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Alpha Protocol |OT| Bourne, Avellone, Denton, and the Agency's Sagacious Secrets

Pakkidis

Member
I just started the game, normal difficulty, recruit character. I am going to go stealth and pistols and try to be suave/professional. Just finished the tutorial mode. So far I like it.
 

Patryn

Member
Ok, after having a lot of doubts about this game, I finally had the time and the money to pick it up.

And you know what? I'm having fun.

Yes, it has flaws. The shooting really is total crap, the graphics are eh at best, and it has weird glitches from time to time.

But it's got that vibe to it that I just love. The mix of action and RPG is hitting the sweet spot for me right now.

So, yeah, I'm having fun. Or, rather, I WAS having fun.

Then.... FUCKING BRAYKO.

Seriously, who the fuck thought that was a good idea? Who? Here's a game that's designed to allow you to approach it multiple ways. And it's a fucking spy game, so it's not inconceivable that a lot of people would choose stealth over weapon skills.

So what do they do?

Put in a boss with the hide of a Rhino, weapons that hit like a Mack Truck, the ability to enter a nigh-invulnerable state and a melee attack that can kill you in two combos. Oh, and the ability to keep calling in minions. He also has a shit ton of endurance that regens pretty fast and needs to be taken out in order to do any REAL damage, and it's not like he's suffering from a low amount of health.

Took me almost two hours. Apparently I made the mistake of doing Moscow first, because, seriously, WTF. 90 percent of my game has been stealth approaching enemies and then using the automatic takeouts. I have very few points in any weapons, and I don't really rely on gadgets. I wasn't expecting a real boss fight, so I actually used all my mines just before Brayko, so even if I wanted to use gadgets, all I had was one incendiary grenade, but, gosh, it looks like Brayko is immune to those.

Really, the only reason I beat him is because I managed to glitch him. Just as the animation for his first coke binge hit, I activated stealth mode, and he glitched. Instead of going on his knife rampage, he just stayed on the stage continuing to shoot. That allowed me to continue to use the bullet time skill with the pistol, which was my only way of doing any real damage to him. Eventually he did jump off the stage and go into the knife mode, but he never called in his friends, and he never jumped to the rafters, which made the whole thing much easier. I just ended up running around the square box thing in the middle of the club while he chased me, and when he was shooting I kept him on the opposite side of it, popping up to bullet time when the skill was available.

What kills me about the whole situation is that unless you've invested points in weapons, I can't see you getting past him. And he comes at the end of a long and difficult mission, so even if you chose to abort and go do some missions for another area, you've probably just wasted a half hour or so.

And to top it all off, there's that music. What was fun and cool at first got old real fast, let me tell you.

It's funny; I've been going out of my way to be friendly to everyone, and I generally have let my opponents live. But I did not hesitate to put a bullet into Brayko when I got the chance. Even though, while reading strategies for how to beat the fucker, I read that you can gain a lot from talking with him. I can't help it. He just made me SOOOO frustrated.

That fight by itself almost burned all my good will towards the game. I just hope there's nothing else like it later on...
 

DY_nasty

NeoGAF's official "was this shooting justified" consultant
There is one more boss like that towards the end of the game (endless grenade spam... lulz) but thats it.
 
Patryn said:
Really, the only reason I beat him is because I managed to glitch him. Just as the animation for his first coke binge hit, I activated stealth mode, and he glitched. Instead of going on his knife rampage, he just stayed on the stage continuing to shoot. That allowed me to continue to use the bullet time skill with the pistol, which was my only way of doing any real damage to him. Eventually he did jump off the stage and go into the knife mode, but he never called in his friends, and he never jumped to the rafters, which made the whole thing much easier. I just ended up running around the square box thing in the middle of the club while he chased me, and when he was shooting I kept him on the opposite side of it, popping up to bullet time when the skill was available.

That's basically how every boss fight in the game plays out for a stealth build. The only completely broken builds are those which focus on martial arts, as long as you keep your chain shots coming you should be able to ace the bosses pretty easily.
 

Fredescu

Member
To beat Brayko
you sort of run him up to the stage and jump off the front. He doesn't follow you and it gives you a bit of time to... something. It's been a while now.
It's a shame that fight was such bullshit, because everything else about it was pretty awesome. After about the tenth attempt the smile was wiped off my face though.
 

