-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Alpha Protocol |OT| Bourne, Avellone, Denton, and the Agency's Sagacious Secrets
- Thread starter Tokubetsu
- Start date
Basileus777
Member
subversus said:
You haven't invested points in any weapon? You really need to do so for some of the boss fights in this game. The guy goes down pretty quickly if you use any weapon's special ability and shoot him in the head.
Well, I killed him.
I had one unused level up, so I decided to put it into assault rifles and that was a right decision. Even with two points assault rifles are beastly. I don't know how people can complain about shooting when even two points yield such results. So I
But I was really angry so I just killed him even knowing that he might be useful further down the line.
I've been playing this game six hours straight. I can't say why, it's just a good game. I really liked the Sister. I like her animation, there's something menacing in her moves. Characters are great in general, but voice acting could be more emotional.
Also can you block punches and run a bit faster? I'm going to encounter a melee boss so it might be very useful.
I had one unused level up, so I decided to put it into assault rifles and that was a right decision. Even with two points assault rifles are beastly. I don't know how people can complain about shooting when even two points yield such results. So I
brought him down from the stage and then went into invisible mode, crawled to him, did a couple of melee combos. When he started blocking punches I ran from him shooting from the hip until he decided to start using his smgs again. I'm glad that he didn't call his goons, they were a major distraction when I was beating him on the stage first few times. So every time I had my invisibility ready I was using it to sneak up on him and then use my rage melee mode. Still I had to heal myself from the lockers two times. He almost brought me down. That was a great boss fight.
I've been playing this game six hours straight. I can't say why, it's just a good game. I really liked the Sister. I like her animation, there's something menacing in her moves. Characters are great in general, but voice acting could be more emotional.
Also can you block punches and run a bit faster? I'm going to encounter a melee boss so it might be very useful.
Manos: The Hans of Fate
Banned
Can anyone tell me how to defeat
end boss? I swear I'm going nuts trying to figure it out!
Darcy
jim-jam bongs
Member
Regarding the boss fight in question:
Great character though, same with
Since most of the posts in the thread are from people talking about why the game doesn't completely suck, I wanted to make a post about a couple of things that I really love in the game:
- Perks are fantastically implemented. It's basically a built-in achievement system with proper gameplay rewards. There are perks that improve elements of your character for achieving an objective, and there are some that simply reward XP or AP. For example, using all 3 types of reply in a single conversation will give you AP, but using a lot of a particular grenade type will increase your inventory capacity for those grenades.
- The character disposition system is one of the best I've seen, particularly the handler one. It's great to have a system that provides benefits whether someone likes you or hates you, not just because you kiss their arse a lot.
- Dossiers are so much better than having a Codex. The way that they're used is a big part of that. Dossiers on factions teach you how best to fight against them, and dossiers on individuals provide that as well as conversation and attitude tips. For example, it mentions in the dossier for one character that he accepts people on faith, but they only have one chance to please him before he gives up on them. Sure enough, when we met he wanted my help but as soon as I was a smart-arse he went cold.
- Some of the characters and writing are really well done. As Duckroll said earlier, the characters are spy movie archetypes, so while the plot on the surface appears to be a very dry international terrorism story, the characters and their eccentricities make it considerably more interesting than Splinter Cell.
- People may hate this, but as much as they kick my arse sometimes I really like the fact that the hacking and bypassing games are genuinely difficult. Any optional bypass on hard is a major decision, because it will have 10+ nodes to connect and you'll be given around 10 seconds to do it. Putting points into Sabotage to get Interference helps, but on hard you won't have enough EMP grenades on you to use it on anything but the difficult mandatory hacks.
There's heaps more, but those are a few of the things I'm really enjoying about the game. Once the combat clicks, or you find a satisfactory way to approach it, the fun really starts. I'm about 2/3 of the way through my second proper mission after Saudi Arabia playing on hard, and it really does feel a lot like the original Deus Ex, particularly the number of missions where you encounter multiple factions that will either help you or hinder you depending on your choices.
