VtM: Bloodlines is wonderful when patched. I played it three times in a row this summer and right now I'm taking a small break, but I want to try the Plus patch next. They restored many things and are working on adding a Library level. It amazes me how the community is active almost 8 years later, but the game is definitely worth it. As for the price, it's currently 25% off on Steam (=15 euros), but it was on sale in July and during Autumn sale, so it may drop to only 5eur again

I won't be chasing Winter achievements (although I already got those related to Psychonauts, whee) and the Inventory is broken for me rn, so I have no idea what I got. Probably a lump of coal or a useless 10% coupon XD

I'll only aim for the easy ones, I won't bother with the ones that will take hours upon hours of work (because the advent rising fan patch is still not down... getting a steady 7mbit/s from steam and a highly fluctuating 10 < x < 250kbit/s from mediafire

*edit* thats strange. I just found a way to make the forum cut the rest of my post. This requires more testing.

*edit 2* Don't type < directly followed by something, add a space after it like < x. Otherwise the forum will cut the rest of the post. 

Oh dear, we can use HTML in posts. That's why it cuts it off!

Fnord, glad you are going to try Advent Rising, it is a remarkable game, here is what the mod maker said  to me in communcations we have had about his wonderful Advent Revising Mod that you so kindly told me about........

Anyone played From Dust? Despite the PC version being a mediocre port I think it's a great game, very similar to Populous which I played a long time ago. A lot of RTS frustrates me as being too slow and cumbersome, but this is something I have really been able to get into. You're not constantly micromanaging and arranging roads and buildings, it's chaotic and messy.

Originally Posted By walsh

Anyone played From Dust? Despite the PC version being a mediocre port I think it's a great game, very similar to Populous which I played a long time ago. A lot of RTS frustrates me as being too slow and cumbersome, but this is something I have really been able to get into. You're not constantly micromanaging and arranging roads and buildings, it's chaotic and messy.

I really enjoyed that game, as a child i loved building dams to change the flow of streams. Unfortunately it's too short and I wish the levels were bigger, so i would feel more like a fully fleshed out sandbox game

I'm one of those people who keep playing the level after I've finished, spreading vegetation everywhere and playing around with lava and water. But yes, it could have used a few more levels. But I'm finding the last couple VERY challenging, taking at least a few tries to complete.

I don't know where to put this, so here goes. The steam gift thing is quite generious. I just got Payday the heist  

I got 50% off Valve products and a lump of coal. :C

Oh joy, I just got 25% off "Lord Of the rings: war in the north". I don't think this one will see much use

And another lump of coal for Dona!

You can at least do something with the coal (craft 7 of them and hope for a game, or participate in the big gift draw, and hope that you are one of the 1111 lucky out of however many million there are who participate) , these coupons are the things you don't want (as they also have a time limit, you can use them between January 2nd & March 1st). 

And nice, both of the things that I intended to buy during the sale has come up as 75% off (those being Orcs must die! and the Dungeons of Dredmor DLC)

Orcs Must Die is a great game, at least at the default Warmage difficulty. The Nightmare difficulty that unlocks after you complete the game has managed to tire me with its "must set up defenses while under constant attack" rule . But at 75% off, you more than get your money's worth, even if you don't play Nightmare mode at all.

Orcs Must Die is a great game, at least at the default Warmage difficulty. The Nightmare difficulty that unlocks after you complete the game has managed to tire me with its "must set up defenses while under constant attack" rule . But at 75% off, you more than get your money's worth, even if you don't play Nightmare mode at all.

Having found some handy Windows 7 tips that evidently work, I'm downloading Sacred 2: Fallen Angel from Steam as we speak (twas on sale at a deep discount). 

Although Mass Effect 2, the original F.E.A.R. bundle, Starship Titanic and several other good PC games remain unfinished, I will start yet another missed title from recent years while also revisitng a few old favorites and grabbing newer ones whenever they go on sale.

Right now, I'm keeping an eye out for Risen at half price and a couple more RPGs as modest Xmas presents for myself. 

Cheers, Terry 

I am glad to see you are all helping Santa out by optimizing your game collections...that is excellent to hear!  I ordered a couple myself that were needed for rresearch, including Hidden and Dangerous by Illusion, who also made the Mafia games, they do excell in the craft of 3D world making...i am curious also about their unusl and as far as I know unique (as far as the genre niche) game Viet Cong.... may look into that one too. Their custom 3D engine is pretty amazing.

Originally Posted By Dona

VtM: Bloodlines is wonderful when patched. I played it three times in a row this summer and right now I'm taking a small break, but I want to try the Plus patch next. They restored many things and are working on adding a Library level. It amazes me how the community is active almost 8 years later, but the game is definitely worth it. As for the price, it's currently 25% off on Steam (=15 euros), but it was on sale in July and during Autumn sale, so it may drop to only 5eur again : 

I'll definitely be checking on it periodically for a better sale. The Steam forum provides some instructions on getting it to operate with x64 but I would rather minimize the risk for now.

Tessera's opinion re- Plus patch:

"I can see why all of those changes in Wesp's "unofficial patch" might appeal to players who have short attention spans, or are otherwise lacking in the commitment required to sit down and immerse themselves in a sophisticated and mature RPG like Bloodlines. This is hardly surprising, as the numerous comments made over the years by Wesp himself have indicated that he is likewise not an especially insightful nor sophisticated individual.

But frankly, I think it is accurate to say that Bloodlines was never intended for such players in the first place. From the very first opening scene in the introductory cinematic, it is quite clear that Bloodlines is a game which was created by adults -- and for adults.

