[X] My Assistant

[Wounded Ronin]

I'm playing through AP again to try and give it another shot. It's still bullshit on many many levels. I got another mouse and the tumbler game is easier now. The hacking game is still bullshit due to wierd sensitivity issues.

Gama balance is also still bullshit. I droped the tech skills and am much happier for it as the gadgets are useless. I took martial arts instead (standard stealth build to start). Sunk a lot of points into martial arts which was a mistake. Sure it's great when your closing on one mook and beating the crap out of him but more often then not trying to engage more then one at a time you'll be tripped up by the games crappy camera every time.

It doesn't help that every single named bad guy in the game has some rediculous melee resistance, including the 80 pound girl. She blocks every single attack after the first combo and then does some bullcrap kick which is going to automatically damage you and can't be interrupted.. For comparison the chinese super agent just blocks alot and occasionally trades a blow with me. The problem is he blocks so much that fight was the longest I've done yet (which was ok because i got the perk for listening tot he whole speech while we were doing our re-enactment of Rock 1). The fight with the cocaine addled russian however was hurrendous. Here's a guy who's major combative skill is supposedly cutting up people his friends have tied down and yet anytime you close to melee he basically gets an automatic chain of hits on your because of his boss power. If you do manage to lock him up in melee he'll either go into his unbreakable cocaine comba (which at least he can be hurt now thanks to the Steven Heck assistance, something i didn't have in the first game) or flash teleports away like some 80's sparkle vampire wet dream. I can't even begin to imagine what's going to happen when I face the NPC in rome who'se actual dossier involved extensive martial arts training as all these untrained fools have been kicking my ass.

Another thing I noticed. Anytime the game involves a drop scenario for some reason if the camera is looking up when the character drops down, something that can happen fairly frequently depending on how the camera is oriented when you do the drop. There's about an 80% chance you'll fall through the world and have to reload.

So yea i'm going to finish the game but I got to say most of the crap this game gets for being shit is well justified. Oh well soon we'll have new vegas and all will be well.

On my second and third playthroughs I invested a lot in martial arts, and I have to disagree with you that it is useless. I hate to say it because it just makes me sound like a naysayer, but honestly, I never had a problem with the camera either, but I don't know what more to say about that since other people have mentioned it.

I've never dropped through the world. :O


The key to using martial arts against mooks is to use cover and manuvering so you can beat on or two mooks at a time up without being in the line of fire of several more. It can be done, but you certainly can't just wade out into the open in order to use it against a firing squad.


You can use martial arts against bosses with a very high level of skill, but you just can't button mash regardless. You have to time your special abilities to counter their special abilities. Basically you have to use your flying knee in combination with the frenzy power. If the opponent starts blocking you must use the Quick Draw ability to at that point pull out a firearm and start shooting him in the middle of your MA combo. When the opponent stops blocking and pulls out a gun, that's when you start using your MA combo again.

This is the sort of thing I was referring to in my first post. Just because martial arts don't work if you simply run up to someone and button mash, that doesn't mean they don't work. You just have to take the time to figure out how they work and then using that skill becomes a challenging and rewarding part of the game.

[Karoline]

I've never dropped through the world. :O

Me either. Nor have I had any camera trouble.

If the opponent starts blocking you must use the Quick Draw ability to at that point pull out a firearm and start shooting him in the middle of your MA combo. When the opponent stops blocking and pulls out a gun, that's when you start using your MA combo again.

This is how I've beaten basically every single boss in the game so far using a shotgun and MA (Both of which I have no skill points in). About the only one I don't think I used this on was whats-her-name, the bodyguard girl. Been too long since I played and now my computer crashed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) Think I need a new motherboard.

[Wounded Ronin]

Me either. Nor have I had any camera trouble.

This is how I've beaten basically every single boss in the game so far using a shotgun and MA (Both of which I have no skill points in). About the only one I don't think I used this on was whats-her-name, the bodyguard girl. Been too long since I played and now my computer crashed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) Think I need a new motherboard.

Sis.

Yeah, Sis is one character I never tried to MA, because it's just so easy to kill her without moving from your original spot where you start the battle. I did like her character design, though.

[Karoline]

Sis.

Yeah, Sis is one character I never tried to MA, because it's just so easy to kill her without moving from your original spot where you start the battle. I did like her character design, though.

Knew it was something kinda weird like that. Personally I was simply afraid to leave cover against her, because in my first battle I didn't worry about her much at the start as I was trying to pick off the normal guys, and she killed me quick with her pistols, then the next time through I took the guys out more carefully, then got mowed down trying to close on her, so finally I just started hiding like a coward and firing blind at her (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Didn't help me that I'm a stealth spec with basically no combat skills.

And yeah, great character design. I lost so much rep with albatross and gained so much with Sis when I talked to them.

[Critias]

All the complaints just have me curious about the game, now, and make me want to see how cheap I can find it.

