Troika Games article

[NeoZeedeater]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/77/8

This might interest some people here. I loved Vampire: TMB. It's a shame they had to fall apart right after that.

[Thief Silver]

I really loved the setting, the characters, and the environment of TMB, I stopped at the end of Hollywood though and haven't gotten back around to playing it. The combat was boring in that game, but everything else about it was incredibly enjoyable. And I too am sad they fell apart after that because I would continue to support their games :/

[sleeve]

Vampire: TMB is a brilliant and tragically underpraised game. After reading this article I have even more appreciation for the hell to which Troika subjected themselves in order to make this game.

And I can forgive them for that lengthy sewer sequence.

[Vasteel]

I love what I've played of their stuff. Temple of Elemental Evil could have been an amazing game had Atari not forced them to leave the "evil" out, but it's still the best implementaion of the D&D rules to date.

In any case, someone hook me up with a copy of VtM: Bloodlines right now.

[Thief Silver]

Vampire: TMB is a brilliant and tragically underpraised game. After reading this article I have even more appreciation for the hell to which Troika subjected themselves in order to make this game.

And I can forgive them for that lengthy sewer sequence.

Yeah I just couldn't finish off the Sewer Sequence, what happened was I went all the way past the point where I was supposed to I think, I looked it up and I was doing the quest I guess you were able to do after you met with the Nosferatu, all the way on the bottom floor. And there was supposed to be somewhere which I could get the key after I saw some Nosferatu, but since I hadn't visited the main part yet, he wasn't there and I had wasted about 2 hours, said fuck it, and started a Malkavian.

Also, playing through the game as a Malkavian makes that game so much more incredible.

It's up there on my list of games I love, but if the combat were actually interesting, It'd probably be in my top 5 of games.

[nameless_one]

I was a pretty big fan of Arcanum. I think that was their first release, correct me if I am wrong.

[Salsashark]

The haunted house in Vampire was brilliant.

Thanks for the link.

[sleeve]

Yeah I just couldn't finish off the Sewer Sequence, what happened was I went all the way past the point where I was supposed to I think, I looked it up and I was doing the quest I guess you were able to do after you met with the Nosferatu, all the way on the bottom floor. And there was supposed to be somewhere which I could get the key after I saw some Nosferatu, but since I hadn't visited the main part yet, he wasn't there and I had wasted about 2 hours, said fuck it, and started a Malkavian.

You really should play through to Chinatown, it's pretty cool.

There's a point where you are supposed to see a Nosferatu fighting a war ghoul on the bottom floor. He's very fast, so it's possible to miss him. When he dies, he drops a key that you then use to open up the Nosferatu warren. So actually, you don't have to talk with any Nosferatu before being able to exit the sewer. Just FYI.

My favorite bits are the Giovanni mansion and Pisha, the Nagaraja (flesh-eating vampire!) at the bottom of the abandoned hospital. So awesome.

And yeah, it's a totally different game when you play as a Malkavian. Plus Obfuscate is IMO the most badass discipline in the game.

[g0zen]

Arcanum was awesome.

[bVork]

Arcanum was fun but flawed - the magic and technology sides weren't particularly well-balanced, and magic's use of fatigue got to be a real pain in the ass.

I haven't played Vampire yet. ToEE would have been the best translation of D&D rules - if it had been properly finished.