Vampire Masquerade:Bloodlines wins RPGDot RPG of the Year

john_jaxs · Post by **john_jaxs** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 8:30 am

RPGDot has awarded Bloodlines with Best RPG in their Game of the Year awards for 2004 (voted by the fans of KOTOR, Morrowind, Ultima, Gothic, Dungeon Siege, Arx Fatalis and general all RPG fans who visit RPGDot).

"Bloodlines dripped with a dark, suspenseful atmosphere and featured some of the most memorable characters to appear in an RPG"
In addition to that, Bloodlines also won their categories for Best Graphics, Best Music & Sound and Biggest Surprise.

Vampire The Masquerade:Bloodlines uses the same engine as Half Life 2. It also features John DiMaggio (voices Bender in Futurama) who voices a vampire named Jack (he was a pirate) who is pretty much the Vampire version of Bender.

You can check out a trailer at the official site http://www.vampirebloodlines.com/ also the famous Leopold bug that kept some people from checking this great game out was fixed by two different patches (along with other bugs that really had no impact on gameplay or storyline, they can both be found at http://www.planetvampire.com/

Also about the famous crappy frames rate and long load times, here is my experience with the game:

Bloodlines was created using a modified (a little outdated too) version of that engine, so the engine was never tweaked as much as Half-Life 2s was, but if HL2 gave you stutter problems then you are likely to get them with Bloodlines, but if you can play HL2 on full settings (and have more then 512mb of ram) without stutter problems, then you will most likely get no stutter problems at all, for example I don't own HL2 but the only time I got stutter (it is also when I get the longest load times when entering a town that I have not been in before, after that the load times was between 15 to 20 seconds, about 5-10 seconds for the buildings) problems with Bloodlines is the first time I see an area in that part of the town, another example of that would be when I was walking to the Last Round (a bar in the game) I recieved minor stutter problems, the next time when walking to the Last Round I recieved none, I also recieved none when fighting (it didn't matter if it was the first time I saw the enemy or not) in first person view or third person view, I also got none when entering a building or talking to the other characters (it also did not matter if it was the first time I talked to them or not).

Here are my specs when playing the game:

Intel P4 2.60 GHz hyperthreading processor

Nvidia Geforce FX5200

Kingston 512mb DDR PC3200

Motherboard ASUS P4S800D-E Deluxe

80GB/60GB 7200 RPM Western Digital Hard Drive

CD Writer 32x/12x/40x, DVD writer 8x

(Yes I know my computer is outdated I plan on getting it fully updated to everything top of the line in about 6 weeks, just posted this to show you what kind of performance you would get, also above performance was when using the game on not all the way down settings, but one less then half settings, the game was still visual stunning compare to alot of other games, I also had the game patched using the unofficial patch 1.2 installed first then installed the official patch 1.2, both can be found at http://www.planetvampire.com/)

Also some info on the engine:

The game was built using the same engine as Half-Life 2, the source engine was built to be a next generation engine like the new Unreal engine, meaning that it is very resource hungry on just about any computer, but sooner or a later all the new games coming out are going to be like this resource hungry, maybe even more.

CM · Post by CM » Sat Mar 12, 2005 8:33 am

You call that out dated? DAMN!! My PC must be ancient.

Luis Antonio · Post by **Luis Antonio** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 8:36 am

[QUOTE=CM]You call that out dated? DAMN!! My PC must be ancient.[/QUOTE]

I feel completely outdated. Can I join the Old Computer Guild?

john_jaxs · Post by **john_jaxs** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 9:38 am

[QUOTE=CM]You call that out dated? DAMN!! My PC must be ancient.[/QUOTE]

When I am behind in processor power by about 1.4 GHZ, behind in 3 generations of motherboards, they are already advertising next generations of engines/games/consoles/graphics cards (having 512mb in ddr2), having 1GB ram of decent ram is about to be come a must, also behind in a generation of DDR, so yeah I say I am outdated, I didn't mean to offend anyone but my computer is not top of the line and games are becoming more resource hungry and Bloodlines will no way be the last like this.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 10:58 am

the reason you're suffering the stuttering is because of your Nvidia card. The Half-Life 2 engine was specifically designed with the Radeon in mind, so you're always going to see some slight performance quirks when using a different card. The same is true when playing a game using an engine designed for the Nvidia chipsets.

