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Editorial Bloodlines Retrospective

VentilatorOfDoom

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Tags: Troika Games; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Gear Diaries take a <a href="http://www.geardiary.com/2010/04/13/retrospective-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines/">rosy glance</a> back at our beloved Bloodlines, the best Troika game of them all.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;"><b>Every time I yank a jawbone from a skull and ram it into an eye socket, I know I’m building a better future.</b>
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For some, real-time combat from a first person perspective means that the game isn’t a ‘real’ RPG. And because Bloodlines uses the Source engine shared with Half-Life 2, some folks are further emboldened to call it a shooter with RPG elements.
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I think that is a load of crap. I consider the combat and genre as separate items.
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But one thing is clear – Bloodlines uses a first person perspective real-time combat engine based on the Source engine. The game also auto-switches to third-person view for melee combat, which works extremely well. During the tutorial sections you learn how to handle both melee and armed combat, both of which have positive and negative elements.
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Since the core game is based on the same engine that powers one of the best shooters in recent years, you would expect the game to excel as a FPS. In general it works very well, with all of the typical shooter elements intact: you aim, shoot, reload, pick up ammo, and so on. But since the game is a RPG, you also need to take the character skill levels into account. This means that the same 38-caliber pistol hitting for 5-6HP of damage during the tutorial will do much more damage as you gain more and more skills. And augmenting your natural skills with vampiric abilities can turn you into a lethal shooting force. But the game lets you know in the form of Jack in the tutorial that vampires are quite able to soak gun damage, so as you battle more and more vampires, your guns will be less and less effective.
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Bloodlines also features a top-notch melee engine. In fact, the first battle you have uses a tire iron as a weapon! Given super-human speed and strength, melee combat seems more suitable for a vampire. The melee battles are full of typical ragdoll physics action, and look appropriately exaggerated in terms of impact of hits based on the game’s 2003/2004 vintage. When engaging in melee combat the game switches to third person view, so you can see around your character and gauge better how to attack. Similar to gun-based combat, your melee damage is a combination of the weapon’s inherent damage factor along with modifiers based on skills and attributes you can choose. One thing that is very clear – you will not get enough skill points to excel at both guns and melee combat, especially if you plan to advance any of your disciplines.
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No, you get enough XP to excel at guns, melee, persuade AND your disciplines.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/97526-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-retrospective.html">Gaembennshe</A>
 

Wyrmlord

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During the tutorial sections you learn how to handle both melee and armed combat, both of which have positive and negative elements.
The positive being that one is less negative than the other?
 

spectre

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Bloodlines also features a top-notch melee engine.

Lolwut? Is clickety clickety click "top notch ngine" by next gen standards because it has teh ragdollz?
 

Wyrmlord

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spectre said:
Bloodlines also features a top-notch melee engine.

Lolwut? Is clickety clickety click "top notch ngine" by next gen standards because it has teh ragdollz?
Yes, it rewards you with an enemy's head fallen on his own crotch at the end of battle.
 

txa1265

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Cool ... if I manage to rub some of the moron pissant trolls at the Codex the wrong way I know I'm doing SOMETHING right! :D
 

Serious_Business

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mondblut said:
I consider the combat and genre as separate items.

Another cretin.

011_Octriallach.gif
 

Wyrmlord

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txa1265 said:
Cool ... if I manage to rub some of the moron pissant trolls at the Codex the wrong way I know I'm doing SOMETHING right! :D
That's good to know, Mr. Michael Anderson.

Now what possessed you to check on a forum you didn't like? We have no shortage of people coming here just to tell us how much they don't care about this forum.
 

FeelTheRads

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txa1265 said:
Cool ... if I manage to rub some of the moron pissant trolls at the Codex the wrong way I know I'm doing SOMETHING right! :D

Write less retarded shit next time.

How would that be for doing something right?
 

Cassidy

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mondblut said:
I consider the combat and genre as separate items.

Another cretin.

Only idiots think that it is the amount of story, collar grabbing and alien lesbian sex(when applicable), textblocks, and cutscenes rather than the core of the game(its action, user interface and gameplay rules) what define its genre.

Perhaps it'd be trivial to promote a game with a first person perspective using point-n-click interface and turn-based combat as a first person shooter, provided enough bribe for game "journalists" and hype. And many would buy it because the number of retards grow every day. Then eventually the old FPS gamers would rage forever as the next-gen would then think that FPSes are about turn-based combat and mouse-click interfaces where the keyboard is used only for hotkeys.
 

txa1265

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Wyrmlord said:
txa1265 said:
Cool ... if I manage to rub some of the moron pissant trolls at the Codex the wrong way I know I'm doing SOMETHING right! :D
That's good to know, Mr. Michael Anderson.

Now what possessed you to check on a forum you didn't like? We have no shortage of people coming here just to tell us how much they don't care about this forum.

Did you notice my join date? I've been around here for ages, just not actively.

As for writing less stupid shit ... well, many here crapped on stuff I wrote for GamerDad, AceGamez, VGBlogger and RPGWatch ... so why should I disappoint my faithful haterz?!?! :D
 

Phelot

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txa1265 is from RPGWatch

I can't say I like your taste in games man, but I always thought you were a good poster over there
 

mondblut

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Cassidy said:
Perhaps it'd be trivial to promote a game with a first person perspective using point-n-click interface and turn-based combat as a first person shooter, provided enough bribe for game "journalists" and hype.

Those who consider the combat and genre as separate items shouldn't mind when an FPS happens to have isometric turn-based combat :D
 

txa1265

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phelot said:
txa1265 is from RPGWatch

I can't say I like your taste in games man, but I always thought you were a good poster over there

Yeah ... 'were' being the operative word ... which might just explain why an article that really belonged at the Watch was at GearDiary ...
 

roll-a-die

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mondblut said:
Cassidy said:
Perhaps it'd be trivial to promote a game with a first person perspective using point-n-click interface and turn-based combat as a first person shooter, provided enough bribe for game "journalists" and hype.

Those who consider the combat and genre as separate items shouldn't mind when an FPS happens to have isometric turn-based combat :D

No he means like a turnbased might and magic with guns. OH GOD ROLLA DON"T GIVE THEM ANYMORE IDEAS!
 

Mastermind

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
roll-a-die said:
No he means like a turnbased might and magic with guns. OH GOD ROLLA DON"T GIVE THEM ANYMORE IDEAS!

Might and magic already has guns.
 

mondblut

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But "first person shooter" does not necessarily imply shooting has got be handled in first person, only that both FPP and acts of shooting must be involved. Therefore, a Goldbox game is just as much an FPS as Wizardry or Bard's Tale. First person view? Check. Shooting? Bows, fireballs, even blasters for some, check. Yay for genres being divorced from combat.
 

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