Revisiting VtM: Bloodlines

[Wesp5]

You fucked up game's difficulty when you unlocked backgrounds without increasing difficulty of skillchecks - just another example.

You mean the histories? I just restored them as good as possible from the unfinished mess in how Troika left them. Why would I want to adjust skillchecks because if them?

You can shoot zombies and then take quest to bring him whore.
Same in Vandal's quest.

I added some more options to the plus patch, so what? If you don't like it, don't choose them or play the basic patch. If they are available in basic, I need to fix that though...

 

[santino27]

How does the UP change Vandal's and Romero's quests?

You can shoot zombies and then take quest to bring him whore.
Same in Vandal's quest.

Clearly, wesp is a witch and we should burn him (assuming he weighs the same as a duck).

 

[Delterius]

You fucked up game's difficulty when you unlocked backgrounds without increasing difficulty of skillchecks - just another example

He also nerfed bloodbuff.

 

[Wesp5]

He also nerfed bloodbuff.

That is indeed another WoD PnP change in the plus patch: people explained to me that the stats should not be raised to maximum! I stuck with it as the original Bloodbuff made the game even easier as it already was...

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Wesp never played Redemption? What a noob.

 

[Delterius]

He also nerfed bloodbuff.

That is indeed another WoD PnP change in the plus patch: people explained to me that the stats should not be raised to maximum! I stuck with it as the original Bloodbuff made the game even easier as it already was...

Well, I don't agree with all the changes you've made. Personally, I feel that Bertram's faction exclusive quest should have remained exclusive. That's one of the marks of the best CRPGs and I'd wager Troika would have made more clan specific content if they could. However, my impression is that even the most XP efficient or more powerful of Histories pale in comparison to +5 to all physical stats.

Wesp never played Redemption? What a noob.

Redemption is actually worth a look? I thought consensus was it negative.

 

[makiavelli747]

Clearly, wesp is a witch and we should burn him

The better question is why he did that... to get max content in single run? Well, there you go...

Bertram's faction exclusive quest should have remained exclusive

Exactly

He also nerfed bloodbuff

Yes, that was a good thing.

 

[Tao]

Redemption aged AWFULLY, but it was worth.

 

[Wesp5]

Personally, I feel that Bertram's faction exclusive quest should have remained exclusive.

That was a tough decision at the time, because I really didn't know what Troika wanted to do. I had found the CD with my Toreador and was quite confused because Bloodlines has only a few useless items! When I looked into this issue I found Malkavian dialogue for that quest and as the only other class limited quest in the whole game was the one for Vandal, I figured Troika removed it on last notice for the XP balance. As I managed to find a solution to this by sending Patty to Vandal, I think I successfully killed two birds with one stone !

Redemption is actually worth a look? I thought consensus was it negative.

I played Redemption after I discovered Bloodlines, but because I am more or less a First Person View only gamer a dungeon crawler like it was nothing for me...

 

[Volrath]

Wesp never played Redemption? What a noob.

Redemption is actually worth a look? I thought consensus was it negative.

It's a shitty Diablo clone. Avoid like the plague.

 

[Average Manatee]

No, the patch didn't improve the NPC facial expressions which are still top of the line today together with HL2, and only recently Rage got close, while all Bethesda, Unreal and other engine games are still far off 10 years later!

Hasn't LA Noire been better in that regard? Witcher 3 also has good facial expressions, they are subtle which I like more than VtM:Bloodlines in-your-face style as well as over-exaggarated body gestures.

Witcher 3, yes. Great expressions. L.A. Noire,



nah.

They had the tech, they just didn't know how to use it

One thing I've always wondered is whether facial animations and expression have been held back by the fact that 95% of console gamers sit so far from the TV that anything subtle is unnoticable. No publisher throws money at something that doesn't focus test better.

 

[Delterius]

People watch theater from really far too.

 

[Repulsive]

Cool game for a playthrough, finished it for the first time this year.

 

[Coma White]

He also nerfed bloodbuff.

Blood Buff trivializes many skill checks and melee combat in the base game.

 

[Goral]

Bloodlines is 67% off on GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/vampire_the_masquerade_bloodlines?as=1649904300

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

Man, that hunted house freaked me out! I have flashbacks of Clive Barker's Undying while playing it....funny! I don't remember a lot of the game. I don't remember the masterpiece that it was...just a good game. Just now I finally can enjoy it as was intended (surely with the help of the patches)

 

[Doma]

 

[Jazz_]

How do you get to the closed cafè in Santa Monica? Via the sewers? It's one of the few locations I have not visited yet (along with the Society of Leopold place and the park with the werewolf, but those are quest-related I think)

 

[Wesp5]

How do you get to the closed cafè in Santa Monica?

