Imagine my joy to see that two years after this video came out - Alpha Protocol is indeed finally available again! The fine folks over at GOG.com managed to get Sega to agree to a re-release and you can now play it in all it's janky glory. I highly recommend checking it out as for £15 it's a steal www.gog.com/game/alpha_protocol
For years after first playing this I thought this game was just a fever dream. It's genuinely a mess, but it might just be the most inspired and ambitious mess I've ever seen, and were it actually finished, it could very well be one of the best rpgs of all time
It's so strange isn't it - I really do wish that it was more available for people to play now as I really think it's still so worth experiencing. I on purpose tried to not spoil too much of the game so people could see just how crazy things can get! Ironically that actually made it quite hard to write about as there is just so much here!
I was hyped for this game and at the time I was a employee of GameStop now you think working at a game store you’d just Know when game was coming out lmao little did we know They Didn’t Know When it Was Coming out 🙂. What A Shame.
Unfortunately, Obsidian was never in a position to negotiate good contracts. The whole company started out in Feargus Urquhart's attic because they couldn't afford to rent an office. They didn't move into a real office until they started working on Neverwinter Nights 2. They were constantly on the edge of bankruptcy so they had to accept unfavorable deals to survive. And they couldn't push back against unreasonable demands from the publishers because a project cancellation could result in the company going under.
@KingOfMadCows this isn't entirely accurate. NWN 2 was, at the time, the best selling crpg released and the best selling rpg on pc. They definitely could have used the prestige they rightfully gained from it to push back. Unfortunately, the team and management were still too inexperienced to realize the impact they had.
10/10 This breakdown/essay was so good for such a weirdly broken game. Your coverage was excellent and the minutiae touched on all the important stuff.
I loved this game. Finished it 3 times. The permutations there are in terms of story, based on your choices in role-playing, are great. Sad how overlooked and underrated it was when it came out.
Id guess this is even harder to market than mass effect dialog options, which TBH are pretty simple in ME1 and shuffling it in every part of trilogy shows even devs of ME werent sure how to fit it. Alpha Protocol managed, just it is less "gamey" result.
Alpha protocol is proof that a game doesn't need to be good to be great. Just make sure you play it on the easiest difficulty so you don't actually have to "play" it. Its kinda like reading the script of a great movie that was never made.
Absolutely spot on! It's a lovely contradiction - somehow incredible despite all the endless terrible elements! I feel like it's a must play for people who love game design
I always just have fun with acting like I need to shoot the enemy the right way or take them down in a fun spy way like I'm playing out a scene rather than just a game and it makes my experience so much more.
Finally, I get it! This must be why Bond was always using that Walther PPK/s in .380 ACP. It's the only gun he leveled up enough with to reliably hit anything he was shooting at. Could be worse, it could be Deus Ex at first level without putting any points into any of the weapon types. Waiting for that crosshair to close in...
Your video game essays are by far some of the best I've heard in the medium in quite awhile. I hope you continue with content to come for many years, or at least for however long you can.
My friend I'm enjoying making these videos quite a lot and have actually been writing about the games I beat for quite a while before that so I shouldn't be stopping any time soon! Only if people seem to not like them anymore and at the moment it seems like people are enjoying them!
It's still the best "role" playing system I have played. And I mean the threads are even tighter than Mass Effect (like M.E. has longer strings through its Trilogy but everything you do in Alpha Protocol has some reference or change in the plot, like messing up stealth after being nearly perfect before hand, or changing into stealth/non-lethal, after being agressive previously. on certain missions brings up or changes dialogue by different characters, where they question why the change?). I have probably played the whole game a minimum of 10 full times trying to do it from all angles; 30 plus if you include saves and reloads for different outcomes.
@@Jghost11 okay, while I will glaze the shit out of this game, it is not the best roleplay experience I've had in a video game, though it is impressive given the setbacks. That honor would go to the Pathfinder games, Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous.
Your long form videos are absolutely incredible, as is your taste in games. I can't imagine the time and effort these take of you, but I do know how much we appreciate it. Thank you for the amazing content and Happy New Year!
I still wish for the day Alpha Protocol 2 or a spiritual successor is made cause it’s by far one of the best role playing experiences ever in a game for me.
i plan to make one, though I'm only just starting my computer science degree so itll be years off. possibly a decade, being realistic, and probably a lot smaller scale unless I accidentally stumble into a team willing to work for peanuts - a sort of cross between AP and MGS3, with the survival viewer and all. Storyboardings done, to summarize briefly, deploy as one of a dozen mercenaries hired to raid a remote siberian facility in what should be a relatively easy job - this is the virtuous mission - things seem to go mostly okay, shit hits the fan, everyone dies but you; critically injured and liable to die of exposure, try to flee, command/client refuses evac until the mission is complete. Begin the game proper, survive however possible, trek through the woods, mountains, and several urban facilities through traditional stealth, guns blazing, or disguise/social engineering, infiltrate the target facility. Plot(semi)twist, employer is the US government using you as a deniable asset to fuck up russian separatists cooking up a new chemical weapon without compromising international peace - hence no NATO affiliation - after the initial fuckup airspaces are tight, no opportunity for us/nato to get another team in, russia's military-proper is coming to deal with the separatists but the weapon will be released too soon so the final act of the game becomes a sort of race against time. Have 8 different endings storyboarded out so far based on factors of how you act with various characters, how lethal/loud you've been, if you destroy the facility or not, and if you survive or not. As a bonus, and to make simply stealing a vehicle and fucking off on your own a viable choice, game has low TTK with the injury/wound system so its hard to die outright, but also difficult to heal so combat holds weight. Add in permadeath/roguelite system, runs are scored based on what you achieve, score is cut in half if you die instead of fleeing, score can be spent on unlocks/goodies for the next run. It's definitely ambitious and not something i plan to be the first game i ever release by any means, but its an endgoal/long term ambition I've been planning for and working on in the background for a few years now. Know this is an old comment, but I needed an excuse to gush for a moment as I've been very excited about this project (watching this retrospective to sort of remember all the best aspects of AP to learn from it, as well as from its mistakes) recently.
YES! I swear to god you are in my head. As I was going through Jade Empire, I was thinking if you'll make an Alpha Protocol video, but under the premise of "least likely thing to happen but it would be cool nonetheless". And here it is. AP being one of the games I own (or rather I've exchanged discs with my classmates and we never returned the games we gave each other so the game is mine now for all I care), I remember playing it and getting absolutely dusted in the first section of the game because I used SMGs because "wow you dual wield those?!" but they suck so much if you don't spec into their tree, and even then I'd have more luck sniping someone with a shotgun from 300 miles away compared to just abysmal accuracy of SMG. Being the fool that I was, still not done with the martial arts bug, I put my specs into combat tree because the combo looked cool, and after seeing the initial 3-hit turn into 5-hit I thought I'll be playing DMC by the end of the game. Turns out I'm an idiot and I couldn't get past the first section because the way game worked was a mystery for a while to me. One rage quit and about a week later I find my little brother absolutely demolishing this game and thinking to myself "Am I actually dumb?", so I asked him what perks and specs he has. Turns out, he actually WAS smarter than me and leveled pistols/assault rifles. So that's how I played too, later on doing stealth build. During my pistol build I found out that the game is actually super broken yet enjoyable, but my god you can just cheese it entirely with crits and waiting. And when you land that assault rifle burst crit? Euphoric. Stealth build made me understand that this game along with AI was actually dumb, and I didn't enjoy the stealth approach, but it was funny to see how every enemy including most of the bosses get absolutely stalled by stealth. Also I don't remember the amount for which you can disappear during invisibility skill, but man, I remember cleaning entire rooms with it. That and putting pistol proficiency as priority makes you god. One room cleaned in stealth, another with pistol headshots, and even bosses HP can't resist the crit. The plot was actually kind of cool mainly due to dialogue options. REALLY MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE ALPHA PROTOCOL AGENT (sorry/10 - IGN). Haven't watched the vid yet, but I know it's gonna be awesome. Won't write "UPD: it was", but instead I'll just thank you for a good video beforehand, and wishing you a happy birthday. I'm glad to have found your channel.
Haha I am indeed in your head! I actually had planned and half finished this video while I was doing Jade Empire as I felt the two games really have a lot in common from a design perspective (although Jade Empire is a lot more polished obviously) but got distracted with other projects - I'm really happy it's out now though! That's so funny that you basically went through the two worst builds possible before landing on a playable one. Your comment is a perfect example of why this game is so important though - I cannot think of a single other game that is so utterly broken and rejected by it's creators and yet STILL lives on in people's memories. Hopefully this video ins prises a few more people to check it out! And thanks once again for the comment and discussion!
If you're after more lengthy retrospectives about the golden age of videos games - ruclips.net/video/feCqT1S5pxI/видео.html - it's a full exploration about the history of PARASITE EVE - the most chaotic survival horror franchise ever made. The video covers everything from the novel to the film to the crazed way it burned out. Hope you enjoy!
Steady on! The only thing i really remember about Alpha Protocol is that *i don't remember Alpha Protocol.* i can totally understand why no one wanted to hire Obsidian, they thought they were a lot better than they actually *were.* It seems they had no leadership and no clear ideas, hell the pitch you talked about *proves* that. i didn't stop buying SEGA games, but i was sure as hell a LOT more careful. The James Bond EA series was *leagues* better, sure you knew the story in some cases, but that was all part of the fun! Trying to play a level so it went down just like the movie was an unadvertised challenge level i never even realized i wanted until i played it. i think you do Golden Eye a great disservice. It was much more than just a multiplayer game being one of the best in that series. You do James Bond an *even greater* disservice associating even his name with this overpriced, under worked, confusing, derivative and *whoayeah* ultimately *forgettable* mess. The only lesson here is if you get hired? *ACTUALLY WORK.* The time Obsidian had to work on this given what was produced is *ludicrous.* SEGA should have just invested $10 in a sign and a couple a' grand for a flight to just go hang a giant sign up at Obsidian: QUIT FAFFING ABOUT. xD (Huge, unwarranted budgets with little to no oversight is one of the biggest challenges to Producers and a tool of lazy under skilled Developers.)
Thanks very much Scott! I really appreciate that as I do really pour a lot of work into these videos! Hard at work on the next few which should hopefully be out soon!
That's really nice of you to say man! Glad you like it! I've been meaning to message you myself as I've recently been watching a lot of your stuff and I've really been enjoying it! Always means a lot to be complimented by people whose work you admire so thanks very much!
I really, really enjoyed this, thank you. Even-handed, comprehensive, lots of context, not screechy, well-edited, well-written, it's the video game video essay we all hoped for.
