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[JimboM12]

Let's Play Alpha Protocol!

Let me formerly introduce myself, my internet name is JimboM12 and I've been quietly browsing around the forum for awhile. I usually hang out in chat with our steam group Dwarf Fortress Community [DFC] and tend to make snarky comments while playing solo (and sometimes in multiplayer). So while playing the new DF starter pack, I decided to stop talking to myself and instead talk to you guys!

Now on to the important stuff:

Alpha Protocol was an attempt at an espionage RPG by Obsidian that is honestly underrated. Sure it has bugs, but underneath that it is a great spy game that tracks your relationships and actions across the entire game, opening up different ways of completing missions and heck, it actually changes the story! Have fun being tricked into offing a potential ally for who you thought would be an ally, but they're actually an enemy! Yeah I know, right?

Storywise, it's rather standard spy fare; shadowy clandestine organizations attempting to manipulate the masses for lulz and profits.

You are thrust into this world as Mike Thorton:

_{Our hero}

a newcomer to the depths of clandestine warfare and you are free to define him as you wish. The designers of the game actually said they based the 3 ways you can act as the 3 J.Bs: James Bond for swave, stealthy spies, Jack Bauer for aggressive, no-nonsense types (also kinda a dick sometimes) and Jason Bourne for professional, by the book spies. You are free to stick to one or switch it up to get different responses outta people.

Gameplay, it's a third person action-rpg. For those commandos who couldn't care less about stealth there is a cover system and a somewhat wide variety of weapons to choose from. For spies, there's side routes to slip past guards and various ways to make distractions without guards bee-lining it to the alarm. Choosing to blow shit up could negatively affect some missions though.

I'm playing the game vanilla, patched and with some slight tweaks to fix some issues, all thanks to the great fellas at PCGamingWiki: http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Alpha_Protocol

I'm going to start playing this weekend (hopefully) and I thought I'd get the ball rolling here. I'll update whenever I get the time, and I'll let you guys join me in making Mikey the biggest hero (or douchebag) the spy world has seen.

[JimboM12]

After Action Reports:

Intro Video

_{Alpha Protocol's Intro Video, thanks to Mamboi for posting.}

Operation "Fucking New Guy"

_{Pre-Operations Briefing}

Operation "First Steps" Part 1

_{Mike wakes up in a strange place, presumably because of Chris Hansen}

[Teneb]

PTW

[scrdest]

Oh man, I love that game. One of my very first Steam purchases, too. Pity the sequel seemed to die.

[JimboM12]

Operation "Fucking New Guy"

_{Notes: We'll be playing Alpha Protocol at "Normal" difficulty.}

Excerpt from the reports of Alpha Protocol Retrieval Team One

Senior Recruitment Agent Anderson: "Alright, listen up assholes, I'm only going over this once. As some of you know, due to the recent terrorist attack, we need to bring in some new blood and have him deal with this shit. No, Rickardson, I have no idea why Alpha Protocol hires teams like us only to bring in newbies to deal with all the field work. No, just no, Rickardson. SHUT UP! *Ahem* Now, organizations like ours recruit from one of four places usually:"

"You've got your soldiers. They're damn grunts, but too smart for catching bullets, so their CO's refer them up the ladder to us. They're much more combat capable than our other recruits, with training in SMGs and Assault Rifles. As in watch yourselves out there, AND I MEAN YOU CONRAD! FUCK! TIE YOUR DAMN LACES!"

"Most of us might have come Field Agent assignments, and we got picked up for this gig by sheer skill. By that one I mean me. You learn the ins and outs of stealth in the field and spend time learning the correct way to use pistols on the job. You fucks, however, are as useless as tits on a gorilla. I KNOW THEY'RE BREAST FEEDING MAMMALS, RICKARDSON, FUCK."

"And you've got your "high-school genius" Tech Specialists. MIT or some such place gets one of those Steven Hawking types who skip multiple grades and shit, and want better jobs than maintaining porn servers for a living, so their connected professors contact the CIA or something, and we kidnap them for our side. Simple. I know you got 90 on the tech exams last time, Clark, you fucking nerd. What are you doing in my damn squad then? Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Sometimes when you want some extra deniability in this field, you hire a Freelancer. No shitting, these guys are a mixed bunch, this one guy was a real stealthy type, good with gadgets, ya know; and this other time we got Conrad. Yeah, you, you asshat. No telling what you get with these guys though, but they've usually seen some action.

