Preview Vampire: Bloodlines Preview @ Actiontrip

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

ActionTrip is the latest website to publish a <a href="http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/vampirethemasqueradebloodlines_p2.phtml">preview</a> of Troika's upcoming Vampire: Bloodlines RPG. This preview covers all of the basics about the game, which they saw at E3, such as the character creation including physical attributes and special abilities. The preview also covers the first person combat in the game, which they claim works rather brilliantly. Here's a small snippet of the preview:
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The beauty of this game is that most of the puzzles and missions can be solved using a different approach each time. You can, for instance, seduce Venus (I mentioned her earlier) to find out vital information, thereby sparing yourself the aggravation of completing additional tasks for her.
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Another scene in the game showed us various ways to overcome certain characters that might get in the way of your goals. The player's job was to pass through a location guarded by a huge Gargoyle. Three characters were thrown into play here: a female Toreador (an excellent conversationalist), a male Brujah (most violent) and a Malkavian (extremely seductive). Each vampire had its way of dealing with the situation. The Toreador managed to gather enough information throughout her journeys to know that the Gargoyle was in fact betrayed by the Tzimizce (the very same dudes who vowed to protect it). After mentioning this to the Gargoyle, the Toreador was allowed to explore the area freely. The Malkavian, on the other hand, has her own ways. Without using any violence she was able to dig deep into the mind of the creature and persuade it to become her friend. Pretty soon a ferocious beast turned into a helpful ally. These two characters clearly rely on their social skills and intellect more than anything else. But, if you prefer action over a pleasant conversation, the Brujah might be the right choice for you. After a very brief conversation, the Brujah resorted to the most direct approach - brutality. The duel began in a huge abandoned theatre. The Brujah quickly climbed a balcony and attempted to fight the Gargoyle from a distance with accurate ranged attacks. It wasn't long, however, until the Gargoyle started to smash the balcony bit by bit. When the entire thing was smashed, our vamp-hero fell down and had to face the creature at close range and he had to be dispatched with firearms and swords. That's where the demo ended.</blockquote>
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Mind control! Damn, that's pretty sweet. Oh, and it looks like environment interactvity is in. I can't wait to see how the game turns out.

 

[Barghest]

Aren't these spoilers?

(Hint, Hint...)

 

[Kamaz]

Well, your critic comes little too late because I recall some flaming about " SPOILERS! SPOILERS!" just when these facts - spoilers - were mentioned first time. Its no more secret 4 anyone here.

 

[Whipporowill]

That environment interactivity has been spoken of in like 10 earlier previews - haven't you been paying attention Rex?

 

[Sol Invictus]

I think think that the environment interaction went that far, Whip. i thought it was only limited to using manhole covers as shields and throwing them at people like flying discs.

 

[Whipporowill]

I meant that this particular part about the Gargoyle smashing pillars and such is old news. Still interesting of course. I'm curious as how far that thing goes for the rest of the game... I'll make sure to find out.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

One way or another I think Im gonna get this game.

 

[Astromarine]

Something about that gargoyle smashing the pillars smells "scripted" to me. I'm not that sure the environment will be smashable somewhere else... God, I hope I'm wrong...

 

[Stark]

any previews that mentioned how exp points are earned? if, for example, the brutality method involving killing all those standing in your way doles out the most exp points, then it's pretty demoralizing to play other routes, knowing the most direct method yields the most gain.

i recall they mentioned exp points are earned based on objectives achieved. but can't be sure of that.

 

[Stark]

oh, and i agree the part about smashing the pillars sound scripted to me too.

 

[Whipporowill]

i recall they mentioned exp points are earned based on objectives achieved. but can't be sure of that.

Yessir! That's the ticket. No "kill points" or such, which actually is a good thing according to me. That way you can't complete an objective the peaceful way and then kill everyone for extra points - as has been the case in earlier games.

As for the gargoyle fight being scripted. Well, we don't know yet.
Considering it was a showcase and the demoer ran the vampire up there, I don't much care - as long as it's in reaction to what you do as a player.

 

[Petey_the_Skid]

The gist of what I've gathered from all the information is that quest completion gives a set amount of xp regardless of how you completed each quest.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I don't think too much of it is scripted considering the versatility of the Source engine. This isn't 2002, you know.

 

[Kamaz]

Oh, dont say that for sure. I, for instance, am pretty worried about that scripted enviroment interaction thingie. Considering that the game-world is developing and has reached new levels of understanding, it would not be possible today. But, hay, how much of todays cRPG's prevail yesterdays creations? Year 1998, Fallout2, '97, Fallout - think the greatest cRPG ever built by man-kind. Have not yet seen another cRPG that would at least get close to it. And that was like 6 or 7 years ago.
Technologies have gone further, thats right. But gameplay has not developed as smoothly as graphics, IMHO. OK, quests are good example of progress - there were times when you could not finish the game because of wrong choice somewhere in the middle and had to replay all thing again. That was wrong decision, so today we meet games where are no " lethal mistakes" . Thats a bonus. What else has becoome better? Maybe mention that, but I cant recall much of it, though. And I would be worried anout that scripting thingie - ok, maybe it is not so scripted as before, but, for instance, "Red faction", you could possibly blow the walls out - while you could not do it with any wall, just with pre-scripted locations. And sometimes it really set me up because there were like..about meter of stone wall, just like the one I had blown apart two miles back, but this one "wont budge". That is scripting in my opinion [that is not so humble in this case].
Anyway, hope I'm wrong.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I'm thinking scripted too. There are a few things where Leon has said "scripting this" and "scripting that". So I mean hey, it's all cool, just as long as they scripted everything...

It's likely Valve were having issues with their fantastic non-scripted world thing too.

