Low-tier engagement bait? Yep. Also think it’s worth asking now that we seem to have regular activity. Lemmy activity is nice, I want to help the mod not be the only poster all the time because that feels bad, and I am uncreative.
Low-tier engagement bait? Yep. Also think it’s worth asking now that we seem to have regular activity. Lemmy activity is nice, I want to help the mod not be the only poster all the time because that feels bad, and I am uncreative.
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, combat is mediocre, but the world building and writing is top notch. The characters are complex and multifaceted, the world feels real. The opportunity for role-playing is immense, there is a lot of variety in the clans.
Is Bloodlines the worst best game of all time or the best worst game of all time?
Regardless, I can’t believe you forgot to mention the single biggest strength of the game: atmosphere! The art direction and music and design of the areas really create a mood that few games can match, even to this day.
Atmosphere is part of world building in my book. 😄
Yeah, the art direction and style makes the game timeless (although I am obviously biased).
Ah that’s fair, to me I usually think of “world building” as in that part of the writing and lore, rather than level design and atmosphere etc. But yeah, regardless there are few games I can think of that can match the vibes of just strolling through Santa Monica at night, listening to the Rik Schaffer banger. I would say occasionally Cyberpunk at night in the rain gave me similar vibes (and they cited Bloodlines as a huge inspiration).
Agreed on the art direction and the most striking example is the faces. Using an exaggerated almost cartoony aesthetic and using Source engine to its fullest the characters have unbelievable facial expressions for its time. Since they never aimed for a photorealistic look the graphics haven’t aged poorly at all.
Also you probably know of it already but if not this might be of interest to you: debofnight.com
Funny thing was I was in Europe when the game came out, but a few years later I got to live in LA and of course I went to Santa Monica many times (including the pier).
Sound (both the track selection and the composed track) fits perfectly. Both excellent for ambience and the spirit of the early 2000s.
Great share!
I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard people say the same about the Hollywood hub as well. Perfectly capturing that run down, depressing and sordid shabby reality of early 00s Hollywood. Plus the amazingly haunting OST there, written when Schaffer was fresh out of jail, homeless and withdrawing from Heroin if I remember right.
As a big Bloodlines fan, have you played Mandragora? It only came out recently so I haven’t yet personally (it’s on my wishlist) but it’s written by Brian Mitsoda!
Yeah, Hollywood did feel a lot like it was in the game.
Was a bit strange as my frame of reference was Europe and Asia were downtown areas are the most busy and expensive.
I’ve heard of Mandragora, but these days I just can’t get into ARPGs.🙃
I have unfortunately heard mixed things about Mandragora but seeing it has Brian Mitsoda I will play it some day. I’ll try to remember to let you know what I think of it. Might be a while though, I’m waiting for a sale as my backlog is too long anyway 😅