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The Codex's official opinion on VtM Bloodlines

Do you like Bloodlines?

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 80.0%
  • It's good for what it is

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • No

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • I haven't played it

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    10

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,716
Location
Ingrija
It's funny really, how easily Troika gets away with something Bethsoft would be damned to hell and back for - that is, raping some established lore and coherence for teh cool.

Hypocrisy and double standarts are hysterical ITT.

Todd Howard: Hey, let's make an underwater level with an amphibian deathclaw! and a dark elf fighting it with a WH40k bolter! and then PC makes a witty remark about Drizzt!

Fallout fanbois: [shrieks and wails of agony, sounds of buttholes spontaneously tearing apart, crying urine from torn out eyes]
 

Radisshu

Prophet
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
5,623
roll-a-die said:
Radisshu said:
Hahahaha, oh my god. The more I read of this thread, the gladder I become that Troika didn't follow WoD lore very strictly. The game is internally coherent, like someone said. If Troika suddenly threw the Technocracy in your face it'd really feel like they pulled something out of their ass, and it would completely break the mood.

Why have you even read this shit? It's complete bollocks.
Um, yeah, and Zombie Graveyard tended by a ghoul, as well as a meeting of Giovanni isn't crazy. Also sneaking into the Giovanni, a fucking clan that in V.game and in PnP is noted for the vast connection to each other they have. Every Giovanni vampire knows who the other Giovanni vampires are. Knows what they look like, and knows how they act, and their individual vices.

IE, Oh this guy ghouled his daughters and likes dosing them with coke and feeding while fucking them.

:cough:

INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY



INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY

OKAY!?

INTERNAL COHERENCY. Those are the keywords, okay? I don't give a shit about the source material, because the source material is retarded. Sure, you may be right in that Bloodlines doesn't do a very faithful adaption of WoD, BUT THAT'S A GOOD THING.

mondblut said:
It's funny really, how easily Troika gets away with something Bethsoft would be damned to hell and back for - that is, raping some established lore and coherence for teh cool.

Hypocrisy and double standarts are hysterical ITT.

No, it's because WoD has got tons of stupid shit in it. If Beth made a Masquerade game and did something similar, I'd applaud them, especially if they managed to make it playable.
 

roll-a-die

Magister
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
3,131
Radisshu said:
roll-a-die said:
Radisshu said:
Hahahaha, oh my god. The more I read of this thread, the gladder I become that Troika didn't follow WoD lore very strictly. The game is internally coherent, like someone said. If Troika suddenly threw the Technocracy in your face it'd really feel like they pulled something out of their ass, and it would completely break the mood.

Why have you even read this shit? It's complete bollocks.
Um, yeah, and Zombie Graveyard tended by a ghoul, as well as a meeting of Giovanni isn't crazy. Also sneaking into the Giovanni, a fucking clan that in V.game and in PnP is noted for the vast connection to each other they have. Every Giovanni vampire knows who the other Giovanni vampires are. Knows what they look like, and knows how they act, and their individual vices.

IE, Oh this guy ghouled his daughters and likes dosing them with coke and feeding while fucking them.

:cough:

INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY



INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY

OKAY!?

INTERNAL COHERENCY. Those are the keywords, okay? I don't give a shit about the source material, because the source material is retarded. Sure, you may be right in that Bloodlines doesn't do a very faithful adaption of WoD, BUT THAT'S A GOOD THING.
Yeah, even then it's not consistent, see the graveyard, the werehouse mission, the fucking wereshark outa nowhere, for teh koolz, the idiocy of the Tzimiscse, the ending levels, etc.

No, it's because WoD has got tons of stupid shit in it. If Beth made a Masquerade game and did something similar, I'd applaud them, especially if they managed to make it playable.
As does TES, see the slutty princess novel series, Almalexia's massive womanly need for which she has 4 shapeshifters to entertain her, the prince of rape. Yet we still complain about them murdering lore come oblivion.
 

Radisshu

Prophet
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
5,623
roll-a-die said:
Radisshu said:
roll-a-die said:
Radisshu said:
Hahahaha, oh my god. The more I read of this thread, the gladder I become that Troika didn't follow WoD lore very strictly. The game is internally coherent, like someone said. If Troika suddenly threw the Technocracy in your face it'd really feel like they pulled something out of their ass, and it would completely break the mood.

Why have you even read this shit? It's complete bollocks.
Um, yeah, and Zombie Graveyard tended by a ghoul, as well as a meeting of Giovanni isn't crazy. Also sneaking into the Giovanni, a fucking clan that in V.game and in PnP is noted for the vast connection to each other they have. Every Giovanni vampire knows who the other Giovanni vampires are. Knows what they look like, and knows how they act, and their individual vices.

