New information, some of everyone's questions answered!

[othersteve]

Hey guys,

 

So we met with the developers today (who are great, by the way), and they were happy to answer most anything we asked. As a result, we've got some questions answered I thought you all might appreciate.

 

http://www.digitalchumps.com/e3-2009-cover...n-revealed.html

 

Well, back to writing for me! Hope you enjoy... the game looks great guys.

 

Steve

[Pop]

I'm not seeing anything beyond the headline :\

[Oner]

I'm not seeing anything beyond the headline :\

This looks like a job for Mr CopyPaste!

We spoke with the development team behind the upcoming Alpha Protocol today (published by SEGA), and we were able to unearth some new details which weren't previously common knowledge. Here's what we've found out:

 

Your skill level in each skill does indeed affect your proficiency at that particular mini-game. With a low lock-picking skill level, it'll be "much harder" to pick locks.

 

Can't talk about a possible demo release yet. It's tough to shrink an RPG into a downloadable chunk.

 

The developers are heavily promoting replayability. Achievement trophies, unlockable difficulties.

 

 

Befriend people and it will work to your advantage later; for instance, keep weapons dealers alive as well as your relationship between them and you can then later purchase additional weapons from them.

 

Checkpoints save system; manual save starts at last checkpoint. You can't get a bad save this way.

 

Your allies can get pissed off if you damage them. They have feelings too. But there's wiggle room, so don't worry too much about it accidentally happening.

 

False information is absolutely possible; you only get the information which is supplied.

 

Changing clothes to meet the situation at hand (such as casual clothes for a meeting at a bar and armor for combat) doesn't terribly affect anything, but it does solicit different dialogue from the NPCs.

 

Watch for our full impressions from our private developer's demo very soon.

Edited June 4, 2009 by Oner

[Skizo]

ah, i did wondered what would happen if i wore my hawaiian shirt to that covert operation..

[Wrath of Dagon]

Check point saves, ugh.

[Humodour]

Check point saves, ugh.

 

I'm not a fan either, but Beyond Good and Evil did it (and lots of other console-ish things) and I survived and still enjoyed the game.

 

I tend to feel checkpoint saves detract from replayability, though. If you have to replay many areas repeatedly from scratch it doesn't lend itself to wanting to replay the game.

[Wrath of Dagon]

There's a big difference between BG&E which resets you to just before the battle and most other Ubisoft games where you have to go for an hour before you get a checkpoint, which with my mediocre skills results in lots of repetition and leads to tedium and boredom. Another concern for me would be the checkpoints in an open ended game suggest either a certain amount of linearity or rarity of checkpoints.

[Jaesun]

There's a big difference between BG&E which resets you to just before the battle and most other Ubisoft games where you have to go for an hour before you get a checkpoint, which with my mediocre skills results in lots of repetition and leads to tedium and boredom. Another concern for me would be the checkpoints in an open ended game suggest either a certain amount of linearity or rarity of checkpoints.

 

Yea Checkpoint Saves are something I really do not like.

 

As long as it is done fairly well, and avoids a bunch of repetition, I'll be ok with it.

[Matthew Rorie]

We're spacing out the checkpoints pretty generously. You're not going to play for 10 minutes without seeing a checkpoint, in other words.

[lord of flies]

We're spacing out the checkpoints pretty generously. You're not going to play for 10 minutes without seeing a checkpoint, in other words.

Oh yeah? What if I stand still for ten minutes? Didn't think of that, did you?

[Stephanie Newland]

We're spacing out the checkpoints pretty generously. You're not going to play for 10 minutes without seeing a checkpoint, in other words.

Oh yeah? What if I stand still for ten minutes? Didn't think of that, did you?

 

Then you get to watch Thorton do cool animations with his SMGs!

[Morgoth]

Do we get Thorton seeing scratch his ass when he just stands around? Yes?

[Matthew Rorie]

Do we get Thorton seeing scratch his ass when he just stands around? Yes?

 

There are idle animations, although I don't think ass-scratching is one of them. Unless the animators are not telling me something.

[Slowtrain]

I'm not a big fan of checkpoint saves. Mostly because I hate replaying stuff, and when I want to quit and do something else I don't like having to play on until I finally reach a checkpoint.

 

 

However, as long as the checkpoints are very common its not really a problem.

 

 

 

Of course, if checkpoints are extremely common why not just allow the player to save anywhere to begin with? Is this a limitation of the console or something? Or a game design decision?

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

It's kind of a mystery. I think it originally had to do with limited storage space on consoles, then just became an accepted convention for all console/multiplat action games.

[Enoch]

Of course, if checkpoints are extremely common why not just allow the player to save anywhere to begin with? Is this a limitation of the console or something? Or a game design decision?

I imagine that it's at least partially related to discouraging players from save-reload gaming the dialogue system (as well as the hacking/lockpicking/whatever minigames).

[Slowtrain]

Of course, if checkpoints are extremely common why not just allow the player to save anywhere to begin with? Is this a limitation of the console or something? Or a game design decision?

I imagine that it's at least partially related to discouraging players from save-reload gaming the dialogue system (as well as the hacking/lockpicking/whatever minigames).

 

 

That makes some sense: it could minimize some aspects of metagaming that maybe the devs don't want people to do.

 

Also, I am not completely against the idea that controlling save points raises the level of suspense for a player in an action game. But if you have a ton of checkpoints anyway, that kind of defeats the idea of leaving the player with more on the line if the character dies.

 

Save anywhere just seems a simpler option, rather than trying to balance save points.

[Oblarg]

We're spacing out the checkpoints pretty generously. You're not going to play for 10 minutes without seeing a checkpoint, in other words.

Oh yeah? What if I stand still for ten minutes? Didn't think of that, did you?

 

I swear, this guy is my hero.

[mkreku]

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, GAMES DIDN'T EVEN HAVE SAVES! WE HAD TO PLAY EVERY GAME FROM BEGINNING TO END IN ONE SITTING. TODAY'S YOUTH WANTS EVERYTHING ON A SILVER PLATTER.

[Llyranor]

Plenty of current console games have save-everywhere features.

[J.E. Sawyer]

Save points discourage some metagaming aspects/the creep-n-save playstyle. Similarly, it some games, it also encourages the use of consumables that are otherwise hoarded.

[mrmumbles]

And the gods said:

Save points discourage some metagaming aspects/the creep-n-save playstyle. Similarly, it some games, it also encourages the use of consumables that are otherwise hoarded.

And merriment followed....

 

For some.

[Oner]

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, GAMES DIDN'T EVEN HAVE SAVES! WE HAD TO PLAY EVERY GAME FROM BEGINNING TO END IN ONE SITTING. TODAY'S YOUTH WANTS EVERYTHING ON A SILVER PLATTER.

You must be really old, if you predate Prehistorik.

[Gorth]

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, GAMES DIDN'T EVEN HAVE SAVES! WE HAD TO PLAY EVERY GAME FROM BEGINNING TO END IN ONE SITTING. TODAY'S YOUTH WANTS EVERYTHING ON A SILVER PLATTER.

You must be really old, if you predate Prehistorik.

It is still true though. I remember when the first games came out with a "save" feature. They were crpgs (well, dungeon crawls actually) and strategy games

[Deraldin]

WHEN I WAS YOUNG, GAMES DIDN'T EVEN HAVE SAVES! WE HAD TO PLAY EVERY GAME FROM BEGINNING TO END IN ONE SITTING. TODAY'S YOUTH WANTS EVERYTHING ON A SILVER PLATTER.

 

So which is worse, no save points or 20 character alpha numeric codes that never seem to work properly?