By Alec Meer on July 15th, 2011 at 4:59 pm.
I’m guessing all these patches are iterative and not of much interest to the rmore casual Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines observer by now, but whenever one of these fan-made updates passes by my inbox I still can’t help but double-take and think ‘wow.’ You guys are wonderful. Completely mad, but wonderful. Bloodlines is now seven years old, was essentially abandoned by its publisher after its developer closed a few months after release, but the fans have just kept on going, fixing things, improving things, digging up locked away extra content and generally trying to keep their dream game alive. And, in a vampire fetishistic subset’s case, entirely gratuitously add oodles of bare breasts wherever possible and regardless of any effect on atmosphere or internal logic. I’ll stick to the fixes and restored content, thanks.
Anyway: patch 7.6 – 7.6! – is now out, and along with a few fixes restores some missing soundtrack music to the game. Grab it from here, along with assorted add-ons. If only every abandoned game received so much love so much later.
15/07/2011 at 17:05 Sentient Waffle says:
Oh my god, I just reinstalled it recently and now this happens :D
Bloodlines is one of my all-time favorite games, and I will keep hoping for that sequel till the end of times!
btw: Malkavian ftw
15/07/2011 at 17:14 coldvvvave says:
I wanted to post same message word for word.
15/07/2011 at 17:45 Mr_Hands says:
If there’s ever a game that truly deserves this kind of batshit love and tenderness, it’s Bloodlines.
15/07/2011 at 22:47 MadTinkerer says:
I was going to say something similar only for me it’s “just got it on the Steam sale and then this happens.”
I get to play it with the patch the first time! Sweet!
18/07/2011 at 09:42 sfury says:
My thoughts exactly, I’ve been raring to replay it for quite some time, just bought it on the last weekend Steam sale (because I’ve NEVER seen it discounted before, I’ve heard that it has been so on a Halloween 2007 or 2008, but have been waiting for some discount ever since then)
So I reinstall it this weekend, and find the latest patch was released just a day ago, bless you Wesp and whoever is still supporting this! :)
And also a Malkavian here, I’ve always wanted to try that for my second play-through. Also turned up the Plus patch extras this time – should be fun, with the different dialogue options and all the new/changed content should be an even more interesting game this time.
15/07/2011 at 17:06 Warth0g says:
Never played the game, but I’m intrigued by all the positive press it’s had over the years. Do you think that with these patches, a shallow graphics whore like myself could enjoy it today? And is it possible to easily patch it up from a vanilla install to 7.6 or will it take a fortnight of pain??
15/07/2011 at 17:09 Dominic White says:
It’s a one-click install, even on Steam. It’ll ask you whether you want the ‘vanilla’ version (just patching) or one with restored ‘lost’ content (stuff that was meant to be in, but got cut due to being unfinished at the time) and balance tweaks. I highly recommend the latter.
15/07/2011 at 17:10 ResonanceCascade says:
It’s easy to patch and the graphics hold up better than most from that era. The first 2/3 are some of the best of any game I’ve ever played, which will give you a solid 15 hours of goodness, but it really turns to crap in the last act.
If a mostly 1st person game with GREAT writing, tons of character options that have a real effect on the game, near-infinite replayability, and a hack and slash style 3rd person combat system sounds fun to you, go for it.
15/07/2011 at 17:15 Nameless1 says:
The graphic is still great…add the filters and you’re ready to go.
15/07/2011 at 18:09 Warth0g says:
Hey nice, I might just do that.. thanks for the steer guys.
15/07/2011 at 18:57 stahlwerk says:
What filters?
15/07/2011 at 19:34 HeavyStorm says:
Again: What filters? I’ve been waiting to play the game, so I want to know more about this kind of update.
15/07/2011 at 20:30 ResonanceCascade says:
I think he was referring to the graphics overhaul mod that’s floating around out there. I installed it about a year back and was not pleased with the results, but obviously ymmv. I think the game looks perfectly fine without gobs of bloom and overbearing HDR, thanks.
15/07/2011 at 20:39 Nameless1 says:
Ehm..I was referring to aa and anisotropic filtering (you can set them from your graphic card panel)
15/07/2011 at 22:39 Thants says:
One of the joys of PC gaming is playing an older game and being able to crank the settings up to the maximum and still have it run perfectly.
15/07/2011 at 22:42 InternetBatman says:
It was one of the original Source games, so if the graphics in Half-Life 2 are good enough for you it should be fine.
15/07/2011 at 17:08 Dominic White says:
Let’s get this out of the way:
If you see something claiming to be the ‘TRUE’ Vampire: Bloodlines patch, ignore it. Better still, run for the hills. It’s a hacked together botch-job made of other peoples stolen work, assembled by a lunatic who makes nude skins for every game under the sun and calls people faggots if they think that’s the slightest bit dumb. He also goes around promoting his work under a variety of pseudonyms, but you may have seen him under the handle ‘Tessera’.
The one that Alec linked is the good one. It’s by Werner Spahl (aka Wesp), the one-man army that went and produced the fan-translation patches for White Gold and Precursors, which had gotten RPS coverage previously.
15/07/2011 at 17:18 Fierce says:
Are you talking about that chick who raged all over forums like 3 years ago?
Edit: Ah, you said “he”. Never mind. Though that chick raged pretty hard…
15/07/2011 at 17:23 stahlwerk says:
Internet advice: the username “Tessa” (IIRC) does not imply actual femalicity of user.
15/07/2011 at 17:23 Dominic White says:
Tessera? He’s a dude. He just uses (naked) female avatars. Everywhere.
15/07/2011 at 17:28 Fierce says:
I actually distinctly recall a picture of some chick wearing glasses, and yes the username sounds familiar and is probably who I’m talking about. I wasn’t in the community nearly long enough (less than a week as I looking for patch install advice and got lost in a drama thread) to know the validity of the photograph.
Meh. Gender on the Internet and et cetera…
15/07/2011 at 17:28 Nameless1 says:
I confirm what Dominic said.
15/07/2011 at 20:43 oceanclub says:
I was there. I saw it. It was mental.
P.
16/07/2011 at 00:46 Tessera says:
It has come to my attention that there is quite a bit of confusion and disinformation being posted within this topic. I will respond more fully later on.
16/07/2011 at 06:45 lurkalisk says:
It would be a tad strange if one was trying to spread false information, yet was confused about said information. Wouldn’t you say?
16/07/2011 at 11:51 Tessera says:
Nope, nothing strange about it at all. Some people are spreading disinformation, and other people are confused by it. There’s more than one person participating in this thread. ;)
16/07/2011 at 22:04 Rii says:
And let there be no doubt as to who brought this particular shit-slinging match to RPS: Dominic White.
16/07/2011 at 22:08 stahlwerk says:
I like to think it was the triple blow of being called out, misgendered and misnamed in three successive posts that summoned His wrath.
17/07/2011 at 10:11 lurkalisk says:
@Rii
That could only be of any real importance if people had no choice but to pay attention to all this.
18/07/2011 at 00:23 Schu says:
Dominic White, I believe you need to get your facts strait before you insult someone you dont know. I have done an extensive run threw of the UP and the TPG and I can tell you right now that you need to use both patches and get an unbiased opinion. To be fare you do not know what you are saying with regards to the TPG or Tessera for that matter.
Anyone who has used the TPG will tell you that nothing but bug fixes are in it and that it is stable. Where with the UP 7.6 anyone who gos too the Steam, maybe even the PV forum boards will find that quite a few people are having problems with the latest iteration of the UP. So please stop being insulting to people you dont even know.
18/07/2011 at 00:25 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
@Schu
That’s pretty cool. I really liked the second paragraph.
18/07/2011 at 09:24 Daddy Fat Sax says:
@Tessera
Aren’t you too busy banning people for being closeted homosexuals to comment here?
15/07/2011 at 17:08 rmtx97 says:
I tried Bloodlines (since everyone on RPS loves it) and I just could not get into it. It seemed super slow. Did I just quit too early? The story seemed cool but the combat ( killing the guys in that house overlooking the beach ) seemed very bleh.
15/07/2011 at 17:12 ResonanceCascade says:
The combat isn’t great, but it’s not the focus of most of the game. If you only got to the beach house, you didn’t get far enough. That’s literally 1/2 an hour into a 25 hour game.
15/07/2011 at 17:13 Raziel_aXd says:
The combat really is bleh and broken enough, but you own it to yourself to experience one of the best lives virtual reality has to offer.
15/07/2011 at 17:13 Nameless1 says:
Yes, you quit too early. The game is probably in the top 3 of the best RPGs of all time, and you’ll get used to the combact mechanics after a while.
15/07/2011 at 17:15 DrGonzo says:
The combat is terrible, even movement and interaction is a bitch. It’s unfortunate as there ends up being lots of combat as it goes on. But it has an excellent story imo.
I have to say though I think it’s very overrated round these parts, as much as I like it. It’s the framework of a good game. It had the potential to be a classic, but isn’t.
Still pretty damned good though if you can put up with it’s (many, many) flaws.
15/07/2011 at 17:18 The Sentinel says:
I’m with you on this one. It gets lauded by Journalist and Commenter alike here but frankly I gave up on it after a few hours, out of boredom, once I’d gotten past the big, and admittedly very clever, reveal regarding what’s-her-face and her sister. I doubt I’ll go back to it.
15/07/2011 at 17:22 Sentient Waffle says:
Play a stealth character, Malkavian is my preferred clan (they’re insane, and its wonderful), and just stealth kill everyone, then you don’t have to bother with the not too great combat.
Or alternatively, get a shotgun and kick some ass :)
15/07/2011 at 17:22 Fierce says:
It gets lauded by Journalist and Commenter alike here but frankly I gave up on it after a few hours, out of boredom, once I’d gotten past the big, and admittedly very clever, reveal regarding what’s-her-face and her sister. I doubt I’ll go back to it.
Far, FAR too early. Honestly. You should give it another -preferably longer- shot.
15/07/2011 at 21:13 Zwebbie says:
rmtx97: Considering that’s the second quest you get in the game, I would say that’s too soon. I’d recommend you to at least finish Santa Monica. If you don’t like the Voerman story arc or the Ocean House Hotel then you can definitely say you don’t like Bloodlines, but mere minutes into the game is a little early to call it quits.
For what it’s worth, you can also sneak into the beach house, or use persuasion, intimidation or seduction (if you’re playing female).
15/07/2011 at 21:46 Fiatil says:
I think I’m the one person who likes Bloodlines’ combat. Or at least myself and everyone else who was cool enough to play Tremere the first time around and make everyone vomit blood and/or explode from their blood boiling.
Addendum: The warrens are fucking terrible. I’ve skipped it every time since the first. The ending sequence isn’t that bad though (and the actual ending is awesome); one tough boss and stuff to kill, as long as you have decent combat skills (blooooood magic) you’re set.
15/07/2011 at 22:14 Joof says:
” but the combat seemed very bleh.”
This line seems to pop up in conversations about all of my favorite games. =/
15/07/2011 at 23:24 Nick says:
honestly, if you don’t like it by that stage, its not for you. One of the best games ever made, just so unfortunate what happened towards the end. If it had 6 months more funding available, it would probably be the best game ever made.
It makes me so, so sad what happened to Troika.
(I didn’t dislike the combat, it was fine tbh)
16/07/2011 at 12:45 The Sentinel says:
@Fierce
Ah, no, I actually got to the Ocean House Hotel. I forgot that bit, which is another indication of my response to the game generally.
16/07/2011 at 17:10 LinXitoW says:
Bloodlines was the first game where i fully realised the scope of having choices. Normally i just make some combat all around character and only very rarely would i use alternate paths to victory in RPGs, simply becuase that concept didnt “click”.
In Bloodlines i said fudge it and specialised on “talking” and “technical” skills and it was awesome. Literally everything you can do has some other way of doing it.
17/07/2011 at 11:32 Yosharian says:
Tremere ftw
15/07/2011 at 17:11 Nameless1 says:
Wesp is my hero :)
For those who don’t know what all this is about, this patch is an absolute must.
PS: tbh Bloodlines was abandoned by his publisher months BEFORE his release.
15/07/2011 at 17:21 Wulf says:
Yep, wesp made Bloodlines playable, then took it so much further. He’s awesome.
15/07/2011 at 19:01 Tom De Roeck says:
Oh dear, the problem is, I dont even have the DVD anymore! Arrr..
15/07/2011 at 21:28 bwion says:
Or if you don’t feel like engaging in the Life Piratical, it’s available from several different digital stores. (I have found it on Steam and Direct2Drive so far.)
I have the Steam version and it works fine with every mod and fanpatch I’ve thrown at it so far, if that’s a concern.
16/07/2011 at 01:10 Tom De Roeck says:
I dont think the money will go to the people I want it to go to, so no thank you.
16/07/2011 at 03:02 meatshit says:
When you buy a game, you’re not just paying for a piece of plastic. You’re paying for a copyright license that gives you the right to own a copy of the material. If your copy is lost or destroyed, you have the right to replace it in whatever manner you see fit as long as it doesn’t run afoul of some other law (the DMCA for instance).
