Alpha Protocol

**Azathoth** · 05-29-2010, 12:08

Originally Posted by PVC

KOTOR2 was horrid and ruined the original's plot.

Explain your reasoning.

**Azathoth** · 05-30-2010, 07:06

Unfortunately, reports indicate that Alpha Protocol is mediocre.

Code:

Eurogamer  7 / 10  
VideoGamer  6 / 10 
1UP  B+  
Gametrailers  6.4 / 10  
Game Informer  6.5 / 10  
GamePro  3.5 / 5  
Gamespot  6/10
Official Xbox Magazine UK  7 / 10
Bit-tech.net  5 / 10
Destructoid  2 / 10

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/28/al...iew/3#comments

Originally Posted by a tired dev

I worked on this game (a fact of which I am not proud). I'm not here to defend it; I agree with all these reviews.

First, a comment for the guy at Cheesecake Factory - Most devs eat in the office most days, if they do go out they tend to grab something at the food court and head back. I know the execs take long lunches, but they often use them for informal meetings as well. Most of the programmers and designers very rarely ate outside the office during the time I was on this project.

There was a ton of work put into this game. The problem is that is was a ton of undirected work, or work on things that were just stupid. The Executive Producer for the game, Chris Parker (also an owner of the company), seemed to think he was the world's greatest designer ever, and created all these absolutely shitty systems and wouldn't listen to any of the real designers or devs about things that just didn't work. And you can't exactly argue with one of the owners of the company when he doesn't want to listen. He basically took over the game and dictated exactly how everything would work (or not work, as the case may be). The other producers realized this early on and just gave up, leaving Parker to micromanage all the designers and programmers directly.

Sega also was a factor, because they kept changing the design requirements (yes they had heavy influence there), which never gave the producers and designers time to actually decide on one set of features to make and polish. The blame is still mostly Obsidian's because the execution was absolutely terrible, and it was obvious 2 years ago that this game should have been scrapped. Instead, though, they focused on adding still more features and never fixed the ones they already had. That is a recipe for tons of bugs and no polish... as is obvious.

This game was just an absolute failure of production, and it's no wonder that so many of the developers left the company, even after the 40% staff layoffs. I am still happy about some of Obsidian's other current projects, New Vegas included, because they are going pretty well. Their big unannounced project is looking great and is already much better than AP ever was, and that may end up being the game that everyone was looking for with AP.

Sega should have canceled AP instead of Aliens...

**Beskar** · 05-30-2010, 07:23

I am reassured in my impressions of it were correct then.

**Philippus Flavius Homovallumus** · 05-31-2010, 01:08

Originally Posted by Azathoth

Explain your reasoning.

Well KOTOR 2 didn't so much end as stop, and it turned Reven from the Fallen Knigh a la Conrad's Heart of Darkness into a sort of Dark Side messiah figure who basically orchastrated the whole war.

KOTOR 1 went to great pains to present Reven as this honourable Jedi who was brash and ultimately corrupted by the brutality of the Mandalorian War, which KOTOR 2 completely undercut. Not to mention, KOTOR 2's graphical design was much less original (the bad guy's ship is just another SD, and they fly around in slightly retro Lambda-Shuttles), and the characters were much more two dimensional and "standard Star Wars". Kreia was particularly badly realised, and was obviously the final "boss" from pretty much the prologue onwards. As a mentor she was wretched, and her utilitarian philosophy was transparently a cover for a Dark-Side agenda.

Then there are other issues, like the Dantooine militia bods inexplicably turning up on Telos station (how did they get there before you? How come they've gone from farmers to elite commandos?).... The list is pretty long.

The crafting system means that beyond level ten you never need to visit a store....

I could go on all day.

KOTOR 2 is inferior in almost every way, about the only thing it surpasses KOTOR 1 in is Force powers, lightsaber combat, and weapon upgrades.

**Azathoth** · 05-31-2010, 04:22

In my opinion, they took the plot in exactly the right direction. Besides, KOTOR 2 isn't about Revan at all, it's about the Exile and her experience. Revan is just some distant, legendary, almost biblical figure of unparalleled foresight and vision - which is a good thing - whose direct role in galactic affairs is past. I also think you badly misunderstood Kreia's character.

However, I have to agree that combat was broken; the player character can become near-invulnerable by the endgame. I mean, it makes sense, but it doesn't make for fun gameplay.