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It's so impressive, similarly I also love the game Pentiment by Obsidian, some incredibly complex branching conversations in there. I recently watched a video w

It's so impressive, similarly I also love the game Pentiment by Obsidian, some incredibly complex branching conversations in there. I recently watched a video where the game director Josh Sawyer (of fallout new vegas fame) walks through some conversations in Obsidians own dialog software. https://youtu.be/u9WFmMY5oyY?si=ruJcmYey8hAiKWDR&t=640 https://youtu.be/u9WFmMY5oyY?si=ruJcmYey8hAiKWDR&t=640

Topfi 2y ago
Can also wholeheartedly endorse Alpha Protocol, also by Obsidian. A must play for anyone who feels RPGs are more than a few skill trees and binary choices, the way AP manages to interweave a massive complex conversations tree with the way players handle the action sequences is frankly second to none. To quote Ben Yahtzee Croshaws review[0] from back then: “For once, this is a game that claims that "every action has consequences" and actually means a consequence more significant than a character maybe wearing a different hat. For example, although the hub-based mission system lets you do the operations in any order, during the one I chose to do last, an informant mentioned the previous operations I'd completed in conversation. "Fuck", I said, "this game's just showing off now." So I immediately became an aggressive ponce and slammed his head into a desk. After which, there was more security in my next mission because the informant went crying to his big brother or something.” [0] https://youtu.be/K9ZkY-6M5qw?si=IWrCsJqo35p25n23 https://youtu.be/K9ZkY-6M5qw?si=IWrCsJqo35p25n23
- polytely 2y ago
  Yeah I love Alpha Protocol, did you see the remaster they put out (DRM free!) on GoG last year, for me it was honestly one of the most exciting things that happened in gaming last year. https://youtu.be/UBXbrofwKwM https://youtu.be/UBXbrofwKwM
  - Topfi 2y ago
    Honestly the first time I ever bought a game right on release day, cause I knew of the quality and wanted to support both GoG and hopefully in a small way signal to the industry that I want more of this in gaming.
- AdmiralAsshat 2y ago
  Alpha Protocol is a very flawed if intriguing game. The player needs to understand that it's more RPG than Metal Gear Solid. If you invest all your points into stealth, you can perform superhuman feats of cloaking by the end of the game. By the same token, however, you can perfectly line up a headshot on your aiming reticle and still miss, because the backend dice-roll said you missed. With that said, I agree, the dialogue choices and "consequences" blew away everything else in the genre. In that sense, it felt like it better captured the spirit of the original Deus Ex over even its spiritual successor, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. At the end of the first mission in Alpha Protocol, you confront a terrorist, and can choose to either kill him or let him go. If you let him go, he becomes a contact that you can call upon in later points of the game. He might give you information, assist on a mission, etc. It has a real payoff for keeping him alive. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you are also confronted with a terrorist at the end of the first mission, and can decide to kill him or spare him. If you decide to spare him, he shows up in an alley later in the game and...gives you some money. That's it. DE:HR was the far more polished game, overall, but it didn't understand "consequences" very well.
jfengel 2y ago
Coincidentally, I just got Pentiment, and I've spent the entire weekend on it. I'm not really a gamer, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. The art is gorgeous.
- czk 2y ago
  Enjoy it! One of my favorite games of the past couple years. Loved it
  - jfengel 2y ago
    Thank you! It's not much of a "game"... which is fine with me, because I'm not much of a gamer. When I'm done I may go try Disco Elysium again. I tried once before, and got myself to an ending very, very quickly -- one that my friend had no idea was even an option.
    - polytely 2y ago
      I would also recommend Night in the Woods, it was a big inspiration for the 'gameplay' of Pentiment. mostly just walking through a world, talking to people with some minor minigames thrown in.

Topfi 2y ago

Can also wholeheartedly endorse Alpha Protocol, also by Obsidian. A must play for anyone who feels RPGs are more than a few skill trees and binary choices, the way AP manages to interweave a massive complex conversations tree with the way players handle the action sequences is frankly second to none. To quote Ben Yahtzee Croshaws review[0] from back then: “For once, this is a game that claims that "every action has consequences" and actually means a consequence more significant than a character maybe wearing a different hat. For example, although the hub-based mission system lets you do the operations in any order, during the one I chose to do last, an informant mentioned the previous operations I'd completed in conversation. "Fuck", I said, "this game's just showing off now." So I immediately became an aggressive ponce and slammed his head into a desk. After which, there was more security in my next mission because the informant went crying to his big brother or something.” [0] https://youtu.be/K9ZkY-6M5qw?si=IWrCsJqo35p25n23 https://youtu.be/K9ZkY-6M5qw?si=IWrCsJqo35p25n23

polytely 2y ago
Yeah I love Alpha Protocol, did you see the remaster they put out (DRM free!) on GoG last year, for me it was honestly one of the most exciting things that happened in gaming last year. https://youtu.be/UBXbrofwKwM https://youtu.be/UBXbrofwKwM
- Topfi 2y ago
  Honestly the first time I ever bought a game right on release day, cause I knew of the quality and wanted to support both GoG and hopefully in a small way signal to the industry that I want more of this in gaming.
AdmiralAsshat 2y ago
Alpha Protocol is a very flawed if intriguing game. The player needs to understand that it's more RPG than Metal Gear Solid. If you invest all your points into stealth, you can perform superhuman feats of cloaking by the end of the game. By the same token, however, you can perfectly line up a headshot on your aiming reticle and still miss, because the backend dice-roll said you missed. With that said, I agree, the dialogue choices and "consequences" blew away everything else in the genre. In that sense, it felt like it better captured the spirit of the original Deus Ex over even its spiritual successor, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. At the end of the first mission in Alpha Protocol, you confront a terrorist, and can choose to either kill him or let him go. If you let him go, he becomes a contact that you can call upon in later points of the game. He might give you information, assist on a mission, etc. It has a real payoff for keeping him alive. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you are also confronted with a terrorist at the end of the first mission, and can decide to kill him or spare him. If you decide to spare him, he shows up in an alley later in the game and...gives you some money. That's it. DE:HR was the far more polished game, overall, but it didn't understand "consequences" very well.

jfengel 2y ago

Coincidentally, I just got Pentiment, and I've spent the entire weekend on it. I'm not really a gamer, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. The art is gorgeous.

czk 2y ago
Enjoy it! One of my favorite games of the past couple years. Loved it
- jfengel 2y ago
  Thank you! It's not much of a "game"... which is fine with me, because I'm not much of a gamer. When I'm done I may go try Disco Elysium again. I tried once before, and got myself to an ending very, very quickly -- one that my friend had no idea was even an option.
  - polytely 2y ago
    I would also recommend Night in the Woods, it was a big inspiration for the 'gameplay' of Pentiment. mostly just walking through a world, talking to people with some minor minigames thrown in.