Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

[jfsolo]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

From what I remember of KOTOR 2, it started really good than towards the end it fell apart. That's my take on the game, I did still play through it twice so it wasn't THAT bad haha. Anyway, I will probably pick up Alpha Protocol but it would be after I play Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2. The whole spy RPG thing is pretty intriguing.

Unlike what happened with Alpha Protocol, Obsidian was forced to release KOTOR 2 several months before it was ready. Now you can argue that they should have been ready in the time that was allotted to them, but they weren't, and for Lucas Arts, getting that $$$ right at that time, was more important than having a polished game.

Its a shame too, because, IMO, through the first 60% of the game KOTOR 2 was a vastly superior game to KOTOR 1.

Alpha Protocol is the first time that Obsidian has been given substantially more time to polish up their game, so if the game is buggy, and seems rush during the last third, then this time I will put the blame squarely on Obsidian.

[mgoblue]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Bioware made the First one, Obsidian made the second one. KOTOR 2 was still an excellent game, Im not sure what game ghostrider played but it scored very well in reviews (86 Metascore).

Yeah, sorry, i got it all mixed up...KOTOR 2 wasn't as good as the first, but it was decent

[Flawless]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Gameplay looked more polished on GTTV last night. Framerate was better and I didn't notice any tearing like has been the case in previous videos. Graphics are still very average.

This game will be great though, if Obsidian delivers on the things in this interview:

GameBanshee Interview

Morality and Consequences:

It's hard to choose the moral dilemmas without stumbling over the spoiler tripwire, and many of the consequences pan out long term, which goes even deeper into spoiler territory. Still, one example of a moral dilemma we have revealed to the press, however (although not the consequences) - you encounter a weapons trafficker. Letting him go could reveal intel leading to the next man up the chain, who is clearly more dangerous, but allowing the weapons trafficker to remain in business may cause more deaths in the region. If you bring the trafficker in, however, you may compromise your intel source and warn your real target of your intentions, possibly even lose him. And if your main target is free, that could cost more lives. What do you do?

One of the potential contacts in Moscow presents the player with another dilemma - while he is likely to have information critical for your mission, if you go see him (which is optional), you'll have to weigh the consequences that he's going to sell information about you to all the other power groups in Moscow, which is going to put you at a severe disadvantage in the field. Do you risk your own safety and potential difficulty in reaching your real target, or do you take the long way around, which poses its own dangers? Furthermore, are you willing to resort to unorthodox... and perhaps excessively violent... methods against the contact to insure his cooperation and his silence? And if you do that, are you willing to accept the consequences of a frightened informant based on what you know about his dossier, assuming you've done your research? We try to play fair with the player in hinting at possible repercussions in the game, there's other dilemmas the player's going to have to sort out on their own.

You can hide it from some of them, not all of them. Some notable figures in the game (and it'll make sense who) are very, very hard to hide intel from - the kicker, though, is Thorton can still do it if he's specialized in certain skills and performed certain Cover Your *** moves, and the satisfaction of pulling one over on these supposedly well-informed operatives and agency leaders is pretty damn gratifying.

Gameplay:

Chris: Equipment can provide additional gadget slots, affect your ability to move unseen and unheard, and while no item directly gives you +1 to your skills, a number of gadgets compliment the passive and active abilities that skills grant. This is a simple example, but relevant: the Sound Generator is useful for distracting an enemy (Stealth) and it can also be useful for causing an enemy to walk right into a Thorton-made-minefield (Sabotage) and it can also be useful for lining them up for a shotgun blast if you're crouched behind a corner, waiting for them to show (weapon skills). Also, gadgets have nice environmental effects and consequences as well - in the Moscow trainyards, for example, you can use the Sound Generator to lure opponents into traps and ambushes on the tracks, or even make them stumble onto the path of an incoming train if they're not paying attention, which is extremely satisfying. That said, I found myself using Epinephrine Spikes (raises hand to hand damage, recoil control, and damage resistance) regardless of my Martial Arts ability, I simply found using the spikes to be handy to be able to survive a tough encounter whether I was punching people out or not.

Matt: The player can outfit Mike in different kinds of armor. The broad decision made with armor is protection vs. detection vs. carrying capacity, though the player will also have armor modifications that can be used to round out or specialize an outfit - you might want a sneaky infiltration suit but be willing to sacrifice some of its noise dampening for added protection.

