Preview Vampire: Bloodlines Previewed at EchoPlayer

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

<a href="http://www.echoplayer.com">EchoPlayer</a> has a <a href="http://www.echoplayer.com/site/forthcoming/vampiretmbloodlines.html">preview</a> of <a href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika's</a> latest endeavour into the CRPG genre which just so happen to read more like an editorial than a preview, which seems rather fresh to say the least. The following is some commentary from the preview:
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<blockquote>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines can vaguely be described as a shooting game with heavy RPG elements, although in essence it is much deeper than that, featuring a rich, tightly-knit story at its seems and set in a distinctly-stylized city setting, reminiscent in some ways of the Blade films (not least, because of the vampires). It can be viewed from both first and third-person perspectives, and early reports suggest that the game can seamlessly transition between the two, offering you an easy way to get the best view of the surroundings.
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Importantly, the RPG elements are not tacked-on, as they are in many games nowadays, and are actually a significantly important part of how the game plays and how you'll progress through it. Living in the modern day, in a world in which vampires and humans have learned to co-exist with one another, the story begins, casting the player as a vampire recently turned from being a human. In this dark world, the vampires have managed to maintain power over the humans by hiding in the dark and avoiding unnecessary confrontation with them, and hence their discovery. This silent accord is enforced by the rule of seven different clans. And it is with one of these that you must join in order to begin your 'quest'. Your choice is an important one, as aside from altering how the story will progress, it also dictates which powers and abilities you can develop, many of which are specific to certain clans. </blockquote>
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I simply hope that Troika manages to provide the same level of role-playing experience they've endowed Arcanum with in the past.

 

[Sammael]

Let's not get delusional. There is no way in hell Bloodlines could provide the same level of role-playing experience as Arcanum, because it will not be a role-playing game.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I think they'll be able to pull through.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Better combat than Morrowind? Better story then Morrowind? Better quests and options available to complete them than Morrowind? I'm there.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Im not saying it would be better than Arcanum, but it would certainly kick the shit out of faux FPS rpgs like the DX series.

 

[Nightjed]

i just wonder how the vampire powers will work in a first person view under real time
maybe it will have enough success and they wont have some atari dumbass rushing the next toee

 

[Elwro]

Somehow, I don't know why, I have bad feelings about RPGness of this title. I hope I'm wrong...

 

[Crimson]

I hope it wil be abel to live op to Its PNP linage and all the quirks the PNP has.

Also the part of weaknes you hade to live whit when you wher a neonate, fighting to keep you humanty, geting power, trying to not piss of a elder or a prince.

 

[Voss]

Hey, come on, it is a CRPG. Neonate-ness won't last long. I'd bet you'll max out at least one discipline within a couple hours, tops.

Hopefully, that preview gibbering about 'picking' a clan to join is just so much gibberish. I realize that character creation will involve selecting a clan, but that makes it sound like you're out shopping for vampires, and trying on the Brujah for a bit before going with the Tremere...

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I simply hope that Troika manages to provide the same level of role-playing experience they've endowed Arcanum with in the past.

I don't think that will be possible. For one i doubt the gameworld will be as huge. Also, the game will quite likely focus on more physical aspects of quest solving. I hope i'm mistaken, but until now i haven't seen it to be more than an FPS with some elements to expand gameplay. Maybe the gameworld will be a constant, permanent gameworld, and not a level-based jaunt (which is a good start); maybe the dialogue won't be minimalistic like Arcanum or ToEE. Maybe my role will have some meaning. But those are quite some maybes.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I also have my doubts about any CRPG that uses a real time, first person view being nearly as good as Arcanum or Fallout. We'll see, but my expectations are much lower.

 

[Azael]

Not overly optimistic either, but I'm willing to give it a chance. I'm hoping for a better roleplaying game than the Deus Ex series, which shouldn't be that hard. The Source engine looks pretty sweet as well, too bad that the fact that Valve are having problems finishing Half-Life 2 will likely delay this game.

 

[Sol Invictus]

While I share your lack of optimism about the game's role playing ability, I do hope that they manage to do something better than other games of the FPS/3PS role playing genre. On the other hand, it'd be interesting to see what they can do with the game's physics engine and environment interaction.

 

[chrisbeddoes]

Hey, come on, it is a CRPG. Neonate-ness won't last long. I'd bet you'll max out at least one discipline within a couple hours, tops.

Hopefully, that preview gibbering about 'picking' a clan to join is just so much gibberish. I realize that character creation will involve selecting a clan, but that makes it sound like you're out shopping for vampires, and trying on the Brujah for a bit before going with the Tremere...

