Duck and Cover

Yeah, I checked it out. Apparently the issue isn't resolved yet, so I'll just kick back and wait for a patch.

Taco-Hero wrote:Wasn't there a Metal Gear Solid game or something that made it look like your computer/console crashed but was just an illusion?

Arkham Asylum - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnhtTF26KeE

I regret trading that in, twas a fun game

Yonmanc wrote:I regret trading that in, twas a fun game

I beat it just recently, and I'm giving it my stamp of approval.

I've had fun with it. My only complaint is that when you choose your "dialog/action" options it doesn't tell you what you're choosing. It's pretty straightforward on the dialog (key presses correspond to suave/belligerent/professional/end) and the learning curve on that is pretty easy. It's the actions in dialog that give me problems because you have two options (again doesn't tell you ANYTHING) and they don't seem to correspond with the same type of action every time. Don't mind that so much in the dialog but if it's not the same button to shoot someone every time you wind up getting frustrated.

Dang it. I kinda screwed

I saw this 'Veteran' option at the beginning, which got me interested. But I didn't realize you'd actually have to choose 'Recruit' in the beginning, because I somehow thought it was just a difficulty level choice and the class choices above (soldier, field agent etc.) were the only classes you could choose. So that my first play-through would automatically be 'Recruit', I'd just have to choose some of those classes.

I thought wrong. Damn it. I thought at first that it must've been a bug since I couldn't choose 'Veteran' after completing the game. But then I read the descriptions of 'Recruit' and 'Veteran' a bit more carefully and now I'm just pissed. Anyone know a quick and simple cheat to unlock the Veteran class? I couldn't be bothered to play it all the way through again with the Recruit...

Due to the structure of the narrative, another play through should be far less onerous a prospect than most other games. Give it a few weeks ?

Just be certain to play it with drastic contrast to your previous run and you to can be a wunderkind-spook-who-everyone-underestimates-until-it's-too-late-with-a-filthy-vagrant-beard-paedophile-glasses-and-a-ushanka (though that last part only works in Moscow, unfortunately) and marvel at all the ways in which the threads diverged while still becoming the same bitter tapestry ?

Or not.

Alternatively LERN 2 RED BETTAR

Or, you could try this³.

³ - really though, try recruit at some point.

Does the 'Recruit' game mode really differ that much from the others? Besides just being a bit harder?

But hey, thanks for the unlocker.

The main difference between recruit and the other options is that if you choose recruit then you don't start off with any skill points so it's more of a build the character you want type of situation. The other difference is that apparently you get special "recruit" options in dialog but I haven't found any of them yet.

<strike>You get a handful of 'Recruit' ('Enthusiasm Does Not Compensate for Gormlessness' was probably too wordy) dialogue opportunities, most of which are available during the initial Greybox intro, with which you can make Thorton sound particularly unlikeable². And ten (thirteen ?) of the thirtyish points one loses on that background choice. Also, the necessity of doing more with less.</strike> No, not really. Fluff ? Ehue.

Veteran offers a number of more substantial comments, including some that actually affect the plot. And some eggs.

²Most of Thortonspeak had this effect, I found. Onus upon voice actor, rather than writer(s) ? Both ? Four varieties of smug prick ? Tyranny of choice !

The 'three JBs' is a quite accurate description of the dialogue.

Professional = Jason Bourne
Suave = James Bond
Aggressive = Jack Bauer

...aaand the stupid thing is, that around 80 % of the characters you meet go nuts for the Jason Bourne -dialogue. Being Jack Bauer usually just gets them mad at you and going James Bond ends up with less hatred involved disliking. Oh well, nothing that a good ol' Action = terminate dialogue with a gunshot -choice wouldn't cure.

What a shame.

I've been playing it. Almost done with Taipei (chose it as my second op) and I've only encountered one bug.

The combat was annoying at first, but gets better as you level up and get used to it. I even don't mind that the camera is so close that it's inserted in Thorton's rectum anymore.

Taipei is in the game? Now I have to play it.

King of Creation wrote:Taipei is in the game? Now I have to play it.

Don't get your hopes up, though. It's mostly just dark allies and office buildings. It could be situated anywhere and it would fit.

Don't forget the subway. In the alternate history that is the Alpha Protocol universe, the subway is a uniquely Taiwanese invention. Yet to be replicated beyond its borders, primarily due to the dedication and efforts of OMEN DENG, anime reject !

'GOOD FIELDCRAFT, AGENT THORTON.', said OMEN DENG, anime reject ! as his cape billowed threateningly about him. Clearly, he was just trying to blend in with the locals.

A shame they dispensed with Mitsoda.

And yet another game ignores Moscow's subway system. Guess I'll have to get Metro 2033, though I'm really past shooters at this stage.

And a shame the persecution AP's been the victim of.
Maybe it'll turn into some sort of a Blade Runner of gaming, something whose sales bomb, and whose proper appraisal is marred by the overwhelming bioware/bethesda fanboyism and on-the-take reviewers. Maybe in the future it'll get the praise it actually deserves.

Oh and as much of a cliche she is, I gotta say I loved Sie.

Machiavelli wrote:The main difference between recruit and the other options is that if you choose recruit then you don't start off with any skill points so it's more of a build the character you want type of situation. The other difference is that apparently you get special "recruit" options in dialog but I haven't found any of them yet.

So recruit is more of a clean slate then?

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?)

I'm keeping this one on the back burner for now, it runs like shit on my PC.