Sega/Sony Document Leaked, Alpha Protocol ‘Barely RPG’

So in early August, Sega apparently drafted up some notes from a meeting they had with SCEA about the future of the PlayStation 3, the upcoming motion controller, and concerns over Alpha Protocol being “barely RPG”. Unfortunately for Obsidian Entertainment, the document was inadvertently leaked to Sega’s asset website, and the sleuths over at NeoGAF got their hands on it.

There’s actually quite a bit of interesting insider-type information to be found within, but the portion we’re most concerned about is the following:

Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. (Mass Effect felt more RPG.)

As this was of deep concern to many devoted fans over on the Alpha Protocol forums, marketing producer Matthew Rorie stepped in to address the issue:

As we’ve said before, there were never any plans to show Alpha Protocol at TGS, as I don’t believe the game is even coming out in Japan. So no news there is not bad news, it’s simply no news.

And yes, I believe the gentleman in the quotes works for SCEA (assuming this is legit). As for what he said, obviously we enjoy any feedback that we can get, but without knowing how much of the game he played (and I seriously doubt that someone as busy as a product evaluator for Sony is going to be playing through an entire game if it’s as long as Alpha Protocol), it’s hard to judge what he meant by those comments. Suffice to say that Alpha Protocol is going to tickle your RPG tastebuds when it’s released.

…

I think we’ve talked about the reactivity in the game more than almost any other feature, but I guess it’s natural that some previews will focus on it more than others.

Suffice to say the choices that you make in this game are going to have broad consequences beyond the obvious small touches that you might imagine.

Cinematic designer Joseph Bulock chimed in, too:

The only counter point I can offer you guys is that watching and interacting with gamers who played our game for almost two hours, they clearly enjoyed the RPG experience that AP had to offer. I’m not going to comment on this particular commentary, but I can say as a general trend, people who play one level don’t see the RPG experience. They see the action side of our game, without the deep character choices and reactive story.

I really hope the SCEA guy is dead wrong. Mass Effect was a huge disappointment for me, and I’d hate to pass the same judgment on to Obsidian’s latest offering – especially when Avellone is at the helm.