Almost 20 hours into this particular playthrough (with the Unofficial Patch Plus but no other mods, because that's the way I like it, although I remember the Clan Quest Mod starting to get really good back in the day and might revisit it soon), and it's time to write this particular review, of this particular game.
For reference, I bought this on Steam on sale at half price, £7.49 down from £14.99. I could have afforded it at full price but probably wouldn't have bought it, as I own the original discs (pre-ordered for day of release, a monumentally stupid decision as it turned out) and probably would have fiddled about with them to get them running . . . except yeah, Steam does make it way more convenient. Sigh.
It's obviously not my first rodeo with this game. I intended to finish the game for the umpteenth time but stopped after reaching Ming Xiao in the end game, remembering that there are different builds that I much prefer playing at this point of the story Yes, theoretically, any build can finish the game, but some certainly find it easier than others, and that is one of this game's undeniable flaws.
One positive before I get into the inevitable maudlin ramblings of a lovesick, broken hearted lover - I found some new things on this run through, and credit to that goes to mad, brilliant genius behind the Unofficial patch, Wesp. This game would not be what it is without him. I don't know who he is, or anything about him, but I think I might love him a little bit. Yes. every other review on here is right, do not just download this game and play it. Download this game, install the unofficial path and play it (either on Basic or Plus, whichever you fancy, or both one after the other). Just trust me on this one, if nothing else.
So where do the maudlin ramblings begin?
Here.
I love this game, I really do but it can be a fickle mistress at tines, and sure, I can acknowledge that I love it as seen through the blindness of a hopelessly infatuated, naive young lover. It just has things that no other game I know has:
1. It's the best adaptation of the original White Wolf property. If you loved the table top RPG, you should probably try this game at some point, unless you don't like computer games, in which case why are you reading this on Steam? Just be tolerant of its flaws, and a great story, characters, voice acting and atmosphere shall be delivered unto you.
2. That makes it, for all its flaws, one of the best vampire RPGs of all time. That doesn't necessarily mean it's worth buying, though. I mean, you have to be really quite tolerant.
3. In some ways, it's a brilliant RPG. It's just that anything not the actual RPG basically sucks to some degree.
4. Knowing the game well by completing it a few times, then playing it through as a Malkavian for the first time is simply one of the best things ever to exist.
5. Let's divert onto a few of the distinct different playthroughs you can do with this game:
a) Brujah or Gangrel killing machine. Straight forward, but watch that humanity, the beast lurks shallowest here.
b) Ventrue manipulator/seductress. See how powerful Persuasion is, find alternate ending to quests, always have a blood doll within reach in any location. Fortitude goes a long way towards enduring the end game.
d) Tremere blood sorcerer, and probably social artist. An alternative to Ventrue, mostly, although you do get one of the two unique different havens to the rest of the rabble.
c) Toreador sword artist or gunslinger. Sword artist recommended, guns are for idiots, but still, you know. Or, Brujah sword artist, just for funsies.
d) Nosferatu stealth. A completely different experience, but very capable of finishing it all, potence and obfuscation are a great combo. Also, the second unqiue haven.
e) Malkavian. Oh, how we laughed. Oh, how we found out things that no other clan can find out. Peak RPGing.
Considering there's several different ending dependent on choices made, there's some replayability in there for hardcore fanatics like me.
However, the suck:
1. Controls. I think I've wrestled them into submission, or been wrestled into submission, and can live with them nowadays, but still get touches of frustration occasionally. Minor suck, all things considered.
2. Graphical glitches. Game is old, and the Unoffical Patch repairs the story and stuff under the hood but not as much in visuals. I lost count of the million miles per hour pedestrians seen on this run through, and still Skyeline Apartments can get so buggy that I'd be mad if some of the end results weren't actually quite funny. Thank god a save and reload sorts it out nowadays - back in the day, once it glitched it was like that for rest of the game, often making that haven unusable. Minor suck nowadays, as long as you appreciate that game is old.
3. Combat. If you can tolerate the controls, fists and weapons are okay. Guns are totally meh. Game was not designed to be a FPS. Can be quite fun with celerity, but generally best avoided. Which brings us onto . . .
4. The end game. Just when things should all be coming together, the end of this beautiful, wretched, wondrous, awful game becomes an unavoidable slug fest. Such a brilliant RPG takes you to ecstatic peaks then dumps you like a used plaything. From around the Hallowbrook Hotel onwards, it's more or less just a war of attrition, and if that's not what you came for, then sure, this game really sucks. See third paragraph (above) about stopping this playthrough at Ming Xiao. It's like the way someone once described the end game of Dark Souls - how their casual runs stopped at Anor Londo so many times, with Lost Izalith being particularly hated. This game is a bit like that.
5. A personal one this one - it pains me for what it could have been. In my opinion, as good as Half Life 2, better than Half-Life 2 (one of the best games of all time) except reasons. They're well documented elsewhere, and I see no reason to rehash old territories here.
6. A not directly connected but still personally painful memory, the cancellation of CCP's (the maker of E.V.E) adaptation of the White Wolf's property into an MMORPG, brought to an end in 2014 after nine years of development. Oh, the things we could have had . . .
In closing. VTMB:2 doesn't look like my kind of thing, but I'll probably try it one day if it's discounted enough.
And so, back to start a new run, the second of this purchase, and to see if Ming Xiao's boss fight is any more bearable this time round. Double sigh. Recommended because I love it, still, despite it all.
