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A very good vampire RPG!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have to admit that I hesitated a good while before buying Bloodlines, because of all of the reviews that mentioned bugs. However, I liked the screenshots and the vampire theme and decided to give it a chance. At least with the patch installed, I really enjoyed the game and found no significant or show-stopping bugs. It looks great, the NPC are very interesting and well developed, and the quests can be funny, dark, and quite elaborate. The game, even with the patch, does have a few technical problems as well as some other flaws. However, if you like vampire stories and role-playing games, then Bloodlines is definitely worth a try.

Gameplay: Character creation (you can be 1 of 7 types of vampires) is interesting, allowing you to customize a male or female vampire that has been recently sired. You have several choices of abilities and skills, but character creation is not as deep as in some RPGs like Morrowind. During the game, you earn experience points that you can use to increase certain skills, attributes, or disciplines (your vampiric powers). This system generally works well, but don't expect to max out many of these areas by the end of the game (thus, choose your character-development path wisely).

The game is rather linear in progression, although there are a number of side quests and your character is allowed to solve some quests in 2 or 3 different ways. Movement and combat are much like typical first-person shooters, and melee weapons are much more powerful than guns (a good sword will take you through about the whole game--I like the shotgun, though). There are a few good scares in the game (such as a haunted hotel and an encounter at a park), but the developers missed a lot of great opportunities to really scare players. Overall, the story is a very good one, and you'll meet some fascinating characters (like VV, Gary, Jack) who have great dialogue. The quests are well done and often multi-layered, but there are a few areas where things get bogged down, such as when you are trying to reach certain bosses. You often have to go through an hour or two of encounters with their minions in order to reach them. I have only played the game through once as a male Toreador, but I think I did about all of the side quests, in addition to the main quests. There was only one quest in a graveyard that I found too frustrating to complete, but thankfully it was an optional side quest.

Graphics: The graphics look realistic (based on the Source engine), but I didn't get good framerates walking around the 4 cities. There are some long load times between levels, which improve drastically depending on how much RAM you have (I would suggest at least 768MB). The four cities are all very well rendered, but a bit small. Character models look good, as do most animations, but many models are repeated. Overall, you'll need a good video card to enjoy the game thoroughly.

Sound: There is a lot of good atmosphere in this game, thanks to some good music, great voice acting, and ambient sounds. I am not into heavy metal music, but it just seemed to fit well in this game's gothic scenes. However, even with the patch, there are still some sound issues, especially occasional studdering (increasing my RAM seemed to improve this a bit for me). Also, the game crashed to desktop about 8 times.

Replayability/Value: Overall, I am very pleased with this game. The game will last about 40 solid hours the first time through. In my view, there is not much replay value here. While it might be interesting to try another vampire clan or the other gender, there's not much difference in how the story unfolds. There are at least two alternate endings, but the difference is only about twenty seconds of cutscenes. Still, if you like role-playing games, first-person shooters, and vampire stories, then I highly recommend Bloodlines. I hope there's a sequel.

A tough one to review.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: July 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

There's a lot to like in Vampire: Bloodlines, and a few things to love. That there are also moments that had me gritting my teeth, and so many "buts", is what makes this review a tough one.

The graphics, for example, are by and large quite lovely, very atmospheric... But. Half-Life 2, the game engine's parent, made better use of them, from both a hardware and a software perspective. Half-Life 2 ran well on my system with 512 MB of RAM; Vampire stuttered somewhat(when I upgraded to 2 GB, it smoothed out nicely.) Half-Life 2 also just _looks_ better, and doesn't distract with clipping, strands of wavy hair passing through the sides of people's faces, and moments of rough texturing.

The game combines RPG and action elements, which is frequently fun and interesting, but... It expects you to react too quickly for an RPG, and the way numbers are crunched will annoy action gamers. Even with your "natural" stats maxed out in a particular set of combat-based stats, you can easily find yourself gunned down by a larger group, or by some of the more powerful bosses. Some of the "supernatural" abilities may offset this; I can't say for certain, having only played through the game once. What I do know is that my character was pretty combat-centric, and still only won certain battles because of bugs or defects in the AI- enemies unable to hit you from certain positions, or getting stuck on pieces of the scenery.

