Your opinion on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

[Wyrmlord]

Just asking what you all think of the seven year old game that virtually all of us have played.

I was just listening to the soundtrack and I felt like asking the question.

 

[Fat Dragon]

Alright and fun game. Nothing I'd ever call great, but I still replay it every once in a while, something I can't say for a lot of games.

Also, its soundtrack sucked balls.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I never played it.

 

[Bruticis]

Can I vote it started good and ended bad? I really loved Santa Monica and Downtown (Hollywood wasn't bad) but it went to shit with the asinine combat and never ending sewer levels, etc... First play through skill selections were fun, had a hard time picking out what to raise since they all sounded interesting. As you learn the game though, most of the choices are crap. I do like the soundtrack though, call me an emo-techno moron but I love the Isolated track. I used to stand in the Asylum just to listen to the track. Overall I found the game a B. It's my least favorite Troika game.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Alright and fun game. Nothing I'd ever call great, but I still replay it every once in a while, something I can't say for a lot of games.

Also, its soundtrack sucked balls.

It was an uneven soundtrack, including some cliched tracks like the one that plays outside of Ocean's House or Grout's Mansion. The Santa Monica track was the most boring one, and only matches a very boring part of the game (I suggested to my cousin and my brother to play it, but they stopped after finishing Santa Monica)

But the Mission Impossible soundtrack that plays at the end level really brings the feeling of you bringing an end to unfinished business.

 

[Wyrmlord]

I never played it.

It's too late to play it now. The game hasn't aged well, given that one can easily point to FPS hybrids made after 2004 that were much much better. Longer RPGs such as all the three NWN2 campaigns give you better value for money as well.

It is today what Human Revolution is going to be in 7 years, and it was in 2004 what Human Revolution is today: a flawed but surprisingly entertaining game that is most enjoyed during the time of its release.

It doesn't fit with modern systems either. All the darkness has turned to blue-ish brightness. Movement speed has tripled.

 

[DwarvenFood]

What is the connection between Lacuna Coil (I was a fan before playing the game) and Bloodlines ?

Also, poll lacking options. I vote Georgia.

 

[Fat Dragon]

It was an uneven soundtrack, including some cliched tracks like the one that plays outside of Ocean's House or Grout's Mansion. The Santa Monica track was the most boring one, and only matches a very boring part of the game (I suggested to my cousin and my brother to play it, but they stopped after finishing Santa Monica)

But the Mission Impossible soundtrack that plays at the end level really brings the feeling of you bringing an end to unfinished business.

Most of the original tracks I found to be irritating half-assed attempts at dark electronic/ambient music. There were a few good ones, like Hollywood theme and the one that plays inside the Giovanni mansion, but for the most part I found it lacking.

As for the licensed songs that would play in bars and such, Ministry was the only good one I remember. I thought it was awesome to hear a Ministry song playing inside a church that had been turned into a night club.

 

[Jaesun]

It's better than Skyrim (cRPG mechanics wise).

 

[Surf Solar]

Alright and fun game. Nothing I'd ever call great, but I still replay it every once in a while, something I can't say for a lot of games.

Also, its soundtrack sucked balls.

It was an uneven soundtrack, including some cliched tracks like the one that plays outside of Ocean's House or Grout's Mansion. The Santa Monica track was the most boring one, and only matches a very boring part of the game (I suggested to my cousin and my brother to play it, but they stopped after finishing Santa Monica)

But the Mission Impossible soundtrack that plays at the end level really brings the feeling of you bringing an end to unfinished business.

It's too late to play it now. The game hasn't aged well

What the fuck Wyrmie.

 

[Black Cat]

+ Good atmosphere.

- Awful combat.

- Awful stealth.

+ Some really cool characters.

+ Good dialogue and writing.

- Awful work with the lore.

+ Caine!

- No Kiasyd, no Ravnos, no Kolduns.

+ Nagaraja.

- Nagaraja.

- Worst hunters EVER.

- Awful adaptation of Vampiric Disciplines.

+ Good club music.

- No facegen, and most clans are UGLY. Really UGLY.

- Awful clothes.

+ Nice use of Jerk Prince's disciplines to push the story along.

- Why does it stop working at the end?

