Well I've decided to stay away from this one for now. The feedback here, the various derogatory reviews, and a conversation I had with one of the guys at my local Gamestop has basically turned me completely away from purchasing AP at this time. I only hope that Obsidian doesn't butcher FO: New Vegas in the way that they have seemingly done with AP. (Yes,I know there's not a lot of love for the new style Fallout it.)

I am not happy. I have been trying to finish Saudi Arabia with the promise that everything magically improves after that point.

The problem is that the game refuses to let me. I finish a mission, and I get a blank screen (well, blank apart from the small 'objective completed' or 'level up' pop-up to the left). No level up screens, not much of anything.

The only way out of this is through the Task Manager. Which then means having to load from the last checkpoint (seeing as the mission isn't technically completed), and having to do the last part of the mission.

Which is made even more frustrating because for some reason the game loads the checkpoint with a hostile guard directly in front of me and an actived alarm. :mad:

Which is made even more frustrating because for some reason the game loads the checkpoint with a hostile guard directly in front of me and an actived alarm. :mad:

That is a good thing because you get to use the Alpha Protocol's superior combat system.

I think I made a wise decision in getting the 360 version.

Once I spot where I need to match the letters, I can never move them fast enough before it resets, and especially the one controlled by the mouse, why wouldn't it just replace the cursor? It doesn't move 1-to-1 speed with my mouse, so I have to move the cursor all the way to the edge of the screen and then adjust my mouse and drag it some more, and when I do get it there, its so sensitive that many times it has slipped 1 spot over and I click at the wrong spot.I had that same problem; I just adjusted the sensitivity until I found it to be smooth enough, and problem solved. I did plug an Xbox controller in, and I found that to be much more natural than mouse & keyboard, at least for the minigames.That explanation alone makes this the worst minigame ever created, but what's worse is that since I fail virtually every time I try to hack, it sets off the alarm system and rather than being able to stealth take guys down which can be somewhat enjoyableWell, good; that's what should happen... at least in real-life. Failing a minigame/skill check shouldn't be a forgiving mechanic; it's a gamble that the player is willing to make, and the outcome should neither always be win nor lose, but it should adhere to the principles set by the experience invested by the player.

It makes absolutely no sense that you have to stand there for like 2 seconds targeting an enemy before you can get a critical. I definitely understand wanting to make the combat system skill point based so that it's not just based on how good you are at pointing the mouse / controller, but it's just so poorly executed.The reticule should have been progressively more accurate (smaller) from the get-go, all by how long you steadily aim at the player, like in Deus Ex. The only workaround that I've found is to zoom in (F key/right thumbstick button), and that can increase the accuracy by 100%; a person becomes a torso.

No, the mission structure is exactly the same. The only difference is what bonus intel is available which has some minor effects like dossier completion and one or two lines of conversation. Nothing of consequence.Uh, no. Sure, the inherent mechanic in a mission doesn't change, but the content does. For example:Allying yourself with Shaheed turns the al-Samad regiment at the Roman ruins friendly, and that's at least ten enemies removed from the equation.Sure, it isn't a massive, direction-changing consequence, but it's one that's based on a relatively small past decision, and that's more C&C than what anyone may find in many other RPGs, past and present.

But my point about the minigame is that if it wasn't so ****, I wouldn't be failing it every time, and I'd be able to enjoy the stealth gameplay more.

Lol, nice backtrack. The mission structure remains identical no matter what you do. However you want to dress it up, your choices have no real impact on the game.

Before i go to buy anything, I really cba reading loads of long posts on its pros and cons - so - simple question - alpha protocol, yes or no or maybe (maybe being something to get but not to put on priority list)

If you can find it cheap sure, pick it up. If you are getting the console version, no doubt there will soon be a flood of 2nd hand copies available. If you are planning on getting the PC version, I'd probably wait for both a price drop and a patch or two.

Blood boiling right now.

