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There are a few blind spots like G22 thing, and I have a fairly easy time forgiving them given the amount of stuff the developers had to keep track of. The game obviously assumes you'll meet G22 in Taipei first, which is kind of odd since the plot reason to go to Moscow is "this is where the missiles that blew up the airliner came from" which is a pretty compelling reason to go there first. As I recall it feels like a decent introduction in Moscow, but then you meet them in Taipei and Mike goes "hmm, G22, I know these guys, they're fine. Welp, better kill them all." There's also not much difference with Steven Heck's dialogue when he doesn't like you, outside of a couple of lines. But the only people who will notice that are the lame asses who act like a professional around Steven Heck. Mina's dialogue in certain endgame scenarios is one I wish they'd caught though: If she likes you she comes to your apartment and confesses that she works for a super secret department and she was the one who cut you off so you'd have to fight Halbech. You then side with Leland, who tells you to kill Mina, and that you'll want to when you hear what she has to say. So you find Mina, and... she confesses that she works for a super secret department and she was the one who cut you off so you'd have to fight Halbech. It's weird that that slipped through.
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Nov 20, 2012 17:16
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| # ? May 31, 2024 22:09 |
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So I heard the only reason to play this game is for the wonderful Obsidian-dialogue and writing, because the gameplay is just atrocious just all their other games? I'm all for exposition and dialogue.
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Nov 21, 2012 03:27
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The gameplay's not terrible, but it's not special enough to stand on its own. It's unbalanced but unoffensive. The worst parts are the engine limitations (e.g. one-way doors) and annoying minigames. (Playing a shotgun maniac with white phosphorus rounds, toughness, and incendiary grenades goes a long way to help, though.)
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Nov 21, 2012 03:34
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And the obvious reminder for any game that lets you choose stealth skills: You should never only level up stealth.
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Nov 21, 2012 03:38
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Almost. The gameplay is not atrocious, it's perfectly competent although apparently some PCs encounter a few bugs and the controls aren't great. The dialogue and the writing isn't beautiful or powerful prose or anything, but it really hooks you with how natural and reactive it is to the way you play. The conversations are the most fun part of the game, but they're actually gameplay, they aren't just cutscenes. Chances are half the exposition will elude you for your first playthrough - it might take you three times through to really understand what happens... though it's more like you reveal the circumstances before what happens, since you ultimately change so much. Then again I'm expecting you to understand and comprehend this post when you're apparently subhuman as evidenced by your characterization of Obsidian's other games as atrocious. Oh well.
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Nov 21, 2012 03:38
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I gifted this to a buddy a little while ago, and he's about to finish. What should I ask him about in order to convince him that he'll need to do another playthrough to get the whole story? Things like "Did you find out who the sniper was? Did you find out who burned you? Etc..." I've played this way too many times to remember what you need multiple runs to learn.
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Nov 21, 2012 04:23
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Steiv posted:I gifted this to a buddy a little while ago, and he's about to finish. What should I ask him about in order to convince him that he'll need to do another playthrough to get the whole story? Things like "Did you find out who the sniper was? Did you find out who burned you? Etc..." I've played this way too many times to remember what you need multiple runs to learn. Those two are good ones. Ask him if he killed Marburg, found out who Madison really is, got the Steven Heck ending, and found out Surkov's secret. I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
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Nov 21, 2012 04:30
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Realism posted:So I heard the only reason to play this game is for the wonderful Obsidian-dialogue and writing, because the gameplay is just atrocious just all their other games? More or less. The only truly atrocious part is the menu system for selecting your active skill/gadget and changing equipment. The core gameplay is clunky but tolerable. On the other hand, the conversation and choice/consequence systems are by far the best ever put into an RPG. The storyline is incredibly reactive and has tons of mutually exclusive content. Plus: the best boss fight since MGS3.
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Nov 21, 2012 04:31
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The second of those questions is probably the better one. Things like "did you get Parker to try and kill Marburg?" or other such questions mightbe worth a shot, since they supply things he might not have even considered.
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Nov 21, 2012 04:35
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Playing on Veteran really makes a no-kill playthrough much less of a pain in the rear end. Starting with maxed (5 units) pistol, stealth, sabotage and martial arts is a godsend.
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Nov 21, 2012 05:15
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Ceyton posted:More or less. The only truly atrocious part is the menu system for selecting your active skill/gadget and changing equipment
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Nov 21, 2012 06:08
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2house2fly posted:I don't even have a problem with that, though it's designed for a console's d-pad, so it might be a problem on PC, like the hacking minigame- which, from the sound of it, really is atrocious. Hacking isn't bad once you figure out that the trick is to move your mouse as slowly as possible.
