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Alpha Protocol: Apparently now an Obsidian gossip thread

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Posts

  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    are there any more fun veteran touches like the momentary "hallucination" in the intro? Because that was hilarious

    Moscow spoiler:
    You know when you storm Brayko's mansion and you have the choice to rescue your handler or get the data, but you can't do both?

    Veterans can do both.

    It's not hilarious so much as bad-ass, but still.

    Lawndart on
  • Hotlead JunkieHotlead Junkie Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    TUUUURN UP! THE RADIO!

    If the game mechanics were more tuned up, such as more control/counters/blocking with your melee attacks, that would of been one of the best bossfights ever.

    I made a long post about how I started on hard yesterday as a soldier and have so far have gone through Moscow and now am done with Rome before my post got wiped, but overall my view of the game is this.

    Slippery, clumsy, but workable controls but a very in depth, surprising game world. Not since Deus Ex have I thought my choices have made such a difference, it's all about the small detials, changes that aren't pure good or evil and aren't world changing on a global scale but definatley noticable and they change what happens in the world around you, that I really loved in Deus Ex and AP has this kind of thing in spades.

    For future reference, am I screwed if I play hard mode without an assault rifle? I BARLEY scraped through most bossfights as a AR toting badass but want to try my next run as a sneaky tech specialist.

    Hotlead Junkie on
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  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Main problem area is moscow, so if you're already through that, you should probably be fine

    Spoit on
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  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I have a feeling it might have to do with doing moscow last but the moscow boss fight just took all of 20 seconds

    initiatefailure on
  • SoundsPlushSoundsPlush yup, back. Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    For future reference, am I screwed if I play hard mode without an assault rifle? I BARLEY scraped through most bossfights as a AR toting badass but want to try my next run as a sneaky tech specialist.

    Not hardly. The AR is nice for mooks but it sucks for bosses. If you want to be sneaky though, just take the pistol - firing from behind cover will let you deal with many of the normal dudes, and chainshot is not only a win button on bosses but two rounds in chainshot mode is like a sniper rifle - I took out dudes on the other end of the mansion courtyard from the sniper balcony with it.
    are there any more fun veteran touches like the momentary "hallucination" in the intro? Because that was hilarious

    If you first encounter Albatross at the G22 warehouse mission, there's a funny veteran response when discussing the mission afterward with Mina.

    SoundsPlush on
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  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Lawndart wrote: »
    are there any more fun veteran touches like the momentary "hallucination" in the intro? Because that was hilarious

    Moscow spoiler:
    You know when you storm Brayko's mansion and you have the choice to rescue your handler or get the data, but you can't do both?

    Veterans can do both.

    It's not hilarious so much as bad-ass, but still.

    There's data? I always played that part pragmatically. I can do X later, where X is not immediate, but I can't risk not doing Y right now.

    cooljammer00 on
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  • EightBladeEightBlade Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    After playing as a straight up melee combatant, I gotta say I was dissapointed.

    Oddly enough, what most dissapointed me was that I didn't FEEL like a secret agent, I wanted to mingle in crowds, impress influencial femme fatales and escape death traps.

    I just felt like a soilder.

    EightBlade on
  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So I just beat the game and restarted as a recruit. I want to make this playthrough as smooth and easy as possible but I don't want to do the same thing as my first runthrough. I stuck to stealth and pistols and sabotage (and near the end, cheesed my 80+ AP into Tech Aptitude so I could now add Brilliance to my strategy of Chain Shot)

    I want to be suave this run through (so I can trigger the chance to kill a certain someone) but I also need non-lethal ways to take out people, lest I piss off the wrong people by murdering CIA Agents and American soldiers. Should I just say fuck it and major in SMG/Shotty, kicking down doors and murdering people? Is there a point to being a Shotgun wielding stealth user?

    cooljammer00 on
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  • AntithesisAntithesis Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Lawndart wrote: »
    are there any more fun veteran touches like the momentary "hallucination" in the intro? Because that was hilarious

    Moscow spoiler:
    You know when you storm Brayko's mansion and you have the choice to rescue your handler or get the data, but you can't do both?

    Veterans can do both.

    It's not hilarious so much as bad-ass, but still.

    Saudi Arabia spoiler:
    You know when Mina reveals that you've been burned and that there is a spy inside Alpha Protocol? She lists Westridge, Parker, and Darcy as suspects and asks who you think it is, and you can say that you think it's her. For all of the cliche reasons that someone who has played through the game previously would wish their character would point out!

    **While I'm here, I've lost my PC save games. Does anyone have one in which they've unlocked Veteran? Or one in which they're right at the end of a Recruit playthrough?

    Antithesis on
  • HylianbunnyHylianbunny Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Antithesis wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    are there any more fun veteran touches like the momentary "hallucination" in the intro? Because that was hilarious

    Moscow spoiler:
    You know when you storm Brayko's mansion and you have the choice to rescue your handler or get the data, but you can't do both?