It's a real pain in the arse for someone with a lot of points in stealth, but I found that I could hide at the start and have him not see me. Then I'd line up a pistol crit from cover and take that shot, then hit Chain Shots right after and pop another three into his head. That took off all his armour and half his health, starting phase 2.
When he jumped down for phase 2, I'd go invisible and find a place to hide while the cooldown on Chain Shots was still up. Even though his armour regenerates, one shot to the head with the pistol will take it all off again, and you should only need to cover crit then Chain Shot twice in the fight to finish him off.
When he jumped down for phase 2, I'd go invisible and find a place to hide while the cooldown on Chain Shots was still up. Even though his armour regenerates, one shot to the head with the pistol will take it all off again, and you should only need to cover crit then Chain Shot twice in the fight to finish him off.
Great character though, same with
Sis. Both of them have really expressive facial animation too; I particularly liked when Brayko grins in a maniacal coke-haze at the start of phase 2, and when Sis first meets Mike and signals the G22 troopers to leave, and when she smiles at Mike because he gets the St George reference about her locket.
Since most of the posts in the thread are from people talking about why the game doesn't completely suck, I wanted to make a post about a couple of things that I really love in the game:
- Perks are fantastically implemented. It's basically a built-in achievement system with proper gameplay rewards. There are perks that improve elements of your character for achieving an objective, and there are some that simply reward XP or AP. For example, using all 3 types of reply in a single conversation will give you AP, but using a lot of a particular grenade type will increase your inventory capacity for those grenades.
- The character disposition system is one of the best I've seen, particularly the handler one. It's great to have a system that provides benefits whether someone likes you or hates you, not just because you kiss their arse a lot.
- Dossiers are so much better than having a Codex. The way that they're used is a big part of that. Dossiers on factions teach you how best to fight against them, and dossiers on individuals provide that as well as conversation and attitude tips. For example, it mentions in the dossier for one character that he accepts people on faith, but they only have one chance to please him before he gives up on them. Sure enough, when we met he wanted my help but as soon as I was a smart-arse he went cold.
- Some of the characters and writing are really well done. As Duckroll said earlier, the characters are spy movie archetypes, so while the plot on the surface appears to be a very dry international terrorism story, the characters and their eccentricities make it considerably more interesting than Splinter Cell.
- People may hate this, but as much as they kick my arse sometimes I really like the fact that the hacking and bypassing games are genuinely difficult. Any optional bypass on hard is a major decision, because it will have 10+ nodes to connect and you'll be given around 10 seconds to do it. Putting points into Sabotage to get Interference helps, but on hard you won't have enough EMP grenades on you to use it on anything but the difficult mandatory hacks.
There's heaps more, but those are a few of the things I'm really enjoying about the game. Once the combat clicks, or you find a satisfactory way to approach it, the fun really starts. I'm about 2/3 of the way through my second proper mission after Saudi Arabia playing on hard, and it really does feel a lot like the original Deus Ex, particularly the number of missions where you encounter multiple factions that will either help you or hinder you depending on your choices.
bonesmccoy
Banned
Arrived in Saudi, and paid a visit to an arms dealer. After bluffing past the guards, I opted to test out my new 'Stealth' point (I'm playing as a soldier with points in toughness, assault rifles and tech) to see if I could eschew violence for a more civilized approach.
All is well, until I walk right into two guards chatting about missiles. Needless to say, I didn't get to use stealth much after that. After I reached the arms dealer, and extorted the bastard for $$ and guns, I'd created about 131 orphans!
All is well, until I walk right into two guards chatting about missiles. Needless to say, I didn't get to use stealth much after that. After I reached the arms dealer, and extorted the bastard for $$ and guns, I'd created about 131 orphans!
Basileus777
Member
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
You can lockpick your way into a tower across from him and shoot him from up there. I found that to be the easiest way.
Manos: The Hans of Fate
Banned
Basileus777 said:
I assume EMP will auto unlock it?
fizzelopeguss
Banned
Draft said:
Exactly, who have obsidian got? avellone? maaaaybe josh sawyer.