Haha that's pretty much the ultimate compliment for a writer! I was a bit unsure about this one when I put it out but it's been great to see the response! It's always great to feel like you're shining a light on some hidden gem!
Watched a few of your videos and I've got to say they are all really well done. I watch quite a few different retrospective series on YT, a lot of them just cover the same beat in their scripts from game to game without ever really saying anything but the games itself, but you genuinely give a good retrospective of the titles you review, you can clearly see the passion that goes into making your videos and it's very much appreciated that we have people like you making these. Keep doing what you're doing :)
Thanks very much! I really appreciate that as I do really try to cover games that aren't often as talked about but I still have the passion for! Glad that's coming through in the videos! Got another one coming out in a few weeks time and then another big boy! No slowing down yet!
Alpha Protocol is one of my favorite games ever despite being incredibly flawed. This video perfectly explains why it’s so amazing and terrible. I hooked up my ps3 to replay it today and I still love it.
this was one of my favourite games of all time, I played it so many times, and I'd tell my friends all about how it's a great game, nd they'd always go "oh but it's so broken, I'm not going to play it." even though I would have honestly allowed them to borrow my copy to play and see for themselves but they never gave it a chance, and I think that's something that helped bring it down, especially since I didn't run into many bugs, especially no game breaking ones. Had the game been given more of a chance by everyone, maybe we'd have Alpha Protocol 2: Beta Protocol or whatever they would have called it. Honestly after Microsoft purchased Obsidian, they should have (or should still try to) buy the rights for Alpha Protocol from Sega. Perhaps they have plans to do that, but I'm aware they have a lot of IP now from buying Activision and they're busy at the moment spreading that love around their companies. Perhaps in the future we will see another attempt at a Spy RPG
Lmao Beta Protocol really tickled me Yeah it's a real shame especially as Obsidian already tried to get AP2 made and were turned down. I sadly think they've just moved on and are onto making other things now. It's a real shame!
Thanks very much! This is such a weird game and the fact that' it's almost entirely unavailable made me want to make sure there was a record of just how interesting it is!
Hey man just found your channel and have been binding through it all. Gotta say your videos are fantastic, keep up the good work man with quality content like this the recognition will come
Thanks so much Ethan, that's incredibly kind of you to say! I'm really enjoying making videos at the moment and I've got a few really good ones planned! Really hope everyone is just as into them as my last few!
Thanks so much! Honestly the channel has been growing loads! I recently hit 5k subs and had a video get 100k views which is honestly mad compared to where I was last year! Looks like the gods of the algorithm are smiling on me!
Despite all of its flaws, I ADORE this game! I think the end result was amazing, with definite hick-ups in execution. Barely anything like it out on the market. Real shame.
It is a real shame - I wish that there were more studios like Obsidian from the 2000s - always ambitious, often overly so, but always making interesting games. That's the element of this jobby that I love!
Man as ever thanks so much for the support - seeing the old faces (or usernames) pop up in the comments to still encourage me really is heart warming! I hope you're doing well and enjoyed the video!
I mean that would be awesome of course! I think my goal is really that if by the end of the year I'm still enjoying the process of playing, writing and editing these videos - I'll be doing something right! Fingers crossed other people are still enjoying it then as well! But yeah thanks for the encouragement! It means a lot!
That's amazing! I hope you enjoy them! I'm currently working on another big complete series retrospective which I'm really excited about - should be out soon!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I would love it but ultimately feel like this is one of those "vaulted media" moments. It was something a mainstay company tried when they were just starting out, they didn't really know what they were doing and ultimately thought it would be better to kill your darling, as it were. It's a genuinely interesting concept that I would /love/ to see done with everything we know about the advancements of everything from the RPG world to choice building to dialogue branching and beyond -- it's an interesting game that would absolutely do with a redo, with a proper pitch from the jump.
I remember enjoying this on the onlive 30 minute demos as a poor kid. It always interested me to try again on PC, but i didnt want to disappoint my nostalgia
My friend played it back then, fan of stealth action. I never realized how deep it really is. Now I want sequel too, even tho I personally never played it.
Unless you have an Xbox 360 lying around, it's pretty tough to recommend, but it really is worth the time if you can get it! I'd love even a spiritual successor as it's such a truly hidden gem - there is so much to love here that people will have never seen!
You can get a copy for 360 or ps3 on ebay for between 8 and 15 bucks, I checked earlier when I started watching the video (luckily my fiance still has her ps3 😎) P.S. it might be possible to play it on the ps3 emulator RCPS3? something like that I can't remember the acronym but, I'm pretty sure it runs ok enough to complete the game though, you'll need an alright pc and likely have to fight the settings/find work arounds to make it run smoothly. All the same good luck if you do want to play it at some point.
I remember being excited to buy this game in its time, but the delays and later reviews kept me away in the end. I enjoyed this chance to learn about its flaws and features. Can't wait 'til we have the means to make a game to match it. Got some on our slate for sure, but they're some ways off. Top marks yet again, bro. Looking forward to the next one!
Absolutely the same boat for me - I thought it sounded interesting and was put off by that really quite vicious initial reception. Luckily I've seen the truth and I'm glad I could put my contribution to Alpha Protocol discourse out there! Glad you enjoyed it - hard at work on the next one which should be out shortly!
Your videos are amazing and you put so much effort into them, I’m binging your entire channel now, it’s really helping me mentally and turning off. Continue grinding and you’ll get there, we all will :D
Thanks so much! I'm really glad my videos could help in that way - I also find it really relaxing to dive into a really long in depth video and lose myself, it's extremely helpful after a really busy day! I'm currently working on a really big project that might take a little while but hopefully everyone likes it when it's out!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame it’s for mutual benefit then :) looking forward to your next video, keep on pumping them out and with the quality of your videos I can gaurantee you’ll grow a very steady and large following, the only thing stopping that is, like with everything, wether it be in business or fitness or studies, lack of consistency. Bang one out every month and in a year 1-2 you’ll be reaping the rewards, and I’ll be to say I told you so haha😝
Agree with your sentiments. People are too concerned with the profits and performance of games and don't care about them as art. Not saying making money and what not isn't important, but it really gives a black eye to the notion of "games as art" when all we do is preserve the most successful and dismiss those with technical hiccups despite having engaging elements.
Hey Shan - great to hear from you! Glad you enjoyed the video! It really is quite a hidden gem and such a shame that it's not more readily available for people to play on modern systems. So many interesting ideas!
There's a bug with the poisoned coke intel you can buy in the game for Brayko's boss fight. The bug makes the intel simply NOT WORK. Basically, if you reload the checkpoint save made JUST before the boss fight then the game will NOT recognize that you bought the intel. If you MUST reload a checkpoint, then you'll have to use an older checkpoint save instead of the one closest to Brayko's boss fight.
I can see a little why Sega would be into how AP does it's dialog, it's very similar to Sakura Wars, timed dialog options, but that's more in service of the character relationships and the dating sim.
ive never played this so i was very interested in giving this video a listen and you did an excellent job painting your narrative as well giving a good sense about the games strengths and weaknesses. top shelf work.
Not to get all y'know...logical, but how can you possibly know that without actually *playing* it. Be careful not to get any on your chin. Christ, talk about "painting a narrative!" XD
@@mikejonesnoreally i wouldnt call that take particularly logical. If what you're saying is that you can only understand by doing you've called into question the entirety of study. Of course a person can read a book and gain substantial applicable knowledge. Its preposterous to say otherwise. If that werent true then historians wouldnt fair well making accurate predictions based on their studies. Of course they do, have and will again. A video is essay is still an essay afterall so its more than a little absurd to think you couldnt extrapolate from it. Now its accuracy might be debatable but that was never the point: Its not illogical for that reason alone, though it would absolutely be enough, the post was speaking to the merits of the essay itself. I watched this video specifically to evaluate how his essays would fair for a topic i knew nothing about. And the posts purpose is to commend his exceptionally detailed writing and its ability to paint his vision. I left this video with a very good understanding of the history of this series and im glad I watched it even for something i knew absolutely nothing about. This guy is a helluva diamond in this coal mine we call youtube and he deserves praise. Especially at the time of this video when it was a part time effort.
Yo, for hiding in plain sight, the hitman series has been the pinnacle of this, it's kept this kind of stealth alive. The developers are even working on the next 007 game. Social stealth is still alive through them.
Ive never played Alpha Protocol but Im a huge fan of Obsidian. They've made most of the greatest games ive ever played with Kotor 2, Fallout NV & Pillars of Eternity. I have a ps5 but im definitely going to try to get my hands on a series X just to see what they can do with a Microsoft AAA budget. they really deserve all their success
I'm in absolutely the same boat - I think they're such an interesting and ambitious studio, always trying to push the RPG genre and make interesting games. My dream is for them to be able to make a spiritual successor to this game that smooths out the jank and incorporates some more of the lessons taught by immersive sims over the last decade. I think that could potentially be an absolutely fantastic game!
Obsidian died a long time ago. All their OG talent and creative minds that made games like Fallout NV and KOTOR 2 have already left the company. And it’s easy to see with their most recent release Outer Worlds which was just an incredibly mediocre game filled with bugs. It wasn’t a bad game but it wasn’t good either, it was just boring to play.
1:36:55 While I agree that being hyper-fixated on a game's performance isn't a healthy way to judge the product as a whole, I still think that performance issues are a very valid criticism. But I get that it depends on what you value most about a game. Some people value pure gameplay above all else, and a choppy framerate can genuinely ruin that experience. Now that I've finished you Alpha Protocol video, I really have now seen all of your retrospectives! I can't wait to see your next one!
Just discoveres your channel, and have been bingewatching your in-depth reviews over the past few days. Excellent and insightful stuff! Keep up the good work! My friend played that Alpha Protocol back in the day, and he liked it so much, that he even compared it favourably with Mass Effect 2, which came out around the same time. I never understood him, as i thought it looked pretty mediocre, up until now, thanks to your review!
Thanks so much! I'm so happy you've been enjoying them - I'm currently working on another big on which hopefully everyone likes! Yeah it's a really unique game that's been criminally underrated - hopefully this video inspires some more people to check it out!
The algorithm has delivered me fucking GOLD today. Very good analysis! I love seeing long-form review and analysis content on youtube, so having another person added to my list of people I can listen to is great.
No worries at all! I'm glad you enjoyed the video and hopefully you like my others too! I've got some fun projects I'm currently working on so hopefully everyone is as into them!
