New blog post, talkin' bout stealth

[Matthew Rorie]

Nathan Davis wrote this up, check it out.

 

http://blogs.ign.com/Alpha.Protocol/2009/08/21/127277/

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Shadow Operative seems lame (exaggerated is something, but the supernatural power to completely disappear feels ridiculous). Reducing enemy awareness could lead to really unconvincing AI, since they can barely see at a certain point.

Edited August 22, 2009 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[AlphaPro]

gret preview, on my first playthorugh of Alpha Protocol, I was planning on being a commando, but this preview almost changes my mind. I guess it'll all boil down to which achievements i can get from each playthrough type.

[Zoma]

I r want dis gaem nao.

[Oblarg]

Really, I don't enjoy the prospect of a long-duration shadow operative. Short bursts, it's fine as an exaggeration of Mikes skill at sneaking, kind of like chain shot. But if you can stay invisible for more than, say, 5 seconds, that's really going to hurt immersion.

[AlphaPro]

You guys do know you cant do anything other than move during those five seconds right? And its only when people dont know your there? Its not like you can turn on shadow operative, tehn run up and shotgun them and expect them to not see you.

[Oner]

You guys do know you cant do anything other than move during those five seconds right? And its only when people dont know your there? Its not like you can turn on shadow operative, then run up and shotgun them and expect them to not see you.

And you're not forced to use it either.

 

Early in Rome, I was able to accomplish a few missions without laying a single finger on anybody. It's all about avoidance. I eventually got in touch with guy running the show in Rome and had a conversation with him about what exactly is happening there. At one point, he basically tells me that 'they didn't even know I was in Rome.' I got some positive reputation points with him and the unmistakable feeling of being badass.

The devil is in the details, so I applaud you Obsidian. Edited August 22, 2009 by Oner

[Humodour]

gret preview, on my first playthorugh of Alpha Protocol, I was planning on being a commando, but this preview almost changes my mind. I guess it'll all boil down to which achievements i can get from each playthrough type.

 

[Starwars]

Probably one of the better "previews" (even though it's obviously written by an OEI member) that I've read. Shadow Operative sounds a bit cheesy, but the rest of it sounds really nice. I think my first character will try to be as "pacifist" as possible in the game, should be fun to try out. Hopefully a mix between stealth, technical aptitude and something else will work out well.

[Darth Sithari]

I just reaaaaaallllllllyyy hope that there is a way to have a long-range silenced sniper weapon. Nothing beats getting a bead on a target's head from 300 yards, pulling the trigger, hearing the "pfffft" of the suppressor, and then watching him hit the deck face-first, then repeating over, and over, and over. It sounds like assault rifles are the only "sniper" weapon, but last I hear there was no supressors for them, which makes me a sad panda.

[Bos_hybrid]

Early in Rome, I was able to accomplish a few missions without laying a single finger on anybody. It's all about avoidance. I eventually got in touch with guy running the show in Rome and had a conversation with him about what exactly is happening there. At one point, he basically tells me that 'they didn't even know I was in Rome.' I got some positive reputation points with him and the unmistakable feeling of being badass.

The devil is in the details, so I applaud you Obsidian.

 

I agree that is surprise, but a good one. Hopefully there are those sort of details throughout the game.

[Humodour]

Early in Rome, I was able to accomplish a few missions without laying a single finger on anybody. It's all about avoidance. I eventually got in touch with guy running the show in Rome and had a conversation with him about what exactly is happening there. At one point, he basically tells me that 'they didn't even know I was in Rome.' I got some positive reputation points with him and the unmistakable feeling of being badass.

The devil is in the details, so I applaud you Obsidian.

 

That's so awesome. It's exactly the type of consequential gameplay I've been hoping for in AP.

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

Sounds pretty good. Shadow operative seems like a gameplay version of when the hero mysteriously takes out a bunch of guys off-camera when it seems like there is no realistic way of doing so.

[fastpunk]

I'm with Will on this one. Shadows Operative seems like a lame idea. You can't justify it in any way, it's not even over-the-top, it's flat out overboard. It's not some sort of tech and it can't be explained by the character's amazing reaction time or some such. It's just too much.

[Humodour]

I'm with Will on this one. Shadows Operative seems like a lame idea. You can't justify it in any way, it's not even over-the-top, it's flat out overboard. It's not some sort of tech and it can't be explained by the character's amazing reaction time or some such. It's just too much.

 

I tend to agree, but I don't give too much of a ****, since it's not like Deus Ex's aug system was totally realistic either but it was still fantastic.

[fastpunk]

I tend to agree, but I don't give too much of a ****, since it's not like Deus Ex's aug system was totally realistic either but it was still fantastic.

 

If I cared about realism I would be bitching about the other special abilities present in AP as well. Which I am not. My point was not about realism, it was about Shadow Operative being out of place. I don't mind over-the-top elements, but this one goes way overboard.

[Psychonaught]

I will be frank, the only reason I registered here is because I am pissed off. I have played a certain series of games that I have come to enjoy, and many a time I have said kudos to the developers. That series is splinter cell. I have played all of them, Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell:Pandora Tommorow, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and finally Splinter Cell: Double Agent. I also plan to play Splinter Cell:Conviction as soon as it comes out. To put it bluntly, "ALPHA PROTOCAL" is a TOTAL RIPOFF of Splinter cell. Right down to the door lockpicking "mini-game" to the non lethal stealth incapacitation animation. They claim this is the first "Modern stealth RPG", but to be honest there really is no RPG element. The only real choice is "Do I go in guns blazing or do I sneak in, using high tech gadgets and a silenced pistol?" This was the exact same choice made just as frequently in Splinter Cell. Which means this is just another modern espionage game, not an RPG and therefore NOT the first. Kudo's to you Obsidian, I enjoyed KOTOR, and KOTOR2. They were and still are excellent games, worthy of much recognition. But as far "Alpha Protocol" goes? Try something original, instead of ripping off a perfectly good series and taking the credit for it. D:<

[Zoma]

Oh what.

