So, gamefly has VtM: Bloodlines on sale - why haven't you played it yet?

[CommanderL]

Because this is the first time I have heard of it And I am new to pc gaming

 

[The Madman]

Because it looks shit.

You're missing out. The combat mechanics might be pretty mediocre but in terms of actual roleplay mechanics Bloodlines is one of the best rpg out there. Some of the best written and most fluid dialogue in the gaming industry with top notch voice acting and tons of options determined not only by your starting clan choice but your character stats and previous interactions as well.

Even when you're not roleplaying the game also has some brilliant set pieces. Most people will talk about the Haunted Hotel, but my favourites include the Insane Asylum and the eug meat house. Story is pretty good too and again, I can't stress this enough, the characters are just fantastically done. Even the minor characters and those you never even see in-game have more personality and life in them than 90% of the main protagonist in other games. Amazing what a solid script and voice acting can do!

Meanwhile I knew absolutely nothing of the White Wolf setting nor did I particularly care, vampires have never really been something I've cared about especially since the whole tween craze thing, but this game does a brilliant job of bringing what I quickly discovered to be an interesting setting to life. Enough so that I've been actively following the progress of the Vampire MMO in the works in the hopes of once again getting the chance to jump into this crazy setting.

So while Bloodlines might have its flaws I'd say the good more than oughtweighs the bad. Any rpg fan really should at the least give it a shot. With the prices as low as they are these days worst case scenario you don't buy a drink and snack with lunch the next day, best case scenario you've got a new favourite game out there you'll replay half a dozen times and enjoy!

Introduced me to some music I generally wouldn't have heard of as well, which was nice.

 

[DoPo]

I didn't expect to walk into a clinic, be told to wait in line then a minute later have the police open fire on me when they did nothing of the sort when outside.

The lady at the front desk just goes "Oh you've been in some accident" or something like that. But going past her always causes her to call security. Well, unless you talk your way out of it, or just sneak through the side door (outside). Even regular snaking would do, if you can pull it off.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I have played it, and I loved it.

Why I'm not playing it at the moment is because that despite the unofficial patches the game still bugged out on me. I just finished some big quest in Chinatown and have to return to the Downtown area. But I can't. The game crashes when I try. Damn shame really.

 

[malestrithe]

1. I have no interest in the game. If I wanted to play it, I would have done so a lot sooner.

2. Never was a fan of Vampire the Masquerade or Vampire the Requiem. My foray into grimdark world of darkness stuff was always within Wraith: the Oblivion, Mage: the Ascension, Werewolf: the Apocalypse or later on Orpheus and Demon: the Fallen. Basically I was hating vampire before it was cool.

3. I hate political game and Vampire if done right was a politically motivated game.

 

[Deadyawn]

Yeah, I got it a while back, played it for a bit and then put it on hold and haven't gone back since. There's a good game in there, I can tell, but the nagging problems just sucked the fun out of it a bit too often. I will definetly go back to it and hopefully finish it at some point (maybe now actually considering I just finished New Vegas again) but I couldn't get through it the first time.

 

[The Madman]

Talk about hyperbole. This sounds like some grade A bullshit.

Characters you never meet are better than 90% of game characters? Wow, I'm sure that's the truth.

Why are you so angry? And no, I'm serious. The game does a great job with character building with characters that aren't even really introduced such as 'Deb' and 'Gomez' from the late night radio show, a completely optional atmospheric tidbit the game offers, being both entertaining and surprisingly likeable.

As for being better than 90% of the games industry, that's more a knock at the industry than anything. Seriously developers need to start hiring actual writers instead of just getting the interns to do it, there are so many games today where the characters are just so bad its laughable.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

So am I right in thinking that she never actually helps you and the building is useless?

Far from it, you were just supposed to go in the back door. Playing as the roadkill vampires isn't as hard as it seems. All plot critical people will still talk to you, you just have to stay out of the faces of meaningless npcs.

 

[Cowabungaa]

anc[is]

So am I right in thinking that she never actually helps you and the building is useless?

Far from it, you were just supposed to go in the back door. Playing as the roadkill vampires isn't as hard as it seems. All plot critical people will still talk to you, you just have to stay out of the faces of meaningless npcs.

What I mean is that the service as a hospital is actually non-existent. Or ore you saying I should have robbed the place?

