OMG OMG - Vampire: The Masquerade is baaaack!

[calapine]

With Brian Misoda. The lead writer of the first game. And Chris Avallone.

This can't end up anything but a well written and bug ridden masterpiece with no proper ending!

Trailer here: https://youtu.be/SYvWfDxhm_s

[Lucas]

Paradox  




24 hrs early access. Let me grab my top hat and monocle 

[Setanta]

As long as it isn't going to be an Epic Store Exclusive, I'm going to have to get this.

Loved Masquerade, loved/hated Bloodlines depending on the community patches

Still have my WoTC V:TES cards :D

[satael]

I just hope they won't go too far into the politically correct with this game after all that's happened with White Wolf since the original had content which some might be considered problematic today.

[Reg]

Paradox games don't go out of their way to shock or offend but I've never seen them being awkwardly PC either.

[Bunk]

OMG

I think I just nerdgasmed.

Nice in depth article here: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/03/22/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-preview/

Avellone and Mitsoda are both back.

[Setanta]

GoG and Steam. Fortunately I have the money I put aside for Phoenix Point that is now getting dumped into Bloodlines 2 instead :)

[Samwise]

I preordered the deluxe edition.  Fucking be there.

[Falconeer]

Cara Ellison is a senior writer in this.

[Signe]

I'll save my pennies for this, too.

Cara Ellison is a senior writer in this.

Cinched it!   

[Kail]

GoG and Steam. Fortunately I have the money I put aside for Phoenix Point that is now getting dumped into Bloodlines 2 instead :)

It knocked Diablo out of the bestseller slot on GoG, even though it costs eight times as much and isn't out yet.  And was released during a sale when most of the rest of the catalog is discounted.

So hyped for this.  The original is one of those games I install on every new computer and just keep poking around in every now and then.

[Velorath]

I preordered the deluxe edition.  Fucking be there.

Isn't it still a year out?

[jth]

I preordered the deluxe edition.  Fucking be there.

Isn't it still a year out?

Q1 2020 (Steam says March 2020), so plenty of time to (pre)order it. It's not like they will run out of digital copies.

[Sir T]

No love for VTM: Redemption 

[Kail]

No love for VTM: Redemption 

I kind of dislike Redemption, honestly.  The story was pretty dicey in places (the romance plot was just ughhhhh...) but what killed it for me was the gameplay.  Combat was hugely random, sometimes you'd kill someone in one hit and sometimes you'd miss five attacks in a row.  The combat mechanics weren't super well explained and seemed unbalanced, something like half of your stats didn't seem to do anything except maybe influence a discipline or two in vague, unexplained ways.  And I never could figure out how to beat the final boss without cheesing it, the only way I eventually won was by glitching out the pathfinding and pouring four characters worth of ammo in to the thing.

[hal1]

Well I bit. I love vtm and played a little last night. I love that game and just might load it up now.

[Cyrrex]

So, um, if you never played the orginal....does it hold up?  Asking for a friend.

[Kail]

So, um, if you never played the orginal....does it hold up?  Asking for a friend.

I played the original on release, so it's hard for me to answer objectively without nostalgia goggles on, but I'm consistently surprised with how fun it is.  The actual mechanics are super janky (which makes the later half of the game drag, because it gets more and more combat heavy as things go on) and the graphics are inconsistent (solid conceptual art and overall design, but awful implementation, with animation pops everywhere, vertices assigned to the wrong bone, etc.) but the atmosphere and immersiveness is some of the best out there.

If you're looking for something unique, I'd suggest picking it up when it's on sale, which it currently is in GoG ($5.00 versus $20 on Steam) and the GoG version comes with the latest version of the fan patch that irons out a lot of the glitches and bugs from the original launch (the game is still janky as hell, it just won't crash or render the game unwinnable as much).

If you're looking for a mechanically solid action title to blast enemies in, this is probably not the game you're looking for.

[Cyrrex]

I am probably more interested in it from the RPG side of things.  Anyway, 6.50 for both games on GOG, so what the hell.

[Tebonas]

If you are interested from the RPG side of things then, without a single doubt, buy it.

[Phildo]

I didn't play the original until about a decade after it came out (for no particular reason, I also enjoyed Redemption a lot) and it held up fine.  Just make sure you apply the unofficial patch if it's not being shipped with the game yet as the original game was buggy was hell.

[Lucas]

As of today, if you purchase Bloodlines on GOG (dunno about Steam), the UP v10.2 is included (latest unofficial patch is 10.3, but for now it's just a release candidate, available here), no need to tinker with anything else unless you want to enhance some settings (AF, AA, FOV etc.): in that case, the PCGaming Wiki entry is helpful:

https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade_-_Bloodlines

[HaemishM]

The RPG and story aspects of the original were brilliant, down to your character's clan choice actually affecting the dialogue and story options you are given. Play a Nosferatu and you can't walk around in public without people freaking the fuck out. Play a Malkavian and your dialogue choices sound like you are on LSD. The combat is a bit janky at times (it was done on the Source engine) but the RPG and story aspects were top notch.

[Reg]

Does the GOG installer apply the patch itself or do I need to do it?

