The Game That Refuses To Die | Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

hello la you're up way past your bedtime aren't you hope you've slipped into something comfortable i know i have there is ever a game to define the term flawed gem vampire bloodlines is the one bloodlines is an ambitious title that got rushed out the door in late 2004 during one of the busiest times in gaming but vampire bloodlines did not die a final death over the years people poked away at it and they looked under the hood and saw what was there and fixed it up a flaw started to fade away and its incredible strengths came to the forefront its reputation grew over time through word of mouth to build a devoted following so much so that 15 years later a sequel was announced while the gameplay is serviceable but nothing outstanding last chord of the game suffers a noticeable drop in quality it's a title that the sun being greater than its parts from its atmosphere the dark tone that doesn't take itself too seriously it has some of the best writing and characters around in games it has one of the greatest voice casting games and one of the greatest soundtracks it has incredible levels of replayability and choice bloodlines is a game like deus ex when you mention it someone will reinstall it i'm sure some watching this video will be doing the same thing and hey with it being october what better time to do so i first played bloodlines just over a decade ago and it's become one of my favorites to revisit so let's sink our teeth in my kindred to know i'm playing with the plus version of the unofficial patch this version adds in the law of extra content that was cut the basic patch sticks mostly to how the game was at release in regards to content i'll talk more about the unofficial patch later in the video how did bloodlines come together troika was a studio founded in 1998 with founders tim kaine jason anderson and leonard boyarski they were three key developers on the original fallout work began on bloodlines in november 2001 after the release of its first title arcanum wanting to get away from more fantasy-based settings and a different perspective want to go with a first-person perspective the team felt they had done all they could with isometric viewpoints they pitched to activision who suggested using the vampire the masquerade tabletop setting as they had the rights to and that's what they went with this proved to be a bit of a double-edged sword while they did have a well-established ip to work off of they had to constantly go to the ipo owner white wolf to get approval on their decisions another challenge was taking this established rule set and turning it into a video game they wanted to stay faithful to the established roots of the tabletop game but ensure play was fun for the player there's many aspects that will fall through the cracks when moving a pen and paper system over to a video game while they thought about building their own engine after seeing the source engine from valve in action they went with that the main selling point were the facial animations as the game would be in first person during conversations and every character would have voice acting however the source engine was still in development and lack documentation stability something that would cause major issues but more on that later let's start off with the character creation screen you'd either answer some questions get a suggested clan where we could pick the clan itself let's go through these seven clans that are available to play as to note why i played bloodlines a number of times over the last decade this is my first playthrough since getting into the tabletop game i'm coming into this playthrough with a lot more knowledge of the lore and the world than before i'm going to be covering some broad strokes of the lore but if you're looking to explore it there's always the rule books you could check out for youtube channels i'd recommend outstar and gentlemen gamer one clan is the bruja the fierce passionate warriors who are prone to frenzy brujas that will come across in bud lines include smiling jack nines and damsel [Laughter] what a scene man then they just plop you out here like a naked baby in the woods how about that another choice is gangrel loners and the closest vampires to nature think of them as the equivalent of druids i didn't realize at the time but my introduction to vampire the match grade was through the wwf growing up late 90s there was a wrestler named gangrel it's why white wolf has mentioned the opening credits when you booted up a wwf game at the time becca is the notable gangrel we'll come across in bloodlines i haven't been following you per se we've just coincidentally been at the same places at the same time for different reasons so sorry if i unnerved you there is clan toryador these are the ones closest to humanity they love beauty and are social creatures the most knowable tory door within bloodlines is vivi i'm like a book all you have to do is run your finger down my spine and crack me open to see what i'm about there's the tremeer clan there are vampire sorcerers strauss is a tremier that we encounter within bloodlines strauss maximilian strauss i am the regent of this chantry welcome next is the ventrue clan this is the clan i played for this video which was my first time as a ventrue they are the leaders the noble the wealthy lacroix the prince of la is event true and we'll be spending a lot of time with him there you are i was informed of your presence in the building for a real life example activision ceo bobby kodick is a venture that others strive to be in how much he gets paid now there's two more clans i've left to the end here to discuss this is due to how unique their playthroughs are these clans are recommended after you've beaten the game before firstly there's the nosferatu due to their hideous appearance they need to lurk in the sewers and the shadows in order to get around your dialogue choices are much more limited as a result meet me at the agreed upon location across from the bottom bring your associate mr durbin as it is a two-man job that i am proposing damn son i don't mean no offense but i just gotta ask you did that to yourself on purpose right some kind of newfangled thing like they do with piercing and tattooing and whatnot i don't reckon you were born like that right what now they're sending the extra ugliest to sweepers up getting spot on the open can lead to a mass grade violation which we'll discuss shortly cops don't hesitate to open fire gary golden is one of the game's noticeable nosferatu's what you don't recognize me from the pictures gorgeous gary golden don't tell me you missed pirate town or tap hotel and finally we have the malkavian those touched by madness and insanity their dialogue choices are unique to say the least and very memorable very wacky oh man goddamn malcavian too wow you really are [ __ ] however they also have some incredible insights that others