The game allows a fair amount of flexibility in how you approach problems... But some of the options are either so convoluted or so difficult as to be unworkable, while others are excessively easy. Stealth in particular seems broken; I "stealth killed" any number of people who walked right into me, then turned around a few seconds later.

On the whole, the game feels poorly tested. Some abilities are far, far more useful than others, and unless I'm missing something, a character without at least one area of solid combat focus is simply going to die. You can't carry more than one of a type of gun, though selling all the duplicates one runs across on dead foes would have made it easier to raise money (which is ludicrously available at some times and completely sparse at others.)

Then there's the end game, where... Well, without spoilers, let me just call it kind of unsatisfying. Other endings may be available, but what I saw suggests they're merely variations on a theme, and that theme focuses more on some of the other characters you meet than on your own. After some of the ridiculously hard battles I fought, I'd like to know how _my_ character ultimately fared, maybe a spot of congratulations. Doesn't seem so much to ask, y'know?

Oh, one more word about those battles. The final boss or bosses are so ridiculously over-powered that I felt no shame at all in using any exploit available. One of them can repeatedly teleport and hit you from behind before you can react. The only way to avoid this is very precise timing and repeating a pattern over and over again. Said foe requires more than ten times as many hits to defeat as he does to defeat you. This kind of fight really makes you go: "Guys? What were you _thinking_?" When _succeeding_ isn't even any fun...!

Despite bugs and combat, I must give some significant praise: The dialogue is terrific, both in the writing and in the performance. I especially appreciated some of the humorous moments, much needed in the grim setting. The atmosphere is great, from the haunted hotel you encounter early in the game to the lairs of twisted, unholy creatures. The game generally feels _adult_, not in the sense in which the term is often used (where it could as easily be termed 'juvenile') but in a willingness to recognize shades of gray and handle uncomfortable topics without flinching.

Though I would hardly call the game an unqualified success, I enjoyed it, and I mourn for Troika, the now-deceased company that created it. Hardly anyone makes role-playing games combining character depth, plot depth and flexiblility to different player approaches the way they did. If only they had done a little more testing... If only they had settled the combat system more firmly in the RPG or action arena... If only...

P.S. Looking over this review, it occured to me that some might take my comment about "using any exploit available" to mean using a third-party hacking program or cheat codes; I used neither to complete the game. But if, say, a boss character got "hung up" on a corner, unable to move... I took no particular shame in whaling the tar out of them while they were unable to reciprocate. I occasionally used the game's own flaws against it, in other words.

Vampire game fun, but only for adults with fast computers!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Although I have only had this game for a day, and had the opportunity to only play it a little, I have been very impressed! The graphics and audio are realistic and altogether awesome. However, as previously stated, this game is DEFINITELY not for children (too much blood, sex, and graphic language). In addition, know that you have to have a pretty fast computer to run this game smoothly. I have a Dell with a 2 ghz processor and the game occasionally skips. However, if you have a pretty good computer, and are into vampires (especially if you've ever played the RPG Vampire the Masquerade) this game is definitely for you!

alt-half life

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: December 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If Half life 2 is a long awaited mainstream blockbuster record album, then Vampire is the Alternative Scene's reply. It's Nirvana v.s. <insert Generic Boy Band>. Both games are actually very similar in many ways, the main issue being that both use the source engine to drive the graphics. The source engine allows advanced facial animation and advanced modeling of the game world, so physics is not an addition but integrated into the environment.
In the same way, Nirvana and boy bands are superficially similar (both sell records)... but the differences are those of *intent* and the lasting impression caused by the music.

Half life 2 is a good laugh for a bit, but after you've gone through it for a couple of days, its over (NB - I have played HL2 all the way through in three days). However, throughout those days, you see high production values and top content. The only problem is that the ideas at the core of the game are throwaway and generally superficial - no real story, a set path and lots of shooting.