- Giovanni Mannor.

- The Sewers.

- No homunculi for Tremere.

- Really half assed reaction to your Clan choice, when there's one at all.

- Overacted random Malkavian? Really? Did those guys even read the sourcebooks?

+ While pure lore rape, the malkavian was kind of fun. Though, oh god, her Clothes. :/

+ Fat Larry was cute, which is kind of surprising given I usually hate everything even slightly overweight. Kudos to whomever wrote him.

- Epic bloodhunt on the streets. Yes, Troika did not read the sourcebooks. Nor the Wiki.

- Epic final boss.

+ Strauss!

- Worst thaumaturgy EVER.

- After all that, the game did not end with "BOOM! Three Void Engineer's battlecruisers just spend six hours bombarding the city from orbit, then agents from The Syndicate said middle eastern terrorists just detonated a nuclear bomb on it. The end."



Alright, the last one was trolling.

In any case: Moody and cool, atmospheric, awesome writing, cool characters, superficial and half assed setting interpretation, terribad gameplay. Unplayable without face and clothing mods.

 

[Johnny the Mule]

Shit game
Shit rpg
Shit graphics
Shit combat
Shit running around from A to B

Shitty adventure game but thats a double positive, adventure games are crap by default.

 

[20 Eyes]

Troika's crowning achievement.

This. The game certainly had flaws, but I don't think I've enjoyed many games more than I enjoyed Bloodlines.

What is the connection between Lacuna Coil (I was a fan before playing the game) and Bloodlines ?

There are posters of the band in the game, and I believe they had a song on the soundtrack.

The game hasn't aged well, given that one can easily point to FPS hybrids made after 2004 that were much much better.

What would you consider better?

Longer RPGs such as all the three NWN2 campaigns give you better value for money as well.

With piracy and Steam sales and all that, these days time is more of an issue than money (at least that is how it seems to me). Bloodlines is at least 20 hours long, 15 of those hours are excellent. NWN2 will take you ages to play through the content, but most of that content isn't nearly as good.

I'd rather play an excellent game for 20 hours than an average game for 100.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I never played it.

It's too late to play it now. The game hasn't aged well, given that one can easily point to FPS hybrids made after 2004 that were much much better. Longer RPGs such as all the three NWN2 campaigns give you better value for money as well.

I haven't played any FPS released after 2001.

 

[Jaesun]

What the fuck Wyrmie.

It's Wyrmlord dear.

Apparently you haven't made your Wyrmloard.txt yet...

 

[spekkio]

one can easily point to FPS hybrids made after 2004 that were much much better

Do tell. At least 5.

Let me guess:

Fallout 3 NV
Desu Ex 3
???
???
???

 

[Oriebam]

I think it had good pacing

What is the connection between Lacuna Coil (I was a fan before playing the game) and Bloodlines ?

Also, poll lacking options. I vote Georgia.

P. sure it's that annoying song that plays on the beach.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

What is the connection between Lacuna Coil (I was a fan before playing the game) and Bloodlines ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xf8pcDLORY

I also like the music that plays in the Asylum, though it probably makes some codexers' toes curl. If anyone wants a quick laugh, take a nosferatu there and do the dancing animation

 

[SuicideBunny]

I never played it.

It's too late to play it now.

it's never too tale to play bloodlines as a malk.

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

The Santa Monica track was the most boring one, and only matches a very boring part of the game.

No.

It's too late to play it now.

Bullshit.

The game hasn't aged well, given that one can easily point to FPS hybrids made after 2004 that were much much better.

Lies.

Longer RPGs such as all the three NWN2 campaigns give you better value for money as well.

Moran.

Unplayable without face and clothing mods.

 

[Wyrmlord]

one can easily point to FPS hybrids made after 2004 that were much much better

Do tell. At least 5.

Let me guess:

Fallout 3 NV
Desu Ex 3
???
???
???

As far as hybrid FPSes go, I can also mention the FPS-exploration hybrids, the STALKER series.

