Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - Troika - PC

[Velorath]

I know I'm pretty late to the party on this one.  Way back when it came out, it sounded like something I could really get into.  I'd read through the a lot of the RPG rulebooks, although never actually played.  I thought the card game (Jyhad/Vampire the Eternal Struggle, WOTC's followup to M:TG) was good fun, and unlike with Magic, I still own the cards, though they're stored away in a box somewhere.  Problem was, I heard the game was pretty buggy upon release, so I passed it up intending on coming back to it at some point when it had been patched up a bit.  Fast-forward about three years later after having more or less forgotten about it, to me picking the game up for $10 during the recent sale on Steam, and finally giving it a try (after being unable to force myself to finish slogging though Half Life 2).

Anyhow, for old time's sake, I whipped up a Malkavian (which was the clan I used most when I played V:TES), and proceeded to jump into the game.  My first impression going through the tutorial was that I was a little bit underwhelmed by the combat.  It's a fairly clunky thing, and there has been the occasional odd tic where I'd hit someone and they'd go spiraling out of control to get stuck in a wall or something.  Fortunately, a few hours in, the game doesn't seem to be too heavy in combat, and puts a nice amount of emphasis on sneaking around, picking locks, and hacking computers for information (at least if you spec that way).

Also, while the graphics are no longer shiny and new, the game still has a nice atmosphere going for it, and areas like the haunted hotel go a long way toward making one appreciate that they're playing a Horror/Sci-Fi RPG rather than just another standard Fantasy RPG.  It's no Silent Hill or even Resident Evil as far as the scares or mood go, but it's a nice change of pace regardless, and as such carries more interest to me than newer, larger, shinier RPG's like Oblivion. 


Aside from a couple of minor glitches in combat, it would seem that a lot of the bugginess has been patched out from what I can tell.  I've also heard of an unofficial patch that puts in some some abilities (Backgrounds I think they're called) that got cut from the game due to the developers not having time to balance them properly.  Anyway, for the 2 or 3 RPG enthusiasts who haven't yet picked up this game, I can't see any reason not to recommend it, especially at the budget prices it can be found at now.
-
Buy It

[caladein]

You can grab the unofficial patches from PlanetVampire.

The main thing I liked about this game was how often you could get things done without fighting or being on rails. Consequently, the rails portions of the game (I hated the haunted hotel for example) almost always made me set it aside for months.

Still, totally worth the $20 that it's up for now.

[KallDrexx]

Hrm I loved the Haunted Hotel level.  I felt they did a great job on the atmosphere for it and felt that t also helped vary the gameplay more.

[Big Gulp]

Hrm I loved the Haunted Hotel level.  I felt they did a great job on the atmosphere for it and felt that t also helped vary the gameplay more.

I won't replay this game ever again, and I can give you a one word reason why:

Sewers.

[Samwise]

I played through the game seven times and used noclip on the sewers for the last three.  I agree, the sewers were an ugly pockmark on the rest of the game.

[Rasix]

Just speaking as one of the insane, multiple finish crowd, both the hotel and sewers take very little time once you've done them once.  I will admit though, there's one exit that I always struggle a bit to locate.  Sewers can also be a lot easier if you've done a lot of side quests before attempting them.  It doesn't pay to go in underpowered to that.

I just don't like doing the Hotel because it freaks me out.  I'm such a baby about that type of crap.

Playing as a Malk is something everyone should do at least once.  It's just a great gaming experience. If you play as a chick, she ends up in some pretty hilarious outfits.

[HaemishM]

I only played through once as a Nosferatu, but yes, this game is an absolute must play. At $10, it's a fucking travesty NOT to buy the game. One of these days, I plan on replaying as a Malk, and maybe some others. I almost never replay RPG's, but that one is just too good. The melee combat can be a bit wonky at times, and the bugs... ARG the bugs. But it really does deserve play time. It would have been in my Top 20 without the bugs.

[hal]

Get the latest patch and you will have to look hard to find a bug. I also will weigh in on loving this game and the hotel being among my favorite bits (be carefull!). If you haven't played it at this price it is a must if you are intrested in games at all. Planet Vampire and get the latest patch.

[Moosehands]

I just started playing this for the first time a couple weeks ago.  I held out for a long time due to all the stories about game breaking bugs but I always knew I'd play it some day (to my great shame, I was a WoD LARP'er in high school).

I'm playing Brujah for the first run through, with unofficial patch 5.something I think.

Cool Stuff:

Very Deus Ex-ish cityscapes with lots of wandering around checking out NPCs.

Outstanding character writing and voice acting.  Smiling Jack and the Malkavian Primogen are both spot on.

Authentic WoD kitchen-sink supernatural population.  Hell they even pull out the Baali at one point, which is digging deeeep into the first edition supplementary sourcebooks.

Sucky Stuff:

One of the reasons I bought this when I did was because I was stuck with a loaner laptop for a bit and wanted a game tied to Steam and without bleeding edge graphics.  Unfortunately, that laptop was running Vista and I didn't have an admin account.  Game no workee.  (It is fine on my XP machine and my understanding is it's fine if you have admin rights on Vista.)