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

I think all they are claiming is a little unlikely. I hope the game is all they promised but considering the amount of work that must have gone into the graphics if they pull off the gameplay as well, it would be too good to be true....

 

[Anonymous]

From what I heard/saw about the gargoyle, he just runs around smashing the pillars if you're trying to hide on the roof, if you're in the room, he just charges into them as he runs at you (Good AI, atleast), the pillars break and fall using physics, and once enough pillars break from an area, that part of the roof caves in.

But I think the world will be pretty interactive, HL2 has buildings that burst into flames and the fire spreads and stuff, taking out floors and such.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Environment interaction in Source (HL2/Bloodlines) is not scripted, at least not in the way most single player games are. You know how in most single player games, where you might come across a wall and the voiceover says, "That wall looks pretty weak", so you blow it up - or a cutscene ensues and the wall explodes on its own. It's like the flooding of the base in Mission 2 of the USA campaign in C&C Generals, or riding the train in Half Life - entirely scripted events.

Now, what makes the Source Engine different from these games is that it allows for a very wide degree of environment interactive freedom. In most older games, environment interaction was pretty much limited to only a few small parts in the game, with you only being able to knock over a couple of pillars or blow a hole in the wall (e.g. Day of Defeat and small explodable prefabricated sections of wall). Not so in Source, many parts of the building are more or less destroyable, and to a great degree, with a very wide open area around the building (at least that's how it is in HL2), so the levels don't feel like boxes. Picture this: you throw a molotov cocktail on a sofa, which catches fire, and because the sofa is designated with a 'material' (e.g. cloth) it allows the fire to spread, which spreads across the room like wildfire and sets the curtains alight. Soon, the whole house is in flames and weaker sections of the house, which are made of wood, start to crumble. Certain 'invincible' parts, such as concrete or metal, might not crumble, so if the house does in fact burn, many parts of it will still be left standing, with only burn marks.

Some parts of the house might be like keystones, or joints, such as pillars, so if those parts crumble, then the game's physics kicks in and roof collapses.

It's a pretty neat technology, and it isn't exactly new - CAD simulations have existed for a couple of years now, using the physics to determine the origins of a fire in a burnt down house, or to prevent such things from happening by determining hazard spots. It's nice to finally see this degree of advanced physics being implemented into games.

I'm sure as all of you who have played Silent Storm will recall that what I say is in fact completely plausible. While the physics might not be entirely precise down to the millimeter, they're certainly precise to the meter, which is good enough for total immersion, at the moment. So while firing a rocket at one section of the house might not necessarily damage the 'proper area' down to the precise location, hotspots are designated in line with the physics engine to determine quasi-accurate representations of ballistics and physics, just enough to get the gamer immersed. It'd simply take too much processing power to cover the entire wall with hotspots that are as precise as an inch, let alone a millimeter.

On the other hand, it certainly uses a lot less processing power to determine the physics of a smaller object independent of environment destruction - such as a grenade, or the ricochet from a bullet. As you know, Silent Storm had bullets ricochet to as precise as an inch, and the grenades in the HL2 demo certainly demonstrated a very high degree of accurate physical representation.

Ultimately, it all comes down to how well the developers utilize the engine and how much detail they decide to put into the environments. Technology and hardware aren't limitations anymore. The limitation is only constrained by the developer's imagination and his ability to visualize the game environment.

edit: I mean, really - if Nival could pull off semi-realistic building structures in Silent Storm, and Codemasters can in fact pull off even more realistic building structures in Soldiers: heroes of WW2 - which has structures built on virtual 'matchsticks', there's really no reason why Valve couldn't pull the same thing off with the Source Engine. As I said, technology isn't a limitation anymore.

 

[Shevek]

From what I saw at e3, a fair amount of attention was paid to physics (ragdoll effects, throwing stuff, being sent flying by a potent blow, etc) but I do not think they will be going the SS route as far as the exaggerated enviromental destruction or shooting people through concrete walls. Im not sure how scripted the golem encounter was but does it really matter? You go up the stairs, the golem starts taking down columns to get you down. Does it actually matter how or why this happens?

 

[Astromarine]

I know the engine allows for ragdoll buildings. That was not my point. My point was that the Gargoyle was scripted to break pillars, and that unless specifically told to do it in a small number of situations, NPCs won't know to use the environment as a tactic. At least, that's my suspicion.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd be cool if NPCs tossed shit around like someone would in real life, like shove barrels down at people below them, or grab something off the ground and toss it at someone to try and slow them (like if they were being chased).

 

[Voss]

Yep, because you just can't go more than 5' in LA without tripping over barrels, conveniently located to shove at people.

 

[Spazmo]

What about all the firebarrels the hobos gather around to keep warm? And hell, even if I can't toss those, I had sure as shit be able to toss the hobos into the barrels.

A flaming hobo is what I damn well expect to find inside a barrel on city streets, not some gold pieces.

That said, probably public trash cans would be easy to find?

 

[Voss]

It depends on the neighborhood.
In some, people steal them. In others, people are too rich to actually have trash.

There are, however, great hobos in LA.
3 in particular stick in my memory.
Bitter old woman who's only line was "I lost my job and stuff. Gimme money"
Middle aged guy in ratty suit that would do magic tricks at outdoor restaurants- the classy hobo.
And my personal favorite, crazy guy with festering sores, who claims he's the richest guy in LA because he has a bus pass.

 

[Sol Invictus]

There will in fact be interactive environments which Patrick described above, to a great degree. Troika has stated in interviews that stationary objects, liike trash cans and manhole covers can be used - and I'm assuming that if they can be used by you as weapons (e.g. throwing a chair at someone), the NPCs probably use them to some degree, as well.

Now, imagine a brute-like monster that's standing on top of some stairs and is throwing down lots of barrels at you. Donkey Kong!