Preview Bloodlines Preshow impressions at GameSpot

[Spazmo]

Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

In an amazing feat of space-time continuum distortion, the folks at <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc">Gamespot PC</a> have managed to get an <a href=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/vtmb/preview_6095269.html>E3 article</a> about <a href=http://www.vampirebloodlines.com>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines</a> written five days before the show starts.
<br>
<br>
<blockquote>As a newly sired vampire, you'll be given orders from the Prince of LA, and in one of the early missions, you'll need to track down some information about a potential threat to the vampire clans. You're told you can get more information directly from a character named Venus, or you can get it from her laptop if you can access it. Venus is the proprietor of Confessions, a nightclub located inside a former cathedral. Inside the club are plenty of dancers and club goers, and the cathedral is dimly lit with chandeliers and candles.
<br>
<br>
You can try to find Venus' office and pick the lock, or you can talk to her. If you choose the latter option, you can try to persuade her to give you the information. Once you have the information, you'll learn that you need to go down into the sewers to deal with a rogue group of vampires and other creatures. If you hacked into the laptop, you'll also discover that there's a gargoyle that is impervious to bullets, so you'll need a blunt weapon to deal with it.</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
I hope there's a quest to remove the Prince of LA from power so that you can meet him later and refer to him as <i>Vampire Formerly Known as the Prince.</i>

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

You should be shot for that one, or maybe i'll go find a blunt weapon to beat that asshole for those spoilers. I HATE SPOILERS.

 

[Kamaz]

Next time close your eyes when reading something that potentially contains spoilers. Be warned.

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

It would help if they said, "WARNING POTENTIAL SPOILERS".

 

[Nightjed]

You'll begin the game by creating a character, and you can choose from the seven vampire archetypes as defined by White Wolf. This means you can create virtually any kind of vampire from established lore, and the type of vampire you choose will determine your initial allegiance, or clan. You'll also choose which gender to play, which will affect how non-player characters interact with you. Put together, there are basically 14 combinations you can play.

so ... 7clans *2sexes = 14combinations, of course theyll add 4 different faces for each sex later and it will reach ass wooping 56 combinations, but wait, you can change the type of your underpants between yellow dots, orange strawberries and s&m leather! 168 combinations! THA BESTHA CUTOMIZATION EVA!

You can acquire armor and weapons from Fat Larry, including pistols, ammunition, and even a sledge hammer, which would be useful against the gargoyle.

In case of low money you can always use "Larry" as a blunt weapon :D

Bloodlines will have a multiplayer mode, and Activision and Troika say that they're going to integrate role-playing elements into the gameplay. For example, you can have vampire against vampire hunters in team-based multiplayer

OMG thats sooooooo coool and original! nevermind that counterstrike has been cloned to death

i have really low expectations on this game, it sounds worse everytime i read a new article

 

[S4ur0n27]

Why do vampires all hang into night clubs?
Why always having to face random shit monster after a quest, even if you choose the talking option a la NWN?
I also absolutely LOVE their RPG elements in multiplayer, vampire against vampire fights, WOAH, REVOLUTIONNARAY.

 

[triCritical]

How KotOR of Troika. So you can have stealth skills and diplomacy skills for all non-important gibberish, but you're still going to have to hack you're way through the important parts of the game.

Oh, and thanks for the spoilers, who the hell wrote this article? Is it a fucking walkthrough?

 

[Nightjed]

not that i want to defend them or anything but it does say you can talk your way though the gargoyle (im guessing you'd say something like "hey! look behind you, a three headed monkey!" and if you look good enough (aka high carisma) he turns arround and you walk through )

edit: btw, isnt it suspicious that they keep making these articles desperately trying to prove its actually a rpg or that you have more than 1 choice (you have 2 ) of action or that you have those amazing 7 not so different kind of saturday night party clans to choose from ?, and lets not forget the most incredible example of roleplaying ever : "some surfers stole your stuff, you can move the magic stone on the celing and get in, or you can go in and kill them or you can blow them up" (i wonder what would happen with your stuff)

 

[S4ur0n27]

Surfers? What the bloody fuck?

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I like the way the Gargoyle crashed through the ceiling when you walk in. Does he do that to everyone who visits?

 

[Whipporowill]

I guess he's not used to visitors... considering you have to crawl through vermin-infested sewers to get there. I take that as a big "STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME" on the front door... ehum.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I thought I already used the Vampire Formerly Knowns As joke, Spazmo! :D

 

[Spazmo]

Darn, I guess I should have substituted a joke about NWN and ph4t l3wt.

 

[Nightjed]

where is the joke in "Vampire Formerly Known as" ?

 

[justcola]

I'm looking forward to it. Should be better than toee anyway LOLOL

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

where is the joke in "Vampire Formerly Known as" ?

Prince.

 

[Nightjed]

thats it ? what a lame joke

 

[Anonymous]

I think Vampire will be pretty cool, and the gargoyle thing isnt anything too new, they had it in a few magazine a few months back with screenshots and everything.

The gargoyle fight is neat because he'll knock over pillars in the room (that fall around with the physics engine) and as more pillars get broken, the roof will collaspe in. You can also talk to him if you're the charismatic guys and convince him to surrender.

 

[Nightjed]

so, is this pillar knocking accidentaly (as in you can do it as well with maxed str/rocket launcher/minigun/banana bom/blood-enhanced-farting) or scripted ?

 

[justcola]

well since you can apply physics to anything, I'm guessing it won't be scripted, though the gargoyle might run around a bit?

 

[Nightjed]

i thought they said they wouldnt allow the player to break walls and stuff in the "kleptomaniac surfers" preview so you had to find "just the right brick to move"

 

[DarkUnderlord]

You reckon a vamp with high perception will have the pillar go all glowly on him? Maybe even hear a voice when he looks at "Luke, move the pillar. Use brute force".

 

[Anonymous]

I got the impression and i'm assuming that it is non-scripted.

 

[Seven]

i thought they said they wouldnt allow the player to break walls and stuff in the "kleptomaniac surfers" preview so you had to find "just the right brick to move"

I thought that the point of not destroying the fence was so that you wouldn't make noise; hence, the stealthy approach?