won't get otherwise small cavians that we encounter include therese and jeannette you smell new little girl like fabric softener do on freshly mode astroturf oh i'm not frightening you am i duckling writer brian mitsoda mentioned that the maul caving dialogue was written closer to the end of the project he found the long hours and sleep deprivation helpful for fleshing out this dialogue in the initial release they want to include character histories that you could pick giving boosts and flaws to certain stats but those were cut for time however in the unofficial patch they were added back in you have the choice of playing as a man or a woman this is my first play through as a woman there's a few slight changes here and there with the dialogue but otherwise it's mostly the same then we have our character sheet this isn't rpg after all things are broken down to nine attributes 12 abilities and three disciplines one of the biggest challenges that the team found was keeping the core bloodlines faithful to the table top game making adjustments need to keep the game fun tabletop game has 30 abilities which troika stripped down to 12 for the game each clan has the choice of three disciplines which you could think of as spells which we could level up to get more choices in regards to what we can use there is some overlap in some of these disciplines as a ventrue i had made plenty of use of fortitude which can also be used by gangrels we don't get experience in bloodlines through killing enemies but by making progress completing or turning in quests we also come across books to boost our stats assuming you have high enough research or items that will boost our stats when placed in our inventory once we've created our character we get our intro it looks to be los angeles one night stan turns into an embrace we are made into a vampire by our sire this is not something that is taken lightly our embrace did not get approval by the higher ups or sire is executed this gathering contains all the key players that we're going to come across in bloodlines all of their own goals and ambitions our life is spared and we're then shown the ropes to this new world that we're introduced to if you've previously completed the game before starting a new one your previous character will be present during this theater scene as i was capturing footage from malkavian character after playing through the game as a ventrue that's her behind the anarchs with that we talked to smiling jack who will take us through a short tutorial to guess up to speed of how the gameplay is but life is a vampire since we're a fish out of water here it's 100 fine that we get a lot of exposition on how this new world works this masquerade around us could be a lot to take in but the game does a great job of doing so due to the incredibly strong writing characterization bloodlines they never feel like a character is just reading a wikipedia entry to us something that plenty of games fall prey to we get their insight and thoughts about any questions we have well you can still be destroyed but forget the books in the movies garlic it's worthless across shove it right up their ass a steak only if it catches you in the heart and then it just paralyzes you running water that's no problem by bathe occasionally the loading screens are also used to flush out the lower and define common terms although playing it now load times are really quick so read quickly it would be nice to have an option to hit a key or click to continue once the load is completed let's look into the presentation of bloodlines while it caused a number of issues in development as they were working with an incomplete engine with little documentation choosing the source engine from val played a large factor in bloodline's marable style while other titles beyond valve have made use of the source engine it pales in comparison to other widely licensed engines like the unreal engine this isn't the first source engine title i've covered on this channel that honor goes to dark messiah and this likely won't be the last source engine title i'd cover as well the facial animations that the source engine can deliver was the key reason for troika choosing the engine 15 years later and these facial animations still put most other games that have come out since then to shame there's now that uncanny valley deadeye stare here characters pop to life with their facial expressions and animated body language i will note that the facial animations have aged the best in regards to body movement most of it is well animated but there's also this one awkward one where they lean away from us with their hands forward characters for the most part have memorable designs and the women are well endowed some of the npcs that walk around will repeat it's fine to dance in a club and see the same character pop up within close proximity of one another and on the note of dancing oh those dance animations there's just something so goofy enough about them that they're really memorable i've tried myself to do the dance but can't quite figure it out you know after all these years i'm still surprised no one has capitalized in making a youtube video on how to do the bloodline stance surely there must be someone out there who could block people through and how to do it combat animations in third person are mostly fine nothing special when walking around hubs some characters appear to float instead of step when they walk when they're far away from you it's clear that the team spent most their time on the facial animations and where source delivered at its best do also recall they were making use of an alpha version of the engine which still had a ways to go in regards to development in another note about source engine this is prior to when the engine allowed for reflections and mirrors in the world of vampire the masquerade vampires do cast the reflection in mirrors with the exception of the la sombra clan they are not present in bloodlines based on this decision all characters have voice dialogue you can make a strong argument beyond a few outline cases that vampire bloodlines is the best voice acting ensemble in the game especially for its major characters they brought in a list of heavy hitters in the voice acting space and each one brings their a game with it courtney taylor gray delisle griffin james r l taylor john dimaggio mary elizabeth mcglynn nika fuderman phil lamar robin atkins downes steve blum just to name a few you've all heard these voices in some shape or form in other games shows or movies and here they bring their a-game so you have this incredible facial animations amazing voice actors with excellent voice direction to complete this package you need a strong script and dialogue to work with and while game writing frequently falls short of other mediums bloodlines is one of those standouts what we end up with here are some of the most memorable characters in games even those who we just spend a little bit of time with