IE, Oh this guy ghouled his daughters and likes dosing them with coke and feeding while fucking them.

:cough:

INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY



INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY

OKAY!?

INTERNAL COHERENCY. Those are the keywords, okay? I don't give a shit about the source material, because the source material is retarded. Sure, you may be right in that Bloodlines doesn't do a very faithful adaption of WoD, BUT THAT'S A GOOD THING.
Yeah, even then it's not consistent, see the graveyard, the werehouse mission, the fucking wereshark outa nowhere, for teh koolz, the idiocy of the Tzimiscse, the ending levels, etc.

Good sir, ARE YOU A FUCKING ASPIE? The "wereshark outta nowhere" does not break the setting, unless you know the source material. Neither do the zombies, the "idiocy of the Tzimisce" (who consistently act like idiots, and are described as such, throughout the entire game).
 

roll-a-die

Magister
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
3,131
Radisshu said:
roll-a-die said:
Radisshu said:
roll-a-die said:
Radisshu said:
Hahahaha, oh my god. The more I read of this thread, the gladder I become that Troika didn't follow WoD lore very strictly. The game is internally coherent, like someone said. If Troika suddenly threw the Technocracy in your face it'd really feel like they pulled something out of their ass, and it would completely break the mood.

Why have you even read this shit? It's complete bollocks.
Um, yeah, and Zombie Graveyard tended by a ghoul, as well as a meeting of Giovanni isn't crazy. Also sneaking into the Giovanni, a fucking clan that in V.game and in PnP is noted for the vast connection to each other they have. Every Giovanni vampire knows who the other Giovanni vampires are. Knows what they look like, and knows how they act, and their individual vices.

IE, Oh this guy ghouled his daughters and likes dosing them with coke and feeding while fucking them.

:cough:

INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY



INTERNAL COHERENCY


INTERNAL COHERENCY

OKAY!?

INTERNAL COHERENCY. Those are the keywords, okay? I don't give a shit about the source material, because the source material is retarded. Sure, you may be right in that Bloodlines doesn't do a very faithful adaption of WoD, BUT THAT'S A GOOD THING.
Yeah, even then it's not consistent, see the graveyard, the werehouse mission, the fucking wereshark outa nowhere, for teh koolz, the idiocy of the Tzimiscse, the ending levels, etc.

Good sir, ARE YOU A FUCKING ASPIE? The "wereshark outta nowhere" does not break the setting, unless you know the source material. Neither do the zombies, the "idiocy of the Tzimisce" (who consistently act like idiots, and are described as such, throughout the entire game).
Uh, yeah it does, you know how it's stated that you have to hide the supernatural, to the point of building in a FUCKING METER TO TELL YOU HOW MANY TIME'S YOU'VE BROKEN IT. Yet zombies walking around in universe, in the fucking open, with threat of them breaking free, is A OK.

A ghoul harvesting vamp blood in the hospital freezer's is A OK.

CDC being in ton isn't much of a problem.

THE TREMERE WHO FUCKING ASKED YOU TO SOLVE THE PLAGUE, DOESN'T NOTICE ANYTHING FUCKING STRANGE ABOUT HIS NEXT DOOR/DOWN THE STREET NEIGHBORS.

Grout's mansion going up in flames is A OK.

Vampire's openly displaying their powers is A OK for the masquerade.

Making someone believe you are a turtle by staring at them and telling them that in a crowded street is A OH FUCKING KAY?
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
22,716
Location
Ingrija
Radisshu said:
No, it's because WoD has got tons of stupid shit in it.

"I don't like the setting so it's ok to rape it", ok. Isn't it delightful Toddster had the same feeling as he sat down to do FO3 design docs?

If Beth made a Masquerade game and did something similar, I'd applaud them, especially if they managed to make it playable.

Just like they fixed all the stupid shit in Fallout and made it playable? I bet they feel just like that, LMAO.
 

Radisshu

Prophet
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
5,623
Yes, roll-a-die, those are all okay. I'm glad we could clear this up.

mondblut said:
Radisshu said:
No, it's because WoD has got tons of stupid shit in it.

"I don't like the setting so it's ok to rape it", ok. Isn't it delightful Toddster had the same feeling as he sat down to do FO3 design docs?

If Beth made a Masquerade game and did something similar, I'd applaud them, especially if they managed to make it playable.

