Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

[Calis]

This is the comments thread for <A HREF="/gamedetails.php?id=10">Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines</A>

Bloodlines is a first-person action RPG from Troika Games. It uses the popular Vampire: The Masquerade setting in a gritty, modern-day game set in the Los Angeles underworld and runs on Valve's Source Engine, also used in Half Life 2.

 

[Elwro]

So, as the price of the game has fallen from 159 zl to 109 zl (Polish currency) in some shops, I decided to buy it despite the protection. Of course I had to use the nocd crack because I have DaemonTools. Anyway, I created a Toreador and I'm planning a diplomatic, stealthy character. My question is: do I, by not developing combat skills, risk that my chap will have no options but god mode to beat the later game stages? Or can I concentrate on diplomacy and sneaking and still complete the game?
And why the hell did they tell me in the tutorial that Auspex helped in combat? Is that Wit +1 really that important?

 

[Naked_Lunch]

You can play as a very sneaky and diplomatic character until about when you get to the mansion. Of course, by the end of the game I was so fucking sick of the combat that I turned on the "no_target" command in the console just so I wouldn't have to fit those fucking kuel-jin bitches anymore.
Wits are important, I think they helped soak damage or something. I'm not sure as I played as a diplomatic Malk who only used disiplines and melee weapons and then as a sneaky Nosferatu.

 

[Shagnak]

My question is: do I, by not developing combat skills, risk that my chap will have no options but god mode to beat the later game stages? Or can I concentrate on diplomacy and sneaking and still complete the game?

Im playing at the moment as a Makavian (havent touched it in 6 weeks, but about to get into it again).

From comments from a mate and from this board I would say YES to that first question.

Ive been concentrating on sneaky shit, hacking, and stuff like dementation (or whatever its called) and so I'm rather ordinary at combat. Given that it eventually turns into a combat-ridden spawn-fest towards the end, I'd say we're both in a bit of trouble!!

Unless someone here has tales of "how a beat BL with a non uber-character"?

 

[Naked_Lunch]

It's impossible without the aid of cheats (Which I confess i used with my Malk). Fighting the Sheriff is hard enough with high combat skills and the flamethrower, impossible with minimal skills and a fucking peashooter.

 

[Avé]

I played a diplomacy Toreador, average melee + gun skills.

I was able to finish the game by maxing celerity, nothing else(no cheats or godmode)

 

[EEVIAC]

Unless someone here has tales of "how a beat BL with a non uber-character"?

I'm not sure what your definition of uber is, but my Malk had Obfuscate 4 by the time I got to Downtown. At five dots you can make completely obfuscated stealth kills. It makes any level with a lot of enemies very easy.

Elwro - wits adds to defence and hacking. At high levels of Auspex you also get a bonus to perception as well (usefull if you're using firearms) but its not really worth the expense in my opinion.

 

[errorcode]

anyone else remember how fucking hard old 8bit games were. Bionic Commando, Ikari Warriors, Commando....games that were damn near impossible to beat and actually gave you a sense of accomplishment when you could. When did we start expecting to beat any game as long as we logged the time into it? When did we become such pussies as gamers?

 

[Elwro]

It's just that when you grow up playing a level for the 100th time is not as rewarding as it was before. Geez, I remember playing Prehistoric so many times because I died on the last level... and the game had no saves... I couldn't do it now.

 

[Atrokkus]

The game is phat. I mean, damn it's real stylish and original, and got a great atmosphere of the World of Darkness and the like. Dialogs are puuuurrrrfect: just play Malkavian - and it'll blow you away!

Combat system is kinda good too, although still it was kinda clunky sometimes. Magic system is, as always, quite primitive, as in all FP action RPGs, but still pretty good.


Hmm, I got a question: I heard that euro version has been stripped of some really gory scenes (like beheading the vamp-girl at first) and sex scenes. Is that right, or perhaps just gossip?