When you mention deadlines and an unfinished game in regard to KOTOR2, ALWAYS mention that they basically had not even half the time needed to produce a game like that. Also, the shooting in Mass Effect 1 also depended on the skills. I actually liked Alpha Protocol quite a bit. Sure, gameplay sucked a bit, but the dialogue options and the diverging storylines were great. And I remember being shocked that Obsidian was almost completely ruined by this, despite being the studio behind such well-loved classic RPGs. I almost want to take out my old physical copy of the PC version and give it another go.
I remember telling my friends that even if Cyberpunk 2077 was made technically perfect, it would still be a mid-game. I thought the dynamic RPG and interesting cyber punk setting was under realized and I'm glad that I'm not alone in that sentiment
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I was the opposite, when all the sheep ran through the stores to be the first one to play, i left it for 3 months. when i got on, fuck all was wrong with it and I had a lot of fun
@I Finished A Video Game true. If the game was a immersive sim and had okayish combat but all this cool flavor things. Like just sitting in a cab being driven around in the rain. Watching the odd neon signs and street life. That would make it a game i would play forever. Sadly its just a meh first person game that the character your suppost to like is just dieing instantly. Why get attached? Im a dead man walking
Yeah Cyberpunk is a game with multiple roles. And Mike Pondsmith was always saying it would be possible to play a media or other obviously non-combat role. The finished game made a liar of him. It's just Yet Another Shooter - and a fairly mid one at that.
The 2.0 update has gone a LONG way to addressing a lot of the core design concerns that have been there since the beginning. It's not perfect, but there are actually multiple viable builds now. The open world is more populated with story events and lore, instead of purely collectibles, or randomly generated events. The issues with the game revolved around the fact that it essentially had one feasible means of playing the game, and that meant playing it like a cover shooter with a little tech flavor. Now, stealth builds, melee builds, hacker builds, etc. Are actually viable finally. I think it is a legitimately good game now, at the risk of sounding like the cliche
I feel like obsidian is the kid that's really good at coming up with ideas but when it actually comes to putting in the work they get bored and sloppy.
Absolutely. They haven't even really changed much - The Outer Worlds was very much the same and even though it was much more polished it didn't really live up to it's potential!
Bored and sloppy? I would say they come up against limitations of time and budget. That's what often happens to games with some kind of ambitious design, particularly when they're made by independents.
I have been meaning to play alpha protocol ever since I read the cover story on Game Informer and now I *must* play it so I can watch your video. Love all the well researched analysis dude. Pretty incredible seeing your channel grow exponentially in these last couple videos. If you start some sorta Patreon or whatever I'd be happy to help. This my new favorite channel on YT. Here are some suggestions for future videos: Battlefront series Red faction series any sorta roguelike Civ/Xcom series your favorite GTA clones, favorite roguelikes, or favorite bargain bin games Keep it up my guy. Soon enough you wont even be able to find my comments among the others
Apologies it's taken me so long to reply - I'm so happy you enjoyed the video. It was a lot of fun to put together and I'm happy I can shine some light on such a unique and strange game (even if it doesn't particularly work haha) Regarding a Patreon - I think I'll start one eventually but for now I'm happy just to put my videos out there and let people enjoy them! I'm a pretty low key guys not looking to make a brand or anything like that - just want to make videos I'm happy with and hopefully people enjoy them! Maybe I'll do it if I ever hit 50k lmao Anyway hopefully you enjoy my next video - it's a seriously big one
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I finally played Alpha Protocol! Funnily enough, it really reminded me of Jade empire. A bunch of really great ideas, marred by extremely sloppy execution. Tons about this game was cool, but it was increasingly frustrating towards the end as the bugs and jank seemed to overtake everything else. Wanting to watch your video is actually what finally pushed me to play, I wanted to see it but I didn't want spoilers haha. Well, I'm glad I played it but it looks like Alpha Protocol will sit beside JE as a creative and innovative and RPG that could have been so much more, or led to an incredible sequel. Probably wont find this comment now that you have thousands, but if you do I want you to know that you are the best new game critic I've found in years. I wish you continued success
@@IFinishedAVideoGame Just finished your video. One final note. I was surprised you didn't like all of the minigames. I get what you're saying about overuse and monotony, but like, I will stand by the fact that the safe cracking one was the only minigame I've ever seen to fully use the controller triggers as the precise pressure sensors that they truly are and that was genius.
I tried, I tried so hard, I have the game, I tried to play it multiple times and every single time something happened that just stopped me from finishing it. It kept getting harder to just get the game to work too. I love I found this video as I've been thinking about trying once again to play this game. Hopefully the ... 5th? time will be the charm.
Ah Alpha Protocol... I completed many playthroughs to see how the story played out with different choices and character configurations, and on the super janky PC port no less. I'm glad you specifically pointed out the perk system and the emails, as those always stuck with me as really neat little systems that not enough other games include versions of. I wonder what we might have ended up with if they hadn't had to trash the first build... Effectively another year to develop more conventional 3rd person shooter instead of bolting on all those all but vestigial RPG elements might have made a huge difference. If it had turned out as even a fairly generic Uncharted clone but with that story and that conversation system overlaid on top? I think it'd at least have been a cult classic in the same way that Spec Ops: The Line is.
You're a trooper for making it through the PC version so many times. Those minigames must have been hell! You're not wrong though - it certainly would have been interesting to see where this game would have ended up with more development time (or even time to clean up the bugs). I really do hope that one-day Obsidian are given the opportunity to create a spiritual successor as I think the industry is really ripe for it!
Great point about spy vs stealth games. Stealth is really about intrusion, and it's telling that many stealth games also include an action element, as this aids in the goal of intrusion (Metal Gear, Splinter Cell). What I think makes a great spy game is being able to take a varied sandbox approach to solving a situation and achieving a goal. Deus Ex and Dishonored are often hailed as two of the best examples, but I actually think the best spy games might be the Hitman Trilogy. I know you aren't supposed to go guns blazing... but you can! And more importantly, while you are using stealth, you are really more using KNOWLEDGE to win.
Absolutely! It really holds up to 2nd / 3rd playthroughs as well because everything can be so different! Hopefully you enjoy it and thank you for the comment!
Great Video as always :D I had a question about your editing on these videos though. Why don't you usually add background music while you talk? I feel like it could help you influence the tone you try to portray at certain points of future videos or just increase the things keeping our brains occupied while watching :) Just figured I would share, I see you reply to lots of comments so I thought I'd put my thoughts to improve the quality of the videos. Great stuff as always, one of the few channels I have notifications on for :D
Not at all thanks for commenting with your feedback! I do really try to reply to every single comment as I feel like that "community" element is really missing from a lot of bigger video essay style videos - ultimately I'm nobody special so if someone wants to argue against something I've said that is totally cool! Regarding the music - it's something I'm actually very torn on. Some of the biggest channels like mine don't use it at all and I suppose that gives the video more of a "podcast" feel to it. I think a lot of people put the video on while doing other stuff and dip in and out so I think no music can really help in those situations That being said - you're totally right that from a production point of video music does indeed help the whole video feel higher quality and can help. I put music behind everything in my Mortal Shell video and while I did really like how it turned out - it's actually extremely hard to always find copyright free music and then manage the levels across 2+ hours of footage! I'll be totally honest - I'm still really unsure about which direction to go in so I'll probably put out a community post and see what people think. I know music could add a lot but it's also a huge amount more work so I think it depends on the demand! Thanks for your comment and support as well though - it's so nice meeting people who enjoy my stuff!
Chris Avellone is one of the original developers from the original isometric Fallout games who has always championed extremely high reactivity in game worlds, as a means for empowering the player's ability to choose. Alpha Protocol is flawed, but it's one of the handful of few games that matches New Vegas in its level of reactivity.. it possibly even surpasses New Vegas in this particular metric. Btw, the best way to fight Brayko if you didn't spike his cocaine is to simply run around an obstacle. In cocaine mode, he just mindlessly runs toward you in the shortest possible path. If you run around the obstacle right in the middle of the arena (in front of the stage), you can kite him until his cocaine high runs out, and also be near enough to shoot/kungfu the crap out of him when he comes down from the high. Works for any character build (close range combat-heavy builds will do more damage, but even if you're not, you can just take a few more phases to do it).
Got to love some Avellone - he's worked on some of my favourite games and I just love the way he thinks about how stories should be told in this medium.
I could be remembering this wrong, but, with the lockpicking mini-game, I remember it being obnoxiously difficult on a 360 controller. Basically, it used the analog sensitivity on one of the triggers (maybe the right one), instead of the thumbsticks, (like Oblivion.) The problem is that that analog sensitivity isn't particularly sensitive, and it made that mini-game excruciating on the 360.
That's absolutely true - the execution of so many things is just completely off. Punishing players with the alarm system for failing the mini games is just such a bullshit mechanic!
Video games might be a singularly unique medium for entertainment, however they are still a product made by a company. If a company made a can opener that implemented a genuinely revolutionary way of opening a can but it only worked half of the time... Then no one would buy it. If a movie is a scripting and editing nightmare then it deserves to be panned by critics and audiences alike. If I bought a product that promises a function and it does not deliver then it is not my imperative to forgive the company because, it's pretty, or it's unique. Naturally that line is a bit blurry in the subjective world of video games because it's not just a utilitarian object like a can opener. However at the end of the day it's still a product and it needs to function. Otherwise we get exactly what we have now, the release it now, fix it later attitude from these companies.
So I definitely see your point but I think video games really are unique in that the functional product element and the experience really are properly separate a lot of the time. I do totally appreciate that for a game to be sold it needs to be at least somewhat functional but I think in terms of how we assess the game after the fact - elements like the performance and specs are really secondary to things like the design / art style / story. It seems somewhat obvious to say but I really think that's a direction we're moving away from. Almost all reviews of modern games are dominated by huge sections that discuss FPS and resolution - I just think it clashes completely with the way we remember games. Eventually every game looks bad and all we're left with is the experience!
Well done mate on another amazing retrospective. Never heard of this game and it's fascinating to hear all the good and bad qualities of it. I love a butterfly effect consequential game so I may pick it up... if I can hack the poor gameplay!
Thanks so much my dude! I would definitely recommend it as I think it would make for a pretty damn good stream game! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for all the support man - it's always so nice to see you pop up in the comments!
Didn't expect this video to end with a huge dunk on Alex Battaglia, but I approve. Then again, of course I'd say that, Black Isle/Obisidian/Troika are some of my favorite devs ever with their magnificent broke-ass games.
Oh I don't mean it specifically as a dunk on him personally, it's just that I'm really in the camp of "specs don't matter". I'm here for the art and I basically couldn't care less about the functionality - as shown by my deep love of Alpha Protocol!
