Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

I'm glad to see Troika's flawed masterpiece is finally seeing the light of day here at GoG. However, I do wish we were getting the official 1.2 release rather than a version with a particular set of third-party fixes. Why? There are actually two series of third-party patches for this wonderful game, which are incompatible with one another. If you like Wesp5's Unofficial Patch, great. If not, then as it stands, too bad, GoG baked it into the cake. As it happens, the UP is not the only solution out there to fix the game's released near-alpha state. I've been playing a boxed copy of VTMB for years using Tessera's True Patch Gold, which takes a more purist approach to fixing bugs without adding content that was often cut for a reason. But to each their own. I'm not telling anyone which patch to use...GoG is doing that by including UP code in their release. In the name of providing options, I hope GoG will someday see fit to release the 1.2 version of the game as an alternate download, for those of us who would like to make our own decisions as to which patches or mods we would like to use. The True Patch Gold version of the game is easily worth five stars. Troika really did hit it out of the park with this one, minus the bugs. But I will have to take a couple of stars off for GoG's inclusion of code forcing players to play with one particular fan update, rather than letting us have the choice.

Игра, которую можно посоветовать вообще всем, не только любителям РПГ и вампиров. В общем, здесь есть отличная музыка и озвучка в целом, прекрасные персонажи, хорошая система навыков и характеристик, несколько кланов, выходцем из которых может быть персонаж, есть история интересная, есть атмосфера, особенно если не пытаться ее поломать, а играть по правилам. Говорильные навыки ничуть не менее полезны, чем боевые, многие вещи разговорами решать проще, еще и опыта дадут больше. Концовок несколько, зависит от вашего выбора. Взаимоотношения с разными группами так же зависят от поведения. Отношение и диалоги меняются в зависимости от того, представителем какого клана играете. Совет новичкам - не играйте в первое прохождение малкавианами и носферату, носферату - игра стелсом, сложно будет, а малкавиане - это лол кек азаза прохождение, в котором сходу много спойлеров, взгляд на мир и персонажей под другим углом, но играть лучше уже пройдя игру другим домом, вот серьезно, не играйте первый проход малкавианами. А так - любой другой дом. Русификатор текста есть в интернете, мегабайт 500 весит, там и патч заодно, его ставьте, он создаст новый ярлык на рабочем столе, запускать с него. Перевод хороший. В общем, игра одна из лучших за всю историю индустрии, если вдруг не играли - поиграйте

VTMB is an Action-RPG commonly compared to Deus Ex 1 or Alpha Protocol. Like those games, it has its share of flaws but these are easily made up for with the game's brilliant writing and art direction. The game is so seeped with intriguing lore and saturated with atmosphere that once you're in game, it's easy to overlook the otherwise dated graphics. What about gameplay? Well for the first half of the game you're treated to a true RPG where you have the option to approach many challenges as you see fit, be it through combat, stealth, or diplomacy. Unfortunately the later half of the game resorts to a series of dungeon crawls. Combat can be a little clunky but is made up for by the fact that you can seamlessly switch between melee and firearms and between 1st and 3rd person camera perspectives. Just make sure you invest points in your combat skills because they'll make a big difference. The slope for guns is particularly severe, being almost useless unskilled but enabling you to breeze through boss fights when upgraded to 8 or higher. VTMB is worth at least three replays, thanks to a robust character sheet and your choice of vampire "clan", which defines what magic disciplines (like Deus Ex's augmentations) you can use and may apply special rules. The crazy Malkavian clan has its own set of loony and spoiler-filled dialogue and the grotesque Nosferatu force you to slink in the shadows as you're penalized for being seen by humans. I recommend the Tremere for first timers but all choices are viable and add their own twist. Overall, the story may be less reactive than Alpha Protocol and the maps less interesting than those in Deus Ex, but if you enjoyed either of those games and want to dive neck deep into a vampire RPG that doesn't pull any punches, VMTB is sure to satisfy.

... but your money isn't going anywhere good buying this. Bloodlines' publisher, Activision, either through malice or through what must have been some of the grossest incompetence this industry has ever known, sabotaged the game's development and throughout development drastically cut their funding of the game's developer, Troika (successor to the creators of Fallout, Black Isle), which, coupled with Activision having chosen to release the game on the same day as a little title you might have heard of called Half-Life 2, resulted in financial failure for the developer which soon forced them to fold - right as they were working on a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld and were about to acquire the rights to the Fallout license. Now, with Troika dead and Activision still alive, any money spent on this game goes not to its contributors, but to its malefactors. Do not give Activision money for this game. I'll repeat: DO NOT GIVE ACTIVISION MONEY FOR THIS GAME.

Хочется немного сказать про саму игру и версию в GOG. Сама игра великолепна и до сих пор остается одной из лучших игр про вампиров. Музыка шикарна, графика до сих пор смотрится неплохо, квесты оригинальные и интересные, атмосфера и сеттинг мира тьмы шикарны, семь уникальных игровых кланов (у каждого клана вампиров свои фишки), отличный сюжет, великолепные персонажи, хороший выбор навыков и неплохо реализованная физика. Однако увы, боевка в игре оставляет желать лучшего, огнестрельное оружие почьти бесполезно и самая большая беда, которая сгубила игру - большое число багов. Версия в GOG надо сказать весьма хорошая. Критичных багов нет, большенство квестов присутствует, все торговцы на месте. Однако не хватает руссификатора и фанатских патчей (без них в игре не хватает многих приятных мелочей), все правда можно достать в интернете, но это другой вопрос. В итоге можно спокойно покупать, игра шедевр своего времени (хоть увы и забагованный). Версия в GOG вполне стабильна и проходиться с удовольствием.