Some special items are earned only from specific mission results or specific alliances (or even enemies), though much of very best equipment is only acquired from the black market with cold hard cash. This was a deliberate decision to reduce the amount of psychic powers required to enjoy our game. If the player has to make friends with a certain faction to get the best Assault Rifle in the game, it'd be unfortunate to have a player who spend dozens of hours building Sharpshooter Thorton miss out on the Rifle of the Apocalypse (not an actual weapon in the game) because the player didn't magically know which friends to make. And there's no sensible way to write dialogue wherein someone says "Hi Mike, did I mention I have access to awesome rifles? If you someday want a Vorpal Rifle, don't piss me off!" Yes, your choice of friends and enemies will influence a lot of the equipment you can or can't get in a given playthrough, but play the game anyway you like - you won't arrive at the end stage of the game and it be un-winnable because your equipment sucks.

Matt: Every skill in Alpha Protocol provides bonuses in combat - though some skills are a bit more roundabout in their applications, and some skills mix non-combat bonuses and combat bonuses into the progression. Three skills that provide lots of indirect combat bonuses are Sabotage, Technical Aptitude, and Stealth.

Technical Aptitude includes a variety of passive bonuses to weapon performance and armor strength - representing Mike's ability to customize and streamline his gear (this is in addition to bonuses you get from actual modifications added to your weapons and armor). While Sabotage makes your offensive gadgets more deadly, Technical Aptitude improves the efficacy of your medical gadgets and increases your range options - proving more gadget slots for you to either diversify your arsenal or try to see how many pounds of explosives you can take into a mission, and then try to beat that record. At its highest levels, Technical Aptitude is a force multiplier - the Brilliance ability allows you to use activated abilities from other Skills in rapid succession, allowing you to double the duration or impact of your other special moves.

Chris: Sabotage assists with tactically setting down mines to disable opponents and guard paths - and for stealth characters, it can give you Binary Invisibility at higher levels, which assists the player in remaining undetected by electronic countermeasures (cameras, auto-turrets). Mines do increased damage, have an increased range, and are generally more effective the higher your Sabotage skill becomes (Overclocking). Sabotage includes bonuses that make electronic bypasses, lockpicking, and hacking easier to perform. As there is often some sort of time pressure involved while doing these tasks (whether avoiding enemy patrols or being chased by them), the less time you need to bypass a terminal, shut down an alarm, or pick the back of a warehouse door so you can get to cover, the better. Not only are breaking and entering tasks easier with ranks of Sabotage, the cash payoff for hacking valuable data increases as you improve this skill. Put enough points into Sabotage and you'll gain Remote Hack - the ability to perform electronic bypass and computer hacking actions at a distance - perfect for subverting enemy turrets and causing all sorts of commotion.

Stealth allows you to get into and out of an area undetected. With good timing and patience, you can slip into and out of a mission without a single person detecting you and avoid all the potential pain and anguish that alarms cause. Your ability (or inability, or downright refusal) to solve a mission covertly is often noticed by other characters (and yes, a few folks will like you for being reckless and pathological). Keep a low enough profile and some might not even know you've come to the area (usually resulting in Reputation increases as well as other inter-mission reactivity). The special abilities you get as a result of raising your Stealth are useful for solving missions the quiet way, or for solving missions the loud way with ambush attacks. An early Stealth ability is Awareness, which allows you to hear enemies in the vicinity and "see" their locations even if they're not within line of sight (perfect for setting ambushes). After a few ranks are invested in Stealth, you'll earn Evasion which you a brief "respite" if an enemy spots you, where you're warned that you're spotted and you have some time to get to new cover before they see you for realz. Rounding out the Stealth abilities are Silent Running (allowing you to sprint through an area unheard or, more commonly, rush up behind someone who's back is turned to you and get your murder on... or choke them out into unconsciousness) and Shadow Operative (sets a timer that allows you to avoid enemy detection until you strike, which is perfect for taking out perimeter enemies one at a time and punching holes in their watchposts).

It's not my intention to misrepresent the passive path - it will require the use of certain gadgets and weapons designed not to kill opponents. I do want to stress we worked hard to make sure there was a non-murdering path - it wasn't easy to implement this and the reactivity to it, but we thought it was important to put in a role-playing game, especially an espionage role-playing game. Taking the life of someone who may be innocent of any crime except being in your way is a big thing in the real-world, and it's a big deal in our game, too.

