Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

It's sad to say, but more than 20 years have not improved this game despite the work of fans and modders. It's a buggy, crash-filled mess of a game that was too ambitious for it's own good. The writing is frequently very good, even if it has it's weak spots, and there is a level of immerson largely unparalleled in games with the sheer variety of choice, but crashing every few minutes, random glitches, and worst of all save-destroying bugs that can set you back hours of progress at times, it's a real hassle to actually play.

What the title says. I could write about the story, the believable characters, the whole feel of the game world - but others have done it often enough. Buy it if you don't know it.

The first thing anyone buying this needs to know is it was unfinished at release and left to the fan community. It's a tragedy of Shakespearean proportion. This is one of maybe 5 games which every person who says they are a fan of RPG must play before they can even comment on the subject. Anything less is akin to a grade schooler giving peer review for a scientific paper. Of course you can play it and say it's dated, but i'll comment on that at the end. This game has one of the best character creation mechanics ever made. The choices in the character creator and how you develop in the game have a real impact on your game. The options in conversation are greatly impacted by you skills, which in turn may completely change how you approach a situation out of conversation or whether you need to even fight. As much as many other games say they do this, it truly is a rare thing. The story is good, but the NPCs are among the most unforgettable in any game, particularly the faction leaders. Give it a try. The game allows for a number of different approaches. Chances are with the characters being so diverse and having such deep background there's something in there for almost anyone. With that I'll leave you with the nagging question: WHY? How much longer do I need to ask myself that before I see a follow-up to one of the greatest games ever made. It's maddening. Is there some plot to bury all things great in this world like BSG and its possible spin-offs on tv or movies. GAH!!! WHYYY??? Is there a guy from the movie Idiocracy making decisions and saying "I like money," but then saying just not that much money. Seriously, though. If someone doesn't make a sequel to this the only reason to have the rights to it is so someone else can't make something better than the games they make.

This game is absolutly exeptional. It is one of the few role playing games where it it truly possible to play a role. The writing, the voice acting and the dialog options are mastercrafted to a point, where i have yet to see something that comes close to it. The grafics are surly aged, but the well designed faces and the immersion and atmosphere the game gives you make it easy to look over its age. The gameplay is honestly neither exeptionally good or bad. It certanly feels a bit wobbely at times and doors can be really annoying some times. Also the world Itself is more in a noir setting. Sure you are a strong vampire, but you cannot bent or destroy most things (not even donut and pizza boxes. The Leveldesign is somewhat bad with many invisible walls and the catacombs... But very atmospheric. Combat is simple and fun most of the time. It also has a high replay value for its genre because certain vampire clans play totally differen (with own dialogs, missions (so much work must have gone into this). HINT: If you play first don't play Nosferatu or Malkavian unless you really want to. Nosferatu come a little short sometimes and Malkavian are in my opinion best enjoyed when you already know how every thing play out (references and such). This game probably would have been the best selling role playing game and a milestone for everything that would have come, if it hadn't that many bugs. From what I've read (I was curious, why it wasn't in ever best game chart) it was (almost) unplayable at it's release not finished and launched next to HL2. The good news it that it has to this day a active comunitiy (I've played the pen and paper games for years) and thanks to the Unofficial Patch most bugs are fixed and a lot of conent is restored and even some added. You certanly should use it. For the record I am not someone who came over by nostalgia or something. I started that game for the first time on the 12th of march 2017 and finished it yesterday.

Ok, where to begin... I hadn't ever heard of Vampire the Masquerade or World of Darkness before this game. I bought it on a whim before I deployed to Iraq in 2005. We didn't have much in the way of entertainment over there, but some ingenious soldiers threw up an ad-hoc lan network so people could play Halo and other console games in our dusty hovel infested with rats and scorpions. Even so, I would usually have a sizeable crowd of soldiers at my back watching me play. It is a very compelling game. Flawed in many ways but no other title can scratch the itch that Bloodlines satisfies. All clans are viable and fun but those Malkavians! So awesome! Get this game!