VtM-Bloodlines - Unofficial Patch Plans

[ortucis]

skavenhorde, I have already tried packs like Oscuro (including Oscuro) for Oblivion already. Somehow, finding randomly scaled animals to add wildlife (apparenlty cubs can attack you, a huge fighter just cause they are suicidal) and obscure glass armors doesn't feel very realistic to me in a game like oblivion.

I have tried countless mods to make Oblivion better and ended up wasting days just downloading GB"s worth of data to improve sound effects to weather effects while uninstalling them all in the end (mostly cause Oblivion just sucks no matter what, the world is dead, no mod can make it come alive). I have over 50 bookmarks for Oblivion mods here and there already.. (had atleast, have less now)..

Such mods just break the atmosphere created by the developers for the game. Most of them feel artificial and forced (what fans think the game should be). I am happy with few keyring mods or mods that remove duplicate books from the shelves though (or high-res skins and high poly model packs). But the balancing of difficulty or adding new armors and classes in the world just breaks these games apart if not done by a dev as far as I am concerned (pretty much why I didn't bother with any mod for Fallout 3).

So yeah, not a good reason. It's just what YOU want. Still doesn't convince me that a game needs these fixes or additions (it's a habit of fans to demand more in everything, when they can mod it, of course they will cram everything they can in there).

 

[Umbragen]

All praise the Developers, their judgment is always spot on!

 

[Dhruin]

Yeah...still no specific examples.

Developers make mistakes, have deadlines and - sometimes - just don't even finish. It's ridiculous to put blind faith in a developer who may not have had time to put any serious effort into balancing.

 

[bemushroomed]

Devs has a strict time limit, they work under huge preassure, some work just to get the work done, and not because of the love of the game, etc.. Mods are usually balanced over several years and with hundreds or even thousands of people having their say, this is impossible with games.

 

[Acleacius]

ortucis do you realize there is a Baisc patch, it doesn't sound like it?

What *different set of rules and ideas* did Troika use and how many times did they Balance before they decided no more balancing was needed?

What specific *fix(s)* got done that made the game easier for *them* and *took the challenge out of every square inch of the game*?

balancing should not be entirely based on what community demands of a developer.

Which developer is disputing the fixes which make the game *perfect* against the developers' will and who decides *which balancing can take place against the developers' intended design?

Oblivion (I have used the famous compilations)...... patch makers aren't .......wants of them (see their forum posts demanding stupid changes, most ....... make it in-game)

Got a specific example? You don't need to go to a patch makers forum to see stupid things being said.

Last time I asked someone...........

Why would you think someone could answer? Did you ask them to tell you what flavor of Ice Cream you should get and why?

PS: I was actually OK with these unofficial patches.....

Not sure what you mean, if you know there is a Basic patch which meets your needs, why did you even post to complain about other gamers having a choice?

So your fighting against gamers, to have a choice between Basic and Plus, is your suggestion then, we all play the way you want us to play?

All went down the drain..........

Really? Unofficial Patch is more popular than it's ever been, what data are you using for this assessment, can I get a link please?

......long ranged weapons.....

Which weapon or weapons specifically and what was changed to allow this clearing of the game? And why would having long range weapons to clear the game, have any bearing on the existence of Disciplines?

Do you know the history of Bloodlines, if so how you can say Troika tested and balanced the game? It doesn't make any sense to me and I having been following this game since it was first announced. Joined the original official forums when it open months (maybe 6) before release, until gamespy (where it currently resides) took over. Could you link the Post Mortem or posts (i.e. Leonard, Jason or Tim) you are referencing?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[JDR13]

What's with all the bitching?

If you don't like any "changes", then just install the "basic" version of Wesp's patch that's included.

All hail Wesp!

 

[Konjad]

Whatever, I just can't play without mods in most games.

 

[skavenhorde]

So yeah, not a good reason. It's just what YOU want. Still doesn't convince me that a game needs these fixes or additions (it's a habit of fans to demand more in everything, when they can mod it, of course they will cram everything they can in there).

You didn't ask me to convince you, you said that no one had given you a good reason to try out mods. I just gave you four.