Mark Morgan, the composer for the amazing tracks in PS:T and fallout is working on an mmo.
Tim cain formed troika, now at NCsoft.
Leanard boyarsky, formed troika, now at blizzard in a key role after he was ASKED to work diablo mother fucking 3.
Three narrative designers worked on AP.
and Mask of the Betrayer lead writer George Ziets is working on Obsidian's secret project.
and Mask of the Betrayer lead writer George Ziets is working on Obsidian's secret project.
I finished the Taipei operation, and something feels a bit uneven about the story game at this point. I'm not exactly sure if it's me not paying as much attention as I should to events and every single line of dialogue/email/dossier/etc, or if the game's "non-linear" dialogue flowchart system is the cause of this. Maybe players with more experience overall can enlighten me.
I basically feel that sometimes, the events and dialogue don't really make complete sense in the way they are presented, and some things either don't add up, or the outcome of some scenes don't really gel with what I find realistic or logical sometimes.
Some examples:
Okay, I wrote a hell lot more than I planned to, and it doesn't really include everything I want to ask, but I don't want to post so much shit that no one has the time to read though it. If someone can help clarify the points, that'll be nice. Thanks.
I basically feel that sometimes, the events and dialogue don't really make complete sense in the way they are presented, and some things either don't add up, or the outcome of some scenes don't really gel with what I find realistic or logical sometimes.
Some examples:
Stephen Heck
Okay, so you arrive in Taipei, and Mina asks about leads. You pull a few leads out of your ass, including that Stephen Heck guy. Where did these leads come from? I don't remember ever hearing about any of these people before, and suddenly Mike mentions Heck, and Mina tells him that she did a trace and found that no one in the CIA has heard of him. Well guess what, I've never heard of him either, and yet the character I'm playing seems to think he's someone how can help in the region. Confusing!
Hotel Clusterfuck
The hotel mission is just totally weird. So you met this reporter on the plane on the way to Taipei, and in my case, I lied to her about working in the oil industry. She actually references this in her email to me, asking if I'm attending an OPEC meeting. I'm not able to reply to this or follow up on my lie/cover. Later she asks me to give her a call. I'm also not able to manually do this and make small talk.
Instead the game automatically gets Mike to call her before the hotel mission and suddenly there is not reference to being in the oil business or anything of that sort. Mike goes straight to the point that he's breaking into a Taiwanese secret service network in a hotel conference, and he has these other people (who he has never introduced to each other btw) working with him. Everyone just accepts this, and even Heck is here to help. Wut? Why would Mike trust any of these people enough to let them work with him on a mission?
I don't know them, I don't really particularly even NEED them (the pedophile joke was funny though), and the mission would have been the same with just Mina backing me up on the radio. It just seems very convoluted and strange in general, because even during the mission, the actual events and objectives seemed very confusing to me. Almost as if Mike had zero actual plan and was just relying on the people who tagged along to make up shit as it went along. Strange, very strange.
Triads
The triad shakedown mission. So I'm told by the boss that for him to help me with intel, I need to take out some of his men who are defecting. Fair enough. It's all logical. Until the mission starts and Mike himself says that it seems like Hong Shi is lying about stuff and there's more to it than meets the eye. Yet, I still only have the option of taking everyone out and moving on.
I can't stop and decide if I want to talk to each of them instead? Maybe find out more and sell Hong Shi out? Or pretend to kill them and let them off instead for money? It's one thing if I know that these men aren't interested in bargaining and there's no other way, but when the mission itself implies that something is not quite right, and these are just triad sub bosses who would probably be willing to talk given the chance, it just seems really odd. So Mike is willing to talk it out with arms dealers and international terrorists, and even strike deals with them, but he can't do the same for triad goons?