Cuisino

Neo Member
strange, I finished the game a couple of weeks ago and didn't have any trouble beating brayko at all...got him at my first try. had more trouble with some other bosses, had to try the guy in the museum 3-4 times.
 

DY_nasty

NeoGAF's official "was this shooting justified" consultant
I never had trouble with him... I actually went hand to hand with him the entire time on my first playthrough. Second trip was a bitch though, shotguns don't do nearly as much damage as they should.
 

Jerk

Banned
See, Patryn you made the same mistake as most people do when they go stealth: investing into CQC.

Investing too much into CQC is a waste of points as you never actually want fight your enemies unless shit goes really wrong.

Martial arts is not a substitute, it is support.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
You're problem wasn't doing Moscow first, it was doing any one stage all the way to the end without touching the others. You should be jumping back and forth between the 3 and fighting the end bosses when you're higher level. You also get to meet Steven Heck in Taipei who makes the Brayko fight a joke.
 

Bliddo

Member
Patryn said:
Then.... FUCKING BRAYKO.

Seriously, who the fuck thought that was a good idea? Who? Here's a game that's designed to allow you to approach it multiple ways. And it's a fucking spy game, so it's not inconceivable that a lot of people would choose stealth over weapon skills.

So what do they do?

Put in a boss with the hide of a Rhino, weapons that hit like a Mack Truck, the ability to enter a nigh-invulnerable state and a melee attack that can kill you in two combos. Oh, and the ability to keep calling in minions. He also has a shit ton of endurance that regens pretty fast and needs to be taken out in order to do any REAL damage, and it's not like he's suffering from a low amount of health.

Took me almost two hours. Apparently I made the mistake of doing Moscow first, because, seriously, WTF. 90 percent of my game has been stealth approaching enemies and then using the automatic takeouts. I have very few points in any weapons, and I don't really rely on gadgets. I wasn't expecting a real boss fight, so I actually used all my mines just before Brayko, so even if I wanted to use gadgets, all I had was one incendiary grenade, but, gosh, it looks like Brayko is immune to those.

Really, the only reason I beat him is because I managed to glitch him. Just as the animation for his first coke binge hit, I activated stealth mode, and he glitched. Instead of going on his knife rampage, he just stayed on the stage continuing to shoot. That allowed me to continue to use the bullet time skill with the pistol, which was my only way of doing any real damage to him. Eventually he did jump off the stage and go into the knife mode, but he never called in his friends, and he never jumped to the rafters, which made the whole thing much easier. I just ended up running around the square box thing in the middle of the club while he chased me, and when he was shooting I kept him on the opposite side of it, popping up to bullet time when the skill was available.
Actually I only managed to beat him using stealth. I cloacked as asoon as possible, popped 3 head shot in a row with my gun perk, and back to hiding. It was reallt easy this way, he never shot me.
 
I've played nearly the whole game as a stealth/pistol character. Its been fun for the most part, and yet a largely forgettable experience. The last mission forces you into one approach, thereby rendering so many of your skill development choices null and void.

I had great hopes for this game, but its problems are legion.
 

bestami

Member
Since the thread is already bumped i wanted to drop by and give my opinions on the game because i've played it last week to completion.

I really think this games deserves more attention. Except for some stupid character designs and the aproach they took with the boss fights and some action levels, this really is a cool game with a lot of neat little design elements. I love how the choices really matter. Choices are not just reflected on a cutscene or some minor plot elements.
 

Patryn

Member
bestami said:
Since the thread is already bumped i wanted to drop by and give my opinions on the game because i've played it last week to completion.

I really think this games deserves more attention. Except for some stupid character designs and the aproach they took with the boss fights and some action levels, this really is a cool game with a lot of neat little design elements. I love how the choices really matter. Choices are not just reflected on a cutscene or some minor plot elements.

I totally agree. I gave it crap when it came out, and it totally didn't deserve it.

Seriously, if they had just fixed the shooting system, maybe made it a little closer to Mass Effect, it would have been heralded as one of the best RPGs of this generation.

I mean, if it weren't for the shooting, and being forced to engage in shooting and combat during certain sequences, it'd be one of my favorite games.

Really, after playing this, I wonder what Mass Effect would be like if Obsidian ever got their hands on it. I'm also really, really excited for Fallout: New Vegas.
 