Vampire is the opposite in every way. After playing HL2, I uninstalled it and in its place I installed Vampire. The initial feelings were centered on the graphics. They looked less polished in Vampire and the content was obviously made by a smaller team. Like all good alt-music though, it's something you have to get into before you fully appreciate it. The difference is in game play. Vampire has much more, it lasts much longer, and the storyline has significantly more depth. Also, you can complete the game by seeing only 50% of it (including different endings), so replayability is a big factor. Of the 50% you do see first time around, there are usually more than one route to completion - the options are usually brute force, stealth, or (and this is where the game really shines) social interaction. Vampire is also a role playing game (RPG) rather than a first person shooter (FPS), so it's a game with a slower pace. Some may be put off by this, but for me it makes a refreshing change.

In Vampire, you life is changed when your lover turns out to be a vampire and makes you one of the same. From then on, you live an alt-life, shunning the sun and becoming part of a vast secret organization. The game centers on your acceptance within Vampire society, and your crucial role in averting a number of threats that this ancient society is currently facing. The plotlines are very strong, and you actively want to progress to see how it all pans out rather than just to `find new weapons and see new levels' as occurs in your typical FPS. Refreshingly for a video game, the storyline does not involve the words `alien artifact'.... however, I am currently about half way through the game, so I could be wrong!

The storyline isn't based on the 17th century version of the Vampire either, with teenage deep, Byronic prose/pose and lots of Sisters of Mercy theatrics... its very much up to date, with the vampires more like mafia clans - underground societies who fully understand the use of machine firepower and real-politik. More Goodfellas than Bram Stoker. In fact, one of the side plots has you finding out and preventing a blood disease that that is affecting vampires, and this disease sounds very reminiscent of HIV. The storyline's definition of what a vampire is has become very modern. Be also aware that many portions of the game have themes that may not be appropriate for certain users.

Hardware: As with all modern games, hardware is an issue to consider before you buy.
The Source engine currently suffers from `glitching', and this occurs in both half life 2 and in Vampire. Just as in HL2, you can fix it so it is greatly reduced via some configuration changes (I fixed all my graphic glitching problems via a couple of simple commands to the game start shortcut, so it wasn't anything difficult).
I also see posts within the community specifying bugs in the game logic that can stop further progress, but as of this review, I haven't encountered anything major (apart from one set of double doors that closed whilst I was going through them and trapped my character from moving, causing me to have to reload). I can run the game smoothly at 1280x1024 (everything set to `high detail') with an XP2800+, ATI Radeon 9800 pro and 1gig of memory. The source engine seems to run *much* better with ATI cards (NB - certain nVidia cards currently default to DirectX8 instead of DirectX9 with source games, and this loses you a number of effects, especially reflectivity/lighting and realistic water), and if you have 512Mb if memory, you are strongly recommended to upgrade to 1gig ( 1Gig memory is an issue with most games in the last 6-8 months, and not just this one). Because Vampire has bigger game areas, it does run slightly slower than HL2.

As of this writing, there is a patch for the game planned. So far, I haven't really needed it though, but your mileage may vary.

Despite its bugs, Vampire is different enough from other games to make it highly recommended to gameplayers who want something that they can play for a month instead of a weekend, and that will immerse them into a detailed storyline that makes them think.

Finally one minor point that really struck me was when you go into the clubs in the game, the NPCs will go to the dancefloor and actually dance (you can also join them). They do this dancing in a strange, not-quite-with-the-beat kinda way, waving their arms all over the place in a vaguely comic `the dancer is the only person who thinks that's cool' fashion. I'm not sure if this is a game feature or a bug, because, um... if you go to a real alt-club, that's how all the Goths actually dance.

S

Vampire The Masquerade: BUGlines

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: February 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

One of the most amazing games that came out during 2004, but it could have been much better! Read On...

