Early Impressions

[Libertarian]

Red Dead Redemption is an awesome game, but wonky controls, meh cover mechanics, mediocre AI and a ton of glitches, should be taken into account when reviewing it.

 

I found that too many reviewers overlooked all the flaws since it's an open world game, and reviewers seem to think they should be reviewed on a different scale, thus the "jank" is never accounted for. The way I see it is that Rockstar is no rookie at this genre. Rockstar built its career on open world games, and the fact that they have yet to perfect the formula, truly leaves me baffled.

 

And their missions still aren't varied enough. It felt like playing GTA in the wild west. Great characters, overall graphics, and some solid gameplay (but also wonky). I love the game, but it's not the near perfect product some reviewers would have you believe.

[Sparta]

When I first saw G22 I thought it would be neat to have an avatar in Playstation Home with it.

[zooligist]

I find it very fun when i'm in the middle of a mission, and i've spent all my ap MAXING out pistol, which is completely maxed now, and i fire 40 bullets INTO SOMEONE, and they aren't dead yet.

 

Now, i can understand them not dying if the bullets didn't hit them, but i see them knocked back from the bullets, this happens all the time in my missions.

 

It's very awesome, because i really also like spending all my mission money on more bullets because i don't like saving up to buy a better pistol that costs 150,000 dollars.

 

Another thing i like:

 

Pressing the run button to get close to an enemy to take him out with martial arts and missing due to a bad melee targeting system, or being in cover while an enemy walks past and swinging into thin air..... alerting the guard and causing him to splatter my brains out on the concrete behind me, THATS AWESOME! makes me feel like a real badass.

 

All sarcasm aside, i can't think of a game that gives me all the tools to be the ultimate stealthy badass, but lacks the game mechanics and developer foresight to execute it.

 

No New Game + mode means to me, that i have to replay the whole story again, and suffer through the pains of leveling AGAIN, buying weapons, AGAIN, and having the same troubles mission to mission AGAIN! that is what nintendo games are like!

 

i think obsidian should work for nintendo, that's right, make repetitive games that are more about the process of repeated frustration. And do not reward the player for completing your game, just make them do it again, and again, and again.

 

FAIL

[Oblarg]

I find it very fun when i'm in the middle of a mission, and i've spent all my ap MAXING out pistol, which is completely maxed now, and i fire 40 bullets INTO SOMEONE, and they aren't dead yet.

 

Now, i can understand them not dying if the bullets didn't hit them, but i see them knocked back from the bullets, this happens all the time in my missions.

 

It's very awesome, because i really also like spending all my mission money on more bullets because i don't like saving up to buy a better pistol that costs 150,000 dollars.

 

Another thing i like:

 

Pressing the run button to get close to an enemy to take him out with martial arts and missing due to a bad melee targeting system, or being in cover while an enemy walks past and swinging into thin air..... alerting the guard and causing him to splatter my brains out on the concrete behind me, THATS AWESOME! makes me feel like a real badass.

 

All sarcasm aside, i can't think of a game that gives me all the tools to be the ultimate stealthy badass, but lacks the game mechanics and developer foresight to execute it.

 

No New Game + mode means to me, that i have to replay the whole story again, and suffer through the pains of leveling AGAIN, buying weapons, AGAIN, and having the same troubles mission to mission AGAIN! that is what nintendo games are like!

 

i think obsidian should work for nintendo, that's right, make repetitive games that are more about the process of repeated frustration. And do not reward the player for completing your game, just make them do it again, and again, and again.

 

FAIL

 

Unfortunately, you can't point your pistol at the target and spam click - that's a wonderful way to waste all your ammo. Line up a crit headshot from cover. If you're incapable of doing that, this probably isn't the game for you.

 

Oh, and I've never missed my knee-to-the-face after charging an enemy. Ever.

[Hassat Hunter]

Either you talk about bosses or you suck... very VERY much.

 

Also tell me how New Game + doesn't feature "that i have to replay the whole story again, and having the same troubles mission to mission AGAIN!"

Maybe if you have trouble try EASY?

[macrocarl]

My impressions of the game is that it's awesome. I've read about bugs for PC'ers and being a PC guy I feel your frustration. But for XBox360 it's been relatively bug-free.

 

I've absolutely loved the story, dig all the choices and think the sneaking around, firing guns, knee to the face then a bullet in the head combos are super fun. For me the 'easy' setting is kind of hard hahaha Admittedly I only play a few games a year and so have had no problems with difficulty.

 

Yeah the AI can be a little weird at times but all you yammering about the AI being totally broken need to chill out. ME2's AI was at least as wonky. AT LEAST! GAHHHHHH (Sorry too much coffee)

 

Anyway, big thumbs up to Obsid. You guys have done wonderfully. I am not a fan boy but I am a fan. This is the 1st game where I'll play it more than once!

[Scarvet]

I say it before, but here it goes again.

 

AP's AI is actually better than that of most games. Issue is it's needs to do more here than just shoot back intelligently, like most other games (ie. ME2, RDR) and hell, that is even a problem for many games.

Hence, it suffers from the same sindrom as Deus Ex, it's better but still gets critisised for being 'stupid'.

 

And yeah, I don't neglect that it does still have some glaring issues, like the inability to detect auto-turrets...

Agree, instead of the AI are dumb, I think it's the players who feel dumb by the smartness/realisticness of the AI!

 

Now only if they behave more like original FEAR AI.....

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Well the AI is miles ahead of Bethesda's and Bioware's recent efforts, which mostly consist of suicidal maniacs.

[Estelindis]

Okay, this is just going from my first day playing the game...

 

I've spent many a happy hour playing games that Obsidian devs have worked on, so naturally I picked up Alpha Protocol. I heard it wasn't getting great reviews, but pshaw - never let a review stop you from doing what you want to do.

