Review Bloodlines pleases ToTheGame

[Spazmo]

Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

<a href=http://www.tothegame.com>ToTheGame</a> have their own <a href=http://www.tothegame.com/review.asp?id=84>review</a> of Troika's latest up, which more or less echoes other reviews. Their final score for the game is <b>8/10</b>.<blockquote>Using the Source Engine ala Half Life 2, you’ll be able to notice some very stellar effects such as the look of water reflecting the world around it, the pale lighting of the moon on a character’s face, great lip-synching and probably most noticeable, the character’s face. Just as in Half Life 2 the movement and expressions of a character’s face are some of nicest created. Add in the eeriness of the eyes and you’ve got faces more than just your mother will love. Though not as high caliber as Half Life 2 these effects pay tribute to a great engine. Which is ever obvious when watching certain disciplines in action or seeing a zombie walk around on fire.</blockquote>I personally haven't played Half Life 2, but Bloodlines' facial animation really sets a new mark for immersion in dialog.
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[Whipporowill]

I'd say that Bloodlines puts it to a lot better use. I don't remember actually reacting to people's eye movement in Hl2 more than once - when Eli winks slyly at you when walking away. Most faces in Hl2 are also taken from a common pool - there's only like a handful of non-generic heads.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

The first time Damsel got pissed I was like "Holy fucking shit! Bitch, remind me NEVER to piss you off again!". She looked fucking evil and I loved it. They definitely put the facial animations to better use in Bloodlines and it definitely added to the immersion, that's for sure. I just wish they'd fix the bugs in the cinematics.

Looks to me like Bloodlines is scoring an overall average of 8/10 with reviewers. Definitely not too shabby. I'm looking forward to see what Adrenaline Vault has to say about it.

 

[Volourn]

"but Bloodlines' facial animation really sets a new mark for immersion in dialog."

Eh. The facial expressions are very good but stop with the hyperbole. Geez. 'New mark for immersion in dialogue'.


R00fles!

 

[Whipporowill]

I don't agree - that's the way I myself felt about several characters. That it wasn't just the voice acting that made up the acting.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

It's definitely a big step forward in NPC interaction, so I don't see it as hyperbole. Volourn just likes arguing for the sake of seeing himself get ragged on. Must be some deep seeded sexual thing. :shock:

 

[Volourn]

"Volourn just likes arguing for the sake of seeing himself get ragged on."

The interatcions with npcs are great but facial expressions is not the reason why. The dialogues are well written so the chaarcetrs are actually interesting. A silly smile does not make interatcion deeper.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

A silly smile does not make interatcion deeper.

It adds to the immersion factor, therefore making the interaction a better thing. I love interacting with the NPCs because of this and therefore it does make it deeper for me.

 

[Volourn]

"It adds to the immersion factor, therefore making the interaction a better thing. I love interacting with the NPCs because of this and therefore it does make it deeper for me."

Good for you. Not for me. The only thing close to this that adds to the immersion factor for me are B00bies jiggling which BL is #1 in!

GO JEANETTE!

 

[Spazmo]

The difference between having the dialog fully voiced and really acted by animated, detailed heads is analogous to the difference between seeing a dialog in a movie and reading the script. If the faces are properly rendered and animated, it really adds to the character.

 

[Old Scratch]

The difference between having the dialog fully voiced and really acted by animated, detailed heads is analogous to the difference between seeing a dialog in a movie and reading the script. If the faces are properly rendered and animated, it really adds to the character.

Agreed. Bloodlines is one of the first games where I actually gave a damn about a few of the characters, and the emphasis of their expressions really added to what they were saying.

*Maybe a Small Spoiler*

For example, Beckett: I was never sure if he could be trusted, even though he is one of the only ones not trying to screw you over in some way, and he never said anything sinister. It worked, because his motivations were hidden so well behind his cocky demeanor. Or LaCroix: he looked like a little bitch when he got pissed at my character, and it made me hate him even more.

 

[HanoverF]

Well Beckett did turn up in the wrong place at the wrong time on more then one occasion.

The only character I ended up hating almost as much as LaCroix was 'V.V.'

How blatantly manipulative, and there was nothing my intelligent, Perceptive, persuasive, dominating Venture could do about it. Oh how I wanted to drag the hunter, or Masq breaking vamp to the cluib so she could deal with it and risk her humanity. Or at the very least print up lots of copies of those crappy poems and spread them around her club, or maybe post them on a lame internet website

Anyone else spot the serious bug with jiggletech? Once in a while when they vampette would say something and move, one boobie would start jiggling, and keep jiggling, very... hypnotic. Reminded me of "Kingpin"


(the right people will get that )

 

[Jinxed]

The way LaCroix reacts at the end of the game when you side with the Camarilla is all too fine. Facial animation in Bloodlines = teh win

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Anyone else spot the serious bug with jiggletech? Once in a while when they vampette would say something and move, one boobie would start jiggling, and keep jiggling, very... hypnotic. Reminded me of "Kingpin"

It's funny you mention that. My first run through the game, I never even noticed it at all. But now that I'm on my second run through, I've noticed it a couple of times. Particularly with the fortune telling Rosa and Jeanette.

I never played Kingpin, so not sure what you meant there though. Sorry.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

What type of fortunes does Rosa tell anyway? I've never really wasted money on her before.

 

[Shinan]

For some reason all the eyes in my game are white eyeballs, which is creepy, yes but I doubt it is intentional. Is there any strange tweak I have forgotten to turn on/off?

 

[Shagnak]

Otaku: I never played Kingpin, so not sure what you meant there though. Sorry.

Ahhh...Kingpin. The first time I realised that not only was a decent FPS an excuse for a frag-fest, but also an excuse for wallowing in my hidden desires for debauchery. Killing gang hoes for the sheer joy of it. Having bee-atch followers (with silicon boobies and wielding lead pipes) who would smash mofos at my command. Oh those were the days.
YES baby YES.

Ooops.

 

[Shagnak]

I'd say that Bloodlines puts it to a lot better use. I don't remember actually reacting to people's eye movement in Hl2 more than once - when Eli winks slyly at you when walking away. Most faces in Hl2 are also taken from a common pool - there's only like a handful of non-generic heads.

What about Alyx in HL2? She's much more present in the proceedings than Eli, and considerably more visually interactive. I was very impressed with the visual cues she supplied with simple body language and facial expression. Not having played Bloodlines (yet - payday in 4 days), its a good sign of things to come. Feck it, Ive waited a long time for VISUAL immersive interaction of SOME sort. Now theyre getging at least a littel closer. Lets be positive, eh? (maybe Ive had too many beers. Oh well)

 

[Mendoza]

I thought the facial animations for Half Life 2 were better for a character like Alyx than any of the Bloodlines characters. But then, Valve could tweak it exactly for every moment in the game, where as Bloodlines had to make it more generic to deal with the much larger number of conversations. I thought they did a really good job though, and it definitely added a lot to the immersiveness of conversations.

 

[protobob]

The talking heads in bloodlines remind me of the talking heads in the fallouts, but now everyone you talk to is a talking head. I thouhgt it was put to very good use.

 

[HanoverF]

I was refering to Kingpin the movie

 

[Whipporowill]

What about Alyx in HL2?

Sorry. I found here personality utterly bland, and uninteresting. Of course, there was some nice animations - but nothing that was really spectacular in an acting sense.

 

[Old Scratch]

What type of fortunes does Rosa tell anyway? I've never really wasted money on her before.

She basically tells you everything you need to know, even hints at one of the endings. It's obscure enough to not make sense the first time through though, unless you wrote what she said down or something.