16/07/2011 at 10:07 Tom De Roeck says:
Oh I’m aware of that. I live in Austria, where the copyright laws are perfect, but contested. (your copyright claims may not be contested unless there is enough proof that you are indeed infringing, but that limit or “tolerance level” is waaaaaaay higher than pretty much everywhere else. Except for maybe russia.)
But anyhow, I wouldnt mind “buying” another copy, because I would be buying “an eternal backup” on steam for example. But I dont want the money that usually goes to the developer to go to some publisher that retains the right to the game itself.
16/07/2011 at 19:01 Christian Dannie Storgaard says:
If I remember RPS’s interview with [insert name of guy from Troika] correctly, none of the developers will get any money no matter how you buy it, so…
18/07/2011 at 10:18 phlebas says:
It’s just appeared on dotemu too – more expensive than the (already perhaps a little high) Steam price, but DRM-free!
15/07/2011 at 17:14 Teddy Leach says:
Oh, honestly. I’ll have to reinstall it now! You magnificent bastard, Wesp.
15/07/2011 at 17:14 Fierce says:
You know, I always use mods (and frankly, the aspects of *freedom* and *control*) in my discussions with friends over why I greatly prefer PC over consoles, but a situation like this really takes feelings of vindication to warm and fuzzy heights.
THIS is one of the many things a micro-transaction obsessed console ecosystem will never provide a game aficionado and why I’ll stop being a PC gamer when they can pry my G5 from my cold, dead palm grip.
15/07/2011 at 17:19 Wulf says:
STOP!
15/07/2011 at 17:25 stahlwerk says:
Never stop!
15/07/2011 at 17:28 abremms says:
collaborate and listen?
15/07/2011 at 17:31 ResonanceCascade says:
In the name of love?
Because I love this game.
15/07/2011 at 18:04 Wulf says:
Has no one talked to a stop sign as a Malkavian? Ha.
15/07/2011 at 18:05 ShadyGuy says:
Hammer time?
15/07/2011 at 18:12 Heliocentric says:
in the name of love.
15/07/2011 at 18:13 Wulf says:
This now becomes necessary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSzyyscEnNU
Played a Malkavian and missed that? FOR SHAME.
15/07/2011 at 18:13 ResonanceCascade says:
Suddenly Wulf’s fascination with talking to inanimate objects in games becomes so clear.
I kid, Wulf. I kid.
15/07/2011 at 19:47 Wulf says:
:|
16/07/2011 at 06:26 Broodix says:
Wow, I can’t believe most people didn’t get the reference…
16/07/2011 at 12:45 TJ says:
You’ve made a powerful enemy today, sign.
Also this: http://tom-jubert.blogspot.com/2010/08/brian-mitsoda-talks-vampire-bloodlines.html
16/07/2011 at 12:47 The Sentinel says:
So, what…the vampire is retarded? I don’t get it.
16/07/2011 at 13:28 Kaira- says:
@The Sentinel
Not retarded, just batshit insane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malkavian
15/07/2011 at 17:24 Kefren says:
I have only played it twice, once as a Toreador male and one as a Malkavian female. Have never used the extra content so will do that for my next playthrough, which was due soon anyway! Either Nosferatu or Tremere, not decided yet.
15/07/2011 at 17:26 Lewis Denby says:
It’s also half the best PC game ever made, so yay.
15/07/2011 at 17:33 TillEulenspiegel says:
More like 2/3, I think. It’d be pretty close to ultimate awesomeness if you could just slice out the sewers and completely redo the ending areas.
15/07/2011 at 17:26 Drake Sigar says:
Yes. YEEEEEES. Feed me.
15/07/2011 at 17:31 Raziel_aXd says:
When we get turned on, there’s bound to be flames…
15/07/2011 at 17:31 stahlwerk says:
I might just have to replay this. For a fourth time. Until the Giovanni’s. And then stop, because I just can’t muster any incentive to slog through the last sections of the game.
Unless of course, the balancing undid the issues I had with my Mr. Sneaky One Hit Katana Kill Superstar Vamp being essentially a pathetic sitting duck during the last boss fights.
Any news on the engine port to recent Source?
15/07/2011 at 17:43 G_Man_007 says:
I saw the title and thought of Clive Barker’s Undying, but this is very welcome news indeed. Malkavian next time.
15/07/2011 at 17:57 ResonanceCascade says:
Well, Undying was certainly another lovely 1st person game no one played. I wish I hadn’t lost my copy, I bet that thing will be worth a mint some day.
15/07/2011 at 21:11 ankh says:
Sweet! I still have mine! I thought everyone played it.
16/07/2011 at 01:12 Tom De Roeck says:
Hm. Undying and Bloodlines are both games I actually finished. There used to be a time where Id sink a lot of time into a single game, but not really finish them.
Unless I REALLY finished them, then it took me a couple of days and it was GONE. just like Mass Effect 1 & 2.
15/07/2011 at 17:46 Bostec says:
That picture of the orc? its a femal orc right? its got thin arms and some bondage strapping. It sure is flirty.
15/07/2011 at 21:19 Matt says:
I hope you were joking. It’s a male Nosferatu vampire. In some rather odd-looking bondage gear.
15/07/2011 at 17:49 eightiesmullet says:
I love this game the same way others love Deus Ex. I re-install it every 12 months or so with the lastest patch from Wesp. If you haven’t tried it, I would recommend giving it a bash.
15/07/2011 at 17:56 Rinox says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHtDvXU10Wg&feature=related
15/07/2011 at 18:00 stahlwerk says:
Never has a massive massive attack ripoff been more appropriate to the general feeling and atmosphere of a game.
Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kne67pSaALg
15/07/2011 at 21:36 Baka says:
That song.
I searched for weeks for that song.
Walking into The Asylum the first time, it made me finally fall in love with this game.
Every month / year it’s reposted somewhere it triggers such a tremendous rush of nostalgia.
I will play through this game again now.
16/07/2011 at 09:52 James T says:
Also, the Hollywood theme is bliss. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff1DjBe3LOM
15/07/2011 at 18:01 sonicblastoise says:
Now that its possible to properly play a nosferatu, i may actually get back into this game.
15/07/2011 at 18:47 DD says:
Can you elaborate further on the Nosferatu? I recently tried to play bloodlines because of the chit-chat on RPS but quit after the beach house (just like the guy in the comments above). Is there, or was there something game-breakingly wrong with them??
15/07/2011 at 18:50 Teddy Leach says:
Being a hideous monster does have quite a few limitations.
16/07/2011 at 08:20 BirdsUseStars says:
The Nosferatu are the only breed in the game who can’t pass as human, so you can’t allow yourself to be seen by any non-vampires. In game this is reflected by having to walk around in the sewers underneath the town you’re in to get around. I never played Nosferatu, so I can’t detail the issues with it but I think the sewers crashed the game or something if you tried to go into them, and weren’t really finished when they released the game.
16/07/2011 at 12:52 Dr I am a Doctor says:
This would be true, but Bloodlines has absolute shit character detection and you can jump around police officers being a Nosferatu, and the best you’ll get is a faint “oh.”
15/07/2011 at 18:03 Ignorant Texan says:
Well, damn. I finished my first play-through last Saturday using the 7.5 unofficial patch. I played a Ventrue, FWIW. While I don’t argue that the game changes toward the end, I found neither the sewers nor the last chapter to have ‘fallen off a cliff’. Perhaps reading how ‘awful’ those portions are made me expect something much worse. Even with the wonky action bits(no worse than GTA, imo), I still will consider this in my top 10 PC games. Next time I have a run of disappointing games, I’ll replay this with the newest Wesp patch.
To those who ask how it holds up graphically, I think it holds up better than HL2. Heresy, I know. The unofficial patch has a batch of tools included(wide-screen and modern resolution support, and some others).
15/07/2011 at 19:00 Matzerath says:
I agree – I feared the worst but enjoyed it all the way to the end. Lots of interesting plot twists; a harrowing encounter with a loo garou; a pisser of a penultimate boss fight (which might actually be extremely easy); a satisfying conclusion. And the guy who does Futurama’s ‘Bender’ is one of the voice actors.
The patch really is absolutely essential, though. I can’t believe Wesp is still finding hidden treasures in the files after all these years.
15/07/2011 at 18:50 Paul says:
Reinstalling now. I guess I will finally get that Malkavian run going. Thanks Wesp, modder hero!
And thanks Troika, for creating one of the best games ever. Still cannot get over the fact that you died.
15/07/2011 at 18:53 magnus says:
Why on earth am I supposed to hate the last bit just because certain people have decided that’s the thing to do, it sounds like DE:IW/DNF all over again.
15/07/2011 at 19:13 Handsome Dead says:
look at this non-conformist coolcat aw yeah
15/07/2011 at 19:55 Lars Westergren says:
You don’t have to hate it if you don’t want to. The problem most people have with it, is that while the previous 2/3 has a fantastic mix of roleplaying conversations, exploration, alternative solutions, stealth, and combat, (unmatched in a single game since, except maybe Alpha Protocol) suddenly it becomes almost completely about combat.
15/07/2011 at 21:54 Fiatil says:
If you’ve played through the entire game as a sneaky socialite or something then yes I can see how the ending sequence can be sort of jarring and frustrating. If you’ve actually been killing stuff on the way to the top (crazy I know!) it’s not very bad at all. Every single one of my characters has had points in some utility or social skill (normally two of them) and they’ve all been able to deal with the ending. If they had pulled a Fahrenheit and started throwing Mayan Internet vampires at me I would be distraught, but the storyline doesn’t get botched at the ending, they just throw combat at you. It’s not that baaad!
It is kind of a shame that the weakest combat clan are also the most unique ones and the ones that most warrant a second playthrough, but even they can kill stuff just fine if you plan for it.
15/07/2011 at 19:05 DoctorBrain says:
If you didn’t play Tremere, you were doing it wrong.
15/07/2011 at 19:40 ZamFear says:
If you did play Tremere but didn’t make anyone explode you were still doing it wrong.
15/07/2011 at 22:01 Fiatil says:
Both of these. Plus you get the classiest apartment by far.
15/07/2011 at 19:09 Geralt says:
I’m still hoping for the Bloodlines Resurgence mod to be finished someday :)
15/07/2011 at 19:18 Paul says:
Hmm so I reinstalled, applied 7.6 and game does not start. I start it, black screen appears, then it is back to desktop. People on steam forums report same thing. Looks like something is borked in the patch.Hopefully wesp will fix it soon.
18/07/2011 at 05:56 anonymousity says:
The game has an issue in being played on too high framerates, you’ll have to manually go into your computer settings and cap your refresh rate at under 60 fps.
15/07/2011 at 19:38 metalangel says:
I keep forgetting I have a computer capable of running this, now.
15/07/2011 at 19:44 Kadayi says:
Boomsticks
15/07/2011 at 20:03 wisnoskij says:
So does the game work reliably now, tried to play it a while ago but shortly after starting the game decided it did not like my vampire sucking blood and would not allow me to do so ever again.
15/07/2011 at 20:50 Ignorant Texan says:
I did not have a single crash running VtM:B with Unofficial Patch version 7.5. There are very few games I can say that about.
15/07/2011 at 21:03 H77 says:
Love this game.
Played it the first time as a Tremere, the second as a Brujah and the third as a Nosferatu. Next will be as a Malkavian. Clans with obfuscate (invisibility) make half the quests much much easier.
15/07/2011 at 21:16 dan. says:
Every time I re-install this, I have to rush through the the Ocean House Hotel quest. Even though I know what’s coming, it always scares the shit out of me. (Especially one of those exploding lights.)
15/07/2011 at 21:42 wcanyon says:
I’d really like to get this game, but $20 for a game that’s 4+ yrs old and was buggy at release and then the publisher went away — well that’s a bit much. Is there any sort of Steam Alert service that will tell me when a game I like is on sale? Other places to buy it?
Edit: the goozex line is really long so that’s no help. There are very very few copies of it trading on goozex.
15/07/2011 at 23:51 Nick says:
20 bucks for one of the finest games ever made? Bargain tbh.
Thats even accounting for the buggy initial state and combat heavy last third, still better than most games since its release.
16/07/2011 at 00:58 Eclipse says:
it’s way less on Direct2Drive
16/07/2011 at 03:00 TariqOne says:
It’s worth $200, IMO. Today.
Transformative PC gaming. I liked the sewers and I liked the end. I love it to death.
16/07/2011 at 20:05 wcanyon says:
Exactly the same price on Direct2Drive. Damn.
16/07/2011 at 21:37 Fiatil says:
I’ll give the sewers some credit, because they did manage to convey some intense atmosphere. I’ve never felt so claustrophobic in a video game before, just being down in those sewers wandering around slowly running out of blood for so long is oppressive as hell. Everyone should do it once, but never again.