Frankly, RPGDot's awards mean very little to me. I've looked at what they've had to say numerous times, and they often fail to provide anything more than a brief overview, which does little to actually impart any knowledge, good or bad, about a game. This is especially true in their awards.Not only that, but anything that says it was voted in by the fans, instantly sets off a flag in my head saying that there was more than likely a group of dedicated fans who spam-voted for the game that they simply love, regardless of the actual qualities of the game.

john_jaxs · Post by **john_jaxs** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 12:49 pm

You can also check out the reviews they range from 77 to 92 on different websites so I can not include how detailed the scoring system is (for example one website may rank it as 7.7 and then another website might say 92%, but there are basically all the same kind of scoring system just different style, but you can look at each review knowing that most/almost all bugs have been fixed).

Not only that, but anything that says it was voted in by the fans, instantly sets off a flag in my head saying that there was more than likely a group of dedicated fans who spam-voted for the game that they simply love, regardless of the actual qualities of the game.

If it is not by the fans of RPGs then it is by people who review the game which may be fixed and have different opinions then the majority of RPG fans. So either way if it is voted by the fans then there might be a dedicated fanbase voting and voting again, if it is by the reviewers then it might be fixed or not represent the majority of the of RPGs fans, either way they both have there flaws, it all comes down to this, fans of the genre(RPGs) who may have voted numerous times or the reviewers who often represent themselves (no one else) or the companies that allow them to review their games eariler, your just going to need pick who you trust more and since most reviews are only held down from reaching perfect scores by the bugs that was fixed already, then it really only comes to this, the reviewers say it is good (despite the bugs all reviewers who reviewed this game said that this game is worth the money) and it has won awards from the fans and the famous bugs that kept it from reaching perfect scores/higher scores have been done away with there is nothing againest the game basically, nothing is going to take away the fun of playing it and nothing is going to take away from understanding the game if you think you need to have played Redemption to understand Bloodlines you don't they are totally different games besides being set in the same universe, kind of like the Punisher and Spider-Man being set in the marvel universe, but you don't need to know about Spider-Man to understand Punisher (besides their little crossovers which there are no Redemption crossovers to Bloodlines).

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:38 pm

People are generally sheep, and decide to be told what to believe, rather than make informed decisions on their own. If that wasn't the case, there would be little to no use for a reviewer. I am speaking as a reviewer. In the history of gaming reviews, there is a distinct trend of a game, depending on the amount of hype surrounding it, being hailed as amazing, regardless of obvious flaws, outside of bugs. This is seen in Halo, Neverwinter Nights, Doom 3, not to mention a wash of other games. People become entranced in what is new and shiney, that critical review does not occur. It is with that in mind that reviews are a moot point, and one that really has little sway, at least in mind.

With that said, it has also been seen, that fanboys tend to spam vote what they like, therefore an award being handed out due to fanbase through a medium as abuseable as the internet can hardly be taken at face value. The game may have it's merits, but an internet award is by no means an accurate assessment of value, especially considering the fact that some communities are simply more vocal than the next.

As for your tying in of Redemption to Bloodlines, I'm not sure where that even surfaced here. You've addressed something that has made no appearance, and I'm just curious as to what your point was.

john_jaxs · Post by **john_jaxs** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:21 pm

I am speaking as a reviewer.

Anybody can be a reviewer it does not matter if is to your own self or to a open public, it is just an opinion.

People are generally sheep, and decide to be told what to believe, rather than make informed decisions on their own.

The only way anybody makes they own informed decisions is by trying the game.

In the history of gaming reviews, there is a distinct trend of a game, depending on the amount of hype surrounding it, being hailed as amazing, regardless of obvious flaws, outside of bugs. This is seen in Halo, Neverwinter Nights, Doom 3, not to mention a wash of other games. People become entranced in what is new and shiney, that critical review does not occur. It is with that in mind that reviews are a moot point, and one that really has little sway, at least in mind.

I get your point here, but the only way as stated above for someone to make a critical review is to try the product (in this case a game) for themselves, also Bloodlines is a game unless you go looking for it there is a good chance you are never going to hear about it, there was no/little hype surrounding it, it was made by a indie developer working for a big corp, I see your point about a game like Halo if they made a Halo 3 it is almost guranteed that it would get a 9.0/90% rating no matter what website it was reviewed by, but Bloodlines had none of the hype that a game like Halo, Neverwinter Nights had, Bloodlines is a Underdog.

With that said, it has also been seen, that fanboys tend to spam vote what they like, therefore an award being handed out due to fanbase through a medium as abuseable as the internet can hardly be taken at face value. The game may have it's merits, but an internet award is by no means an accurate assessment of value, especially considering the fact that some communities are simply more vocal than the next.

Trying not repeat myself here:

But no real award can be taken at face value they all have its flaws, it does not matter where it comes from a reviewer/fan/genre fan, anyone award medium can be abuseable and fixed. Also if you hop over to http://www.white-wolf.com/ and go to the forums and click on the Bloodlines forum and ask how good Bloodlines is the fans will be as quick to point out its cons as much as its pros.

