World of Darkness/Vampire: Bloodlines Interview
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Q: In a recent blog you talked about Bloodlines the CRPG, what is your opinion on their translation of the V:tM game mechanics to that CRPG?Agreed. Thanks, RPGWatch.
EW> One of the things I've been learning as I work on a video game myself is that there's a tricky balance between faithfully reproducing mechanics that worked well in a tabletop game but perhaps not for a video game, and changing key parts of the experience of Vampire that end up making the game not feel like the original product anymore. I think Bloodlines was a good balance between those two extremes, overall.
Q: Did you feel they captured the essence of the clans and their disciplines in Bloodlines? Why or why not?
EW> More or less. I feel that certain clans got a little more focus than others, but really it's hard to spread engaging content and design across seven different archetypes. Some of the fan mods, like the Clan Quest mod, do a great job in addressing stuff like that, though. However, like I said before, changing a property between mediums means that some things are just going to be lost. Mind's Eye Theatre disciplines, for example, aren't quite the same beast as their tabletop analogs, and powers that are great in tabletop just don't work well in LARP (or vice versa). I think the same is true for video games, and Bloodlines did a pretty good job in making the core of the disciplines feel accurate, even if individual powers weren't the same.
Q: Do you feel another Bloodlines type CRPG will ever be produced or started within the next several years?
EW> Honestly, single-player computer RPGs just aren't as common as they were a few years ago many companies are converting their IPs into other genres or moving into the MMO space. It's possible we might explore that space, sure, but certainly not in the next several years. We have this other Vampire computer game to make first. ;)
Q: If you could hop in your time machine and go back and make any one game change to Bloodlines what would it be, and what would you defiantly not want to change about it?
EW> I would give Troika more money so they could have put out a few more patches to fix the bugs in the game. But I wouldn't touch the music I think the Bloodlines soundtrack is highly underrated.