16/07/2011 at 22:58 Nick says:
Its worth investing a few points in firearms for the finale.. and saving the flamethrower for the end of chinatown. I did both those things just by chance on my initial playthrough and never hit any walls in the combat at least.
15/07/2011 at 22:43 shagen454 says:
I started playing this again about three days ago. The first time I played it was in 2004 – I’ve been meaning to give it a whirl for a while. The first time I played it I hit some bugs that made it impossible to go forward in the first hour. Besides that when I walked into the Asylum I thought it was totally cheeseball. I still like Bauhaus, Swans, Joy Division, hell even the Cure every once in a while. But, that melodramatic gothindustrial booty metal crap gives me the irritation shakes.
Now that I’ve gotten pretty far into the game as a Malk I can put my finger on what I like about the game. And one of the things I love so far is whoever was the writer for the Malkavians lines. But anyway:
Talents are crucial. If you aren’t using your talents then you’ll lose. Most games like Fallout 3, Oblivion your talents mean very little considering the game-play is fairly easy – you’d have won anyway.
Parody. These guys are obviously from California, so you hear a lot about nuts, fruits, crazies, hear the word “dude” a lot. I took a video of the Red Spot (711) scene in Hollywood where some guy is saying “Dude I forgot where I parked my car — ooohhhh I don’t have a car.” Over the radio-host having an interview with two guys about how everyone in Hollywood is a writer or director (one of the guys has never written anything in his life). He goes onto blurt, “All food should have like a creamy center and a colorful candy shell and their commercial should have like Kung-fuuuu or giraffe.” In a voice that sounds exactly like this strange guy I know from San Diego. I almost thought it was him saying shit like that!
I won’t know how the replayability really is until I play it again but it does seem to have a lot catered towards Malkavians. Where you stun someone with your confusing, crazy, jargon. It’s almost like a Jedi Mind trick. It’s always presented with some magical icon.
The same thing can be said about taking orders. As a Malk I’m constantly belittling quest-givers and telling them I won’t do what they want me to do. Sometimes, dealing with Jester, La Crioux he will use the same sort of persuasion mind trick so that I only have three answers, which are all of the same.
I’m sort of into the look of the game. The car models look wide, the cities-capes are somewhat surreal. Definitely, is not GTA4, but who cares. I love the eyes on all of the characters. And boy oh boy, a lot of games are completely voice-acted *now* but I can’t believe this came out in 2004 with this amount of voice-acting done so well. The writing is very well-done. The Dragon Age 2 team should take some notes.
One of my fav quests was with the blonde at the Asylum. I won’t spoil anything but I gave the crazy/sexy one the item. This game really makes failing other people, sheer enjoyment. I wish there were more pass/fail quests that had that emotional impact + extra story of doing what you know to be the wrong thing to do, and then you go onto to some other evil things and so does the other party, creating a cluster-fuck for someone else.
All in all I think this game may just be able to squeeze into my top 10 of all time. It’s very unique (but not Pathological – which IMO is a good thing) and at this point I haven’t had many issues with bugs at all.
17/07/2011 at 00:54 Tom De Roeck says:
The funny thing is, before it came out (I dont know if it was still described as such afterwards), it was described as deus ex, but not at the same time. and of course, in a completely different setting.
and yes, the malkavian experience is much more complete than the others. well, unless you count the toreador one as well, where you try to stay humane as much as possible.
15/07/2011 at 22:46 Trelow says:
BRUJAH LIKES COMBAT. LAST PART OF GAME HAS MORE COMBAT. BRUJAH OK WITH THAT.
15/07/2011 at 23:07 Iskariot says:
Bloodlines is the only game I’ve played TWELVE times from beginning to end.
Now I have to play it once a year minimum or I get homesick. I miss the atmosphere, the cool music. And I love to dream about what could be, if someone in the industry finally woke up and made a sequel to this love of my gaming life.
It is unfathomable that in these times of neverending vampire love in movies and books, there still is not a cool sequel to this game. I want a bloodlines 2 RPG/action game in an open city world like Liberty City. Man, I would love to be a vampire on those roofs, looking down on my prey in those streets, hunting them and in turn getting hunted by vampire hunters, escaping, retaliating.
Why is nobody making that game. I would sell my soul for such a game.
15/07/2011 at 23:10 Markachy says:
Far too many people go on about Malkavians, its nonsense! First time I played this game (at release and so was a bit broken and I still absolutely loved it) I played Nosferatu…and as anyone who has played it a few times, one as Nosferatu, would know, that makes the experience rather…interesting.
Malkavians are only good for people who have played it at least once, preferably more, as a more normal class, so that what the Malkavian says actually makes some sense to you, given your prior knowledge of the story. Being Malkavian during first playthrough is a mistake, a big one.
Please be Nosferatu! It never gets any love when bloodlines are talked about, but I consider them to be the best bloodline. Super strong, great melee, and Obfuscate.
15/07/2011 at 23:18 Iskariot says:
I wholeheartedly agree. Nosferatu is my favorite clan in bloodlines.
16/07/2011 at 03:22 kud13 says:
to steer the topic away from this debate (which i’ve heard of in many, many places on the internets but never been in the same thread as either of the two antagonists):
My very first playthrough was as a Malk. i’ve had a whole lotta fun but no actual trouble steering through the insane convos. And I didn’t even invest in Dementation on that playthrough
I don’t recall playing as a Nosferatu, will have to give it a whirl one of these days. Tremere are awesome though.
also, for those who complain about the combat-centric end of the game: use the flamethrower. it solves everyhting.
the most trouble i’ve ever had in that game was in the boss fight right before the infamous “boat bug”. mind, i’ve played the vanilla version then, and had to use the game console to continue playing.
16/07/2011 at 05:34 shagen454 says:
Yeah, it’s really not difficult comprehending what Malk’s are intending to say. It just makes the gameplay and options a little more interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I could be wrong. HAHAHAHAHAHAH HAHA!
16/07/2011 at 00:49 Tessera says:
I would like to warn everyone to carefully scrutinize any comments which are obviously being made by people who have a less than helpful agenda. For example, there have already been a string of ridiculous disinformation and outright lies posted within this thread by someone using the name “Dominic White.” Please allow me to offer a polite rebuttal to those comments:
First of all, absolutely no part of the True Patch Gold Edition was “stolen,” nor is it a “hacked together botch job.” The True Patch Gold Edition is actually the most stable and reliable patch available for Bloodlines on the entire worldwide web. Furthermore, the complete development of the True Patch Gold Edition was performed in a very open and transparent manner, with the entire procedure being very well-documented on the tessmage.com Forums. In addition… and unlike ANY version of Wesp’s so-called patch… the True Patch was extensively tested for two full weeks, by a group of volunteer beta testers prior to its release. This was done to ensure that our patch would only be FIXING bugs… not adding any new ones, unlike a certain other “patch.”
Frankly, I am amazed by Dominic White’s comments, because each and every one of his comments is not only an outright lie, but all of those comments are quite easily refuted. Perhaps he didn’t think that I would actually show up and respond to his fallacious statements. Or perhaps he is simply parroting the idiotic smack talk made by what I refer to as “Wesp’s groupies.” In any case, there is nothing freaky or sinister about me and/or the True Patch.
Nor does the True Patch have anything whatsoever to do with any nude mods that I have released in the past. Those two hobbies are entirely separate from one another. Oh… and for the record, no — I am not “a lunatic who makes nude skins for every game under the sun.” I have been officially retired from modding for over two years…. but back when I was releasing nude mods, I only released mods for a grand total of five or six games. Hardly what I would call “every game under the sun.” and all of those mods were extremely popular. In fact, one of those mods has proven to be far more popular than all of the other mods and patches available for Bloodlines COMBINED. Sorry to blow my own horn here, but I wanted to get things into their proper perspective.
The actual bottom line is this: the True Patch Gold Edition fixes ALL of the most important bugs which exist in the plain-vanilla version of Bloodlines, without making any unnecessary changes to the original items, quests and overall gameplay. This is in stark contrast to the so-called “unofficial patches” produced on an almost bi-weekly basis by Werner Spahl (Wesp5). Every version of his work — including his mislabeled “basic” version — is filled from top to bottom with unnecessary and completely arbitrary changes to the default game. Where I come from, that’s not a patch — it’s a mod. And that is why we created the True Patch in the first place: to give Bloodlines players the option of simply patching the game and playing it without any unnecessary changes — the way Troika originally intended for it to be played. You can always install a mod later on, if you want certain things to be different. But to impose a slew of completely arbitrary and subjective changes upon every single end user is simply not what I would consider to be permissible within the confines of an actual patch.
Sadly, Werner Spahl (Wesp5) has a very different philosophy and thus, every single version of his work to date forces the end user to accept a plethora of changes to the game that many players may NOT want to have forced upon them. This is a very sad state of affairs… but fortunately, the True Patch Gold Edition exists as an extremely high-quality alternative.
Every single statement within this rebuttal can be verified. So let me close by saying this: if you dislike me for some reason, or if you are a repressed individual who holds some sort of irrational resentment of nude modders, then that is your problem. But to attack my work with a string of deliberate lies and deceptions is not only unfair to the larger Bloodlines community, but it is also extremely childish and should be beneath any true adult.
All my best,
- Tessera -
Author: True Patch Gold Edition for VTM: Bloodlines
16/07/2011 at 01:20 Rii says:
Hot damn, it’s Tessera – in the flesh, as it were.
… MAGE UNION!
16/07/2011 at 01:26 Veracity says:
In 2017, fan patch 73.77 will be released, incorporating Kinectrode support so that you can directly experience the oh, so unbearable strain of being unimaginably powerful and forever young and beautiful but, critically, absolutely everybody’s bitch, and this bizarre drama will have replaced the internet entirely.
16/07/2011 at 01:27 mwoody says:
Indeed, let’s revisit Tessera’s past work. We can start with an old forum post of his, talking to Wesp (the creator of the patch linked in the RPS article above). It’s long, but I think it deserves to be recreated in the full.
“No, you disgusting little kraut bastard… we knew where they were BECAUSE WE HAVE PLAYED THE GAME AS LONG AS YOU HAVE.
You FUCKING DISGUSTING MEGALOMANIACAL little NAZI. Do you honestly think you have some gifted knowledge of Bloodlines that NO ONE ELSE can POSSIBLY possess..?
Wesp… if I were you, I would thank the gods that there is an entire ocean separating you from me right now. Be very, very thankful for that… you slimy, self-serving little piece of human garbage. If there is any justice in this world, then you will surely die of the most horrible disease known to mankind. I will pray for that in earnest.
FUCK YOU, JUNIOR HITLER. Now shove it up your ass and rotate on it — the way you enjoy it most. The only liar here is YOU. Do you wanna know who the REAL thief is, Wesp..? Shall I tell you, scumbag..?
YOU STOLE BLOODLINES — FROM EVERY SINGLE PLAYER OF THIS GAME ON THE PLANET WHO INSTALLED YOUR HORRIBLE, CHILDISHLY CONCEIVED and DISGUSTINGLY INAPPROPRIATE CONVERSION MODS.
You, Wesp… YOU STOLE THEIR GAME FROM THEM. You STOLE IT from Troika, too. You STOLE IT from new players who did not know any better, and installed YOUR AMATEURISH CRAP — because they thought that it was an actual patch. YOU, WESP — YOU STOLE BLOODLINES FROM HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE, just so you could feed your post-adolescent ego, and your laughably silly dream that you will somehow get a career out of this idiocy.
I honestly hope you DIE… DIE… DIE, you disgusting little German SCHWEINHUND.
Pray that you never meet me face-to-face, Werner. Fortunately, I don’t go to oppressive shitholes like Germany. I don’t like Nazis, drunks and faggots — the three things that Germany has contributed to the world in abundance. So I guess you’re safe, you slimy little piece of monkey shit.
And that, dear Wesp, is my farewell to YOU PERSONALLY. I couldn’t miss this last opportunity to tell you how fond I am of you and your “work.” Hopefully, you will read this before it gets deleted — you masturbating, puny little kraut faggot.”
16/07/2011 at 01:33 scharmers says:
U mad, bro?
16/07/2011 at 01:45 Rii says:
@mwoody
To be fair that’s a pretty epic screed.
Actually I wasn’t trying to stir up some hate campaign against Tessera or anything. It’s just that I was for several years an active part of the WoW Mage forum community. I arrived just after the grand Tessera-Tseric showdown, but well before Tseric himself left. And with that whole saga becoming embedded in the class consciousness, it was forever being dragged up as the stuff of legends, but remained for me always just that – a legend. So to finally encounter Tessera ‘in the flesh’, as it were, in a random thread half a world and several years away, well. damn.
Y’all may continue with your scheduled bickering now.
16/07/2011 at 01:47 Thants says:
It’s gotten so a guy can’t make a few racist, homophobic death-threats without everyone being all judgemental!
16/07/2011 at 02:36 Veracity says:
That made me smile. Thanks, Thants. Tha…Th…woah.
