I’ve been continuing myplaythrough of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, which inspired me to revisit one of my favorite films, Interview with the Vampire.
I was not prepared for VtM: B. I probably should have read a guide or something before jumping in, but instead I’m figuring out the systems and mechanics as I go. Case in point: I was working on a quest where I needed to talk to homeless characters, and my only dialogue options were incredibly Patrick Bateman-esque.
I don’t know why this took me so long. I knew the game was a classic in one of my favorite genres (messy ambitious action CRPG) and I knew I’d probably love it. I’m a casual VtM fan- never played the TTRPG but I do own a VHS boxset of Kindred: The Embraced (and more recently I’ve really enjoyed the New York visual novels and the comic series from Vault).
I’m a CRPG-loving Elder Goth, what did it take for me to finally play Bloodlines? A one-click mod. I knew unmodded Bloodlines was a nightmare on modern (or vintage) hardware, but I had never done the proper research to get the right mod(s). Then along come GOG with their ultra simple curated mods, which are (literally) game-changing for a kinda dumb and very lazy retro PC gaming enthusiast like myself.
I had very little in common with my late father, hobby-wise. He was into guns and bodybuilding, and I was someone who would go on to have a blog about retro computer stuff. We both made attempts to understand each other, and one of my most notable was purchasing the 2000 Raven-developed Soldier of Fortune PC game.
I played through the phenomenal 2021 enhanced version of Quake last week and something that stood out to me was the storytelling. Similar to Doom, Quake’s sci-fi/dark fantasy/Lovecraftian story is delivered in text crawls at the end of each episode. I wouldn’t say it’s high art or anything, but it’s kind of a perfect way to deliver lore and story. The narrative never interrupts the gameplay, instead punctuating the end of a series of levels, communicating to the player where you’ve been and where you’re going.
From its debut at MacWorld 1999, Halo was originally intended for a personal computer. This is not where most people first played Halo though, as Microsoft bought developer Bungie following the game’s unveiling and turned it into Xbox’s flagship launch game in 2001.
It took two years for Halo to come to Windows (and Mac), with the PC version ported by future Borderlands maker Gearbox.
Sometime in 1996 I was in a Target with my grandmother and I saw an endcap with Virtual Boy systems clearance-priced at $19.99. As a Nintendo Power subscriber, I definitely knew about the system and was intrigued, but my attention and hype was solely focused on the upcoming Nintendo 64. The Virtual Boy didn’t really feel like a console I could actually own, until that $20 price point. My grandma saw me looking at the box, took a look at the price and asked me if I wanted one. I mean, if you’re offering!
It took me a week longer than I expected when I started this journey, but last night I finished my recent playthrough of the original Diablo. Everything I said about the game in my previous post still rings true- Diablo is a game that remains unique in both its genre and series.