We think it's important to give professional and Lawful Good-style characters options for dealing with enemies that aren't slaughtering them wholesale, and the enemy targets you encounter in missions, while they are shooting at you, have their own reasons and motivations for doing so that might make a player uncomfortable will simply blowing them away - sometimes these adversaries are doing their jobs, and they aren't evil or hardbitten *******s. In some respects, this is another moral dilemma players will have to deal with - and we recognize some players won't care at all.

In addition, for players who study their opponents, make alliances, and understand the motivations of certain key figures we give them additional options. They can talk their way out of situations or make unlikely allies where a more combat-oriented character would find bullets and grenades being unloaded in their direction. Fallout 1 and Torment's talk-solution focuses meant a lot to me as a designer, and Obsidian works hard to include those options in games because we feel it's an important part of role-playing.

[Flawless]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Nice to see a publisher willing to give Obsidian all the time it needs for a change.


Sega On 'Alpha Protocol' Delay, What's Been Changed

"We had a few reasons for doing it. One: We wanted to position it better, give it a lot of time. The main reason: We really wanted to polish the game up, make it everything Obsidian planned it to be, and give the consumer a very polished game.

"We added a couple of other things. Tweaks in lighting here and there, added the inventory comparison screen so you can compare what you're buying to what you have equipped. Just bringing the whole quality level up."

I'd say the lighting tweaks are probably the most obvious improvement, as the game's graphics definitely lacked depth and definition before, and the new lighting gives the environments a more believable feel. The addition of the loot comparison screen is also crucial for anyone that's ever played a loot-heavy RPG (which "Alpha Protocol" most certainly is). So there's definitely work being done to improve the title.

I've always had a soft spot for "Alpha Protocol," as it really is trying to offer a deep RPG experience wrapped in a modern day combat setting, which is something you hardly ever see. There's still a lot of work to go, though, as the graphics remain pretty raw and there seem to be AI issues still to be worked out. It's definitely a good thing that Sega decided to push the game out even further, into summer 2010, as it'd be a shame to lose such a promising title to rushed development.

[Cusefan]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

I am very much looking forward to this game, I will go through the entire game in a Tuxedo.

[Pokes]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Me too, I had this on my radar since I first saw it in GI. Hopefully the delay will make it an A+ game.

[Flawless]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

New trailer

<object id='ignplayer' width='480' height='270' data='http://media.ign.com/ev/embed.swf' type='application/x-shockwave-flash'><param name='movie' value='http://media.ign.com/ev/embed.swf' /><param name='allowfullscreen' value='true' /><param name='allowscriptaccess' value='always' /><param name='bgcolor' value='#000000' /><param name='flashvars' value='vgroup=alphaprotocol_trl_a_man_alone_22410& object=794751'/></object><div style='width:480;'><a href='http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/794/794751.html'>Alpha Protocol at IGN.com</a></div>

[jfsolo]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

The late Spring is actually the best time for this game to drop. There will have have been a nice little lull after the RPG's: ME 2, DAO: Awakenings, and FFXIII. It also needs a little separation from the must more ballyhooed spy/action thrillers, Splinter Cell: Conviction and Alan Wake.

IMO, the perfect time to release this game is early June. I hope its ready to go by then.

[Flawless]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Release date

For North America, the release date has been nailed down as June 1. Europe will get it a few days earlier on May 28. Those in Australia will get it earlier still on May 27.

New box art:

[SPTO]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Nice, being released right in the dog days of gaming for me.

I like the new box art as well, A lot more striking.

[Cusefan]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Nice, being released right in the dog days of gaming for me.

I like the new box art as well, A lot more striking.

Looks like a Metal Gears cover

[jfsolo]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Nice, being released right in the dog days of gaming for me.

I like the new box art as well, A lot more striking.

June 1st=Perfect release day.

Now I'm an admitted Obsidian fan boy, but I consider that one of the top five box covers I've ever seen. I usually don't really care that much about covers, but I'm really blow away.

[Sandman42]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Looks like a Metal Gears cover

Reminds me of the Bourne movies.

[Flawless]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

Obsidian, the creators of our forthcoming espionage RPG game Alpha Protocol takes us through some of the cool gadgets and toys Michael Thorton has at his disposal in the game.

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[Flawless]

Re: Alpha Protocol (Obsidian's new action-RPG)

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