Yay, very interested in this game. If only because it's a non-medieval western RPG.

Very rare indeed!

It is interesting, it could be a good game for wainting the king, Mass Effect ^_^

Very rare? to be honest i can only think of one recent "medieval" western rpg..and thats ofcourse Oblivion.

2 of the biggest western rpgs of the last two years were set in space, and in the 1950's.

This is looking pretty good.. hopefully they'll nail the controls and story for it. I really hope they polish up the screen tearing too before it hits - which has been so bad its distracting on previous videos shown

There was an RPG set in the 1950s? Which one was that, and why did I miss it? Or did you mean BioShock? I guess technically that could be called an RPG. But just barely

As for the original comment about western RPGs mostly set in a medieval/fantasy setting, this is correct. For every Fallout 3 and Mass Effect we get our hands on, there is an Elder Scrolls, Two Worlds, Sacred, Fable, Risen and World of Warcraft to outnumber them. By and large, medieval/fantasy setting is unfortunately the bread and butter of not only the western-RPG industry, but also the jRPG industry - there is just not a lot of originality in the business.

And getting a RPG set in contemporary times . . . don't even think about it. Those are the rarest of the rare. I think the last two RPGs that I played that were set in a contemporary setting, were from SEGA and Nintendo (Rent A Hero and Morther, respectively - and it's been one helluva long time since any game showed up in either of those franchises.

I've been hyped on Alpha Protocol since it was world premiered as the cover story on Game Informer over two years ago. Obsidian Entertainment/Black Isle Studio, has one of the greatest track records in the RPG space (whether console gamers are aware of their heritage or not), and that alone was reason enough to get excited about Alpha Protocol. But when the said it was an RPG not set in space, not in the future, not in a make believe past or some fantasy realm, but set in the now, well quite frankly, they had me at, "hello."

I'm just pissed that SEGA pulled the plug on the Aliens RPG that was being worked on by the same studio. I was looking forward to getting on some role-play in the Aliens universe next year, and now that dream has been put in the corner.

not to be pedantic but WOW is an MMO, not a "western rpg" in the traditional sense as its a different genre. And i wouldnt really class it as medieval, but more fantasy - just like i wouldnt class Lord of the rings as a medieval movie.

Same with Fable.. medieval offers images of knights wearing armor on horse back.

You could class bioshock as an rpg.. as a western evolving one it treads the line between rpg and fps. You could also class deadspace as an rpg at a stretch. The point was those with western rpg's the times are changing. They're not all set against the back ground of green fields and full forests anymore. If you look at the ones that have been hitting lately, and about to hit, then WRPG set away from knights and amor is nolonger "very rare indeed"

Freeswag: wouldn't call bioshock an RPG, you only have like one choice and the extremely limited character building just screams shooter with upgrades to me. Good game, but not an RPG.

Alpha protocol looks cool. Definitely something i'm interested in. Any known release date?

Sorry, but everything you just said is wrong. Don't even know how to respond to such nonsense...

good valid argument

As far as i'm concerned a linear game cannot be called a role playing game, as you are not free to actually do anything even remotely like role playing. Actually choosing how you act and having that affect the story and events in the game is the essence of an RPG. I know some wanker will come in here and tell me how wrong i am and that jrpgs are the shizzlebazissle but screw that, jrpgs have about as much to do with actual role playing as a sandwich has in common with the sun. But let's not start that argument, i'm just saying that so taht i won't ahve to state my opinion of the subject later. Bioshock and Dead Space are action/horror games, not RPG. If we are to call them RPGs what's next? Gradius?

No need for, Freeswag explained it perfectly. If you don't get the point after reading that, you never will. Therefor, I won't waste anymore of my time on the subject.

Its a shooter with rpg element.. you can't make your own character from scratch..but you can build up the plasmids as you wish and make choices effecting the game.

Dues ex i would class as an rpg, and system shock at a stretch. Just not in the traditional sense because WRPGS are always evolving. Its JRPG's that follow the same tired formula of late - theres little difference between something that hit in the 90's (ff7) to something that hit last year (UD). Where as the difference between say diablo and fallout3 is night and day.

Yes JRPGS have a linear path with a set story.. you're simply building yourself up along the way in a way that has been determined for you.

bleachedsmiles: if upgrading shit is what you would call an RPG element then yes. I personally don't think that exp and upgrades are necessarily part of a role playing experience. They are usually there but they are not what constitutes role playing. Like said, if all that's needed for a game to have "rpg elements" are upgrades then shmups should rightly have that little tag as well, but i don't think i've ever seen Gradius being called a shoot em up with rpg elements :P