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[jim-jam bongs]

Yeah what the hell, Mike is a twat but that's the point. He's kind of a lovable douche.

Playing a recruit run at the moment so I went back to a stealth and pistols build, going non-lethal nice guy Mike.

Spoiler

Best part is that I don't feel like I have to shoot Sis just to piss Albatross off. <3 Sis.

 

[Snuggles]

Yeah what the hell, Mike is a twat but that's the point. He's kind of a lovable douche.

Playing a recruit run at the moment so I went back to a stealth and pistols build, going non-lethal nice guy Mike. Best part is that I don't feel like I have to shoot Sis just to piss Albatross off. <3 Sis.

Precisely. He's so smug and corny and I love it, especially when you're playing as "suave" Thornton.

I'm still mulling over my next run, but I think I'll go with no-bullshit professional Thorton since it's the only style I haven't used. I've done a stealth build and a brute force build so I might go with a hacking/gadget focused build.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Precisely. He's so smug and corny and I love it, especially when you're playing as "suave" Thornton.

I'm still mulling over my next run, but I think I'll go with no-bullshit professional Thorton since it's the only style I haven't used. I've done a stealth build and a brute force build so I might go with a hacking/gadget focused build.

I've probably finished it about ten times with different builds or attitudes at this point and I'm still finding things I haven't noticed before, everything makes such a huge difference. My advice for whichever build you take is:

- 1 point in Sabotage for the EMP bypass skill
- 2 points in Pistols for Chain Shot

Those are mandatory for any build in my opinion, just because having basic Chain Shot means you can cheese bosses, and the EMP skill means that even if you never put another point into it you can open everything in the game as long as you fill those gadget slots with EMPs. My last psychotic Mike was along those lines, with everything split across Toughness, Martial Arts and (maxed) Shotguns.

That isn't to say that you can't get by without them, I just find that the bosses are the least fun part of the game so having Chain Shot means you can sort of skip them.

 

[buhdeh]

I put pretty much everything into martial arts and pistols and the game was easy. Might be just me, but I thought the gameplay was really broken. I literally just charged at every enemy and kung-fu'd them to death; even most of the bosses. Hell, for the last boss, I was able to ignore all the enemies, charge straight at the boss and beat him to death.

I'm wondering how frustrating this game would be without chain shot. The

Spoiler

Darcy

fight looks like it'd be annoying as hell with the constant respawning enemies, grenades, and the instantaneous shield recharge on bosses.

Anyways I thought it was an okay game but I'm not in love with it like everyone else. I did enjoy the story/atmosphere though.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Spoiler

The Darcy fight is really easy to cheese if you know how. Head to the tower on the left, use an EMP to bypass the locked door then use the conveniently placed Sniper Rifle upstairs to give him some new speed holes.

The one which is a really prick without Chain Shot is Brayko because of his phase 2 pattern where he gets in your face and wrecks your shit with a shiv. Now, if you make friends with Heck before fighting him you can get him to deliver a shipment of spiked coke to Brayko which makes phase 2 a lot easier. But if you look back through this thread, you'll see a lot of "OMG FUCK BRAYKO" posts from when the game first came out.

 

[amdnv]

Nah, Mike is kind of a douche no matter if you play him like a professional or a psychopath, but at least I felt he was intentionally written that way

Absolutely. I totally agree.

I'm wondering how frustrating this game would be without chain shot.

My character was an assault rifle specialist. He held his own...

 

[hemtae]

Spoiler

The one which is a really prick without Chain Shot is Brayko because of his phase 2 pattern where he gets in your face and wrecks your shit with a shiv. Now, if you make friends with Heck before fighting him you can get him to deliver a shipment of spiked coke to Brayko which makes phase 2 a lot easier. But if you look back through this thread, you'll see a lot of "OMG FUCK BRAYKO" posts from when the game first came out.

They could have made that fight entirely unwinnable without chain shot and I would have still loved it because of the song

 

[jim-jam bongs]

They could have made that fight entirely unwinnable without chain shot and I would have still loved it because of the song

It's awesome, I was sad that they didn't use him more. I really love how all of the Russian mob guys are perpetually stuck in the 80s in Alpha Protocol.

 

[zkylon]

Yeah what the hell, Mike is a twat but that's the point. He's kind of a lovable douche.

Playing a recruit run at the moment so I went back to a stealth and pistols build, going non-lethal nice guy Mike.

Spoiler

Best part is that I don't feel like I have to shoot Sis just to piss Albatross off. <3 Sis.

Being psycho Mike in this game is sometimes downright heartbreaking. Specially that one moment you posted.

 

[Snuggles]

Being psycho Mike in this game is sometimes downright heartbreaking. Specially that one moment you posted.

Being a total prick to Madison made me cringe.

