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MoonDragon
High Emperor
Joined: 25 May 2002
Posts: 1254
Location: Waterloo, Canada |
So, is nobody around here playing Bloodlines yet? Can we have some review crumbs please?
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Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:47 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
t f d v e r e e a i t a d c g (Review crumbs)
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IMHO my opinion is humble |
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Thu Nov 18, 2004 11:20 pm |
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MoonDragon
High Emperor
Joined: 25 May 2002
Posts: 1254
Location: Waterloo, Canada |
 
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Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:13 pm |
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Val
Risen From Ashes
Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 14724
Location: Utah, USA |
I'm playing it. And it's hard to tear myself away long enough to post anything. 
But, I'll give you some inpressions. I've made it through the first stage of the game (Santa Monica) and I can definately say that I am loving what I'm seeing.
The graphics are good, although the way my Toreador wiggles his butt when he walks makes me wonder about him a little. 
But other than that, I've got no complaints about the graphics and animation. If you play a male, just run, don't walk unless you want to see butt wiggling.
The sound is excellent. Truely top-notch. The voice acting, the environmental sounds, the music, etc are all well done. Turn up the volume on this game.
Character interactions are on par with traditional good RPGs. You can be wisecracking, offensive and intimidating, neutral, or flattering depending on your abilities. Malkavians are fun.
You can even talk some people into letting you give them a little drink.
My favorite area so far has been the haunted hotel. There's nothing quite like being killed by semi-possessed, flying cookware. It's creepy, although the falling elevator was predictable. The whole time, your catching sight of things out of the corner of your eye. Ghosts, vases being thrown at you, etc. Voices warning you to be careful, to run, that "he's coming". The one room that went crazy and when the lights came back on, you see "GET OUT" scrawled across the wall. All of this made for an excellent, creepy atmosphere.
There's a lot for your character to de besides follow main quests. You can hack into a guy's email and then blackmail him for cash. You can be a P.I. and investigate what happened to a bounty hunter who went missing. And more. I really like hacking and lockpicking my way into places I shouldn't be.
So far, my only complaint is the inventory system. I don't like systems that are based on FPS style games. Give me a drag and drop interface. I've had a crash or two, but that was only when I got into the console and started fiddling around with things that shouldn't be fiddled with. 
Overall, I'd say this game is worth the price of admission.
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Freeeeeeedom! Thank heavens it's summer!
What do I have to show for my hard work? A piece of paper! Wee!
=Guardian, Moderator, UltimaDot Newshound=  |
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Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:21 pm |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
Some quick and dirty impressions from somewhere around the halfway mark...
Pros
- Some of the best RPG elements...ever. Each of the 7 clans plays differently and a great deal of effort has gone into multiple dialogue responses with Persuasion, Intimidate, Seduce and more. Intelligent Ventrue will get different responses to the brutish Brujah and so on. I thought the character system was a little simplistic at first but it's quite deep and there are few games where the range of clans (class/race eqivalents) make such a dramatic difference.
- Memorable characters. Some new NPCs have been added to my "my most memorable ever" list. Some superb writing, real personalities and brought to life with the Source facial expressions.
- Great story. After a slow start, I'm totally absorbed in this world. Starting out as a newbie Vampire being bossed around by the more powerful, I'm getting drawn in to a world of power struggles in strange and changing times.
- Multiple solutions. Pretty much every quest / area has talky, stealth, combat and even more solutions. Hack into computers and read email for passwords and useful info, use Stealth and instant-death rear stealth attacks and so on.
- Looks great. It's definitely the best looking RPG to date, athough not without flaws. It's not as stunning as Half Life 2 but still looks fantastic, although a few ordinary textures and a couple of animations stand out as needing improvement.
- Best voice work ever.
Meh
- Don't like hub designs so much but I think it's necessary for the engine.
- Combat is not as bad as some have said but does take some getting used to. If you want to take a combat path, you need to commit to it and pump points into it - don't hedge. The manual and hints are clear that guns do reduced damage to Vampires, so gunslingers need to be aware of this, have plenty of points in appropriate areas and perhaps have backups for facing Kindred. Plenty of people think this is a balance issue, although again, the setting calls for this. Melee is generally more effective but is very fast-paced and gets hectic with multiple adversaries. I quite enjoyed combat with combat-oriented characters.
- Linear. The story is quite linear and hubs are only unlocked at certain points...but the multiple solutions goes a fair way to alleviate this.
Cons
- The city simulation is pretty weak. Non-important NPCs don't even talk and are essentially "meals on heels".
- Most locations are quest-related, so there are few additional buildings to just explore, add atmosphere, steal from or whatever.
- Performance is OK on my system but I did have to turn EAX off (made a huge difference)...low end systems will really struggle.
- Load times. Plenty of loads and long load times for main hubs. Not as bad as DX:IW by any means but heading in that direction.
- Glitchy. I haven't encountered any significant "bugs" but there are some texture flickers, occasional stuck NPCs, some animations need work. Nothing too extreme unless you let these things get to you.
I stopped playing HL2 because this just sucked me in -- love it.
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Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:39 pm |
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the mighty stamar
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 602
Location: arcata ca, humboldt county |
Im having a great time with it.
It reminds me more of vice city than any other game Ive played.
It takes place in modern day LA, and you do the quests in whatever order you want.
Lots of voice acting. Really cool so far. |
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Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:28 am |
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Val
Risen From Ashes
Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 14724
Location: Utah, USA |
*whew* Finished. Geez, that was good. I only ran into one bug that I had to use the noclip cheat to get past, but other than that, things went smoothly. It's an excellent game and my biggest grip? Political commentary does not belong in my entertainment! Thank you.
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Freeeeeeedom! Thank heavens it's summer!
What do I have to show for my hard work? A piece of paper! Wee!
=Guardian, Moderator, UltimaDot Newshound= |
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Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:24 pm |
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Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
What kind of political commentary?
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IMHO my opinion is humble |
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Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:51 pm |
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Val
Risen From Ashes
Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 14724
Location: Utah, USA |
Some stupid comments about the Bush Administration. If I want political commentary, I'll turn on talk radio.
_________________
Freeeeeeedom! Thank heavens it's summer!
What do I have to show for my hard work? A piece of paper! Wee!
=Guardian, Moderator, UltimaDot Newshound= |
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Tue Nov 23, 2004 8:22 pm |
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genji
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 39
Location: Melbourne, Australia |
I loved all the little easter eggs and jokes you can find by hacking various computers. Kinda reminded me of Fallout, although the pop-culture references aren't QUITE as widely strewn about. Listening to the radio and watching TV is a great source of comedic relief too.
And caretaker of the zombie cemetary is named Romero. I guess that reference was a little obvious. 
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In dreams I walk with you |
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Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:54 pm |
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