00:00www.alphaprotocol.com
00:30Alpha Protocol is a modern-day Spire RPG that starts you off as a green field agent codenamed Michael Thornton.
00:36This walkthrough that we're going to be doing today takes place pretty early on in the game in the Moscow
00:40Hub.
00:41We want to show you some of the dynamic dialogue system and also some of the reactive world elements that
00:46we've built into the game.
00:47Let's ditch the interrogation. You're here for the missiles, so let's not play games.
00:51Darling, I do not play games.
00:54Now here we go. So before you go out into the field, you're going to have to make a choice
00:57of a handler.
00:58The handler choice is going to affect gameplay, objectives, and the kind of factions that you encounter during a mission.
01:03And the missions are going to play out very differently depending on who you bring along with you.
01:06Agent Thornton, I understand you're going after Surkov.
01:09Albatross. What a surprise to hear from you.
01:12Albatross, one of the possible handlers, is contacting us.
01:14Albatross is the leader of the G-22 faction, a very mysterious group of information seekers.
01:19So what we're seeing here is an example of the dynamic dialogue system, or DDS for short.
01:24The DDS forces you to choose between a variety of chat responses or stances when dealing with characters.
01:30However, you only have so much time to pick your stance, so there's a lot of tension involved.
01:34Michael Thornton has three main dialogue options, suave, professional, or aggressive.
01:39Sometimes, however, you're going to get a fourth action-based option, the shut-them-up choice,
01:43which will result in shooting somebody in a kneecap or bashing their head into a bar.
01:46Fun stuff like that.
01:48What Albatross wants to do is have you go to the embassy to find a character named Surkov.
01:52Expecting trouble? Always.
01:55So this is the embassy that Mike needs to infiltrate.
01:59Albatross is definitely kind of a stealthy character.
02:01He doesn't like a lot of firepights. He'll avoid that if possible.
02:04So what he's going to do is tell Mike how to get into the embassy through kind of a back
02:08door.
02:12What we're seeing here is another faction, the VCI.
02:15They stand in opposition to Albatross, but they're going to be storming the building at the same time as Michael.
02:19They have the similar objectives, but a lot more firepower.
02:22So you have to make your way through the building and find Surkov before they do.
02:26Now let me rewind to show the same mission played differently with different choices.
02:29You can't do this in the game, but luckily I can do it here today.
02:32This is Zee, another potential handler for the same Moscow mission.
02:35Hello, darling.
02:37She's an ecstasy mercenary who kind of runs with a rough crowd.
02:40She's always looking for a fight.
02:42Some people appreciate a little suave touch.
02:45Some people really like professionalism.
02:47But Zee is definitely very much a fan of being treated aggressively.
02:51But like any other character, she can either hate you or love you or anywhere in between.
02:55Treating people the way they prefer to be treated is kind of beneficial to you
02:59because you might unlock different items, different weapons, different intelligence things that you can buy in the store.
03:04But again, if you side with one faction or one character, another faction or character might actually dislike you.
03:09So it's kind of a choice that you have to make between,
03:12do I want to deal with the weapons dealer who's going to sell me more weapons?
03:14or do I want to piss off the, you know, the intelligence service that's going to not sell me intelligence
03:20if I actually am friends with the weapons dealer?
03:23So it's all kind of this big web of reactive elements that you never entirely have the whole picture of.
03:30Okay, back to Zee.
03:32She's our handler now and she's a bit more straightforward than Albatross is.
03:35Mike is going to walk right up and kind of smooth talk the guard to be let in.
03:39And if you're wondering, the sneaky path that we took with Albatross is still there.
03:42Zee just doesn't know about it, so she can't really tell us about it.
03:45Since I have chosen Zee as my handler, the G22 forces underneath Albatross are here
03:52and they are also looking for Zerkaz, so we are in trouble.
03:56The choice of Zee for this level obviously impacts the mission itself a great deal.
04:00But it also has impact on the future missions that you're going to play through.
04:04Even though you don't know it yet, she is going to play a pretty big role at the end of
04:08this hub.
04:10As you try to finish up your work in Moscow, she will come back and be a character that you
04:14can interact with more.
04:15I do not mind sharing you. For now.
04:19Great.
04:19In the past, many of our RPGs have focused on either good or evil paths of the game.
04:24This time it's more of a shades of gray approach.
04:26It's a bit more complex and nuanced than just saying that this is the morally right or wrong thing to
04:31do.
04:31It's a mixture of good, bad, and what is necessary to get the job done.
04:36In Alpha Protocol, we like to say that your weapon is choice, and that applies to every decision you make,
04:41whether it's in combat or in dialogue.
04:43Hopefully we whet your appetite to see more about Alpha Protocol in future walkthroughs.
04:47We're going to show you next time a little bit about safe houses and customization.
04:56We're going to show you next time a little bit about the game.
Commenti