Revisiting VtM: Bloodlines

[Multidirectional]

Yes the option is called "No cast animations and restored diciplines". I had no idea what that means on first install and could not find any explanation so I didn't check it.

Dunno if it is too late to do it mid-playthrough?

I really don't know, you could always try backing up your save and reinstalling. If you started Malk playthrough with these shitty "rebalanced" disciplines I guess you kind of fucked yourself because classic Dementation lv 5 is the bomb man.
Ain't that some delusional modding right there? Making you less powerful in a game that doesn't have good combat for the sake of "balance".

 

[Prime Junta]

BTW I rolled up a Tremere and boy is she more powerful than the Brujah. Blood Strike is a really tedious cheat code, and Blood Boil just wipes out entire mobs. Played through Grout's mansion. The fights that I found somewhat frustrating with the Brujah -- in order in which I did them, Blood Guardian, Brother Kanker, Bishop Vick -- were just laughably easy, especially Bishop Vick. One Blood Boil wiped out his entire herd of zombies, and after that it was just cycling through Blood Strikes to recharge and Blood Steal to damage, with Blood Shield up for good measure.

If there are some beasties immune to those later on I'm SOL of course. Keeping some XP in reserve in case I need to put some in a combat ability eventually at some point.

 

[Anthedon]

I don't remember any immunities. The Tzimisce monsters in the sewer section even take additional damage from blood magic IIRC.

 

[Xor]

I've played through bloodlines so many times that Wesp's plus patch changes make the game more interesting. It's not for everyone, though, and I really wouldn't recommend it for first (or even second) time players. Really, the game is pretty playable with the official 1.2 patch. The only bug I can remember off the top of my head is with one of VV's quests, where it's almost impossible to complete the quest "quietly".

If there are some beasties immune to those later on I'm SOL of course. Keeping some XP in reserve in case I need to put some in a combat ability eventually at some point.

I remember killing the boss of the game with blood boil spam on one of my first playthroughs so you're probably good.

 

[Maculo]

BTW I rolled up a Tremere and boy is she more powerful than the Brujah. Blood Strike is a really tedious cheat code, and Blood Boil just wipes out entire mobs. Played through Grout's mansion. The fights that I found somewhat frustrating with the Brujah -- in order in which I did them, Blood Guardian, Brother Kanker, Bishop Vick -- were just laughably easy, especially Bishop Vick. One Blood Boil wiped out his entire herd of zombies, and after that it was just cycling through Blood Strikes to recharge and Blood Steal to damage, with Blood Shield up for good measure.

If there are some beasties immune to those later on I'm SOL of course. Keeping some XP in reserve in case I need to put some in a combat ability eventually at some point.

While I do not remember any enemies being immune, I do remember some boss creatures not taking much damage. Therefore, I would save some XP for guns, although I do not remember to what extent gun skills strengthens the flame thrower.

In the meantime, I still would seek out melee skill-ups and find an axe. Sometimes, it is faster just to melee through enemies with blood shield up.

 

[Prime Junta]

Did one of Wesp's Plus missions -- A Night at the Library. Can't say I was hugely impressed, especially the boss fight was pretty badly executed -- forced cutscene and dialog before the forced fight where the Lasombra starts blasting away at me immediately... and the cutscene ended my Blood Shield. Plus the teleporting was kind of cheap too.

The combat shotgun on full-auto made short work of him though. But still. Nice scenery though!

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Wesp made the library level from scratch, it was based on Mitsoda vaguely recalling that they planned a library level at some point, had nothing more to go on. It's a decent amatuer work but I usually skip it, I feel it clashes with the rest of the game a bit (especially because he involved Beckett).

 

[Excidium II]

That voice acting though.

 

[Prime Junta]

Wesp made the library level from scratch, it was based on Mitsoda vaguely recalling that they planned a library level at some point, had nothing more to go on. It's a decent amatuer work but I usually skip it, I feel it clashes with the rest of the game a bit (especially because he involved Beckett).

Did he? Nice work on the level then. Shame about the boss fight.

 

[DeepOcean]

I do hope we get something out of the Paradox/Obsidian thing.

