Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 32: DisclosureCast

Not much of note happens in this episode. We couldn't stop at Episode 31 because the cutscenes kept playing and there wasn't a good save point. Even when the cutscenes were over, we just kept talking and the result is that we ended up with enough material for an entire episode.

This is actually a very interesting conversation with Mina. I feel the need to point out that if Mina liked us at the end of the game, that she'd come in person to have this chat. (That would also be the point at which you can have sex with her to get XP and level up.) We'd also have the choice of asking her to find a safehouse to hide if we didn't want her to go back to Alpha Protocol. Since she hates our guts, this conversation is played over the monitor and Mina stays there regardless.

You can also use this point to uncover that Mina is the one who cut you loose, like we did here. If you fail to get enough dossier entries and connect the dots, then it becomes a bit of a loose thread. Although, by this point I don't think a detail like that matters. By now, Thorton has enough of an interest in stopping Halbech that Saudi Arabia is a passing concern.

In another nod to how old this recording is, we were discussing the revelations with Edward Snowden at the time. It had just hit the news and was a major topic. Without delving too much into politics, government spying and overreach have been massive topics for the past decade or so. As a result, it makes sense for a modern day spy game to have some commentary on the matter. This just happened to be an interesting thought in light of what was going on at the time.

"We might be able to finish this by the time I start class next month." In retrospect, that comment is one of the funniest things I said in this block of episodes. Such optimism. Such blind, stupid optimism.

So yeah, spoilers. We plan to do the finale without a guest. Sorry about that, but it's thematically appropriate!

I'm not going to comment much on the conversation we had with Shamus. Honestly, I think it stands for itself without requiring further input in text form. All I'll say is that it was a delight to bring Shamus on for the recording. In another season, sometime before Half-Life 3 comes out, he'll be willing to join us again sometime. For now, you may be interested in his other musings about Alpha Protocol: here and here.

Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 31: Revenge of the Trolled

What follows is perhaps the saddest thing I've been a part of since that time when we went months without producing a single video.


Let the record show that I DID tell Aldowyn to "Pick Suave, and then pick Suave again." #AldowynIsDumb

I think both this scene and the Surkov escort mission are the only two point in the entire game where your actions can lead to game over (aside from the normal HP=0). I kind of wish they'd just make you live with the consequences of failing of save Madison or stop the bombs. However, I know that would cause tons of problems in and of itself. I'm sure Obsidian had this very same debate when creating this scenario and I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for it.

I want to make it clear that I've only shot Madison on accident once in the 3-4 times I made this choice.

To elaborate on the trick to killing Marburg easily: You need to have Shadow Operative and Chain Shot. Use Shadow Operative and then use Chain Shot while you are invisible and land all your shots on Marburg. If you do it right, Marburg will be completely still until he takes another dose of damage. It's actually pretty pathetic.

With regards to an "RPG where 'Attack' is always an option in dialog." I believe in our talks after recording the episode, we fleshed out that idea a bit more. It could be a check of your weapon skill versus the skill of the NPC. If you have a higher skill, then you win and kill them. Else, you fail and suffer the consequences. I wonder if any of you RPG fans have any thoughts on that?

Finally, considering that Deng came up in discussion and the author himself was featured in the episode, this post would be incomplete without linking Shamus's Stolen Pixels comic regarding that boss fight.

Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 30: Chain-Letter Terrorism

In this episode, we muse about the nature of life, shock traps, and tea. Also, some chick gets shot.


The e-mail in this game really is a missed opportunity. Since the game doesn't really allow for Thorton to really keep up casual conversation with a lot of his contacts, this could have easily been a way to build up (or maintain/reduce) Thorton's rapport with somebody well after you've completed the hub they were featured in. It also would've given them a chance to flesh out the world a bit more through newsletters, spam, and the like. (Yes, I know that Thorton's e-mail is top secret and encrypted, but Rule of Funny allows it.) It's a shame, really.