I attempted playing Alpha Protocol on PC ages ago and it was the minigames for hacking and deactivating the alarm put me off of the whole thing at the tutorial level. Absolutely hated them. A reboot of the IP could make for a fantastic game in a better engine with better mechanics, better AI and an expanded story with even more permutations and combinations of allies, betrayals and twists.
Thank you so so much for this video. I absolutely loved this game when it came out. I personally didn't experience many bugs, mostly being able to shoot through walls in some select scenarios. It definitely felt like it needed polish, but this game had huge potential. I would love obsidian making a sequel to this. While I never do any of those Kickstarters, if I saw Obsidian doing so to get their vision of a sequel out, or a proper remake, I would definitely pull a Fry and demand they take my money.
No worries at all - I also really love it and just wanted to share some of that with everyone that might not have heard of it before! Hopefully it can inspire some more people to check it out (and maybe even add my voice to calls for a spiritual successor!)
Damn I haven't thought about this game in a minute. I remember being blown away by the choices and reactivity of the game but disappointed by the gameplay and am happy to see that my memory is correct. But also as a side note I 100% agree with your Cyberpunk take. Yes it was broken but I found the world/characters/story so boring and uninteresting that I can't be bothered to finish it even after it got fixed.
I think this game especially highlights one of the biggest issues with game development. Lack of a clear vision and communication between the development and publishers. Imagine how much better this game would be had Obsidian been working on the version we got from the beginning instead of rushing to slap it together in a year after scrapping what they'd actually done up until that point.
Horrifically underrated; and definitely one of my fsvorites. Such a shame the systems and universe weren't given another go, but hey: _thats the Obsidian tradition._ If this video piqued your interest just remember -- real-time combat DOES NOT mean it's a third person shooter. Think within the skills and systems of the game. I used to feel that the shooting is weak, and while it IS compared to a shooter.. it's an RPG. *NO SKILLZ, NO KILLS.* Have patience and explore the options given-- there's a ludo amount of unique dialogue, perks and even solutions to a problem. *Also, and this is big:* _YOU ARE NOT LOCKED TO A CHAPTER ONCE YOU START IT._ As a lotta people have problems with Brayko, remember you can do a little bit of everything around the 3 hubs before fighting Brayko; even on Hard with a Traditional Stealth/Pistol/Rifle (least leaning rifle) I got it first try. Use your head, keep upgrading your gear as well your character and commit to a build and you shouldn't have any trouble. Honestly think Defending Surkov is the hardest part of the game; even with this being my 3rd playthrough total, my first time being on PS3 which in hindsight was horrific.
I've watched this video a few times now and somehow I completely missed the very first game on screen is The Forgotten City! Great game that really breaks the mould (pun intended) ❤️
It's a fantastic game that I'd quite like to stream at some point - I think it's got such an interesting history behind it's development! I couldn't help but include it!
It's very gutting - you can sort of tell from the views on this video that the name is just completely unknown these days. I really wish Sega would ease up and relist the steam game just so new people can actually enjoy it!
Getting to the conclusion... This game is worth pirating. So very much. If that's the hand Sega insists on dealing, so be it. It's not as if they're letting us give them money for this glorious messterpiece of a game. As for the tech versus creativity thing, I think technical issues matter, but here's my take: Poor performance is a problem of bad management - too-tight release dates, too-small budgets, too-crushing crunch. But poor creativity is a problem of bad game design. You can fix the first problem a hell of a lot easier with a few months more in the oven or better project management, or even just patches after the fact, but the second means there isn't anything left to save. That's why No Man's Sky could be made good eventually, while Anthem and Fallout 76 floundered along - because Hello Games had a vision and clear creative goals for their game, while Anthem struggled to find any direction due to a truly broken internal studio structure and Fallout 76 was an executive-mandated cashgrab from day one.
This was one of my all time favorite games, that I've ever played. Really miss it. If anyone has any clue how to find a digital copy of this game, let me know lol.
@@IFinishedAVideoGame Are you *suggesting* that someone *steal* a game?? o.o How about some respect for I.P? You sure use *enough of other people's work* that i would *hope* you had enough decency to at least support *legal* works. Also, you're NOT missing anything! This game is not worth sacrificing your morals! Hell, it ain't even worth sacrificing your parking space! xD
i have this game and to me it feels like a mid 90s C rated Saturday afternoon spy flick and the main menu music feels like the movie is just starting lol
I actually miss games like Alpha Protocol or Vampire: Bloodlines. I think most people do, at leastthose who played these games. It was a better time for gaming. People took risks to create games they wanted to play themselves, we had different genres, gaming was pushing boundries and not try to be "politically correct", interesting stories were told...now you have marketing departments and psychologists who try to figure out how to best trick children into gamling.
I absolutely adored this game when it came out. It was janky and buggy and messy and I loved it. I thought it was so fun to engage with all of the characters and see how things changed and I was genuinely engaged with the narrative even if it wasn’t particularly unique because it was so malleable.
I feel like a good counterpoint against the "stealth doesn't lend itself to boss fights" would be the entirety of the MGS series, famous for some of the greatest boss fights of all time. But then again, literally nobody but Kojima seems to be able to do stealth bosses well.
See I did definitely have those in mind as I was writing that (especially MGS1 and 3) BUT at the same time MGS so often brings non-stealth gameplay into it's boss fights which is probably why they're actually so fun and memorable. I would say the Sniper fight against the End is probably the greatest stealth boss fight of all time but that's actually somewhat unique in that series - most are more akin to the Ocelot or Metal Gear fights!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame either way, there's still a ton of examples of well-integrated stealth mechanics even in the more action-based boss fights (like Vulcan Raven, for example).
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I remmeber finding out years later that if you changed your PS clock to about a week or so ahead (or just let time pass as you were on that part), the End would die of natural causes. That was a cool concept/idea to me.
God, the idea that publishers get to decide whether or not games get to just 'stop existing' angers me to no end. It doesn't matter what it is; if it's out there, and an end product, people should be able to access it in one way or another through whatever means possible. They shouldn't get to decide that people just can't play it anymore if they missed out; which is another reason why people hate Nintendo's treatment of the eShop (and various games) on its older consoles so much. Thank God for the Video Game Archive.
Absolutely agree - the state of video game preservation is absolutely grim and we're already losing hundreds of older CDROM and cartridge based games that aren't popular enough to see ports
It's a fantastic game which really does hold up to that many playthroughs - I'm not usually one to do that but I've beat this at least 5 times at this point!
Alpha protocal was great. It offered an experience no one else was. Was it buggy? Sure. Did it need some things fixed an refined? Yep. Did i hope they would do all that for a sequel? Absolutely.
Imagine my joy to see that two years after this video came out - Alpha Protocol is indeed finally available again! The fine folks over at GOG.com managed to get Sega to agree to a re-release and you can now play it in all it's janky glory. I highly recommend checking it out as for £15 it's a steal
www.gog.com/game/alpha_protocol
Yup it's pretty exciting ain't it? 😁 quite the thrill don't ya think?
I love this game. One of my favorites of all time, jank and all.
This is one of the few games that actually *needs* to be remade. There is nothing else like it.
I completely agree - it would really benefit from being tidied up and having it's full potential realised!
For years after first playing this I thought this game was just a fever dream. It's genuinely a mess, but it might just be the most inspired and ambitious mess I've ever seen, and were it actually finished, it could very well be one of the best rpgs of all time
It's so strange isn't it - I really do wish that it was more available for people to play now as I really think it's still so worth experiencing. I on purpose tried to not spoil too much of the game so people could see just how crazy things can get! Ironically that actually made it quite hard to write about as there is just so much here!
I was hyped for this game and at the time I was a employee of GameStop now you think working at a game store you’d just Know when game was coming out lmao little did we know They Didn’t Know When it Was Coming out 🙂. What A Shame.
I know Obsidian bears some responsibility for the many challenges they faced, but man it sure feels like publishers were out to get them at times.
Oh for sure - bascially one semi-failed release in KOTOR2 (which is still a great game) and they're completely blacklisted by publishers
@@IFinishedAVideoGameglad to see they bounced back and are now fully funded by Microsoft.
Unfortunately, Obsidian was never in a position to negotiate good contracts. The whole company started out in Feargus Urquhart's attic because they couldn't afford to rent an office. They didn't move into a real office until they started working on Neverwinter Nights 2.
They were constantly on the edge of bankruptcy so they had to accept unfavorable deals to survive. And they couldn't push back against unreasonable demands from the publishers because a project cancellation could result in the company going under.
@KingOfMadCows this isn't entirely accurate. NWN 2 was, at the time, the best selling crpg released and the best selling rpg on pc. They definitely could have used the prestige they rightfully gained from it to push back. Unfortunately, the team and management were still too inexperienced to realize the impact they had.
10/10
This breakdown/essay was so good for such a weirdly broken game. Your coverage was excellent and the minutiae touched on all the important stuff.
Thanks so much Gonzalo! I'm glad you enjoyed it and that we can help spread the word about such a beautiful mess of a game!
I loved this game. Finished it 3 times. The permutations there are in terms of story, based on your choices in role-playing, are great. Sad how overlooked and underrated it was when it came out.
It's really extremely impressive and hopefully this video can turn more people onto it!
Id guess this is even harder to market than mass effect dialog options, which TBH are pretty simple in ME1 and shuffling it in every part of trilogy shows even devs of ME werent sure how to fit it. Alpha Protocol managed, just it is less "gamey" result.
When I had my first playthrough I didn't know to use tranqs on American soldiers. Being scolded afterwards always stuck with me.
Yeah I beat it 3 or 4 times and loved the heck out of it. Wasn't without some issues of course but seriously great game overall
Alpha protocol is proof that a game doesn't need to be good to be great. Just make sure you play it on the easiest difficulty so you don't actually have to "play" it. Its kinda like reading the script of a great movie that was never made.
Absolutely spot on! It's a lovely contradiction - somehow incredible despite all the endless terrible elements! I feel like it's a must play for people who love game design
I always just have fun with acting like I need to shoot the enemy the right way or take them down in a fun spy way like I'm playing out a scene rather than just a game and it makes my experience so much more.
Finally, I get it! This must be why Bond was always using that Walther PPK/s in .380 ACP. It's the only gun he leveled up enough with to reliably hit anything he was shooting at.
Could be worse, it could be Deus Ex at first level without putting any points into any of the weapon types. Waiting for that crosshair to close in...
The pistol was the only good gun in the game, and to get the most of it, you had to kill Sister, a teenage girl.
It's kinda messed up.
Your video game essays are by far some of the best I've heard in the medium in quite awhile. I hope you continue with content to come for many years, or at least for however long you can.
My friend I'm enjoying making these videos quite a lot and have actually been writing about the games I beat for quite a while before that so I shouldn't be stopping any time soon! Only if people seem to not like them anymore and at the moment it seems like people are enjoying them!
