I'm fighting Darcy, he's in his tower throwing grenades at me, I get him down to half health, and he always just disappears. No more guards coming, can't interact with his tower's door, can't shoot him, can't leave the area. This has happened around three times now, and the really annoying part is that if I retry and he kills me, the next time I reload he's not there at all, so I need to reload again.
I'm loving the game and have had no issues with the gameplay whatsoever, but the technical problems and unclear level design are annoying me. I'm not sure whether this problem is technical or design, but either way it's not the first time it's happened, and it's always annoying.
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
I'm fighting Darcy, he's in his tower throwing grenades at me, I get him down to half health, and he always just disappears. No more guards coming, can't interact with his tower's door, can't shoot him, can't leave the area. This has happened around three times now, and the really annoying part is that if I retry and he kills me, the next time I reload he's not there at all, so I need to reload again.
I'm loving the game and have had no issues with the gameplay whatsoever, but the technical problems and unclear level design are annoying me. I'm not sure whether this problem is technical or design, but either way it's not the first time it's happened, and it's always annoying.
Go to the tower opposite to him, grab the sniper rifle, and pop him
ERvery time you murder someone it adds to a stat called Orphan count indicating the orphans you've created with their death.
You can find it in the Service Record part of your pause screen, by the way. The third page, detailing all your other stats.
Like the amount of money your medical bills've racked up (though I'm not sure if these are medical bills for treating you or for people you've put down through various means).
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
I want to do a playthrough where I'm a ghost
I don't touch anyone, no one sees me, nothing of that nature
Or as close to nothing as the game allows
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MetalbourneInside a cluster b personalityRegistered Userregular
A flight manifest covers passengers though! Let's split the difference and say I should have gone with a simple 'manifest'.
I'm sort of pleased with the facial animations in the game. They seem pretty natural and expressive; like Scarlett's eye roll in her introduction. I could do with less smirking though. So much smirking.
Deus Ex's gameplay is bad, and if you think otherwise you haven't played the game recently. Both the stealth and the gunplay are worse then AP.
Yeah, no. It's not like it has awesome gunplay but skills actually make a dramatic difference in handling and if you've invested in a tree and modded your weapon, you can scope down your pistol at long ranges with a high degree of accuracy, and you're not waiting for a tight reticule ever. Much more open level design coupled with environment interactivity, augs, and items, makes stealthing more interesting even while the mechanics and AI are fairly similar (noise and sight range).
what would make that stat awesome would be if its increase was random, to indicate the size of the victim's family.
It is. That ugly dude on the bridge before the Stryker fight? 5 kids on that guy last time. Also, I had 1000 orphans on my rampage play and I definitely didn't kill that many.
Oh what the heck, the start of the conversation with Grigori is almost completely different if you do the game in a different order (I did Moscow first, and talked to him straight away):
Starts at 5:50. Although the meeting with Albatross is one of my favourite bits in the game too.
EDIT: Also, I have to agree that I think Deus Ex's gameplay is being seen through some serious rose tinted glasses here. That's not to say it's bad either, but the stealth and gunplay just isn't as people seem to be stating it is. You start off, your pistol skills are worthless, and certainly a lot less viable than those in AP. You say that it becomes viable when you've invested in that tree, well yeah, the same happens with AP when you've invested in the tree. I certainly don't remember stealth being some kind of massively more innovative affair in Deus Ex, and I only played it a couple of years ago. Heck, I have to play it with Shifter these days just to rebalance some of the poorly thought out design decisions with the mods and ammo. Deus Ex was good, but they didn't get it all right.
The open plan levels allow for a bit more leeway in stealth when you're outdoors, but not indoors, and even then, AP works on that problem in a slightly different fashion with the way the stealth skills are implemented.
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MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
After my first mission, I had 67 orphans off 14 kills.
Well this isnt the first time Ive liked a game alot of reviewers didnt have praise for.
