In this episode, we continue our siege on Brayko's mansion while anaphysik continues to speak in his native accent. At the same time, Ringwraith insists on faking a British accent. What a jerk!
Anaphysik makes a great point when it comes to the reference to "The Outsiders". Considering the kind of attention to detail that I'm used to from Obsidian, it's odd that they include this little reference to that book without actually doing much of anything with it. Brayko's self-styled band and the protagonist's group from the book have very few things in common. I wouldn't expect Brayko to understand the subtleties, but I would expect Obsidian to. It would've been interesting if Mike had some sort of dialog option that eludes to some comparison between them, either subverted or played straight, just to make use of the little detail. If it's just there to show Brayko's comic ineptitude when it comes to understanding things, then I'd like to have something to point it out. As it stands, it seems like the writers just remembered about it and thought to include a reference to the work in their game.
One thing I'd like to note is that we got Championchik's Secret Fact... without ever having met him or even getting a single document on him. This means that we can't view it since we have no file on him. If we didn't play this game before and met him, we'd basically be going "Cool, we got Championchik's secret fact! Wait, WHO THE FUCK IS CHAMPIONCHIK!?"
I like how Obsidian decided to include a vault as a way of tying Alpha Protocol into the Fallout series. I'm surprised though, how would Brayko have been involved with Vault-Tec? Did he know about their plans to experiment on vault dwellers? If so, did he allow them to do it willingly or was he coerced by them? It's a great leap for both this game's and Fallout's canon, but it raises so many questions.
It really is bizarre that the game gives you the choice to execute SIE/Albatross if you choose to save them. Mostly because in order to do so, you'd need to willing choose to abandon the vault data to kill them yourself instead of having Brayko do it for you. This is incredibly petty, even for an aggressive Thorton. I'm not complaining, since the choice still allows for more role-playing possibilities, but honestly anyone who chose it for any reason other than role-play is dumb.
Brayko's boss fight sucks... unless you're playing as a Veteran on Easy. I remember playing through my first time on Hard: This is the exact opposite of fun. I hated Turn Up the Radio for weeks just because of that boss fight. People complain about his ridiculous coke-fueled CQC attacks which give him huge defense, but on Hard he's even FASTER, so dodging him is very difficult. Again, the boss fights are so bad in this game. It's shocking how much this real-world spy thriller can be a typical 90s video game.
9 comments:
Even with limited dossier information, you could still have gotten the information about Surkov if you had chosen the professional options when interrogating Brayko. But you didn't. Too bad.
You haven't seen Episode 24 yet.
I think the real problem is that there is some trigger in the Surkov office contact mission, which we missed by crippling him. IIRC, I've heard that you can end that mission early (by selecting 'PDA' or somesuch), thereby missing out on some critical info on Surkov. I wonder if being at low rep with him also affects it. (Both times through I've had Surkov at positive rep; he's buddy-buddy in the contact mission and confides in you that he was Halbech's contact (though lies that he quit that role and Brayko took over)).
I didn't struggle with Brayko my second time on normal and rookie (with spiked cocaine of course)
This actually is the perfect time to kill SIE or Albatross, because as far as Mike is aware his missions in Moscow are over and he wouldn't be able to count on ever meeting them again, especially without them being prepared.
And I'd probably do it in person to. Definitely if I were being ruthlessly efficient, because you're just about to kill Brayko and have already busted up his operation. If you leave them there's a fair chance they'll survive, half tortured, with the knowledge that you chose not to save them. Albatross might understand and SIE might respect it, but if I were the Parker I wouldn't leave that to chance.
I'm slightly disappointed in the data, I've never actually got it and because of above reasoning I don't think I was ever likely to get it on any playthrough, but it doesn't seem to be particularly impactful
Because I've made justifications a lot of times in these comments, I should clarify that this time round isn't a justification. That's what I've thought on every playthrough and why I'd always go for the kill in person (it's also partly why I saved them, because I figured the data wasn't worth the trouble it would cause if they lived through the torture)
You can absolutely get low rep with Surkov and still get all the information you need to expose him. In fact, if you have low rep with him, spare Brayko, and then do the post-boss mission in his office, it (potentially) leads to quite possibly the best scene in the entire game (it involves the winning of gold medals in somewhat unorthodox athletic fields).
Yes, it was our original plan to get 'Gold Medal in Dying'...
Frankly, though, it seems terribly odd that he'd divulge that information if he doesn't like you. (It's alright if he likes you, because then it's reasonable for him to think he could strike up a partnership with you if needed, and informing you is the first step of that.) Honestly, shooting it out of him (via Cripple, getting more than just the 'go after Brayko' info) would be more appropriate :/
I liked the Invisible War reference. :P
I'm not sure how Brayko is involved with Fallout though? Vaults are hardly an invention of the series.
That was my attempt at a terribad joke. :p
Oops :P The only Fallout I've ever played is a tiny bit of New Vegas, so I thought there was something I missed.
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