I actually really like the mission in the warehouse. It's a short section that establishes a few facts that become relevant in light of things we learn in other missions. Stealth and combat are both viable options, and some light hacking is involved as well. Anaphysik is correct, though, that it would make more sense as an introductory mission than one in the second half of Rome.

It is interesting to note that had Spoiler Warning actually started an Alpha Protocol season, we would never have started Disclosure Alert. The whole premise of this show is that "Spoiler Warning won't do Alpha Protocol, so we have do it ourselves." If they do decide to do AP in the future, I'd be curious to see how their commentary lines up with ours.

The "shallow way" that Shamus was playing games back then is exactly how I've been playing games lately. My Twitter is afoul with many many games I quit in the middle when I got bored of them.

I love how, in a matter of a one minute side conversation, we completely tear apart the very notion behind Rome's storyline. It is very much in the line of Bond villainy seen in many spy movies. Part of me wonders if that's the point. The other half wonders if I'm giving the game too much credit. With Alpha Protocol, it's sometimes hard to distinguish between what was intended and what was a quick rewrite. This is one of those times.

Really, once we get out of the broom closet, the plot to Rome doesn't make sense. Still, I can't help but adore it for being over-the-top Hollywood-style. As I keep saying in these posts, AP feels like a homage to spy movies of all sorts. This is a Bond-style plot, so it fits. Moscow and Taipei are also ripped straight from spy movies. I want to say this is intentional, but truthfully I don't know for sure.

True story, an alternate title for this episode was "Michael Thorton Comes Out of the (Broom) Closet."

Also, here's a clip of the "Shock Trap" scene we were talking about in this episode (Skip to 3:06):

Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 29: The Spy-Themed Beard Simulator

At long last, Disclosure Alert has FINALLY returned. For those of you who haven't been following the saga on Twitter, Aldowyn meant to have this out to you guys months ago, but forgot to bring his desktop computer to college with him. This was a problem because that was the only computer capable of editing everything.

So, we no longer have to keep you from that week's special guest. Shamus Young, contributor to The Escapist and owner of Twenty Sided is here this week. As memory serves, this was a very fun recording session.


Wow. It's been so long ago that Tom Braider jokes were still relevant. (For those who don't get the joke, watch the Tomb Raider season of Spoiler Warning.) I wish I could say that I felt bad for making Shamus feel old, but I honestly don't.

That glitch where Al-Samad gets a reputation ding is an interesting insight into how the game originally was supposed to work. I wish I could peer into the original designs of this game. It's fairly common knowledge that this game was a victim of publishing meddling on Sega's part, which explains so many of its problems.

Shamus is right, this game is heavily designed around Pistols, to the point where it's actively worse if you specialize in any other weapon. Chain Shot is just such a strong skill that it makes every other skill look worse. Plus, you can shoot behind cover.

When we made jokes about how long it would take for these episodes to come out, we did not intend for those to be literal. I imagine Aldowyn felt really bad editing these.

I really dislike "ambush" style missions in general, but this one is particularly bad. This whole "protect the trace" thing is clearly an excuse to force you to mow down tons of mooks. Especially since in other missions, Mina seems perfectly capable of bugging and tracing things discretely, like when bugging the G22 base in Taipei.

Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 28: Non-Lethal Fire Damage

In this episode, we break into a mansion with the help of a crazy lady who gets off to people shooting her. Also, we get hosed at the end.



There's not much to talk about in this episode, so let's start with the whole Reputation thing. I think the Reputation losses you get for choosing either SIE or Madison over Mina make her out to be more than a little petty. As of this moment, I'm not sure whether I hate what that implies about her character or love it like I would any other of Obsidian's little touches. Either case, -1 or -2 isn't that significant in the long run, especially for Mina. It's just a little annoying because you'd think she'd understand why you'd want to at least choose Madison over her.
On the other hand, I like that choosing Madison only amplifies her [Maddy's] current opinion of you. If she likes you, she'll like you more and vice-versa.  This seems pretty realistic to me.