*Looks at her 950/1000 score for Too Human.* :P Dont have a completed epic set in that game.
Now, you can trust me when I say I know some stuff about Too Human, and I mean this in the absolute least offensive way possible, but what is wrong with you?
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited June 2010
Yeah, I definitely would not say that DE1's gameplay is superior to AP's. That stuff is pretty primitive and ancient. However, aside from the recharging special abilities, AP isn't that far ahead of DE1. The level of the AI is pretty comparable save for the ability of the AI enemies to actually use cover and recognize dead bodies. The big difference is that yeah, DE1 uses much more open levels instead of confining you to corridors.
AP's combat and AI is pretty antiquated, but at least a few years past Deus Ex's. At the very least, enemies do better than scoot back and forth while shooting you.
I need help with regards to the Moscow Embassy, I'm confused.
I've completed the mission twice now sneaking in from the roof and not killing a soul, only using takedowns and tranqs. Yet it consistently says I "opened fire and assaulted" and killed Embassy guards! I didn't kill anybody, and I'm not allied with Sie. Do I need to somehow stop the VCI from killing anyone or do I need to go in through the front door in clothes or what? What is the deal here?
I need help with regards to the Moscow Embassy, I'm confused.
I've completed the mission twice now sneaking in from the roof and not killing a soul, only using takedowns and tranqs. Yet it consistently says I "opened fire and assaulted" and killed Embassy guards! I didn't kill anybody, and I'm not allied with Sie. Do I need to somehow stop the VCI from killing anyone or do I need to go in through the front door in clothes or what? What is the deal here?
I know if you go in right through the door, you ally with the guards. Don't know if that'll help.
I need help with regards to the Moscow Embassy, I'm confused.
I've completed the mission twice now sneaking in from the roof and not killing a soul, only using takedowns and tranqs. Yet it consistently says I "opened fire and assaulted" and killed Embassy guards! I didn't kill anybody, and I'm not allied with Sie. Do I need to somehow stop the VCI from killing anyone or do I need to go in through the front door in clothes or what? What is the deal here?
I know if you go in right through the door, you ally with the guards. Don't know if that'll help.
Maybe that's what I need to do then. I'll try that next time.
This game is janky and buggy, but I am really enjoying it.
I am doing a bloodbath run through where it is always shoot first. The shooting mechanic is not terrible. I think of older GTA games and tomb raider and this is better than that.
No, scratch that. I know I'm getting better at stealth.
I'm just not mentally set up to sneak through an entire level. The vast majority of my alarms/sightings are rule of cool related. I try to do badass spy stuff instead of sneaking around all the time. I mean, if there's one guy left in the room, searching for his unconcious comrades, why not hit him with a flying knee? And if there's 3 arrows, and I have Chain Shot 3, why the hell not stroll in and cap them all Bond style? And don't even get me started about the dude at the end of the zipline, taunting me with the back of his head, ripe for dropkicking. Why not give him what he so obviously wants, subconciously?
Because it never actually works that way, that's why not.
And so I've got 26 alarms, zero kills. Because I'm a bleeding heart, but not a sneaky one.
Finished my recruit and veteran playthrough. Recruit was definitely hard, starting with no skills at all the tutorial level oddly enough, was probably the most challenging part of the game. Especially given how bad the controls are for hacking on the PC version (the mouse control specifically). It was worth it for the veteran playthrough though, veteran was definitely alot of fun especially after being so stat hampered on recruit.
I don't touch anyone, no one sees me, nothing of that nature
Or as close to nothing as the game allows
I did that for my veteran playthrough. I'd highly recommend unlocking veteran for that, or at the very least heavily specializing in both stealth and technical aptitude. Using shadow operative and brilliance makes it alot easier to slip past clusters of guards.
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
I did that sorta on my first playthrough
But I used brilliance to refresh master chain shot
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AlazullYour body is not a temple, it's an amusement park.Enjoy the ride.Registered Userregular
edited June 2010
Just finished my first playthrough (playing it on the PS3) and I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. The graphics are kind of dated, and Mike's voic actor was kind of hit and miss on how he delivered his lines, but all in all I fucking loved it.