[LurkerOutThere]

The first play through sis was one of the easiest bosses to take down, but damnit I put a fair amount of points into MA I wanted to get some return. I didn't use the gun pull because that's next rank, I'll get that and see if it improves things and maybe button mash less.


Maybe the through the world thing is a problem after a patch as I don't remember it happening in my first play through.

[Karoline]

The first play through sis was one of the easiest bosses to take down, but damnit I put a fair amount of points into MA I wanted to get some return. I didn't use the gun pull because that's next rank, I'll get that and see if it improves things and maybe button mash less.

Wait, gun pull is some sort of ability? I just run up to boss, punch a few times, quick fire to break their block, punch a few times, quick fire, punch, then eventually run away to reload. Oh, also remote mines and trap mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Sis wasn't too hard once I learned not to not use cover. My character is an infiltration type after all, which sadly helps very little against bosses, but owns mooks five ways till Sunday.

[X-Kalibur]

AP is one of my new favorite games. I bought it when it came out (admittedly on the 360 rather than PC because it seemed more geared towards it) and did a rookie playthrough my first time. I can very honestly the say that the writing and story development are superb and while the gameplay could use polish, it is by no means a bad game. Overall though it's an 8 or so. Made for those who enjoy that particular genre but not for everyone.

(also, Chainshot on pistols is broken to hell and back)

[LurkerOutThere]

Playing as a pistols guy was like night and day from playing a shotgun guy. The end boss was cake to take down with a pistol as he's essentially stationary and will only shoot when you stick your head out which with a pistol you don't have to do.

Interestingly enough in regards to the boss in rome he turned to be the easiest boss when previously he'd been the hardest. When he closed to melee with me, something other bosses other then Brakyo just won't do I just begun pummeling the crap out of him. Easy peasy.

Glad I got through the game, still didn't feel like it had too much closure also seemed pointless to have different relations with the AP members when their basically all turned into one more boss in the final mission. Minigames were still BS, especially the lock picking.

[Voran]

Got the game on STEAM the other day and have been running through it. Overall, nice game, some fun moments that had me cackling evilly at my computer. Some thoughts:

1. Fire is awesome. Moar firebombz!

2. I like that npcs react to bodies lying about, but this brings me to 2 thoughts. It would have been so much cooler if bodies were persistent. And related to that, its a pity you couldn't (or had to) drag bodies away, ala Chronicles of Riddick, or as apparently seen in the new deus ex.

3. Upgraded adequately, melee is a giggle to use, especially once you start being able to combo melee and shooting them with your pistol.

4. A more varied patrol pattern of NPCs would have been nice, if you're patient, even without fully invested stealth, you can pretty much stealth kill all the minions.

5. It is always wise to (if you can afford it), lay traps around the area behind you when doing missions like 'hack the whatever' as the final step of the mission, as the game likes having ambushes.

6. Related to that, my first encounter with Sis was hilarious because I had lain down a brace of firebombs outside the cabin, so when it shifted from cinematic to 'boss fight' mode, she and the minions by her triggered the firebombs and ...well..boss fight was done in relatively short order.


My build was stealth/sabotage/melee. I was a firebombing ninja. With decent pistol skills too, since I ended up using them so damned much.


A pity there won't be a sequel, or expansion. But with Deus Ex coming out again, hopefully that'll tide me over.


Alpha Protocol was , to me, like Vampire: Bloodlines, an awesome though initially buggy game, that will likely continue to work if the community makes patches for it, cause the publishers can't or won't. It tried to do something new, which was nice, but unfortunately couldn't make a decent enough impact.

[Mäx]

4. A more varied patrol pattern of NPCs would have been nice, if you're patient, even without fully invested stealth, you can pretty much stealth kill all the minions.

Silent running is one of the most hilarious special abilities in the game, combined with that auto triggering power that gives you a little time before they actually react to you when they see you, you can in some points just activate the power and run from one enymy to the next and next and next steath killing them all.

Its funny looking when you run pretty much full circle around room stealth killing enemies one by one while the other guys in the room dont notice anythink. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Voran]

Silent running is one of the most hilarious special abilities in the game, combined with that auto triggering power that gives you a little time before they actually react to you when they see you, you can in some points just activate the power and run from one enymy to the next and next and next steath killing them all.

Its funny looking when you run pretty much full circle around room stealth killing enemies one by one while the other guys in the room dont notice anythink. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Yeah stealth gets a little (ok alot) broken at upper levels. You pop your 'combat obfuscate' and yeah run around stealth killing guys in front of each other. I do like the running KNEE TO THE FACE attack you can do with upgraded melee tree, the cinematic slow down is a nice touch too.

Some other thoughts:

Cameras apparently don't care if you leave a dead/unconscious body in the middle of their view.

Still working on my 1st playthrough, second one I'll go veteran operator route with the 'jack bauer' approach, i wanna threaten people and punch people in the face during conversations.