As the original thread has been split, I'll quickly answer this here again: The Coffee Shop in Santa Monica will open up during the library quest, which should be started in the plus UP after you met Gary and the Serial Killer with an email from Beckett.

 

[Storyfag]

Wesp5
I dig the Sabbath ending. It is barebones, of course, but sufficient The restored inside of Hallwobroock Hotel definitely stands out and is very cool! Would be neat if you could add the player character standing by Andrei's side in the final sequence, as well as have Andrei look at LaCroix when he says "you have no idea how insignificant you are".

Truth be told, a lore-friendly Sabbath ending would probably feature somebody opening the sarcophagus. The Sabbath, after all, is all about destroying/devouring the Ancients. But of course a more lore-friendly plotline would probably feature any random Vampire examining the sarcophagus with Auspex and determining that, in fact, no Antediluvian is slumbering inside it. So let us not be picky.

I found one element jarring. The final exchange between the player and Andrei:

Player: One more thing, why are you so taciturn tonight?
Andrei: I do not know.

Makes Andrei sound really derpy. I believe the dialogue would be better without this final section.

Anyway, how far can you modify various voice files? Is it possible to include your own? Can you record parts of Andrei's speech and mash up new files from that? Something along the lines of "My minions. Gouge out the eyes of the Camarilla. Here." could start a Nosferatu hunt in the Hollowbroock Hotel and so on.

 

[Wesp5]

Wesp5
I dig the Sabbath ending. It is barebones, of course, but sufficient

It was all I could do with the content available and I was lucky to even be able to use one part each of the other endings to make it something unique.

The restored inside of Hallwobroock Hotel definitely stands out and is very cool!

That map was created by EntenSchreck who is working on a Bloorlines prequel right now. As written elsewhere, it's build very closely to the famous atrium of the Bradbury Building in LA which featured in films like "Bladerunner"!

Would be neat if you could add the player character standing by Andrei's side in the final sequence, as well as have Andrei look at LaCroix when he says "you have no idea how insignificant you are".

Editing cutscenes is always tricky, but I'll might think about it. I remember trying to place LaCroix on the sarcophagus when it was dropped in the ocean, but for whatever reasons it didn't work .

I found one element jarring. The final exchange between the player and Andrei:

Player: One more thing, why are you so taciturn tonight?
Andrei: I do not know.

Makes Andrei sound really derpy. I believe the dialogue would be better without this final section.

I added this tongue-in-cheek to explain why he doesn't talk as much as before. Which of course is due to no usual dialogue!

Anyway, how far can you modify various voice files? Is it possible to include your own? Can you record parts of Andrei's speech and mash up new files from that?

I could do the latter, but I doubt any fan created voice-over could reach the quality of Andrei's! Certainly not my own voice, as I'm not a native English speaker in the first place.

 

[Goral]

I could do the latter, but I doubt any fan created voice-over could reach the quality of Andrei's! Certainly not my own voice, as I'm not a native English speaker in the first place.

He's talking with a foreign accent so you might be a good fit after all :].

 

[Wesp5]

Hm, something was deleted here...

makiavelli747 said: "it seems that most of "fans" didn't even played clan quest mod https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qum-KZrympw"

The Clan Quest Mod has surprisingly good additional voice-overs, but as far as I know burgermeister actually paid professionals to do them. Also my own accent is stupid-sounding-German and not cool-sounding-Russian like Andrei !

 

[vmar]

Just did another 2 back to back playthroughs thanks to this thread. Might start up Deus Ex once more or just do another Vampire playthrough. Like others have said in this thread, the fact that I still remembered a lot of characters, dialogues, etc after not playing this game for ~8 years really shows how amazing this game is. Truly one of the best.

Are there any total conversion/overhaul mods for VtMB that add an entirely new campaign? I've only ever used Wesp's patches.

 

[Wesp5]

Are there any total conversion/overhaul mods for VtMB that add an entirely new campaign?

Sadly no yet. The Clan Quest Mod, The Final Nights and the Antitribu Mod all add some new quests, but nothing like a campaign, more like the quests the Unofficial Patch adds too. But there is a Prelude in the works that is all completely new content !