Opinions and Speculations

[Toofy]

I think Alpha Protocol deserves a sequel, or at least an expansion pack to make this game so much better. It's a unique concept that hasn't quite picked up steam yet, who knows, in time this game may become another one of those "cult classics". Holiday season is coming up too, that means gamers are going to have extra money to spend and they may want to try something a little fresh. I love the concept of a spy RPG, this needs to be expanded on by Obsidian.

 

The whole no DLC is very upsetting, though there doesn't seem to be an option in game that hinted that there would ever be DLC (granted something like this always seems to be patchable). Though maybe Obsidian is also tricking us into thinking there won't be any "DLC", but blindside us and release an expansion pack we can download or buy in stores. This would be an amazing move.

 

It's a shame to see Sega treating this as if it were a dismall failure, but I don't think this game is. I think it's a fresh new concepth tha should be improved on with future releases, they have said that they want to take their time to compile data, maybe they also want to take their time to compile sales data as they come in. It's still early.

 

I think the gaming world and the publishers and financers and metacritic having too much say on what constitutes a "success" have spoiled us with high budgeted, highly polished "mediocre" games that, truth be told, have similar if not worse issues than this game, then a slightly lowere budgeted, not as polished but makes up for it with great storytelling and honest to god great gameplay regardless of bugs or glitches or just plain "I dont like the gameplay style" critics that bash the game because it doesn't play like Gears of War or Mass Effect 2. Obsidian is not Bioware. Let's stop comparing the two and trying to have one live up to the other. Lower your tastes in gaming, don't let the Modern Warfare 2, Gears of War, Mass Effect high budget gaming have an effect on how you perceive gaming, there have been many technological terrors released upon us in the past two decades of gaming that have gone on to receive high praises for amazing storytelling and fantastic new concepts. This will be the next one.

 

If I have to win the lottery to buy a million copies of this game myself, or to even just hand a share of it to Obsidian to be able to consider making a sequel or even at the least a expansion/DLC then I would.

 

If any of this seems nonsensical or poorly edited, I apologize, I typed it all in haste and had no direction in terms of compiling my thoughts to be put on this board, I typed as it came to me, but these are my opinions and speculations. Alpha Protocol deserves better than what the so called "critics" have been treating it as.

[Oblarg]

Lack of DLC is anything but upsetting. DLC is a ****ing scam.

[Karl the Unfettered]

AP doesn't seem to be the sort of game you could do DLC for anyway. It's pretty complete in and of itself.

 

An expansion pack, on the other hand, or even a sequel, would be pretty awesome.

[Rostere]

I think the gaming world and the publishers and financers and metacritic having too much say on what constitutes a "success" have spoiled us with high budgeted, highly polished "mediocre" games that, truth be told, have similar if not worse issues than this game, then a slightly lowere budgeted, not as polished but makes up for it with great storytelling and honest to god great gameplay regardless of bugs or glitches or just plain "I dont like the gameplay style" critics that bash the game because it doesn't play like Gears of War or Mass Effect 2.

 

Yeah, that really bothers me as well. Especially critics who start out by praising Deus Ex or VtM:B and then goes on to complain about how you don't hit when the reticule is on an enemy

 

I mean, of course that will feel uncomfortable if you're used to playing only GoW, but can't they write that to start with? "Hi, I'm a bloke who normally only plays action games and only the occasional RPG. I only praise Deus Ex because I think it gives me a semblance of credibility"

[odjntrade]

I was sold on the game the moment I heard the premise over a year before the original release date. The concept just flew into my brain and started sparking off ideas and possibilities. I am well aware that I tend to let my imagination overindulge and push bounds beyond what is possible to create within a time limit and budget but the game delivered very well. Even after the half year push back of Sega sitting on the game till they felt like releasing it, even after it was trashed on near every review site I read, even after hearing people bash it as a glitchy flop that doesn't deserve a second look should you find it in a bin labeled free. There was so much negative publicity that most people don't even want to give it a chance. After I read my first bad review a week before release, I went out and paid off my preorder so that I couldn't back out.

 

It seems strange but my gut told me that it was worth it and that I should ignore what others said. I was spot on. My girlfriend hates the game because I was paying more attention to it than her for the first month after release. It is an unpolished masterpiece. Like a dirt covered diamond that you need to tilt in just the right way to see its good qualities. Once you have caught a glimpse of its beautiful side you quickly lose sight of all the flaws that everyone was once pointing out. The stealth is unbalanced but it is still fun, the weapons are crap if you don't have skills paid into them but it forces you to be strategic in skill purchasing and polarize in gameplay (ie: being full stealth or full assault style), etc etc. It has a charm about it that calls back to classic rpg style.

 

The game would be great with proper patches which Sega is dragging its feet on. From what I've read from the forum about its reception and subsequent issues, I'm avoiding it. Most problems seem editable with ini modifications. I would love a sequel but I do also love the idea of a small community of loyal fans that pull to the dream that they had when thinking about what the game could be. Either way, I want to see this game live on with a spiritual successor or an actual sequel, or worst case scenario with half baked user made content after fully hacking the files with no support.