Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Interview
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GB: How many different pieces of equipment will players be able to acquire/choose from in Bloodlines, and how important will gear be to the character? Will there be any unique or artifact items to be found in the game? If so, can you give us an example or two, along with their stats? Leonard: As far as equipment and item collecting go, this isn't a game based around the finding of a lot of items or armor types (and neither is the PnP, really). It's much more about the story and the character interaction (whether combat or social). You can get a total of four armors in the game, a ton of firearms and melee weapons, and some really cool Occult items as well. Here's two examples of really cool Occult items you can get in the game:
The Odious Chalice
A Tzimisce-created abomination, this is a pathetic organ-like creature that you can feed from which never dies. The Odious Chalice continually refills with blood over time.
Saulocept
The Saulocept is actually the remains of some ancient, much larger item, and contains the souls of unknown beings. Every time you are awarded three or more experience, you gain one extra experience point when this is in your possession.
GB: Will we be seeing a lot of mini-boss type enemies in the game, or will the game be based around a handful of major battles? We were able to see the Stone Gargoyle during our E3 presentation, but can you give us an example or two of other enemies the player will face?
Leonard: There are all types of battles in Bloodlines, from an early battle with you squaring off against a psychopathic killer, to much later in the game when you face a whole mess of Society of Leopold Hunters (I won't give away the context of either of these wouldn't want to spoil the surprise).
GB: Can you describe how the multiplayer aspect of Bloodlines will work, and what types of play modes multiplayer will offer (deathmatch, co-op, etc)?
Leonard: We're still not discussing multiplayer yet.
GB: Tell us about some of the changes and enhancements you've had to make to Valve's Source engine in order to gear it toward Bloodlines instead of Half-Life 2. Are there any limitations whatsoever with such a powerful engine?
Leonard: We've added our own lighting system (because our game takes place all at night we felt this was a necessity), our own version of the existing particle system (we needed a wide range of effects for the disciplines), and a cloth system (what's a vampire without his long coat?). Not to mention implementing the RPG system, the interactive dialogs, etc.
GB: Once Bloodlines has shipped, what is next on Troika's plate? Do you intend on expanding the game if it does well commercially, or do you think you'll move on to other titles? And I have to ask - what were those post-apocalyptic game screenshots all about that recently surfaced on the web?
Leonard: We have a lot of different ideas for what we'd like to pursue next, but right now we're pretty focused on Bloodlines. As for the post apocalyptic screens that have surfaced, those were from a tech demo for another project we've been showing to publishers, which we're keeping pretty quiet about right now.
Thanks Leonard!