I focused on Stealth, Pistols, and Sabotage (the skill thread that gives you Remote Hack), and at the end put a few ranks into Assault Rifles. The progression system was pretty damn awesome, because it definitely made me think about point distribution much more than ME2. Next playthrough I think I'm going to try a more balanced approach with a focus on Stealth, but bring in some Martial Arts and Assault Rifles and/or Shotguns for those moments where I want to just run and gun my way through.
Ran into a few glitches, but considering that they're about on par with glitches I ran into in Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, GTA4, and a long list of other games I can deal with them. The only game breaking one was defending the satellite uplink in Rome, and all I had to do was load the auto-save and play it again. No big deal.
Missed some opprotunities. I think they either should've added more operations or added more missions to each operation (which is a great way to work DLC into this game). Also, a little more exploration would be nice. Also, more handler options would've been nice. I had a different handler for maybe four to five missions tops.
Overall, I would give it an 8/10. Good game, needs a little more polish, but still well worth picking up. Plus, massive replay value.
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User name Alazull on Steam, PSN, Nintenders, Epic, etc.
I've finished Taipei and Rome (incidentally had the uplink bug mentioned earlier) and so far the game is a solid 8 on a 1 to 10 scale for me. I had some serious frustration at first but that was me trying to run and gun instead of playing by the game's rules.
I also just realized that I didn't touch Shadow Operative at all until the last mission in Rome. By that point it was at the Master level, and I sure feel stupid for ignoring it for so long.
I'm fighting Darcy, he's in his tower throwing grenades at me, I get him down to half health, and he always just disappears. No more guards coming, can't interact with his tower's door, can't shoot him, can't leave the area. This has happened around three times now, and the really annoying part is that if I retry and he kills me, the next time I reload he's not there at all, so I need to reload again.
I'm loving the game and have had no issues with the gameplay whatsoever, but the technical problems and unclear level design are annoying me. I'm not sure whether this problem is technical or design, but either way it's not the first time it's happened, and it's always annoying.
Go to the tower opposite to him, grab the sniper rifle, and pop him
I'm fighting Darcy, he's in his tower throwing grenades at me, I get him down to half health, and he always just disappears. No more guards coming, can't interact with his tower's door, can't shoot him, can't leave the area. This has happened around three times now, and the really annoying part is that if I retry and he kills me, the next time I reload he's not there at all, so I need to reload again.
I'm loving the game and have had no issues with the gameplay whatsoever, but the technical problems and unclear level design are annoying me. I'm not sure whether this problem is technical or design, but either way it's not the first time it's happened, and it's always annoying.
Go to the tower opposite to him, grab the sniper rifle, and pop him
And what if I'm doing a no-kills run?
Use tranqs from there. You have a clear shot, it might be to far for normal crits if you haven't specialized in pistols, but the normal health drain from tranqs should still work.
I'm fighting Darcy, he's in his tower throwing grenades at me, I get him down to half health, and he always just disappears. No more guards coming, can't interact with his tower's door, can't shoot him, can't leave the area. This has happened around three times now, and the really annoying part is that if I retry and he kills me, the next time I reload he's not there at all, so I need to reload again.
I'm loving the game and have had no issues with the gameplay whatsoever, but the technical problems and unclear level design are annoying me. I'm not sure whether this problem is technical or design, but either way it's not the first time it's happened, and it's always annoying.
Go to the tower opposite to him, grab the sniper rifle, and pop him
And what if I'm doing a no-kills run?
Use tranqs from there. You have a clear shot, it might be to far for normal crits if you haven't specialized in pistols, but the normal health drain from tranqs should still work.
There is a reason Europe always gets the EXTRA HARD difficulty level iN MGS games. Its because we're some hardcore mother fuckers; two world wars bitches!