    Veterans can do both.

    It's not hilarious so much as bad-ass, but still.

    Saudi Arabia spoiler:
    You know when Mina reveals that you've been burned and that there is a spy inside Alpha Protocol? She lists Westridge, Parker, and Darcy as suspects and asks who you think it is, and you can say that you think it's her. For all of the cliche reasons that someone who has played through the game previously would wish their character would point out!

    **While I'm here, I've lost my PC save games. Does anyone have one in which they've unlocked Veteran? Or one in which they're right at the end of a Recruit playthrough?

    I was able to point that out on my very first playthrough, though, so that's not Veteran-exclusive.

    Hylianbunny on
  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Hmm, this game just doesn't seem like much fun on a SMG/Shotgun loadout.

    cooljammer00 on
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  • AntithesisAntithesis Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I was able to point that out on my very first playthrough, though, so that's not Veteran-exclusive.

    Wait, really? I never got that option. Could it be dossier related?

    Antithesis on
  • l337CrappyJackl337CrappyJack Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Hmm, this game just doesn't seem like much fun on a SMG/Shotgun loadout.

    When you're first starting out, no, it's not. But once you get your skills up and upgrade your guns, you are a FUCKING DEATH MACHINE.

    l337CrappyJack on
  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    EightBlade wrote: »
    After playing as a straight up melee combatant, I gotta say I was dissapointed.

    Oddly enough, what most dissapointed me was that I didn't FEEL like a secret agent, I wanted to mingle in crowds, impress influencial femme fatales and escape death traps.

    I just felt like a soilder.

    Well, the second one you can somewhat.

    Anyway. Avellone said he wanted to implent more spyi things in a second installment. The main problem with the first is the same problem that happened before. Lead Creative Designer change from Mitsoda to Avellone. They probably didn't have time left for concept anymore (aside from the rewrite) and just continued designing and programming. So, go blame Sega (and Obsidian, and Mitsoda, and Avellone)

    There are still some nice spy bits in the game like the gelato man or the identify Samir mission. And of course the dialog.



    I just hope with New Vegas (which will be their first coregame (aside from the NWN2 add-ons) without big development fuckups for whatever reason.)) a new era for Obsidian is on the rise.

    C2B on
  • EightBladeEightBlade Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    C2B wrote: »
    EightBlade wrote: »
    After playing as a straight up melee combatant, I gotta say I was dissapointed.

    Oddly enough, what most dissapointed me was that I didn't FEEL like a secret agent, I wanted to mingle in crowds, impress influencial femme fatales and escape death traps.

    I just felt like a soilder.

    Well, the second one you can somewhat.

    Anyway. Avellone said he wanted to implent more spyi things in a second installment. The main problem with the first is the same problem that happened before. Lead Creative Designer change from Mitsoda to Avellone. They probably didn't have time left for concept anymore (aside from the rewrite) and just continued designing and programming. So, go blame Sega (and Obsidian, and Mitsoda, and Avellone)

    There are still some nice spy bits in the game like the gelato man or the identify Samir mission. And of course the dialog.



    I just hope with New Vegas (which will be their first coregame (aside from the NWN2 add-ons) without big development fuckups for whatever reason.)) a new era for Obsidian is on the rise.


    The Franchise is canned now.

    EightBlade on
  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    EightBlade wrote: »

    The Franchise is canned now.

    I know. That's why I said blame SEGA.

    In my dreamworld however the immense success of New Vegas leads Bethesda to the idea to buy AP from SEGA and hire Obsidian for the development.


    My dreamworlds awesome. I'm currently playing Arcanum 2 in it.

    C2B on
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Well there's always the possibility that if NV gets good praise then Obsidian could get the chance at another new IP.

    Although at the moment they're already working on Dungeon Siege 3. Wonder how that'll turn out.

    subedii on
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    And presumably once NV is done, they'll start ramping up on that WoT game

    Spoit on
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  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    And they have still another unnamed game.

    I'm just not sure about the critical reception of new vegas, though. Anyway how this game turns out I'm kinda worried that the Obsidian hate machine cans the game down to an ~80%.

    Well. I'm glad about every Obsidian product anyway, till now. Liked them all.

    C2B on
  • EightBladeEightBlade Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I'm wary of Obsidian.

    They have great concepts and ideas, but tend to lack polish.

    EightBlade on
  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Spoit wrote: »
    And presumably once NV is done, they'll start ramping up on that WoT game

    Obsidian are only providing programming support on the Wheel of Time game, they're not designing it. I assume they'll be working on New Vegas DLC for the first six or so months after New Vegas' release.

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    C2B wrote: »
    And they have still another unnamed game.

    I'm just not sure about the critical reception of new vegas, though. Anyway how this game turns out I'm kinda worried that the Obsidian hate machine cans the game down to an ~80%.

