Alleged Obsidian Dev Lashes Out at Alpha Protocol

[Aurora219]

Interesting. I've never had a single name to lay the blame on for making a bad game.

Not that I have or am going to play it, but if I ever do, and it's terrible, I know who to write angry letters to!

Huzzah!

That's why I wish people would actually try games before they read reviews. If you play Alpha Protocol and have the time of your life, then read the Destructoid review, you can call bullshit. However, if you never played it that review will cloud your judgement of the game whether you know it or not.

Thing is, the point of reviews are to decide if it's worth buying. I don't have much money at all - I generally only buy games that are universally acclaimed. I didn't buy MW2, for example.

 

[CloudKiller]

Overall it's not a bad game but I enjoyed KotOR 2 a lot more.

But does it deserve the 2/10 treatment?

Cause from what I'm reading, the game is mostly fun but flawed.

I mean the first Mass Effect is coming to mind here. Every reviewer lauded it but, as much as I enjoyed it, the games difficulty couldn't keep up and a lot of the enemies/buildings were recycled way too much...

No i think this game is about a 6/10, and if we're comparing to Mass Effect I can safely say that the environments weren't recycled at all, every place is unique, although now that I think about it I don't think there's a single side quest in the game. There are some missions that are optional I think but they will have an impact on the main story if you do them.

Both games have similar issues with difficulty, the endgame is far to easy especially with the OP stealth and pistol abilities which turned the last boss fight into a huge anti-climax.

EDIT: previous score I gave was too generous in retrospect

 

[DustyDrB]

So no one else thinks this nameless source is a spineless person who deserves to be fired? I'm sure this news isn't making things easy for the honest people working at Obsidian. Not that you can't speak out, but it's something to be done in private.

 

[DaxStrife]

This just makes me more worried for Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian already has a dodgy track record with KotOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2*, and now this business with Alpha Protocol. Do they just never schedule enough time to finish the games, or do they just take too long making them?

*I prefer to call it Neverwinter Nights 2: Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies.

 

[Dragon Zero]

I admit that I was very worried about Alpha Protocol from the beginning but I do feel that I should at least play the game before I pass judgment. I also think the whole "OBSIDIAN IZ TEH F@ILSORZ!!!11!!!!" mindset is not at all accurate but is becoming pervasive unfortunately. On the whole though I still like the company. I do think this "Unnamed dev" is at best someone starved for attention and at worst a spineless coward who should have said these things to people who could actually help the dev team.

 

[Irridium]

From what I've heard only the graphics were the main sticking point of people, at least from what I've read.

That and there are a few bugs and story issues, but other than that I've been hearing its a solid game, and is better from a technical standpoint than Kotor 2.

 

[Joabbuac]

This game is pretty good....if you value story and meaningful choices over gameplay then this will be your fav game this year.


Thats why the reviews are all over the place...1up pretty much gave it a gushing review yet knocked it down a few points from perfect for the gameplay.

 

[Fenixius]

I'll sum it up as a unique experience that you should give a try unless it's the basic premise that's keeping you away.

So, I read two pages of people bitching poorly, saying that they're ignorant and can only speculate, or complaining about that one guy on the first page who said something about WoW and MMO's.

Dectilon, your post is the only useful one from the start of page one, until now. Thanks for telling me all that. Now I think I'll pick up the game, but shop around for a reasonable price.

Everyone else should be ashamed of how useless their posts are: Noone cares what you've heard, only what you've played and are actually going to tell us about.

 

[soapyshooter]

Read the Destructoid review, they blasted this game and even thats an understatement.
They said the AI is so bad its almost impressive and that the main character comes off as a "moronic dick" no matter what path you choose. hahaha. Idk if the reviewer was having a bad day but this made for a good read.

 

[DamienHell]

I can confirm that alpha protocol isn't optimized at all (its fun as hell though)
1. The clearinghouse (buy and sell stuff) lags so hard its ridiculous, 5 seconds of lag per purchase, 10 to switch between tabs)
2. They used a standard int (4 bytes) per ammo count, which is again ridiculous, 4 byte int has a range of -2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647 now I assume it was unsigned which gives it a range of 0 to +4,294,967,294 a small int (2 bytes) would have sufficed.

