Review The first idiotic Bloodlines review

[Sol Invictus]

The review is crap. He didn't like the game, which is fine, but he didn't write a review, he wrote a story about how he didn't like the game, and that's the stupid part. Anyway, some quotes for your pleasure:

1. He didn't pay attention to the game or tried to understand it: "...by the Camarilla, a group that enforces the laws of the Masquerade" There are tons of NPCs who can tell you what the Camarilla is. I guess he didn't ask them.

Well, that is who they are. A group that enforces the laws of the Masquerade. How can you find fault with what he said here?

2. He's a stupid graphics whore: "Having played both this game and Half Life 2, I am pretty disappointed with V:TM" WTF? It's an RPG, idiot.

I just don't see why being an RPG permits developers to make an ugly game. RPGs should certainly be held up to the same standards that every other game is held up to when it comes to graphics and presentation. Your argument here reminds me a lot of how people are willing to call the graphics in World of Warcraft beautiful just because it is an MMORPG, despite the fact that it has graphics comparable to what Warcraft 3 would look like if its models were viewed up close.

3. He rates the game based on what it could have been, not what it is: "The graphics aren't bad, but they aren't as good as the engine can produce". Is they aren't bad, why 7? Because HL2 looks better?

Yes, if anything the graphics score would deserve less for having such ugly textures, poor framerate, retarded 'special' effects and wonky animations. I don't like how all the male characters sashay instead of walking normally. I mean, what the fuck? It should also be noted that they completely underused the Source engine and its physics. I wonder what happened to all that stupid hype about being able to hold up a manhole cover for use as a makeshift shield.

4. He's failed to understand the gameplay: "Since you get no experience from combat, it would have been nice if combat were refined in a way so that you could avoid it a majority of the time" You can avoid 80% (at least) of combat by sneaking or talking

Nope. Not really. How far are you into the game? By the time you arrive in Hollywood, there will not be many opportunities to avoid combat situations. It's bad enough that the whole main plot in Hollywood consists of combat against those headwalker things from the snuff film. Worse still that you have to trudge through 5 long, arduous fucking levels of that crap.

I agree with the rest of what you said here, but I'll address this part:

8. He's really stupid: "The difficulty is pretty standard at times, and ramps up, but I'm deducting a few points here. First off, there are times when the difficulty is off the scale due to the combat system, because when there are 5 enemies rushing at you, it can be very difficult to not get killed" Yeah, that totally sucks. 5 enemies are more difficult to kill than one. What were they thinking?

Actually, he's got a damn good point here. There are many, many points in the game where the fucking game simply inundates you in a mass of unstoppable enemies that make your screen shake and tilt whenever you're attacked, so there's no way to aim at them and kill them. If you created a dialogue-inclined character with little to no combat ability, you're fucked and are forced to either cheat your way through or restart the game entirely. It's not hard if you're a melee character with the celerity ability, which happens to be the single most powerful ability in the game, by far. But if you're a ranged character without the ability, you'll be wishing you went with a different character when it comes to fighting against the hordes because once you're attacked you're more or less forced to reload. There's just no way to fight them, especially with your screen jumping up and down like a damn Jack Russel terrier each time you get hit.

Simply put, the game could have done without situations like that. They are fucking heinous.

 

[Volourn]

"1. He didn't pay attention to the game or tried to understand it: "...by the Camarilla, a group that enforces the laws of the Masquerade" There are tons of NPCs who can tell you what the Camarilla is. I guess he didn't ask them.'

Huh? That's pretty much what theya re in the game. They uphold the laws of the Masquarade. Are you on crack? How can i take your review of his review seriously when you find fault him stating this fact.


"2. He's a stupid graphics whore: "Having played both this game and Half Life 2, I am pretty disappointed with V:TM" WTF? It's an RPG, idiot."

Irrelevant. The game uses the same engine as another game. I don't balme him for being dissapointed that the other graphics are on par with the other game. It has nothing to do with being a graphics whore.


"3. He rates the game based on what it could have been, not what it is: "The graphics aren't bad, but they aren't as good as the engine can produce". Is they aren't bad, why 7? Because HL2 looks better?'

