Alpha Protocol....You have this long and boring and poorly executed tutorial. And when i say long, think about 1-2 hours of sheer frustration. But after that, great stories, best choices and consequences system from an RPG (no, you won't see stuff coming until too late, when you realized where your mistake was, way back in the game). Also it does have memorable characters.

Cons: hacking mini-game, some bugs (considerably fewer than other Obsidian releases and some of them can be fixed by reading a sticky thread in the tech forum). Bottom line - could have been really great, but never got to its full potential.

As for Dungeon Siege 3....Probably the least buggy game ever made by Obsidian, but not much of a DS game. Still, i enjoyed it.

darthspudius is partially right: Obsidian shoudl design games, someone else should do the tech part. All their games were buggy at launch and many got fixed by fans (Fallout 1/2, Planescape, Icewind Dale 1/2, Alpha Protocol, NWN2, KOTOR 2, Fallout New Vegas - all of them have community made patches). Hell, their least buggy game is DS3. Even Pillars is still not fully patched, with some quests still being broken. But, hey, they work hard on the expansions and adding new features. I'd rather having them working them on squashing the bugs...but what do i know.

I acknowledge Obsidian as what it is: a flawed company, but one that does some really enjoyable games (yes, with all the bugs, you can still enjoy their games)

All this part was for Elmofongo.

And please, goglodytes, stop downrepping people because they have a different opinion than yours. darthspudius is entitled to his opinion, just like you are entitled to yours. And think that someone might do the same downrep, just because you disagree with their opinion. Think you will like that?!

haha yeah, funny thing is that I have never down voted a single person ever on this forum. What can you do really, this company either has very dedicated fans who accepted more then they should or people really hate me... i'd go with a bit of both. :D

Well the hacking minigame will FRUSTRATE THE HELL OUTTA YOU still.
It pissed me off a few times but didn't really detract that much from my overall game experience.

yeah it annoyed me back then. I hate those features.

Better game play but with more bugs.

Absolutely. The first few hours are set in the Middle East and have these very straight-faced characters/choices, but it’s almost like a fakeout. Suddenly the gloves come off and you’re having shootouts in the Roman Colosseum or fleeing from a coked up Russian mobster chasing you around his disco room while the dialogue and gameplay choices from other missions change up the parameters. Lot of fun, that Alpha Protocol. I replay it every year.

Ah well then you could answer my previous question. Hows the patches been? I haven't played it since the year after it was released.

Some problems were solved by the patch. Others can be solved by doing the stuff from here:

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/55163-pc-known-issues-and-fixes/


P.S.: you can bypass the hacking minigame by using certain gadgets.

Ha, thank you.

Ah, this again. Well that's Dragon Age Inquisition for you. As well as some beth games.
It's a messed up gem. On one side, it has dumb AI and bugs, on the other it has C&C and good writing as per usual for Obisidian's games. Incorporate the stealth and hacking game from Deus Ex: HR and the increase the length, it'll be the perfect modern day setting RPG.

Why are you replying to a comment that is fairly old and that I clearly am not discussing?

Because someone bumped the thread and I saw your post which I didn't see back then.

My ideal Alpha Protocol playthrough - rogue agent with a fragton of allies behind. And, yeah...turning your enemies into loyal allies is highly satisfying. Adding to your assets terrorists, arms dealers, triads, drug deales, russian mobsters, intel dealers - priceless. Using other organizations resources (NSA, CIA or the fictional Albatross) - without equal.

I love AP, despite its flaws. I acknowledge them, i accept them, but there is stuff in AP that you won't find in any other modern RPG. The way that the choices and consequences system works allows for a rather great replayability. Obsidian really should have gave up on the tutorial part and on the hacking minigame.

I'm quite fond of Obsidian but I've never understood the crazy fanboyism they attract (like in this thread).

For every outstanding game they've made, they've made an almost equal number of grossly inferior offerings that were simply dull, broken and not worth the time.

Given that Pillars of Eternity was one of those outstanding titles, I am a little bit cautious about what to expect from ANY game they make next.

That said, given that Mass Effect is effectively an unlicensed KOTOR, they'd probably do something a lot like KOTOR 2 (which was one of those dull, broken offerings). I'd not hold out any great hope for it. But at least Bioware have already broken the Mass Effect universe. So Obsidian can't be blamed for that at least.