ATTN: EL DOUCHEBAG (Coffee) Alpha Protocol

[Stark]

Your hideout in each city is a hub; there are no 'side' quests. You start with a few leads, and depending on how you move and how you work, you find more, all of which build up to the final confrontation in that city.

Even playing through pretty fast, it's much longer than DEHR, which can be finished in about 10 hours on pacificst/foxy, and it has way more replay value through the granularity of plot and dialog flexibility. I don't think I've seen all the finale/ending combinations.

[Stofsk]

It should be noted that while there are no side-quests, some missions aren't strictly necessary. You can do them and get more intel/money/whatever from them, but you don't have to actually do them in order to unlock the final mission.

[Stark]

But they're 'optional mainline missions', not 'a random hobo asked you to rescue his dog'.

[Stofsk]

Random passerby on the street: 'Hello good sir. Are you adept in the making of deadly poisons? For strictly personal reasons you understand I have need of ten vials of poison, and would gladly offer you the sum of 10 silver pieces per vial.'

[GuppyShark]

I did all of the missions. Because they were fun. Well Saudi Arabia sucked. Wish I could start the game after that point.

[Stark]

There's no reason not to, aside from trying to avoid certain people or plot elements.

[Ford Prefect]

Uh, he starts the game with augmentations that are literally shit. they TELL you it's literally shit. they tell you it's capable of doing SO MUCH MORE but they left those features off because....thing?

The statement 'you are not at your full level of capability' is not equivalent to 'you are a shitty piece of shit'.

[Stark]

Aside from hacking 'skills' and maybe the icarus system, the shit you don't have isn't important anyway. They're just conveniences - although it would have been nice to have character generation let you choose from a short list.

[Stofsk]

I did all of the missions. Because they were fun. Well Saudi Arabia sucked. Wish I could start the game after that point.

There's no reason not to, aside from trying to avoid certain people or plot elements.

What do you guys have against the Saudi Arabia missions? They're not my favourite but I wouldn't go so far as to say they sucked.

[Stark]

They're uglier than the other missions, but I quite liked them. I liked returning to the airfield; in a mythical perfect game it'd be neat to see the results of your earlier strikes like that more often.

[Julhelm]

So I bought the steam version and lo and behold it works. Game seems quite awesome. Can't agree with the guy who said it "looks dated". I think it looks sharp as hell.

[Havok]

Man, I tried to start a new playthrough and... couldn't.

I realized what I didn't like about AP...

Thorton's slimey face.

I didn't want to do those first missions again.

[Dread Not]

So based upon the praise shown in this and other threads, as well as the fact that I was a huge fan of Black Isle back in the day, I picked this game up and have been playing it for the last few days.

And holy fucking shit. This game has got to be the most pleasant surprise I have ever experienced with a game. Low expectations probably helped, since usually when I disagree with critics it’s because they’ve fellated a game to no end and swept its flaws under the rug. But man, the AP reviews demonstrated some serious double standards held by game critics. I found this game far more enjoyable than numerous well received RPG’s this gen like Valkyria Chronicles, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Dragon Age and Mass Effect. The disparity in reception between AP and Mass Effect is particularly jarring. Almost all of the criticisms leveled at AP can apply to ME. I found the crappy gunplay, lame AI, texture pop-in, bad framerate, clichéd story etc. much more bothersome in ME than in AP. Granted, ME came out way back in 2007 and ME2 had excellent gunplay, but AP does so many things that neither of those games do.

What I like:

-RPG setting that isn’t D&D or space opera? Yes please.

-The character customization is stellar. I was quite impressed when I saw how many upgrade slots there were for each skill, but was floored when I discovered that each slot will upgrade the skill in a different way, leading to more difficult choices. Then there’s all the ways you can customize your inventory from your armor to your grenades, plus all of the perks you can earn.

-The branching story and dialogue is spectacular, with the sort of ambiguous morality that is so lacking in RPG’s these days.

-I found the mini-games terrific. So many games struggle to offer up a single decent mini-game, and AP offers up 3. There were at least as many in ME2, all of which were shit.

-The health system is neat. Sort of an upgradeable version of that found in Halo: CE

What’s not so great:

-The visuals are fairly underwhelming. It’s not nearly as bothersome as some would have you believe, but it often looks like a well-polished Wii game. I played the PS3 version, which apparently has an inferior framerate compared to the other versions. It certainly chugs in places. The texture pop-in can also get irritating when you repeatedly have to bring up or exit a menu screen or scroll through menu items in the clearinghouse. It’s also a little buggy, but no more than most games these days.

-Some of the shooting and cover mechanic controls can be a little awkward at times, though again, it’s not as bad as some would have you believe. For me the camera would occasionally snap around awkwardly when taking cover, but I got used to it quite quickly.

-Being unable to drag bodies out of sight is a weird omission for stealth games these days.

-The AI leaves A LOT to be desired. It’s probably the most accurate shortcoming the critics highlighted, and is probably what drags the experience down more than anything. Guards at times can be severely lacking in peripheral vision, will occasionally get stuck on the level geometry, and take cover and climb ladders and such at weird inopportune times. I also experienced bosses who would just stand in the corner until I attacked them, giving me an opportunity to dispatch their henchmen.

-The Shadow Operative ability is way too overpowered. Enemies won’t attack you while it’s activated even if you’re rubbing right up against them. And fully leveled Shadow Operative + Fully leveled Brilliance = Game broken.

Overall the game’s flaws drag the experience down, but not dramatically. I’m definitely glad I played it and hope more RPG’s will draw on Alpha Protocol’s strengths. I’m also now tempted to try out Fallout: New Vegas.

[Stark]

It wouldn't have been surprising if AP's ideas because another round of 'lost' ideas that would become 'new features' in ten years, but even Bioware cribs from AP. Its a shame they don't really get it right, but it's a good sign regardless.

Sadly, timed dialogue won't appear in an A-list game until the nature of fatty nerds change. That's a shame, because more than any other small change, that made the decisions more exciting and the consequences more telling.