Here is a big difference between Shadow of Chernobyl and Bloodlines. Getting to any ending in Bloodlines is largely a matter of choosing a dialogue option with the cab driver. Getting to the RIGHT ending in STALKER - with ever other endings involving you losing the game - requires paying attention to tiny clues. That's when you are supposed to figure out for yourself that the main quest is a distraction and that your attention should be elsewhere. That's much more difficult than choosing a dialogue option - it's about exploring, finding tiny clues, and making use of those clues in the most painstaking manner possible. The right ending requires effort. That too throughout the entire game from the very beginning. It's not just a choice you make at the end of the game, like Bloodlines.

Either way, look at what Black Cat is pointing out. The combat sucked. The stealth sucked. Several locations sucked. So it's not a perfect game. You can hold it up for the dialogue hyperlink minigame, but it has never been a very challenging minigame in any game I have played.

 

[Wyrmlord]

What the fuck Wyrmie.

It's Wyrmlord dear.

Apparently you haven't made your Wyrmloard.txt yet...

I really don't get your double standards, Jaesun.

Normally, you are part of the Champions of Krynn, Buck Rogers, or Might and Magic crowd. You are normally suspicious of building RPGs only on purely superficial peripheral elements, such as talking, romances, story, et cetera, et cetera. And then you have showed your suspicions towards what you yourself call Another Crappy Shooter #375869 being passed off as a RPG.

But all these things are acceptable when they come from the Obsidian/Troika crowd. How? Why?

Oblivion's combat system and Bloodline's combat system are equally clunky. Why should Bloodlines get a free pass?

Knights of the Old Republic 2 had the exact same annoying interface and annoying combat system as Knights of the Old Republic. But you consider the former to be a defining watershed in gaming, while the latter to be an awful forgettable game.

I really just don't get your pro-Obsidian/Troika double standards. Apparently, it is totally okay when they make a BioWare/Bethesda style game. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. But I really really really want to know - WHY?

 

[Surf Solar]

one can easily point to FPS hybrids made after 2004 that were much much better

Do tell. At least 5.

Let me guess:

Fallout 3 NV
Desu Ex 3
???
???
???

As far as hybrid FPSes go, I can also mention the FPS-exploration hybrids, the STALKER series.

Here is a big difference between Shadow of Chernobyl and Bloodlines. Getting to any ending in Bloodlines is largely a matter of choosing a dialogue option with the cab driver. Getting to the RIGHT ending in STALKER - with ever other endings involving you losing the game - requires paying attention to tiny clues. That's when you are supposed to figure out for yourself that the main quest is a distraction and that your attention should be elsewhere. That's much more difficult than choosing a dialogue option - it's about exploring, finding tiny clues, and making use of those clues in the most painstaking manner possible. The right ending requires effort. That too throughout the entire game from the very beginning. It's not just a choice you make at the end of the game, like Bloodlines.

One game is a free roam exploration based FPS, the other one is a game with a tight narration. Are you seriously throwing both in the same bin and compare the quality on this point?

Either way, look at what Black Cat is pointing out. The combat sucked. The stealth sucked. Several locations sucked. So it's not a perfect game. You can hold it up for the dialogue hyperlink minigame, but it has never been a very challenging minigame in any game I have played.

You mean the same "hyperlink minigame" which was done in quite a few of codex' most loved games (VtM:B did those pretty well actually) ?

 

[Wyrmlord]

Yeah, what's so great about the dialogue hyperlink minigame? I enjoyed Fallout or Torment as much as you all did, but the hyperlink minigame was not the sole gameplay in them.

Not even in Torment, which also involved exploring for clues and objects, and seeing how they could come of us in some other part of the map.

In-game talking works best when you type answers yourself, as you do with the Lizardman in Ultima Underworld. Otherwise, what is the actual challenge in choosing one choice out of three or four, realizing one of the choices is wrong, and choosing some other choice instead? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

You can't really hold the hyperlink minigame as a sole selling point of any game. Not even if choosing one race or class adds another hyperlink or changes them all.

 

[spekkio]

The combat sucked. The stealth sucked. Several locations sucked. So it's not a perfect game.

1) AFAIR Skyway's posts, Stalker series is far from perfect as well. Haven't played it, though.

2) No game is perfect. Even Thief Gold. Even System Shock 2.

3) Where's your list of post-2004 FPS-RPG hybrids that are much better than VTMB?

4) 3.5/10

5) Ban Wyrmlord.