We don't care about piddly stuff like graphics and small technical glitches the like of which are pissing me off in Red Dead Redemption to no end.
I know I certainly had far less issues than Mass Effect 1. ME1 was crashing on me all the freaking time.
Heck, ME2 frequently forced me to reload because the suddenly my Shepard would end up walking 5 feet off the ground with no way to get back down.
As far as I remember, I didn't have any crashes during Alpha Protocol. And apart from the occasional disappearing guard bug (happened two or three times), the game didn't actually force me to reload for anything either.
I do tend to agree with his assessment that some of the harshest criticism comes from reviewers who were expecting it to play like Mass Effect 2, and that the reviews have an odd tendency to overlook these same faults (present to an even greater degree in games like Fallout) as long as it's from the major franchise / studio. Heck, leaving aside whether you found ME2's combat all that fun anyway, they had an entire game to test out their gameplay mechanics first, and I'll happily say that ME1's shooting was pretty much lacklustre. But hey, we can overlook that can't we?
I'm fighting Darcy, he's in his tower throwing grenades at me, I get him down to half health, and he always just disappears. No more guards coming, can't interact with his tower's door, can't shoot him, can't leave the area. This has happened around three times now, and the really annoying part is that if I retry and he kills me, the next time I reload he's not there at all, so I need to reload again.
I'm loving the game and have had no issues with the gameplay whatsoever, but the technical problems and unclear level design are annoying me. I'm not sure whether this problem is technical or design, but either way it's not the first time it's happened, and it's always annoying.
Go to the tower opposite to him, grab the sniper rifle, and pop him
And what if I'm doing a no-kills run?
I popped Master Shadow Operative, jogged up to a clear spot in front of his tower, popped chain shot and put 6 tranqs in his head.
Then of course I had to deal with the other dudes, but Darcy was done pretty quickly once I stopped trying to unlock that damn door.
Europe, or should I say Germany -- being the major European RPG market for PC -- is still home to fans of the hardcore role-playing experience. Looking at the games originating from Germany, you can clearly see that gamers are much more forgiving than in the U.K. or U.S. The interface does not have to be perfect, and the learning curve can be steep. As long as the core RPG elements are good, the game will sell.
This is definitely not the case in the U.S., where gamers are less hardcore and more demanding in terms of the interface, learning curve, and mechanics. The proof is really in the sales -- there are a number of great German RPGs performing very well in Germany and Eastern Europe but failing in the U.S.
Europe, or should I say Germany -- being the major European RPG market for PC -- is still home to fans of the hardcore role-playing experience. Looking at the games originating from Germany, you can clearly see that gamers are much more forgiving than in the U.K. or U.S. The interface does not have to be perfect, and the learning curve can be steep. As long as the core RPG elements are good, the game will sell.
This is definitely not the case in the U.S., where gamers are less hardcore and more demanding in terms of the interface, learning curve, and mechanics. The proof is really in the sales -- there are a number of great German RPGs performing very well in Germany and Eastern Europe but failing in the U.S.
In general Eastern European and Russian developed games tend to lack polish because of lack of resources and the inexperience of the industry there. But you tend to forgive that because they're more inventive with their gameplay ideas and have a good core to them, even if sometimes you have to dig.
Maybe that's it, maybe I'm used to so much worse from other games that I don't even notice in Alpha Protocol. I mean you want hard to get to grips with, look at ARMA. You want buggy, look at unpatched STALKER. Or even the first release of the Witcher. But it's weird to me in this case, because all those "faults" to do with AI and models and animation were so readily and easily overlooked by reviewers looking at something like Fallout 3 (which on top of much worse issues with all three, had a crappy plot and usually crappy dialogue backed up by crappy voice acting where even Liam Neeson sounded bored. And largely mechanical shooting), and yet for some reason they became unbearable in Alpha Protocol. It's something I just honestly don't get.
