Sega Is Not Keen On A Second Alpha Protocol

This is a bummer.  I really enjoyed AP despite its shortcomings, and I think a sequel could fix many of the issues (though I didn't mind the shooting like some people did.)  I suppose my opinion doesn't mean much to Sega though, since I got the game day-1 from Gamefly...

To bad they have become such a mediocre game publisher....  Thats what they should really be upset over.

" Judging by the technical catastrofuck that was Alpha Protocol, I don't want a sequel. "

"As a game though, Assassin’s Creed fails in just about every respect. That sense of freedom offered aside, its design is hopelessly outdated at best and laborious to the point of perpetual boredom at worst. Once the initial lustre of Assassin’s Creed’s world wears off after a few hours, what’s left is a flimsy, soulless gameplay experience, struggling under the weight of a painfully ponderous, woefully hackneyed narrative which only serves to drag things down further. "
- Mat Wales, IGN - UK 

" ...each element of the game sacrifices too much in order to squeeze other major elements in. Instead of a true stealth engine, you have awkward "hide spots" to accommodate the free roaming. Combat is either too easy or too hard, lacking the brilliance of a dedicated action title. And the free-roaming, bound as it is to mission objectives that would be fine in a more linear game, is just unsatisfying. Each element of the game is individually interesting, but as a whole the package feels incomplete and patchwork more than innovative. With Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft has tried to jump start its next monster franchise. Unfortunately, what it's ended up with is a Frankenstein: powerful and wondrous to behold, but not quite what it was aiming for. "
-Patric Joynt, GameSpy

"The sad truth is, Assassin's Creed is a prime example of basing a project on a single mechanic rather than creating the appropriate mechanic to support a project. Everything except Altair's athletics feels underdeveloped and painfully shallow, making the end result an overhyped attempt to recoup the development costs for something that's little more than an extended tech demo.  "
-Brad Gallaway, GameCritics.com

" Though I'm focusing on a lot of Assassin's Creed's faults, this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy playing the game -- it attempts a lot of ambitious things and it almost succeeds at every one. But it's apparent that these grandiose ideas may have been a little too much to master the first go-round. But hey, at least the groundwork is laid for a killer sequel -- right, Ubisoft?  "
-Michael Donahoe, 1UP

I can't say I was very keen on a sequel after playing and beating Alpha Protocol.

" @MurderByDeath said:

" @tiwi said:

" @RE_Player92 said:

" Cool news story bro "

what the fuck is this supposed to mean? "

It means this is a barely-news story that has already been reported exactly the same way all over. Usually the thing that sets GiantBomb's news pieces apart is their unique perspective and strong editorial voice. Not the case here. "

Sure is E3 round here. "

Did anybody not see this coming? AP will become playable soon, after PC modders have had a chance to fix and run with Obsidian's implied ideas. Like with many many cRPGs before it.

" @MurderByDeath said:

" Giantaku? "

I'm wondering. Are you guys offended  by the content of the news story or by the style it's written in?   I don't mind these stories and I don't visit kotaku anymore so it's interesting for me to know that AP2 is not likely being developed in the near future. "

" @Artemis_D said:

" That's pretty fucking lame.  Blame poor sales and ratings.  The game had potential!  Instead of giving up on it, how about making A BETTER FUCKING GAME!  Sega really pisses me off with this shit.  Always putting they're most interesting franchises on the backburner, they can eat a dick.   "

I'm sure a better game can come out of this.  It simply won't be "Alpha Protocol 2."   Sega are going to have to make something new, hopefully not with Obsidian.  And for once, let's not blame Sega for this.  Obsidian have made SEVERAL games with glaring issues.  Both KoToR 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 had glaring technical issues and severely marred the experiences, and at least KoToR 2 had an established engine!  Obsidian just isn't good enough.  AP had two YEARS of development time.  There's no excuse. "

I wonder if this game was doomed from the start or if it could have been saved with another 6 months of work. I didn't buy it, but not because I wasn't interested, but because I still have so many unplayed games I am working through. Now I won't get to see this franchise blossom. Shame.

" What a shame.  Cult Classicdom awaits.  This didn't really deserve to flop, but what can you do, the market is what it is.  Polished turds review and sell better than rough diamonds nowadays. "

 This sucks.
 
@darkjester74 said:

    " I feel sorry for Obsidian, they cant seem to catch a break.  They have some genuinely great ideas but always seem to get a bad rap.  I for one am enjoying my time with AP. "

Yeah. The thing is, Alpha Protocol is the best game Obsidian has made. It's not perfect, it's a diamond in the rough, but I really like it.
 
When I first read this news, I felt like "well, figures"; sort of a "serves them right" because I'd been reading all those less-than-enthusiastic reviews and knew Obsidian by reputation: They have great writing and great ideas in their games but are always held back by technical issues and less than stellar gameplay.
 
But the thing is, now that I've played the game, I can say that here those issues, while present to a degree, don't ruin the game for me. I think people expected the wrong thing from the gameplay -- it wasn't meant to be Mass Effect, it was meant to be Dragon Age, in real time.
 
Or maybe I'm just willing to overlook some issues because I enjoyed the rest of the game so much. I do enjoy games that are mostly about  "gameplay mechanics" but games like Alpha Protocol are the reason I love games. I just wish they'd've gotten the chance to make a more polished sequel-- especially with how AP ended! Now all we have is a destined-to-be cult classic that suffers from the "Bloodlines" syndrome. At least Obsidian hasn't gone the way of Troika... yet.

Sega doesn't own the IP to Alpha Protocol, therefore they don't decide whether there will ever be a sequal. They won't be publishing it, but that doensn't mean there won't ever be one.

" That's a shame, Alpha Protocol was a great game. It had its quirks, but there are very few RPGs that dont. "

Nice job reviving a thread full of people fawning over a game so shit it's actually a hot contester in this year's Golden Turd award.

" Nice job reviving a thread full of people fawning over a game so shit it's actually a hot contester in this year's Golden Turd award. "

" @Detrian said:

" Nice job reviving a thread full of people fawning over a game so shit it's actually a hot contester in this year's Golden Turd award. "

Nice job not understanding that Giantbomb's comment system is connected to its forums for some silly reason, and that people often comment on news stories or videos long after they were first posted. I take it you're new to Giantbomb? "

" @Protome said:

" @Detrian said:

" Nice job reviving a thread full of people fawning over a game so shit it's actually a hot contester in this year's Golden Turd award. "

Nice job not understanding that Giantbomb's comment system is connected to its forums for some silly reason, and that people often comment on news stories or videos long after they were first posted. I take it you're new to Giantbomb? "

Are you dumb? What does that have to do with anything? Whether a comment or a forum post, it's retarded. "

Alpha Protocol wasn't as awesome as it could've been, but it is an alright game nonetheless. The $29.99 they're asking for on Steam right now is about right, but when the price inevitably drops for the holidays it'll be well worth picking up on the cheap.

Alpha Protocol had the unfortunate fate of being a game of startling ambition, created by a group of people who are very good at creating complex design documents but kinda shit at actually coding them. I guess what I'm saying is, Obsidian made it.

Lol Obsidian URL fail.