The Baali sidequest I mentioned above has twice locked me in a room with an enemy I simply could not beat, forcing me to load a previous save and go "level" more before returning to that quest.

A couple times I've had problems with scripted conversations that assumed I was standing in a slightly different spot in a room.  This means that when the conversation ends either an NPC or the game controlling my character (note to devs: Bad!) gets caught in a pathfinding glitch bringing the game to a dead halt and forcing a reload.


Hal posted while I was writing this, so I'll be a touch more specific about that last bit since it is a game stopping bug and clearly not fixed by the fan patches:

At one point you track someone to a building in Hollywood, which takes you to an abandoned building.  There's a bum cowering in a corner that you talk to to advance the quest.  If I walk in a straight line from the door to the bum and talk to him, when the conversation finishes he gets up and goes to walk out the door but for some reason the game takes control of my character and tries to walk him 20 feet to the right at the same time.  The end result is the bum can't get out the door and I never regain control of my character.

I eventually worked around this by circling the outer edge of the room until the bum was between me and the door.  Even then it was like a little race between me and the bum to see who'd get walked to the door first.

[lesion]

I've also heard of an unofficial patch that puts in some some abilities (Backgrounds I think they're called) that got cut from the game due to the developers not having time to balance them properly.

The unofficial patches are great, but if you want to try this without downloading it open the console before a new game and enter "vchar_edit_histories 1". If you switch between histories a bunch of times it can crash the game, but it's semi-rare and doesn't mess anything up later on.

[Rasix]

stuffs

I've never had any of those pathfinding glitches you've mentioned on any completion of game.    Game still can randomly crash/CTD, but that's only happened a couple times in my most recent play through.

And uhh.. what Baali sidequest? I don't remember any.

[Samwise]

I think that's the one in Santa Monica where the supernatural-type guy with the sword is stalking you.  I don't know if they ever called him a "Baali", but from the description of being locked in a warehouse that sounds like the one.

[Moosehands]

I've never had any of those pathfinding glitches you've mentioned on any completion of game.    Game still can randomly crash/CTD, but that's only happened a couple times in my most recent play through.

And uhh.. what Baali sidequest? I don't remember any.

I'm trying to remember the one other pathfinding glitch I had.  I want to say it was on the beach in Santa Monica, or maybe on the Elizabeth Dane.  Anyways it was the exact same issue where I finished a conversation, the game started walking me and an NPC in the same direction at the same time, and I never got control back.

I'm about 95% sure that the plaguebringers are Baali.  I hope that's not too big a spoiler.

[lesion]

I had one after two or three playthroughs. It was in the blood bank, where my character would try walking out of the back room and get stuck on the doorframe.

Also, I thought the guy in the warehouse (Foxy Boxes?) was a Kuei-jin scout or something.

[Rasix]

I think that's the one in Santa Monica where the supernatural-type guy with the sword is stalking you.  I don't know if they ever called him a "Baali", but from the description of being locked in a warehouse that sounds like the one.

That guy's just Kuei Jin. 

I'm about 95% sure that the plaguebringers are Baali.  I hope that's not too big a spoiler.

Errr, they've got distinct clans: I believe one was a Nosferatu, one was a Toreador, and the leader was just the nutty Bishop who had to be some clan with celerity.  Just some apocalyptic vamp cult, not Baali (thx u wikipedia).

[Moosehands]

Really?  Damnit.   

[Samwise]

I had one after two or three playthroughs. It was in the blood bank, where my character would try walking out of the back room and get stuck on the doorframe.

Huh... that happened to me a few times, but after a few seconds of jittering there the game would figure out that something was wrong and teleport my character to the correct location.

[Sky]

I played through an entire time as a Ventrue, liked playing in a business suit. About halfway through as a Tremere and had just started a Malk when some other shiny thing distracted me away. That Kuei Jin dude was super tough because I hadn't focused on combat enough early on, common complaint iirc. I was pushing charismatic stuff for dialog options, to fit my smooth business slimeball persona.

[Rasix]

Blood buff is really effective early on if you're having problems with combat.

Also, here's a nice trick for basically free exp.  Any book you get is usually good for two training levels (ie 1&2 or 3&4).  If you sell the book, you can buy it, use it, and then buy it again and use it again.  This can save you a ton of exp if you want to turn your character into a bit of a multi-talented badass.

[caladein]

I just don't like doing the Hotel because it freaks me out.  I'm such a baby about that type of crap.

Same. I've resorted to going godmode and blaring skate punk to get through it the last time. It really didn't help though, but I may have to try noclip next time through for the extra cheese/wuss factor.

[Prospero]

This game still win the "Best Voice Acting Evar" award for me. I think there were only two voices in the entire game that I thought were poorly done. Malk was probably my favorite play though, but I also enjoyed kick some serious ass with my Brujah.

[Lantyssa]

I've played through the game three times, and half-way through a fourth.