OMG OMG He rated the graphics a 7. he must REALLY hate them. teh graphics must suck because theya re rated a 7. R00fles! 7 is not a bad score. Stop going by stupid other site's scoring systems. A 7 is a pretty good score at the site. Since when did "7" become worse than "not bad". R00fles!


"He's failed to understand the gameplay: "Since you get no experience from combat, it would have been nice if combat were refined in a way so that you could avoid it a majority of the time" You can avoid 80% (at least) of combat by sneaking or talking "

Not from what i've ehard you guys say about the later game. I would think you'd agree with him on this sicne you have whined about this problem yourself. Hypocrite. The combat isn't refined and you can't avoid a lot of it.


"Fighting with ranged weapons is even worse, because it controls exactly like an FPS, except that just because your aiming reticule is dead on target, if your stats are too low, you may miss" Isn't that how it's supposed to work? If your skill is low, you fail a lot? It's a fucking RPG. "

It's also a 'fucking' FPS. Blame Troika for this. They tried to be the best of both worlds. Combat wise; they failed in this endavour and have just confused the issue. period.


"He's unable to evaluate the game objectively: "People may argue that there is a ton of replayability in the game, but I don't have any desire to play it again, so I won't. But there is some amount of replayability I suppose." So, is there or what? And if there is, why the score is 5? "

He doesn't feel the game is replayable all that much. That's a fair assessment. 5 is an avergae score and a fair compromise for those who do think its worth a replay or two. In fact, i'd presume he gave that high of a score in this category because of the differing clans as he pointed out.

I'm kinda iffy on the replayability part. The mansion is a good example. There is only 1 reason to replay it and that's to make one silly decision at the end as the mansion is the same with very little choice. Talk about linearity 9from what i can tell, anyways).


"He's stupid: "Despite the different vampire clans, I'm pretty sure there is only one ending. I didn't really want to play again to make sure though" Pretty sure, huh? "

Consideirng it is obvious he hasn't played it more than once I'm not suprirsed he made this possibly erroneous claim. Why should he take your word for it? I have yet to finish the game and I have seen no evidence other than taking Troika's word for it that there's actaully multiple endings. R00fles!


"He's really stupid: "The difficulty is pretty standard at times, and ramps up, but I'm deducting a few points here. First off, there are times when the difficulty is off the scale due to the combat system, because when there are 5 enemies rushing at you, it can be very difficult to not get killed" Yeah, that totally sucks. 5 enemies are more difficult to kill than one. What were they thinking?"

Normally, that would be logic. The problem with Bl is that its even worse since after attacking your character is all twisted as the player has no control over that. The only time I had to fight more one enemy at one time was with the thieves at the beach and my character only got hit because after I attacked he was dancing all over and was no longer lined up properly. Good thing my defsne was up high so they barely hurt me and were easy anyways. But, i can forsee many problems combat wise for me later on with mass enemies.


"Need I continue?"

Sure. Continue to pour on the nonsense.


"Bloodlines review even though the scoring system is definitely bunk, in comparison to other websites."

The scoring system isn't bunk. They just don't give high scores to every game, movie, etc. that goes their way. If a game or movie gets 7+ be sure they probably enjoyed it. 5 is meh. Anything less and be sure they feel the reviewed is total crap. Much ahrsher than other sites; but very fair.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Heh. Well, that probably also explains the low score. It's hard to imagine some redneck wrestling fanboi really enjoying an RPG. Especially one about vampires.

No, I think Volourn is more or less enjoying Bloodlines so far.

Too funny! See? I don't know what that BraveNewFuckwad was talking about. You're funny as hell.

But, on topic, someone gave the game a bad review. Big deal. Let's move on with life. He did make some good points, but I feel he's probably got a thing against goths and the whole VTM scene because of them and that's why the low score.

::shrugs::

Who knows for sure but him. All in all, the game is getting decent scores across the boards as well as decent sales. That's all that really matters and I hope Activision doesn't screw the pooch on this one.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Well, if we don't see a patch by this weekend then it's safe to say that either Activision or Troika screwed the pooch on it. But how many times can we blame the publisher before Troika starts to take responsibility for their lack of support?

 

[Visceris]

I have always blamed the developer for bugs and lack of support, but thats just lil' unreasonable me.