 

[Korhal]

I'll sum it up as a unique experience that you should give a try unless it's the basic premise that's keeping you away.

So, I read two pages of people bitching poorly, saying that they're ignorant and can only speculate, or complaining about that one guy on the first page who said something about WoW and MMO's.

Dectilon, your post is the only useful one from the start of page one, until now. Thanks for telling me all that. Now I think I'll pick up the game, but shop around for a reasonable price.

Everyone else should be ashamed of how useless their posts are: Noone cares what you've heard, only what you've played and are actually going to tell us about.

Right there with you, Fenixius. Thanks, Dectilon. I preordered this expecting a flawed gem (I have a weak spot for RPGs, and spy stuff, and my favorite pen and paper RPG is Spycraft, so this game had been calling me for a long time). Sounds like that's exactly what it is.

 

[Enigma6667]

Poor execution can ruin anything no matter how many good intentions are put into it.

I have to say, the way the dev described it, Chris Parker seems like a total douche.

 

[seditary]

I found it strange, enjoyable despite itself. Thorton is a pillock no matter what you do, romances are laughable (especially in Rome, one conversation is all it takes to get her going), the actual fact that if you pursue a romance you get more rewards than if you turn the lady down pissed me right off, enemies are dumber than 3 bricks, you can become ridiculously overpowered destroying all challenge, most of the conversations force you to choose how you're going to respond before the other person has even finished talking (I remember at least 20 instances where I would have changed my stance based on the last line the other person spoke), gadgets might as well not even have been provided cause I never needed to use a single one, and on the PC at least its the worst optimized game I've played in a very long time, maybe ever. As someone said before, the Clearinghouse in particular takes forever to do anything, stream loading during levels is a joke, grinding the game to a halt and spinning the camera around all over the place and yet when I got an actual loading screen it took barely one second to load.

On the good side however Steven Heck is awesome and your choices (while some are not very well written) do have serious effects on the storyline.

 

[Cody211282]

So who didn't see this coming? It was made by Obsidian after all, can you name one thing that they have pumped out in the last 10 years that wasn't half assed and filled with bugs, not to mention having some of the worst endings of all time. The true sad point is they got their hands on Fallout, god that's just going to be sad.

 

[Bat Vader]

I'll sum it up as a unique experience that you should give a try unless it's the basic premise that's keeping you away.

So, I read two pages of people bitching poorly, saying that they're ignorant and can only speculate, or complaining about that one guy on the first page who said something about WoW and MMO's.

Dectilon, your post is the only useful one from the start of page one, until now. Thanks for telling me all that. Now I think I'll pick up the game, but shop around for a reasonable price.

Everyone else should be ashamed of how useless their posts are: Noone cares what you've heard, only what you've played and are actually going to tell us about.

In my opinion I say rent it first before you buy it. That way if you do end up disliking it you only spent five dollars instead of sixty dollars.

It seems odd this guy lashed out now after the game was released. You would think he would want to lash out before the game was released to warn people about buying it.

In my opinion I think people need to play the game first before they make judgments about it. They don't need to buy it, just rent it and that way they save money if they hate it.

 

[WeAreJimbo]

I got this game on release on Friday and I finished it last night after about 14 hours in total and I don't rush through games. The only problems I have with it are the hacking system screws with my eyes, and there are just too many weapon choices and options for such a short game. It seems that there was a lot of effort spent on the whole clearinghouse system but there was not enough story to enable you to try out various options. I am going to replay it again immediately though as overall I enjoyed it. However I assumed there was more of a story there than there was.

BTW I was playing on a PS3 with an upgraded 7200 HDD and did not notice any problems with loading times as other people have reported earlier.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I see a pattern here.
If there's a short delay in release, it tends to be pretty good. If it's an incredibly long delay in release, it's bad news.

 

[lightsier]

Oh boy, is Obsidian the next Troika Games?

 

[E-Hybrid]

After completing the game a couple of times, I would say that it is an above-average game. Not a terrible game like some are saying, but if you are thinking of buying it just be patient with it.

 

[dodo1331]

Alpha Protocol isn't a very good sign for Fallout: New Vegas..