and even just minor characters you can thank brian mitsoda for vast majority game dialogue he was involved right from the beginning of the project the outline on the plot with the new prince tension among the factions sarcophagus were put in place prior to him stepping into the role so to paraphrase an interview in regards to his writing process brian mentioned that he doesn't like npcs to just be standing around as their lives begin when the character starts talking to them and ends when the player leaks characters are the protagonists of their own game from their own perspective it's adding in what these characters want what they think of the player why they're standing around and how they're sizing up or trying to take advantage of the player over 15 years later it's still really disappointing how few games manage to tackle this feeling that npcs aren't just quest givers but protagonists of their own story one example in games i've covered on this channel in the past are the ios montreal deus ex games the writing also hits a bullseye with the tone it goes for there's a dark edge and the game does tackle some very dark subject matter points but doesn't take itself too seriously and has some of the better humor i've seen conveyed in the game writer's such a tarnished term you know what i mean it's like every other guy says he's a writer right like you write a letter you're a writer you know it's like what i do that's like that's screenwriting like i encapsulate the essence of excellent film in my scripts all right like i'm like a blacksmith with pens right i'm a welder of montage after all vampire the masquerade tabletop game was released in the early 90s and very much has that gen x feel to it could have been very easy for things to fall into edgy territory but the game never falls into that trap and of course there's the radio show the dev of night did you miss me judging by the way the boards lit up i'd say you couldn't live without me you make me feel so desirable la it's one of those things that helps out to the incredible atmosphere and help flesh out the world around us i did do a poll on what were people's favorite bloodlines girl teresa and jeannette won by a wide margin which didn't surprise me but i was a bit let down on how little votes deb got if we don't get to see her there's just something about that voice the game does hint that she is kindred as well i wouldn't be surprised that she's a toryador sorry roger the only one that gets to give out their number on this show is me and if anyone was thinking of asking what i'm wearing that number again is 323 ko5 ktrk and whoever made the site deb of night.com thank you talk about having something nice on the background we have fantastic voice acting a great script but what also makes bloodline such an auditory tree is the music i'm not sure if it's my favorite game soundtrack ever but it's right near the top what rick schaefer composed here is something truly magical especially that hollywood theme [Music] i've only been to la a couple times my life and just briefly passing through but i am familiar with the city whether through films books the news and the tracks do an amazing job of capturing that sleaze that seedy knights of los angeles in such a perfect way now for that music that plays at the menu they want to get the song angel by massive attack but couldn't get the rights so they just made their own version heavily inspired by it [Music] so many great tracks here there's that one that happens when you get into combat in certain areas that i always like to sing along with the licensed tracks and bloodlines were done by activision not the team itself but they did a fantastic job here i mean say what you will about activision but the tony hawk games prove that they're really good when it comes to selecting songs for games well i wish i could play them without getting copyright strikes you know how youtube is you do know these tunes especially the one in the asylum you know there's also one song that would fit in the game well not just for its moon and tone but the song itself that being the song taxicab messiah by kidney thieves if you play deus ex invisible war you'll know this song but that gets into spoilers and i'll talk about it more later bloodlines makes use of hub-based worlds with four different hubs from there we'll be taken to various areas for various quests as great as these areas mostly are i do feel that perhaps they should have scaled some things back here and focused on one or two hubs and flush them out further even if there's not a ton of people walking around and there's a lot of characters repeating there's just something with so much care and craft there put into these areas it all comes together in this dark and dingy la to the music the background noise the source engine there's also a genesee qua factor here that i haven't been able to quite put my finger on while it all comes together so well but it's there although on that point it is kind of amusing that there's going to be some quests where we're sent to do something that's pretty much right across the street i know where the new vampire on the block and elders like to use those below them but cause some slack these areas are just full of love and craft full of things to do people to talk to places to see at the beginning of the game and for good stretches of it the game does a great job of giving you multiple ways to go about quests you could use combat you could use stealth you could hack you could use dialogue you have multiple ways into places it does a great job of replicating that tabletop experience when it comes to stealth i've never found the stealth detection system that pops up overly helpful intuitive and especially for this playthrough because i barely made use of stealth i usually just ran up and start hitting things although stealth is great for instant kills when sneaking up behind enemies with unique kill animations depending on the weapon that you have [Music] malik combat is all done in third person depending on your build can last you well to the end of the game you could do different swings by hitting a direction as you click away but i didn't find myself using it that much mostly it's just me clicking away when it came to guns they had the struggle of getting the gun balance right again trying to stay true to the tabletop while making adjustments for a video game now guns are something you could hold off for quite a while at least until hollywood or so before you really want to put some points into firearms and our disciplines or spells can be a lot of fun to mix and match and i really discovered this as my first time playing as a ventrue that got a pretty broken build the game can be pretty easy to choose depending on the clan that you choose for lady venture here she was running around soaking up damage like a machine as for disciplines i invested heavily into fortitude which increases defenses and presence which reduces the