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I was really glad that Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines won the Your Way Bradturday poll this past week. It’s a game that I really like, but also one that is hard to justify playing amidst the bounty of new releases every week. That’s the best reason I do the polls – you all give me the excuse I need. After all, it IS your choice. *cackle*
But HOLY SHIT did I have a hard time just hopping back into Bloodlines the other day. When playing an RPG, I always do my best to save in a situation where I won’t be lost if I were to boot up the game months (or years) later. But misdirection wasn’t my problem this time. I had saved in the middle of a ridiculously hard mission. Pro Tip: Don’t do that. Especially in RPGs with non-traditional mechanics and controls. Yeesh.
Apparently, I forgot that I was playing a character build that didn't get really good until later in the game. I THINK I knew that before, but who the hell knows. What WAS clear was that I wasn't prepared to kill a parking garage full of dozens upon dozens of armed thugs. I don’t even think I could have handled it back when I was first playing the game. It was suggested that maybe I approach the mission with full stealth, but glitchy fucking vents were having none of that.
That's really the thing I often forget about this game. Bloodlines, even with fan mods, is fuuuuuucked. Fucked in that cute Alpha Protocol kind of way. OK, it's not that cute, but Alpha Protocol was amazing despite being terrible, and so is Bloodlines. And yeah, this vent filled mission didn't want me going in vents. So I vented by screaming, leaving, doing some other quests, leveling up, and buying some better gear before going back and tearing the place up. I'm playing a gun toting Toreador, so it's easy to forget I'm playing an RPG. Truth is, I probably just wasn't ready for that quest.
But there's always other quests. And that's what I love about Bloodlines. Every quest usually has you meeting someone new who also has quests for you. It's paced extremely well, and becomes very addictive. And really, the quests are almost always memorable. Crazy characters, clever scenarios, and often times, hilarious dialogue drive me through this game that is riddled with iffy mechanics.
During my last play session I stumbled into an abandoned hospital. To my surprise, I found the host of a paranormal investigations reality TV show claiming something horrible just killed his crew. I calmed him down and assured him nothing could possibly be in there. Then, after making a deal with the flesh eating vampire that killed his crew, I sent the TV host to his death. And guess what, Lady Cannibal had more quests for me. Yay!
Even when it's at its worst, Bloodlines is still better than most anything else out there. So yeah, expect to see more of this game soon. And hopefully, I'll finally seduce my way to victory.
Oh, and just wait till next time. I fiddled around with the console, and the lovely ladies of Bloodlines went from a conservative 1.00 to a titillating, but tasteful 1.40.
I'm so sorry. :(
Comments
10 years, 2 months ago
Bloodlines is indeed bloody good fun! Bugged as hell, but fun. From many memorable moments to silly katana stealth kills (that sound effect!).
On a side note, the game does keep some useful information from you like firearms doing less damage to vampires and fire doing more (that flamethrower kills any vampire "boss" so fast it isn't funny). And as much as celerity is great for combat, a ranged character just has to rely on auspex as a melee would rely on potence.
Looking forward to more bloody good fun on the feed!
10 years, 2 months ago
One of my favourite games. Troika really outdid themselves on the writing and voice acting in this one, it's a shame they were fucked so hard by Activision that they had to close.
10 years, 2 months ago
I played through Bloodlines last fall, on the recommendation from my girlfriend. So I jumped in and played as a Malkavian. Now, the wierd thing about being Malkavian is that your character is pretty much insane. He/she's hearing voices and the options in dialogue you get are so ridiculous! I jumped in to the game thinking it would be a fairly interesting RPG in a darker tone, but I spent half of my dialogues laughing at the stupid ass answers I got to say to the more sane plebs of CA.
Granted, it was a wierd starting point if you really wanted to get into the story. Because while the quests are still really good and the other characters are well written and also kind of hilarious, it felt like picking Malkavian in my first playthrough was kind of bad. If I had picked something else and later read that the Malkavians were insane I would probably have more incentive to play the game again. If I went back to the game now as another class, for some reason, I feel like I'm not going to enjoy it as much as the first time. So if you have played the game but not as a Malkavian, I could still recommend you to try it out!
Despite me probably not playing it through again, it was still one of the best games I played last year.
10 years, 2 months ago
Awesome Brad, would really love to see you finally finish this great game. I've recently gotten back into it myself and I had no idea about that TV crew quest, I'll have to see what else I missed.
10 years, 2 months ago
I came into the cast just as you were comparing it to Deus Ex. I haven't played this game myself, but at the very least I like the atmosphere and characters. Like the abandoned hospital you mentioned. That sounds great~
Even at it's worse I imagine the game still being interesting to watch!
10 years, 2 months ago
I have been meaning to get back into this game, but due to poor save management (for all the reasons you stated above), I am kind of afraid to continue my game. Regardless always great hearing about and watching Bloodlines.
10 years, 2 months ago
Glad you seem to be enjoying it despite some frustrations. Jumping into any game (well other than simulators I guess) after abandoning it for awhile generally sucks :V It's a great game to watch tho for sure. I'm all down for playing older games over new releases, long live YWB.
10 years, 2 months ago
Certainly a great game but not without it's own set of problems. Definitely a game worth sticking through to the end. Hopefully there are more to join in chat next time.
10 years, 2 months ago
Bloodlines is a game that always sounded very interesting to me, but I just lost interest due to the whole vampire side to it. Just never been a fan of that lore.
10 years, 2 months ago
Oh man do I love this game! Now Brad, I have to tell you that you easily picked the worst class in Bloodlines. So if you complain about the painful stealth or overly difficult combat, that's on you. Toreadors are the whelps of VtM. The can't stealth, they suck at general combat, they DO have a few general fighting buffs ,but for the most part, they're dependent on human manipulation; which doesn't do jack when an Anarch is tearing your asshole into a ninja turtle manhole. Toreadors are either male pansies or gunshy female seducers.
Now last year I picked up the game again after the new fan patch came out in October and experienced about two gameplay bugs after roughly 50 hours of overall playing. I played as a Tremere, and although they really suck at communication (I mean holy shit those hobo pick up lines) they make up for it with godly magic. Like, bloody thunder flying out of my ass powerful! They're competent sneaks to boot!
In comparison to other vampire titles, this one is right up there with the LoK series. Yea that good. I hope you manage to beat this game soon because it's a blast and the ending is certainly unexpected. But for god's sake drop the shitty Toreador for something shinier with 12 inch rims! Who cares if you have to start over you're not even halfway through with the game!
10 years, 2 months ago
I had bought Bloodlines based on your recommendation years back, I loved the hell outta what I played. Sadly, my game messed up and just stopped working altogether...with that said, I am really looking forward to seeing you play this again Brad. It sure is entertaining to watch.