Here’s a preview from Edge. Looks good. I especially like their concept of “exaggerated realism” and the dialogue system.
Agreed, the Bourne + Kill Bill angle sounds fun, and the tweaks they’re making to the dialogue tree are things I’ve wanted to see for some time. The unified ammo, no picking up guns off of enemies things is a bit worrying though.
To me it’s sounding a little like a third-person Deus Ex in a different (and hopefully interesting) setting. I’ve got no problem with that.
Kinda wish their visual style was a little more fresh, though. Their promotional artwork is seriously uninspiring.
I think those screens look fine, if a bit minimalist. They may not have all the objects in yet.
Battle system is similar to Mass Effect but have more in common with Uncharted.
While they both featured cover, I find the feel of their systems so extremely different that I don’t understand how to take this.
Bah. My pet peeve in any RPG is the inability to name your character. Michael Thorton? That’s fine, if your first name is Michael. Mine’s not. Hell, I’d prefer something weird and stupid like Cloud.
They should at least make the first name customizable (ala Mass Effect) which is a decent compromise between voice overs and immersion.
I know a lot of people that didn’t play KotORII because it wasn’t Bioware. Maybe AP will establish Obsidian in their minds.
I like the idea of picking from a nickname/callsign list, so at least actors in the game can use something you identify with.
Or they heard the game was unfinished when it shipped?
IIRC, there’s some sort of gadget system that will work like the powers in Mass Effect. Dial up the radial menu, select and execute…
I’m pretty sure that most people out there just read the review and passed on paying full price for a broken game. I wouldn’t assume that most people know who the developer is on any given product.
Doubtful. They told me straight up.
I’m pretty sure that most people out there just read the review and passed on paying full price for a broken game. I wouldn’t assume that most people know who the developer is on any given product.
Don’t know.
I’m talking about a number of people I talked to who happened to give the same reasoning. I never assumed that means most people.
I didn’t say you did, but your anecdotal evidence is hardly representative of the gaming market as a whole.
This game kind of reminds me of syphon filter, maybe with a little over-the-top thrown in.
I recently played the first syphon filter, and clunky controls notwithstanding, an extremely good game.
Received this from Amazon today…
Hello from Amazon.com.
We have received new release date information related to your pre-ordered video game in the order you placed on… The release date for the video game listed below has been changed by the publisher, and we want to provide you with a new delivery estimate based on the new release date:
“Alpha Protocol” [Video Game]
Release date: 03/31/2009
Estimated arrival date: 04/03/2009
Slide on down, you’re the next contestant on, eventually released in Winter.
Who was expecting it an earlier? When they say January I always just assume it will be late March.
RPGVault has posted an interview with Chris Avellone, Ryan Rucinski, and Matt MacLean.
Sounds really promising, though character customization has apparently been scaled back from earlier Obsidian games:
This sounds completely awesome. I just hope they’ll actually finish the game and release it without too many bugs.
Chris Avellone: The game takes place in the modern day… no matter what time in the next few years you’re playing. It consists of a series of mostly linear sub-missions and optional assignments you can pick and choose to best accomplish your objective depending on your character’s skill set. Go speak to an informant to get information? Research dossiers on a locale? Intimidate some triad thugs, and maybe kill a few? Buy intel? Hack a CIA listening post? Infiltrate a detention camp?
Depending on these tasks, the objectives, your choices and the results, you then work your way to the heart of the operation. One of the game’s goals is repercussions and consequences for your in-mission actions, so you’ll frequently see outcomes sending ripple effects through other assignments, the hub and the global operations.
Yes, there will be different endings, but we’ll let you play the game to uncover those. It’s also extremely unlikely any operation will end the same way for two people - the repercussions and reactivity will see to that.
Jonric: Would we be correct to guess that the game will take us to a variety of locations in order to complete the missions?
Chris Avellone: It is as big as planet Earth itself, and man, do you go all over it. You don’t go to the moon, though… or Antarctica. However, we have about four or five hubs, each with its own goal and operation, as well as a number of other missions that take place outside of them. It’s enough to whet the world traveler appetite, in our opinion.
Finally some footage of the game! Doesn’t look too bad, but they need to show how off the RPG elements. Nice to see that this is only one of many developer diaries.