Omg Deng
Omen Deng. What. The. Fuck. His dossier is probably the most confusing piece of shit ever. It says that his "true name" means Division Hand. Now, I'm Chinese myself, so that sort of writing automatically makes me wonder what his real Chinese name is. Nope, not mentioned. I'm not even sure why I needed to know that, aside that Omen is apparently not his real name. Then it goes on to state that his father was a nationalistic Taiwanese who got arrested and jailed by China. He gave Deng that name before he was presumably taken away and never seen again. Then it goes on to say that Deng was worked for Sung as a personal bodyguard and messenger for years. But... he's China Secret Police? What?
Okay, so I was really confused as to what Omen Deng really does, or what his role in anything even is, before I met him. After I met him, it got worse. He stopped me at the subway, but he didn't kill me. Then his men are all over the place securing the area. There are also Taiwanese cops in the area. They're all after me. Why? What's even going on?
Then eventually in the next mission I beat Deng, and there is a SHOCK revelation that he was a double agent all along. Except I was so confused as to what he really was I wasn't shocked, I was just relieved that I actually learned something about him in the first place, from actual dialogue! Then I go back and read the updated dossier, and it mentions the TEN OMENS PROJECT or something. Like I'm supposed to know what that means automatically. Wtf?
Taipei Confusion
The operation Taipei makes very little sense to me. The lead on Taipei was entirely about the assassination of Ronald Sung. Apparently an attempt to destabilize the Asian region by creating more friction between Taiwan and China by implicating China in the assassination of a pro-independence Taiwanese president. I get that. That part makes sense. But the operation is entitled True Heirs, and the True Heirs group is referenced in the dossiers. Yet it never comes into the play in the actual scenario during the operation.
It ends with the revelation that someone has set up both Mike and Omen into believing the other was going to pull off an assassination on Sung, but someone else is the real shooter. Now, that would a good twist, if the assassination is successful and everyone was had. But yet, I actually managed to prevent it by warning Sung that he was going to be shot. Why would someone feed me false information about who the shooter was going to be, but yet use that same method of assassination? If they had planned a bomb instead, but led me to believe it was a shooting, then that would be pretty smart. Except they didn't. Huh?
Okay, so you arrive in Taipei, and Mina asks about leads. You pull a few leads out of your ass, including that Stephen Heck guy. Where did these leads come from? I don't remember ever hearing about any of these people before, and suddenly Mike mentions Heck, and Mina tells him that she did a trace and found that no one in the CIA has heard of him. Well guess what, I've never heard of him either, and yet the character I'm playing seems to think he's someone how can help in the region. Confusing!
Hotel Clusterfuck
The hotel mission is just totally weird. So you met this reporter on the plane on the way to Taipei, and in my case, I lied to her about working in the oil industry. She actually references this in her email to me, asking if I'm attending an OPEC meeting. I'm not able to reply to this or follow up on my lie/cover. Later she asks me to give her a call. I'm also not able to manually do this and make small talk.
Instead the game automatically gets Mike to call her before the hotel mission and suddenly there is not reference to being in the oil business or anything of that sort. Mike goes straight to the point that he's breaking into a Taiwanese secret service network in a hotel conference, and he has these other people (who he has never introduced to each other btw) working with him. Everyone just accepts this, and even Heck is here to help. Wut? Why would Mike trust any of these people enough to let them work with him on a mission?
I don't know them, I don't really particularly even NEED them (the pedophile joke was funny though), and the mission would have been the same with just Mina backing me up on the radio. It just seems very convoluted and strange in general, because even during the mission, the actual events and objectives seemed very confusing to me. Almost as if Mike had zero actual plan and was just relying on the people who tagged along to make up shit as it went along. Strange, very strange.
Triads
The triad shakedown mission. So I'm told by the boss that for him to help me with intel, I need to take out some of his men who are defecting. Fair enough. It's all logical. Until the mission starts and Mike himself says that it seems like Hong Shi is lying about stuff and there's more to it than meets the eye. Yet, I still only have the option of taking everyone out and moving on.
