It's on -40% sale on Steam atm: http://store.steampowered.com/app/250320/ I picked it up yesterday and I'm quite impressed with it. I'm not sure if it even qualifies as proper game, I'd say it's more an interactive movie, but it certainly kept me entertained. The best part is the art style. I've rarely seen games with such well defined aesthetics! The writing is first class, fleshed out characters (if somewhat stereotypical) in a unique setting having believable dialogues. Not something we see often in video games. The only downside are the fights imo: a mix of quick time events and button mashing. It feels forced and I would probably enjoy the game more without them. Still, they are rather well implemented for what they are and don't break the suspension of disbelief too much. What's your take on these kinds of 'games'? How important is story and well written character development for you compared to gameplay? Do you think these games will gain a first foothold on the market, will they even be able to replace classical adventures entirely or will they vanish as quickly as they appeared?
I find Telltale games higly overrated... Their first "hit" was the adaptation of "The Walking Dead". All reviews spoiled their panties on this interactive story, praising the choices, the narration... Which is completly false. There is no consequence of choices (whatever you do, the end of the sequence will end the same way, with some minor variations)(i tried them all in this game, so i know what i'm talking about). Narration is correct, but nothing exceptionnal. And the art style and aesthetic were nice, but all was taken from the Comic, so "in fine"the only things that are correct on the game is what the studio did not created... Regarding The Wolf Among Us, it is taken from the comic "Fables", from Vertigo. Same problems : from what i played, the exact same mechanics are used. Choices do not really matter (the ending of a sequence will be very similar despite your choices, the character react very little to your actions...). Side note, never saw yet better than "Vampire - The Masquerade - Bloodlines" on this matter. All characters react to how you talk to them in live, you can really fu** up your relations with them depending on your answers, making the choices really important, because they induce some nice gameplay changes and way of obtaining information. Altrough this style of "game" is not bugging me, the hype build around Telltale is. Their games are higly average, and do not deserve the success they receive. Japanese Visual Novels are making far better for years. Better stories, better ambiance and better writing. Choices in talks with characters matter (you can get a bad ending really easly depending on your choices, at any moment of the story), the stories are usually very nice... (althrough they have one big problem, they are usually Eroge...)(wiki to get more information...). EDIT : reformatting and rephrasing a little.
Yup, there are no game changing decisions as far as I'm aware of yet. You can save somebody and seriously harm or even kill some characters but no core characters. For now I'll accept that because it would take a giant budget to develop several parallel stories with meaningful differences. Telltale is taking a risk by introducing this kind of game in the western market and they are probably limiting any additional risk as far as possible. It will be interesting to see what they do with Game of Thrones. The first two games probably sold well and I assume that they can 'afford' to make more meaningful decisions. If their game is anything like the books there will be a large number of characters and plenty deaths so we might see some more variation - or not. Too early to tell. I've watched the first episode of The Walking Dead on Youtube but I'm not too much into zombie games so I lost interest. You got to give them, that the ending was phenomenal compared to many other games. The art style of TWD was probably by choice a near copy of the comic for the same reasons they didn't introduce more storylines. It was a risky test if a game like TWD would sell well and they made sure the had the best possible chance by using a popular and established franchise, staying close enough to the aesthetics to keep the fans happy and limit expensive parallel stories. Totally agree that Troika's Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is a fantastic game and puts Telltale's games to shame when it comes to freedom of choice, options and consequences for your character. Well, it's a real game for starters with, you know, stuff you can *do*... The quest in the abandoned hotel was the best mission I have played in any game ever. Sadly Troika went under before the paint on the game boxes was dry. Nobody else picked up where they left off. Maybe in the times of nostalgia Kickstarters we have a chance to see a revival. I doubt it because producing a game of the quality of Bloodlines with modern graphics, animations and voice acting might be well beyond what Kickstarter can collect. You have to excuse my lack of knowledge about anything that comes from Japan. I gave them a fair chance with anime but it was a huge let down for me. All I found were juvenile power fantasies and what I would classify as silly, strange porn. The one exception was Ghost in the Machine which I quite enjoyed. Everything else was cringeworthy in my opinion. Teenagers with magic-like talents saving the world and giant robots with boobs? Thanks but no thanks, that ain't my kind of entertainment! (PS: Yup, I tried Cowboy Bebop and some others, it's not for me. No more recommendation please, people have already tried 'to make me see the light' and failed believe you me. )
Did you heard about wesp5's unofficial patches ? A modder that put a huge work into the game to patch all bugs, restore features and missions... If not, give it a try ! And i agree on the abandonned hotel, was a really great mission... Like most of Santa Monica Hub...
I knew about the community patches but it has been a while. I hope that somebody who reads this thread might get interested and try Bloodlines: http://store.steampowered.com/app/2600/ It's one of those must-have games that you can get for a couple of bucks on a sale and have many hours of fun with. The graphics look a bit dated but the story, quest and sound design and music make more than up for it. Protip: Make a second playthrough as Malkavian! (And listen to Smiling Jack...)
Ho My... I LOVED playing as a Malkavian... Second pro-tip : invest heavely in Dementation... Third pro-tip : Listen to Col_Jessep, do NOT play as a Malkavian on your first playtrough...