number of stats of enemies and our mana is our blood pool slowly drains over time and drains from our use of disciplines so depending on where you are you have a few options to refill your blood as a vampire if you're in a mass grade zone like the hubs you have to be discreet with your feeding feed on someone in an alley when no one else is around thanks to sky lady in the downtown section and she would always seem to walk through this 90 degree alley at just the right time now if you get caught there will be consequences hiding from the cops but unless you're really screwing up this won't be a huge issue if you do run out of blood depending on a number of factors your character will go into a frenzy which the game takes over and gets your character defeat masquerade be damned unless you're really [ __ ] up and losing humanity or violating the mass grade you really have to go over your way in order to do so it's one of those carryovers from the tabletop game that could have been used a bit more tweaking if they want to have greater consequences to the player you could also buy blood packs and in combat zones you're free to feed and kill them off of feeding with no consequences so now i'm going to go through each of the hub areas and give various thoughts on various points of the game so we're getting into spoiler territory here as a warning arguably the most memorable characters in the game are therese and jeannette even though they're barely in the game in the longer quest line we have the ocean house hotel i've done a whole video on this quest while now i could run through the area very quickly because i know it's tricks it's easy for me to understate just how good of a short little horror ride it is the first time i played bloodlines i was aware of the quest and its reputation got lucky with playing it around one the morning with the lights off and that was a trip it's a massive stroke of horror design and i'd love to see troika take a crack at a horror focused title besides the grout who we'll get to later and we only get here through his audio entries the only other malkavians will encounter throughout the game besides a possible player character is terese and jeannette for someone who's played thousands of roles and builds herself as the voice of your childhood this is my favorite role by grey to lyle griffin how she plays both characters and especially the scene where you talk them down when i first played this and when i walked and realized that they're the same person it's a great moment the kind of well duh twist that's extremely obvious in hindsight you i'm really sorry it had to end this way i truly am you seemed promising but don't listen to her she'll kill us both save me and i'll help you find bertram i swear shut up jeanette now if you're playing as a malkavian there's additional dialogue that happens before where it hints at this janice let's see isn't that a two-faced roman god of course you're right you just happen to meet the prettier face first to me the section of dialogue and our choice of tier is the highlight of the bloodlines and one of the most memorable dialogue encounters i've come across in any game it is quite disappointing afterwards we really don't have these kind of dialogue battles for better lack of a term and bloodlines of talking someone down we have to tread lightly here if we want them to coexist with one another and also the thing about this scene is it could have gone really wrong this gets into some very dark subject married here about them being molested by her father and her two halves you'd love the world to think you're a saint when you thought i was asleep i used to hear father come in at night i heard him whisper how much he loved you in your ear before he don't finish that sentence or you're dead this makes that painting the room that much more unsettling there's a reason that this kind of subject matter doesn't get covered often in the hands of an unskilled writer could be a cheap device and fall apart that's not the case here and in the hands of bad direction or voice actor up to task this could not hit the mark especially when you have the same actor bouncing back and forth with two halves of the same character but gray brings her a game here and knocks out the park there's a reason she's never short of work teresa and jeannette don't fall under the fishmaul territory fish malk is a term for stereotypical malkavian who plays wacky if you've ever played the tabletop game you definitely had someone at your sessions like this with my venture playthrough i was so certain i did all the correct steps to get them to cooperate with one another but i [ __ ] it up somehow you have to take very specific steps in order to do so thanks to chat when i did a stream of capturing footage from all caving nosferatu gameplay i was able to get correct this time around and i think that's the first time i've actually got them to coexist in the case of six degrees of grey delisle gray played a prominent role in another role-playing game that watched a month later in december 2004 a title that was also rushed out the door title that had adoring fans to help patch the game back together over the years a game that's become one of the most beloved rpgs of all time that being knights of the old republic 2 where she plays the handmaiden this isn't my first video where gray delisle has made an appearance in she also played john and bayonetta now the ocean lighthouse gets a lot of praise and good reason for its horror it's not the only quest in the game that does a great job of making you feel of your element or uncomfortable there's just about this prosthetic man which can be pretty goofy with his voice acting but going further and further into his lair is quite unsettling although really couldn't he be a little more subtle about all this like keep all the creepy stuff all the way in the back as opposed to just being behind the waiting room door with the side quests and the main quests we get here it really fleshes out the lore in a natural way we get introduced to the thin bloods the quaijin ghouls there's tons of lore they had to work with and they picked some great topics to focus in on and with the exception of a short little side quest in hollywood we're mostly a blank slate for our character so it could really get immersed into it you could tell the way that things are connected and how tightly packed it is that santa monica is where they spent most their time on the first main quest again the explosives is a great example of showing how many ways you could play through an area it's dialogue you could use stealth you could use combat the last part here in the main quest for santa monica gives you a lot of options well not dialogue heavy there's a number of ways you could get into this area and what you want to do with it although for my playthrough i just went in soaking that damage like a [ __ ] and making my way through while i didn't keep track of time i do think most