Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

An incredible journey, beginning to end. The story and the characters are the bread and butter of this game, with everyone (even to minor characters) being memorable for days after beating the game. It's one of the old guard of roleplaying games that fit in that perfect space between CRPG and modern RPG. This is a must-play game before you die for any RPG geek out there, there's nothing like it. And unfortunately, after the credits roll, you'll be yearning for Bloodlines 2 -- which at this point... may never see the light of day. But that's okay, because this game has some incredible replay value and I look forward to my next playthrough.

Excellent game. First played in the 2000s with all the bugs and all. The only way we could beat the religious guy was hide under the water tower and he glitched and couldn't path find to us haha. The haunted house is still scary 20 years later. ClamTK reports that the offline backup files contain "PUA.Win.Malware.Speedingupmypc-6718419-0" (which Microsoft reckons it is is usually part of an installer). Since this is from GOG I'm going to assume it's safe.

TLDR; The game delivers on the dark urban atmosphere and bouts of comedy that pair surprisingly well with horror. Memorable characters, good progression, meaningful choice in how to handle problems, with combat that's a little lacking. There aren't many characters in this game (it's not particularly big), but they're all memorable. Fantastic voice acting and face animations that hold up better than even modern one. No favoritism either, major characters and one-off extras really sell their role. The original tracks really contribute to the urban gothic feel the devs were going for, with some painful cheesy early 00s songs that still manage to work. It's charmingly authentic. Character progression's great, really sells the narrative in game that your neonate character quickly reaches their full potential. The disciplines are fun to mess around with, but the controls make accessing them a pain. You have to scroll through them one at a time to reach the one you want to use. Moving to combat; It's a mixed bag. As mentioned earlier, going through powers can be a pain, especially if your disciplines gives different powers instead of upgrading just one. You might also have problems with using guns if you don't invest points into them. The game thankfully gives you a lot of options for handling missions. You can tell Tim Cain worked on this, as you usually get action-oriented solutions as well as stealthy or talkative options. Using the less straight-forward solutions nets more XP, which lets you try out more options. Overall, I think the game's a treat. Highly replayable owing to its short overall length (still packed with content), different clans to try, different ways to tackle problems, and multiple endings.

It's unfinished, buggy and old. But the charm of the characters, the ambience, the music, the level design (excluding the sewers, of course) plus the replay value, makes this one the best role playing games EVER made.

Who is to say that action games cannot be RPGs? Here we have a first and third person action game with tabletop origins, and the only video game one can claim has outright more role-playing than it is Fallout 2. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Troika's final game and the first ever Source game, is one of the best games ever made. It is a matured RPG with fully voiced characters barring the protagonist. Many clans (races) to choose from and a faithful, in-depth representation of VTM's stat system, more comprehensive than most of today's isometric 2.5D RPGs. And a ton more role-playing and better writing quality as well. Taking some inspiration from the great Deus Ex, Bloodlines is a hub-based game ripe with character interaction, often putting the player in difficult situations with no clear answers or ways to win. You are a puppet within a grand scheme. Everyone you can converse with is actually a character, not a quest giving bot or plot device, something VERY rare not only to video gaming but TV and film too. Characters with a distinct appearance, one of a kind facial animations that stack up to today's technology (better than crap like Fallout 4's), unique behavior and mannerisms, and often some kind of agenda. They never act out of character, and they are perfectly voiced. I had no prior interest in vampires, but this game made me a fan. There is an unbelievable amount of role-playing. In fact, the entire game is re-written for two specific clan choices; Nosferatu and Malkavian. Do not play Malkavian first. Most will tell you not to play Nosferatu first either, but I did and it's fine. Yes, you have to sneak around in the sewers more, and quests can get more confusing when people are afraid to talk to you, but it's all understandable. Whereas Malkavian... understandable? No. GOG's version of the game comes with the latest unofficial patch, so it is good to go out of the box. Glitches and bugs still exist, but they aren't game breaking anymore.