    Well. I'm glad about every Obsidian product anyway, till now. Liked them all.

    If anything can counter the irrational hate for obsidian, the irrational love for Bethesda can. Heck, they were able to convince the general gaming population that any complaints, legitimate or not, about how the story based style of games from Black Isle differed from their wide open exploration based action RPG games was just neckbeard moaning from trolls like NMA.

    Time will tell whether reviewers will ignore all the (possibly even gamebreaking) bugs like they did with Oblivion and FO3, or decry it as a buggy mess for the exact same issues, like they did with this game.

    Spoit on
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  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I don't think anyone hated Alpha Protocol because Obsidian made it

    I think they hated it for very specific reasons, tangential to the fact that Obsidian made it

    Olivaw on
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  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    No, but things which have previously problematic due to the quirks in UE3 have been blamed on Obsidian, like texture streaming, or collision glitching (which happened a hell of a lot in ME2, but is never even commented on), or problems with interface layers when forcing AA hacks.

    Spoit on
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  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    No, but things which have previously problematic due to the quirks in UE3 have been blamed on Obsidian, like texture streaming, or collision glitching (which happened a hell of a lot in ME2, but is never even commented on), or problems with interface layers when forcing AA hacks.

    Spoit on
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  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Those complaints are probably because Obsidian had been developing this game for a long-ass time and never addressed any of those issues

    Also, this is the first Obsidian game to be released on consoles, and therefore any bugs present in the game are permanent and can never be fixed. At least NWN2 had some support post launch

    Olivaw on
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  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Olivaw wrote: »
    Those complaints are probably because Obsidian had been developing this game for a long-ass time and never addressed any of those issues

    Also, this is the first Obsidian game to be released on consoles, and therefore any bugs present in the game are permanent and can never be fixed. At least NWN2 had some support post launch

    Uhm what now?

    First of all. Not only did this game have a major change midway, it was in pre-production for a looong time. Most of this game was done from 2008-2009. Nobody really worked on it after October 2009 since Sega decided to sit on the game till release.

    Secondly: So by your logic. Every other UE3 game is automatically excused from the points you mentioned? Not to mention console versions of titles like ME had the same problem.

    Also Newsflash: Consoles have patches now.

    C2B on
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    C2B wrote: »
    Olivaw wrote: »
    Those complaints are probably because Obsidian had been developing this game for a long-ass time and never addressed any of those issues

    Also, this is the first Obsidian game to be released on consoles, and therefore any bugs present in the game are permanent and can never be fixed. At least NWN2 had some support post launch

    Uhm what now?

    First of all. Not only did this game have a major change midway, it was in pre-production for a looong time. Most of this game was done from 2008-2009. Nobody really worked on it after October 2009 since Sega decided to sit on the game till release.

    Secondly: So by your logic. Every other UE3 game is automatically excused from the points you mentioned? Not to mention console versions of titles like ME had the same problem.

    Also Newsflash: Consoles have patches now.

    Dev troubles do not excuse game problems. I hear Daikatana had a troubled development time as well. As did Jurassic Park: Trespasser. There is a reason those games were not critically acclaimed

    ME1 had issues, it's true. It's strengths simply outweigh it's issues. ME2, to it's credit, solved many of the UE3 issues that plagued the first one

    And yes, consoles do indeed have patches. But Microsoft is notorious for having to vet every single patch, and I rarely see patches for any of my PS3 games unless they are majorly popular, and they rarely consist of just bugfixes

    Olivaw on
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  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Olivaw wrote: »
    [

    Dev troubles do not excuse game problems. I hear Daikatana had a troubled development time as well. As did Jurassic Park: Trespasser. There is a reason those games were not critically acclaimed

    ME1 had issues, it's true. It's strengths simply outweigh it's issues. ME2, to it's credit, solved many of the UE3 issues that plagued the first one

    And yes, consoles do indeed have patches. But Microsoft is notorious for having to vet every single patch, and I rarely see patches for any of my PS3 games unless they are majorly popular, and they rarely consist of just bugfixes

    I'm seriously not giving a real answer to that.

    First you compare it to Daikatana and Trespasser, then apparently ME1 strenghts are sooo much more superior than AP's strenghts which excuses Issues......


    Haters gonna hate, I guess?

    C2B on
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    C2B wrote: »
    Olivaw wrote: »
    [

    Dev troubles do not excuse game problems. I hear Daikatana had a troubled development time as well. As did Jurassic Park: Trespasser. There is a reason those games were not critically acclaimed

    ME1 had issues, it's true. It's strengths simply outweigh it's issues. ME2, to it's credit, solved many of the UE3 issues that plagued the first one

    And yes, consoles do indeed have patches. But Microsoft is notorious for having to vet every single patch, and I rarely see patches for any of my PS3 games unless they are majorly popular, and they rarely consist of just bugfixes

    I'm seriously not giving a real answer to that.