of the game is spent in the downtown area it's much larger area it's more spread out but there's a lot more to do this is where you could go talk to the anarchs those monks kindred who want more freedom and how they live versus the camarilla of the prince up keeping the masquerade in a more strict matter as well we'll get more time dealing with the sabbat who we touched upon the last hub those who don't care to follow the masquerade and just want to [ __ ] [ __ ] up mostly brother canker they call me high lord in the diseased halls of the dead look around you the blood the bloated bodies the maggot red mortal shells these are the signs the coming of a new age when i got into the tabletop game reading through the books it's crazy how much is devoted to them in their various factions here they keep it fairly straightforward last act is a great bar where we could talk with the anarchs that gives you some good advice that maybe they should have hammered in a bit more especially once you get to the back stretch of the game three the camarilla is full of [ __ ] four watch your back always and lastly learn how to fight because a speech ain't gonna save your ass when you're staring down the barrel of a shotgun there's something so adorable and enduring about damsel getting so angry another case of your voice actor veteran in the gaming space courtney taylor knocks it out the park it wasn't until this playthrough that i finally realized who damsel reminded me of she reminds me of a grown-up spinelli from the show recess [Music] a fool with a fistful of look we told him knights didn't do it that's a son of a cat and that's crazy [ __ ] if i ever get my hands on her i'll tie her eyelashes to her ass hairs and pull her ass into a car compactor demon [ __ ] of course i gotta talk about chunk i could devote a whole section to this character such a doofus yet likable security guard we all know a chunk in her life in some cases we should all be more like a chunk in her life he's such a treat to have around there's something so endearing about his upbeat matter and attitude and the sheer ignorance of the world that's going on around him ah yeah i get that all the time the name goes back to my football days oh actually my fantasy football days at the station stationarium that was this office supply outlet mall i used to watch hey you kids no skating in the parking lot that was me there's another club here that's pretty great and venus the bartender she's a great lady for a couple of reasons there's a pretty funny dialogue here poking fun at republicans i'm going to need details so i know whether to pour a hail mary or a highway to hell really i don't think i've got anything in this place that's going to wash away that sin this was during the heyday of the bush administration after all i don't really care what your political stance is we gotta admit it was a pretty funny little jab remember when you could do that to either side of the political spectrum and have people not spazz out a world before social media follow me on twitter everyone one sidequest highlight is the flesh eating vampire she's voiced by mary elizabeth mclin who silent hill fans will know as the vocalist for many tunes from the series real terror is not the sight of death it is the fear of death what is the fear of death terror of the unknown is it these eyes you peer into no i am not the unknown you and i are closer kin than you and it were the main plot drives forward with the mcguffin that shows up sarcophagus has been found just offshore the sarcophagus may contain an anti-diluvian an extremely powerful vampire a sign that the end times may be near this is what drives the main quest getting the sarcophagus to lacroix and how to open it of course lacroix and the camarilla aren't the only ones who want to get their hands on the sarcophagus the game goes on we'll learn more about it and why don't open it is a phrase well known amongst the bloodline's fandom about the sarcophagus don't open it whatever you do do not open the uncurrent sarcophagus those with a lot to say usually have something on their mind don't open it on the mainline quest will take us to grout's mansion he's a notable malkavi in the la scene while it's very combat focused it's not too difficult and it's great learning about growth in his descent to madness as a malkavian there's a really interesting theory i came across in regards to growth so throughout the game we'll get email sent to us some about quests some of his junk mail but every once in a while we'll get these really cryptic messages from an unknown sender there's a theory that gives a pretty convincing case that groud is the one sending these messages that he faked his death at the mansion after all he should have turned to ashes instead of leaving a skeleton behind while these insights from these emails can be from malkavian who has those deep insights that other clans can't see or provide a link to the theory in the description as it's interesting read it makes a strong case that it is him afterwards we're off to hollywood i'd say it's my favorite hub not due to the quests but due to the music i mentioned earlier that beyond a short little bit in hollywood our character is mostly a blank slate so it's here we run to someone from our past from her past life prior to our embrace gosh is that you everyone was worried sick about you when you didn't show up and didn't call and nobody knew anything about what happened to you we thought you were dead are you okay you know what never mind we have to help you it's a short little conversation but stark reminder of what we've recently just given up it's one of those moments that really stuck with me over the years in a game chock full of memorable moments this is the small sub it's mostly just a straight way forward but just that music the atmosphere it just comes together so nicely now let's talk about vv good lord that voice isn't this better you and me alone for just a little while away from jihad in the nonsense and the dangers just the two of us hmm i don't want to spoil the moment but there's a reason i needed to speak to you alone so here's another voice actress veteran who just knocks out the park here now i didn't realize at the time even though i was playing a ton of it when i first played bloodlines but that's her as the zerg announcer in starcraft 2. would you [Music] i think it might be a little much to ask our allies face is threatened i've got a girl misty she's divine there's also another funny line here poking about the bush administration it was about secret societies and creatures that found themselves dealing with inner again remember when we could just joke about this stuff not have everyone spazz out over it uh good times we need to get in contact with the nosferatu who are hiding so we start a fairly long quest line that leads us to a creepy house in the hills a very unsettling character the samitse ah samitse or however however you pronounce it well