It’s only really maddening because there is a great game here waiting to shine. Very sad.
Maxed Pistols made this fight last about 3 seconds. I didn’t realize it was a problematic fight until I played through a 2nd time focusing on hand-to-hand. That took awhile!
to enter/exit the inventory/intel/personal info menu, use Tab
to exit, use right-click
took me a while to find out
I actually knew that, but it wasn’t working. There was some things that didn’t apear to finish loading, either, it seemed like, but it wasn’t a graphical glitch, rather the menu just … didn’t load all the way? I had to end the task to get out, and then I accidentally removed it from my hard drive, with predjudice.
Finished
I can see what they were trying to do and applaud them for trying it. Had they been successful it would have been a truly exciting game. The type of game you mention in the same sentence as “redefine expectations”.
Well, that’s the theory and potential, the reality is the combination of a dreadful shooter and an exciting “choose your own adventure” game with little relevance to each other marred by a dose of unforgiveable bugs. Having your savegames load properly every time is NOT cutting-edge technology, it’s basic stuff!
The biggest gripe would be the introduction of several missions which make 2 out of the 3 possible character-development paths meaningless. In addition, even without this issue, only a masochist would try to play as a “stealthy” character, it’s clunky, the checkpoint system rewards repetition over experimentation and overall it’s just so much easier/rewarding to shoot the bad guys.
The game is clearly designed to be replayed 2-3 times to experience the consequences of the various exclusive decision paths but it is dreadful enough that playing through the whole game a 2nd time (let alone a 3rd) is definitely out of the question. I might have tried it again if they offered the ability to only play the “choose your own adventure” portions of the game. There was some truly good things going on in that part of the game.
graphics do the job IMHO, nothing wonderful but it’s certainly serviceable
the PC port does the job
the AI is on the weak side
It’s worth playing to see what could have been. Obsidian clearly had the right ideas and some exciting concepts but the implementation just falls flat.
only a masochist would try to play as a “stealthy” character
Never thought of myself as a masochist, but I played through AP as a stealth/pistols/melee character and loved it. This was my GotY for 2010.
Stealth and Pistols synergize, making the whole game easy mode.
Yeah, thats how I played as well, loved it - And yes, the adventure part was damn fun
I don’t know how much stealth and pistols really work together. Yes, there are situations where a silenced shot helps stealth, but these are not common and become rarer the more the game progresses. The most common of these is a high security situation where there are more than 2 people (you might be able to get away with 3, but i generally don’t chance it when i don’t have to) you need to kill instantly or an alarm triggers.
Good pistol ammo is also rare enough that it is best saved for bosses. Good ammo + a burst of full aimed headshots does significant damage to even bosses, and you can duck out of cover for just a second to do it, not leaving yourself out in the open.
In any event, pistols are just the best weapon in the game.
I killed most enemies in the game with silenced pistol shots from stealth.
Hell I often dropped 3 dudes at once without being seen with Chain Shot.
If nothing else being able to crit strike from cover made it more than worth it.
Stealth is OP, period. You can go invisible and murder people in plain sight without being seen. Yeah, you’ll need a weapon skill for bosses, but luckily pistols are OP as well.
Stealth is OP, period. You can go invisible and murder people in plain sight without being seen. Yeah, you’ll need a weapon skill for bosses, but luckily pistols are OP as well.
right, it appears I managed to to miss that.
I tried stealth and taking enemies down 1 by 1 in the earlier levels, failed horribly at it (i.e. triggering alarms and ending up in a firefight) and decided shooting my way out would work better (since that’s how it ended up anyway).
This might make the game less bad, since the shooting bit is pretty terrible.
I don’t know which weapons you were using, but pistols can help a bit in that respect as well, since the active lets you press a button, line up a bunch of headshots, and then giggle as x enemies drop dead.
I’d be a bit surprised if abusing broken mechanics allowed you to enjoy the game more the second time through, though.
By the end I would take down a couple close enemies with a pistol then switch to the assault rifle for targets further away.
How did you deal with targets further away/on a different level etc with the pistol? grenade then run closer?
It might since the combat was overall pretty crappy anyway. Being able to nearly ignore it most of the time made the game halfway decent.
Sneak around them or closer to them.
With high Stealth and stealth armor, they had to get fairly close to notice you most of the time. Plus Chain Shot didn’t give a crap about range if it came to it you could just que up 2-4 shots to a dude’s melon from across the room and kill him instantly.
Yes, chain shot. Press button, click on heads, watch targets die.
Finally watched this. I didn’t even know the Heck ending was an option. I must’ve spent so much time trying to get all the romances to work that I forgot about my bromance.
I have absolutely no idea how you get that ending…but it’s freakin’ awesome! I can’t believe that exists.
You can get this ending if you do not enter the room where Scarlet is and have Heck as a handler.
There’s actually a room she’s in in that boss fight!? Last time I played though AP I got that ending. Didn’t know I could meet her again before she shot me.