Can't even activate the damn game.
It can't find an internet connection (then how am I typing this?), the offline activation by uploading...SOMETHING? doesn't work either.
Going into the binaries and directly activating doesn't work.

Haven't played a minute, but I have seriously never been this angry with a game. I bought a game and have no way to play it. Great.

Meh. After all the hubbub and hullaballoo over this game, to now see the Meh reviews pour in is disappointing, at the least. More likely, what this general feeling of diffidence surrounding the game tells me, is that Obsidian is not a developer I would buy anything from again. Really, after TSL that was my opinion, but now it is a done deal.

A shame.

A potential classic RPG, not given enough time to be finished and is rushed out, this is quite shocking, not.

Any mods, save editors or maybe Coalesced Compiler, yet?

You don't need a compiler. AP uses an older version of the U3 engine, like ME1. You can edit the INIs directly.

You have the same problem that you do with ME though (indeed with any cooked U3 game) in that, while you can extract content, you can't repack it in a form the game will use. That means the best you can do (besides INI edits) is memory hacks for textures via TexMod (http://www.tombraiderhub.com/tr7/modding/texmod/tutorial.html).

Thanks for the info and linky, DarthParametric.

I was interested in editing things like weapons and ammo, which looked like they are complied, as you mentioned. I thought something like Quarn's Coalesed compiler for ME2 was feasible in AP, because it did repack the files. I gathered it would also work in AP with some revision, in all honesty I am not a programmer so I am easily confused. ;)

Though I may try Texmod for possible edit of NPC Reputation, if there isn't a Save Editor to cover this already.

TexMod is only for loading custom textures.

The INIs are not compiled like in ME2. Edit the ones in My Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\ with any text editor. You may need to make them read-only afterward, to stop the game changing them.

There is a reputation and stats editor at CheatHappens, but it's for members only (subscription based). There may be others around.

Just got my copy, got about two hours into it. Some impressions:

- Stealth mechanics are much more prehensile than what I anticipated; during the tutorial mission, I was repeatedly noticed for simply crouching behind a two-foot-high countertop. The enemies also don't usually "give up"; when they see you, they pursue you until either one of you is dead.
Something I noticed early, too. Stealth in AP seems to be centered entirely on evading line of sight and crouching, since I couldn't make out any shadow-cover system, if there was one. I dropped Stealth pretty early on and went on to be a balls-to-the-wall mercenary shooter.

- Combat is a mixed bag. I've never liked cover systems in general, but this implementation is the least annoying that I've seen. Having to zoom in just to shoot is irksome, but having a skill-governed reticule doesn't make it a run-'n-gun.
Agreed with the cover system. It was refreshingly good after Mass Effect, which I won't discuss here for sake of brevity.

- Music is awesome. It's the best OST that I've heard in years, so mich that I'd say that it's almost as good as Deus Ex. Almost.
TBH, I never paid much attention to the music in AP, but I thought the opening music-bite you got when loading the Main Menu was extremely annoying. Other than that, it built a great ambience, but that's pretty much it. I might pay more attention on my second playthrough.

- The graphics are good. Even on the lowest settings, the game looked as good as HL2:EP2 on max; and that's outputting <60 FPS. There's no need to gripe, here.
While the quality is as you say, it lacks attention to detail, so if you're the sort to really pay attention to the game world, it doesn't quite congruous with the same reality we live in, as you'd expect it.

- Bugs... there's barely any. Not counting wonky AI and timing issues, I've encountered none. The game also loads and runs very smoothly, and compared to Mass Effect's PC port, it's very bug-free. Other than the occassional stuttering (Which, IMO, is less periodic than Mass Effect or Mirror's Edge) Either people have grossly exaggerated the issues; or I'm just lucky. :) But, really, I haven't seen any showstoppers like in TSL or Bloodlines, so there's no need to fret when it comes to the possibility of buying a work-in-progress beta.
You've been very lucky then. My list of experienced bugs would be rather long - a few restart-needing crashes, several moments where reloading after death broke and I had to reload twice and some graphics bugs. The physics were rather raw, and looked like they came from Unreal Engine 2, FFS.