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ERvery time you murder someone it adds to a stat called Orphan count indicating the orphans you've created with their death.
I'm loving the game and have had no issues with the gameplay whatsoever, but the technical problems and unclear level design are annoying me. I'm not sure whether this problem is technical or design, but either way it's not the first time it's happened, and it's always annoying.
Like the amount of money your medical bills've racked up (though I'm not sure if these are medical bills for treating you or for people you've put down through various means).
I don't touch anyone, no one sees me, nothing of that nature
Or as close to nothing as the game allows
also you float near people's beds and cry inconsolably
That's just the start of Alpha Protocol: Final Destination. "Michael Thorton vs Death"
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
I'm sort of pleased with the facial animations in the game. They seem pretty natural and expressive; like Scarlett's eye roll in her introduction. I could do with less smirking though. So much smirking.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
what would make that stat awesome would be if its increase was random, to indicate the size of the victim's family.
It is.
Yeah, no. It's not like it has awesome gunplay but skills actually make a dramatic difference in handling and if you've invested in a tree and modded your weapon, you can scope down your pistol at long ranges with a high degree of accuracy, and you're not waiting for a tight reticule ever. Much more open level design coupled with environment interactivity, augs, and items, makes stealthing more interesting even while the mechanics and AI are fairly similar (noise and sight range).
It is. That ugly dude on the bridge before the Stryker fight? 5 kids on that guy last time. Also, I had 1000 orphans on my rampage play and I definitely didn't kill that many.
seriously?
oh just so you guys know, I've never killed anyone in the game. you're the murderers.
Starts at 5:50. Although the meeting with Albatross is one of my favourite bits in the game too.
EDIT: Also, I have to agree that I think Deus Ex's gameplay is being seen through some serious rose tinted glasses here. That's not to say it's bad either, but the stealth and gunplay just isn't as people seem to be stating it is. You start off, your pistol skills are worthless, and certainly a lot less viable than those in AP. You say that it becomes viable when you've invested in that tree, well yeah, the same happens with AP when you've invested in the tree. I certainly don't remember stealth being some kind of massively more innovative affair in Deus Ex, and I only played it a couple of years ago. Heck, I have to play it with Shifter these days just to rebalance some of the poorly thought out design decisions with the mods and ammo. Deus Ex was good, but they didn't get it all right.
The open plan levels allow for a bit more leeway in stealth when you're outdoors, but not indoors, and even then, AP works on that problem in a slightly different fashion with the way the stealth skills are implemented.
Those Saudis are getting theirs.
Now, you can trust me when I say I know some stuff about Too Human, and I mean this in the absolute least offensive way possible, but what is wrong with you?
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
AP's combat and AI is pretty antiquated, but at least a few years past Deus Ex's. At the very least, enemies do better than scoot back and forth while shooting you.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
I know if you go in right through the door, you ally with the guards. Don't know if that'll help.
Maybe that's what I need to do then. I'll try that next time.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
I am doing a bloodbath run through where it is always shoot first. The shooting mechanic is not terrible. I think of older GTA games and tomb raider and this is better than that.
Not much of a bar though.
No, scratch that. I know I'm getting better at stealth.
I'm just not mentally set up to sneak through an entire level. The vast majority of my alarms/sightings are rule of cool related. I try to do badass spy stuff instead of sneaking around all the time. I mean, if there's one guy left in the room, searching for his unconcious comrades, why not hit him with a flying knee? And if there's 3 arrows, and I have Chain Shot 3, why the hell not stroll in and cap them all Bond style? And don't even get me started about the dude at the end of the zipline, taunting me with the back of his head, ripe for dropkicking. Why not give him what he so obviously wants, subconciously?
Because it never actually works that way, that's why not.
And so I've got 26 alarms, zero kills. Because I'm a bleeding heart, but not a sneaky one.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
I did that for my veteran playthrough. I'd highly recommend unlocking veteran for that, or at the very least heavily specializing in both stealth and technical aptitude. Using shadow operative and brilliance makes it alot easier to slip past clusters of guards.