let's see what videos have to say about this pronunciation i pronounce is i pronounce it as chemiste which is like sounds a little bit spanish yes today's word is and today's word is they're one of the other 13 clans and hey that is steve blum and one of the more amusing things in the game is if you listen to devin knight at some point he does call in and it feels like he's [ __ ] posting caller you're wilding away the evening with the deb of night good evening yes i think that's implied by the title of the show do you ever worry deb that the world is going to end i haven't felt that way since brad pitt got married do you have any idea how insignificant you are when they start devouring the world you will be but a blood stain on their capes i bet you say that to all the girls there is a red star in the night sky the blood of mortals and the blood of ages all will be consumed they are coming these are the final nights okay well good luck in the next election senator now i can't find anything if troika ever had the intention of allowing you to join the sabbat seeing how they had the kitchen sink design philosophy i wouldn't be surprised if they planned at some point but there is a mod available that allows you to join the sabbat here instead of killing andre that said i haven't played it myself and then we get to the infamous sewer section an industry where sewer level has a bad connotation this one is especially egregious now this is one of the reasons why i do like playing the plus patch is you could skip most the sewers however where you could skip the sewers is in such an odd place why couldn't they just put it right at the beginning where we started is there something with the engine that doesn't allow that to be the case because if you're not aware of it the game doesn't really bring attention to it at this point if you're not putting points to the firearms now's the time a more fantastic atmosphere chinatown the last of the hubs you could really tell this is where they started to run out of time there are a few requests there's not as much polish and you don't have as much decision making in regards to these quests in a way it kind of reminds me playing a tabletop game or the gm forgot here session plans so we just made a long stretch of combat encounters we get to meet the quai gym leader ming zhao they're known as the vampires of the east although they are quite different in how they work we are supernatural that does not mean we are like yourself we are beings returned through the second breath for a purpose the giovanni mansion is quite a bit of fun giovanni is now one of those 13 clients that though we can't play do pop up in the game afterwards we go to raid the society of leopold and this is where you could tell the game really starts to drop in regards to quality now some of my favorite and some of the best regarded games do have these back sections of a quality drop dark souls for example in the last half or so is easy to point to system shock 2 after the von braun as well vampire bloodlines for the last quarter fifth the title has a significant quality drop even with multiple playthroughs throughout the years sometimes i just get frustrated and just use god mode or no clip to rush through these things now here is a ventrue as basically the terminator and just soaked up insane amounts of damage but once you're past the giovanni mansion it's pretty much an all-combat stretch sure you could stealth but you really want to invest in some kind of combat one little break that does happen here is going to fight nines and dealing with a werewolf in the game where you basically curb stop everything in your way this is a nice change how the tables turned on us where we just have to run and hide for a few minutes now you can't kill the werewolf by squishing them with the opening but i've never been able to do this successfully now we're at the end of the game where we get our choices the quaijin the camarilla the annex or ourselves the game has been building up to this moment in regards to the sarcophagus and everyone who wants it but also it feels like a case of where they ran out of time to make a compelling case for who to side with one game that does the decide on what flawed faction to choose really well is fallout new vegas there's a good reason that over a decade later there's still much debate on which choice is the best for the future of the mojave had bloodlines had more time to develop i'm sure the game would have done much better in regards to giving more thought to your decision while the camarilla are in order la has been in anarch state for a number of years maybe it's time for things to return what about the east queijin after all ming does come clean to us about how she's in cahoots with lacroix lacroix saw an opportunity to rid himself of two problems a hardened rebel leader and a problematic primogen in one fell stroke and as you can see i was integral to his plan [Music] for this playthrough i did the independent run not trusting anyone because it's totally worth it for one moment that happens later we make our way through the equation fortress and boy this fight with ming zhao good luck in the past i've thrown the towel on a number of these runs and just turned on god mode just to get past this fight even with my overpowered ventrue who just absorbed incredible levels of damage this one took quite a while finally going after lacroix we make our way up the tower now we have the choice do we open it or do we not open it now i remember when i first played this in the section where we raid the society of leopold we're there to find an archaeologist and we have a really interesting conversation with him yeah yeah well the markings on the sarcophagus seem to hint that it is from sometime between 1050 and 800 bc the goddess on the outside of the sarcophagus was la master in the syrian myth la master was an evil demonist who preyed on humans many people cite her as the mother of vampire myth and the engravings on and found around the sarcophagus portray a regal figure drinking the blood of his enemies there's something that seems to be really powerful in here or at least gives the impression of because if you do the right thing and not open it and leave it to la croix to surprise in a few seconds it would be all mine power [Music] [Laughter] [Music] smiling jack was trolling the [ __ ] out of everyone a little bit of assistance and why is the independent ending worth it well there's this one moment hell i don't think any of us like that kid where you going hey hear me out we could use someone like you so as we wrap up bloodlines let's talk about the cab driver and our character so if you go by the rules of the tabletop game with our blood pool we're an eighth generation vampire which is really powerful looking at the white wolf wiki lecroy himself is estimated as an eighth generation with smiling jack as 10th generation kane is first generation at the time of the release generations