Also educational, as I had to check whether keeping that annoying optional “e” in “judgemental” is allowed. It is.
16/07/2011 at 02:42 Tessera says:
@ Rii
Hi there. ;)
For the record, Tseric didn’t “leave.” Since you have dragged this up, I may as well tell you that Tseric was actually suffering from alcohol abuse back at that time. He finally went berserk on the WoW boards… in a thread totally unrelated to the whole “Mage Union” fiasco… and he basically went on a drunken rant and began behaving like a megalomaniac. Just as he had previously done, in his encounters with yours truly. Tseric was ultimately fired from his job at Blizzard soon thereafter, as was another of their PR people named “Fangtooth.” I have no idea whether or not the two firings were related to one another, but both of those people were indeed heavily involved in the “Mage Union” incidents of early 2006.
I have been told that after being fired, Tseric eventually ended up in a rehab. I hope that his treatment helped him to overcome his drug addiction. And yes, I really do mean that sincerely.
16/07/2011 at 08:05 pipman3000 says:
Are you a regular reader of RPS?
welcome to rps if you’re not :)
16/07/2011 at 08:49 dethtoll says:
Dear god Tessera, shut up.
16/07/2011 at 11:55 Tessera says:
@ dethtoll
No. If people bring up my name, then I am going to respond to it.
If you do not like it, then do not read it. But I am not the one who
is behaving badly — you are. I am simply stating the facts.
So perhaps you should take your own advice, eh..?
Have a nice day. ;)
16/07/2011 at 12:56 oceanclub says:
Thanks for posting that, mwoody; saved me the hassle of having to do it and show the character of the person we’re dealing with. Note how he can switch instantly between sweetness and light and the most horrible abuse imaginable. I guess that’s why some innocent are taken in by his glib assurances.
P.
16/07/2011 at 15:15 stahlwerk says:
‘unlike a certain other “patch.”’
You know, Tessera, I actually don’t care if you think your TP is the best thing since sliced TP, but sentences like this makes you sound incredibly self-righteous. Tone it down, or better, just ignore discussion of your work. If you and your “veterans” (is your message board a war?) can’t fathom the “you are not your work” mantra and get angry enough to shit-storm other communities on threads about a new version of another patch (yes, I know you call it a mod, tough luck, boo-hoo), you know, this kind of behaviour may be the thing that lends credence to stories like Dominic’s, don’t you think?
16/07/2011 at 19:36 elvis says:
Butthurt detected!
17/07/2011 at 04:05 Rii says:
@Tessera
I was very much pro-Tseric you understand, he may not have been cut out to be a mindless PR bot as required, but he was witty and insightful and willing to engage with the playerbase on a level that most CMs were not. The role certainly took its toll on him, I knew nothing of his alcoholism but in retrospect it fits. Hopefully he’s gotten past it and is happy enough now, wherever he is.
16/07/2011 at 01:25 Ratcatcher says:
A word of advice:
If you want to play VtM: Bloodlines as close to canon as possible; then start with the True Patch Gold Edition.
After that, go and try out Wesp5′s work and judge for yourselves.
16/07/2011 at 01:50 Fiatil says:
Wesp has a light edition now. I didn’t like a lot of the things it did at first either, but that was before the separate editions. It’s fine now.
I fear some horn has been blown that is about to summon some people from very deep and scary places.
16/07/2011 at 02:29 Tessera says:
To “Fiatil”
No worries… I have no intention of allowing them to suck me into yet another of their childish battles.
But I would like to respond to something that you said about Wesp’s so-called “light” or “basic” version of his “unofficial patch.”
Recently on the tessmage.com Forums, one of our veteran members performed a very lengthy and point-by-point analysis of Wesp’s recent work. He then posted a very revealing examination of exactly how many unnecessary and completely arbitrary changes have been introduced into Bloodlines by Wesp and his cohorts.
We had always known that Wesp’s work contains numerous unnecessary changes to the game. But we were actually shocked when it was revealed that even in the most “basic” version of Wesp’s so-called “patch,” there are literally HUNDREDS of changes which are NOT required. Far from being “bug fixes and restored content,” every single one of those hundreds of changes are actually frivolous, subjective and completely unwarranted.
Some players may like those changes. Others may not. It doesn’t matter, because we are talking about a patch here — not a mod. My position has always been that it is wrong to disguise your release as a “patch,” and then use it to FORCE every single end user to accept numerous changes to the game which are… in almost every single case… completely arbitrary and unwarranted.
Hence the creation of the True Patch. Indeed, this is why I named it “The True Patch” in the first place: because unlike every single version of Wesp’s work, it is in fact a “true” patch, in the sense that it focuses almost entirely upon fixing actual and legitimate bugs which existed in the plain vanilla game.
16/07/2011 at 21:44 Fiatil says:
Just going to say that despite your assurances to the contrary, called it.
16/07/2011 at 01:27 Derpington Hurrrrrrr says:
If anyone is reading this far into these comments, I just want to say that there is a very cool mod for Bloodlines on moddb. It’s called The Final Nights. Give it a try.
16/07/2011 at 01:51 Tessera says:
mwoody says:
07/16/2011 at 01:27
“Indeed, let’s revisit Tessera’s past work.”
Oh, please. First of all, that is not an example of “my past work.” That is an example of a HUGE fight that erupted between me and Wesp back in 2007. It was FOUR YEARS AGO and much of my anger was in response to a string of insults being hurled by Wesp on numerous other forum boards. make no mistake — Wesp is no saint in this conflict. Let’s keep that crystal clear. As for my bad temper, it is notorious and I make no apologies for it. But more importantly, it has absolutely no bearing whatsoever upon the quality of my ACTUAL WORK, which you have failed to properly mention.
I could counter your post by bringing up the numerous examples of sabotage… committed directly by Wesp… upon every single mention made of the True Patch on nearly every single game-related forum board which exists. And we could no doubt chat for hours about Wesp’s revolting past history of making deliberately misleading and inappropriate edits to the Wikipedia entries regarding the True Patch. Quite a heated battle broke out over that nasty little bit of skulduggery, too. Or, I could talk about the fact that more than half of the content contained within Wesp’s so-called “unofficial patch” was not actually created by Wesp himself… but was indeed lifted from the hard work done by others. And sometimes, Wesp did so without obtaining prior permission.
We could go on and on… all day and night… making accusations and counter-accusations. And in the end, it is actually Wesp who would come out looking the worst. But I didn’t come here to fight. I have already had all of those tired old battles and I have no interest in rehashing them. I came here to tell the truth about the True Patch Gold Edition. That’s it… that’s the only reason for my appearance on this blog.
I created the True Patch as a favor to Bloodlines players. I don’t make any money from it. I don’t seek any career in gaming from it. I don’t get any big rush to my ego if lots of people install it (my other mods have already done wonders for my ego, thank you very much). Nope… my motives are purely altruistic. I wanted Bloodlines players to have free and easy access to a viable alternative to Wesp’s work. And that is precisely what I have given to them. That is my contribution to the larger Bloodlines community… and in my opinion, it has been a very valuable contribution.
And as it turned out, thousands upon thousands of Bloodlines players decided that indeed, they preferred to play Troika’s game without bugs… not Wesp’s deliberately dumbed-down and bastardized version of it. I am therefore glad to know that my initial anger towards Wesp was entirely justified… and that there was indeed a serious need for the True Patch.
Anyone can make anonymous comments on an obscure blog. But only a very few of us have actually contributed anything of value to this game. I happen to be one of those people and I am very proud of the work that I have done.
- Tessera -
16/07/2011 at 05:49 arglaar says:
True Story.
Those that would like to try the True Patch Gold and make an informed decision for themselves can find it at the two official mirrors below:
Filefront.com
Sailmaker.co.uk
16/07/2011 at 13:03 oceanclub says:
Tessera: “It was FOUR YEARS AGO and much of my anger was in response to a string of insults being hurled by Wesp on numerous other forum boards.”
I’m glad to hear you think you’ve gone through behaviourial modification over the last 4 years. Perhaps you won’t be banned from here like you’ve been banned from so many forums.
Perhaps you could include some of these alleged “insults”, which noone else remembers (since anyone who knows Wesp online knows he’s actually _too_ quiet for his own good) here so that people can judge them against insults like
* “FUCKING DISGUSTING MEGALOMANIACAL little NAZI”
* “JUNIOR HITLER”
* “disgusting little German SCHWEINHUND”
* “masturbating, puny little kraut faggot”
* “Nazis, drunks and faggots — the three things that Germany has contributed to the world in abundance”
P.
17/07/2011 at 03:15 Kaira- says:
Four years ago, eh? You still seem to harbor some mad in you, with such quotes as:
“dickless little puke”
“Therefore I am retaliating, by showing people how to shove a big, fat dick right up Steam’s ass”
“The VTMB community, like any other community in this world, is dominated by clueless, cud chewing sheeple”
“That’s the world that Wesp grew up in… so it should come as no surprise that repeatedly lying is almost second nature to him. He’d make his Nazi grandpa real proud” *insert picture of Wesp(?) photoshopped into a nazi uniform*
” I mean, aside from the fact that Wesp is an immature Nazi douchebag”
“Wesp is an imbecile, in every sense of the definition of that word”
“I picture Wesp bent over a rain barrel and vomiting uncontrollably, whilst one of his numerous gay followers keeps shoving a rolled-up printout of a Python script in and out of Wesp’s bleeding, pimply ass.”
And so forth. And this was May of this year. But what I found most amusing is the fact that you wrote a guide to pirating games, as if that is hard. And this “Instead of allowing people to experience a dark, lore enriched game noir, Wesp has gleefully converted Bloodlines into a much shallower, dumbed-down kiddy quest for phat lootz” had me lolling all the way. I don’t know if you read what you write, nor if you even understand what you are writing.
16/07/2011 at 03:22 perez007usa says:
Go try the Gold Patch when playing Bloodlines. What have you got to lose, then try Wesp5 and then judge for yourselves.
16/07/2011 at 05:46 shagen454 says:
Nothing like a video game about Vampires & programming & role-playing to arouse the attention of the… I don’t even know what you’d call em. Nerd ghouls? You know how in Bloodlines ghouls just aren’t the real thing, just feverishly pandering for something real?
16/07/2011 at 06:13 TillEulenspiegel says:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such heated bullshit drama about a (non-MMO) videogame before. I have seen such personalities involved in tabletop gaming, though (a smaller community that tends to capture the best and worst); wouldn’t be surprised if they play WoD too.
16/07/2011 at 05:54 ResonanceCascade says:
“No worries… I have no intention of allowing them to suck me into yet another of their childish battles,” he said as he became sucked into another childish battle.
16/07/2011 at 06:40 shagen454 says:
I think we should have all disregarded him in the first sentence of his first post to the board:
“I would like to warn everyone to carefully scrutinize any comments which are obviously being made by people who have a less than helpful agenda.”
Man, I could scrutinize this guy’s backwards, pathological thinking for a long time. But, it would be such a waste.
16/07/2011 at 08:29 pipman3000 says:
expect a lengthy wall of text 5 paragraphs long minimum in your immediate futures.
16/07/2011 at 12:00 Tessera says:
Well actually — I am not the one who is battling. You are.
I am the one who is sitting here smiling, and being completely amused at this point. Now as for why I am amused..? That’s really not too hard to understand, especially if you know anything about human psychology. The people who feel the most threatened and insecure in their position are almost always the ones who are tossing out the majority of personal insults. People who have the truth on their side don’t need to resort to such tactics. So what have we learned today..? ;)
16/07/2011 at 14:47 Nick says:
From never havng heard of you to reading masses of your text, I’ve learned that you are extremely creepy.
16/07/2011 at 18:58 ResonanceCascade says:
I’ve learned that platonic love CAN exist between two grown men.
Oh, and that you should ask your doctor if calcium channel blockers be right for you! Your blood pressure appears to be off the charts.
16/07/2011 at 21:40 pipman3000 says:
guys dont you get it he’s totally kickin’ back and laffin’ at you.
16/07/2011 at 23:00 Nick says:
I’ve also learned that you can’t hug a child with nuclear arms.
/ReducedSC
16/07/2011 at 06:02 OctoVine says:
The debate over the patches is hilarious.
I tried the + patch and could barely tell that it did anything! A bunch of balance tweaks. And the original had huge balance problems, so these are welcome.
16/07/2011 at 06:49 ezekiel2517 says:
What I would like to know is how did you, Tessera, found out about the comments in this blog :p
I am only curious and don’t aim to flame.
16/07/2011 at 12:03 Tessera says:
Answer: I have had my own web site for nearly six years and our veteran members tend to keep me apprised of anything having to do with Bloodlines. Including this blog, which I had never heard of before someone posted an excerpt from it on my own Forums.
18/07/2011 at 06:13 anonymousity says:
Also being fucking insane probably helps too, what’s that, someone is lauding another’s work on the internet? Fuck that to the crazy flame mobile!
