Matthew94 said:
Oh, never thought of audio logs. I thought it was simply books saying "X did Y, what a swell guy" and you thinking that was amazing. Fair enough then. It still hasn't enticed me to play it.
From what I have seen fans say.
The gameplay is shit
The graphics are shit
The plot becomes shit
I mean, it sounds like it would have been way better as a book or film. I am open to playing games but I gave the game 2 chances and it failed to endear me. I gave Deus Ex 2 chances and it wowed me. I gave X: BTF 5 hours until it got fun. I can give a game a chance but the game just failed on too many levels for me.
The gameplay is mediocre I would say. It's not terrible, there's nothing particularly horrendous about it save perhaps some imbalances
(The starting guns are terrible for example, whereas melee remains consistently useful but boring) but combat is definitely not a strong point either. Fortunately throughout the game there are many combat situations that can be avoided entirely, not always, but many.
Graphics aren't bad. Facial animation is well done and still holds up decently today, that always was one of the source engines strengths. Otherwise it's typical early Source engine stuff. Looks like Half Life 2, Counterstrike Source, and so many others.
And I disagree entirely with plot. As far as story goes there's no sudden Mass Effect 3 implosion or Fahrenheit style spiral into insanity, it remains fairly consistent throughout. I actually quite like some of the late-game plot elements introduced, Chinatown for example was a great hub with some fantastic side-quest and characters! What I think most people complain about when they complain about early in the game vs. later is the increase in combat more than anything, which is understandable. Story itself remains strong however.
There are other strengths as well. The dialogue is well written, characters compelling, plot branching, great sense of atmosphere in places, nice soundtrack, and as you found out the hard way; tons of replayability as the clan chosen at the start of the game can have a major effect on not only gameplay but how characters perceive and treat you as well.
A Nosferatu for example is so damned ugly and unnatural that they can't even be seen in public and are forced to use sewers and stealth to stay hidden, meanwhile those you're forced to interact with often treat you like an animal or a plague victim. By contrast a Toreador is so damned human that the other kindred don't even particularly like you, calling the character a pretty-boy/girl and generally dismissing them as vapid whores.
And Malkavian... well Malkavian are insane. You play an insane guy/girl. It's insane!
So if roleplay is someone's thing, someone who enjoys trying out different character types and interacting with character to see what they might be able to do differently. Then hell you can't find many better examples than Bloodlines.
They haven't shown any actual interest in improving the game, so I am seriously doubting they ever will.
