Stealth Gameplay

[qaz123]

Does anyone have any information on how stealth builds work in AP? Such as: taking human shields/hostages, dragging bodies, light and dark gameplay (splinter cell), pickpocketing/stealing (can we place items on npcs?), interrogation, distractions, ghost the majority of the game, nonlethal combat, etc.

 

I'm also intrested in how sniper builds can be played. I wonder if certain missions can be acheived by finding a good vantage point and taking that one shot.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Purkake]

No snipers and as far as I know, you can't do most of the stuff mentioned in the first paragraph.

 

You can beat people up, though.

[Enoch]

As far as I know:

taking human shields/hostages,

No.

dragging bodies,

No.

light and dark gameplay (splinter cell),

I have no idea what this means. Light level is one of the factors that influence the effectiveness of your stealth skill. (Along with your gear, noise level, and skillpoint invesment)

pickpocketing/stealing (can we place items on npcs?),

No.

interrogation,

Yes.

distractions,

Yes. They have talked about the 'noise generator' gadget, and other items (e.g., planted explosives) can be used to draw off guards as well.

ghost the majority of the game,

Remains to be seen. They claim to have paid attention to make sure that steath-based character builds can get through all the levels in a satisfying manner, and it is supposedly possible (although quite difficult) to complete the game with a zero body count. Not sure if this satisfies your definition of "ghost," though.

nonlethal combat,

If you get into melee range against an enemy who hasn't detected you, you have the option of a non-lethal takedown. There may also be some non-lethal firearm options (tranquilizer rounds? rubber bullets?), but I don't recall whether this has been confirmed or not. I also don't know whether enemies defeated in hand-to-hand combat end up dead or simply incapacitated.

 

Sniper rifles can't be acquired and carried into a mission like you can a pistol or assault rifle. But I seem to recall some hints regarding a mission or two where you can use one within that level (probably similar to the rocket launchers in the recent video-- something found in the level to be used for a specific purpose). You can also attach a scope to an assault rifle and use it for medium-range sniping. In the levels where gameplay videos have been released, this seems like a pretty effective tactic.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Enoch

[Zoma]

I recall there having a sniper gameplay. If you ally yourself with a certain faction, some missions allow you to access sniper rifles but not as a primary weapon but rather similar to a turret placement on a specific location of a map.

[Pop]

There are indeed Tranq rounds, but they will not be as numerous or cheap as regular bullets, and thus need to be used wisely.

 

As far as interrogation goes, it's not in the same sense as Splinter Cell, where you can grab guys in the level and press them for information. There are interrogation scenes, but they're special.

[Humodour]

Deus Ex did it better.

[Purkake]

Thorton could use some sweet shades and a trench coat.

[mrmumbles]

Thorton could use some sweet shades and a trench coat.

One could only hope.

[Beast]

Thorton could use some sweet shades and a trench coat.

This isn't the matrix.

[Purkake]

Thorton could use some sweet shades and a trench coat.

This isn't the matrix.

It does apparently have custom wardrobes. You could do worse than shades and a trench coat.

[Raithe]

The new style of play for Alpha Protocol.. James Bond - Jack Bauer - Jason Bourne - Agent Smith..

[Bos_hybrid]

Deus Ex did it better.

 

10 yrs later and we are still saying that.

[Raithe]

Deus Ex did it better.

 

10 yrs later and we are still saying that.

 

Because it's true..

I'm not quite sure whether to say that it's unfortunate that it's true that no-game since has managed the blend that well or better.. Or just think that Dues Ex was just that damn good.

 

Although I do look forward to any game that might be comparable or better.. I hope it comes out some day.. and at the moment, from the looks of it AP might be reaching towards it.. but we'll have to see just how it actually plays rather then base it on the pure teaser trailers seen...

Edited March 15, 2010 by Raithe

[Bos_hybrid]

Deus Ex did it better.

 

10 yrs later and we are still saying that.

 

Because it's true..

I'm not quite sure whether to say that it's unfortunate that it's true that no-game since has managed the blend that well or better.. Or just think that Dues Ex was just that damn good.