I can't stop and decide if I want to talk to each of them instead? Maybe find out more and sell Hong Shi out? Or pretend to kill them and let them off instead for money? It's one thing if I know that these men aren't interested in bargaining and there's no other way, but when the mission itself implies that something is not quite right, and these are just triad sub bosses who would probably be willing to talk given the chance, it just seems really odd. So Mike is willing to talk it out with arms dealers and international terrorists, and even strike deals with them, but he can't do the same for triad goons?
Omg Deng
Omen Deng. What. The. Fuck. His dossier is probably the most confusing piece of shit ever. It says that his "true name" means Division Hand. Now, I'm Chinese myself, so that sort of writing automatically makes me wonder what his real Chinese name is. Nope, not mentioned. I'm not even sure why I needed to know that, aside that Omen is apparently not his real name. Then it goes on to state that his father was a nationalistic Taiwanese who got arrested and jailed by China. He gave Deng that name before he was presumably taken away and never seen again. Then it goes on to say that Deng was worked for Sung as a personal bodyguard and messenger for years. But... he's China Secret Police? What?
Okay, so I was really confused as to what Omen Deng really does, or what his role in anything even is, before I met him. After I met him, it got worse. He stopped me at the subway, but he didn't kill me. Then his men are all over the place securing the area. There are also Taiwanese cops in the area. They're all after me. Why? What's even going on?
Then eventually in the next mission I beat Deng, and there is a SHOCK revelation that he was a double agent all along. Except I was so confused as to what he really was I wasn't shocked, I was just relieved that I actually learned something about him in the first place, from actual dialogue! Then I go back and read the updated dossier, and it mentions the TEN OMENS PROJECT or something. Like I'm supposed to know what that means automatically. Wtf?
Taipei Confusion
The operation Taipei makes very little sense to me. The lead on Taipei was entirely about the assassination of Ronald Sung. Apparently an attempt to destabilize the Asian region by creating more friction between Taiwan and China by implicating China in the assassination of a pro-independence Taiwanese president. I get that. That part makes sense. But the operation is entitled True Heirs, and the True Heirs group is referenced in the dossiers. Yet it never comes into the play in the actual scenario during the operation.
It ends with the revelation that someone has set up both Mike and Omen into believing the other was going to pull off an assassination on Sung, but someone else is the real shooter. Now, that would a good twist, if the assassination is successful and everyone was had. But yet, I actually managed to prevent it by warning Sung that he was going to be shot. Why would someone feed me false information about who the shooter was going to be, but yet use that same method of assassination? If they had planned a bomb instead, but led me to believe it was a shooting, then that would be pretty smart. Except they didn't. Huh?
Okay, I wrote a hell lot more than I planned to, and it doesn't really include everything I want to ask, but I don't want to post so much shit that no one has the time to read though it. If someone can help clarify the points, that'll be nice. Thanks.
Danne-Danger
Member
Hmm, just did the Moscow
mission, went out of my way to not even as much as touch anyone going in and out (though the game made that difficult), but on the mission completed screen it says that I attacked embassy guards (pretty sure they were all dead already when I started knocking people out) and even killed a bunch of guys, even though it didn't say I killed anyone on the stat screen
My handler was disappointed. :/
Oh and by the way, some of these end-missions cutscenes are completely out of whack. That
(Rome) mission for example, went without a hitch for me. I snuck out and didn't kill anyone, yet in the cutscene it shows the whole place on fire, a wounded guard going for a primed grenade (and blowing up) and the "evil" guy standing there, apparently impressed by the carnage I caused.
And I'm pretty sure that at least a couple people would've died from that explosion in the ruins...
Embassy
Oh and by the way, some of these end-missions cutscenes are completely out of whack. That
escape from Malberg (or whatever he's called)
And I'm pretty sure that at least a couple people would've died from that explosion in the ruins...
duckroll said:
Yeah, that was weird. At first I thoght they might have known each other elsewhere, but if they did they definitely didn't show it
Doesn't she call you out on your lie? She doesn't outright say "nah, you're a spy buddy", but I told her the same and she was all like "Yeah right no", and then in the first e-mail she sends you she said that she got your e-mail and that it was pretty hard to find, so I think she knew more than she let on. However, even if she knows, that doesn't explain why Mike trusts her so fast or why Mina never opposes to her being there. I still think she's a double agent, we'll see...