 

[HanoverF]

Could have used Source better? Isn't that a bit like complaining how poorly a caveman cooked mammoth with fire?

 

[Visceris]

It sounds like the guy was complaing that his gazpacho soup was served cold and he wanted it hot.

 

[Jinxed]

I don't think the story was bad, just that the execution was lame.

And yes, combat can be avoided for the most part. I wrote before that you are forced to use combat in a total of what? 5 sidequests in the game? Of course, combat becomes the main focus of the game at the end of hollywood. Although China Town has it's share of combat, at least you can talk your way into seeing johnny. Also, I think Santa Monica, Downtown and Hollywood make up 2/3 of the game, and that's 66% The Society of Leopald is not a pure combat location like the Sabbat, it's neatly setup for sneak characters as well.

And before anyone says anything about what I wrote, I'm finishing this game for the 6th time, so I basically know most of what there is to know.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Well, if we don't see a patch by this weekend then it's safe to say that either Activision or Troika screwed the pooch on it. But how many times can we blame the publisher before Troika starts to take responsibility for their lack of support?

Actually, I wasn't just referring to patch support. That also lies in Troika's hands as well. I'm not really expecting a patch that soon. My hopes are for sometime next week at the latest. Anyways, what I meant was that I hope Activision doesn't drop the ball once a patch does get out there and that they'll continue to support Troika with the game and possible expansions down the road.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Troika was using an engine they did not build and did not have much experience with. I just hope they learned enough that future patches will bring this game up to the level it was intended to be at. I think they did well enough with the knowledge they did have, but will definitely expect better from them in the future.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

1. He didn't pay attention to the game or tried to understand it: "...by the Camarilla, a group that enforces the laws of the Masquerade" There are tons of NPCs who can tell you what the Camarilla is. I guess he didn't ask them.

Well, that is who they are. A group that enforces the laws of the Masquerade. How can you find fault with what he said here?

Because the Camarilla isn't the only group that upholds the Masquerade is my guess. The Anarchs do that as well, as seen in the Skelter quest dealing with Patti. Furthermore, the Camarilla, at least in this game, are more about politics and controling every aspect of vampirism right down to who can sire and who can't. If the Camarilla was just about upholding the Masquerade, I don't think there would be a problem with them from the Anarchs.

 

[Visceris]

Otaku, I think you are giving them too much credit. I will eb expecting worse and I am sure I will not be disappointed.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Mass reply

The review is crap. He didn't like the game, which is fine, but he didn't write a review, he wrote a story about how he didn't like the game, and that's the stupid part. Anyway, some quotes for your pleasure:

1. He didn't pay attention to the game or tried to understand it: "...by the Camarilla, a group that enforces the laws of the Masquerade" There are tons of NPCs who can tell you what the Camarilla is. I guess he didn't ask them.

Well, that is who they are. A group that enforces the laws of the Masquerade. How can you find fault with what he said here?

Huh? That's pretty much what theya re in the game. They uphold the laws of the Masquarade. Are you on crack? How can i take your review of his review seriously when you find fault him stating this fact.

He made it sound like Camarilla is some kind of Masquerade police which is incorrect. It's like saying that Islam fights America, or in games related terms, that BoS was wasteland police as shown in FOT. While some may say that I'm nitpicking here, when people disregard the setting, it's the first step toward misunderstanding a game. That's why many people think that Fallout is a game of "shoot the mutant in the head".

Camarilla IS the Masquerade as they've created it, not some group that enforces its law. As for the enforcement of the laws, do they come after you if you break the Masquerade? No. The hunters do. Etc. By the same logic you can say that the Anarchs is also a group that enforces the Masquerade, and then a player would wonder what the fuck the difference is between the two.

2. He's a stupid graphics whore: "Having played both this game and Half Life 2, I am pretty disappointed with V:TM" WTF? It's an RPG, idiot.

I just don't see why being an RPG permits developers to make an ugly game. RPGs should certainly be held up to the same standards that every other game is held up to when it comes to graphics and presentation. Your argument here reminds me a lot of how people are willing to call the graphics in World of Warcraft beautiful just because it is an MMORPG, despite the fact that it has graphics comparable to what Warcraft 3 would look like if its models were viewed up close.

