Once I first learn concerning the Unofficial Patch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, there was division between those that embraced it wholeheartedly for fixing so most of the issues holding again this RPG masterpiece, and people who tempered their reward with complaints about its over-reach. The Unofficial Patch restores minimize content material in addition to fixing bugs, you see, and a few of what it resurrects from the grave is not as much as the usual of the remaining.
Modder Wesp5 has lately put collectively some movies on the making-of the Unofficial Patch, they usually’re filled with fantastic little particulars that depart me much more impressed with what this staff of modders have achieved. A lot of what they’ve completed has concerned restoring unused belongings discovered within the sport recordsdata, together with a mannequin of The Common Lee from Dukes of Hazzard that now sits within the museum’s automotive park, but in addition a number of tracks by composer Rick Schaffer that may in any other case go unheard.
When the staff has needed to get inventive, it is normally based mostly on meticulous analysis. Even the added shortcut that permits you to blessedly bypass the Warrens, the notorious sewer maze that is among the many weaker components of Bloodlines, makes use of maps based mostly on screenshots from the beta.
The most recent video is the proper instance, because it paperwork the creation of the Evening on the Library quest. The longest minimize quest restored by the Unofficial Patch, it is based mostly on feedback Troika’s Brian Mitsoda made in an interview in addition to emails asking what he remembered about it. Set primarily within the LA Public Library, the search depends on unused fashions and textures discovered within the sport recordsdata and wholly new belongings based mostly on photographs taken by modder Burgermeister, who traveled to Los Angeles to assemble reference materials. That is dedication.
The search’s finale takes place in an underground lair that is based mostly on an unused alternate format for one of many sport’s crypts, and one other screenshot from the beta. It comprises a cutscene put collectively by modder EntenSchreck that restores some unused animations, and even the villain’s monologue makes use of a restored voice file that was discovered floating free.
That voice file was presumably a placeholder by no means supposed to be heard, and its low high quality is without doubt one of the issues that made the Unofficial Patch’s additions controversial again within the day. As of late it is accepted that the patch is important, and an unbelievable achievement, though you may select between a “plus” model that provides extra and a fundamental version that comprises solely bug fixes. (The GOG version comes with the essential model pre-installed, although an out-of-date one so it’s best to nonetheless obtain the newest model.)
Despite including a few wonky voices, the plus patch is the one I take advantage of and advocate if you wish to have one of the best time taking part in Bloodlines at this time. You may obtain the newest model from Patches Scrolls.