Also, there was plenty of stuttering for me. I managed to fix that with some ini tweaks, but not all of it. Most annoying was how the game loaded enemies right as you entered the room, the resultant stutter would mean that enemies got the jump on you.

- The AI is, also, a mixed bag. Some enemies spotted me from 20m away, crouched behind a dumpster at night. Others couldn't see me hiding behind a bench that was right in front of them. Either way, the AI is a good sort of stupid, a stupidity that one can exploit to their pleasure. It's very much comparable to Deus Ex, but more improved than that.
Since I played run-and-gun, AI was pretty much cannon-fodder for me. It was much better than the cowherd AI from Mass Effect where the enemies just shamble around shooting or "flank" you by strolling right next to you and expectantly shooting you in the gut.

AP's AI at least knows how to get around and can be found swarming all over the place. What I especially liked was that the game emphasised priority of fire. As soon as you hit somebody, he faltered or flinched, which would buy you time to either finish him off, or distract someone else.

Martial arts is also surprisingly good, though the attack-initiation radius could have been improved.

- Level design is excellent... well, at least for this age. It's not a non-linear jungle gym like Deus Ex, but it certainly isn't the obstacle course that Mass Effect was. However, no matter what your preference is, you're sure to find pleasure.
Felt rather Mass Effect-y to me, but with a good dose of Splinter Cell thrown in. I thought of SC on several missions (most notably Taipei), but then, I never played the stealth character, so I may have missed alternate routes.


Go buy this game. AP can't be compared to neither Deus Ex nor Mass Effect, because comparisons don't do this game justice. AP most certainly isn't the greatest game that you'll play, however, I will say that this seems to be the most innovative example of an RPG in quite some time, in terms of actual role-playing rather than simply "gaming" the system.
PastramiX's review is so spot-on, it's actually a little scary.

I’m about the same place. Totally agree. I’ve been pleasantly surprised especially after reading some of the earlier post. Disagree here. The minigames are crap in my opinion. Haven't really found the minigames that difficult just find the Electronic Bypass kind of juvenile. It has that back in nursery school feel to it.

The computer hacking minigame sucks, one of the worst minigames I've ever seen. I failed the first one like 6 times before giving up. I only played for like 20 minutes but overall impression is that combat is garbage.

But my point about the minigame is that if it wasn't so ****, I wouldn't be failing it every time, and I'd be able to enjoy the stealth gameplay more.

Have you guys even invested points in the Sabotage skill? I think I invested 4 points there, and the minigames were a breeze after that (except lockpicking, which was ruined by the control scheme). I actually came to love the hacking minigame, and the electronic bypass one was too easy, it should have been scrapped.

Also, buy EMP grenades, if you can't do the minigames FFS. They come cheap compared to what you earn, and you don't have to go through the minigames then. I like how people nitpick on trivial flaws for a game like Alpha Protocol while not noticing the massive gaping holes in Mass Effect and its sequel.

I’m holding off judgment on the rest until I get further along. It has been alright, but so far it hasn’t been a game that makes me want to stay up all-night playing it.
After I came to finishing the first city (after Saudi Arabia, I mean, that was just silly), the game became crazy addictive.

Something I noticed early, too. Stealth in AP seems to be centered entirely on evading line of sight and crouching, since I couldn't make out any shadow-cover system, if there was one. I dropped Stealth pretty early on and went on to be a balls-to-the-wall mercenary shooter.

*snip*

Agreed on everything!
Took me a good dose of patience to get in to work properly, but after that...
I'm playing a bit Ethan Hunt-ish. A mix of shooting, melee knock outs and sneaking around.
And, like you said, after Arabia it becomes CRAZY addictive.
The possibilities are just so great...you can use your intell to extort, send it to the papers, etc. And the little gifts or trophies you get from enemies and allies that are stored in your room are just brilliant.

And the conversation options were brilliant. Where in Kotor you could sometimes ruin rep in an instance, you can apologize and all. Works almost like real life. The reply from the NPC's helps here too. Everyone has a different character.

