Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is a 2004 action role-playing video game developed by Troika Games and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows. Set in White Wolf Publishing's World of Darkness, the game is based on White Wolf's role-playing
game Vampire: The Masquerade and follows a human who is killed and revived as a
fledgling vampire. The game depicts the fledgling's journey through
early 21st-century Los Angeles to uncover the truth behind a recently discovered
relic that heralds the end of all vampires.
Bloodlines is an action role-playing video game optionally
presented from the first- or third-person perspective. Before
the game begins, players create a male or female vampire character by selecting a vampire clan and configuring
available points in three areas—Attributes, Abilities, and Disciplines
(vampiric powers)—or by answering questions, which create a character for the
player. The player can select one of seven vampire clans: the
powerful Brujah, the decadent Toreador, the insane Malkavian, the aristocratic
Ventrue, the monstrously deformed Nosferatu, the blood-magic-wielding Tremere, or
the animalistic Gangrel.
The player builds their character by
spending acquired points to increase their ratings in the three areas. The
points spent on Attributes and Abilities combine to determine a player's
success or effectiveness in performing tasks such as using firearms, brawling,
and lock-picking; for example, determining how accurate or how far the player
can shoot or if they can hack a computer. Attributes are represented by
physical (strength, dexterity, and stamina), social (charisma, manipulation,
and appearance), and mental (perception, intelligence, and wits). Abilities are
talents (such as brawling and dodging), skills (such as firearms and melee),
and knowledge (such as computers and investigation). The player is initially
assigned points to spend in the three areas, with the amount they can spend
determined by clan; for example, the Brujah can spend the most points on
physical and skill attributes. During character creation, each upgrade costs
one point. The upgrade cost increases as the game progresses. Each ability
can be raised from zero to five, and it is impossible to accrue enough experience points to complete every skill (allowing the
player to specialize or balance their character). Experience points are gained
by completing quests, finding items, or unlocking secret paths rather than
killing enemies and are used to increase or unlock the character's statistics and abilities. The
game features a main story and optional side quests that can be completed at
any time; the player can move between the available areas at will to revisit
locations, characters, or merchants.
The player's clan affects their skills
and powers. Although the attractive Toreadors receive bonuses for seduction and
persuasion, opening additional dialog options, they are physically weak; the
Nosferatu are forced to travel in the shadows or through sewers to avoid
alerting humans but receive bonuses to their intelligence and computer skills,
which enables access to more information. The Malkavians have different dialog
options, reflecting their inherent insanity. Upgrading some skills provides
additional dialog options; attractive and charismatic characters seduce to get
their way, aggressive characters threaten, and others persuade their targets to
cooperate.