Ok, now that I'm finished I must say, the True Patch left me rather disappointed. I expected two things: a mostly bug-free experience, and an otherwise unaltered version of the game. I got neither. To be fair, it's possible that I just got unlucky and that I could have encountered many of the same bugs with the Unofficial Patch also. I know the UP isn't exactly bug-free either, but I had never had this many issues in one playthrough. I already mentioned the "no hands" bug that wouldn't let me fight unarmed. Other issues include: Getting stuck in doors and being forced to load a save (the door wouldn't trigger the mapload). Graphical issues, holes in models, missing textures, ugly cubemaps (not a bug, but looks unfinished). Sound effects glitching out or not playing at all (ruined the Hotel). Missing NPC chatter. Music in Hollywood hub not playing properly. That
door from "The Tape" didn't open, the girl just clipped through. Physics objects
bouncing around at the start of a map. On some occasions the game displayed normal dialogue options instead of Malkavian. And typos, grammatical errors, several instances of your/you're... I don't know what the TP considers a bug. Most of this isn't game-breaking. But would it hurt to correct a typo?
I'm wondering because the TP doesn't shy away from adding new content either, like the new animations for Therese and Jeanette. After you talk to either of the sisters upstairs they will randomly walk around, take phone calls, work on their laptop, etc.
Why is this an exception? Don't get me wrong, I thought they were a nice addition. It's just something I would expect from the Plus Patch, not the
True Patch. According to the patch notes these animations were found in the model files after they were decompiled or something, they just weren't used in vanilla. Maybe they weren't intended to be used? The notes are vague on this, so who knows? I could imagine a number puristic arguments against this if this were the UP. The point is, I'm having a hard time believing that a complex and hidden set of animations not being triggered is considered a bug that needed to be "fixed", but obvious typos and grammatical errors in dialogue text aren't. What's the difference between this and other restored content in the UP+? And why isn't this in the UP+,
Wesp5?
Btw, what's up with Tessera? It's like every txt file has to contain a cheap jab at a certain patch which shall not be named. Visit Tessera's forum for technical support, and you'll find every other post of him flavored with childish insults aimed at Wesp. There is even one modded into the game. Wespoop? I don't know what exactly happened between the two or who stole what or who started it. All I know is that it is embarrassing, and it can be really confusing for new players who just want to play a vanilla version of the game with as few bugs as possible. As I see it, the True Patch and the Basic Unofficial Patch should have been one and the same. Why aren't they? This is just sad.
Overall, the UP delivers a smoother experience (including the setup), and if you wanted to play a truly unaltered version of the game you'd technically have to go with the official 1.2/Legacy version.
And Wesp, did you lower the music volume in the latest patch?