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Mina is the funniest character to piss off. Especially when you come to rescue her in the final mission. " What do you want, Thorton?"Actually, I tell a lie. There are so many characters that are fun to piss off, you can't just decide on a favourite.
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Feb 11, 2013 21:55
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Mymla posted:Mina is the funniest character to piss off. Especially when you come to rescue her in the final mission. " Agreed. I usually hate being a dick in games because there's no real effort put into it from the devs, but making people hate you in this game was just such a labor of love, especially because it manifests in ways beyond just a line of dialogue where they're meaner to you; in AP people will pull a goddamn gun on you.
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Feb 11, 2013 22:15
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A recent drunken conversation with a friend (where I insisted that he give AP another chance by playing it at least twice in a row) inspired me to dust off my copy for a douchebag rear end in a top hat Thorton run. Basically, I always choose the aggressive option unless suave is obviously going to make him sound like an idiot. I'm on the last mission of my first hub (Taipei) and this play-through's the most fun one yet. The only friend I have (and will ever need) is Heck and it's looking like my constant flirting will get me into Scarlet's pants, but Leland is starting to overlook my stupid jokes and like my assholish tendencies. Marburg is going to love me 
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Feb 12, 2013 00:38
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Are there any notable/recommended Let's Play APs in particular? I'm intrigued by the discussion and some of the articles praising the story, but personally find it impossible to get over the actual gameplay problems.
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Feb 12, 2013 00:45
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Bryne posted:Are there any notable/recommended Let's Play APs in particular? I'm intrigued by the discussion and some of the articles praising the story, but personally find it impossible to get over the actual gameplay problems. Not one, but two (technically three)! http://lparchive.org/Alpha-Protocol/ http://lparchive.org/Alpha-Protocol-%28by-Bobbin-Threadbare%29/
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Feb 12, 2013 00:54
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As reactive as this game usually is, there are a few parts that are a bit... jarring at times. Like if you shadow operative your way through marburg's mansion, not killing anyone, and knocking out a total of 7 guards, at the end Thorton still does the whole smug walk-away-guy-dying-to-grenade-behind-him thing. Also, it seems no-one but the news reporters react to Heck telling everyone that Thorton is Sung's assassin. Also, I don't think it makes any difference at all if you charge through the Triads guns blazing or if you crawl through the place, knocking out the three leaders without anyone noticing. That last one is doubly disappointing, I would've figured the guy who tells you to do it would be pissed and refuse to cooperate if you don't kill them.
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Feb 12, 2013 20:00
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Mymla posted:As reactive as this game usually is, there are a few parts that are a bit... jarring at times.
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Feb 13, 2013 06:40
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I was an AP early adopter and played, like, an hour before getting bored. This thread is making me wanna play it again.
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Feb 13, 2013 08:07
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AP has a really lovely first impression. Soldier through the Saudi Arabia arc, and you'll find yourself a gem.
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Feb 13, 2013 09:11
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Maybe it's because I tend to play older games, but I don't see this bad first impression. I liked it right from the beginning. What is it that's supposed to be so unpleasant about the game near the start?
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Feb 13, 2013 09:32
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Project1 posted:Maybe it's because I tend to play older games, but I don't see this bad first impression. I liked it right from the beginning. What is it that's supposed to be so unpleasant about the game near the start? I did not like the shooting mechanics but I like the Mass Effect games so I guess I'm being a bit hypocritical. I'm downloading it now - I'll play it during those long quiet night shifts.
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Feb 13, 2013 09:44
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Project1 posted:Maybe it's because I tend to play older games, but I don't see this bad first impression. I liked it right from the beginning. What is it that's supposed to be so unpleasant about the game near the start? It looks like a bad shooter. The shooter mechanics are disappointing, because it isn't a shooter. Once you figure out what kind of game it is, it is awesome, but it is easy to mistake it for a mediocre shooter. Right through Saudi it looks just like those games where "choices" are just fluff that have no effect and the story isn't all that compelling. I thought it was okay too, probably because I never play shooters so I had no idea what a good one would look like.
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Feb 13, 2013 09:45
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It presents itself as a third person action game with a straight "go to the middle east and shoot terrorists" story. There's only a hint of the game's conversation design, very little reactivity, and players don't have a lot of skill points to flesh out their character yet so "gimmick" builds like stealth, gadgets or even melee can feel a bit handicapped. Someone with a lower tolerance for average third person shooters might just give up before the best parts of the game come into play in force.
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Feb 13, 2013 09:46
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Project1 posted:Maybe it's because I tend to play older games, but I don't see this bad first impression. I liked it right from the beginning. What is it that's supposed to be so unpleasant about the game near the start? It's a long, unskippable section that focuses on the weakest part of the game (the gameplay), at a point where you don't have any of the skills to fast-track through it.
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Feb 13, 2013 09:47
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My first impression of the game wasn't even that it was a third-person shooter, but then, I like a stealthy playing style. My whole mindset going into it was that it was kind of a puzzle game, really--figuring out the patterns, finding hidden alternate routes, timing everything just right--and it didn't disappoint.