Spoiler

It's one thing to be ruthless against a mercenary or a criminal, but she's just an innocent woman. I chose to save her over the hostages just to fuck with her even further. I liked that Leland questioned my decision to save a woman who I seemed to despise.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Yeah but she gets you back

 

[hemtae]

Yeah but she gets you back

You get the last laugh at the museum either way.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

You get the last laugh at the museum either way.

True, but I think her

Spoiler

assaulting Mike

is one of my favourite moments in the game. It's so totally out of character for her that you can really feel just how much you must have pissed her off for it to come to that.

 

[Bebpo]

Bad reviews and a bad publisher really hurt this game. Obsidian are left sucking dick for scratch when they should be given free reign to keep writing these beautiful stories and dialogues that are so rare in games.

It makes me sad that we likely won't get a game as intricate as this any more. Truly a one-of-a-kind and this generation's Vampire: The Masquerade.

Pretty much. Obsidian made a breakthrough game in this generation with future-thinking approaches to storytelling and yet it's the next Call of Duty that will be remembered as leading innovating game design with it's latest ability to "shoot someone in the head".

 

[zkylon]

Being a total prick to Madison made me cringe.

Spoiler

It's one thing to be ruthless against a mercenary or a criminal, but she's just an innocent woman. I chose to save her over the hostages just to fuck with her even further. I liked that Leland questioned my decision to save a woman who I seemed to despise.

Oh, i did the exact same thing, heh. I loved coming home to the "Asshole.", "Bitch." banter.

Spoiler

Still, shooting Sis was the tougher decision for me. Her look of surprise followed by Albatross revealing a few things about her past i hadn't found out in the first playthrough was hard hitting. Shooting all of them, SIE, Brayko, leaving Mina to die, i felt bad about them all. Having Scarlett betray me in the end was a nice touch. I really deserved it

 

[Grayman]

Oh, i did the exact same thing, heh. I loved coming home to the "Asshole.", "Bitch." banter.

Spoiler

Still, shooting Sis was the tougher decision for me. Her look of surprise followed by Albatross revealing a few things about her past i hadn't found out in the first playthrough was hard hitting. Shooting all of them, SIE, Brayko, leaving Mina to die, i felt bad about them all. Having Scarlett betray me in the end was a nice touch. I really deserved it

one of my favourite touches was for my first few games

Spoiler

I never knew Scarlet's full involvement.

 

[Dunlop]

I officially do not understand how hacking works in this game.

scroll on matching password with left or right trigger depending on side and then match it again? I constantly fail and now cant finish a mission

 

[Huevos de Oro]

I officially do not understand how hacking works in this game.

scroll on matching password with left or right trigger depending on side and then match it again? I constantly fail and now cant finish a mission

Scroll left or right password with left or right analog stick, match them with left or right trigger.

 

[TheYanger]

I've probably finished it about ten times with different builds or attitudes at this point and I'm still finding things I haven't noticed before, everything makes such a huge difference. My advice for whichever build you take is:

- 1 point in Sabotage for the EMP bypass skill
- 2 points in Pistols for Chain Shot

Those are mandatory for any build in my opinion, just because having basic Chain Shot means you can cheese bosses, and the EMP skill means that even if you never put another point into it you can open everything in the game as long as you fill those gadget slots with EMPs. My last psychotic Mike was along those lines, with everything split across Toughness, Martial Arts and (maxed) Shotguns.

That isn't to say that you can't get by without them, I just find that the bosses are the least fun part of the game so having Chain Shot means you can sort of skip them.

I've gone through twice now, my stealth character ABSOLUTELY needed chain shot, but my run and gun character with assault rifles killed bosses just as fast, it wasn't any big deal. I killed a few with SMGs too just to try it out, and have been considering going martial arts just for fun. Chain shot is absolutely powerful, but only in the sense that it makes up for the fact that without it playing pistols would be almost impossible (I did the first few sections without it, and had to use my unskilled AR to kill bosses, it was BRUTAL).

 

[Labadal]

Nothing is more fun than pissing off Marburg. Btw, what I wouldn't do for a prequel with Marburg as main character. My favorite NPC.

Btw, anyone done no kills playthrough? I did one last time with hands being my "weapon" of choice. That was the most fun playthrough, desbite me messing up and having to reload every other minute.

 

[daviyoung]

Btw, anyone done no kills playthrough?

Lack of a quick save stops me doing this.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

They could have made that fight entirely unwinnable without chain shot and I would have still loved it because of the song

You know, you can

Spoiler

get him to give you his sound system and strobe lighting shit if you make a deal with him and spare his life after the battle. It then shows up in your Moscow apartment and you can listen to the song all you want

 

[Grayman]

You know, you can

Spoiler

get him to give you his sound system and strobe lighting shit if you make a deal with him and spare his life after the battle. It then shows up in your Moscow apartment and you can listen to the song all you want

! being evil but not psychotic has never been so good.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Btw, anyone done no kills playthrough?

