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I wish Paradox would get off their ass and do a remaster of Bloodlines, maybe hire some former Troika members to do DLC where they actually finish the game... not like that's gonna happen though.
Have you ever contacted the developer of Bloodlust: Shadowhunter to see if he'd be willing to open his games up to modding? If he still has the source code somewhere then there'd be so much modding you could do with it.
I wish Paradox would get off their ass and do a remaster of Bloodlines, maybe hire some former Troika members to do DLC where they actually finish the game... not like that's gonna happen though.
They already tried to do this, but it seems as if Activision wasn't interested. I have info that they wanted to hire the guy behind the CCP cancelled "Project Vaulderie" remaster, but sadly it went nowhere...
Have you ever contacted the developer of Bloodlust: Shadowhunter to see if he'd be willing to open his games up to modding? If he still has the source code somewhere then there'd be so much modding you could do with it.
From the demo of that which I played years ago, I don't see how it would be better than the Source engine, which I know how to mod somewhat. Source code wouldn't help me either, as I have no programming background at all !
They already tried to do this, but it seems as if Activision wasn't interested. I have info that they wanted to hire the guy behind the CCP cancelled "Project Vaulderie" remaster, but sadly it went nowhere...
I'm of two minds here. If the Microsoft acquisition goes through then it might be worth it to try again. However, I'm worried that hiring fan modders might result in their personal visions clashing with Troika's original vision.
Of course, considering how terrible Paradox's management has gone so far... I'd prefer to see Obsidian do a spiritual successor to Bloodlines with an original in-house IP.
From the demo of that which I played years ago, I don't see how it would be better than the Source engine, which I know how to mod somewhat. Source code wouldn't help me either, as I have no programming background at all !
It would provide far more flexibility than relying on an outdated buggy version of Source with hardcoded limits. Other modders with relevant skill would find it useful.
Beggars can't be choosers. Bloodlust is the closest thing to a Bloodlines game we're going to get for the foreseeable future, and it's not tied up in corporate legalize. It can't hurt to try.
If this is targeted at me, I have a full time job and only mod on the side, so I am out . The main problem I see is that I don't think anybody really knows what Troika intended at the time! Mitsoda told me all he remembered which wasn't much, Tim Cain recently mentioned in comments to his videos that his archive to Bloodlines is incomplete and Boyarsky is hardly even talking about the game as it hurt him so much.
I'd prefer to see Obsidian do a spiritual successor to Bloodlines with an original in-house IP.
Well they already tried with The Outer Worlds and failed completely in my opinion.
Bloodlust is the closest thing to a Bloodlines game we're going to get for the foreseeable future, and it's not tied up in corporate legalize. It can't hurt to try.
Then go ahead and do a demo! I only remember a very small Bloodlines-like starting hub which didn't look any better than done in the Source engine and then endless boring underground mazes...
It's been a while...
I've played through the game again, this time with the Standard Mod Patch v0.8, created by Norrwin, that was mentioned earlier in this thread.
The SMP attempts to offer a true vanilla experience with nothing but bug fixes (again), unlike both the falsely advertised, user-unfriendly, and not at all true True Patch, and the UP Basic, which still contains little pieces of the Plus patch from which it was reverse engineered and even openly abandoned its Basic intentions some time ago with the altered tutorial.
My conclusion: It seems to be categorically impossible to get a smooth and bug-free vanilla experience with this game. Stop trying.
Is the SMP "true"?
Tbh, I don't even know what is or isn't true anymore. I've never played the original retail version, and only played through the Legacy 1.2 version once. It all blurs together with my other playthroughs with various different versions of the UP and also the TP. So I'm still left with questions like, "is it really supposed to play no music during this part of that dialogue scene", and similar minor stuff. Other than that, I haven't noticed anything (and I also don't care very much about minor details).
Is the SMP bug-free?
Here are some highlights that I remember:
At the end of the intro cutscene, when all the vamps are supposed to leave the theater, the game was just showing an empty hallway.
After rescuing Lily in the hospital, there is a cutscene with the PC automatically walking through the door, followed by some dialogue with Vandal. My PC didn't walk far enough, and Vandal couldn't initiate the dialogue. Unskippable softlock.
Using stealth to steal the briefcase in the parking garage, the exchange between the two gangs didn't play out. They were just standing there while I was taking the briefcase. No shootout.
The laser traps in the museum wouldn't deactivate properly after I hit the panel, and I couldn't get through undetected.
Swimming was completely broken. Whenever there was a current, I was paralyzed and couldn't swim in any direction. I had to noclip a lot in the sewers just to get out of the water.
Progression in the sewers was also impossible at the part with the pumps for the same reason, and I had to noclip to the exit.
Many instances of z-fighting textures.
The cabby's voice had a noticeably lower pitch and just sounded wrong.
Only one or two lines had the correct pitch. Out of all the jank I'd encountered in this playthrough, this one annoyed me the most. I'm used to savescumming, noclipping and cheating my way out of softlocks in this game, but this one kinda ruined the great atmosphere of the taxi ride for me.
