After I first learn in regards to the Unofficial Patch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, there was division between those that embraced it wholeheartedly for fixing so lots of the issues holding again this RPG masterpiece, and those that tempered their reward with complaints about its over-reach. The Unofficial Patch restores lower 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 stuffed with fantastic little particulars that depart me much more impressed with what this staff of modders have achieved. A lot of what they’ve performed has concerned restoring unused property discovered within the sport information, together with a mannequin of The Normal Lee from Dukes of Hazzard that now sits within the museum’s automotive park, but additionally a number of tracks by composer Rick Schaffer that might in any other case go unheard.
When the staff has needed to get inventive, it is often 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 elements 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 lower 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 hunt depends on unused fashions and textures discovered within the sport information and wholly new property based mostly on images taken by modder Burgermeister, who traveled to Los Angeles to collect reference materials. That is dedication.
The hunt’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 incorporates 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 unfastened.
That voice file was presumably a placeholder by no means meant to be heard, and its low high quality is likely one of the issues that made the Unofficial Patch’s additions controversial again within the day. Today it is accepted that the patch is crucial, and an unbelievable achievement, though you’ll be able to select between a “plus” model that provides extra and a primary version that incorporates solely bug fixes. (The GOG version comes with the fundamental model pre-installed, although an out-of-date one so it is best to nonetheless obtain the most recent model.)
Despite including a few wonky voices, the plus patch is the one I take advantage of and advocate if you wish to have the very best time taking part in Bloodlines at present. You may obtain the most recent model from Patches Scrolls.