Preview Troika's other game

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

For those wondering about <A href="http://www.troikagames.com">Troika</a>'s other CRPG in the works.. <a href="http://www.gamespot.com">GameSpot</a> has a <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vtmb/news_6026275.html">little preview</a>.
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<blockquote>We have the first details from Activision on the company's upcoming role-playing game, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Bloodlines will combine first-person action with role-playing elements, and it is being developed by Troika Games, the studio that was responsible for the 2001 RPG Arcanum, and which was also founded by RPG veterans Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the creators of the Fallout role-playing game series. The game will be powered by Valve Software's Source engine, which is also being used by Valve to develop Half-Life 2. According to Valve Software cofounder Gabe Newell, "With Vampire, Troika is proving [that the] Source [engine] can reach beyond the world of FPS games. The character system, rendering abilities, and contextual AI features of Source, combined with the veteran RPG design talent at Troika, is a great representation of the innovation we hope to enable with this technology." </blockquote>
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I was kind of hoping for an <i>original</i> game, but what the hell.
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Thanks to <b>wartoy</b> for that linkie.
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[Walks with the Snails]

Aw, man. I thought it was supposed to be sci-fi. Oh well. I never played Vampire, but maybe it will be interesting anyway.

 

[EEVIAC]

[..]Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson, who helped create the Fallout role-playing game series.

Helped create or did create, I think there's a difference.

It could be really good for Troika, cash wise. It uses, what I'm assuming, will be a very popular engine, which may attract some of the first-person crowd to the cause and effect Troika way. Vampire also has a established fanbase, no?

Anyways, it has guns, its non-linear, its not FOBOS, I'm happy.

 

[triCritical]

I am a bit dissapointed, never been a big fan of horror games or vampire. But I really am intrested in what Troika can bring to the table. I like how the artical stresses that it will have action packed combat, like it can be any other way in a single person FP game.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

hey

Troika is going more mainstream, first a combat heavy D&D game and now a licensed HL engine to make a "FPS/RPG". Bah

 

[Psilon]

How the hell did they manage to get the HL2 engine right after Arcanum? It's a conspiracy, I tell you! Still, of the current Big Four graphics engines (Quake, Unreal, LithTech, and NetImmerse) I'd trust only Unreal or NetImmerse.

When Newell says "character system," I hope he's talking about rendering. It would be funny if Half-Life 2 had the Vampire rulebooks inside, though.

 

[Chadeo]

Ok, I will go out on a limb and give the folks at trokia the benefit of the doubt. This -could- be an amazing game if done right, and I really hope they do pull it off.

A FP perspective does not instantly mean the game needs to be some kind of action game. Also I have played V with a storyteller who has actually written some of the source books (Jason Carl) and I can tell you that the world is not really big on combat, at least not how he plays it. Not to mention I can not see trokia moving very far away from the core aspects that make them so special (story, changing plots, actions that have meaning, etc).

If they drop the ball on this one though I might approach future games designed by this team at trokia with a large deal of skepticism, but for now I am optimistic.

This also assumes they market this as an RPG, if not, then I will not hold it to an RPG's standards, and I still might enjoy the game a lot.

Anyhow, before you guys judge, I would wait for more info.

P.S. If any Trokia lurkers want to get in touch with Jason, let me know :wink:

 

[Ibbz]

Sounds similar to Deus Ex.....
Thats not a bad thing in my opinion, specially seems i like Deus Ex

 

[triCritical]

A FP perspective does not instantly mean the game needs to be some kind of action game. Also I have played V with a storyteller who has actually written some of the source books (Jason Carl) and I can tell you that the world is not really big on combat, at least not how he plays it. Not to mention I can not see trokia moving very far away from the core aspects that make them so special (story, changing plots, actions that have meaning, etc).

If they drop the ball on this one though I might approach future games designed by this team at trokia with a large deal of skepticism, but for now I am optimistic.

This also assumes they market this as an RPG, if not, then I will not hold it to an RPG's standards, and I still might enjoy the game a lot.

There is no doubt it is a RPG. And really won't know what kind of a RPG it is until we hear from Leon or Jason. As far as Gamespot and what those morons believe is a good game, its pretty save to say that there *action-laden* preview could have been nothing more then hype.

Lets face it Activision sucks. Activision will try to saturate the game to as much of the market as possible. I am just hoping it does not have a console part or a MP mode. If so I will start becoming much more suspicious,

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

hey

^ I dont know, Activision has been getting a little better for the last few years, there not with the ranks of Acclaim or Midway anymore.

 

[Ibbz]

I actually thought they were getting worse... all i can remember them publishing recently, are their "Value" titles and SOF2.