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Feb 13, 2013 09:50
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Ah, I see. I'm used to playing story or atmospheric shooters, where the gameplay isn't the focus. Things like System Shock, Thief, Stalker, and Metro 2033, where the gameplay may or may not be amazing, but it's not the focus of the game. It was pretty plain to me that AP fell into that category, right from the start.
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Feb 13, 2013 11:48
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I managed to get this ages ago on the cheap and after being put off by Saudi and glitches (my old computer didn't like it very much). I picked it up again after upgrading my machine and managed to finish it just recently. It was actually a lot more fun than I initially thought, and if they'd opened with Steven Heck, it definitely wouldn't have taken me this long to play it. I did a non-lethal pistol runthrough, attempting to keep everyone happy, but while my orphan counter stayed at 0 for most of the game, my escape key broke just as I got to the endgame. So I ended up running through the entire finale without being able to save or load, making for an interesting, if *unprofessional* experience. For example, I missed the final conversation with Scarlet in which she reveals she's an assassin, meaning she sniped me at the end. Luckily, I had a high enough influence with her I could have her kill Leland instead. I'll probably do another playthrough, but I watched Bobbin Threadbare's LP to see what I missed, and from the sound of it I got a combination of endings he didn't think was possible: Despite punching Leland, Westridge was my final boss, then after arresting him the game warped Leland into the same area where I proceeded to confront him and the whole Scarlet thing happened. I'm not sure if that's the result of a glitch or simply what's expected to happen, but it was a pretty satisfying conclusion. Then I skipped the credits because I didn't know about the ending slideshow. So that's something to avoid next time.
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Feb 13, 2013 12:28
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The White Dragon posted:My first impression of the game wasn't even that it was a third-person shooter, but then, I like a stealthy playing style. My whole mindset going into it was that it was kind of a puzzle game, really--figuring out the patterns, finding hidden alternate routes, timing everything just right--and it didn't disappoint. Yeah, I feel that a lot of people's negative impression of this game seems to stem from "It has guns and therefore it is a shooter." It's a shooter in the same way that Dungeons and Dragons is a medieval combat simulator.
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Feb 13, 2013 13:03
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I've played through five times and never seen Westrodge since Saudi. How do I see him again?
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Feb 13, 2013 15:10
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Riven posted:I've played through five times and never seen Westrodge since Saudi. How do I see him again? IIRC, you have to (spoiling to be safe) side with Al-Samad in the end.
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Feb 13, 2013 15:12
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Kalos posted:Yeah, I feel that a lot of people's negative impression of this game seems to stem from "It has guns and therefore it is a shooter." It's a shooter in the same way that Dungeons and Dragons is a medieval combat simulator. Yeah, I went into it expecting it to behave something like Deus Ex and it pretty much did. This conversation reminds me that Deus Ex got a lot of similar complaints from people who went in expecting it to play like Quake. The first level (Liberty Island) still has a bad reputation as a result.
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Feb 13, 2013 15:45
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First time I played this I actually got hugely excited at the beginning when Westridge is talking about how everything you say has a consequence (not really a spoiler is it?) I realised the possibilities this entailed and the game didn't disappoint me in the slightest.
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Feb 13, 2013 16:21
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CommissarMega posted:IIRC, you have to (spoiling to be safe) side with Al-Samad in the end. when you meet him for the second time Shaheed will ask "are you sure you want to work against the US government?" If you answer Yes you'll get Westridge as a final boss. I don't know what else will get you that, apart from siding with Leland. Also, you can still kill Shaheed right after you say that, which I always did because the motherfucker blew up a plane.
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Feb 13, 2013 17:56
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Westridge spoilers: I thought it was "working against the US" that brought Westridge out in the end, which should include violently dealing with the NSA/CIA agents in Rome
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Feb 13, 2013 18:22
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I've gotten pretty lucky with AP as far as bugs go, but last night I ran into two spots in missions where the game wouldn't let me move forward. The first was the finale in Taipei, one of the zip lines in the Omen Deng area wouldn't work. And then in Brayko's mansion, I took the veteran route, got the data, dealt with Sie... then got locked out of the third building where Brayko's at. Before, the worst bugs would be the occasionally wonky graphics or a crash at a checkpoint once in a blue moon, but nothing ever this serious. Maybe the game's being an rear end in a top hat to rear end in a top hat Thorton... this loving game.
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Feb 13, 2013 21:19
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orcane posted:Westridge spoilers: Weirdly, killing American service personnel in Alpha Protocol itself is apparently just fine. I always thought it was weird no one cared at all if you kill those dudes, despite the files saying they were just U.S. military people selected for extra duty and who undoubtedly thought they were serving America faithfully.
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Feb 14, 2013 00:10
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Project1 posted:Maybe it's because I tend to play older games, but I don't see this bad first impression. I liked it right from the beginning. What is it that's supposed to be so unpleasant about the game near the start? Same, really. I actually enjoy the mechanics, and haven't gone pistols since the first runthrough because of that. But if you don't really know its reputation going into it it would probably just seem like a sloppy shooter.
