Here I am with yet another oldie but goodie RPG for all of you. If you like nostalgia or you somehow missed this title I urge you to give it a shot.
What is it?
Basically, one of the best RPGs ever made. You play as a vampire in modern days. The game is semi-sandbox as you're offered a lot of freedom in your movement, there are lots of optional side quests etc. The story is pretty good and the game itself is very well made and immersive.
What's so great about it?
The feel of the game is amazing. You should note, however, that it is aimed at mature audience, with a lot of violence, nudity (not total nudity but definitely NSFW), foul language and so on, it has 18+ on the box. One of the things I love the most about this game is that you can do everything in several different ways there: you can brute force your way through problems, talk your way through them or use stealth and guile to tackle the problem (or any mixture of those). The characters are really cool, dialogue is great and the game doesn't get boring quickly and has pretty high replay value as each clan (there are 7 to choose from) has different strengths and weaknesses and requires a different approach (Nosferatu and Malkavians are so different that you're basically playing a completely different game here, not recommended for 1st playthrough).
What do I need?
A copy of the original VtMB (steam version available too) and patches:
If you complete the game (possibly several times) and want some more then go ahead and grab either the Camarilla Edition or Final Nights mods (available on the same site). Note: They only require patch 1.2 so you'll have to re-install the game.
There are other mods available too if you want to try things out, but these 2 are the best out there and change the game completely.
The game works fine under Windows 7 64-bit, no tweaks required (although unofficial patch has widescreen fix included, which is recommended). You may have problem with developer videos being black but that's no biggie, just click and you go to the menu. All of the in-game cut-scenes are made using game engine so no trouble there.
Yeah this game went by largely unnoticed on release because of some glaring graphics issues and little bugs. I actually bought it early but gave up within 20 minutes because it just felt like a poorly made game and In couldn’t get into it.
Then the patches came. I’m not sure where along the line the patches started to turn it into such an amazing game, if it was the official or unofficial patches, but if you get the latest unofficial patch it’s just an incredible game. The difference in atmosphere and immersion compared to how it was at release is just mind-blowing.
I believe the biggest issue at realease was the fact that the game wouldn't load the nex hub if you wanted to go there (there were some obscure workaround like typing special commands into console to load it etc.). I guess it turned quite a few people away from the game. Right now it's pretty much flawless.
@ Cel.erity: We're not talking about pen & paper version here
This game is awesome for us that like RPGs where you get to talk to people and do other stuff instead of just clear 100s of random dungeons (TES games).
Anyone who liked DE3 needs to PLAY THIS IMMEDIATELY. Anyone who values storytelling, characterization, intelligent writing, role playing, and gameplay will like this game. Every playthrough will be completely different, from the way the world interacts with different vampire houses to the vast customization and sidequests you can perform.
Truly a great RPG that rivals Deus Ex (and surpasses in many ways) as the absolute best in the genre.
VtMB is so good. It has some of the most solid dialogue and voice acting in any game I have played. It just blows triple A titles out of the water. User made patches give the game the polish the developers never had the chance to give it and mods extend its already considerable life. To me at least, it goes up there with Half Life 2 and Deus Ex.
Fun game. Haunted house level scared the shit out of me when i played through it. However the loading times drove me mad and I ended up losing interest. Maybe I should give it another try
Such an amazing amazing game. The first act is one of the best RPG experiences I've had. Unfortunately the last 2 acts are pretty uninteresting compared to the first 2.
White Wolf did such a great job creating the whole World of Darkness system. The only problem with games like these is that I'm left with such a high level of expectation it is hard to please me.
This is my favorite RPG, probably the best experience with video games I have had so far. The mechanics in this game are something I wish I could find in more RPGs. I highly recommend playing with the Camarilla Edition mod which makes some of the game mechanics much deeper and enjoyable imo.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/S9Fv2.jpg)