It felt like they really knew their WoD stuff.  They had the lore down, the feel of the Clans, the fear of puppies because they're killing machines, and the atmosphere.  Hacking was fun because you got neat little story tidbits you otherwise wouldn't.

I didn't find the bugs and crashes too bad since the game enthralled me.  The forced combat portions did suck if you weren't making a combat character.

This game still win the "Best Voice Acting Evar" award for me. I think there were only two voices in the entire game that I thought were poorly done. Malk was probably my favorite play though, but I also enjoyed kick some serious ass with my Brujah.

The voice actress for Juhani in Kotor did three or four in Bloodlines.  Rosa (the Malk on the beach), the Nagaraja, and Heather.  I agree most everyone was well done though.  Props for whomever the voice director was.

[sidereal]

Great game.  My biggest complaint was that non-combat options weren't supported well enough.  I played as a fruity Toreador for fun dialog options and as an accurate reflection of my IRL incredible seduction abilities, but kept getting combat-stat-checked at boss fights. 

Hey look, I even found my 3-year-old post here on the subject:

Just play a combat character.  Every situation in the game can be solved with violence, and there are a significant number of situations that can only be solved by violence.  That latter fact is a real pain in the ass if you built a character that wasn't combat oriented.  If I started over, I'd go as a Brujah hacker, but since I want to keep going with my fancy-pants Toreador, I've come to terms with the need to die/reload a few hundred more times.  I've taken to storing up a bunch of experience points, and when I get to one of the bits where I have to fight, jacking up the relevant combat skill.  There was one fight in particular where the only reason I had even the slimmest chance to handle it was that I healed up over time and the other guy didn't (even though he was a vampire.  go figure), so I found a way to hide in a corner for 15 minute stretches of realtime until I healed up fully, then went back out to suck on his shotgun some more.  Rinse/repeat.   This was kind of irritating.  If combat is going to be that essential, make that clear at character creation.

[Riggswolfe]

This game rocks except what Sidereal and others are complaining about, IE, gimping your character if you go social over combat.

[Sky]

Smilin' Jack was fucking awesome. My favorite voice actor in a game, maybe.

Playing X-Men Legends 2, the Juggernaut was driving me nuts, I knew I knew that voice from somewhere. Same guy voiced it (I played Juggy as my main in the Brotherhood).

[Samwise]

My fancypants Toreador found no problem that couldn't be solved by either fast talking or fast dancing.  Celerity for the motherfucking win.  

It would be nice if you could talk your way out of EVERY situation, but Bloodlines is so much better than almost any other game about giving you multiple options for so many quests that I never begrudged them the handful of forced combat situations.

[rk47]

I played through Tremere for the blood magic. 3 Insta kill spells are awesome for combat. Add in Trance + suck to death = 

[bhodi]

Yep. I played Tremere in V:TM and I played Tremere in this game. Worked great :)

[Mazakiel]

Smilin' Jack was fucking awesome. My favorite voice actor in a game, maybe.

Playing X-Men Legends 2, the Juggernaut was driving me nuts, I knew I knew that voice from somewhere. Same guy voiced it (I played Juggy as my main in the Brotherhood).

He was my favorite voice in the game as well.  Not surprising, though, he's also the voice of Bender. 

[Velorath]

Probably about halfway into it right now and already thinking about my next time through.  I'll probably try out the unofficial patch stuff on my 2nd playthrough, and I'd like to give the Tremere a try.  I'm impressed by how much of the lore they managed to squeeze into this game.

[Sky]

And how different each clan is tweaked. As a Ventrue you get some business options, not sure if they're available with the others. My Tremere never got an apartment, do the other clans get a second apartment like Ventrue does?

[Mazakiel]

If I remember correctly, all clans have the potential to get a second apartment.  Most in the high-rise, unless you've really pissed off the Prince.  Nosferatu can get a sewer lair, and Tremere can get a room in the Chantry if they don't cheese off baldy. 

[Rasix]

And how different each clan is tweaked. As a Ventrue you get some business options, not sure if they're available with the others. My Tremere never got an apartment, do the other clans get a second apartment like Ventrue does?

Tremere and Nosferatu get their second place a bit later than other clans. They both require a certain quest(s) to be finished and it's after other clans have already gotten the apartment.  The tremere chantry room is quite nice, however.

[Hoax]

I just got this because I was bored as hell last night and my pinky is fucked up so TF2 is harder then it needs to be.  If "the sewers" & "the haunted hotel" are the two stages that you get sent two before you can do Murcurio's second mission then I don't get what the complaining is about.  I enjoy'd the haunted hotel for the first half of it & it was never a bother, though I did die once jumping into the glowy purple shit.  The sewers were no hassle to get through either.

I always love the whole "take a quiz to pick your character thing" but I got Malk, which was sorta funny I guess.  I rerolled a artsy homo vamp because honestly they had the best pre-selected backround.  The one where after you've been turned you start to enjoy killing people more and more as it gets easier.  That totally sounds like what would happen if I gained special powers.   

[Samwise]

I might reinstall this and play through it for the 8th time after I finish Black & White.  This thread is making me nostalgic.