were going up to around the 12 to 14 range now to be clear bloodlines doesn't really get much into the generations they do play fairly loose with the rule set so to be have someone that's a seventh generation cyrus without mentioning anything doesn't sit right and the kroy mentions that they were upstanding member of the society so what happened then well we have to consider the presence of the cab driver i drive people to their destination that is who i am remember wherever we go it is the blood of cain which makes our fate farewell vampire so the game never outright says so but if you look at game files the mall caving discussion of the cab driver the talk of the seer on the beach the cab driver is kane kane being the og vampire cursed by god when he slew his brother abel and that could help explain why we're so [ __ ] powerful he's been mucking around with things in the background although granted we're pretty much the only one out there doing things so that's a good reason why we collected so many experience points but still came to play a factor here making sure we had a bit more power since getting more into the tabletop game i'm not sure exactly how i feel about the cab driver being kane i mean he does work in mysterious ways and getting involved with everything at this level feels like it wouldn't be a style but then again when you're the first vampire you could do whatever you want i mentioned earlier there's a licensed track that was featured in deus ex visible war that would have been really great here and that's the song taxicab messiah by kidney thieves i mean the song title itself feels really good and the lines my god is weird my god is scary my god paint's a pretty picture perfect fit for this game hey messer up buddy i'm talking to you you don't really talk [Music] hey it much just like you said they never even knew what hit them threw that sarcophagus out there and they just tore each other up trying to get to it and the kid worked out all right huh remember wherever we go it is the blood of cain which makes our fate farewell vampire so now how did vampire bloodlines go to have such an undying legacy gamers have its time regards to being released unfinished activision was getting very impatient and won the game out now however due to their contract with valve they couldn't release bloodlines until half-life 2 came out so it was released the same day as half-life 2 november 16 2004. now you think they pick a better day considering half-life 2 is one of the most anticipated games of all time looking at what activision launched that quarter they did have tony hawks underground 2 and call of duty finest hour this is still a few years before call of duty became mammoth series so i guess bobby couldn't wait a few more months and want to have something else out that quarter not only that when you look at november 2004 for video games and that fall in general can make a strong case for it being the greatest period of quality title releases if you google november 2004 in gaming only first results is an article from kotaku on why november 2004 might be one of the greatest months in gaming history now as wrong as kotaku gets most things i don't have any issues with this one while 1998 is widely cited as the best year in gaming you can make a strong case for 2004 especially what came out in november 2004 which saw a counter-strike source ratchet clank up your arsenal everquest ii halo 2 metroid prime 2 need for speed underground 2 half-life 2 metal gear solid 3 world of warcraft just to name a few the tail end of october saw the release of grand theft auto san andreas none of these titles are highly ranked on the best games of all time list and sold an incredible number of copies so how did bloodlines do well it sold around 70 000 copies troika received its final death in february of 2005. he tried pitching projects to our publishers but no dice and just looking back you'd think activision would realize that in each title-like bloodline should have waited until the first quarter of 2005. now this time frame did see number of noticeable releases but it wouldn't have got as lost in the shuffle as it did in november 2004 plus this will given the team more time to work on the title it was possible the time to encounter some bugs that made the game unbeatable within a few months fan patches were starting to emerge one werner spall an analytical chemist at the university of munich known the community as a west 5 took over patching duties early on as he experienced with modern games prior and to this day he's still working on it he pops up everywhere in discussions steam discussions gog forums rpg codecs and to be fair while he is the project lead there have been a number of people over the years who have contributed to the project so much content has been restored that eventually the patch split into two versions firstly there's the basic patch this focuses on what came with the game at launch then there's the plus patch that hasn't cut content that saw fans added voiceovers and construct maps from what was left over in the game files as time went on word spread about bloodlines gained an extremely devoted following steam spy shows at sales between 500 000 a million on steam that's a wide stretch but shows the long tail and shelf life as this game keeps selling and selling so much so that in early 2019 after many rumors vampire bloodlines 2 was announced okay so let's talk about the dumpster fire that has been bloodlines too let's try to piece things together in 2015 paradox interactive purchased white wolf and all its ips which include vampire the masquerade heart suit labs the developer of seattle pitched to paradox creative director kai clooney a friend of bloodline's writer brian mitsoda brought him on board to write for the sequel and then got the green light so they got off on the right foot bringing one of the writers who played such a critical role of the original good stuff they also contracted chris avlon one of the better writers in the industry on the project rick schaefer was also being brought back to work on the soundtrack so great start right and sure there's some of the modern day gaming hiccups like needing charts to figure out pre-order editions or bring in some other writers who want to push more of that current year sloppy shoehorn writing and we've seen pop up but hey if you have brian and chris running the show i think most that will be kept to a minimum the game was set for release in early 2020 and after seeing the gameplay reveal that we got that year it didn't surprise me when the game got delayed so it looked like it needed a lot of time left and we had kovitz so there was even more delays and then in mid 2020 brian mitsoda and director kai clooney were canned by heart suit with no explanation around this time frame chris avalon was metoo'd which resulted in his work being removed in february of this year paradox removed hard suit labs as the developer of the project