Irrelevant. The game uses the same engine as another game. I don't balme him for being dissapointed that the other graphics are on par with the other game. It has nothing to do with being a graphics whore.

Are you calling BL an ugly game, Exitium? Anyway, RPGs shouldn't be held up to the same standards as games that specialize, like shooters or strategy games, because where developers of a game like HL2 can spend 100% of efforts and resources on graphics and presentation, developers of a good RPG must also take care of setting, story, dialogues, NPCs, items, skills, char system (granted, BL uses a licensed material, but I'm talking in general), and must track a lot of things throughout a game. Clearly, we can't compare BL to HL2 apple-to-apple style.
Volourn, the game does use the same engine, but Troika didn't have as much time as Valve had to create super graphics, and frankly, there is no need for that. You said in another thread that the graphics are awesome, and that's my point. They are. Reducing points just because the other game looks better is retarded.

3. He rates the game based on what it could have been, not what it is: "The graphics aren't bad, but they aren't as good as the engine can produce". Is they aren't bad, why 7? Because HL2 looks better?

Yes, if anything the graphics score would deserve less for having such ugly textures, poor framerate, retarded 'special' effects and wonky animations.

OMG OMG He rated the graphics a 7. he must REALLY hate them. teh graphics must suck because theya re rated a 7. R00fles! 7 is not a bad score. Stop going by stupid other site's scoring systems. A 7 is a pretty good score at the site. Since when did "7" become worse than "not bad". R00fles!

Well, I disagree with Exitium on graphics, but this stuff is highly subjective, so no argument could be built on that. My point was, however, that unlike you, the reviewer based his opinion on the fact that the graphics could have been better, not on what they actually are.
Volourn, it's an old argument, but the whole 10 point rating system is useless because it actually starts at 5. 5 means "sucks horribly" instead of "average". 7 means "poor", and 8 means "good". Although that's wrong, that's a fact. For some reason reviewers can't handle the complexity of a 10-point system and prefer to deal with 5 points. Deal with it.

4. He's failed to understand the gameplay: "Since you get no experience from combat, it would have been nice if combat were refined in a way so that you could avoid it a majority of the time" You can avoid 80% (at least) of combat by sneaking or talking

Nope. Not really. How far are you into the game? By the time you arrive in Hollywood, there will not be many opportunities to avoid combat situations. It's bad enough that the whole main plot in Hollywood consists of combat against those headwalker things from the snuff film. Worse still that you have to trudge through 5 long, arduous fucking levels of that crap.

Not from what i've ehard you guys say about the later game. I would think you'd agree with him on this sicne you have whined about this problem yourself. Hypocrite. The combat isn't refined and you can't avoid a lot of it.

I've finished the game twice. Malkavian and Ventrue. Tried Brujah in the first 2 hubs, but prefer ranged talkers. Malk used Obfuscate, Ventrue used sneaking and running really, really fast with Fortitude on. There is also Celerity (for other characters, obviously). One must know how to play a game.

Fighting with ranged weapons is even worse, because it controls exactly like an FPS, except that just because your aiming reticule is dead on target, if your stats are too low, you may miss" Isn't that how it's supposed to work? If your skill is low, you fail a lot? It's a fucking RPG

It's also a 'fucking' FPS. Blame Troika for this. They tried to be the best of both worlds. Combat wise; they failed in this endavour and have just confused the issue.

Yes, the FPS part sucks, that's what I said in my review. The point is, however, that your retarded boyfriend complains that you MAY miss if your skill is low. How fucking stupid is that?

He's unable to evaluate the game objectively: "People may argue that there is a ton of replayability in the game, but I don't have any desire to play it again, so I won't. But there is some amount of replayability I suppose." So, is there or what? And if there is, why the score is 5

He doesn't feel the game is replayable all that much. That's a fair assessment. 5 is an avergae score and a fair compromise for those who do think its worth a replay or two. In fact, i'd presume he gave that high of a score in this category because of the differing clans as he pointed out.

The game is very replayable. You have different clans, dialogues, quests solution and outcomes, etc; so he lied.