Yup. There's some quests you can do, items you can loot, that sort of thing. But it ain't some healing station.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

What I mean is that the service as a hospital is actually non-existent. Or ore you saying I should have robbed the place?

You have to go there for most of the sidequests in the first section of the game, but no it does not do any hospital-y things for you. I'm sure you're sick of being pestered, but if you want go back and retry the game as any other clan, nobody else has a mechanic like the Nosferatu do.

 

[Darknacht]

Figuring gamefly still has not enabled downloads for games I bought from them I'm not going to pay them any more money for a game that they might one day let me play.

 

[DoPo]

I might have to buy this. How does it compare to an RPG like Arcanum?

EDIT: man I suck at tags...

Well, it is not Arcanum. Made by the same people and they did a pretty good job at it. But it isn't really similar:
- no followers (but there is Companion Mod, which I'm downloading now to play)
- no big world - it's hub based, more or less like Arcanum, only there are 4 hubs.
- less characters - comes with a smaller world
- more detailed and interesting characters, on the other hand. Few followers in Arcanum had that much personality in them - mostly the voiced ones, and even then, not so much. The characters in Bloodlines are more memorable. Comes with good writing and good voice acting, I suppose.
- multiple solutions to a problem, as I said - sneak past, fight through, or just talk. Most of the times these are all viable options. Towards the end, it's more fighting, though :/ sucks a bit but at that point, you'll have had plenty of XP to put into combat
- there is a lot of attention to some minor details. Somewhat similar to Arcanum but you may not notice these right away or until you look into them.
- remember the Silver Lady? There is a prophet you meet early in the game. Play the game, then talk to the prophet again Similarly, you can also play a Malkavian - in essence you are the Silver Lady, you talk as sensible, too. If you have knowledge of the plot, the Malk's words are utter brilliance, otherwise they sound (quite justified) as insane rambling.
- it has histories, just like Arcanum. Well, you'll have to enable them (but installing the UP does that for you) but you get them again. And they are fun, too. Nothing too min-max-y but they cold help.

I'm not sure how else can I compare them. They are, different games, but you can definitely feel the Troika in both. I'd hazard a guess that if you liked Arcanum, you'll like Bloodlines. I did the reverse - I recently got Arcanum and played it [footnote]I was motivated by the fact that it had steampunk and magic. I wanted to see a take on that and it only helped that it was made by Troika.[/footnote] but fell in love with the game almost instantly.

 

[Strain42]

As much as I love that game, the story took a quick right turn towards snarkaloopy for me.

I love the early missions which have you getting money from drug dealers, dealing with a sisters quarrels or helping reunite two vampires that would make a bad paperback romance

But once you got into the whole...ancient casket stuff...it felt odd to me.

Anyway, the reason I'm not getting it is because...I already own it. It runs just fine on my laptop, so I'm already pretty set for all of my Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines needs are concerned.

 

[The Madman]

You said characters that are only mentioned in passing are better than many game protagonists and you expect us to take that seriously.

It's pure unfiltered hyperbole.

My exact words were minor characters and characters not actually seen in game. And again, I'm being honest here. Obviously it's a matter of opinion but frankly most games do a pretty terrible job at creating characters. Not always a problem, the majority of games are far from character-driven narratives after all, but it's still annoying and a bit lazy to see so many games big and small in todays market incapable of creating an interesting personality.

So do I think even many of the minor characters in Bloodlines are better than a majority of the characters in games today? Yeah. Yes I do. Whether that's praise for Bloodlines or a denouncement of the state of the industry is for you to decide.

 

[Vault101]

Because it looks shit.

To me anyway. I'm sure it's amazing, given you have a certain taste. But it doesn't look like anything I'd enjoy. I don't like the world, I don't like the characters at a glance, the combat is apparently God awful along with every other damn mechanic...

Again, I'm sure it has some charm somewhere. It just doesn't like the charm that would charm me, if that makes sense.

Maybe I'll pick it up if it goes on sale somewhere for 99 cents. Maybe.

(Don't hate me for saying this, you did ask!)

BUT YOU HAVE TO PLAY THEASE SUPER AWSOME AMAZING GAMES OTHERWISE YOUR A HORRIBLE PERSON!

I think I'd rather play Gears of War than the original Deus ex

*silence*

YES! thats right! I said it! hahahahahahaha *runs away into the night*