Also, yes, it's weird that he would call both Scarlet and Heck for a mission but I thought it was related to their respect counters since I had both of them in "trust" at that point.
Also, yes, it's weird that he would call both Scarlet and Heck for a mission but I thought it was related to their respect counters since I had both of them in "trust" at that point.
Yeah, the whole subplot seems like it was there just to let you extort Hong Shi at the end. IIRC when you hack the computers you find out that there are more than three people who want to go against their former boss but he had only told you about the ones he needs you to kill. I suppose they didn't have time (lol) to animate and work on another scenario with the Triads and they left it as a side-quest of sorts.
That whole thing was very confusing, yes :lol
To be honest this is most likely a plot convenience... but was Omg Deng actually mentioned in the USB that you get from the Albatross mission? I was attending a phone call during that part so I couldn't hear everything (then I realized you can pause the cutscenes :lol ) but I thought Mike just connected the dots when he saw Deng there. Although Deng DOES mention Mike especifically, so it's odd that the assassin wouldn't have a failsafe plan. UNLESS the killer wants the president to not be killed in a plot twist, who knows 
?
I wonder what happens if you choose to save the people... and how what we got will pan out in the end.
? I wonder what happens if you choose to save the people... and how what we got will pan out in the end.
D2M15 said:
Really? I don't see how it's really a bad fit at all. Chris Avellone is a designer and writer for western RPGs. He has worked on games using Bioware tech many times in the past, and he has no problems working on sequels to Bioware games. You're acting as it Obsidian (and previously Black Isles) is a developer which is some how in a totally different league compared to Bioware and has different design interests and works on different genres. That's bullshit. Black Isles and now Obsidian,is just like Bioware except with better writing on average, less polish, and much worse management.
Pretty much every single game system in Alpha Protocol is taken from or expanded from systems and interfaces Bioware created in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. There is almost nothing entirely original in the game itself in terms of brand new RPG ideas. To say that somehow it is a terrible creative fit for Avellone to work in Bioware, as opposed to working in Obsidian, is to ignore the reality that Obsidian isn't really any different from Bioware. Except Bioware is actually successful.
butsomuch said:
Ah right, he had left to work on a Bethesda MMO IIRC, but ended up coming back to Obsidian. Forgot that happened, was still thinking he was at Bethesda. Good news that he's working on the unannounced RPG. Mask of the Betrayer wasn't just fantastic in the Avellone-written spots
duckroll said:
No, I just wrote that for a cheap laugh. Jesus.
Avellone has a very different approach to writing and direction for RPGs than Bioware's writers have ever shown (except arguably in Baldur's Gate, but they're always at their strongest when directly channelling a campaign they ran in sixth grade), and you only need to compare the overall plot progression, character arcs and player involvement between the KOTOR games to see as much.
I'm actually not a slobbering Avellone fan - I don't like Torment! - and of course he could work for Bioware, but I think he has different goals, and they're goals that I find more interesting as a player now.
Mechanics I really couldn't give a toss about. Like Bioware! OK, that was a cheap shot.
D2M15 said:
I'm not sure why this matters. So Avellone has a different approach to writing and direction compared to some other writers/leads. So? His experience in the industry means his role is expected to be design lead and/or lead writer. If he works at Bioware, he will be leading a project as design lead and/or lead writer and the game will follow his approach to writing and direction.
There is nothing about Obsidian itself which specifically benefits Avellone. Obsidian doesn't seem to have the budget to really polish any of their games, and they don't seem to be out to create completely original gameplay that sets them apart from Bioware.
If Obsidian goes under, and Avellone goes work at Bioware creating the same games he has always made and written, except with more polish, more budget and a team behind him that actually knows how to ship an AAA game with proper marketing behind it, how is this bad for Avellone or gamers in general?
duckroll said:
It's not. I'd be fine with it, if things turned out the way you described. Of course, being Chief Creative Officer at Obsidian means he's ensured the sort of position he's best suited to on Obsidian titles, and that's not necessarily going to be the case in Bioware's hierarchy.