But I used brilliance to refresh master chain shot
I focused on Stealth, Pistols, and Sabotage (the skill thread that gives you Remote Hack), and at the end put a few ranks into Assault Rifles. The progression system was pretty damn awesome, because it definitely made me think about point distribution much more than ME2. Next playthrough I think I'm going to try a more balanced approach with a focus on Stealth, but bring in some Martial Arts and Assault Rifles and/or Shotguns for those moments where I want to just run and gun my way through.
Ran into a few glitches, but considering that they're about on par with glitches I ran into in Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, GTA4, and a long list of other games I can deal with them. The only game breaking one was defending the satellite uplink in Rome, and all I had to do was load the auto-save and play it again. No big deal.
Missed some opprotunities. I think they either should've added more operations or added more missions to each operation (which is a great way to work DLC into this game). Also, a little more exploration would be nice. Also, more handler options would've been nice. I had a different handler for maybe four to five missions tops.
Overall, I would give it an 8/10. Good game, needs a little more polish, but still well worth picking up. Plus, massive replay value.
I also just realized that I didn't touch Shadow Operative at all until the last mission in Rome. By that point it was at the Master level, and I sure feel stupid for ignoring it for so long.
And what if I'm doing a no-kills run?
Use tranqs from there. You have a clear shot, it might be to far for normal crits if you haven't specialized in pistols, but the normal health drain from tranqs should still work.
Also, this article brings up an interesting point. While there is that stuttering glitch, I've actually had much less game breaking bugs in this game than Mass Effect, much less FO3.
http://free-pc-guides.com/games/difference-of-opinions-alpha-protocol-eu-vs-us-reviews-whos-right-and-whos-wrong-01928
There is a reason Europe always gets the EXTRA HARD difficulty level iN MGS games. Its because we're some hardcore mother fuckers; two world wars bitches!
We don't care about piddly stuff like graphics and small technical glitches the like of which are pissing me off in Red Dead Redemption to no end.
Heck, ME2 frequently forced me to reload because the suddenly my Shepard would end up walking 5 feet off the ground with no way to get back down.
As far as I remember, I didn't have any crashes during Alpha Protocol. And apart from the occasional disappearing guard bug (happened two or three times), the game didn't actually force me to reload for anything either.
I do tend to agree with his assessment that some of the harshest criticism comes from reviewers who were expecting it to play like Mass Effect 2, and that the reviews have an odd tendency to overlook these same faults (present to an even greater degree in games like Fallout) as long as it's from the major franchise / studio. Heck, leaving aside whether you found ME2's combat all that fun anyway, they had an entire game to test out their gameplay mechanics first, and I'll happily say that ME1's shooting was pretty much lacklustre. But hey, we can overlook that can't we?
Then of course I had to deal with the other dudes, but Darcy was done pretty quickly once I stopped trying to unlock that damn door.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
The article reminds me of what one of the co-founders of CD Projekt has said.
ie: Spy Specialization has dialog X, Commando Y, etc.
In general Eastern European and Russian developed games tend to lack polish because of lack of resources and the inexperience of the industry there. But you tend to forgive that because they're more inventive with their gameplay ideas and have a good core to them, even if sometimes you have to dig.
Maybe that's it, maybe I'm used to so much worse from other games that I don't even notice in Alpha Protocol. I mean you want hard to get to grips with, look at ARMA. You want buggy, look at unpatched STALKER. Or even the first release of the Witcher. But it's weird to me in this case, because all those "faults" to do with AI and models and animation were so readily and easily overlooked by reviewers looking at something like Fallout 3 (which on top of much worse issues with all three, had a crappy plot and usually crappy dialogue backed up by crappy voice acting where even Liam Neeson sounded bored. And largely mechanical shooting), and yet for some reason they became unbearable in Alpha Protocol. It's something I just honestly don't get.