16/07/2011 at 07:19 Blackseraph says:
One of those games I freguently play, almost every year.
Not many games can say the same.
16/07/2011 at 08:03 geldonyetich says:
Seeing the vitriol between the rival community patches here, I’m fairly afraid to install either. Which is a shame, because Bloodlines deserves better than to have its fans biting eachother in the neck.
16/07/2011 at 08:47 Ganj says:
I hope everyone involved in the development of the World of Darkness MMO is given a copy of Bloodlines to play and after they’ve finished it, are made to play again as a Malkavian – one of the greatest gaming experiences there is to be had.
I suspect, (and hope) the MMO’s the closest thing we’ll see to a sequel.
16/07/2011 at 08:57 Dominic White says:
Anyone find it funny that the ‘The TRUE GOLD PATCH is fine, really!’ posts happened within minutes of Tessera turning up? Either this is a forum raid, or someone at RPS needs to check the IPs of the people posting.
Either way, you’ve got a choice: Do you download the near-universally loved patch by a shockingly cool dude who has dedicated his free time to fixing up all manner of games… or do you download the patch by the rambling madman who penned that lovely, rambling, incoherent racist, homophobic death-threat above?
16/07/2011 at 09:20 pipman3000 says:
Hands Flat on Table With Thumbs
Touching – Proves You Are Mirror
Opposites – Not a Damn WESPist Lie.
Opposites Pulsate Life, Wesp Is Death.
YOU DAMN EDUCATED STUPID
WESPness FOOLS ARE DOOMED –
BloodLines Has 4 Days In Same 24 Hours.
TRUE GOLD PATCH Transcends 1 Day God.
16/07/2011 at 09:34 Pemptus says:
Frankly I don’t care for either authors’ life stories, I just want a patch that does the most good.
I also don’t really care about “staying true to the original developer’s vision” and such, as the vanilla game was broken, unfinished and unbalanced.
Seriously, this “don’t download this, he’s a racist homophobe Hitler!”, “don’t download that, my patch is truer!” back and forth is the reason why I really hate the internet sometimes.
16/07/2011 at 09:48 Dominic White says:
If you want the good patch, you want Wesps, as mentioned. It has been steadily updated as a community effort over the past five years at least, and offers both purist (do you like unbalanced games?) and tuned versions. There’s really no contest.
16/07/2011 at 10:15 Pemptus says:
And have you tried the “true” patch or have you dismissed it outright because of its author’s controversial persona? I mean, I know I did about two years ago when I played with some version of Wesp’s patch, but now I want to employ a more cool-headed approach.
I mean I don’t think you’re forced to install any nude skins or homophobic rants and whatnot along with the “true” patch, so I don’t see what the problem is. I just don’t get the militancy.
I’ll *probably* be installing Wesp’s patch again for my next playthrough because I know most of the game, and added content sounds good, but still. Chill.
16/07/2011 at 10:22 Dominic White says:
Yes, I’ve tried it. It works.. just about, but hasn’t been updated in years and is made of other peoples efforts hacked together.
Wesps patch, on the other hand, is STILL finding minor errors in the original game and addressing them while offering improved balance and tuning in the Plus version, and has been doing so for years.
Most Bloodlines mods require, or are based on, Wesps patch.
16/07/2011 at 10:59 Pemptus says:
And that’s the kind of level-headed response I was looking for, thanks. :)
16/07/2011 at 11:02 arglaar says:
Dominic, honestly everything you are saying is wrong. Just flat out wrong.
The last time the True Patch was updated was about 3 weeks ago.
Nothing in the True Patch was “copied”, however, some of the fixes were included from other authors WITH THEIR PERMISSION.
And, most of the fixes that Wesp has made in his patches, are to Fix bugs HE HIMSELF ADDED TO THE GAME when he “Restored content”
If you would like some proof of this, you are welcome to read this thread here, where one of Tessera’s forum regulars does a step by step examination of the Changelog and then compares it to the actual changes in the code. Yes.. he even looked at the Python changes. You will see that yes, more than half of the “Fixes” that Wesp has put into the game were to fix the bugs he himself caused.
16/07/2011 at 11:14 pipman3000 says:
Where’s the 3 week old version of the True Gold Patch Ultra-Premium Edition: Soul Silver? I can only find the one from 2010.
Also you can stop pretending to be other people, RPS is a friendly, open community so there’s no need to hide behind sockpuppets :)
16/07/2011 at 12:30 Tessera says:
And once again, Dominic White is lying to the world about a patch that he doesn’t even use.
The True Patch Gold Edition was released late last year and it is the most recent version of the True Patch. It was not “hacked together from other people’s work,” as you keep trying to insist. Absolutely every single line of code, as well as every single map, model and texture fix contained within the True Patch was produced by myself and a professional Python programmer named Acrimonious. There are two or three small model repairs which were created by someone else (ex: DDLullu), and those repairs are properly cited and credited within the patch notes. Also, the authors of those repairs were first contacted for their permission, before ANY of their work was incorporated into the True Patch Gold Edition.
The True Patch Gold Edition receives updates ONLY if and when necessary. The most recent hotfix was released just last month, as a matter of fact. Simply reading through the official True Patch Gold Edition thread on the tessmage.com Forums will settle any confusion that you might have regarding how often and how recently the Gold Edition has been updated.
But let’s cover another base here: there is a reason for why we haven’t had to release 50 new patches per year, the way Wesp does. It is because of two very important facts. First, there aren’t an endless number of critical bugs in the original game. Hence there are only so many repairs which are actually necessary… and the True Patch Gold Edition has already fixed them all. Secondly, it has been determined that many… if not most… of the “repairs” listed in each version of Wesp’s work are actually repairs to bugs THAT WESP HIMSELF CREATED, in prior iterations of his work. This fact has been independently verified… and yet somehow, Wesp consistently neglects to mention this very important fact within his patch notes. He prefers to mislead people into believing that he is actually fixing “new bugs” that somehow, he neglected to fix in the previous 200 versions of his “unofficial patch.”
Do any of you honestly believe that there were that many legitimate bugs in the plain vanilla game..? Well speaking as an expert, let me assure you that there were not. No, the truth is that the majority of Wesp’s current patch consists of arbitrary gameplay changes and numerous fixes to HIS OWN BUGS. I’m talking about bugs which DID NOT EXIST in the plain vanilla game, but which were in fact introduced by Wesp’s own sloppy coding, in previous versions of his work.
I hate to say it Dominic, but you remind me of the clowns who pose as “journalists” on Fox News. Just like them, you apparently feel that if you repeat a lie enough times, then eventually people will believe it. Well that would only be true if the people reading your lies were not aware of the actual facts. And that, my friend, is why I am here: to furnish them with the correct information, so that they do not become confused by your weak attempts to mislead them.
Bloodlines is just a game. And it was released in a buggy state, due to it being rushed out the door prematurely at the urging of ActiVision. Hence the existence of fan-made patches. I have produced one line of patches and Wesp has produced another. You, on the other hand, have produced nothing whatsoever which helps the larger Bloodlines community. So if this is some kind of contest that you are trying to have with me, then you have already lost.
Everyone should install whichever patch that they prefer. But they should do so after they have carefully considered all of the actual facts about both lines of patches. We are here to ensure that anyone reading this blog is made aware of the facts regarding the True Patch Gold Edition.
If you are a player who wants to play Troika’s game without bugs, then the True Patch Gold Edition is currently the -only- patch on the web which properly meets your needs. If, on the other hand, you wish to play Bloodlines with a large number of arbitrary and unnecessary changes… many of which you either will or will not want… then Wesp’s “unofficial patch” might be a better choice for you. It all depends on whether or not you are a purist, or someone who prefers a lot of mods mixed in with his/her bug fixes. I created the True Patch for purists. Wesp creates mods, mislabeled as a “patch.”
Those are the facts — and no amount of childishness is going to alter those facts. A simple line-by-line analysis of each patch will reveal the facts to anyone who bothers to take the time to do so.
Happy vamping, folks. Whichever patch you use, I am glad to see that Bloodlines continues to be popular. It’s my favorite PC-RPG of all time. :)
- Tessera -
PS — my screen name has nothing to do with anything feminine. The word “tessera” is Greek and it means “four” or “fourth.” I am in fact a mature man and as for why I chose this name, it’s a long story and a rather boring one at that.
16/07/2011 at 12:35 Tessera says:
@ pipman
There are no sock puppets here. You are seeing comments from veteran tessmage.com members, all of whom are individuals in their own right. We have hundreds of members on my Forums, most of whom are avid Bloodlines fans, as well as being loyal True Patch users. Some of us decided to pop over here and say hello. And who knows..? Maybe a few dozen more might follow suit, later on today or tomorrow. Most of us enjoy any opportunity to interact with other Bloodlines fans. ;)
16/07/2011 at 14:51 Nick says:
I really hope they don’t.
16/07/2011 at 21:46 pipman3000 says:
Well can you tell them to develop distinct personalities and posting styles instead of aping off of yours? :)
live long and prosper
17/07/2011 at 09:20 Yosharian says:
Some observations:
1) @DominicWhite: I find it interesting that you talk about Tessera ‘turning up’ in the thread so quickly, when you yourself are ‘turning up’ on the first page of comments to warn everyone not to trust anything he says, before he has even commented. Perhaps you should examine your own behaviour first.
2) Both patches seem to have their merits, the TG patch seems like it’s more stable and closer to the original game, whereas WESP’s patch probably has a few extra fixes and modifications that people might like. Arguing over which is ‘best’ is pretty pointless – it’s up to the individual to make that choice.
3) WESP’s patch isn’t really a ‘patch’ in the normal sense of the word. I remember a while ago when I replayed a bit of Bloodlines and used that patch, and the installation was pretty confusing. I didn’t know whether I was patching, modding, or what. Now I see from various threads the actual ‘fixes’ that exist in WESP’s patch, it’s clear to me that it’s actually a mod. Now that’s fine, but really there needs to be more clarity in the documentation.
4) Based on a few threads that I’ve read that were posted in these comments, Tessera does seem to have some issues re: Nazis and so on. However, I don’t see why people are bringing this up, as it has no relevance to the discussion. The patches should be judged on their own merits, not by those of their authors. From what I can see, WESP’s patch has been accused of being a mod rather than a patch, based on evidence. On the other hand, the people attacking Tessera’s patch have come up with nothing more than some brief tirades made by the author.
Just some observations, guys. I think you all need to relax a bit and focus on the issues that matter here: making it clear to newcomers what both patches do, and allowing them to make an informed decision.
17/07/2011 at 09:36 pipman3000 says:
Dominic is an RPS regular, so of course he’d be here first.
4) is relevent because Tessera’s outbursts are fucking hilarious and they’re the best thing to come out of this stupid nerd version of West Side Story.
Now I’m imaging Tessera singing about how Wesp is an evil nazi Hitler :D
17/07/2011 at 09:58 Yosharian says:
I will admit that it’s amusing, but that’s not the point; Tessera’s character has nothing to do with his mod. I’ve yet to see any evidence presented against it.
Dom is a regular, fine. Regardless, he’s commenting on it very early on, suggesting that he spends a lot of his time on the internet reading websites… and he’s criticising Tessera for doing the same? Pot, kettle, black.
17/07/2011 at 12:29 pipman3000 says:
No is it not pot, kettle, black. If Dominic was calling Tessera an evil kraut and threatening to kill him then it would be a case of pot and kettle..
I don’t know what you saw in Dominic’s post but what I saw was a good-faith warning to keep away from what he believes is a sub par fa-patch made by a person with a toxic personality. How is that equal to a forum invasion?
17/07/2011 at 12:36 Yosharian says:
Well we disagree, because I think it is the pot calling the kettle black.
What I saw in DW’s post was an attempt to get one up on an opponent by getting in there first.
‘Sub-par’ fan patch is an accusation without a single shred of evidence as far as I can see.
‘Toxic personality’ – attacks on the author’s personality are irrelevant to this discussion.
‘Forum invasion’ – I see no forum invasion here. There’s maybe two or three people, including Tessera, posting to defend him.
17/07/2011 at 18:34 pipman3000 says:
I don’t have the energy to argue with you further (It’s getting late) but don’t pretend for even a second that Tessera’s toxic personality and mental issues are irrelevant. The only reason this is A Thing is because he can’t handle competition from another fan-patch without calling the other guy a nazi faggot Hitler and threatening to kill him.
Nobody would care whether you used WESP’s patch or True Gold Patch if Tess wasn’t such a borderline psychotic.
I’m retiring and if this argument is still going on in the morning I’ll drink myself back to sleep.
17/07/2011 at 18:47 Yosharian says:
Fair enough.
18/07/2011 at 04:21 Cerzi says:
As a nonchalant observer who has barely played bloodlines, let alone tried these mods/patches/whateverthefuck, this is starting to sound like “you’ve been given the right to vote between a douche and a turd”
Seriously, the territorial shit going on here is comical. If people want to try one patch then the other, let em. If they just wanna try one, let em. Enough with the propaganda, jesus. You guys arn’t running for president here.
right?
