty in the preview, the game would be a lot more fun and exciting for the player - navigating trying to find them all. I'm sure it will be possible...hell, in 10.45 the previewer sees the red arrow behnd a door, waits for the enemy to kick it open and shoots him in the face. I like what I'm seeing with AP in general (okay, so maybe that's not so obvious from this post, but I do), but that is just plain retarded.

 

12.00-13.00:

'Boss fight' really is a boss fight, complete with special enemy maneuvres (flying fox) and a giant boss health bar in the middle of your face. I don't mind it that much, to be honest.

 

14.30:

Good mission ending screens, stats are always good. I wonder if the mission shown here is indicative of how large or long other missions will be? It would be nice for some to be much bigger.

 

Generally, same things that we/I knew would be silly are turning out to be silly - magic markers/arrows for enemies, minigames that freeze you in time, sluggish AI. Still looks pretty and fun.

[Oblarg]

Another walkthrough video

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/global-c...-protocol/51868

 

Fun stuff. Graphics look real good now, actually - everything fits together well.

 

02.00-04.00:

First thing I notice about the gunfights is how sluggish/slow the enemies seem here - like they're pretty thick guys. They don't shoot instantly when they see you, and if you're competent with your aiming and reactions (like the previewer was) you end up taking them down quite easily even in gung-ho mode. Of course they're meant to be distracted by Sie's men, but you'd want them to be a lot sharper in anything more than default difficulty. Making the AI have a wild burst in your direction as soon as they get shot (i.e. you get shot from the left, you're going to spray some bullets looking left THEN see what's happening, not turn around, have a look then decide to shoot or not) would help.

 

2.30-3.00, 4.30-5.00:

Interface looks clean, sharp and responsive. All good stuff. Wish it looked a little less sterile and with more personality, but ah well. That's a complaint I've had since the KOTOR and NWN series.

 

04.00:

The hacking thing, where you're meant to pick out the right nodes that are on the end of twisted lines; cool, but once again the biggest thing about these minigames is, you want them to be in real-time. You don't want them taking up the entire screen, you want to be able to swivel your camera and see everyone still run around as you're trying to solve this puzzle; and if anyone attacks you you're interrupted. I think we can be 99% certain that time stops when you play these minigames now - and that's rubbish. I wonder what happens if you fail? Does the thing lock you out and you can never get past the door (or need to find another way)? That at least would be a redeeming factor. If you can try as many times as you want, then the minigames have zero positive contribution to the game.

 

5.00:

A thousand African children spontaneously combust as our intrepid hero witnesses arrow markers for characters showing through walls. Nooooooooo

 

5.17:

Probably what Will was talking about, nearly 2 seconds of the guy pointing the gun at your head and not firing. If that is not just for the press preview there will be bloody crates all over come October.

 

5.28:

You can see one of the enemies on the tower get 'stuck' next to the railing, running against the railing on the spot while the scope swivels wildly. Not a big deal though, as he soon un-sticks himself. They still take longer to shoot you than the Americans take to issue green cards.

 

7.17:

"R" to leap over. Jumping is not allowed everywhere, then? Hrmmm.

 

8.00-9.00, 9.23:

Despite what some preview hinted at recently, health does not seem to regenerate automatically over time. Unless it only does when you're in cover, which would make.... not much sense. So hopefully none of that nonsense. Health kit use at 9.23 shows that the health bonus is almost instantaneous - and the menu where you choose it pauses the game anyway, so you can abuse health kits while being hit.

 

9.30-10.00, 10.45:

You suspect that if you were able to turn off those markers and arrows, even with the torpid AI and easy difficulty in the preview, the game would be a lot more fun and exciting for the player - navigating trying to find them all. I'm sure it will be possible...hell, in 10.45 the previewer sees the red arrow behnd a door, waits for the enemy to kick it open and shoots him in the face. I like what I'm seeing with AP in general (okay, so maybe that's not so obvious from this post, but I do), but that is just plain retarded.

 

12.00-13.00:

'Boss fight' really is a boss fight, complete with special enemy maneuvres (flying fox) and a giant boss health bar in the middle of your face. I don't mind it that much, to be honest.

 

14.30:

Good mission ending screens, stats are always good. I wonder if the mission shown here is indicative of how large or long other missions will be? It would be nice for some to be much bigger.

 

Generally, same things that we/I knew would be silly are turning out to be silly - magic markers/arrows for enemies, minigames that freeze you in time, sluggish AI. Still looks pretty and fun.

 

I think the arrows should be a special ability on a cooldown, maybe "awareness" or something like that. Definitely hope they aren't on by default.

 

The boss fight doesn't bug me, either.

 

The AI really needs to be better. Faster reaction times, less stupid, more active.

[Oner]

04.00:

The hacking thing, where you're meant to pick out the right nodes that are on the end of twisted lines; cool, but once again the biggest thing about these minigames is, you want them to be in real-time. You don't want them taking up the entire screen, you want to be able to swivel your camera and see everyone still run around as you're trying to solve this puzzle; and if anyone attacks you you're interrupted. I think we can be 99% certain that time stops when you play these minigames now - and that's rubbish.

We don't have to restart the whole minigame when a random mook shots us while we concentrate. Horrible.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Not being able to retry the mini-games would be horrible. I know I'll fail them all on the first try, so if that's the case I won't even bother with the skill, which is a shame since I was considering a stealth hacker.