    First you compare it to Daikatana and Trespasser, then apparently ME1 strenghts are sooo much more superior than AP's strenghts which excuses Issues......


    Haters gonna hate, I guess?

    I believe the current phrase that's in vogue is

    dealwithit.png

    Olivaw on
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  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    To be fair, obsidian has said that they wanted to get a quick patch out to fix some of the easier issues, but supposedly, sega wanted to wait a bit on it.... Which worked out sooooo well with E:TW. Who knows when (or even if) a patch will come

    Spoit on
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  • Dr. WormDr. Worm Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Yeah I don't understand why Sega won't allow Obsidian to go forward with a patch right away.

    Playing my first runthrough now and I'm in Rome after doing Tapei. Is there a NG+ for this game, so after I'm done I can play veteran with all my AP saved up? Or do I have to start over?

    Dr. Worm on
  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Dr. Worm wrote: »
    Yeah I don't understand why Sega won't allow Obsidian to go forward with a patch right away.

    Probably wanted to wait and see how the game sold first. Now that they've apparently given up on a sequel, we probably won't get a patch at all.

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Dr. Worm wrote: »
    Yeah I don't understand why Sega won't allow Obsidian to go forward with a patch right away.

    Probably wanted to wait and see how the game sold first. Now that they've apparently given up on a sequel, we probably won't get a patch at all.

    I would not be surprised if, in keeping with what they did with Alien vs Predator (there were what, 5 for PC and 1 for consoles?), on the consoles they never release a patch.

    It's not Obsidian. It's the sales of AP... it's just SEGA.

    tastydonuts on
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  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Dr. Worm wrote: »
    Yeah I don't understand why Sega won't allow Obsidian to go forward with a patch right away.

    Playing my first runthrough now and I'm in Rome after doing Tapei. Is there a NG+ for this game, so after I'm done I can play veteran with all my AP saved up? Or do I have to start over?

    Not exactly... but veteran does start with about 80 skill points as opposed to 0 from your recruit run

    initiatefailure on
  • C2BC2B SwitzerlandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Does anyone have a list with the the different ending newscasts you can get?

    I really like Heck placing Catcher in the Rye in Wen's room.

    That cracked me up.

    C2B on
  • Hotlead JunkieHotlead Junkie Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I'm just glad Steve is on my side, that crazy bastard *salutes*

    and the Freakazoid reference was very unexpected :D

    Hotlead Junkie on
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  • dowondowon Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    New MCA blog post
    How do Project Directors and/or Lead Designers get selected?

    To clarify the hierarchy at our studio, a Project Director isn't necessarily a designer, and at Obsidian, a Project Director is above all other disciplines except Feargus, who is all-powerful, even if he might debate that.

    At the moment, we have four project directors - one from design (Josh Sawyer), another from design (me), one from programming (Rich Taylor), and one from art (Zane Lyon). In the past, Project Directors have been from production (Feargus on DS3, Chris Parker on AP), and sometimes the Project Director on a project is instead the Lead Producer (Kevin Saunders on Mask of the Betrayer).

    Project Directors are selected based on their ability to hold or create the vision for a project, motivate and inspire the team, and their ability to focus the game to the vision and the game pillars. Any individual on a team who has demonstrated these qualities at a senior level as they've risen through the ranks in their discipline (usually to lead status) is considered a candidate for Project Director. Rich Taylor, for example, consistently demonstrated strengths as a lead programmer, and also demonstrated good judgment and decisions on how to go about making the game he was leading (Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and now Dungeon Siege).

    Lead Designers are selected for much the same reason - they're usually senior designers who've shown the same strengths in upholding the game vision, ability to motivate and lead a team, and can manage effectively. Like other lead roles, Lead Designers are not necessarily chosen for their design ability, and they may not be the best designer in their discipline, they simply need to understand the design pipelines, understand the toolset and its breakdowns, and how to manage a team - this is because leads spend more time managing the designers in their discipline than doing actual core design work. If they excel in design, as Josh does, then that's a bonus.

    dowon on
  • WotanAnubisWotanAnubis Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I'm just glad Steve is on my side, that crazy bastard *salutes*
    He's not on your side any more. :P

    WotanAnubis on
  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    At the moment, we have four project directors - one from design (Josh Sawyer), another from design (me), one from programming (Rich Taylor), and one from art (Zane Lyon). In the past, Project Directors have been from production (Feargus on DS3, Chris Parker on AP), and sometimes the Project Director on a project is instead the Lead Producer (Kevin Saunders on Mask of the Betrayer).

    Interesting. So I think we can assume by Chris Parker not being mentioned as a project director, he's suffered the consequences of fucking up Alpha Protocol? Smart move.

    Unco-ordinated on
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