I'm kinda iffy on the replayability part. The mansion is a good example. There is only 1 reason to replay it and that's to make one silly decision at the end as the mansion is the same with very little choice

But you are not replaying a mansion game, you are replaying the entire game, and while the mansion loses its charm after the first run, you can do it quickly because you know what to do and where to go.

Consideirng it is obvious he hasn't played it more than once I'm not suprirsed he made this possibly erroneous claim (one ending). Why should he take your word for it? I have yet to finish the game and I have seen no evidence other than taking Troika's word for it that there's actaully multiple endings. R00fles!

That's why you either finish the game before you write a review (like I did) or don't mention a negative fact if you aren't sure about it. Simple as that. So, why are you defending him? Is he going to marry you? Where do I send the flowers?

8. He's really stupid: "The difficulty is pretty standard at times, and ramps up, but I'm deducting a few points here. First off, there are times when the difficulty is off the scale due to the combat system, because when there are 5 enemies rushing at you, it can be very difficult to not get killed" Yeah, that totally sucks. 5 enemies are more difficult to kill than one. What were they thinking?

Actually, he's got a damn good point here. There are many, many points in the game where the fucking game simply inundates you in a mass of unstoppable enemies that make your screen shake and tilt whenever you're attacked, so there's no way to aim at them and kill them. If you created a dialogue-inclined character with little to no combat ability, you're fucked and are forced to either cheat your way through or restart the game entirely.

You have to know the game and understand strength and weaknesses of your characters. It's like complaining that your DnD mage is having a hard time being a tank.

But if you're a ranged character without the ability, you'll be wishing you went with a different character when it comes to fighting against the hordes because once you're attacked you're more or less forced to reload. There's just no way to fight them, especially with your screen jumping up and down like a damn Jack Russel terrier each time you get hit.

I don't really know what you are talking about here. I played two ranged characters, and I kept my distance, casted insta-death spells, and shot the bastards with extreme prejudice.

The problem with Bl is that its even worse since after attacking your character is all twisted as the player has no control over that. The only time I had to fight more one enemy at one time was with the thieves at the beach and my character only got hit because after I attacked he was dancing all over and was no longer lined up properly. Good thing my defsne was up high so they barely hurt me and were easy anyways. But, i can forsee many problems combat wise for me later on with mass enemies.

I see your point. I also prefer when characters I have to kill just stand there and patiently await their untimely death while I'm aiming for half-n-hour. Anyway, if you are an up-close-and-personal killing machine, you aint gonna have any problems. If you are a "ranger", keep your distance. I did the fat guy mission, the plague quest, and killed the guy where you enter the sewers without any problems ONCE I figured out how to play a ranged guy properly. If someone wants just to stand there and shoot at people who are too busy trying to crack his skull open with crowbars, then yeah, the game sucks

 

[Mendoza]

Saying there's only one ending is pretty damn stupid anyway if you've completed the game, since there's a blatant choose your ending crossroads point which is about as subtle as the KotOR one.

 

[Vault Dweller]

It's obvious that the retarded individual in question didn't finish the game, and judging by some of his comments, didn't play very long.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I've finished the game twice. Malkavian and Ventrue. Tried Brujah in the first 2 hubs, but prefer ranged talkers. Malk used Obfuscate, Ventrue used sneaking and running really, really fast with Fortitude on. There is also Celerity (for other characters, obviously). One must know how to play a game.

That reminds me of all the shit people used to spew about World of Warcraft's classes. "You're a warrior, you must tank. You're not a damage dealer. Stop whining and tank. Use your shield."
Frankly I got rather tired of that gay shit. Characters with Celerity can come out without a scratch throughout the ENTIRE game while characters without it have to resort to 'playing intelligently' or some nonsense. It's plain and simple that the game is imbalanced and characters without celerity should very well hang up their towels unless they intend to trudge through the game at a snail's pace and have a whole lot of patience when dealing with the timed Tomb Raider 'puzzles'.

You have to know the game and understand strength and weaknesses of your characters. It's like complaining that your DnD mage is having a hard time being a tank.

Bullcrap. When you're horded by 5+ headwalkers you might as well just reload. Unless you have celerity, that is. They do deal aggrivated damage, you know. Fortitude doesn't do shit against that.