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Nov 21, 2012 06:40
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2house2fly posted:I don't even have a problem with that, though it's designed for a console's d-pad, so it might be a problem on PC, like the hacking minigame- which, from the sound of it, really is atrocious. It's not atrocious, it's just not trivial like the stuff in many other games because the game doesn't feel obligated to let you do/get everything in one go. The game could use more polish and some poo poo is just outrageously overpowered such as the blind pistol headshots from cover, but despite of that it's one of Obsidian's best games gameplay wise and well up to par with other games of it's genre as well. Hell, I played it around the same time as ME2 originally and ME2 was a boring visual novel by comparison, didn't help it's writing can't hold a candle to AP's. Was actually surprised to see this thread still staying afloat, but what a great thing. One of the underrated gems of recent times.
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Nov 21, 2012 06:41
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About to replay this game. My first playthrough was as a stealthy no kill professional. This time I wanna do a Halbech betrayal ending, where I side with Leland then reveal that I've formed illuminati alliances of my own. What's the best way to become the shadow king of Earth?
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Nov 22, 2012 04:16
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Lie a bunch.
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Nov 22, 2012 04:21
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Befriend literally everyone in the entire game and spare everyone's life. Find out all the secrets about the different characters but don't reveal them to anyone else until the very end of the game.
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Nov 22, 2012 04:38
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vyelkin posted:Befriend literally everyone in the entire game and spare everyone's life. Find out all the secrets about the different characters but don't reveal them to anyone else until the very end of the game.
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Nov 22, 2012 05:07
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Hra Mormo posted:It's not atrocious, it's just not trivial like the stuff in many other games because the game doesn't feel obligated to let you do/get everything in one go.
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Nov 22, 2012 06:09
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not joseph stalin posted:About to replay this game. My first playthrough was as a stealthy no kill professional. This time I wanna do a Halbech betrayal ending, where I side with Leland then reveal that I've formed illuminati alliances of my own. What's the best way to become the shadow king of Earth? The easiest way is to actually play it professionally, become buddies with everyone and always spare your enemies. At the veeery end as you're walking away with Leland betray him. It completely owns. I did it as a recruit and without killing anyone in cutscenes (though I killed quite a few people, I was using shotguns) and as a result got like five different achievements at once. It was satisfying as all hell.
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Nov 22, 2012 06:54
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CaptainCarrot posted:No, it really is atrocious. When you move your mouse, the selector on the screen will not move similarly. Every other loving game I've ever played has managed that, so I don't see why AP can't. Something difficult? In a videogame?! 
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Nov 22, 2012 07:53
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CaptainCarrot posted:No, it really is atrocious. When you move your mouse, the selector on the screen will not move similarly. Every other loving game I've ever played has managed that, so I don't see why AP can't. Look at it this way.... AP does a lot of things plot and storywise a lot of other games don't, so you have to endure some rather curious quirks for the privilege.
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Nov 22, 2012 08:03
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I'm playing through this again for the first time in forever, and I'm trying to do Darcy's training mission but when I attach the EMP grenade to the electronic door lock nothing happens. I don't remember doing anything different last time I played but the thing just won't go off and let me proceed. EDIT: Weird, I ended up having to just throw the EMP at the base of the wall below the keypad and that worked. I don't remember it working like that in the past? vvv I tried restarting the game several times and everything. The outline of the EMP was coming up red even when standing right at the keypad. It would attach, beep, and then nothing. Oh well I'm past it now, I'll try to remember putting it on the door itself next time, thanks. clone on the phone fucked around with this message at 12:10 on Nov 22, 2012 |
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Nov 22, 2012 12:07
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Rasmussen posted:I'm playing through this again for the first time in forever, and I'm trying to do Darcy's training mission but when I attach the EMP grenade to the electronic door lock nothing happens. I don't remember doing anything different last time I played but the thing just won't go off and let me proceed. I did this not fifteen minutes ago and it worked as soon as I stuck the EMP onto the actual door itself.
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Nov 22, 2012 12:08
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I only just discovered yesterday that if you aim at a piece of cover in front of you (and not just an adjacent piece of cover to your left or right) from another piece of cover Mike can automatically move forward into it. Not particularly mind blowing but still it feels a bit like my realisation that you could actually move the camera when in the powers menu in the Mass Effect games.
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Nov 22, 2012 12:36
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Doc Hawkins posted:Something difficult? In a videogame?! A set of minigames so annoying that the common solution is to bypass them altogether? Being complained about? e: Mine's too long to be appropriately quippy.
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Nov 22, 2012 12:40
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Doc Hawkins posted:Something difficult? In a videogame?! Difficult challenges in videogames are one thing, frustrating obstacles that hinder or prevent one from taking said challenges in the first place are another.