Despite the gameplay being a mess, this was one of the best roleplay experiences I've ever had
That's pretty much Alpha Protocol in a nutshell isn't it - unforgettable experience but also pretty terrible haha
It's still the best "role" playing system I have played. And I mean the threads are even tighter than Mass Effect (like M.E. has longer strings through its Trilogy but everything you do in Alpha Protocol has some reference or change in the plot, like messing up stealth after being nearly perfect before hand, or changing into stealth/non-lethal, after being agressive previously. on certain missions brings up or changes dialogue by different characters, where they question why the change?). I have probably played the whole game a minimum of 10 full times trying to do it from all angles; 30 plus if you include saves and reloads for different outcomes.
What I'd expect from Obsidian. Except that most of their games have pretty solid gameplay. They always deliver on roleplaying IMO.
@@Jghost11 okay, while I will glaze the shit out of this game, it is not the best roleplay experience I've had in a video game, though it is impressive given the setbacks.
That honor would go to the Pathfinder games, Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous.
Your long form videos are absolutely incredible, as is your taste in games. I can't imagine the time and effort these take of you, but I do know how much we appreciate it. Thank you for the amazing content and Happy New Year!
Thank you very much and a happy new year to you too!
I still wish for the day Alpha Protocol 2 or a spiritual successor is made cause it’s by far one of the best role playing experiences ever in a game for me.
Same my friend - I really hope that Obsidian are given the chance to revisit it one day!
i plan to make one, though I'm only just starting my computer science degree so itll be years off. possibly a decade, being realistic, and probably a lot smaller scale unless I accidentally stumble into a team willing to work for peanuts - a sort of cross between AP and MGS3, with the survival viewer and all.
Storyboardings done, to summarize briefly, deploy as one of a dozen mercenaries hired to raid a remote siberian facility in what should be a relatively easy job - this is the virtuous mission - things seem to go mostly okay, shit hits the fan, everyone dies but you; critically injured and liable to die of exposure, try to flee, command/client refuses evac until the mission is complete. Begin the game proper, survive however possible, trek through the woods, mountains, and several urban facilities through traditional stealth, guns blazing, or disguise/social engineering, infiltrate the target facility.
Plot(semi)twist, employer is the US government using you as a deniable asset to fuck up russian separatists cooking up a new chemical weapon without compromising international peace - hence no NATO affiliation - after the initial fuckup airspaces are tight, no opportunity for us/nato to get another team in, russia's military-proper is coming to deal with the separatists but the weapon will be released too soon so the final act of the game becomes a sort of race against time.
Have 8 different endings storyboarded out so far based on factors of how you act with various characters, how lethal/loud you've been, if you destroy the facility or not, and if you survive or not.
As a bonus, and to make simply stealing a vehicle and fucking off on your own a viable choice, game has low TTK with the injury/wound system so its hard to die outright, but also difficult to heal so combat holds weight. Add in permadeath/roguelite system, runs are scored based on what you achieve, score is cut in half if you die instead of fleeing, score can be spent on unlocks/goodies for the next run.
It's definitely ambitious and not something i plan to be the first game i ever release by any means, but its an endgoal/long term ambition I've been planning for and working on in the background for a few years now.
Know this is an old comment, but I needed an excuse to gush for a moment as I've been very excited about this project (watching this retrospective to sort of remember all the best aspects of AP to learn from it, as well as from its mistakes) recently.
YES! I swear to god you are in my head. As I was going through Jade Empire, I was thinking if you'll make an Alpha Protocol video, but under the premise of "least likely thing to happen but it would be cool nonetheless". And here it is. AP being one of the games I own (or rather I've exchanged discs with my classmates and we never returned the games we gave each other so the game is mine now for all I care), I remember playing it and getting absolutely dusted in the first section of the game because I used SMGs because "wow you dual wield those?!" but they suck so much if you don't spec into their tree, and even then I'd have more luck sniping someone with a shotgun from 300 miles away compared to just abysmal accuracy of SMG. Being the fool that I was, still not done with the martial arts bug, I put my specs into combat tree because the combo looked cool, and after seeing the initial 3-hit turn into 5-hit I thought I'll be playing DMC by the end of the game. Turns out I'm an idiot and I couldn't get past the first section because the way game worked was a mystery for a while to me. One rage quit and about a week later I find my little brother absolutely demolishing this game and thinking to myself "Am I actually dumb?", so I asked him what perks and specs he has. Turns out, he actually WAS smarter than me and leveled pistols/assault rifles. So that's how I played too, later on doing stealth build. During my pistol build I found out that the game is actually super broken yet enjoyable, but my god you can just cheese it entirely with crits and waiting. And when you land that assault rifle burst crit? Euphoric. Stealth build made me understand that this game along with AI was actually dumb, and I didn't enjoy the stealth approach, but it was funny to see how every enemy including most of the bosses get absolutely stalled by stealth. Also I don't remember the amount for which you can disappear during invisibility skill, but man, I remember cleaning entire rooms with it. That and putting pistol proficiency as priority makes you god. One room cleaned in stealth, another with pistol headshots, and even bosses HP can't resist the crit. The plot was actually kind of cool mainly due to dialogue options. REALLY MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE ALPHA PROTOCOL AGENT (sorry/10 - IGN). Haven't watched the vid yet, but I know it's gonna be awesome. Won't write "UPD: it was", but instead I'll just thank you for a good video beforehand, and wishing you a happy birthday. I'm glad to have found your channel.
Haha I am indeed in your head! I actually had planned and half finished this video while I was doing Jade Empire as I felt the two games really have a lot in common from a design perspective (although Jade Empire is a lot more polished obviously) but got distracted with other projects - I'm really happy it's out now though!
That's so funny that you basically went through the two worst builds possible before landing on a playable one. Your comment is a perfect example of why this game is so important though - I cannot think of a single other game that is so utterly broken and rejected by it's creators and yet STILL lives on in people's memories.
Hopefully this video ins prises a few more people to check it out! And thanks once again for the comment and discussion!
If you're after more lengthy retrospectives about the golden age of videos games - ruclips.net/video/feCqT1S5pxI/видео.html - it's a full exploration about the history of PARASITE EVE - the most chaotic survival horror franchise ever made. The video covers everything from the novel to the film to the crazed way it burned out. Hope you enjoy!
Steady on! The only thing i really remember about Alpha Protocol is that *i don't remember Alpha Protocol.* i can totally understand why no one wanted to hire Obsidian, they thought they were a lot better than they actually *were.* It seems they had no leadership and no clear ideas, hell the pitch you talked about *proves* that. i didn't stop buying SEGA games, but i was sure as hell a LOT more careful. The James Bond EA series was *leagues* better, sure you knew the story in some cases, but that was all part of the fun! Trying to play a level so it went down just like the movie was an unadvertised challenge level i never even realized i wanted until i played it. i think you do Golden Eye a great disservice. It was much more than just a multiplayer game being one of the best in that series. You do James Bond an *even greater* disservice associating even his name with this overpriced, under worked, confusing, derivative and *whoayeah* ultimately *forgettable* mess. The only lesson here is if you get hired? *ACTUALLY WORK.* The time Obsidian had to work on this given what was produced is *ludicrous.* SEGA should have just invested $10 in a sign and a couple a' grand for a flight to just go hang a giant sign up at Obsidian: QUIT FAFFING ABOUT. xD (Huge, unwarranted budgets with little to no oversight is one of the biggest challenges to Producers and a tool of lazy under skilled Developers.)
I love these deep dives, you have a knack for making them really interesting.
Thanks very much Scott! I really appreciate that as I do really pour a lot of work into these videos! Hard at work on the next few which should hopefully be out soon!
This is a genuinely fantastic video, about an amazingly interesting project. You deserve a ridiculous amount of attention.
That's really nice of you to say man! Glad you like it! I've been meaning to message you myself as I've recently been watching a lot of your stuff and I've really been enjoying it! Always means a lot to be complimented by people whose work you admire so thanks very much!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame For sure! Keep up the good work!
I really, really enjoyed this, thank you. Even-handed, comprehensive, lots of context, not screechy, well-edited, well-written, it's the video game video essay we all hoped for.
Haha that's pretty much the ultimate compliment for a writer! I was a bit unsure about this one when I put it out but it's been great to see the response! It's always great to feel like you're shining a light on some hidden gem!
Watched a few of your videos and I've got to say they are all really well done. I watch quite a few different retrospective series on YT, a lot of them just cover the same beat in their scripts from game to game without ever really saying anything but the games itself, but you genuinely give a good retrospective of the titles you review, you can clearly see the passion that goes into making your videos and it's very much appreciated that we have people like you making these.
Keep doing what you're doing :)
Thanks very much! I really appreciate that as I do really try to cover games that aren't often as talked about but I still have the passion for! Glad that's coming through in the videos!
Got another one coming out in a few weeks time and then another big boy! No slowing down yet!
Alpha Protocol is one of the most fun game I've ever played. I've finished it repeatedly just to see all the ways your choices play out.
It really is pretty good isn't it! The replay value of it is just so high and I'm not sure a lot of people realise!
Same! XD
one of my most treasured games, it's one of those games that are so special and so unique that you can't never forget
I absolutely agree!
Never heard of this game before and I'm actually invested! Definitely going to look it up
57:38 Loki from Warframe moment. Running around invisible and killing every enemy with them questioning where the hell you are.
Alpha Protocol is one of my favorite games ever despite being incredibly flawed. This video perfectly explains why it’s so amazing and terrible. I hooked up my ps3 to replay it today and I still love it.
I hope you enjoy having another run on it! I know it'll throw up some new elements!
this was one of my favourite games of all time, I played it so many times, and I'd tell my friends all about how it's a great game, nd they'd always go "oh but it's so broken, I'm not going to play it." even though I would have honestly allowed them to borrow my copy to play and see for themselves but they never gave it a chance, and I think that's something that helped bring it down, especially since I didn't run into many bugs, especially no game breaking ones. Had the game been given more of a chance by everyone, maybe we'd have Alpha Protocol 2: Beta Protocol or whatever they would have called it. Honestly after Microsoft purchased Obsidian, they should have (or should still try to) buy the rights for Alpha Protocol from Sega. Perhaps they have plans to do that, but I'm aware they have a lot of IP now from buying Activision and they're busy at the moment spreading that love around their companies. Perhaps in the future we will see another attempt at a Spy RPG
Lmao Beta Protocol really tickled me
Yeah it's a real shame especially as Obsidian already tried to get AP2 made and were turned down. I sadly think they've just moved on and are onto making other things now. It's a real shame!