Of course i could be wrong

 

[huh]

hmmm, intriguing... I want to know more. the FPS part doesn't bother me. we knew it all along after all. I just hope they do it *their* way. the 'action' thing is probably the gamespot mainstream slant.

I think a consideration for using the Vampire setting is that they probably need to fit into short development time again like with TOEE.

developing an original setting with characters, lore, rules and politics that all make sense is a huge task in itself in addition to developing the game. so maybe they picked one that seems rich in intrigue to speed things up.

anyway, need... more... information...

 

[GreenNight]

Well the action part does bother me if there's no way to avoid it. I don't have much of a problem being a Brujah and creating some havoc, but being a Nosferatu, or a Ventrue, is another thing.

I don't know... I'm with the 'I need more information before getting excited' crowd. But if it looks as good as ToEE, and if ToEE is as good as it looks, then probably I will have to buy a new computer GRRR

Now for the gallery. Have you seen the concept art? From the neck over it's pretty nice. From the neck down it's 'L00k!! HuGe b00bies!!!! LOLOLOLOL'. I hope they don't go (much) this route. Except for Toreadores I don't think vampires should care much about how large are the bras of another vampire (or human).

Be happy, time will tell.

 

[huh]

I dont' know, they seem natural sized to me (the 'screenshot') if they go less than that it's gonna be like in Morrowind, I had to bring up the console to figure out the NPCs' gender :D

 

[dunduks]

OMFG! Yuppie, another Vampire setting game + it's being made by troika, I'm in heaven :D
I really enjoyed "Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption" and hoped for another game in the setting. OK, I may be overreacting, but you must agree that this setting is way more interesting than D&D (cuz its done to death).
*Runs for cover*

 

[Rosh]

Sounds similar to Deus Ex.....
Thats not a bad thing in my opinion, specially seems i like Deus Ex

You should be shot for saying something like that. :D

Well, I look at it this way. I had fun with System Shock 2 since it was put together well. I think that Troika could offer something similar to it or possibly akin to UA.

Good Vampire games are hard to come by. That one that was released by Activision a coupld years ago was pretty flat and had unresolved issues, plus the SP campaign was dry and the MP part suffered from the problems all buildware games have.

 

[Mistress]

I was actually quite pleased when I saw this. I enjoyed parts of the original game, and if Troika do well with this game, I think it could be quite good.

I liked the feeling of the first game, there was a nice atmosphere to it, just some of the gameplay was a bit...lacking. Still, it was fun for a while. Hopefully Troika can make this one fun, fullstop

 

[DrattedTin]

Am I the only one who has problems with Gamespot's images never loading?

 

[Ausir]

I hope it will be more based on the original World Of Darkness PnP than on the first computer game. IIRC, most WoD based computer games (Vampire: Redemption, Werewolf: Apocalypse, not to mention Hunter: Reckoning) weren't very good. WoD fans should be happy now.

 

[Flarnet]

So, the barmaid from BG:DA is suddenly a vampire? Interesting.

Here's hoping that this and Greyhawk are huge blockbusters so that Troika can make an all new rpg using the Greyhawk engine.

You hear me Troika? Your next game better be a new IP in a new setting. And by "new setting" I mean sci-fi.

 

[Jarinor]

How the hell did they manage to get the HL2 engine right after Arcanum? It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

Well, they did say in an interview a while ago that a publisher approached them with a game engine. Who'd have guessed it was the frigging HL2 engine though?

I'm rather optimistic about this game. I haven't played the Vampire games in any form whatsoever, so I can't really compare this to anything, but it does sound pretty cool. Assuming that gameplay is fun and whatnot, seven different bloodlines (and variations between them depending on your powers/skills) means a helluva lot of ways to play through the game.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Well, it's not sci-fi and it's not isometric, but it's Troika and the Vampire license has a lot of potential and role-playing depth that the other Vampire game did really take advantage of. HL2 engine looks good so far, so we could be in for a ride. I hope that Activision will do the smart thing and stay out of the development process.

 

[chrisbeddoes]

Am I the only one who has problems with Gamespot's images never loading?

you need GAMESPOT COMPLETE to see most of the images.

That means you have to pay $$$$ per month to the greedy B%$^%^rds !!!!

 

[jvn3t]

Well, thank shit that Troika's making it. Sounds pretty fucking cool to me, all the other games of this type crashed and burned on re-entry through the atmosphere of the Planet of Suck.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I'd be a LOT more interested in this title if it weren't an action CRPG, frankly. One of my big complaints about the original Vampire:tM game was that it was way, way too action centered. Yes, I understand that vampires kill things in order to live, which is mostly people and all.. BUT.. there should be more to the setting than Take your coterie out and go kill vival clan member/monster, childe! to these games.

I'm not really a huge fan of the setting either, but strapping it down with action... I dunno. I kind of expected a little.. more.. or something.