So, how good is it?

I bought it the other day and enjoyed the hotel room for a bit. I did find the sound was quite echoey for some reason, I'm hoping that's just a "My PC thing" that I can resolve (I've had issues with unwanted echo before) otherwise it sounds like they recorded all the dialogue in a toilet. It's good dialogue and the voies are nice mind you but they sound like they're on the toilet. I have noticed the voices seem to be a bit low at times too. Also hoping that's just a "me thing".

God Awful combat so far... Actually, I got outside the hotel room and attacked everyone in the street and thoroughly despised the entire process. That's where I stopped. I want to play it a whole lot more though to see if it's not just because I'm not quite used to it yet.

I also hate the idea of safe areas... Ain't nothing like a linear RPG to have predefined "you can't kill anyone in here" areas or people.

Overall the game has a slight unpolished feeling so far too. Things like the character screen look okay but don't "feel" quite right. It's hard to explain but some games everything really feels like it works and it clicks right from the start. The menus are nicely done, they "work" solidly etc... (Evil Genius comes to mind as a great example).

Definately need to play more of it though.

 

I've finished it. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. After the critiscism about the voice acting in ToEE, Vampire really takes the cake. EVERY character has a voice and EVERY voice is superbly appropriate for that character. Dialogue is some of the best I've read too though quite a few of the lines seem to be "3 options - all lead to the same response".

A bit disappointing that the last part of the game seemed to be a 3 hour combat session but seeing as I had a combat character (firearms) it fit. I'm guessing (hoping?) that if I play again and go full out conversation, I'll have a non-combat ending. Maybe.

My initial complaints on the combat were based on the melee system. I still don't like 3rd person "over the shoulder" melee combat (and never have in computer games) but firearms are all 1st person, so that was fine. It's a pity I can't use melee weapons in 1st person, I wonder why that option wasn't available.

Very good story though. There seemed to be a few places where decisions were important. I have to play again to see how important they were though and if there are any alternative endings.

Never had any performance issues others have had other than 3 areas. 1 for about 2 seconds as I run through a fog effect in the Warren. 2 if I go into the water in Santa Monica and 3 fighting the Final Bad Guyâ„¢ when he used his sound effect (an effect I loved).

Overall, definately worth it. A great bounce back from the disappointment of ToEE. I did encounter two annoying bugs. 1 where the tutorial guy (heh, I guess he's more than just a tutorial guy) "Jack" disappeared and a door wasn't openable. I was stuck and had to restart (no biggy though as it's like, the tutorial, right at the start of the game). The second was a quest in the warren. Planting the cameras in the models apartment I did with Obfuscate so I wasn't seen. Ever. Return to the girl who gave me the quest and "I was seen" and failed. Yet the newspaper was on her desk with the Llama picture... It also explained why there was a glowing on the table which was there even before the newspaper appeared. A minor side quest though, so no biggy.

God damn that Zombie Graveyard battle was a bitch though.