Hidden gem of a channel (new sub after the Prince of Persia vid)
Thanks James! I hope you enjoy the video!
Absolutely fantastic video! Folks like you are an absolute key to helping preserve these strange moments in this modern world.
Thanks very much! This is such a weird game and the fact that' it's almost entirely unavailable made me want to make sure there was a record of just how interesting it is!
I actually like your videos.
I like how you show other games and compare them.
Please keep doing videos like these.
Hey man just found your channel and have been binding through it all. Gotta say your videos are fantastic, keep up the good work man with quality content like this the recognition will come
Thanks so much Ethan, that's incredibly kind of you to say! I'm really enjoying making videos at the moment and I've got a few really good ones planned! Really hope everyone is just as into them as my last few!
Your videos are so high quality! Cheers for the content
No worries my dude - I hope you enjoyed it! Got a nice big one I'm working on for the next video so hopefully this will tide everyone over until then!
Can’t believe your channel isn’t bigger! Amazing work
Thanks so much! Honestly the channel has been growing loads! I recently hit 5k subs and had a video get 100k views which is honestly mad compared to where I was last year! Looks like the gods of the algorithm are smiling on me!
11:00
Damn I loved Nightfire so much as a kid. One of my favourite FPS games at the time.
It's a bonefide classic. I couldn't get enough of it
Nice work - glad you made the switch dude as you never disappoint
You're too kind!
One of my favourite games to go unarmed in. Its great to just be a walking punch God.
If you know what you're doing with the builds it can really be quite a funny enjoyable game experience!
Despite all of its flaws, I ADORE this game! I think the end result was amazing, with definite hick-ups in execution. Barely anything like it out on the market. Real shame.
It is a real shame - I wish that there were more studios like Obsidian from the 2000s - always ambitious, often overly so, but always making interesting games. That's the element of this jobby that I love!
I love the way this video is laid out, very interesting and entertaining. You know so much about these great games
Man as ever thanks so much for the support - seeing the old faces (or usernames) pop up in the comments to still encourage me really is heart warming! I hope you're doing well and enjoyed the video!
You keep up this line of videos fam and I reckon you'll breach 10k before the end of the year.
Edit:
*ahem*
Fucking called it
I mean that would be awesome of course! I think my goal is really that if by the end of the year I'm still enjoying the process of playing, writing and editing these videos - I'll be doing something right! Fingers crossed other people are still enjoying it then as well!
But yeah thanks for the encouragement! It means a lot!
Heartwarming that this becomes a celebration of BI/Obsidian & recap of its history.
It's a warmup for my eventual 5 hour video covering Dragon Age haha
@@IFinishedAVideoGame
Me:
Just found your channel, I’m only 18 seconds into the video, but I can already tell I’m going to subscribe and binge your videos.
That's amazing! I hope you enjoy them! I'm currently working on another big complete series retrospective which I'm really excited about - should be out soon!
I would love Obsidian to bring this game back as a free game for the PS4/5, It looks absolutely awesome.
That would be fantastic! It would be brilliant if Microsoft could give them the freedom to put together a true spiritual successor!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame
I would love it but ultimately feel like this is one of those "vaulted media" moments. It was something a mainstay company tried when they were just starting out, they didn't really know what they were doing and ultimately thought it would be better to kill your darling, as it were.
It's a genuinely interesting concept that I would /love/ to see done with everything we know about the advancements of everything from the RPG world to choice building to dialogue branching and beyond -- it's an interesting game that would absolutely do with a redo, with a proper pitch from the jump.
I remember enjoying this on the onlive 30 minute demos as a poor kid. It always interested me to try again on PC, but i didnt want to disappoint my nostalgia
It's well worth checking out if the huge amount of issues dont bother you! There is a lot of fantastic design going on here!
My friend played it back then, fan of stealth action. I never realized how deep it really is. Now I want sequel too, even tho I personally never played it.
Unless you have an Xbox 360 lying around, it's pretty tough to recommend, but it really is worth the time if you can get it! I'd love even a spiritual successor as it's such a truly hidden gem - there is so much to love here that people will have never seen!
You can get a copy for 360 or ps3 on ebay for between 8 and 15 bucks, I checked earlier when I started watching the video (luckily my fiance still has her ps3 😎) P.S. it might be possible to play it on the ps3 emulator RCPS3? something like that I can't remember the acronym but, I'm pretty sure it runs ok enough to complete the game though, you'll need an alright pc and likely have to fight the settings/find work arounds to make it run smoothly. All the same good luck if you do want to play it at some point.
I remember being excited to buy this game in its time, but the delays and later reviews kept me away in the end. I enjoyed this chance to learn about its flaws and features. Can't wait 'til we have the means to make a game to match it.
Got some on our slate for sure, but they're some ways off. Top marks yet again, bro. Looking forward to the next one!
Absolutely the same boat for me - I thought it sounded interesting and was put off by that really quite vicious initial reception. Luckily I've seen the truth and I'm glad I could put my contribution to Alpha Protocol discourse out there!
Glad you enjoyed it - hard at work on the next one which should be out shortly!
The only title I've bought multiple times and played many more, Alpha Protocol will always stay with me.
It really holds up so well under multiple playthroughs - I'd almost say it's not a proper Alpha Protocol experience to only play through it once!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame So true. Fantastic video and thanks for the awesome videos you put out.
Your videos are amazing and you put so much effort into them, I’m binging your entire channel now, it’s really helping me mentally and turning off. Continue grinding and you’ll get there, we all will :D
Thanks so much! I'm really glad my videos could help in that way - I also find it really relaxing to dive into a really long in depth video and lose myself, it's extremely helpful after a really busy day!
I'm currently working on a really big project that might take a little while but hopefully everyone likes it when it's out!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame it’s for mutual benefit then :) looking forward to your next video, keep on pumping them out and with the quality of your videos I can gaurantee you’ll grow a very steady and large following, the only thing stopping that is, like with everything, wether it be in business or fitness or studies, lack of consistency. Bang one out every month and in a year 1-2 you’ll be reaping the rewards, and I’ll be to say I told you so haha😝
@@Theoreticallyyou1234 haha that's the aim at the moment! Let's see where it all goes!
“Maybe not ‘good’ in the traditional sense, but without a doubt worth experiencing” damn gonna use that as a dating profile
LOL that's amazing. Please tell me if it's successful
I enjoyed this game so much back in the day. Played through several times.
It's a true hidden classic!
Agree with your sentiments. People are too concerned with the profits and performance of games and don't care about them as art. Not saying making money and what not isn't important, but it really gives a black eye to the notion of "games as art" when all we do is preserve the most successful and dismiss those with technical hiccups despite having engaging elements.
I couldn't have said it better myself. The current obsession with performance and specs over creativity drives me insane
Such an underrated gem. If only it was given a bit longer in the oven!
Hey Shan - great to hear from you! Glad you enjoyed the video! It really is quite a hidden gem and such a shame that it's not more readily available for people to play on modern systems. So many interesting ideas!
There's a bug with the poisoned coke intel you can buy in the game for Brayko's boss fight. The bug makes the intel simply NOT WORK. Basically, if you reload the checkpoint save made JUST before the boss fight then the game will NOT recognize that you bought the intel. If you MUST reload a checkpoint, then you'll have to use an older checkpoint save instead of the one closest to Brayko's boss fight.
Damn that's brutal! I never encountered it but that is just another self destruction in the crazy world of Alpha Protocol
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I think the bug is more likely to happen on consoles, but I'm not sure. I can confirm that I experienced the bug on PS3 though.
I can see a little why Sega would be into how AP does it's dialog, it's very similar to Sakura Wars, timed dialog options, but that's more in service of the character relationships and the dating sim.
That's interesting - I've always wanted to try out Sakura Wars
ive never played this so i was very interested in giving this video a listen and you did an excellent job painting your narrative as well giving a good sense about the games strengths and weaknesses. top shelf work.
That's great to hear! Honestly I wasn't too sure about the quality of this one but it looks like people enjoyed it! Glad you did!
Not to get all y'know...logical, but how can you possibly know that without actually *playing* it. Be careful not to get any on your chin. Christ, talk about "painting a narrative!" XD
@@mikejonesnoreally i wouldnt call that take particularly logical. If what you're saying is that you can only understand by doing you've called into question the entirety of study. Of course a person can read a book and gain substantial applicable knowledge. Its preposterous to say otherwise. If that werent true then historians wouldnt fair well making accurate predictions based on their studies. Of course they do, have and will again.
A video is essay is still an essay afterall so its more than a little absurd to think you couldnt extrapolate from it. Now its accuracy might be debatable but that was never the point:
Its not illogical for that reason alone, though it would absolutely be enough, the post was speaking to the merits of the essay itself. I watched this video specifically to evaluate how his essays would fair for a topic i knew nothing about. And the posts purpose is to commend his exceptionally detailed writing and its ability to paint his vision. I left this video with a very good understanding of the history of this series and im glad I watched it even for something i knew absolutely nothing about.
This guy is a helluva diamond in this coal mine we call youtube and he deserves praise. Especially at the time of this video when it was a part time effort.
Yo, for hiding in plain sight, the hitman series has been the pinnacle of this, it's kept this kind of stealth alive. The developers are even working on the next 007 game. Social stealth is still alive through them.
I really need to get around to playing those newer Hitman games eventually. They seem right up my street
Ive never played Alpha Protocol but Im a huge fan of Obsidian. They've made most of the greatest games ive ever played with Kotor 2, Fallout NV & Pillars of Eternity. I have a ps5 but im definitely going to try to get my hands on a series X just to see what they can do with a Microsoft AAA budget. they really deserve all their success
I'm in absolutely the same boat - I think they're such an interesting and ambitious studio, always trying to push the RPG genre and make interesting games. My dream is for them to be able to make a spiritual successor to this game that smooths out the jank and incorporates some more of the lessons taught by immersive sims over the last decade. I think that could potentially be an absolutely fantastic game!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I hope so too.
Obsidian died a long time ago. All their OG talent and creative minds that made games like Fallout NV and KOTOR 2 have already left the company. And it’s easy to see with their most recent release Outer Worlds which was just an incredibly mediocre game filled with bugs. It wasn’t a bad game but it wasn’t good either, it was just boring to play.
1:36:55 While I agree that being hyper-fixated on a game's performance isn't a healthy way to judge the product as a whole, I still think that performance issues are a very valid criticism. But I get that it depends on what you value most about a game. Some people value pure gameplay above all else, and a choppy framerate can genuinely ruin that experience.
Now that I've finished you Alpha Protocol video, I really have now seen all of your retrospectives! I can't wait to see your next one!
