[Intrepid Homoludens]

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines
day of unleashing: 16 Nov. 04

You'll begin the game in the Santa Monica hub, which is similar to the city zones found in the classic role-playing game Deus Ex. In fact, Bloodlines seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to that game since, like in Deus Ex, you start off in your gritty little apartment. Turn on the radio and you can listen to a lengthy, local talk radio show with callers discussing things that may or may not be clues to later events in the game. Then you can sit down at your computer and sort through your e-mail, filtering out the junk mail (yes, spam exists in the virtual world of Bloodlines) and looking for the clues. But some of the spam may be clues as well, as some of it corresponds with businesses and services that are in the game. It's all stuff to file away in your head for later use. You can also search your apartment for useful items, like blood packs that someone thoughtfully stashed in your refrigerator. Blood packs serve as health packs in a way, but they also allow you to recharge your blood meter. Blood powers your vampiric disciplines, which resemble magical powers, such as obfuscate, which makes your character invisible to detection.

The Santa Monica hub seems roughly comparable in size to some of the larger zones in Deus Ex, and it's filled with businesses and other locales that you can't access yet (but they hint at further adventures later on in the game). There's also plenty of foot traffic, with random passersby, prostitutes, and police officers walking around. These people may offer the opportunity to feed, but since the four major hubs are considered masquerade areas, revealing your nature in public or killing someone can have serious repercussions for you. Still, it's possible to lure a prostitute into an alleyway and partially feed on her. All you have to do to feed on a human is get close to her and hit the "f" key, and your vampire will grab victims and bite them on the neck. A blood meter will display how much blood remains in the victim, and you can stop feeding just before it runs out so you avoid killing the human. This is usually the safest method, as killing a victim will just raise potential problems, not the least of which is that you may lose humanity points, or the ability to control your vampiric nature in public.

Gamespot, Near Final Impressions, 5 Nov. 04

Sexy.

[jjacob]

I wish you guys could see huge grin that just appeared on my face.

[Catbert]

What I haven't got yet is, do you fight like in the FFantasy games or is it a shooter just like Deus Ex?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

It's a FPS/RPG hybrid, a la Deus Ex. All action/combat is in real time. This walkthrough movie will give you a good idea.

[Crunchy in milk]

I'm looking forward to it based mostly on my enjoyment of Arcanum by the same developer (Troika). I only wish they set Bloodlines in the late 1800s around the industrial revolution Then It would be that much closer to Arcanum 2 (which will never see the light of day).

Arcanum has one of the best character systems that isn't confusing to the newbie, but is extremely customisable with near infinite variations. Build the guy you like to do the job, not some cookie cutter like D&D games tend to do. Bloodlines' character system (and its dialogue system) is almost identical to Arcanum's, being a perfect fit with the White Wolf world of darkness 'points' method.

I also hope they keep up or even raise the mature content demoed in the walkthrough videos.

[Catbert]

No point in watching that thanks anyway. If that game lives up to its expectations, allying with the Deus Ex shooting mechanics, it's gonna rock. Deus Ex is my favourite game

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

Arcanum has one of the best character systems that isn't confusing to the newbie, but is extremely customisable with near infinite variations. Build the guy you like to do the job, not some cookie cutter like D&D games tend to do. Bloodlines' character system (and its dialogue system) is almost identical to Arcanum's, being a perfect fit with the White Wolf world of darkness 'points' method.

Sounds promising. So which sucker class you going for? Don't lame out and merely pick the babe with the biggest tits, okay?

Originally Posted by Catbert

Deus Ex is my favourite game

Deus Ex makes your eyes roll?

[Erkki]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

So which sucker class you going for? Don't lame out and merely pick the babe with the biggest tits, okay?

Well, as the camera is behind the character (unless first person), I'd pick the babe with the cutest ass

[Phantom]

This is probably the first RPG with the potential to match KOTOR since it was released, so I'm certainly looking forward to this one. Troika made the 2 best RPG's ever (Fallout 1/2) and even though I didn't really like Arcanum, I still believe in them. With a fantastic engine like the Source engine and their experience in open-ended RPG's, this game could turn out to be an instant-classic. Or a big disapppointment, of course . Only 10 days before we know.

Oh, and in case you didn't know: Troika was formed when the team that created Fallout 1/2 left Black Isle Studios.

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Sounds promising. So which sucker class you going for? Don't lame out and merely pick the babe with the biggest tits, okay?