Gets ridiculously easy when you get enough stealth and pistol skills. Was still fun to do though.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

I finally finished a Recruit run on my current PC so I have Veteran unlocked again at long last. For the record it's 120 AP you get at the start of the game to build your character with, so you effectively start the game at level 12.

Also when you wake up in the Graybox

Spoiler

there is an Easter Egg when you're on your PDA speaking with Mina. Her signal cuts out and the shopkeeper from the Gelato Shop in Rome appears on your PDA screen for a few seconds. Also, when he first wakes up he says "where the hell is my gear?" to reflect the fact that he's such a seasoned veteran that being without his gear for any amount of time is sheer torment.

That Recruit run was a lot easier than I recall it being too. I finished up at level 20 with maxed Stealth and Pistols and near maxed Martial Arts. Even ploughed all the ladies in one run for the first time too, I usually like to piss at least one of them off.

Btw, anyone done no kills playthrough?

Puh-lease, my first time through the game was no kills and no alarms. Like Xia said, high level Stealth makes a no kills run super-cheesy because of Shadow Operative. If you make the right decisions in the game you can end up with SO which lasts for ~30 seconds and takes just over a minute to cool down.

 

[Grayman]

the first time I ever played the game I did recruit, but i also stumbled on stealth and pistols because it seemed like it would be the most fun.

 

[zkylon]

Puh-lease, my first time through the game was no kills and no alarms. Like Xia said, high level Stealth makes a no kills run super-cheesy because of Shadow Operative. If you make the right decisions in the game you can end up with SO which lasts for ~30 seconds and takes just over a minute to cool down.

That, combo-ed with the Tech Spec skill that recharges your skills is just not fair against the poor bosses. Spoilery video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh7Ri4rBLMs (sorry for no sound, messed up in Fraps )

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Oh wow, yeah I'd forgotten about Brilliance too. lol that video is almost exactly what I did yesterday to kill

Spoiler

Yancy

too.

One thing I wanted to mention about my Recruit run is that I only wore Mike's street clothes for the whole game because it's the best "pure" stealth suit. Interestingly I had 120 base endurance from perks by the end of the game (including Constant Encouragement Rank II), bringing it up to 125 endurance with the 5 from the clothes. If I'd got Insurance Liability in addition to Tough As Nails (given for taking damage) I could have taken it even higher.

 

[zkylon]

Oh wow, yeah I'd forgotten about Brilliance too. lol that video is almost exactly what I did yesterday to kill

Spoiler

Yancy

too.

One thing I wanted to mention about my Recruit run is that I only wore Mike's street clothes for the whole game because it's the best "pure" stealth suit. Interestingly I had 120 base endurance from perks by the end of the game (including Constant Encouragement Rank II), bringing it up to 125 endurance with the 5 from the clothes. If I'd got Insurance Liability in addition to Tough As Nails (given for taking damage) I could have taken it even higher.

Might want to spoiler tag that name Lots of new players from the Steam sale, you know.

Did you ever try beating the game as a full tech specialist? I'm downloading my Steam copy right now and i'm planning on seeing if it can be beateable just using grenades, and maybe some Kung Fu.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Might want to spoiler tag that name Lots of new players from the Steam sale, you know.

Er oops, I'm usually really careful with that too. Sorted.

Did you ever try beating the game as a full tech specialist? I'm downloading my Steam copy right now and i'm planning on seeing if it can be beateable just using grenades, and maybe some Kung Fu.

I've done a heavy Sabotage build but always had a firearm skill to back it up. The problem is just that you can't carry enough gadgets into the field early in the game so you really need to make them count (Overclock every time etc). If you supplement with some kung-fu though I reckon that would do it.

My advice for power-perking your gadgets build is

Spoiler

to fill every slot with the same gadget and empty them all every mission so that you get the perks related to that gadget as quickly as possible, then move on to the next gadget and do the same thing.

 

[Snuggles]

Maybe it's time for my fists-only run.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Fists-only is a must-have-Chain-Shot build imo but ymmv. The Toughness perk which makes Mike instantly resurrect when he dies makes it a lot easier.

 

[The Stealth Fox]

This game is better than BF3. True story.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

What an odd comparison.

I like it.

 

[The Stealth Fox]

What an odd comparison.

I like it.

This game won't make your PC catch fire or cause people to want the game to make your PC catch fire.

And you can be a jerk to characters and feel okay about it.

 

[zkylon]

I've done a heavy Sabotage build but always had a firearm skill to back it up. The problem is just that you can't carry enough gadgets into the field early in the game so you really need to make them count (Overclock every time etc). If you supplement with some kung-fu though I reckon that would do it.