Good to know, DarthParametric, thanks. :)
I had seen the Reputation editor listed but I am not a paying member. I really wondered if I could get my Assault Rifle to shoot Tranqs as the Pistol does.

In regards to Stealth, it's Range based, all your upgrades Reduce the Vision and Sound of the AI, once you crouch there is an immediate 50% reduction. You can see the Edits for this in APGame.ini and also you can see things like CritHit time.
PlayerSneakingEnemyVisionPercent

I like how people nitpick on trivial flaws for a game like Alpha Protocol while not noticing the massive gaping holes in Mass Effect and its sequel.Funny I would say the same thing about the Bioware haters. I would love for AP to be a great game, but the bugs and minigames just make that impossible. There is nothing trivial about the flaws with the minigames. Concept, design and implication all are epic fails. I went back and tried again tonight thinking that maybe I was failing to give Obsidian the due credit. However, I am just as frustrated with the minigames and they are ruining the entire game for me. Add to that the two crashes I’ve had on the 360 making me have to go back to the same stupid terminal I’ve just hacked and I’m about ready to throw this poor excuse for a game in the nearest dumpster. BioWare games may be predictable and lack the story telling of Chris Avellone, but at least they are playable.

I would love for AP to be a great game, but the bugs and minigames just make that impossible. There is nothing trivial about the flaws with the minigames. Concept, design and implication all are epic fails. I went back and tried again tonight thinking that maybe I was failing to give Obsidian the due credit. However, I am just as frustrated with the minigames and they are ruining the entire game for me.What's your rank in Sabotage? If it's fairly low, then yes, hacking can be a bit challenging. But even using an Xbox controller, hacking is a cakewalk. It's like Adult Where's Waldo (:dev14:); just look for the characters that aren't scrolling, and match that with the two strings. It takes some effort, and while it's a bit of a nuisance, it can be done; it isn't a game-breaking paradigm. Regardless, most hacking encounters are completely optional, and for the ones that are mandatory, just use EMP grenades; they're there for a reason.

The other two minigames are also rudimentary; keypad bypassing is a line maze, and lockpicking is vertical Frogger. The keypad includes finding the input, following the line towards the output, and selecting the correct output in the correct order. It's simple, and while it does create a bit of havoc jumbling three overheads at once, it's not too frustrating if you can discern between patterns.

Lockpicking is just pressure and time-sensitive reflex bouts; you move the pins in the right order, lock them all in place, and voila; the door is open. On the PC, it's more difficult since you have to nudge the mouse to either an extreme up or down. However, the Xbox controls are much more intuitive; the left trigger applies pressure, the right trigger sets a pin in place. Unless if someone has Parkinson's, then this is essentially a reflex mechanism, and nothing more.

I really wondered if I could get my Assault Rifle to shoot Tranqs as the Pistol does.The assault rifle can use subsonic rounds, which effectively acts as a silencer, but that's it. The pistol is the only weapon that can do non-lethal takedowns (besides smacking them in the face). There's no editor I am aware of that makes changes like that. Maybe there is something in the INIs somewhere.

There is nothing trivial about the flaws with the minigames. Concept, design and implication all are epic fails. However, I am just as frustrated with the minigames and they are ruining the entire game for me.

I'm doing a replay of AP now and guess what, I can do the hacking minigame within 10 seconds even without any skill in Sabotage. Since you're playing on the Xbox, you can't even complain about lockpicking and electronic bypass, so there.

I really don't get the people who say the hacking minigame is hard - you even get a headstart. Just before the game starts, all letters are frozen and then start spinning, you should get at least one right away. For the other, just keep scanning until you find it and lock it in.

If anything about this game is a cluster****, it's the reception.

I can do the hacking minigame within 10 seconds even without any skill in Sabotage.Maybe you're like Rain Man.

Just because you find something easy, doesn't mean that other people do, or that they find it enjoyable even if they can do it.