You can only have ONE discipline.

 

[Astromarine]

Low expectations are GOOD. They're wat makes us enjoy games more. Hype sucks for us, but is great for sales with the kiddies. So if they manage to hype it with the main market, while lowering our expectations, and then deliver a good product, EVRYUN IZ TEH WIN!!

 

[Voss]

You can only have ONE discipline.

Say what?
That doesn't even vaguely make sense. If Troika made that as a design decision they're going to be hunted down and staked by rabid V:TM fans.
And I don't mean criticized and bitched at (though that will happen too) I mean literally hunted down and staked.

Edit: Or do you mean clan? In which case I know, I was commenting on the way the previewer was describing it as a choice, like browsing for books, rather than someone picking you up and vamping you. The previewer was making sound more like, OK, now you're a vampire,go and join a clan, rather than clan being part of being made a vampire.

 

[Nightjed]

Low expectations are GOOD. They're wat makes us enjoy games more. Hype sucks for us, but is great for sales with the kiddies. So if they manage to hype it with the main market, while lowering our expectations, and then deliver a good product, EVRYUN IZ TEH WIN!!

its good for us that will check out the game, but for hype guided console kiddo missiles it means theyll use that money on halo 2, and a successful troika is a happy troika making more toee :evil:

 

[chrisbeddoes]

You can only have ONE discipline.

Say what?
That doesn't even vaguely make sense. If Troika made that as a design decision they're going to be hunted down and staked by rabid V:TM fans.
And I don't mean criticized and bitched at (though that will happen too) I mean literally hunted down and staked.

Edit: Or do you mean clan? In which case I know, I was commenting on the way the previewer was describing it as a choice, like browsing for books, rather than someone picking you up and vamping you. The previewer was making sound more like, OK, now you're a vampire,go and join a clan, rather than clan being part of being made a vampire.

I am not SURE but i believe that

a) You can join 1 clan.

b) You can have only that clan disipline.

If anybody knows that i am wrong please post.

Again i am not sure.

 

[Nightjed]

its probably clan disipline*S*, i think i saw it with s in the game's site, but its so freaking bloated with flash crap i cant find it again

edit: the preview says only "some" powers are clan limited, maybe there are some basic disiplines too

 

[triCritical]

This games combat will unfortunately have to make one group of people very upset. There are those of us that think a Bioware game has roleplaying, and what they will most likely expect is a shallow roleplaying experience tacked onto a shooter, like Deus Ex. On the other hand, there is the other group of people that want to see everything controlled by stats, including shooting, because aiming in 3rd person behind the shoulder is just stupid -> to Morrowind. The very nature of a hybrid game is enough to please neither of the hardcore audiences. Unfortunately, I think the titties in this game say it all, mass market appealling to teenage angst.

Hows that for skepticism? :D

 

[Voss]

Well, in PnP each clan has 3 disciplines, which they can get at a lower experience cost than non-clan ones. Some of them are common across several clans, but others are rare for other clans to have (unless you actually look at various NPCs in published products, in which case you notice that they really aren't) - Protean for the Gangrel and Thaumaturgy for the Treme are the ones that come to mind.

But honestly, being restricted to just the clan disciplines would fuck up the game. Gangrel and Ventrue would be the only ones with Fortitude (the only ones that wouldn't die instantly by sunlight or fire, for example), Brujah would be absurd combat monsters having the only Potence + Celerity combo, the clans without Presence or Dominate would have a hard time covering up feedings... It would just be bad.

Edit: And I just checked the site, it says Clan will dictate the disciplines you begin with, which is true. So all is fine. (well, at least when it comes to that issue)

 

[chrisbeddoes]

But honestly, being restricted to just the clan disciplines would fuck up the game. Gangrel and Ventrue would be the only ones with Fortitude (the only ones that wouldn't die instantly by sunlight or fire, for example), Brujah would be absurd combat monsters having the only Potence + Celerity combo, the clans without Presence or Dominate would have a hard time covering up feedings... It would just be bad.

Edit: And I just checked the site, it says Clan will dictate the disciplines you begin with, which is true. So all is fine. (well, at least when it comes to that issue)

They had said that all the disciplines would be active in the sense that every discipline would require blood expentiture.

 

[Nightjed]

i only know very little of the pnp version, is there any site with the rules or some info about them ?

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

i only know very little of the pnp version, is there any site with the rules or some info about them ?

Why, yes there is!

 

[Nightjed]

thanks