Junior Adventurer's Guild - April: Alpha Protocol

[Oyster Sauce]

best moment so far

[wndrbr]

I was planning to play differently from my old playthrough, picking a mix of suave/aggressive dialogue options and pissing everybody off. Accidentally went back to the old habits of trying to be polite and professional.

[Irenaeus]

I was planning to play differently from my old playthrough, picking a mix of suave/aggressive dialogue options and pissing everybody off. Accidentally went back to the old habits of trying to be polite and professional.

Yeah, I just find it too hard to be rude for no reason to these people at the game start. I'll try be more aggressive in the next zones.

[Oyster Sauce]

Just got stuck in a forced melee encounter in Marburg's mansion. Level starts with you CQCing two guards without any weapons or gear even though I had no points invested in melee. I eventually figured out you can wedge myself between the two desk chairs to usually only have one guy attacking at a time. If you tap the melee key once instead of comboing and then stand still sometimes their AI will **** up and refuse to do anything until you move again, allowing you to regen your shields. Took me over 10 attempts on hard, definitely couldn't have done it without exploiting since there's no block/parry/any mechanic beyond punching if you don't go for a melee build. Not sure if there's a way to avoid this scene, but it didn't seem like it

[Oyster Sauce]

Just got stuck in a forced melee encounter in Marburg's mansion. Level starts with you CQCing two guards without any weapons or gear even though I had no points invested in melee. I eventually figured out you can wedge myself between the two desk chairs to usually only have one guy attacking at a time. If you tap the melee key once instead of comboing and then stand still sometimes their AI will **** up and refuse to do anything until you move again, allowing you to regen your shields. Took me over 10 attempts on hard, definitely couldn't have done it without exploiting since there's no block/parry/any mechanic beyond punching if you don't go for a melee build. Not sure if there's a way to avoid this scene, but it didn't seem like it

Just escaped with 0 casualties and 0 alarms triggered. As I exfiltrated through the final gate I triggered a cutscene that had my guy walking away from the mansion, now in flames somehow, as a grenade my character presumably threw kills a guard. I'm beginning to suspect this game is ******* ********.

[Anon]

just to be sure @rusty_shackleford: will completing the game here give any badge?

[Oyster Sauce]

Finally, after all these years, I have become Alpha Protocol.

► Show Spoiler

I expected a lot more from it. For a spy-themed RPG, the stealth gameplay is seriously lacking, even compared to some non-stealth games I've played. For example, bodies simply disappear a few seconds after taking someone out, darkness doesn't seem to be a factor, and you can freely shoot enemies who are in full view of security cameras without triggering an alarm. The pistol I put most of my points into was essentially non-functional outside of its very overpowered special abilities. Maybe the shooting is tolerable with other types of weapons, but I doubt it.
The reactivity was kind of neat but ultimately I just wound up with a ton of shallow allies I didn't need or give a **** about. I think they would have been better off fleshing out the Alpha Protocol handlers instead.

[Vergil]

It's a shame obsidian fumbled the concept so bad. Could have been cool but instead you get the poster child for mediocrity.

[Oyster Sauce]

It's a shame obsidian fumbled the concept so bad. Could have been cool but instead you get the poster child for mediocrity.

They needed to nail the basic third person shooter/stealther gameplay before going nuts with the skills and weapons and gadgets that don't matter at all. There's so much meaningless junk because you can just shoot through solid cover for no reason.

[wndrbr]

Back then Obsidian didn't even have the game director position. Games were developing by themselves with random devs coming and going.

They had to reinvent their management methodologies after the game flopped, and Sega refused to collaborate on future projects.

[rusty_shackleford]

I always assumed it flopped because it was developed concurrently with FNV and they prioritized FNV over it in terms of allocating developers.

[Tweed]

Back then Obsidian didn't even have the game director position. Games were developing by themselves with random devs coming and going.

They had to reinvent their management methodologies after the game flopped, and Sega refused to collaborate on future projects.

Once a publisher gets a whiff of Obsidian they don't want to work with them again for some odd reason.

[wndrbr]

Not every publisher. Together with Microsoft, Obsidian have released many successful projects, with three more well on the way! A match made in heaven.

[Vergil]

Together with Microsoft, Obsidian have released many successful projects,

Are they in the room with us right now?

[Anon]

So once I learned there'd be a badge for completing this game, I immediately went to download and install this game, with an impetus that resembled a ****** that's driven to do something for some immediate and pointless short-term gain.

But well, less than 10 minutes in, once I saw that this game has that classic wheel dialog where I can't see what my character is actually going to say, I gave up. GL boys

[Oyster Sauce]

So once I learned there'd be a badge for completing this game, I immediately went to download and install this game, with an impetus that resembled a ****** that's driven to do something for some immediate and pointless short-term gain.