I for one don't have a problem with the minigames. Yeah, the hacking is the most challenging and can be really hard on the eyes, but I've rarely failed in it.

My beef is with the rest of the gameplay - I already said which game it reminds me of in my previous post - and the many performance issues that shouldn't exist in a game with visuals that are average at best (excluding the character models). The story was also very disappointing and mostly predictable. I guess I simply expected something completely different from a game advertised as an "Espionage RPG".

I'm doing a replay of AP now and guess what, I can do the hacking minigame within 10 seconds even without any skill in Sabotage. Since you're playing on the Xbox, you can't even complain about lockpicking and electronic bypass, so there.

I really don't get the people who say the hacking minigame is hard - you even get a headstart. Just before the game starts, all letters are frozen and then start spinning, you should get at least one right away. For the other, just keep scanning until you find it and lock it in.

If anything about this game is a cluster****, it's the reception.

Completely agree. I sometimes fail, but I always spot that first one right on. Not that hard on PC, without points in sabotage.

I took a break from not sleeping long enough to come into work today. Since I can't play AP, I guess I might as well talk about it.

Re: bugs - there is some texture flickering in Greybox (multiple doors rendered one on top of the other). Also, the "reload causes enemies to disappear" thing is a little sad to see. Other than that, so far so good. AP has been a relatively bug-free experience for me.

Re: minigames - they are different. Locking picking isn't that hard and circuitry is kinda fun. Hacking was incredibly intimidating at first. Due to lots of practice, practice, practice, they're all fairly easy (obvious exception to the higher level stuff I saw in Taiwan. I hope that doesn't become the norm :(). I give Obs credit for creativity. One gripe I do have is that there isn't a skill-based work around for any of them (I'm reminded of the dueling minstrel show in NWN2 - my PC is supposed to be good with music, not me!). I wish putting points into a skill made the puzzles easier, rather than adding time. Meh.

Re: Story/Writing - loving it so far, but obviously there is a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong before the end. Steven Heck is hilarious. The TV dialog is very Bloodlines-esqe (as is the smirk animation I've seen about a million times on Smiling Jack and Jeanette). I'm not sure how enjoyable this game would be for someone that didn't follow U.S. politics. I can't help but feel that 30-somethings were the intended audience (video killed the radio star).

Re: gameplay - I'm a stealth guy, so I can't comment too much on the shooting (I rarely use my gun and only have about 3 points invested in Pistols). The stealth itself is fun. Some of the skills seem a little unrealistic, but then again, this is a video game. Love that I get XP for avoiding fights. I wish there was a little more variety to the takedown animations, but again, not going to complain too much.

I do feel as though there are some missions where stealth is almost impossible and that kinda seems to fly in the face of the whole "we're going to let you play however you want" thing I kept reading about (for example, there were parts of Konstanin's mansion that you just couldn't get through without a fight).

Re: dialog/"the stance system": For the most part pretty straightforward. I do feel as though I've been "mass effected" a couple of times (i.e. *eyes bug out* "I didn't realize that option was going to lead to THAT line of dialog").

That's it for now. I'll add more as I get further.

mimartin don't let the mini games, kill the game for you just grab Brewers +13 trainer. You can turn off the timer till you get used it or for the whole game. It's got too good of story and writing to not play it because of one or two bad designs. Plus Obsidian might have been so rushed by Sega they had to put something in quick to get the game out on time, so they could get paid and feed their families. ;)

These Save game files .sav look like strait Hex editing, I don't do this enough to be good at it. Oh where oh where can TK102 be with his niffty Save Game Editors when we need him.

Quick to the Bat Signal! :bat1:

Too bad I bought the 360 verision because I was worried about reported bugs. If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. :xp:

'd have no luck at all.
Doh!

Wish I was better at this Hex editing, I found the Reputation markers of the people I have met so far. I tried editing Stealth directly to 15 as a test before it was chosen as a career skill. It didn't work/unlock it, so might have to unlock each skill to 15, somehow before you can edit the level directly.