 

Ultimately, though, my experience of AP isn't anything like what I expected. Yes, I love the characters... and the setting... the conversation system too... as well as the idea of a truly branching narrative. And I expected to love them. So far, so awesome. But I am just so terrible at playing the game! The amount of reloading I'm finding necessary is ridiculous - way more than even Dragon Age, or BG2 at its toughest (e.g. the big dragon fights). And it's primarily a question of controls and camera. But I don't know if I'm simply awful at using the controls and manipulating the camera, or if these aspects of the game are just lower than average. (I'm playing on Normal, by the way. My first playthrough of any game is always on Normal.)

 

Is anyone else having the same experience, or is it all roses? Or do other people have troubles with other things?

[Estelindis]

...Upon consideration, though, my aim to get through the entire game without killing anyone may be making things more difficult than they would be otherwise. :D (I have no idea if there are any plot-required killings; I guess I'll see as I go along.)

[Estelindis]

Well, eventually, the controls began to feel easier to handle... and it turned out to be possible to finish the game with zero kills (as listed in character statistics, anyway). There was an awful lot of boring reloading, but it was fun overall. Brilliant characters and plot, anyway. And it didn't end with "rocks fall, everyone dies!" :D

[Pugilist]

not sure why it was announced there will not be a sequel. the game may have some flaws but nothing that can't be worked out. You may not have made your quota yet, but give word of mouth a chance and this will turn out as white knight chronicles did. i hope you guys reconsider making a sequel, i very much enjoyed this game and i'm sure more will too. bad reviews may delay a success but our communities get the word around on hidden gems.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Pugilist

[GhostofAnakin]

It just came to me what I'm most disappointed about with AP. The fact there's no major hubs I can hang around in, shop, and interact with NPCs.

 

Between missions, I like being able to loiter about. AP goes from mission --> safehouse --> repeat.

 

Come on, Obsidian! Add a city with stores that I can walk around in with Mike and his Hawaiian shirt and hat.

[Wrath of Dagon]

You want a real RPG or something?

[Purkake]

not sure why it was announced there will not be a sequel. the game may have some flaws but nothing that can't be worked out. You may not have made your quota yet, but give word of mouth a chance and this will turn out as white knight chronicles did. i hope you guys reconsider making a sequel, i very much enjoyed this game and i'm sure more will too. bad reviews may delay a success but our communities get the word around on hidden gems.

Shockingly enough there's a whole long topic dedicated to this very discussion and on the first page no less.

[Noceur]

I bought the game back when it was just released on Steam and was frustrated enough with the game to put it on hold until just recently.

 

The things that made me drop the game back then was the checkpoint system (I don't like being forced to play for a certain amount of time... I actually do have a life outside of AP) and the fact that the game lags horribly at certain points in the game. I presume this is when parts of the level are cleared out of memory and the next part is loaded... unfortunately these lag/load-points were always at critical points, i.e just infront of a camera or a group of terrorists.

At one point the player character got stuck on a plank and I had to reload from the last checkpoint (about 15-20 minutes of gameplay lost).

So, I dropped AP in favour of other games until just recently.

 

The game does get a lot better after Saudi-Arabia. Moscow and Italy (which is where I'm at now) still have the lag-points I mentioned earlier, but they are in "safe corridors" so I've never been screwed because of them.

Italy has actually been brilliant so far, especially the dialogue missions.

 

I like that you're not rewarded or punished for your choices, but rather there are consequences, both positive and negative for them.

In Moscow I decided I'd just go ahead and live with the consequences of my actions (both intentional and unintentional), never reloading unless getting stuck on a plank or small pebble. Since then the game has been a lot more fun.

 

Also, silenced pistols FTW.

[WorstUsernameEver]

As far as lagging goes, I found using some tweaks found here in the forums helped a great lot.

The game ran smoothly for the most part.

[Noceur]

The game runs extremely smoothly at all times except for a few points in each map. It hasn't really bothered me since Saudi Arabia, due to the lag placement being "smarter".

I'll check around for those tweaks though, thanks.

 

As far as lagging goes, I found using some tweaks found here in the forums helped a great lot.

The game ran smoothly for the most part.

[Ethaninja]

It's quite funny because my impressions where this game is buggy as hell. I was just running when my camera decided to turn around on me. I shot a dude straight in the head and it was useless. Maybe I'm playing it wrong, but I can't do stealth in that game because, well... it's literally impossible. They had a good idea with it all though.

[Labadal]

^I stealthed the entire game, with zero kills.

[Ethaninja]

^I stealthed the entire game, with zero kills.

 

Damn dude I have no idea how you managed to pull that off. Safe to say, I got pissed off with the game pretty much straight away

[Labadal]

I treated it as an RPG is probably my best answer.

[Naivor]

Loving the game so far. Only problem for me is the stuttering on PC.

 

And I just closed the thread for those fixes...

 

Anyway, I got AP just the other day, and have been playing it up until the last mission of Rome, NSBA Intel mission in Taipei and Surkov thing in Moscov, and I have to say that this game could have been desinged a bit better.

I mean, the conversation system is awesome, the feel is DEFINITELY there, VA's are awesome, but sometimes you just bumb into gamebreaking bugs. After trying a mission from the last safehouse onward for about 7 times, it tends to get a little auuurgh-esque.

 

I just hope the patch clears at least some of those out; enemies on suspicious mode seeing me through walls?

Not cool.

 

Also, I hate how sometimes the action is choked down your throat with unbelievable force, like the end of Surkov mission. Practically unplayable as a sneak character, unless you do Taipei and Rome beforehand at least.

 

Still would give AP 4/5 stars.