When I finally get the game (affording the system to run it is the hard bit), I'll no doubt play through many times to test the different types of builds I can make. Its why I love rpgs.

I am rather keen on the Malkavian clan for a humorous first run through. The witty insight during the dialogue looks right up my alley .

I wouldn't pick a female avatar first time through, not after seeing in the walkthrough, playing a handsome male vampire can get you on my preferred end of said biggest tits.

Some other builds that come to mind are a stealthy but god ugly Nosferatu, and a handsome charmer/mage Toreador. Those three should provide some interesting differences each time through. Once as a lucky/intuitive mad man bouncing weird ideas off of the humans and vamps. Once as a ugly but stealthy creature who avoids humanity completely and once as a handsome devil who exploits human vanity at every opportunity. The concept of having a bevy of beautiful 'cows' at my beck and call (as a Toreador) is intriguing.

-----

RE: Fallout team, some of them went to Troika, some went to Obsidian (working on Kotor 2 and NWN 2), and some went to InXile (Just released a new 'The Bard's Tale'). Interestingly Troika have a post nuke theme'd game under development so that's promising, but moreso for me is that InXile have the rights to Wasteland the game that spawned the fallout series, both its setting and its humor which judging by the new Bard's Tale is alive and well at InXile.

[bigjko]

Will the tits be blurred out in-game?

[Sirus]

Originally Posted by bigjko

Will the tits be blurred out in-game?

That would be a waste of Source's new BoobieTech rendering.

[Catbert]

Deus Ex makes your eyes roll?

Knowing there's a "new" one coming out makes my eyes roll. In a good way.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Oh, so it's a good , not a bad .

[vansau]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

I'm looking forward to it based mostly on my enjoyment of Arcanum by the same developer (Troika). I only wish they set Bloodlines in the late 1800s around the industrial revolution Then It would be that much closer to Arcanum 2 (which will never see the light of day).

Arcanum has one of the best character systems that isn't confusing to the newbie, but is extremely customisable with near infinite variations. Build the guy you like to do the job, not some cookie cutter like D&D games tend to do. Bloodlines' character system (and its dialogue system) is almost identical to Arcanum's, being a perfect fit with the White Wolf world of darkness 'points' method.

I also hope they keep up or even raise the mature content demoed in the walkthrough videos.

I loved Arcanum as well. It's one of my favorite games, even years after it was released. I actually got to see a demo of Bloodlines at E3 this year... wow. Very impressive. The HL2 engine is remarkably employed in it.

[jjacob]

[Zoidberg]W00p woopwoopwoowoop![/Zoidberg]
Vampire will be released on thesame day as HL2! Lovely, although I hope they won't lose buyers over it, probably not seeing as though the games serve two different audiences, in a way (although this may be one hybrid that makes everybody happy).

Oh and make sure to check out this screenshot, it shows a remarkable level of detail.

[Fop]

Ooh, 27ÂŁ at Play.com. That's pretty cheap for a new game.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by jjacob

[Zoidberg]W00p woopwoopwoowoop![/Zoidberg]
Vampire will be released on thesame day as HL2! Lovely, although I hope they won't lose buyers over it, probably not seeing as though the games serve two different audiences, in a way (although this may be one hybrid that makes everybody happy).

I'm actually planning on getting Bloodlines before HL2!

AG members: :eek:

Oh and make sure to check out this screenshot...

EDIT: Ah. I clicked on the link a third time. Yeah, that screen, I saw it before. Very nice.

[Kolorabi]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

I'm actually planning on getting Bloodlines before HL2!

Hah, that's nothing. I'm getting it instead of Half-Life 2.

Ok, that's not strictly true, but I'm not planning on getting HL2 until it hits the bargain bins, at least if it doesn't ship with a manual and require me to log onto Steam to even install it.

[jjacob]

Originally Posted by kolorabi

Hah, that's nothing. I'm getting it instead of Half-Life 2.

I have no doubt about which will be the better game (Bloodlines) but I think I'm actually going to play HL2 first That way, when it sucks (oh it's bound to disappoint on certain areas, it can't live up to its hype methinks) I have yet to play the sweetest bestest It's sort of like, when you're expected to eat all of your dish*, and there's something you thoroughly dislike on it, you start with that, and move on to the better part Does that make sense?

*has this feeling that 'dish' in american slang also means something horrible :eek: