Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines (PC, 2004)(10.9 fan patch w/o plus content)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-7.5 Story-7
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Detailed character creation (16 feats divided into 4 categories, 9 attributes, 12 abilities, 3 disciplines, three types of damage resistance/soak (only the stamina stat can increase one of these - otherwise you use armor and supernatural abilities/disciplines); attributes and abilities basically add points to your feats but are sometimes a requirement for unlocking a feat (can hover the mouse pointer over either to see the connections here); can choose between a quiz-style creation (which you can then edit afterwards) or choosing everything yourself in the menus)
11 different disciplines/skills and 7 clans/races or classes (each clan has access to 3 disciplines and each discipline is divided into several levels - sometimes with different effects on higher levels, they also get different NPC reaction and dialogue options)
Choice of clan also affects the story and quests and you can also choose to go your own way. There are five different endings depending on who you side with and one other action
Manual skill point distribution
Morality system with some unique quirks (Humanity level - how far you are from becoming a beast/frenzied animal which makes you lose control of your avatar (avoid fire and keep your blood meter/MP high), changes depending on actions and exp points spent on it however it's not recommended to spend points on it (you can go dance in a club instead (once per club to regain 2 points) and avoid being evil))
Very good overall VA and dialogue (note that the player char isn't voiced)
Dialogue trees (generally get 3+ choices (more with persuasion/seduction/intimidation) though sometimes it's more limited)
Alternate solutions to various problems (hacking, searching to find clues/passwords/keys, lockpicking, combat, stealth (stealth kill or avoiding combat and feeding), persuasion skill, seduction skill for a steady blood supply, some breakable obstacles like the iron bars near gallery noir if you have enough Str; Quest for Glory, Ultima Underworld, Star Control II, System Shock 1-2, Thief, Fallout, Deus Ex)
Stealth/aggression-based reputation mechanic (masquerade; violations in non-combat zones will lead to ambush attacks from human vampire hunters and scorn or contempt by vampires and eventually a game over if the 5 point meter reaches zero, can attack in masquerade zones (non-combat and non-elysium/vampire haven) but it will generally trigger law enforcement for a while)
TP or FP view toggle (zooms in and makes you invisible when up against a wall with your back and goes into FP mode in tight spaces)
Control and hotkey config
Quest log (doesn't add e-mails and certain spoken hints though and you can't add your own notes - see Deus Ex)
Alternate firing modes (System Shock)
Malkavians are cursed with insanity making for a unique experience playing as them (every dialogue response is different, you get cryptic clues from voices in your head about the game's plot (which won't make sense to you until your second playthrough), inanimate objects might talk to you)
Radio and TV shows add to the worldbuilding (GTA; the writing in these is pretty uneven but mostly above average)
Some interesting and/or cool disciplines/spells (celerity lets you move super fast at higher levels and lets you dodge bullets and melee attacks (violates the masquerade in non-combat zones though; can also help a bit with stealth and with getting past laser alarms at one point, has a bullet time/slow motion effect to it so movement feels slower while it's faster compared to everyone else), blood strike - drain blood while still+great damage against supernatural enemies and it's a boss killer (blood salvo is an "attack group" version of it and bloodsuckers' communion is an animalism spell that works similarly), blood boil - make an enemy's blood explode and damage nearby enemies, auspex - temporarily buffs 2 stats and lets you see enemies' and NPCs' auras (mood and type)+see people through walls (Deus Ex)+it works like a torch of sorts which is occasionally useful, bedlam - random dementation discipline effects on a group of targets, stun enemies by making them laugh or vomit blood (there's also two kinds of regular stun in trance and mesmerize), brainwipe - make enemies temporarily think you've disappeared (short duration), possession - target attacks anyone attacking you and eventually dies of cardiac arrest, limited invisibility/advanced invisibility/unseen force (obfuscate discipline) - move invisibly while crouched and perform stealth kills (you're revealed if you touch others or containers+if you interact with the environment/move freely while invisible and do double damage with a melee attack that breaks obfuscate/can interact with the environment while invisible (but still not touch others or containers)+do triple damage with a melee attack that breaks obfuscate, red eyes - see in the dark (humans will notice the change at point blank range (masquerade violation) and wits +1 (def and hacking +1)
Can block while using melee weapons (dodging/defense is handled by dice rolls)
Can still use a weapon you're not skilled at at a penalty to its lethality (how well it deals with supernatural enemies)
Pick up and throw some small objects (kind of limited though)
Some good effects (water, lighting) and decent-pretty good animation, Good art direction overall
Four different hub areas based on Los Angeles (santa monica, hollywood, downtown, chinatown)
Item stash at your home/haven and you can store items in other containers as well
Can find or buy books that increase stats (some quests also increase stats; Dungeon Explorer II, FF4, Fallout and Baldur's Gate)
Some memorable locations (the ocean haunted house - various scripted events to mess with you, gimble's prosthetics, grout's mansion) and characters (Jack, Therese/Jeanette, gallery guard, Strauss, cultist noob in the crackhouse, fat larry, grout, gary, etc.)
Some breakable walls and alternate hidden paths - the former is underused at times and the late game areas are more linear overall
Pretty good opportunities for being a bad guy via the quests (blackmail, kidnapping, swindle Copper at the beach, etc) - does tend to make you lose humanity points however so it might not be possible to always be bad
Can listen in on NPC conversations (Deus Ex, Fallout)
Some decent puzzles (slashterpiece quest, taking the optimal route through some areas, grout's mansion candle puzzles though the riddles themselves aren't particularly useful, warrens sewers part with the underwater "fan" and barrels, the chastity/hot stripper quest, the golden temple puzzle with the four statues is pretty good)
Some minor sequence breaking possibilities (can skip/speed up parts of these main quests: Slashterpiece by exiting the gallery right after entering it or after stealing the money (skips the main reward though and might affect the next quest), Elizabethan Rendezvous (look at the scene via the cameras instead of going around the ship to see the sarcophagus in person), The Enemy Of My Enemy by killing the werewolf to remove the timer and make the cable car come much sooner; during the Society of Leopold quest you can climb the mountain where the boulder drops down and from there jump onto the outside roof with maximum Celerity active (only lets you get some weapon drops however))
Pretty natural/believable feeling environments overall in terms of their layouts and doodads (more like actual places than game levels) - similar to Deus Ex
Decent amount of lore from diaries, logbooks and e-mail accounts which is also pretty well done (no novels or biographies though)
Some shortcuts (sewers and alleys, parking garage downtown becomes emptied after grabbing the briefcase, get teleported out of the crackhouse after beating the boss there, out of the warrens thankfully)
Have a home (haven) which can be upgraded to a better one downtown provided you don't piss off Lacroix (can get a second chance if you mess up during the rendezvous quest) - Tremere and Nosferatu players get one elsewhere much later
Can eventually gain an item called the odious chalice which stores blood from killed enemies (about mid-way through the game, good however reoccuring encounters you could choose to engage in could've also been an option to repeated feeding on NPCs as it does get a bit dull after a while (in the downtown area you can meet some street thugs at times (seems very rare for them to attack you?) but can't kill or feed on them - only hit them until they run away)
One mini-game (zombie wave defense/survival mode mission in the hollywood cemetery - pretty fun but too hard for when you first get there)
Two escort/fight alongside an NPC segments (first is pretty short and not bad except you can't give orders to Ash and he can occasionally get in the way - plus he could've auto-talked to you after taking out the last hunter so you weren't left wondering about where to go, second (barabas rescue) is decent but also short)
Some decent-large environmental changes (attack on the downtown tower, the blood hunt)
Decent final boss (the sheriff - has two phases with respawning enemies in the second plus you can use the spotlights against his bat form (pretty easy compared to the previous boss though), ming xiao boss is kinda cool but too spongy - clones itself and you can take out its arms to weaken it)
Some good jokes
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (can do various side quests in any order in each hub area as well as begin some of the ones that you'll finish in later areas, linear main quest progression and you visit the different hub areas in a set order? - some backtracking to previous areas and some quests cover more than one area, can't revisit various quest areas which are more like dungeons)
Lives system of sorts in the masquerade violation system (can break the rules 5 times but can also regain masquerade points/tries at various points, can only carry 5 points at once however)
Save anywhere outside of while you're dancing or setting a bomb (unlimited (?) nameable slots, the game also auto-saves when moving between certain sub areas/rooms)
Health regen (slowed down by certain attacks noted by part of the life bar turning yellow (aggravated damage) - can be restored quicker by feeding)
No exp points from killing regular enemies (get it from progressing quests and killing quest relevant enemies)
Malkavian and Nosferatu are harder to start out as (Malkavian dialogue is very difficult to understand if you don't already know the basic gist of the plot, Nosferatu have some limited quests, dialogue, and they can't always take the easy path) - these two get obfuscate for more advanced stealth but a high stealth skill will also go a pretty long way (obfuscate is apparently not that reliable besides for the last few dungeons)
Can pick gender/sex but not customize your appearance during character creation (sometimes different dialogue between the two)
Harder to master one thing rather than become competent at several and saving up points for later might not always be worth it - some checks require rather high stats in the late game however so trying to get near max for one skill such as persuasion can be useful
Aiming with ranged weapons works like in Deus Ex (makes them pretty slow to use until increasing your ranged combat skill, can still miss even if it looks like you're going to hit since it's dice roll-based)
Lockpicking and hacking is based on if your skill is high enough and triggers a short timer where you just watch it finishing - would've been more interesting if it was more interactive and in-depth (see System Shock for example; it also should've just not shown the timer if your skill was too low to succeed anyway)
Seduction is more useful as a female char (why?; as a male it lets you feed on some women at night clubs in public without anyone caring and seduce a certain NPC though it has no gameplay value)
Inspection is more of a quality of life skill but can be useful for a first time player (same with hacking at times)
The game's economy becomes less relevant as you progress past the early game - haggle isn't worth putting several points into but still pretty useful as it affects main story mission cash rewards (seems worth it if you focus on guns as they require ammo, would've been worth it if you buy blood but you can pretty easily get access to blood in other ways unless you're a ventrue or nosferatu). If you want to be using your spells more freely you'll want to buy a decent amount of blood though as in various parts you won't be able to feed and sometimes won't be able to kill to fill up the odious chalice
Some OP combos - in the late game with blood shield and auspex (+ to defense, ranged combat, hacking and inspection as well as letting you see auras) turned on you are effectively invincible against anything except fire
Pop-up messages that pause the action and mostly limited dialogue during the tutorial (the tutorial is pretty short and skippable though)
Hilarious dance moves (shame there's no interactivity to the dancing)
Bloodbuff is a default spell that sets certain stats (str, dex, stam) to 5 rather than increasing them by a number so it becomes useless if you get those stats up to 5 via exp points but is helpful early on to let you do things your build would otherwise lock you out of (plus you can increase the ability stats related to those feats to boost them above 5 while buffed). Note that potence and fortitude stack on top of it
Cutscenes use in-game graphics
Can't grab ledges/platform edges and climb up
A sneaky playthrough is mostly doable but you can't completely avoid combat (the asian vampire (hunted hunter) for example just fights you as soon as you enter the room he's in and in the end-game you are forced towards combat more and more so you'll want to invest in at least one combat skill) - some combat in the main quest too (blood guardian in gallery noir unless you refuse that quest and miss out on the exp and money, diner ambush, johnny, etc. - about 18 kills required in total)
Can't use random phones (you find numbers at some PCs but can't use them; Shadowrun SNES)
Can't turn off the color coding on the persuade/seduce/intimidate dialogue options (makes it easy to tell them apart but also discourages reading the actual text to tell them apart which you should be able to do anyway)
Can't drive and there's no traffic
Two timed escape sequences (warehouse, society cave) and one non-timed one from grout's mansion
Inventory items tend to light up if looked at or looking very close to them while near them - the range on this could've been a bit more lenient however
Can't take out lights to help with stealth (can take out cameras with guns or hacking)
Don't need more than level 2 for Presence?
Overly binary reward system for taking a non-lethal approach during some missions - you either go slow and kill no one or you don't get any bonus exp (a takedown/knockout move or a quota to stay under could've made this more approachable)
The alternate attacks triggered by pressing a direction while attacking aren't useful overall but pressing down/back to leap forward can be in some situations
Game pauses while in the inventory menu
Some exploding barrels (or objects rather) but not enough
Can't hire mercenaries or recruit party members - Can gain a "ghoul" (semi-vampire) in Heather who you can get presents from (money, armor and even people to feed on who you can choose to let go) and tell to change outfits for you, but not have her join you during questing. Have to let her feed on you a couple of times or you can set her free to gain some humanity
Taking out the werewolf is an interesting puzzle but a. the werewolf does too much damage to you and can sometimes freeze you in place b. it's awkward how you use the doors to the telescope chamber when it's already inside with you coming up via the stairs instead (its AI sort of bugs out here so it doesn't attack if you stand in the right place and instead goes outside so you can crush it in-between the doors)
The seemingly good ending is a twist ending which is negative for the player (no good clues beforehand that Jack would betray you, also doesn't make sense that he does other than to avoid potential future competition - can make the choice to not open the sarcophagus but since he didn't warn you about the bomb even if you sided with the anarchs it's a matter of luck). Apparently you are warned about opening the sarcophagus by "a friend" but only via email right before the finale so it's easy to miss. Strauss (Camarilla) actually lets the player live and the ab driver does seem to try to convince you to side with the Camarilla so maybe that's the intended good ending. It is also a bit dumb that no one takes precautions before opening the sarcophagus and that there's no dialogue option about it.
-
Some control/interface issues (no map feature and no compass - also can't take a photo of an area map or buy one (can only check a hub area's map at a few points per area such as bus stops), can't stay in TP view while holding an object or using a gun, game automatically goes into TP view when using a melee weapon, the camera sometimes gets weird while sneaking around in TP making it hard to get a good overview of the room, overly large hit boxes on NPCs and they don't get our of the way, the game doesn't immediately tell you that you don't have enough skill to unlock a door or hack a PC - have to watch a bar filling up first even if you had attempted a certain door or PC earlier, a bit too easy to get semi-stuck on walls and obstacles when moving around, some hit stun issues (not enough invincibility time after taking a hit), no breakout/desperation move in melee, inconsistent hit boxes on openings in the walls in the sabbat hideout, somewhat overly long delay after feeding before you can move again, can't go out of sniper mode while reloading)
Some tedious aspects (tedious warrens sewer area after around the halfway point (too big (no maps), too much combat and no good way to heal if you didn't bring a bunch of blood bags, easy boss, fairly easy to miss the pass key in the fourth sub area, some camera and hit detection issues), kind of tedious Bach boss (can't damage him more than once each with ranged and melee per teleport - saving up on sniper ammo and a good ranged stat helps, he teleports too far away from you and the flashes get annoying, the sabbat hideout gets repetitive after the first floor or so and doesn't let you take alternate paths to avoid combat nor are there any puzzles and you can't save Heather either, not enough ammo capacity for the flamethrower, ming-xiao boss is rather spongy unless you have blood salvo (ranged weapons do much less damage here overall), some slow elevator rides)
Some trial & error (figuring out that you need to take a cab to grout's mansion, firearms start out weak but become the strongest for combat in the late-game while unarmed becomes much worse unless you're a Gangrel clan vampire, good to put 1-2 points into melee (and 1 in strength) even if you focus on firearms, bloodbuff (default skill) temporarily improves lockpicking so you don't need to put that many points into it, non-combat skills don't benefit from raising them beyond 10 while combat skills do, obfuscate does not work on several very common enemies you'll encounter and is not very reliable overall, the way getting the freezer passcode is designed can make you rule out the hacking option as it'll give an error message if you do it too soon (before getting the thinned blood quest and Phil spawning near it, also hints at going back to administration upstairs to fix it but this is a red herring), can lock yourself out of getting the money at gallery noir without a humanity loss if you don't ask specifically about why you're stealing it during your conversation with jeanette - if you talk to her again before going there the dialogue option isn't there, getting downtown (no hint about the cab and it doesn't stand out as interactive), finding simon's business card in the downtown hospital - didn't sparkle even when I tried increasing inspection to 3, the box disabling the laser beams in the museum isn't highlighted as interactive - basically required to get through that part and it's still frustrating without celerity - seems you can disable them via the computer but need dominate or some other skill to not have to kill the guard, a few missable items (museum and giovanni fetishes for example), some cheap enemy placements in the warren sewer part, without a stealthy character you have to put a lot of points into persuade or seduce to avoid combat later on, can't take out any guards in the nocturne theatre or the mission fails, need to have left the vent to your skyeline apartment open to be able to get back to the city hub areas after choosing who to side with for the finale (and not be a tremere or a nosferatu), no exp gained from freeing Ash below the society building)
Not being able to simply knock enemies out combined with their lack of patrolling/splitting up (with some exceptions) and not having enough objects to lure them away with around+the glitches (see below) makes stealth kind of suck overall. Some vampires do get stun spells which can be used instead though
Pretty frequent loading times (generally ~5-8 seconds, sometimes 10 seconds)
Overly limited interaction with some NPCs (can't ask who you want about the active quest(s) or where a certain location is for example - sometimes makes sense but sometimes doesn't)
Bad enemy AI in some ways (attacks that kill your enemy in one hit from outside a certain range don't cause any surrounding enemies to react/aggro you (can pick off an entire area's worth of enemies in larger areas with the sniper rifle), see stealth issues below, not good at alerting others when you start shooting, doesn't react to moving doors, the gargoyle boss can decide to go the other direction in the middle of the fight so you get a bunch of free hits in - decent fight otherwise though, some enemies try to shoot you through walls - sabbat hideout, sometimes very stupid guards in the golden temple)
Some dead space/pointless detours as well as some backtracking during questing (going back to Pisha in the downtown area or going all the way across the hollywood area several times are two of the worst examples). More empty rooms and non-interactive drawers and the like than in Deus Ex for example (for example there's a ladder on the ground downtown which can't be used to climb the fence right next to it; some items are added in certain mods)
Annoying how the tutorial doesn't supply you with enough blood to try out all your disciplines/spells and locks you out of backtracking to potentially get more at one point (had to reload as I couldn't pick a locked door)
Intimidation is much less useful than persuasion or seduction
Some invisible walls (sneaking tutorial area, beach, part of the haunted house, between trains outside the warehouse, sabbat hideout, etc.)
Doors auto-close after about 5 seconds
Regaining humanity by dancing takes about 4-5 mins in real time
Can't gain a high/long jump ability like the asian hunter vampire in santa monica - could've been used for alternate paths/sequence breaking, trickier platforming and/or ability gating. Celerity actually lets you jump a bit further but it's not required (can make a jump in the downtown sewers at one point to save a little bit of time)
Can't check certain points of interest (separate cage in Gimble's basement, )
Indoors NPCs tend to stand around doing nothing unless talked to (various NPCs and enemies do move around a bit and interact with the environment however and the club dancing is something else)
The real life photos and cloth textures sometimes used in the backgrounds tends to clash with the other graphics
Occasionally cheesy (sabbat ambush encounter when entering downtown, Damsel, lonewolf ending) or pretentious dialogue and somewhat stilted acting (the sisters' feud for example). Very rarely can you say more than one or two sentences in response to anything
Some plot oddities (the quest log encourages not killing anyone during the warehouse detonation mission but you end up blowing up everyone inside anyway so why does it matter?, no humanity loss for doing a seemingly bad thing like helping Pisha eat Simon (changed in plus mod) or killing people for venus, can't accept the keys to the museum - you'll automatically enter from the roof off screen instead, it makes no difference if you convince the serial killer to stop or if you kill him, weird how bystanders at the glaze don't run out when you start fighting and how you can't avoid getting shot during the dialogue scene with johnny, weird how you can only say that you're not a good hacker after freeing barabus even if you're pretty good at it, odd that you don't talk to the cab driver before the finale nor suspect him of anything+that you're even discussing your choice with him)
Non-interactive arcade hall in santa monica (see Shenmue)
Sometimes odd camera/scripting work during cutscenes where your avatar is slowly dragged towards something while the camera focuses on it - feels buggy
While it supposedly uses the same engine as HL2 this one is more limited in terms of object destructibility and interaction (one exception is the room where you fight the gargoyle - the sabbat hideout also has a pretty strong presence of this though it's the enemies that break the environment in both cases)
Seemingly random element to if a shotgun shot will knock a regular enemy back or not
Difficulty spike at the zombie wave quest in hollywood - apparently you should defend the lower gate until the 1m mark, then only the other one instead of running back and forth. You can also use Auspex and ignore the blue and red aura ones as they won't go for the gates?
The convo skills can only be used if you have enough points in the right stat and will then always work - the problems with this is that if it's one point below the option doesn't even show up so it's both completely binary and you won't see if there was a chance to persuade/seduce/intimidate someone without checking a guide
Unskippable cutscenes (mostly short though and the intro was made skippable in the plus mod)
Can't go to floors 2-4 in the empire hotel in the downtown area
Overly high research level requirement for some stat increasing books and some later ones also require that you've previously raised a stat several times to be able to use them (would've been better if they scaled to your current skill)
Some volume level inconsistencies
No explosives that you can carry with you and plant besides during the warehouse mission
Pretty easy Sabbat hideout bosses (the first one is a decent idea though and the second might've been if it didn't go down so quickly)
Don't gain any new melee combat moves or combo upgrades
Not enough spell variety per character compared to the weapons (3 each+the default bloodbuff spell)
Possession could've been more interesting from a puzzle perspective if you could directly control the target (Abe's Odyssey, Blood Omen 1)
Bugs:
-Can go into a sudden frenzy even at 8/10+ humanity for no particular reason and even worse the violation can carry over into the next save if you reload (have to restart the game)
-Often glitchy and frustrating enemy behaviour during stealth - luring them with thrown objects doesn't work properly and they might suddenly turn around while sneaking up on them (or they might look right at you while you're right next to them without noticing). They also often don't stick to a patrolling pattern that you can observe and try to time (makes a fully silent approach near impossible at times such as in the warehouse unless maybe if you have really high stealth or obfuscate). Being out of sight and/or in shadows also sometimes doesn't help if you're close while you can be in the open about 10-15 meters away and not be seen
-A save file can glitch out so you end up getting detected as you load it
-Can get permanently stuck in the door inside the pawn shop and in one of the floor 6 maintenance rooms in the empire hotel (trying to go up the vent)
-Sometimes glitchy interaction with doors (medical clinic for example, some of the floor 6 empire hotel doors will appear as locked and unopenable doors if interacted with from the wrong angle). Also gets worse while using Celerity
-Glitchy hit detection when fighting one of the guys at the beach (stands where you can only reach him by feeding and only sometimes)
-Some delay to some cutscene subtitles
-Rats can end up floating in mid-air after feeding on them
-Object physics for smaller objects sometimes glitch out when moving up against them
-The male nurse Phil's ambient dialogue can trigger while you're talking to him
-Can get temporarily stuck on top of a movable object in the downtown hospital and the objects here are glitchy in general
-NPCs might suddenly attack you during the a confession/russians quest in downtown
-Occasionally crashes (happened once downtown and once in the sabbat hideout)
-Sometimes the game can become unresponsive after using the console (for cheats) though this can be circumvented by typing chareditor or only using it at the main menu
-The chastity/hot stripper quest glitched out for me (the customers wouldn't leave and the show wouldn't stop so had to use noclip)
Notes:
-Character histories (15+ per clan, swap the priority order of some stats) were added in mods only
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Detailed character creation (16 feats divided into 4 categories, 9 attributes, 12 abilities, 3 disciplines, three types of damage resistance/soak (only the stamina stat can increase one of these - otherwise you use armor and supernatural abilities/disciplines); attributes and abilities basically add points to your feats but are sometimes a requirement for unlocking a feat (can hover the mouse pointer over either to see the connections here); can choose between a quiz-style creation (which you can then edit afterwards) or choosing everything yourself in the menus)
11 different disciplines/skills and 7 clans/races or classes (each clan has access to 3 disciplines and each discipline is divided into several levels - sometimes with different effects on higher levels, they also get different NPC reaction and dialogue options)
Choice of clan also affects the story and quests and you can also choose to go your own way. There are five different endings depending on who you side with and one other action
Manual skill point distribution
Morality system with some unique quirks (Humanity level - how far you are from becoming a beast/frenzied animal which makes you lose control of your avatar (avoid fire and keep your blood meter/MP high), changes depending on actions and exp points spent on it however it's not recommended to spend points on it (you can go dance in a club instead (once per club to regain 2 points) and avoid being evil))
Very good overall VA and dialogue (note that the player char isn't voiced)
Dialogue trees (generally get 3+ choices (more with persuasion/seduction/intimidation) though sometimes it's more limited)
Alternate solutions to various problems (hacking, searching to find clues/passwords/keys, lockpicking, combat, stealth (stealth kill or avoiding combat and feeding), persuasion skill, seduction skill for a steady blood supply, some breakable obstacles like the iron bars near gallery noir if you have enough Str; Quest for Glory, Ultima Underworld, Star Control II, System Shock 1-2, Thief, Fallout, Deus Ex)
Stealth/aggression-based reputation mechanic (masquerade; violations in non-combat zones will lead to ambush attacks from human vampire hunters and scorn or contempt by vampires and eventually a game over if the 5 point meter reaches zero, can attack in masquerade zones (non-combat and non-elysium/vampire haven) but it will generally trigger law enforcement for a while)
TP or FP view toggle (zooms in and makes you invisible when up against a wall with your back and goes into FP mode in tight spaces)
Control and hotkey config
Quest log (doesn't add e-mails and certain spoken hints though and you can't add your own notes - see Deus Ex)
Alternate firing modes (System Shock)
Malkavians are cursed with insanity making for a unique experience playing as them (every dialogue response is different, you get cryptic clues from voices in your head about the game's plot (which won't make sense to you until your second playthrough), inanimate objects might talk to you)
Radio and TV shows add to the worldbuilding (GTA; the writing in these is pretty uneven but mostly above average)
Some interesting and/or cool disciplines/spells (celerity lets you move super fast at higher levels and lets you dodge bullets and melee attacks (violates the masquerade in non-combat zones though; can also help a bit with stealth and with getting past laser alarms at one point, has a bullet time/slow motion effect to it so movement feels slower while it's faster compared to everyone else), blood strike - drain blood while still+great damage against supernatural enemies and it's a boss killer (blood salvo is an "attack group" version of it and bloodsuckers' communion is an animalism spell that works similarly), blood boil - make an enemy's blood explode and damage nearby enemies, auspex - temporarily buffs 2 stats and lets you see enemies' and NPCs' auras (mood and type)+see people through walls (Deus Ex)+it works like a torch of sorts which is occasionally useful, bedlam - random dementation discipline effects on a group of targets, stun enemies by making them laugh or vomit blood (there's also two kinds of regular stun in trance and mesmerize), brainwipe - make enemies temporarily think you've disappeared (short duration), possession - target attacks anyone attacking you and eventually dies of cardiac arrest, limited invisibility/advanced invisibility/unseen force (obfuscate discipline) - move invisibly while crouched and perform stealth kills (you're revealed if you touch others or containers+if you interact with the environment/move freely while invisible and do double damage with a melee attack that breaks obfuscate/can interact with the environment while invisible (but still not touch others or containers)+do triple damage with a melee attack that breaks obfuscate, red eyes - see in the dark (humans will notice the change at point blank range (masquerade violation) and wits +1 (def and hacking +1)
Can block while using melee weapons (dodging/defense is handled by dice rolls)
Can still use a weapon you're not skilled at at a penalty to its lethality (how well it deals with supernatural enemies)
Pick up and throw some small objects (kind of limited though)
Some good effects (water, lighting) and decent-pretty good animation, Good art direction overall
Four different hub areas based on Los Angeles (santa monica, hollywood, downtown, chinatown)
Item stash at your home/haven and you can store items in other containers as well
Can find or buy books that increase stats (some quests also increase stats; Dungeon Explorer II, FF4, Fallout and Baldur's Gate)
Some memorable locations (the ocean haunted house - various scripted events to mess with you, gimble's prosthetics, grout's mansion) and characters (Jack, Therese/Jeanette, gallery guard, Strauss, cultist noob in the crackhouse, fat larry, grout, gary, etc.)
Some breakable walls and alternate hidden paths - the former is underused at times and the late game areas are more linear overall
Pretty good opportunities for being a bad guy via the quests (blackmail, kidnapping, swindle Copper at the beach, etc) - does tend to make you lose humanity points however so it might not be possible to always be bad
Can listen in on NPC conversations (Deus Ex, Fallout)
Some decent puzzles (slashterpiece quest, taking the optimal route through some areas, grout's mansion candle puzzles though the riddles themselves aren't particularly useful, warrens sewers part with the underwater "fan" and barrels, the chastity/hot stripper quest, the golden temple puzzle with the four statues is pretty good)
Some minor sequence breaking possibilities (can skip/speed up parts of these main quests: Slashterpiece by exiting the gallery right after entering it or after stealing the money (skips the main reward though and might affect the next quest), Elizabethan Rendezvous (look at the scene via the cameras instead of going around the ship to see the sarcophagus in person), The Enemy Of My Enemy by killing the werewolf to remove the timer and make the cable car come much sooner; during the Society of Leopold quest you can climb the mountain where the boulder drops down and from there jump onto the outside roof with maximum Celerity active (only lets you get some weapon drops however))
Pretty natural/believable feeling environments overall in terms of their layouts and doodads (more like actual places than game levels) - similar to Deus Ex
Decent amount of lore from diaries, logbooks and e-mail accounts which is also pretty well done (no novels or biographies though)
Some shortcuts (sewers and alleys, parking garage downtown becomes emptied after grabbing the briefcase, get teleported out of the crackhouse after beating the boss there, out of the warrens thankfully)
Have a home (haven) which can be upgraded to a better one downtown provided you don't piss off Lacroix (can get a second chance if you mess up during the rendezvous quest) - Tremere and Nosferatu players get one elsewhere much later
Can eventually gain an item called the odious chalice which stores blood from killed enemies (about mid-way through the game, good however reoccuring encounters you could choose to engage in could've also been an option to repeated feeding on NPCs as it does get a bit dull after a while (in the downtown area you can meet some street thugs at times (seems very rare for them to attack you?) but can't kill or feed on them - only hit them until they run away)
One mini-game (zombie wave defense/survival mode mission in the hollywood cemetery - pretty fun but too hard for when you first get there)
Two escort/fight alongside an NPC segments (first is pretty short and not bad except you can't give orders to Ash and he can occasionally get in the way - plus he could've auto-talked to you after taking out the last hunter so you weren't left wondering about where to go, second (barabas rescue) is decent but also short)
Some decent-large environmental changes (attack on the downtown tower, the blood hunt)
Decent final boss (the sheriff - has two phases with respawning enemies in the second plus you can use the spotlights against his bat form (pretty easy compared to the previous boss though), ming xiao boss is kinda cool but too spongy - clones itself and you can take out its arms to weaken it)
Some good jokes
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (can do various side quests in any order in each hub area as well as begin some of the ones that you'll finish in later areas, linear main quest progression and you visit the different hub areas in a set order? - some backtracking to previous areas and some quests cover more than one area, can't revisit various quest areas which are more like dungeons)
Lives system of sorts in the masquerade violation system (can break the rules 5 times but can also regain masquerade points/tries at various points, can only carry 5 points at once however)
Save anywhere outside of while you're dancing or setting a bomb (unlimited (?) nameable slots, the game also auto-saves when moving between certain sub areas/rooms)
Health regen (slowed down by certain attacks noted by part of the life bar turning yellow (aggravated damage) - can be restored quicker by feeding)
No exp points from killing regular enemies (get it from progressing quests and killing quest relevant enemies)
Malkavian and Nosferatu are harder to start out as (Malkavian dialogue is very difficult to understand if you don't already know the basic gist of the plot, Nosferatu have some limited quests, dialogue, and they can't always take the easy path) - these two get obfuscate for more advanced stealth but a high stealth skill will also go a pretty long way (obfuscate is apparently not that reliable besides for the last few dungeons)
Can pick gender/sex but not customize your appearance during character creation (sometimes different dialogue between the two)
Harder to master one thing rather than become competent at several and saving up points for later might not always be worth it - some checks require rather high stats in the late game however so trying to get near max for one skill such as persuasion can be useful
Aiming with ranged weapons works like in Deus Ex (makes them pretty slow to use until increasing your ranged combat skill, can still miss even if it looks like you're going to hit since it's dice roll-based)
Lockpicking and hacking is based on if your skill is high enough and triggers a short timer where you just watch it finishing - would've been more interesting if it was more interactive and in-depth (see System Shock for example; it also should've just not shown the timer if your skill was too low to succeed anyway)
Seduction is more useful as a female char (why?; as a male it lets you feed on some women at night clubs in public without anyone caring and seduce a certain NPC though it has no gameplay value)
Inspection is more of a quality of life skill but can be useful for a first time player (same with hacking at times)
The game's economy becomes less relevant as you progress past the early game - haggle isn't worth putting several points into but still pretty useful as it affects main story mission cash rewards (seems worth it if you focus on guns as they require ammo, would've been worth it if you buy blood but you can pretty easily get access to blood in other ways unless you're a ventrue or nosferatu). If you want to be using your spells more freely you'll want to buy a decent amount of blood though as in various parts you won't be able to feed and sometimes won't be able to kill to fill up the odious chalice
Some OP combos - in the late game with blood shield and auspex (+ to defense, ranged combat, hacking and inspection as well as letting you see auras) turned on you are effectively invincible against anything except fire
Pop-up messages that pause the action and mostly limited dialogue during the tutorial (the tutorial is pretty short and skippable though)
Hilarious dance moves (shame there's no interactivity to the dancing)
Bloodbuff is a default spell that sets certain stats (str, dex, stam) to 5 rather than increasing them by a number so it becomes useless if you get those stats up to 5 via exp points but is helpful early on to let you do things your build would otherwise lock you out of (plus you can increase the ability stats related to those feats to boost them above 5 while buffed). Note that potence and fortitude stack on top of it
Cutscenes use in-game graphics
Can't grab ledges/platform edges and climb up
A sneaky playthrough is mostly doable but you can't completely avoid combat (the asian vampire (hunted hunter) for example just fights you as soon as you enter the room he's in and in the end-game you are forced towards combat more and more so you'll want to invest in at least one combat skill) - some combat in the main quest too (blood guardian in gallery noir unless you refuse that quest and miss out on the exp and money, diner ambush, johnny, etc. - about 18 kills required in total)
Can't use random phones (you find numbers at some PCs but can't use them; Shadowrun SNES)
Can't turn off the color coding on the persuade/seduce/intimidate dialogue options (makes it easy to tell them apart but also discourages reading the actual text to tell them apart which you should be able to do anyway)
Can't drive and there's no traffic
Two timed escape sequences (warehouse, society cave) and one non-timed one from grout's mansion
Inventory items tend to light up if looked at or looking very close to them while near them - the range on this could've been a bit more lenient however
Can't take out lights to help with stealth (can take out cameras with guns or hacking)
Don't need more than level 2 for Presence?
Overly binary reward system for taking a non-lethal approach during some missions - you either go slow and kill no one or you don't get any bonus exp (a takedown/knockout move or a quota to stay under could've made this more approachable)
The alternate attacks triggered by pressing a direction while attacking aren't useful overall but pressing down/back to leap forward can be in some situations
Game pauses while in the inventory menu
Some exploding barrels (or objects rather) but not enough
Can't hire mercenaries or recruit party members - Can gain a "ghoul" (semi-vampire) in Heather who you can get presents from (money, armor and even people to feed on who you can choose to let go) and tell to change outfits for you, but not have her join you during questing. Have to let her feed on you a couple of times or you can set her free to gain some humanity
Taking out the werewolf is an interesting puzzle but a. the werewolf does too much damage to you and can sometimes freeze you in place b. it's awkward how you use the doors to the telescope chamber when it's already inside with you coming up via the stairs instead (its AI sort of bugs out here so it doesn't attack if you stand in the right place and instead goes outside so you can crush it in-between the doors)
The seemingly good ending is a twist ending which is negative for the player (no good clues beforehand that Jack would betray you, also doesn't make sense that he does other than to avoid potential future competition - can make the choice to not open the sarcophagus but since he didn't warn you about the bomb even if you sided with the anarchs it's a matter of luck). Apparently you are warned about opening the sarcophagus by "a friend" but only via email right before the finale so it's easy to miss. Strauss (Camarilla) actually lets the player live and the ab driver does seem to try to convince you to side with the Camarilla so maybe that's the intended good ending. It is also a bit dumb that no one takes precautions before opening the sarcophagus and that there's no dialogue option about it.
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Some control/interface issues (no map feature and no compass - also can't take a photo of an area map or buy one (can only check a hub area's map at a few points per area such as bus stops), can't stay in TP view while holding an object or using a gun, game automatically goes into TP view when using a melee weapon, the camera sometimes gets weird while sneaking around in TP making it hard to get a good overview of the room, overly large hit boxes on NPCs and they don't get our of the way, the game doesn't immediately tell you that you don't have enough skill to unlock a door or hack a PC - have to watch a bar filling up first even if you had attempted a certain door or PC earlier, a bit too easy to get semi-stuck on walls and obstacles when moving around, some hit stun issues (not enough invincibility time after taking a hit), no breakout/desperation move in melee, inconsistent hit boxes on openings in the walls in the sabbat hideout, somewhat overly long delay after feeding before you can move again, can't go out of sniper mode while reloading)
Some tedious aspects (tedious warrens sewer area after around the halfway point (too big (no maps), too much combat and no good way to heal if you didn't bring a bunch of blood bags, easy boss, fairly easy to miss the pass key in the fourth sub area, some camera and hit detection issues), kind of tedious Bach boss (can't damage him more than once each with ranged and melee per teleport - saving up on sniper ammo and a good ranged stat helps, he teleports too far away from you and the flashes get annoying, the sabbat hideout gets repetitive after the first floor or so and doesn't let you take alternate paths to avoid combat nor are there any puzzles and you can't save Heather either, not enough ammo capacity for the flamethrower, ming-xiao boss is rather spongy unless you have blood salvo (ranged weapons do much less damage here overall), some slow elevator rides)
Some trial & error (figuring out that you need to take a cab to grout's mansion, firearms start out weak but become the strongest for combat in the late-game while unarmed becomes much worse unless you're a Gangrel clan vampire, good to put 1-2 points into melee (and 1 in strength) even if you focus on firearms, bloodbuff (default skill) temporarily improves lockpicking so you don't need to put that many points into it, non-combat skills don't benefit from raising them beyond 10 while combat skills do, obfuscate does not work on several very common enemies you'll encounter and is not very reliable overall, the way getting the freezer passcode is designed can make you rule out the hacking option as it'll give an error message if you do it too soon (before getting the thinned blood quest and Phil spawning near it, also hints at going back to administration upstairs to fix it but this is a red herring), can lock yourself out of getting the money at gallery noir without a humanity loss if you don't ask specifically about why you're stealing it during your conversation with jeanette - if you talk to her again before going there the dialogue option isn't there, getting downtown (no hint about the cab and it doesn't stand out as interactive), finding simon's business card in the downtown hospital - didn't sparkle even when I tried increasing inspection to 3, the box disabling the laser beams in the museum isn't highlighted as interactive - basically required to get through that part and it's still frustrating without celerity - seems you can disable them via the computer but need dominate or some other skill to not have to kill the guard, a few missable items (museum and giovanni fetishes for example), some cheap enemy placements in the warren sewer part, without a stealthy character you have to put a lot of points into persuade or seduce to avoid combat later on, can't take out any guards in the nocturne theatre or the mission fails, need to have left the vent to your skyeline apartment open to be able to get back to the city hub areas after choosing who to side with for the finale (and not be a tremere or a nosferatu), no exp gained from freeing Ash below the society building)
Not being able to simply knock enemies out combined with their lack of patrolling/splitting up (with some exceptions) and not having enough objects to lure them away with around+the glitches (see below) makes stealth kind of suck overall. Some vampires do get stun spells which can be used instead though
Pretty frequent loading times (generally ~5-8 seconds, sometimes 10 seconds)
Overly limited interaction with some NPCs (can't ask who you want about the active quest(s) or where a certain location is for example - sometimes makes sense but sometimes doesn't)
Bad enemy AI in some ways (attacks that kill your enemy in one hit from outside a certain range don't cause any surrounding enemies to react/aggro you (can pick off an entire area's worth of enemies in larger areas with the sniper rifle), see stealth issues below, not good at alerting others when you start shooting, doesn't react to moving doors, the gargoyle boss can decide to go the other direction in the middle of the fight so you get a bunch of free hits in - decent fight otherwise though, some enemies try to shoot you through walls - sabbat hideout, sometimes very stupid guards in the golden temple)
Some dead space/pointless detours as well as some backtracking during questing (going back to Pisha in the downtown area or going all the way across the hollywood area several times are two of the worst examples). More empty rooms and non-interactive drawers and the like than in Deus Ex for example (for example there's a ladder on the ground downtown which can't be used to climb the fence right next to it; some items are added in certain mods)
Annoying how the tutorial doesn't supply you with enough blood to try out all your disciplines/spells and locks you out of backtracking to potentially get more at one point (had to reload as I couldn't pick a locked door)
Intimidation is much less useful than persuasion or seduction
Some invisible walls (sneaking tutorial area, beach, part of the haunted house, between trains outside the warehouse, sabbat hideout, etc.)
