Out of Pod Experience

Since CCP is working on bringing the World of Darkness to our PCs, I thought it would be appropriate to step back in time and look at one of the more successful past attempts.

In November of 2001, Troika games began work on Bloodlines, a sequel to Activision's earlier Masquerade title, Redemption. The project was troubled from the start, with problems during design and intensive re-writes that drastically altered the original premise, but still managed a 2004 release.


Synopsis:

The player, a newly-Embraced vampire, is tasked by the Prince of Los Angeles to retrieve an ancient sarcophagus rumored to contain one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in existence. Behind the scenes, however, a delicate political dance is beginning, and it's anyone's guess as to who's keeping the beat....

Gameplay and Interface:

Despite its troubled creation, Bloodlines is not a bad game. Yes, there are bugs (and there were several large sections removed for balance or time reasons), but the game holds together remarkably well.

In terms of playability, Bloodlines succeeds admirably, with a smooth, well-designed interface that gets things done with a minimum of key-pressing and a story that strikes a balance between mature and macabre. NPCs respond fluidly and move about their environment, and while the environments are quite large, navigation in and between them is never a serious issue thanks to a warren of well-placed alleys and sewers that also lend the setting a bit of credibility.

Character design is quick and easy; you either answer a series of questions to have your stats automatically assigned, or choose from a more detailed creation system, choosing your clan and distributing points to your abilities manually. Each ability is clearly described throughout the process, and the relevant skills for each ability are highlighted.

Storyline/Dialogue:

(Note: I've only played as a Malkavian; the dialogue options for the other clans differ only in their presentation to the player).

The storyline is well-crafted, with every mission tying into a larger pattern. What's more, it's so well conceived that you won't know who's pulling your strings until the very end.

While all of the clans offer a unique experience, I highly recommend playing the game at least once as a Malkavian. The dialogue is turned into a River Tam-style 'word soup', and you're treated to some amusing alternate encounters, including mind-zapping a mortal friend into thinking you're her long-lost turtle to avoid breaking the Masquerade ('It's like being a walking house, that eats lettuce').

With regard to said violations: Troika thought to make that an aspect of your experience as well -- you get five Masquerade violations, and once those are gone, the game is over. Literally. Thankfully, there are a couple of ways to earn another chance, but the mechanic prevents 'victory via rampage'.

Graphics and Audio:

The World of Darkness is a grim, dangerous place, and the game reflects that. While navigating the large environments, the music is quiet, sad and almost menacing. Walk into a club (such as the Asylum nightclub, in the Santa Monica hub) and it's replaced by the pulsing beat of rock music, which was apparently recorded by several real-world bands.

Likewise, the game is otherwise hushed, which only adds to the 'predatory' feeling of being a vampire in a city full of walking Big Macs. The buildings are designed with a monolithic 'dark deco' style, again matching the atmosphere and setting.

Character designs are wonderful: everyone that you'll encounter dresses in a style that befits their individual histories. The player character even gets in on the act. with the armor you'll collect fitting the personality of your chosen clan. The NPCs sometimes look a bit 'plastic', but they all have a reasonable range of facial expression.

Design:

This is where the game's largest flaws are revealed.

Released shortly after Half-Life, and built on a modified version of the same engine, Bloodlines is quite attractive. Moody lighting, well-designed environments,and quite a few jump-and-yell moments combine to create an atmosphere well-suited to the World of Darkness setting.

Unfortunately, while the writing is excellent (and hilarious, if a player chooses a Malkavian character), the game suffers from a very linear structure: do some small side-quests for XP, complete the 'storyline' quest, move to new area, rinse and repeat.

The replay value comes from each clan's approach to the quests: the Ventrue rely on diplomacy and their vampire abilities to 'talk' their way through the game, the Bruja are 'beat-em-until-they-stop-moving-and-then-beat-em-some-more', and the Malkavians are pretty much 'confuse them as much as you can, then have a nice chat with the stop sign'.

Strangely, the game makes a bizarre switch midway through the game, to an oddly-placed crawl through LA's sewers in search of the missing Nosferatu; while certainly not game-breaking, the change is quite a confusing one.

Unfortunately, Troika Games went under shortly after the game was released; Bloodlines was their third and final title, and despite a rather tortured design process, it was a worthy 'grace-note' on which to exit the stage.

Final Score:

* * * * 3/4, with 1/4 removed for the linear story and bizarre mid-game switch.

Verdict:

Flawed gem. Certainly not perfect, but well worth the money. Get it from Steam, or borrow a friend's CDs.

Why is it that everyone always talks about Bloodlines and not Redemption? Do not get me wrong, I love Bloodlines; I have played it to death many times over, but I also have done the same for Redemption and no one ever seems to give it the love that it deserves.

Love this game... I start it up every Month at least once ^_^

Always have to go Malkavian their 'Uniqueness' makes me laugh everytime ^_^

I can't say for sure, since I've never played it, but it doesn't seem like a great game. This is based on watching let's plays though. It looks meh, seems repetitive, the main character is bland and the plot, as far as I've seen it, is standard fare and predictable. It just doesn't seem to have anything outstanding, that would help make it a classic.

False.

- source: PCgamer

Vampire the masquerade: bloodlines is still my favorite RPG. Despite its age and faults, its definitely worth checking out if you want to get a feel about whats the original world of darkness is like. The amount of details hidden in it I wish I would see in modern games. You can buy it from steam, although afaik it has to be patched at least with the latest official patch due to a gamebreaking bug in the game. There are also lot of fan-made unofficial patches for it.

I thought the game was awesome. I thought it was a shame that you couldn't play as Tzimisce though. :(

The community Patch is awesome! In this regard there are wesp patches, that offer enhanced features and fixes, then we have the other "two".

If you want to experience a proper Bloodlines Experience, try Wesp5´s patch.

Really makes the game shine in the little tweaks it adds.

The other "two" patches are almost the same. But the focus is diff, to make a long story short, there was high-emo vampire drama regarding the patches and the directions they were taking , but wesp´s is the only solid patch that is being updated even today!

Also yes, Bloodlines is way superior to Redemption.

Me? I enjoyed the Malkavian side, but for me the Nosferatu play-through having to hide and use the sewer system were simply fabulous.

Also hookers screaming on seeing you is priceless.

Bloodlines is one of my favourite games of all time.
There's a weird atmosphere to the game, and when I think about that first street in Santa Monica, with the hospital and the pawnshop, or Hollywood with... everything, it makes me want to install it again and give another playthrough. And I already did that a couple of months ago.
The unofficial patches are a must have though. That bug with the door in the tutorial section still pisses me off.
I prefer the Brujah and Tremere, although playing as Tremere makes it a bit too easy at times.
The only thing that felt really odd to me is that as soon as you go to Griffith Park, the game just becomes a constant stream of bossfights, it seemed like a really odd change of pace as compared to the rest of the game.

And they forgot to turn it on