 

[Old Scratch]

That's basically the point of fortitude; to help withstand aggravated damage...

 

[Volourn]

"He made it sound like Camarilla is some kind of Masquerade police which is incorrect. It's like saying that Islam fights America, or in games related terms, that BoS was wasteland police as shown in FOT. While some may say that I'm nitpicking here, when people disregard the setting, it's the first step toward misunderstanding a game. That's why many people think that Fallout is a game of "shoot the mutant in the head"."

Eh. Still, they do have enforce the "Masquarade law". It's really irrelevant wheter or not its' their law. Afterall, more than one mission in the game is you tracking down some dinky vamp ou ghoul who has broken the Msquarde and must be punished. They are for all purposes the "Masquarade Police". Are they more than simply that? Sure. As evidenced by the Anarchs; it's not as simple as that; but still at the core that's what they do.


"Volourn, the game does use the same engine, but Troika didn't have as much time as Valve had to create super graphics, and frankly, there is no need for that. You said in another thread that the graphics are awesome, and that's my point. They are. Reducing points just because the other game looks better is retarded."

It's retarded not to. If he rated HL2 graphics 9 and they are better than BL's graphics it would be compeltely illogical to also rate them 9 wouldn't it? How could one game's graphics be worse than another's and still get the same score? That's stupid and it happens way too much in reviews. Just because I personally like BL's graphics doesn't mean others will. And, sorry, BL being half a RPG and not a full FPS is just a dumbe xuse done by jealous RPGers to defend crappy graphics (not saying that Bl has bad graphics; but still). Don't be silly.


"Volourn, it's an old argument, but the whole 10 point rating system is useless because it actually starts at 5. 5 means "sucks horribly" instead of "average". 7 means "poor", and 8 means "good". Although that's wrong, that's a fact. For some reason reviewers can't handle the complexity of a 10-point system and prefer to deal with 5 points. Deal with it."

Don't blame this reviewer because it's become the norm to rate 'bad" games like POR2 a 5-6 and better games even higher even if they happen to be 'average". there's nothingw rong inherently with his scroing system other than your perception of how a review score should be. That is silly.


"One must know how to play a game."

Beh. It has nothing to do with "knowing how to play the game. Example: warehouse. I landed up having to kill the gaurds because you could not tlak to them and I didn't have sneak skill worth beans. It seems hilarious that the *only* way to do this quest non violently is to be a sneak and even then you still have two vamps to deal with one of them of which i believe you have to kill no matter what. And, yeah, running away with celerity is so cool. Yup. Play a cowardly vampire if you want but meh the Prince shoulda killed your character right awya if youw ere gonna role-play a coward like that. Kinda reminds me of FO where the best way to play a "pacifist" type character is to cosntantly run away fom random encounters. R00fles!


"The point is, however, that your retarded boyfriend complains that you MAY miss if your skill is low. How fucking stupid is that? "

It's because you have a double whammy. not only is character skill important so is player skill. This is why I tend to avoid firearms. With all the moving around and the jerky controls I'm liable to miss the target completely (espicially since enemies do move once and awhile they're smart in that way). On top of that even if you aim correctly then your character may miss anyways even if the bullet hits them in the head (according to grahics) in spite the fact that the enemy wans't moving at all when they were hit. Sill Troika trying to sucker in both groups. R00fles!

"The game is very replayable. You have different clans, dialogues, quests solution and outcomes, etc; so he lied."

In the long run, other than the clans I doubt it'll make the game any more fun. You still have to do the mansion exactly the same way til the very end. the same goes for most other quests. *yawn*I can see playing it a 2nd time and that's it before I'm completely bored of the Mansion Mania.


"That's why you either finish the game before you write a review (like I did) or don't mention a negative fact if you aren't sure about it"

true. this is probbaly one of his few mistakes in the review. I never claimed it was the Perfect review tm. (that's mine, afterall).

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Bullcrap. When you're horded by 5+ headwalkers you might as well just reload. Unless you have celerity, that is. They do deal aggrivated damage, you know. Fortitude doesn't do shit against that.