Well, you are a new born Kindred (Vampires are called Kindred) and you'll work as an enforcer for the so called PRINCE La Croix who is the head of a dominant sect in L.A. (The Camarilla).

At the begining, you get to choose your clan between 7 choices : Gangrel,Brujah,Malkavian,Ventrue,Tremere,Toreador and the ugly Nosferatu. Each of these clans have their unique vampire disciplines, and all make for a very different gameplay experience.

Using the Source engine (Half Life 2 engine) Troika was able to give life to a very credible L.A. and some of the most impressive NPC characters faces ever seen. Jeanette Voerman, Vicky Velour or the bar owner Venus make Lara Croft look like an orc.

The game has many sidequests, which for a RPG fan like me are absolutely a MUST. I really enjoyed the "detective" sidequests to search for someone and particularly one where you have to track a Serial Killer.

The music is outstanding and gives a very tense ambience to the game, particularly in some areas.

So with all these strong points why give the game a 4?? Well, the BUGlines. And unfortunately has many of them, including one that'll send you to the desktop no matter what. Fortunately a patch has been released that fixed most of the bugs. Other than the bugs, the loadings are absolutely frustating.

When you buy this game make sure you DOWNLOAD THE PATCH, because with the patch you have a 5 STAR GAME HERE!!

Great game practically destroyed by bugs

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: May 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have never come across a game like "Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines." (which from here on will be known as "VTMB") It's really two games in one: on the one hand, it's one of the most buggy games I've ever played, with an error or problem every other second. On the other hand, it's perhaps one of the most fun RPG's that I've played in a good while.

VTMB involves you selecting a vampire from a group of different vampire classes, (basically, every kind of vampire that has graced literature or the silver screen) naming it, customizing its stats, and then entering the game. You're a young "childe," practically thrown into the world of vampires overnight. From here on, you'll be getting missions regarding a central narrative that involves clashes between vampire sects, lust for power, and the end of the world.

It's a very amazing world that you enter, and the cast of characters has never been as interesting! From the charismatic but flawed Prince LaCroix, the educated Beckett, Ji Wen Ja the travel agent for the Underworld, (because he "sends so many people there") the stripper with class Velvet, or the film producer Isaac Abraham - you won't forget too many of these characters, no matter how hard you try. Voice acting and writing on this project was well done, and (like the characters themselves) many lines will stick in your head. My personal favortes were, "I'm like a book - all you have to do is run your finger down my spine and crack me open to see what I'm all about" as well as "I'm going to forget that because I still remember remember impertinance vividly" and "Too many of us might set them off like fundamentalists on contrary opinion." At times it was too easy to recognize when the same voice actor was doing another character, but this is mostly in the minor characters and extras.

Yet there are A LOT of problems with this game. Some of it bugs, some of it found in the gameplay itself. Problems I noticed were:
1) Typos in the subtitles. Jack wonders what's up with LaCroix and that "powedered wig" of his. Isaac explains that the film is "damamged."
2) Sound Crash-to-Desktop. I've found that sometimes the game would lock-up when a character was about to say a certain sound file, then the game would crash. I searched online and found a cure for this problem: reinstall the game, patch it, and play it again. (backing up save files and using them won't ruin it) While this solves the problem, it shouldn't be an issue in the first place.
3) Odd sound errors. On more than one occasions zombies, when you aggro them, will give off police aggro cries.
4) Serious downtime issues. Loading nearly kills this game, and evertime you enter or leave a building and go to another part of LA you have to wait for the game to load. In Chinatown and Hollywood it loads rather well (albeit still too long) but in Santa Monica and Downtown it gets unbearable. Considering bigger games like "Morrowind" have wonderful loading times, I wonder what the issue could be.
5) Lag-like states. Sometimes when a lot happens - or sometimes just in general - the game acts like a lagging online game, skipping or pausing. It gets especially annoying in combat.
6) Animation errors - One time a cinematic never finished because a character didn't go where he was supposed too and the game was stuck with him in that position, so the event wouldn't trigger. Also, when people run from you they sometimes slide and then skip across the level. (again, a lag-like state)

