Intro: The plotline of a story is the most important part. The thesis statement, the hook, the main paragraph, supporting statements all of it, and what it encompasses to make the player, reader, and voyeur truly understand the creative motives. We live in a world where anything that is thought of can be created, put into the world, and given a name. In Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, we travel back in time to 2004 and witness the first open-world vampire game, a universe that spilled out on computers everywhere, and gave people a new experience in horror that easily redefined how we look at not just the vampire subculture but games as a whole.
Lost In L.A, Or Lost In The Bugs: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is an open world set in early 21st century Los Angeles. This is a game that takes on more than it can chew combining a story (that is slightly confusing at times), first and third-person mechanics, and other things that made me question why this game hasn’t been remade in some capacity. Much like Fallout Three, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines has some game development issues that rear their ugly head early on in the game. From seeing the entire map when you enter into the sewage system, being able to clip through walls, being able to avoid enemies when you are in their field of vision, and many more. Now to clarify I never used a patch on this game I played the version that steam modified and had on their website for use. The graphics without the patch are poor, and illegible for most of the time that I played this game. I could barely read any of the notes, street signs, or items on my menu. What was supposed to be a fist for combat looked like a fleshy hammer, and when I saw the graphics with the patch on a YouTube video I sat back thinking “OH, so that’s what it’s supposed to be” If it weren’t for the spotty game design this game would have but much better than it was. The bugs got so bad right before I got to chapter six that I had to stop the game altogether which is something I don’t do AT ALL. It became unplayable and it’s sad considering the fact that I was truly enjoying my experience despite the game's obvious flaws. Amongst the Chaos, There is a Story in All This: The linear story in Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is quite difficult to pinpoint at first until you are about halfway through the game. A sarcophagus that heralds the end of all vampires is the main story arc that we are fighting for, and that we are on a journey to find in an essence. We are a newborn fledgling who was turned against our will, our sire, killed for disobeying the masquerade and now we are a part of Lacroix’s scheme to get said sarcophagus to him to have ultimate power. Because that’s what every bad guy in every story that was ever written wants, power women and mirrors to look at themselves in. the story gets entangled in the MANY side quests that you can do, and since there is confusion about where you go, and what quests belong to what missions at certain points it begs the question, was there multiple stories that the writers of this game wrote before the main storyline was picked? I feel as if the team had so many designs and different ideas for how they wanted this game to go that they put everything in and made it the cluster that we see before us. There are a lot of amazing story concepts in the game, for example, Nosforatu as one of the main protagonists adds to the game and gives it richness. The history of Nosforatu I feel gets lost a bit and his character is severely underrated in this game and in history as it played a crucial role in how vampires are looked at in modern society. Combining that with the luxurious romantics that are the vampires of Anne Rice’s books you get this game in a nutshell, except it’s not articulated not as well as Anne Rice’s novels are.
The Psychology of The Vampire: “I am confident no cure for my condition or that of my beloved wife lies within our figurative minds, waiting to be unlocked by the correct combination of memories recovered from our childhoods. And I am almost certain it has nothing to do with the relationship between myself, my parents, and my... genitals. Sorry, Sigmund but I choose to stay my course. In time, too, may your star fade and disappear...”
―Alistair Grout There is a certain point in the game that discusses the “psychology” of the vampire condition. I put these quotations since it doesn’t really discuss psychology, it just postulates for the sake of postulating. There are riddles and clues for solving puzzles that are supposed to sound profound when in reality it sounds trite and underwhelming. The psychology of vampires is unique and this game only hints at it and doesn’t even go fully into the extent and depth of the topic. It’s a waste and a shame to be quite honest. The psychology behind the immortality that is discussed not just in this game but in vampire literature is something that I personally would love to see more thoroughly incorporated into the next Bloodlines game. Will it? We may never know.
There is an upside to all of this: while the story was confusing and, a plotline in shambles, and not truly clear points A and B, the interwoven side missions we more complex and intricate than the main plotline. They had more substance and incorporated more lore. For example, Gahanna is a place in Jerusalem where it was thought that the kings of Judah sacrificed their children by fire. Great parenting if you ask me. The Transylvania chronicles in the game suggest that Gahanna is a sort of doomsday/end of days prophecy. Instead of horses, we have the cracking of the world and instead of antichrist, we have young vampires rebelling against their elders. And instead of god, you have Cain, who was apparently the first vampire and is treated as the “Jesus” of the story. While there is a lot of work that needs to be done on the flow and overall architecture of the plotline it has amazing points that should be more so brought into the light to be seen rather than as a side quest to be sought after.
Making Peace with the End, Final Thoughts: While, like I've started the game has clear issues, Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is a true masterpiece that needed more work done to it. It was a rushed project that should have been delayed and had time taken to flush out things like the obvious bugs, plotline holes, and cultural inaccuracies. Just as a note, if you’re going to place a character in China town where the people speak Chinese, don’t then have characters that only speak Japanese. There is a big difference from “谢谢 thank you” to “ありがとうございました thank you very much!” The sounds, the culture all of it comes down to accuracy and how well the culture is represented in certain aspects of the game. It’s embarrassing, to say the least when you have a game that tells you one thing and does another. Taking your time to get things right instead of rushing is VITAL to the success of a game. Besides all the negatives this game redefined a genre. Yes, BloodRayne did it first back in 2002, but this is the first OPEN WORLD vampire game, so it deserves credit where it’s due. And credit also deserves to go to the composer of the game's original soundtrack. It gave me Queen of The Damned vibes, and old-school gothic music vibes back when I listened to the Ramstein, HIM, and Korn. Who am I kidding I still listen to those groups. Ah, the days of wearing all black, crappy hair extensions from hot topic and thinking that Twilight was the best love story of our generation. if you are looking for a generational piece that made its mark on millennials and has a firm place in the RPG hall of fame then I would highly recommend getting this game and downloading the patch for it. It’s worth the play, and quite honestly was very fun despite all its issues.
Comments