BLOODLINES, DUDE. So I've heard a lot of praise for this game during my time on GAF, and for some reason I didn't bother playing it until recently. I love choice and consequence heavy RPG's, and it's been compared favorably to the GOTF, Deus Ex, but for some reason I held off until now. Maybe it was the mouthful of a title or the fact that it's never on sale Steam. I mean, who wants to pay TWENTY US DOLLARS for some crusty old PC game? However, after finishing Alpha Brotocol, I was fiending for another C&C RPG so I took the plunge.
REQUIRED LISTENING: 1 & 2
I went with the classiest clan, the Ventrue, who occupy the upper crust of vampire society. I must say, my vamp lady, Marissa, was one cool broad:
- looks undeniably badass while wearing a leather trenchcoat and wielding a desert eagle
- uses the power of Dominate disciple to choke enemies from afar (Suicide) and turn the chumps against each other (Possession)
- thanks to her maxed Appearance and high Persuation skills, she can use the power of blue balls to get what she wants
- so high class that she vomits up the blood of low-borns like hobos and hookers
I've started a second playthrough as a Malkavian, and it's pretty amazing so far. Every single one of the conversation options have been rewritten in an abstract and sometimes amusing way and the trippy stuff like the whispers has been bugging me out. I also enjoy the NPC's sometimes befuddled response to my strange way of speaking.
It's remarkable that two playthroughs can be so different.
Those who have played Bloodlines will likely agree that it has some damn good CHARACTERS. They range from slutty, to schizophrenic, to revolving, to pitiful and despicable. Troika managed to create well defined characters that evoke a variety responses instead of the soulless automatons that fall of an assembly line into most RPG universes.
BROS:
Heather Poe
My ghoul waifu. She's the center of one of Bloodlines' most impressive quests. I stumbled across her in Santa Monica, and decided to save her from her mortal wounds by making her my ghoul. Later in the game, she showed up at my place and offered to be my personal ghoul and blood doll. It was nice to come home and find that she lured in a fresh meatbag for my lunch.
Sadly,
the Sabbat scum kidnapped her and killed her before my eyes. No one fucks with my ghoul and lives to speak of it, I tore those bastards apart.
Damsel
I'm a fan for bitchy women, and Damsel was just oozing with bitchiness. She hated my guts for working with the Prince, but it was always a delight to visit her at the Last Round and bask in her unbridled scorn towards me. However, beneath all that I think she had a thing for me. When I returned to tell her that I had vanquished the Plaguebearers, I saw a flicker of admiration in her eye, regardless of how hard she tried to hide it.
Jeanette & Therese Voerman
The Ventrue sisters who run a night club in the Santa Monica district. I enjoyed the dynamic between the two, Therese is a stark and focused business woman with zero tolerance for bullshit, while Jeanette is a spontaneous and slutty little firecracker. It found it interesting
that holy crap, they're the same person! After some careful consideration I decided to help the Jeanette side become dominate, since I prefer the slutty persona over the frigid persona.
FOES:
The Prince
A fellow Ventrue and a total prick. I chose to align with him for most of the game, even though he was clearly an untrustworthy little shit. I didn't trust the Anarchs with power, but more importantly the Prince could pay well, so I went where the money was. He was always quick to remind me that I was inferior, that I only existed to run his errands. I was sure to respond to him with a heavy dose of sass, which always had hilarious results.
He made my shit list when he
ordered a blood hunt for me after the "death" of Nines. Despite all I had done for him, he was fine with having me whacked since I had outlived my usefulness. In the end, his "top agent" turned the tables on him by killing all his dudes and putting Maximillian in power. If only I could have witnessed his execution!
Andrei
Sabbat scum. Fuck his stupid green face.
One of the HIGHLIGHTS of Bloodlines is the wide variety of locations you'll visit. Each of the four hubs have several establishments (porn shops, strip clubs, grocery stores, etc) you can visit, each with a unique name and interior, quirky NPC's and a shit ton of details like talk radio stations, computer logs, and news reports. It was exciting to unlock a new hub and explore every building for the first time. The variety of missions was also impressive, you visit all kinds of fascinating and twisted locations like the studio of a snuff porn producer and a mansion haunted by a murdered family. It rarely if ever felt predictable or routine.
Of course, there is one DOWNSIDE to Bloodlines: the combat kinda sucks. At best, it's somewhat amusing when you're sneaking around and sucking unexpecting grunts to death, at worst it's poorly balanced, clunky and very aggravating. Gunplay is stat based so you'll be struggling with an unreliable reticle and missing enemies at point blank. Melee is a more satisfying alternative, but wielding a katana or sledgehammer will make the game much more difficult in it's rough patches.
The absolute worst part of Bloodlines is unfortunately it's final several hours. The last two missions have you marching down seemingly endless corridors as hoards of enemies swarm you again and again. It was particular frustrating at
the Prince's tower where I had to face fully armored enemies without any means of restoring my blood or health.
IN SUMMARY, if you have even the slightest interest in RPGS, but haven't played this game, you are an asshole. It's dark, depraved and disturbing in all the right ways. Impatient gamers may be discouraged by it's rough patches, but those with an appreciation for the finer things in life will most likely agree, that it is a great fucking RPG.
Thoughts? How were your experiences with the other builds? Who were your favorite and least favorite characters?
? You made it sound like I'll appreciate it more as a second playthrough. 