As far as Oblivion goes, yeah that game sucks if you don't already like it and no amount of modding can help that. Same with any game. I wouldn't care what mods they made for the Total War series. I don't like the basic game itself so asking a mod to make it so that I do is insane.

There is one that I neglected to mention that might prove my point just a little bit better.

Arcanum's High res patch, by Drog: http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downloads/
Arcanum's Unofficial Patch, also by Drog: http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downloads/

Those opened up Arcanum in a whole new way, but if you feel that they get in the way of the developers vision then who am I to argue with that. All I know is that I had a blast playing that game again using those. They might just be 'fan patches', but they fixed a lot that was missed by the devs.

Oh, you might also want to try Fallout 2's unofficial patch. Not only does it add some things to the game, but it makes it so that you can actually travel at a normal speed on the world map. In case your wondering here is the readme to the few fixes it made, there are just a little over 800 bugs squashed that the devs didn't get a chance to fix

 

[ortucis]

I don't think you people really understand what I was talking about. I already said that I have nothing against "high-res" packs or keyring mods (there's one for Oblivion, it was a must for that stupid inventory system) which actually fix some annoying in-game issues and limitations.

I am against fans making games easy or as they call it, "fixing", just cause they thing developers were wrong in making a game hard in certain areas. Same goes for making out of the world additions to the game without actually bothering to polish the turd called "fix" (like Oscuro mod pack did). Oblivion wasn't perfect but what WAS in-game from Bethesda was at least polished enough to not look like excrement or half-assed thought.

So yes skavenhorde, you still haven't given me a good reason to get mods for these games without ruining them. Only few mods are worth getting and they don't alter the gameplay drastically.

PS: I have been modding for ages so I am not against modding community. I am against making addition to the pure gameplay completely deviating off the path the developers wanted it to take (like making weapons powerful in Bloodlines, people actually want to play it like Max Payne). You can easily tell when a fan mod is breaking the immersion and balance of the game just cause few fans thought they could do better, they can't. Customer isn't right (else no one would have bought this game even after so many years and reviews).

 

[skavenhorde]

So yes skavenhorde, you still haven't given me a good reason to get mods for these games without ruining them. Only few mods are worth getting and they don't alter the gameplay drastically.

So NO ortucis, I'm still not trying to convince you. You said, once again, you didn't hear any good reasons, so I popped in a few more for you. If you don't find them good reasons well that's all on you because those are very good reasons to mod a game. Maybe you should say something like "No one has convinced me to try it." or something like that.

You really had to piss on Obscura didn't you. I love that mod, but let's compare it to dung just because it would be fun to do so. Beautiful absolutely beautiful.

The thing I find interesting in this discussion are the devs. These devs who know us so personally are amazing. They have everything I could ever think of having in a game. That's nice of them. There are so many people on this planet with different tastes, opinions and thoughts on gaming that it must of been really hard to make a game so perfect that no one could improve it just a smidge more to make it more to their liking.

Silly sarcasm aside, I understand your point, I just feel like you're missing out a bit, but hey, "To each his own." and we'll leave this part at that.

(like making weapons powerful in Bloodlines, people actually want to play it like Max Payne).

Now you are just making stuff up. If your talking about wesps mod, please explain to me in detail HOW that mod made it more like Max Payne?I've played this mod a few times and making it like Max Payne seems like a huge stretch of the imagination.

 

[ortucis]

I dunno, having powerful weapons that can take down ancient vampires with few makes skill points just didn't feel right. I mean I never used weapon much without unofficial but just emptied few clips on small enemies (they can take a lot of hits without unofficial patch) or one-two bosses but ended up using my awesome vampire powers to take them down anyway (without passive powers you are pretty much dead).

After unofficial mod I defeated a boss (that infected priest, I forgot the name) by running around and shooting him in the face with Uzi and Shotgun, like it was Quake 3 or if you switch to third person, Max Payne (I wasn't talking about slo-mo in previous post, I was referring to mad shooting in third person, looks similar).