Doors auto-close after about 5 seconds
Regaining humanity by dancing takes about 4-5 mins in real time
Can't gain a high/long jump ability like the asian hunter vampire in santa monica - could've been used for alternate paths/sequence breaking, trickier platforming and/or ability gating. Celerity actually lets you jump a bit further but it's not required (can make a jump in the downtown sewers at one point to save a little bit of time)
Can't check certain points of interest (separate cage in Gimble's basement, )
Indoors NPCs tend to stand around doing nothing unless talked to (various NPCs and enemies do move around a bit and interact with the environment however and the club dancing is something else)
The real life photos and cloth textures sometimes used in the backgrounds tends to clash with the other graphics
Occasionally cheesy (sabbat ambush encounter when entering downtown, Damsel, lonewolf ending) or pretentious dialogue and somewhat stilted acting (the sisters' feud for example). Very rarely can you say more than one or two sentences in response to anything
Some plot oddities (the quest log encourages not killing anyone during the warehouse detonation mission but you end up blowing up everyone inside anyway so why does it matter?, no humanity loss for doing a seemingly bad thing like helping Pisha eat Simon (changed in plus mod) or killing people for venus, can't accept the keys to the museum - you'll automatically enter from the roof off screen instead, it makes no difference if you convince the serial killer to stop or if you kill him, weird how bystanders at the glaze don't run out when you start fighting and how you can't avoid getting shot during the dialogue scene with johnny, weird how you can only say that you're not a good hacker after freeing barabus even if you're pretty good at it, odd that you don't talk to the cab driver before the finale nor suspect him of anything+that you're even discussing your choice with him)
Non-interactive arcade hall in santa monica (see Shenmue)
Sometimes odd camera/scripting work during cutscenes where your avatar is slowly dragged towards something while the camera focuses on it - feels buggy
While it supposedly uses the same engine as HL2 this one is more limited in terms of object destructibility and interaction (one exception is the room where you fight the gargoyle - the sabbat hideout also has a pretty strong presence of this though it's the enemies that break the environment in both cases)
Seemingly random element to if a shotgun shot will knock a regular enemy back or not
Difficulty spike at the zombie wave quest in hollywood - apparently you should defend the lower gate until the 1m mark, then only the other one instead of running back and forth. You can also use Auspex and ignore the blue and red aura ones as they won't go for the gates?
The convo skills can only be used if you have enough points in the right stat and will then always work - the problems with this is that if it's one point below the option doesn't even show up so it's both completely binary and you won't see if there was a chance to persuade/seduce/intimidate someone without checking a guide
Unskippable cutscenes (mostly short though and the intro was made skippable in the plus mod)
Can't go to floors 2-4 in the empire hotel in the downtown area
Overly high research level requirement for some stat increasing books and some later ones also require that you've previously raised a stat several times to be able to use them (would've been better if they scaled to your current skill)
Some volume level inconsistencies
No explosives that you can carry with you and plant besides during the warehouse mission
Pretty easy Sabbat hideout bosses (the first one is a decent idea though and the second might've been if it didn't go down so quickly)
Don't gain any new melee combat moves or combo upgrades
Not enough spell variety per character compared to the weapons (3 each+the default bloodbuff spell)
Possession could've been more interesting from a puzzle perspective if you could directly control the target (Abe's Odyssey, Blood Omen 1)
Bugs:
-Can go into a sudden frenzy even at 8/10+ humanity for no particular reason and even worse the violation can carry over into the next save if you reload (have to restart the game)
-Often glitchy and frustrating enemy behaviour during stealth - luring them with thrown objects doesn't work properly and they might suddenly turn around while sneaking up on them (or they might look right at you while you're right next to them without noticing). They also often don't stick to a patrolling pattern that you can observe and try to time (makes a fully silent approach near impossible at times such as in the warehouse unless maybe if you have really high stealth or obfuscate). Being out of sight and/or in shadows also sometimes doesn't help if you're close while you can be in the open about 10-15 meters away and not be seen
-A save file can glitch out so you end up getting detected as you load it
-Can get permanently stuck in the door inside the pawn shop and in one of the floor 6 maintenance rooms in the empire hotel (trying to go up the vent)
-Sometimes glitchy interaction with doors (medical clinic for example, some of the floor 6 empire hotel doors will appear as locked and unopenable doors if interacted with from the wrong angle). Also gets worse while using Celerity
-Glitchy hit detection when fighting one of the guys at the beach (stands where you can only reach him by feeding and only sometimes)
-Some delay to some cutscene subtitles
-Rats can end up floating in mid-air after feeding on them
-Object physics for smaller objects sometimes glitch out when moving up against them
-The male nurse Phil's ambient dialogue can trigger while you're talking to him
-Can get temporarily stuck on top of a movable object in the downtown hospital and the objects here are glitchy in general
-NPCs might suddenly attack you during the a confession/russians quest in downtown
-Occasionally crashes (happened once downtown and once in the sabbat hideout)
-Sometimes the game can become unresponsive after using the console (for cheats) though this can be circumvented by typing chareditor or only using it at the main menu
-The chastity/hot stripper quest glitched out for me (the customers wouldn't leave and the show wouldn't stop so had to use noclip)
Notes:
-Character histories (15+ per clan, swap the priority order of some stats) were added in mods only