I have no clue what you mean here. 5+ Headwalkers are not a problem for my Malkav whos disciplines really have no effect on them. By the time I got to those little shits, I had the sledgehammer and a melee of 3. Sure, I took some damage, but nothing to the point of having to reload. A talking character might be fucked though, so in that aspect you're right on the money. And, yes, fortitude does protect against aggrivated damage.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Still, they do have enforce the "Masquarade law".

You can break the Masquerade laws in the game. Do they care? No.

Afterall, more than one mission in the game is you tracking down some dinky vamp ou ghoul who has broken the Msquarde and must be punished. They are for all purposes the "Masquarade Police".

Two missions. The plague thing which comes both from the Tremere and the Anarchs, and that stupid ghoul girl which is the Anarch quest. So, if anything the Anarchs are the Masquerade police, for all intents and purposes.

Are they more than simply that? Sure. As evidenced by the Anarchs; it's not as simple as that; but still at the core that's what they do.

The power games are the core, not the rules.

It's retarded not to. If he rated HL2 graphics 9 and they are better than BL's graphics it would be compeltely illogical to also rate them 9 wouldn't it? How could one game's graphics be worse than another's and still get the same score?

Ok, I see. So, if he were to rate a game like BG for example, he would have to give it like 1 or 2 because HL2 looks more realistic, right?

And, sorry, BL being half a RPG and not a full FPS is just a dumbe xuse done by jealous RPGers to defend crappy graphics (not saying that Bl has bad graphics; but still). Don't be silly.

Can't help it. Why it's a dumb excuse though? Isn't a jack of all trades a master of none? When you split your resources (time, money, people) you have only a fraction of what could have been spent on any given area. HL2 does one thing, BL does many. That's why the RPG genre is the most difficult one because in comparison you have to invest much much more and it's much harder to excel at several areas at once.

Don't blame this reviewer because it's become the norm to rate 'bad" games like POR2 a 5-6 and better games even higher even if they happen to be 'average". there's nothingw rong inherently with his scroing system other than your perception of how a review score should be. That is silly.

There is something wrong with the system if nobody uses it as intended, and we are all accustomed to read it properly, i.e. 5-6=bad, very bad.

It has nothing to do with "knowing how to play the game. Example: warehouse. I landed up having to kill the gaurds because you could not tlak to them and I didn't have sneak skill worth beans. It seems hilarious that the *only* way to do this quest non violently is to be a sneak

Yeah, there should have been an option of saying "excuse me, I need to blow up this establishment. since you look like you know the place, where do you think is the best spot to plant this bomb?" Yes, you do have to kill 2 vamps on your way out, but I've never claimed that you can avoid all combat, I said 80 or 90%. As for killing the vamps, I killed them with a knife (no points in melee, 1 point in Str) and Blood Buff the overkill spell.

And, yeah, running away with celerity is so cool. Yup. Play a cowardly vampire if you want but meh the Prince shoulda killed your character right awya if youw ere gonna role-play a coward like that. Kinda reminds me of FO where the best way to play a "pacifist" type character is to cosntantly run away fom random encounters. R00fles!

Ever heard about role-playing? Anyway, nothing wrong with avoiding some hostile encounters, and it's only one option. Sneaking and Obfuscate work great too. The point was that you can't avoid combat which was proven to be false. Next.

not only is character skill important so is player skill. This is why I tend to avoid firearms. With all the moving around and the jerky controls I'm liable to miss the target completely (espicially since enemies do move once and awhile they're smart in that way). On top of that even if you aim correctly then your character may miss anyways even if the bullet hits them in the head (according to grahics) in spite the fact that the enemy wans't moving at all when they were hit. Sill Troika trying to sucker in both groups. R00fles!

Huh? So, you miss sometimes, so what? Do you hit all the time in Fallout or BG? In BG it seems like you are hitting something, but u r not! OMG! They suckered me into buying this crappy game! Anyway, after I had 5 points in ranged, I had no problems shooting at things and hitting 7/10. That's when I took out the plague guy with a shotgun. When I had 7, I did the graveyard shoot 'em up quest with that gun with 18-bullet mag. I was able to hit heads with 8/10 accuracy. It's always hard to shoot someone when they are in your face, like with the jumping flesh thingies (you have to shoot them from a distance, or before they have a chance to jump) or with melee attackers (hunters or the fat guy quest - you have to run backwards and line yourself up for a shot)

In the long run, other than the clans I doubt it'll make the game any more fun.