As for your tying in of Redemption to Bloodlines, I'm not sure where that even surfaced here. You've addressed something that has made no appearance, and I'm just curious as to what your point was.

Just stating for people who are looking into the game that you don't have to know anything about Redemption (some people who like Bloodlines did not like Redemption and the other way around too) to know about Bloodlines you also don't have to be a PnP player (it might make the game more enjoyable but it will not take away from it) to really understand Bloodlines either, as everything is explained in Bloodlines.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:40 pm

[QUOTE=john_jaxs]I get your point here, but the only way as stated above for someone to make a critical review is to try the product (in this case a game) for themselves, also Bloodlines is a game unless you go looking for it there is a good chance you are never going to hear about it, there was no/little hype surrounding it, it was made by a indie developer working for a big corp, I see your point about a game like Halo if they made a Halo 3 it is almost guranteed that it would get a 9.0/90% rating no matter what website it was reviewed by, but Bloodlines had none of the hype that a game like Halo, Neverwinter Nights had, Bloodlines is a Underdog.[/QUOTE]
I'll only respond to this point at the moment, as I have work in a bit.

Bloodlines, within the RPG community, actually received a lot of hype. A testament to that is the fact that GB was covering it for some months before it's release, of which the coverage included production diaries, interviews and minor previews. Not only that, but the use of the Half Life 2 engine also promoted a lot of interest, as it was the first market release using that engine.

Hype is more than just seeing banners and ads for it everywhere, hype is also word of mouth, as well as community interest. There was a lot of invested interest in this game, and while it may've been a good game, I fail to see how it attained some of the scoring it did, as it surely wasn't as groundbreaking as many fanboys, and website reviews have made it out to be.

But then, I felt the same away about NWN, KotOR, Halo, Doom 3, and a wash of other games. The real funny thing is, people tend to fight me tooth and nail on my opinion, until about 6 months in, at which they finally understand what I was saying

Darth Zenemij · Post by **Darth Zenemij** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 5:01 pm

~

[QUOTE=Luis Antonio]I feel completely outdated. Can I join the Old Computer Guild?[/QUOTE]

Of cours you can...We always have room for more!

john_jaxs · Post by **john_jaxs** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 5:55 pm

Bloodlines, within the RPG community, actually received a lot of hype. A testament to that is the fact that GB was covering it for some months before it's release, of which the coverage included production diaries, interviews and minor previews. Not only that, but the use of the Half Life 2 engine also promoted a lot of interest, as it was the first market release using that engine.

Hype is more than just seeing banners and ads for it everywhere, hype is also word of mouth, as well as community interest. There was a lot of invested interest in this game, and while it may've been a good game, I fail to see how it attained some of the scoring it did, as it surely wasn't as groundbreaking as many fanboys, and website reviews have made it out to be.

But then, I felt the same away about NWN, KotOR, Halo, Doom 3, and a wash of other games. The real funny thing is, people tend to fight me tooth and nail on my opinion, until about 6 months in, at which they finally understand what I was saying

In the RPG community it might had gotten alot of hype, but it was always over shadowed by Half-Life 2 (when ever the source engine is mention HL2 will be the first to most people minds), it was launched on the same day as HL2 which basically made it David to Goliath and we all know in the real world Goliath is going to kick David's ass, but you are right it was not groundbreaking and again you are right that Halo 1/2, Doom 3, NWN, KOTOR 1/2, Vice City and San Andreas and alot of games that coming out real soon are also not groundbreaking they are just old ideas applied in a different style, But in the end ask the average PC owner what game is he going to pick a game that is well known among fan boys/girls of the genre (no matter how good it might be) or a game that was supposed to rock the genre that it was built for (no matter if it is actually true or not), chances are at least 90% of the time they will take the one that was supposed to rock the genre that it was built for.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 6:12 pm

But arguably FPS and RPG titles don't have much crossover; at least, that's what statistics mavens tell us. It also makes a degree of sense. RPG titles have tended to sell to an older audience (always accepting the KotoR titles, which are aimed at the market of early adoloscent boys), while FPS games aim for a younger crowd with little interest in such niceties as dialog and character. Reward for services rendered? Bah! Why do that, when you can blast the person asking you to save their children, and gather the coins, instead?

So I don't see Half-Life2 as cutting into Bloodlines' sales. Rather, I think the intolerable bugginess of the game--much of which it still suffers from--hurt its sales. That, and 2) it's a single-person RPG, and these traditionally sell less well than party RPGs, and 3) its setting lies outside the convention of AD&D fantasy worlds. Much as many of us might like to see games do well without elves, halflings, etc, that seems to catch the average RPGer's interest most.