Just like they fixed all the stupid shit in Fallout and made it playable? I bet they feel just like that, LMAO.

The difference being that the FO setting isn't retarded, and doesn't feature elements that would completely break the game were they introduced. FO3 is a sequel to F1 and F2, while Bloodlines is a computer game adaption of a PnP setting.

And hey, what the fuck, had Bethesda raped the lore but turned FO3 into a really good RPG, channeling the ambience of FO1 well, I wouldn't have cared very much.
 
Joined
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Messages
494
Location
Australia
roll-a-die said:
Anarch freestate had been in effect for around 12 years, then came I think WoN(been awhile) and the freestate collapsed to Sabbat and Camarilla incursion. The Sabbat got so strong on the west coast that eventually the Cam started accepting Anarch's back into their ranks with no penalty for past crimes.

There was a prince from 96 on, and then there was LaCroix that came after him, then another person after him.
Guess I just never read the books that covered that. Is it in some of the sourcebooks or the novels?
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
22,716
Location
Ingrija
Radisshu said:
The difference being that the FO setting isn't retarded

ORLY? And what if I say "it is"? Todd certainly felt it needs an injection of cools and lulz, just like his likeminded colleagues at Troika.

and doesn't feature elements that would completely break the game were they introduced.

Break how? By keeping the amount of cools, lulz and pop-culture references down to a setting-coherent level?

FO3 is a sequel to F1 and F2, while Bloodlines is a computer game adaption of a PnP setting.

Doesn't change shit. If you bear a name of a franchise, stay true to it or get out.
 

roll-a-die

Magister
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
3,131
In terms of the details on the Anarch freestate, I misspelled it had been in effect for around 62 years. It broke up in the upheaval surround the week on Nightmares in 96. In terms of population by creature and clan, settites are big hitters, brujah are the majority, the technocracy has major holding there, as does the Verbena, werewolves are a massive population in LA proper and in the outskirts. Really anyone who's anyone has stake in the LA area.
 

Glyphwright

Guest
So it basically is that Troika didn't knew what the fuck to do to explain it so it's up to the player to think of an explanation for it?
Troika removed all non-hostiles from the area, and had all the doors to the buildings locked or inaccessible. It's not as good as throwing us into a completely new area where human activity would not be expected in the first place, like a locked down warehouse or mansion on the outskirts, but it still works. You're the one who's making things up, I'm just relating to you what the game gives to the player - a street full of pedestrians becomes void of them right after we are warned everyone is at our throats.

And how good the game is or isn't it's not the point
It is the point of this thread, dum-dum. Being faithful to the original is not the point of anything, except for your ramblings (again, nobody cares).

In which way does the sewers, the kuei jin temple, the office building at the end, the battle at the ruined hotel, the zombie quest on the cemetery, the werewolf battle, the giovanni mansion, etc, etc, etc capture the mood of the setting? In which way having a neonate slaughtering every major power player, a werewolf, a small army of fleshcrafted monsters, etc, etc, etc in a week's time captures the mood of the setting?
Like you can't have a pen-and-paper game session with all this.

"I don't like the setting so it's ok to rape it", ok
Yes, exactly. Of course, you can also rape a setting that you like if you prefer. You can do anything, as long as something worthwhile and enjoyable comes out of it.
 

made

Arcane
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
5,131
Location
Germany
mondblut said:
It's funny really, how easily Troika gets away with something Bethsoft would be damned to hell and back for - that is, raping some established lore and coherence for teh cool.
You dare blaspheme against Troika by likening it to Bethesda?

The difference here is that FO3 sucked not because it wasn't faithful to FO lore (like some NMA tards would make you believe by claiming it was a good game, just not a good Fallout) but because it was ridiculous in its own right and an offense to any intelligent human being. In contrast, Bloodline's only fault leveled against it here seems to be that it doesn't adhere 100% to the rules and regulations of the source books.

Did you care if goldbox games were 100% faithful to the PnP material, or worse even, the novelization thereof? I certainly didn't.
 

Tails

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
1,674
All "changes" that made Troika, had first be proposed to White Wolf and Activision and approved - they didn't have free hand at all. Don't also forget that this game is in unfinished state in the end, so no wonder there is not everything that you wished, and they planned really much more, dear Masquerade fanatics. Get over it. Oh and before someone post it - It's not a situation like with Fallout 3, when Bethesda had free hand for do anything they want , didn't work on crunch and butchered the setting. Bloodlines just has a partial implementation of Vampire: The Masquerade, sine putting everything what you would like, was not possible and I can bet for a fiver, that there will be no other commercial games having better adaptation of Vampire setting.