So what Wesp has done, essentially, is the equivalent of dumbing down a masterpiece... in order to make it be more appealing to an immature and unsophisticated audience. My opinion is, understandably, a biased one however. So if any of you have an alternative conclusion, then I am quite willing to entertain it. But I don't see how it is possible to reach any other conclusion than this one... especially after you take a very close look at the comprehensive listing that Schu has so thoughtfully posted here in his OP.

To each their own, I guess. But I am an adult... hence I would prefer to stick with the adult game that Troika intended for Bloodlines to be. The True Patch gives that to me in spades... but none of Wesp's "unofficial patches" do. So I'll keep using the TPG patch... and as for everybody else, they can do as they please."

Interesting forum though for obvious reasons I won't provide the link since I suspect you all know where it came from.

I just went to "that" forum and man, could the changelog be more preposterous? I have no idea what went on between these two, but Unofficial Patch is so much better imo :/ I wonder what's this "dumbed down" thing Tess is going on about...

Hidden & dangerous, now that is a challenging game. It is also a great game to play with 2-4 friends (it makes managing those 4 soldiers a bit easier). The second one is supposed to be a bit more forgiving (I have not played it yet, though it sits on my shelf, awaiting a playthrough).

And I cheated a bit when it came to steam achievements. The AI wars one would be incredibly time consuming to get, so I just downloaded a save. But karma works like it is supposed to, and I was given some coal as a "reward"

Terry, if you are following the Steam sales, Risen is "only" 33% off right now (it could get a better single-day deal), but Divine Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga and Drakensang are both 50% off. You should have a look, if you don't own them already.

There are also more quirky, less mainstream RPGs available, like Grotesque: Evil Tactics, Avadon: The Black Fortress, the Geneforge Saga, Winter Voices, Costume Quest, Dungeons of Dredmor, Cthulhu Saves the World (loved it personally, but it certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea), Bastion, the Deathspank series and more, all of them worth at least a look, and all of them available for 1-5$ during the holidays. So many games, so little time...

Tessera is certainly the most dramatic drama queen out of all well-known modders, most of whom are rather prone to drama when it comes to their work. Wesp on the other hand is very quiet and lets his work speak for him, an attitude I applaud.

There are two major unofficial Patch programs for VMtB, you can use either and have a very enjoyable game experience. Both work and both help the game work. WesP5's patch restores a lot of original content, Tess's patch was made for a different purpose, he has a personal agenda based on Adult game content and had that as his purpose as well as making the game work. Hence there are some major conflicts between the two programs but I leave it up to the user to decide.

These are the links for the Patches by WesP5 and the only patch i use, on top of the official patch.

Official Patch:

http://dlh.net/cgi-bin/dlp.cgi?lang=eng&sys=pc&file=vtmb_1_2.zip&ref=ps

WesP5 Patch 7.8a Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20909886/VTMBup78a.exe

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines Patches Page:

http://www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php

here is the link for the Gold  "True" Patch by Tessera

http://www.filefront.com/17202358/Tr...old_FINAL.rar/

the patch thread page:

http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php?topic=56857.0

and a post about Tess and his patch posted on his own adult game site:

http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php?topic=55998.0

Both patch makers are colourful characters and neither is always the most peaceful and non confrontatonal modder around, but both intend to help us enjoy a remarkable game.

Originally Posted By Mr Innocent.

Terry, if you are following the Steam sales, Risen is "only" 33% off right now (it could get a better single-day deal), but Divine Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga and Drakensang are both 50% off. You should have a look, if you don't own them already.

 

There are also more quirky, less mainstream RPGs available, like Grotesque: Evil Tactics, Avadon: The Black Fortress, the Geneforge Saga, Winter Voices, Costume Quest, Dungeons of Dredmor, Cthulhu Saves the World (loved it personally, but it certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea), Bastion, the Deathspank series and more, all of them worth at least a look, and all of them available for 1-5$ during the holidays. So many games, so little time...

 

Tessera is certainly the most dramatic drama queen out of all well-known modders, most of whom are rather prone to drama when it comes to their work. Wesp on the other hand is very quiet and lets his work speak for him, an attitude I applaud.

I would recommend waiting for daily deals for all games on steam during the winter holiday sale. If there is already a discount on it, then it is likely that we will see a daily deal. For an example, today Dungeons of Dredmor is 75% off, though it was 50% off yesterday. 

I did not find Grotesque tactics to be all that great. Much like Final Fantas tactics advance, it has a rather shallow tactical system (less grind but also less options than FFTA), and while the humor often was so stupid that it became a bit funny, it was not great. If Generforge becomes a deal of the day, I'll make sure to buy that one though, it is said to be great. 

I liked Grotesque Tactics, partly because of the intentional silliness. I have not yet tried the sequel, but I am not entirely happy  about the more serious tone  they have seem to have went with. Surely we have more than enough "epic" and "serious" RPGs out there. I have never played FFTA and never will unless it is ported to PC. But for all the shortcomings, Grotesque Tactics' turn-based battles are miles ahead in terms of tactics than any real time RPG can manage.

Grotesque is a bit more tactical than most straight up CRPGs (though I would argue that Icewind dale actually is more tactical than grotesque), but it, and FFTA, lags behind all SRPGs that I have played. Games like Fire Emblem & Jagged Alliance are miles ahead, when it comes to tactical depth. 

*edit* Steam is strange. A while ago I tried to input my Half Life cd key into steam, only to find out that it had been nicked by someone. I planed to report it, but it never happened. Now I tried another old valve game, Gunman chronicles, and suddenly I have half life+all expansions+the multiplayer mods on steam... but no gunman. 

Also, I might have done something horrible

(from DEFCON)

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