Alpha Protocol

[King of Creation]

Speaking of subways, Taiwan has possibly the best, cleanest, and cheapest subway system in the world. They would definitely work well as a movie/game set.

[Kashluk]

Other than skill allocation, does picking any of the predefined dudes have any appreciable effects on gameplay? (beyond what doors their skills would open up?)

Some lines of dialogue in the intro phase and one or two e-mails. Pretty much the way it worked in, say, Mass Effect.

[hoochimama]

Actually in ME you also get a small side-quest specific to your chosen background.

[King of Creation]

Small is the key word there.

[Kashluk]

Actually in ME you also get a small side-quest specific to your chosen background.

So, in other words: has no real effect on anything. You can say a lot about Dragon Age: Origins, but at least in that game the character origins were the determining factor of how things would fold up. Then again, it was all deterministic, your choices after that didn't really make other than a cosmetic difference.

[Yonmanc]

Speaking of subways, Taiwan has possibly the best, cleanest, and cheapest subway system in the world. They would definitely work well as a movie/game set.

They also have a very large frisbee production industry.

[Blargh]

Say what you will of Mass Effect, I certainly have no stake in white knighting it, but it is one of the few RPGs in which the immediate forebear(s) of your character may still be alive. Unusual, in that lonely regard. A shame it has as much effect on the narrative as practically every other detail . . .

AM NOW AWAITING A STUPIDLY LONG LIST OF RPGS WHICH DO NOT FEATURE THE ACTUAL OR IMPLIED DEATH OF PROTAGONIST PROGENITORS YES

HAHA MR THORTON I WILL SHOOT YOU IN THE veridian room

[Megatron]

About 134,000 results (0.50 seconds)

it is true that every person who plays a game hates their dad thats why theres so many moustaches in the biz because everyone has some kind of oedipal secret mission for mothers pubes and daughters dairy plugs.

[Tofu Man]

Actually in ME you also get a small side-quest specific to your chosen background.

Refresh my memory, what was the specific side-quest for the lone survivor/earthborn background? (And no, I'm not being sarcastic, I just never did a second playthrough)

[SenisterDenister]

In sole survivor there's a situation at the shipping docks where a former slave is threatening suicide or something, and the earthborn is where friends in a gang you used to be in confront you and want you to work to help the anti-alien party at the citadel to do whatever. I don't remember any exact details, but I'm pretty sure that's how the other stuff went down.

[King of Creation]

Earthborn, iirc, had a small bit where you ran into one of your old gang buddies hanging outside Chora's Den. He asked you to do some favor or something or he'd reveal your involvement in the gang and blah blah. It doesn't have an effect on anything, aside from paragon or renegade points (if even that).

[Tofu Man]

Wow, that was the character I played, how weird is it that I don't recall any of that?
I mean I remember enjoying it, thinking it was a good game, I remember the great soundtrack reminiscent of 80's - early 90's sci-fi, and finally I remember that incredibly cheesy ending, but other than that, nothing really.

Even Chora's Den strikes a very distant chord. Is it the guy that shows up in Carrie-Anne Moss' bar in ME2, trying to get a drink near the back door, that you're talking about?

ME2, however, which I thought was trite (but with fun combat), I can almost recall completely. Is there some weird subliminal thingy going on? I guess that's what I've come to expect from EA.

[Aonaran]

Pretty fucking awesome shit so far. Can't say I'm surprised so many critics were so completely wrong on this one. Can't wait to test out my Stealth + Martial Arts character, aka my Silent Running + Jump Attack character.

[Retlaw83]

Martial arts is a supplementary skill, not a primary attack skill. I'd suggest tagging pistol too so you have a decent range weapon with a silent option to back up sneaky ass kicking in case things drop in the pot.

AP's designed so stealthing your way through the whole thing is about as stupid barging through door after door with SMGs blazing.

[Wolfman Walt]

I went through with Martial Arts, Stealth, and Pistol (Spy package) and found it to be fun, although abit easy towards the end.

[Retlaw83]

My only real problem with AP is virtually every setup gets easy towards the end - you go from barely able to shoot a guy to being indestructible macho man.

[Aonaran]

Anyone attempted Silent Running + Jump Attack to chain stealth takedowns? I imagine with those two, a decently high level of Evasion and good timing, you could sweep a level relatively quickly with zero detections.

[Retlaw83]

I haven't made a stealth build yet, though my jump attacking shotgun dude was pretty awesome.

[Blargh]

Given that the third tier of silent running lasts longer than the downtime, it should simply have become a passive effect. Or they should have reworked the timers. The absence of hot keys was the greatest failing of the interface.

That said, I found it feasible and reasonably enjoyable to ghost the game, without shadow operative. Well, as close as one can get to ghosting. Between the frequent violation of agency by Cutscene Thorton and the apparent love of arbitrary alarms with complimentary henchmen, I found the most reliable approach was to simply ignore the breaks in flow and get back to the throat punching. Yes.

supplementary

Any of the five combat skills can be supplementary to the other(s). None are indispensable.

[cazsim83]

I would like a subway in my city and not the kind that has subs get it?