But well, less than 10 minutes in, once I saw that this game has that classic wheel dialog where I can't see what my character is actually going to say, I gave up. GL boys

You won't get terribly attached to Mikey T so his dialogue isn't that important.

[Anon]

So once I learned there'd be a badge for completing this game, I immediately went to download and install this game, with an impetus that resembled a ****** that's driven to do something for some immediate and pointless short-term gain.

But well, less than 10 minutes in, once I saw that this game has that classic wheel dialog where I can't see what my character is actually going to say, I gave up. GL boys

You won't get terribly attached to Mikey T so his dialogue isn't that important.

Not getting attached to the protagonist isn't a selling point for a game afaik

[Oyster Sauce]

So once I learned there'd be a badge for completing this game, I immediately went to download and install this game, with an impetus that resembled a ****** that's driven to do something for some immediate and pointless short-term gain.

But well, less than 10 minutes in, once I saw that this game has that classic wheel dialog where I can't see what my character is actually going to say, I gave up. GL boys

You won't get terribly attached to Mikey T so his dialogue isn't that important.

Not getting attached to the protagonist isn't a selling point for a game afaik

This is a game you play for the warmth and sense of community. Speaking of which, everybody who voted for this **** better be playing it right now.

[Vergil]

You won't get terribly attached to Mikey T so his dialogue isn't that important.

Not getting attached to the protagonist isn't a selling point for a game afaik

This is a game you play for the warmth and sense of community. Speaking of which, everybody who voted for this **** better be playing it right now.

Perchance...

[gerey]

I had forgotten just how clunky Alpha Protocol is in nearly all aspects.

It came out after Metal Gear Solid 1 (and 2, and 3), and after Splinter Cell games, a bunch of Hitman games etc., yet Obsidian apparently failed to learn anything from those. The itemization is also horrible, as is the map design, which is mostly just corridors connecting you to the next arena.

And it's a pity too, the reactivity is great, I just wish they had put as much effort into the gameplay itself. All they needed to do was copy Chaos Theory for the gameplay, and then add the branching narrative on top. I'd hazard and say that PS1 Syphon Filter plays better.

Then again, it feels like a game from another dimension nowadays - protagonist is white, heterosexual and male (you can only give him a tan at worst) and all the women are good-looking.

[wndrbr]

Obsidian have a lot of experience making RPGs, yet all of their RPGs are clunky and buggy. What made you think they would fare better in a genre they had zero prior experience with?

"All they had to do was to copy Chaos Theory". I mean, Chaos Theory is one of the best stealth actions out there, Obsidian would've been happy if they were able to reach the level of Invisible War.

[Oyster Sauce]

We're now halfway through the month. Give me a status update @Irenaeus @The_Mask @gerey @BobT @Nemesis @boot @Watser @ArcaneLurker
You better all be Protocoling right now.

[Vergil]

It's dead Jim

[gerey]

You better all be Protocoling right now.

Finished Moscow and halfway through Rome. Hopefully I'll manage to make some headway over the week.

[Magick]

We're now halfway through the month. Give me a status update @Irenaeus @The_Mask @gerey @BobT @Nemesis @boot @Watser @ArcaneLurker
You better all be Protocoling right now.

Too busy with life shite for games at the moment. Haven't played anything in weeks.
Enjoy though! This game has a lot of jank, but it stands out and is a good pick.

Will see if the JRPG lovers enjoy Xenogears, when you get to it. Played that through many times.

[Vergil]

We're now halfway through the month. Give me a status update @Irenaeus @The_Mask @gerey @BobT @Nemesis @boot @Watser @ArcaneLurker
You better all be Protocoling right now.

Too busy with life shite for games at the moment. Haven't played anything in weeks.
Enjoy though! This game has a lot of jank, but it stands out and is a good pick.

Will see if the JRPG lovers enjoy Xenogears, when you get to it. Played that through many times.

Thanks for voting on a poll deciding what game everyone should play this month when you're not going to be playing any games anyway.

[Orvas Dren]

This game feels like a chore

[ArcaneLurker]

I voted for it because of what others said, but I couldn't even get it working.

[Irenaeus]

We're now halfway through the month. Give me a status update @Irenaeus @The_Mask @gerey @BobT @Nemesis @boot @Watser @ArcaneLurker
You better all be Protocoling right now.

I was away last week on a trip and this weekend I barely had time to post here. I'll continue my save this week! Thanks for reminding me.

[Oyster Sauce]

This game feels like a chore

Gotta do your chores to get your allowance