EviLore said:
Of course being one's boss has many advantages. As long as Obsidian can continue operating on their own and actually releasing games, that's fine. Having a variety of competitors in any genre is healthy for both creativity and peer pressure to improve individual products. I just feel that as a fan of the top brass at Obsidian since the Black Isles days, there's no need to pretend that Obsidian and Bioware are like totally different sorts of developers. Avellone is a talented guy and he'll be an asset to whatever developer he works for.
The best case scenario is for all this talk about Avellone moving to any other studio to be pointless, because Obsidian really should get their act together and either improve their management or find a publisher who will actually take care of them. Bioware's investment into new IPs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age have certainly paid off big time, and it's a shame that Obsidian is still thought of as "the developer of Bioware sequels" in most gamers' minds. If Alpha Protocol doesn't take off at all (not looking good in the media), and their next big game is Fallout New Vegas, that kinda continues the trend of Obsidian being a go-to developer to make "improved" sequels. Kinda sad.
(((Peff said:
I think the biggest problem for me is that there seems to be something missing between the last Scarlet and Heck conversations prior to the mission, and the actual start of the Hotel mission. What bothers me most is that I didn't even expect that it was going to be a "team" operation until the mission start in the hotel room. This is bad because technically I'm the one who's planning these missions.
Another cutscene with Mina that sets up the mission plan itself would have made it MUCH better. That way the player could also decide if he wants to involve Heck and/or Scarlet, making the mission harder or easier depending on the extra help you could get, but losing reputation with Mina as she would feel that you're taking too many risks and possibly compromising your cover. At the same time, involving them would increase your reputation with them, or decrease it if you don't take them along. That would be a good pro/con aspect since you wouldn't be able to make everyone happy.
Another cutscene with Mina that sets up the mission plan itself would have made it MUCH better. That way the player could also decide if he wants to involve Heck and/or Scarlet, making the mission harder or easier depending on the extra help you could get, but losing reputation with Mina as she would feel that you're taking too many risks and possibly compromising your cover. At the same time, involving them would increase your reputation with them, or decrease it if you don't take them along. That would be a good pro/con aspect since you wouldn't be able to make everyone happy.
Yeah it could definitely have been a budget issue. Still, if the objective was to blackmail Hong Shi, I would definitely have preferred having the option to pay off all the traitors in exchange for more information about the split factions within the triad.
To be honest this is most likely a plot convenience... but was Omg Deng actually mentioned in the USB that you get from the Albatross mission? I was attending a phone call during that part so I couldn't hear everything (then I realized you can pause the cutscenes :lol ) but I thought Mike just connected the dots when he saw Deng there. Although Deng DOES mention Mike especifically, so it's odd that the assassin wouldn't have a failsafe plan. UNLESS the killer wants the president to not be killed in a plot twist, who knows
I wonder what happens if you choose to save the people... and how what we got will pan out in the end.
Yes, Omen Deng is mentioned in the G-22 files I bugged. But the only thing that unlocked was his dossier, which as I mentioned, was really fucking confusing. Sometimes no intel is better than bad intel! Lulz.
I don't really understand the entire "stop riots or stop assassination" plot line either. I don't see how in a realistic scenario, something like this is an either or. The entire conversation with Ronald Sung made him sound like a total retard, which is really strange. If a president believes that there is evidence that there would be an attempt on his life during a major rally, I don't see why he would even need EVIDENCE to support that there could be mass riots right after the attempt. To go "okay since you only have HALF the evidence, I will wear a bulletproof vest, but I will provide NO security to stop any potential riots!" is just terrible writing.
I don't really understand the entire "stop riots or stop assassination" plot line either. I don't see how in a realistic scenario, something like this is an either or. The entire conversation with Ronald Sung made him sound like a total retard, which is really strange. If a president believes that there is evidence that there would be an attempt on his life during a major rally, I don't see why he would even need EVIDENCE to support that there could be mass riots right after the attempt. To go "okay since you only have HALF the evidence, I will wear a bulletproof vest, but I will provide NO security to stop any potential riots!" is just terrible writing.