 

IW is the second best game done in that style because Deus Ex is a 2 game genre. Other games have done parts of Deus Ex better then Deus Ex, but none of combined it all and in all honesty, none have tried.

 

I look forward to AP, but it's not going to be Deus Ex. So far the only thing on the horizon that sounds like Deus Ex, is Deus Ex 3.

[Purkake]

Deus Ex had its share of problems, but the core gameplay and story were there.

[Enoch]

I never finished Deus Ex. Around the point where the progression of ability gains was pretty much topped out, the game shifted from being about the brilliant level design (if a little too dependent on the trope of human-sized air ducts) making the player feel clever in coming up with alternate paths to complete objectives and into being mostly about resource management-- starting somewhere around the cargo ship, getting by all the obstacles either consumed ammo/health or depleted your charge through power use, and the chief challenge was in minimizing these costs. Early on in the Paris hub my motivation to keep playing waned, and I moved on to something else.

 

So, I suppose my hope for AP isn't that it follows in Deus Ex's footsteps. I hope that it takes some points from the DE's level design in its early stages. But I also hope that it has more even pacing of RPG ability improvement, and that it builds on DE's light RPG elements and its fairly limited opportunities for player choice.

[Raithe]

Oh I wouldn't say Deus Ex was perfect, as has been said it had it's flaws. But the way it blended story and gameplay methods was damn good. The individual parts might not have been the best, but the combination of it all seemed to work superbly.

 

I got pulled into the story and wanted to see how it evolved.

 

Hm, and I can't say I really had that much issue managing resources when playing it.

[Beast]

Thorton could use some sweet shades and a trench coat.

This isn't the matrix.

It does apparently have custom wardrobes. You could do worse than shades and a trench coat.

I suppose....

[Nepenthe]

I never finished Deus Ex. Around the point where the progression of ability gains was pretty much topped out, the game shifted from being about the brilliant level design (if a little too dependent on the trope of human-sized air ducts) making the player feel clever in coming up with alternate paths to complete objectives and into being mostly about resource management-- starting somewhere around the cargo ship, getting by all the obstacles either consumed ammo/health or depleted your charge through power use, and the chief challenge was in minimizing these costs. Early on in the Paris hub my motivation to keep playing waned, and I moved on to something else.

 

It's strange, apart from assault rifle ammo (the weapon is ridiculously underpowered), I never got the feeling it slipped into resource management. And this is a game I've completed on average once a year since it came out.

[Jokerman89]

I never finished Deus Ex. Around the point where the progression of ability gains was pretty much topped out, the game shifted from being about the brilliant level design (if a little too dependent on the trope of human-sized air ducts) making the player feel clever in coming up with alternate paths to complete objectives and into being mostly about resource management-- starting somewhere around the cargo ship, getting by all the obstacles either consumed ammo/health or depleted your charge through power use, and the chief challenge was in minimizing these costs. Early on in the Paris hub my motivation to keep playing waned, and I moved on to something else.

 

It's strange, apart from assault rifle ammo (the weapon is ridiculously underpowered), I never got the feeling it slipped into resource management. And this is a game I've completed on average once a year since it came out.

 

 

It did at times for me...the 2nd more than the first though.

 

 

I cant shoot straight though to be fair.

[Enoch]

Back to the orignal thread topic, from a Eurogamer interview with MCA:

Chris Avellone: In Alpha Protocol, you can get through the game without killing anyone. And I want to make the distinction there that there may be times where you can use non-lethal gadgets to subdue people, or to distract them so you can move around them.

 

I do not believe it's possible to get through the game without taking some sort of offensive action. Basically, you're going to need to do some offensive, non-lethal actions to get through certain areas. I'd be very surprised if people could get through it without firing a single shot or totally stealthing it.

 

But it was important to us and SEGA that you had the option of non-lethal force and stealth. A lot of the adversaries you face in Alpha Protocol are there for a variety of reasons in the mission, and to just go in there with guns blazing and murder everybody... Well, we wanted to make sure that for people who were trying to be, like, a professional, or a paladin-type character, they can just go through an area, quietly subdue everyone, get the mission done, get out, and do that without murdering anybody.