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Nov 22, 2012 12:44
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Doc Hawkins posted:Something difficult? In a videogame?! The hacking minigame is not supposed to be difficult because you can't select things without a stupid amount of screwing around, the difficulty is centered around finding the stationary codes. You're pretty much the only person i've ever seen defend the PC version's hacking minigame, and there's seriously a great reason for that - it's annoying and bullshit.
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Nov 22, 2012 13:44
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Yeah, the PC hacking minigame is legit horrible. Which is a shame, since it's pretty neat when you can actually control it properly. Also, i finished my... fifth? Sixth? playthrough recently, and this time i actually gave SMGs a chance (having only used pistols or shotguns before) and while they start off really lovely, they get absurdly fun once you get some better guns and better skills. Mirrored aviator shades, a smugly murderous disposition, and dual-wielded SMGs make for one hell of a total rear end in a top hat Mike.  I actually recommend giving SMGs a try the next time anyone want to do a very un-subtle playthrough, they're way more fun than shotguns when you get used to them.
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Nov 22, 2012 14:02
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CaptainCarrot posted:No, it really is atrocious. When you move your mouse, the selector on the screen will not move similarly. Every other loving game I've ever played has managed that, so I don't see why AP can't. It's pretty terrible but there's a really simple reason for it (it's treating the mouse like an analog stick, so it doesn't care about how fast you're moving it, just what direction, and the speed at which you can move the selector is capped to the same speed as if you were using the controller). You've never played any other game that had a lazy mouse->controller setup?
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Nov 22, 2012 14:29
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I've never had a problem with the PC hacking minigame v v You just kind of have to slowly slide the mouse, getting angry about it won't solve anything.
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Nov 22, 2012 14:36
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Call Now posted:I've never had a problem with the PC hacking minigame v I did that, and it didn't help.
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Nov 22, 2012 14:50
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ToxicFrog posted:It's pretty terrible but there's a really simple reason for it (it's treating the mouse like an analog stick, so it doesn't care about how fast you're moving it, just what direction, and the speed at which you can move the selector is capped to the same speed as if you were using the controller). You've never played any other game that had a lazy mouse->controller setup?
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Nov 22, 2012 14:56
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Alpha Protocol - #1 Most Underrated Game of the Century. If it had ME3's shooting mechanics... #1 Game of the Century.
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Nov 22, 2012 15:43
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Call Now posted:I've never had a problem with the PC hacking minigame v This was also my experience. Honestly, until I saw it discussed in this thread, it never occurred to me that the controls for the minigame might have been done like that by accident. I had grown to thinking it was a really cool friction, provoking a balancing act between needing to act quickly, but with precise and deliberate control, kinda like a computer hacker in a movie. But looking at it as a designer, I'll admit that if it turned a bunch of people off, it is bad, or at least badly introduced.
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Nov 22, 2012 15:49
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CaptainCarrot posted:I did that, and it didn't help.  How so? The selector moves at the same speed no matter how fast you move the mouse, so moving it slowly means you don't keep running off the edge of the desk. There's nothing you can do to increase the selector speed, if that's what you're after; there's a hard limit whether you're using KBM or controller.
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Nov 22, 2012 15:53
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Yeah, once I knew how it worked, I never really had a problem with the hacking.
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Nov 22, 2012 16:02
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Once you realize it's designed to be done with two analog sticks and the two will move at the same speed no matter what you do it becomes a lot easier, but that still doesn't make it good design. Just because I didn't have difficulty with it doesn't mean I wouldn't change it to respond like a real mouse if I could.
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Nov 22, 2012 17:10
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Playing through again. Mike is an rear end in a top hat, always using the Aggressive option when possible. Build is full Sabotage/Tech, with my weapons focus in Martial Arts and SMGs. I plan to be a dickhead, lumberjack-beard sportin', beanie cap and mirror shades wearin', bullet sprayin', throat slittin', karate choppin', poo poo-talkin' James Bond throwing grenades and booby traps everywhere because that poo poo is cool.
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Nov 23, 2012 08:33
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Only tangentially related, but it was just revealed that Bioware was working on a spy RPG at the same time as Obsidian was. Sounds like it would have been incredibly similar too.quote:"The concept was to do the other half of GoldenEye," Oster explained. "The idea being that James Bond isn't just a gun that walks around the world and shoots people. He's a suave manipulator, he's a talented martial artist, he's a secret agent. We wanted to cross that 007 with Jason Bourne, where he's been modified in some way; you're not sure what, but he's definitely deadly.
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Dec 7, 2012 06:26
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| # ? May 31, 2024 22:09 |
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Choose to save the world from Halbech by using the green, red or blue computer terminal.
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Dec 7, 2012 06:39
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