Right, this came earlier, and so I thought I'd chuck in some initial thoughts alongside everyone else. I'm going to bullet-point because I can't be arsed with paragraphs.

I went with "Normal" as a setting since easy is for weaklings and going with hard on a first playthrough would be a bit stupid. Also went with "Field Agent" as a background, and am currently trying the stealth options.

So far, I've completed the Grey Box, so I'm not sure how much of this will apply to the rest to the game. My comments probably involve spoilers, so I've put them in hidden tags:



This game takes quite some time to start up. Then again, so does Mass Effect 1, so it may just be a UE3 thing.
Got some lag in the opening cutscene, and wasn't really sure what the point of the random shot of the backs of a lot of seats was. Oh, well. I'm sure I got lag in Mass Effect at some point, too.
Subtitles do not keep up with the dialogue very well.
The game has odd lagging issues, and the load-points often seem a little arbitrary.
Complaints about the voice-acting and animations aren't wrong so much as overstated. They're a little niggling, but hardly a major infuriation.
The quality of the dialogue is quite variable at this point, but hasn't dipped below Biowarian, which is at least bearable. Could hope for more, but if the game really does improve after SA, we'll see.
The dialogue stance-switcher can be a bit sluggish, and a greater ease in switching might be nice, but again, this is a pretty minor complaint.
On the whole, I've no complaints about the graphics, except the slight delay in texture-loading I've noticed on the upgrade and customisation screens. Then again, IIRC this happens in ME, too.
Combat seems fine, if not exactly inspired. Then again, I'm not much of an FPS-er, so I'm not sure how it measures up. I'm also going for a more stealth-based run-through, so I'm not sure if it'll be as banal as I found Mass Effect's, since I'll (hopefully) not spend as much time mowing down masses and masses of enemies. And using biotic abilities.
On minigames, the clipping one is OK and the lockpicking seems quite easy. With hacking, that first one in the Grey Box area is really ****ing annoying. Following Sabre's advice in this thread, I put four points into sabotage, and the next one (which was optional, anyway) I had a timer of 30s if not more, which was a more manageable limit. I don't like how the left-hand pattern is moved - trailing behind the mouse in a quite infuriating way - but with aforesaid 4 points in Sabotage, so far it's seemed more an irritation than a major issue.
I was somewhat irritated that if you walk into the final room of the Grey Box, you can't then go back and redo any training you missed.



Overall, there are quite a few minor irritations, but no absolute show-stoppers (though that initial hacking one was really infuriating - then again, some thrive on challenge). It's not fantastic, but it's not awful either so far. Not sure whether I'd recommend picking it up right away at this point; so far, it seems fairly missable, TBH.

Here's some tweaks, for PC gamers suffering Mouse Lag and performance issues.
BEFORE, you do any of this make a NEW FOLDER, called Backups (or something) put a COPY of all the files you are editing FIRST before you edit them. NO don't argue with me, just do it!

Mouse tweaks.
set bEnableMouseSmoothing=False
in \Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\DefaultInput.ini

Two places here.
\My Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\APInput.ini

Also set in \My Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\APEngine.ini
the following:

[Engine.GameEngine]
bSmoothFrameRate=FALSE


[SystemSettings]
UseVsync=False

In APEngine.ini (C:\Users\username\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config), change the following settings:

UseBackgroundLevelStreaming=false
OnlyStreamInTextures=true
OneFrameThreadLag=False

If you are still experiencing problems then in Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\APEngine.ini you can set to:
DetailMode=1
MaxAnisotropy=0

The last real issues are the Bloom and Quality Bloom, but you can't turn those off (well maybe you can, but I haven't figured it out yet, maybe using trilinear some how?) becasue the UI menus use them to display Thorton like Appearance, Stats and Inventory windows.

I think that I'm going to hold off until a few of the obligatory patches have been released and the price goes down. A lot.

I can do the hacking minigame within 10 seconds even without any skill in Sabotage.
Maybe you're like Rain Man.
Oh s***.