My current track is having good results though, so i can see how taking a super aggressive track will not work well. (I'm currently on pretty good reputation terms with everyone in the game so far) Heck, even the guys that want to kill me 'trust me'.

[Karoline]

Still working on my 1st playthrough, second one I'll go veteran operator route with the 'jack bauer' approach, i wanna threaten people and punch people in the face during conversations.

Yeah, they mentioned this early on in the game, and then I've only seen.... like one time where you could actually use it so far.

[Voran]

Yeah, they mentioned this early on in the game, and then I've only seen.... like one time where you could actually use it so far.

Yeah Ive just seen it once so far too. Satisfying, but there were other instances well before it I wish I could have used a FALCON PAWNCH interrupt.

[Karoline]

Yeah Ive just seen it once so far too. Satisfying, but there were other instances well before it I wish I could have used a FALCON PAWNCH interrupt.

Hmm, only time I remember it being an option was breaking into the arms dealer place, which was my first mission ever.

But yeah, plenty of times I was like "Okay, when is my option to shoot the person while they're being long winded going to come up?"

Similarly they talk about adrenalin going down and endurance recovering, but you never really have conversation and combat that close together. One of those 'cool ideas that didn't really amount to anything'.

[Critias]

Well, Alpha Protocol's officially on my Amazon wish list, so I might snag it soon (I try to make birthday shopping as easy as I can for my mom. My wife I can trust to know cool stuff when she sees it, my mother, not so much)...looks like the critical reviews helped drop the price, so maybe we'll be able to score it for cheap.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of "boss fights," but I figure the game itself should still be worth checking out.

[IcyCool]

Just finished my first playthrough on Recruit with all of my points into Stealth, Pistols, and Sabotage. Easiest. Playthrough. Ever.

Early on it was a little tough, but then I got pistols up to the point where I got Chain Shot. Sabotage made the minigames easy pickings, and once I got the Stealth pseudo-invisibility power, there was a great deal of mass-necksnapping to be done. The game was a great deal of fun, and I'm playing it through on Veteran now. I'm also going to see if I can manage to romance all four love-interests this time through (I got Mina, Scarlet, and Sie on my first playthrough). James Bond style, here I come!

Possible disclaimer, I played the PS3 version, so I don't know how difficult the lockpicking minigame would be on the PC. In fact, it's hard for me to imagine how it works on the PC, as it is pressure sensitive with the PS3 controller.

[Karoline]

In fact, it's hard for me to imagine how it works on the PC, as it is pressure sensitive with the PS3 controller.

Poorly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Tanegar]

I just picked up Alpha Protocol for $2.00 (yay, Steam sales!) and with the caveat that I've only completed one mission (the airfield), I'm pretty damned impressed with it. It reminds me quite strongly of Deus Ex, which is one of the best compliments I can give a game. I haven't had any technical issues with the minigames: security panels and lockpicking are cake, and the difficulty in hacking is real difficulty, not fake difficulty, in that I find it genuinely challenging to pick out the strings of non-changing characters against a background of constantly changing characters.

Overall, I give it 8/10 at first blush.

[Bigity]

I was gifted the game, but seems nice so far. Only done the tutorial/starting area though. The hacking thing gets me because I keep forgetting I use two different buttons to lock in the codes on either side.

[Critias]

I actually really enjoyed Alpha Protocol. I know the game wasn't perfect, but I was really quite disappointed when I heard there wasn't any chance of there being a sequel -- it seems to me like for once a sequel was just what the doctor ordered, because they would have been able to keep the core idea and just smooth over some of the game's rough edges.

[Seriously Mike]

I beat the game a long time ago and I pretty much agree with most of things said here. Good, but largely unpolished Mass Effect clone with some interesting things. The one thing that did bug me were stupidly linear levels that are pretty much one-directional.

[Rastus]

I actually really enjoyed Alpha Protocol. I know the game wasn't perfect, but I was really quite disappointed when I heard there wasn't any chance of there being a sequel -- it seems to me like for once a sequel was just what the doctor ordered, because they would have been able to keep the core idea and just smooth over some of the game's rough edges.

Actually, there just might be a slight hope of a sequel!

The tl;dr version of that link is basicly thus: Obsidian is willing to admit certain things went poorly, but they really liked what they did right, and are interested in doing a sequel one day; Sega may of said no, but it's Obsidian who hold rights to the property. No official announcements yet, but the recent Steam sale has done fairly well, so who knows.

[Critias]

Ah, sweet! Thanks for the link. I won't get my hopes up or anything, but it's cool to know it's got a chance. For all I acknowledge it wasn't a great game, I think it wsa a good one, and deserves a second chance.

[Rastus]

It's not a perfect comparison, but part of me likes to think of Alpha Protocol as something like the first Uncharted game. It was good, but it was a shot in the dark with some really annoying parts, and they had some lessons to learn before it was perfect. Soon enough, Uncharted got a sequel and the reception speaks for itself.

Sometimes you just need a second chance in order to achieve greatness.