My advice for power-perking your gadgets build is

Spoiler

to fill every slot with the same gadget and empty them all every mission so that you get the perks related to that gadget as quickly as possible, then move on to the next gadget and do the same thing.

I'd like to try a 0 firearms run in hard difficulty, maybe starting as a Vet. Might be impossible to beat some bosses, is what i'm afraid. I'd like not to have to put points into chain shot just for the bosses.

And you can be a jerk to characters and feel okay about it.

Doesn't shooting people count as being a jerk to them?

 

[Huevos de Oro]

Found a solution to this. If you're using Motionjoy, upgrade to the latest version (6.0004 or whatever) and then go to options and change the threshold of whatever buttons you've got set to for LT/RT to zero (default is at 64 which means a considerable deadzone).

Quoted just to properly thank you. It really worked. Setting threshold to zero on triggers actually fixed the problem with lockpicking. Now I only have myself to blame for being shit at lockpicking.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

This game won't make your PC catch fire or cause people to want the game to make your PC catch fire.

And you can be a jerk to characters and feel okay about it.

All good points!

I'd like to try a 0 firearms run in hard difficulty, maybe starting as a Vet. Might be impossible to beat some bosses, is what i'm afraid.

Spoiler

Brayko is the problem. Make sure you do Taipei before Moscow so that you can pay Heck to poison his cocaine, because having to go toe-to-toe with him when he has his blade out is basically suicide, even with a higher level Martial Arts skill.

 

[The Stealth Fox]

Doesn't shooting people count as being a jerk to them?

Can you do it while telling them you killed your therapist?

 

[zkylon]

Spoiler

Brayko is the problem. Make sure you do Taipei before Moscow so that you can pay Heck to poison his cocaine, because having to go toe-to-toe with him when he has his blade out is basically suicide, even with a higher level Martial Arts skill.

No can do. Did Moscow last on my other playthroughs, so wouldn't be cool to play it in the same order. One thing i love about this game is its length. It's perfect for trying stuff and if it doesn't work, you can get back to where you were fast, so i don't mind if i get stuck. I can always just fly to somewhere else if i just can't beat him.

Can you do it while telling them you killed your therapist?

Oh totally, MT levels of doucheness are impossible to match.

 

[Grayman]

you can always fly there for just the meet and greet. I think that gets you the intel option.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Yeah I'm a big fan of flying back and forth a lot. For some reason during my Recruit run I was always short of money, and I'm obsessed with dossiers so I won't start a mission if I can't afford to buy them.

The Lead Designer on Rome, thinks otherwise: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3308998&userid=19836

Just quoting this again because I read all the way through all of his posts in that thread and there is some amazing stuff in there for fans of AP/Obsidian. Also:

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Yeah I'm a big fan of flying back and forth a lot.

Likewise. The game's a lot easier if you go back and forth between areas as you get more chances to level up before the end missions/bosses for the three locations.

 

[The Stealth Fox]

I love how there's so much variation in the final mission and ending. Every action/lack of action ends up coming back to bite you in the end.

 

[CornBurrito]

The fuck happened to the game?

I'm at that stupid fucking "escort" mission where I have to stop

Spoiler

Sergoff

from dying and there are tons of enemies. Did I fuck up something and there was a way to avoid this shitfest, or did the game seriously throw a goddamn escort mission with forced combat into the game?

I've retried like 10 or so times and the fucker keeps getting himself killed.

 

[Rufus]

It happens regardless. There's a pretty easy way to beat this even for stealthy characters, but you'd have to have Albatross stash a sniper rifle for you.

Read this, to find out what options you have:
http://alphaprotocol.wikia.com/wiki/Intercept_Surkov_at_US_Embassy

 

[CornBurrito]

It happens regardless. There's a pretty easy way to beat this even for stealthy characters, but you'd have to have Albatross stash a sniper rifle for you.

Read this, to find out what options you have:
http://alphaprotocol.wikia.com/wiki/Intercept_Surkov_at_US_Embassy

Odd. I am allied with Albatross and I don't see a Sniper Rifle anywhere on the roof. I also never got the option to pay for a rifle drop or request a drop.

 

[hemtae]

Odd. I am allied with Albatross and I don't see a Sniper Rifle anywhere on the roof.

its one of those intel things you can buy

 

[CornBurrito]

its one of those intel things you can buy

I suppose I can't buy the intel mid mission. Sigh... I'll have to do it all over again?

 

[zkylon]

I suppose I can't buy the intel mid mission. Sigh... I'll have to do it all over again?

According to the wiki: " The rifle appears to be available regardless of whether or not the intel is purchased.". Can't vouch for that thuogh.