VtM: Bloodlines - The Endless Quest to fix it

PCGamesN pennend down an interesting article about Werner Spahl - the man behind the unofficial patch for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.

One man's endless quest to fix Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has grown into something of a legend among PC gamers. You will hear whispers on subreddits about its troubled development and what a technical disaster it was upon release in 2004, even though relatively few people actually played it back then. You will read declarations on RPG forums that it is a masterpiece, perhaps even one of the best games ever made - with unforgettable quests, excellent writing, and diverse character customisation. But are they praising the game as it was or the game as it is now?

The truth is that Bloodlines was lacking when it launched. It was full of unfinished quests, bugs, unbalanced abilities, and missing areas. Still, something at its heart was able to bewitch a small group of players; they saw in it a foundation on which to build. This band of acolytes devoted themselves to improving the game, and one devotee in particular - chemistry professor Werner Spahl - has spent the past 12 years stitching together Bloodlines with his unofficial patch.

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Thanks Farflame!

More information.

the game wasnt lacking even without patches

There was at least one gamebreaking Bug at the Leopold Society and I think there was some other Stuff that might or might not work.

To me this game is like Gothic III. Every time you talk about it, no matter how much time has passed, it's still interesting. Timeless is the word? It's titles like Bloodlines that enchant certain people into a life a gaming. I can understand the desire to maintain it with unofficial patches, the same way someone might resurrect an old car. It looks how you remember it on the outside, but it's all new under the hood. That's what keeps it relevant.

The game really wasn't as technically bad as people make it out to be after it's official patches. On day one of release it was, but I was able to finish the game just fine after its (three, I think it was) official patches.

question, do you guys preffer tessera pr whesp true patch or UP

I played through this game one time a couple years back and it was the single most impressive RPG I've ever played. By impressive I mean, the choices and consequences that seemingly went on "under the hood", the beautiful exploration of a dark (and detailed) first-person modern city setting, all the different clans, locations and the awesome story. I was stunned that an RPG like it existed. Even after playing Planescape: Torment and a few others, Bloodlines remains THE most impressive RPG I've played. I love it and I need to do another run soon.

Question though. Are there any patches that JUST fix bugs? I am not even sure what I used when I played, can't remember, but I would like to play with just bugfixing, no extra "fixes" or content added, etc..

Embolus said:

To me this game is like Gothic III. Every time you talk about it, no matter how much time has passed, it's still interesting.

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It really is. I just played Gothic III for the first time recently and it's a very interesting game. You can tell it's unfinished in several ways but what they were already able to do, wow, it is really something. The game is still pretty cool to explore, too. It's timeless and one of those "awe-inspiring", mysterious type of titles, just wish it were really polished by the original devs and fixed up by them.

Maybe if ELEX is successful we can see a Gothic III remaster someday.

While I greatly appreciate all the hard work Wesp has done on VtM-B, this so called endless quest should have ended a long time ago.

He's obviously a bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to this game, and he's constantly changing things around instead of just making a decision on how they should be. He needs to make a final patch and move on.

Have you played the game recently JDR, and if so, which patch/etc. would you recommend?

Each version of his patch has two install options. There's the "basic" patch which doesn't add any post-release content and the "Plus" patch which adds the cut content he's restored. Choose the basic patch if you want bug-fixes only.

JDR13 said:

Each version of his patch has two install options. There's the "basic" patch which doesn't add any post-release content and the "Plus" patch which adds the cut content he's restored. Choose the basic patch if you want bug-fixes only.

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Hey, thanks. I may have done that in my initial run. Probably did but don't really remember.

borcanu said:

question, do you guys preffer tessera pr whesp true patch or UP

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I dont like ppl like Tessera who has false entitlement about some game that is not his own and tells you what you can or cant mod. Especially if devs couldnt finish the game properly so there is perfectly legitimate reason to fix or restore or change something. I have own experience with it because I did something similar to Wesp to local community and there was one person who tried to spread false info about my work because he had slightly different opinion and was envious about what I did. His ego seemingly didnt let him accept there are other experienced ppl too and his opinion is not automatically the best. So I dont like claims of Tessera. Its especially ridiculous if you take into consideration what JDR said.

from what i've seen him express himself, yes, Tessera seems dumb and entitled. but, i agree with most of his points.
U cant call a mod a patch, he was the one that drove wesp to create the basic version.
i never saw him say u cant mod something, he suports modders, his points were 1 to differentiate between patch and mod, and 2 how much of Troika designers vision does that "patch" alter

i have played only the vanilla though, so cant review neiter TP nor Up

Fluent said:

It really is. I just played Gothic III for the first time recently and it's a very interesting game. You can tell it's unfinished in several ways but what they were already able to do, wow, it is really something. The game is still pretty cool to explore, too. It's timeless and one of those "awe-inspiring", mysterious type of titles, just wish it were really polished by the original devs and fixed up by them.

Maybe if ELEX is successful we can see a Gothic III remaster someday.

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Lets hope, until then the G3 unofficial patch. I'm going to purchase Elex in December, looks like I'm in for a treat.

Embolus said:

Lets hope, until then the G3 unofficial patch. I'm going to purchase Elex in December, looks like I'm in for a treat.

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It's amazing bro. Especially if you liked Gothic III (which ELEX is way better than in most ways, IMO.)

I just played Gothic III for the first time a few months ago, too. You could tell it was unfinished, but still a hell of a lot more interesting than 98% of other RPGs to me.

The unofficial patch works well. There were a few hard-coded things I took issue with, though. If they could touch it up a little, it would really be interesting.