Alpha Protocol - Obsidian's new RPG

[Acleacius]

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!

[mimartin]

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.

[Acleacius]

'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.

[Darth InSidious]

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:

 

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• 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.

[Acleacius]

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.

[Q]

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***.

 

[CrisG]

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

[Sabretooth]

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.

[Acleacius]

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.

 

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!

[igyman]

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.

[Sabretooth]

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?

[Acleacius]

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.

[Darth InSidious]

For those looking for graphical and/or performance tweaks for AP, this thread at the Obsidian forums 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.

[Achilles]

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.

[Achilles]

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.

[Q]

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

[DarthParametric]

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.

[Achilles]

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.

[jrrtoken]

For those asking, yes, there is going to be a patch for AP... eventually. 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.

[Achilles]

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

 

Me likey

[Mav]

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

[jrrtoken]

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.

[logan23]

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

[Achilles]

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).

[Ztalker]

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....