Game News Bloodlines in 2005

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Wasn't Quake 2 missing the MP component on its release? I seem to remember something like that.

I'm not too sure on this. When I got around to getting the game, it had the MP. Couldn't tell you. And, yes, HL's MP was good, Spazmo. I was merely pointing out to the guy that HL was not the god game he was touting it to be. It's like he sacrifices goats to the damn thing.

 

[Spazmo]

Yeah, Otaku, but it's a funny thing I've noticed: sometimes, one person will exaggerate the virtues of a game or other product that most people liked but not that much. So they'll tell him "okay, it wasn't teh best thing evar, man" but eventually, there's a kind of over-backlash and people who originally liked the thing fairly well act like it was complete crap.

 

[Voss]

You noticed that here?
My, how shocking.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Actually, i did a quick search and should point out that i was wrong in my memory: they weren't exactly missing the MP component, but rather, there was apparently a lack of Deathmatch maps, and the network code was quite buggy and akin to a beta version (not forgetting one major bug in the AI, discovered by Ridah, the modder that worked on the X-Men: Apocalypse and QuakeRally mods).

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Wasn't Quake 2 missing the MP component on its release? I seem to remember something like that.

No, it was just buggy as shit. When it came out, you could hop on a server, open your console, and type REMOVE ARMOR and it'd crash the server. The slient prediction was awful as well, and resulted in a rubberbanding effect when you fell off something, jumped, or rode a lift.

They did promise CTF with Quake2, but that didn't ship with it.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Yeah, that's correct; notice my own correction :wink:

 

[Psilon]

They were also missing the co-op mode. That also came with a later patch.

That said, Deathmatch in BASE1 was quite enjoyable.

 

[HanoverF]

As for Half Life in general, hey, now it's a great game. It was just really cool. The only bad thing about it is how all the scripted sequences inspired later FPSs to be loaded with canned events--think MOHAA.

The ending levels sucked barney balls as well...

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I didn't like the ending levels in HL myself, but I still enjoyed the game thoroughly. I still don't understand how it revolutionized the industry other than adding a really good story that would probably suck balls if ever done in a movie.

 

[Nightjed]

i didnt hate halflife but i didnt like it either, i got bored after a few levels (maybe because i was forced to repeat a few scenes because of my box's 3d related crashes and its not a really good game to replay heavily scripped scenes again and again)

i think nolf and nolf2 are the best story driven fps so far anyway.
jedi knight 1 was good too, and ss2, i havent played it other than the demo but i heard thief is great too, i dont know why they give half life so much credit, as for the "successful" multiplayer it could have happened with any game, the credit should go to the fans that made the mods not the company/original game.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I fell asleep while playing HL. Literally. I only managed to finish it up somewhere in last year.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Yeah, Otaku, but it's a funny thing I've noticed: sometimes, one person will exaggerate the virtues of a game or other product that most people liked but not that much. So they'll tell him "okay, it wasn't teh best thing evar, man" but eventually, there's a kind of over-backlash and people who originally liked the thing fairly well act like it was complete crap.

Well, the thing is, I am not saying HL was crap. What I am saying is that it was never a game to get your goose in a gander over whenever someone did say it was crap. Hell, I didn't really care for it that much until the They Hunger series of mods came out for it. Two Smoking Barrels was another of my favorite mods. And, to be honest, I never really played the MP aspect of it that much. I'm not a deathmatch kind of guy. I prefer my MP akin to the likes of Tribes and Tribes 2 with teamwork. And, yes, the final levels of the game were definitely crap and felt rushed.

 

[Whipporowill]

Straight from the horses mouth at the ign Bloodlines board:

Thank you for your continued interest and support for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Regarding recent inquiries about the game's ship date, rest assured that Activision is planning to release the game this fall, 2004. Stay tuned for more updates coming in the next few weeks.

-Shane
-----signature-----

Shane DeFreest
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Activision Communities Liaison
sdefreest(at)activision.com

http://vnboards.ign.com/Bloodlines_Inn/ ... 3751224/?0[/quote]

 

[fnordcircle]

On a side note, I had previously arranged to marry my longtime girlfriend this year, but due to the theft of the half-life source code, the marriage date has slipped.