Different outcomes and solution do add a lot of flavour. Malkavian dialogue is totaly different, and the insight into things your get is cool. Tremere can join the Chantry, I heard.

You still have to do the mansion exactly the same way til the very end. the same goes for most other quests.

I liked the ship quest. One character sneaked which was easy. Another didn't have any points, so I jumped from the second deck to the rows of containers, and used them for cover while the bastards were shooting at me. I heard that you can hack in, and use the camera to take a look. Pretty cool.

 

[Vault Dweller]

A talking character might be fucked though...

No, he/she isn't. Just let Colt Anaconda do the talking :wink:

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

No, he/she isn't. Just let Colt Anaconda do the talking :wink:

Ah yes.

"Go ahead, headwalker punk... make my day."

Gotta love the Anaconda.

 

[dojoteef]

Just to let you know, you don't actually have to fight the two Vampires in the warehouse depending on how you did it (stealth). Also, when I first played the game as a Malkavian, I would use Vision of Death to pick guys off, and then use Hysteria and walk up to them to suck them dry, so I could refill my blood pool.

I do admit if the only thing you put your skills into are social skills, it will be very hard to play the game. I just wish they had either balanced that or mentioned that fact in a clear way. They could have put in an extra line in the tutorial with Jack where he might say something to the effect that combat might be the only option sometimes so you make sure you learn to fight to some degree.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I've finished the game twice. Malkavian and Ventrue. Tried Brujah in the first 2 hubs, but prefer ranged talkers. Malk used Obfuscate, Ventrue used sneaking and running really, really fast with Fortitude on. There is also Celerity (for other characters, obviously). One must know how to play a game.

That reminds me of all the shit people used to spew about World of Warcraft's classes. "You're a warrior, you must tank. You're not a damage dealer. Stop whining and tank. Use your shield."

I have little interest in WoW, so I have no idea how badly things suck there (other then from your accounts), so I can't comment on that. Overall though, take DnD for example, a fighter is fighter, very straightforward. A cleric is a figter with buffs. If you don't use buffs, and use your cleric as a straight fighter, you are at disadvantage. Same applies to any other class. The point was that you can't avoid combat. The fact is, you can, you just need to know how if that's what you want.

Frankly I got rather tired of that gay shit. Characters with Celerity can come out without a scratch throughout the ENTIRE game while characters without it have to resort to 'playing intelligently' or some nonsense. It's plain and simple that the game is imbalanced and characters without celerity should very well hang up their towels unless they intend to trudge through the game at a snail's pace and have a whole lot of patience when dealing with the timed Tomb Raider 'puzzles'.

While the clans are unbalanced, don't they come with the setting? Also, I can't see how Celerity is teh win. Sure, it makes a lot of things easier, but so do Obfuscate, Potence, Dominate, etc. Some people say that Tremeres are deadly, but I can't verify that yet. I killed a lot of things with Vision of Death/Suicide and Mass Suicide. They kill humans/zombies easily and damage vamps nicely. So, what seems to be the problem and why do you think that characters without Celerity are screwed?

Bullcrap. When you're horded by 5+ headwalkers you might as well just reload. Unless you have celerity, that is. They do deal aggrivated damage, you know. Fortitude doesn't do shit against that.

As been noted, you are mistaken about Fortitude, and as for 5+ headwalkers, I've never had any problems killing them in a fast and efficient manner. Colt owns.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Gotta love the Anaconda.

You should try the alternative mode (TAB) , if you didn't already. Awesome.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Bullcrap. When you're horded by 5+ headwalkers you might as well just reload. Unless you have celerity, that is. They do deal aggrivated damage, you know. Fortitude doesn't do shit against that.

I have no clue what you mean here. 5+ Headwalkers are not a problem for my Malkav whos disciplines really have no effect on them. By the time I got to those little shits, I had the sledgehammer and a melee of 3. Sure, I took some damage, but nothing to the point of having to reload. A talking character might be fucked though, so in that aspect you're right on the money. And, yes, fortitude does protect against aggrivated damage.

Since when were sledgehammers ranged weapons?