Sinatar said:
You're problem wasn't doing Moscow first, it was doing any one stage all the way to the end without touching the others. You should be jumping back and forth between the 3 and fighting the end bosses when you're higher level. You also get to meet Steven Heck in Taipei who makes the Brayko fight a joke.

So this won't affect the narrative? I have just got to the boss in Rome & can't really do any damage to him
I didn't really want to leave as I thought it may mess up my relationships if I abandon Rome to a terrorist attack
 
Patryn said:
Seriously, if they had just fixed the shooting system, maybe made it a little closer to Mass Effect, it would have been heralded as one of the best RPGs of this generation.

The shooting system, the animations, the locations, the paper thin customization. I wish a studio like Bethesda or Bioware had a crack a AP.
 
Thinking about another play-through on the ps3, first time played on the 360 and went stealth with pistol which was pretty damn awesome, any recommendations this time?
 

lsslave

Jew Gamer
Patryn said:
I totally agree. I gave it crap when it came out, and it totally didn't deserve it.

Seriously, if they had just fixed the shooting system, maybe made it a little closer to Mass Effect, it would have been heralded as one of the best RPGs of this generation.

I mean, if it weren't for the shooting, and being forced to engage in shooting and combat during certain sequences, it'd be one of my favorite games.

Really, after playing this, I wonder what Mass Effect would be like if Obsidian ever got their hands on it. I'm also really, really excited for Fallout: New Vegas.

Obsidian gets bashed a lot but they are a studio with a shit tonne of potential. As a huge fan of them (up there with me back when SE didn't suck and Nintendo when they do something awesome and not fuck over their fans :lol ) I only wish they would work harder at polishing their titles.

That is why their 2 projects with Square Enix have me so excited; SE is a lot of things but lack of polish is not something that can be said of the company :D
 

Fredescu

Member
What's a good build and difficulty level for a first replay of this game? The first time I didn't follow any real plan and ended up just going toughness and assault rifles.

Also the 1.1 patch doesn't work for me.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Cerebral Assassin said:
So this won't affect the narrative? I have just got to the boss in Rome & can't really do any damage to him
I didn't really want to leave as I thought it may mess up my relationships if I abandon Rome to a terrorist attack

Well if affects the narrative in that the game seems designed with jumping around in mind. Characters will often reference things you've done in other regions, dialogue you'd miss if you just stick to one region at a time.
 

Tokubetsu

Member
Fredescu said:
What's a good build and difficulty level for a first replay of this game? The first time I didn't follow any real plan and ended up just going toughness and assault rifles.

Also the 1.1 patch doesn't work for me.

Definitely go stealth/pistols if you haven't yet. It's great.
 
Man, I heard so much mess talked about this game, but I'm tempted to try it out.

Is the PC version any better? Most of the reviews that slammed it were for the consoles.
 

Dennis

Banned
Tokubetsu said:
Definitely go stealth/pistols if you haven't yet. It's great.
Is is best going with a non-combat oriented build cause the shoting mechanic is kinda crap?

If so, are you going to suddenly run into very hard boss battles cause you didn't put enough XP/whatever into combat stats?

I get so pissed off when I try to go with a stealth/persuasion type character and a game just becomes near impossible because of unavoidable combat.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
DennisK4 said:
Is is best going with a non-combat oriented build cause the shoting mechanic is kinda crap?

If so, are you going to suddenly run into very hard boss battles cause you didn't put enough XP/whatever into combat stats?

I get so pissed off when I try to go with a stealth/persuasion type character and a game just becomes near impossible because of unavoidable combat.
Well the pistols skill fixes the shooting with it's special ability where time freezes and you can line up an increasing number of shots. Stealth has a ton of abilities that make stealth KOs easier and easier as the game goes on. The skills work well in conjunction, following stealth up with pistol. Persuasion is all about you reading up on people backgrounds and figuring out how to speak to them in conversation rather than some skill that you pump points into.
 

Dennis

Banned
Stallion Free said:
Well the pistols skill fixes the shooting with it's special ability where time freezes and you can line up an increasing number of shots. Stealth has a ton of abilities that make stealth KOs easier and easier as the game goes on. The skills work well in conjunction, following stealth up with pistol. Persuasion is all about you reading up on people backgrounds and figuring out how to speak to them in conversation rather than some skill that you pump points into.
Thanks
 

Patryn

Member
bluedeviltron said:
Gamefly has it for $15 used right now. Worth the time?