 

[Sharpei_Diem]

About HL, I loved the game (despite the weakness of the final few chapters).

For me, it was one of the first games (and remarkably still one of the very few) to interject the person so well into the game. It played more like a movie than a game, and every element in the game worked well towards that end: Health wasn't nebulous floating bits and guns did not just spawn out of air. It took an inspired location and poured detail into it. The sound alone, particularly the environmental sounds, was excellent.

This is not to say other games didn't have components of this, but few put it all together in a full package. I look at other games I enjoy, and I wouldn't bother showing 99% of them to a non-gamer because they're so streamlined to tailor to 'the gamer' that they don't appeal to anyone else. Whereas with Hl, I have sat people who hate the concept of playing computer games in front of my computer, gave them headphones and started the game, watching them be pulled in by the elaborate start (that admittedly gets very dull after a few runs through .

All this wonderful stuff aside, it was a memory, and little more than that. I hope HL2 evokes the same experience, though i doubt it will. How's that vegas saying go? "the dice have no memory", well most developers are like that: "past performance is no guarantee of future success". Just ask Sid....eventually everyone runs out of ideas..

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

On a side note, I had previously arranged to marry my longtime girlfriend this year, but due to the theft of the half-life source code, the marriage date has slipped.

Hah.

I fell asleep while playing HL. Literally. I only managed to finish it up somewhere in last year.

I hated the jump puzzles as well as the floors that would fall away without warning. Things like that tend to annoy me. I can't say I really enjoyed Half-Life, so it's questionable that I'd line up for the sequel.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

System Shock 2 was way more immersive than HL. The sound was top-notch. I loved the fact that I had to loot bodies to find ammo or weapons. Much better game, IMO. I wish they would make a third.

 

[mr. lamat]

i've never played anything other than DOD using the half-life engine.

that being said i am really looking forward to a crpg where evil is the virtue. i think the genre could definately use a shot in the arm interms of storytelling and this might do it. might not either... just please, leon, none of that 'oh... my pain... my lament' anne rice shit. i want to unleash cans of evil whoop-ass on a civilian population and have my pc just revel in it.

 

[Spazmo]

i want to unleash cans of evil whoop-ass on a civilian population and have my pc just revel in it.

Yeah! Let's murder some fucking hobo!

 

[mr. lamat]

i was hoping for a bus load of preschoolers myself... :shock:

oh my... TEH EEEEVOL!!!!!

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Speaking of which is there any FPS where you have to be something like a serial killer? I'm not thinking of Postal 2, or anything; i'm thinking of a game where the actual purpose is to be a John Doe from Se7en on a bad hair day. Y'know, go to libraries, take some pictures, make an example out of a hobo, or show the disease-spreading whores whats it like dying out of extreme evisceration, all the while escaping the police and coming up with totally demented ways to kill people. Cool things like that, y'know?

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

So far the only thing that comes close to this kind of thing is Manhunt by Rockstar. Not until GTA3 have people really been exploring the evil side of a PC. There may have been some obscure adventure games somewhere that did this, but I have no clue if they exist.

 

[Psilon]

Until GTA3? GTA2 had you turning busloads of people into hot dogs for the Russian Mafia. GTA1 wasn't quite as exaggerated, but you still couldn't beat levels until you performed hundreds of thousands of points' worth of illegal acts.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

I never thought GTA was that evil. I mean, yeah, it's considered "bad" or "evil" to run over twenty people, and its probably worse to giggle at every *crunch* or *squish* you hear, but i was actually looking forward to a more refined evil like pricking someone with sharp objects until they start begging for mercy; or handcuff them to an unmovable, strong object like a pillar, and giving them a saw while i torched the place, instead of just busting a cap on someone's head. I don't know, something inside me is just aching for a game like that.

 

[mr. lamat]

that's the difference between childish tantrums and grown-up sadism.

there was an x-box game where you stalked and killed people as a vampire, but they were nazis so it wasn't as fun. there was also an ancient adventure game based on cyberpunk 2020 called... eh... 'Hell' maybe? i can't really remember. the pc was infected with a vampire like virus, but he was all lamenty and shit, so it sucked.