 

[Elwro]

Aha, so that's why the intro video felt like it had a part cut out. Shit. You pay for a game and they don't give you the full version of the product. I want my sex scenes and beheadings! :wink:

 

[Expresso]

I can recommend sneaky/diplomatic Malkavian. That was one of my best runs through the game. There are couple levels later on the game where combat is absolutely required. But, at that time you have probably maxed out Obfuscation and Sneaking and gained enough XP for additional combat skills.

 

[Spazmo]

I don't recall any sex scenes at all in any version. As for the intro movie beheading, patch 1.2 makes the camera look away when that happens because the animation was broken. It's not a European-specific issue.

 

[Elwro]

I finished the first hub and I'm loving the game. I've got a few points in persuasion, seduction, hacking and sneaking; they really paid off. Feeding off those girls in Asylum was a nice reward for my efforts The dialogues are great and I had no problem with the few fights I had, only the asian vampire almost killed me. I just had to use my disciplines. I had 2 CTDs while loading the main hub map and 1 minor dialogue bug that I've noticed, apart from that the game behaves flawlessly. Some NPCs were very memorable. My girlfriend started playing as a Malkavian chick and the feeding animation was very surprising... I've already seen her discover things I've missed because she has higher Inspection.
Are there any modding tools for this game? I found some dialogue in pack101.vpk but I'm not sure if that's everything.

 

[Balor]

Yea, I'm thinking about Malk as a second run - just to compare his fun ravings with what normal people say. Very good set of disciplines too.
But what made me LMAO is the fact that Nosferatu Embrace intro is absolutely same as for other PCs! Now how blind, dumb and having no sence of smell must one be to sleep with a Nosferatu?! Or they can mask their identiny for a time? I recall that the Nosferatu girl was looking normal untill trial... but I don't recall any lore about them having such power. Or they'd just walk around as everyone else, not sculk in the severs.
The thought of Nosferatu seducer (in a Casanova-style outfit) made me ROFL even more.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

maybe you sniffed some paint, then dropped about a pound of acid while dowing your 45th shot of tequila when you met her.

 

[Balor]

Yea, that would be a semi-decent explanation .

 

[Thydron]

anyone else remember how fucking hard old 8bit games were. Bionic Commando, Ikari Warriors, Commando....games that were damn near impossible to beat and actually gave you a sense of accomplishment when you could. When did we start expecting to beat any game as long as we logged the time into it? When did we become such pussies as gamers?

probably about the same time we started paying £40 for every half-decent game we decided to buy

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Yea, I'm thinking about Malk as a second run - just to compare his fun ravings with what normal people say. Very good set of disciplines too.
But what made me LMAO is the fact that Nosferatu Embrace intro is absolutely same as for other PCs! Now how blind, dumb and having no sence of smell must one be to sleep with a Nosferatu?! Or they can mask their identiny for a time? I recall that the Nosferatu girl was looking normal untill trial... but I don't recall any lore about them having such power. Or they'd just walk around as everyone else, not sculk in the severs.
The thought of Nosferatu seducer (in a Casanova-style outfit) made me ROFL even more.

I think that in the PnP version, high levels of Obfuscation allow characters to change their appearance, possibly making it so Nossies could look as charming as a Toreador. I am not sure how this is factored into the game considering no such power exists. Maybe it was meant to be included at one point but ultimately removed (much like the wolf form for Gangrels).

 

[Haris]

When i was larping this game i used to play Malkavian. But i never played the pc game or the pnp version. Wich one is most fun? Larp, pnp or pc game?

 

[space captain]

LARP?? jesus that shit is so sad

 

[Umbragen]

For all the positives of this game...

they can't overcome the inexcusably wretched game engine. As far as I can tell the Source Engine was only usable for shooters. And the only people able to manage that were Valve themselves. Every other company that tried to use this monumental POS failed miserably. Every passage through a doorway, every scripted event, is a showstopper waiting to happen. My god, what were they thinking.

 

[Cogar]

Ah--resurrect a 3-year-old thread to let us know that Troika released buggy games.

 

[racofer]

And these bugs are now irrelevant.

 

[Cogar]

And these bugs are now irrelevant.

Agreed. With the true patch (my preference), it is an almost completely enjoyable experience. (The tediously lengthy shoot-em-up conclusion being the exception.)