"I.....I don't even...." *Exasperated sigh and facepalm* "I don't know what commands been smoking, hiring such a raw Recruit. I mean look at the guy's record. Three months on the job. THREE MONTHS. Shit. No skills what-so-ever, no knowledge of how the real espionage game is played, hell, I bet he even thinks crack cocaine was a government plot to keep the black man down! *Loud laughter from all team members, including Senior Agent Anderson* "But, I mean it was, you know."

"Our target is a one; Michael Thorton. He's not former military, not formerly with Langley, nothing. The guy scored high exam marks while working for the Department of Justice. Yeah, I know. Here's his current skills sheet:"

"Emptier than a daytime strip joint. Last known photo:"

_{Mike Thorton}

"Dammit, Clark."

_{Mike Thorton}

"This was taken one month ago, but we can assume he may have grown facial hair or something. This operation will be standard procedure, get in, drug him, extract him. We'll wait for him to get out of his co-worker's daughters Sweet Sixteen party in two days, then we'll jump him. Clark, you're on blindfold duty, Conrad, you're on bindings. Any questions? Yeah, Conrad?" "Permission to raid the party for cake while we're there?" *Agent Anderson's face freezes, then angrily stares holes into Agent Conrad's skull*

Operation Commencing: 2/21/15.

[scrdest]

Holy shit, I NEVER noticed the similarity before. CANNOT UNSEE, DAMMIT!

[Uristides]

This game caught my eye ever since I first heard of it, but the broken reputation kept me from actually giving it a go. PTW because this might be amusing.

[hector13]

This game caught my eye ever since I first heard of it, but the broken reputation kept me from actually giving it a go. PTW because this might be amusing.

It's an interesting one, it's just a bit... silly. It says you can play the game the way you want, but there are a few missions in which it forces you down a combat route (heavily) and if you've not invested some XP in combat skills, they're quite difficult. Especially on hard mode (obviously)

[Shadowlord]

You should really just expect to fight and invest some of your skills in one or two weapons, etc.

Of course, if you invest points into stealth, it goes from nearly impossible to sneak through a level (with no points) to easy if you're patient and use the skills it gives you (with a bunch of points to unlock and start upgrading the stealth skills).

There are places (bosses, etc) where fighting is unavoidable, though.

[scrdest]

This game caught my eye ever since I first heard of it, but the broken reputation kept me from actually giving it a go. PTW because this might be amusing.

It's an interesting one, it's just a bit... silly. It says you can play the game the way you want, but there are a few missions in which it forces you down a combat route (heavily) and if you've not invested some XP in combat skills, they're quite difficult. Especially on hard mode (obviously)

Inaccurate - missions themselves, generally speaking, are never going to force you into a route, but the *bosses* are. It's the DX:HR syndrome, except I don't think they outsourced the bosses here; the designers didn't think to make fighting bosses a matter of anything except fighting or talking.

Besides, as Shadowlord said, if you invest not a single point into a combat skill, at least Martial Arts, is kinda like playing - a propos - the original Deus Ex and sinking all your skill points in Swimming. It takes some dedicated effort to make a character that unbalanced.

I don't know where the broken reputation came from, the only problem I ever had (albeit a serious one - my character got teleported into the blue void of the character screen) was with a... 'demo' version on my friend's computer; otherwise, the only bugs of note were minor, if any, such as a poorly thought-out flag setting placement in one mission that makes a mission treat you as if you played it out differently. Might have been patched, I'unno.

[JimboM12]

On the bugs, I don't remember running into any major ones using the 1.10 patch linked by PCGamingWiki. Some minor clipping, odd sound bits, etc.

For my sanity, I will be using a mostly stealth play, but i plan on investing in pistols too. As for conversation trees, i guess ill do a vote for general attitude between each mission during hub levels. For the tutorial I plan on being swave and turning on that rookie charm on everyone (for reasons I'll explain).

[GiglameshDespair]

This game was good, but the boss fight against the russian snorting cocaine was monstrously difficult.

[JimboM12]

This game was good, but the boss fight against the russian snorting cocaine was monstrously difficult.

I have a trick up my sleeve for dealing with him as a stealth pistol user, heh heh heh. (It's incredibly cheap and gamey and hilarous)

[hector13]

Well I think there was like... one mission that forces you into combat, outside bosses. I think it's the embassy one? Reasonably sure it's the same set of missions that you get the... slightly unhinged dude who works with you, and is upset if you don't talk to him first out of that set of missions.

It has been a really long time since I played though, so I can't quite remember.

The Russian mobster boss fight is probably one of my favourite boss fights of ever, if just because of the music.

[JimboM12]

The music that haunts your reload screen.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The horror! The horror! The hair!