[Tigranes]

To clarify: it seems almost certain that mini-games pause the world, you cannot be interrupted; it's unknown afaik whether you can re-try or not.

 

Really, all of this needs to be thought of in combination.

 

If you have mini-games in real time where they can be interrupted, this is awesome as there is actually urgency to it and they make sense; but then they would need to be relatively short, and of a sort that you can screw up by hurrying (e.g. the hacking one shown here).

 

If you have mini-games that you can't re-try again there are consequences and alternatives in the world, so this is good; but then you'd need to make them a lot more skill-dependent, so that you can't screw up an easy lockpick even with a high lockpick skill just because you happen to be useless at them.

 

But my point is, if you can't be interrupted, you can try them at any skill level, and you can re-try infinite times... there are no consequences for failure, no tension, no challenge - only tedium.

[Wrath of Dagon]

If you have mini-games that you can't re-try again there are consequences and alternatives in the world, so this is good; but then you'd need to make them a lot more skill-dependent, so that you can't screw up an easy lockpick even with a high lockpick skill just because you happen to be useless at them.

If it's so easy, why make it reflex dependent at all?

But my point is, if you can't be interrupted, you can try them at any skill level, and you can re-try infinite times... there are no consequences for failure, no tension, no challenge - only tedium.

No one wants to fail or to keep retrying, so there's your tension and challenge. Knowing I only got one shot increases anxiety to the point that I will fail.

[Oner]

Iirc you can retry each minigame once.

[kreese12]

But my point is, if you can't be interrupted, you can try them at any skill level, and you can re-try infinite times... there are no consequences for failure, no tension, no challenge - only tedium.

 

 

Ya, big time dude. I agree .

 

It might be to late to code in interruptions (I don't think they are able to happen, just judging from what I've seen) but ya I very much hope that there are some select, special locks that can't be attempted unless you have a character with really strong tech skills -- (otherwise there isn't as much point to specialize in tech skills) and definitely, definitely hope that there isn't unlimited tries ( I don't think Obisidian would do that.)

 

I predict it'll be much like the Mass Effect system, where at each, uhm, what to call them -- 'skill milestone', you can attempt different levels of difficulty locks. I.E at 4 skills points you are capable of attempting unlocking easy locks, at 18 skill points you can finally attempt 'hard' locks, etc.

Edited June 25, 2009 by kreese12

[Joseph Bulock]

To clarify: it seems almost certain that mini-games pause the world, you cannot be interrupted; it's unknown afaik whether you can re-try or not.

 

Really, all of this needs to be thought of in combination.

 

If you have mini-games in real time where they can be interrupted, this is awesome as there is actually urgency to it and they make sense; but then they would need to be relatively short, and of a sort that you can screw up by hurrying (e.g. the hacking one shown here).

 

If you have mini-games that you can't re-try again there are consequences and alternatives in the world, so this is good; but then you'd need to make them a lot more skill-dependent, so that you can't screw up an easy lockpick even with a high lockpick skill just because you happen to be useless at them.

 

But my point is, if you can't be interrupted, you can try them at any skill level, and you can re-try infinite times... there are no consequences for failure, no tension, no challenge - only tedium.

 

Mini-games do not pause the world. Disable that alarm with enemies present at your own risk. Also, failing most of our mini-games causes alarms to sound. Alarms bring in reinforcements.

[Gfted1]

Nice.

[Pidesco]

Mini-games do not pause the world. Disable that alarm with enemies present at your own risk. Also, failing most of our mini-games causes alarms to sound. Alarms bring in reinforcements.

 

 

That's what I'm talking about!

[Tigranes]

Humble pie eaten then, that's perfect.

[H]

Also, failing most of our mini-games causes alarms to sound. Alarms bring in reinforcements.

Not much of a penalty, unless you improve the AI. My cat is more dangerous than the guys in gameplay videos.

[Morgoth]

Another walkthrough video

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/global-c...-protocol/51868

 

The AI looks really bad in that video. You blew up a propane tank, and the guy in the next room had no idea anything wrong was happening.

 

Towards the end, mike was in cover and someone was just standing there with his gun pointed at the cover. Enemies should actively try to flank you when you're in cover.

The AI is no better and no worse than in any other action-based game. In fact, I think the AI works just fine for these gameplay purposes. I just hope that when playing non-god, Thorton goes relatively fast down if he wants to play rambo, and enemies won't go down that fast. But I suppose for demonstration purposes, Matthew played it on Easy.

[kreese12]

Mini-games do not pause the world. Disable that alarm with enemies present at your own risk. Also, failing most of our mini-games causes alarms to sound. Alarms bring in reinforcements.

 

That's great That's just how it should be. My hopes for this game have gone up yet another notch.

Edited June 26, 2009 by kreese12

[Oblarg]

Another walkthrough video

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/global-c...-protocol/51868

 

The AI looks really bad in that video. You blew up a propane tank, and the guy in the next room had no idea anything wrong was happening.

 

Towards the end, mike was in cover and someone was just standing there with his gun pointed at the cover. Enemies should actively try to flank you when you're in cover.

The AI is no better and no worse than in any other action-based game. In fact, I think the AI works just fine for these gameplay purposes. I just hope that when playing non-god, Thorton goes relatively fast down if he wants to play rambo, and enemies won't go down that fast. But I suppose for demonstration purposes, Matthew played it on Easy.

 

The reaction time was abysmally slow, and they seemed VERY dense.