[Humodour]

I will be frank, the only reason I registered here is because I am pissed off. I have played a certain series of games that I have come to enjoy, and many a time I have said kudos to the developers. That series is splinter cell. I have played all of them, Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell:Pandora Tommorow, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and finally Splinter Cell: Double Agent. I also plan to play Splinter Cell:Conviction as soon as it comes out. To put it bluntly, "ALPHA PROTOCAL" is a TOTAL RIPOFF of Splinter cell. Right down to the door lockpicking "mini-game" to the non lethal stealth incapacitation animation. They claim this is the first "Modern stealth RPG", but to be honest there really is no RPG element. The only real choice is "Do I go in guns blazing or do I sneak in, using high tech gadgets and a silenced pistol?" This was the exact same choice made just as frequently in Splinter Cell. Which means this is just another modern espionage game, not an RPG and therefore NOT the first. Kudo's to you Obsidian, I enjoyed KOTOR, and KOTOR2. They were and still are excellent games, worthy of much recognition. But as far "Alpha Protocol" goes? Try something original, instead of ripping off a perfectly good series and taking the credit for it. D:<

 

tl;dr

 

But from what I can figure out, you need to open the window, pop your head out, get some fresh air, maybe go to the mall and meet real people for a change, and then if you're still not feeling better, have a big cry.

 

You can do it. I have faith in you.

[Pidesco]

wow.

[Guest PoziomyPion]

 

Psychonaught

[lord of flies]

I will be frank, the only reason I registered here is because I am pissed off. I have played a certain series of games that I have come to enjoy, and many a time I have said kudos to the developers. That series is splinter cell. I have played all of them, Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell:Pandora Tommorow, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and finally Splinter Cell: Double Agent. I also plan to play Splinter Cell:Conviction as soon as it comes out. To put it bluntly, "ALPHA PROTOCAL" is a TOTAL RIPOFF of Splinter cell. Right down to the door lockpicking "mini-game" to the non lethal stealth incapacitation animation.

 

They claim this is the first "Modern stealth RPG", but to be honest there really is no RPG element. The only real choice is "Do I go in guns blazing or do I sneak in, using high tech gadgets and a silenced pistol?" This was the exact same choice made just as frequently in Splinter Cell. Which means this is just another modern espionage game, not an RPG and therefore NOT the first. Kudo's to you Obsidian, I enjoyed KOTOR, and KOTOR2. They were and still are excellent games, worthy of much recognition. But as far "Alpha Protocol" goes? Try something original, instead of ripping off a perfectly good series and taking the credit for it. D:<

Hi Psychonaught! Just a couple little tips: when you end up having a paragraph that's over six lines long, it's probably a good idea to find a good point to split it and hit the "enter" key. It makes it much easier to read your post, since very long paragraphs become extremely difficult to read (at least single-spaced, as they are on this forum). I took the liberty of doing it to your current post when I quoted it, to give you an example. Maybe you can't notice the difference, but I sure can. One of the big reasons I think nobody honestly responded to your post is that there were no line breaks!

 

The other tip is that while being pissed off is completely OK, I think you need to re-examine this post and the topic. They don't really seem to go together! Your post is about you being annoyed with the apparent lack of RPG elements, but this thread is about the game's stealth! Maybe you started writing and didn't realize you'd gotten off into another topic, I don't know, but you should always make sure your post fits the thread. It's all right if it happens over the course of multiple posts, but yours just seems to come out of the blue.

 

As to the post itself: the game does in fact have RPG elements. There are a wide variety of screen shots showing the skill screen, so I'm going to assume you mean "RPG elements" in the other way: choice and consequence. Which this game seems to have plenty of! For a major example, check out this article, which I think is pretty informative on the game's choice and consequences. They have said that you can kill people and they won't show up at the end, or that you can kill literally no one in the entire game. One post even mentions that a fairly major character (Sie) can not show up at all if you don't do a certain optional mission, since you never meet her!

[Enoch]

What I don't get is why a big Splinter Cell fan who thinks that AP will be just like the existing Splinter Cell games is angry about this. Surely having new games coming out that are extremely similar to previous games that you really really liked is a good thing, no?

 

(Note: This is not to be read as agreement with any of Psychonaught's assumptions.)

[Niten_Ryu]

I'd say Obsidian didn't rippoff Splinter Cell enough. Let's take this blog entry. For some reason Obsidian wanted to reinvent the wheel or use stealth the way it was used in AD&D games or KotOR. Far more logical option would have been to use Thiefs or Splinter Cells light / noise meter. It works, it's featured in several games and perks or skill advancements can be integraded into system with ease.

 

Obsidians greatest advantage over Splinter Cell is choices and storyline. They just need to take the leap of faith and trust their abilities in those areas. Rest of the game mechanics could be 100% cloned from original Splinter Cell.

 

PS - I'm just playing Splinter Cell Double Agent and I have to say it's probably the worst of the series (even Pandoras Tomorrow is bit better). I can't belive how many great features they have managed to lose in this episode.

[AlphaPro]

I take it im too late to the party, so that poster has already been hung, beheaded, burnt to ashes and then spit on, right? Darn.