Alpha Protocol Preview

There’s a new preview of Alpha Protocol over at Allegedly Speaking, though long-time followers of the game will find that it really doesn’t cover any new ground. It’s still a good refresher, though, while we patiently wait for the espionage RPG’s impending release:

The more traditional RPG elements reside in Alpha Protocol’s leveling and dialogue systems, where the player is given a healthy amount of options to customize his character as he sees fit. There are ten different skill sets that can be leveled up using (Advancement Points). Obviously the more points a player drops into any one of these skill sets, the more proficient they will become and the more abilities they will unlock. Taking a page from the MMO genre, Obsidian included a cool-down timer on skills used, something that should add a touch more strategy to the game. One does not want to find himself pinned down by multiple enemies while his slow-motion target, multi kill skill is on cool-down. That’s not the actual name of course, but it is in the game.

You should recognize the (DSS) or Dialogue Stance System, as it looks like a pretty standard western RPG’s dialogue system for the most part. As far as I can tell it looks to be your basic, binary choice, dialogue tree. You start a conversation with an NPC, come to a multiple choice question of how you would like to proceed, and that choice along with others affect how you are perceived through the rest of the game. Obsidian has thrown in a few new features that will hopefully keep me interested in whatever (random NPC) is babbling about. The dialogue system will work in real-time, giving the player a limited amount of time to choose his next words at crucial moments. In addition, the player will also be able to choose a (stance) before entering into a conversation. If (aggressive) is chosen, the conversation will be directed down a more (threat of physical violence) path, and so on.