I've got a cool one coming up next! Hopefully everyone enjoys it!
Just discoveres your channel, and have been bingewatching your in-depth reviews over the past few days. Excellent and insightful stuff! Keep up the good work!
My friend played that Alpha Protocol back in the day, and he liked it so much, that he even compared it favourably with Mass Effect 2, which came out around the same time. I never understood him, as i thought it looked pretty mediocre, up until now, thanks to your review!
Thanks so much! I'm so happy you've been enjoying them - I'm currently working on another big on which hopefully everyone likes!
Yeah it's a really unique game that's been criminally underrated - hopefully this video inspires some more people to check it out!
Just discovered the channel, appreciate you keeping this game’s memory alive. Played this broken gem a lot through secondary school.
The algorithm has delivered me fucking GOLD today. Very good analysis! I love seeing long-form review and analysis content on youtube, so having another person added to my list of people I can listen to is great.
No worries at all! I'm glad you enjoyed the video and hopefully you like my others too! I've got some fun projects I'm currently working on so hopefully everyone is as into them!
When you mention deadlines and an unfinished game in regard to KOTOR2, ALWAYS mention that they basically had not even half the time needed to produce a game like that.
Also, the shooting in Mass Effect 1 also depended on the skills.
I actually liked Alpha Protocol quite a bit. Sure, gameplay sucked a bit, but the dialogue options and the diverging storylines were great.
And I remember being shocked that Obsidian was almost completely ruined by this, despite being the studio behind such well-loved classic RPGs.
I almost want to take out my old physical copy of the PC version and give it another go.
I remember telling my friends that even if Cyberpunk 2077 was made technically perfect, it would still be a mid-game. I thought the dynamic RPG and interesting cyber punk setting was under realized and I'm glad that I'm not alone in that sentiment
It's actually getting worse as people now trot out the predictable "it's actually good now line!". The core gameplay is extremely unsatisfying
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I was the opposite, when all the sheep ran through the stores to be the first one to play, i left it for 3 months. when i got on, fuck all was wrong with it and I had a lot of fun
@I Finished A Video Game true. If the game was a immersive sim and had okayish combat but all this cool flavor things. Like just sitting in a cab being driven around in the rain. Watching the odd neon signs and street life. That would make it a game i would play forever. Sadly its just a meh first person game that the character your suppost to like is just dieing instantly. Why get attached? Im a dead man walking
Yeah Cyberpunk is a game with multiple roles.
And Mike Pondsmith was always saying it would be possible to play a media or other obviously non-combat role.
The finished game made a liar of him.
It's just Yet Another Shooter - and a fairly mid one at that.
The 2.0 update has gone a LONG way to addressing a lot of the core design concerns that have been there since the beginning. It's not perfect, but there are actually multiple viable builds now. The open world is more populated with story events and lore, instead of purely collectibles, or randomly generated events. The issues with the game revolved around the fact that it essentially had one feasible means of playing the game, and that meant playing it like a cover shooter with a little tech flavor. Now, stealth builds, melee builds, hacker builds, etc. Are actually viable finally. I think it is a legitimately good game now, at the risk of sounding like the cliche
Yo the fact that it's delisted is wild to me. It's a REAL spy game now lmfao
Lmao yeah - you literally need to be a CIA agent to get hold of a functional copy
I feel like obsidian is the kid that's really good at coming up with ideas but when it actually comes to putting in the work they get bored and sloppy.
Absolutely. They haven't even really changed much - The Outer Worlds was very much the same and even though it was much more polished it didn't really live up to it's potential!
Bored and sloppy? I would say they come up against limitations of time and budget. That's what often happens to games with some kind of ambitious design, particularly when they're made by independents.
I have been meaning to play alpha protocol ever since I read the cover story on Game Informer and now I *must* play it so I can watch your video. Love all the well researched analysis dude. Pretty incredible seeing your channel grow exponentially in these last couple videos. If you start some sorta Patreon or whatever I'd be happy to help. This my new favorite channel on YT.
Here are some suggestions for future videos:
Battlefront series
Red faction series
any sorta roguelike
Civ/Xcom series
your favorite GTA clones, favorite roguelikes, or favorite bargain bin games
Keep it up my guy. Soon enough you wont even be able to find my comments among the others
Apologies it's taken me so long to reply - I'm so happy you enjoyed the video. It was a lot of fun to put together and I'm happy I can shine some light on such a unique and strange game (even if it doesn't particularly work haha)
Regarding a Patreon - I think I'll start one eventually but for now I'm happy just to put my videos out there and let people enjoy them! I'm a pretty low key guys not looking to make a brand or anything like that - just want to make videos I'm happy with and hopefully people enjoy them! Maybe I'll do it if I ever hit 50k lmao
Anyway hopefully you enjoy my next video - it's a seriously big one
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I finally played Alpha Protocol! Funnily enough, it really reminded me of Jade empire. A bunch of really great ideas, marred by extremely sloppy execution. Tons about this game was cool, but it was increasingly frustrating towards the end as the bugs and jank seemed to overtake everything else. Wanting to watch your video is actually what finally pushed me to play, I wanted to see it but I didn't want spoilers haha. Well, I'm glad I played it but it looks like Alpha Protocol will sit beside JE as a creative and innovative and RPG that could have been so much more, or led to an incredible sequel.
Probably wont find this comment now that you have thousands, but if you do I want you to know that you are the best new game critic I've found in years. I wish you continued success
@@IFinishedAVideoGame Just finished your video. One final note. I was surprised you didn't like all of the minigames. I get what you're saying about overuse and monotony, but like, I will stand by the fact that the safe cracking one was the only minigame I've ever seen to fully use the controller triggers as the precise pressure sensors that they truly are and that was genius.
I bought this game for like 2 bucks at GameStop years after it released and I had a blast honestly
Looks like you got a steal my friend - it is worth 2 dollars and a whole lot more!
I tried, I tried so hard, I have the game, I tried to play it multiple times and every single time something happened that just stopped me from finishing it. It kept getting harder to just get the game to work too.
I love I found this video as I've been thinking about trying once again to play this game. Hopefully the ... 5th? time will be the charm.
That's really unfortunate. I think it's such an interesting game but I wouldn't blame you for giving up! It really is a bug ridden mess
Ah Alpha Protocol... I completed many playthroughs to see how the story played out with different choices and character configurations, and on the super janky PC port no less. I'm glad you specifically pointed out the perk system and the emails, as those always stuck with me as really neat little systems that not enough other games include versions of.
I wonder what we might have ended up with if they hadn't had to trash the first build... Effectively another year to develop more conventional 3rd person shooter instead of bolting on all those all but vestigial RPG elements might have made a huge difference. If it had turned out as even a fairly generic Uncharted clone but with that story and that conversation system overlaid on top? I think it'd at least have been a cult classic in the same way that Spec Ops: The Line is.
You're a trooper for making it through the PC version so many times. Those minigames must have been hell!
You're not wrong though - it certainly would have been interesting to see where this game would have ended up with more development time (or even time to clean up the bugs). I really do hope that one-day Obsidian are given the opportunity to create a spiritual successor as I think the industry is really ripe for it!
Great point about spy vs stealth games. Stealth is really about intrusion, and it's telling that many stealth games also include an action element, as this aids in the goal of intrusion (Metal Gear, Splinter Cell). What I think makes a great spy game is being able to take a varied sandbox approach to solving a situation and achieving a goal. Deus Ex and Dishonored are often hailed as two of the best examples, but I actually think the best spy games might be the Hitman Trilogy. I know you aren't supposed to go guns blazing... but you can! And more importantly, while you are using stealth, you are really more using KNOWLEDGE to win.
"How many gay cheetahs had to die to make that jacket?"
This was fascinating thank you so much
You're more than welcome! I love that I can use this channel to shine a light on the stories behind some less well known games too!
The closest thing this reminds me of in terms of consequences from missions is freedom fighters on the ps2. Very neat game
Freedom Fighters is very cool isn't it! That game also had some pretty interesting choices!
Great in-depth essay. I actually have a physical copy for the ps3. I should go back to playing it
Absolutely! It really holds up to 2nd / 3rd playthroughs as well because everything can be so different! Hopefully you enjoy it and thank you for the comment!
Great Video as always :D I had a question about your editing on these videos though. Why don't you usually add background music while you talk? I feel like it could help you influence the tone you try to portray at certain points of future videos or just increase the things keeping our brains occupied while watching :) Just figured I would share, I see you reply to lots of comments so I thought I'd put my thoughts to improve the quality of the videos. Great stuff as always, one of the few channels I have notifications on for :D
Not at all thanks for commenting with your feedback! I do really try to reply to every single comment as I feel like that "community" element is really missing from a lot of bigger video essay style videos - ultimately I'm nobody special so if someone wants to argue against something I've said that is totally cool!
Regarding the music - it's something I'm actually very torn on. Some of the biggest channels like mine don't use it at all and I suppose that gives the video more of a "podcast" feel to it. I think a lot of people put the video on while doing other stuff and dip in and out so I think no music can really help in those situations
That being said - you're totally right that from a production point of video music does indeed help the whole video feel higher quality and can help. I put music behind everything in my Mortal Shell video and while I did really like how it turned out - it's actually extremely hard to always find copyright free music and then manage the levels across 2+ hours of footage!
I'll be totally honest - I'm still really unsure about which direction to go in so I'll probably put out a community post and see what people think. I know music could add a lot but it's also a huge amount more work so I think it depends on the demand!
Thanks for your comment and support as well though - it's so nice meeting people who enjoy my stuff!
Chris Avellone is one of the original developers from the original isometric Fallout games who has always championed extremely high reactivity in game worlds, as a means for empowering the player's ability to choose.
Alpha Protocol is flawed, but it's one of the handful of few games that matches New Vegas in its level of reactivity.. it possibly even surpasses New Vegas in this particular metric.
Btw, the best way to fight Brayko if you didn't spike his cocaine is to simply run around an obstacle. In cocaine mode, he just mindlessly runs toward you in the shortest possible path.
If you run around the obstacle right in the middle of the arena (in front of the stage), you can kite him until his cocaine high runs out, and also be near enough to shoot/kungfu the crap out of him when he comes down from the high.
Works for any character build (close range combat-heavy builds will do more damage, but even if you're not, you can just take a few more phases to do it).
Got to love some Avellone - he's worked on some of my favourite games and I just love the way he thinks about how stories should be told in this medium.
I could be remembering this wrong, but, with the lockpicking mini-game, I remember it being obnoxiously difficult on a 360 controller. Basically, it used the analog sensitivity on one of the triggers (maybe the right one), instead of the thumbsticks, (like Oblivion.) The problem is that that analog sensitivity isn't particularly sensitive, and it made that mini-game excruciating on the 360.