I have been jumping all over the place with the way that I do my missions, so I have not have as much of the weirdness y'all are getting, but I definately know what you mean.
One great benefit to this approach is that things link in the most astounding of ways.
Also, a non-lethal Hard Mode recruit run my first time through the game was fucking stupid.
Ugh.
One great benefit to this approach is that things link in the most astounding of ways.
Also, a non-lethal Hard Mode recruit run my first time through the game was fucking stupid.
Ugh.
I thought Mina provided those leads. Something like "I have certain leads you can follow in each city, get there and I'll provide them to you
If I remember it well, when you got the information from the computer in the hotel you obtained the information of the contract of assassination, but you didn't know who was the assasin. I thought Mike assumed it was Omen as he had a very strong presence on the zone, but it's not like you were supplied with false information. The one who was supplied with false information was Omen, and that's it´s why he was trying to stop you. By the way, there is a reason why the assassin thought the president was unprotected, you'll find out.
And yes, I thought the same about the triads mission, thought I would be able to talk with the rebels, I even had dossiers with their personality, but nothing, I guess it was cut content
duckroll said:Wait, are you saying that you don't complete everything in a single zone, but do missions across different zones at the same time? I didn't even know that was actually possible, since I haven't tried leaving a country before the entire operation is complete.
Use the intel screen in the menu to travel between countries (use the triggers to switch).
As I said, a lot of things make more sense if you are jumping around, and it is by doing this that I realized how fucking brilliant some of their design was (gameplay still painful though, the mini-games are becoming murderous).
I think it is time that I invested in some EMP grenades.
duckroll said:Wow, that's certainly something I want to try out in a replay. I just assumed that if you tried to leave a hub before completing it, Mina would warn you or something. This is certainly a good thing to learn.
I didn't want to do it, but it makes sense actually. You learn about the person and then go to the country to found out what is the deal about him.
duckroll said:Wait, are you saying that you don't complete everything in a single zone, but do missions across different zones at the same time? I didn't even know that was actually possible, since I haven't tried leaving a country before the entire operation is complete.
I figured that was possible since
Scarlet sends you an email telling to come to Taipei to meet her (I went to Rome).
I am sick of RPGs letting you build a stealthy character but making you utterly inaffective in boss fights. Nothing worse than being put in a situation you're not suitable for.
Hacking game is the worst mini game I've ever encountered. Just atrocious. I don't mind the lock picking and the security bypasses, but the hacking game is making my blood boil. An amazing design failure.
G22 Spoiler:
Funny, I absolutely own at the hacking mini-game. It is by far the easiest one, imo.
The one that I hate the most is lock picking; fuck me that shit is obnoxious.
I did not realize how much I hated it until I found out that aborting from safes will sound the alarm.
Did anyone else talk about Sis with Albatross? What the hell is going on there?
Also, that conversation takes a whole different tone depending on whether or nor you bring her up
pilonv1 said:
Funny, I absolutely own at the hacking mini-game. It is by far the easiest one, imo.
The one that I hate the most is lock picking; fuck me that shit is obnoxious.
I did not realize how much I hated it until I found out that aborting from safes will sound the alarm.
I buy intel first, then gadgets, armour upgrades then weapon upgrades. I haven't had too little funds to buy things yet.
There's a few storyline and conversation options that will increase your bank balance too. I was more intrigued how you get a different set of weapons/armour from each safe house.
There's a few storyline and conversation options that will increase your bank balance too. I was more intrigued how you get a different set of weapons/armour from each safe house.
Manos: The Hans of Fate
Banned
Deadly said:
Yeah, I wish there was a New Game Plus Option. It's so weird considering you can still get money in the last level.
Manos: The Hans of Fate
Banned
Oh anyone else feel that
is the new HK-47?
Steven Heck