The setting is way too cool to let it fade.

I would *assume* they would use the New World of Darkness setting, which is quite a bit different. I am still reading the sourcebooks now, and it is quite different. But you could tell a really good story with this new setting.

Paradox / White Wolf confirms here the use of the classic WoD setting in the "modern age".



So if we are getting anything new from them, it will be in the classic WoD. And thats fantastic imo.

When I first looked at this video, I tought the guy at the stage was some Jack Cosplayer.

 

[grotsnik]

You know, recently I saw some posters at SA talking about how VtR is better than VtM.

And you start reading up on it, and you think, 'Yeah. Actually, having several well-balanced factions is a lot neater than having a very fleshed-out Camarilla vs an often underconceived Sabbat. And without the nonsensical baggage of the metaplot, this is much more - wait, they call Malkavians 'Malkovians'. No. Fuck this shit. Fuck everyone involved.'

 

[Excidium II]

The 5 Factions are kinda pointless, they're sorta like meta-clans. The sects in VtM makes more sense to me, looks more like something that was shaped over history. A dominating party, a growing extremist one, an utopic alternative, and a bunch of independent groups and conspiracies (which half of the Requiem covenants make a lot more sense as). Metaplot is a pointless argument after V20 giving a game with a blank slate approach.

The other games are at least significantly different in ways from their originals, VTR just fels like a bland ripoff of VtM. It's neat that nosferatu have their own discipline though.

And yeah...Malkovians. The obsession over all games following the same basic template is probably the worst thing about nWoD. It's one thing to have unified rules, it's another to have it dictate the fiction.

 

[Lacrymas]

VtR has always felt like a bland echo of VtM. I think the metaplot worked in VtM to give coherence and build-up throughout the whole narrative. Otherwise it just meanders about with no purpose or concept. The problem with it is that it kinda bloated itself throughout VtM's run and went bonkers at one point. VtR should have been a new thing entirely, the only crossover point being the vampires.

 

[baturinsky]

Looks like nWO has both Malkovians and Malkavians. Latter is a vampires with "Malkavia" disease that give traits more similar to oMO Malkavians than what Malkovians have.

http://southlandrevelations.wikia.com/wiki/Malkavia

 

[Zombra]

Excidium is actually right in this, the interesting part of VtM:B's writing is the source material. They didn't do anything novel with it, they just used it and surprise, surprise - good source material, good end product.

By that reasoning, any sequel to Bloodlines is guaranteed to have excellent writing. I guess that's good news.

The Ocean House was the "Gone Home/Firewatch/walking sim" of its time. There's no gameplay.

The Ocean House suffers from the fact that you never really feel vulnerable, which makes it feel more like just an homage to certain horror movies rather than something that's scary in itself. Quite early on you realize that it's just a scripted ride of scares, and at that point all sense of horror flies straight out of the window.

What? There's nothing to imply that there's no danger. The only way you can know that is if you played it before or looked it up. Ocean House is great horror because of the uncertainty. Up to that point in the game, anything dangerous you saw, you could W+ M1 and kill it. That all goes out the window when the house itself starts attacking you; there's nothing to fight back against. The scene in the kitchen is sheer genius, because unlike the earlier sections in the hallway, you can't run, you can't take cover, there's nothing whatsoever to interact with, but you don't know that. There's no apparent end to the attacks so you keep trying to find a way out until they finally stop on their own. Don't tell me you were bored during that section and you just stood there and waited for it to be over. The apparent "rules" change a few times during this section, and you're never allowed to find your balance and feel safe. Yes, having played it we all know that it's just scripted sequences, and you probably can't die there even if you try; but you have no way of knowing that when you're stumbling through for the first time.

 

[Excidium II]

It never did much to me. Was more unnerved by the damned meatballs.

 

[Zombra]

People without souls don't count.

 

[Excidium II]

Well I do like the stage, and the mystary you uncover. It just wasn't tense/scary.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Playing as a Nos right now, sneaking through the entire game and wreaking havoc with stealth kills is damn good fun. Also, so far, nice reactivity, love how the games acknowledges my clan choice, even if it's just a few altered NPC lines.