[Lucas]

Does the GOG installer apply the patch itself or do I need to do it?

Like I said, no need to do anything else.
----------
Just a couple more things: once Bloodlines is installed via GOG Galaxy, clik on the "More" menu next to Play: in the "other" section you have also the choice of playing the original Bloodlines ("Legacy" version) without the unofficial patch (but the latest official patch is already installed).

The unofficial patch GOG already bundles the game with is the "basic" version (only fixes and generic balance changes): there is also a "plus" version that restores cut content, akin to what other modders did with KOTOR II or Arcanum. Dunno if that's also included in the GOG directory or if you have to download it from and external source like moddb.com
----------

Oh, and by the way: I'm actually replaying it right now after 10 years, and for the very first time as a Malkavian. Needless to say, each and every dialogue is fuckin' hilarious 

[Goumindong]

So, um, if you never played the orginal....does it hold up?  Asking for a friend.

Combat is janky and you will have to do a decent amount of it later. Shooting is less janky if you have a high firearms skill and avoid the shitty trap weapons. Shooting will seem underpowered at first but is definitely not underpowered.

There is one section in particular which is just terrible and may make you want to quit(sewer level). And the end game is a bit combat heavy without much downtime (the combat itself isn't bad and its at a point where you should be a combat monster, so its a power romp rather than slog, but there is nothing to break up the combat). There are a number of sections where its not clear at all where to go to progress. You dont get quest markers and the level geometry is not always intuitive.


RPGness holds up pretty well. Its a linear game and there is no farming. You get XP for completing quests so you can just not fight things if you dont want to bother. Except bosses you will have to fight bosses. The dialog is good to great and changes based on your skills(intimidate is under used and seduction is nice but mainly for feeding), humanity(low and high), disciplines(presence, dementia, dominate) as well as clan (malk and minor everyone else)

The story is good to great and the dialog is fantastic

Edit: redemption is bad but enjoyable. The stats are opaque* and its basically all combat. Its designed in the “nwn style” where MP is semi-integrated with the idea that a storyteller could run pnp type games. 

*nothing says what it does. Of the non-physical stats only manipulation(prices), charisma (success rate of some skills), and appearance (success rate of some skills) have effects besides letting you open up skills. The physical stats all have direct combat application

[Phildo]

Don't play a Malkavian on your first playthrough, but do play a Malkavian on your second.

[Sir T]

If you want to power through your first playthrough, I suggest playing a Tremere. Blood Magic solves a lot of problems with satisfying bloodiness, and you get the best Haven imo. And you know, wizards are stylish.

After that, you can orrr pee whatever you want. The Nosferatu Haven is shitty but otherwise Nozzies are cool, and I never actually played Malkavians.

I feel the call!!

[Sky]

Don't play a Malkavian on your first playthrough, but do play a Malkavian on your second.

This

I went Ventrue first time through, because suits.

[Samwise]

I picked Brujah on my first playthrough because it seemed like sort of the most default option, and built him as a sort of jack-of-all-trades rogue type.  Then I ended up doing one playthrough on each of the seven clans, including once more on Brujah but with a straight up melee brawler build this time.  

I had fun each time (although after my first couple of times through the stupid sewer level I satisfied myself it was never going to be either different or fun and just noclipped it on subsequent playthroughs), but there are basically four kinds of "build" (combat, stealth, magic, talking), so after more than four games you end up with a lot of overlap between your characters.  There wasn't a lot of difference between my fighty Brujah and my fighty Gangrel, nor between my talky Ventrue and my talky Toreador.  But it was definitely cool seeing how many of the missions could be tackled from completely different angles depending on the character build.

[hal1]

If you have played this game at all and not played as a malk you must play again as a malk. It is worth experiencing. I am gonna take the above advice and try trim as I've all ways played bru.

[Morat20]

I have played Bloodlines several times. This is always what happens.

1. "I've forgotten what I'm doing and what the controls are. I'll just make a new character."
2. "Oh yeah, I remember chapter 1."
3. "Okay, I've finished chapter 1. The start of chapter 2 is a good place to take a break for a few days."
4. Two years later:  "Oh yeah, Bloodlines! That was fun, I meant to finish that...I've forgotten what I'm doing and what the controls are...."

I think I have five saves, each at least a year apart, at the beginning of chapter 2. And I like the game, I just can't seem to muster the energy to pick it back up once I hit a solid stop point.

[Samwise]

The main way I think the sequel could improve on the original would be to cut down "boss battles" and other sections where combat is strictly required.  In the original even if you build yourself mostly around avoiding combat, there are a few sections where you will absolutely need to fight something and it'll be a chore if you don't have a few dots in a suitable weapon.  The giant bat boss fight was my least favorite in this regard, since it requires ranged combat specifically and melee combat is otherwise the more generally fun option IMO.

[Tebonas]

Indeed, I still remember my first playthhrough with a Carrying-a-Big-Stick Diplomacy Brujah who waltzed through the rest of the game with ease, until he hit a wall with that bat boss.

[Sir T]

The namby pamby Elves of Clan Tremere spat on that boss.