:rofl:

How is the camera? past mess ups with that by Obsidian have made me very cautous about trusting them again.

It's rather good, actually. You can view 360 degrees around even in cover, so it's rather helpful and good enough that you don't notice it.

I think the camera sucks, it won't lock behind you, so you can turn one way and the stupid camera stays pointing another way.

Obsidian and sucky camera implementation is synonymous, apparently. You know it's not so bad they try to make inventive camera settings but FORCING them on gamers without any ability to turn it off, well sucks. :rolleyes:

Worst part is when it comes to third person view for a shooter, there are some very good examples Max Payne 1 & 2 had really great camera views and accuracy for shooting from third person.

That was 8 years ago and Obsidian still can't get a camera right! :lol:

:lol: Most modern third person games have this kind of camera. Those days when the camera was locked on the character's back and wouldn't allow you to see any other part of him/her are long gone. Good riddance, I say.

I think the camera sucks, it won't lock behind you, so you can turn one way and the stupid camera stays pointing another way.

Because moving your mouse is such a pain, right? Do you realise how difficult stealth gameplay would have been had there been no free-look?

Who said anything about not having Free Look or moving a mouse, you quoted me, so just wondering? Do you know the difference of being able to Free Look and having a camera locked behind you? Games like Oblivion have a locked third person with a Free Look.

Clearly if you don't know why Max Payne's third person view was ground breaking, you probably don't play shooters. Most are terrible at Aiming, hitting where the Cursor is pointing, the POINT was it was possible to have accurate aim in third person 8 years ago, every developer and there mother has a free look button now days.

Besides who really wants to Free Look at a guy PC, I mean what maybe high single digits? Free Look would have been cool, if we could have play Michelle Thorton. :D

For those looking for graphical and/or performance tweaks for AP, this thread at the Obsidian forums (http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?showtopic=55422) seems to contain some useful information, though you will need to draw together all the strands yourself at present, and I advise you read all the way through the thread to keep abreast of more recent developments.

And of course, the usual caveats apply: the thread authors take no responsibility for any damage to your game/computer caused by following their tweaks (and nor do I!), and you should keep backups of all the files that you modify. Nevertheless, since the OP has apparently unlocked SM3.0 support... may be worth your time checking out. ;)

It would seem that armor is optional for stealth play.

Doing a run on Recruit settings. Finished Saudi, Taipei, and am nearly finished with Rome and haven't put armor on once. Obviously, I don't think I'd be able to get away with this if I was doing a lot of shooting (I think I've used about 6 bullets so far).

Also, interesting to note is that you get 10 xp for each enemy you take down (not sure if this includes kills. I'm pretty much exclusively non-lethal) and 15 for each enemy you don't. Clearly there's an advantage to avoiding fights/sneaking past enemies when possible.

I certainly didn't do myself any favors in End Game, but I did manage to complete AP without armor. Died A LOT of times on the live-fire test range.

Someone please wake me when patches and mods have made this game worth buying. :dozey:

There won't be any mods, besides a few INI hacks. It's a cooked Unreal 3 game like Mass Effect, so there's no way to do major alterations.

Started my 4th play through last night. First three were stealth based (Field Agent, Recruit, and Veteran). Now I'm going slightly more combat.

Shotguns are cool. Firing at close range seems to make heads disappear. Medium range causes knock-downs which can then be followed up with running up and stomping on them.

While infiltrating the airbase, I noticed there was a bad guy on the opposite side of the door from me. When I kicked it in, he was knocked down and I was able to run up and stomp him.

Lastly, while I think I'm going to need some time to get used to throwing grenades, setting booby traps is fun, fun, fun. Incendiary bomb on a doorway, then stealth back behind a post and use my noise maker thingy to cause baddies to run over towards me. Good times.

I noted previously that you get an XP bonus for avoiding fights and I thought that seemed slightly unfair. However this time I'm noticing that killing people causes other people to spawn in the same area. So perhaps it all balances out.

