Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines

[TheYak]

Anyone played this? I got it today and I'm looking forward to giving it a shot tonight. Says on the cover that it's 18+! Interesting... :o

If you have played it before, gimme your opinion. I want to know what I'm in for. It's built using the Valve Source Engine - the same one Half Life 2 runs on - hence my interest, since I finished HL2 last week.

The interesting part though is that it's a first (and sometimes 3rd) person RPG! Admittedly, one of the first that I've heard of. You play quests and get skills and experience... but it's an FPS... again: interesting.

You get to be a vampire and you get to FEED!! Yeah! :D

[Chris]

Well it also uses the Source engine which is cool.

Go check for a review at this link.http://s3.invisionfree.com/TeamLC/index.php?showtopic=331

[synack]

The game is pretty cool, but then again, I'm a RPG fan. The game is similar in style to the first Game, but using a better engine. It's kinda spooky as well. The fact that it's using a FPS engine isn't all that amazing, they just move the camera from in body to out of body and back again (when you use a gun).

[TheYak]

I heard that (1st to 3rd person switch) from a work collegue as well - I'm sure that'd irritate me. Surely there's a way to switch it off?

The game won level of the Year at Gamespot for the Ocean House Hotel.


It's rather ironic that this award, which usually goes to a level from FPS, is being awarded this year to an RPG. It's doubly ironic that in a game built around vampires, the best level design of the year is a terrifying jaunt through a burned-out hotel haunted by ghosts. The Ocean House Hotel is a piece of property owned by one of the vampires of Santa Monica. Unfortunately, it's also being haunted by the spirit of a murdered woman and her two children along with the ghost of her husband -- he's the nutbar who killed them and then set the hotel on fire. Your job is to put the spirits to rest so that the vampire's construction crews will return and finish tearing the place down.

The Ocean House is filled with every haunted house cliché you can imagine. Lights flicker on and off as you approach them. A chandelier nearly drops on you as you walk in the front door, "Get Out!" written in blood suddenly appears on a wall, a screaming woman in a nightdress runs down the hall, and when you turn the corner, there's nobody there! By the time you're halfway through the level and a female voice suddenly whispers in your ear, "He's coming?" you'll be ready to just shut off the computer and huddle in the corner clutching a crucifix. Kudos to Troika for making these age-old Halloween scares feel fresh again.

For the complete list of Game of the Year stuff for the PC go to:
http://goty.gamespy.com/2004/pc

I'm looking forward to giving it a shot tonight... just the fact that I can play a vampire makes it doubly worth it for me, but I've read some bad reviews...

I'll check it out and make my mind up tonight.

[bb_matt]

Please do - I'd love to know if it's worth it.

Most of the reviews I've read say that game is excellent, but is actually let down because it runs on the source engine.

[TheYak]

Just remember: it doesn't use Steam - which is (I think) what irritated people about Half-life 2.

It uses Source, but apparently not to it's full potential.

But, I'll let you guys know how it pans out.

[Razer0]

My boet plays it, he says its awesome. The visuals from what ive seen are pretty good, gameplay seems well done aswell. It reminds me of... umm Blood Omen2: legacy of kain but with many more features and interactions. Personally though im not a fan of any vampire type stories, so i just stay away from it :)

[James]

You get to see nekid chicks in the stripper bar, that is cool. The game has a cool feel to it. RPG cross FPS, I like the concept.

It is quite similar in style of play to the first one and has a kinda clive barker undying feel to it. Get kinda creepy. The Haunted house as pointed out is cliche and you know things are gonna happen but it still had me on edge.

The graphics and the feel of the game is good but I dunno why I was hoping for better. The controls are easy to get used to, your standars ASDW with the feeding and odd variations. It is just the 3rd person view that gets to me.

[TheYak]

Okay... so I played it a bit last night. Well, not exactly "a bit" - I played until about 12! :)

That Haunted Hotel scared the hell outta me! It was SO scary. They use all the clichès: flying objects, lights that burst when you walk past them etc etc. But what scared me the most was the girl you see running through the corridor and when you turn the corner, she's gone. She's all over the show, pointing to rooms and then dissapearing etc. That and the "He's coming" bit - I had goosebumps all over - it was TERRIFYING. I played Doom3 - and it's not a patch to this! What made it worse was that I was sitting alone in a dark study and having 5.1 speakers set up, I was hearing whispers behind me!! I'm getting tingly just thinking about it! :)

I agree with James though: I expected more from the graphics - it's very well done, don't get me wrong, but after playing Half Life 2, these graphics just don't come close to it! It's almost as if they have an "earlier" version of Steam? The graphics aren't as smooth and realistic as Half Life 2 and the NPC (and PC - seen as you can see your character) movement is nowhere close to HL2's. There are quite a few glitches in the animations and a bit of clipping - but it's negligible.

This game has a lot going for it though, I'm having a ball playing - being a vampire is so cool and the feeding is awesome.

Nothing like jumping someone in a dark alley...

Did I just type that?! :eek:

:D

[TheYak]

argh! I'm SO pissed off right now! I'm almost done with the game, and I've gotten to a stage where the game just keeps on crashing to my desktop, so I loaded the patch, which is supposed to fix it - nothing. Still crashes...

Sent an email to their support.

Has anyone else had this problem?

[Chris]

Could you please supply some more info like what specs you have and what the error says.

[TheYak]

Hi Dominic.

There's no error message. It just exits to the desktop and pleh... that's it.

It's a known problem that's supposed to be fixed with the 1.2 patch, but it's obviously not fixed.

Machine specs:

Pentium IV 3.2 Ghz Prescott
1 Gig Memory
nVidia GeForce FX5700LE
Windows XP SP2

I loaded the NO-CD crack (I do have the original game, btw - just don't feel like putting the CD in everytime). I copied the old files back (the ones that aren't changed by the patch), but it still crashes.

Short of uninstalling and re-installing, I don't know what to do. Activision still haven't come back to me. I have copied my savegames folder, so I suppose I could do that, but I'll fit if I loose my savegames.

Needless to say. I'm slightly grumpy...

:)

[Chris]

Could it possibly be that the NO-CD crack is the older version of Vampires and not the 1.2?

[James]

it is the no-cd crack that stuffed it up, same prob here.

[TheYak]

I rolled back the files to before the CD patch... but maybe it checks filedates or something

So a re-install is in order then?

bljech. okay.

Thanks guys.

Edit: Well, re-install worked - seems the patch messes it up. grrr.

[Dirmit]

can anyone give me a real and full explination how to fix it....