DeadPoolMK wrote...
3. Save Game Options -- This game doesn't let you manually save wherever and whenever you want. It doesn't even do quicksave, if I recall correctly. Instead, it's an RPG where only checkpoints and save points are used.
That's insane. RPGs are long games, especially when decisions are involved. I rarely replay games, so I have no intention of replaying the entire game simply to get a different result. I expect to save the game and load it to try out different choices. Plus, without the ability to save, it stifles exploration. I won't try new and different approaches if dying means having to redo the last 30 minutes of gameplay.
No, the lack of a manual save doesn't make the game more challenging, it simply makes it more frustrating. The ability to save should be there. If someone doesn't want it, then they can simply avoid using it.
There's no reason to remove usability options under the guise of "making it challenging." That's something to do with gameplay itself, not disabling a feature of the hardware.
4. Dialogue -- You have a very limited window in which to respond to people when in a discussion. Some people might like this, but I certainly don't.
I want to think over what they said and respond carefully. I don't have time to do that if I have to pick a choice immediately.
Yeah, some people might say it's more realistic, but so would limiting the player to one life, where if they die, there's no continuing on. In other words, realism often takes a backseat to gameplay. This is, after all, a game, which is intended to be entertaining. If I want the constraints of real life, I don't need to buy a game.
About this two complains... I think than more than failures, were great design desicions.
The use of checkpoints wasn't to make the game more challenging, but to make you live with the choices you make without going back. But even then, you could save any checkpoint in the game anytime, and replay it whenever you want. So, they combined the two systems to make their design decision work the better they could. I think it works fine, I don't know what people complains about it (yes, you can't save anytime you want, but every checkpoint can be saved, so no big deal. Especially when the missions are at best 30 minutes long). I just love the fact of being forced of carry on my decisions, and deal with the consequences (and in this game, can be big).
And the dialog system, I admit I'm in love with it. The time limit is used precisely to think fast your decisions, and in a game with a heavy effort to give us an ambiguous morality of things and tough choices, that makes even harder to make the decision. And the great thing is, when you have to chose, because of the time limit, you never feel that you made the right choice, your allways thinking: what if...?
I wouldn't say is important the fact that is more realistic or not, but is satisfiying as hell (for me, at least), and do what pretends (make you doubt, and think fast) great.
But well, with Alpha Protocol I might be the less objective person in Earth. I simply love it. It would be probably in my top 10 best CRPG of all time. (yes, of all time, how crazy is that).
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