18/07/2011 at 06:24 anonymousity says:
@Cerzi thing is though Cerzi wesp isn’t on here righting page long tirades insulting people for having a critical opinion of his work, and acting like someone with borderline personality disorder. Also lulz “I am in fact a mature man and as for why I chose this name, it’s a long story and a rather boring one at that.”
Man maybe, mature definitely not.
16/07/2011 at 09:29 eightiesmullet says:
backs out of thread, slowly.
16/07/2011 at 15:00 stahlwerk says:
This thread certainly became a thing.
16/07/2011 at 09:29 emotionengine says:
Having always been fascinated by Bloodlines but never having had the chance to actually play it, I I find revisiting Alec’s thoughts from 2007 helpful. I can seem to grasp the much mentioned tedium of the final third of the game, among other things.
Also regarding the patch debate, Alec had this to say:
So…
16/07/2011 at 12:56 Tessera says:
I have no idea who “Alec” is, but his comments are completely immaterial. Once again, we see someone trying to mix together apples and oranges… and then pretending that they are somehow the same. There is absolutely no connection whatsoever between the True Patch and any of my optional Bloodlines mods. They are completely separate and independent entities.
But just for laughs, I will mention an amusing statistic, for whatever it’s worth…
Wesp’s “Unofficial Patch” has been downloaded approximately 20,000 times. The True Patch Gold Edition has been downloaded approximately 12,000 times. But my very popular Jeanette Voerman semi-nude mod was downloaded in excess of 86,000 times worldwide… before I finally stopped offering it to the public. Which in effect means that my semi-nude Jeanette Voerman mod has proven itself to be enormously more popular than BOTH lines of fan-made patches COMBINED. Strange, but true… and it always makes me chuckle whenever I think about it.
Bloodlines is a game for adults… and it contains nudity, sexual situations, drug use, adult themes, strong language and graphic violence right out of the box. So if you are bothered by mature content for some reason, then this is definitely not the game for you. And also, stay out of art museums — because there’s loads of topless paintings and sculptures in there. We wouldn’t want you to become upset by all of those bare boobies. :P
16/07/2011 at 12:57 oceanclub says:
“And also, stay out of art museums — because there’s loads of topless paintings and sculptures in there. We wouldn’t want you to become upset by all of those bare boobies. :P”
Yes, but you’re a guy who thinks the Mona Lisa would be better if you could paint tits on it.
P.
16/07/2011 at 14:58 Starky says:
Don’t be silly Ocean, EVERYTHING is better with tits painted on it. :)
16/07/2011 at 15:06 oceanclub says:
Including WOW it seems:
(VERY NSFW):
http://www.tessmage.com/tesseramods/WoW_Nude_2011/Caster_Armor_Tier_6_Topless_01.jpg
(Facepalm x 3) (I had to borrow a palm)
P.
16/07/2011 at 15:07 Dominic White says:
Yeah, I’m fairly sure you can’t scream ‘artistic expression!’ when one of your crowning glories is a mod for Hellgate: London that makes all women naked.
16/07/2011 at 21:29 Daniel Rivas says:
I did an enormous LOL at that picture. Brilliant.
16/07/2011 at 22:36 pipman3000 says:
I’m no longer allowed in art museums after “the incident” :(
16/07/2011 at 12:02 noodlecake says:
I played it with the fan patch. The first few hours were quite good if you forgive the fact that none of the mechanics really work and just pretend that you’re reading an interactive novel… and then it sort of just falls apart a bit and even that aspect doesn’t really work that well. I’ve played much more enjoyable games that have been attacked by the press. I think the fan updates are due to vampire obsessives more than anything.
16/07/2011 at 13:18 oceanclub says:
arglaar: “The last time the True Patch was updated was about 3 weeks ago.
Nothing in the True Patch was “copied”, however, some of the fixes were included from other authors WITH THEIR PERMISSION.”
Out of interest, can you tell me who did the spellchecking/typos fixing for Tessera’s patch?
P.
16/07/2011 at 19:24 arglaar says:
I was not involved in the testing process, as I simply did not have the time to dedicate to it, so no.. I can’t tell you who his testers/proofreaders were. Sorry.
16/07/2011 at 14:15 g2d1 says:
Pretty strong accusation from Dominic White says “It’s a hacked together botch-job made of other peoples stolen work”
On what basis do you base that accusation? Code work is like a signature, everybody codes slightly different and since you are actually using the word “Stolen” this implies that the actual code was copied down and pasted verbatim into another project and then claim as your own.
To say that the “True Patch is a botch-job” also implies that you actually downloaded said patch, installed it and played the game throughout. If this is so, then what part of the patch actually is botched? I would also presume that you actually read the list of changes in order to link and identify a game-fault event. I can safely assume that you did not download and install it, and if you did, you did not read the “ReadMe_NOW”. Like in most program installations, a read me text file is included to pass on to the user, relative or important information that explains or guides the user through the installation or in addition, it usually mentions or credits collaborators or contributors.
I have played the game with both patches and this is what my overall thoughts are.
Wesp’s Patch:
Things I liked.
1. Nice Splash-Screen
2. The mugging attack by the NPC in Santa Monica, was a nice surprise
Things I disliked:
The Blood pool depletion was too severe and I thought that it detracts from the game experience. Having to monitor the Blood pool became a distraction to the extent that I stopped playing the game. I don’t mind some challenging tweaks, but not at the expense of the game’s flow-through. Part of the fun is the free exploration of the surroundings and looking for Easter eggs or looking for the game’s subtle messages.
I also thought that the character progression is accelerated too early. If your inventory contains advanced items early in the game, then it becomes a walkthrough rather than earn-based rewards.
Wesp’s patch is not just a patch it is also a MOD. What is the difference?
A MOD: Adds to the game in forms of weapons, skins, dialogue, (game-changing) new content etc.etc.
A Patch: Addresses known bugs and that is pretty much it.
Tessera’s Patch
1. Does what it says and nothing more.
Tessera’s Mod: This is a side project that only a very few have had the opportunity to play and it is not open to the public
Tessera makes no qualms about his site being an adult-gamer’s site. Assuming that you are an adult, this would require no explanation. The nude mods are but a small part of the site and tell me what male adult does not like some nudity?
The bottom line is that Wesp and Tessera are modders but not for the same scene. Sooner or later another modder will come on the scene and think that he or she can do better than Wesp and Tessera and introdce their own MOD. Is that not the benefit of competition?
and that is my 2-cents
16/07/2011 at 14:57 Dominic White says:
Reality check: Wesps patch asks you at install whether you just want fixes, or revised balance and restored content.
You just chose the latter, then wrote an enormous wall of text about how you didn’t want it.
That’s crazy.
16/07/2011 at 15:40 g2d1 says:
Obviously, you are not prepared or able to respond to your accusations with facts and so your comments are an opinion which is not based on intimate knowledge of the game. If you read carefully, I stated that his patch contains both bug fix and game changing mods. To patch is to fix a known bug, to MOD is making changes to the game outside its original release. You call my little reply an enormous wall of text? it amounts to a couple of paragraphs. Sounds like you need to pick up a book a read beyond a couple of sentences. Anyways, my questions were directed to you since you are making a serious assertion. As for my opinion of Wesp’s patch, those were formed in my experience playing the game with it, and that is called personal preference.
16/07/2011 at 15:57 oceanclub says:
Quote from Tessera here: http://planet-vampire.com/forum/index.php?topic=2234.195
“For the record, starting with True Patch 4.04AT, nobody “stole” anything from Wesp. There was a lengthy explanation of that entire mess posted on my own board for more than six months. I can not be held accountable for the failure of others to read that explanation, nor can Acrimonious be held accountable.
The original True Patch was version 4.01AT, and it began as one of Wesp’s mods (his version 3.2). We reverse-engineered that mod, removed most of the changes that Wesp had made, retained the important bug fixes that Wesp himself had originally copied from Dan Upright and then hurriedly released it to the public. That project was not intended to be the beginning of anything important. We had just had a major battle with Wesp on this very board, to which he had replied “If you do not like my work, then try to do better.” Fine, Wesp — so we fixed his mess and we made it better. Originally, that was our only goal: fix his mess and then let other folks have a copy if they wanted it. Mainly, we just wanted our own games to work better.
Wesp was properly cited in the readme.txt file for that patch, just as he was for every version up to and including version 4.03AT. These repetitious and self-serving claims that Wesp was never credited are totally false and unfounded. Don’t you people read the patch notes..? If you had, then you would have seen Werner Spahl’s name in the credits. I am sorry that we didn’t add bursting bombs and a heavenly choir to Wesp’s name in those notes. Maybe that would have satisfied you… but regardless, Wesp was always fully credited in True Patches 4.01AT through 4.03AT. ALWAYS. Anyone who has a copy of those earlier True Patches can verify that fact for themselves.”
Tessera doesn’t appear to know what “reverse engineering” is. It’s certainly _not_ meant to be to take something and remove bits from it.
P.
16/07/2011 at 16:26 Dominic White says:
Well, that’s pretty open and shut, then.
Wesp makes fan-patch.
Tessera rips it off, guts it, calls it his own
Wesp complains
Tessera credits Wesp. Calls it reverse-engineering
Wesp complains about that, too
Tessera calls Wesp a nazi faggot and the THIEF OF CHILDRENS DREAMS
16/07/2011 at 15:56 noobnob says:
It’s hard to read this thread with a straight face.
16/07/2011 at 16:33 Kaira- says:
It’s like a trainwreck – horrible, but you just can’t look away.
16/07/2011 at 20:54 ezekiel2517 says:
Oh, so true. I couldn’t avoid to laugh and nod thinking I am doing the same thing.
MUST READ SOMETHING ELSE.
17/07/2011 at 01:05 Tom De Roeck says:
Well, it mostly just reads “[insert people that write personal-ish long rants about something]‘s comments have been blocked” for me. All of a sudden, its down to five pages from seven!
17/07/2011 at 01:45 shitflap says:
Dammit I must have missed that :(
16/07/2011 at 18:36 Matzerath says:
Oh God, you’ve finally brought the battle to RPS! Epic!
I like to visualize Wesp and Tessera as an old librarian with thick round spectacles cornered by an obese balding middle-aged man in leather chaps, respectively. Wesp’s posse is a diverse group of general geeks and aging goths; Tessera’s are a bunch more middle-aged men in chaps.
16/07/2011 at 21:59 stahlwerk says:
Tessera is the one with the pony tails and short skirt, Wesp wears glasses and business attire.
16/07/2011 at 19:21 shagen454 says:
It’s hilarious that Tess was self-righteous enough to titled his pompous version of patches the “True” Patch.
That’s like saying I make “True” gelato, I make “True” New York Pizza. my wine comes from the “Truth” vine. The only people who go out of their way talking about True this and that are god damn fundamentalist christians trying to create an anti-argument. “God has shown me the truth. It is the Truth” Man, GTFO!
16/07/2011 at 20:00 TillEulenspiegel says:
But seriously, New York pizza is the One True Pizza. At least in the US.
16/07/2011 at 20:19 Ignorant Texan says:
TillEulenspiege -
Have you no decency? Isn’t one ‘Holy War’ per thread enough for you, sir, without sounding the call for the Chicago-style, aka, Deep Dish Pizza, adherents to come and defend their version of the ‘One True Pizza’? ;)
16/07/2011 at 20:43 Vinraith says:
Never trust anyone who refers to their version of something as “True” with a capital “T.”
16/07/2011 at 20:50 Urthman says:
The wording is unfortunate, but I think he was just trying to give it a title that said,”This is a patch, not a mod.”
Maybe he should have called it the “Minimalist Patch” or the “Bug-Fix-Only Patch.”
16/07/2011 at 20:54 Vinraith says:
@Urthman
No, I think he pretty clearly means his way was the right way, just look at how he’s comported himself in this thread. That’s to say nothing of the fact that Wesp’s patch has a prominent “patch only” option on installation.
16/07/2011 at 19:51 Cylnar says:
Always good to see this classic RPG get some coverage in the gaming community. I just wish such coverage were a little less biased. This “Patch War” has been going on for years between two communities of VTMB players who are obviously passionate about the game. It’s good that Troika’s admittedly flawed masterpiece (the flaws can be laid mostly at the feet of Activision bean-counters and corporate greed) has such legs to still be relevant many years down the line from its release.
It basically comes down to this: do you wish to accept whatever arbitrary gameplay and balance changes Wesp5 has made to the game, not to mention numerous new bugs introduced with every untested “patch”, or do you wish to play the game as close as possible to Troika’s original vision, with all critical and virtually all non-critical bugs squashed, as you can with the True Patch Gold Edition? To anyone on the fence: try both patches and see which you like better. Simple as that. Or read an excellent, very detailed breakdown of the changes made by both patches here: http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php/topic,57580.0.html
To refute the incomplete, disinformative posts by oceanclub and Dominic White, Tessera has openly stated that while the early versions of his patch were basically stripped versions of Wesp’s mod (to remove all the arbitrary changes Wesp introduced) starting from version 4.04AT, all work on the True Patch series belongs *exclusively* to Tessera and Acrimonious.