But as a whole, this -10 to +10 Reputation thing is pretty flawed. It's just weird how so many little things affect people's opinion of you. Would you hate your friend a little bit more if he spilled his drink at a fast food exactly one time as you watched? A lot of the +1s and -1s are justified, but a few of them border on ridiculous. Mina hating you a little more for changing handlers is the latter. The whole system where higher or lower reputations are more resistant to change in the opposite direction would've been a great idea, credit to anaphysik.

I think I like that Marburg is homosexual. It's not really a secret, as the game all but directly points it out. However, it's understated in a way that I respect. It would have been extremely easy to instead go for the stereotype. In this manner, it makes Marburg slightly more interesting and adds to his character without dominating it. This is how you deal with minorities, developers! Can we start getting that right more often?

Sometimes, those news broadcasts do a very good job at showing you what an outsider might think of the actions Mike is taking throughout the course of the game. For that reason, I'm glad they are included.

Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 27: Roman Charges May Apply

In this episode of Disclosure Alert, I scream, you scream, a Gelato shop owner screams, when we shoot him for ice cream. That's how the old saying goes, right?
Then, we talk to an anonymous person... who turns out to be Marburg and call a totally random chick that we've never met before a bitch.



As anaphysik points out, the gelato shop owner made a very brief cameo in the first episode. Because we are using the Veteran background, which is only unlocked after beating the game on Recruit, we got a special introduction sequence where the drugs administered to Mike made Mina looked like this guy on the PDA. This variation is only available as a Veteran, likely because otherwise it'd be a minor spoiler.

Aside from that, the other noteworthy things about this mission is that it provides foreshadowing for the reveal that Mina works with the NSA and it has a lot of comedic potential, especially with "horse porn... all over your computer". And then you can pull the trigger for no reason. I always thought it would be cool if games gave you the option to try to kill every person in the game. It'd be like the Renegade interrupts in Mass Effect 2/3, except they are there for the entire conversation. I don't even care if some particularly skilled NPCs are powerful enough to stop you, I just the option would be pretty cool. If anything, this game shows that something like that could lead to some pretty great moments.
NPC: Could you get me 10 of this thing?
Player: *draws gun and fires*

I really like the conversation with Marburg. Like many others before it, there are quite a few different ways it can go down. Depending on what you do, Marburg can think of you as a friendly rival, a bitter nemesis, or anywhere in between. The discussion also changes a fair bit depending on whether or not you obtained a lot of dossier information on him. Lastly, your relationship with SIE matters to him, because Marburg and SIE both hate each other. (Likewise, SIE will like you if Marburg hates you and vice-versa if you meet her in Moscow after this.) It's another fine example of the game at it's best.

And yes, I needed to point out the whole "mercenary" thing. Considering the person who is guest starring in these episodes, I felt compelled to. (Although I honestly probably would have anyway.)

God, I love these interview segments. They really are a great way to frame the narrative. It allows the game to comment on what you've done and then gives you a chance to respond and possibly justify what you did. It also helps to give you insight into the mind of the big villain. As for the comparison to Dragon Age 2, I never played that game so I'll let Aldowyn and Josh handle it.

To be fair, Josh was totally right to call me on "except a solid gameplay experience". However, the point I was trying to make was that this is a game where the player interactions with the story matter a lot more than any of the "gameplay" sections in it. In fact, I think the game would've been better if they gave you more dialog and less gameplay, because the gameplay segments really do feel artificial at times. Sadly, I don't think a lot of people besides myself would go for it, and others would accuse it of "not being a video game" because reasons. Sometimes I really hate the culture surrounding my favorite hobby.

I also concur with what Josh said at the start of the Contact Madison mission. When I first played through the game, I honestly only had a bare-bones idea of what was going on. It took a 2nd and 3rd playthrough to really get a sense of the plot, and this is coming from someone who can easily understand Tetsuya Nomura's way too overly-complicated storytelling in Kingdom Hearts.