Still, with all these errors and problems, I still have fun with this game. Granted, when I first started playing VTMB the problems made me stop playing it for a while, but when I retried it and got into the storyline I was hooked. I've spent many hours playing this game, getting into the quests and deeper into the plot. Troika lives up to their name in dialogue, and like the superior "Arcanum" you can selected either good, minimal, or bad responses to characters as you talk to them, and depending on how you respond take the conversation any which way or change the way the character feels about you. You can also determine your allegiance to the different factions, as you could in "Arcanum." You can also use many different skills, including seduction, intimidation, persuasion and others, many of which can be used in conversation. Replayability in this game is very high, and I found myself making different characters from different races with different skills, just to see how each one could play out in the storyline.

So what's the bottom line? Well, your best bet is to wait until the game is cheap enough to just give it a try. ($20 or under, depending on your expenses) If you can be patience with its shortcomings, it is a decent RPG that will be well worth your time. Well, if the loading time doesn't take up most of that.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game that does what so few RPGs pull off these days. It gives you real choices based on your skills. You get three different ways to influence dialoge: persuasion, intimidation and seduction. You also get different outcomes depending on what you use. You get three different ways to slaughter people: melee (swords, bats ect.), brawl (punching and kicking) and firearms (tons of different guns). And you also get nice abilities like stealth for fun stealth kills, hacking for getting into computers, lockpicking, researching and maybe some others I forget.

Lots of choices, lots of different ways to solve quests, an intriguing storyline, multiple endings, memorable characters with well acted voice dialoge. This game is top of the line. I'm just sad Troika is going out of business because they did such a great job with this game. After having my hopes dashed with Oblivion i picked up this game and was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had. Played through it once and decided to try as a different clan.

The "leveling" system works by increasing skills through experience you earn through completing missions which actually is far more enjoyable than the usual ways that your average RPG imploys and allows for a lot of customability. Plus you get, I believe, 6 different clans to choose from, and your gender influences some conversations as well. Each clan has unique special abilities that you can improve for different results (one such ability incapacitates your enemies by making them vomit up blood, brutal but useful).

The storyline is at times freaky, some quests, such as the ghost hotel, kept me on edge. I recommend playing this at night for the extra scare, there are parts that are as good as any horror movie and very well done. The game itself is brutal, you can stealth attack to snap peoples necks and blood does fly when hitting people. There is sexual dialoge in some places. It is all well done but it definitely fits the mature label, which suits me just fine. There aren't enough well done mature games out there, specifically RPGs.

That being said the game does have its share of bugs (what game doesn't?) and it is important to keep backup saves. IF you save and load in some areas (such as the museum) sometimes doors previously unlocked become locked, trapping you and forcing a reload. Also I once got caught on the door in the pawn shop and had to reload. And there is one gamebreaking bug that forces you to pull up the console to overcome it (society of leopold crash), to do this download one of the walkthroughs and search for crash and it will give you simple instructions to follow.

The game also likes to throw some incredibly difficult bosses your way, and if you aren't very good with action games you might not like these. Specificaly the last two major bosses in the game I found ridiculously impossible and for the first time playing any game I actually cheated and used godmod to beat them. It wasn't challanging, it was annoying. I also felt like the end of the game was rushed out for sales as the rest of the game is so much better than the endgame sequence which consists of nonstop fighting of enemies that respawn almost instantely.

But for all its faults this game is great. Very well done and worth the money. I hope that more publishers seek to put out games of this caliber. For anyone disapointed in the lack of RPing in Oblivion I strongly suggest trying this. Be warned there is a lot of standard action fighting as well, for those not into that kind of thing.

Excellent game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I highly encourage anyone who loved Vampire: The Masquerade to invest in this game. Despite coming off as a first person shooter, the game is smart and witty and has more focus on interaction with NPCs than many other RPGs do. The disciplines are mostly true enough to the game, although they are generally a bit twisted to be more focused on combat. A great game and fun to replay with different clans.