Totally. I finished AP feeling satisfied and like I had just finished a great game, which is something that I can't say for other, "better-playing" games.

ME2, I'm looking at YOU.

All I can say is be patient with the shooting mechanics. Once you have enough points it becomes fine, but the early stuff can be a little painful.
 

Jerk

Banned
DennisK4 said:
Is is best going with a non-combat oriented build cause the shoting mechanic is kinda crap?

If so, are you going to suddenly run into very hard boss battles cause you didn't put enough XP/whatever into combat stats?

I get so pissed off when I try to go with a stealth/persuasion type character and a game just becomes near impossible because of unavoidable combat.

Non-combat is not a choice: non-lethal is.

Just remember that if you decide to make a stealth character, do not invest too much into CQC: it is too loud.
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
Whoompthereitis said:
Man, I heard so much mess talked about this game, but I'm tempted to try it out.

Is the PC version any better? Most of the reviews that slammed it were for the consoles.

Framerate and IQ is better.
 
Jerk 2.0 said:
Pad without a doubt.

No PC game has had me dig for my 360 controller faster than Alpha Protocol did.
Eh, I got through it just fine. It breaks the lock-picking minigame though (making it super simple), and hacking can be problematic at first but once you get a hang of it it's fine.

Those are the only issues you'll run into as far as I can remember. Didn't feel any need to use a pad, but it's clearly designed for one.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Jerk 2.0 said:
Just remember that if you decide to make a stealth character, do not invest too much into CQC: it is too loud.
Stealth and CQC are a horrible combo. Completely counter-intuitive, not to mention it makes the bosses really difficult early on. I know this because I thought it was a good idea at first and had my ass handed to me.
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
Stallion Free said:
Stealth and CQC are a horrible combo. Completely counter-intuitive, not to mention it makes the bosses really difficult early on. I know this because I thought it was a good idea at first and had my ass handed to me.

Strange, I completed the game that way and had no problems. Brayko was a bit of a chore until I found all these pills around the place.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
subversus said:
Strange, I completed the game that way and had no problems. Brayko was a bit of a chore until I found all these pills around the place.
They still don't go hand in hand. CQC has zero effect on stealth takedowns and you can't do shit at anything more than 20 feet away with out taking serious damage with that set up. Would you really recommend it to someone?
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
Stallion Free said:
They still don't go hand in hand. CQC has zero effect on stealth takedowns and you can't do shit at anything more than 20 feet away with out taking serious damage with that set up. Would you really recommend it to someone?

Well, I'd recommend to replace CQC with handguns skills if you want to breeze through the game, but CQC just feels cool imo.
 

Tokubetsu

Member
As Stallion said earlier, Stealth/Pistols is a great and fairly OP build once you get late in the game. By the end I was slow moing 8 shots at a time or something like that which basically means I could kill everyone in a room at the door :lol

Bosses got easier too once I could just place all the shots right on their face. I can't imagine playing this game and not buying all the intel and going it stealth.
 

Patryn

Member
Tokubetsu said:
As Stallion said earlier, Stealth/Pistols is a great and fairly OP build once you get late in the game. By the end I was slow moing 8 shots at a time or something like that which basically means I could kill everyone in a room at the door :lol

Bosses got easier too once I could just place all the shots right on their face. I can't imagine playing this game and not buying all the intel and going it stealth.

Brayko remained the only boss to even give me even the littlest amount of trouble, because I proceeded to put enough points in pistol. After that one fight, all the remaining boss fights took me as long it took to get my second round of Chain Shot(about 90 seconds?)

It really is an absurdly overpowered skill.
 

Jerk

Banned
subversus said:
Well, I'd recommend to replace CQC with handguns skills if you want to breeze through the game, but CQC just feels cool imo.

Non on a hard/non-lethal/recruit run (what I did my first time through the game).
 

Dennis

Banned
piratepwnsninja said:
So I am getting ready to start playing this and was wondering if the 1.1 patch on PC actually does anything. Anyone know?
Why not just install it?

Seems unlikely it will make the game worse, no?
 

kamspy

Member
If you go hard you'll really wanna take the pistols + stealth advice.

Normal was fun for me. The gunplay wasn't why I came, so it was nice to just kinda blow through it.
 
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