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Feb 14, 2013 03:46
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Man, the person who goes with you on the boat at the end can seem utterly random at times. I just finished a game where I spared and converted everyone possible, joined Halbech, brought SIE to the final mission, teamed up with Scarlet, spared Mina & Westridge, and then finally killed Leland...and then it was Mina with me on the boat, looking much better than she had been a few minutes prior when we parted on less than perfectly friendly terms. I didn't romance anyone (specifically went for No Time For Love), and Mina's opinion was only at 9 compared to, say, Scarlet's 10. Maybe Mina is something of a default option there? Still odd, though.
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Feb 15, 2013 22:17
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Strudel Man posted:Man, the person who goes with you on the boat at the end can seem utterly random at times. I just finished a game where I spared and converted everyone possible, joined Halbech, brought SIE to the final mission, teamed up with Scarlet, spared Mina & Westridge, and then finally killed Leland...and then it was Mina with me on the boat, looking much better than she had been a few minutes prior when we parted on less than perfectly friendly terms. I didn't romance anyone (specifically went for No Time For Love), and Mina's opinion was only at 9 compared to, say, Scarlet's 10. If you saved Mina she'll override all other boat options. If you want the best boat scene (Michael and his true love Stephen Heck sailing of into the sunset), you'll have to leave her behind.
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Feb 15, 2013 22:36
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Raygereio posted:Ending boat spoiler:
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Feb 15, 2013 23:37
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Raygereio posted:Ending boat spoiler: No, I'm pretty sure I saved her once, and still got Heck on the boat. I had her at -10 rep and Heck at +10 rep.
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Feb 16, 2013 02:07
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So I had an odd conversation with Brayko while playing last night that felt like a bug. Paraphrased from my bad memory, and skipping a few lines: So tell me about Halbech. The company? What about them? Surkov told me you were their contact in Moscow. Surkov has been working on something and kept me out of the loop. So Surkov must be their contact... And you stole the documents to get revenge. By the way, Surkov is Halbech's contact in Moscow. I know, he told me himself. That bastard, he's been keeping me out of the deal. I stole the documents to get revenge.Then I refused his alliance but didn't kill him. So I gained him as an ally as a result. 
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Feb 26, 2013 02:15
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Project1 posted:So I had an odd conversation with Brayko while playing last night that felt like a bug. Paraphrased from my bad memory, and skipping a few lines: I don't see what's a bug about this at all. In fact, you can then have Brayko kill Championchik and then let him slowly gut Surkov
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Feb 26, 2013 02:21
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It sort of feels like they didn't have time to properly test some conversations, and there were variations based on the amount of dossier information you had. So you could know about X already, or interrogate Y until he tells you about X, and the game lets you do both. There's another bit at the end of the game where Mina confesses to Mike that she was the one who cut him off from the agency, then later if you work for Halbech you can angrily confront her about cutting you off from the agency.
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Feb 26, 2013 02:48
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They were both ignorant until Thorton used his superior reasoning skills, then they both already knew about something Thorton only worked out one minute prior. Thorton then says that Brayko can forget making a deal, he'd rather just kill him, fires a couple of bullets 5 centimetres from his head, and walks away, which makes them allies. It's either a bug, or the whole things was written in a really confusing manner.
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Feb 26, 2013 03:01
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I didn't even know you could not ally with Surkov. I always thought the information on Championchik was put in and they ran out of time to do something with him.
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Feb 26, 2013 04:56
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Can anyone tell me exactly what Recoil and Stability do? I can hazard a guess, but I'd like to know specifically. Google isn't helping and the manual doesn't actually say. I've gone through two whole playthroughs without knowing what these stats do. 
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Feb 26, 2013 05:02
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Line Feed posted:Can anyone tell me exactly what Recoil and Stability do? I can hazard a guess, but I'd like to know specifically. Google isn't helping and the manual doesn't actually say. I've gone through two whole playthroughs without knowing what these stats do. Based on me doing absolutely no research and just kinda noticing differences over several playthroughs, as near as I can tell, recoil is how much your reticle enlarges when you fire, while stability is either how quickly your reticle shrinks back down, or how much movement affects your aim. So a gun with better recoil doesn't lose as much accuracy when you fire it, while a gun with better stability either takes less time to line a shot, or else isn't as affected by you moving around to aim.
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Feb 26, 2013 05:07
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Crappy Jack posted:Based on me doing absolutely no research and just kinda noticing differences over several playthroughs, as near as I can tell, recoil is how much your reticle enlarges when you fire, while stability is either how quickly your reticle shrinks back down, or how much movement affects your aim. So a gun with better recoil doesn't lose as much accuracy when you fire it, while a gun with better stability either takes less time to line a shot, or else isn't as affected by you moving around to aim. I thought this was the case, but I wasn't quite sure. I think I made a mistake trying to up Recoil on my SMGs during my most recent playthrough. I thought to myself "These things have a high rate of fire so having recoil control is important right?" But I should have just dumped everything into Damage because all the Recoil in the world won't stop that reticle from becoming the size of the loving sun in a second of fire.
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Feb 26, 2013 06:12
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That is one of the bad things about the game. The only weapon stat that matters is damage.
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Feb 26, 2013 08:21
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