For those asking, yes, there is going to be a patch for AP... eventually (http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/98401-gb-feature-obsidians-plans-for-alpha-protocol-patches-and-dlc.html). Though, I'm getting the feeling that any possibility of a sequel, let alone DLC, seems to have been thrown into the rubbish bin. On the bright side, it looks like AP isn't going to be a community-dependent, post-release game after all... yet. :p

"It would be a shame if some of the shallow, missed-the-point reviews we've seen ruin any such ideas."

Me likey

Alpha Protocol is $33.50 USD on Steam for today... worth it?

Alpha Protocol is $33.50 USD on Steam for today... worth it?For that price, yeah, I'd say so; it's more than a fair deal.

Hey,

I just finished my first play through and it was interesting.

I will say i was walking into the game looking to play it at a easy level and have fun with the game..not looking for the challenge which the clipping and camera jumps could get your player character killed.

The best part was the conversation system and how there were many possible ways to deal with NPCs from arresting, deals, and killing them.

This thread has already pointed out many issues with the game so I see no point in talking about them again....instead i would like to give my feedback on how and if they made a sequel to the game..I would like to see and ...feedback on how to solve the present game issues in the game.


With the dialogue system i would just add in two options to example professional.....ex professional playful, or suave lie,....these could be used to diversify or know a better intent of the player's dialogue mood.

When it comes the feats/abilities i would move away from invisible stealth and make it more realistic where you have to hide or find ways to use cover IDs to get into and around locations.

I like the twists and i believe that they should go for a more spy game verse a more of a james bond combat model.

As a fan of the TV show Burn Notice.....there are a lot of tidbits from the that show concerning spy activity that could be placed in a sequel of AP.

I believe they should take the RPG element and move it to the idea of how you can actually be a real spy.

The player can learn skills which will allow them to use their environment to aid them in there mission. These skill/tactics/techniques can be broken into the more aggressive/destructive tactics or the non killing/destructive tactics.

The player can Choose on how to handle a mission, using skills, cover IDs, intel, combat. The game should reward smart combat verse all out combat by using civilians in the mix or having the player not be able to take so many shots.

To make things easier the game could be split into combat missions and cover ID missions. This might help in designing the missions and levels.

I keep thinking about the original trailer where the player could use a smoke grenade to trigger a fire alarm or to all the player to escape in a different fashion.

I believe if they move toward a more technical spy game/RPG along with their dialogue system and work on controlling and refining the combat...they could make a game that has not been done before. Think of Hitman but instead of all the killing there is more on the idea of dealing with crisis that need a spy.

I would just hate to see their creative idea with the dialogue system and how it shaped the player's experience through the game that adds so much replay value and allows you to own your own choices.

Over all i like the game. I will try another play through later in the summer when i have more time.


Logan

The devs wanted to created a game in which there are a lot of different ways to accomplish the mission. The recommendations above seem to run counter to that.

For instance I prefer to utilize stealth when I play. It would irk me to be forced into "combat vs non-combat" mission as you suggest above.

I like the recommendation re: civilians, but again, my mind goes right back to the missions where they had precisely that (i.e. Al-Bara's party) and/or those that were remarkably similar (the ones where we're emphatically encouraged not to kill, but can anyways).

The devs wanted to created a game in which there are a lot of different ways to accomplish the mission. The recommendations above seem to run counter to that.

For instance I prefer to utilize stealth when I play. It would irk me to be forced into "combat vs non-combat" mission as you suggest above.

I like the recommendation re: civilians, but again, my mind goes right back to the missions where they had precisely that (i.e. Al-Bara's party) and/or those that were remarkably similar (the ones where we're emphatically encouraged not to kill, but can anyways).

^Oh, this annoyed me as well. I was stealthy CQC (with rifle) and never killed people (because I Judo-chopped them) unless I got involved in a shout-out. And, like you said, innocents and ehm...not-so-innocents aren't that different so I accidentally shot them. Which got rubbed in my face multiple times....