Let me be very clear: There is NO reverse engineering in the 4.04AT patch, the 5.04AT patch or the current True Patch Gold Edition (TPG). Every single piece of code in those files belongs to the two authors, with extensive beta testing by members of the tessmage.com forums (including yours truly). Plus, a few hotfixes have been released, which can not currently be found on the mirrors posted above, but only at tessmage.com. The hotfixes contain no critical fixes (just fixes to some annoying but hardly game-breaking bugs) and the TPG, even without the hotfixes, is an excellent experience. I invite RPS to mention, and link, both patches in any future stories on Bloodlines so fans can have the choice the UP boosters would deny them.
Cylnar
Moderator, tessmage.com
16/07/2011 at 21:38 Mman says:
“http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php/topic,57580.0.html”
There’s no “detailed breakdown” here; it’s just Wesp’s patch being shit on by a bunch of people who (as supporters of Tessera and Tessera himself) are pretty much the antithesis of unbiased, and don’t even try and hide it in that thread.
17/07/2011 at 09:26 Yosharian says:
Actually if you read this:
http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php/topic,57843.0.html
It seems pretty clear that a lot of the fixes and additions are modifications. I’d agree that these guys are definitely biased towards their own patch, but I think there is a core of truth here that WESP’s patch isn’t really a patch, but actually a mod. And I’m concerned, based off other things I’ve read, that it isn’t stable, comparatively.
17/07/2011 at 09:33 pipman3000 says:
Patches can add or modify things too you know, or at least they did before developers found out about DLC.
17/07/2011 at 10:01 Yosharian says:
But it’s a very thin line between a patch that adds things that should have been there, and a patch which adds things that the author thinks should have been there. There are changes in the basic version that are kind of controversial, i.e. I wouldn’t personally have chosen to modify those things because they’re unnecessary or I disagree with the change.
17/07/2011 at 12:10 pipman3000 says:
But it’s a very thin line between a patch that adds things that should have been there, and a patch which adds things that the author thinks should have been there.
Yes, and Wesp’s patch is entirely the former.
17/07/2011 at 12:16 oceanclub says:
“I think there is a core of truth here that WESP’s patch isn’t really a patch, but actually a mod”
For perhaps the umpteeth time, you can install the basic version of Wesp’s patch which doesn’t include modifications.
Your source of information is a website which does (bad) Photoshop mockups of Wesp as a Nazi officer. It is hardly a credible source of information.
P.
17/07/2011 at 13:03 Yosharian says:
@Pipman3000: We disagree there.
@oceanclub: except the basic version does include modifications.
17/07/2011 at 18:10 pipman3000 says:
List them, meat puppet.
Prove you aren’t a puppet made out of meat.
18/07/2011 at 06:27 Yosharian says:
Don’t get personal. Remove your ego from the equation.
There are many things. For one, the clan histories which are really overpowered. Second, the skin and weapon changes that don’t fit the original game. There are other things but it’s been a while since I played the game.
18/07/2011 at 18:55 Fiatil says:
Wow, we’re really going to complain that he enabled histories in the basic patch? The optional histories with the really funny descriptions that Troika wrote aren’t “true” enough to make it into a True Patch? They had a small bug that made your client crash if you looked at too many of them during character creating, that gets fixed, and they’re perfect. If game balance is your reason for histories not being True enough then you’re really really playing the wrong game. The combat in bloodlines is in no way shape or form balanced; it’s a single player RPG and so no one should really mind too much. Thaumaturgy is ridiculous by default, anything with celerity is ridiculous and not even close to balanced or challenging in the least.
18/07/2011 at 19:36 Yosharian says:
Well.. yeah! They’re much more of a mod than anything else in my view. That was all I was ever contending.
18/07/2011 at 21:10 Fiatil says:
This whole mod/patch distinction is sort of insane. I could re-enable histories with a three word console command and use a history for an entire play through, they just needed a bug fix to stop an occasional crash during character creation. It was an almost complete feature with a complete (and great) script and a minor bug that was axed because of the development crunch, do you honestly not think the developers would have patched that in within a couple of patches if the studio had stayed afloat? The first and only patch for the game dealt primarily with making the main quest able to be completed, they didn’t exactly have much time to patch in all of the minor stuff that needed a couple days of debugging. That’s why we have both of the fan patches! He didn’t tweak all of the stat changes and rewrite the dialogue, he turned on a console switch and fixed a bug. I guess I’m just really dense, but to me that’s not much of a mod.
16/07/2011 at 19:52 bansama says:
Every time I feel like playing this game, I’m reminded of this stupid patch bickering. Which then puts me right off playing the game as I no longer enjoy it. Haven’t played the game in over 5 years as a result and doubt I ever will again.
Funny how one overly zealous egotistical personality can ruin something like that =/.
16/07/2011 at 19:56 Dominic White says:
Just remember: It’s ONE egotistical, possibly insane person. Wesp is a pretty cool, humble guy and all the ‘drama’ is entirely coming from one side.
16/07/2011 at 21:08 Shih Tzu says:
That, um… That’s kinda weird, dude. You really don’t have to get involved in internet drama unless you want to. Just read up on what the different patches do, pick one, and be done with it.
The nice thing about the internet is that you can turn it off, and it goes away. Usually.
17/07/2011 at 03:50 bansama says:
That’s kinda weird, dude. You really don’t have to get involved in internet drama unless you want to. Just read up on what the different patches do, pick one, and be done with it.
Not really all that easy. As you can see from this very article. Once patching of this game is mentioned the it’s never long before the drama rears it’s annoying head again. I mean really, you can’t go anywhere to talk about patching this game without someone quickly deciding that a certain patch is not a patch but a modification, etc.
It’s just way too bloody annoying.
Just remember: It’s ONE egotistical, possibly insane person. Wesp is a pretty cool, humble guy and all the ‘drama’ is entirely coming from one side.
Yeah I know, but the result is the same. The whole experience has been totally ruined for me. And if the damn game wasn’t attached to my Steam account, I’d have thrown it away a long time ago.
17/07/2011 at 05:29 Thants says:
If you refuse to play any game that there’s internet drama about you’ll never play another game again.
16/07/2011 at 20:25 g2d1 says:
If Tessera had taken the patch, reverse engineered it, modified it and released it without crediting the author, then I can see where it could be stealing. But since Wesp was credited, then it is not stealing. The accusation is “Stealing” not reverse engineering. So I ask again how is the true patch a botched-job? If you can, factor out what ever differences Wesp and Tessera have for each other and only make mention of your statements. If you have not installed the True Patch then there is very little you can say as to the quality of the patch. If your comments were just part of a rant and you have no way of quantifying with facts, please disregard.
16/07/2011 at 20:27 binarybeetle says:
First off there’s not much that I can add in regards to either patch which hasn’t already been said. I, personally have used the True Patch and do not intend to use anything else. I’ve seen the patch notes for both the UP and the True Patch and the UP just makes too many changes to the game for my taste. I have never had any problems using the True Patch and I suggest anyone wanting to patch their copy of VTM:B read the patch notes of each patch and choose the one that suits their playing style. I’ll stick with the True Patch.
16/07/2011 at 21:02 Dominic White says:
“I’ve seen the patch notes for both the UP and the True Patch and the UP just makes too many changes to the game for my taste.”
For the n’thtieth f’ing time, it asks at installation whether you want the restored/rebalanced content or just fixes. This seems to be something that the (sudden influx) of ‘True’ patch fans don’t seem to want to admit or comprehend, for some bizarre reason.
16/07/2011 at 21:09 TillEulenspiegel says:
Astroturfing ahoy. Lots of non-RPS peoples saying the exact same thing.
17/07/2011 at 09:30 Yosharian says:
@DominicWhite: but are they really just fixes?
http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php/topic,57843.0.html
Look at the list of ‘fixes’. A huge majority of these are modifications, not fixes. And they are in the ‘basic’ version of the patch.
17/07/2011 at 12:14 Dominic White says:
@Yosharian – That is a 21,000 word disseration/rant/insane screed by one of Tessera’s most batshit insane groupies. The same guy that was calling for Wesp to be permanently banned from Steam for… making a fan-patch.
21 thousand words of ‘how Wesp is worse than hitler’.
TWENTY. ONE. THOUSAND.
What the fuck?
17/07/2011 at 12:24 Yosharian says:
The idea is to read the words, not count them.
17/07/2011 at 13:53 Nick says:
Yosharian is clearly one of them.
17/07/2011 at 17:42 Yosharian says:
Hi Nick, welcome to the internet ;-)
17/07/2011 at 22:15 Ayn Rand says:
I will carefully consider the words of Tessera, the creator of the TRUE PATCH GOLD EDITION VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE BLOODLINES PATCH, on whether or not the creator of another patch is part of the JUNIOR HITLER LUCIFER YOUTH FOUNDATION. These twenty-one thousand words I am about to read will surely be full of insight.
im j/k kidding tessera, please overdose on mood stabilizers
18/07/2011 at 23:57 MarkB says:
Hey Ayn Rand, was that a subtle and random WU LYF reference? If so, awesome
16/07/2011 at 21:44 Iskariot says:
“Sadly, Werner Spahl (Wesp5) has a very different philosophy and thus, every single version of his work to date forces the end user to accept a plethora of changes to the game that many players may NOT want to have forced upon them.”
Why is it sad that Wesp has a different philosophy?
Must everyone have the same philosophy as you do?
People can choose, can they not?
Nothing is forced upon anyone. That is absolute nonsense.
Personally I am very happy with Wesp’s patch, and I am very grateful for his work.
I have been using it since patch 4 and played with every version since.
But I like the True Patch too. I keep both patches in a holy VTMB shrine. There’s room for both philosophies. Thanks.
16/07/2011 at 21:47 HermitUK says:
I think Alec realised it was a slow news day on Friday, and posted this just to see what would happen.
16/07/2011 at 21:50 kandid says:
Before all the “we don’t like strangers around here” attitude by veteran RPS members or “Tessera must be posting with different names” nonsense, let me say that this article was brought to my attention by a member of Tessmage.com, of which I’m a veteran member, and I’m really happy to see that Bloodlines still has the public attention it deserves after all these years.
Apparently many people here don’t share Tessera’s concerns about the “purity” of the game or accuracy of the tweaked/added content. Fine, but know this- for some people, even the “Basic” version of Wesp’s patch has too many unnecessary changes.
Anyway, since both patches and their changelogs are readily available, you can always try them for yourself.
16/07/2011 at 21:56 stahlwerk says:
Seriously, whats with all the “veteran”ism?
I enjoy reading (sometimes silly) words about PC games and posting (mostly silly) words below them. I don’t feel extra special just because I did that for the better parts of two years now.
16/07/2011 at 22:40 Vinraith says:
@stahlwerk
I believe you’ve confused an awareness of astroturfing with “veteranism.”
16/07/2011 at 22:03 Thants says:
Hey, guys, I was wondering if Wesp’s patch keeps the precious purity of essence of the original game, or if it’s actually a filthy disgusting “Mod”. What would be great is if about twenty people could come and each paraphrase the same answer for me.
16/07/2011 at 22:29 wyrmsine says:
Don’t patch the game at all – it’s really best experienced as intended to be played by the publisher.
16/07/2011 at 22:52 Ignorant Texan says:
Thants -
It’s times like this that make me glad that I only drink grain alcohol mixed with rain water when I read RPS.
17/07/2011 at 01:32 Thants says:
Ignorant Texan: That’s a solid plan. In fact, forget reading websites!
16/07/2011 at 23:20 Werthead says:
I understand that Bloodlines has a reputation of being so fantastically awesome that it’s probably worth £50 and ritualistic self-flagellation before each playing session, but I’m a bit hazy on why I’ve never seen it for any less than £14.99 on Steam. Every time I see a Steam sale I’m immediately onto the Bloodlines page to see if it’s included, and it isn’t. It does seem odd that a six-year-old RPG from a company that no longer exists still costs half the price of a new title, yet with good timing I can pick up Fallout 3 and all its expansions for a fiver, or GTA4 for £4.
Due to unemployment-enforced poverty I am reluctant to pay out £15 in one hit for one game (though I am very much sure it is worth it, since Bloodlines has a reputation on RPS shared only by Freespace 2, Hostile Waters and Anachronox, games which I love with the intensity of a thousand burning suns), especially since then post-patching it seems to be a process only marginally less complex than establishing a lasting peace in the Middle East. But it does seem very weird that it’s impossible to get this game for what might be considered a reasoanbly cheap price considering its age.
17/07/2011 at 01:13 Tom De Roeck says:
Its worth 15 pounds because nobody that actually made it is getting any money for it. Enjoy!