One of the good RPGs.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

For those curious about this title, let me just say it has the most in common with Knights of the Old Republic. I skipped this title browsing Amazon for a long time with the assumption it was for Occult fans or a vampire/zombie blaster. It is very far from that..

Now that I am a bit more knowledable on it...It is a game world based upon White Wolf's Pen and Paper RPG (Yeah an RPGlike Dungeons and Dragons complete with 20 sided dice and Stridex pads). The world is very developed and what makes this game extremly fun (5 stars) to play is the fact the story in it is very very good. The entire main plot and subquests are extremly well done and engrossing. Additionally, each quest has multiple ways to complete it. You can sneak through it, blast through it, talk your way through it or a combination of all of the above. The more creative you are completing the quests the more expierience you get to improve your character.

The opening sequence enters you well into the world of the Underworld of the Vampire and Supernatural. It's no mere Dracula game, but an entire shadow world beneath the mortal world which is very interesting (I might even look for some White Wolf novels if there are any).

Here is a brief list, in my opinion, of all the good points and a few bad.

Pros
- Excellent story

- The music is some of the best i've heard in a game, even if you are not into Goth/Alternative. It's very atmospheric and fitting

- Lot of replayability based upon you can play a wide variety of Vampire Clans who all specialize in one thing or the other and the game changes in significant ways depending on what you focus in.

- Graphics based upon the Half-Life 2 Source Engine. Nuf said.

Cons

- Only thing that prevented a 5 star rating was the fact there is some minor annoying bugs. Jump around too much and get stuck between boxes, doors get blocked too easy etc...but very minor in the overall gameplay.

Bottomline

Definately worth picking up if you liked Knights of the Old Republic type games, although this has more interaction in the fighting.

Pick a Lock, Hack a Computer, Drink a Little Blood

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Much later than I should have, I decided to upgrade my best machine to Windows XP (home). It's a pretty hefty 2.6G machine with the best nVidia from 2 years ago. To celebrate, I decided to pickup a cope of Masquerade: Bloodlines. I was a fan of Masquerade: Redemption so it was time to 'catch up.'

Installation was simple, but be warned that there have been updates to correct some bugs to download the latest and apply that as well. For all the power I think my machine has, Bloodlines really pushes its capabilities at the highest resolution, so turn it down a bit. To be honest I couldn't really see a detailing difference, and the number of frame 'jerks' dropped in half. Even so, this game is hard on processors and graphics cards. In highly populated fight sequences it pays to be patient.

Those issues aside, you will find yourself playing as a fledgling vampire, created in defiance of Camarilla law. Your sire has been executed, but the Prince of Los Angeles decides to spare you in a whimsical moment and sets you up as an errand boy in Santa Monica. And for the first part of the game you tend to business, running errands that gradually get you the experience, and the information, you need to define your strengths and learn to negotiate the game.

But a strange sarcophagus arrives in a ship and gradually the story changed to a series of efforts to help Prince Le Croix lay his hands on the sarcophagus and its contents. The errands will lead you from Camarilla to Sabbat, put you at odds with the mysterious Kuei-Jin vampires. You will even meet a few surprise monsters just to keep you jumping. And a whole lot of vampire politics - everyone wants LA, even the Anarchs.

This is a classical, mission-based RPG with a strong first person shooter component built in. You get to worry about puzzles, money, character development, and dying the final death, not necessarily in that order. The setting is pure Hollywood noir, with a action that is sexy and violent. It is a bit more fragmented than Redemption, but it offers a more finely grained playing environment.

Depending on your choice of clan to be a member of different option will open of close. Although the most radical difference is with clan Nosferatu, who aren't very well suited for the seductive approach.

Personally, I liked Redemption a bit better for it's story line and the likableness of its hero. But Bloodlines is very much in tune with the current state of White Wolf's long time money-maker. It it weren't for the graphic overload that plagues the fight scenes and a few glaring bugs this would have been one the best of its genre.

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