That's absolutely true - the execution of so many things is just completely off. Punishing players with the alarm system for failing the mini games is just such a bullshit mechanic!
Video games might be a singularly unique medium for entertainment, however they are still a product made by a company. If a company made a can opener that implemented a genuinely revolutionary way of opening a can but it only worked half of the time... Then no one would buy it. If a movie is a scripting and editing nightmare then it deserves to be panned by critics and audiences alike. If I bought a product that promises a function and it does not deliver then it is not my imperative to forgive the company because, it's pretty, or it's unique. Naturally that line is a bit blurry in the subjective world of video games because it's not just a utilitarian object like a can opener. However at the end of the day it's still a product and it needs to function. Otherwise we get exactly what we have now, the release it now, fix it later attitude from these companies.
So I definitely see your point but I think video games really are unique in that the functional product element and the experience really are properly separate a lot of the time. I do totally appreciate that for a game to be sold it needs to be at least somewhat functional but I think in terms of how we assess the game after the fact - elements like the performance and specs are really secondary to things like the design / art style / story.
It seems somewhat obvious to say but I really think that's a direction we're moving away from. Almost all reviews of modern games are dominated by huge sections that discuss FPS and resolution - I just think it clashes completely with the way we remember games. Eventually every game looks bad and all we're left with is the experience!
Well done mate on another amazing retrospective. Never heard of this game and it's fascinating to hear all the good and bad qualities of it. I love a butterfly effect consequential game so I may pick it up... if I can hack the poor gameplay!
Thanks so much my dude! I would definitely recommend it as I think it would make for a pretty damn good stream game! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for all the support man - it's always so nice to see you pop up in the comments!
Tbf the n64 mission impossible game might also be something you'd like. The mansion infiltration mission was cool
I'll have to check that out! Thanks for the recommendation!
Didn't expect this video to end with a huge dunk on Alex Battaglia, but I approve. Then again, of course I'd say that, Black Isle/Obisidian/Troika are some of my favorite devs ever with their magnificent broke-ass games.
Oh I don't mean it specifically as a dunk on him personally, it's just that I'm really in the camp of "specs don't matter". I'm here for the art and I basically couldn't care less about the functionality - as shown by my deep love of Alpha Protocol!
Another great video. Thanks for the hard work you pour into these for our viewing pleasure! 🙏
Triss my dude - thanks so much for your support as ever my man. Seeing the old faces pop up in the comments really is so heart warming!
I attempted playing Alpha Protocol on PC ages ago and it was the minigames for hacking and deactivating the alarm put me off of the whole thing at the tutorial level. Absolutely hated them. A reboot of the IP could make for a fantastic game in a better engine with better mechanics, better AI and an expanded story with even more permutations and combinations of allies, betrayals and twists.
Unfortunately I think Sega wants it permanently dead. Hopefully Obsidian give it another crack after Avowed!
Thank you so so much for this video. I absolutely loved this game when it came out. I personally didn't experience many bugs, mostly being able to shoot through walls in some select scenarios. It definitely felt like it needed polish, but this game had huge potential.
I would love obsidian making a sequel to this. While I never do any of those Kickstarters, if I saw Obsidian doing so to get their vision of a sequel out, or a proper remake, I would definitely pull a Fry and demand they take my money.
No worries at all - I also really love it and just wanted to share some of that with everyone that might not have heard of it before! Hopefully it can inspire some more people to check it out (and maybe even add my voice to calls for a spiritual successor!)
Damn I haven't thought about this game in a minute. I remember being blown away by the choices and reactivity of the game but disappointed by the gameplay and am happy to see that my memory is correct.
But also as a side note I 100% agree with your Cyberpunk take. Yes it was broken but I found the world/characters/story so boring and uninteresting that I can't be bothered to finish it even after it got fixed.
I think this game especially highlights one of the biggest issues with game development.
Lack of a clear vision and communication between the development and publishers. Imagine how much better this game would be had Obsidian been working on the version we got from the beginning instead of rushing to slap it together in a year after scrapping what they'd actually done up until that point.
great video, congratulations!
Thanks very much!
Still got it on disc for PS3, good job physical media is still a thing
Horrifically underrated; and definitely one of my fsvorites. Such a shame the systems and universe weren't given another go, but hey: _thats the Obsidian tradition._ If this video piqued your interest just remember -- real-time combat DOES NOT mean it's a third person shooter. Think within the skills and systems of the game. I used to feel that the shooting is weak, and while it IS compared to a shooter.. it's an RPG.
*NO SKILLZ, NO KILLS.*
Have patience and explore the options given-- there's a ludo amount of unique dialogue, perks and even solutions to a problem.
*Also, and this is big:* _YOU ARE NOT LOCKED TO A CHAPTER ONCE YOU START IT._
As a lotta people have problems with Brayko, remember you can do a little bit of everything around the 3 hubs before fighting Brayko; even on Hard with a Traditional Stealth/Pistol/Rifle (least leaning rifle) I got it first try.
Use your head, keep upgrading your gear as well your character and commit to a build and you shouldn't have any trouble. Honestly think Defending Surkov is the hardest part of the game; even with this being my 3rd playthrough total, my first time being on PS3 which in hindsight was horrific.
I've watched this video a few times now and somehow I completely missed the very first game on screen is The Forgotten City! Great game that really breaks the mould (pun intended) ❤️
It's a fantastic game that I'd quite like to stream at some point - I think it's got such an interesting history behind it's development! I couldn't help but include it!
It was a total jankfest in its day but charming. Shame as many new people won't be able to experience it as its been pulled off Steam.
It's very gutting - you can sort of tell from the views on this video that the name is just completely unknown these days. I really wish Sega would ease up and relist the steam game just so new people can actually enjoy it!
Getting to the conclusion...
This game is worth pirating. So very much. If that's the hand Sega insists on dealing, so be it. It's not as if they're letting us give them money for this glorious messterpiece of a game.
As for the tech versus creativity thing, I think technical issues matter, but here's my take: Poor performance is a problem of bad management - too-tight release dates, too-small budgets, too-crushing crunch. But poor creativity is a problem of bad game design. You can fix the first problem a hell of a lot easier with a few months more in the oven or better project management, or even just patches after the fact, but the second means there isn't anything left to save. That's why No Man's Sky could be made good eventually, while Anthem and Fallout 76 floundered along - because Hello Games had a vision and clear creative goals for their game, while Anthem struggled to find any direction due to a truly broken internal studio structure and Fallout 76 was an executive-mandated cashgrab from day one.
Oh man. I loved this mess of a game. Played through it twice. Absolutely then best 6 out of 10 of all time.
This was one of my all time favorite games, that I've ever played. Really miss it. If anyone has any clue how to find a digital copy of this game, let me know lol.
Unfortunately I think pirating the steam version might be your only hope!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame Are you *suggesting* that someone *steal* a game?? o.o How about some respect for I.P? You sure use *enough of other people's work* that i would *hope* you had enough decency to at least support *legal* works. Also, you're NOT missing anything! This game is not worth sacrificing your morals! Hell, it ain't even worth sacrificing your parking space! xD
i have this game and to me it feels like a mid 90s C rated Saturday afternoon spy flick and the main menu music feels like the movie is just starting lol
I mean that's totally perfect in my mind - I think more games should embrace that atmosphere!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame and the janky animations are kinda funny but decent for what they were
@@Legen007 I honestly think the game is better for all the jank - it adds a sort of archer/austin powers type of humour to the whole thing
I actually miss games like Alpha Protocol or Vampire: Bloodlines. I think most people do, at leastthose who played these games. It was a better time for gaming. People took risks to create games they wanted to play themselves, we had different genres, gaming was pushing boundries and not try to be "politically correct", interesting stories were told...now you have marketing departments and psychologists who try to figure out how to best trick children into gamling.
I absolutely adored this game when it came out. It was janky and buggy and messy and I loved it. I thought it was so fun to engage with all of the characters and see how things changed and I was genuinely engaged with the narrative even if it wasn’t particularly unique because it was so malleable.
Malleable is the perfect word for AP. I've never seen a game hold up quite so well to multiple playthroughs!
I feel like a good counterpoint against the "stealth doesn't lend itself to boss fights" would be the entirety of the MGS series, famous for some of the greatest boss fights of all time.
But then again, literally nobody but Kojima seems to be able to do stealth bosses well.
See I did definitely have those in mind as I was writing that (especially MGS1 and 3) BUT at the same time MGS so often brings non-stealth gameplay into it's boss fights which is probably why they're actually so fun and memorable. I would say the Sniper fight against the End is probably the greatest stealth boss fight of all time but that's actually somewhat unique in that series - most are more akin to the Ocelot or Metal Gear fights!
@@IFinishedAVideoGame either way, there's still a ton of examples of well-integrated stealth mechanics even in the more action-based boss fights (like Vulcan Raven, for example).
@@IFinishedAVideoGame I remmeber finding out years later that if you changed your PS clock to about a week or so ahead (or just let time pass as you were on that part), the End would die of natural causes. That was a cool concept/idea to me.
One of my favourite 360 games. I unironically love it
Oh it's so good - it's criminal that it's not available on modern systems or on PC anymore!
I genuinely enjoyed playing Alpha Protocol, despite the jank. The dialogue, of course, only elevated it.
Absolutely - it's just one of those games that's creative and interesting enough to make all that wonky elements disappear!
Still can't believe it says at 7:44 in Russian "In case of fire steal, kill, fuck geese, wait for responding signal".
That is absolutely hilarious - I had no idea!
God, the idea that publishers get to decide whether or not games get to just 'stop existing' angers me to no end. It doesn't matter what it is; if it's out there, and an end product, people should be able to access it in one way or another through whatever means possible. They shouldn't get to decide that people just can't play it anymore if they missed out; which is another reason why people hate Nintendo's treatment of the eShop (and various games) on its older consoles so much.
Thank God for the Video Game Archive.
Absolutely agree - the state of video game preservation is absolutely grim and we're already losing hundreds of older CDROM and cartridge based games that aren't popular enough to see ports
I actually enjoyed playing it multiple ( I think around 8 or 9 times) times. I thought I was pretty fun and kinda decent.
It's a fantastic game which really does hold up to that many playthroughs - I'm not usually one to do that but I've beat this at least 5 times at this point!
Alpha protocal was great. It offered an experience no one else was. Was it buggy? Sure. Did it need some things fixed an refined? Yep. Did i hope they would do all that for a sequel? Absolutely.
It's such a gorgeous little game. Perfect nugget of brilliant design and awful flaws. Exactly the kind of game I love to write about!