On the flip side, phones don't float back to the wall anymore. It's possible that I've just been really unlucky, or that I did something wrong during installation, though I don't think so. You have to install a certain version of the UP first, and then install the SMP on top of it. Weird... It's also hard to say how many bugs the SMP prevented. But in hindsight, I should have just played with an older version of the UP.
As for the game itself: I was afraid I'd turned too much into a gameplay-nazi in recent years and wouldn't enjoy this anymore. But as soon as I stepped out of the haven in Santa Monica, I was completely absorbed by the game again, and had some really long play sessions. Excellent visual novel.
Any reference to the Unofficial Patch will be to the Basic version. The UP Plus isn't really relevant to any discussions here.
What does "experience the game in it's original design form" mean? As and example; in the original game the NPCs as a rule do not drop ranged weapons other than the 38 revolver and M37 shotgun until a player reaches Chinatown. This is a design feature and the intent is for a ranged character it makes the vendors much more useful and important. In the Unofficial Patch Basic the player can start farming mid/late game firearms and end game melee weapons from the NPCs from the first instant they leave their Santa Monica apartment, often without any consequences. Note: in the original game I know of two exceptions to the cited NPC drop rule. However, these exceptions don't contribute anything positive to the discussion. Meaning ignoring 99% of the cases and focusing on the 1% exception isn't logical or proper analysis, nor I suspect in good faith.
In the original game the player is expected to keep track of and work out the meaning of some quests. In the UP some of the items and details the player is expected to work out are added to the quest logs so the player doesn't have to do any work or remember things. Yes this is a more modern and accepted method but it is also a design change, which is what I do not want in my game/patch.
What are "more complex design features"? For example; on the Dane there are three doors that open silently, this is an intended design feature, and one that the player can "work out" the meaning of... or ignore as they choose. In the UP these three silent door are missing/removed so the player has no possible chance of working out the meaning. This is the most troublesome kind of change made in the UP, where entire features of the game are removed, and unfortunately the most common.
There are many of these kinds of game design changes in the UP and in some cases entire designed features are removed by changes made in the UP. For some players, maybe most, these kinds of details mean nothing, which I expect and understand. But for some players, like myself, the changes in the UP will diminish our game play options and experience.
Yeah, it has always been known that Bloodlines was intended to have a multiplayer component and Tim Cain just recently confirmed that in one of his videos. You can actually run a multiplayer game using console commands, but players can't hurt each other so only coop would be possible. After EntenSchreck and myself modded the hunter side of things into the Bloodlines Prelude I mod, I decided to hack up a little hunter campaign into the main game so anybody interested into creating dedicated maps for hunters or coop multiplayer would have an easier start than using Prelude I. Of course nobody is doing anything while there are still stupid little MapLabs released for HL2 using the same engine and editor all the time. Bloodlines really is kind of a cursed game...
I started playing this game yesterday and I'm having such an enjoyable time with it. I recently made the switch from console to PC and it's exciting to finally have access to so many RPGs that I've been reading about for years. I got back into gaming in recent years and I've been disappointed with the hand-holding nature of a lot of games. I love how in VtM I have to progress the missions myself by paying attention to what's being said and seeking out the locations myself. It's not rocket science but I still feel smart moving things along and I appreciate that the developers respect the players to do just that. So hyped to be playing PC games at long last.
I started playing this game yesterday and I'm having such an enjoyable time with it. I recently made the switch from console to PC and it's exciting to finally have access to so many RPGs that I've been reading about for years. I got back into gaming in recent years and I've been disappointed with the hand-holding nature of a lot of games. I love how in VtM I have to progress the missions myself by paying attention to what's being said and seeking out the locations myself. It's not rocket science but I still feel smart moving things along and I appreciate that the developers respect the players to do just that. So hyped to be playing PC games at long last.
I started playing this game yesterday and I'm having such an enjoyable time with it. I recently made the switch from console to PC and it's exciting to finally have access to so many RPGs that I've been reading about for years. I got back into gaming in recent years and I've been disappointed with the hand-holding nature of a lot of games. I love how in VtM I have to progress the missions myself by paying attention to what's being said and seeking out the locations myself. It's not rocket science but I still feel smart moving things along and I appreciate that the developers respect the players to do just that. So hyped to be playing PC games at long last.
I started playing this game yesterday and I'm having such an enjoyable time with it. I recently made the switch from console to PC and it's exciting to finally have access to so many RPGs that I've been reading about for years. I got back into gaming in recent years and I've been disappointed with the hand-holding nature of a lot of games. I love how in VtM I have to progress the missions myself by paying attention to what's being said and seeking out the locations myself. It's not rocket science but I still feel smart moving things along and I appreciate that the developers respect the players to do just that. So hyped to be playing PC games at long last.
I started playing this game yesterday and I'm having such an enjoyable time with it. I recently made the switch from console to PC and it's exciting to finally have access to so many RPGs that I've been reading about for years. I got back into gaming in recent years and I've been disappointed with the hand-holding nature of a lot of games. I love how in VtM I have to progress the missions myself by paying attention to what's being said and seeking out the locations myself. It's not rocket science but I still feel smart moving things along and I appreciate that the developers respect the players to do just that. So hyped to be playing PC games at long last.
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