I still find it hard to believe that the one, totally random stranger that happens to suspect that her employer might be less than ethical JUST SO HAPPENS to be Alan Parker's daughter. It's such a long shot that it's pretty baffling. This becomes important later on, but it just seems like it's too out there. On the other hand, I like how the game let's you be suspicious of her, because quite frankly I would be in that position.

And #AldowynIsDumb again for forgetting his Pistol. Oh well, it only made the next episode more interesting.

Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 26: Audionarrative Dissonance

In this episode, we continue our genocidal march of Rome. Fitting the legacy of our guest, we bring carnage to all before us with extreme prejudice.



For the record, I take pride in my Lara Croft/Nathan Drake/Mass Effect/Indiana Jones fan-fiction. I worked for literally SECONDS to get you such high quality writing and I hope you're all happy. That's 5 seconds of my life I will never get back. Of course, Thorton was using that time to stealth level up, so maybe it was worth it.

Josh makes a good point. For a game that's supposedly set in the real world, the mechanics do very much make this feel like a video games instead of a spy thriller. To its credit, the "plastic-y" visuals help make those mechanics feel like they belong, so isn't too egregious. Despite that, it can be pretty strange to have Thorton use "Hide in Shadows" like a character in Planescape: Torment or Baldur's Gate when the stealth mechanics that said skill was simulating are already in place. I've spoken before about such phenomena in the past, but Alpha Protocol in particular really makes one question the necessity of old school RPG mechanics in modern day game design.

Trying to tell Aldowyn how to go ANYWHERE is insufferably annoying. It takes him forever to follow directions and the 5 second delay does NOT help. I hope you guys enjoy this glimpse of our suffering, because this was so annoying. He's a terrible hacker, which is worsened by the fact that the hacks are getting more difficult (another case of redundant mechanics in an RPG). At least he can lockpick well.

I know that building security is never well-designed in a video game (as Josh noted) because, by their very nature, the security systems have to be systems that the average player can be expected to bypass in some way. However, this level's defenses strike me as particularly bad. I don't know why that is, or why I'm bothered by it, but I am. Perhaps some of you guys have thoughts on the matter.

I'm not worried too much by it, though. After all, we went to get ice cream right afterward. >:)

Disclosure Alert: Alpha Protocol: Episode 25: Exactly Like a Spoiler Warning Episode

It has been a long time, hasn't it. Let's just say that since recording the first part of Rome, Aldowyn had, and continues to have, a number of issues he needed to deal with. I hope you can forgive him, because we've sure taken him to task for the delay.

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Anyway, this week we also have a very special guest joining us for the first half of our tour in Rome. Those of you who watch Spoiler Warning over at Twenty Sided will recognize Josh Viel, whom we were happy to have with us. It was a very fun recording session.

Also, funny story: Aldowyn was recording all of us, but he lost the files. Fortunately, anaphysik had backups. Unfortunately, his connection sucks. As a result, we had a few problems getting this together. There were also issues with the game audio. *sigh* >_>



This is one of the easiest and shortest non-contact missions in the entire game. Also, it's the only one of it's kind. I actually really like this mission, simply because it breaks away from other gameplay missions (And let's be honest, the parts where you aren't having conversations really aren't that good. I say that as a fan of this game.)

As for the suit, I have a theory that Obsidian originally tried to make this a mission where you had to blend in, but either realized how much effort it would be or that it looked goofy given the way Micheal Thorton looks and controls during gameplay missions. It's much easier and sensible to have this setup as a mission where Thorton scans them for Mina to get info on. I have to admit, given the recent gov't spying scandals, it's interesting how readily available all this data is to your operation. To avoid going further down the politics rabbit hole, I'll stop at that.

It's worth noting that saving or killing Al-Bara, despite him being a confirmed terrorist working with Al-Samad, does NOT affect your relationship with Shaheed if he's still alive by this point. He'll comment on it, but his reputation won't change.