One thing made me laugh though, the "there is 2 werewolves instead of 5 so it was made for lulz!", teh horror. The scene with Werevolves, like acolyte posted, was one of the special moments, when player arrogance is smashed into bits and makes him run away like little girl. But I'm not surprised that 2009/10 joiners can't appreciate that at all. It's like the thing Skyway was talking about.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I always hear they "planned much more" but never hear what it would be.

So? Anyone knows?
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
22,716
Location
Ingrija
made said:
You dare blaspheme against Troika by likening it to Bethesda?

Of course I do. No music sounds as good as religious fanatics screaming in powerless anger. Troika will dominate the world, ololo. Will you cry if I draw a Tim Cain caricature? :smug:

The difference here is that FO3 sucked...because it was ridiculous in its own right and an offense to any intelligent human being. In contrast...

True, that. But I don't see contrast in there.

Bloodline's only fault leveled against it here seems to be that it doesn't adhere 100% to the rules and regulations of the source books.

You should have read closer. How about, it being a lame FPS/slasher with only marginally more freedom of exploration than final faggotry has?

Did you care if goldbox games were 100% faithful to the PnP material, or worse even, the novelization thereof? I certainly didn't.

They were faithful enough. Sure, power and opposition levels soared a bit too high in the end, but it's not like that's something unknown to AD&D (Throne of Bloodstone ftw). At least they didn't feature a stray jedi battling a kraken which suddenly decided to live ashore or a Conan the barbarian cameo.

Gaming industry used to be so much better when developers weren't obsessed with inserting every easter egg, pop culture reference and inhouse joke they could recall into their games, to the applause of drooling retards.

It was so much better when they weren't trying to make an RPG out of a lame FPS, too.
 

Tails

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
1,674
Darth Roxor said:
In before fatwa against mondblut.
mondblut said:
How about, it being a lame FPS/slasher with only marginally more freedom of exploration than final faggotry has?
I doubt it, since He isn't even trying.
 

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Skyrim .///.
Jaesun said:
One of the biggest decisions a Storyteller ever makes is when she first decides to ignore the rules. This is completely legitimate, provided it is done for the right reasons and in the right way. In fact, we encourage you to break the rules, it is your prerogative as a Storyteller.

Yes, and then the players can call bullshit, which is what we are doing and what happens more than a little bit in a setting with such an extensive metaplot. It's the natural cycle of RPG settings. The same happens with the Fallout setting, where there isn't an extensive metaplot of any kind yet people can't decide whether the setting died with the original Fallout and the sequel was an abomination, or the sequel was actually a worthy successor to the setting's themes and mood and everything that came afterwards was an abomination, or, hell, why are BoS and Supermutants on D.C?! OMG!!! Heresy!!! Burn them, burn them all!!!

I'll let you into a secret, actually: I'm not a Vampire GM, nor I'm not a Werewolf GM. I have played a bit of vampire (tremere, toreador, and a Kiasyd being the only ones i have played more than once or twice) and almost nothing of Werewolf. I'm a Changeling GM. Why do I bloody know so much about the other settings? Because with a group of White Wolf players you better have a very good excuse about why there's a wereshark bossfight but they can't actually choose hey, he turned into a monstrous giant bat monster above fucking downtown L.A? Ok, LOL, this is one easy boss fight: I start running before the Black Helicopters come in and turns us all into ashes. as a valid pick at the end.

It is forgiven, and ignored, if you are limiting yourself to a single sub-setting. Once you call crossover, though, you'll have to explain why your bloody campaign all of a sudden is happening outside the borders of a pure Vampire (or Mage, or Changeling) campaign, after the Week of Nightmares, in a major city and none of the shit expected to be happening was. It's not forbidden and ignored in a crossover campaign, much less in canonical material. Every single mistake on Canonical Material usually began a bloodbath not diferent than the Fallout 3 butthurt here. Just, you know, worse since more people care about WoD than it will ever care about Fallout.

And if anyone here is calling but i like Fallout and i don't like Vampire so i don't care an actual argument that should be cared about then that's a lesser being right here and should be put out of its misery. And, surely, not given the bloody right to vote or choose a life of its own, that's for sure.

Radisshu said:
INTERNAL COHERENCY. Those are the keywords, okay? I don't give a shit about the source material, because the source material is retarded. Sure, you may be right in that Bloodlines doesn't do a very faithful adaption of WoD, BUT THAT'S A GOOD THING.