17/07/2011 at 02:02 Nick says:
sad but true.. they get no money for it at all =(
17/07/2011 at 04:21 Shih Tzu says:
I don’t know if it was the same way outside of the US, but for me, Bloodlines was 33% off (or around $13.00) throughout the most recent summer Steam sale. That’s why I finally picked it up, and I just installed it last night.
I’m still only just starting the tutorial, but is it just me, or are the characters more expressive and less dead-eyed than anyone in the Half-Life 2 series, to say nothing of Fallout 3? Sure, the facial animation’s more than a bit wonky, but the character design shines through.
17/07/2011 at 09:32 Yosharian says:
This game is worth twice that.
But no, it seems anything you pay doesn’t go to the devs. Shame.
17/07/2011 at 03:56 nzmccorm says:
Do you guys remember how, that one time, Tess got really really upset that he got banned from Steam for inappropriate behaviour?
And how in order to get his revenge, he was going to teach THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE how to pirate Steam Games like… Fallout 3, and… Dragon Age, you know, games that require steam. Because pirating games is hard.
Yeah. That was two months ago. So he’s basically immensely out of touch and lacks any sense of proportion.
I really don’t want to sneer at the mentally ill but jesus christ he makes it hard sometimes.
17/07/2011 at 03:59 nzmccorm says:
http://i.imgur.com/9vC7P.png
17/07/2011 at 04:02 oceanclub says:
Wait, Wesp banned him from Steam?
_Wesp is Gabe Newell_?
> http://i.imgur.com/9vC7P.png
Oh, that’s epic. Threatening to bring down Valve, while making sure to include _two_ nudey women in the posting for emphasis.
P.
17/07/2011 at 04:26 Starky says:
Jesus that is just epically retarded, I mean hell that is creationist levels of stupid on display right there…
Teaching people how to pirate games? Oh my gosh, what secret and arcane methods does he know that allow people to get *free* games? It’s not like “google pirate” is all the step-by-step instructions anyone needs.
I bet Valve are shitting themselves now.
17/07/2011 at 05:24 Thants says:
He’s going to teach people the secret way to remove Steam from their computers! A dark, black-market script called “Add or Remove Programs”.
17/07/2011 at 08:02 Geralt says:
hahaha
I can’t believe I just read that. He sure takes this “patch drama” seriously.
17/07/2011 at 08:39 Dominic White says:
That whole thread is comedy gold: (NWS, of course)
http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php/topic,57783.0.html
So, just two months ago (apparently he hasn’t cooled off since his racist tirade 4 years ago) Tessera’s still randomly screeching about Wesp being a nazi. His reasoning? Well, he’s german, and doesn’t like having his work stolen so…. NAZI!
Obviously.
The man is actually, clinically insane and somehow has this small forum-cult of eternally loyal hangers-on.
17/07/2011 at 09:06 Thants says:
Jesus, he literally Photoshopped Wesp’s face onto a Nazi general. When you starting to think that calling something a “patch” when you consider it a “mod” is analogous to the holocaust, it’s time to seek professional help.
17/07/2011 at 11:15 The Sentinel says:
There really is something wrong with that boy Tessera, isn’t there? I don’t know Wesp at all, I only know him from his posts on other forums about his work on The Precursors but I have to say, having read the bulk of this diabolical thread, he wins any contest of character hands down purely by sheer dignity of his silence.
Every time Tessera opens his mouth/keyboard I am filled with the urge to save myself from reading any more of it (or seeing any more of his crass uber-sexuality) by stabbing forks in my eyes.
(re: the link to his forum post – It also irritates me that he can’t spell “lying” properly. Pedantic of me, I know, but hey.)
17/07/2011 at 12:31 pipman3000 says:
He’s a Malkavian. It makes sense if you think about it.
17/07/2011 at 21:08 Fiatil says:
This is fantastic. Teach me the ancient ways of the pirate!
“Wesp is German. He lives in Germany. And if we have learned anything from German history, it is that they seem to believe that if you keep repeating a lie over and over again, then eventually that lie will become magically transformed into the truth.”
Wow. Just wow.
18/07/2011 at 00:32 Schu says:
Hey The Sentinel, blame me for the typo, it was my work after all and in case you dont know typos happen.
18/07/2011 at 08:59 One Pigeon says:
Schu – It’s not a typo if that’s what you write every time. A typo is a typographical error not simply consistent, incorrect spelling.
I just read that whole forum thread wanting to turn away but not able to. Just…wow. That picture..
As well as nicely stereotyping and insulting an entire country of people he also manages to attack anybody who doesn’t think exactly like him. This is the kind of idiot you should never argue with.
His reasoning will always be “you are sheep and all think alike, if you’re not open minded like me (open minded meaning thinking exactly like him. Oh the wonderful, wonderful hypocrisy) then your opinions are not worth listening to”.
17/07/2011 at 05:47 fuggles says:
Best things about Vtm:B: 1) Trying stealth kills with different weapons 2) The audio is all on MP3′s 3) The atmosphere is amazing 4) I bought it for £10 within two weeks of launching, because that’s how well it sold.
Played it twice vanilla, once with Wesp. No great difference in Wesps but adding cut content is always nice. I will play it once more again soon, probably using wesp as it is the most recent, although I suspect that both that and the other patch will likely play the same any way. That said I have played wildly differing bloodlines each time, which have a massive effect on gameplay anyway.
17/07/2011 at 10:50 RogB says:
holy shit, what a read on a sunday morning. Last time I saw anything this dramatic was the first ‘new’ XCOM reveal.
17/07/2011 at 12:18 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
Yeah, seriously. What the hell is going on here?
17/07/2011 at 13:01 Dominic White says:
Forum raid from Tessmage.com, premium source for nude mods (female only, naked men are for limp-dicked kraut faggots), and home of strong-willed, free-thinkers. No cud-chewing sheeple allowed.
(No, seriously – read the front page. That’s how it’s billed)
17/07/2011 at 11:59 MultiVaC says:
This is a really brilliant drama. I’ve only used Wesp’s patch so far, and I was considering trying out Tessera’s to see if was better or not… but being confronted by the sheer insanity of its creator has turned me off of even downloading it. I have trouble believing any of the claims he makes about it; he’s managed to sabotage his own credibility so spectacularly that I really just don’t want to bother at this point. I’m sort of curious about Wesp has to say about all of this. I haven’t really heard his side of the story at all.
17/07/2011 at 12:55 stahlwerk says:
If you install Tessera’s patch, it replaces your desktop background with porn and turns My Computer into My Harem. It also renames your Steam folder.
It’s True*.
*) may actually not be true.
17/07/2011 at 13:19 oceanclub says:
“I’m sort of curious about Wesp has to say about all of this. I haven’t really heard his side of the story at all.”
Wesp just keeps his head down and works on the patches.
Those krazy Krauts.
P.
17/07/2011 at 15:03 rogueoutcome says:
Gosh, the Battle of Armageddon is being played out here, on an RPS comments thread. I must confess, I never imagined, not in my wildest, most feverish dreams that I would bear witness to such drama and excitement. Thank you all. I am edified.
It’s wonderful to see threats to perceived value being so rigorously defended with such a noble sense of proportion.
I’m not sure but wasn’t there a golden age of halcyon days when comments threads like this didn’t exist here or has the delirium of this nonsense forced my mind to retreat into nostalgia?
17/07/2011 at 20:37 shagen454 says:
This thread brought out the closet vampires & some ghouls. As well as the Jester, himself. That’s one creepy creep.
17/07/2011 at 22:34 Daz says:
It’s time to nuke this thread from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.
18/07/2011 at 05:28 bigdumbface says:
Holy Fuck… This thread is…. I can’t even comprehend a word to describe how hilarious this thread is to me. I am absolutely loving every moment of it.
That said, I would like to take a moment to point something out. I agree that Tess’ comments in this thread (as well as the astroturf spilling from his own site) are quite obviously malicious. But those of you on Wesp5′s side truly need to take a moment and step back from your keyboards. Deep breath. Let it out. Deep breath again… You’re doing nothing productive here. You’re pushing forward an agenda that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the basis for this thread.
The original topic here was that another version of someones patch has been released for a game that many of us hold dear to our hearts. Discuss the changes in the patch. Discuss the game as a whole. Discuss specific things about this particular patch that you enjoy. Don’t screed forth your opinions about another patch that has absolutely nothing to do with the preceding article. You’re all coming off just as childish as the person you’re attempting to chastise.
I am a long-time reader of RPS (first time making a post as I’ve usually been content with simply reading the goings-on of others) and I made this post purely to point out that, despite what “good” either side of this debate seems to be putting forth… you’re only hurting yourselves. This entire thread has become less about the subject at hand and more a grammar-school recess argument between who has the better version of Hide-and-Seek. Either let it go or move on.
… With all that put forward, feel free to continue bickering back and forth. I would rather take the high-ground but this thread has given me more than a few simple giggles.
18/07/2011 at 06:44 anonymousity says:
How much fun is taking the high ground, and what point would it have? None you say? Oh good, time to continue with the drama making.
18/07/2011 at 07:31 nperrin says:
I can’t believe I actually read through this whole effing thread.
I played the game for the first time last year with Wesp’s patch and it was amazing. I got scared by the histrionic madness of Tessera and decided to go with the more trustworthy 7.x patch that was available at the time.
Short version of this drama: “who gives a shit.”
18/07/2011 at 09:04 One Pigeon says:
Yes, but it is internet gold and feels soooo good.
I think I’ll probably enjoy this thread more than the actual game.
18/07/2011 at 16:10 wesp5 says:
Better late to the party than never ;). It’s indeed true that I wasn’t aware of the whole “patch” versus “mod” issue when I continued Dan Upright’s work because he already restored stuff in his first release and this is common for a lot of patches. I later learned it the hard way and therefore provided a basic patch for people who like Bloodlines closer to the original but unfinished game. This basic version has become more and more basic over the years and should be considered a patch. The plus version on the other hand does make some changes and restores a lot of unused content, but it doesn’t make this arbitrary. I have reasons for all the changes, but of course these can’t be listed in a patch readme. Still I wouldn’t call the plus version a mod, more a restoration project in the way e.g. of the KOTOR2 Restoration Project.
@ Yosharian: There are no changes to the weapons in the basic patch and who would really care about some unused Troika skins that I restored? The histories are purely optional and the threads on the TP board listing all the “modifications” are mostly speculations based on my patch readme which, I would be the first one to admit, is rather cryptic ;). They don’t play my patches, they just try to guess from my notes what might be a fix or a modification. And they are wrong most of the time…
@ g2d1: There is no changed blood pool depletion in the basic or the plus patch. You must have mistaken it with the Camarilla Edition mod which does exactly that as one of it’s main features.
18/07/2011 at 19:33 Yosharian says:
Well, I will try out the latest basic patch at some point and see what it’s like. As I said earlier, I still think both patches are great and worth anyone’s time, it’s just the leaning towards modifications that your patch had that didn’t fit so well with me.
18/07/2011 at 23:53 MarkB says:
I had completely forgotten I wanted VtMB until this article came up. It is completely fantastic, thanks alot for making it playable and good job staying out of this stupid feud.
Also this thread is the funniest thing I’ve read on the internet in years, I’m gonna have to read some of the Tessmage forums when I have time to waste
25/07/2011 at 17:34 Iskariot says:
Thanks Wesp for your continued support for the best vampire game off all times.
I very much like playing VTMB with your Plus patch.
29/07/2011 at 11:47 talon03 says:
The game is currently 75% off (that’s £3.74) on Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/2600/
29/07/2011 at 16:59 Iskariot says:
Thanks for the tip.
I already own the original game on disk, but it is nice to have this beautiful game on Steam too.
I immediately ordered. I saw it was one of their best selling items at the moment.
I hope that the gaming industry will take the lasting popularity of this game as a clue.
I want a sequel for this game.
29/07/2011 at 13:48 Brutal Deluxe says:
Is it me, or does any of this remind anyone of “King of Kong”
07/08/2011 at 08:37 Zenoseiya says:
I have to say, who releases 200 patches for a seven-year-old game? Why doesn’t that strike anyone as excessive?
Has anyone noticed how the Wesp supporters have no substantial rebuttal against the True Patch aside from personal attacks on Tessera, solely for a few drunken rants that are pretty much the norm for the internet? In fact, they’ve never even used the TP, much less read the patch notes or forum posts. Whereas the Tess supporters have actually gone to the effort of making a list of comparisons in order to better inform their audience.
No one brings up Offkorn’s Unofficial Patch Stripped, either. In fact, when Offkorn released it, Wesp complained that he was stealing. Even though Offkorn outright stated that it was a modification of Wesp’s work, and only claimed credit for stripping it down. Which is exactly the same thing Tess and Acrimonious originally did. These allegations of stealing are lies, pure and simple.
This “patch war” is silly. Anyone who rationally weighs the facts can see that the TPG is a patch and the UPB is a mod. As demonstrated by a couple of complete strangers to the “conflict” in this very thread.