Like I said, I was OK with this community patch fixing grammar or any game/quest breaking bugs (never encountered any bugs they fixed until I actually updated the game with unofficial patch) but when they started messing around changing damage and "balancing" everything (Vampires are just vampires cause of evil looking grin and teeth after these fixes), it just was going too far.


Of course I used 1x - 2x versions of the patch and once, 4x, so maybe it's not the same now. But I am not into restarting a game over and over just to see if they made vampires stronger or weaker against ranged weapons every time a small update comes out.


PS: I only compared specific changes in Oscura to dung.. (ones that break the immersion).

I am sure these mods bring joy and peace to the players of the world, and cure cancer for all I care. If they change too much, I am willing to miss the best experience of my life.

Also, there's another patch for Bloodlines, that includes nude skins for females in-game if anyone's interested (search on Google, too Adult for this site probably). That patch didn't change the damage and screw around with balancing.

 

[Dhruin]

You're talking about Tessmage's "True Patch", right? You've spent too much time swallowing the propaganda at RPG Codex.

Here's a quick snip from the change log that I quickly grabbed:

…(6) A very sardonic and inside joke has been slipped into the game, in the form of a custom graphic that you will need to try to find on your own. I realize that this is a modification, so if it bugs you, then it can be very easily removed without disturbing the rest of the patch. Just ask me how, and I'll set you up. Otherwise, go ahead and enjoy it… it's hilarious, and it's also rather similar in tone to the "Senator Limperman" attack that Troika themselves slipped into the TV newscasts. We expect there to be some controversy over this, but as I say: it is very easily removed.

(7) […]

(8} The infamous Remington SWAT rifle has been further adjusted —- yet again. Hopefully, its performance now matches the behavior of its real world counterpart. If not, then please let us know.

 

[ortucis]

Well I have already finished the game 4-5 times so now I don't intend to go back anytime soon.

Maybe next time I will try unofficial patch v.12.2 instead of just new character skins.

 

[skavenhorde]

Like I said, I was OK with this community patch fixing grammar or any game/quest breaking bugs (never encountered any bugs they fixed until I actually updated the game with unofficial patch) but when they started messing around changing damage and "balancing" everything (Vampires are just vampires cause of evil looking grin and teeth after these fixes), it just was going too far.

That wasn't my impression of the mod, but as they say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

PS: I only compared specific changes in Oscura to dung.. (ones that break the immersion).

That's ok, I didn't make it. I was just really impressed with the work they did with the mod. Plus, FCOM was really impressive. A pain to get all those huge mods running together, but once they are it changed most of the game. I wish they did something with the story.

I am sure these mods bring joy and peace to the players of the world, and cure cancer for all I care. If they change too much, I am willing to miss the best experience of my life.

Can't argue with that

Also, there's another patch for Bloodlines, that includes nude skins for females in-game if anyone's interested (search on Google, too Adult for this site probably). That patch didn't change the damage and screw around with balancing.

Like Dh said, you shouldn't read too much into what the codex says. I've played tessera's patch as well and enjoyed it. Although Wesp's mod adds more to the game and is still being updated. That still doesn't stop me from loading tessera's every now and then (I've played VTM:B quite a few times ).

One quick correction. Tessera's patch doesn't include nude skins. He has made quite a few skins for VTM:B which are available from his website along with his patch. I believe they are only compatible with his patch or the original patch. That's just a guess though, I've never tested them out on Wesp's mod or any of the others.

 

[KazikluBey]

…(6) A very sardonic and inside joke has been slipped into the game, in the form of a custom graphic that you will need to try to find on your own. I realize that this is a modification, so if it bugs you, then it can be very easily removed without disturbing the rest of the patch. Just ask me how, and I'll set you up. Otherwise, go ahead and enjoy it… it's hilarious, and it's also rather similar in tone to the "Senator Limperman" attack that Troika themselves slipped into the TV newscasts. We expect there to be some controversy over this, but as I say: it is very easily removed.

Ah, yes. The oh-so-hilarious "Insert-the-letters-'Wesp'-to-the-toilet-texture"-joke, IIRC.