and has found another studio to finish the game what studio that is has yet to be announced and when i was writing out the script paradox announced the cancellation of several unannounced titles and to be honest i was surprised that bloodlines 2 wasn't cancelled in this announcement as well so if we will see the game if ever they decide to start from scratch or what they'll use that's really up in the air there's been some other stuff popping up about the game so let's dig a bit deeper in july of this year chris avalone released the blog post titled what the [ __ ] happened to bloodlines 2. chris had been silent since he got me two the year before but month before this blog he ended this silence fighting back against the accusations and lowering up if you do want to learn more about this case i do recommend a video of the exoneration of chris avalon that looks into the allegations i am a big fan of avalon's work for years and since fighting back against his metoo allegations he definitely has more of a don't give a [ __ ] attitude i'm mostly going to take his word here on his experiences with bloodlines chris wasn't booed from the project like the immediate reported it he was contracted for the project that ran from 2016 to mid-2018 he wrote a number of major characters and side missions these were removed after the allegations emerged chris says that now and the staff they worked with at the time are still at the company it's not clear at this point if his work will be brought in or how much of brian's material would be used he also notes that hard suit wasn't a studio with much experience in working on rpgs another post that came across for me throughout on rpg cotex pointed to a russian site running it through google translate it might be a little bit off but does give some interesting insights to what's going on at heartsuit labs heartsuit labs kept quiet that during this timeframe development you're also doing a number of outsourcing services so these include engineering support and porting support for numbered titles like gears of war 4 bioshock collection and crash bandicoot 4. however this information wasn't featured at first and this can be verified by using the wayback machine so looking at this information it might be very possible that hard suit kept this information quiet from their publisher paradox they want to have something else to show potential clients so instead of devoting all their resources to bloodlines too they spread themselves too thin they hired staff that make sense for engineering support or reporting but non-development of the game they used it to build out their portfolio and when bloodlines 2 went tits up they could show possible clients what they've been working on i don't know maybe they should have just focused on bloodlines too because now they're known as the studio who [ __ ] up the lines too and there's still a whole lot that we don't know while this is just rumors at this point but looking at timelines it's not like they were forced to rush this one out it seems like heartsuit labs might be given enough rope to hang themselves so if you have any hopes for bloodlines too i really hope you keep them in check whatever studio gets to take control the project now has a monumental task ahead of them to that i say i would not want to be in your shoes so if you're a fan of bloodlines the fan of this world of vampire the masquerade what does the future of the series hold in store beyond bloodlines too what can you do well you could always replay bloodlines it's one of the most replayable games around play a different clan check out some of the mods like the clan based mods i haven't checked out any of them but they seem to have a positive reputation and something i might look at in a future video there's also the tabletop game although if you're getting into it stick with the older versions for me i played the 20th anniversary edition the most recent edition fifth is a trash fire go look into some of the controversies surrounding it there's a reason that paradox said to white wolf yeah you're not working on this again it's also full of law that current year writing that's gone shoehorned into a lot of work over the last few years there's a reason that the character rudy has become a bit of a meme in the joke amongst the community a lot of the writing here feels like someone who is raised on the diet of twitter and tumblr if you like tabletop shows like critical role there's la by night that's now five seasons in i only watched it briefly in preparation for taking part in tabletop game was well done with a great cast and the fantastic gm running the show plus a number of characters from bloodlines show up in 1996 there was a short lived show based on vampire the masquerade called kindred the embrace it only had eight episodes that aired on fox but you could find it on youtube there are a couple of visual novels coteries in new york and chad of new york that came out the last couple years they have mostly positive views on steam so they might be worth looking into if you're into those kind of visual novels there was the recently released battle royale blood hunt that's free to play i'm not into these kind of games i'm assuming if you're a fan of the channel neither you but hey it is there currently sits at mixed reviews on steam you know gunning down each other in the streets doesn't seem like the best way of keeping the masquerade intact finally there's swan song which is set to release in early 2022 it's billed as a narrative rpg looking at the team's other previous work the council which should say very positive on steam reviews seems like a mixture of telltale and bioware dialogue the gentleman gamer on the channels i recommended if you want to learn more about the lore of the series is a co-writer on the title so you can make what you will of the future of this franchise make your own stories of the tabletop game give more clans a run try out some of the mods it's always something new i discover each time i come back to bloodlines and it's extremely replayable if bloodlines 2 ever sees the light of day or while i guess unleashed into the knights the better term keep your expectations in check it's anything above unsalvageable dumpster fire that even fans can't fix i'll be surprised [Music] you

Channel: Boulder Punch

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Keywords: Vampire the masquerade bloodlines, vampire bloodlines, Vampire the masquerade bloodlines review, vampire bloodlines review, vtmb, vtmb bloodlines, Vampire the masquerade bloodlines analysis, bloodlines 2, vampire bloodlines 2, Vampire the masquerade bloodlines 2, vtmb2, boulder punch, vampire the masquerade, vampire bloodlines critique, vampire bloodlines retrospective, vampire bloodlines gameplay, bloodlines, bloodlines review, vtmb review, vtmb gameplay, vtm bloodlines, vampire

Id: TN-_6ZveTFE

Length: 49min 42sec (2982 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 07 2021