I take back what I said about Wesp altering with the music, the beachhouse levels sucked but there's some good stuff too. Loved this track playing in front of the Ocean House Hotel:


Having a blast with this game, I can't believed I haven't touched in in 10 years.

 

[baturinsky]

Actually, you can take cover from most of flying pans damage in Ocean Hotel kitchen if you fuck behind a table.
But yeah, it is plenty spooky place first time or two.

 

[Athelas]

The Ocean House was the "Gone Home/Firewatch/walking sim" of its time. There's no gameplay.

The Ocean House suffers from the fact that you never really feel vulnerable, which makes it feel more like just an homage to certain horror movies rather than something that's scary in itself. Quite early on you realize that it's just a scripted ride of scares, and at that point all sense of horror flies straight out of the window.

What? There's nothing to imply that there's no danger. The only way you can know that is if you played it before or looked it up. Ocean House is great horror because of the uncertainty. Up to that point in the game, anything dangerous you saw, you could W+ M1 and kill it. That all goes out the window when the house itself starts attacking you; there's nothing to fight back against. The scene in the kitchen is sheer genius, because unlike the earlier sections in the hallway, you can't run, you can't take cover, there's nothing whatsoever to interact with, but you don't know that. There's no apparent end to the attacks so you keep trying to find a way out until they finally stop on their own. Don't tell me you were bored during that section and you just stood there and waited for it to be over. The apparent "rules" change a few times during this section, and you're never allowed to find your balance and feel safe. Yes, having played it we all know that it's just scripted sequences, and you probably can't die there even if you try; but you have no way of knowing that when you're stumbling through for the first time.

It's immediately obvious it's a scripted ride of scares - once the first vase flies into you, you know what to expect from the dozens of vases that follow. Horror shouldn't be predictable. Moreover, because your health regenerates and there are no enemies that could warrant use of your blood pool, you're never even remotely in any actual danger. I thought it was a bit of a chore even on my first playthrough.

As far as atmosphere goes, I think there are plenty of areas in the game that do a better job of evoking a creepy mood - Grout's mansion, Gallery Noir with those paintings depicting the Kindred creation myth and Griffith Park (well, the latter is not so much creepy as simply thrilling).

 

[Average Manatee]

What? There's nothing to imply that there's no danger. The only way you can know that is if you played it before or looked it up. Ocean House is great horror because of the uncertainty. Up to that point in the game, anything dangerous you saw, you could W+ M1 and kill it. That all goes out the window when the house itself starts attacking you; there's nothing to fight back against. The scene in the kitchen is sheer genius, because unlike the earlier sections in the hallway, you can't run, you can't take cover, there's nothing whatsoever to interact with, but you don't know that. There's no apparent end to the attacks so you keep trying to find a way out until they finally stop on their own. Don't tell me you were bored during that section and you just stood there and waited for it to be over. The apparent "rules" change a few times during this section, and you're never allowed to find your balance and feel safe. Yes, having played it we all know that it's just scripted sequences, and you probably can't die there even if you try; but you have no way of knowing that when you're stumbling through for the first time.

I actually died in the kitchen. Apparently I managed to be in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time to get hit with just enough force by a flying object to instakill me. Twice in a row.

 

[Delterius]

I also managed to die in the steam pipes at the Hotel's second floor.

I don't know. I liked the Ocean House Hotel when I first went through it. Its a creepy scene that adds to the world of Bloodlines by using ghosts instead of more crazy vampires. But I can see how its pretty weak nowadays compared to other horror games. I'm easily scared though and wasted Celerity three times thinking there was an enemy in front of me.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

But I can see how its pretty weak nowadays compared to other horror games.

Really? I'm not exactly a big fan of the horror video game genre but as far as I'm concerned half the horror is good atmosphere and most today's games utterly fail at it. Limited visibility via constantly failing flashlight/lamp and jump scares can only keep interest for so long, eventually they lose effectiveness.

 

[Roguey]

I'm sure everybody normal enjoyed Gone Home too.

For all you knew your gay sister was murdered by a serial killer still inside the house..!