Then why people gets so worked up about us mentioning it really isn't a faithful adaptation, when we both have said as a game in and out of itself is either good for what it is, as have I, or good, as did he, or anything in between, as did others? You people aren't being internally coherent about it. :roll:

Also, I have already mentioned the presence of several cases where the game breaks it's own internal coherency for teh lulz, so it doesn't really add up. What's the answer to that? That I have to excuse them for it because it's Troika, or that I should imagine an explanation myself? Since when it's acceptable to make oneself things up that would explain the game's fucks up in The Codex?

Radisshu said:
The difference being that the FO setting isn't retarded, and doesn't feature elements that would completely break the game were they introduced. FO3 is a sequel to F1 and F2, while Bloodlines is a computer game adaption of a PnP setting.

No, it isn't. Bloodlines isn't actually a game of it's own. Bloodlines' an official White Wolf metaplot canonical product, and as such it following the lore and the setting to the least detail is expected. Just as a game bearing the Fallout 3 title was expected to do some things and to follow the setting's lore closely and, by not doing it, got a not small part of the Codex calling bullshit on it? That's it. People liking or disliking the setting doesn't make the behaviour any less pathetic and any less of an evidence of retarded fanboyism, double standards, and people praising this and that because Troika did it and nothing more.

This is just another case of Fair Codexia talks out of it's butt, as shown by this little argument. Carry on, nothing to see here, etc.

Jaesun said:
Bloodlines is actually Canon, as stated by White Wolf.

Indeed.

So is Fallout 3. :M

* totally unnecesary cheap shot for teh win *

Glyphwright said:
Troika removed all non-hostiles from the area, and had all the doors to the buildings locked or inaccessible. It's not as good as throwing us into a completely new area where human activity would not be expected in the first place, like a locked down warehouse or mansion on the outskirts, but it still works. You're the one who's making things up, I'm just relating to you what the game gives to the player - a street full of pedestrians becomes void of them right after we are warned everyone is at our throats.

A street just in front of a hospital. Last time I checked hospitals do not close down. So by having Vampires going all out in front of a hospital, a nightclub, and an open all day long cafe with huge windows they are risking a major Masquerade breach, yes. If there is any reason given in game why it doesn't matter at this point, sure, please tell me.

Glyphwright said:
It is the point of this thread, dum-dum. Being faithful to the original is not the point of anything, except for your ramblings (again, nobody cares).

You do care, since I said on my original post that it's a good for what it is game, and, after a full stop, said it was not a good adaptation of the setting. People, then, came out to say it was a good adaptation of the setting, not to discuss whether it was a good game instead of a good for what it is game. If you, or them, assumed i was saying it was a good for what it is game because of it being unfaithful to the setting i'm calling retard, illiterate, and moron, given there was a full stop between both parts, the part about it being unfaithful to the setting being a passing comment and not the answer to the topic, that being the first paragraph itself.

Finally why, if the point is whether it is or not a good game, have you tried so many times to actually justify the mistakes from a setting perspective, hm?

Retard. And a flip-flopper one at that.

Glyphwright said:
Like you can't have a pen-and-paper game session with all this.

Sure. You can have P&P sessions with the Galactica crashing down in downtown L.A after a fierce high orbit battle with a tie fighter swarm sent by the Zerg overmind to stop them from stoping the Prince of Persia of giving the dagger of time to the Order of Hermes and score a final victory against the Tremere, too. What's your point, again? From the perspective of the setting it wouldn't be faithful to it's themes, ideas, elements, etc. Nor would it be a faithful adaptation.

And you would get lynched in both cases if you tried to add either to a canonical campaign you are running, too.

Glyphwright said:
Yes, exactly. Of course, you can also rape the setting if you prefer. You can do anything, as long as something worthwhile and enjoyable comes out of it.

Sure. So you are saying that as long as the game is enjoyable for a great majority of the player base nothing done to the setting matters? Then shit will hit the fan in three... two... one...
 

made

Arcane
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
5,131
Location
Germany
mondblut said:
How about, it being a lame FPS/slasher with only marginally more freedom of exploration than final faggotry has?
Was that ever the focus of the thread though? Any valid criticism that could have been leveled against the game has been long since drowned out by the noise of aspies obsessing about setting inconsistencies and their opposition desperate to prove them wrong.

Gaming industry used to be so much better when developers weren't obsessed with inserting every easter egg, pop culture reference and inhouse joke they could recall into their games, to the applause of drooling retards.
True enough.

Troika will dominate the world, ololo.
I prefer to view them as martyrs, who willingly accepted their own demise as a company to gift us with the greatest RPG of all time, the magnum opus that is Arcanum. :smug:
 

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